News & Updates in April 2007

Posted the character profiles of Mamoru (from Sister Princess), Ai Enma (from Hell Girl), Dio Elaclaire (from Last Exile), Shaka (from Saint Seiya), Super Android 17 (from Dragon Ball GT), Android 16 (from Dragonball Z), Mamoru Amani (from King of Braves: GaoGaiGar), Ginkotsu (from InuYasha), William Dunbar (from Code Lyoko), Alice Mizuki (from Serial Experiments Lain), Charden Flamberg (from Black Cat), Kyoko Kirisaki (from Black Cat), Saya Minatsuki (from Black Cat), Kratos Aurion (from Tales of Symphonia), Zori (from Naruto), Gamabunta (from Naruto), Tasuku Meguro (from Mew Mew Power), Ritsuka Aoyagi (from Loveless), Soubi Agatsuma (from Loveless), Sven Vollfied (from Black Cat), Heavy Anaconda (from Kirby: Right Back At Ya!), Demon Frog (from Kirby: Right Back At Ya!), Throw Kirby (from Kirby: Right Back At Ya!), Whippy (from Kirby: Right Back At Ya!), Mughi (from Dirty Pair: Girls with Guns), Phanphan (from Kirby: Right Back At Ya!), Weed (from Ginga Legend Weed), Taeko Hirukawa (from Paranoia Agent).

Posted the anime profile of Countdown Akira.

Posted the anime profile of Countdown Conjoined.

Posted the anime profile of T&A Teacher.

Added a more detailed description for To Heart.

This has really been a busy couple of weeks! Last month our TV up and died, so I had to start frantically searching for a new one. While I was doing that we had to use my old spare 20 inch set. So after a whole bunch of researching I finally picked one out. I couldn't find one that would go into standby when there was no incoming video signal, and come out of standby when it received a video signal. This was a feature we always used, since we have everything hooked up to an A/V receiver. But at least the set I picked out had an "Auto Power On" which, according to the manual, "Turns TV On automatically when the cable box or a connected device is turned On". Unfortunately, that option doesn't seem to work. I have devices connected via s-video and the RGB component, but the TV will not turn itself on when any of these devices are turned on.

Thankfully, I found an alternative solution called the "Smart Strip Power Strip". It is a surge protector that monitors one specific outlet on the strip called the control. When it detects that it is drawing only a minimal amount of power (meaning the device plugged into it is turned off or is in standby mode), then it turns off the power to the other outlets (except for a couple marked as always on). This way we can plug the A/V receiver into the control outlet, and when we power it on or off, the TV will respond automatically. At least that's the plan. It hasn't actually arrived yet, so we'll see.

Okay, then two weekends ago my wife's friend, Becca, dropped by. She was just passing through California on her way to Canada and wanted to say hi, yet when she got here she actually ended up staying the entire weekend. She finally resumed her trek to Canada to be with her semi-lesbian partner on Tuesday morning. And yes, I mean semi-lesbian, not bi. Her partner is a woman who is a lesbian who is legally turning herself into a man (and notice I said "legally", not "surgically"). Yeah, weird. So if you are a woman, who becomes a man, and still likes women... does that make you a lesbian? I'm not passing judgement here or anything, I'm just curious.

Alrighty, then on Tuesday afternoon my parents and grandparents arrived for a visit. While Treese was at work, we all went to Turtle Bay and walked around, checked out the garden and the sundial bridge and all that. The next day we drove up to Castle Crags state park. We hiked up the trail to see the rock formation, which wasn't all that spectacular, but still, the journey itself was fun. We then grabbed some lunch at a burger joint in the nearest town, and for dinner we all went to Logan's Roadhouse. They all left for home the next morning, but it was definitely a nice visit.

Then on Sunday I drove down to Vallejo so I could help my uncle prep his house for selling. He's in Vacaville, which is like 30 minutes from Vallejo. Basically I'm doing a whole bunch of painting. The first day was mainly the baseboards, the second and third days were mainly the door frames and window sills, and day four was mainly the walls of the master bedroom. Tomorrow will probably be finishing the bedroom and closet, then starting on the garage. It's tough work, and I've been sore every night. Hopefully we'll be finished soon, because I'm really not cut out for this whole manual labor thing.

Let's see, I should also mention that I called DirecTV again. There was a charge on our bill for a national feed of the CW network. I called and explained the whole situation, and the nice lady gave us a credit for the charge, and expedited our unresolved issue. So I spent hours on the phone with April, a technical support lady, who said it was definitely not a broadcast issue, and that the problem was probably due to our outdated satellite box (Sony SAT-B55). She offered to upgrade us the DirecTV DVR, but I declined (I already have a great DVR and I don't want to start paying additional monthly fees). She then offered to replace our box with a newer one, a DirecTV brand model D11. I declined that as well, since the D11 doesn't have a low speed data port that TiVo can use to change channels.

She gave us a 6 month credit so that we wouldn't have to pay for the national WB feed, but said that we need to get this issue resolved one way or another. We went through a lot of possibilities, but it basically boiled down to two basic options: allow them to upgrade me to a new box, or live with the issue. But the thing is, I really don't think it is the box. The box works fine for everything else, and we used to get the WB just fine on Channel 10. So there has to be something else at work here. And alas I just had someone who read my story and who works for DirecTV send me a message saying that I'm experiencing a multiswitch problem on the LNB of my dish. Now, doesn't this sound much more plausible than a freaky box that just decides to display the wrong signal on one specific channel?

Posted my review of Avatar: The Last Airbender - Book 2: Earth, Volume 2.