63532 replies to this topic

[valny]

HAPPY NEW YEAR East Coasters!

Happy and Healthy New Year to all!

[BJC]

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

[Groovy Lady]

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

[hobbit]

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

Happy New Year everyone!

[jazmyne]

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.

[a2zmom]

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

[hobbit]

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...

[JHeaton]

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

[Katkins]

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?

[hobbit]

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.

[jazmyne]

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.

[OrangeGeek]

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.)

[LittleVoice]

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.

[a2zmom]

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).

[Hostile16]

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.

[jazmyne]

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.

[moochy]

Sorry to hear about your grandpa OG.

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

I had a fun solo 500 mile drive

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.

[behindthemask]

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.

Edited by behindthemask, Jan 3, 2004 @ 1:24 PM.

[Snowberry]

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.

[JHeaton]

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.

[Lxndr]

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.)

Edited by Lxndr, Jan 3, 2004 @ 11:16 PM.

[jazmyne]

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.

[OrangeGeek]

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.

Edited by OrangeGeek, Jan 4, 2004 @ 3:14 AM.

[Lxndr]

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.

[mommyof3]

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!

[LittleVoice]

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.

[jazmyne]

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.)

[JHeaton]

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!