April 2004

I have been on an on-going anti-television kick over the past month or so, limiting my boob tube enjoyment to “Judging Amy”, a little bit of “West Wing” (when it doesn’t border on idiotic) and “The Screensavers” on TechTV. However, I did see an ad for a new lawyer show called “Century City”, so I added it to my ReplayTV to do list. Since this show takes place in 2030, I thought it would be interesting.

I just got around to watching the latest episode tonight. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I thought it was well done, was a somewhat realistic look at the the world 27 years from now and I hoped for it to continue.

Apparently, it’s been cancelled.

It figures. Television isn’t about putting anything interesting out there anymore. Of course, it’s about making money. And apparently, CBS has determined that after three episodes, this show isn’t going to make money. So off it goes.

At least “The Screensavers” is still interesting. They’ve moved people around on TechTV, some have left, etc., so there’s new dynamics in the ensemble on the show. As an ubergeek, I find myself learning loads of stuff. If you want to check out their website, you can do so here.

Speaking of being a big geek, the moblog is finally up and running with some quality pictures from my phone. I had to finally go to Cingular Wireless in person and practically throttle the guy behind the counter. But he got everything up and running. They had to completely wipe out my account and start fresh, so I have a new phone number, but hey, that’s the price you pay for technology. Apparently something wasn’t set up right when I upgraded my phone back in February, and every time I turned the phone on or off generated an error that finally added up to a whole bunch of errors in their system. They were unable to reincarnate Alexander Graham Bell (I think that would have been faster), so it was just easier to bag the whole ordeal and start again. Be sure to check out the moblog if you’re so inclined.

I decided to take a shower before writing in my blog and calling it a night. I sometimes go a little crazy in the shower, especially when Earl is out of town, and start singing in “full voice” – the voice I was trained to use in college so I could fill a 500-seat auditorium without the use of a sound system.

Tom (our cat) was not amused.

Just as I was cranking up a memorable rendition of Elvis Presley’s “Rubberneckin'”, I heard the unmistakeable sounds of a very displeased voice. Tom had jumped up between the shower curtain and liner and started caterwauling like someone had just set his tail on fire. Naturally, I did what ever good parent would do and ignored him completely.

I made it through Rubberneckin’ in it’s entirety and the started on my encore… Andy Kim’s “Rock Me Gently”. He then switched from a tail-on-fire sounding emergency to a downright yowl. Apparently, Tom does not like Andy Kim. I don’t think he knows what he’s missing.

Always one to please my fans I decided to wrap up my little concert with a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem. I sang it pretty much like my performances for the local hockey and baseball teams (who have since left town – should I take offense?)

Tom thanked me by being downright screaming louder than any crowd I’ve sang in front of.

But I know he’s part of our family – he yowls were right in tune with “land of the free” shrill.

I guess you can’t please anyone.

ps. I haven’t forgotten about my moblog already… I’m on Tech support call number 24 or so with Cingular One. They have until 12 noon tomorrow then I get all happy with Catherine Zeta-Jones and T-Mobile.

Well today I decided to embark on a little adventure and add to my already popular blog. That’s right, I’m adding a “moblog”. This is a mobile blog, one which includes pictures uploaded from my gee-whiz spanking new beauty of a cell phone, my Motorola V400. I’d show you a picture, but…

… it’s not working. Cingular One has been cranky with me today. Or maybe I’ve been cranky with Cingular One. Either way, I have no cell phone service right now, which makes my new moblog rather barren.

First of all, if you want to see the moblog, it’s here. I’m rather excited about it, because I can post pictures to it with just the click and click of my cell phone camera, the touch of a button or two, a few wireless transmissions and viola! the world see what Earl and I see. Textamerica.com has a great (read ‘free’) service that seems to be just wonderful. Many of the host/geeks on TechTV use the exact same service and everyone thinks they’re cool.

So I was able to upload one picture to my moblog when all of a sudden, right when I should have been working, my wireless web connection on my cell phone went dead.

1. Tech support call to Cingular One number one reactivated my phone. It didn’t work.

2. Tech support call to Cingular One resulted in a re-reactivated phone, and an offer to add insurance to my phone should I drop it in the toilet or something equally destructive. Still didn’t work.

3. Tech support call to Cingular One revealed that the Cingular One “switch” was all clogged up and that they would call my home phone when my phone service was restored. They never called.

4. Tech support call to Cingular One revealed that there was nothing wrong with their system, nor would there be, nor had there ever been a problem with my service, their service or their switch and that my gee-whiz spanking new beauty of a cell phone was at fault. Whammy! Wrong.

5. Tech support call to Cingular One resulted in the admission that Cingular One representative number one really screwed up my account and apparently Ma Bell herself was coming in to reprogram my portion of the switch. Apparently this entails 24 hours of hard labor, a bag of doritos and a lot of Mountain Dew, because I am not to even think about the phone for 24 hours.

So someday you’ll see my moblog in glorious technical color.

Part of my excitement about my moblog was spurred on by our purchase of a spiffy Sony Cybershot DSC-F828 digital camera. This actually looks like a real camera with manual focus and zoom lens and everything. It is 8.0 megapixel, which apparently allows us to photograph a cute man from several states away and still be able to see his charming grin. True to form, we bought the Best Buy “bees knees” of the camera department. I’d show you a picture, but I can’t take a picture of the camera with the actual camera, and well, my cell phone camera doesn’t work.

Let’s here it for technology!

As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, I recently came to the realization that we have a new house that really is yearning to be made “our home”. I must admit that I’ve been a little scared to become attached to this new house, because the idea of another move is always at the back of our mind, especially with Earl’s career on the move as it is. He’s eventually going to be promoted again, and it’s probably going to entail a relocation. It’s a prospect that I’m very excited about, however, it does make me a little hesitant to become attached to the wonderful house that we live in.

Now I just say, “screw it”.

This week I began the project of installing my collection of school clocks. The installation project has gone well, and I have around half of my clocks installed and fully functional. Just in time for daylight savings time tonight. I’m going to work on the more difficult-to-install clocks this week while Earl is in Ohio. Let’s see how well I do installing wire in walls stuffed with insulation!

We had a little “spring fling” dinner this evening, having my mom and my sister, my aunt and uncle and my cousin and my aunt’s mother and her husband over for dinner this evening. It was so nice to get together. It’s always an enjoyable time, and we laughed and laughed and laughed. The sound of laughter and the obvious feelings of family love definitely made our house feel like home this evening.

Prepping for the party yesterday, Earl went to the brand new Linens and Things and picked up some new decorations for the great room and formal living room. We’re going to do a little more shopping tomorrow during the day – I’m trying to convince Earl to go antiquing, but I don’t think that he’s in the mood to do so. I think it’d be fun. We’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings.

Earl and I, along with my sister, my mom and her dog went to get family portraits taken today as well. So we got all dressed up and headed to The Picture Place to spend the gift certificate that we had given my Mom for Christmas and had some really nice pictures taken. The cool thing about The Picture Place is that you get your pictures an hour after their taken… so we were able to bring them home with us. I’m going to scan them in tomorrow and share them. They came out really, really well. At Earl’s request, I went clean shaven for the pictures (save for my ever present soul patch), so if you’re keeping track, please mark the appropriate spot on your J.P. facial hair score card.

And lastly, I’m starting to get really jazzed about my trip to Iowa in 1 1/2 weeks for computer training. I can not wait to take the drive. I must admit that I am a little sad because I’m going to do the 18-hour in each direction trip alone (as I always road trip with Earl as my co-pilot), but I really like the thought of the drive and the opportunity to meet other individuals that have the same sort of job that I do.