Old School <> Streaming

01.28.2018

Back in the days when tv stations had numbers, tvs had knobs, and nothing could be watched on demand, the local Fox station (which was and may still be channel 54) would theme a block of movies on Saturday/Sunday afternoons if there were no weekend sporting events going on. A batch of 3 action or sci-fi movies was common. They were never the best movies, but if it weren't for watching during the weekend I may never have learned I actually liked the Robert Urich space epic Ice Pirates.

As most know I have plenty of movies taking up shelf space. I've got more than a handful purchased since Black Friday that I've not yet watched. My whole reason for buying movies has always been "when I'm in the mood to watch (whatever movie) I don't want to bother with going out and renting it, I want to just pick it up, put it in the player, and start watching." My penchant for buying physical discs doesn't hold as much merit these days since it's admittedly easier to just click a button to stream said movie, but a habit started in 1989 is hard to break. The supplementary reason for buying movies instead of renting them is that I will often watch a movie more than once. Back in the video rental days, if I watched a movie 3 times it was more cost effective to buy it than rent it. These days I've been training myself to wait for a good sale on a movie than rushing out and buying when it's initially released.

Enough of that rambling tangent. I still like movies I've seen plenty of times. Part of me misses the days of turning on channel 54 and finding "Hey, these are some good movies they've decided to show today". To the chagrin of my old boss when I was working at the video store, I would often leave the tv on 54 on Sunday afternoon that play movies to tempt people to rent - but it still worked, people would rent what they saw playing on broadcast tv anyway. The other day Spaceballs popped into my head for some unknown reason. Well that would be a fine movie to watch. Spaceballs was not present in my movie collection. I could stream it for free on Hulu. I could rent it for $3 on Amazon, or buy the digital version for $10. Instead of any of that, I bought the disc for $10 and had to wait for it to be delivered. Saturday, sandwiched between Wonder Woman and Spiderman: Homecoming, I watched Spaceballs. While not one of those channel 54 weekend movie blocks, it was still a good batch of movies to watch together.

Next weekend it may be time to revisit Ice Pirates.


movies/tv/dvd random

BF2017

11.26.2017

Like most years, I try to save up some of my DVD shopping for Black Friday sales.  If it's not a movie I'm dying to see right when it's released on DVD, starting around September I push these to my "wait for Black Friday" wishlist.  There were a handfull on that list that I ended up buying 3 weeks ago.  Target was running a pretty good sale on most of what I was wanting, and I talked myself into "is it worth a few extra bucks to not stand in line and put up with crowds?" so that I thought I was going to indeed miss those crowds.

Like normal, come Thanksgiving & Black Friday there was price matching galore online.  I could have picked up that handfull of early-purchased movies for a lot less had I waited and bougth them online (have to remember that for next year).  There were sales on other movies that were on my long term "wait until it goes on sale" list, so I racked up on them, too.

The one movie I had been waiting for a really good deal was Guardians of the Galaxy 2.  Disney movies have an added $3 MSRP premium these days, putting the sale price in the $20-$23 range VS the $15 I was hoping to get it for.  The Target ad had advertised $15, but that was for in store/doorbusting.  I was on the lookout for an online match.  Amazon was listing it on Thanksgiving for $23.  Later in the day it dipped to $18.  Wal-Mart had it listed for $18.  If I entered my zip code to find out about in-store pickup, there was a listed price for $9.96 in-store only.  I guess this was their in-store/doorbusting price?  I couldn't add it to my cart for in store pickup for that amount.

If my hope was to avoid crowds whan I made that first Target purchase 3 weeks earlier, I really didn't want to deal with Wal-Mart Black Friday crowds.  Maybe there would be online price matching later?

Thursday I went to my cousin's in Killen for the familial Thanksgivign feast.  On the way back home, around 8PM, I neared the Athens Wal-Mart.  It'd been 2 hours since the doorbusting started.  I wonder if the craziness had died down?  Unlike other stores, Wal-Mart is always open and didn't have to bother with funnelling people in when the doors open.  I spied the parking lot as I neared to see it wasn't packed.  Oh hell, I'd give it a chance.  I parked and went in through the garden center.  There were 3 people checking out.  Not crazy at all.  

Making my way to the back of the store to find the DVD I was after was another story.  Aisles are not spaced for multiple people with buggies to stop and see what's on sale up there, down there, and over there.  Like a ninja I made my way to the back!  Ok, like an old man without a buggy I made my way to the back.  I found an ample stack of Guardians of the Galaxy 2.  I made my way to a barcode scanner and sure enough, it was a $9.96 blu-ray!  I went back to the garden center to checkout and became #3 in line.  10 minutes later I was checked out and on my way home.

If I ever have to go Black Friday shopping at Wal-Mart, I know the right time to do it.  And not having a buggy makes life easier.  That actually sounds like a horrible way to Black Friday shop at Wal-Mart.  But if you're after 1 precise thing, then THAT'S the way to go!


random

What Kind Of Blog

09.15.2017

I haven't said anything in about a month it seems.  Mosts of my posts these days are about boardgame prep - painting minis, scenery, etc.  Sure, I do other things, but not enough of anything of interest worth writing about.  Maybe I should just dedicate/convert the blog section to be dedicated to boardgame prep?  Most of what I read for fun these days is dedicated to that.  Maybe I'll ponder that until the next post here.  Or another month passes?


random

5 Stitches

03.14.2017

Every 30 years I have to go to the ER for a cut on my hand. In 1987 I broke a window at BSC which merited a stitch. Yes, A STITCH. This time I was cutting on a plastic jeep with an Xacto knife and not minding the rule "cut away, not towards". Disobeying this rule garnered 5 stitches and a 3 ½ hour visit to the ER. Just to make things looks nastier, some thumbnails are pixelated to prevent projectile disgust.

I have a big dead/numb spot on my thumb now. I think it's like having a callous. I don't really know, as I've never had one before. I've always prided myself on my hands never seeing a hard days work.

It doesn't hurt. It didn't hurt when it happened (scared the hell out of me, but didn't hurt). Annoying, though.


gaming miniatures random

My First World Problems

01.26.2017

This is one of those weeks when little things caught up to me.

I had my eye exam that I've been putting off for 6 months. I only put it off because for some reason we didn't just schedule the time for my follow up eye appointment when I had my last eye exam. The doctor's office sent a reminder that it was time for a checkup, but of course I was too busy at the time to make an appointment. It's been 3 years since my prescription changed, and last time I was right on the cusp of needing a notch stronger. Over the past few months I've been noticing how billboards and road signs were harder to focus on, so it was time to go forward with that notch. The saving grace for this year's exam is that I could, with a guilt free conscience, skip getting my pupils dilated and my eyeball touched - I hate that part.

After getting checked out I was told I was still right on the edge, prescription wise, but I seemed to notice the difference a little more of the finer details with the stronger lenses. I go forward with picking out new glasses. I also decide to get new lenses for one of my existing set of frames, and also replacement lenses for my sunglasses since I'm not getting any type of transitioning lenses. There goes $1000, but this is the one thing I mess with every day so I'd rather pay the money for something I like that be frustrated and pissed off every time I look in the mirror.

Last week my garage door opener died. It's close to 20 years old and these things wear out (according to YouTube). I watched a video or 3 on how to replace one and it seemed to be within my realm of ability. Off to Amazon I went and ordered as close to my existing model as I could find, hoping that I could just switch out wires 1:1. New opener arrives and I start looking at everything closer. First, the wiring connections are just different enough that I can see I'll connect things wrong the first 3 times. Then, I see where the screws that hold everything to the ceiling are and can easily see everything falling down on me as things likely require more than 2 hand and one ladder. I return to my normal ways - getting people. I email garage people and tell them I want to replace an existing opener with one that I have, and I live out in the boonies. I get no replies, as I expected. I call garage people. I learn none of them will install equipment they don't sale. I know it's a scam since they'll service anything, and Chamberlain makes 90% of the garage equipment out there. The hard part, as ever, is getting someone to show up at my house. After learning I can return my Amazon purchased opener I make an appointment for this Friday to have garage people come and install their opener, with the early estimate being about $120 more than what I paid at Amazon - so in essence it will come to $120 in labor which is fair enough to me. Except I think the end price will be higher. I'll find out Friday.

While doing laundry this weekend I washed the key fob for my car. I've washed these before, but something didn't feel right when I picked it out of the washer. Sure enough, it didn't work. The problem here is that it's a smart fob and I don't have anywhere to insert a key, the car just knows the key is nearby. I can press the car start button with the fob and it starts (this is magic to me) but the car doesn't recognize that the key is present and will turn off after 10 minutes. Luckily, I have 1 2nd fob so I'm not completely screwed. I called the service department and they said it just needed a new battery. I don't believe them, but I'll try sticking a new battery in it now that I've again gone to YouTube and learned how to crack open the fob and replace the battery.

I ordered a new battery from Amazon that will be here in 2 days. I could go to some local battery shop and get a battery, and it would be close to $10. I ordered a 4-pack on Amazon for $2.50. It would make even more sense for me to take the battery out of the working fob and stick it in the one I washed to see if it works. With the way it feels my luck has been going, though, I can see that messing up the working battery or maybe I can't put it back together right, then I'm stuck with no way to run the car for more than 10 minutes at a time.

I'm now very paranoid about emptying my pockets when I walk in the door.

With luck in a couple of days all of this will be fixed and I can stop worrying about it. I only worry because it's completely out of my control and I'm at the whim of garage people, USPS delivery, potentially the Hyundai service department, and the eyeglasses construction lab/whoever delivers their stuff to the office. There's probably one of those phobia names for this. Hopefully I'm not at the phobia level though. Damn close though, I bet.


rambling random

Blog Archive

As always, correct spelling is optional in any blog entry. Keep in mind that any links more than a year old may not be active, especially the ones pointing back to Russellmania (I like to move things around!).

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