I would like to wish my dear friend "TV" a very happy 50th birthday.  She looks great.  I keep telling her that "50 is the new 40."  I won't tell anyone you are 50.

I took this photo yesterday. I noticed this giant "smoke ring" hovering over my place of employment as I was walking toward the building.  I stopped in my tracks and thought WTH?  It was so bizarre that I took this photo with my camera phone.  I also went and found someone else to look at it, so I'd have a witness.  Never mind that the person I went and got has a chronic mental illness--he seemed in touch with reality just fine for my purposes.  I've never seen anything like it and neither had he.  I thought perhaps a sky-writer had gone wrong--started spelling out a word and then got all dyslexic or something.  I posted it on Book de la Face in an effort to find out what the heck this was.  The local weather guy says it is from a plane in a holding pattern, circling.  I dunno.  I grew up in the landing pattern of O'Hare and I NEVER saw anything that looked like this.....

It's a quiet night in the Addiverse, as our TV and cable have been unplugged by the wife, as she is preparing for the arrival of our new TV.  "The Project," as I now call it, continues to grow.  Cables spewing, furniture flying, angst boiling.  This all before we even have the TV.  Hell, we don't even have the new furniture thing yet. The cable box (with the DVR thingy of which I didn't think we'd ever need but now realize I cannot live without) is unhooked, as the wife has to go to the Cable company and get a new box.  I was aghast when I learned she didn't DVR Glee or Modern Family, as there is no DVR to DVR with.  (She is SO LUCKY they invented Hulu.)  I've always said I could live without TV (and, I still believe this to be true), but I'd need time to adjust--I would need a 30 day warning to prepare for the loss of the Weather Channel.

As the new TV system is all fancy and new fangled, we need a new cable box. You would think this would be very easy.....but, nothing is easy when it comes to the Cable company.  What a racket! They take all your money while holding you by the balls.  There is no other game in town and they know it.  They taunt us.  They don't need to have customer service because there is nowhere else to go.  (Let's not start the satellite nonsense and don't even make me laugh with the digital antenna thing. It's this cable company or nothing. They have the Internet connection to the world.  The phone company can't touch their speed.  I need speed. I need the Internet.  I might be able to live without cable but I CANNOT live without the Internet.) The Cable company has HORRIBLE customer service--I imagine it's like calling "Peggy" in the credit card commercials.  The wife, god love her, has been dealing with the Cable company for the past few days. Her last conversation, made yesterday--Wednesday--went like this:

WIFE:  ....."Do I need a 3-D compatible cable box for a 3-D capable TV?"
CABLE: "Yeah, you need one of those."
WIFE: "How do I get one?"
CABLE: "You have to drive to our office and pick one up."
WIFE: "Where are you located?"
CABLE: "By the airport." 
(The airport, for readers who do not know us, is literally the furthest point in town from where we live, with no easy, direct route.  This is a trek. It is a 25-30 minute pain in the ass.)
WIFE: "Can you tell me if you have one in stock?"
CABLE: "A cable box?"
WIFE: "Yes.  A 3-D compatible cable box."
CABLE: "No, I can't."
WIFE: "You can't tell me if you have this piece of equipment in stock?"
CABLE: "No, you'll just have to drive out here and see if they have one."
WIFE: "Seriously? Can't you check the inventory?"
CABLE: "No, we can't do that.  We'll be able to do that after January 1st."
WIFE: (confused) "You can't tell if something is in stock?"
CABLE: "No, you'll have to come out here.  They don't always have those in stock."
WIFE: "Isn't the equipment where you are?"
CABLE: "No, it's in the warehouse."
WIFE: "So, this isn't the warehouse?"
CABLE: "No."
WIFE: Where's the warehouse, then?"
CABLE: "It's not in this office."
WIFE: "Can I call the warehouse?"
CABLE: "No, they don't answer the phone."
(I am NOT making this up!!!!!)
WIFE: "So, you can't call the warehouse to see if they have a 3-D compatible cable box in stock?"
CABLE: "No."
WIFE: "And I can't call the warehouse to see if they have this in stock?"
CABLE: "No."
WIFE: "I have to drive all the way out there and hope they have one?"
CABLE: "Yup."
WIFE: "I would think your customers would like to be able to call and see if something is in stock."
CABLE: "Yes, customers have mentioned that before.  After January 1st, you can do this."
WIFE: "That doesn't help me now."
CABLE: "No."
WIFE: "When can I do come get the cable box?"
CABLE: "During our operating hours."
WIFE: (on the verge of mass murder) "Can I come tomorrow?"
CABLE: "No, we're closed on Thursday."
(Who the hell closes their business on a Thursday?)
WIFE: "You're closed on Thursday."
CABLE: "Yes,. We're getting ready to put the inventory in the computer."
WIFE: "So, I can drive out there on Friday and hope they have a box in stock?"
CABLE: "Yes."

CABLE: "Yes."
WIFE: "And, sometimes they don't have this in stock?"
CABLE: "Right."
WIFE: "Then what do I do?"
CABLE: "You'll have to come back another day."
WIFE: "I bring the cable box I am currently using with me and trade it in for the new box?"
CABLE: "Yes."
WIFE: "So, if it's not in stock and I've unplugged my cable to bring in the existing box, I'll have to drive home, hook up the cable to the box I just unplugged and then unplug it again when I drive back out there?"
CABLE: "Yes."

As you can imagine, it was not a fun Wednesday night in our home.  This better be one kick-ass 3-D compatible cable box and it best work when she hooks everything up.

"The Project" has reminded us that projects take a life of their own.  Just about the time you think you've figured things out, something else comes up.  Another wire, another component, another something-something, it just grows.  Right now, I'm staring at the massive, existing entertainment center and wondering how the hell we are going to get it up the stairs and out the door...and, then who knows where.  It doesn't come apart. It's too big to put anywhere else.  It's too small for the size TV the wife picked out. 

Maybe I should call the Cable company and see if they want it.  Of course, they won't be able to answer that until after January 1st.

(Maybe that's not an alien symbol or a cloud pattern from a circling plane: maybe it's smoke coming out of the wife's ears when she thinks of the cable company.  Just sayin.)