March 2007 Archives

This past week, I was recovering from allergies and some sinus issues and discovered that thanks to the Patriot Act, whenever I want to use a decongestant (the kind found in Claratin, Sudafed and DayQuil), I need to visit the pharmacist and sign my life away that I will not use it to make Meth. I am all for making criminals work harder to do their business, but really. I was very embarrassed when I had to go up and sign just to get some Claratin D. After doing some research I found out that the Meth Act was a rider to the Patriot Act.

Even worse, I do not remember having to go through these hoops the last time I bought Claratin or DayQuil (which apparently has changed its formula so it can still be purchased over the counter). It makes me wonder just how old the medicine is I have in my cabinet.

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - its only a 1.6 million dollar 1000 horsepower car that goes 253 miles per hour.

Last week, I had one of those cable resets so my cable box was off when my TiVo wanted to record 24. In years past this was a crisis situation since there are no repeats. In the last few years, options have cropped up on the net to download those pesky missed TV Shows. I checked and both iTunes and Amazon offered downloads of 24 with a big difference. Itunes offered the March 12 episode for download just a few days later. My initial reaction was to get it, but then I remembered that TiVo had just launched a new service with Amazon's Unbox service. I was never a fan of the service, although I had never used it since it involved some voodoo program to download etc. But now, I was able to download from Amazon directly into my TiVo, and if I signed up before April, I got $15 in credit.

I decided to take the risk and try the new Amazon service. It actually worked well except that I had to wait until the airdate of the next episode (3-19-07) to download the one I wanted. I guess FOX has some weird license agreement. I started the download at work and by the time I got home, the episode was there waiting for me. After watching it, I determined that the video quality was just as good as from the cable company. Best of all - there were no commercials!

I want to try downloading a movie to the TiVo just to see what it is like (probably a rental since I don't have the ability to burn a TiVo program to a DVD.

I do wish TiVo and Itunes were integrated, but Apple just shipped their Apple TV device this week. I still prefer my TiVo since I can still get programs for free and then download the ones I miss, but I will certainly be checking out the Apple stuff when I get a chance.

My favorite Science Officer
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

I was presented this photo today when I went over to my Dad's house. i think it speaks volumes as to what was to come much later on in life.

This week I am working the night shift to support the show folks. Its the first time in months that I have not been at work at 7am so it is nice to sleep in a little. The only drawback is that I usually get off at 1am so it feels a lot like my first summer at Disneyland when I rarely did anything outside of the work-sleep-work cycle. It also might have to do with the 12 hour shifts I have been working, but in the end it will all be worth it.

4-3-07

I had a dream the other night that I was with Daniel and Tiffany in the car and we were heading into the San Fernando Valley to go to a store that sold Charo's stuff. I just remember being very excited and that I was worried that we had a late start and we were going to get there after it closed. From my mental geography I think it was in the northern Valley area - somewhere near the 405/5 split.

We arrived at the store and the sign in the store said that they were open until everyone left. So we went in and had a field day. There was a whole rack of Santa outfits that Charo wore on the cover of this album. There were also a bunch of different trinkets and stuff (now that I think of it it reminds me a lot of Mickey's of Glendale - the WDI Cast Member Store). At the end of the dream I remember finding an album cover place mat of a record that I had never heard of before. When I looked at the back side it said that it was from a record sold in South Florida in the late 1980's. The lady that ran the store then said that everyone else was gone and once we were done she would be able to leave.

I then woke up. I am not sure if I got any Charo items, but I do remember falling back asleep and looking at the actual record - not just the cover - of the never before heard of album. I wish I could remember the title, it was actually kinda of cool.