Frustration

Wesley Chapel, Florida

My weather app on my phone says it’s going to get to 75 today and 44 tonight.  Yikes…that’s too cold for Florida.  I can’t believe that’s correct since we’ve been in the upper 50’s all week.  Are we having a cold front I don’t know about ????

We’ve been dealing with issues with Directv for the past 2 weeks.   We have a 10 year old Tivo brand dvr which we love.   It started powering down and resetting several times a day.   Al was not happy when that happened when he was trying to watch the Bucs football game last Sunday.  We initially thought our old Tivo receiver had finally bit the dust.  Then our other Tivo receiver started doing the same thing and it started happening more frequently.

I did a little research and found the problem.  It appears that Directv did some sort of software upgrade which caused the problem.  They were aware of this problem, but evidently didn’t tell their customer service reps,  because when I initially called them, they didn’t know a thing about this issue and the only thing they did was offer us a brand new Tivo HD receiver to RENT for $225 initially,  plus $20 extra per month.  No thanks.

I  found out about the problem on an online forum.   I don’t understand why Directv couldn’t notify their customers.   At first we thought our receiver was going bad, but when the second receiver started doing the same thing, we started to wonder if it was something wrong with the hook-ups on the coach.

Most of the time when the unit reset, it had to be unplugged  several times to get it to lock onto the signal.  One time in the unplugging and plugging back in process, I heard funny noise then smelled smoke.      I think the frequent resets may have caused this, but of course Directv says no one else had this problem.  Since the unit is so old, I didn’t pur

I discovered a company in California that will fix the receiver for $150.  For an additional $29 I can also get a new 120 gig hard drive.     We sent our old receiver to them yesterday.  I found lots of good reviews for this company, so if anyone needs a Tivo repaired, check out Weak Knees.   I think they only work on Tivo brand dvr’s.

Fortunately, we had an old Tivo box that still worked, so we won’t be without our bedroom tv.   I like to watch tv in bed at night, and on Sundays Al watches football so I have to “go to my room.” We have gotten so spoiled since we first got our Tivo’s, and can’t deal with commercials.

 

My next frustration was trying to buy sheets.  Remember back in the day, when you’d go to Penney’s and get their percale sheets and they were great?  They were wrinkle free, nice and smooth and would last forever.  Now, all you can find is “Egyptian Cotton,”   which really means…wrinkles a LOT.   I hate wrinkled sheets but do not intend to iron them.

I learned a good lesson a few years ago when I bought some sheets that turned into a wrinkled mess when I washed them.  Now, I look for ones that state they are  “wrinkle free.”  That doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t wrinkle though, so I also learned to carefully take out one pillow case and wash it.  If it comes out wrinkled, I iron it, put it back in the case and return the sheets.    I bought some 600 thread count sheets at Sam’s Club for $69.99.  They said they were wrinkle free, but guess what?  I did the pillow case test and found otherwise.  It used to be so easy to buy sheets.  Can anybody recommend a good brand of sheets that won’t wrinkle?    I like them smooth and silky feeling.  We have a rv queen mattress but it’s an 11 inch thick Bed in a Box mattress so I don’t use Rv sheets, but just make do with regular queen sheets.  

We’re going to Mom’s house for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  She’s been feeling pretty well, (knock on wood) and wanted to cook dinner.  Yea!  We finally told her we were going to the Keys.  I had waited because I wanted to see how she was feeling before we committed.    So, the plan is to leave Friday.   I hope the traffic on the interstate won’t be too bad.  It looks like Florida is having a lot cooler winter this year than last, and it’s only been in the upper 70’s in the Keys.   burrrrrr….

Hitch itch has set in……can’t wait to hit the road and see that beautiful water!