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Digital TV is great for watching football, because I don’t see the announcers.  I have noticed one problem, since writing glowing reviews of digital TV, or reviews of digital TV glowing.  That is that most programs have noticeable sync problems between the audio and video.

It seems to be due to signal processing time – the audio is easier to process than the video, so it appears first.  Analog TV didn’t have this problem because there was no processing involved – the signals were converted straight to images by hardware, with no software needed.  I find it hard to believe that of all the people it took to create and approve the digital TV standard, not one of them actually saw a digital TV signal and noticed the lip lag.  It’s fairly obvious on most programs.  Most people are accustomed to a bit of audio lag – sound travels slower than light so it is common to see something happen and then hear the sound that goes with that.  But digital TV is the opposite – the sound appears first.  Video lag is so contrary to nature that it is more disconcerting to people than audio lag is.

All they had to do in the standard was have some sort of time stamp in the audio and video data so that they can be synchronized by the receiver.  Maybe they were expecting the receivers to be smarter than they are.  Maybe they noticed the lag but left it in due to heavy lobbying by the lip fixer manufacturers.

One fine evening, we went to the grocery store.  It was to be a normal trip, just buying some food.  We walked in the entrance, got a cart and were greeted by the resident greeter, and then headed to the back of the store to work our way forward.

We did not get very far though.  At the first aisle, the main intersection for people both coming and going, there was a roadblock.  Not an actual roadblock, but a table set to the side of the intersection with two well-dressed guys at it.  As we approached, one of them greeted us and held out a piece of paper.  He asked us about family pictures.  It was a trap!  They were salesmen going for the uninvited, unsolicited, unwelcome sale from people who weren’t expecting it.

One of the major rules about how to avoid scams is not to accept unsolicited offers.  So my wife said “No thanks” and kept going, with the kids and the cart.  But the guy asked a simple question, something like “When was the last time you had a family picture?”  And although I knew I should just say “No thanks” also and keep walking, I made the mistake of trying to be nice and answer the guy’s question.

So I answered the question, which was followed by another one: “How many kids do you have?” and another one: “If you were to get a family picture, would it be the kids or the parents and the kids?”  He was a very aggressive salesman.  All the questions were phrased “If you were to…” which was his attempt to be sneaky.  I answered most of the questions with “we are not going to get our pictures taken” but he would not take no for an answer.

Another question: “We are going to be back here on these three days.  Which one would work best for you?”  I gave him a day.  Then he wanted a time.  His sheet of appointments for that day, filled by people I assume were equally annoyed by him and just gave him a time so they could get away, was already filled around that time.  “Don’t worry,” he said, “we can fit you in.  Your sitting fee is $10 and you can pay that now.”

At that point, when I said “I am not paying now for something I’m not going to do later” that he finally understood that I did not want to get our pictures taken.  He handed me the sheet where he had written some information (the date and time of our “appointment”) and told me to bring it back to this store at this time for our pictures.  Okay, maybe he didn’t understand.

Answering questions seemed harmless, but when he wanted the money immediately, for an unsolicited service, that was the end.  I finally caught back up with my wife and kids and we finished shopping.  If you are ever in some store, and you are approached by representatives of another business, avoid them.  Okay, you can make exceptions for Girl Scout cookies or the Salvation Army, but those are charities not businesses.

If you ever have the chance to do business with United Studios of America from Massillon, OH, don’t do it.  I was offended by their tactics and their name.  If your business is going to use a name whose acronym is USA, you had better be a good business.  These guys were not worthy of using “USA” for their business.

“A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually.”
– Deuteronomy 28:33

This was not the best week in college football, but it ended on a positive note.

As a Michigan fan, I was disappointed by the final score of the Michigan-Notre Dame game.  Michigan looked incompetent as they fumbled a few times and gave ND some free touchdowns. But there is hope, because if just a couple things had been different (the return man actually catches the ball and so ND does not score then), the score could have been much closer.  And it is even realistic to expect that those couple of things could change – catching kick-offs with a wet football is easily practiced.

An optimistic fan could even conceive a scenario in which Michigan had won the game: if Michigan didn’t give the ball to ND near the 10 yard line twice, then we could take away two touchdowns, so the final score would be 17-21. And if one of those Michigan possessions had been a touchdown for Michigan, the final score becomes 24-21. Go Blue!

As a Michigan fan, I was appointed (the opposite of disappointed) by the final score of the Southern California-Ohio State game. Ohio State didn’t look incompetent, just overmatched. Whereas Michigan’s game could have been different if you change two or three plays, the OSU game had really no chance of being any different.

It is interesting to contrast the opening ceremonies of the two teams in the USC-OSU. Which team do you take more seriously: the team who starts by stabbing midfield with a sword, or the team who starts by spelling “Ohio”?

I definitely don’t expect that Michigan would be able to do very well against USC either. But it is comforting to have one of Michigan’s rivals lose. It makes it a lot easier to meet an OSU fan on Monday morning when, although Michigan lost by 18, OSU lost by 32.

“All my enemies will be ashamed and greatly dismayed; They shall turn back, they will suddenly be ashamed.”
– Psalm 6:10

I work for a company that pays on the bi-weekly schedule.  This means I get a paycheck every two weeks.  This differs from the semi-monthly schedule in that I get 26 paychecks a year instead of 24 (52 weeks / 2 instead of 12 months * 2).  The interesting part is that the withholdings are done on some sort of a monthly basis.  So two months a year, we get 3 paychecks in that month and the 3rd paycheck is larger than the other 2 in that month because there are no medical or retirement deductions.  Taxes are still withheld – there’s no escaping taxes.

The even more interesting part occurs in a year and a half – there will be 27 pay periods in that year.  The paychecks are issued every other Friday.  In 2010, January 1st is a Friday, and it happens to be the “on” Friday for the company.  The year ends with another Friday on December 31st.  See this calendar or count how many paydays there are on the calendar below.

In 2016 it will happen again.  And 2021 too.  And it happened in 2004.  I never paid attention to that before.  Since each year is 52.17 weeks, and I’m getting paid for only 52 weeks each year, it makes sense to have an extra paycheck every few years.  By my calculations, there should be an extra paycheck every 5.6 years.

I would much rather have a semi-monthly paycheck, or even a monthly paycheck.  The problem with the bi-weekly paycheck is that no other financial operations work that way (okay, you can setup a bi-weekly mortgage payment, but that’s not standard).  My mortgage is due on the first day of every month.  My car payments are due on certain days of the month.  Sometimes I get a paycheck on the first, sometimes it is on the third.  If it’s on the third, then I have to make sure my bills from the end of the previous month get delayed.  The bi-weekly paycheck system requires more planning on the part of the employee to manage bill paying (or less planning with a larger balance or buffer in the checking account).

If you are involved in payroll somehow and have to decide which system to use, don’t go with bi-weekly.

“You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he will not cry against you to the LORD and it become sin in you.”
– Deuteronomy 24:15

You may well know the saga of Floaty.  Here is an update to the story: we have a new fish.

We decided that since we had the fishbowl cleaned and filled and we had a supply of fish food, we might as well get some fish to go along with everything.  So we had to look for fish that were suitable for a bowl (instead of a tank).  We were in a store that happens to sell fish, and the children always like looking at them even though we don’t buy any.  But now we have bought some.

The feeder fish were the best price, but we went with two guppies – better quality fish for a slightly higher price.  The first fish went along with the capturing process, but the second one did not, and he ended on the floor.  The worker guy trapped him with the net (even though the fish was not going anywhere), picked him up through the net, and then put him in the container with the other fish.

On our way home, I noticed that one fish had a rip in his tail.  I assumed that the tail was damaged by the fall out of the net.  So I announced that I had named the fish “Finny” (not to be confused with Finley the Fish).  Then the older child wanted to name the other fish, so he came up with “Flip Flop Spin Flop”.

The fish made it through the first night, and the second day.  Then the morning after that, I glanced in the fish tank and told my wife that I renamed one of the fish: “Flip Flop Spin Flop” was now “Sinky”.  Not only had he sunk to the bottom, but he was upside-down, so it was rather obvious that something was wrong.

I changed my mind about which fish was the one that tried jumping to freedom.  I think it was Sinky, as he must have had internal injuries and Finny’s tail was probably that way before we even went to the store. Finny is still alive and is apparently happy, although it is hard to read his facial expressions.

“and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ”
– Matthew 13:48

I was getting dinner ready the other day.  Sitting at the table in the dining room, I could hear the noises of the children playing happily in the adjoining living room.

Just as I was getting ready to wonder what was keeping them occupied so well, I was interrupted by the older child, who told me that it was snowing.  “Such a good imagination,” I thought.  He ran back into the living room and I thought I had better check to see why he said it was snowing.

I peeked in the living room and what I saw was the younger child hitting the seat of an upholstered chair with a ping-pong paddle.  “It’s snowing!” he was yelling as he hit the chair.  All the dust that was being forced from the chair was billowing up from the chair with each hit.  It was not a cloud of dust, but the chair is near a west-facing window, so at dinnertime there is a good stream of sunlight going right by the chair.  The sunlight accentuated the dust and the dust reminded the young children of snow.

We’ll have to vacuum soon.

“And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air,”
– Acts 22:23

Since school has started recently, this post will relate an incident from the first day of school.

We took the older child to his first day of school, and his teacher’s name is Mrs. Thomas.  The younger child stayed home.  No, not by himself – someone else was watching him.  After the school day was complete, his brother told him some things about it.  Since the younger one has not yet attended school, and since he didn’t go that day, all he has is a mental picture drawn by himself using his own experiences.

The next day, as they were preparing to go to the next day of school, the younger one was inquisitive.

younger son: “Is brother going to school?”
mom: “Yes, he’s going to school.”
“Is his teacher Mrs. Thomas?”
“Yes, that’s his teacher.”
“Does she have wheels?”
(perplexed pause before answering) “No, she doesn’t have wheels.”

That’s when brother stepped in and sorted things out (laughing):
“No, she’s not Thomas the train.  Her name is Mrs. Thomas.”

The Thomas name and character are trademarks of Gullane (Thomas) Limited.  This blog is not associated with or approved by Gullane (Thomas) Limited.

“Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose {also.} ”
– Ezekiel 1:19