Commuting

Commuting is a bit more fun when you do it in style.

Don’t get scammed

One of the most common scams around right now is the cable scam. Basically, retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc. try to sell you various cables for a ridiculous amount. It’s backed up by shady marketing from cable-producing companies like Monster. Don’t be fooled!

So let’s take a look at an example or two. HDMI cables, for those who don’t know, are simply awesome. They transfer high definition video and audio across a single cable. Not only are they considerably higher quality than the older composite and component cables, but they simplify matters by having the video and audio in just one cable.

Composite (video):

Component (HD video):

HDMI (HD video + HD audio):

So why don’t more people know about HDMI cables and use them? Because of the scam. The next time you walk in a retail store like Best Buy, check out their HDMI cables. You will be hard pressed to find any under $40 and most are in the $80 to $250 range. For a single cable. Here’s a standard one listed on BestBuy at $200.

But it turns out that HDMI cables are extremely cheap to make. Want proof? How about the fact that honest retailers like Amazon, or my personal favorite cable store Monoprice, have HDMI cables listed for about $2-5. I generally use HDMI cables about 3 feet long, but for comparison’s sake with the Best Buy 8 foot cable, here is an 8-foot one from Monoprice for $4. So the BestBuy/Monster mark-up is only a measly 5,000%.

The cables are basically no different. HDMI carries a digital signal rather than an analog one. The data either makes it across the cable or it doesn’t. With old analog cables, you could get interference that resulted in a fuzzy image or the like. Every single cable I have in my home theater is either from Monoprice or came with the electronics I purchased and all for less than $60 total. Each cable I purchased was top-notch quality. This morning I quickly calculated how much I saved over going with overpriced junk from Monster: $1,746.

So why does Best Buy not carry the less expensive cables? Because they make a huge profit off selling the expensive ones. It’s a big scam and uninformed consumers are the victims.

Buy all your cables (power, USB, audio, video, ethernet, etc.) from Monoprice and help stop the scam!

Relief

Relief is spending the whole night throwing up only to have the hubs whisk away the babe for the whole next day while I lounge around the house napping and reading.

Relief is saying “no” instead of adding another responsibility to my already overflowing plate.

Relief is finally asking for the help with work that I have been needing for months.

Relief is crossing things off my to do list.

Relief is taking a hot shower without a toddler waiting impatiently outside the door for me to come out.

Relief is admiting that I can’t do it all by myself.

Newsflash!

We have pigtails people!

Best of Friends

Meghan and Reese are in Utah for a week, so our family is temporarily divided by gender.  Cibo and I spend the days at SmugMug headquarters and take long leisurely strolls around our neighborhood every evening.  Cibo seems happy, but I can tell he misses his best friend and closest confidant: Reese.

I put together a video detailing their short but meaningful friendship.  Enjoy.

New Home: A Video Tour

So once again, we’re in a new place and some people wanted to see a video tour of it.  And once again it’s up to me to at least make some lame attempt to keep the video from being… well… lame.

It’s cheesy, long and boring.  But if you live far away and are desperate to see the new house we are renting, check it out.