Guilt

I'm a cable-cutter. I think that some people would call me a cord-cutter, but that just seems sort of delivery-room oriented, and that's not what I'm into these days. I started cable-cutting early on, but didn't really finish the job until quite recently. My local cable company is Comcast, but it's been others in the past. They're all the same. Really. For the past year and a half, I've had only the most basic TV service from the cable company to augment my Internet service. Turns out that the cable company does some things really well, like Internet service and phone service (which I also don't use, but have in the past), and some things not so much. Like TV delivery. Odd that what they started out doing well—TV service—Is where they fall flat now. Times change. Television has changed. This month, I had a nice young man from the cable company pay me a visit. His name was Vinsent and he was both personable and knowledg...

I'm in the process of buying a house. All is well, my credit and income to debt ratio is grand, my FICA score is through the roof. I've been renting this house for a couple of years, and now the owners want to sell, so we made a deal. I'm buying the house that I live in already—The owners and I get along famously and the house is a peach. We decided to do it ourselves without involving a real estate agent. I've never done it like this before and neither had the seller. ITS AN ADVENTURE FOR CHRISTSAKE!! We are now at the point of getting the loan past the demon of the deal—the Underwriter. I've had at least a couple of bone-headed questions from the underwriter so far and, frankly, I expect at least one more. I really wonder what the basic qualifications for being a real estate underwriter are—Must be something akin to being an IRS examiner—You know...Someone who knows absolutely nothing about anything. Sorta like Barack Obama’s qualifications to ...

In other news, I noticed a new zombie-comedy being touted on Netflix—A made for Netflix thing starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, two of my favorites. It's called The Santa Clarita Diet, and the run-up inferred that Drew was going to be a zombie and Timothy was going to be her husband, living a normal life in the El Lay 'Burbs when Drew turns into a zombie and hilarity ensues. I was ready. It's funny enough, but it's no iZombie (although that what it seems to want to be). Good enough to have me watch at least one episode beyond the pilot. Here's my problem with it………..It's the identical problem I have with just about every Made-For-Netflix series in their current offerings: The only couple that isn't bi-racial is Drew and Timothy. At least in the one episode I saw. They live in the 'Burbs. Santa Clarita. I've been to Santa Clarita more than once and I'm here to tell you that most of the couples living there are not...

I'm as confused as a boy with a map can be. I see on the local news that this is the Chinese New Year. The Year of the Rooster. Where is the protest to this sexist, demeaning behavior? Should this not truly be the “Year of the Chicken” in order to be inclusive? Where are you Oh Cupcake Generation? Have you no soul? Have you no courage? It's as plain as the nose on your face that this should be the “Year of the Poultry” in order to not be specisist. Fair is fair and this is offensive, you see. I've done my part by pointing this out. The Cupcakes must now riot.

Lifeguard. No, not Lifebouy…..That's bath soap. It's been cold, snowy, foggy, and rainy here in The Land Of Perpetual Rainfall. Then there's that thing where I work. I work as a part-time security guy at the local community college. Part-time because if I work over 75 hours in any given month the state of Washington requires that the IHL (Institution of Higher Learnin') supply me with benefits—remember benefits? I do. Medical, dental, sick leave, snow days (yes, the full-timers at the IHL get “snow” days). It's just too dangerous for the full-timers to get to work on snowy days, but the security department must still be staffed, so, well, you get the picture….I feel no need to spell it out any further. Anyhow, I reached the magical 75 hour mark early this month mostly because SOMEBODY had to work on all those snowy days. So, I've been watching some old movies on the 48 inch wide screen high definition TV. I have a working home WIFI system cour...

I may have mentioned that I'm a cable-cutter. I don't have cable TV, although I maintain a relationship with the cable company (in my case, Comcast, but it has been others in the past—Time Warner, f'rinstance) for high-speed Internet. It's my way, it seems. As a result of this cable-cutting, I don't watch much “normal” TV. I watch lots and lots of stuff via media streamers on the televisions, but not what would be called regular cable or commercial TV. I told you that so I could tell you this: I worked a twelve hour shift at the IHL yesterday. It's the Christmas Holiday, so the campus was closed, and essentially abandoned, and the weather was truly frightful. And, there's a cable-equipped TV in the security office. How the IHL can afford this crap when I can't at home is…….Oh, they have a seemingly unlimited budged fueled by the God-Fearing taxpayers of Washington state, or so it would seem. So I watched some Fox News last night du...

.....Or, "Selling on eBay is for suckers". I joined eBay as a user on April 19th, 1997, and have a feedback score of 2179, giving me a Red Star. In the beginning, it was easy to use, and eBay acted more like a garage sale than anything else. Things have changed. Not all that long ago, I sold a used media streamer (not a ROKU, which is what I prefer).  The thing worked fine, but frankly, wasn't worth much to me because it didn't have the capability to receive feeds from my MLB.COM account. I got a fair price on eBay and sent it off to parts unknown.  I subsequently got a request for a refund due to it not working.  I refused and was then forced by eBay policy to issue a refund because of the allegation that  the device did not work as intended.  I complied, and paid for the return shipping, and paid eBay their fees.  When I got the device back in the mail, I tested it and yes, it worked fine.  I don't think I got scammed by the buyer, I just thing...