Sweet Catastrophe

Do you watch The Big Bang Theory? Kristi got me started watching it, of course. It’s about two extreme dorks/geniuses who live across the hall from a pretty aspiring actress, and the dorks’ two best friends. They all have their quirks, hilarity ensues.

The first 20 seconds of this Barenaked Ladies tune is their theme song and I’ve never made it without singing along by the end.

I think I started watching right before season 2 aired. (Is that right, Krizzle?) For season 1 and season 2 I’d have said, “Yeah it’s good. Worth watching.” But season 3 has just been hilarious! Every single episode has had me laughing out loud! I guess originally the show was meant to focus mostly on one of the dorks getting together with their neighbor, but the writers have finally settled on focusing on Sheldon and it’s a formula that works, and isn’t getting old!

Based on this season alone I’m keeping my eyes open for a good sale to pick up the first two seasons of The Big Bang Theory because I will own season 3 and I don’t think I’m capable of owning an incomplete set…that would drive me mad. In fact, I have one DVD from an anime series that I could never get ahold of the rest for a decent price and I can’t leave that case sitting on my shelf. It’s stashed behind my VHS collection!

If you’re not already watching I’d say season 3 is absolutely worth catching up with season 1 & 2 to watch. The laughs are continuous!

I haven’t had a headboard for quite some time, but I recently stumbled across a design that really appealed to me, and now I kind of have to have it. If you think about it, I’m sure you could guess what that might be– storage bed =)

Currently I’m eying this Manhattan 6-Drawer King Size Platform Storage Bed and Storage Headboard. The image isn’t very detailed, but the drawers run on either side with a 20″ depth with finger pulls on the bottom edge of the drawers to eliminate the need for knobs that I’d inevitably stub my toes on! The shelves on the headboard are 11″ deep– I’d just have to keep Ryan from even beginning a habit of leaving drinks there or we’d end up with soaked heads!

I think I want to replace my desk first, though. I just bought something on sale when I moved out on my own and while it’s held up great, I hate the thing. It’s wobbly and nothing but particle board and metal rods.

I want this Corner Work Station! I love corner units, but so many of them have shelving up top and only open room for a single monitor– I need an open area to fit both monitors. And I love that this one has a little mobile CPU stand. My case has fans on the top and both sides so I can’t shove it on a shelf and I really hate to just have it sitting on the floor. I’m gonna keep looking around to see if I can find it in a darker wood, though.

Despite recent financial pains, I’m not writing off all the things I want to do. We’ll figure out a way to make everything work, and I’m just gonna keep saving every penny I can, and working towards our goals bit by bit, and just going for them when the opportunity presents itself.

The last thing we’ll be working on when we upgrade all of our living room furniture will be the coffee tables and end tables. Believe it or not, we actually have a matching set already *shock* and they’re in great shape, I just don’t like them. They’re made to look like green marble and yeah….they’re just not pretty at all. But for now they’re functional and look nice enough since they aren’t falling apart or anything.

I finally went through all the sale items today to see if I could even find pieces I like, I’m still a little on the picky side, but I was actually surprised to find something I loved on the first page of results!

This Jamison Rectangular Storage Cocktail Table by Ashley Furniture is perfection! It’s got almost the exact coloring I want, offers 4 working drawers for storage, and this thing weighs 100 lbs! It’s not particle board that’s going to fall apart after a year or two of abuse, this is hardwood. Ryan can be pretty hard on furniture, so something sturdy is a must.

And they have the perfect matching Jamison Rectangular Storage End Table as well! Again, this one is 80 lbs so it’s a good, solid piece of furniture. And I love the big storage space. The cabinet would be a great space for tossing random clutter into when you have unexpected guests ;)

And believe it or not, both pieces offer free shipping! I hope I can still find these, or something similar when we can afford to get them.

After we secure new couches for the living room, I’ve got my eyes on a new entertainment center. The one we have now is probably at least 12 years old and was never really meant to last this long, but it has! I’d like to retire it to the bedroom, for now, and get something nicer for all our pretty things in the living room.

Compartments are key– we’re looking at something to hold the television, Xbox, Wii, PS2, controllers and other gaming accessories, video games, my DVD box sets, and ideally all the rest of my DVDs. That’s not a must-have, but it would definitely be nice.

Drawers and cabinets are fine, but I’d actually like my DVDs in an open display. *shrug* I dunno if I just like seeing all my DVDs out there, or if it’s just how pretty and organized they always are even if the rest of the house is a disaster– lol!

I really like the look of this entertainment center, but I don’t like that it’s three separate pieces. I guess that gives more options for how to arrange it all, but I really like it all as one unit.

I could get behind this corner stand, for sure. It wouldn’t hold all my movies, but the consoles would all fit nicely and shoving it back into the corner would open up space for other shelving. It looks a lot brighter here in the picture, but I usually like a good cherry stain.

I like all the space this modular unit offers. I think I could get my whole collection there. I’m not sold on the composite, but I do like the design. I like the open feel– it would be suitable for the small living room we have now.

Again, I just wish money would fall from the sky and land in my Jeep or something. I hate knowing what I want and not being able to just go out and get it. For now I’ll have to stick to putting money aside and keeping my eyes peeled for an awesome sale and just hope I have the money for it when I see it! I think that’s the worst– finding an incredible deal and having to pass it up *cringe*

It wasn’t terribly long ago that I had an epiphany and realized it was time to start working on some more adult furniture for my home. Time to slowly phase out all the hand-me-down pieces and things left over from my childhood– I’ve had my entertainment center since I was like 12. I don’t think that thing was ever meant to last so long.

Unless we just run into items on sale, I’m going couches first, then entertainment center, then coffee table/end tables.

Our poor couches– we haven’t actually had them for too long, and they were nice couches at some point, but they’re just old and worn. They’re a cream leather and ugh, the cushions won’t stay in place for anything. But I paid $20 for both of them so *shrug* Can’t exactly complain.

So now that we’re talking about it I’m having to actually think about what colors I want in my living room. If I thought I could get away with it, I’d have every room done in red and black, I swear, but I think I finally talked myself into limiting that to the master bathroom and kitchen…ya know, when a few million dollars falls from the sky into my arms and I get to design or redo my own home.

I think I want to go with a warm brown and maybe blue. This leather couch would be perfect, or even the whole set. I thought I’d get tired of leather and the way it holds the cold, but really that’s minor compared to the benefits– the easy cleaning and great look. I always use a blanket on the couch anyway. I really want to go with a solid, dark wood on the entertainment and shelving in the room so the deeper brown in this couch would really fit great with that.

Just one detail at a time!

Meet my new laptop. Okay, well, it’s not my laptop yet, but this is it, it’s the one! Ryan really came through on this one. We talked, at length, about what I wanted– must-haves, extras I’d like, things I absolutely didn’t want, and price range. We talked about brands and I decided I’d like an HP or an Asus. Asus won! Wow did Asus ever win…

16″ display. 4GB RAM. DVD±RW/CD-RW drive. 500GB hard drive (yum!). Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M. Windows 7 64-bit. The reviews are glowing– apparently the battery life is fantastic and there’s a lot of talk about how long it takes for it to even feel like it’s heating up.

And how much? $529! And that’s not even a sale price.

I’ve even taken it for a test-drive and I love it. The color is great, not a lot of worry about fingerprints. It’s a great weight and it’s the perfect size for me. 4 usb ports so I don’t have to worry about that. I’m definitely excited. We’ve been fans of Asus and their motherboards for quite a while, it’s great to see they seem to have the same quality and price in their laptops.

I’ve got to wait a little while to actually get it, but hey, it can only really go down in price, right?

I love new music! All day yesterday I was running across people talking about The Script and I filed it away to check out later until I asked Ben for suggestions on something to listen to and he brought them up as well so I dove right in. Breakeven was the first suggestion I got so I hit up YouTube and opened a window with the lyrics and by the first chorus I said, “holy shit, I love this song.” With lyrics like– when a heart breaks, no, it don’t break even, and my favorite– what am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you, it was a guaranteed Jade hit, but it really is just a fantastic song. It’s got a great beat that makes you just want to belt it out at the top of your lungs, catchy lyrics that make sure it’ll be cemented to your brain, and *gasp* some damn good lyrical content to round it out! I was certainly impressed. I’m picking up their self-titled album this week. Check it out and see for yourself:

(Let me know if that will actually play in your window– my old plugin isn’t working anymore.)

That’s how I am with music– because I listen to so much, yes, I download, but I do it to sample. If I only like a song or two then I’m done, but if you’ve got a solid album that I can really enjoy, I have absolutely no problem picking up your album on sale and giving you my support. But if I bought entire albums for all the one-hit-wonders in my collection, I wouldn’t be able to feed myself!

The Script are an Irish Pop Rock band from Dublin–currently located in London. They’ve been around since ‘08 but I don’t think they really hit US airwaves until early ‘09. I’m not necessarily comparing them to Jason Mraz, but I’d easily say if you enjoy him, you’ll enjoy The Script.

Let me know what you guys think! I’m off to check out some other suggestions from Brian.

Our weekend shopping trip didn’t go as planned. Ryan decided he wasn’t at all in the mood to shop. I, on the other hand, was doing great! I went into all of two stores and got 5 cute pair of underwear from VS for only $16 and found a $40 pair of shoes on clearance for $8– last pair in my size! How awesome? And they’re adorable. If I thought I could lose weight fast I’d have bought a ton of cute outfits in VS, but I’m taking that slowly :-P

Ryan, on the other hand, actually looked in one store and then said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.” He killed my shopping buzz :( I could’ve found some amazing sells, I bet.

…or something, idk. I may, or may not have, mentioned that our latest roommate is into drag. I’ve never seen him done up because his ex took all of his wigs and most of his outfits when he left so he’s trying to slowly accumulate a collection again. He wants to get back to doing videos and he’s got a few key things to get before he can do that again.

He already has his eye on a few simple wigs that he can do a lot with and has some outfits ready to go, so the biggest thing he’s looking at now is a good camcorder. I think he’s got his eye set on getting something top-of-the-line, but I just don’t think that’s what he needs right now and I think he’s overlooked some of his options on the cheaper spectrum, thinking he won’t get as good quality, but he totally can.

Like this Coby Digital Camcorder– It’ll take a memory card, so it can store as much as he wants as long as he picks up an SD card, and you can get those pretty cheap now. It has a resolution of 640×480 which is more than enough for the YouTube videos he plans to do. It’ll also take pictures so he can attack his Facebook photo albums again as well. It’s on the Weekend Sale page for under $50 and free shipping, of course, and you really can’t beat that.

He should be home in a little while and I think I’m gonna show him this one. He probably can’t grab this one before the sell is up, but he can look around and get an idea of what’s available in this lower price range and see if he can find something he likes and maybe catch a deal. God knows he needs an outlet right now.

I haven’t kept it a secret that I sort of love Buy.com, but I had another experience with them this week that cemented my love even further.

I’ve been shopping around for a new FM Transmitter for the Jeep. Despite being almost 5 years old, my Belkin still works great, but the position of my cigarette outlet puts it in an awkward spot. It sits right behind the shifter so when I’m in park, it’s touching the screen. I didn’t even have any minor scratches on the face of my dear Ripper until I moved to the Jeep, and now I have three. =( I can’t see the screen when it’s in park either so I can’t watch The Office in my Jeep during breaks at work, and that’s super disappointing. And the positioning is awkward enough that I can’t comfortably reach the “Next” button when Shuffle isn’t being friendly.

So two weeks ago I found one of the transmitters I’ve been looking at on the Weekly Sale page for a really great price. It was regularly around the $50 range, but it was on sale for cheap enough that I didn’t even have to think twice about buying it. I could skip fast food one night and justify buying it.

I couldn’t tell exactly how the hookup was set up, but it came with a remote, so I knew it was guaranteed to be better than what I already had.

I was sorely disappointed when it arrived. I immediately hooked it up and found that the remote just wouldn’t work for me. It had to be pointed directly at the unit, and needed to be within 3 inches. Pointless? Yup. And at times, the buttons would change functions– I’d be pressing “Next” for the next song and it would just start fast forwarding. I thought maybe I had pressed it a certain way to make that happen (no instruction booklet since it was mostly a self-explanatory unit) but then it started changing the FM station, which was supposed to be controlled by a completely separate section of the remote! I was annoyed, but the unit itself sat much closer to the dash and thus pulled my iPod away from the shifter so I decided I’d keep it and just chalk the remote up as a loss. I didn’t pay that much anyway, ya know?

And then the next day I got nothing out of it. I got so frustrated flipping through stations and when they’d sync up the station would go clear like it normally does but it wouldn’t transmit the iPod through. When I parked I just started trying random things with the remote and eventually I turned it off. The screen on the unit even read, “Off” and lo and behold, my iPod started coming through the speakers.

At that point I packaged it back up and jumped on Buy.com to start the refund process. When I pulled my order up, I read that since my item was purchased through a Marketplace Seller that I needed to contact them directly. I don’t know why, but this automatically put me in defense mode because I expected them to hassle me. I’ve never had a problem with Buy.com providing assistance so I don’t know why I was worried, but I was. I emailed them and kept it factual until the end when I told them I thought it was a, “glitchy piece of crap from China.” Oops.

Anyway, I was prepared to argue with someone about paying for the defective item to be returned and waiting two weeks for a refund, but I was shocked to find that within 24 hours I received an email from Buy.com letting me know that a refund request had been issued. I was confused because I hadn’t spoken with anyone about sending the item back! But moments later I got an email letting me know that they’d issued a request for a refund to me, they apologized for the (maybe) defective item, and told me I didn’t need to send it back.

I was pleasantly surprised by that! My email was pretty clear that the unit’s basic functions were working, just that it was being awfully quirky, so I’m surprised they told me to keep it! I’m leaving it in my kit in the Jeep to have as a backup if/when mine gives out.

So of course Buy.com and their Marketplace Sellers have solidified my love for them. I just wasn’t sure how picky they were about who they allowed to sell on the site, but now I see their sellers offer just as great customer service as Buy.com does.

So now I’m looking at this transmitter so I can raise the iPod above the shifter and turn it towards me. It also charges the iPod, which is an absolute must for me in a transmitter. I already know the shape will hold Ripper in place safely, I’m just not sure if I’m ready to try my luck with another remote control. I also can’t shake that, “you get what you pay for” vibe so the low prices are scaring me a little. lol I mean, I paid almost $100 for my current transmitter and it’s still going strong– I really want to find something like that again with an updated style to fit my new needs. What do you think?