Cable Assurance Plan July 28, 2006 2 comments
Correct if I’m wrong, but the majority of these services should be included in any cable plan:
The Service Assurance Plan is a service and maintenance plan available to Cox residential customers for a small monthly fee of $3.95. The plan covers wiring and service issues for cable, high speed Internet and telephone service, regardless of whether or not Cox is the telephone service provider. Also included is customer education and diagnosis.
- An economical alternative to Cox’s Standard Repair Service Policy.
- On-sight troubleshooting and repairs by highly-skilled Cox technicians
- Customer education on your Cox cable, telephone and Internet services
- All repair work is guaranteed
West Coast digs July 10, 2006 9 comments
After a year and a few months in a cute little beach pad and countless hours spent commuting on the most heavily trafficked road in the world*, Susan and I have moved into a crappy little condo community in Lake Forest, CA. By crappy, I mean It’s one of these gated communities you’ll see all over the California deserts where everything’s exactly the same, has man made lakes with fountains and paddle boats* and is titled something along the lines of “California Hills, a private living community”.
Our sliver of Orange County paradise is called “Tuscany”, presumably someone thought it might pass as the luscious green hills of Tuscany, Itlay. Not so much, The roofs here are red though just like in Tuscany, Italy. This place will do just fine while we’re out here.
* It might not be the most heavily trafficked road in the world, but it’s certainly one of them.
* Our community unfortunately does not have paddle boats, but one nearby does.
etnies World Cup Shoes June 14, 2006 1 comment
The US may suck at football, but I have no problem with wearing my Dublin, World Cup series shoes. I’m not even sure if the red & green ones are Italy or Ireland.
Vin Scully June 8, 2006 2 comments
Vin Scully’s Wikipedia entry reads:
“In 47 seasons in Los Angeles, Vin Scully has become a beloved figure. His 55-year tenure with the Dodgers is the longest of any broadcaster with a single club in professional sports history. Scully has called six World Series victories and 14 National League pennants for the club.”
I enjoy baseball and can appreciate its rich history but I’m suprised the Dodger organization never got Vin a partner in the booth. While the yarns he spins are quite entertaining and dripping with fine detail, it’d be nice to break the monotony a bit with a second guy. Maybe a play by play guy, since Vin has the color commentary down. It’s quite an amazing feat to have actually come to LA along with the Brooklyn Dodgers and remain the sole announcer to this day, but If this guy was my announcer I think I’d be willing to move on by now.
Softball season recap May 10, 2006 2 comments
My first real foray into organized sport has come to a close. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. We played about nine or ten games, with our final record at 1-9. That’s one win, and the rest losses! “We Got Served” (appropriately, our team name) even had one game ending in a mercy call, as we were down by about 14 runs in the early innnings.
I played right field the majority of the time, a single game at second, and the last game in center field. Center saw a lot of action, yielding my greatest out contribution. The infield is fun as hell and I didn’t do too bad at that position. Not too bad, in comparison with our overall team play that is which as our record shows, isn’t so hot. However, I do recall robbing a base hit with a nice stab to my left at second easily overshadowing any fly balls I may have misplayed in right.
Overall, it was a great experience, the contests were never serious and everyone was in it for fun. There was never pressure for any of us to perform, and perform we did not.
Quidam April 8, 2006
We went and saw Cirque du Soleil, Quidam last night in Long Beach. I wonder if this is the only group of people who have devoted their lives to perfecting these particular talents. The guy whose life calling is spinning around inside a giant metal wheel, is he the only one? Are their other spinners in the wings in case this guy messes up, or would he be replaced by some less interesting talent should he pull a hammy?
Anyone who makes these strange, and I’m assuming rare, talents their top priority in life has got to be a fairly eccentric, slightly bizarre human being. It really makes you wonder what it’s like behind the curtains. Are the balancing statue people married? They should be. You can tell they have the trust thing down when she balances vertically, upside down atop his shoulders. They share the same presumably top interest as well, balancing atop other people. The Cirque du Soleil site reveals that they in fact, do not have the same last name. They must just be dating, or more likely, she kept her maiden name for the stage.
My skill, it turns out, is finding free event parking due to lots that are unequipped to handle credit cards. Parking like this tends to unknowingly funnel you in with no option to exit before you realize you don’t have any cash. It happened at a World Baseball classic game in Anaheim, and then last night in the Queen Mary parking lot. Just tell the attendent, “I’m sorry but I have no cash, where can I exit?” and they let you right in. In the future I plan on being unprepared for such unexpected cash expenses. If I actually had the money I’d never be able to lie convincingly, Instead I’d just shell out the $10 and fume at the high cost of parking. Knowing that you spent at least $10 less than anyone else in that Cirque du Soleil tent is second to none.
As we left for the night, we passed the trailer area, where all the talent spends most of their time, hoping to catch a glimpse of someone off the stage. You could see the empty cafeteria trailer and just wonder what it’s like when all these people gather to eat meals. It’s bound to be just as fascinating as bodies spinning from hoops in the air. It so leaves you wanting more. Does one talent think they’re better than the other? Are those diablo girls kids, or just really tiny asians? There’s got to be a documentary on this already. Go see this spectacle of talents you’ve never thought, and can’t believe, actually exist.
Softball, rookie game March 8, 2006 3 comments
First at bat, struck out swinging, and so began my foray into community softball.
Ground out.
Ground out RBI.
Base knock.
Ground out.
My only time on the bases, I didn’t slide into second to keep them from turning a double play. That’s when I learned of the must slide rule, and the double play was called.
My fielding in right was less than stellar.
First ball hit to me went right between my legs, little league “I’m a skateboarder, not a baseball player” style.
Had a couple balls played on a bounce, holding the runner on first. To cap the game off, last inning, I fully missed a pop fly that the ump called out anyway, just to keep the time constrained game moving along.
Thankfully, my rookie game skills were right on track with the rest of the team. Fly balls were dropped on several occasions & grounders misplayed more than once. Just a bunch of dudes having fun trying to play a sport. Can’t wait for some more softball action!
Softball February 23, 2006 3 comments
I joined my friends softball team, first game is Tuesday. This may not have been such a good idea, it’s bound to resurface all my nightmares from being a crappy little league player. I just hope that ten years of watching television & drinking beer has somehow improved my game a bit.
I’m gonna hit the batting cages this weekend to see if I can swing a bat.
Update:
Turns out, the medium speed softball cages weren’t intimidating at all, I was even able to place some balls in left or right field, as planned. I bought some cleats too, and they only set me back a mere $25! I got a good feeling about this sport.
Financially Speaking November 3, 2005 1 comment
I haven’t had a savings account since I was 16, I think. Not a traditional bank one anyway. ING Direct Orange Savings account has always had an APR that’s about 4 times greater than a traditional savings account. APR was never the main issue though. Unlike checking accounts, ING is not tied to any specific bank monopoly in any particular city. While I’ve changed checking accounts several times in the last few years, due to relocation & bank convenience, I’ve had an Orange Savings Account through them all (sure, the majority of the time it’s been hovering around zero).
Transitioning to a working stiff however, allows for a little more financial freedom. A high APR savings account is an easy way to stash some money, where it can earn more than pennies a year. Surely a real working stiff has more advanced techniques of making their money work for them, and some day I’ll take a look at those.
In the meantime, this new savings account from Bank of America caught my eye. It’s called Keep the Change. You make purchases as usual with your bank card but Bank of America rounds up to the nearest dollar and puts the difference into your savings. Sounds like a simple way to put some spare change aside. This is the part that really makes me interested:
“For the first three months, we’ll match your Keep the Change savings at 100%. That means for every Keep the Change transfer, we’ll contribute the same amount to your Bank of America savings account… and we will match 5% thereafter.”
You can’t pick & choose what transactions will be rounded up, they all are - but if at the end of the day those roundups overdraw your account, they will not transfer your change to a savings.
After all this I just read some more fine print: “The matching funds will be credited to your savings account annually”. Damn, I knew there was something I was overlooking. Still sounds pretty good though, I imagine it has the potential to earn more than a high APR savings.
Rejoice! October 10, 2005 4 comments
Met fans (and baseball fans) rejoice! Angels defeated the Yankees in the American league division series. We all know that real baseball is played in the national league but still - this could be something big. The decline of a dynasty as it slips into anonymity. We’ll see all you yankee bandwagoners late september next year, or will you even bother? I hope not.