OK, I'm back but I don't know for how long.

So last night my older son was supposed to come over to watch Survivor with us. He was also supposed to help us move some furniture around. I see now the value in having boys instead of girls. :)

I've always been a collector, stamps, movies, TV series. I've got movies and TV series on tapes, DVDs and CDs. When I first got a VCR, I got two because I knew I'd be making copies of movies. And that was when they cost $600 apiece and $600 was a LOT of money.

The first DVD player I bought held 200 DVD's, I just couldn't see continually taking them from their folders and putting them into a machine and then having to get up to take it out when the movie was over. Well, it's over-full by about 70 right now. So I decided I needed something bigger, went out on the net and found that there's a 400 DVD player out now (much cheaper than the 200 was when I bought it).

Well, the new unit's slightly larger than the old one and since that one sticks out by a considerable amount past the front of our current entertainment center, we needed a new unit to hold the new machine. Needed a matching decorative shelving unit to sit beside it because, well, because I have a wife, to be honest. But that's OK, I guess she deserves something sometime. :)

So the old unit has to go into the den (like the one before that went into the spare bedroom). And the small bookcase which was beside it had to go into our bedroom. Except to have room for it there, the small bureau has to leave the premises totally (going to my son's apartment for his kid's stuff - it can be so hard to have enough furniture after a divorce), after all my wife's stuff in it is moved into my bureau. I'm down to about 2 drawers now, but that's OK, I only have 2 drawers worth. :)

Only problem with all this was that my son had forgotten that he was supposed to have his kids last night. Thus, he couldn't come over. So we were up the proverbially creek. Only thing is, sometimes God provides, you see.

About the time we began wondering when he was coming he phoned with the bad news. And about the same time my younger son just "dropped by" as he had been close by filling out job applications. This is the first time he's ever done such a thing (of course, he's only had a driver's license for a week or so).

Well, I still did most of the work, but he did all the heavy stuff (well, most of it, despite my wife's concern I had to do enough to totally exhaust myself). We got it all done, he had his older brother's meal, and this morning I'm sitting in my chair, looking eye to eye with "Kong".

Couple of problems. The 25" TV looks so little on this big unit. My wife is going to have to figure out some way to hide the ugly wires going down to the TV (as well as disguising that huge stretch of wall behind it). I've got to transfer all those DVD's to the new machine. And while I'm at it I might as well put them in alphabetical order (why must the lettering be so small on some of them?).

That'll take a while, then putting them into the machine, then typing the names of each one into the machine's index. There is a disk identification registering system, but it only works for about 10% of the movies. Oh, well, nothing's perfect when it comes to computers.

We have two VCR's in the living room, use them for dubbing things, like Survivor shows, cutting out the commercials, recaps at the first of each show, etc. out. But one of them has forgotten how to rewind. So I bought a new one to replace it, took this opportunity to replace the old one.

Even though they're different manufacturers, I found that the remote for the new one and the remote for the old one both operate BOTH VCR's. It's a little tough dubbing when you can't control the two VCR's separately. Oh, well, rewind or not, back to the old machine. When I get around to it. Don't need to be doing any dubbing for another few months.

So my Saturday is going to be busy. Throw in that today's Friday the 13th, tomorrow's Valentine's day, and my boss will be back on next Monday. Oh, well, lives are no more perfect than computers, maybe less, as a matter of fact.

Got an idea for Mindsay. The friends idea is good, especially the part where you can see what the latest posts are. But there's only room for 4 and when you get enough friends and they all post at night you lose track. We need something that shows your friends who have posted since you were last at their site. I know that there are differences already in color, intensity, etc. in the friends list, maybe it could be done there somehow.

You know, they say that your fame is shown by the quality of your enemies. Maybe it's a poor way to say it, but I'm impressed by the names I see of people who list me as one of their friends. Many of them disagree with me totally on many things. Oh, I know it doesn't really mean friend as we usually use the word, but still, thanks guys. It makes the heart feel good that one's opinions are thought of as important, even if you don't agree with them. Now we'll see if any of them drop out. :)

So, how's that for a boring entry. I just couldn't get up the enthusiasm to write about what was on my mind, sparked by last night's Babylon 5 episode. How dishonest, destructive, and divisive the media has been, is now, and always will be. And how indignant they are when you dare to suggest they are thus.

I'll just leave it with this, my conclusion after watching the episode: The more you believe the media and the so-called pundits, the further you are from the truth.