Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Soap Channel...

Nothing like the clean unadulterated feeling and calm relaxation as you lather in pure thoughts by watching the soap channel. Enjoy.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Always count the cost...and if it's too good to be true it usually is

The bible says to count the cost; and the reason for it is because it prepares us to expect the unexpected, to make sure we're able to afford whatever undertaking we might consider. Is the course we're going to take worth the risk, time, or the money? By taking this course it can and often does save us from regret or even heartache.

Then there's the saying if it's too good to be true then it usually is - and this is where I didn't consider the counsel of counting the cost which caused me to get something that was to good to be true - alas, I now have regret.

Now days you have so many avenues for television. There is cable TV, which I never really liked; one reason is that it always has been the most expensive option. There is satellite which I loved that every channel was digital, but any strong storms or heavy winds and you don't have service. Then there is the internet. I use U-Verse which is nice but unless you have at least 12Mbps than your picture isn't that good since it streams the signal - I tried 6Mbps and it was always breaking up and if you wanted to see a movie through your smart TV it would lag badly.

There is also Hulu and Netflix and their cost is not too high but you get what you pay for as well. You can't see live shows and why would you want to see a game that was on yesterday with the scores, highlights, interviews, and commentary on the same night? Or yesterday's news the next day, like CNN, MSNBC, HLN, and such being always a day behind?

I remember when satellite TV was 29.99 a month and you would get a decent amount of channels; nowadays these services cost so much and they tax you for this and that; services fees, HD fees, box fees, and before you know it you're paying more than what they originally said it would cost.

So while in CVS the other day I came across "As Seen On TV!" - my first mistake. Among the items they sale that make you believe you can't live without was one that caught my eye "Rabbit TV"; my second mistake. The price was 9.99 and it said for a year you could get over 500 channels on your computer and live programs to boot free! I was so excited like I hit the jackpot or something, like you want to pat yourself on the back and say good job, man. But that's not your brain waves making new connections, no those are brain cells dying and you don't realize it until much later. Here is where I didn't really count the cost; doing my research, checking reviews, and seeing if this item was worth the money; third mistake. So I bring it home and it's no more than a mini square stick with the word "rabbit TV" and a rabbit logo - genius. The instructions were close to nonexistent, but it made sure you immediately questioned your purchase with a paper in big bold red letters and a stop sign saying; "STOP! DO NOT RETURN RABBIT TV TO YOUR STORE". I was starting to feel bad about this. So I install it; it installed so fast it seemed like a virus or worm invaded your computer - I'll tell you why later. So anyway, once installed I clicked the desktop icon and it initiated the program and opened in Internet Explorer. I use Google Chrome so I grabbed the address and pasted it in the Google browser and opened it from there. I registered with a username, password and opened up to the unknown. I wish I hadn't. The site said you have all these choices of shows and even live sports, news, weather, and concerts - you guessed it - it didn't work. No live shows - everyone I clicked just kept in perpetual circles like it was trying to log on. The shows they said they had were in actuality links to the actual site. NBC, ABC, ESPN, and so on - and you don't need this device to do that. After my first try, I tried to log on again and now every time I do it says I'm logged on to another computer and I had to make sure I log out - oh, and it also says I have to unplug the device and plug it back again and re login. So I tried to uninstall and reinstall the program. Well, the icon and program shows on my desktop and start programs, but I can't find any trace of it on my hard drive. So now it's on there, but where I don't know and now I can't get it off my computer since I can't find it.

This is where the realization hit me of if it's too good to be true it usually is. I wasted 10 dollars and some change because I was too impulsive of a 47 year old man to logically and analytically reason out if this was all worth my money, time, and effort. If I can make myself a victim albeit it was a small one, let this blog teach you if anything this; don't believe everything you hear on TV or on the internet. Don't be impulsive, always count the cost and do the research to make sure it is what they say it is or does. You could be spending your money on something much more costly and much more damaging to your life.

So, always count the cost before doing anything that will take away from your finances,your time, and your intellect. If it's too good to be true, than it usually is.By the way, I don't recommend this product at all. Take it from me before they take it from you.


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Hoping the third time's the charm...

Well, I'm going to turn in the second blu-ray "One for the Money" and hope the third one is the charm and actually works. No telling if it will or not but my hope is that it will. Can I ask you all out there; have any of you ever had this much trouble renting blu-rays online, be it BlockBuster or Netflix, or some other obscure online rental company? With the advent of blu-ray being double-sided and able to hold up to 50GB of info you would think they would find a way for them to play without messing up so easy. I'm dating myself but I remember when there used to be "laserdiscs" that were the size of an LP album? An ex-friend of mine had one back in the day and I remember going over there to see a live concert of Paul McCartney and Wings. But, that was the past and now we these discs that are smaller and lighter, but nothing has changed in that sometimes products still give us trouble. Well, I'll have to wait about two days before I get another blu-ray in the mail. Once I do let's hope this one works, or I just might give up the by mail version and take my chances with the store.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Another day - another blu-ray


Okay, so first of all good Sunday morning to you all. Here is another BB blu-ray that I got from the store and as you will see, this one works perfectly fine. No pauses, skips, or stops. And I got another blu-ray discs and two regular dvd discs and they all worked perfectly fine. So, what is the discrepancy in the blu-rays that are delivered in the mail? I have no clue but the next one I get I will see if it too is workable or not. I'm paying a little over 10.00 a month for BlockBuster online which isn't bad, but the point of this was for convenience so that I wouldn't have to go to the store to get a movie! The only good thing is that unlike Netflix is that you can actually go to the store if indeed your disc doesn't work. I'll have to upload the video first to YouTube and then link it here. Well, that's all for today, it seems this will be a slow and boring blog. Have a great day everyone!


Just thinking out loud...and need some feedback


So today, I got another blu-ray of the same movie I turned in a few days ago because it would not work on my blu-ray player. I called the service center and spoke with a person I had a hard time understanding and they were of course apologizing for the inconvenience I was experiencing and even gave me a coupon for a free rental in the store. That was fine and all but it doesn't explain why these discs are messed up! By the way the movie I turned in was "One for the Money" starring Katherine Heigl. I'm conjunction with this blog I will be posting a short video to show everyone the problems I have with these discs. I mean I can't be the only one having these problems, can I? The strange thing is that when I take these damaged discs into the store and replace it with one from the store, they work fine. I would like to hear from others who use BlockBuster Online to see if they are experiencing the same thing as me.

Well, I tried to upload the video, but it didn't work. I will have to try again...later on this morning since it's already 1am.