Random dumb thoughts

This page is to put those little weirdnesses of life that don't really fit anywhere else, or aren't worth a page of their own

Saturday, August 09, 2003

I hate the cable company.

I know that you're all probably saying, "so, what else is new?" But this morning they moved all the channels around and regrouped them. So, the minor annoyance is that I don't know where any of the channels I normally watch are.

The major annoyance is my multi-system TV in the bedroom. Because of the way it's set up, you can't see all channels on American cable systems -- I think it doesn't register one band or something like that. No channels 38-58. So lots of the channels I like to watch at night before falling asleep have moved to that zone. However, all the sports, Spanish and shopping channels are now visible. Joy. To make it even worse, the channels don't automatically show up, you have to set the channels on the TV (and the multisystem VCR -- separately). AND the way American cable systems broadcast their channels, they're not in order, either. So they pop up something like 2-6, 99, 10-13, 7-9, 14-30, 71, 31-37, 59-80 on international machines.

So, I spent about two hours this morning reprogramming the TV and VCR to put the channels in some approximation of their proper position, made all the more difficult by the fact that on a Saturday morning, no channel looks like what it's supposed to be -- they're all Proactiv or Kathy Guenker infomercials.

They're really going to push me back to reading.

.: posted by Lily Saturday, August 09, 2003

Thursday, August 07, 2003

Here is my new toy. It's really cool, and I don't have a clue on how to use it yet. It's sitting here doing its initial charge at the moment, looking very sleek in its dock.

However, here's where y'all come in. It will probably hold my entire CD collection, but I have to spend the time to import it on there. So here's my question -- if you had to choose your (or my) desert island discs to put on the iPod -- what would you put on first? This isn't entirely a theoretical question, either. It and I shall be travelling, so I must prioritize.

Your nominations please.....

.: posted by Lily Thursday, August 07, 2003

Monday, August 04, 2003

The universe is conspiring against me...

As regular readers will recall, I am recovering from a nasty bout of the icks. Well, that's what it was. So there's some residual congestion in the chest, but it hasn't converted to full blown asthma yet, and I'm hoping it won't. Sooooo... today as I'm going in to work in the afternoon after going to a meeting, what do I discover? They're PAINTING the hallway with that lovely noxious stuff that institutions use.

I get home tonight, still in pretty decent shape, and now, streaming through the bathroom vent, is cigarette smoke from another apartment. I hate that -- people in this building will do one of two things to avoid pissing off the people they live with. They either smoke in the bathroom, because they think that it's a "magic zone" or something, when instead it's one of the better ventilated places in these apartments, so it spreads. Or else, they open the kitchen door, and blow their smoke into the hallway. Now, while I'm no fan of smoking, if you want to do it in the privacy of your own home, that's fine. But if you don't want the smell of that sh*t in your apartment, what on EARTH makes you think that I want it in mine? Stink up your own place, or go all the way outside.

cough cough

.: posted by Lily Monday, August 04, 2003

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