Comcast vs. AT&T U-Verse

Competition is a good thing. Over the past couple months I've seen AT&T trucks rolling all over town, setting up little tents and doing lots of infrastructure work. Turns out they were installing fiber so they could offer U-Verse service in our area. U-Verse is AT&T's multi-service answer to your cable companies combined internet, television, and phone service.

The Frustration

I'm currently a Comcast customer (formerly Insight, rolled into Comcast for reasons unknown). I'm paying entirely too much for the service we receive. In our home we have:

• Widescreen HDTV in the living room
  
  • Surround Sound Receiver and Speakers
    
  • DVD / VCR Combo player
    
  • Nintendo Wii
    
  • Gamecube
    
  • Comcast Dual-Tuner DVR
    
  
  
• Studio Monitor in family room
  
  • DVD player
    
  
  
• Standard TV in Basement
  
  • Comcast Dual-Tuner DVR
    
  • Countless video game systems
    
  
  
• Standard TV in bedroom
  
  • hooked directly to coax
    

As far as services, we get:

• Basic Cable (about 30 analog stations)
  
• Extended Cable (another 30 analog and 30 digital stations)
  
• HBO
  
• Starz
  
• Internet Service
  

Our local stations come in HD for free. So for those services and two tuners we were paying a total of $143.09 a month. Good grief! I don't have the bill in front of me, but I think it broke down like this:

Dual Tuner #1	$10
Dual Tuner #2	$13
Basic Cable	$30
Extended Cable	$30
HBO	$15
Starz	$10
Internet Service	$35 ($45 with $10 discount for having television service)
Unexplained taxes and fees	$10
Sub-Total	$143

Needless to say I've felt like Comcast has been bending us over for quite some time. I've also had a persistent gripe about the quality of their Video On Deman (VoD) service. The image is so compressed that during action sequences you can't really tell what is going on. I will say, however, that the quality of live television, especially in HD, is exceptional.

The Pitch

Now U-Verse sends us a pamphlet to let us know that their service is available, along with pricing and service comparisons.

U-Verse U400+Internet Express package includes:

• Nearly all available channels (over 400 digital stations plus local and music channels)
  
• HBO
  
• Starz
  
• Cinemax
  
• Showtime
  
• 1.5Mbps internet service
  
• 1 DVR capable of recording 4 programs included
  
• 3 non-DVR Set top boxes included

Total price - $124.99 / month. I assumed there would again be the usual $10 in unexplainable fees and taxes, but even given that it would be $10 less than Comcast for a whole lot more service. The other thing that really caught my attention was that the U-Verse service runs on CAT-5 cable (the same stuff that runs internet service to your PC). Our house is wired for coax cable (the traditional tv cable), but not for CAT-5. Some modern homes are wired for CAT-5, and I would love for our home to have it so I could get computing devices plugged in anywhere. Turns out, AT&T will wire your home for CAT-5 as part of installation, and the installation fee is waived! Awesome!

The Plan

So here was my plan - play the two competitors against each other. First, I called AT&T to get pricing on U-Verse. I wanted the U400+Internet service ($125) with improved internet service to 3.0Mbps (+$5) and HDTV service (+$10). Total - $140 which is what I'm paying to Comcast but with a lot more service features. I went ahead and placed the order for service and the installer was scheduled to come out in two days.

Next, I called Comcast to let them know about the AT&T service I just ordered, and that I wanted either more services or a discount. The operator stonewalled for a bit, but when she realized I was serious about cancelling that fat $150 / month check, she put me on hold to talk with her manager. Now here is gripe #1 with Comcast...it took 15 minutes on hold before an operator even picked up. Then I spent another 10 minutes on hold while she conferred with her manager. She came back to let me know that there was a package they could put me on that could offer more services than I have now at a lower rate. Turns out they had a HBO+Starz Digital Plus pack that included all of what I was getting plus over 100 digital channels and an extra set top box for $90 / month. Add the internet service and it came to a nice $125 / month. Great, I got what I wanted from Comcast - more services and a lowered bill!

Round 2 - I called AT&T to cancel the install. I had what I wanted from Comcast and there was no sense in installing the AT&T service if it was going to be ten bucks more, even if it did have more channels. After all, I hardly watch television. However, the AT&T operator quickly responded by offering $20 off for the first six months and reminding me that I'd be getting my house wired for CAT-5 for free. In addition, the first month of service would be free, and if I kept the service for 30 days I could get a $100 cash rebate check. So really, it would cost me nothing to try the service for a month to compare AT&T to Comcast. Given this scenario, I kept the appointment for AT&T to install on Friday, which just happened to coincide with when the Comcast installer would be in to install the new set top box in the upstairs bedroom. Oh what fun! Two competing installers at the house at the same time!

Oh, and before I forget, there was no long-term contract required for either of these services, so there was no penalty involved to cancel either way.

The install

On that 8am-noon arrival time, the AT&T installer arrived a little after 9am. Not bad, it gave me time to clear the cobwebs and have a cup of coffee. He walked me through the equipment that would be installed and we surveyed the house for the best way to run cable. We talked about the studio monitor in the family room that currently didn't have cable service and how it would be nice to have there. He took a look and said it would be no problem and no cost to run the extra cable, just $5 / month more on the bill for the extra set top box. So we gave him the go ahead on that extra set. He first had to run out to the D-SLAM (more on what this is later) to get service running to the house.

A little after 10am the Comcast installer arrived. He was in and out in under 30 minutes as he only had to hook up a box. I told him that I hadn't seen the new statiosn activated yet. He tried to call his dispatch to check on it, but ended up on hold for 10 minutes. He indicated that phone times had really degraded since the switch to Comcast, which I thought was a really weird thing for a Comcast installer to admit. Anyway, turns out the local office had a power outage, and the services were switched on by the afternoon.

The AT&T installer was at the house for over 8 hours! He got everything wired, fishing CAT-5 through walls, basement, crawlspace, and the garage attic. He left an extra 8-port gigabit switch to hookup all the PC's in the house and programmed all of the remotes for the TVs. I was really impressed with this guy!

The Comparison

Comcast

Pros:

• High Definition stations look much better
  
• All televisions in the house can view any channel at any time
  
• Two DVRs in the house, each with a dual tuner capable of recording two high definition channels at the same time, or viewing one channel while recording another.

Cons:

• Fewer HD stations available
  
• Fewer total stations available
  
• Video on Demand picture quality is terrible
  
• Only three sets hooked up in the house
  
• No choice on internet speed / price
  

AT&T U-Verse

Pros:

• Standard Definition televisions have a noticeably better picture quality on live television
  
• House is wired for CAT-5, yeah!
  
• Double the number of HD stations available
  
• Double the number of Digital stations available
  
• DVR can record 4 digital stations simultaneously
  
• Video on Demand picture quality is awesome
  
• Can host non-business related services on the internet connection
  

Cons:

• High Definition picture quality is good, but not quite as good as Comcast
  
  • I can definitely see compression artifacts and aliasing in the picture
  
  
• Only one high definition station can be viewed at a time anywhere in the house
  
• Only one DVR on one TV for the house
  
• Overall picture quality on the High Definition Television for any station is not quite as good as Comcast.
  

Result

I'm torn. The HD picture quality on Comcast is noticeably better, and the dual tuner DVRs are a huge plus for my wife who is a voracious TV consumer. She definitely takes advantage of the ability to record one high-def station while viewing another. I don't watch much TV, but the TV I do watch tends to be the niche channels and Video on Demand stuff. So for me, the better picture quality of VoD and the abundance of niche market channels has real appeal. Add to that the inclusion of Cinemax and Showtime in U-Verse which Comcast asks additional payments for. We've only had the service for one weekend, so we'll give it a couple of weeks to see if we lean one way or the other.

The Technology

The U-Verse technology is really interesting. It is like no other television service. With your cable or even satellite television service, the cable company is constantly broadcasting all channels to your house simultaneously. So if you want to switch stations your Set Top Box (STB) just switches the frequency that it is tuned to. With U-Verse, only the channel you request is sent to your house by AT&T. So if none of the STBs in your house are on, nothing is being broadcast to your house. The way it works is a hybrid solution. AT&T runs a fiber optic cable to a residential box called a D-SLAM. The D-SLAM converts the signal on the fiber optic signal to a signal on your copper telephone line that runs the rest of the way to your house. You have to live within 3,000 feet of the D-SLAM for the service to work. This is much cheaper than the route that Verizon is taking with their Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) service where they install new fiber optic wire all the way to your home for every home in the neighborhood. The AT&T solutions uses your existing cable for that "last mile" connection.

So what does all that mean? It means that with U-Verse, you aren't watching traditional cable. Instead, you really have a very high speed internet connection that your television program is sent over. A residential gateway (RG) is installed in your house. This is like a giant cable modem with a 26Mbps connection. That's right, 26Mbps. Why such a big pipe? Not only does your internet service (1.5Mbps with the base offer) travel through this pipe, so does your television data. With current AT&T U-Verse service, one Standard Definition (SD) station uses about 6Mbps. One High Definition (HD) station uses around 19Mbps. This is where the single HD station limit is encountered. You just can't fit 2*19 into 26. If you have two HD sets in the house, only one can watch or record at a time. However, you can get 4 SD channels going at once (4 * 6 < 26). This also leaves room for your internet service (they currently offer up to 6Mbps service) as well as the future addition of VoIP telephone service.

So is that the end of the tech story? Not really. AT&T realizes that this limitation is going to kill them so they are working on improvement. One improvement is called the "bonded pair". You RG only really needs to use two of the wires coming into your house, but the installer is going to hook up another pair. Why? Later this year AT&T is going to enable "bonded pair" technology which effectively gives you two U-Verse hookups on one box, upping the total bandwidth to your RG to around 40Mbps. That alone would allow you to view two HD stations at once, but AT&T isn't going to stop there. They also plan to roll-out improved compression codecs. The U-Verse STB is currently decoding a MPEG-2 stream, which is a fairly old codec. In the coming months the service will be converted to use H.264 streams, which are a much higher compression while also a providing better video quality. The new codec will shrink your SD stream down under 3Mbps and your HD stream to 6.5Mbps. With the increased bandwidth and diminished stream size, AT&T plans to allow you to view 2HD and 2SD streams simultaneously. Let's see, with our new values that's 2*6.5 + 2*3 = 25Mbps. What about that other 15Mbps left over? Expect it to go to VoIP service and faster internet connections, or possibly some as yet unannounced service.

One last thing - the single DVR limit. Yeah, that's going away too. In the second half of this year AT&T is expected to release the Whole House Digital Video Record (or WHDVR for short) firmware that will allow you to stream recorded programs on your one DVR to any other set top box in your house. So now you can treat all of those STB's just like a DVR, and ignore the fact that the recording is being stored on another box. Neat!

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I'm torn on what to do about our service. But what would I recommend? If you do not have HDTV, it would be a no brainer to sign-up for U-Verse service over standard cable. The quality and selection are just so much better. If you have just one HDTV...it is going to depend on your taste. If you are HD snob, you'll be disappointed with the current service over what cable and satellite provide. On the other hand, if you have a smaller HD set, or just don't care about the quality, I would still recommend signing up. If you have more than one HD set that you use, the U-Verse product just won't work for you, so stay with what you have.

Television consumers are going to see great benefits of AT&T, Comcast, DirecTV, Dish, and all the other players going head to head for your entertainment dollar. Expect prices to come down and services to go up. Competition is a good thing!

Yes We Can

Travel In Comfort

With the Tiddy Bear!

Glass Booth

Someone at work turned me on to an interesting site - Glass Booth. On the site you first put points against the issues that are most important to you, and then you take a quiz to gauge your stance on those points. Following the quiz, you are shown which candidates for the 2008 election best fit your beliefs. If you find that you don't know who to vote for, this might be just the thing to point you in the right direction. I am a solid supporter of Barack Obama in the 2008 election, but I was surprised to see that there were other candidates that match my interests even more closely. According to the results, Mike Gravel was my top match, with Dennis Kucinich second and Barack Obama third. I went through the list of issues as compared on the site to see where I best fit and conflicted with each candidate. It was very interesting reading. I don't have much faith that either Gravel or Kucinich are going to win the primary, so I'm still going with Obama in 2008. It was nice to see that what I had read and learned of the candidates matched up quite well with this blind test.

Common Name

I have a very common name. One of those last names that has full chapters reserved in the phone book. This is usually a good thing. I rarely have to tell people how to spell my name when putting in a reservation (and if I do, it's a good sign that I should reconsider my reservation). In fact, I could never say that having a common name has ever been a problem really.

Until the internet. You see, I made a huge mistake. When I signed up for an e-mail address, I actually used my real name for the address. Now if you have a unique name, this isn't such a problem. But with a very common name, everyone with your same name has the same brilliant idea as you. So they try to sign up for the e-mail address you have. Since they can't get it, they use something close, but quickly forget and start giving out my e-mail address, thinking it is their own. This results in my receiving some very interesting e-mails. Some of these e-mails have some very, very personal information in them.

To add to the confusion here, I signed up with an e-mail service that ignores dots (.) in the e-mail address. Just takes them out and uses whats left. So if my e-mail address were Jane.Doe@generic.com, I would also receive e-mail for JaneDoe@generic.com, J.Anedoe@generic.com, and Jan.E.Doe@generic.com. That's a pretty big fish net for a spammer to aim for.

In most cases, the spam filter catches the spammers, which just leaves me with the folks suffering from a case of mistaken web identity. So just to be clear:

• I have never applied to be in the Australian version of the FBI. So don't send me the full application form with my filled in results as well as the responses of my closest friends and relatives you interviewed.


• I am not a college student at LSU who enjoys deer hunting.



• I am not a car customizer in California, and I don't need for his accountant to send me a copy of his tax filings.



• I am not attempting to purchase property in Georgia, and I don't need that gentleman's mortgage application.



• I have never shopped at Blockbuster in the United Kingdom. I am not interested in the UK version of XBox titles, nor the XBox Live service in that territory. Please stop sending me the subscriber notices that he signed up for.



• I did not graduate from a Missouri arts college, and I am not interested in organizing or attending their reunion. How much weight Suzanne gained since graduation is none of my concern.

Typically I just chuckle at these e-mails intended for my dopplegangers. In cases where I have received sensitive information, I try to let the sender know so they can correct their records (and to be sure someone is not attempting to steal my identity). Now I think I will just use the form response below to see if I can get any more interesting response.

This is my e-mail address. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My e-mail address is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my e-mail address is useless. Without my e-mail address I am useless. I must address my e-mail true. I must filter my e-mail from my enemy, who is trying to spam me.

This is not the jedi you are looking for.....

Ffwhooo

Wow, this blog is dusty and disused. Perhaps I should post something.

My Alter Ego

Corbindallas

iPod Nano and Nike+

I bewildered my family this holiday season. Not only did I actually go to brick and mortar stores to do my shopping (and even got stuff not on their lists!) but my own wish list this year included exercise gadgets. Two gadgets in particular I had my first chance to use today. The first is a heart rate monitor from Polar. It uses a chest sensor to detect my heart rate and relay it to a watch. That way I can track my heart rate during my run. I've been told that the best way to train is actually not to kill yourself. Go figure. Anyway, according to the documentation my target maximum heart rate (considering my age) should be somewhere around 195 bpm. Today during my run I was constantly over that mark. I was regularly hovering around 205, and on my last 400 meters stretched up into the 215 realm. It was neat to see how my body was adapting.

The second item was a new doodad for my iPod. Nike and Apple got together and created a special line of shoes as well as a pedometer and adapter for the iPod Nano. The shoes are made so that the pedometer can be slipped under the sole of the shoe. The attachment to the iPod picks up the signal from the pedometer and tracks my workout. In addition, as I was running a voice would come in over my music and let me know how I was progressing on my run. For my first run, I set a goal of going two miles. I've always assumed that the loop around our park is 5/8ths (0.625) miles, as that is what the parks office told me when I asked. So I typically run three laps and call it close enough. Turns out, I needed to go a bit farther to get my two miles in, according to the pedometer. The gadget worked, though. As I approached the end of the third lap, the voice came in and said "400 meters left to reach your goal". 400 meters? That's just one lap around a track. Surely I can finish my two miles. So I stretched it out and went the full two miles.

In addition to telling me my distance, the Nike+ attachment lets me know my current progress and pace at any time by pushing the center button. Tonight, after getting home from work, I plugged my iPod into the PC and it uploaded my run. It was really interesting to see the chart of my pace as I covered the distance. Turns out, I'm pretty good at holding a steady pace. The problem is my pace is too slow. I averaged just under an 11 minute mile pace for the entire run. I'd really like to push that under the 10 minute mile mark, so it looks like I have some work to do.

It's going to be really interesting tracking my runs with these devices.

Total Distance: 2.54 miles
Total Time: 32:32
Calories Burned: 443

Wii - Two Months Later

We've had the Nintendo Wii for a couple of months now, and I thought I should get back and give an updated review. The Wii is awesome! This is such a cool toy! I had some fears when I first got it that it would be fun for a little but, but then lose it's luster as the controls turned out to be a gimmick. I'm glad that I can safely set those fears to rest. I received a couple of new games for Christmas - Excite Truck and Rayman and the Ravings Rabbids. Both are incredibly fun and take good advantage of the new control scheme. Excite Truck uses the controller as a steering wheel, which took me a bit to adjust to but Jenn picked up very intuitively. Raving Rabbids is a bunch of mini-games that have you perform different tasks with the remote, from drawing on the screen to navigating a plane and shooting in a first person shooter. Each game takes only a few minutes to play, and they are so goofy that you can't help but laugh playing them.

One thing I would definitely recommend is that anyone with a Wii and an HD television is to go get the component cables. I picked up a set at Best Buy this weekend for $25 and the difference was amazing. Now keep in mind, the Wii can only output 480p, otherwise known as progressive scan or Enhanced Definition (ED) mode. So it isn't going to take advantage of a true hi-def set like a playstation 3 or XBox 360 will. Still, if your television supports 480p, the difference is amazing. All of the colors in Zelda : Twighlight princess are brighter and warmer. I really wasn't expecting such an incredible improvement in picture by going to progressive scan, but it has to be seen to be believed. In my opinion, the new cables are just good a buy as an extra nun-chuk, they will add a lot to your gaming experience.

Happy Birthday Jeff

We are Temporarily Experiencing Technical Difficulty

If you have been trying to view our family blog, it's having some issues. Google just upgraded their Blogger system to version 2.0, and in the process it looks like team blogs (like our family site) are caught in limbo. We can't post to it, so no updates for now. As soon as it is back up, we'll have some more pictures and comments from the holidays.

The Nintendo Wii

A while back I stood in line to pre-order a Nintendo Wii, which is the newest gaming console from Nintendo. While Sony and Microsoft are duking it out in the powerhouse graphics department, Nintendo has taken a different approach. Rather than focusing on having the most realistic visual experience, Nintendo is going after the most realistic physical experience. The innovation in this product is the controller. While it looks like a modified television remote, the Nintendo Wii controller, or Wii-mote, is actually a game pad that is able to sense it's orientation and movement. The system comes with a game, Wii Sports, that shows off what this unique joystick can provide. When playing golf, you swing the controller like a golf club. No more meters where you have to time a button press. Playing tennis? Just swing it like a racket. Bowling? Hold it like a bowling ball and send it down the lane. It even picks up the spin you put on the ball. 
Nintendo Wii 

Rather than go on and on about the technology, I thought I'd give my impressions of the console. The Wii is an awesome console for the casual gamer. My wife doesn't hate video games, but she doesn't really enjoy them either. She played Super Mario Brothers and Tetris back in the NES era, but hasn't been interested since. Newer game systems simply require too much investment to master. The button combinations and complexity of the games can be pretty intimidating alone, and when she is matched up against someone like me who has spent hours mastering the game, well, it isn't much fun. The Wii is totally different. The face of the controller has a large, clear A button, a direction pad, a home, plus, minus, one, and two button. Underneath there is a trigger 'B' button. Yeah, that's a lot of buttons, but when held like a remote the 'A' and 'B' buttons naturally rest under the thumb and trigger finger, and those are the only two buttons used, if at all, in most games. I had spent the night of release playing with the Wii until 4am, and when Jenn woke me up the next morning she had a big smile on her face and said "The Wii is a LOT of fun!" I couldn't believe it! I was so excited that jumped out of bed to go downstairs and start having some gaming goodness with the family. Even Corbin was able to throw a bowling ball down the alley. And Jenn is good at the sports games too. She consistently trounces me in each one we play. And I'm no slouch either.

I've been reading about this console for some time, and was really excited to get it on launch day. What I've found, though, is that very few people even knew Nintendo had a new console on the market. Our good friends and neighbors are gamers, and they had heard very little about the Wii. One evening they dropped by for dinner and we played for a bit. It's amazing how this new controller allows people to immediately pick up and start playing. Right away our friends were bowling and playing tennis. On Sunday I brought the system to my brother's house for a family dinner. Our parents were even excited to pickup the controller and play. My father surprised everyone by saying that he might have to get one.

Nintendo has definitely done a good job of achieving their goal, which is to get non-traditional gamers interested in a video game system. The Wii is a very fun toy to break out during family get together or small party. It's easy for new players to get into the game and immediately play. Another nice touch are the Mii's. A Mii is your cartoony avatar that you will play as in the sports title. There are a variety of styles you can apply to everything from hair style to eye shape. I went for the look-alike Mii, while my brother and father went for the goofy looking Mii. It was just a little bit of extra flavor that was nice.

It remains to be seen whether this new take on gaming has staying power. I was really concerned when Nintendo released the DS, a portable gaming system with two screens and a touch pad. I thought it was too gimicky, and their wouldn't be much staying power. I was sooooo wrong, and now I have a DS and have played many innovative games that could only be played on such a system. I'm hoping that the Wii has the same story, with game producers developing innovative titles that take advantage of this new control scheme.

In summary, I highly recommend the Nintendo Wii to anyone and everyone. Go have some fun!

Sedentary

I live a sedentary lifestyle. I spend nine hours a day with my butt in a chair at work. In the rare instance that I move during the day it is either to get to or from a meeting (where I'll be sitting down) or to serve some biological function. I sit in my car on the way to and from work. When I get home, I sit at the dinner table. I get maybe an hour of playtime with Corbin before it's time for his bath. Then, once the kids are in bed, I either sit on the couch and watch television with Jenn, or I sit at my desk and play Warcraft. After all that sitting, it's time to rest and lay down for a night's sleep.

I'm tired of living that way. I used to be fit. In high school I knew that when classes let out at 3pm, I would be heading to the football field / track to get two to three hours of good exercise. I don't think I appreciated it as much then, but I'd love to get out of work each day at 3pm and have the freedom to go get some exercise and keep my body fit. After we moved into our house, I got into running again. I kept at it pretty well, and even ran in a couple of 5K runs and one 10K. My weight was back down to a reasonable level too. I really fell off the horse though. I stopped running, and started sitting more. Sure, I play volleyball every Tuesday, but one night a week just isn't enough exercise. I've tried keeping my diet under control, but it's just too easy to over eat. There are constantly lunches, celebrations, nights of ordering out, not to mention the 3pm Friday snacks at work. I kept having the intention of getting out and running again, but I just never did it.

Fortunately, I have an awesome wife. Jenn had been talking about joining our local YMCA for quite some time, and I found out that I could get a pretty good discount through work. We got a family membership, and Jenn started going in to swim from time to time. It was great because they have a child care center that can watch Sam and Corbin during the day for a bit while she goes for a swim. She was telling me about it, and it inspired me to start exercising more. I spoke with a couple of people at work, and found that some folks were going in during their lunch break to get some exercise. What a great idea! I allow myself one day a week to eat out with my coworkers, but otherwise I spend my lunches in my office chair. Why not go run?

So for the past two weeks I've been going into the Y to get some exercise. Last week I went on Monday and Friday, with Tuesday volleyball being my third exercise outing for the week. This week we cancelled volleyball due to Halloween, so I went in on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The place is fairly empty during lunch, and I've had my pick of the treadmills. I typically get 20 minutes of good running in with a 5 minute cooldown. The past two times I've managed to get 2 miles in, which I thought was a pretty good goal for my second week of running.

This is just the thing I needed. I feel less stressed, less tense, and just...well.... better. I can tell a big difference between my first run and the one I just finished today. A week ago Monday I couldn't catch my breath after my run, and I was still trying to cooldown a full hour after getting back to work. Today I was cooled down by the time I got to my car, and I felt like I was doing the run rather than getting run over. I hope I have the discipline to keep this up. Right now I weigh 230 pounds. Medically speaking I think my ideal weight is 185, but I'd be happy if, over the course of the next 6 to 12 months, I could get myself down to a steady 200 pounds. I'm not going to post daily weigh ins like I did when I first started this blog, but from time to time I'll note my progress. Wish me luck!

Return of the Kid

Sometimes, I think I've never really grown up. Sure, there are plenty of times that I feel like an adult, like
when I'm in meetings or enjoying time with my family. But there are other times that I feel like I never got past
age 10. Today was one of those days. Nintendo has a new console coming out called the Wii which has a revolutionary
new controller. Rather than load up the controller with more buttons than you have finger, the controller looks
like a television remote with a couple of buttons on the face and a trigger on the bottom. The innovation in the
controller is that the game console knows where the controller is in the room, and it knows how the controller is
oriented. So if you run from the right side of the room to the left, the console knows. If you tilt the controller
up or down, or right to left, the console knows. It presents a new and exciting way to interact with games. For
instance, in a baseball game you can swing the remote like a bat, or "throw" (don't let go) the remote like the ball.
For golfing you could simply take a swing, or swing your arm for bowling. In fact, these are games that come with
the console.

I'm really excited about this new system. I'm excited about enjoying games in a new way. I mean, I love video
games already, but something that allows me an entirely new way to enjoy my hobby really piques my interest. Not only
that, but Nintendo has come to the press with the message that the Wii isn't meant for the "hardcore" gaming set.
No, instead they are looking to introduce video gaming to the masses. They are interested in the casual gamers:
the folks that play a couple of games of solitaire or mine sweeper each day, the folks that enjoy crosswords and
word searches. Certainly there will be blockbuster games for this system like any other, but you are also going
to find an entirely new set of games that are aimed at folks you wouldn't typically consider gamers. If this works,
there is a chance that I might be able to truly enjoy playing video games with Jennifer!! This is so exciting.
Jenn really doesn't care for video games. Firstly, she is totally correct in her position that most video games are
just too complicated. One of my favorite games is the SSX series of snowboarding games. These games require such
a strange contortion of the hands to master that it can be vexxing for a new player to pickup and try to do well.
Not only are the controls hard to understand, but most games are aimed at the gamer who has hours and hours to
invest in exploring and playing. Someone who only wants to play for 30 minutes or less isn't going to be interested
in the kind of time investment. Games for the Nintendo Wii are going to break that mold. These games will allow
for casual gamers to pick them up, enjoy them for a short period of time, and put them back down again. No
long-term committment necessary.

So the reason I'm going on and on about this is that today EB Games / Gamestop offered pre-orders for the Wii
system. The Wii is scheduled to release on Nov. 19th, and today is the first day that you can pre-order a system
in the U.S. Yesterday I saw an article in one of my favorite gaming news blogs that mentioned the pre-order, and
it was quite clear that pre-orders would be in limited supply. Games stores were seriously burned when they took
more pre-orders for the XBox 360 than they could supply before Christmas '05, so they cut way back on the number
of pre-orders they would take for the new PS3 and Wii systems. On Wednesday customers were able to pre-order
the PS3, and folks were camping out all night just to get a pre-order slot. In many cases, only a couple of units
were available for pre-order. I made up my mind that I would drive by my local EB Games on my way to work to see
if there was a line to pre-order the Wii. I really want one, and I don't want to wait until next year to play one.
Yeah, I'm a spoiled, greedy kid that way.

I drove through the parking lot of the EB at 8:15am, and saw that several people were already in line. Yesterday
I called ahead and was told that they would have much fewer than 30 units for pre-order. I also cleared it with
my boss that I might be in late for standing in line. He kind of chuckled, but said it would be okay. So I hopped
out of the car, donned by jacket and gloves, and got in line. I was #11 at the time. The folks in the first few
slots looked worn and ragged from too much time out in the cold. The store opened at 10am, so I figured I'd be out
here for at most a couple hours. I learned later that the first folks in line had arrived at 5am, and were looking
to take their pre-ordered system and sell it on eBay at a significant markup.

The people around me were in pretty
much the same state in life: 20 and 30 somethings with technical careers and a penchant for gaming. Some folks
were reading books, others were playing games on their cell phones. It looked like three people were engaged in a
heated multiplayer game on their Nintendo DS. About every ten minutes a couple more folks would assemble. These
folks were high schoolers on Fall Break who had driven from Anderson. Apparently the Anderson store wasn't committing
to doing their pre-order sale today, so they drove down here to a store that definitely was. Next was a customer
I mentally named "Loud Guy". He was a clerk at the Blockbuster next door, and had this overpowering loud voice and
laugh. Apparently this guy missed his dose of brains, because he started some of the most moronic conversations I had
heard, at one point getting into a debate over whether monkeys had thumbs or not. At the conclusion of the debate,
he was quite sure that he would be willing to trade his own thumbs for a pet monkey. This started a conversation about
what other folks might trade their thumbs for.... which revolved around all of the things that teenage guys would
consider worth their thumbs. I was a little surprised to hear one say he would like to be involved in a bank heist.

As nine o'clock rolled around, about 20 people were in line. At the tail of the line were a couple of moms who
were looking to get a system for their kids. The store manager had arrived and was going through the opening
checklist, which got everyone excited for a while. The guy from Anderson had a buddy with him. His buddy wasn't
getting a system, but was there to drive since his friend couldn't. He was gracious enough to purchase some of the
folks in line coffee. I had already talked with Jenn, and she was going to drop by with some hot mocha and a camera
to capture the hilarity of it all. Apparently I wasn't the only one with a caring significant other, as around 9:30
some other ladies joined the line with coffee and breakfast. One brought some Egg McMuffins.... man they smelled
good.

The EB Games store is in a strip mall along with a QDoba, a nail and hair salon, a "I sold it on eBay" store,
and a Hallmark shop. We got quite the looks from folks coming in to either open their stores or go shopping. They
must have thought there was a nerd mob forming for some bizarre ritual. In truth, I guess we were.

At 20 minutes to ten, the store manager came out and handed everyone in line a sheet of paper. The sheet had the
list of games that were available for pre-order, their release date, and price. It also had a number, which was
your number in line. He had 18 sheets of paper, and this is when the folks after #18 learned their unfortunate
fate. I think about 5 people had to leave. The manager went back inside to open the store while the crowd let
the excitement build. Some optimistic folks were just arriving to get in line, and it took a bit of courage for
the folks at the end to give them the bad news.

At precisely ten the doors opened and everyone filed inside. As the first folks were going through their paperwork
I noticed a DS download poster, and downloaded the demo of the new Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis. It's a
Lemmings type game, and filled the time to place my order. I put in an order for the Wii console, two extra remotes,
and the new Zelda game. I left at 10:30am and headed back to work. Now I get to wait like a little boy for the
next month to pass so I can play with my new toy!!!

The Silver Lining

The upside of being without my satellite radio is that, now I can wistfully peruse new music gadgets. Apple just
release a new set of iPods, and XM makes some interesting equipment for their satellite radio service. If you are
looking at getting a portable music device, here is how I see the cost comparisons:

Music Service	Equipment	Monthly Subscription Cost
XM Radio	$200	$12.95
Sirius	$200	$12.95

As you can see, it's going to be about the same cost either way you go. My equipment cost was based on a
docking receiver with a home and car kit. Both companies offer very similar equipment. Sure, cheaper equipment
is available, but for what I'm looking for, I would expect to pay no less than $200.

Now that covers a satellite radio subscription, but what about the MP3 player route. Our local Fry's currently
has a deal on the old model iPod Nano 4GB model for $150. That's enough to store 1,000 songs, which is probably
the limit of my current CD collection. Apple isn't the only company to make MP3 players either. Creative, Rio,
HP, RCA.... they all have competitive products, and usually at lower prices. Of course, the equipment is only half
the battle here. You would then need to purchase your own music (ostensibly through the iTuned music store, or
some other music server... you don't pirate your music do you?). The one thing I really like about my satellite
radio service is that I didn't have to think about the playlist. There were a couple of streams that played music
styles that I new I liked, and about every other week they updated their set with the latest in that genre. I heard
some music that I loved that I probably wouldn't know about if I had to find it on my own. So let's try to make it
a true apples to apples (no pun intended) comparison of satellite radio to a MP3 player. Let's say you choose the
new 4GB iPod Nano, or some comparable MP3 player. That's $200 for your equipment. Now let's load it with music.
To do that, let's say that each month you purchase 10-15 songs to freshen up your playlist. At 99 cents a song,
that's $10-15 per month. That's really close to a $12.95 / month average.

What you can't put a price tag on is
putting together the playlist for yourself. Some would view the chance to decide which songs to play and when as
a major advantage of an MP3 player. Others see it as a drawback, and like the ID of a professional DJ introducing
them to new music in the genres they already like. I think I belong in the latter. I'm not into the music scene
enough to know what's new, nor do I really care which order my songs are in, just so long as it is in the style
I like. For me, I think the satellite radio route is probably the better fit.

The Day the Music Died

Oh I'm in pain. My poor Sirius Satellite Radio finally bit the dust. It lived a good life. For the past three
years it has been my constant buddy. My Audiovox SIRPNP2 plug & play unit travelled with me from my car to my desk
at work and back again, dutifully providing me with tunes to help the day / drive go by. Unfortunately, three years
of constant (and I mean CONSTANT) use finally caught up with it. I got in my car the other morning to come to
work, and as is my habit, snapped the radio into my car dock. It glowed the friendly orange Sirius Dog icon back at
me as I backed out of the driveway and hit the road. When I got to the main street, I felt that it was strangely
quiet in my car. I glanced at the radio and noticed it was still on that same screen. Usually, the dog icon is up
for a second as the radio boot, and a moment later the music kicks in along with the display of the title, artist,
and stream information. This time it just stayed on the icon. Hmmmm.... I powered down the unit and powered again.
Same thing. I hit the menu button and found it displayed the settings menu, but nothing seemed to be wrong there.
That's when I hit the Sirius ID menu which displays the unit's unique ID (and acts as my account). Rather than
displaying my ESN, it was blank! My device had amnesia of the worst kind. Without the ID, it couldn't decode
the music stream, which meant my little beat box was done.

The warranty had long since expired, so when I got to work I decided to pry it open and see if I could get
some more life out of it. Maybe a cable was loose, or a solder joint had broken. I couldn't find anything wrong
though, so I pieced it back together and docked it. Woohoo, after power on it started playing again. I must have
bumped something back into the right position. That afternoon I brought some lunch home to the family. Unfortunately,
the radio didn't survive the trip from my desk to the car this time. Upon docking it in my car, the same behavior
as I had seen that morning. Still, I held out hope. Perhaps it was just an issue with the dock. When I got back to
work I was disappointed that even in the home docking kit, the unit was still taking a dirt nap. I tried the
open heart surgery approach again, but it failed this time. :-(

I took a look at the current Sirius equipment available that can go from car to home. Unfortunately, none of the
newer equipment can use my same docking stations. That means that if I want to replace my radio, I have to replace
the two docks as well. Usually a radio will come with a car kit, but the home kit is extra. If I wanted to replace
my unit with the modern equivalent, it would be $150 for the car kit and radio, plus another $50 for the home kit.
That's $200 we don't have right now. We just got hit with a shocker from our medical insurance (we've exhausted our
wellness benefit for the year, which is what covers our innoculations for Samantha) and we want to have a nice
Christmas, so we're pinching pennies as is. Not that we're hurting, we're just trying to keep expenses to a minimum,
and this is a fairly big unplanned expense. There's a new Sirius radio out called the Stilletto 100 which acts as
both an MP3 player and a Sirius Tuner. It's being called wearable, as it's about the size of an iPod with the
antenna built right in. That would be an awesome upgrade, but the cost is frightening: $350. Maybe it will go
on my Christmas list.

So I was left with a tough decision. Eat the expense to replace my radio, or cancel my account. I decided to
cancel my account. It wasn't an easy decision either, as I LOVE my Sirius radio. I called the customer service line
and let them know what was going on. They offered to give me a different radio for free. There is a "Sirius ONE"
radio which is a car only unit. It's pretty vanilla, offering a single line of text, and it is meant for the car
only. If I get a new radio, I want one that goes from the car to my desk. Even if the new one is free (which is
a really great offer) it didn't really pique my interest. The free tuner offer still stands for the next 30 days,
so I might change my mind, but as of today I am no longer a Sirius subscriber.

Video Games Live

Last night I got to take advantage of my father's day gift. Back on Father's day, Jenn and the kids got me tickets to see Video Games Live as it came to Indianapolis during GenCon. Video Games Live is a concert where the symphony orchestra and symphony choir perform music from video games. Prior to the show, Jenn and I headed to Rock Bottom for some dinner. The main seating area was full with a 30 minute wait, but the basement was first come first serve and we easily found seats. We sampled the beer (we both really liked the raccoon red) and had a dinner. My fish and chips was especially interesting because they used salmon rather than white fish. It was really good! Jenn had the ale basted chicken, which she said was really good as well. Over dinner I spent some time explaining to Jenn what the difference was between a pen & paper role playing game (like Dungeons and Dragons) and video game role playing games (like Final Fantasy). As we were speaking, folks attending the GenCon show rolled in and she got a first hand look at some hardcore Role-Players.

We got to the show with a few minutes to spare and quickly found our seats. Jenn thought it was funny that at this show there was a line for the men's room, and the lady's room was practically deserted. In addition to the orchestra and choir, the show also had a big screen display where they showed cut-scenes and in game footage of the games they were playing music from. The stage lighting was also synchronized to the music. The opening section was a montage of several different video games from past to present. Following this, the producer of the show would come out and introduce each section of music and what game it was from. You might be surprised to learn that I hadn't played all of the games, but the music was great. I really enjoyed the show. There were some lesser known pieces, like from Beyond Good and Evil and Advent Rising, as well as the more popular games like Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Brothers, and Sonic the Hedgehog. During the second act, a guy who had claimed fame by playing video game music blindfolded on the piano came to the stage and amazed everyone with his ability. I wish I could remember his name, but it was amazing to see his fingers fly across the keyboard, pounding out one video game tune after the other. I've always really liked the music from the Final Fantasy series of games, and to hear him play it on the piano was just astonishing. I loved it!!!

There was a 20 minute intermission between acts, and this provided nearly as much entertainment as the show in the form of people watching. I had read about folks who get into cos-play (dressing in the costume of your favorite characters) but hadn't seen it in person. I think Jenn was a little freaked out at first, but I thought it was cool to see folks decked out in Pokemon, Castlevania, and Advance Wars attire. Some of the outfits I couldn't identify, and some were revealing to say the least, but it was a blast to see. There was a guitar hero 2 competition, and a space invaders competition going on as well.

Speaking of space invaders, there were interactive sections of the show as well. During the first act, the producer invited one of the concert goers on stage (named Bob, of course). He was given a t-shirt that had the "blaster" from space invaders on the back, and they put the game on the big screen above the stage. As Bob moved left and right across the stage, so did the blaster on the screen. He had a button he could press to shoot, and he was given 5 lives and 2 minutes to try to clear the level. He did pretty well, considering that he didn't appear to be the most spry individual, and he managed to not fall of the stage as well. It had the crowd cheering and laughing all at once, which was great. During the second act, there was a frogger competition. During this competition, two volunteers used a standard frogger controller to try to get the highest score. I remember frogger, but I didn't realize this game was 25 years old now. The girl who was playing was only 17, and had never played it before. Still, she won the competition (and a new laptop) beating out an older gamer. I'm thinking the old timer might have just thrown the match to give the girl the laptop.

The show was awesome, and I love every minute of it. Even though Jenn isn't a gamer, she still appreciated the music. At times, I forgot we were listening to music live, as it sounded just like what I hear when I'm playing. I hope the concert comes back again next year, and if it does, I'll be asking for it again at Father's day. Thanks, family (including you mom for watching the kids), for an unforgettable night out!

Same Sex Marriage

Here is another case of our administration totally blowing my mind. When did we decide it was okay to start
discriminating people again based on their lifestyle choices. The president has put forth a bill to congress that
would create a new Amendment to the Constitution (think Bill of Rights here) that would make it impossible for
same sex couples to be legally wed.

This is my opinion on my marriage. Marriage is a religious affair. It is the joining of two souls in the
eyes of God to become one person. In my opinion, the government has no place regulating marriage at all, as I feel
it is a religious issue, not a government issue. The reason our government is involved is that we recognize
married couples for the purpose of special taxation, power of attorney, and ownership of properties.

I don't understand homosexuality. I don't have any gay friends, and I'll readily admit that I'm a bit uncomfortable
around the topic. I do, however, understand the concept of love, and it is my opinion that any two people that share
a love should, so long as our government recognizes married couples, have the same rights as anyone else. To
publicly discriminate against any peoples is wrong in my mind. I am aware that the majority of Americans do not
share this opinion (polls show just over 50% of americans support the idea of banning same-sex marriage). It just
seems so wrong to me that in the middle of a document detailing how fairly and equally all people in the US should
be treated, we would stick this black eye detailing how one group of people should NOT be treated equally.

Illegal Immigrants

The media magnifying glass has been on the subject of illegal aliens recently. We've seen hundreds of thousands of
people leave their jobs for a day to petition the US government to provide amnesty to those who have entered the
country illegally but contribute to American society. The argument is that these folks want to be Americans,
contribute to the American way of life, take jobs that are either unwanted or underpaid, and are of indespensable
utility to the US. For this reason, illegal immigrants should not be prosecuted, and should instead be made full
citizens and given the right to vote.

This just doesn't sit right with me. It's not that I have something against people wanting to become American
citizens. I think that's fantastic. It shows just what a great country we have the people are falling over
themselves to break in and become Americans. What bothers me is the attitude that, if enough people do something
illegal over a long enough period of time, we should just accept it. There are literally millions of people in
the United States who broke the law to get here. To give up on our legal system and just say, "Ok, you beat the
law, so you win" sends a terrible message. It's sets a precedent for other types of unlawful behavior to become
acceptable. What other difficult to enforce laws are going to hit with this same reasoning?

Here's an analogy. Imagine someone breaks into your home in the middle of the night. They wash your dirty dishes,
vacuum your floors, and generally tidy up around the house. In the morning, you wake up, and find your house is
truly better for it, but aren't you a little creeped out that someone has invaded your home? What if the breakin
artist hadn't been so benevolent?

The system for gaining citizenship in the US is broken, there is no doubt about that. The solution, though, is
not to throw out our immigration laws but to find a way to allow those who want to be Americans and contribute
to our society to enter our country in an organized way. What makes our country great is not just our freedoms,
but our melting pot of cultures and peoples. The way to keep our brew going, so to speak, is to continue to bring
in people from all over the world to contribute to our society.

So to those out there in our country illegal, I'm sorry, but I can't sympathize with you. You have broken the law
and you should not simply be forgiven because so many other people have done it for so long. I have worked with
too many good people who have done the long and arduous paper shuffle to legitimately become citizens to allow you
to shortcut the system like that. I appreciate your desire to contribute to our society, and I do want you to
eventually be able to do that. Before you do, I beg you to come to our country in the free and clear.

Domestic Spying

This topic totally floors me. I can't begin to explain just how deeply disappointed I am with our government for
instituting a system for spying on our own citizens. What's worse is that it seems most Americans don't care. Our
freedom from government intrusion into our lives is one of our inalienable rights! Holy crap, when did search
without a warrant become OK? This is an incredibly slippery slope which seems to have no safeguards to prevent
some perverse member of our government (Karl Rove? Donald Rumsfeld?) from using it to treat us all as potential
criminals. Back in revolutionary days, the English government could search your home for any reason without warrant.
They could demand that you quarter their soldiers. The Bill of Rights specified inalienable rights that would
prevent these types of intrusions from ever being brought to bear against American citizens. Yet somehow, we've
forgotten that. Here is Amendment IV of the Bill of Rights:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Regardless of whether we are in wartime or peacetime, no person in this country should endure the intrusion upon
their private conversations in their homes. Based on current reasoning, how long until all of our conversations
are recorded and analyzed for potential "Anti-Americanism". How long until telling your buddy on the phone that
"You don't like Bush" leads to your being whisked away to a Cuban prison? Don't think this isn't already happening?
How about when CIA agent Valery Plame's husband publicly disagreed with Bush, and his wife's agent status was
suddenly "leaked" days later? How about the reporter, Judith Miller, who exposed the story being sent to jail
because she wouldn't out her informer.

There are so many instances of abominable behavior by this administration that I really fear where our country is
headed. We imprison thousands in an offshore military camp without hope of trial. We imprison reporters for
exposing improper government activity. We destroy the careers of those who oppose the actions of the president.
And the worst, we spy on the conversations of every one of our citizens we can. Election day can't come soon enough,
I just hope enough Americans are as disgusted as I am so we can get things set right.