Evil Kohl’s and Black Friday

Wife loves Black Friday mornings. I go along for the thrill of the chase of the incredible bargain.  My daughter participated this year…at least as much as a 15 year old could. 

Kohl’s did everything in their power to ruin Black Friday for us.

Wife had everything planned out for our Flowood trip…Kohl’s at 4am, Best Buy at 5am, and Target at 6am.  Kohl’s wasn’t going to be many purchases, but enough to warrant a trip.  We got there right at 4 so we wouldn’t have to wait outside.  We got in line at 4:20am.  30 minutes later, we had moved about 4 feet towards the registers.  Wife sent me across the street to Best Buy.  As expected, I had to stand outside in line for about 20 minutes while the handful of bargain laptops and desktop computers were snagged.  Once I got into the store, two very helpful Best Buy employees got me the 3 items I was looking for.  I stood at the register line for about 10 minutes, got checked out quickly, and was out the door in 15 minutes.  It would be nice if I could get that level of service the other 363 days of the year.  And forget the Jackson Best Buy…but that’s another story…

Meanwhile, back at Kohl’s, wife and daughter had not even gotten to the register yet.  Finally, at 6:20am, we left the store with our purchases.  For those of you keeping time…that meant we were in line for two hours.  Two hours!  If we were waiting to purchase a $3000 HDTV for $500, I could understand the wait, but this was some frames and some kitchen gadgets. 

By the time we got to Target at 6:30, the good deal on external hard drives was gone.  Our great deal we ended up having to justify our stop at Target for was a $10 vaccuum. You can quit laughing. 

A 25 minute wait in line at McDonalds for a stale McGriddle was next. 

We followed that up at Circuit City.  Another disaster. At the register we were at, the scanner did not work, so the cashier had to key all of the UPC numbers in by hand.  The woman in front of us had 10 different items…not to mention arguing over a Play Station 2 that was supposed to have been $25 cheaper…except that she picked up the wrong one that wasn’t at the cheap price.  Finally, after 20 minutes of intervention with the manager, the correct version on sale was rung up. 

Grand total: 4 stores, 1 fast food stop, 5 1/2 hours.  Oh yes, and then I went to work.

So am I looking forward to next Black Friday? You bet.

I can’t wait to flip off Kohl’s as I drive to any other store but them.

Then I’ll go to Kohl’s on Saturday.

TSO concert rocked, fell silent, rocked again

Another great show from Trans Siberian Orchestra in Jackson this year.  Because of their success in selling tickets (thank you Jackson!) they had two shows on Sunday.  I went to the early show so I could take my 15-year old daughter and her friend to their first “rock” concert.  They loved it.  So did Wife and I.

I’m sure TSO will remember their Jackson stop this year.  About 15 minutes into the show, everything came to a screeching halt.  No music, no lights, no fog.  Nothing.  Apparently, TSO had blown or fuse or tripped a circuit breaker in the coliseum.  Full rock to zippo in no time flat.  Al Pitrelli, who acts as the defacto front man, was a professional as he walked on and off the stage, cracking jokes to the folks close enough to the stage. Everyone feared the concert would be over. A big kudos to the Mississippi crowd for playing nice while the power problem was worked on.

Thankfully, after about 10 minutes, everything powered back up, and the band picked right back up without a missed step.  I couldn’t help wonder that if even with the amazing light show, what things we were missing because the crew was afraid of running everything for fear of another power failure.

I was told that the power problem wasn’t even mention in the late show.

TSO says they always try to top themselves year to year.  They certainly did it.  Much more pyrotechnics, a more sophisticated lighting grid, and more use of lasers.  The music performance was, as always, highly disciplined and spot on.  I particularly found humorous their reference to the internet clip of the house that had Christmas lights programmed to TSRO’s “Wizards in Winter.”  (You can see the clip on planet johnnys web page that is linked in JIT).  The band blew away the amateur’s lighting, and continued to top it with each song the band sequed into.

The teenagers were awestruck by the concert.  In fact, daughter thought that with the first display of pyrotechnics about 20 minutes into the show, that the show was over.  It couldn’t get better than that, she said.  Over an hour later, after the Christmas story part of the show was finished, she thought for sure that the show was over.  There was no way they could top that, she said.  Then the second half of the show kicked in where TSO broke out of the storytelling and really rocked.  Another hour later and the final encore of Christmas Eve Sarejevo, the teens were completely blown away.  They are already saving for next year’s show. And I can’t forget to mention that one of their guitarists came up into the audience and was 10 feet away from us performing a guitar riff during the encore.  The girls enjoyed that little part of the show in particular!

Great stuff again.  Thanks TSO for coming each year.  Thanks to the fans that come out to see them.  I’ll be going to their website next September to see their 2008 tour schedule.

Great morning

After a week of miserable, wet weather, this morning was absolutely beautiful.

I’ve already blogged about having to walk Tobey and Elliot early in the morning…like at 5-ish.  Well just because it’s raining outside, that doesn’t mean the pups still don’t get walked.  I’ll tell you, rainjackets and wet tennis shoes in the cold rain is not a fun way to come to your senses in the morning.

But this morning, there was not a cloud in the sky…nothing but a beautiful, bright full moon.  Aside from it being a tad cold, it was a wonderful walk. The boys didn’t even bark too much. Even for being a night owl, there’s something great about waking up in time to see a clear full moon before people start getting out, and walking around in the quiet.

Good times.  Good times.

Fall TV update

Good news! I’ve spent more time watching some of the season premieres and new shows.

Caveman:  OK, I still haven’t watched it.  But never overestimate the viewing tastes of the American pubic.  It’s viewership has been increasing with each week. All I can say is “ugh.”

Men In Trees: Wow, the creators of “Northern Exposure” ought to sue the people who do this show.  Everything about “Men in Trees” is a thinly disguised rip off of the much better “Nothern Exposure.” Main character is fish out of water in Alaska.  There’s a kooky mismatched couple (in this case played by the wasted John Amos), eclectic radio host, strong but sensitive Alaska native as the love interest, the fun but wholesome bar where everyone meets, the quirky man in the woods who happens to dispense solid advice, and the romantic interest of local police. Sure, it’s easy to see why women love this show…Anne Heche plays a woman rejected in love who goes to Alaska to find herself, but instead becomes attracted to the beauty of the land and the attention of the strong yet sensitive men who can build log cabins while understading a woman’s needs.  I’d rather watch the original Alaska show.

Viva Laughlin: I tried to watch it all the way through. I just couldn’t make it.  This show is bad. The main character is simply unlikeable, the characters breaking into song does nothing to advance the plot, and the premise of securing money to open a casino just isn’t an appealing premise. Melanie Griffith really looks ridiculous trying to look sexy.  When you don’t like the plot, you don’t like the main character, you don’t like the hook of characters breaking into song, and even the actors seem embarrassed to be in the show, you’re going to have a hard time finding an audience. What happens in Laughlin should never have left Laughlin.

Moonlight: The CBS vampire show. It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The vamp is an honorable undead. However, I still can’t get past this being another ripoff of an earlier CBS show called “Forever Knight”…which actually had Rick Springfield in the pilot as a vampire who was a policeman fighting crime.  The show ended up joining CBS late night with a different actor as the vampire, and it lasted a few more seasons in syndication.  Just like “Men In Trees”…no creativity. I think it will do well since it follows “Ghost Whisperer”.  But, since the vampire already bites his unrequited love interest in just the second episode, they aren’t leaving a lot of room for the “will he-won’t he” question.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition: More of the same.  I’m really tired of Ty knowing it all. I’m sure the rest of the crew are too. Maybe they could leave Ty behind during their next trip to Sears? You’ve seen one episode of this show, you’ve seen them all. Family waits to run outside when crew drives up. Family goes on vacation.  Old house torn down, new house put up in a week.  Family comes home, expects nothing less than brand new home with flat TVs and computers in each room, and there’s always going to be one bedroom decorated in such a way that the child will get tired of after a few weeks.  I can’t even paint my bathroom in one week.

 There’s still more TV to watch.

New Star Wars coming to TV

If you can hear me over the thunderous applause of Star Wars fans everywhere, George Lucas is pitching a live action TV series based on Star Wars.  However, the show won’t feature the main characters from the movies.  Instead, it’s supposed to feature what he called “minor characters” from the world of Star Wars.

Much to my surprise, no network has committed to the show.  Here’s a link to Lucas’ interview.

Ho ho ho! Here comes TSO.

It’s one of the best things about the Christmas season in Jackson. Trans Siberian Orchestra is again coming to the state.  The band is even giving US a present…two shows scheduled in Jackson.  The complete schedule is here.

I’ve been lucky enough to have gone to shows in the past, and it is always a fantastic concert!  Plus, portions of the ticket sales go to local charities. How many rock bands do that? 

Even though the musical set has pretty much stayed the same over the years, I’d recommend the show to anyone. To me, the songs never get old. Just be warned, those won’t be Christmas bells you’ll be hearing the day after the concert, it will be the lefover decibels from the concert ringing in your head.

What’s On Now?

We’re almost two weeks into the new “Fall Season” of new shows from the big networks.  I’m not a couch potato, so I can’t say I’ve watched all of them.  However, between me and Wife, we’ve caught a few.  Here’s MHO list:

How I Met Your Mother:  I really want to like this show.  It does have funny bits.  Neil Patrick Harris has a good character. I keep watching it hoping there will be some breakthrough episode.  It hasn’t happened, but I’m still watching anyway.

Big Bang Theory: A new show this year.  I’ve watched two episodes.  It’s very much a watered down “2 1/2 Men” Girl isn’t very likeable, guys work too hard at being geeks. Some of the writing is clever. Maybe I’ll still around.

2 1/2 Men: I find it consistently funny. It pretty much is the same running gag, but the double-takes make it worth watching.

Rules of Engagement: I don’t understand how this even got back on the network after last year. An unfunny attempt at couples, with an obnoxious David Spade in the middle. Run away.

The Bachelor: Wife show.  Another hunky guy, women pretending to fall in love with him while they’re all getting drunk. It’s so embarassing, it’s comical.

Caveman:  OK,  I did not watch this.  But somehow, it’s debut tied the ratings for CBS’s NCIS for #1. If I want to watch cavemen on TV, I’ll watch The Flintstones.

Law & Order SVU: Finally, new cast pictures in the open.  They’ve even added a new regular to the cast. Why?  They already feature 8 people each week.  Plot-wise, it was the usual twists and turns.  Mariska is back to short hair this season.

America’s Next Top Model: OK, this is Wife’s show… I’m stuck with it. Same kind of ho’s as last year.  Break out the bowl of Meow Mix. 

Criminal Minds: Mandy Patinkin made the show. All the other cast members are useless.  It’s just another violence-filled hour.  This is the second CBS show Patinkin has left.  Unless Joe Montenga can bring an interesting character, the show’s done for. How many different serial killers can one person watch?

CSI:NY: New version of Baba O’Reily opens the show.  They’ve added more glitz to it…but not as bad as CSI:Miami.  Nothing could be as slick-looking as that show.  Hill Harper, who in real life has a law degree from Harvard, gets way too little screen time.

Survivor China: So they’re in China.  Big deal.  Same Survivor. Somone please shut Jeff Propst the hell up.

CSI: Yes, Sara lived. Damn. Now they’ll drag the relationship out for a few more weeks. But Jorja Fox does leave the show for good in the coming weeks.  Let’s see more of Gary Dordan. Tonight promises headless go-kart drivers.  I’m there.

Grey’s Anatomy: I watched the first four episodes before everyone else started watching. Once Patrick Dempsey became Dr. McDreamy, I ditched the show.

Family Guy: Been a fan since the first episode. It can do no wrong. The Star Wars take-off was the highest rated episode since it returned to Fox.

Frisky Dingo: Actually, this is on episode 7 of it’s second “season.”  There’s no way I can explain the show premise to you.  You just have to watch. Go to adultswim.com, click on shows, and watch the pilot episode. Way too strange and way too funny to be shown on anything but Adult Swim. It’s on Sundays at 11pm, and each episode only runs about 12 minutes.

That’s it for this week’s shows.  Perhaps I’ll broaden my horizons on other shows next week.  Assuming the new shows are still around in a week.

Ceiling Update

I did my best Michaelangelo impression last night and painted the garage ceiling.  The mudded effect doesn’t quite match the rest of the ceiling. The edges where the new piece of sheetrock meets the existing pieces is pretty noticeable. But the important thing is that by God, it’s done!

HD is here!

Woo hoo!  DirecTV officially added 21 new high definition channels this morning. Here they are:

A&E HD (channel 265)
Animal Planet HD (channel 282)
Big Ten Network HD (channel 220)
CNN HD (channel 202)
Discovery Channel HD (channel 278)
The History Channel (channel 269)
The Learning Channel (channel 280)
The Movie Channel (channel 544)
NFL Network HD (channel 212)
The Science Channel HD (channel 284)
Showtime Too HD (channel 538)
Showtime West HD (channel 540)
Smithsonian Channel HD (channel 267)
Starz Comedy HD (channel 519)
Starz Edge HD (channel 522)
Starz HD East (channel 520)
Starz HD West (channel 521)
Starz Kids (channel 518)
TBS HD (channel 247)
The Weather Channel HD (channel 362)
Versus/Golf Channel (channel 604)

Time to be a full time couch potato.

Use Stairs, not the ceiling

That’s the valuable lesson I learned last week.

Wife and I are having a garage sale this weekend.  So last weekend, I went up into the attic above our garage to bring things down to sell.  For a long time, I had been handing these items down the attic stairs to my waiting wife.  On virtually the last item to bring down, my leg decided it wasn’t going to stand on the wooden flooring in the attic…it was going to take a shortcut:  through a piece of sheetrock.

Perhaps the closest feeling to putting your entire leg through a piece of sheetrock & being suspended above your garage is going skydiving and having your parachute getting caught on the wheels of the plane once you’ve jumped out of the plane.

There is one major difference, however…a skydiver can’t hear the howls of laughter coming from the wife on the ground down below.

Not being able to afford a professional to come in and fix the now-gaping hole in the ceiling of by garage, wife and I decided that this was going to be the latest family project.  My brother-in-law (who’s done sheetrocking before) and mom-in-law came up for the weekend. While bro-in-law and I struggled valiantly to hold up the sheetrock, the women were holding the brace so he and I could screw the sheetrock into place.  The fact that we only had to try this twice before we got the sheetrock in place was, in my estimation, a major accomplishment.

And then there’s the fact that I had never hung sheetrock before.  It’s a thrill I don’t necessarily feel like I want to experience again.

So now it’s up, it’s mudded, sanded, and waiting to paint…just as soon as muscles I didn’t know I had stop screaming at me.