"Welcome to Comcast Country 2: Super Tech!"
A while back I gripped about the poor quality of Comcast Sportsnet since it was ousted to channel 69 for no good reason. Well, since that last time I brought it up (see welcome to comcast country now bend over) there have been some new developments. They were supposed to come out a few weeks ago, but in cable guy tradition they never showed. Another time they come out and supposedly did "something". A vague note was sent to us telling us what they did. However who ever did whatever never came in the house to check out the signal. So I am not sure how he would know if he had fixed it or not. Take a guess and see if you can figure out if he fixed it....go ahead...........take your time............. Nope of course not!
In comes the SUPER tech (I am not sure if he had an S on his shirt I wasn't here when he showed up). He did some stuff, which made the picture slightly better most of the time. If we want the best possible picture (which is still not what it should be) we have to watch the higher channels through the VCR. The picture is almost back to normal if you do this.
The SUPER tech told us that he warned "the suits"that moving the popular channel would be a mistake. He mentioned there is a fairly strong UHF channel that is sent out on that signal. The signal will cause interference if there are any exposed spots in cable connections. "The Suits" have yet to do anything about this despite being flooded with phone calls. The SUPER tech left our house only to go to yet another complaint about Comcast Sportsnet coming and going. A few days later without the VCR it went back to looking like scrambled porn. Of course porn usually doesn't involve a bunch of middle aged men sitting at a desk complaining about Andy Reid but I think you get the drift.
Friday, September 13, 2002
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
"9/11 a Year Later"
It is funny how days can slowly slip by piling up to an entire calendar year so quickly. Its hard to believe it has been a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington occurred. Every paper you pick up, every channel you turn on will bombard you with images of planes ripping buildings in half ( tune into the rebroadcast of CBS' 9/11 tomorrow at 9pm if you missed it 6 months ago its be might be the most extraordinary documentary I have ever seen.), people covered in soot, heroic accounts of the NY police and fireman, stories of narrow escapees, and many stories of lost loved ones. Granted it is overwhelming, but its important that the day is remembered. Not that the major networks had a choice in the matter refusal to air any coverage would be seen as insensitive. I couldn't justify ABC running reruns of According to Jim in place of retrospectives, even if that means having to see Peter Jennings face for a prolonged period of time.
A year ago tomorrow morning the sun rose on the World Trade Center for the last time. A year ago the towers dwarfed the landscape. A year ago from when I post and publish this people didn't think most likely someone was marveling at the size of this towers completely in the dark. For the last time people headed out the door of their homes to work. For the last time people laid eyes on their loved ones. Some used their cell phones to express their final words later that day.
The weather of September 11, 2001, was prefect. Not a cloud graced the blue sky in South Jersey nor over New York City. Of course all of that changed with in a few hours after Manhattan was engulfed in black cloud.
I had a morning work shift before heading off to class. As I was brushing my teeth, I overhead the news channel saying something about the World Trade Center. For some reason I thought they were just talking about the anniversary of when a car bomb was driven in to the towers. Apparently I forgot about the fact that it was snowing lightly that morning in 1993. When I first saw the image I couldn't get over how black the smoke was. My first reaction was some Arab (or terrorist of some sort) has set a bomb off in there. For some reason I thought that the fire would be put out in hours.
Then one of the news channels was speculating about a plane that had hit it. There goes the media blowing things out of proportion again, I thought to myself. Within a minute of seeing that I witnessed another ball of fire, so focused on the towers I didn't even notice the image of the 2nd plane slamming in the WTC. Driving to work I had Howard Stern on, there is not doubt about he said...we are at war.
Later that day I watched on TV at work, like the rest of that nation. Like all Americans I thought to myself the unthinkable is happening before my eyes. How much more did these people have in store for us? Then news footage flipped to the pentagon, and what was more disturbing is a customer still wanted me to wait on her. I spent 10 minutes selling a washer as word came that 3rd plane crashed in Pennsylvania some where. I couldn't help but think we were in the middle of the whole thing.
The reporter on the news cast I was watching at work, mentioned the whole tower shook. I thought maybe a bomb had gone off or something. However, about a minute later the tower began to collapse. The sound the reporter heard must have been the tower starting to implode. The tower disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke. For some reason I thought that other tower would remain standing. I guess I was in denial or something. When the 2nd tower went down, I knew I was watching one of the most important moments in America's history. I also realized how meaningless my problems were, and how I should just be thankful that I didn't know anyone who lost their lives that day. Life is silly that way. Later that night Ryan, Lima Beanz, myself and met Price and his father at Champs in Cherry Hill. It was a bizarre experience having footage on all the televisions there.
Human beings jumped to their death picking that as an option to go makes you understand the hellish conditions that they experienced. Thousands of horrifying images exist. Thankfully these images exist for future generations to have a perhaps some sort of understanding what happened that day. Images I will most likely remember for the rest of my life. Even the aftermath seeing the largest almost ridiculously huge buildings in history reduced to tomb of cement and metal. The are various erie images on the Internet, including a shot of the landmark sculpture the sphere which stood outside one of the towers dented and mangled.
The weeks that followed had everyone on edge. I still have the tendency to think to myself...that plan is flying a little low isn't it? Or looks a little too slanted? Isn't the Philadelphia airport in the other direction? We saw New York late night funny men David Letterman and Jon Stewart reduced to tears. We saw American flags on dozens of cars, we lit candles one night collectively as a nation. We discussed it in our classes, we tried to figure out who did this to us and why. We pondered about what could be done to make it safer. We realized what a poor condition the FBI was in. Missteps such as not having enough people to translate Arabic while intercepting messages, lack of organization,cutting the FBI during the 90's, and perhaps being a little too forgiving for the bombing of the USS Cole, and the WTC incident of 1993.
Eventually we got back to about our everyday lives at least those of us who didn't lose anyone directly did. It wasn't long before the liberals began exaggerating about prisoners of war. Ludicrously comparing it to Nazi prison camps. When an extremist liberal starts telling me it makes us no different from our enemy. I tell them about how they captured journalist Danny Pearl not only murdered him, but decapitated him on film. I also tell them the prisoners are in better living conditions than the were before. I also wonder how people expect to get any kind of information about future attacks. Ask nicely?
It wasn't long before we as nation debated if the word God should be in the Pledge of Allegiance. Baseball players childishly quibbled over money. People were wondering if that fruity white kid with the afro would become the American Idol (although hopefully none of my readers were not). The media exploited subjects like Anthrax, and came up with any thing they could to scare up viewers.
As I type this we are under an Orange state of an alert. It could be prisoners just trying to give us a good scare, and maybe we are wise enough to thwart any efforts of a repeat, even on a minor scale. I hope and pray that we will.
It is funny how days can slowly slip by piling up to an entire calendar year so quickly. Its hard to believe it has been a year since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington occurred. Every paper you pick up, every channel you turn on will bombard you with images of planes ripping buildings in half ( tune into the rebroadcast of CBS' 9/11 tomorrow at 9pm if you missed it 6 months ago its be might be the most extraordinary documentary I have ever seen.), people covered in soot, heroic accounts of the NY police and fireman, stories of narrow escapees, and many stories of lost loved ones. Granted it is overwhelming, but its important that the day is remembered. Not that the major networks had a choice in the matter refusal to air any coverage would be seen as insensitive. I couldn't justify ABC running reruns of According to Jim in place of retrospectives, even if that means having to see Peter Jennings face for a prolonged period of time.
A year ago tomorrow morning the sun rose on the World Trade Center for the last time. A year ago the towers dwarfed the landscape. A year ago from when I post and publish this people didn't think most likely someone was marveling at the size of this towers completely in the dark. For the last time people headed out the door of their homes to work. For the last time people laid eyes on their loved ones. Some used their cell phones to express their final words later that day.
The weather of September 11, 2001, was prefect. Not a cloud graced the blue sky in South Jersey nor over New York City. Of course all of that changed with in a few hours after Manhattan was engulfed in black cloud.
I had a morning work shift before heading off to class. As I was brushing my teeth, I overhead the news channel saying something about the World Trade Center. For some reason I thought they were just talking about the anniversary of when a car bomb was driven in to the towers. Apparently I forgot about the fact that it was snowing lightly that morning in 1993. When I first saw the image I couldn't get over how black the smoke was. My first reaction was some Arab (or terrorist of some sort) has set a bomb off in there. For some reason I thought that the fire would be put out in hours.
Then one of the news channels was speculating about a plane that had hit it. There goes the media blowing things out of proportion again, I thought to myself. Within a minute of seeing that I witnessed another ball of fire, so focused on the towers I didn't even notice the image of the 2nd plane slamming in the WTC. Driving to work I had Howard Stern on, there is not doubt about he said...we are at war.
Later that day I watched on TV at work, like the rest of that nation. Like all Americans I thought to myself the unthinkable is happening before my eyes. How much more did these people have in store for us? Then news footage flipped to the pentagon, and what was more disturbing is a customer still wanted me to wait on her. I spent 10 minutes selling a washer as word came that 3rd plane crashed in Pennsylvania some where. I couldn't help but think we were in the middle of the whole thing.
The reporter on the news cast I was watching at work, mentioned the whole tower shook. I thought maybe a bomb had gone off or something. However, about a minute later the tower began to collapse. The sound the reporter heard must have been the tower starting to implode. The tower disappeared in a giant cloud of smoke. For some reason I thought that other tower would remain standing. I guess I was in denial or something. When the 2nd tower went down, I knew I was watching one of the most important moments in America's history. I also realized how meaningless my problems were, and how I should just be thankful that I didn't know anyone who lost their lives that day. Life is silly that way. Later that night Ryan, Lima Beanz, myself and met Price and his father at Champs in Cherry Hill. It was a bizarre experience having footage on all the televisions there.
Human beings jumped to their death picking that as an option to go makes you understand the hellish conditions that they experienced. Thousands of horrifying images exist. Thankfully these images exist for future generations to have a perhaps some sort of understanding what happened that day. Images I will most likely remember for the rest of my life. Even the aftermath seeing the largest almost ridiculously huge buildings in history reduced to tomb of cement and metal. The are various erie images on the Internet, including a shot of the landmark sculpture the sphere which stood outside one of the towers dented and mangled.
The weeks that followed had everyone on edge. I still have the tendency to think to myself...that plan is flying a little low isn't it? Or looks a little too slanted? Isn't the Philadelphia airport in the other direction? We saw New York late night funny men David Letterman and Jon Stewart reduced to tears. We saw American flags on dozens of cars, we lit candles one night collectively as a nation. We discussed it in our classes, we tried to figure out who did this to us and why. We pondered about what could be done to make it safer. We realized what a poor condition the FBI was in. Missteps such as not having enough people to translate Arabic while intercepting messages, lack of organization,cutting the FBI during the 90's, and perhaps being a little too forgiving for the bombing of the USS Cole, and the WTC incident of 1993.
Eventually we got back to about our everyday lives at least those of us who didn't lose anyone directly did. It wasn't long before the liberals began exaggerating about prisoners of war. Ludicrously comparing it to Nazi prison camps. When an extremist liberal starts telling me it makes us no different from our enemy. I tell them about how they captured journalist Danny Pearl not only murdered him, but decapitated him on film. I also tell them the prisoners are in better living conditions than the were before. I also wonder how people expect to get any kind of information about future attacks. Ask nicely?
It wasn't long before we as nation debated if the word God should be in the Pledge of Allegiance. Baseball players childishly quibbled over money. People were wondering if that fruity white kid with the afro would become the American Idol (although hopefully none of my readers were not). The media exploited subjects like Anthrax, and came up with any thing they could to scare up viewers.
As I type this we are under an Orange state of an alert. It could be prisoners just trying to give us a good scare, and maybe we are wise enough to thwart any efforts of a repeat, even on a minor scale. I hope and pray that we will.
"20 Something"
So you go to highschool, and your either get a job or you move on to college. After four years (or 4.5 years or more if you’re a slacker!) it’s time to leave campus for the final time ever! (If its Rowan just make sure you don’t get run over by a truck barreling down US ROUTE 322) .A man in a nice suit smiles hands you a piece of paper and gestures you to your new life.
You feel like you just won the lottery! You have a dream job where you work 9-5 with great benefits, you have a trendy clean apartment, and you still have plenty of time to loaf around with your friends and talk about sex like on those sitcoms. Oh yeah and you just found your life partner who is as sweet as they are good looking.
Then suddenly your alarm goes off and you have to make it your crumby job that you feel is beneath you. Perhaps you prolong the student experience by going to Grad. School with still no real goals. Or maybe you just want to sleep till 2 pm get up watch some tv, and go out and drink. And of course you start listening to John Mayer CDs all the time.
If you experienced anything in the 3rd paragraph you might, might be experiencing a fairly new “buzz” term called the quarter life crisis. Something I learned about from another student’s research project last semester. Apparently, this guy wrote a book about how people just become over whelmed once they finish college. The age group are people in their mid 20's (hence the phrase quarter) Often times resulting in depressesion, distancing from friends, questioning oneself etc, etc,. Im not sure we are the first generation to be filled with self-doubt about our future. And this guy who wrote the book certainly found a market to cash in on. However, the 2000 Census reports that 53 % of all men and women between the ages of 18-24 live at home. A much high number than I would have thought. They have their own website so it must be true!!!! http://www.quarterlifecrisis.com/
Is something that has been around all the time and just for some reason got the attention out of nowhere. Kinda like El Nino a few years ago? Or is it the MTV generation is too spoiled rotten and had it too good their whole life that they can’t make up their minds about what they want to do with all their pent up drive? Id ask you to comment but that would just be silly. You can think about it I than write your answer on a piece of paper and throw it away, successfully wasting 30 seconds of your day. You will be glad you did.
Oh yeah, Mosoco sent me his score. He got a 160. Did Dan K., Drew and Cookiepuss cheat on the IQ test when they had that sleepover at the village last weekend? They are such good friends I would not put that past them!
So you go to highschool, and your either get a job or you move on to college. After four years (or 4.5 years or more if you’re a slacker!) it’s time to leave campus for the final time ever! (If its Rowan just make sure you don’t get run over by a truck barreling down US ROUTE 322) .A man in a nice suit smiles hands you a piece of paper and gestures you to your new life.
You feel like you just won the lottery! You have a dream job where you work 9-5 with great benefits, you have a trendy clean apartment, and you still have plenty of time to loaf around with your friends and talk about sex like on those sitcoms. Oh yeah and you just found your life partner who is as sweet as they are good looking.
Then suddenly your alarm goes off and you have to make it your crumby job that you feel is beneath you. Perhaps you prolong the student experience by going to Grad. School with still no real goals. Or maybe you just want to sleep till 2 pm get up watch some tv, and go out and drink. And of course you start listening to John Mayer CDs all the time.
If you experienced anything in the 3rd paragraph you might, might be experiencing a fairly new “buzz” term called the quarter life crisis. Something I learned about from another student’s research project last semester. Apparently, this guy wrote a book about how people just become over whelmed once they finish college. The age group are people in their mid 20's (hence the phrase quarter) Often times resulting in depressesion, distancing from friends, questioning oneself etc, etc,. Im not sure we are the first generation to be filled with self-doubt about our future. And this guy who wrote the book certainly found a market to cash in on. However, the 2000 Census reports that 53 % of all men and women between the ages of 18-24 live at home. A much high number than I would have thought. They have their own website so it must be true!!!! http://www.quarterlifecrisis.com/
Is something that has been around all the time and just for some reason got the attention out of nowhere. Kinda like El Nino a few years ago? Or is it the MTV generation is too spoiled rotten and had it too good their whole life that they can’t make up their minds about what they want to do with all their pent up drive? Id ask you to comment but that would just be silly. You can think about it I than write your answer on a piece of paper and throw it away, successfully wasting 30 seconds of your day. You will be glad you did.
Oh yeah, Mosoco sent me his score. He got a 160. Did Dan K., Drew and Cookiepuss cheat on the IQ test when they had that sleepover at the village last weekend? They are such good friends I would not put that past them!
Sunday, September 08, 2002
"The Results"
First off I hope everyone had a good weekend, and no one is suffering from a case of the "Mondays" while reading this. Also I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the survey. Well here is the breakdown.
Rick: 107
Chris: 114
Jenna 139
Lima Beanz (formerly known as Jay) 155
and there was actually a tie for first place bettween
Drew and Dan K. who both scored a 160, which means they are both considered "gifted". Any suggestions for a tie breaker?! I'm sure these two good friends can work something out.
First off I hope everyone had a good weekend, and no one is suffering from a case of the "Mondays" while reading this. Also I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the survey. Well here is the breakdown.
Rick: 107
Chris: 114
Jenna 139
Lima Beanz (formerly known as Jay) 155
and there was actually a tie for first place bettween
Drew and Dan K. who both scored a 160, which means they are both considered "gifted". Any suggestions for a tie breaker?! I'm sure these two good friends can work something out.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)