DirectTV Tips to save you money - Advance Receiver, Protection Plan & other fees

It has been so long since I have posted on this blog and I hope to start again.  I've been looking to ways to save on my Comcast bill.  So we decided to give DirectTV a try since we saw an advertisement on their site for $25/month for the first year. 

I just want to make sure that everyone is clear in terms of what they sign up for, because I was very shocked when I received the bill.  I don't want anyone to have to go through what I went through.

1) Advanced Receiver Discount of $10/month if you sign up for Auto-pay and Paperless billing.  DirectTV phone rep failed to tell me that I needed to sign up for this when you place your order.  I was really screwed over by this.  Even though the rep apologized for not telling me that I needed to do this, they should have at least corrected it and made it right - which they failed to do.  Now my $25/month just became $35/month!

2) For $25/month you get only an SD receiver.  DirectTV rep failed to tell me that I needed to a different receiver to get HD!  So come install day, the install guy tells me this, then he installs a Genie DVR.  Of course, I don't find out until I get my bill that the Genie is an extra $25/month!  Now your bill is $25 + $10 + $25 = $60!  Make sure when you place your order that your rep gives you a free Genie upgrade.  Ask them how long this offer will last.

3) After 30 days, there is a $12 Protection Plan fee that appears on your bill!  You MUST catch this before they charge you for it otherwise you have to pay $10 to get rid of it.  Crazy huh? And now your bill becomes $25 + $10 + $25 + $12 = $72.

4) HBO + Showtime is only free for 3 months, after that you pay $30 month.  This I was aware of so I understood that I needed to cancel this one.

5) If you want to downgrade your HD DVR, they charge you $99 to do so.  I didn't realize had a fee! So if you are thinking that you will start with a HD DVR then cancel it afterwards, please reconsider as you will be paying $99 + $20 delivery fee + $50 upgrade fee + tax after the fact.  Total of over $180!

So after all this, calling on the phone to get #1, #2 and #3, I must admit that this is NOT want I had signed up for and no amount of free HBO can remove terrible experience.  I had a friend that asked if I would recommend DirectTV and I must say that I they didn't disclose all the facts to you prior to ordering. 

Honestly, DirectTV markets a price on their website, I expect my bill to match that price!  Folks stick with Comcast!  However if you still decide to go with DirectTV and found this blog post helpful, please use me as a referral when placing your new order.  You will get $100 off and so will I.  Send me a comment with your email address and I can reply with my referral ID.

Sincerely, one disappointed DirectTV customer

Best Apple Crisp recipe ever!

Now that all my apples are rippening, I have more apples than I know what to do with.  I found the most amazing apple crisp recipe from Betty Crocker

4

medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)

3/4

cup packed brown sugar

1/2

cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1/2

cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats

1/3

cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4

teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4

teaspoon ground nutmeg

Happy Scamper!

Well, I finally found it! The perfect camper that can be pulled by my 4 cylinder car! At 1000 pounds, all fiberglass we plan to take this baby for many road trips to come. It has a dinner table that turns into a bed, kitchen sink with 2 burner stove and bunk beds.  We took it to Ocean Shores and it was dumping rain in the morning but we stayed nice and dry!

Merry Christmas Everyone

This year has ended in a truly wonderful way for me. I am happy to say that I am healthy, I have my wonderful family & friends and now a wonderful new man in my life! It's been a long time now, but for once I feel like I have all things my heart could desire - these things no amount of money can buy. As he would say, "I can replace a car or a house, but there's only one you and I wouldn't trade all the money in the world for it."

As the new year approaches I feel that I want to get back onto the training band wagon. In addition we plan to eat healthier.

Dude, what are you so mad?

So I have noticed recently that more and more people are getting mad over stupid things. For example, one day I was leaving the Costco parking lot at night and this guy wearing dark clothes walks out of nowhere in front of me and I slammed on my brakes. He got SOOO PISSED and started yelling at me (I couldn't hear him of course). Today I went shopping and was in a parking lot full of cars, the car in front of me stopped so I tried to go around it (just so you know I don't like pu$$y footing around so passing is something I do all the time), so the lady in the car looked at me like WTF? Lastly, tonight at dinner we sat down at a table to find a dirty diaper, so I moved it like 6 inches and the guy sitting at the table next to us was like "So throw it at us why don't you." I replied that it was still on our side of the table and it was 4 feet away from him. My friend was about to tell him off. Man, some people have such a short fuse. What ever happened to "Don't sweat the small stuff?" It takes a lot of energy to be mad or upset, so in reality it doesn't make sense for folks to be angry over little things. I've learned to take this approach whenever I feel rage coming on: "Is this person or thing worth my energy? Will the world fall apart?" The answer is usually no, so I just forget about it and move forward. This is how I stay so calm and collected, not to mention a way happier human being.

Visit to the ER

So I just got back from a trip to the ER. Luckily, there's a new Evergreen Emergency facility at Bella Botega now. The service was top notch and the complex was amazing. The moment I arrived, I had like 4 personnel waiting on me. Of course it was 2am and there was only one other person there. Anyways I had some sharp pain on my left flank that would not quit, so I got up and decided to visit the ER at 2am. Just as I was about to jump into my car, I tossed the sushi dinner I ate at Ginza - man I really enjoyed that! After giving 2 urine samples and a CT scan they diagnosed me with passing a kidney stone. Luckily, it was small enough that it would pass through me so they gave me pain killers and sent me on my way.

Anyways, I spent about 2 hours there and I had my own room, given IV pain killers and recieved a CT scan. I'm curious what they will charge Micro$oft in the end. During that time, I was being monitored and I learned that my blood pressure was 101/62, my oxygen saturation was 100 and my resting heart rate was 58.

Story time....

Once a long long time ago, all people had 4 legs and 2 heads. Then the Gods threw down thunderbolts and split everyone into two. Then each one had two legs and one head. But the separation left both side with a desperate urning to be reunited because they each shared the same soul. And ever since then, all people spend the rest of their lives searching for the other half of their soul.

Half marathon course map and elevations

OK so the math nerd in me was curious about the actual elevation gains of Seattle's local half marathons. So far I have run the Seattle Rock'n Roll half and the Seattle half marathons. The one I have yet to attempt is the Mercer Island half which I plan to next March. Here are the elevation maps for each run.

The Seattle Rock'n Roll, although the elevation gain is not quite as high as the Seattle half, was the most challenging as it contained the largest hills. Hills have a way of zapping everything out of you, especially the steep ones.

Seattle half marathon that I just completed is technically the course with the most elevation gain and arguably the most hills.

Mercer Island half, while I have not done this one yet, I heard that the road is uneven, so you want to make sure to run down the middle of the road otherwise one side of your body might get really sore.

Seattle half marathon report

Today I completed the Seattle half marathon! Boy my legs are a little sore right now and I had to take a 2 hour nap after I got home. The event started in downtown Seattle in front of the EMP. I left my home shortly after 6:15am and got there around 7:10am after parking. After a quick potty break I lined for the 7:30am start. It was cold and drizzling when the race started. At around mile 6 I had to take potty break #1 this added at least 5 minutes to my time. At mile 8 I had to take another potty break and this one added 3 minutes to my time. I should not have had dairy the night before :(

As the race drew to a close, the rain and wind picked up. I was so wet and cold at this point I couldn't wait for it to end. I started to fatigue around mile 11. My longest training run had been 10 miles to that point. I finished under 2h18m with my 2 potty breaks. I would have PRed if it weren't for them...oh well. I ended up meeting up with Jimmy at the finish line where we chatted briefly about the race while eating bananas. Next time I need to watch what I eat before the race.

Anyways, so what race will I do next? I'm starting to build up a nice collection of finisher medals :)

My new friend...

So today I finally weighed myself for the first time in over 2 years. Let's just say I am not where I was in my prime triathlon days, however with a lot of work I can be by the end of the year. With only 6 weeks left to lose 9 pounds I would need to lose an average of 1.5 pounds a week. That's is a deficit of about 5000 calories which means at least a 700 calorie deficit a day. So if I eat 1600 a day and do at least 30 minutes on the treadmill or stairs or outdoor run I should fine. Wish me luck!

Refi time

So I took it upon myself to take advantage of the low mortgage rates to refinance my Redmond home purchased 18 months ago. I was able to get a hold of a mortgage broker who offered me a no closing cost refi. Of course, all refinances require a new appraisal. Yesturday I found out that my property value had declined a little less than 2%. Which considering the circumstances is really not too bad. For example, Jocelyn and Nick's property go reappraised for 25% less than what they paid for it two years ago.

While I love my current home, there are times where I realize that I signed up for more than I bargained for. My yard is 14k square feet! I have an Asian landscaped yard so with a pond, a fire pit, 6 pear trees, 1 apple tree, 1 blueberry bush, 2 Japanese maples, and other various types of plants. As you can imagine, there are a lot of leaves to clean up. Just this last weekend I spent a couple hours filling up 7 compost bags full of leaves. I still have the entire side of the house to do, which I estimate will take up an additional 20 bags :(

However in hindsight, financially it was a good thing that I did end up selling my previous condo and upgrading as I would have lost of money had I kept the condo. I bought the condo for $186k in 2004 then sold it for $235k in 2010. It is now selling for $155k. I feel really bad for the dude who bought my condo.

Anyways, the refi will drop my monthly payment by a little bit. But over time it will add up to over $2000 a year saved!

Last 40 days

So I've been using www.mapmyride.com to track my workouts in the past 40 days. Here are the stats: 300.8 miles over 27 workouts with 15,502 calories burned. 205 miles were cycling miles, 10 hiking miles and 85 running miles.

Now if 1 pound is equal to approximately 3500 calories than I technically should have worked off 4.3 pounds if I ate whatever it takes to maintain my weight. It just shows you why most of American is obese.

Love Letters of Great Men

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

These letters were found in Beethoven's desk after he died. They were not addressed to anybody, so it is impossible to know who he was writing to.

7 Hills of Kirkland

Well they don't call it the 7 Hills of Kirkland because it is easy. This year I had the opportunity to do this ride. I must admit, I was a little intimidated about the ride since I had not done a lot of hill riding yet. The weather around here has not been so great, on 4 of my rides it rained. Of course, a little rain is no excuse but I dislike not having full brake capability in this somewhat hilly area I live in.

We started off in downtown Kirkland. After registering, I proceeded to the start where the first "Dan Henry" was marked on the road. Dan Henrys are the road markers that we follow during the ride. They are color circles that have arrows pointing you to where you are supposed to go. At the start line, I was lucky enough to see a group of 3 ladies. I introduced myself and asked them if I could join them. They were nice enough to let me. The first hill we hit was Market Hill and then second was Juanita Hill. These hills were not very hard, maybe it was because I had fresh legs though. However the next two hills #3 Seminary Hill and #4 Norway Hill were pretty tough. Long and windy they were. #5 was a nice hill climb on Kingsgate hill that was steady but not too bad. After our food break, we hit the infamous Windery Hill, holy smokes, I see what everyone was talking about, I had to go up on my saddle for that one 3 times. Luckily, this hill was staggered, so there were sections that were about 200 yards where you could recovery before hitting the next steep section. After that hill my left knee started to hurt a bit on the downstroke. The last hill was Rose Hill and I took that one slow and steady as my knee was starting to bother me more.

Right now, my knee feels alright. My hamstrings however are sore. The foam roller has been helping. I better rest up this week to recover.

Manifesto

Humble pie it's good for you...

A fellow friend and I were chatting one day about designer handbags. I told her I don't wear mine out anymore because I didn't want to appear "high maintenance." She said, that I should feel confident about the fact that I like nice high quality things. I do like nice things, but I value "different" nice things now, like snowboards, bikes and cars. So this got me thinking about what confidence really means. I started to think about where I stand with respect to confidence in myself.

God knows, when it comes to triathlon, I have eaten a lot of humble pie. I have pretty much come in the bottom quarter of several races. When I did the swim across lake Washington I came in like 3 last out of the water - but I was still really proud of myself for finishing it actually. And during those tris where I came in near the end when most people were finished, I still felt happy. Happy to just cross the finish line, maybe some day I will have a higher bar, but for now I am content with being able to do the sport and have fun. This leads back to my thoughts on confidence. I have the confidence to try my best no matter what the outcome. I have to confidence to cross the finish line in almost last place and be proud of how far I have come and all the work I have done to reach that far. These are my thoughts on confidence.

My 2011 Training Schedule

So I've joined the Pro Sports Club triathletes club again this year! This is May's training schedule. I have a few weeks done in April already too. Aiming to do my first Ironman 70.3 this year! Stay tuned!

My thoughts on confidence...

Ever have those days where you lose confidence or trust in your abilities? You know that you have practiced it over and over and yet someone or something says something that makes you second guess yourself?

I have friends that make remarks that make you feel small, not sure if they are aware of it. I am not going to name names but I have come to the conclusion that they are doing it to boast their ego. A confident person is always open to learning and does not focus on their weaknesses. They understand that we all start of as 1 out of 10, but with practice we easily achieve 5/10 and with more 7/10 or higher!

Olympic Triathlon completed

Don't have time for a complete race report right now as I am really swamped. Parents are in town now for 2 weeks. But I completed my race and beat my last time by 15 minutes! And it wasn't that smooth either. I had to pee while starting the second lap of my swim and held it for the entire bike. Then while I was transitioning from Bike to Run, I was a little confused since I didn't know where the run course was. I had to pee pee pants during my run as there was no porta-potties anywhere. At least I ran behind a bush to do my deed. I felt so much better after that...ha ha

Other new things include my new Subaru! Yes, my parents chipped in to help me purchase a new Subaru Impreza Hatchback. I'm ready for the mountains now!

I need to bike more

OK so this weekend, I joined Joyce to do a Cascade training ride around Lake Washington. It was 50 miles and I am not sore at all today which is surprising since I have not been biking much. This ride made me realize how weak I am on the hills. I need to really put in more miles if I am to do the Federal Escape olympic distance in 3 weeks. So here is my training plan for the next 3 weeks:

Saturday: Long bike 45 miles or more
Sunday: 4-6 mile run
Monday: Bike to work, go for a short run after work
Tuesday: Triathlon swim class
Wednesday: Bike to work, go for a short run after work
Thursday Triathlon swim class
Friday: Open water swim at Idylwood in the AM

I just realized there is no rest day here, but I think that Friday is restful enough since it will be only a 30 minute swim. Wish me luck!