I couldn't help myself. I had to include the 'psychodelic' picture taken during our Cloudcroft trip. You can easily see myself, Ida, and Mel, but you can also see potentially earlier images of us due to the reflections of the flames (at the very least, my position in the 'reflection' looks different). It was a fun campfire, that's for sure.

It's been an interesting few days here since I last made a blog posting. One of the big celebratory moments was a few days ago, as Ida officially got her award for being nominated for Service - Values In Action. This is a very big deal, as it is company-wide, with only a few people selected for it. Ironically, they didn't announce the winner at the 'Nomination Awards Luncheon', but we may soon find out if Ida continues to gather in accolades. There was a bit of a surprise in the announcement, as it came out that the winners would not actually be going to California (as expected), but rather... Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hey, a trip's a trip, right? So keep your fingers crossed.

BTW, I spelled Albuquerque right on the first try, but I do have to admit having to check on it afterwards. Hey, it's a tough name, as anyone who's heard Weird Al's song about it can attest.

On Wednesday night, I opted to go into work for a friend of mine, as he was having several difficulties. The first one he had already known about, as his family was planning to go to a funeral in a nearby town the next day. He was planning on driving there on 2 hours' sleep, but it sure works better if I just take over for him. The other point, though, was that his dad went into the Medical ICU at UMC Wednesday, with low blood pressure being a factor. Needless to say, I was happy to step in, especially since it means more hours for the ol' paycheck.

However, tragedy struck later that day, as Ida called to tell me that our beloved DVR had died. It still hurts to think about that *sniff*. Ok, so I'm being overly dramatic, so sue me. What happened is that, when Ida got up, she turned on our tv, only to find an error message stating that a corrupt file had occurred in our hard drive, and that every file subsequently had to be deleted to clear things up. Yep, that's right, one bad file means sweeping the whole thing clean.

When I got home, I called Customer Support for Dish Network, and actually got through with no holding. After a few attempts at fixing the problem, though, the technician told me just to wipe the memory. It stinks, losing all that television footage we had on there, although at least I had already gotten the important stuff (like my appearance at Scout Sunday) on DVD. The problem didn't stop there, though, as a new message appeared on the screen, saying that it would take a few minutes to clear the problem. Two hours later, I called Customer Support again and waited 10 minutes on hold, only to have the guy tell me to just try it again after a reboot.

An hour after that, after waiting 15-20 minutes on the phone, a new guy (Bill) told me that our equipment would need to be replaced. Oh well, right? Not a big deal, right? Only problem is, for some reason, it's being mailed to us. We'll apparently receive it in 4-5 days (since the 4th day is Sunday, I'm betting on Monday). The funny thing is, when we bought the system, technicians came out and assembled it for us. Now, though, we're just going to get a box and an 'instructional letter'. Bill was also quick to tell me that I need to note where every connection goes, as everything needs to be set up perfectly. We'll then need to call in and they'll have to hook some stuff up over on their side. Oh, and we also will have to mail back the faulty equipment as well.

Suffice to say, Dish Network has taken a huge step downwards in my mind. We've never had any major problems with them before, but I never figured that we'd have to wait almost a week to get something repaired, not to mention that I'm going to have to do some of the repair work (grumble).

What makes me laugh, though, is my own reaction to this event. I guess I've gotten too used to having the ability to record anything I want to see. Now, though, I have to actually pick and choose what's on, as well as having to be sure to be there to view it. I've certainly gotten spoiled, that's for sure. Just today, Ida and I watched Smallville and Supernatural in the study (the only set-up that works right now), while I missed seeing my wrestling shows. Who knows, though. Maybe this'll be good for me, and break the addiction of recordings (yeah, right). Lord knows Ida and I will probably want to go out more this weekend, since the main tvs are out of commission. The Art Show's on Friday (I believe), and maybe the drive-in will have some good flicks.

I just wish I had recorded the recent Heroes episodes to DVD. Now my collection's incomplete! C'mon, Sci Fi, I need another marathon!

Peace
Andy "Ace/Speed" Rasa

"Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we would have people standing in the corners of our rooms." - Adam Corenk