Sony SXRD HDTV Hard to Find

I've been in the HDTV market for a while. In fact, I have a post about it almost two and a half years ago. I finally decided to take the plunge and have the perfect TV for myself picked out, the 60" Sony SXRD. It has pretty much everything I'm looking for in a TV without being too expensive.

However, for the life of me, I can't find a place that has a price I'm willing to pay. I've seen the TV on sale for as low as $1650, but now I can't really find a place that, with shipping and taxes calculated, comes in for less than $1950. I could still afford the $1950, but it bothers me that I know it can be had for less. I just can't believe how hard it is to find. I would love it if Amazon would get it back in stock, but they have been sold out for over a month.

Having just moved into my new place, I really want to buy a new TV. I don't even have cable yet, because I'm waiting to buy this TV. But because I can't find it for the price I want to pay, I wait. Should I just suck it up and buy it, or should I be patient and wait for it?

Update: Sony killed this TV. While sad, I had to move on. I decided to get a Panasonic 50PZ800U. The set is fantastic and I think I might be happier with it than I would have been with the Sony SXRD

New Knight Rider Sucks Ass

Seriously, who the hell is in charge of making these shows? I really tried to give this show the benefit of the doubt. I used to watch the show as a kid and it was one of my favorites. I always loved the idea of a super-intelligent car. I fully understand that nothing is as good as you remember it from your childhood. So with this understanding, I decided to watch this show and keep an open mind about it. But the problems for the show were many.

• Nanotechnology to solve all problems - I think a writer read the word 'Nanotechnology" somewhere and decided that it would be great to use this cutting edge development in the show to solve all ills. It makes KITT bullet proof, allows him to morph into different shapes, allows him to change colors, and it seemingly makes him invulnerable to accidents. Lets just ignore the fact that nanotechnology is a technology in its very early infancy, good thing to know it will be able to cure all the worlds problems going forward
• Dumb FBI agent - How dumb do you have to be to let the bad guy plant a fake sheriff at the scene of the crime. Wouldn't you wonder where the backup is? Wouldn't you somehow confirm that this guy is who he says he is?
  
• David Hasslehoff is my Father! - Seriously, how lame is it that the new Michael's father is the old Michael Knight. That is just horrible storytelling.
• One Big Ford Advertisement - OK, you are going to make the most high tech car out there and you are going to make it a Ford Mustang? Are you crazy? I've driven a Mustang, highly overrated. I can even get over this fact though. What really bothered me was that it was painfully obvious that the whole show was one big Ford commercial. Every car shown was a Ford. And this show is taking place in California. Have these people been to California? Lots of Hondas and Toyotas, not so many Fords.
  
• The Show just wasn't that interesting - Lame plot. A contrived love story. Nothing new or original.
  

I will give this show one more chance. I MIGHT watch the next episode. Hopefully this was just a bad show as they geared up to a more exciting series.

No Smog Test on Sundays

I went to go get a smog test for my car so I can get it registered in the state of California. I found out that you can't get a smog test in California on Sundays. Apparently, for a smog test to work, it has to have a link to a computer in Sacramento. And apparently this link isn't up on Sundays.

So let me get this straight. In this day and age where we have the internet, and we have phones that can keep you connected anywhere you are, they can't keep up a computer and a data link on the weekends? What type of technology is the state of California running on? An abacus?

Online Dating - Should You Call Off the Date?

Here is the scenario. You arrange to meet someone you met online. You are excited about it. He or she is excited about it. Your date sends you a few pictures before the date and you discover that this person just isn't your type. What do you do?

First off, stop feeling bad for being shallow. There is nothing wrong with you. The importance of appearance should not be underestimated. We are human, and it is natural to want to be physically attracted to someone. I've actually never understood how someone can say looks aren't important and that believing otherwise is shallow. Why is it any better to like someone because they are funny, or successful, or a fantastic kisser? You have to like a person for everything they are, and appearance is a big part of that.

Next, just call the person and cancel the date. Don't write an e-mail. Call the person out of respect. It is a lot harder to do over the phone than it is to write an e-mail, but nobody ever said that it would be easy. Getting the news in any way is bad, but getting the same news over e-mail just plain sucks. Just politely tell the person the truth. That doesn't mean to go into every last detail about why you found them unattractive. You should simply say that you have in fact decided the person was not your time and that you don't wish to waste that person's type going on a date when you know nothing will materialize in terms of a relationship.

Under no circumstance should you just go on the date and then ignore the person. That is the absolute worse thing you can do. Nobody wants you to go on a pity date, much less the person on the date. Nobody wants to waste their time going on a date when the other person knows that this will be the only date. So just do the right thing, call and cancel. Be honest, and be respectful.

I'm a Great Driver!

I went to the California DMV to change my license and to register my car. Despite its bad reputation, I found my experience there to not be too bad. True, the workers there weren't the happiest bunch. I tend to be cheerful when I deal with people, and I wasn't getting the cheerfulness back that's for sure. But nevertheless, I didn't have to wait too long (I didn't have an appointment) and I wasn't subject to anything I thought was unnecessary.

They did make me take a written exam though. About 20 questions or so, but I wasn't prepared for it. Normally, I would have flipped through the DMV handbook or something like that just to freshen up on some of the more obscure rules of the road that they seem to like to throw on the test.

Despite the fact I hadn't prepared and I had to guess on a few, I didn't miss one. Guess the test is mostly just common sense which is the way I tried to answer most questions. Several people actually did fail the test while I was there, so I guess what I've always thought was true. I am the best driver out there.

I take it back - I'm cursed

A few days ago, I wrote that the Lakers are Cursed. However all of that changed this week. The Lakers have now not only made the worst trade ever they may have made the best trade ever. The Lakers traded for one of the best post players in the game, Pau Gasol, for almost nothing. In fact, it was even less than nothing as I think Kwame Brown is a very strong negative every time he steps on the court.

This summer I was massively disappointed when Kevin Garnett went to the Celtics for what I thought was peanuts. Reportedly, the Lakers offered the core of their team in Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom. However, the ex-Celtic Kevin McHale decided to do his old team a favor and ship him to Boston. As Boston ran off to one of the best starts in league history, I could only watch wondering what could have been.

Now, I'm SOOOOO glad that trade never went down. Instead of giving a very good player in Lamar Odom and the player who could turn out to be the best Center of his age in Andrew Bynum, the Lakers had to give up nothing. They gave up their worse player and a very promising, albeit unused, rookie point guard. I'm still in shock that this trade went down and keep wondering when I will wake up. Add the fact that the Lakers also got rid of my least favorite player in Brian Cook (at least Kwame could play some defense, Cook was useless) for a very good Trevor Ariza, and Mitch Kupchak just won Executive of the year. Danny Ainge can kiss the award goodbye.

If the Lakers can just keep it together until Bynum and Ariza get back, they are going to be VERY DANGEROUS come playoff time. In fact, they probably just became the odds on favorite to win it all.

Given that I seem to be the one with the curse, everything I seem to write goes the opposite way, than maybe I should not have said that. Oh well. Just in case I really am curse, let me say, I know I will not win $100 million dollars any time soon.

Tempur-Pedic Pillows - Well worth it

I have a Tempur-Pedic pillow and I love it. Whenever I don't have it with me, I just don't sleep as well. I bought my first one about four or five years ago. About two years ago I bought the best pillow they had which cost me almost $200. It was money well spent. What is so great about it? Well it just conforms to your head. It is neither too hard nor too soft.

After I bought my second pillow, my girlfriend liked it so much, she started stealing it from me. It forced me to buy yet another pillow from them. I considered buying their stock for a while (I actually should have as it went up like a rocket several months after I looked into it)

Think about it. You sleep on your pillow every night. You spend, hopefully, eight hours on it every day. What else do you use as much (other than the mattress itself). I guess I see it kind of like designer jeans. If you are going to use something a lot, you might as well really enjoy it.

Installing a Second Hard Drive

I installed a 2nd hard drive in my computer today. I didn't really need the space but figured I didn't want to ever worry about it so I just bought a 500 GB hard drive from Fry's (only paid $100 which was a pretty good deal) and went to open my computer to install it.

Installing a second hard drive is actually a pretty easy process which most people can do themselves You simply have to open up the chassis, screw the hard drive into a slot, find the power cord and the data cord and plug them in. If you have an older computer, it can be slightly more difficult, but with SATA drives, which most drives are these days, it is a snap. Boot the computer and your computer should recognize that you installed a second drive.

Of course, I find out that my stupid computer doesn't have a slot for another 3.5 inch drive, which is the standard size for all modern hard drives. So I had to go back to Fry's to go buy a sleeve to install the drive into a 5.25 inch slot. Stupid thing cost me another $20 (they did have some cheaper options but I went with this one). Nothing ever comes easy to me I guess.

Lakers are Cursed

Seriously, it's true. And you know who is doing it? Chick Hearn. Ever since Chick Hearn has died, the Lakers have not won an NBA title. Their last title was won in 2002, the exact same year that Chick Hearn died. I'm not sure why this is the case, but it clearly is.

First they lose a championship they should have easily won when they had four future hall of famers.

Then they make one of the worst trades ever by trading Shaq for a bunch of garbage. They make the situation worse by trading the only all-star of the bunch for a guy who has bricks for hands.

There is a ray of light for the team with the development of Andrew Bynum, until he sprains his knee. They might be able to limp through until he gets back, that is until Trevor Ariza breaks his foot in practice. Practice man, we are talking about Practice. Well at least Brian Cook isn't coming back.

The Lakers were sports best franchise while Chick Hearn called the games. Since he has left the franchise hasn't been the same. If you are reading this somewhere Chick, please lift the curse.

How to Find Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii

Really easy way to find Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. Every day, just go to another store and look for one. Repeat for several months. This is what I did to finally find a Wii.

In all seriousness, I finally got Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii. I had been looking for a Guitar Hero 3 while but just could not find one. Understandable since it was a hot gift for Christmas, but even several weeks after the fact, it was still kind of amusing to me that I couldn't find one. I wasn't looking hard, but I was looking. I would just casually look whenever I was in a store that might carry it like a Target or a Best Buy.

Today, I walked into my local Target, and there were three just sitting there. Was tempted to buy all three, and resell them for a profit, but decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Just got lucky finding one I guess, kind of like what happened with the Wii. Although I somehow doubt the game will still be impossible to find this time next year, unlike the Wii which is still pretty damn hard to find.

Jerks do Win

Today, Bobby Knight won his 900th career game. I am not a Bobby Knight fan. I think the guy is a complete jerk. There are rarely if ever times you should lose your temper, yet Bobby Knight does it with frequency and people just brush it off as, "oh, but he is Bobby Knight".

How come just because you are successful you get to be a jerk. Nowhere else is that more true than sports. Only winning matters, everything else is just secondary. I've written before that nice guys finish last. I guess the converse is true, assholes do finish first.

What a Small World

Today on my way to work, I parked my car and walked toward the elevator. I saw someone I know from work and tried to wave at her. She didn't see me. However, there was another woman who did happen to notice me wave. She thought I knew her and held the elevator for me (I didn't want that to happen since I hate when people hold the elevator).

I walk into the elevator, and wouldn't you know it, I did know her. We went to college together at Princeton. She was a year below me, and we had a mutual friend who we both keep in contact with. I haven't seen her in about 5 years though. Turns out she works in the building across the street. What are the odds that I would wave at someone, she thinks I know her, and I end up knowing her?

Women Overthink Men

I was asking my friend what she was doing this weekend and she told me how her friend wanted to go shopping for a new dress for a party that she was going to. I asked her if she was doing it to impress some guy that was going to be at the party. This turned the conversation toward why women go to such great lengths to impress men.

Now I'm a strong believer that a little bit of work on yourself goes a long way. I'm fully for someone spending time on your hair and putting on makeup that suits you. If you want to put on a special outfit to impress that special someone, great. But very quickly the law of diminishing returns happen. While spending one hour getting ready might make sense, spending three hours probably does not. While picking out a special dress might help, spending a day and a fortune on a new one probably does not.

Most men are not detail oriented. They aren't going to notice that special extra touch that you did just for them. Women should accept this and understand this. Most women actually get upset that men don't recognize these fine little touches but it is just the nature of man. We are always looking at the bigger picture and not so much on the fine details.

Sit 'N Sleep Has Never Given Away a Free Mattress

There is a company that sells mattresses called Sit 'N Sleep. They are located mostly in the Los Angeles area. The radio spot states, "Sit 'n Sleep will beat anyone's advertised price, or your mattress is FREEEEE!!!"

This really really bothers me. The commercial makes no sense. There is no way that Sit 'N Sleep has ever made good on this promise. Here is why. Why on earth wouldn't they match the price? Forget the fact that you won't find the exact same mattress at another store. The problem is that from a logical perspective they would ALWAYS be better off matching the price. There is nothing less than free. So the commercial just bugs me because it doesn't make any sense. If the advertised price of the competitor was $0.01, Sit 'N Sleep would still be better off taking the penny.

New Hampshire is a Bunch of Liars

Most polls had Obama winning handling in New Hampshire. But sure enough, Hillary won the state. It's odd. Most of the time polling is so accurate, especially when they predict a win as big as Obama was seemingly going to have. But somehow, Clinton pulled it out. I know why, New Hampshire citizens are a bunch of liars. Pollsters asked who they would vote for, and then the people of New Hampshire just lied to them. That's the only reason I can think of.

Perhaps women connected with Hillary after her tearful outburst. Perhaps there were some other shenanigans. Who knows. But I'm done talking about the race until November rolls around. Despite the fact that I like to consider myself up to date on current events, the presidential primaries have always turned me off.

Still Can't find Guitar Hero for the Wii

I've been searching for a while, but for some reason, I can't find a Guitar Hero for the Wii. I've looked in a few different stores and still can't locate one. You would think now that the holidays are over, it would be easy to find one. You would think that because it is a game, and not the console itself, it would be easy to find. But alas no. Even checked on Amazon, but not available.

Can't Motivate at Home

I use to never be the type to not be able to do work at home. But lately, I can't seem to actually get myself to do any sort of work as soon as I enter my home. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I don't have my own place quite yet, but I don't know why all of a sudden I can't seem to motivate for a new job. It should be easy for me, especially considering my girlfriend isn't with me, so I don't have a lot to distract me. Wonder what's going on with me.

Whatever happened to Best Buy

I use to love going to Best Buy. Not only did they have a great variety of stuff, but they usually had a pretty good deal on the things I was looking for.

However, lately this has not been the case. They still have one of the better selections around (Fry's is better but they aren't as omnipresent) but I almost never find a deal that entices me to buy whatever it is I might be looking for. I went today to look for an earpiece for my phone. Important now because I'm talking on it a lot more with my girlfriend and California's impending headset law. However they didn't have any headset that was on sale. I don't particularly care which one I get, I just want a good deal on one.

I'm sure Best Buy went away from this because special deals lowers the margin they make at a store, and thus makes the numbers look bad. But I think they have went away from why people like myself liked them. I'm now much more likely to just stop going to Best Buy and switch most of my electronics shopping online.

Honesty Doesn't Pay

Normally, I love Costco. I like that they a liberal return policy, even if I rarely if ever use it.

About a month ago, I bought an air mattress for my girlfriend who was going to need it at her new place. It ended up that she didn't need it so I decided to go return it. Normally, at Costco, you do not need a receipt because they can look up the item on your card and that is sufficient. So I didn't bother looking for the receipt.

However, I had purchased the item after my membership was up for renewal. I don't pay for the membership, my brother does, so I told the cashier this. He said that was fine, and overrode the computer, letting me purchase the item. I did not realize that this was not noted on my card however.

When I went to return it, the lady helping me must have been in a bad mood. She was very short with me and acted like I had stolen her first born child or something. After finding how much the item was, she had asked a co-worker if there was a discount on the item. Without the discount, it was $129,99. I spoke up and said, yes, in fact I did receive a discount. if I said nothing, she would have had to give me back $129.99. She found the discount, and applied it. However, it was for $30 while I only got a $20 discount. I told her this and she said to me, very rudely, "Either you take the $99 or you leave with the item." I was in shock with her rudeness. Costco is known for their good customer service, and this lady was not showing it.

Goes to show you, honestly doesn't always pay. If I would have just kept my mouth shut, I would have gotten $30 more. Oh well.

Wikipedia is Fast!

The news just came out that Rick Neuheisel will be the next Head football coach of UCLA. I went to Wikipedia to look him up because I didn't know much about his history as a player (I had only heard of him because of the scandal that caused him to be fired).

Well, I get to Neuheisel's Wikipedia page, and it is already updated with the fact that he was hired by UCLA. It wasn't any more than 4 hours ago that the news story was broken, and there it was already in Wikipedia.

This is something that is really changing the world. Certainly it has already, but we are only seeing the very early stages of it. Information just flows so much faster now than it ever has in the past. Things like this get updated in real time, and that has profound effects downstream.

Brian Cook Trade Just Keeps Getting Better

Last night, the Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns on Chirstmas Day in front of a National TV audience. This was in no small part to thanks to Trevor Ariza who was the player sent over when Brian Cook was traded to the Orlando Magic. Trevor Ariza made his first start as a Laker and scored 14 points to go along with 7 rebounds, 3 assist, and one of the sickest dunks I've seen in a very long time. He got the past on a fast break and basically jumped over Grant Hill (who actually looked to have good position, but no way should a ref negate that play)



Of course, I've stated I would have taken a bag of chips to get rid of Brian Cook and I meant it. Getting someone as good as Trevor Ariza is just icing on the cake. Or should I say salt on the chip?

Stupid Drivers - Turning Right

Drivers of the world. When you have a green right turn arrow it means you have the right of way. It means that there will not be opposing traffic coming from the other direction. It means that you can not come to a full stop, check both ways for a few seconds, and then turn. If you want to slow down a little bit just to be sure, maybe. But please, you do not need to come to a full and complete stop.

That is all.

Pimp My Ride

It always makes me a little sad when I watch the show and the people on it talk about how its going to change their life. There are lots of events that could change someones life. Getting an organ transplant, finding a lost parent, getting a great new job, etc.

But getting a car? Even a really nice one? I realize, that some of these people have been very unfortunate, and that any act of kindness is greatly appreciated. But getting a pimped out car does not top my list of things that are life-altering. PERHAPS if I could sell the car for a serious profit and use the money to do something else, but just having the car itself would not be life-altering for me in almost any other circumstance. No matter how down in my luck I was.

It actually makes me think of a scene in Hoosiers where the teacher explains to the coach that she doesn't want the highlight of someone's life to have happened in High School. I would just hope that nobody's highest point in their life would be getting a dope ride.

Gift Cards for Christmas?

The Holiday season is upon us and one discussion I have had with people is if it is appropriate to give people gift cards for Christmas. The argument goes is that it would be equivalent to giving someone cash, and this is generally frowned upon.

I used to be of the belief that it was not appropriate to give gift cards or cash as a gift. I've always believed that it was the thought in the gift that counted the most, and it didn't take much thought to buy someone a gift card from Best Buy or Target. However, I've recently done a complete U-turn on this subject. The reason is because I've been enjoying the benefit of this my entire life and never complained about it then.

You see, I'm Chinese. And in Chinese culture, it is completely appropriate to give cash as a gift. In fact, it is the norm. I used to love getting those little red envelopes filled with money for my birthday or for Chinese New Year. The funny thing was, for some reason, I never put the two together. I thought it was fine for Chinese people to give me money as a gift but always believed that I should not do the same. Maybe it's because I don't really consider myself Chinese.

Either way, I've changed my mind on the subject. Partially due to this epiphany, partially due to the fact that the older I get, the more I appreciate how hard it is to buy someone like me a gift. I would rather not have people stress otu to try and buy me a gift, so if it easier to give me a gift card, so be it.

How Cold Is It In Seattle Right Now?

I went out to lunch yesterday. At lunch I ordered a coke. I took it with me when I left the restaurant and drove home. Being the lazy man that I am, I didn't bring the cup in with me when I got home.

This afternoon, about 24 hours after I had gone out to lunch, I got back in my car to run some errands. I looked down at the cup of coke, expecting to see all liquid. Much to my surprise, it looked as if I hadn't left more than 5 minutes ago, because the ice was still floating at the top.

DVDs and VHS

Here is a random fact I had no idea was true. A DVD case and a VHS tape are exactly the same height. I found this out today packing, and I happen to have an old VHS tape I am dragging along with me. I packed it next to the DVD case and noticed they were flush. I assume this is on purpose so that old storage shelves used to hold VHS tapes could hold DVD movies. Just thought this was an interesting fact.

DRM Sucks

DRM, or digital rights management, sucks. I have no idea why companies continue to insist on implementing half-ass solutions that do nothing to prevent piracy and do everything to prevent people who want to legitimately use their product from doing so.

I got Hairspray from my Blockbuster Online account. I actually have packed up most of my stuff already, so I don't really have a good place to watch the movie other than on my computer. So I popped the DVD in my computer, and started up my Media Center. Of course, my computer is having problems reading the stupid DVD because New Line had decided to put some Anti-Piracy measures on the DVD to ensure people don't try and steal this movie. These types of measures generally make it more difficult for computers to read the data because this is where pirates are going to try and rip the movie off of. It is supposed to work for legitimate uses, like paying in my media center, but there are always issues.

Of course, one quick search on any torrent network, and you can find copies of it. The only people this really hurts are those who just want to legitimately watch the movie. With the prevalence of media centers and people watching movies on their computer, I just don't understand why companies think this is a good idea. It does not stop piracy, it only pisses off legitimate users.

Most overpaid athletes in professional sports

As this is the most popular search on my blog, I figured I would actually compile a list of the most overpaid athletes in professional sports. Now I really don't think these athletes are overpaid, as I don't think anyone is overpaid. These athletes signed contracts, and their employers were willing and often eager to give them these huge paydays. This is a list of athletes who, in my opinion, give their teams the least bang for their buck.

Shaquille O'Neal - I've written before how I feel about Shaq, how he is not the most dominant ever. He did get Miami one NBA ring, but he recently signed a contract extension worth $100 Million over 5 years. That buys you 16pts and 7 Rebounds a game. That is until he gets injured, which is inevitable. The last two years he has averaged 50 games a season.

Stephon Marbury - Guy walked out on his team but is under contract for a little more than $14.5 million. I should actually include the entire New York Knicks team and the idiot Isiah Thomas, but this one is good enough. That's all I have to say about that.

David Beckham - He signed a 5 year $250 Million contract to play in a league few people know about. At half that salary, it would be too much. I don't know a single person who follows MLS, so how on earth can you make him one of the highest paid players in all of professional sports? He isn't even close to the best player in the world anymore. It just doesn't make any sense.

Jason Giambi - Highest paid player last year in MLB earning $23,5 Million. For all that money, the Yankees got a player who only played in half the games and hit a pretty bad .236 with 14 homeruns. Guess he isn't quite the same player without the juice. I am tempted to add Alex Rodriguez onto the list, but while he can't win a championship, he at least is the league MVP.

Honorable Mention - Michael Vick. Should be on the list, since he had a ton of guaranteed money that the Falcons haven't recovered, but considering he isn't actually playing, I left him off the list.

I don't know Hockey well enough to pick one from that sport so that is my list. Did I leave anyone obvious off? What are your thoughts

Ranking Performance

I don't know why people get so upset about being ranked. There are some people where I used to work that seem to have a real problem with being ranked. At the time of reviews, all the managers get together and essentially rank you against the other employees in your peer group. This is how the decide on who gets what for a bonus, raise, promotion, etc.

I personally feel I should be told my rank. If there are 20 people who I'm being compared against, I want to know if I'm 1, 7, or 20. In any company, this has to happen. People must be differentiated. If you don't differentiate people, than you have people who slack off getting the same rewards as people who do all the work. All that leads to are people at the top wondering why they are working so hard and doing all the work yet getting the same benefits as everyone else. This leads to them either leaving the company or working less hard, which in turn is bad for everyone. Even the people at the bottom as the company is likely to go under when everyone stops giving a damn.

Now, we are not actually told a number where we are ranked. You can kind of figure out where you are by figuring out how your review went and what type of rewards you got. But seriously, I think I should be given a number. Why is hiding the number and not telling anyone, yet still coming up with that ranking and using it to figure out something as important as raises and promotions, a good thing. Who does it help? Is it going to hurt someones feelings? Does it make it better to see that you clearly got the low end of rewards but not know you are at the bottom of the ranking? Do these people kid themselves into believing they aren't at the bottom?

When I was in High School I knew my rank. I was #8 in my graduating class (out of about 600). For someone as competitive as I am, you would think it really bothered me. And you would be right, it did. I wanted to be #1, but I wasn't. I sought to improve, but in the end I wasn't angry that I was #8, it was what it was. I didn't hate #1-7, they were some of my best friends. If I can handle it as a teenager, why can't people handle it as adults?

Now I'm not saying that you make public who is ranked where. But you yourself should know where you rank at work if they are coming up with that number anyway.

Moving Around Junk

I'm not sure why we do this, but people tend to keep moving around the same old junk. As I prepare to pack up and move, I am going through the closets to see what I have and what I want to get rid of.

As I do this, I run across stuff I brought up with me from LA, unpacked, and never looked at again. So in essence I dragged my stuff 1200 miles across the country, stored it for two years and never looked at it, and I will now drag it back the full 1200 miles just in case I might need to use it again some day.

What will make it even more perfect is if I someday move back to NYC. Could you imagine? I'm sure I have a few items that made their way from NYC with me that I haven't looked at again since then. If that ever happens, I would have dragged the junk almost 9,000 miles with me.

Now I tend not to save too much junk, but imagine all the people who do. Just thinking about the colossal waste in energy and space that all this junk it taking up is mind-numbing. And for what?

Shanghai Kiss - A Review

I rented a movie called Shanghai Kiss. I had never heard of it before I saw it on the shelf at Blockbuster. It caught my eye because it had Hayden Panettiere in it, and I'm a big Heroes Fan. But when I picked it up, and saw the premise, I decided not to put it down.

My girlfriend and I have noticed that Asian Men tend to not date non-asian women. (By the way, I have been noticing more and more examples of this not being true, so maybe the tide is turning). Since this premise of this movie is about an Asian Man dating a White Girl, I thought I would at least see what it was about. Bad mistake.

The basic premise is that Ken Leung, a thirty something struggling actor, meets a 16 year old Hayden Panettiere while taking the bus. They become friends, which is awkward enough, and the whole movie you are wondering if it will turn into more.

Spoilers after this

Most of the film revolves around Leung struggling to find his place in the world. He is neither Asian nor does he feel like he is really American. Everyone in America sees him as Chinese and nothing more. Everyone in China sees him as an American. All the while, the one person who really loves him, Panettiere, is off limits.

This is one of those movies that is just awkward. Why is a thirty year old guy hanging out with a sixteen year old girl? They address this issue multiple times in the movie, so clearly they want you to feel this awkwardness, but it still made the whole thing creepy. I can relate to the Lenug's feeling of being trapped between two worlds, as I often fell this way myself, but the ways in which this movie addresses those issues seem a little contrived. Further, the awkward romance between the two forces you to focus on that rather than Leung's racial dilemma.

In the end, he ends up with Panettiere, of course only after she turns eighteen. It's still creepy though for a 30 something year old guy to be dating an 18 year old girl. Asian guys have it hard enough as it is, there is no need for a stereotype to be formed that we are so hard up for dates, that we will resort to dating underage girls. Maybe it wasn't the point of the movie, but it was certainly what I focused on.

Seattle Weather

It is snowing in Seattle right now. It is sixty degrees in L.A. Is it any wonder why I'm excited to move back to Southern California?

How Does Isiah Thomas Keep His Job?

I thought Brian Cook must have dirty pictures on someone, but Isiah Thomas must have pictures of James Dolan killing someone because I have no idea how he keeps his job. Last night, the Knicks got killed by the Boston Celtics by almost fifty points, and it wasn't even that close. I don't know how much Isiah Thomas makes, but if he isn't paying the Knicks to be the coach and GM, he is being overpaid.

The Knicks seemed to forgive Thomas even though they lost a sexual harassment case earlier this year. This might be understandable if the Knicks were a good team since in sports, winning cures all. But they obviously suck. It might even make sense if the Knicks were just rebuilding because and had a bunch of young, cheap players. But the Knicks have the 2nd highest payroll in the league. This is the same guy who traded for Eddy Curry and who gave Jerome James a huge contract. So why oh why does Isiah get to keep his job?

Powergrid

Last night, I had some people over to play Powergrid. It's one of the things I will miss about Seattle, I love getting together with this group to play.

Powergrid is a board game by Friedemann Friese and distributed by Rio Grande Games. It is relatively simple game in theory. Buy Power plants, buy resources, power homes. Complexity is introduced by how turn order is determined (turn order is a big deal in this game) and by how power plants are purchased (through auctions).

Despite Jenny's fondness of games, I think she would hate this game because

1. The way we play it, people can take a very long time in there turns and I see Jenny getting impatient
2. I like it, and Jenny hates everything I like.

I hope that I can introduce some of my friends in California to the game because I like playing it and I would hate to not play it again just because I moved a few thousand miles. I've gotten pretty good at it, and I'm to the point where I can actually remember what power plants are what

Wii - Still Hard to Get

Not to make this the Wii-Blog since I talked about it last time, but the other thing I noticed was that it can still be relatively hard to find the Wii. And it isn't just because the Christmas Season started. I've noticed consistently throughout the year that stores do not have any Wii's in stock. How can it be that one year after this console has been released, they still can't keep in on the shelf? I find it really hard to believe that demand is so hi that supply has yet to be able to catch up. Is this a worldwide shortage? Maybe it is only local to Redmond. Anybody else notice this or has it been easy to get a Wii everywhere else?

Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii

I've been keeping my eye out for the Wii version of Guitar Hero III. I enjoyed the Guitar Hero II enough (on the Xbox 360) that I figured I would at least consider buying this game.

Of course, everywhere I go look for the game, they are sold out. I'm having more trouble finding this game than I am getting my Wii in the first place. I did happen to see a bunch of them at a Fry's when it first came out, but I didn't buy it then because I figured I would buy it later when I had more time to play. Little did I know it would be so hard to get later. Maybe it's the must have thing for Christmas.

I don't even want the game all that much. I think it is fun, but not great, and since it's more expensive than a normal game, since you have to buy it with the guitar, I'm more inclined to go buy a game like Super Mario Galaxy. But now I think it's the fact that I can't find it that makes me want it more. How come we always want things we can't have?

Marion Jones' Teammates - No Fair Outcome

Today, the IAFF announced that all results for Marion Jones would be annulled dating back to September 2000. Not only were all the results voided, she has been asked to return all of her prize money (I somehow doubt that will happen)

To exacerbate the situation, they have recommended that her teammates who won a medal along with her in the Olympics, also return their medals.

Now I 100% agree that all Jones' individual result be voided, but what is the fair thing to do for her relay teammates? In all likelihood, they did not know of her drug use, so should they be punished as well?

In the end, I think the only fair thing is to strip them of the medals. Relays are team sports, and the unfortunate reality of team sports is that you either win as a team or you lose as a team. There is no concept of "half the team wins, the other half loses". While that may seem harsh, it is equally unfair to let it stand. What if you were the 2nd place team? Wouldn't you feel cheated out of your gold medal? What if you were the 4th place team and didn't even get a medal?

So what is the fairest thing to do?

Riding the Elevator One Floor

Please, if you have two able legs, nothing to carry, and the stairs is right next to the elevator, please do not ride the elevator up one floor. It greatly annoys those who have multiple flights to go up.

Thank you


I originally wrote this post more than a year ago, as I was aggravated with all the people in my building that insisted on taking the elevator one floor. I wanted to scream at them to ask them if they realized how much they were inconveniencing everyone else, but I never did.

The funny thing about this, is that I would often think about ways that the elevator should really be optimized to shuttle traffic in my building. During the beginning of the day, it would wait on the bottom floor for people since most likely people would want to go up, the opposite would be true at the end of the day. All sorts of optimizations would pop up in my head.

And it actually came up in an interview I had the other day. The guy asked me how I would design an elevator algorithm, and I thought back to all those times I wanted to scream at those people that they were messing up my optimum strategy. Who knew it would pay off? I got a job offer from them.

Brian Cook Traded

Today is one of the happiest days on earth if you are a Laker fan. Today, the Lakers traded Brian Cook and Mo Evans for Trevor Ariza. Brian Cook was by far my least favorite Laker. He was horrible. The picture I put next to the post says it all. It is of Brian Cook "defending" another guy. I put "defending" in quotes because the next time Brian Cook defends someone, it will be his first time. You notice how the other player is going right by Cook and he seems to be jumping out of the way. You aren't imagining it, it is what he is doing.

The guy is horrible, and completely one dimensional, and he isn't even great in that one dimension. If the Lakers really wanted someone to just stand outside the three point line and occasionally hit one, I'm available. I may even be headed back to LA so it would be an easy transition.

They got back a Player in Trevor Ariza that is young, athletic, and a pretty decent defender. Not much of a scorer, but with Kobe Bryant (for now) do you really need someone who is a scorer. No, you need someone who can defend the other teams wing player, which is something I hope Ariza will bring. But for me, it really isn't the point. The Lakers could have traded Brian Cook for a bag of chips, yes a bag of chips, and I still think the Lakers would have gotten the better end of that deal. Talk about overpaid athletes, Cook is just stealing money from whichever team he is playing for.

Permanent Air Filters

Liz bought an air filter. It is supposed to be one of those "permanent" Hepa filters. But that's a big scam. We bought a Honeywell 50150. We bought it mainly because we don't want to be bothered buying new air filters every few months. Because we are both allergic to our cat, and dander is a big issue, we wanted to get a good air filter we could run pretty consistently.

However, this permanent air filter thing is a big scam. You see, while the "air filter" itself is permanent, they have a "pre filter" which is not. So you have to go and buy a new "pre filter" every six months or so.

So while technically they did not lie to me, I feel a little bit mislead.

Lasik update - Four years later

I have been really bad about going to the optometrist to get my eyes check since I have had Lasik. Really you should go every year just to be sure that your eyes are OK. I haven't been to the Optometrist in well over two years, and I was due to go.

Since my insurance was almost up, I decided to just go. Considering MS employees pay absolutely nothing to go to any doctor, you figure I would have done it sooner. Oh well. Turns out, I actually have a slight astigmatism now. I didn't have an astigmatism before Dr. Assil performed Lasik on me. It's small enough that I didn't end up filling my prescription for new eyeglasses, but I probably will as soon as I start a new job and get some insurance again. It only somewhat bothers me at night when I drive, but it's probably worth it for just that.

For the Full story you probably want to follow the following link:

All Lasik Post

Are Designer Jeans Worth It?

Someone found their way to my blog with a search on Google for Diesel Jeans worth it. This points to my post about if I thought the pair of Diesel Jeans I bought and if I thought they were worth the money. People find their way to this site in lots of different ways, the most popular by far being "should college athletes be paid". or "are athletes paid too much?"(quick side comment, I was shocked to see how many comments were on that post. People really do feel passionate about that don't they?) So with all the various reasons why people end up on my blog, why would I even post about this?

Well I just have an obvious weakness for designer jeans. And I'm oddly proud that somehow I made it to the top of the Google rankings for this search. Granted it's pretty specific, and it is basically the title of my post, but still, it was something I felt was pretty cool.

Quick update about the jeans by the way. I actually still own that pair of Diesel jeans, but I honestly don't wear them all that often. I now have several more pairs of designer jeans, but for the most part I don't buy Diesel, and haven't in many years. My favorite brand by far is Seven, and I own several pairs of them. I also did end up buying that $200 pair of Citizen for Humanity jeans. They are great as well, but I think I still prefer the Sevens. I ended up buying so many pairs because it literally has become all I wear. I get tremendous use from them, so in the end it became worth it to pay a little more for something I really like and use all the time.

I think what I like best about it is that I always get my jeans tailored to fit me, so the length is always perfect. I didn't know until my girlfriend pointed it out to me that Nordstrom tailors pants for free if you buy it from them. Ever since I found this out, and got my Jeans tailored by them, I haven't looked back.

By the way, as I finished writing this post, I felt very gay all of the sudden. Excuse me, I have to go kiss my girlfriend now.

More Blogging - Just maybe not here

Over the last two years, my blogging has dramatically tailed off in this blog. Much of that was on purpose, because I really didn't want to be blogging about things at work, and work consumed so much of my life. Now that I quit, I still haven't blogged all that often, but that's because I am starting a little something. Most of the people who actually know me, know what I'm up to, but I'm purposefully not talking about it here simply because I want to keep the two things separate.

I've done that on this blog for a reason. It actually paid off pretty well. You see, in this day and age, you can never really be sure who is going to want to know something about you and what they will do to find it. In my blog before this blog, I started getting an unusually high number of hits on my name, and that just bothered me. Who was searching for me? Why? So I stopped that blog and created this one, and have thus far tried to avoid being linked to this site by people randomly searching for me.

But in a job interview the other day, someone actually told me they "Googled" me. Of course, they didn't really find too many interesting things, but I was glad they didn't end up here. Not that I am ashamed of this site or anything, quite the contrary, but your employer really shouldn't know everything there is to know about you. And since I'm pretty open how I feel about various controversial topics, best to just play it safe.

I will probably, at least for the short term, pick the pace back up with my blogging efforts. It actually will help me in a number of ways with my other project. If you want to know what i'm up to, and just have no idea what I'm talking about, leave a comment or e-mail me. I'd be happy to tell you.

Blockbuster Online - Good Integration

I went to go rent a movie from Blockbuster. As those who follow my blog know, I'm a Total Access member. I actually find the trade-in feature to be very useful, almost more useful than actually getting DVDs in the mail, so I tend to use it a lot.

Today, I traded in my DVD for a movie that was in my Queue. When I went home, and logged in to Blockbuster Online to remove the movie, it prompted me with a message that I had traded in a DVD for a movie in my queue, and displayed that movie for me to remove. I was impressed. It's not often you get really good integration like this,and Blockbuster has done a pretty good job in this respect.

I for one, am a big fan of Total Access as of now, so I would be very weary if I were Netflix.

Back from Cali

I just got back from my California trip. A few things I learned along the way.

1. Driving from Seattle to San Diego takes a REALLY long time
2. It really does rain too much in the Northwest. It was raining all the way down until I hit California, and then clear skies
3. Parking in San Francisco is a nightmare
4. I miss California, but maybe not enough to move back
5. Bringing your pet on the family trip is a real pain in the ass (even though I'm glad I did it)

Overall a good trip. Glad to have gone to the two weddings. Somewhat glad I drove, as it allowed us to take our time back up the coast and see things Like Monterey and Carmel. It made me miss places like In-N-Out and Sammy's. But then it reminded me of things I don't really care for like Traffic. Still, I think we are decided that we will at least look into moving back to California, but it won't be the first choice.

New York Home Prices

I was watching a financial show and they were talking about the housing numbers that came out today. The decline in housing sales is remarkable, but one city continues to buck the trend, Manhattan. They were showing off a condo, 1 bedroom, 1.5 baths going for $1.6 million. This was the typical New York apartment.

The reason I comment on this, is not because I think the price is ridiculous (which I do) but because of what one of the guest on the show said. They basically said that they thought the trend would continue because of Wall Street. You see, people on Wall Street get these big bonuses, and that means they can afford to pay a lot for their houses. Since Wall Street isn't going anywhere, it stands to reason that home prices in Manhattan must stay hi.

Wow, didn't realize that Wall Street was a new phenomenon. I figured it has been around for quite a while, a little over 100 years in its current form. People on the street have been getting insane bonuses for a little over a century, but I guess they were all living in boxes on the side of the road, because how else can you explain the recent insane home prices there?

When it rains, it ...

Causes me to get into an accident. Yes, if you can believe it, I got into an accident yesterday. Of course this is really really bad timing for two reasons.

1. I'm supposed to leave for a trip on Wednesday where I was going to DRIVE down to California.
2. I just became unemployed.

I think the universe must have a really sick sense of humor. I'm actually quite grateful that it didn't end up much worse than it was. I basically did a 360 on the freeway, and hit the side of the road. Lucky for me, I'm perfectly fine, and I didn't hit anyone else. Moreover, my car, cosmetically doesn't look too bad. Unfortunately, I messed up the steering column of my car and it's going to be a lot of money to fix.

Quit my Job

I quit my job this week. Don't have anything else lined up. Just didn't want to work at my current job anymore.

It may sound a little crazy, but I don't think so. I think it's crazy to continue to do a job that you just hate. I could deal with it if it were only a little aggravating, but it was way beyond that. The stress just wasn't worth it.

What am I going to do next? I really don't know. I have one more week of work and then I'm just going to take some time off and really think about what I want to do next. The next job has to stick. I really want the next job to be the job that I stay with for a long time, and presents tremendous opportunties to me.

I'm a little nervous, but excited to. Never done anything like this ...

Debt Free

I don't get to blog very much anymore but had to blog today. Today marks a very significant milestone for me. For the first time in my adult life, I'm 100% debt free. I don't have a single loan that is outstanding. No credit cards, student debt, mortgage payment. Nothing. Not many people can say that.

It's a really great feeling actually. I knew this day was coming soon. It in reality could have come much much sooner as I have, for a really long time, had more cash in my savings account than what I owed in debts. The thing is, it really wasn't all that hard. It was a simple matter of not spending what I didn't have. Despite my above average salary, I lived a below average life. After a while, I just got use to it. It in some ways became addictive. I kept finding ways to save money. I'm probably cheaper now than when I first graduated college, despite the fact I have way more money now.

I don't know how long I will be debt free for. Some day in the not so distant future, I will probably buy a house, and then have a debt that will take me several years to pay off. But for now, I have no financial obligations other than what I spend month to month. People underestimate how valuable it is to be debt free. A lot of possibilities open up when you no longer owe anything to anybody. I could just quit my job and not work for a while. But that would just be plain crazy.

Why the NBA Salary Cap is Stupid

Despite the fact that I'm a big NBA fan, I haven't been paying much attention to the NBA finals. the main reason I haven't been watching (and it appears Lebron isn't either) is that it's boring and utterly predictable. There is no doubt that the Spurs will win the series.

Here is the fundamental problem. The NBA Western Conference is far superior to the Eastern Conference. With the development that both Greg Oden and Kevin Durant are heading West, the situation is looking even more bleak for the east. The salary cap ensures things will be like this for years.

Once upon a time, the NBA decided parity would be a good thing. How did they go about it? The NBA limits how much teams can pay their stars. This means that even if an eastern conference team, say the Knicks, wants to go pay a free agent $20 million/year, they can't, because they are over the cap. What's worse is that if they have made mistakes in the past, and believe me they have, they can't get out from under it for two reasons.

Contracts are guaranteed and count against the cap. This means that if you make a mistake, see Alan Houston, it lingers for the entire length of the contract. This is compared to the NFL who can cut a player who isn't earning their paycheck.

Well at least they can trade their way out of it right? Nope. NBA trade rules are very strict making blockbuster trades very rare. Baseball puts almost no restrictions on trades, meaning that teams like the Rangers can trade a huge contract like Alex Rodriguez and save some money in the process. The NBA doesn't allow teams to send out more salary then they get back.

So you get where we are today. All the good teams in one conference and none of them in the Major markets. The NBA was best when it was dominated by a few great teams like the Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls. The NBA tried to become more like the NFL, where parity works, but they failed to do so because they didn't understand that basketball is not football.

NBA needs to open up movement. If you must keep the cap, that is understandable, but change the rules so that trades become easier to make or teams can get out from under hideous contracts.

When is it not a good time to buy a house

How come Realtors always say it is a good time to buy a house?

House prices across the nation have been on the decline as of late. (By the way, I called the top) and look to be getting worse, not better. However, according to the president of the Realtors, it is a great time to buy.

It’s a good time to buy, in part, because home buyers are not pressured to make quick decisions,” Combs said. “We’re in a window of low interest rates with a plentiful supply homes on the market and flat prices in most areas. First-time buyers now have more power to negotiate with sellers for help on downpayment or closing costs.”

Of course in 2005, when the housing market was roaring the then President of the Realtors said

Low interest rates continue to offer opportunities to first-time buyers - a huge potential market given the generational bulge and who believe that housing is a good investment. They provide a ready market for existing owners wishing to make a trade, so there is strong demand in every sector of the housing market."

So let me get this straight. It's a great time to buy when prices are going up, because you will get all the appreciation, and its a great time to buy when prices are going down, because you will get a great value. Hmm. Is it ever not a good time to buy a house? If it's always a good idea all the time to buy a house, everyone should stop what they are doing and just become land barons. Better yet, real estate agents, I mean, it doesn't look like there are many qualifications (including honesty)

If this just goes to show you that your Real Estate agent is not your friend, I'm not sure what will.

Amazon Recommendations ... Spot On

The other day I was at the library and was looking for a book. Right on my way out, I saw something that caught my eye. It was a book called Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.

I logged into Amazon the next day and at the top they normally recommend you books based on what you bought there. I don't have a huge buying history from Amazon, and most of the stuff I have bought there has been for other people. But right there was there recommendation for that very same book. I was very impressed and decided to give Amazon its due.

Developing Alzheimers?

I was telling my girlfriend a story about how I thought I was a victim of racism when I was in Chicago. Basically, I went into a Walgreens to buy some stuff before getting on the plane back to Seattle. The store clerk was helping the customer in front of me, and I was just kind of looking around the store. She asked, "Can I help you with something?". I said, "No, just waiting to pay for my stuff". And didn't think anything of it.

I proceeded to pay, the bill came out to about $3.00, which I charged to my Amex. She asked me for my billing zip and I told her 08544. She said it wasn't working, and asked me again. I repeated, 08544. She said it didn't work. I was in disbelief, as there is no way my card is getting rejected for $3. But instead of figuring it out, I just paid in cash. Later that hour, I stopped by the gas station to get gas and my card worked just fine.

Like I said, I relayed the story to my girlfriend that night and was sure that the woman was up to something funny. I told the story EXACTLY like I did above. And then it dawned on me (much like it has already on Jenny) when my girlfriend looked at me funny. My zip code is not 08544, and it hasn't been in over 7 years.

Tax programs in Washington

I meant to post this earlier, but I never got around to it. But one thing I kept thinking to myself this tax season. Why on earth can you buy State Tax programs in Washington State. There is no state income tax, yet everywhere I go, I see the version of Turbo Tax State or Tax Cut State on the shelf.

Now, I could understand if it were just a few copies, but we are talking shelves and shelves. Sure, there are people like me, who work partially in another state for the year, who have to file state taxes somewhere else. But otherwise, for 99% of Washingtonians, there is no need to buy the state version of tax software.

Anyone have an explanation?

29

Even though I don't blog nearly as much as I want to, I nevertheless want to blog on my birthday. It gives me a chance to look back each year to see where I was the previous year and kind of take an assessment of where my life has gone.

My last year's blog seems almost prophetic. 28 was indeed a very good and very lucky year. It went by amazingly fast, I can't believe I've been in Seattle for a year, but it's been a good year. As unreal as it sounds, things are even better with my girlfriend. You would think that after almost two years together, we would hit some rough patches or get sick of each other, but I can honestly say that things are better now than they have ever been.

Bandit the Wonder Kitty is also fantastic. I think he misses Smokey at times but he seems to genuinely like being an only child. He is still fat, something I keep meaning to work on, but he is content to just sit on my lap even as I type this.

Job is good although my initial enthusiasm for the job has been tempered somewhat. Microsoft is a great place to work with wonderful benefits and some good opportunities. Like any job, it has its problems. There are times I'm frustrated, there are times I'm very frustrated. But I think back on what life was like before, and well I guess I don't have much to complain about. Do I see this as a permanent stopping point in life. No. But it has made a nice little waypoint

29. My last year to be in my twenties. Just seems odd. Am I where I thought I would be at this age? Probably not. I probably have some catching up to do, but I've been doing that all my life and I relish the opportunity to do it again. So far, I think I've taken the safe road and the road has been good to me. Should I continue to do that or should I use the last few years of my youth to take on some serious risk? The advantages of youth are a real lack of responsibility and the time to make up for anything in your life you screw up. Is it time to do it? If not now, when?

Smallville: Jumping the Shark

Last night, Smallville officially jumped the shark. In truth, the show probably jumped a while ago, but I stuck around because I'm a big fan of the Superman mythos. They kept it interesting this year by having a lot of the plot revolve around other Justice League members. Their take on it was pretty interesting.

But last night was just awful. The plot was pathetically predictable and reeked of desperation. At every point in the show I knew exactly what was going to happen next because it kept playing out as a bad soap opera plot. And sure enough, it ended with a fantastic thud. Seriously, what's going on with the show? Why on earth can't Clark fly yet? Where are the glasses? Lana Lang marries Lex?

Oh well, one less show I have to watch. Guess it's just Heroes now.

Costco Changes Its Policy

Costco has made a decision to change it's return policy on certain electronics. Most noticeably this affects people who buy televisions and other high priced electronics at Costco.

For those that don't know, Costco has always had a 100% satisfaction guarantee. This meant that at any time in the lifetime of a product, if you weren't happy with it, you could return it. This meant that if for any reason, say the TV just stopped working, you could return it back to Costco and they would refund the money back to you.

Of course, this policy is going to be abused by some people. You can see how easily it can be abused. I can buy a Plasma TV today and then 5 years later decide I want a new TV, return it, get my money back, and then buy another TV.

Of course, most people are probably not this unscrupulous. This is clearly one of those times that a few bad people ruin it for everybody else. I was seriously considering buying a new TV from Costco. I had in fact been visiting the store a lot recently checking out the TVs that they have. The biggest reason I wanted to buy from them was the safety net it would provide in case something did indeed go wrong. I would of course not abuse the system, I wouldn't return the TV just to get a new one, but I would return it if indeed it broke. Now that Costco has changed the policy, I will probably be looking elsewhere for a TV.

I totally get why Costco had to change the policy. But I also think they could have done something to mitigate the whole problem. If it were me, I probably would have amended the policy rather than completely revoke it. They could have been creative and say give you one return of $500 or more during the life of the product. This would limit their losses from people who are really abusing the policy, but still service the people like myself who would truly benefit and not abuse the system.

Bumper Sticker.

I was driving around today and saw a "I Love My Wife" bumper sticker.

Why on earth would anyone actually put this on their car? Nothing good can be implied from the sticker. If the guy put it on his car of his own free will that's just pretty pathetic. If his wife made him put it on, you know that marriage can't be headed for success. If its supposed to be a joke, it isn't particularly funny.

Capping Executive Pay

I was watching TV when the topic of executive pay came up.

There is a provision in the minimum wage bill before congress about effectively capping executive pay by taxing it. Now I admittedly don't know the full details of how they will try to limit executive pay, it seems they want to eliminate some loopholes in the tax code, but this post is not about the details.

The person who was arguing for caps on executive pay gave the usual rhetoric of how it isn't fair that CEOs make so much money, but I loved his reasoning of why government should do anything about it. He made the argument that it is government's responsibility to do something because they subsidize these corporations and rich people by making a tax code that essentially allows them to not pay taxes.

Oh, I see. So let's try and fix the loopholes, which are caused by adding more and more rules to an overly complex tax code, by adding more rules. It's like trying to dig yourself out of a hole. It's just simpler never to get in the hole in the first place.

Wii: Finally Got One

I had the day off this morning. I still got up at about my regular time and did my normal routine. I turned on the computer, and just to check I went to this site. And lo and behold there were Wii's available in my neighborhood.

I had seen some Wii's available in some other neighborhoods over the last few days, but like I said earlier, I had no intention of going out of my way to get one. So I got dressed and went down to the local Target. I had been following the Wii's availability all over the country using the above site. Not really because I wanted to get one, but more out of curiousity for how well Nintendo is doing. By following it I know when there are Wii's available they usually don't last very long. Lucky for me, I must have been one of the first ones there (nobody knows when these shipments normally drop, last time it was announced but it was a special circumstance). So I paid my money, and now I'm a proud owner of a Wii. Haven't played yet, but I'll update at some point with my thoughts.

I am very interested on how quickly my local Target sells out. I'll probably keep checking today and tomorrow to see if the shipment I was able to get one from sells out quickly.

Double Coupons in Washington

It may seem silly for someone like me, but I clip coupons. Why not? It doesn't take very long and I might as well save money on things I would buy anyway. I didn't always clip coupons, I used to be embarrassed that people would think I was poor or something. Ironically, it's when I started actually having money, and stopped caring what people thought, that I got over it and started clipping and using coupons.

I don't quite understand this, but nowhere in Washington state can you find a store that has double coupons. It confuses me because everywhere in California has it, but nowhere in the state of Washington can you find a place that doubles coupons. I've even looked online to see if it was just the Seattle area, but it seems pretty clear that nowhere in the state of Washington does this. I really wish I could find out why. Double coupons can be a great thing, you can actually end up with some items for free. But alas, its just not possible here in Washington.

If anyone finds a store in Washington that doubles coupons, please leave a comment.

Trying to get a Wii

Nintendo must be very pleased. Sony must be very sad.

So I had heard rumblings that Target stores, as well as Best Buy and Circuit City, would have some Nintendo Wii's today. They had it advertised in their weekly circular and there had been some post on various web sites.

Now I want to get a Wii. I prefer to get one over a PS3, which I think cost too much and doesn't offer anything compelling to me, or even an Xbox 360 which I should have an obvious bias towards (I will probably get a 360 if and when they cut the price). Even though I want to get a Wii, I will not go out of my way to get one. I definitely don't plan on waiting in line or fighting with my fellow consumers.

But I figure that its over two months since launch and that the Christmas season has passed so if I went early enough I would probably get one. Target opens up at 8:00. I showed up at about 8:45, and there were none left. The cashier told me there was a line when the store opened and that they had already sold out. Sold out in 45 minutes. Of course, sitting in plain sight were some PS3s, much like I observed before at Best Buy.

Sony has to be worried. It seems clear to me they are going to lose this round of the game wars. Microsoft has already sold 10 million units, that's a pretty big head start. With Xbox Live, they have, in my mind, many more compelling features than PS3 (since I have ZERO interest in a Blu-Ray player). Nintendo seems poised to take the 2nd position, and very likely might be able to catch Microsoft.

Barack

Today, Barack Obama announced he will be running for President. Unlike some people I know, I meet his announcement with mixed emotions.

I was very impressed with Obama's delivery when he gave his Keynote speech at the Democratic National convention. Notice the key word, "delivery". One of the things I look for in a Presidential Candidate is if they have a floor presence. I want someone who exudes confidence and inspires confidence in others. Barack definitely seems to have the quality.

But that being said, while I was impressed with the delivery of the speech itself, some of its contents worried me. Particularly one line.

It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

I am very much against the notion that I am my brother's keeper. I am very much against the idea that our economy works when we are obligated to help our fellow man. The idea that you are your brother's keeper is the very notion that makes Socialism fail. Yes, its selfish, but selfishness makes a free economy work. Not only does it work for people at the top, it works for people at the bottom. When I hear quotes like the one above, only one thing crosses my mind

"come together" = Higher taxes for all

And we all know how I feel about higher taxes. I haven't made up my mind yet about Barack. I definitely have no idea who I'm going to vote for in 2008. I guess we will just have to see how the next two years unfold.

Sony PS3 Availability

I was talking to a co-worker a few days ago and he was talking about how they had PS3s in a huge stack at Fry's. That kind of surprised me as I would still think the PS3 would be selling out. I then saw it for myself when I went to Best Buy, a stack of about 50 PS3s just sitting there.

I can't imagine that supply has finally caught up. The main reason I went there was to look to see if they had a Wii. I plan on getting a Wii, but have no interest in the PS3. No Wii, plenty of PS3s. Now you can't tell me that Sony can currently out produce Nintendo, so the only reason that I can't get a Wii and I can get a PS3 is that Demand for the Wii far outstrips the PS3.

I figured I was in the minority in this one. But I guess there are more people like me who think the Wii's playability and $250 price tag trumps the PS3's supposedly amazing graphics and $600 price tag. If this is true throughout the country, Sony is going to be seriously hurting.

Ohio Wine?

The bet between the Florida Governor and the Ohio Governor over the College Football championship game is that the Florida governor will send Florida Citrus if Ohio wins and the Ohio Governor will send Ohio wind and Chocolates if Florida wins.

Here is the thing. Who knew that Ohio even made wine? That just sounds odd to me. I've heard of French Wine, California Wine, Washington Wine, and even Argentinian wine. But Ohio wine? Who knew? Maybe tires or machine tools or something like that. But Wine?