Here’s a wrapup of the past weekend.

Friday night, I picked some Basil from the garden (the plants have really taken off) so I decided to make some pesto.  Lori went out and visited/had drinks with her ex-co workers while I watched Dominic.  After she returned home I cooked lemon and pepper chicken breast and made Linguine and covered it with that fresh tasty pesto I made.

Saturday was a big day.  I woke up, fed Dominic and the pulled out the fall decorations from the (meth)shed before the day got to hot.  Next I ran over to Lowes to get a few wire cages to help train some of the plants that have exploded!  The big activity for the day was the Jack FM concert.  I met up with Rich, Rob and Tim and we left for Irvine.  We stopped at The Spectrum for lunch and said hi to Greg and Amy who were also heading over to the concert.

We arrived at the venue, it wasn’t crowded.  We didn’t have the best seats but they were pretty well centered terrace seats.  The plan was to basically just get into the venue and then I’d work to get us better seats as I’ve had much luck in the past.

The first band was billed as ???? they turned out to be “The Lowrider Band” they sucked and played 3 songs, one being “Lowrider” something else and “Why can’t we be friends”  The stage spun and next we had The Psychedelic Furs, I like the band and it was nice to see them but there was something just not right with the lead singer, either he was sick and was lacking the power/energy or the sound engineers had some silly compression on his voice.

The stage spun and next we had Twisted Sister!  They were awesome and they played in full makeup. The entire audience was singing “We’re not going to take it” over and over, they are very good showmen and had the crowd sing a reprise, lots of fun! Up next was Blondie.  During her set I decided to work for seat upgrades as I had seen blondie 9 or 10 years ago at The El Ray theater and I figured this set/experience wouldn’t touch it.

I had a great time working for upgrades it reminded me of the excitement of peak concert going years and I did quite well.  I ended up with 8 lodge seats (scattered about) and 4 Orchestra seats, 1 Orchestra pit seat and 2 backstage passes.  Rob and I went backstage and were happy to find the Archie’s ice cream truck which is at most Devo / Mothersbaugh events.  After some free ice cream, laughing at the drunk people, saying silly things for JackFM on camera and REO LAME WAGON finishing their set, we headed to our seats.

Rich and I ended up taking the 3rd row seats while Rob and Tim took the seats about 10 rows behind us on the other side.  I forgot how loud it was near the stage luckily we spotted the security lead and asked for ear plugs.  Billy Idol was up next and he was great!  The last band was DEVO.  Though there were technical glitches (the sound crew was out to lunch or off the clock and the one guy just couldn’t figure it out) I still enjoyed the DEVO set and I maintain I could easily easily see them once a year and be happy.

I got home from the concert and noticed that Lori had put up the fall decorations.  I couldn’t sleep so I got up drank some water and looked at what she did.  I had a great day but I totally missed Lori and Dominic.

Today we got up and went to church, good message and great worship today and then came home right after as we were both beat!  Lori took a nap while I hung with Dominic.

For dinner, I had a few roma tomatoes so I picked some Basil (I’m an addict when I have it fresh) and made a Bruschetta relish then I grilled some salt/pepper/oil bread and steaks on the grill steamed some mixed veggies.  The Bruschetta relish was very tasty and topped the steak and the bread well.

Tonight was the premeier of Little Britian USA on HBO.  I’ve been excited for this show for a few months now and I found it to be very funny but extremly crude/lewd, so be warned!  Right now I’m winding down the eveing with a nice glass of scotch and enjoying the sweet scent of whatever Lori is baking while Dominic is hanging out on his activity mat.  It’s about time for the Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family guy premieres and then bed.

Life is pretty good!

Here’s a long story, not about Dominic!  I felt it was good to write about since I don’t see many blogs/consumer stories about good experiences regarding extended warranties.

Almost 3 and a half years ago and just before Lori and I were married we bought a new larger (42”)  HDTV to replace our old 24” friend.

Now If you’ve shopped at big electronics store retailers you know that even if you purchase a pair of $5 headphones they will offer you some kind of “extended” warranty.  Most often I don’t believe in them, however under some circumstances I am all for them.

So when we purchased a 42” LCD Projection TV I felt it was also worth the extra money to buy the 4 year extended warranty (insurance policy) for a few reasons.  LCD (and DLP) projection technology were pretty new and I expected there was a good chance for problems.  It covered the replacement of the bulb which has an average 5000 hour life span and at the time was almost the cost of the warranty.  4 years is a lot of time to guarantee a piece of electronics.

The television served us well for almost 3 years when I started to notice the picture was getting dim and fuzzy.  I called the service center and they came out to service our TV and replaced the lamp.  Good times, the TV felt newish again. Fast forward to a few months ago.

I was reviewing test footage from our new HD camera when I noticed strange spots on the screen.  Thinking it was my brand new camera, I was worried I bought a dud and almost exchanged it for a new one!  After testing the same footage on my other TV and computer screens, I noticed the spots were only appearing when viewed on the TV.  This drew my attention to the TV and I threw all sorts of test patterns at the TV and noticed there were quite a few spots, some the size of a quarter along with a strange light blueish-green color distribution.

Researching the issue, I came up with a few reasons as to why this was happening.  One was probably dust settling on the lens or in the light engine (projector) which is apparently a common issue due the (poor) design of most modern “slim” LCD and DLP projectors.  The other problem was probably due to a light engine (projector) failure.  At some point during all this research it dawned on me that I still had an extended warranty which covered this TV for almost another year!  I called for service.

The technician decided to replace the light engine (projector).  A few days after the new one was installed I noticed MORE spots and one of them was HUGE and VERY noticeable (even if you were watching dark scenes) so I called the service center again.  The technician explained to me they probably sent a bad refurbished part and they’d put in for another replacement.

Now I was starting to grow tired of the repair process so I read through the extended warranty policy and found saw there was a lemon clause and while I was glad it existed I figured I’d allow them to fix the TV and hope he problem would be solved.  The part was replaced, all is well….

WRONG!  The next morning when I turned on the TV I noticed the screen was shaking almost like a flicker.  This infuriated me so I placed another call to the service center and mentioned my feeling about this TV approaching the lemon stage.  They scheduled an appointment for the following Thursday for a technician to come and either repair or issue a replacement authorization.  Thursday came, I waited for my appointment phone call from the technician, it never happened.  I called the service center, they claimed I didn’t have an appointment and was actually waiting for Lemon authorization.  Now I felt better, at least they were being proactive about the situation, though they didn’t inform me.

WRONG AGAIN!  I get a random call the next day service center rep trying to schedule an appointment for a tech to come out and pick up a part to send back to the manufacture for repair.  After explaining to her the technician took that part with him the previous Friday when he performed the repair she was confused and told me to call back the main line and explain it to them, as she was just a scheduler.

So I did and was informed no one needed to come out and pick up any parts, it was a mistake in the system.  He did informed me I needed a technician to come out and evaluate the Lemon claim.  I agreed though it would be at least another week for this to happen. Now I was very angry due to the mistreatment I was getting from the service center phone reps.  I decided to go into a local store and explain my situation to a manager.

The manager was sympathetic and very helpful.  He placed a call to a friend of his in the Lemon department and also faxed my info over to him.  Later that evening (while we’re at dinner for Lori’s birthday) I get a call from the service center saying they would like to send a technician the next day.  I agreed and hoped for the appointment phone call the next morning.

The technician called in the morning and then came over in the early afternoon.  He agreed it was a Lemon, made some calls to get it approved and helped me load the TV into my truck.  Off to the store to do the exchange.  The people at the store were very nice and super helpful.  They informed me since they didn’t have the same TV to replace my LEMON, they would give me full credit back towards the purchase of new one in store.  Pretty awesome!

So we chose the Sony 46” 1080p 120hz LCD Flat panel TV as a replacement.  The new TV takes up about the same amount of space (height and width wise) as the old  but there is more screen due to the speakers being on the bottom and this TV is only 3” thick!  The picture quality is dramatically better than the last TV (even Lori noticed it) and it really shines when watching a BluRay disc!

So after the Lemon return credit, a % off coupon, a few other certificates (thanks for the Kawanza gift Don!) and I of course added on the 4 year extended warranty so we ended up with a brand spanking new, beautiful TV for under 600 US stimulus dollars!  So sometimes it’s worth buying an extended warranty and the hassle involved.

If you have no idea what I’m saying, that is my sarcastic reference towards last night’s Lost Finale.
You see there was this boy on the show during the first season named Walt. He was supposed to be 10 years old.

Time on the show passes slowly (a few months) but in real life/production it’s passing years. So Walt being 10 starting to hit his growth spurts and to deal with it they eventually get rid of his character only to bring him back a few times in “flash forwards” where he’s been cleverly filmed to apear younger and only for a few brief moments.

That is until last night. We get to see *young* Walt again and boy does he look grown up. Supposedly 3 years have passed and we see a more grown up Walt. I nearly burst into laughter because Walt is taller and with a deeper voice and he appears to be in his early 20’s now (I think in real life he’s 16).

Anyway, regarding the finale, of course I loved it! The show is so suspenseful and is just such a great ride. I’m upset we had such a short season, but it was a good one. I’m glad we’ve had more time with some more important characters this season. I’m still impressed with how they’ve been able to twist the show and stories with the flash backs and flash forwards and keep the show mysterious after 4 seasons. Of course, the show left us with such a mystery, making the waiting for next season much more difficult!

Two more seasons to go!!