Empty Notebook

1. Healthier Living - Steady as she goes on this front. Life looks good right now, for lots of reasons.

2. Cleanup - Well I did some home improvement, by replacing the thermostat in the house on Sunday. We’ll count that.

3. Website Growth - April will surpass March, by a small amount. That’s pretty good considering the site spikes when football is in season.

Not really, but I did replace my thermostat today, with a new programmable one made by Honeywell. You can set different temperatures for all 7 days of the week. Basically, it sets a temperature for when you wake up, leave the house, return from the house and go to sleep. The default settings (Energy Star recommendations) were a bit TOO aggressive for me. I can’t imagine letting the house get up to 85 during the day, but I am going to try out 82 on weekdays while I’m not home. That’s 7-8 hours where it won’t be 77 anymore, it’ll be interesting to see if I see the savings on the electric bill. I’ve already seen a steady 40kwH drop thanks to the replacement of most of my light bulbs with CFLs.

Anyway, back to the thermostat. The install wasn’t too bad, the package even contains the labels needed to label the wiring in the wall. I wired up everything properly on the first try, but when I started the unit it was blowing hot air on the A/C setting. I was puzzled for a bit, but then I found the section in the manual that involved the “system” settings, which I changed to my type of Heat Pump system, BINGO I had cold air. So anyway, I’m quite pleased with myself. I’m always happy when I can be handy around my house. Home improvement projects (even small ones like a thermostat) are fun when they’re successful.

I decided that I wanted a bar of Dark Chocolate to kill my sweet tooth this week. So I strolled over to the Candy section of Southwood Publix during my weekly grocery store trek. It dawned on me, that in the same aisle, directly across from the candy and chocolate are the feminine products. I have one thing to say… GENIUS.

Seriously, talk about putting complimentary items near each other. I wonder how much more revenue the candy section generated after the move?

1. Healthier Living - Doing good… softball is back this week, which depending on how I look at it helps or doesn’t helps. It helps, obviously, because I get to run around for a while, but it doesn’t help when I continue to be the target duck at third base for line drives. And on another note, life is pretty freakin’ good right now for various reason. It’s rather amazing to me how smiles are really contagious. Yeah, that sounds cheesy, but it’s true.

2. Cleanup - Ugh, I need to get my ass in gear on some more of that. But it’s so nice outside. Billy wants to play, not clean out stuff.

3. Website Growth - April is at a higher pace than March so far, with minimal updates. Anyone interested in purchasing the website from me?

“One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though … betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.” - Stephen Deitz.

Yeah, I realize it’s a dark and sad quote, but I thought it rang true. And personally, I think that the worst thing that can happen to a person, is to lose hope.

This song has been stuck in my head lately… thanks a lot Madden ‘07.

1. Healthier Living - Better than last week, aside from the Momo’s. Ha.

2. Cleanup - A little bit more on the main closet.

3. Website Growth - April is at a higher pace than March so far, with minimal updates. Anyone interested in purchasing the website from me?

I’ve been researching HDTV’s quite a bit the last couple of weeks, even though I didn’t have an intent to purchase one yet. I had narrowed my choices down to something in the 40″ to 42″ range and LCD. I chose LCD, because my viewing room is so bright. Then I thought about why I really wanted an HDTV. Why am I bothering to look at them?

Sports Is My Main Reason
I’m an avid college football fan. I’m an even bigger baseball fan. When the picture is clear, I’d probably watch just about any sport. When viewing on a digital signal, Golf is amazing. I subscribe to the Major League Baseball Extra Innings package through Comcast & inDemand. Wouldn’t it be great to watch a bunch of games in HD? Sure. Too bad the content isn’t offered yet. That’s right, I’d spend close to $2000 on a TV that can’t fully be used. (Forget about the fact that Comcast in Tallahassee isn’t offering Game 11-14 yet as part of that package, either.) I really have no idea WHEN it will be fully used either.

Geek Factor Is Another Reason
I’m also a geek at heart. I like my tech toys. I didn’t NEED an 20″ widescreen computer monitor at home, but I bought one as a replacement for my old 17″ CRT. It saves power and looks great. An HDTV is a fun thing to have, and it’s a fun thing to show off. But those aren’t sound reasons to buy a one.

Why I Decided That Don’t Need An HDTV
I have a four year old 32″ Sony Wega standard definition television. At the time, it was expensive, but in comparison to today’s HDTV prices. I can’t beat it for DVDs (it has a 16:9 enhanced mode), or for the digital channels on cable. I can’t say the same for the analog channels, but that’s Comcast’s fault or, most likely the Motorola DVR’s fault, not the television’s. The biggest difference in picture, for me so far, has been the difference in the quality of the signal. ESPN HD down-converted to 480i looks way better than my regular ESPN. But, I wonder just how much better it’s going to look on a new HD TV? As for network shows, I don’t need to watch sitcoms in HD. Even Planet Earth on Discovery HD theater looks amazing on a down-converted signal. On top of that, it uses far less power than a replacement is going to use. If anything, I wish that Comcast would just switch over ALL of the channels on the Digital Cable Box to actually BE DIGITAL.

Until I can watch my Mets in HD almost every night, I might as well stick with my Standard Definition television, and save my cash too.

1. Healthier Living - I’m back on track, and still not at my best eating habits. I’ll continue to improve the rest of the month. It should be easy, I’ll be laying low on the greaseball food for a while.

2. Cleanup - I didn’t do a lot on this front, although I did find a brand new Tumi wallet in my closet to replace my busted 7+ year old on. Wohoo!

3. Website Growth - April is at a higher pace than March so far, with minimal updates. Anyone interested in purchasing the website from me?

So, MLB.tv has a boss key on it’s media players that basically throws up a Best Boss Award entry form and covers up whatever you’re watching. I’m still laughing. Good job MLB!