I didn’t realize until just now, but it looks like Schulte finally opened up his web log. If it lives up to it’s name, he’s likely to get boatloads of repeat visitors.
My values are clear
I got the TV today, and it’s sweet. Absurdly big for the room it’s in. I also bought a table in chairs for my little dining room today.
Total cost of TV: approximately $4000 at Tweeter. Total cost of table and chairs: $48.95 plus tax at Walmart. Plus, the pieces all fold up for easy storage… bonus!
The TV saga continues…
If you recall from last time, Tweeter agreed to get me the new Sony TV. It was supposed to be in their store yesterday. I call up because I’m ready to come down there, and sure enough it isn’t. Didn’t make the shipment. Whoops!
So I tell them I’m willing to drive to another store and pick it up – no problem. The guy tells me it’s in Manchester, NH. I tell him that’s fine, but at that distance I’d need to pick the new TV up first, then come down and swap it at my house, then bring the old one back. He tells me that’s against store policy. I tell him I’ll leave a credit card. He says he’ll call me back.
He calls back and tells me there really is no TV for me in Manchester. They screwed up and showed 1 available in the computer, when really that was the floor model. He says he can get one in on Friday. Friday’s no good for me. I want it in my house up and running by Friday afternoon. I tell him I’ll just take my money back because they’ve screwed me over for too long. They can come pick up the broken TV at their leisure.
He talks to the manager. They now “guarantee” that the Sony will be delivered to my house by Friday. I say OK, knowing that it’d be a big hassle for me to have to re-shop for a TV and renegotiate the price down. We’ll see on Friday. What a bunch of idiots.
The future of Microsoft and the software industry
Slashdot has posted a link to a very interesting editorial on the future of Microsoft, and software in general. It’s quite long, but also very good. A lot of it talks to the .NET initiative and web services industry. There are also a ton of great references at the end. My favorite quote from the article:
Just about nobody trusts Microsoft any more, not even after a few drinks.
New TV
So a few months ago I bought a new television, the 43″ Samsung HLM437W. The day I got it, I realized it had what looked like white clouds under the screen, so I called Tweeter to send a guy out and look at it.
When the guy shows up, the thing won’t even turn on. Turns out I have struck the infamous three blinking lights problem. He agreed to exchange it for a new set. Well… the sets were supposed to come in Friday, Feb 21st… now they’re slated to come in March 14th. Great.
Yesterday I called up the guy at Tweeter, and he agreed to sell me the Sony 50XBR800 at the same discount he gave me on the Samsung (about $500 off). I hope this new one isn’t a piece of crap too.
Opie and Anthony clean out the office
It’s over for O&A at WNEW. They gave away a lot of their stuff as they cleaned out their office.
There are some rumors about them being in talks with Sirrus XM radio, and Anthony claims they will be back, so we’ll see.
Callahan's web log
Callahan opened up a web log on my site where he can ramble on about whatever he wants. I’m sure everyone wants to hear the thoughts of a Harvard Law student who has nothing but free time on his hands. Check it out here.
Coldplay Concert
Last night Kim and I went and saw Coldplay down in Connecticutt. They were quite good, although went pretty overboard with a political message about free trade. Chris had “Make Trade Fair” written on the side of his piano, and also on his left hand, so you could read it when they showed a camera shot of him playing. It was ridiculous. They even put up a maketradefair.com sign projected on the back wall of the auditorium. Now I’m all in favor of free trade, and I know some aspects of it are advocated on the fair trade website (dropping agrigculture subsidies, for example) but honestly, I don’t want my entertainers preaching to me. Thanks to the war issue, I’ll probably never see another George Clooney movie again (well, the war issue plus Solaris). Hey Hollywood, please do me a favor and shut up.
Spain sucks
An e-mail with the subject line “Spain Sucks” is what I received from Schulte when he sent a link to this picture.
Mr. Rogers Died
Just like everyone else who went to CMU, I lived in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood in Pittsburgh (classic CMU tour joke) for a few years. I guess they’ll have to stop using that joke though… he died in his home on Thursday.