Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

I was chatting with a co-worker today and we ended up talking about gradeschool cafeteria. One thing we both remember is that our cafeterias (mine in Idaho and his in Iowa) both served the best peanut butter/chocolate bars. It's like a Reeses® peanut butter cup, but these were bars served from a mammoth-size pan. They were better than the brand-name candy, but much, much harder to come by.

So, did your school cafeteria serve the same thing where you grew up? Do you happen to have the recipe?

Mmmm. I need a snack now.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When is the last time you thought about it? Really?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Read First Amendment to the United States Constitution (Wikipedia).

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 09:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Spiderman 3. I saw all of them this past weekend.

Shrek was good. What would you expect? It was Shrek. I laughed and had a great time with the kids, though we rarely laughed at the same things. That's the beauty of a Shrek movie.

I had seen Spiderman already, but this weekend I took the family. This was a lot like Spiderman 2. I just couldn't like it, even though I really wanted to. Too much talk, too many emotions -- and Tobey Maguire crying as often as Frodo (Elijah Wood) looked like he was going to puke in the Return of the King. If Spiderman 3 had been cut by about 40 minutes and all of the extensive relationship drivel had been removed, that would have been a good movie.

Pirates. Well, I loved it. It was slow in places, no doubt about that, but I loved the direction the movie took. I can't say a whole lot about it because you may not have seen it yet, but if you like a movie that goes somewhere unexpected, then you'll like this one. I think I was expecting a "wrap up" movie, but it didn't go there. It found closure in some things, but it didn't wrap everything into a nice (yet bland and cliche) package. That was really cool. It was long, so make sure you go potty before -- and don't forget to stick around until after the credits. There's another little gem there.

And if you're wondering if I did anything else this weekend, I did. I had enough time leftover from movies to get a nice sunburn on my scalp. Hadn't considered that when I had Holly cut my hair so short. Oops.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to my wife for this very cool birthday wish. We're obviously a blogging family. Thanks to Dan once again for a great birthday caricature. As you can see, I'm sporting a new "do" which I'm very happy about. Thanks to all my friends who have called or emailed. Birthdays are nice.

I just checked Wikipedia for other May 23rd events. Here are some:

The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, The Karnival Kid, was released.
Seabiscuit, legendary American racehorse, is born
Joan Collins (actress) born
Drew Carey (actor) born
Ken Jennings (of Jeopardy fame) born
Jewel (American singer) born
John D. Rockefeller died

And most importantly, today is World Turtle Day.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Okay, so you think that you're paying too much for gas? Well think again. Adjusted for inflation, things don't look too bad. But realistically prices are on the rise and like I said last year, it's a consumption problem. I'm not the only one saying it.

And like I said last year, hybrid vehicles are an option. Are you going to do anything?

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, it's just the end of another season, but after tonight I don't have anything until "The 4400" reappears sometime in June. The good news is that the summer movie season is just starting.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It seems that I'm not the only person in the world unhappy with the dismal state of the DVR. I've received several personal emails since my first post about my Cox DVR from other Cox customers and from other DVR users. So, I've been looking around the Internet to see what options are available.

Well, there's not much. Apparently the new DVR bundled with DirecTV is not good. Check out the comments on this Amazon product page. Anyone who has owned a TiVo and then switched to another brand/service has been greatly disappointed.

I found this site about the Neuros OSD a few weeks ago (which you can also buy on Amazon), but this device is still a bit geeky and will require more than just plugging in to get it working. Also, it doesn't support HD or widescreen formats yet, so it's a no-go for me.

So, I went back to the TiVo web site and looked around. Their Series3 DVR is amazing. Check out this article from the NY Times describing the Series3. The Series3 does everything except take out the trash. It's amazing. The price, however is $799 MSRP (Amazon has it for about $600). That's a big leap for those of us who got a DVR as part of a cable subscription.

So, here's the idea: Why doesn't someone out there do TiVo leasing? Basically buy up a bunch of DVRs as a reseller and lease them out to people like me who would pay for the TiVo service and the leasing fee but who don't want to pay up-front for the device and who would like to know that if something goes wrong, there would be a simple replacement/repair policy. It seems like there's money to be made here. The old TiVo boxes could be sold on eBay at the end of the lease period (by the leasing company) and so the overall monthly lease price for me could be in the $15-$30 per month range based on the lease length. I'm happy, TiVo is happy and someone in the middle should be able to make some money.

You can have my idea. No strings attached. Just do it so I can get TiVo back in my home.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay. Cox Communications sent out a service tech to help figure out what in the world has been happening with my cable service and DVR. The tech was amazing -- so helpful and proactive. He installed something called a signal amplifier and did some housekeeping stuff on the lines in my house. Unfortunately there really wasn't anything he could do about the DVR except to swap it out with a new one. This is my third HD DVR since the beginning of the year.

In other news, last nights recordings went well. I got both Heroes and 24 without any trouble. Did you see Heroes last night?!! Wow. What an intense episode! I'm so glad to have one really great show like Heroes and one really great comedy (The Office) each week. It feels like it's been a while since I've had both. The world is in balance.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A DVR is a device the serves a very simple set of functions. For me, the purposes of a DVR are:

1. To ensure I don't miss my favorite shows
2. To allow me to watch my favorite shows whenever I get around to doing so
3. To re-watch shows if I so choose
4. To skip commercials

Now, in that order, the first one is like 10 times more important than number 2. Then number 2 is ten times more important than number 3 and so on. So when my completely useless Scientific Atlanta DVR (provided by Cox Communications) randomly decides not to record "The Office" or "24" I get really upset.

I had TiVo for years and never had a single issue with recording shows. I set them up and they would record. No problems, no questions, no hassles. My Cox DVR is a babysitting nightmare. Before every important show we have to check to see if the DVR is still set up to record. If not, we have to unplug it, plug it back in, wait for a reboot, then check again and possibly setup our recordings anew. Then occasionally other random weirdness occurs and shows get deleted or cancelled for other inexplicable reasons.

Another problem is this: TiVo sells hardware and its service. For an HD DVR from TiVo I have to pay $800 for the box and then a monthly fee. That's ridiculous. The fee should just be the fee and when my contract expires I send back the box. Like I do with my cable company. TiVo is completely in left field about how to market and place its far superior product. Think Apple computer. They have always had superior software in overpriced boxes. How can't TiVo see that? If you are a software and service company (TiVo, Apple), sell your software and services and let other people deal with the hardware. It's win-win all around.

Plus I'd never miss "The Office" again and that would make me very, very happy.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've taken a couple of days off work to be with my kids as my wife is out of town visiting her family. She left on Wednesday night and it's been me and my two kids since then. Yesterday I slept in (compare to going to work) and dropped my daughter off at school at 8:10. I came home, cleaned up, ran the errands, took my son to McDonald's, then returned home to get myself a lunch to take to school so I could eat with my daughter. I dropped my son off, ate lunch at the school, came home, did the dishes, got dinner ready, checked my email, then totally forgot that I was supposed to pick the kids up at 3:10 (I thought 3:45). So when the phone rang, I rushed out, picked up the kids, came home, went swimming with them, finished dinner, ate, played outside, got the kids into the shower and in bed by 7:45.

I don't know how my wife does it every day, but I thank her. Her job is definitely harder.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Date: Thursday, May 24th
Time: 8:40 to 11am
Venue: Tempe Improv

Tickets: http://www.SethGodinLive.com

I've got my ticket. See you there.

Posted by Blake Schwendiman at 01:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)