Busy, busy weekend. Sometimes, I think the weekends can be so busy, you need a day off on Monday just to recuperate from the weekend activities.

On Saturday, we actually didn’t do too much, but we hung out with the kids most of the day. I took Josh to his gym class in the morning, followed by a haircut to tame the large ‘fro on his head. Late lunch for the kids, and we were off to get ready for an adult dinner. But first, dropping off the kids for a few hours with my wife’s family!

Yes, an adult dinner. Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to dress up and eat a nice dinner sans children. It’s a wonderful experience. Saturday night, we had dinner reservations at Sophie’s Bistro, a supposedly very nice French restaurant in Somerset, NJ. The food was so good and so rich, by the time my entree arrived, I could only eat a few bites before I gave up and asked to have it packed up.

The evening was young, so we went to drop off pajamas and other supplies to the kids, and then we were off to watch The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock over at the AMC in Hamilton. Keeping in mind that this was our second attempt to watch this particular movie together (read here), but also my wife’s second viewing of the same exact film, it was still enjoyable.

On Sunday morning, we picked up the kids, and hit the road for some home improvement shopping. Due to the all the recent home improvement work, we still had to pick up better-than-we-have-now light fixtures, curtain rods for our new window treatments, and other things. I’m not big on home improvement shopping, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Otherwise, the alternative is to live in a cardboard box under the Brooklyn Bridge. Mmmmm, DUMBO.

Late Sunday afternoon, while the daylight was still streaming, I (we?) decided to install at least one of the light fixtures, so I chose the downstairs hallway. Now, the last time I did this was April 2008 when replacing the kitchen ceiling light fixture (see around Apr 15th if you’re interested.) The dome of the original fixture had come loose and fallen (and oh boy, shattered) one evening, so we needed a replacement light fixture back then. Instead of calling a qualified electrician, I decided to do it myself. It took me about four hours later at that time, it wasn’t fun, and yet no ceiling fires in the past two years. Time to try it again!!!

This time, it was still a pain in the ass, but it only took me two hours to replace the ceiling light in the downstairs hallway. Again, so far so good on the ceiling fires. The only downside is that I think some of the fiberglass that was in the new light went into the air, and embedded themselves into my face, as my face hurts. I’m not even joking. Apart from that, the downstairs hallway is better lit, so I say “Mission accomplished!” I have one more light to install in the upstairs hallway, but will do that next weekend, when I have daylight. Obviously, one needs to turn off the power to that fixture at the circuit box, and installing a ceiling light is probably an even greater pain in the ass while in the absence of light. I don’t know for certain, but I’m just assuming here.

You know, I think I’m turning into a regular handy man.

Oh man, this house is starting to look nice. About two years, we were interested in getting the interior of the house painted. We didn’t know what color to paint it, but we knew we wanted to get it painted. However, when the prospective painters gave us their quote, we waited until they left before we fainted. Egads, does it really cost this much? We said we would think about it, and two years passed. It was easy, because life just got busier around here, including the arrival of Lily the Muppet.

Fast-forward to this year, and we still really want to paint the house. Of course, we still didn’t know what color to paint it, but that’s beside the point. We called a host of painters, and you would think that in the current state of the economy, contractors would be chomping at the bit for work. Maybe some, but not all. Of the nine different painters I called, only three gave us quotes.

Three. That’s right. Tres painters. Some never called me back. Three came in to check out the place, and emailed us quotes a few days later. The ones who came to estimate, but never sent us quotes, nor responded back when I emailed, informing them I’m still waiting on the quote….. well, those guys just baffled me. Why wouldn’t you even give me a quote? My favorite is probably the same painters who gave us a high quote in 2008, but I called back anyway. With the recession, I wanted to see an updated quote. Instead, they used the same price estimate, and added an additional $400 for extra doors and the upstairs hallway.

For a while, we considered just buying the paint from Home Depot and simply painting the place on our own with the help of some friends. It didn’t work out though. I had limited free time to get the caulking, sanding, and painting completed on my own, and some of our friends didn’t have all the time either. It was cheaper to do it ourselves, but it wasn’t turning out to be the smartest, based on free time, effort, and cost. I’ve come to realize that some jobs are easy enough to do yourself with a little elbow grease. However, you should pick your battles, and avoid getting overwhelmed for a task you don’t have the skills, equipment, and most importantly, the ability to complete it timely.

In the end, we selected Stewart’s Painting and Power Washing, a father and son team based here in central NJ. They seemed honest, fully insured, and their references checked out. I’ve been pretty worried about handing over large sums of money to contractors, based on the horror stories I’ve heard, but I called their references, and previous customers were generally very happy. These guys came in way under compared to everyone else, and well, they actually gave us a quote.

We were scheduled to have the painting completed last week, but the last-minute February snowstorm/blizzard (snowicane? snowapocalpse?) delayed it. Our painter was only able to complete the spackling of cracks and holes on Wednesday, and helping us to remove the old window treatments and blinds (no charge!)  Our painters came back the following Monday and Tuesday and finished the job. Truth be told, they missed some very minor details here and there, but on the whole, a very good job, and the price was excellent. I would certainly recommend them to others.

New yellow interior paint and new window shade

In addition to the interior painting, we’re also replacing the living room window treatments and blinds. The old venetian blinds were broken and hard to use, and the old curtains matched nothing. On Thursday, our new custom shade from Budget Blinds was delivered and installed in 30 mins. Now we’re just waiting to find the curtain rods, get it all installed and hung up, some pictures hung up, and we are done.

Booyah.

Since the accident, we’ve been relegated to sharing one car. In order to continue working, I’ve been using alternative arrangements during the three week period while my car is at the body shop. I’ve alternated between working from home, borrowing a car from my parents, and getting rides to the office with my coworkers. Most days, I’ve been working from home. I drop the kids off, then my wife takes the car to work.

I’m of two minds about working from home. I do appreciate the option when circumstances inhibit you from being in the office, such as sick kids, contractors coming over, etc. Nothing prevents you from working, and it provides an employee with flexibility. What’s the alternative? A wasted sick or vacation day.

I used to have an employer who didn’t trust employees with working from home, due to the fears that they wouldn’t do work while at home. We had laptops, remote access, and, you know, work to do, but management was afraid of the possibility that the staff would be home watching Maury. In my opinion, it was an irrational fear. With my current employer, the flexibility makes sense, and it works for many of my colleagues.

That being said, for the 2-3 days a week that I have been home to work, it’s been a little lonely. When you’re not in the office for a stretch of a few days in a row, I have found it lonely to not have other colleagues to see, work with, or even simply to chat with. On a vacation day, you can sit and watch tv, or run errands, and be happy in your jeans and sneakers. When I’m working from home, the tv is off, and I’m sitting there in an empty house, and you feel isolated. It isn’t even that I could take a drive at lunch, since I’ve got no ride.

The days I’ve come back to the office have been nice, since I can interact with living, breathing individuals. The three weeks are almost up, so I’ll be glad to take a break from being at home, and get back out there with the rest of society.

[Note: I'm not going into all the sordid details of the accident itself, as I've got a open claim with my insurance agent, and am awaiting the final police report. I'm sticking to the simple facts.]

On Monday night, the whole family drove to visit some friends’ at their house after the kids got out of school. On the way home, it had started to snow, but it wasn’t sticking at all. Travelling down a well-used road, we entered a traffic intersection during a green light, and a car coming from the opposite direction made a left turn in front of us. As a result, we were involved in a pretty serious traffic accident.

Both cars were towed away as inoperable with the help of the local police department who arrived fairly quickly on the scene. My wife’s family lives nearby, so my sister-in-law was a big help in driving down to meet us, and ferrying my family and our belongings to their house. We later had take-out dinner, as the kids were starving at this point.

Some pictures are below. We’re currently waiting for the insurance adjuster to inspect the car this week, and I’m hoping the damage is not extensive, and the car is salvageable. In the meantime, I’m bumming rides off my thoughtful coworkers, and deciding between bad and worse car rental options. While I could say a lot about the situation, I have to pause to consider how this could have been much, much worse.

It’s strange how during some winters in the Northeast, we barely get any snowfall of significant accumulation. In other winters, we get a lot. In 2010, I would say we have had a helluva lot. First, we had a big snowstorm back in mid-December. That was supposed to be bad, innocuously benign and underestimated by yours truly, and was just darn terrible.

Last Saturday, we got hit by a healthy amount of snow. This time, I was smart enough to not attempt to drive around in it, and simply enjoyed it from the comfort of my home.  The total accumulation in our area was about 4-5 inches, which isn’t terrible. I know it was much worse in the Virginia/Maryland/Delaware mid-Atlantic region.

Only a few days later, we had this storm. I don’t know if it was a blizzard, as I heard it wasn’t technically a blizzard.

In the United States, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as sustained winds or frequent gusts reaching or exceeding 35 mph (56 km/h) which lead to blowing snow and cause visibilities of ¼ mile (or 400 m) or less, lasting for at least 3 hours. Temperature is not taken into consideration when issuing a blizzard warning, but the nature of these storms is such that cold air is often present when the other criteria are met.^[1] Temperatures are generally below 0 °C (32 °F).

I think I speak for everyone in the mid-Atlantic and northeast regions when I say, “Yo, blizzard or not, that was a helluva lot of snow.”  We must have received about a foot of snow. My wife and I both worked from home Wednesday and Thursday, due to the snow. The kids’ daycare school was closed both days, so we certainly didn’t have a choice either day.

The trees outside our backyard while it snowed Wednesday.

Short story - I can’t find an HDTV that I like. Each model out there has both rave reviews and serious complaints. Also, I can’t trust CNET on their reviews as my sole source of trusted information anymore.

My Sony Wega CRT TV

Long story – In December 1999, I bought my first TV. I had started my first job out of college, but was still living at my parents’ place. As the story goes, I had seen the Sony Wega CRT TV at a PC Richard & Son in New Hyde Park, and was floored.  I loved it. It was heavy as hell (200 lbs.), but  it was a great picture for its time.

Fast forward to the past few years, and everyone I know has an HDTV in their house. I know one friend who hasn’t made the leap yet, but he’s not into HDTV. I desperately want an HDTV. A bigger, clearer picture. The glory of HD. Did I mention the bigger screen? What has primarily stopped me was the exorbitant prices (over $2000), and the fact that our Sony is working well after 10 years. Sony may have high-priced products (the so-called “Sony tax”), but the products work well. I was almost close to getting one back in 2005 after someone dropped our Sony during our move (I’m talking about you, Vijay.) However, Sears was able to fix a cracked board for just $200. Curses, foiled again.

The premium HDTVs are still at the $4000-5000 price point, but prices have come down significantly for the low end and middle ground TVs.  You can find very good HDTVs (with a good balance of features starting at the $1200. Why am I even explaining this? You probably have an HDTV already, so screw you. Let me move on to explaining my predicament.

My wife will tell you that I’m super particular about my technology. At a reasonable price, it has to have good features, multiple uses, and can scale up as I replace components within my Ipe ecosystem. For example, my home PC isn’t the fastest or greatest, but I can do work, edit movies, or play games. My PS3 can play games, but I can stream and watch Hulu’s TV shows and Netflix movies. I used my iPod Touch equally for listening to music and looking up facts on the Internet while sitting on the couch.

While I can’t afford every product, I continuously research to keep up on technology trends. One, I can be prepared for when I need to replace a product. Two, I can give advice when someone needs buying advice. A good example is my home theater A/V receiver. I’m not replacing it this year, but I’ve already got my eyes on a particular Yamaha among things will allow me to hook my iPod up and play music, and also supports HDMI (my current receiver does not.) CNET is my best friend, as I trust their reviews.

The good news is that we are finally in the market for an HDTV. Our Sony is still going strong (damn you, Sony), but we’re doing a little home redecorating.  Now, onto the problem at hand, and why I’m utterly perplexed, as recent developments tossed my plans out the window.  I’ve always been a big fan of plasma. CRT is dead. LCD has bad viewing angles. DLP is too big and the viewing angle is atrocious. Projectors wouldn’t work with our high ceilings. LCoS is dead, and LED is too expensive.

Plasma technology and my choices

Panasonic

Panasonic TC-P50V10

After Pioneer and Sony got out of the market for producing plasmas, Panasonic and Samsung are now the next best plasma manufacturers, but Panasonic is tops overall. Normally, I adhere to CNET reviews, since I trust their opinions. If they think it’s good, then it’s good.  If they can catch a problem, I might not have noticed initially myself, better still. While I’ve long desired the V10, and to a lesser degree the G10 model, Panasonic has been experiencing recent issues with their deep blacks turning grey over time. CNET never caught onto it, but the tens of thousands of people who have purchased Panasonic plasma sets have. I happened to have started looking at user reviews on multiple websites, and started to find this disturbing trend. Last week, CNET finally reported on the problem.

With that many customers having problem with all of their models, including new problems with image retention (IR), it doesn’t matter how much you spend. Panasonic has now acknowledged the problem, but for now, the entire Panasonic model line is suspect. Last year, when Panasonic announced the V10 at CES 2009, I was in love. How can anyone take a chance at this point?

Samsung PN50B860

Samsung

Samsung supposedly makes gorgeous plasmas, and their PN50B860 is thin and everyone who doesn’t have a problem will shout how beautiful and razor thin it is.  Notice that I said people who don’t have a problem. While perusing Amazon’s customer reviews, there is a tag for the word “buzz.” There is a significant portion of owners complaining about a their sets making a ridiculous buzzing noise. AVS Forum has multiple threads on it as well. While some people say they don’t hear a buzz (like a bad flourescent bulb), some say it can be ignored, but to many others keep returning or exchanging their sets. Samsung states it’s normal, but expensive televisions should not make an annoying buzz that people describe as a buzz that drives into your skull.

Who in their right mind would buy an expensive TV that may or may not make a buzzing noise that will drive you nuts? You may have a problem, but you may not. Uh, no thanks. I don’t win often at craps when I’m hustling in Newark on Saturday nights, and I doubt my luck is going to be better here.

LCD technology and my choices

Samsung

Samsung LN46B750

LCD? Really? I’m not a fan, only because LCD isn’t perfect. While plasmas are older technology and not as popular as LCDs. Sure they are bright and look good in bright rooms, but  people complain about the viewing angles, the motion blur when watching fast action movies or sports, and the lag when playing games.  BTW, did you know there is often a lag when playing videogames on some LCD sets? I didn’t know that.

Samsung makes a well-reviewed LCD called the LN46B750, in multiple sizes. It reviews well enough by sites and users, but some people complain primarily about the viewing angle. Specifically, people/guests in your house who sit off-center (more than 20 degrees from center) won’t enjoy it when the blacks wash out. Or if you play fast twitchy PS3/Xbox games on it, it’s going to lag. This is not encouraging.

Many other LCDs seem to have the same complaints. Good picture, but you may have problems playing games. Or sitting one or two spaces from direct center. Or the colors may be so so. It’s just “not as good as plasma.”

Are you kidding me? I’m not a big fan of LCD technology (except for with my home PC), but I guess it’s the nature of the beast.  I’ve spoken to other friends with LCD TVs, and they love them. I’m so confused.

These are my choices:

• Plasmas that look great initially, but the blacks get lighter and lighter after a  thousand hours?  Or you turn off the menu, and a ghost of the menu’s image is still displayed?
• TVs that drive you nuts with a buzz?
• LCDs with bad viewing angles? Laggy gameplay?

For a guy who finally knows what he wants, I now have no idea what I want. Strike that, I know what I want. I can’t find what I want.  I want a clear-cut winner, but everyone has a problem with every model out there. I feel like I’m in some sort of paralysis mode, since I can’t get a general consensus from the greater population. I’ve already been to Best Buy to see the G10, the V10, and the Samsung LCD. The G10 didn’t wow me, the V10 was nice, but hard to find and expensive. The Samsung LCD is nice, but most purchasers state that the viewing angle problem is not identifiable when you’re standing in the aisle, and when Best Buy has already jacked up the contrast and brightness. True enough, when I saw the Samsung LCD in person, the settings were off the charts. The Samsung plasma would be nice in person, but I doubt I would be able to hear anything out of the ordinary while in a big, noisy box store.

At this stage, I am leaning towards taking my chances with the Samsung LCD for a lower price and smaller screen. I figure that if I lower my investment, then it won’t so bad if I’m not happy later. Furthermore, we’re opting for the 46″ version (not the 50″), as it’s cheaper and probably better fits the size of our room. What I have learned so far is to not rely only on technology reviews by journalists. A great source of information is customer reviews, and I don’t mean just a few. Dig deeper into pages 5-10, and you’ll get a better, more complete, sense of people’s experiences. 

A final, funny anecdote to close this out. There’s a fellow out in the Bay area named P. Radakrishnan. I think he’s my long-lost twin brother. I don’t know what he looks like, but after reading his Amazon.com profile with his other reviews, he’s like a kindred soul. Appears to be a fellow technophile, Indian, and plays the same PS3 games. Weird. BTW, he ultimately returned his Samsung LN46B750 LCD TV, and bought a Panasonic G10 instead.

What is it about me that causes electonics to die a premature death? Do I radiate an aura that burns out circuit boards? I swear, some electonics will last for years, and yet others die ignominously. Is it in my mind, or do I have some useless Jubilee-type mutant power?

Our Uniden phones that are getting crappier each day.

Back in March 2008, just before Lily was born, we purchased new Uniden DECT 6.0 phones (4 of them.) We were now in a larger house, and needed more phones in more places, within arm’s reach.  The old Motorola phones used to work, until Josh threw one into a filled bathtub.  These Uniden phones were pretty good at the time. You could listen to messages from any phone, you could label each phone with a location, and then page someone in another room, and a good speakerphone to use when I’m working from home.

During the past 2 months, the usefulness of each phone is decreasing. It started with our master bedroom phone, and is spreading to the others. During various stages of a call, the phones lose their connection to the base unit. The phone call doesn’t disconnect, but you have to wait for the phone to initialize, find the base unit, and hit the call button again. Finally, you have to explain to someone where you went for 30 seconds. It’s not good. Why is this happening? Only our kitchen and living room phones are  operating properly at the moment. Very frustrating.

I’ve started researching new phones from Panasonic and other manufacturers, but I’m not impressed with what I’m finding. Isn’t it the year 2010? We have fiber optic coming into the house, and VOIP phones in our offices. Why aren’t there cool cordless home phones out there that everyone likes? Our cell phones are so advanced, but cordless phones are stuck in some sort of time warp of the early 2000’s.

The hunt goes on. If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment with your recommendations.

When I first changed my major in college back in 1997, I was desperate to find a good job in the technology space. I was starting from square numero uno, with no real world experience in IT, apart from a semester running the computer labs at Univ@ Albany for a semester (as part of a class), and while at a small college near my parents house in the spring of 1997. 

I attended summer classes at Pace University, registered at the Pace Co-op program office for internships, brushed up my resume, and interviewed one location after another. IBM’s TJ Watson center, Avon, and finally Reader’s Digest. Of all my choices, I accepted the position at RDA in their Help Desk initially doing analysis work for the first semester. After a regular help desk employee moved on, I jumped at the chance to take her place on the phones. I spent the next eight months providing level 1 support, including the occasional office visit.

It was an interesting experience, and I truly loved the people I worked with. Some really nice people over there, but RDA was just beginning to experience troubles.  That same year, I witnessed my first layoff, as one day, the halls were empty, and middle management was gone. The stock was in bad shape, and the old timers were grumbling about retirement.

By August 1997, they offered me any open internship position within the firm if I would stay, but I wanted to try another company, so I parted with a heavy heart, and moved to another intership with Kraft in their Coffees & Cereals division. People have come and gone, and I went to a few get-togethers of RDA staff in the late 90’s, but life went on for me after I graduated and started working full time.

I just read an article in the NY Times about RDA’s current woes, and it saddens me. The article, A Reader’s Digest That Grandma Never Dreamed Of, states that the company has moved out of the beautiful Pleasantville/Chappaqua campus. More people have been laid off, artwork sold, brands have suffered. I hope the management team is able to pull it together to save the company and the brand, even though it’s saddled with onerous debt.

I’ve spent too long away from home
Did all the things I could have done
Gone are the days of endless thrills
I know I’m not the only one

So long, I’m goin’, goin’ home…

I saw the streets all ripe with jewels
Balconies and the laundry lines
They tried to make me welcome there
But their streets did not feel like mine

So long, I’m goin’, goin’ home…

I want the sun to hit my face
Through oak trees in the open lot
Forget about the things you want
Be thankful for what all you got

So long, I’m goin’, goin’ home…

Party!

Saturday was the big winter storm of the season. Saturday was also the big year-end party among a set of our friends. This year, our friends hosting the big party live about 90 mins away up north. Knowing that we would be spending the afternoon and evening, while the winter storm would be generating heavy snow, we prepared to stay overnight — extra clothes, sleeping bags, extra pillows, portable crib, etc.

Around 10pm, everyone came to the mutual conclusion that the local roads weren’t too bad, and we would all attempt to drive home.  We all started on our respective journeys. Initially, it wasn’t bad. See, in storms like this, I’ve found that while the local roads can be messy, you’re pretty much good to go once you make it to the highway.  Since the street seemed doable, it shouldn’t be a big deal.  Besides, we also have an SUV with 4×4.

This winter storm threw all of  my notions out the window. While we made it to I-280 in decent shape, the highways were a mess as the snow continued to fall heavily.  I-280 was a complete mess, and slow going.  At one point at the top of a rise, we reached a mass of a cars with hazard lights blinking, and one turned sideways.  Many cars on the road that night were on the sides of the road much like this car, completely lost traction, and unable to manuever. Seeing an older sportcar without traction wasn’t surprising. 

What was surprising is that we also lost complete traction at that point.  4×4, my butt– we couldn’t move sitting in the middle of a major highway.  We started moving diagonally, which already freaked me out as I was already nervous driving like this.  Then, other drivers started passing us on both sides, including a bus! If you saw a large SUV sliding diagonally on a highway, why would you think it was a good idea to try to pass on either side?  Lots of people did it.  As a matter of fact, as we continued on the I-280, the Garden State Pkwy, and the Turnpike, we watching many drivers speeding right through the heavy snow towards their respective destinations. It was absolutely insane.

We even missed our turn on to get on the NJ Turnpike from the GS Parkway, because huge snowdrifts separated the highway and exit lanes.  I would have tried to plow threw the snowdrift, but we had seen other cars stranded on those same snowdrifts. It just wasn’t worth the risk. We ended up driving for a long while out of our way down the Parkway, and then making the U-turn at the next exit.

We eventually made it home around 1:30am.  Can you imagine that? 3 hours to get home. Next time, I will never attempt such a foolhardy stunt again.  Next time, we just sleep over at that person’s house, or we don’t go at all.  As we drove sideways on a highway, or as we watched car after car stranded on the side of the road, or the multiple accidents, it’s all I could think about.