April 28th, 2008
The guys of Big Bang Theory buy the prop time machine from the film The Time Machine. Leonard jumps in and sets the machine to March 10, 1876 the date of the famous first phone call. They proceed to argue over the fact that they all want to go but they would not be able to all fit into the small lab and agree that they should travel into the future to get a cloaking device first. Here’s their conversation about the cloaking device.
Sheldon: First go into the future and obtain a cloaking device.
Rajesh: How far into the future?
Sheldon: If I remember correctly Captain Kirk will steal a cloaking device from the Romulans on stardate 5027.3, which will be January 10th 2328 by pre-Federation reckoning.
As a collector and a fan that plays with their toys the scene that followed was hilarious with the four guys acting out the high speed action that goes on around Leonard while traveling in the time machine. Penny comes in to tell them all how pathetic they all are for still playing with toys. Leonard then goes on to re-evaluate his life, his maturity and his collection. (Bad Penny.)
The Nerdvana that Leonard has created is disappearing as he is packing up his collection to sell to the comic book guy down the street. All his friends want to buy it off of him but he refuses saying it will hurt their friendship if he sells his stuff to one over the others. They try to stop him and he pulls out a Playmates Star trek figures and threatens to open it. 
Sheldon: No I can’t let you do this.
Leonard: Sheldon, get out of my way.
Sheldon: (Grabbing a sword from Leonard’s box) None shall pass.
Leonard: Okay. I did not want to do this, but…I have here the rare mint condition production error Star Trek: The Next Generation Geordi Laforge without his visor in the original packaging. If you do not get out of my way I will open it.
Howard: Okay, man be cool. We’re all friends here.
Penny comes out and Sheldon lets her have it.
Sheldon: You hypocrite.
Penny: What?
Sheldon: Little miss grown-ups don’t play with toys. If I went in to that apartment right now would I not find Beanie Babies? Are you not an accumulator of Care Bears and My Little Ponies? And who is that Japanese feline I see frolicking on your shorts. Hello Hello Kitty.
Penny then apologizes to Leonard about the day before and he just about asks her out when a hunky guy comes up and goes into her apartment with her. Leonard grabs his toys and heads back into the apartment saying, “My turn on the time machine”.
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April 28th, 2008
I have gone through three Comcast Cable DVRs since I have first had them and last night mine started acting up again! Last night’s problem had something to do with the hard drive or the software. I could watch TV, but god forbid I should try to pause or rewind. When I did that all I got was a black screen. From the black screen of nothingness I couldn’t get back to my show either. I had to go to another channel and back again to get anything.
But that wasn’t the only issue, I could not view any of the programs I had recorded to the DVR. They acted the same way. Hit play and all I got was a black screen nothing else, no picture. I was a bit distraught as I have the complete season of Heroes on there to watch and the last four episodes of the Terminator. Both shows I could probably get on DVD sometime soon, but why when I had them already?
Thank the fates that a complete shut down (unplugging and waiting 5-10 minutes) then rebooting seemed to do the trick. Although the box did not seem to want to come back from its complete shut down. It turned on, blinked and went right back off. Third time was a charm and I got a connection. First I tried to pause and it seemed okay, then I went to my recorded programs picked one that was recording while this whole problem was going on and I had picture and sound (at least for the first couple of minutes, I still need to fully test to be sure).
I have had quite a few issues with this box like the sound mysteriously disappearing for no reason. The picture freezes quite often. We get the lovely square digital pixels in the middle of the screen like there is a bad connection somewhere. With the first box we had the guy come out several times he finally put in some type of signal booster, although I don’t think it has truly helped us. That box completely died a long time ago.
Shows don’t always record. Setting a series up is easy enough as long as you want to tape every single show every time it is repeated. I have to manually set recordings for a every week because I can’t tell the DVR to record a show every Thursday at 10 pm only. I have to set it up to record all (because the guide doesn’t tell the system that the only NEW show is Thursday at 10pm and that all the others are repeats throughout the week). Having it record all shows screws with other shows I have series recordings for so I can’t make this easy on myself. The old Comcast software used to let you choose to record this show on the same day/time every week. I wish they would bring that back.
There is still an issue with no sound when you turn the box on. You have to go to the DVR and hit play then go back to whatever show you wanted to watch just so you can hear it. This was an issue early on that was only half way fixed. Either that or it came back.
Biggest problem I have with them is the fact that the DVR even with the problems wasn’t a bad deal, price wise, to begin with. I think I started out paying $10 a month for my box. Each (I have two – even though they kept trying to tell me I was not allowed to have two. That’s why the other one is still a single tuner as I am afraid to take it in an have them refuse to give me another one). Then the prices went up to $11 bucks a month, still cheaper than the Tivo service. Then they rose again and I saw that I had two different prices on my bills for the two different boxes (I really need to find out why) but they jumped to $12 and $16. Now I see by the latest Comcast Cable bill on my table the costs have gone up again to $12 and $18! Okay, now I am seriously going to be looking into a Tivo the Comcast prices have now exceeded the Tivo service fees and in my book the Tivo (an actual Tivo and not this non-working Tivo software crap from Comcast that I have been reading about online) is a much better product and service.
I can’t live without my DVR but no one says it has to be a buggy piece of crap from Comcast just because they are a monopoly and I don’t have any other cable options. Yes there is always Fios, DirectTV or Dish Network as alternatives (and some of these are cheaper and offer more channels too), but I have invested far too much time and money with Comcast to let them ignore me. If you are sick of the ever increasing prices, lack of services and failing equipment please do like me and call them about it. Their number is easy enough 1-800-COMCAST.
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The guys of Big Bang Theory buy the prop time machine from the film The Time Machine. Leonard jumps in and sets the machine to March 10, 1876 the date of the famous first phone call. They proceed to argue over the fact that they all want to go but they would not be able to all fit into the small lab and agree that they should travel into the future to get a cloaking device first. Here’s their conversation about the cloaking device.
Penny comes out and Sheldon lets her have it.
