Adventures With New Stuff

I'm about moved in to my buddy's rental. His mother had a double wide put in near her ex-mother in law's place, which is also next door to her ex's place. They were a close bunch, even divorced. Both his parents have since passed on, and he rents out Mom's old place.

At any rate, its a two bedroom two bath with attached garage manufactured home. I have not tried to fit my pickup in the garage - the drive is kinda twisty and it sure looks tight. I've got most of what I need - I keep running into things that I do not have and end up buying - stuff like flashlights, or a lighter and matches to start up a recalcitrant gas range, batteries, or whatever. The lists have been endless.

Things like a beard trimmer. I have a goatee that I like to keep trimmed, and it was getting shaggy. El Marto Del Wal did not have the same model trimmer I had before, so I had to select a new one. While Wahl is undoubtedly the quality king of trimmers, they also start at sixty bucks or more. The Remington was about fifteen. My old one had an adjustable head for controlling depth. I used to run it at two or three, so when first using the new one, I decided to try setting three because it would be "longer." Good thing I tested it on an eyebrow (I was sporting the Andy Rooney look), because three on this thing was about like 3/4 on the old one. Not much left of that eyebrow.

Of course I had to buy a new television. And once again, El Marto Del Wal was the retailer of choice - they are just plain cheaper. Earlier this week, I bought a Vizio (the toasted tv was a Vizio, I stay with what works for me). I also had to buy a stand, which meant assembly. So, after spending quite a bit of time putting that thing together, I pull out the tv and set it up for mounting on the stand. Finally, I got it up there and fired it up.

Three fourths of the screen didn't work. It looked like someone had held a square dance on the right side of the screen - I don't know how the glass didn't start falling apart. I discovered this at about eight o'clock and I was just plain tired. DirecTV was scheduled the next morning for installation. I hoped they carried something that would let them set up without using my tv, but alas, no. So, had to reschedule. Took the broken unit back, got my money back, and they didn't have another one of that model in stock.

What. Ever. Got one five inches wider for seventy bucks more. Oh well.

The new new tv works fine. I ordered a DVR with HD model - the toasted one was just an HD  model. I'd been planning on upgrading for some time, but never got a round tuit. So the installer was showing me how to record episodic television, using Law and Order on TNT as an example. I got it, but he insisted on actually entering the request to record all the episodes. Not necessary - I got it, but he insisted. He then "deleted" the entries.

He did warn me that the receiver would be sluggish for some time until all the software updates and such were done. So, it was not surprising to find the remote was ineffective. I had to manually enter everything with the buttons on the front of the unit.

Only to find out "Law and Order" was recording. I stopped it (still w/o being able to use the remote), deleted the episodes already recorded, and so on. Finally got the remote back.

This morning, the remote refused to work. Recording "Law and Order" again. Same procedure, different day.

If I have to keep deleting "Law and Order" episodes to make this fine piece of electronics function, well, me and DirecTV are gonna talk. If I can't use the remote when it's busy recording, me and DirecTV are gonna talk.

And the new digs need a little attention in certain areas, but they are being attended to. I think this place is about half again as big as the ol' farmstead, and it has ∞ +1 storage compared to the old place. The kitchen is way smaller, but once again, tons of storage compared to what I was used to. Pantry? This place haz it.

One of the areas of concern is the garbage disposal. Not. Functional. At. All. No. Water. Flowing. Completely. Plugged. Not a big deal - the sink is a twin and the other side works. Until I fired up the dishwasher (old place, dishwasher was ME) and discovered it drained into that side of the sink. Did some baling over to the other side, and had to watch the dern thing - luckily it would only just about fill the sink in one cycle, but it sure had to be emptied out or there would have been a disaster.

I've got a place to live now, and I think I'm gonna like it. I am completely in debt to so many people. Absolutely unreal.