The Howerter Blog » Grumblings

Tired of reruns

Jay Howerter — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 19:35:17 +0000

I am so tired of watching reruns of TV shows. I wish that the writers would settle their strike. I don’t know the specifics of their problems, but I am fed up with this strike. I am ready for the Office to have new episodes. This is one of the reasons I don’t like unions. If I am not happy with my compensation, I go talk to my boss. If that doesn’t get me the result I want, I quit and find another job. I don’t have the luxury of walking out on my job and having it be there when I finish settling my demands with my employer.

TV Technological Inaccuracy

Jay Howerter — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 16:39:57 +0000

I have been watching Jericho on DVD and I love it. Like most shows, their lack of technological knowledge is baffling sometimes. I was watching the episode “Federal Response” when the power is restored and Skylar tries to check her email. Allison Hawkins comes up to assist her and tries to type a “Straight IP Address” to verify that the Internet is working. She types “827.750.304.001″. I love this show, but couldn’t someone have done a minute or so of research on IP addresses to find the valid range?

Homeowner’s Association Woes

Jay Howerter — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:43:43 +0000

A couple of months ago, I decided to put an UHF antenna on my roof to receive ATSC over the air HDTV signals. I knew that my neighborhood covenants said something about this, but frankly, I didn’t care. This month our quarterly newsletter was mailed. It addressed placement of satellite dishes and reiterated that no other antenna was allowed on the property. I was aggravated by this and started talking to some people at work about it. One of my coworkers mentioned that I should look at the FCC for guidelines about antenna placement. It turns out that federal law states that no one can restrict you from installing an antenna to receive television signals (with some stipulations on height and size). I have yet to inform the homeowner’s association. At least I don’t have to take down my antenna.

The worst salesman ever.

Jay Howerter — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:13:15 +0000

I recently decided to cancel my cable TV service since I am paying $51 for about 5 decent channels. So I called Insight Communications and canceled my service two days ago. Last night I have a message on my answering machine to call he who will remain nameless from Insight. I call this person and he says that he will give me a year for $40/month and one month free. I tell him that I am not really interested. He then asks me if I went to Chatham. I said yes and he proceeded to tell me that he did too and revealed his name. Now, he releases his secret weapon on me, guilt. He says, ‘I am going to level with you, I get paid if you take the free month.’ I tell him that I don’t really want to pay $40/month. So in a very reluctant voice, he says. ‘Okay, I will mark you down.’ He then hangs up on me. I was stunned that he is employed at Insight if this is how he operates. Who knows, I may have taken the free month if he hadn’t tried to guilt me into it with the sad reality of his career. Nice try.

Snickers pulls Super Bowl ‘Guy’s Kissing’ Ad

Jay Howerter — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 22:25:45 +0000

Snickers has pulled the ad that ran during the Super Bowl that had two men eating the same Snickers bar which caused them to accidentally kiss. They pulled this ad because Human Rights and Gay and Lesbian groups found it offensive. To be honest, it is the only commercial that I want to remember. I found it hilarious. The idea that it is offensive is absurd. The reactions of the two men were not mean-spirited toward homosexuals. The men were clearly heterosexual and reacted just as any heterosexual would to kissing another on accident. The following masculine display was comical, not mean-spirited. Apparently, Gay and Lesbian groups are never happy. The fact that Snickers is letting them dictate their actions is also absurd. I wonder if a gay man would have been as disgusted with kissing a woman. Oh, I forgot that doesn’t matter. They were offended.

Original article.