Living it up in the Nation's Capital
Okay..so normally the messages from microsoft are either non-descript BSOD error codes or helpful such as “Out of Disk Space,” but today I got a very nice one which you can see here:
I like how Microsoft tells you that “the following information may help you resolve the error.” I was expecting a “disk full” error or something.
The error message….”Catastrophic Failure” seems quite terminal and would certainly scare me if I relied on the backup.
While I was a big fan of HD-DVD, Toshiba should not have given up so easily in my opinion, I do like high quality audio and video. This year for “Black Friday” Amazon.com and other retailers offered many Blu-Ray DVDs for less than $15 and in many cases for $7.99! Normally after getting stuffed with turkey and cranberry sauce, I check out the ads in the paper and websites online to see if there are any items I am interested in getting.
This year I was looking to get several Blu-Ray movies, a second Blu-Ray DVD player for by bedroom, and potentially a 500 GB portable external hard drive. In years past I have picked up external hard drives, but mine are only 120 GB and it is much cheaper to buy a whole new setup than to attempt to open up an old enclosure and replace the internal hard drive.
As in years past, I have attempted to find deals online in order to avoid the long lines, and getting offered a blanket by the mobile homeless shelter vans waiting outside late Thanksgiving evening.
Two years ago, Best Buy had the same prices online as in the store. I was able to order them very early in the AM…Best Buy would pull the items before opening, and at my convenience, stroll in with my ID and in less than 10 minutes be out with my loot!!! Last year they decided to have “in store only” specials so many of the items I wanted could not be ordered online. I guess this is only fair for those poor souls who waited all night for something I ordered from my couch just after midnight and got a good nights sleep.
This year stores had specials online Thanksgiving day and Black Friday. Smart move since the retail stores were closed on Thanksgiving..making extra money! Many “Cyber Monday” specials went on for a week this year. Amidst the recession, a few extra days likely helped retailers.
After this year I could have probably benefited from $79 prime shipping, but I am still okay waiting for Free Super Saver shipping from Amazon.com
To my surprise, prices on Amazon.com were the same or very close to that of the local retail store Black Friday in-store only offers. Great news for me! Not only did I not have to get up early, I did not have to pay for shipping and there is still no tax being charged. Granted, at the time of this post, I am still waiting for some items I ordered, most have already been delivered with the others scheduled for delivery before Christmas.
I did get up at 5 AM on Friday morning to see if I could get “The Wizard of Oz” on Blu-Ray for $12.99 and a 500 GB External Portable Hard drive for $59.99. I am happy to say I got 2 copies of the movie, but due to the incompetent staff at Target, was not directed to the location of the hard drives until after they were all gone. I asked 3 employees and each directed me to the wrong place. I discovered the location only after asking a shopper who happened to have some in her hand!!!
I gave the second copy of the movie away as a gift to a fellow Blu-Ray watching friend. I could not pass up the deal…$12.99 for a movie that retails for $43.99!!!
I was able to pick up a current model 1080 p Sony 2.0 BDLive player for $118 from Amazon. Currently it is $170 on Amazon.com. Movie prices also seem to be dropping. New Releases seem to be cheaper. The last 2 I bought I was able to get for $19.99, though today, $25.99 for Julie and Julia.
While DVD will not be replaced by Blu-Ray, I believe that all media will go away before that happens, I do notice and appreciate the better audio quality. I use an HD-Projector, so cannot really discern a difference in Video Quality.
Perhaps I was just being lazy, but normally I commute to work and really don’t take the time to make a lunch, nor do I want to spend a fortune on it. Recently I have decided that Lunch is important, especially since I don’t eat Breakfast. 🙁 In my effort to make lunch prep very quick I have resorted to Ham and Cheese with mustard on a roll and at times have simply tossed a can of Chef Boyardee into my backpack.
When at the local Harris Teeter (convenient at the end of my block) I strolled down the canned meat aisle. While a small selection, perhaps the need for the pasta in a can has diminished and pouches / microwavable containers are the hot item, there are the usual. Ravioli, Spaghetti with Meatballs, Spaghettios, and if you wanted more meat…Meat Ravioli with Mini Meatballs!
I noticed a new product, well, new since I last purchased this product 5-10 years ago! Cheese Ravioli that was 99% fat free! Even the label was green instead of red to focus on this lower fat item. In addition to being made from sun ripened tomatoes and all natural ingredients, this product was virtually fat free. Now I am not obese, but I am conscious when it comes to things like fat and if there is a low fat alternative such as Baked Lays, I will try them.
As any informed shopper, I rotated the can to see the nurtition facts. Funny as it may be, but even junk food has some “nutritional” value. Something about the word makes you think good for you 🙂
There was no “regular” cheese ravioli to see if this was the case. You can probably guess my next question? How can something be 99% fat free and have 2.5g of fat? That would indicate to me that the regular product would have 25og of fat! That is almost 100% of the serving. Then it dawned on me, with the help of a coworker…the % fat free is really a percent of the total serving size.
Hmm…very misleading don’t you think? Most companies will say “75% less fat than the leading brand” or “50% less fat than regular potato chips.”
I completed a comment form basically mentioning what I have stated above and waiting for a response. I did mention that in order to keep consistent with advertising they should list all products this way. Example: 10g fat regular Ravioli per 250g serving is 96% Fat Free! WOW!
I will let you know what I hear back, if I even get a response.
I came in around 9:15 for my 9:30 – 1:30 volunteer shift at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum yesterday thinking it was just another Sunday. I was quite surprised to see a line of visitors at the doors. Usually there are a few early birds that want to get in right at 10 AM, but not 100! Still, it was summer and being the most visited museum in the world, did not think much of it.
The daily brief for volunteers indicated a book signing today. Usually there is a current Airforce pilot, or a previous White House Chef, but no, there were 3 Apollo astronauts signing their own book today!
Slightly reminiscent of “Jerry Maguire” where the Baseball star would only sign “Upper Deck” cards of himself per contract. These guys were only signing their book, and in some cases where more than one book had been written, a specific book! To make things more fun, all three were to be lined up at a table which of course means, you have to buy all 3 books in order to not make one feel bad. LOL. Not really, but that is the reason I shelled out $40 for Alan Bean’s book 🙂 which by the way is full of his amazing artwork!
Okay…so you need to have the 3 books. You were discouraged from bringing in them from outside vendors as “they had the right to limit the number of outside books that were signed.”
This is the line to get books. The line grew past the center of the museum before 10:10 AM and extended to the other end before too long. Not sure when they opened up the sales, but the line seemed to move at a snails pace.
Okay…so you have your books. If you at the head of the line you likely did not have to wait in the signing line too long, but by the time I was ready to get my books signed, at the end of my shift, the lines were almost even 🙁
There was no personalization going on, so I had no idea why signing books would take so long. You would think in the time it took to pay for your books, someone could have had all 3 signed. Alas, that was not the case.
This announcement was made at 1 PM, an hour before the end of the official signing. As you might expect, the sales line dwindled. I originally was past the end of the line which meant I was not going to get my signatures. I was really upset at myself for not getting my books signed earlier, but I wanted to volunteer as much as I could not expecting the line to get so long and get advance warning of line closure. Thankfully there were some visitors behind me that were thowing a fit. Many of them had just bought their books and were told that “Yes, you will get your books signed.” So, when the coordinator came down and recognized those folk behind me, Barbie moved the back of the line which thrilled myself at those behind me.
Just before 3 PM I was able to get my books signed. I was in my volunteer garb and mentioned to “Buzz” that he was the reason I was here volunteering. I have a love of space and he was one of the first explorers. I was hoping to get some kind of response from him, but instead got nothing 🙁 Quite disappointing. His designated spokesperson seemed to hear my comments though and thanked me.
Perhaps the unwillingness to talk was because it was close to an hour after the signing was supposed to end, or just that he has done so many of these that he no longer has the “spark” to talk. He also is getting a little old, so perhaps he had already had his share of conversation before I arrived. In any event, I now have 3 more signed books for my collection.