Feb 9 - a new toy

Well, sort of.

We've been watching Netflix on my Macbook connected to our TV with video and audio cables. It's not very convenient and the sound volume is limited because the PC output is headphone-level, not line-level like the other devices (eg. satellite receiver).

I spotted an advert for the Sony streamer box at $69 at Best Buy, went online to look at reviews and found it at $49 at Best Buy -- figure that one out. The reviews were reasonable and it was supposed to be a 5 minute setup. I ordered it a couple of days ago and it arrived.

I can understand the first (reviews) but not the second (5 minutes).

I figured out the kludgy menu system and got it wirelessly connected to my router. That took some doing. Next I wanted to get it hooked up to Netflix but that involves also going to the Sony website to pair the two ... and the Sony website was down. That wasn't immediately obvious however, as I was getting an inscrutable error message. I called Sony and the girl immediately said that she would send me an email with a complete set of instructions ... wait ! ... I'm already connected to the TV and internet but getting an error message from your website.

The long and the short of it was that after trying a couple of things she concluded that the upgrade to their website for the Playstation was affecting Essentials (the site that I needed) ... although it wasn't supposed to (right !). I should try again later, she said.

After dinner (more on that in a minute), I tried again and it worked. So the 5 minutes was correct, but it was more like my bike rides -- that would have been "rolling time" (actually accomplishing something) as opposed to "clock time".

Dinner ... we joined Sharon and Kirby at Blackbeards and had a good time. The company was better than the food -- no, I take that back -- my scallops were great; the salad bar was well stocked; Sandy's crabcakes were so-so, more filler than crab. I bent Kirby's ear about car work since he does a lot himself. He volunteered to look at the rear suspension with me on his lift but I don't want to put him through that ... but I might :).

Earlier in the day I put another coat of mud on the drywall work in the bathroom and went for a bike ride. Earlier than that, I went for a workout with Christie. It was a busy day !

Sandy did some work on the bathroom while I was out, washing walls.

Today -- already back from the gym -- more mud; will be going down to Boca Raton to Hamid's place for dinner and we are going to do the Immokalee 200 which starts and ends at exit 49 of I75, in the middle of Aligator alley. The ride starts at 8am; I'm hoping for no rain; will be coming back home tomorrow night.

Onward ...