Listening to: Jolene by Dolly Parton
Mood: Good, but have to work tomorrow
My DVD player bit the dust last week. What's most frustrating is the player still works fine, but the remote control needed to navigate the DVD menus finally stopped working. I noticed about two months ago that certain buttons on the remote no longer worked, but when the return button gave out on Tuesday, I could no longer navigate (since the directional arrows had died a month ago.)
Long story short, this was the excuse I needed to finally break down and buy a surround sound system for my apartment. Of course, the timing was poor as I've spent my 'extra' money for a few months running on travel and this purchase was going to have to come out of my savings rather than my cash flow.
For those who are frugal (I honestly can't call myself frugal anymore), I did look into a replacement remote, but the cheapest one was 60% of a new DVD player... and I really wanted a DVD player that could "upcovert" my DVDs to 1080p... and those are sort of costly... and before you know it, it's pretty easy to justify a surround sound system. (I have been talking about it for almost two years, so it's not exactly an impulse buy.)
Anyhow, I watched the Bourne Ultimatum as my first surround sound movie... and that was pretty cool. However, my favorite part of the set-up is listening to my iPod through the system. It's phenomenal to hear the melodies in one ear and the harmony in another.
As for other things in life? Well, I had a good weekend. On Friday night, I went over to Keystone and drafted a fantasy baseball team for Eric's brother-in-law. It was totally fun because we had eight totally nerdy guys who are exactly the type when you think about guys getting together for a fantasy league. We even had a dedicated auctioneer, and a soccer fan (Nate) to keep me entertained. The draft ran from 8 pm and I got home at 2. The best part is I don't have to manage the team throughout the season.
On Saturday, I puttered around setting up the new sound system, and then made a trip to Home Depot to return the ceiling fan and light switches I bought last month. (The electrician's quote was nearly $1,000!) The ceiling fan project has been back-burnered until a new policy goes into place in my building that will allow me to hire our maintenance man to do the work. I figured I'd return the fan to Home Depot until I have a clearer time frame on the project. Conveniently, the ceiling fan (and assorted switches) were nearly as expensive as the sound system, so it was like a trade.
Hmmm... that's about it. I did do House Dinner on Sunday and had a chance to opine on the relationship between government and business... something I love to do. I also explained economics to Michael... and I tied in Metcalfe/Reed's law, which is something that I'd never thought of in that context until I was explaining it. Perhaps I'll write a blog entry on that at some point.
Aight, I've gotta work in a few hours. Tuesday is March 31... and I can't wait until we publish our audited financials. Our first (fiscal) quarter is amazingly tame for an accountant, but I still hate the stress of year end... and that officially ends on Tuesday. Of course, Wednesday is the first day of closing the first quarter, but we'll deal with Wednesday when we get to it.
Finally, I believe I've got a deal with 'the Rooftop guy' that might let me see about forty or fifty games this year. More to follow when I get a signed contract!
Mood: Good, but have to work tomorrow
My DVD player bit the dust last week. What's most frustrating is the player still works fine, but the remote control needed to navigate the DVD menus finally stopped working. I noticed about two months ago that certain buttons on the remote no longer worked, but when the return button gave out on Tuesday, I could no longer navigate (since the directional arrows had died a month ago.)
Long story short, this was the excuse I needed to finally break down and buy a surround sound system for my apartment. Of course, the timing was poor as I've spent my 'extra' money for a few months running on travel and this purchase was going to have to come out of my savings rather than my cash flow.
For those who are frugal (I honestly can't call myself frugal anymore), I did look into a replacement remote, but the cheapest one was 60% of a new DVD player... and I really wanted a DVD player that could "upcovert" my DVDs to 1080p... and those are sort of costly... and before you know it, it's pretty easy to justify a surround sound system. (I have been talking about it for almost two years, so it's not exactly an impulse buy.)
Anyhow, I watched the Bourne Ultimatum as my first surround sound movie... and that was pretty cool. However, my favorite part of the set-up is listening to my iPod through the system. It's phenomenal to hear the melodies in one ear and the harmony in another.
As for other things in life? Well, I had a good weekend. On Friday night, I went over to Keystone and drafted a fantasy baseball team for Eric's brother-in-law. It was totally fun because we had eight totally nerdy guys who are exactly the type when you think about guys getting together for a fantasy league. We even had a dedicated auctioneer, and a soccer fan (Nate) to keep me entertained. The draft ran from 8 pm and I got home at 2. The best part is I don't have to manage the team throughout the season.
On Saturday, I puttered around setting up the new sound system, and then made a trip to Home Depot to return the ceiling fan and light switches I bought last month. (The electrician's quote was nearly $1,000!) The ceiling fan project has been back-burnered until a new policy goes into place in my building that will allow me to hire our maintenance man to do the work. I figured I'd return the fan to Home Depot until I have a clearer time frame on the project. Conveniently, the ceiling fan (and assorted switches) were nearly as expensive as the sound system, so it was like a trade.
Hmmm... that's about it. I did do House Dinner on Sunday and had a chance to opine on the relationship between government and business... something I love to do. I also explained economics to Michael... and I tied in Metcalfe/Reed's law, which is something that I'd never thought of in that context until I was explaining it. Perhaps I'll write a blog entry on that at some point.
Aight, I've gotta work in a few hours. Tuesday is March 31... and I can't wait until we publish our audited financials. Our first (fiscal) quarter is amazingly tame for an accountant, but I still hate the stress of year end... and that officially ends on Tuesday. Of course, Wednesday is the first day of closing the first quarter, but we'll deal with Wednesday when we get to it.
Finally, I believe I've got a deal with 'the Rooftop guy' that might let me see about forty or fifty games this year. More to follow when I get a signed contract!
