A sweet glorious nap this afternoon and I am feeling pretty good! I don't quite no why since I slept fairly well last night but hey, I am not going to complain.
I also have to note the weather situation. We were under a tornado watch but depending on which site you believe, NOAA or the local tv stations it has been canceled or is still in effect. Apparently the type of front that moved in during the night has created a very unstable atmosphere. Where we have been having the storms from the last few days moving in out of the north, with the cool air, this new front is out of the south and is full of warm air. My wife, who studied atmospheric science in college, explained it to me but it was like 8 in the morning when she did that so the details are a bit sketchy to me. Anyway, it is a cool 80F right now and while there is some humidity it is not that stagnant air where you feel as if you just stepped out of the shower. I was thinking of taking my son to the front patio and letting him use his sidewalk chalk for a bit.
Since our financial situation took a nose dive we had to make certain concessions to save money. We have both DirecTv and DSL coming in to the house and when we could afford it I had them with all the trimmings, the DSL was a 6mbs connection and I had all the channels on the dish. When things changed I scaled them back to the cheapest packages they had for a few reasons but a big one was it was more expensive to turn them off and pay the fees for breaking the contract then it was to downgrade the service and keep them. Plus without my satellite I would be restricted to local broadcast TV which means 4 or 5 channels that show squat, ever!
Anyway, one of the things I have wanted for some time was a DVR so I can record the shows my wife misses while she is working, but there was no way I could justify spending $200 to buy one or even the $100 to have DirecTv send me one as a customer. Then I got to thinking, for my birthday this year I was given cash as a present from my parents and was told it was for a present, not bills (which I have been known to do with gift money). I figured I would look for a TV tuner card for the computer so that I could turn my desktop into a DVR itself. Making it even more a possibility is the fact that a few months back a friend gave me a 160GB hard drive that is just sitting there, I mean what was I going to do with a drive that big when the computer already has a 40GB drive in it.
Well now I know. I started hunting down the different types of cards and was holding out for something that would work as both a TV tuner and had 'S' video in for recording and if possible be external working on Firewire or USB 2.0 connections. That way I would be able to use it on both the desktop and laptop and when we have to take trips I would be able to have it with me. Further I found a special bay that turns the hard drive into an external drive running on firewire meaning I could record to that drive and not be limited to having to watch the shows on the desktop as I would if I did an internal install.
After talking to a buddy of mine today he mentioned that he got his DVR from DirecTv for free, all he did was call them and ask for one letting them know he had been a customer for some time and that their competitor was offering a free one if he switched. Well I tried that this morning, half expecting it to be a fluke as that is my luck but I was once again surprised with myself. A very quick conversation with the rep on the phone and tomorrow morning, sometime between 8 and noon they will be here to install the new DVR, all free.
Now that leaves me back to square one with the birthday money and while I know I want something for the computer I am not sure what just yet. I guess that means I need someone to drag me to the store so I can see what they have. I did some looking around Newegg and got some ideas but I do not believe in buying something from the internet if I have not used one or seen it in action on mine or similar equipment. If for some reason you get it and it is not the right part or does not work correctly you are SOL.
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