Category: Best and Worst

Posted on

$1 Dogs, Peanuts, Corn, and Tickets!

Seriously?

Granted the $1 tickets sold out and were likely in the upper deck where you likely needed binoculars to see anything, but I was surprised to see at some popular food items were very reasonable.

Being my first and sadly probably only Nats game due to the cost of good tickets (was able to snag 2nd row home dugout tickets on stub hub for about half price plus close to 50% fees) and knowing the cost of food and beverage at concerts, parks, and sporting events, had a burger at home before heading out to the Navy Yark for the game last night.

$1 Dogs

Upon entering we discovered signs for $1 snacks.  I saw “While Supplies Last” and thought to myself, hmm…I bet the first 1o dogs of the night were $1, but 5 innings later, was able to snag them.  If there was not a limit of 2 per trip, I am sure we could have organized a hot dog eating contest!  Popcorn and peanuts were also offered at $1 which included the tax.  Just needed cracker jacks and you could have had been “taken out to the ball game” for just $3 with a ticket!

Great Seats!

I was a bit worried with the rain since I was guessing the tickets I bought online were indeed season tickets from some ticket holder who happened to either hate the Pirates or was out of town and would not be able to exchange them for the same seats anyway.  The guys next to us were surprised by the location so I am guessing they were not “regulars” either to ask them.

While it was hard to tell if the ball was too far inside or outside, we were basically at eye level with catcher, batter and umpire to see if it could be a strike.  From the view we had…..let’s just be thankful that the cheer girls were not wearing skirts 🙂

 

Costco Watch out!?

If you are a Costco shopper, you have likely been lured over to the cafeteria.  I think the best deal up there is a huge kosher hot dog and fountain drink with refills for just $1.50.  For just a $1 you can get a dog at the Nats on special nights, but if you were to add say a bottled 20 oz Coke, you will be paying a whopping $5.50!  Costco is safe 🙂

Nats Win!

Off to a slow start, some home runs made the game more exciting and a win for the “home team” and cooperating weather and surprisingly good metro service made it a great night!

And just to prove it….here is a photo of me holding a dollar dog from my seat 🙂

 

SAMSUNG
Posted on

Disk Brakes in a Flash Flood

Granted, if I did not have a baseball game to attend last night I likely would not have left work in a flash flood.  While my shoes were sloshing with water, it was thankfully not very cold out and was actually quite a refreshing ride.

I brought my modified Cyclocross bike with me which has a fender attached because the forecast looked to be ominous.  While disk brakes are now legal in the sport, my bike originally had cantilever style brakes on it.  Perfect for Cyclocross, these brakes shed mud, but don’t really stop you quickly.  After my fork was recalled by Felt, and a replacement back ordered, I decided to invest in a new disk brake compatible one.  I forgot that that meant I needed a new wheel too which set me back a bit of cash.  Needless to say, I was so happy with the disk brake and only wished I could have one on the back too.  Recently I replaced the rear brake with a V-Brake which has much better stopping power.  I needed to add a “travel agent,” cable pull doubler, to make the brake work with the road style brake levers, but am so much happier now.  In fact, I have to be careful that I don’t lock up the brake and skid, now that it actually works!

Back to the story….so on the way home I used the brakes as I normally would with the front disk brake humming a bit with the water, but stopping as quickly as ever.  I decided to try to test my theory that rim style brakes don’t work well in the rain and require much greater distances to stop.  So, at the next intersection, I only appled the back brake.  I expected a little noise and after the water dried off the rims, the brakes to work.  Not at all!  My rear  brake, which I was applying decent pressure, did not do a thing to slow me down!  I honestly could not tell a difference when the brake was not applied.

The moral of the story…..if you have the option to get disk brakes, or at least a front one, do it!  It is much cheaper if you get a bike that has them already (you can always change out the cheap ones for nice ones later) since you have the required frame and fork mount attachments.  In fact, some bikes with V-brakes have the mounts for the disks which probably come on a more expensive model.  While they do weigh more, they require less maintenance and will stop you in all kinds of weather.

Posted on

d. Sign Enigma v1

What does that sign mean?

 

There have been many new street signs going up in the District of Columbia and many more are being updated with labels.  I was walking down a side street in NW between 16th and 13th above Meridian Hill Park and discovered the following sign.  I attempted to contact d. and chose the correct category “Parking Enforcement” and was provided the following voice mail reply.  If anyone can help me understand what the “Except Tuesday 7 AM – 7 PM” means it would be much appreciated.

Voice mail response to my inquiry….

——————————–

Which should not come to parking enforcement in the first place, but since it did I will explain it to you.   The except to is for permit holders for street cleaning.  Tuesday is the only day you can park on that side of the street from 7 AM – 7 PM.  That’s it.  The signage is very clear.  People get confused by multiple signs and not understand.  There is nothing confusing about the signage and have to close this request since it has nothing to do with parking enforcement.  Thank You Good Bye.

—————————

There was a little more about street cleaning in the middle, but it was confusing to listen to.  It was in reference to parking on the opposite side of the street from the cleaning.

Sorry

Sorry I contacted the wrong department, I will just call 311 next time to get to the right place, but I was not even told where I should have emailed or if they wanted me to submit a photo which I had told them I could email.

I don’t think the signage or the response I received from d. was clear and would like to hear others opinions on the matter.

Posted on

Blu-ray Makes Some Movies Look Fake

I have heard that Blu-Ray makes movies unbelievable, but did not experience it until recently first hand.

Is Blu-Ray Better?

I would have to say that I have liked Blu-Ray for the picture and uncompressed 7.1 surround sound that regular DVD cannot provide due to size limitations.  I use a 1080i projector and have a 120″ screen so while the audio has  been amazing, at the size I have the image displayed, the picture seems a little grainy.  I was in Best Buy a week ago and saw a preview of Blu-Ray.  U571 looked unreal.  Seriously, I thought I was on the set watching them shoot the action that is how it looked to me.  It made the movie look way too clear and was hard to believe they were on a submarine several decades ago.

Don’t get Blu-Ray of Old Movies

Don’t need to say much here.  Basically, if you are in the market to replace a DVD of an older movie with a Blu-Ray, it would be worth testing it out first to see if the quality is worth your purchase.  Many old movies are stored on old degrading media and while the motion picture companies do what they can to clean it up, you cannot add more definition if is not there to add!  Now, if you don’t own the movie, since most Blu-Rays for old movies seem to be in the $10 range, then it many be worth it if the corresponding DVD is about the same cost.  I test drove some older Blu-Ray releases from Netflix to see just how clear they were and I was happily surprised, but they were from post 2000 which to me is old being 2011 now 🙂  Not sure Sound of Music or Space Balls would be noticeably better.

Animated Movies….

Despicable Me and Wall-e on the other hand look amazing!  Especially the computer animation of today, the source files are all capable of rendering high definition and therefore there is no bottle neck when it comes to going back to the original source and “re mastering.”

Physical Media??

Granted I own more than 600 DVDs and now have begun to get some Blu-Ray movies and get rid of my DVD collection, but I wonder if Blu-Ray or physical media in general will be around much longer?  With iTunes and other services allowing you to purchase books, movies, and music in digital form and protect your purchases if something should happen to your computer, is there really any need for the security of physical media?

Advantages of Media..

Historically the ability to “lend” physical media to others was the big reason for purchasing media.  If you are an avid reader, I suppose a floor to ceiling library of physical media looks more accomplished and impressive than an external hard drive sitting on a shelf 🙂  Recently, more book readers have the ability to lend certain books to others.  This ability is dependent on the publishers permissions which seem to not be book specific, but rather all or nothing for a publisher.  I own a Kindle and of the small number of books I purchased only 5% are able to be lent.  Movies on the other hand are not lend-able to others.  You can of course bring your laptop with the licensed movie over to a friends to show, but this is quite different and certainly more restrictive than bringing over a DVD.

No Cost savings….

You would think if you were to purchase an electronic copy of a movie that you would get a discount.  After all, there is no media to make, no media to stock, no media to ship, etc.  This is the main reason I have not given up my DVDs.  I do subscribe to Netflix a DVD at a time, but don’t currently pay the $2 extra for Blu-Ray.  I just buy the Blu-Ray I like and live with quality of Netflix DVDs.  Need to be sure I like a movie before I spend the money 🙂

Environmental Impact

A topic of discussions recently.  Of course anything that is not produced physically is saving resources and energy used to produce them.  At the same time though it does reduce the workers as well which eventually will cause lay offs.  What a tangled web.  Seems like no matter what you do, you cannot seem to win.  Recycling on the other hand does not seem to have such an impact on the workforce so long as they innovate and get on board processing consumer waste as opposed to sourcing virgin materials.  The logging industry has a lot to lose by paper recycling for example, but every other industry in the production chain would not be affected much.

Should have a Play Station 3

If only I were a gamer and purchased a PS3.  Not only would I have a cutting edge gaming system, but I would also have a 3D Blu-Ray DVD Player and not have spent money on standard Blu-Ray players.  I have no intention of going to 3D as long as special glasses and TVs are required, but when I see a title in 3D that I watched in 3D Imax, I wonder just how good it would be 🙂 As far as 3D, I will wait until we have holographic images in 3D that project from a paper thick device (Star Trek, Star Wars,SeaQuest).  I think I will be waiting a very long time and my checkbook thanks me for that.

The Best and Worst v1.1 Proudly powered by WordPress
Translate