More good news today… new Doctor Who is finally coming to the US. According to Sci Fi, Doctor Who Hits U.S. as DVD
On February 14, BBC Video will release a DVD set containing all 13 episodes from season one with Christopher Eccleston. What a wonderful Valentine’s Day present!
After much obsessing about the cost and trying to get the best combination of discounts, coupons, sales, etc., I finally broke down and ordered a new PC. Actually, it would be more accurate to say I bought a new monitor that happens to come with a PC.
My existing 19 in. CRT is starting to have some focus issues that require a tap to the side to clear up one in a while. Once that started happening, I went into monitor shopping mode. Then Dell released the Ultrasharp 2405FPW, and I knew I had to have one. The cheapest way to get one is with a new system, so I’ve been pricing systems nonstop for weeks. Of course, now that I’ve pulled the trigger, I expect Dell to have some huge promotion, slashing the price just to tick me off.
What I find most amazing about the whole purchase is the shipping time. When I placed the order, Dell said that the system had an estimated ship date of December 7. I logged on a few minutes ago to check the status of my order and found out it already shipped! I ordered it ~19 hours ago, and UPS plans to deliver it tomorrow. Hmm, it is past midnight (how did that happen?), so actually it’ll be delivered today. Most impressive!
As is our tradition, decorating the house for Christmas starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Kristin does most of the decorating, but things like lights fall to me. I refuse to risk life and limb to climb two stories to put up lights, so instead I hang them above the porch. I still need a ladder, but only to go up two steps, so I figure I’m pretty safe. We also hang lights on the inside windows on the second floor as well in a tree in the front yard. Only problem is the tree hasn’t dropped its leaves yet, so I need to wait to finish that up.
We also expanded our outside decorations a bit, adding wreaths to the coach lights on the garage and two pre-lit trees to sit on each side of the front door. Garden Ridge had the trees on sale, and while there I wound up buying the wreaths and a few other things. I can’t ever seem to go into that store without buying at least one thing that wasn’t on my list. Curse your deals Garden Ridge!
For those of you waiting to see my photos from the new Air and Space Museum (hopefully someone out there wants to see them), I haven’t finished captioning them yet. Soon, I promise!
Yes, a ham saved our Thanksgiving. I bought a roaster recently, and planned to cook our turkey in it, opening up the oven for side dishes. I’m one of those people who has to have turkey on Thanksgiving, but both Kristin and my mom aren’t big fans of turkey, so we picked up a small ham to have as well.
The first sign of trouble came when I checked on the bird near the end of its cooking time, only to find that the indicator hadn’t popped yet. A manual check of the temperature confirmed that it wasn’t finished. Not to worry, it just needs a little longer. Turn up the temperature and we’ll be OK. Nope, still wasn’t done. The natives were getting restless, and the sides were all finished, so we went ahead with the ham as the main course.
After dinner, the turkey was still not done. OK, time to revert to a known quantity and toss the bird in the oven. That finally did it, resulting in a very late, but well-cooked turkey. It may not have made it in time for Thanksgiving, but it’ll make some fine sandwiches for the next few days. And as for the roaster, I’m going to pick up a meat thermometer that can stay in the oven and determine if the roaster is having a thermostat problem.
Lessons learned?
Update! I tested the roaster yesterday and confirmed that it is defective. Time to lug it back to the store for an exchange.
Today started off on a low note when I left for the day (or so I thought) only to find that my car wouldn’t start. I had the battery replaced a few weeks back, so needless to say I wasn’t happy about having this problem again. My dad came over, jumped the car, and we dropped it off at the dealer.
A few hours later (and $198… man those labor rates are painful), I find out the problem is my PIE CHRY02-AUX adapter. The adapter plugs into the CD changer port on the radio making it possible to plug in audio devices like MP3 players or, in my case, an XM satellite radio. It worked fine for the last couple years, but recently it decided to go on the fritz. To add insult to injury, while driving home, I discovered that when they worked on the car, they left the radio antenna disconnected. So I can’t listen to XM or regular radio now. At least the radio comes out fairly easily, so I can reconnect the antenna when I get a few minutes, rather than take it back to the dealer to have them correct their oversight. Still ticks me off though.
Sigh… If only auto makers would offer AUX inputs on their radios
Double sigh… Today gets better and better. The Packers just lost to the Vikings… by a field goal… again.
