Uneventful

During a weekend filled with headline events---Bluegrass festival, Fleet Week, Raiders at 49ers---I stayed close to home. There was nothing that I absolutely had to do or see. Recalling that old saw about buses, if nothing on the Bay Area calendar is appealing, we just have to wait 15 minutes for the next one.

DirecTV’s digital video recorder (model R10) finally stopped working after months of steadily deteriorating performance. Although I had purchased the extended warranty from Best Buy, I was reluctant to return the now-discontinued recorder for the newer model. Beginning with the R15, DirecTV has been too cheap to pay license fees for TiVo's superior user interface (think Mac OS vs Windows or iPod vs. other MP3 players), so DirecTV devised its own software. But when the machine rebooted every 15 minutes I threw in the towel.

The Best Buy “Geek Squad” (an homage to Apple’s Genius Bar) said the R10 could not be repaired and gave me a new R15. As I suspected, the new DVR hardware works, but the interface is user-hostile. The remote control has too many buttons, and the menus aren’t intuitive. When we become a high definition household, we’ll select a cable or satellite company that offers TiVo, and it won't be our current provider.

I drove the youngster to the City to visit Maggie, who’s cut his hair ever since he was an infant. She took special care with him after his surgery and makes him comfortable. Maggie opened her own shop on Ocean Avenue and appears to be doing well. She’s hired two assistants, and the wait is an hour on weekends. © 2006 Stephen Yuen

In-n-out, Daly City: the best things aren't always expensive.