Promises, Promises isn't just the name of a Naked Eyes tune

Man I really hate when someone tells me that they're going to do something and then fails to live up to their promise. I hate it even more when it's something that's created excitement and a bit of longing.

Ok, so I was at the mall on Saturday. I talked with this manager of a cellphone store who told me that he could get me a new cell phone that I wanted... but that he had to work his connections with the distributor to get it. I was supposed to call him on Monday to make it happen.

I called on Monday... and he told me that the phone would be there on Wednesday. I am now excited and I work on convincing Tina that I really need the phone (not that there was much convincing to do as my current phone has been on a Peruvian Death March for several months now). But all in all, I'm excited that I'm going to get this new phone.

So I call on Wednesday. Phone's not there (I had asked for 2 of them so that Tina could get one, too, so when the distributor told the manager that he only had one, the manager didn't get the one). But the manager tells me that he'll get in touch with the distributor and call me back in an hour.

Three hours later, no calls. I call the store. Manager's gone home for the day. Store personnel have no clue what I'm talking about, but they give me the manager's cell number. I call it. He's not there and I leave a message.

But by this point, it's now 3.5 hours after I was supposed to get a call back, I'm probably not going to get the phone today... and since I'm going out of town for the weekend, I won't see it until Monday.

Bummer.

But I really hate it when people lie to me.

Um, I said 81, not 18!

It's friggin' cold out there!

When I moved to NC from Indiana about 6 years ago, one of the reasons for the move (besides being bored with the midwest) was the fact that each winter became a trial of how to survive in the great white north. It's friggin' cold, eh? Hozer.

So I moved somewhere that I was told you could play golf 11 months out of the year... where I would probably never need my ski jacket again... a place where, when people refer to toboggans, they're talking about hats, not sleds... a place where I would have to DRIVE to see snow.

Riiiiiiiiight.

In the last several years, there's been an uncanny cold snap down here. Not to sound arrogant, but I think the cold followed me as I moved. Because I've needed my ski jacket (the one rated well enough to keep sherpas warm while they scale Everest) every year I've been here! And yes, it really is only 18 degrees (F) outside.

So, if anyone has a direct line to the weather folks, please get them to turn up the thermostat. Thanks. :)

Convincing someone that I'm going to write...

So I told you that I was going to write. But I didn't. If you know me, you can harp at me.

But such is life.

My life is consumed with work... and TiVo. Someone should've invented this YEARS ago. I've wasted a lot of time over the years trying to record shows that were of interest. Now, I just say whether I like certain types of shows and BAM, it automatically records them.

OK, so anyone remember that "as seen on TV" remote control with the dials that would supposedly work with any VCR? You just dialed in the time to turn on and off the recorder and wow... no more manuals and blinking 12's. Sayonara, suckers!

Hehe... god, I love this device. You can ignore all of the crap you never wanted to watch anyways and simply focus on the stuff you did. And my god, if you need to walk the dog, tinkle, or even get some work done in the middle of your show, all ya' gotta' do is hit the big yellow pause button.

But hey, if that wasn't good enough, now there's TiVoToGo. Simply transfer what you've recorded on your TiVo to your computer and play it whenever. The only limitation is the size of the harddrive on your laptop.

Now all we need to do is wait another few months until someone develops an iPod-based media player. Then you can transfer your shows to your iPod and watch them there. If I could develop software, I'd be rich. :)