Ladewig.com

I haven’t posted in a while because we’re getting ready to start the new semester, so things are crazy for me at work right now. I’m scrambling to get some summer projects completed, and seem to keep running into speed bumps that slow me down. The latest happened today and apparently was of my own doing. When throwing away boxes, make sure you remove any power cables you may have left in the box. Grrrrr. And of course these aren’t normal cables, so I can’t just run over to Best Buy and get a new one. I have replacements coming from Dell on Monday (hopefully), but I still may check out some electrical supply places during their morning hours tomorrow to see if I can pick up a couple to get me going.

Anyway, you probably want to hear about the TV, right? I finally broke down and ordered a new TV. I decided to go with the Westinghouse LVM42-w2 42-inch LCD Monitor. It is the biggest display that will fit in our entertainment center and is the best-priced 1080p LCD display around. Reviews are consistently good, and the demo unit at Best Buy met with approval from my better half as well. I picked it up from Crutchfield for $1799. They have a $300 price break as well as an instant rebate of $200 plus free delivery and no payments until 2008. Won’t be in stock until 9/1, but I can wait.

Technically the unit isn’t a TV. It doesn’t have any tuners, so it is actually a monitor. I watch everything through satellite, so that isn’t a problem. Leaving out tuners lets Westinghouse avoid the FCC mandate that all TVs eventually have to have HDTV tuners and keep the cost down.

Of course with a a HD set, now I need to upgrade my DirecTV equipment. They have promotions going on now for Sunday Ticket subscribers, so I picked up an HR10-250 HD TiVo, new AT9 disk, installation, and four free months of HD programming for $19.95 to cover the shipping. Plus when the HR20-700 DVR is available in Saint Louis, it will be a free upgrade (since DTV leases their equipment now). Can’t beat that! The HE10 won’t record HD locals over satellite, but I can record OTA HD so that will be good enough.

So the my work day ended on a sour note today, but a new TV helps the mood a little bit.

We’ve booked another cruise! What better way to follow our Alaskan vacation than with a Panama Canal Adventure? In exactly 180 days, we will be leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Regal Princess bound for Acapulco. Cruise details= are available online at Princess’ web site.

We hadn’t planned on taking a cruise this early, but we found some pretty attractive pricing from Princess (how alliterative!) and we cashed in 30k miles with American to get the airfare for free. Using frequent flyer miles was the deciding factor since airfare would have cost us $1000 each otherwise.

We’re looking forward to combining a taste of the Carribbean with the Mexican Riviera and a Panama Canal to top things off. All of the ports on this trip are new to us, including Aruba, Puntarenas, and Acapulco to name a few. The only compromise we made is the ship. Regal is the oldest in the fleet and one of the smaller ships (though not the smallest), so she is missing some amenities. For example, she only has one dining room, so there is no Personal Choice dining option, only traditional seating. But the price for the cruise is significantly lower than it will be next season when Island Princess is used for this itinerary., Plus this is Regal’s last season with Princess, so this will be our last opportunity to sail on her. Should be interesting.

OK, explain this to me. According to Business Week, passengers who make a purchase at a duty free shop for a prohibited item, such as alcohol, will receive their purchase while on the plane. But if you buy a beverage in the terminal you can’t take it on the plane? If the duty free shop can be trusted to provide unaltered and safe products, why aren’t the other vendors in the terminal trusted as well? I guess the difference is the duty free products are in their custody until we are on the plane whereas the beverage we buy is in our custody. Are they afraid I’m going to somehow substitute an explosive for the beverage? Where would I get the explosive? If they are doing their job, then TSA should be able to keep those substances out of the terminal. Which implies they don’ trust themselves to keep the terminal secure. Isn’t it a bit disconcerting that TSA trusts the duty free stores more than they do their own people?

I just read another article where a TSA spokesperson said that the goods for duty free shops came from a “sterile area” so it was OK (assuming the flight doesn’t go to the UK, then no dice). What if the duty free shops sold toothpaste, deodorant, bottled water, etc.?

Yet another knee jerk reaction by TSA, the Keystone Cops of our nation’s airports. Has anyone ever though to do a cost/benefit analysis here. We’ve known for years now that Al Qaeda has an interest in using liquid-based explosives, but only know do they take the step of banning liquids from aircraft.

Apparently they won’t let you take on any beverages purchased from within the secure areas of the terminal. I’d hope that anything that they allowed into the secure area would be safe, so what this policy tells me is that either they don’t have confidence in the safety of the items being sold in the terminal stores or it isn’t a problem with dangerous liquids passing as routine items, but rather liquids in general. If the latter is the case, then they shouldn’t allow the airlines to bring any beverages on board. That’ll show those terrorists! CNN said the plot involved some British sports drink they were going to use to make their explosives. I’ve never cared for those kinds of drinks, but that specific one sounds like something to avoid. Maybe we should just ban British sports drinks.

TSA specifically said they were banning liquids, gels, and creams. What about ice? Last I checked, ice was a solid, so at first glance it should be allowed. You’d have to dump whatever melted by the time you get to the gate, but the ice itself should be OK. Maybe it’ll melt enough during the flight to have a refreshing beverage mid-flight.

It is late, I’m grumpy, and I’ve never been impressed with TSA. It is getting to the point where I can drive from St. Louis to Chicago in less time than it takes to fly when you factor in waiting at the airport.