Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like Alfred Hitchcock Presents. I stumbled upon this TV show when I also stumbled upon a cable channel called Retro Television Network (RTN). This is a great show - not because of the acting or the props or sets but because of the stories. Each episode features characters in complex situations and an unexpected twist at the end of the story. The show lasted 10 seasons and split time on CBS and NBC. I've added the first season to our Instant Netflix queue. Here's a clip:

RTN also features shows like The A Team, The Jack Benny Show, and Airwolf. I had not seen Airwolf since reruns of that show were aired on USA Network when I was a kid. Unlike Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Airwolf was a very bad show that relied on visuals of the famous helicopter in action. If this show was ever a hit, it sure wasn't because of the acting or the storylines! Look at this!

This week, I love Wind Creek Casino. I'm not a gambler and don't like Wind Creek Casino for its gaming. I like it's hotel and accomodations and what I think it could mean for the Atmore community. Julie's 10 year (!!!) high school reunion was this past weekend. We stayed at the Wind Creek Casino hotel. I was blown away at how nice this place is. The rooms were swank and the food was wonderful! And this place was BOOMING with customers too. It will be very interesting to see how the gambling issue comes into play in the upcoming state elections.

Here's a shot of our room.

Here's a shot of the parking lot outside of our room. Looks like they have room for a golf course!

Here's a shot of the hotel from the parking lot. 17 stories! It definitely sticks out on the horizon!

We were supposed to get some gaming credits as first-time visitors. That didn't work for some reason but that didn't stop Julie from checking out the machines. LOTS of people in the casino on a Saturday night.

This week, I don't like outdated sales techniques. I get junk email sent to me constantly ("Nick" apparently translates to "Nathan" or "Nory" in different countries), my company fax machine is bombarded with health insurance and cruise ship offers and Julie and I still receive at least one telemarketing call a night. Do these attempts work? I mean, who looks at a faxed page about sketchy crusies and says, "Yes! Sign me up!"? I used to be a telemarketer in college (Worst. Job. Ever.) so I can see how those guys might still have some luck. But you know...these pesky emails, faxes and phone calls would not continue to be sent out unless someone out there falls for them.

Meeting Mr. Smith

My sister joined Julie and me on a trip to North Carolina this past weekend to attend the 2010 McIntyre family reunion. My mother is from Burlington, NC, and her family gathers every other year. We three met my parents in North Carolina. Burlington is very near Durham so to kill some time one day, Julie, my sister, my Dad and I drove over to the Duke University campus. It was a rainy, grey Saturday so we took it upon ourselves to park the car and walk around a bit.

We saw the Duke University Chapel, posed for pictures outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium, visited the Duke football facility and stopped by a merchandise store. As we were walking back to the car to leave, I noticed a familiar face walking our way. It was Nolan Smith, member of the 2009-'10 National Champion Duke mens basketball team! I was pretty proud of myself for staying composed as I asked him to take a quick picture with me. Julie was Johnny-on-the-spot with the camera.

I follow Nolan on Twitter and regularly visit his blog. He was very nice and I think Julie took a great picture! Perhaps good enough for our Christmas card this year. He was very polite too...he answered all of my questions with "yes, sir". That made me feel kinda old but I just have to accept the fact that it is a good thing that some people his age possess such manners. Nolan is entering his senior year at Duke and I can't wait for next season!

Here's a clip of Nolan off the court:

Projects

I am a great project starter but a horrible project finisher. A month or so ago and I found myself in the middle of about 10 projects, and I just couldn't take it anymore. So I decided that I wasn't going to let my self start anything new until I finished all of my current projects. It was difficult, but I managed to stick to my plan and these are some of the results:

I made throw pillows for my sofa.

I made myself a skirt.

Kiley asked for one so I made her one as well.

Smocked a dress for Lia Kate.

Finished several (calligraphy) baby gifts (sorry no pictures).

And this is my final one! One more flip flop to go then I will be done!!!

Not quite sure what I will do next, but I will keep you posted!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like The Three Stooges. The Stooges have always been around and I can remember watching episodes with my grandfather in Camden when I was younger. It seems that the rights to the old episodes frequently bounce from one cable company to the next. AMC apparently has the rights at the moment and have been showing a lot of episodes lately. I’ve had to program the DRV to catch the airings (in HD!) because they’re shown at random hours. The Stooges are funny. They relied more on physical comedy than today’s snarky-smart material. Julie hates the Stooges, which is fine because I like to watch the old episodes by myself anyway.

Check out the Stooges’ Wikipedia page when you get a chance. Their story is actually a pretty sad tale. The episodes you see on TV are actually referred to as “shorts”. My uneducated assumption is that these shorts were shown prior to full feature movies in theaters, back when going to the movie theater was a lot more common than today. A varied combination of the Stooges made over 100 of these shorts. Their careers were most successful prior to the dawn of TV. As TV grew in popularity, the need for shorts declined. The avenue that made the Stooges famous ultimately vanished altogether but the boys took to performing live shows and the syndication of their shorts on TV actually created demand for their own TV appearances. I won’t spoil it for you – go check out that link!

This week, I love the upgrade to our DVR. Yep, only a few months after I blasted the quality and functions of our DVR, Charter snuck in late one recent night and performed a major upgrade. The menu and guide graphics received a much-needed makeover. We no longer have to rewind the player up a few seconds after fast-forwarding through commercials – it performs that step automatically now, just like our TiVo! Best of all, if we stop watching a recorded program, we can now resume watching later at the same stopping point. We previously had to restart at the beginning of the program and fast forward to the stopping point. Charter has made some other changes that are to tiny to go into detail about but nonetheless, we now have a respectable DVR.

Funny thing is…Charter never announced the upgrade and has not sent any emails or literature about the new design and function. So, “kudos” on the upgrade but yet another “thumbs down” on the customer service.

This week, I don’t like SEC media days. The SEC media days, held annually in Hoover, do not directly affect me or my daily routine. My disdain stems from a fan’s viewpoint. Why do we need this event? It’s more of a tease than it is informative. All the head football coaches and a few player representatives from each team share the same recycled speeches packed with the usual clichés. I guess if you’re looking for a silver lining, you could view SEC media days as a sign that college football season is just around the corner. I’m really looking forward to this season. Of course I anxious to see how well Auburn performs this year but there’s so much more that interests me. The season starts with a unique game between Boise State and Virginia Tech. The careers of two head coaches at prominent SEC schools are on life support (Les Miles and Mark Richt). And Coach Tommy Tuberville is going to be coaching ‘em up at Texas Tech. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds. And SEC Media days serve as filler while we wait. I’m sure it was designed to help break up the monotony of the off season, but it only adds to the wait, it seems.