Floatin’ in the ‘bay.

XLR cable problem solved. My wife stopped by a Radio Shack close to where she works, adamant that she would solve the XLR cable problem. She trudged out of the store a short while later, after I was equally adamant to her over the phone that there’s no way in hell that I’m going to pay $20+ per cable for blingy gold-tipped Monster XLR cables. We later found perfectly good new ones on eBay, four for $6. 😆 Plus adapters!
Do you ever pause for one scary moment to consider Life Without eBay? I swear the damned thing off from time to time, but I looked around my game room the other day and thought about it. No Kickman. No Avid. No arcade marquees. A much, much, much smaller number of game consoles and carts. Fewer screens in the room, LCD or otherwise. I actually shuddered. It’s scary how much shopping I do there.
It’s also scary the attitudes one runs into when one does go shopping there. My wife recently won an auction for two items from the same seller, a week apart, and had already mentioned to the lady that she’d pay once the second auction was won or lost. One day after she won the second auction and sent payment (this seller won’t accept Paypal or any other kind of electronic funds transfer), she found that a dispute had been opened and that she was being pegged as a NPB. Good Lord. Later we find out that the dispute was supposedly opened automatically (wha…??) by some program or service the seller was using because payment hadn’t been checked off as “received” from the first auction yet. Y’know, if you’re bloody fancy enough that you’re automating your eBay process (and I’m not completely sure I’m buying that story), you’re clearly fancy enough to get your own URL and stop doing business through a platform that eats a percentage of every sale you make.
So, Torchwood’s a go for season 2, only now it’s moving to BBC2. Hopefully that doesn’t force the show to lose its sharp edges, storytelling-wise. I’ve really enjoyed it so far; I’m a bit behind. Just watched Countrycide the other day, and all I have to say is: OWEN!!!????!? ICK! (Not much of a spoiler until you’re right on top of it.) I think we need Torchwood action figures. Or maybe it’s just my latent desire to have an Eve Myles sitting in the same room with me.
I’m a little miffed that my Doctor Who soundtrack CD hasn’t arrived, especially as I’m supposed to be reviewing it for theLogBook this weekend. (Fear not, there’s a fallback plan.) I ordered it the very day that it was first available for pre-order, directly from the label, and I’ve been seeing folks in Ohio and Florida talk about getting their copies direct from the label while it was still November (never mind that pesky December 4th street date). No sign of mine yet though. Given that the Doctor Who soundtrack topped the UK iTunes chart last week, one wonders if perhaps demand outstripped supply on the physical copies. Wouldn’t that be something?
The blooper reel went over like a lead balloon at the company party Saturday night. I wasn’t there (never have gone, actually), but reports are filtering through. I’ve already decided that this’ll be the last one I do anyway – I fully intend to be grazing on greener pastures by next Chritsmas. Hell, by next Groundhog Day, if I can manage it. I predict a year of upheaval at this place. As good a reason as any to bail. I bet by the end of 2007, the station might just go for a tidy little sum on eBay.