Technology is Amazing!

Hey All,

Remember me? I'm the dude that had the post about Lake Havasu back in July! How's everybody doing? I can't believe we're nearing the 2009 holiday season! I've been checking y'alls posts and I'm glad to hear everybody's still trucking, kids are growing, etc.

Nothing significant to report from me this time other than the fact that I treated myself and bought an LG 32" 1080p HDTV! The resolution on this thing is f*****g amazing! I decided to take advantage of a special Cox was running on an HD box and programming. So after literally 10 hours of online research on TVs this past weekend, I decided to make the plunge! I paid $449 for the TV at Costco and am going to pick up a Playstation 3 this weekend which has a built-in BluRay player, plays games and music, has internet surfing capability, and has 120G of memory all for only $299 at Best Buy. Not that I'm a gamer by any means, but why not get all this multimedia capability from something that was $399 last year? Did I use the word 'multimedia'? Oh boy, not good!

The weird thing is, I don't watch TV alot (except for sports and the show The First 48), but just wanted a form of entertainment available in case of company, a party, etc! But I do have to admit, the clarity and sharpness of the channels with HD broadcasting is unbelievable! I learned during my research that television shows are currently only broadcast with 720p resolution and the 1080p resolution is more for BluRay videos, video games (and clever marketing by TV manufacturers to get people to buy the more expensive 1080p sets). With the pics as clear as they are in 720p, I can only imagine what they'll look like when channels begin broadcasting in 1080p! For those of you in the market to make the plunge for an HDTV set too, don't spend too much money on a TV! The newest technology of LED screens and research and development for Super or Ultra HDTV (up to 8 times the resolution of 1080p) is currently underway and is expected to be commercially available around 2013-2014!

Life by the beach is good! The summer crowds have thinned out and there's much more room on the sand to watch sunsets and grab a drink at the bars! OB had it's annual Oktoberfest on the pier last weekend; although not as crowded as the Chili Fest a couple of months ago, there were lots of people, music, sausages, and beer. Aside from that, I got my eye on a used 8' epoxy surfboard and 4-session surf lesson for myself for X-mas!

To Vern, Norrie & the Norman's, I apologize for not being able to get up there this summer to check out the new pad and see what's happening in the Clovis/Fresno area...hope there's still an invitation to come!

To the Favero's, where's thxgiving going to be? And give Ryan a hearty DaDuhh from me...he'll know what that means!

To Shannyn, thank goodness you chose CSUSM, SDSU is waaay overcrowded and I read horror stories frequently in the SD Union Tribune about impacted programs and kids not being able to graduate in time because of cutbacks! Plus, I hear you guys are getting a dedicated frisbee golf course on the campus grounds! I don't think UCSD (which IMHO is one of the best amenitized university campuses in SoCal--ocean view dorms and all) has anything like that! Very cool!

Peace to all and I hope I'll be able to see everyone and catch up over the holidays!

love,

g