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The TV Setup Blues

February 28, 2019 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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My wife Lanna was very generous last night. After hearing me complain for years about the Dell All in One computer I got on Amazon, she said she was going to buy me a new computer.

And I saw a 24″ Smart HDTV at BJ’s for $100 and was going to get it, except it was actually $150. And the computer selection was very limited, saw an okay for one for around $500.

Then we went to Best Buy, which I actually like a lot better than Amazon for buying computers because there is someone to ask questions about. The last one I had a Pentium processor (why did Intel bring that name back?) and 4GB of memory. The one I got is a Lenova laptop with a smaller screen 15.6″ but 8GB of memory and a 2TB hard drive.

It’s funny that you can buy a computer and mainly use Chrome and iTunes and sometimes, you cannot enought enough memory with four gigabytes. Back when I was a kid with a TI 99/4 including the extension box and then a TI 99/4a, 16 kilobytes was a decent amount. Insane that 250,000 times more is not enough 30 years later.

So happy with our purchases last night.

Today, I wanted to get the TV setup and finally get rid of the dust collector that was our old SDTV with pretty bad picture but a DVD player included. I literally hadn’t used it in years.

So I got that very heavy TV out of the room and on the way to the dump and tried to setup the TV. Which is an Insignia FireTV edition. Unfortunately, it just had the TV and the feet. Not the remote, not the instructions and not the screws. So back to Best Buy which is super frustrating. And I did open the box before coming back here.

And then the feet were really hard to get on. Really small screw in a dark plastic hole. And I put the feet on the wrong way, so that took a long, long time.

Luckily, setting up the PC was very easy. Although, I don’t know my Microsoft wants to setup an app to change the look on your phone, and some Alexa like program. I tried the app for a minute before deciding I like the way my Android Essential works already.

Now, that I got the TV setup, it’s really good.

I’m able to get Pandora (which I can’t get on PS3 easily) and listening to that now. It defaults to Amazon Prime TV, which makes sense for an Amazon OS. And able to get Netflix and all that stuff too. I think I will be very happy. Although today was frustrating with the return and setting up the feet. So it goes.

Filed Under: Television, The Blog, The Ecq Review

A Day Without a Smartphone

April 17, 2014 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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Smartphones are amazing things. What would be considered a super computer not that long ago in the palm of your hand.

The ablility to send a Tweet around the world. The ability to send a Facebook message to all your friends and followers. Amazing apps, games, messaging ….

You know you can turn them off. No, seriously you can.

My phone died on Tuesday afternoon. Put it in my coat pocket, went to fix my car and then weird squares on the bottom left.

I went to the Great Lost Bear for mac and cheese and beer and it wouldn’t work. I tried removing the Otterbox (which has a horrible design on the Galaxy S4 that already broke from Thanksgiving with loose rubber and breaking plastic that doesn’t seal), and changing the battery but the problem continued.

I want to tweet and message about the the first date going on next to me. It did seem to be going relatively well and I think they will have a second date, not sure if it will be a long-term relationship, but they will likely be friends.

I also tried the crazy mix at Great Lost Bear that is mac and cheese, topped with baked beans, topped with cole slaw and then three fried pickles in a mason jar. It was good but I think wicked farty.

Yesterday, I didn’t really miss my phone that much. I was mainly zoning out and watching stuff like “Orange is the New Black” (which is awesome.)

Usually at work I use my phone more. I check in with my wife, I use it to listen to music since I lost my iPod a few weeks ago, and I play smartphone games (been addicted to FIFA 14).

But the Galaxy is down for the count and the SD card is missing from my old Evo so most of the apps don’t work.

So on my downtime I read more. Read a bunch of the April “The Bollard” (easily my favorite free paper in town and favorite newspaper considering the Portland Press Herald kind of sucks these days.) And I read quite a bit of the 2013 Entertainment Weekly with the 100 best of all time. Really “My Dark Twisted Fantasy” by Kanye West is the 8th best album of all time, really? Between Aretha Franklin and “Pet Sounds” by the Beach Boys, really?

And as much as I love Woody Allen and adore Annie Hall, I just don’t like Manhattan **, I have tried multiple times but it’s just ridiculous. Why would he really fall for Muriel Hemingway’s HS character, does he have some weird thing for young girls?

But, when I left work I felt like my mind was working on writing ideas. That I wasn’t as distracted all day. That I had a very good day.

So, I am getting my phone back on Monday, ok a replacement phone, but I think I will just turn it off more. I really don’t need to keep checking Facebook or Twitter or FIFA 14. It’s a weapon of mass distraction.

I am ADDish enough without it.

So, I hope to read more and smartphone less.

One of the things I love about my retreat every Memorial Day weekend in the Berkshires is that phones and the internet don’t work. I engage with people more. I don’t hear the traffic. I hear the running water, hear the birds tweeting their songs, not the clatter of millions in under 140 characters. I experience the green and beauty of a sacred place. It’s magic.

I have been feeling the need for a smartphone vacation. I miss my old Evo dying of battery faster. The Galaxy is too good at being a mini-computer. The Google Chrome works too well. Sometimes it runs better than my laptop at home.

So, I don’t think I will disconnect, but I will connect less. People are much more important than devices, if you find you can’t ignore your phone at a poetry reading, turn it off. If you can’t ignore your phone while having lunch or dinner with someone, turn it off. Seriously. If you want to connect it will still be there. If you really want to connect with actual people you should turn if off.

Seriously. Try it!

C’mon. Try it!

I know you don’t believe you can, but your public can wait. Especially if you have to pay attention to the road.

Be safe. Be mindful,

edmund

Filed Under: facebook, Television, The Blog, The Ecq Review, The Off Channel, The Poetry Conversation, twitter

Surviving Reality

January 16, 2014 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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The Learning Channel
A Discovery
That History
Is a pawned
Ice Road Trucker.

The Real World
Full of Survivors
American Idols
With a Voice.

American Pickers
Duck Dynasties
Hoarders
Intervention.

Turn of the Reality TV.
And live a real life.

Filed Under: Television

Mike Rice

April 3, 2013 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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Yesterday on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” there was a story about Mike Rice, the Rutgers men’s basketball coach throwing balls at players and using anti-gay slurs. With similar evidence there was a 3 game suspension and $50,000 fine during the season.

Now, he is fired. I think it’s the right decision. As a proud alumnus of Rutgers, I would love to see stability in the program and a coach to be proud of. Especially as the school enters the Big Ten in 2014-15.

A coach to be proud of first, a good program second. It’s time. It’s beyond time.

We can’t see things like this on the banks again.

Filed Under: Rutgers, sports, Television, The Blog, The Ecq Review

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