Month: December 2018

I am going to try and save some money on my TV & Internet. To do that I’ve decided to go to a streaming TV service. I narrowed that down to two services, YouTube TV and DIRECTV NOW.

Let’s talk about price and channels first. YouTube TV has fewer channels than DIRECTV NOW, but is slightly cheaper at $40/month. DIRECTV NOW charges an extra $5/month to stream on 3 devices concurrently. 
DIRECTV NOW also offers multiple packages, so if you want more channels, you can buy them. YouTube TV currently offers the base packages and then individual add on premium channels only. DIRECTV NOW lets you pick a bundle of channels based on what you want, and then add on premium channels as well. In general, DIRECTV NOW feels like a more mature platform.

Both services let you try them for free, so I did.

This is what really gave me my ability to choose which app is going to work for me.

YoutTube TV doesn’t let me move the channels around or flag favorites. DIRECTV lets me pick favorites, and that makes navigating back to them easier.

I had YouTube TV running downstairs and DIRECTV running upstairs. My wife has no idea what I was doing, she was just trying to watch TV, which sucked for her as the YouTube TV app hung twice, at which time she quit and moved to the only set still attached to our old cable provider. I then learned that she has to watch “90 Day Fiance” when it comes on next. That happens to be on the TLC channel, and if you want it, DIRECTV NOW is your only option.

The hangs and the fact that DIRECTV has the channels my family wants to see, made the decision for me in the end. DIRECTV NOW is slightly more expensive than YouTube TV, but sometimes you get what you pay for. 

After my TV fiasco I ordered a new TV stand because putting together another piece of furniture was going to drive me crazy. So I ordered a pre-assembled piece of furniture which is being delivered today.

This is the first update:

Which then updated to show I only had 2 deliveries in front of me!!!

And then 1!!!

This is the way every product delivery should be. I should be able to get an update and see how far away and how long to wait.

Come to think of it, every service provider should do this. I should see how far away the cable guy is if I’m waiting to for service.

Look at that form, back bent, shoulders behind the hips, whoever handed her that weapon should get a dress down.

It not her fault, its whomever handed her that gun, and I feel bad for her. 

My brother lost power while he was playing an online game with my Dad, and accidentally texted “sh*t pc down”. Neither of them thought it was as funny as I did. 

Who could have guessed that this was going to go poorly right?

Gun’s aren’t toys. This could have turned out so much worse…

Heading out this morning for a business trip.

I usually fly out of JFK or PHL, today was PHL. If you’ve ever been to PHL you know the long term parking lot really sucks. If you use long term parking you have to add an hour (at least) to your trip on both ends as the buses run at long intervals and I’ve had two trips where I had to wait for multiple buses because the units rolling by were already full. So it just sucks.

Add on to that the fact that I really do struggle to walk more than a mile anymore with my back, and parking in long term parking isn’t really an option anymore.

Which leaves short term parking. It is a lot more expensive, but is super convenient as you can walk directly from Garage C into Terminal C, and that happens to be a TSA Pre Check only entrance, so it is rarely swamped at the security desk.

So, what happened this morning? I drive up to Garage C and it says 0 spaces. They have those sensor units that are supposed to tell you how many open spaces, but from previous experience I know that there are a few broken sensors and even if it says 0, I can usually find a space.

Today was not one of those days. I drove around the Garage C Terminal C level (because that way I don’t need to use the elevator or stairs – yes, I know, that is lazy) and it was actually 100% full. But I’d given myself plenty of time so I just drove around, waiting for someone to come out.

I circled for about 10 minutes before a young lady came out and walked to her car. I “stalked” her to her car, following a respectful distance behind her. All good right? I was on the last aisle, which is one way, so no one can come up behind me, so I don’t care how long she took to put her bag in her car or sit there and chat on her phone as I waited for the spot.

One other traveler had the same thought I did, came up behind me, squeaked around, and continued to look for another spot. No worries right? The young lady I was waiting for finally pulls out, and would you believe it, the car that had gone around me turned around, came back up the one way lane, and was going to try and steal the spot!!!

Thankfully the lane is very narrow on that exit side, and the woman who pulled out was in a mid sized SUV, which meant there was no way for my spot stealer to sneak in. Woot woot. I pulled in and watched as this f@$*ing $ss hole who was planning on stealing my spot had to back away from the SUV.

What the hell?

Really?

What kind of person does this?

Thankfully they didn’t succeed, but I figure if they are willing to do this in the airport parking log, they probably jump lines and take handfuls of “free” candy whenever they walk by a candy jar.

(Stock PHL Photo, I didn’t take any pictures on my way in.)

I can’t stop thinking about my van purchase. I’ve already decided that I will be getting a RAM Promaster, the decision now is to break the bank and get a new vehicle (which comes to $38,750 when configured the way I want it, and that is just for the vehicle.

These are the options I would want. I really like the power switches and the LED light bars, as I think I can easily move the light bars down under my insulation and the switches give me the ability to control lots of different potential add on items.

So it is not that hard to figure out why I can’t decide what to do. A new van will cost me over $44,000 dollars when taxes are added in, and then I still have to invest a large sum of money into converting it into living space. Assuming I’m going to spend at least $15,000 between the interior, batteries, and solar, I’m easily into this for $55,000 to $60,000. Which makes me wonder if just buying a pre built RV makes sense?

Arggg!!!!

But of course I have the used van option right?

They are easily half the price, but don’t even try and find one that has all the options I wanted, and that is really the smallest of my worries. This van is a good example of one of the vehicles I find around this price. They are off lease or traded in from companies that used them, and those 30K plus miles were probably hard miles.

So save a massive amount of money and take a gamble that the foundation of my future travel van is beat to hell or drop some serious cash for a new unit? In which case I think I’m actually back to my original decision between make or buy.

The other very real consideration for me is my back. I’m not sure I have the physical capability anymore to do the work I would need to do, and that scares me more than you could ever know. I can barely walk around the mall these days without ending up in bed the rest of the day. (I do have an MRI scheduled, I just have to get it scheduled. And yes, I am subconsciously putting it off because I’m scared they are going to tell me I need a fusion or some other massive spine surgery.)

Well, I have some time to decide. I’m not planning on buying for at least a few more months, and I’ll keep you posted.

When it comes to Jeeps, I have to be honest, the cost to value isn’t that great in my opinion. I’ve had two Jeeps over the years, and while they were both Jeep Liberties, my experience with Jeep were so mixed I can’t ever see buying another one. The build quality between the two Jeeps I owned was scary. One was relatively okay, the other was a mess, even though it had a quarter of the miles and was the newer of the two vehicles.

The reason I’m telling you this? Mostly for full disclosure as I’ve had some history with Jeep. So what does that mean for the newly announced Jeep Gladiator?

Visually I like it. But I also like the Wrangler its built on. That “liking it” comes right up until I see the price, and think about how reliable my old Jeeps were. If you get a good one you might be okay, but if you get a bad one you will be in the shop every month, and at the price that the Wrangler, and assuredly this Gladiator, will be at, I just couldn’t imagine putting that kind of cash at risk.

If I hit the lotto and money doesn’t matter anymore maybe I’ll think about getting a Gladiator, but until then I’ll be looking at the Ford F-150 and the Tacoma. Yes, I know they are two different classes of vehicle, I just haven’t decided if I want a full side truck or not yet, and the new Ranger doesn’t come with a V6.