So today is the first time since we've moved in that I'm able to sit down, spod online, and watch random Netflix at the same time. It's been a long time coming.
I've had my computer running at the old place so the MCE could continue to record TV shows like Caprica while we were busy moving into the new. Then I had to time switching over my cable service and start new Internet service and transporting my computer back here and reconnecting it. So it took quite some time.
--- begin Comcast rant ---
I really dislike dealing with Comcast. You can't help but feel like you're being tortured in some dark medieval fashion. When I first got my HDTV some time ago they used to have incentives to get people to switch to HD programming. For a mere $5 on top of any service you had, you could receive the HD equivalent of your current channel line-up. That was a really good deal.
Then I moved to Alviso, where cable television did not exist. It took some two years before Comcast began to roll out service there. I immediately asked for the basic cable service (no digital box) with HD programming. I talked to three different reps, and they all said the same thing, "Comcast never had that sort of service ever." Every time I had to deal with Comcast to complain about bad service, I'd ask about the HD content. Even people who said they've worked there for more than three years gave me that same line. One day when I called to complain about the cable service, I got a really nice lady who finally told me that they had discontinued that service. So you cannot get decent digital programming without the evil digital box on Comcast.
So what used to be "basic" cable service, isn't actually referred to by Comcast employees as "basic" cable service. It's a "special" limited service. All "standard" services you must use the evil digital cable box and Comcast employees will fight you tooth and nail in order for you to get at least the "basic" cable service with evil digital cable box. They'll ply you with "special" offers that will eventually go away in a few months.
Why pay for a "special" offer that will last such a short time compared to years of continued service? Who in their right mind wants to go through the pain of having to downgrade their service after the special offer expires?
I prefer the $12/month cable service, with no evil digital cable box. The "basic" standard service with evil digital cable box starts at almost 3x that amount. I do not need movie channels, nor the on demand programming. I can use an Microsoft Media Center to DVR what I want.
Comcast should be in the business of simply providing programming, not providing DVRs. DVRs drive Comcast's business and not programming. So they've limited their programming in order to get a premium on their DVR service. And they can do this because they are a monopoly. There is no one else to compete with them on programming since they are the only game in town. They can do whatever they want.
Actually you do get some extra HD content with their "special" less-than-basic cable service. But you are at the mercy of Comcast which channels they let you see in HD. By law, they have to provide the OTA signal you are generally supposed to receive by antenna. I would like to see History, and Discovery channel in HD but that isn't offered with my service. Comcast recently allowed SyFy HD through so for that I am thankful.
But I would love to have that option to pay for the HD channels of the line-up I currently have, like I once did, despite every Comcast employee telling me that no service ever existed even though it did. I should not have to pay for an evil digital cable box to get those channels.
--- end Comcast rant ---
Anyway, the MCE is sitting on the floor with wires making a nice rats nest surrounding it and the TV. It is not all quite there, but it's passable for a more normal mode of operation for me.
Needless to say, blog postings should become more regular now that I can login to the Internet.
... stay tuned.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Best Pizza in Silicon Valley
This title has to belong to A Slice of New York in San Jose. Looking for a nearby pizza place, I found this one on Yelp.They have the best margherita pizza in California. It isn't on the menu, but sometimes they make it by the slice, which is how I spotted it. They add a light spread of fresh basil and a real flavorful sauce. It doesn't look like much but believe me it's good!
I first heard of margherita pizza in Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy. I was sitting in the piazza after walking around the city several times doing the tourist thing. I was just enjoying being there like so many others seem to do taking a seat on the plaza floor. I noticed a small line of people grabbing a slice of pizza at a kiosk. It made me hungry for one so I stood in line thinking what a good pepperoni would be like in Italy. But, when I got up there, they only had one pizza, which looked like a cheese pizza. In my tourist Italian I asked what kind of pizza's they had, hoping they had more, and the operator told me, "only one: margherita.". To me it looked like cheese because there was nothing on it. I've never heard of margherita cheese (there is no such thing). So I thought, "I waited this long, whatever. I'll eat it anyway." For a plain looking pizza it was very very good. I'm not sure what is supposed to go in a margherita pizza. It basically is just a cheese pizza. Perhaps the dough? Perhaps the tomato sauce? Or a combination of the both?
A Slice of New York is basically a hole in the wall. It sits next door to a Blues bar and a surplus store in a tiny strip mall down the street from the more trendy Santana Row along Stevens Creek Boulevard. It's almost like walking into Blondie's in Berkeley. New York paraphernalia decorates the walls and ceilings in an authentically devoted way to New York. They even have subway hand rails hanging along one wall. Seating is a premium so plan on ordering out. Staff is friendly, and seems to be directed by one guy who appears to be the owner. He takes time to talk to customers and make sure every pizza is made to spec. While waiting for my pizza they had made the pizza too big, so they cut out a slice down the middle. The manager came over and offered it to me as they prepared the last bit of the pizza which was awfully nice of the guy. Pizza that fresh is a sin. I get the feeling at this place, customer satisfaction is the number one priority. And the best part is, it isn't expensive.
Whatever it is, A Slice of New York (3443 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA) does it best. A good second is the one at Tomatino (3127 Mission College Boulevard, Santa Clara, CA). If you never had margherita pizza, give it a try. Less is more.
I first heard of margherita pizza in Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy. I was sitting in the piazza after walking around the city several times doing the tourist thing. I was just enjoying being there like so many others seem to do taking a seat on the plaza floor. I noticed a small line of people grabbing a slice of pizza at a kiosk. It made me hungry for one so I stood in line thinking what a good pepperoni would be like in Italy. But, when I got up there, they only had one pizza, which looked like a cheese pizza. In my tourist Italian I asked what kind of pizza's they had, hoping they had more, and the operator told me, "only one: margherita.". To me it looked like cheese because there was nothing on it. I've never heard of margherita cheese (there is no such thing). So I thought, "I waited this long, whatever. I'll eat it anyway." For a plain looking pizza it was very very good. I'm not sure what is supposed to go in a margherita pizza. It basically is just a cheese pizza. Perhaps the dough? Perhaps the tomato sauce? Or a combination of the both?
A Slice of New York is basically a hole in the wall. It sits next door to a Blues bar and a surplus store in a tiny strip mall down the street from the more trendy Santana Row along Stevens Creek Boulevard. It's almost like walking into Blondie's in Berkeley. New York paraphernalia decorates the walls and ceilings in an authentically devoted way to New York. They even have subway hand rails hanging along one wall. Seating is a premium so plan on ordering out. Staff is friendly, and seems to be directed by one guy who appears to be the owner. He takes time to talk to customers and make sure every pizza is made to spec. While waiting for my pizza they had made the pizza too big, so they cut out a slice down the middle. The manager came over and offered it to me as they prepared the last bit of the pizza which was awfully nice of the guy. Pizza that fresh is a sin. I get the feeling at this place, customer satisfaction is the number one priority. And the best part is, it isn't expensive.
Whatever it is, A Slice of New York (3443 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA) does it best. A good second is the one at Tomatino (3127 Mission College Boulevard, Santa Clara, CA). If you never had margherita pizza, give it a try. Less is more.
Friday, March 19, 2010
We got the power!
Got my first bill from Silicon Valley Power, and they charge about 8 cents per kilo-Watt-hour. That's freakin' amazing given the rise in energy costs. When I was in High School, the average was 10 cents per kilo-Watt-hour. This is the minimum rate PG&E would probably charge me (more likely above that rate) for the same location.
Deathtrap
So the garage door was one of those things that came back in the house inspection that did not work right so I knew something had to be done about it. Looking through Craigslist I found a nice Genie Quietlift belt driven garage door opener selling for only $75 new in the box! It was quite the deal if you ask me. I bought it off some guy who had accidentally bought a model without enough horsepower to lift his oak panel garage door and was just looking to get rid of the item out of his garage. Lucky me I just happened to look at the right time.
So replacing a garage door is not the hardest thing in the world. It just takes some time for the inexperienced do-it-yourselfer. I had actually managed to install the thing to operate backwards. So if you were opening the door, and you tripped off the sensor it'd actually try and close in and crush you (or any other unsuspecting critter). It was my own household deathtrap. Needless to say, this has been fixed. No cats or dogs are in danger of being eaten alive by the garage.
So replacing a garage door is not the hardest thing in the world. It just takes some time for the inexperienced do-it-yourselfer. I had actually managed to install the thing to operate backwards. So if you were opening the door, and you tripped off the sensor it'd actually try and close in and crush you (or any other unsuspecting critter). It was my own household deathtrap. Needless to say, this has been fixed. No cats or dogs are in danger of being eaten alive by the garage.
Teapot
This has to be the nicest fixture in the house. Too bad the rest of the bathroom is crummy. I really like the teapot style faucet. It has that old-world look to it. After I replaced the old fixture with this, I just sat there staring at the running water coming out of it. It was pretty mesmerizing. Not bad for $24 from Home Depot. This would go well with that clawfoot bathtub *grin*.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tighten up a notch
So for the past few days my pants had been falling more than normal. I wasn't sure what was going on, other than perhaps physically moving around so much instead of sitting down behind a computer naturally made pants fall a bit. I don't know, it's been eons since I have done manual labor.
Then I had a realization that perhaps I am losing weight. It all came apparent that this was the case this A.M. after being annoyed that even sitting down driving that my pants seemed to sag a bit, I tightened up my belt a notch and lo and behold, my pants fit once again comfortably and naturally and do not have that annoying sag feeling anymore.
Working on the Money Pit is good for my health I suppose.
Then I had a realization that perhaps I am losing weight. It all came apparent that this was the case this A.M. after being annoyed that even sitting down driving that my pants seemed to sag a bit, I tightened up my belt a notch and lo and behold, my pants fit once again comfortably and naturally and do not have that annoying sag feeling anymore.
Working on the Money Pit is good for my health I suppose.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Running Water
Running water is important. When I first bought the Money Pit, my inspector had informed me that there were problems with the toilets and problems with some of the faucets leaking. I figured I could take care of the minor plumbing problems on my own.
So when time came to take possession of the house, I went hunting for the main shut-off valve. However, I had trouble trying to figure out where they hid it. I tried following the pipes from the heater. I found the hot water shut-off behind a basement bulkhead that I had to punch a hole through. Some idiot had to place the ceiling there with no access.
I thought I would find the main shut-off behind a basement wall. My general inspector and the termite inspector both warned me there was crawl space inaccessible because the basement was in the way. So I had to punch a hole through a wall in order to get to the hidden crawl space. I didn't find the shut-off there either.
So I ended up going the other way, and found the shut-off was hiding in plain site. It was placed under the garden hose outlet. I don't know how I feel about that. It's a strange place for it I think. Maybe that's just the way old houses were built. Maybe it was also part of some bad renovation (which the Money Pit has a lot of.)
So I switched it off. However, it didn't shut off completely. So I Yelped for a plumber and found Quality Plus Plumbing with a very good rating. He replaced the valve for $215. That's a little more expensive than I'd like but I think that's the fair market value for a good plumber doing an hour or so of work. He did a good job. It wasn't something I could do myself. I didn't have the knowledge nor equipment to solder, or cut pipe. He was prompt, came by when he said he would, provided an estimate and scheduled a time to come back. Again he was prompt and performed the repair without incident. He even gave me a new spout for the hose, and some insulation around the pipe. Although I don't think it ever freezes in Santa Clara but hey, you never know.
So on my way to taking down toilets and sinks in the bathrooms so I could fix all leaks, I made one worse I think. The master bathroom used a Delta fixture. Unfortunately, it was leaking so I attempted to take it apart and replace the seals. The thing about Delta is that they are notorious for breaking apart when amateurs attempt to work with it. The problem is that instead of a good solid block of metal to the valve, they have these two very small wimpy soft copper tubes. I think they do that to piss off people like me. So if you don't know what you're dealing with, you end up twisting the soft copper pipes right off the main pipe located deep into the wall, which is what I did. So with an open pipe that would just spray gallons of water into the walls, (bathtubs do not have local shut-off valves apparently) there was no way I could fix that thing myself. So it was either have no running water, or call Shibli again at Quality Plus Plumbing to fix the thing.
Again he came by to evaluate. He informed me that he sees this mistake often, and that there's a trick to un-seize the valve so it comes off without breaking the soft copper tubes. Just trying to apply pressure like I did, will just break the thing. He provided me a couple ways to save money, like breaking the wall in the closet myself to get to the pipe in the bathroom. Which I was going to, until he realized that the wall was plaster and lath. So he recommended that he just go through the tile surrounding the valve. He recommended that instead of replacing the tile, that he could get this large metallic covering to cover the hole instead of having to re-tile the bathtub. He said he does this for apartments and since I am not so concerned about the bathtub it might be a good option to save money, which I jumped at. The cost for all that work was about $400. I'd recommend Shibli to anyone. I take comfort, when it comes to plumbing in knowing the job was getting done right. Sure you might find cheaper, but those places are a shot in the dark.
Plumbing is something that requires a bit of know-how and experience to do it correctly, otherwise you'll be doing it a second time in the near future. Then you have to couple that with someone who will be polite and respectful about coming into your home. Take a read through all the 1 star reviews on plumbers on Yelp. It isn't pretty.
So when time came to take possession of the house, I went hunting for the main shut-off valve. However, I had trouble trying to figure out where they hid it. I tried following the pipes from the heater. I found the hot water shut-off behind a basement bulkhead that I had to punch a hole through. Some idiot had to place the ceiling there with no access.
I thought I would find the main shut-off behind a basement wall. My general inspector and the termite inspector both warned me there was crawl space inaccessible because the basement was in the way. So I had to punch a hole through a wall in order to get to the hidden crawl space. I didn't find the shut-off there either.
So I ended up going the other way, and found the shut-off was hiding in plain site. It was placed under the garden hose outlet. I don't know how I feel about that. It's a strange place for it I think. Maybe that's just the way old houses were built. Maybe it was also part of some bad renovation (which the Money Pit has a lot of.)
So I switched it off. However, it didn't shut off completely. So I Yelped for a plumber and found Quality Plus Plumbing with a very good rating. He replaced the valve for $215. That's a little more expensive than I'd like but I think that's the fair market value for a good plumber doing an hour or so of work. He did a good job. It wasn't something I could do myself. I didn't have the knowledge nor equipment to solder, or cut pipe. He was prompt, came by when he said he would, provided an estimate and scheduled a time to come back. Again he was prompt and performed the repair without incident. He even gave me a new spout for the hose, and some insulation around the pipe. Although I don't think it ever freezes in Santa Clara but hey, you never know.
So on my way to taking down toilets and sinks in the bathrooms so I could fix all leaks, I made one worse I think. The master bathroom used a Delta fixture. Unfortunately, it was leaking so I attempted to take it apart and replace the seals. The thing about Delta is that they are notorious for breaking apart when amateurs attempt to work with it. The problem is that instead of a good solid block of metal to the valve, they have these two very small wimpy soft copper tubes. I think they do that to piss off people like me. So if you don't know what you're dealing with, you end up twisting the soft copper pipes right off the main pipe located deep into the wall, which is what I did. So with an open pipe that would just spray gallons of water into the walls, (bathtubs do not have local shut-off valves apparently) there was no way I could fix that thing myself. So it was either have no running water, or call Shibli again at Quality Plus Plumbing to fix the thing.
Again he came by to evaluate. He informed me that he sees this mistake often, and that there's a trick to un-seize the valve so it comes off without breaking the soft copper tubes. Just trying to apply pressure like I did, will just break the thing. He provided me a couple ways to save money, like breaking the wall in the closet myself to get to the pipe in the bathroom. Which I was going to, until he realized that the wall was plaster and lath. So he recommended that he just go through the tile surrounding the valve. He recommended that instead of replacing the tile, that he could get this large metallic covering to cover the hole instead of having to re-tile the bathtub. He said he does this for apartments and since I am not so concerned about the bathtub it might be a good option to save money, which I jumped at. The cost for all that work was about $400. I'd recommend Shibli to anyone. I take comfort, when it comes to plumbing in knowing the job was getting done right. Sure you might find cheaper, but those places are a shot in the dark.
Plumbing is something that requires a bit of know-how and experience to do it correctly, otherwise you'll be doing it a second time in the near future. Then you have to couple that with someone who will be polite and respectful about coming into your home. Take a read through all the 1 star reviews on plumbers on Yelp. It isn't pretty.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
