Originally Dad was trying to get this information for a friend of his who hates paying for cable. Or paying extra they live in a retirement community where they get basic cable and he pays extra. So Dad was asking me about this and started wondering if he'd like it.

I think he'd like most of it except not having access to college football.

Then it turned into , do I want one for Christmas. And I was looking at the channel offerings and some of them look interesting.

My lights haven't set the tree on fire, and they work!

Of course, seeing them lit up made me realize how I should have strung them, which is not how I did string them, and I suspect I will be outside fixing them as soon as it gets light out tomorrow, but that's okay.

My Christmas cactus has started to bloom! Last year it had buds, but they didn't mature and open, so I must have neglected the plant properly this year.

Seems we have another mostly-successful day in Suela Parentland. My brother and his wife & kid visited for a bit, and then the folks (unsolicited as far as I can tell) went to a movie in the building (first attendance at a building function!). I talked with them at 6 and aside from Mom starting off with "We're fed up with this place and we're going to move,"--which I derailed with a quick story about the dog show and all the pretty dogs we saw--they seemed fine.

Of course my dad, god help us, actually reminded my mother to tell me she was fed up. The man is seriously missing the point here. I suspect this would all be rather easier if we could reprogram him a bit.

Anyway, I'm off to a late birthday dinner with my sister & a friend, and tomorrow is a new week. Woot.

Burrell, I hope things get better for you. I can recommend heavy doses of animated movies, which seem to work better for me than alcohol does.

It sounds like it is improving 'suela - have you read the 36h day ? A number of my friends in similar situations reccomend it HIGHLY

askye, we really liked the roku. It was a great addition to our "entertainment array." Unfortunately, the one we got had no off button, so when we switched modes away from it to the dvr or the PS3 (for blu-ray), the roku stayed on all the time. After more than a year, it became unreliable. We replaced it with a Sony media player, which accomplishes the same tasks, but has an off switch. We like it as well as the roku--better actually, since it's been more dependable.

I know the roku has quality and price levels, and we had what was probably the lowest tier one. But the Sony was about the same price we paid for the roku.

I think he'd like most of it except not having access to college football.

You can often get special sports packages. I know there's one available for Major League Baseball.

In essence, with a Roku you start to move towards a more a la carte experience with your TV instead of bundled cable packages.

Is eBags the place people like for laptop bags?

Maria pointed it to me for various bags, and I've been happy with them (and their return policy!) Lots and lots and lots of choices.

ANZAC biscuits with candied ginger are a success. I need to up the ginger or at least more evenly distribute it. House still smells like a sugar butter bomb. Or butter sugar bomb. One of the two.

My day was...well, after I first posted, Loki struck and there was catnapping until noon. Because who can resist a purring cat sprawled across your torso (he's that big) with a paw resting against your cheek? But then I cleaned upstairs, hit Atomic Books, got overwhelmed and only bought one present, swam and made cookies. All the while riding a sudafed high, which I kind of hate, but was necessary. I don't have an infection, I just have this stupid mild congestion that sometimes needs to be beat with a stick. Considering it went away completely in AUS, I'm thinking it is an allergy to various things.

I really don't like sudafed's side effects, but I hated the wheeze worse.

Thanks sara.