How to Fix a Broken DVR

Okay....First of all, I apologize because my husband hasn't posted here in aeons. Second of all, I apologize that you have to read my ramblings. Third of all - let me tell you how to fix a broken DVR. A DVR that just won't record pre-set recordings. Well you whine a bunch on Tuesday. You have Matt look at it on Wednesday. You unplug it on Wednesday and then when that doesn't work; unplug it again, go outside and have a cigarette and randomly record "Cops" to see if it works. You come home on Thursday with your sister-in-law and see if "Cops" is recorded properly - nope! "Cops" which was recorded on Channel something or other (say 74 for the sake of argument) at 10:30PM on 07/19/2006 says that it is recorded on Channel 0 on 12/31/1989 at 7PM and oh yeh - it has no name. Then both of you push random buttons on the remote. Then you record part of "Everybody Loves Raymond." Wait a few minutes, realize that Raymond seems to have been recorded properly - but wait - it overrode "Cops" or the show formerly known as "Cops". Now folks, this is where it gets tricky...you and Sister-in-law need to get off the bed and move behind the tv. Unplug it again, stare at things, wiggle some wires, hypothesize about the tv and the DVR and why it's not working. After approximately 7 minutes of this, plug it back in and wait a bit - see if it works and determine that Matt needs to call Comcast. Right before you leave, unplug the damn thing again, plug it back in and leave. When I returned from picking up Matt - the DVR was working. And that, my friends, is how to fix a DVR.

Cracker Jack Licenses

So I'm convinced that Massachusetts residents at the age of 17 get a box of Cracker Jack sent to them from the RMV on their bday. They open it up and the majority get a lovely prize of a driver's license. It's the only explanation for the driving abilities of Massachusetts drivers (sorry all of you Massachusetts drivers who actually had to take their road test). Every morning I drive Matt to work in Harvard Square and then I continue on to Watertown. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of road and water main construction going on during our route and the driving is 15 times worse then it normally is. Big arrows point the way to the right showing clearly that the lane is closed to drivers but yet it seems that at least 2-3 drivers next to me do not see this and then b/c their lane is closed, well they just move on over into my lane - it doesn't matter if they will hit me or not. And then b/c traffic is moving slowly, the intersections are always blocked by cars who cannot make it through the light and so therefore I am stuck on my side of the intersection unable to make it through. Why aren't Massachusetts drivers more courteous? Why don't they know what is going on around them? And it's not just the summer months and construction - God forbid that there is something in the right lane (like a stopped bus) and you are in the left b/c I guarantee that the person next to you is going to swerve into the left lane to avoid what's in their lane - never once checking to see if someone is next to me. Numerous times I have actually been forced to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid being sideswiped by the car next to me. I have lived in Massachusetts and in NY and I don't care what anyone says - NY drivers are 50 times more courteous and more aware of their surroundings then MA drivers. Seriously - Cracker Jack Licenses.

July Vacation

Well I simply can't believe how fast this summer is zooming by. It seems that it was just Memorial Day but now our July vacation on Long Island is over (very sad). But before I recap that - let's talk about the 4th of July:

Matt and I both lucked out and were able to take the Monday before the 4th off and we were able to enjoy a nice long four day weekend. Saturday and Sunday we stayed in Boston and enjoyed each other's company and had a chance to relax. Monday we headed off to Plymouth to meet up with Matt's family. We had a great time - relaxing day on Monday and then off to the smallest carnival ever where we had fried dough and I watched them go on one ride. Then downtown to drink champagne on the jetty and then to the Cabby Shack (a/k/a Crabby Shack, a/k/a Crabby Slut) for some more drinks. After that we headed back to the house where we sat on the back deck and bothered Andrew and then finally went to bed at some undisclosed hour. On the 4th itself, Matt's uncle and aunts and cousin and grandmother joined the festivities where we ate more then I care to admit and we had a genuinely good afternoon. Finally back to Boston...

whereupon we remembered receiving a phone call from our landlords while we were out on Monday night stating that there had been an incident with their washing machine and our apartment had some water damage. We got home and it wasn't pretty - and it's still not so pretty - but I have to say that our landlords have been wonderful about the situation and they are doing everything they can to get it taken care of. Hopefully they will get the insurance company to get a move on and the wall in our living room can be rebuilt but until then we have the a/c and the tv and dvr machine in the bedroom so we should be okay for a while. We didn't lose much - just Mikey's futon mattress which needs to be replaced, some frozen foods, possibly some cds and just space in general (as our entire living room is in the office right now). Luckily we were only home for 3 nights b/c we were off to Long Island on the night of the 7th.

Long Island was fantastic. We had a chance to clean some of my father's house (including invading one of the rooms that used to be my bedroom, became the dart room, became the dog's room and was just a junk room - now it's cleaned and organized, there is a bed in there, new curtains and once they paint it, it will be brand new again). I took Matt to Smith's Point (a beach on the south shore right on the ocean) where I was too chicken to get into the water b/c those waves were fierce but he seemed to enjoy it (except for the sand in the pants after he finished being tossed about by the waves) (oh and except for the horse flies that were just plain nasty as we were lying on the beach). I went fishing for the first time - 8 of us went out on a charter boat from Port Jefferson and of course the name is escaping me right now - but the captain of the boat was Amanda and her first mate was Kevin - they were really nice and we had a great time. Oh the name of the boat was the Osprey. I caught 2 fluke and Matt caught 4 fluke - it was awesome. Of course we had so much fish that we gave a lot of it away to Gracie's and they had it on the menu that same night. We went out to dinner two nights and while my first meal was not the greatest, the second one made up for it. I was able to see my Aunt Maureen who lives in Florida b/c she just happened to be in the area while we were home and that was a wonderful surprise. The best part about the whole trip was that I got to spend a lot of time with my family and we were able to make good use of that big pool sitting in my dad's backyard :)

Now we're back to work and that's sad but I'm relaxed and looking forward to August for the next round of trips LOL