Liar liar...

Sex, Lies and Audio Equipment:
So late last week I said that the Harman Kardon AVR140 was the receiver/amp I was going to get for my new spiffy home theatre at the new pad. Well I totally lied. While this is an extremely well reviewed receiver it really lacks any true muscle/power at 40W per channel output (thanks for the heads up Lee). So I am actually going to be getting the Denon AVR-3805 receiver/amp. 100W/channel, 4 optical audio inputs, HDMI switching (not that I would use it) and all the necessary surround features including DTS (nice, eh Dan).

House Stuff:
Ok so the process of finding a new house was a pain, as it took us 18 months. But really that is NOTHING compared to the process of selling, and getting a house ready to sell-
- Tuesday: home inspection (thankfully came out scot free)
- Thursday: termite inspection AND the stagers are doing a preliminary review
- Friday: door to door storage is coming to drop off a unit so we can load all the crap that needs to be out before the listing. I will be busting my tail loading it up this weekend.
- Next Tuesday: painters are coming to give a preliminary estimate
- THEN: painting, actual staging, moving out of the house for a week during the listing, and then taking offers
PHEW.... But I am crossing fingers that we will hit our #.

Sports:
Ok the Pac10 sucks, what more can be said. A shockingly mediocre conference. Right now there are 2 locks with UW and UCLA being them. After that I would say Cal is a soft-lock (really needing to go 3-2 in the next 5) but really close. AZ is the team that would be the 4th from the conference and Stanford is on the outside looking in. This being said the Big East might get 9 teams in. That is insane.

New to you...

New Stuff:

House:
Many/some of you know that we just bought a new pad. One of the cool things, which helps considering how many daunting things there are with regards to buying a new house and selling an old one, is that I get to buy a new TV. Also, because there is 6.1 surround sound in the ceiling of this house I need a new receiver to work that center rear speaker (for those of you that don’t know here is a break down of the different types of surround sound:

• 5.1 – 1 center speaker, 2 front speakers, 2 surround speakers – totaling 5 speakers and the .1 is the subwoofer.
• 6.1 – same as above but a center rear surround speaker
• 7.1 – same as above but with a left rear and a right rear
• 8.1 – same as above but with a left center and a right center

Receiver Specifics:
So this being said here is the receiver I will be getting from Harman Kardon. It is great since it is a) cheap, b) great reviews, and c) has multiple optical audio ins and the necessary surround abilities.

TV Time:
So we currently have a 57” rear projection HD Television which is in a word, great (anyone know someone that wants to buy it). Since this house will require us to place a TV on the wall above the fireplace we are going to have to get a plasma (or other flat panel) TV. Here is my rant on people buying plasma or other TVs in this day and age…. If you buy a TV that only displays 720p you are wasting your money, if you buy a TV that displays 1080p at this point you are wasting your money. Here is why… While many consider EDTV (720p) to be close enough to HD that you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference (and I am sure I cannot) it still seems like a waste when spending $1500 plus on a set not to throw another 10% or so into the TV to get the full HD output. This being said I am a hypocrite because for a premium of about 20-30% one can buy a TV that will output in 1080p which is the highest output available. The thing about 1080p is that there is a grand total of ZERO output in 1080p today. Blu-ray DVD will be 1080p and some TV stuff in 6 months will be but otherwise there isn’t any.

Okay that is it for my soapbox. Here is the TV I am getting from Pioneer. I have calls into all the Magnolia Hi/Fi stores in the area so that when an open box comes in they will call me and I will get my TV (they of course will also do the install). Pioneer has done something really quite brilliant where they have a receiver box that sits in the case with all the AV equipment and has 2 HDMI inputs, 2 coax inputs, 2 component inputs, 2 firewire inputs and other standard video inputs allowing you to not have to run tons of cables through the wall. It also manages the PIP for you even with HD feeds. Just seems like good tech to me is all.

So there you go. Drucker’s new stuff, well it will be new when I actually am allowed to buy it.

Slingbox, Slingbox, Slingbox....

Current Plan:
For the past week and change I had been doing about 100 push-ups a day - most of these in the morning when I would do a set of about 20, followed by 2 sets of 15 or so.  What I had been finding is that I would be beat after the first 2 sets and found it hard to do a set of 12 later in the day.  In an effort to continue building strength so that 2 months from now when I have to do 100 a day I will be easily able to I am going to be doing 2x the daily allotment every other day until about the 60th day or so (2 more weeks).  I rested yesterday and today I was able to do a solid set of 30 (most ever in one set for me) followed by a set of 20 (tougher but not terrible).  Later in the day I was easily able to do 2 more sets of 20.  I should be an exercise guru for goodness sakes.  Also, I got another sucker, I mean person, at work to start on the plan.  

The Daily Show:
I seem to keep blogging about this but yesterday was another classic.  I think that the Cheney thing just inspires quality comedy.  How could it not?

Sports:
Cal has another really tough weekend and if we sweep this weekend I think we can be considered a lock for the NCAA tournament.  Good times.  Fingers crossed.

The Angels are about to sign a solid free agent pitcher but still need a good power bat to hit behind Vlad.  Just my thoughts is all.

Slingbox:
One of the people that I was able to preach the Slingbox to has been working in Hong Kong for the last month and might be more in love with the device than me as he has been able to watch all his DVR’d shows ½ way around the world.  Slingbox you guys certainly do rock.  I will keep the customers coming. (