Battlestar Galactica Season Three and a new TV: Life is good

Just in time for me to catch up before Season Four begins, I treated myself and bought a big-screen TV and got HDTV and the Sci-Fi Channel.

Y’know, I didn’t care much for the remake when I saw the miniseries all those years ago. But I borrowed Season One from a friend, and it sort of grows on you. So I bought Season Two, and was utterly hooked. Been waiting for Three to get here for a while—it’s months later than it should have been, but at least they stopped doing that stupid “2.0” and “2.5” crap. Season Three is all in one package. I have that, and Razor (extended edition, of course, though I’m going to take a wild guess that some of the “SCENES WE COULDN’T SHOW ON TV!” are between Kain and Six. Yawn.), which I’ll get to after I get through all of Three.

I should also like to point out that the guys from Circuit City did a great job hooking up the new set. Delivered it first thing in the morning, hours earlier than I thought they would, and put all the wires and cables right, and got me started. Comcast totally screwed everything up, so I was on the phone for an hour last night unattaching and re-attaching cables, and we won’t talk about the two trips to the Comcast center to get a box that worked with my HDMI cable. Or the fact that the box I did get finally still had hours of the previous customer’s recordings on it, puzzling me to no end as to how Comcast knew I watched ABC soaps, and why they were pre-set to record for me. Especially as I’ve given them up again to regain a little more time in my life.

The thing I can’t figure out is how to program only the channels I want to run through. But that’s because I haven’t really sat down with the manual yet. I want to set all the HD stations that I will actually watch (forget about HD Travel Channel, who the hell cares?), and, oh, yeah—I have to get a new DVD player. Mine’s too old to show anything above 480i. I know this because the TV tells me so when I try to complain to it that my DVD output sucks. (The upgraded cables didn’t do it, Chris, it’s at least eight years old, and maybe ten, so it’s pre-HD.)

I think I’ll buy a DVD/VCR recorder if I can find a decent one that’s not too expensive.

I have to say, I am really happy with my new TV. When the Circuit City guys came to set it up, they were trying to figure out how to center it in the living room. “Oh, no,” I said. “See that chair?” [Points to The Chair That Swallows You Whole, the overstuffed leather chair on the other side of the room] “That’s where I watch TV. Center it on that.” They laughed, and did.

As for the rest of you, well, tough. It’s my living room, and my TV. Guests are just going to have to suffer on the sofa. Okay, maybe I’ll share the chair sometimes. If I really like you.

Next on my wishlist: My own living room, in my own condo or townhouse, to put it in. There’s another development going up about halfway between my and Sarah’s house, not too far away from where I am now, that I might be moving to by next year. It’s right near 288, so it doesn’t really extend my commute to northern VA on Mondays.

I’m still in shock. There’s no buyer’s remorse at all. Probably because this is the first big-ticket item I’ve bought since I bought my car, and that was back in 2000. I think I’m due.

It’s good to have a good job. And to have money again.