Snippet Wednesday 2013.38...
It has been one heckuva weird day. I wish I could go into details, but it's work related and I tend to shy away from work blogging, as you know, unless it's pretty mundane things like non-work discussion with coworkers. Those are about as close to "work" blogging as I get.
To make up for it, how about a Snippet Wednesday? Copacetic?
Steeping
My mom sent me the link to this video yesterday. Just too good. I had to share it.
Giving
See? I'm not the only one who thinks the publishing industry should bundle electronic copies of books with printed ones. And this affirmation comes from a published author! Thank you, Bill Bryson. You're one smart cookie.
Setting
I was going to bemoan how I hate having to set our DVRs (both a Comcast HD-DVR and an HD TiVo) at the beginning of the new TV season for all the new shows we want to try (of which there are plenty and of which we continue to watch very few beyond the first couple of weeks), but then the next Snippet happened...
Switching
...Our latest Comcast bill came in the mail. Two years ago, we had Comcast only for cable at home. But then they offered us a bundle deal we couldn't pass up and wound up switching our home phone and Internet over to them as well. That promotional rate is done, clearly, based on our last bill which jumped more that 25%. Since we're not in a contract, I tried negotiating with them on the phone and they couldn't help me save to offer to cut half our channels for a savings of only $10 per month. So I contacted AT&T (our wireless provider) and they made an offer that saves us more than $75 per month (almost a 40% drop in overall cost) to let them bundle our wireless, home phone, Internet, and cable into a U-verse package. That savings includes the fact that we would no longer have to pay the monthly fee for TiVo service and the required Comcast cable card.
Admittedly, U-verse scares me as I've heard very mixed reviews of it. Some people hate it, but my in-laws love it. The same can be said of Comcast, too, of course, but we've had no problem with them for 12 years until this wallet gouging. AT&T will guarantee the price I was quoted for two years and only require a one-year contract. So if I don't like the new pricing after two years, I'm gone.
Yes, this would be the ideal time to switch to more Web-based TV, but I don't have the patience to relearn how to make it all work and to have to teach it to Katie, her mom (who provides in-house daycare for us), and then Nathan (although him adapting to it probably isn't that big a deal). I've griped about the possibility of having to use multiple services to watch all our shows in past posts. To quote Roger Murtaugh, "I'm getting too old for this shit."
Writing
I've got an idea for a short story I want to write. Semi-auto/biographical mixed with more than a bit of fiction. And I'm thinking of posting it here in multiple parts. One part a day for, maybe, a week? I know some of my fellow bloggers have done stuff like that in the past. Does that seem like a good idea or does it kinda muck with the general feel I've established around here lo these last many years?
Or do you have a suggestion for a better place? I thought about Thrice Fiction, but Dave2's admission that they've had hundreds of submissions makes me think I don't stand a chance and I don't think I could handle that sort of rejection (Anyone? Anyone?).
Well, I'm outta here, folks. Have a good night!
Glad you liked the commercial!
Posted by: Suzanne Kurtz Apgar | Wednesday, 25 September 2013 at 09:03 PM
Yes I did.
Posted by: kapgar | Wednesday, 25 September 2013 at 10:36 PM
That video is grossly priceless. I'm pretty sure I said OMG outloud, at which point my dog got up and walked out of the room (even she thinks it's weird I talk to myself).
Posted by: Nilsa @ SoMi Speaks | Thursday, 26 September 2013 at 12:54 PM
The look on her face seals it.
Posted by: kapgar | Thursday, 26 September 2013 at 02:19 PM
AHAHAHAHA!!! That video is hilarious :-) And awesome. See?? This is why coffee is important.
That's pretty much why we cut our cable, but I totally understand your position. If anyone comes over to our place, they're definitely not there to watch TV (unless there's a basketball game on and it's on one of the local channels - we have an HD antenna which provides free access to several channels). The only thing we use to watch shows we like is Roku which has Netflix and Hulu (plus other stuff). You definitely have to be web and somewhat tech savvy to go cable-less. Once you get the hang of it though, it's easy.
Now if my mom or Matt's mom was babysitting/watching our kid (which as you know we don't have), then yeah, that would be a problem. BUT then again, we'll never run into that since well that's just never going to happen. In any case, cable companies are bleeding us dry. We shouldn't have to jump around and shop for new service (IF it's even available) every couple of months or few years.
Posted by: Marie | Friday, 27 September 2013 at 08:15 AM
It sucks to bounce like this from provider to provider, but you do what you gotta.
Posted by: kapgar | Friday, 27 September 2013 at 11:27 AM
I would still submit it to Thrice Fiction for the short story. RW offers some great feedback on all submissions.
As for posting the story here, I would love to read it, as a fellow writer and a fellow blogger.
Comcast... for the most part, I've never had an issue with them, but their pricing remains a sort spot for me. For years, we had cable and internet for $65. Now that they've done away from basic cable and everything is digital, our bill for cable and internet is now $110 a month. But where we live, Comcast is our only wired option for high speed internet (no DSL or fiber). If we had U-Verse here, I would go for that deal you got. Sounds like you are set for at least the next year if not longer.
Posted by: Marty Mankins | Friday, 27 September 2013 at 01:35 PM
But if I submit it to Thrice, I probably can't post it here at all, can I?
Posted by: kapgar | Friday, 27 September 2013 at 04:39 PM
Listen, I've got some story ideas I've been half-heartedly hashing out, so if you do it, maybe that's motivation for me to start posting some fiction on my blog.
Posted by: vahid | Friday, 04 October 2013 at 12:23 PM
How much you got floating around in there?
Posted by: kapgar | Friday, 04 October 2013 at 01:48 PM
I don't think so. You might want to check with Dave2 or RW on that, like maybe a chapter or paragraph as a teaser.
Posted by: Marty Mankins | Friday, 11 October 2013 at 09:13 AM
I guess I should actually write it first. :-)
Posted by: kapgar | Friday, 11 October 2013 at 10:35 AM