Well, that beats any New Year's party I've ever attended.

HAPPY NEW YEAR East Coasters!

Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope it will be a good year for all.

Well, the New Year looks pretty good so far. I hope everyone had a great night and had fun and safe celebrations.

Hee. Looks like a2zmom started with the partying before she went to the party....

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year, all!

Mrjaz has decided that our New Year's tradition is to lie in bed, watching Red Dwarf. So we're sort of doing that. Except that he's asleep, and I think I will very soon turn off the tv and go get some work done.

Snerk. Can't belive I mistyped that. And you people all have filthy minds.

They have started the lead in to the new series of Angel on Sky One in the UK... They had a Spike night tonight (4pm to midnight), with adverts for Angel the Series in between the programmes (School Hard, The Surprise parts 1 and 2, Once more with feeling, Pangs, I Will Remember You, and Smashed). They are repeating the finale of season 4 next Tuesday, then we get the new series the week after.

Serendipity, really. Had I not been having family irritations at the moment, I would not have been home alone to watch them. So there is always a silver lining to every cloud...

Ugh. Watching Red Dwarf is no way to start the new year. I myself celebrated the start of the new year by sleeping late.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone had a fun time. My New Year was quite quiet, I went out for dinner with friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Hobbit do you know what day the new Angel will be on? I'm really looking forward to it starting so that I can read Strega's recaps, it's been a real effort to keep myself away from them! I watched some of Spike Night too - School Hard, and Once More, With Feeling. Mr -kins just can't understand why I insist upon watching them on the tv when I have them all on video/dvd though. You just have to right?

Yup. You have to watch them. School hard is possibly my favourite episode. I just love the bit when Spike announces he and Dru are moving in. *sigh*

Katkins, Home is being shown next Tuesday (6th January) on Sky One at 9pm (followed straightaway by the last two Buffy episodes). The new series will presumably follow the next week (13th January?) I love the way they are leading up to Spike going there though, by finishing with Chosen.

We just got back from seeing ROTK. Wow. Word to pretty much everything everyone has said. Serious HoYay several times, and I'm bragging by telling you all that I only dozed off once, and I didn't even miss anything crucial.

Thanks to our $300 gas bill for last month, we're using our fireplace for the first time. As expected, one cat finds the fire fascinating, and the other wants me to make it go away.

I just got back from NorCal earlier. I had a fun solo 500 mile drive...just me and my iPod.

I found out while I was visiting my grandparents that my grandpa has Alzheimers. That's shitty. My Nana was saying that his lungs (he has emphysema and lung cancer and is constantly on oxygen) will probably give out before his memory, which is, I guess, a good thing.

Well, since I wasn't invited to a2zmom's love party, I spent New Years watching the History of Sex marathon on the History Channel, which is nowhere near as cool as a love party. (I had started the day watching the Twilight Zone marathon, but they were showing crappy episodes later in the evening.)

I'm sorry to hear about your grandpa, OrangeGeek. That sounds terrible.

Why is it I always start off long holiday weekends with high hopes for lots of fun and productivity, and end up midway through feeling like I haven't really had any of either? I am such a slug sometimes, I swear. I won't let myself do anything fun until I've done something useful, then can't motivate myself to do the useful bit.

OG, I'm sorry about your Grandpa. That sounds rough.

And that's it. Anyone who wants to come to NJ for a love party, just let me know! (As SNeak and a bunch of others can attest to, it's the loooove shack).

Well, I'll be humming that for the rest of the night.

I know we have a lot of Colin Firth fans around; he's featured in Sunday's "USA Weekend" (sorry "Parade" people). Here's the text. Sorry, no pictures.

So sorry to hear about your grandpa, OG. I was thinking about you yesterday, btw. I saw a woman that looked just like you at Target. This was honestly my inner dialogue over it: "Hey, she looks like OG! But that can't be her, because there's no reason she would be in Target in Reno, looking at gift wrap. But she does have a twin sister. Although, she probably wouldn't be in Target in Reno, either." And the whole time, mrjaz thought I was helping him look for ice scrapers.

Sorry to hear about your grandpa OG.

I hope everyone has had a good new year so far.



Yes indeed. After the cross country drive just to get home pops got tickets for me, him, and two of my friends to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. That added a wee 700 miles to the tab, now joined by the 480 round trip from my hometown up to Charlotte. It's beginning to not be a holiday for me unless I spend inordinate amounts of time in a car.

I'm convinced that all computers have something against me.

Let me take you back a bit, to around December 11. I'm typing up my World History report, listening to music, and I have a browser window open. All of a sudden, my computer freezes up. I figure it hasn't been that long since I saved, so I restart. It starts out fine, then gets to the manufacturer's logo and stays there as the little red harddrive light on the tower stays on. I'm thinking "okay, it'll go away soon." It doesn't. I turn it off, then try again. Same thing. The next day, I turn it on and leave it on for about an hour. Logo still up, light still on.

So I go a while surviving on my parents' computer until last night, when my sister got her laptop (she's going to bring it to college, etc). I'm installing all my programs - Photoshop, Winamp, etc, and it freezes on me. I restart, and it just doesn't. do. anything. sure it turns on fine, but it won't do anything. All that happens is I'm looking at a black screen — the little light on the monitor, usually green, is yellow.

So I'm about to say "Just get me a new computer," because I'm ready to start over again. But my sister, since she knows everything about everything (I'm rolling my eyes as I type that), claims it's not recognizing the harddrives and that I'm a "fucking idiot" for thinking it's something else. Meanwhile, the computer guy at my Mom's work (the person who built the computer from scratch) says it probably needs rebuilt. I'm going to have my mom take it to work and have him do whatever he needs to do with it. And maybe then I'll get a computer that doesn't want me to die.

In short, computers hate me.

OrangeGeek, I know exactly what it's like when that kind of thing happens to grandparents and you have my sympathies.

School is starting up again on Monday and I am not looking forward to it. This is pathetic, but the only reason I like it at all is because the university is swarming with good-looking guys. Education? A future? Who needs them? I want sexy men and lots of them.

Moochy, during my California vacation last year, I drove 2000 miles in ten days. It was worth it, but by the end of the trip I was really ready to not drive any more.

Homegoddess over in Season 4 said I could post my story here. I've tried to make it as short as possible, but it's kind of an involved story. So, without further ado...

My Bestbuy.com Story - If you don't want to read, skip. :)

December 19, 2003

* My roommate of two years is moving out (well, really more of a tenant, but you get my drift), and the only television in the whole house is his. The TiVo unit is also his. (As is the VCR and DVD player) So I decide to buy a TV and TiVo unit (the VCR and DVD player can wait).

* I go to bestbuy.com, spend the day researching televisions, find one that is apparently in stock and available, and put in an order for the TV, a TiVo unit, and a surge protector (since the surge protector for the TV area was also his). I pay extra for the TiVo unit to arrive early, since I figure that way I can set it up, and program stuff so if he has to take his TV away, my TiVo can still record.

* End result: TiVo coming SecondDay Air and due on Dec 22 at the latest, TV coming Special Delivery (from Best Buy's warehouse, using their trucks) on Dec 26, and the surge protector coming via regular us postal mail, arriving "whenever" (which is standard for USPS). This is incidental, but worth mentioning.

December 23, 2003

* TiVo unit hasn't arrived by the end of this day, the day after the "latest". I check the UPS tracking, and lo and behold the package had never even been handed off to UPS. I call up customer service, they say they'll look into it, give me a case # and tell me i should call back tomorrow (the 24th) to find out about a resolution. I'm credited the 12 bucks for SecondDay air. I also ask about my TV since, well, one flub deserves another, and it's still scheduled for delivery on the 26th.

December 24, 2003

* I call back, try to give them my case # and they say they can't do anything with it. I ask again about the TiVo unit, and they send out a new case (and give me a new #) and tell me that it might take 24-72 business hours. Ugh. I ask about the TV again (paranoia), and they tell me it's scheduled for delivery on the 26th. I'm supposed to get a call the day before (the 25th, christmas) to schedule a time. I confirm this, and yes, Christmas.

December 25, 2003

* No call. I call them, and they say I should have gotten a call as the TV is expected to be delivered, but here's the # of the warehouse/delivery people, so I should call them. I call THEM, and they go "what? no Lxndr here. no TV here." I call CS, and tell them, and NOW they say "ohhhh, that's been cancelled, it's not in stock right now, I can reschedule you for a week from now but there's no guarantee that TV will be in stock then. (No word on my TiVo order either)

* I cancel the TV part of the order, and order a new, different TV that's supposedly in stock. It's to be delivered on January 2nd. I'm to get a call January 1st, they say. I confirm this and yes, January 1st. I ask, but get no answer to the question: "IF I hadn't called, when would you people have told me the TV wasn't in stock?"

(I will continue this in another post as this post is getting too long. Due to forum policy I will wait for someone to reply to this post, so that I won't post twice in a row.)

So what happened next?

Let me just interrupt to say that mrjaz used to work for Best Buy, they used to have great customer service, but they fired their corporate VP over customer service and, well, we hate them now. Mom o'jaz has never had a good experience in one of their stores, and usually the people in the store lie to her. So, please continue.

Am I the only one that thinks of Jason Mraz whenever jazmyne mentions mrjaz?

I'm eagerly waiting for Best Buy Pt. 2.

Random question: Does anyone here live near Taos, NM or has anyone visited that would like to email me? I'm planning a vacation and would like to ask someone some questions.

My Bestbuy.com Story, Part The Second

December 26, 2003

* My TiVo is finally handed off to UPS. Rescheduled delivery, December 28. (So they refund me for SecondDay air, but you'd think they'd send the damned thing NExtDay, considering).

December 27, 2003

* The surge protector (remember that) shows up on my order as "returned", no explanation given. The same day, a different surge protector, different model, is sent out. I'm refunded the difference. I still don't know why this happened, but it did. It amuses me, though, as now ALL THREE items on the order, shipped in a different way, didn't make it to me.

December 30, 2003

* TiVo makes it (I've been following the UPS tracking this time). Works perfectly. I set up Buffy and a few other shows that are very, very urgent, since my roommate is taking his TV tomorrow (Dec 31). Surge protector conveniently also arrives.

December 31, 2003

* I get a call from the delivery people (who were "supposed" to call Jan 1). They don't call during the time-of-day I scheduled a call for too. The TV is scheduled to be delivered between 4pm and 6pm on January 2nd. Incidentally, my roommate takes his TV away this day, since he's getting cable installed in the new place. My trusty TiVo soldiers on, recording programs. Good Tivo.

January 2, 2004

* Some time between 1pm and 3pm, my TV arrives. Note the difference between this time, and the scheduled delivery time. My roommate is there, but I am not. They take the TV out of the box, remove some of the packaging, and there's a BIG HOLE in it - the tube isn't in place and you can see the circuitry behind it. Far as I can tell, they just stopped, TV half out of its packaging, and left it in the middle of my living room. Had my roommate sign a "yes, it was damaged" paper, LEFT NO RECIEPT, and departed.

* I call CS. They tell me to call the delivery warehouse people.

* I call the warehouse people. They tell me that they can't take the TV and give me another one 'cause (a) they only warehouse one item per order, everything else is at the stores, and (b) they can't do that anyway without an authorization from CS. Which takes 48-72 hours.

* I call CS back. They tell me the same 2-3 day story, but give me a ray of hope - maybe I can call a local store and have them bring one out for me. I'm given the # of 3 local stores. By this time, I am on edge... at least, on edge compared to my usual state.

* I call the first store on the list. Someone answers the phone and I say "you should just connect me to a manager now, because you're going to want to." The guy does, no complaints. Guess it was my voice. I talk to the manager, and he says "Sorry, although we do home deliveries, I can't deliver a TV to you today. However, if you bring the television in, we can exchange it." I look at my motorcycle (my only form of motorized transport), look at the TV, and say "let me call you back."

* I manage to find a friend with a truck (my roommate, luckily). We load the TV back into the box, then into the truck, and drive down, exchange it for a working one, and come home. I plug it in, it works. Woo.

The moral of this story? I will probably never use bestbuy.com again, as even though their customer service people weren't BAD, they still didn't have the POWER to fix what I needed fixing. On the other hand, the local store has somewhat redeemed itself in my eyes, as the manager there managed to fix my problem on the same day.

I'll still probably use a different store, though. All this stuff, and not once did they go "oh, here's a gift certificate for your trouble." Which just seems, y'know, polite.

Lxndr, Best Buy sucks, as a rule. I'm so sorry that happened. And, you have a motorcycle? I'll be hitting on you now... I'm a big dorky motorcycle groupie.

OG, sorry about your grandfather. My grandmother passed away last Feb. after a 10 year bout with Alzheimers. It was a heart condition that did it, though. And honestly, it was a relief to see her go that way rather than in the last stages of Alzheimers. I don't know if that helps or not, but our family found it comforting that she left us when she still had most of her facilities. Hugs to you in the meantime, and LMK if you ever want to talk, or have questions.

Guys, I'm ricocheting back and forth between terribly excited and very pissed off. Remember all our laptop woes? After sending the Presario 900 back to Compaq so many times that the frelling FEDEX guy was making cracks about it when he showed up to get it yet again, Compaq finally replaced it with a Presario 2100. Which was nice. I was happy, Do3 was happy, all was well. This was a month-ish ago. Last night the touchpad went out. I can't believe this. Wait. Yes I can. We're using an external mouse until tomorrow morning, when we can call Compaq and ask them to replace this laptop with a Dell. Hee. Our Christmas gift from my parents was a wireless kit, so after several days of wireless, the external mouse seems like this giant, obtrusive thing.
But I'm also excited. Remember the accordion albums picked up by that online store? The owner got them last week, and emailed me to tell me that she loves them. They will hit the store in about 48 hours, hence the excited. After that, I'll be watching them obsessively to see how they sell. Wish me luck, everyone!

Congratulations mommyof3. It's so nice when someone says, "Hey, you know that thing you do? It's cool!" Similar (though less profitable) moment for me yesterday. I have a movie review website, which is just a hobby, but I've contacted a few of the local agencies to try to get on the list for press screenings and have been brushed off. Yesterday, someone from an agency I didn't even know about emailed me out of the blue asking if it would be okay if she put me on the list for screenings. Uh, yeah. And she seemed all excited when I emailed her back with my address, like I was doing her a favor or something.

Lxndr, Best Buy does, indeed, suck. I still shop there 'cuz, let's face it, they're cheap. But I usually do enough research on any semi-major purchase that i know exactly what I want before I go and am only there long enough to tell them that no, I won't be buying their extended warranty, pay for my purchase and leave. And I've never ordered off their website, but that's just because I'm generally too impatient to wait for delivery.

And mrjaz = Jason Mraz to me, too.

If Jason Mraz were about a foot and a half taller, and weighed twice as much, then yeah. Although, he's probably a much better dancer than mrjaz. (That's a safe assumption, believe me. Everyone except David Boreanaz is a better dancer than mrjaz.)

Today is my fourth TWoPiversary! And thanks to careful planning, this is my 3000th post. The vast majority of those posts were made in the Buffy forum, so it seemed only appropriate that this milestone post be made here as well.

I think joining TWoP (well, MBTV, technically) was one of the smartest things I've ever done. I've made a lot of good friends as a result of joining TWoP, and you've all made watching TV more fun. Thanks for four great years!

JHeaton, I'm glad you found TWoP, since your comments have made the Buffy experiance more rewarding for **me**.

Congrats on the anniversary.

Happy Anniversary JHeaton!

::Sigh::, first day back at work today after a two week holiday. It was extremely difficult to get out of bed this morning and put work clothes on. Blah.

Happy 4th and 3000th, JHeaton!

Does anyone else ever have weird anxiety dreams before returning to school? I had a nightmare last night that I ran home really quickly during my conference period, which I sometimes do, and everything went wrong so that I didn't make it back in time to teach my last class and- since it was a dream- my cell phone wouldn't call the school. By the time I got back, my principal was subbing in my class and was yelling at me about what a disorganized shithole it was. I've felt tense all day because of that dream.

Happy TWopversary, JHeaton!

I, too, hate BestBuy. Their customer service is terrible, their sales staff has no authority to fix complaints, and TiVo is out of stock in our area. (Yes, I understand it is not their fault, but I wanted one for Christmas and have to wait now. bummer)

So I rented American Wedding last night. Probably the stupidest movie I have seen in a long while. Two hours of my life I will never recover.

That said, I watched a couple movies on TCM on Thursday night- Soylent Green and Woody Allen's Sleeper. (Part of Sleeper was filmed a few miles from where I live- it is a circular house on the top of a mountain, currently on the market for around 10 million) I realized I have a great love for 1960's- 70's sci- fi. A Clockwork Orange, 2001- a space odyssey, Logan's Run... I love the way they picture life in the 21st century. Flying cars, food shortages, overpopulation, abolition of marriage, euthanasia, living on the moon, or Mars. funny.

BJC: Yes, first day back to work after a long,stress free vaction surely does suck. I feel for you. I've been off for just four days and am NOT looking forward to getting up early tomorrow, since I've been sleeping pretty late during my days off. Sleep, how I love you!

Happy Anniversary JHeaton!

Happy TWoP-iversarry, JHeaton!

Happy TWoP-iversary, JHeaton!

Happy TWoPiversary, JHeaton. I can't imagine what Buffy-cons would be like without you.


Constantly. I'll probably have one tonight, since I can think of probably 80 million things I would rather do than go back to school tomorrow. Part of me is annoyed with myself for not grading papers. The rest of me says, "I was on vacation. I didn't have to." But I do have to write lesson plans. I can't really walk into my history class with no clue about what we're doing. Oh, wait, I remember making copies of a review worksheet, so I'm set for tomorrow! I love when I do nice things for myself.

Happy Anniversary JHeaton!

Yes, OrangeGeek, I had a nightmare Friday night about being late for school too. I have also felt pretty nauseous all day thinking about it (is that common with anyone else?). Not that that helped spur me on to grade papers or figure out what the hell I'm doing tomorrow. Hmm... review sheet. Thanks, jazmyne

Why do I have to work anyway? Why can't I spend all day everyday watching Buffy and Angel DVDs?

Wow! Happy TWoPiversary, JHeaton! I can't imagine writing 3000 posts! (I never thought I'd make it to 100)

Lxndr, this part of your story cracks me up...sorry about the lousy customer service though. Nothing funny about shi**y service.

And you're right, they never offer anything free (like the gift certificate you mention) but they should because it would virtually guarantee you do business with them one.more.time. so maybe they earn back some of your confidence.

hobbit, thanks for that. Tuesday night seems a rather odd time for it to be on though, I always looked forward to Buffy/Angel on a Friday night as it was an excellent way of bringing on the weekend. Also, we are getting Jake 2.0 on Wednesday nights as well! Now, I only have the vaguest idea of what this show is about, but it means I get to read more TWoP recaps, which can only be a good thing.

However, being back at work is never a good thing.

Yup, I've never had a problem with Best Buy, and I've been shopping there forfriggingever. Their extended warranties are for the most part really effective and cheap, and because the staff there doesn't work commission, they're not all over you to buy stuff. If I'm going to buy something high-ticket, I'm not going to ask the salespeople in any store about it, because they'll have an opinion, like anyone else; I'm going to do my research elsewhere, and then go get what I want at the place with the best price, which is often Best Buy.

Every Best Buy I've been in has been clean, and the registers are efficient; the other day the check-out line was around the block practically, and that sucker moved wicked fast. I've never had a problem with customer service, though the lines for the CS counter are much slower than the register due to the CS people having to suss out what the problem is/ take notes on what's wrong with your stuff (computers, dvd players). I took my VCR in there for repair on Friday, and bought a standalone freezer for the garage there on Saturday.

JHeaton, I'm so glad you're around these parts. It's been an honor to get to know you in real life, and I always look forward to any time we spend together.

My grandmother died last week, so I'll be going to a funeral in Missouri later this week. She was in a nursing home due to a stroke when she had a second stroke, so her death was a relief. She was a vocal person and a social worker most of her life, so being bed-ridden and unable to speak more than mumbling was really hard for her. We weren't close, so I don't feel particularly sad, but as the funeral approaches and other talk about who she used to be, I'll get to reflect more. It feels weird when people tell me they're sorry that she died, because I'm not feeling sad, and in not feeling sad, I feel like a bad grandchild. We weren't close because she irritated me, and I've always felt (probably due to my mother's near-hermitness with family as I was growing up) that you choose your family and the people you love, so why spend a lot of time with people who bug you? I'll get to see some other family who I haven't seen in years. I wish Mr. B could come with, but we were just out of town for a while, he's been sick, and finding another sitter last minute and leaving the dog again doesn't feel right.

snip

Boliver, good luck, and have a safe trip. You're not a bad grandchild for feeling that way at all. I completely understand how you feel - been there done that, etc.

Same here, Petzi. Yesterday hovered around 65. Right now? 34.

Happy New Year everyone and a special happy TWoP anniversary to you JHeaton. Sorry to hear about your grandmother Boliver and you are right about family, you do choose your family and the people you love not simply someone who is a blood or marriage relative. Speaking of marriage relatives, my Great-Aunt made it to 100 years the other day and while she's in a wheelchair she's still as sharp and funny as she was 50 years ago.
The weather here has been completely bizzare. The other day it was 53 degrees, which for January in Michigan is very, very odd. People were walking around with no coats and a few insane souls were wearing shorts. However, yesterday afternoon the weather turned back to normal with several inches of snow and the promise of very cold (single digit) days this week. No wonder everyone is sick.

Bol, I've had the distinct pleasure of meeting you. You're a warm, caring, funny individual. Don't beat yourself up over not feeling the way society deems you should. I suspect your gandmother led a full life, so it sounds like people should be celebrating her acomplishments, and this sound like an opurtunity to get to know a bit more about a person that you didn't know that well. Blood doesn't equal love, heck, it does't even equal like in my experiance.

My grandmother passed away last week and, while I was sad she wasn't with us anymore, in many ways I was relieved. She was in a nursing home, was becoming more confused, and was extremely agitated and angry. That's not the way I wanted her to live and I know she didn't either.

Eden, Orangegeek and Boliver, you're all in my thoughts. And I don't think you're a bad grandaughter, Boliver. Just an honest person.

My mom's mom passed away after suffering from Alzheimer's and it was so depressing. She just had no clue where she was or who her kids were. I'm going to visit my dad's mom in Scottsdale for MLK weekend because she's not doing well and is getting really confused (not Alzheimer's but maybe a stroke). When I talked to her New Year's Day she asked me when I was going back to Switzerland. Never been there. No plans to go. She knows who I am for now, but I'm sure it won't last. It's so sad when someone you've known all your life as a smart, kind, independent person starts to lose her clarity. I'm not even sure what to say anymore.

In other news, New Year's was a blast and our party was a hell of a lot of fun. Then yesterday was such a weird day. I was reading something about "Scrubs", which I'd never seen, and it mentioned the star's name is Zach Braff. I think to myself, "Huh. My friend Jennifer in middle school had a crush on a Zach Braff". So I check out a photo. Looks a lot like the class clown/wise ass I remember. IMDB the name - same Zach Braff.

Then I'm reading an article on msnbc.com called "Bunting: Love/hate relationship with Sex" (and the City). I wonder if that Bunting is our own Sars, who I went to high school with (though she was two years older and I don't know any embarassing stories, sorry). And it is (Go Sars, you contributing writer, you!

And THEN, I'm watching Sex and the City and suddenly shout "Bayne Gibby!" Cause this other girl we went to high school with is on the friggin' screen, setting up Charlotte with a volunteer program. And Bayne I really knew - we worked on all the plays together. So I was totally freaked out - in one day, three people I went to school with are, like, all over the media. Well, not all over, but you know what I mean. It was totally weird.

No one famous has ever attended my high school so I appreciate vicarious stories. BTW, here's Sars's article.