Last week when I was trying to plan a brunch for Mother’s Day, I called up one of the local buffet breakfast places up in North Jersey where my Mom lives. The purpose of the call was to make reservations, but let’s be honest - trying to make reservations a few days before Mother’s Day usually means that you’re not going to get in. My mindset was, “This ain’t going to happen, but I might as well give it a shot.”

I called the place and the woman on the phone answered with a type of, “Hello?” where it sounded like she was lost in a cave somewhere. I said, “Hi, I was hoping that I could make reservations for Mother’s Day?” She responded, “Huh?” in a manner such that she didn’t know what was going on. A little perplexed myself I said, “I’d like to make reservations for this Sunday on Mother’s Day.” She said, “Oh, I think we’re all booked. Let me check.”

As she checked the book she made some odd sounds - sort of a crunching, binding sound. Very weird. Then she came back with, “We have availability at night, but our brunch is all booked up.” I said, “Oh, I was hoping for the brunch. Okay, thanks,” and I went to hang up the phone. Out of the corner of my ear I heard, “Well wait, let me check again.”

Odd - I thought she just checked.

Then she came back with, “I can fit you in at 1pm.” For a variety of reasons, this was too late for me and my family so I said, “Oh, no thanks. That’s a little bit too late for us, we were hoping for something earlier. That’s okay. No problem. I guess I should have called a few days ago. Thanks!” And as I got ready to hang up the phone (again) I heard the woman say, “Well it’s Friday today and you’re looking to make a reservation for Sunday I mean we’re obviously booked up.”

Ugh…thank you Captain Confrontational for repeating my own words. Stupid idiot.

Instead of just hanging up, which I should have done, I said to the woman, “Yes. That’s what I just said. If you do not have anything for the morning that’s fine. We need reservations for the morning, but it’s no problem. Thanks again.” The woman started to say something else - obviously looking for a telephonic fight - and I just hung up the phone before I could hear what she was saying.

How stupid are some people? Listen - if you’re the person on the other end of the line at these restaurants, then you need to understand that not everyone is looking for a fight! Granted, this story is comical at this point, but still - get a grip! The woman was right and I knew it going into the phone call - it was way too late to get any reservations. Okay, fine. But then to want to harp on a mutually agreed upon fact? Come on!

Anyway, I thought I’d share the stupidity with everyone.

At my apartment our cable service is provided by Cablevision (which, by the way, is one of the worst companies in terms of customer service ever). As part of our television package (iO Digital), we get a bunch of high definition channels. Those of you in the tri-state area who have Cablevision probably know about the high definition selections in the 700-block of channels. Anyway, the reception that we get on these channels is so-so at best. When there are fast movements on the screen our HD signal becomes blocky, when there is an LCD screen being shown on the show that we’re watching it digitizes the entire picture, etc. It’s just crappy. Thankfully, this stuff only happens in spurts, but it sucks.

I did some research online and it turns out that if your signal entering your home/apartment/building is split too much before it hits your television, then your HD signal will be choppy and crappy. Well, for anyone who knows the dirtbag who used to own this building (my friends from college who read this blog will know who I’m talking about), then they probably know what the problem is with our cable. Our previous landlord was - as many landlords in this area are - a scumbag. He lied, cheated, and stole as much as possible. This applied to everything from rent to security deposits and yes - even to the cable service.

On ONE cable bill he provided “free” cable and internet service to two apartments, an office, a convenience store, a restaurant, and a hair salon. On any given day, there were upwards of 20 people on the internet alone - plus another 15 or so televisions that were hooked up throughout the building. Believe it or not, the signal didn’t suck at the time. However, now that a stronger signal is needed to get a perfect HD picture it appears that the old landlord’s 35+ way split of the service is now getting back at us.

Just some random bitching…

The New York Daily News ran a story earlier today that talked about all of the television shows that were canceled for the upcoming fall season. Reading through this list is absolutely hilarious for a bunch of reasons. For me, I like to laugh at the networks proving their stereotypes over and over again. I also like to look at the completely ridiculous shows that were cut and ask the obvious question: “Who approved this piece of garbage show in the first place?!?”

Some examples of the stereotypes…

FOX canceled Back to You - the news sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton. They put SO much promotional resources behind this show that you have to wonder if someone at FOX is finally going to get canned for wasting so much money. But this is FOX’s way - they start a show, give it two or three seasons (just enough time to build up a core fan base), and then dump the show. Idiots.

Then you have the brain trust at CBS who decided to cancel Jericho - again. If I’m not mistaken, CBS canceled Jericho last season and then was forced to bring the series back after tons of fan outrage. Hey, if that works, then I wonder why Arrested Development hasn’t been brought back by FOX yet!

Our friends at ABC canceled the Cavemen show. You know - the show based off of Geico’s advertising campaign. What a completely stupid…and I mean absolutely dumb…basis for a television show. ABC is only saved this time around because they are acquiring Scrubs from NBC. If you haven’t watched Scrubs, then you have to give it a shot. Lots of humor on that show.

The CW, which may have more problems that they’re not letting on about, gave up on WWE Smackdown! which will certainly go down as the dumbest move in this company’s short history. Why a dumb move? It’s the number one show on the network! I’m glad, though, that they’re bringing Smallville back for another season, but I’d like to see how they move that storyline along without Lex Luthor - especially in light of the large role he played in the season finale last night.

NBC is dropping 1 vs. 100, The Singing Bee, and My Dad is Better Than Your Dad. Good grief! Who gets fired for approving these shows in the first place - really? Alright, so 1 vs. 100 had some potential, but the game show scene is way over saturated right now.

Anyway, I guess there is still a chance that some of these shows will be brought back, but it’s doubtful.

Special thanks go out to Van Brunt for bringing this DVD set to my apartment the other day. In the past I had seen little bits of this sitcom on FX, but I never had the chance to sit through an entire episode before. I’m glad that I did because both Seasons 1 and 2 are brilliant. The writing is magnificent and the acting is very well done. I admit that the addition of Danny Devito as a regular cast member at the end of the first season threw me for a bit of a loop, but after watching a few episodes with him it was back to normal.

My buddy told me that this was a sitcom about 4 (and eventually 5) people who are just bad people - I think that’s the perfect description. I especially like the character played by Rob McElhenney who is just an arrogant, selfish jerk. It’s actually hilarious when you watch the show. And Charlie Day (who plays a character named…Charlie) does a great job at acting as the downtrodden, constantly looked over friend in the group.

There are so many great side performances in this show that it would be hard to put them all in a concise blog article. I think the McPoyle Brothers are absolutely hilarious - the best description of them would be two grown-up, extremely creepy guys (and an equally creepy family) who gross out everyone around them. They walk around in bathrobes! And then you have outlandish performances such as the character named Artemis (played by Artemis Pebdani). Artemis is an actress, but an overly dramatic actress. It plays in perfectly to the craziness that is this show.

If you can rent this box set or if you can find it at a good price, I suggest purchasing it. If you’re interested, you can watch some full episodes of this show at Hulu.com. I think there are some commercials mixed in at Hulu, but it’s still free! Anyway, I recommend this irreverent comedy to anyone looking for something different from their television shows.

A few of us went to go see Ironman the other day and it was a pretty impressive movie. Robert Downey, Jr. does an amazing job playing the self-obsessed billionaire Tony Stark. Since I used to be a major collector of Marvel Comic Cards about 20 years ago (disgusting that I remember things that are 20 years old now), I thought this would be a hard comic book character for the audience to get into in any great degree. I was wrong. Downey is excellent in a performance that has got to earn him an Oscar nomination in some category - I think his performance was that good.

On a different level, Gwyneth Paltrow also turns in a great performance as Pepper Potts - Stark’s assistant. There is the obligatory love story underneath the larger story of the movie, but hey, the filmmakers had to find a way to bring the women into the theaters! I commented to my roommate that the reason I liked Paltrow in this role is that it was a change from the generic, ditzy chick flick role that she sometimes gets cast in. Chick flicks - ugh.

And it is completely unfair to talk about this movie without mentioning the great performance turned in by Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane and later as the Iron Monger. Excellent - just excellent. The opening sequence in the movie really sets the stage for the close relationship that the audience believes exists between Obadiah and Stark. The opening sequence alone was worth the trip to the movie theater as was the ending battle between these two characters. Did anyone else feel like Jeff Bridges was channeling Jesse Ventura in this role? I did!

All in all, this was a brilliant movie with great performances. The use of the Afghanistan locale and the prisoner of war scenario was also a good move (and for those of you that may not know, that is pretty much the same Ironman story from the comic books). In today’s society, pitting an American against a terrorist cell is sure to make movie goers happy. I liked the added intrigue of the terrorists using Stark’s own weapons in their fight against the Americans and the innocents of Afghanistan. More good writing!

If you have an opportunity to go see this movie, then I highly recommend you check it out. Great performances, great story, great movie.

As if having a police force that entered renters’ homes at all hours of the night without a warrant or probable cause wasn’t enough, my roommate picked up on this news story yesterday: Pregnant Policewoman’s Request for Light Duty Denied by New Jersey Township Officials. Granted, due to the increased scrutiny from a national media, this story has come to a somewhat amicable resolution, but how much more bullshit needs to happen in Ocean Township before there is real change in this town?!

Stories abound at Monmouth University about the way that the Ocean Township Police Department violates the civil rights of those students who live off-campus (yes, including the vast majority of student renters who are NOT blights on the local community). The local papers run near-weekly stories about major drug busts in Ocean Township. A few years ago the Mayor of Ocean Township was federally indicted for bribing local business owners (and, oddly enough, shortly after the Mayor was indicted the top Code Enforcement official and Chief of Police both retired…shady anyone?). Local high school kids are rounded up by the dozen and arrested for underage drinking (which I’m not opposed to - but arresting? Come on…).

Just search Ocean Township on this blog and you’ll find years and years worth of ridiculous stories coming out of this town. And now we can add this to the bunch - not immediately accommodating a decorated, pregnant police officer. Shameful. Downright shameful.

In the mean time, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

Inspired by a suggestion from a reader on my other blog to read the NJ Real Estate Report (linked on our sidebar now), I came across a post that compared renting a home to owning a home. In truth, the article was linked from another source, but it gave some interesting points of view on the classic owning vs. renting debate. For my part, after I read Rich Dad, Poor Dad series I began thinking about money in a different way. What I like about the article linked on the NJ Real Estate Report is that it talks about some of the same principles (in a roundabout type of way) that Rich Dad, Poor Dad talks about. For example…

The NJ Real Estate Report post lists 5 different reasons why you should rent instead of own. One of these reasons is because it’s cheaper. The post says:

Cheaper. When you consider the cost of being a homeowner — mortgage payments, association dues, property insurance, property taxes, repairs, maintenance and upgrades to protect your home’s value — most of the time, renting will be cheaper.

This is true. The financial planners who subscribe to the theory that a home is one’s biggest asset are at odds with these realities. Assets should appreciate in value (not in this market!) and they really shouldn’t cost you too much money. Look at the costs above from a New Jersey perspective: mortgage payments are between $1200 and $1500 depending on the size of your mortgage and the rates; I’ve seen association dues range from $175 per month to $350 per month; property taxes are out of control in New Jersey and for the places that I’ve been looking at, they are around $4000 per year; repairs, maintenance, and upgrades - let’s place a conservative $200 per month into this pot. All in all, you could wind up spending $2400 per month on your house alone! That doesn’t take into account utility bills, food, gas, clothing, etc.

Now, as the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series taught me, let’s say you spend $1000 per month on rent. That leaves about $1400 open each month. If you were to sock that $1400 away in a the stock market, a high-yield savings account, even bonds - you’d get a higher annual return than your house would appreciate. This ridiculous current housing bubble aside, houses appreciate between 3% and 7% per year depending on market factors. Long-term returns from the stock market show double-digit gains for investors.

Makes you think - is it really worth losing money to own a house?