Sunday, March 30, 2014

Fox Dives Headfirst Into Snow | North America (youtube)





Amazing.


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Courts extended warranty

I bought a 32 inch Sony TV a few years ago from courts. There was a promotion at the time that was giving four years warranty included in the price. Three and half years later that TV would develop bubbles on the screen that would progressively get worse over a couple weeks. I went into courts to find out about having it repaired. I found out 32 inch and bigger TVs have a free pickup service under the warranty. It was collected during working hours and a few days later I called to find out about the TV's progress. I was told it could not be repaired and I was entitled to a new TV.

I went back to the same branch I bought the TV to see what was offered and I chose one that was $1000 less than the price I paid years ago. I would have to return a few days later to get the refund of the price difference. It turns out that the extended warranty worked very much in my favour so I took a four year plan for this new set. The TV came with two years standard and I had to pay a few hundred more for an additional two years.

The prices of the TVs were generally good compared to other stores so I would say Courts has the best deals with price and warranty. I did not find any other stores that offered four years warranty. If this is the case for other products then I highly recommend paying for this option. Things usually break just outside of the standard warranty period. Thank you Courts.

Machel Monday 2014

I attended the show on the 24th Feb. I enjoyed the show very much but there is still lots of room for improvement. I approached Hasely Crawford at about  9.00pm. I saw cars parked on the sides of the roads and driving onto the grass sections between the traffic lights. I was approaching from the east. When I asked a police officer for advice on where was safe to park or where the parking lot was I got a reply that she did not know where was safe or where I could park. She was the only officer visible. There had been men on the sides of the road calling cars to park on the grass and shoulders. Eventually I went to the west side of the stadium only to find out the VIP parking lot was full. The guard at the gate said to go to the field north of the stadium, where I did get a park.. after a long wait in the now crowded roadway. I do not know if wreckers were patrolling the area and taking cars but I would not be surprised.

At around 9.20 I was inside the VIP area and could see the crowd was very one sided with VIP having a much bigger crowd than general. The floor was covered over in plastic/rubber? tiles which had a few pop up when you walked on them. Women had a hard time with their heels going down into holes and the floors not being stable. There was DJ music until 10.00 when eventually the performances started.

A five minute count down was started to bring in the 10.00 hour. I was about twenty five meters away from the stage while I was there. The sound was amazing. The artists themselves performed very well as well as the musicians and the stage. The performances were continuous for over four hours. There were Spoken Word performances while bands changed equipment on stage. It was well worth the price of $600ttd. General audience area was behind a 6 foot fence but could look at two large screens and their own set of speakers. Many people were in the seats in both VIP and general. VIP could only sit on the western side but general could sit on the western and eastern sides.

There were a couple minor hiccups in the show, all small but noticeable. The show was still great. The washrooms that were closest to the entrance had a line for the females because there were not many stalls and some females started using the male stalls. There was soap and toilet paper in the washrooms thankfully. The step at the top level of the stage was very high and especially tricky for the female performers who had on heels and had to jump to the lower level. A couple of dancers had light up suits that died after a few seconds and they went off stage afterwards. One of the guests was not prepared to go on stage when he was called and Machel made up a few minutes until he came up. The spotlight operators did not always show the performers when they started. At least twice I noticed a remote drone pass over the crowd and eventually stop above the area I was in. I did not feel safe with it above me.

There were police officers walking through the crowd for the duration of the show. Some of them had large guns and riot gear. There were fire officers walking through the stands.The heat from the crowd was intense. It felt degrees cooler when walking through an opening without people around. The crowd was huge and I do not think the exits could have accommodated a surge of people trying to get out if there was an emergency.

I enjoyed the show very much despite the minor hiccups.