DIY Charging Station

Last night, I finally got tired of having things charging in every room of the house (except the bathroom). I decided to do something about it and paid a visit to the local Home Depot this afternoon. This convenient kitchen DIY charging station is the result.

The shelf has room enough for both my 13" MacBook, my 10" Toshiba netbook, and a couple of smaller devices such as my iPod Touch and my phone. The two hanging baskets below the shelf, which are the key feature to me, accommodate the AC adapters for both laptops, the iPod charger, the phone's AC adapter, a camera battery charger, and a charger for AA/AAA batteries with space to spare. If necessary, a couple more baskets could easily be added. A couple mini hair clips help with cord management.

The shelf unit is Closet Maid item 8279, $15.76, all hardware included. The two baskets are Closet Maid item 3937 at $3.67 each. The hair clips were locally appropriated at no cost to me. Total (with tax of course) was $24.48. Labor, about a half hour. Degree of difficulty, a caveman could do it.

I'm No Longer LOST

I've just started watching the hit ABC TV show LOST from the beginning on Netflix Instant. I now understand why so many of you really like that show. In the past week, I've seen about half a dozen episodes. I just watched the one where Jack goes into the jungle looking for his dead father.

Because LOST was so popular among both my real-life and online friends, I twice tried to jump in and watch episodes on TV, but I didn't understand what was going on and gave up. Now that I'm watching from the beginning, I am hooked! I even find myself talking to the characters as I watch.

It's more like seeing a movie than TV. And not only is it a good story, it's visually stunning as well.

Lucky Numbers?

I've had two bizarre numerical coincidences occur in the last few days. Being a mathematician I tend to notice these kinds of things.

Tuesday, I had breakfast at Eat-N-Park. I planned on using a $3 off coupon and the remains of a gift card, $3.58, to pay most of the check. Amazingly, the check came to exactly $6.58!

This morning, I entered yesterday's receipt from Weis in my checking account register, $17.58. My last receipt from Weis five days ago, for completely different items, was remarkably $17.58!

Not to mention the dollar amounts in all these all contained 58¢! What does this mean? Should I but a lottery ticket, 0-5-8? Hmmm ...

One of My Favorite Photos

Not to ring my own bell, but I really like this picture I took this afternoon at the Ft Roberdeau historic site in Blair County, Pennsylvania. I haven't touched it at all. This is just as it came from the camera. Click it to see a larger image.

From FortRob

Topsy-Turvy Tomato Update

A dramatic turn, literally. The part of the plant bearing the actual tomato has, as you can see, begun to invert itself as I understood it should have been doing all along. The single lone tomato is now about the size of a ping-pong ball.

Many of my friends have lost their tomato plants to some sort of blight that's going around. But if they think I'm gonna share this little gem with them, well ...

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Topsy-Turvy Tomato Update

As we approach mid-July, I am very disappointed in how my hanging tomato experiment has progressed (or not).

As you can see, the plant is desperate to grow vertically. I have seen some plants around the neighborhood that look exactly the way they're supposed to look, but not this one. I think the real problem is that I have no location where the tomato plant can get adequate sunlight. I do have a single tomato developing, however! Could be some good eatin'!

City of Champions

From Blogger Pictures

I put this together Saturday morning to celebrate the winning of two major championships, the Super Bowl and the Stanley Cup, in one city, Pittsburgh.

Tomato Plant Update

Just snapped these images of the upside-down tomato planter I started Wednesday. The plants seem to be doing well. I find it interesting that they are trying to turn up toward the sun and grow in the normal way.

From Number 13

From Number 13

I Got Another Pair Just Like 'Em

About a block and a half away from home, I had a feeling something wasn't quite right at the bottom end of my legs.

Nothing wrong with my mind, huh? Give me the nuclear trigger!

Spring is on Its Way

I snapped these outside my window this morning. The little guy wouldn't cooperate and look in my direction ...

Now It's Buy.com's Turn to **** Me!

Since my last post on this issue, I was finally able to reach Buy.com customer service. I had to do a Google to find their CS number which appears nowhere on their website (That's not a good sign!).

Foolishly I thought that since they were the merchant who took my money, they might be interested in helping me resolve my issue with Westinghouse Digital. Ha!

Buy.com told me that the defective TV had to be returned to the manufacturer. Now they tell me that since I returned it to the manufacturer instead of to Buy.com, they can't help me.

Buy.com has my money. Westinghouse Digital has the TV. I have nothing but annoyance, frustration, and aggravation!

Next stop, my credit card company.

No Joy from Westinghouse Digital

In a recent post I described my battle with Westinghouse Digital regarding my attempt to exchange a defective TV.

After waiting about two more days from that time, I again called Westinghouse Digital "customer service." They still claimed the returned TV was not in their system, whatever that means. I reminded them I have delivery verification. If they don't know where it is, that's their problem, not mine.

I suggested they just grab another TV, put a shipping label on it, and send it on its merry way. Then they can worry about locating the returned TV. Of course, "We can't do that." They say they can't send out a replacement until they locate the return. Does this mean that if they can never locate it, I'll never get a new TV?

I asked to speak to a supervisor, but the was "no supervisor available." The rep said a supervisor would call me within 24 to 48 hours. We'll see.

Stay tuned, no pun intended.

Another Myth Dispelled

"It's really tough to beat a team three times in one year!" A myth as seen in this shot of a Jim Rome interview with Steelers corner Ike Taylor ...GO, STEELERS!

After the Storm

A short walk through the neighborhood this morning following last night's snowfall ...

After the Storm from Thomas Boito on Vimeo.

I am Being Screwed by WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL

I bought a Westinghouse LCD HDTV from Buy.com in late November. It proved to be defective and it was necessary to return it to WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL for exchange.
I shipped it by UPS back to WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL on Dec 22, at MY OWN EXPENSE. It was signed for at WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL's El Paso facility just before 11 am, Dec 30. I have called WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL "customer service" at least three times since for a status report, most recently this afternoon. I CANNOT get ANY information as to what's going on. WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL doesn't even acknowledge that they have received the TV.

I told WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL that I would call back in a day or two and if I was not satisfied with the situation I wanted my money back. WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL said they couldn't do that since I purchased from Buy.com, not directly from WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL. I will contact Buy.com and if they're no help, I will try working through my credit card company.

I will NEVER buy another WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL product. I will NEVER recommend a WESTINGHOUSE DIGITAL product to anyone I know.

Sittin' by the Fire

First time I ever got the fireplace table at Panera. So cool!

So comfy, cozy ...

Daily Video #9 - All I Wanted Was the Hard Drive

Don't ever think you'll open up an iBook to pull out the hard drive and then put it back together. What an adventure! Thank goodness for the interwebs. I'd have never figured this out on my own. I thought it was just going to be "pop off the enclosure, pull out the HD, put it back together". Oh, no! This monkey is not going to be reassembled, at least not by this guy.

You'll find it on eBay being sold for parts. However, I did get a nice little USB external hard drive as originally planned. It was a learning experience.

Why Do I Pay My Taxes and My Bills?

Why do I bother to pay my taxes? Why do I get my bills paid on time?

I ask myself these questions every time I hear or see one of those ads that purport to be able to settle your IRS or creditor debts for pennies on the dollar. If these ads are to be believed, I should just ignore my taxes and max-out all my credit cards, then get these guys to settle my accounts for a fraction of what I owe.

Snakey Daze

I had one of life's little adventures while golfing today. On the ninth and final hole, I put my first shot into the pond that protects the front of the green. I hit a horrible second shot that ended up in a ditch along the right side of the fairway. The groundsman had earlier used the weedeater in the ditch and it was still full of the cuttings.

I expected that the ball would be lost under those clippings, but I took a look anyway. I didn't see my ball, but I saw what appeared to be two crossed sticks in the grass. A closer look caused me to suspect one of those things wasn't a stick, but a rather large snake about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and nearly three feet in length.

I watched it for a minute or so seeing no sign of movement. I began to think perhaps it was dead. I called my partner over and he took a look. Still no movement from the snake. The groundsman was mowing nearby, and we waved him over. He took his look, but the vitality of our slithery friend was still indeterminate. The groundsman reluctantly poked at it from behind with a stick. It was not deceased! It didn't move far, however.

Since none of us knew the sort of creature we had on our hands and because of its fairly large dimensions, we decided a speedy termination was in order. While my partner and I maintained our observation of the serpent, nine-irons in hand, the groundsman fetched a shovel. Upon his return, he made short work of the beast.

If any of you find the demise of this snake upsetting, I'm sorry, but as for me, the only good snake is a dead snake.

Today, I saw the new X-Files movie The X-Files: I Want to Believe starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, stars of the original Fox TV series.

The TV series ended a bit more than six years ago (1993-2002), so I was unsure how it would play after such an extended hiatus. This film did not disappoint in any way. The aura of the original TV shows transitioned seamlessly into this movie. If you are a fan of the X-Files on TV, you're bound to enjoy The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

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