Polo Update

We’ve had Polo for over a week now. He is such a good puppy. The last two days he didn’t have any accidents in the house. Of course, Doug watches him like a hawk for his “potty signals” and then takes him outside. He’s getting very comfortable in his new home with his new family. He stopped crying at night after about the 3rd or 4th day. We have a radio on for him at night time so that he has some background noise. We’ll probably set that to a sleep mode soon and see if he is okay with it, then try no radio and see if he’s good with that. He doesn’t fuss when he goes in the crate and he will even go in there and play with his toys or his blanket. I think I feel sadder than he does when I have to leave for work and put him in there!

He had an appointment at the vet last Friday and he checked out okay. He was very good with the people and the other dogs there. He did cry a little when the doctor wanted to get in his face and look at his ears. But then, she had just violated him with a thermometer, so he was probably a little nervous! Everyone at the office thought he was adorable.

This past Saturday when I woke up, Doug and Polo were coming inside from going potty. Polo saw me at the top of the stairs and just ran right up them without stopping! He used to be scared to death of the stairs. We were so proud of him! He is still a little scared going down them, though, but I’m sure he’ll be over that soon.

Xbox 360

I can’t believe all these people going crazy for the Xbox 360. It’s an awesome machine and I want one, but honestly, I don’t ever play my original Xbox. Hell, I never even hooked it up after the move. I think it’s in the basement. Anyways, I should have pre-ordered a 360, because I hear that people are going crazy with them on eBay...

Polo the Puppy

We got a puppy this weekend! We named him Polo and he is just adorable. He is a miniature schnauzer puppy, just 11 weeks old. He has a silver coat, but he looks salt and pepper. He's cute and playful. He loves his toys and the blanket we handed down to him from the couch. I was surprised that he took to us right away, after being a little nervous on the car ride here. He seems very happy. When we come home, he wags his little stumpy tail and it is so cute. Potty training is going okay. We have to keep a good watch on him, though, and if he starts to squat, run him outside! I look forward to the long weekend coming up, because I'll get to spend a lot of extra time with him.

Confessions on a Dance Floor

Madonna’s new album Confessions on a Dance Floor came out this week. It features 12 new dance songs. Most of the songs are mixed into each other to create a non-stop dance soundtrack. Leading the CD is the catchy new single “Hung Up”, which is currently climbing the charts and should break into the Top 10 next week. It features a sample of Abba’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)” during the chorus. My favorite songs on the CD are “Hung Up”, “Sorry”, and “Jump A big deal was made by Jewish leaders about the song “Isaac”, though I don’t really get why. The song seems pretty harmless. It has a very “Kaballah” feel to it, of course, but not as heavy as “Shanti” on Ray of Light. Anyway… I wish the booklet had lyrics to the songs… But I guess they don’t really do that anymore. I got it for $9.98 at Target. Buy it. Now.

Night Stalker canceled

ABC has canceled Night Stalker, starring Stuart Townsend and Gabrielle Union. It’s not surprising the show didn’t get that great of ratings since it was on Thursday nights against CSI. But I liked it. It was very much like X-Files – the show was created by one of the X-Files producers – even though it was a remake of an old suckalicious 70s cheese-fest. What really sucks is that ABC has pulled it from the schedule and last week’s episode ended unresolved with a “To Be Continued.” They could at least play out the second half of the episode before canceling it. Bastards.

Lost

Holy crap! Lost was so good last night. After a slow start, this season has really taken off. Last night’s episode showed us a little more of Shannon’s background. Boone also reappeared in the flashbacks. Shannon started as very unlikable and over the course of last season, her character really developed. After the flashbacks, you really feel sorry for her and it’s some great insight into her character. ABC’s promos kept telling us that someone was going to die. The end was a total shocker. I won’t spoil what happened, but it was good! I hope you recorded it on your TiVo if you didn’t watch it last night! (And if you don’t have TiVo, read the previous post.)

Free TiVo Box with $16.95/month plan

TiVo is offering free 40-hour boxes if you sign-up for one year of service for $16.95 per month. Here is a link to the new offer. This is a pretty good deal for people looking to get started with TiVo without having to shell out the money for a new box – or wait for a rebate to come. The only downside is that the box doesn’t qualify for the multi-service discount, so if you already have a TiVo, it will still cost you $16.95 a month instead of $6.95. Also, you can’t convert it to lifetime service. But then if you could afford to drop down the $299 lifetime service fee, you probably wouldn’t need to take advantage of this offer. I think this is a good idea and will probably get TiVo a lot more customers.

Moxi DVR clock

There is one thing that is really annoying about Moxi DVR. Actually, it's more of a complaint against Charter. The time on the box is off. It's off by maybe about 30 seconds, so it always misses the beginning of the shows it records. I called tech support, but after a lot of shuffling and holding, they told me that can't set the time -- it's done automatically when it connects. They did put in a request ticket to the head end, so maybe they will fix it. (I won't hold my breath!)

TiVo and Yahoo! to Connect Services

News.com is reporting that Yahoo! and TiVo have teamed up to provide TiVo users with Yahoo! services. They have currently rolled out the ability to remotely program your TiVo tv.yahoo.com. I have just signed up for the feature. It links your Yahoo account to your TiVo account and you can select which DVR to use for listings (if you have multiple DVRs on your account). When browsing listings on Yahoo!, there is now a TiVo logo and a link to record the show. I haven’t attempted to actually record anything yet. Hopefully, it will let you pick which DVR to record to. One plus is that Yahoo’s TV guide features a standard grid TVGuide-like grid. It is also much faster than TiVo Central, which is terribly slow. The article also says that additional features such as traffic, weather, and Yahoo! Photos are coming soon.

Star Wars-Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Woo-hoo! Revenge of the Sith comes out today on DVD. It’s probably the first major release that’s DVD-only, no VHS. I will be getting it at Walmart (ick), since it comes with a bonus documentary DVD. Along with The Empire Strikes Back and the original (A New Hope), it’s one of the best of the series. (Arguably, that’s not saying much, but I like them. So there.)

Podcasts

Since Apple introduced podcasts into iTunes, I have subscribed to quite a few different podcasts. Most of them suck, but there are a few high quality shows that I do like. I listen to every episode of This Week in Tech (TWIT), Engadget, Digg, and PowerUser.tv. (Digg also has a video version available.) TWIT and Engadget are very informative, and Digg and PowerUser.tv usually have me laughing out loud. I also like the Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica podcast, but the show is on hiatus right now. It’s a great peek behind the scenes of one of TV’s best shows.