Ok, I think it's Official

This iteration of the Nullset is officially dormant - please come see me at amyslaadventure.blogspot.com/

Why is Oliver Sacks EVERYWHERE?

You know that phenomenon where you re-hear some old song you love and then it's everywhere - in the elevator, on some TV show, in the CD player of your friend's car? Yeah, right now, my song is Oliver Sacks.

He'd always existed in that vague soup of famous scientists, authors and artists that are well-known in general, but not well known to me. Now that I've become more familiar with him and his works, I realize it's probably in a large part due to the movie Awakenings. In my new mania for neuroscience, his work has been referenced here and there and Amazon.com certainly seems to think I should be reading his books. So, I've been reading through my Christmas gift The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat and now he's everywhere! He was referenced by Daniel Tammet on a recent On Point episode and he popped up in the opening act of this week's Radio Lab. WHo knows where he'll show up next.. though hopefully my TiVo won't get any ideas and record Awakenings. blech.

My TiVo Nightmare Continues

Ah, TiVo, you have brought my so much happiness for years and so much pain in the past month. After my ridiculous saga of not properly installed CableCARDs, I've been successfully watching and recording HD TV for a couple of weeks now and taking advantage of Netflix Watch Instantly (the main reason I purchased this new TiVo in the first place). Unfortunately, that all came to a screeching halt today when my brand new TiVo's hard drive apparently failed.

So, now, I can't even watch live TV because I have no cable box thanks to the fact that I had to make the switch to a stupid CableCARD and, best of all, I get to go through the whole CableCARD pairing process with Comcast again once my replacement box arrives. Brilliant.

My Tivo HD/Comcast Saga comes to a Triumphant End!

About a week ago, I was in a pit of despair about the fact that I'd had 2 visits from Comcast installers and still my new TiVo HD was not hooked in to my cable. Comcast Customer Support kindly took notice of my blog rant and offered assistance. I was hoping that the "third time's a charm" and I wouldn't need it, but unfortunately that visit didn't go so well either. So, after a call to Comcast Support line, emails and calls with the Support reps who reached out to me via my blog, and a tag team effort by three technicians, everything is right with the world. My TiVo HD is now functioning as more than just a fancy Netflix Streaming receiver.

To be honest, I was hesitant about taking advantage of the Customer Service, especially when they said they would put a note on my upcoming Troubleshooting work order. I've seen that backfire with other companies who essentially mark you as a technological hypochondriac and give you worse service. But, fortunately, that wasn't the case here. Although one tech started to mention another call in which it was actually a faulty TiVo unit and not a problem with Comcast, they were true to their word and stayed for almost 60 minutes to ferret out the mistake made during my last installation attempt and make sure I was receiving all the channels in my package.