The Turkey (bird) is native to North America.  When Europeans got here they thought it was a Turkey-Cock, a bird from Turkey (the country).  The name stuck but the cock dropped.

Turkey, the country, is actually spelled Türkiye in the native language of the people there, but Turkey in English, and it literally means “land of the Turks”, which is what they call themselves.

That is, if you can believe what you read on Wikipedia, which as of this moment, has listed under the “History and naming” section of the Turkey (bird) article: “a turkey is a turkey DUH” so I’m not so sure about how accurate it really is.

Bieber v. Klobuchar – What Happened

On October 27th, Justin Bieber came out to oppose S. 978. The next day, US Senator Klobuchar accused Justin Bieber of being “misled” in his opposition to her copyright bill. But it turns out Bieber is actually right.

Yesterday was a GREAT day.  I ditched my Comcast, worst company on Earth, TV service in favor of DirecTV.  Given my hatred for Comcast, the worst company on Earth, DirecTV could have given me a shoebox hooked up to an old rabbit ear antenna and I would have been happy, but I’m going to do my best to objectively review their service.

So, let’s start at the beginning, with setting up the service.

The Phone Call

I have adopted a new tactic recently, which some may think is not politically correct, but if I call a call center, then hear a voice on the other end of the phone that my gut tells me will not be competent, I hang up and call back.  When I don’t employ this tactic, I usually regret it, as you’ll see when I write up my latest Comcast experience.  I only had to hang up and call back once before I found a voice I could trust at the other end of the DTV line.  That’s a pretty average experience when it comes to large call centers.  The second person I called was quite competent, a fluent speaker of American English, and mostly knowledgeable about the DTV products and services.

I am an AAA member, so I called a special AAA line.  The cool thing about this was that I got the regular DTV promo price (same as on the website), plus an additional $10 off per month.  Too often these “membership” type deals end up being a worse deal than you can get online, so I was pleasantly surprised.

All in all the call took about 20 minutes, and the person I was talking to answered all of my questions competently.  She got a bit confused when I wandered into overly technical territory, but I got the info I needed.

I was also pleased that she recommended the same package that I was thinking I needed- the middle tier service, and didn’t try to jam me into a higher package than I need because her commission would be bigger.  Comcast, you slimy bastards, I’m looking in your direction.

The Install

I called on Monday afternoon.  The service was fully installed by Tuesday afternoon.  I could have opted for Tuesday morning, but I had some other stuff going on.  Time from call to install was less than 24 hours.  It’s impossible to complain about that.

I was a little annoyed by the 4 hour window (let’s get that down to 2 hours, guys) but their automated system did call me about 10 minutes into the window to let me know that the guy was on the way and would be there in 45 minutes.  That was cool.

The installer was on-time, courteous, competent and professional.  He didn’t try to sell me anything, didn’t wreck anything, and when he left everything worked.

Installation was mostly free- I guess I paid like $20 for a handling fee or something.  Obnoxious, but not unexpected.

The Equipment

Here’s one of many places where DTV totally kick’s Comcast’s ass.  We got the “Whole House DVR” which allows us to watch recorded TV in any room.  It’s frickin’ sweet.  There’s no other way to describe it.  The DVR has a huge hard drive, and if we run out of space, we can attach an external hard drive to add more space.  THAT. IS. SO. COOL.

Price

I’m paying less than I was for Comcast for a similar service.  DTV still employs the obnoxious intro pricing, which is on a first 12 months/second 12 months scheme, and requires some sort of rebate.  That’s annoying, and I wish everyone would just adopt the strategy of Cox, our cable company in Phoenix, which just had simple pricing and no promos.

The follow-up call

I have a DVR downstairs, and a HD non-DVR upstairs. We can view the recorded TV upstairs, but we can’t pause live TV and the options for setting up recordings are kind of limited.  So I called back today to ask how much it would be to get a second DVR instead.  They told me free!  The girl who I talked to entered it as a correction to my initial order, so next week I’m getting a second DVR for no cost, and the same cost per month.

Bottom Line

Objectively, my experience with DirecTV so far has been an A, not quite an A+.  If you grade on the Comcast curve, it’s about an A++++++++++++++++++++++++++, but I don’t think it’s right to allow Comcast to tank the scale by sucking so much.  If your competition is the worst company on Earth, it would be easy to set your sights at the “just above worst” level, but it’s obvious DirecTV is better than that.

I plan further reviews as I use the system more, including figuring out how their OnDemand feature works.  And of course, the dreaded first bill, where we see who lied to me.  Do you see what you did there Comcast?  You set my expectations so low that I assume everyone is lying to me.  Fingers crossed this first bill turns out right to restore a bit of the faith Comcast has sucked out of me over the past 20 or so years.

A Funny Post Script

When I made mention of my hatred for Comcast, the DTV installer told me a few funny stories.  He said he’s noticed a lot of people get quite a bit of joy out of returning their Comcast equipment.  This includes one guy who left in the middle of the install because he just couldn’t wait.  He returned his Comcast stuff in the DirecTV box.

I’ll be returning my equipment tonight, and you can be damn sure it will be in that shiny new DirecTV box when I walk in there.  I’m almost giddy thinking about it.

I’ve always been slightly aware that the streets west of Minneapolis go in alphabetical order – something you tend to notice casually when you’re driving around, but I had no idea the pattern repeated itself at least 7 times.

Here’s the exercise- start at Lyndale Ave, just west of the River, in Minneapolis.  Going west, stretching all the way out past Plymouth/Maple Grove, you’ll see the streets below.  It may actually continue further west, but things start to fall apart once you get out that far.  BTW, I compiled this list from Google Maps, so this is original research, kiddies.

I’ve included some major N/S roads for reference.  Also, the only deviation from the pattern that I could tell was that Winnetka is supposed to be a ‘T’, but isn’t for some reason. (See update below)

• *Lyndale
• Aldrich
• Bryant
• Colfax
• Dupont
• Emerson
• Fremont
• Girard
• Humboldt
• Irving
• James
• Knox
• Logan
• Morgan
• Newton
• Oliver
• Penn
• Queen
• Russell
• Sheridan
• Thomas
• Upton
• Vincent
• Washburn
• Xerxes
• York
• Zenith
• Abbot
• Beard
• Chowen
• Drew
• Ewing
• France
• Grimes
• Halifax
• Indiana
• June
• Kyle
• Lee
• Major
• Noble
• Orchard
• Perry
• Quail
• Regent
• Scott
• Toledo
• *100
• Unity
• Vera Cruz
• Welcome
• Xenia
• Yates
• Zane
• Adair
• Brunswick
• Colorado
• Douglas
• Edgewood
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hampshire
• Idaho
• Jersey
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Quebec
• Rhode Island
• Sumter
• *Winnetka
• Utah
• Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Xylon
• Yukon
• Zealand
• Aquila
• Boone
• Cavell
• Decatur
• Ensign
• Flag
• Gettysburg
• Hillsboro
• Independence
• Jordan
• *169
• Kilmer
• Lancaster
• Monticello
• Nathan
• Orleans
• Pilgrim
• Quaker
• Revere
• Saratoga
• Trenton
• Union Terrace
• Valley Forge
• Wellington
• Ximines
• Yorktown
• Zachary
• Arrowood
• Balsam
• Cottonwood
• Deerwood
• Evergreen
• Forestview
• Goldenrod
• Hemlock
• Ives
• Jonquil
• Kirkwood
• Larch
• Magnolia
• Norwood
• Oakview
• Pineview
• Quinwood
• Rosewood
• Sycamore
• *Northwest Blvd/61
• Teakwood
• Underwood
• Vinewood
• Wedgewood
• *494
• Xenium
• Yucca
• Zinnia
• Annapolis
• Berkshire
• Cheshire
• Dallas
• Empire
• Fernbrook
• Glacier
• Harbor
• Ithica
• Juneau
• Kingsview
• Lanewood
• Minnesota
• Niagara
• Orchid
• Polaris
• Quantico
• Ranchview
• Shenandoah
• Terraceview
• Upland
• Vicksburg
• Weston
• Xene
• Yuma
• Zanzibar
• Archer
• Blackoaks
• Comstock
• Dunkirk
• Everest
• Fountain
• Garland
• Holly
• Inland
• Jewel
• Kimberly
• Lawndale
• Merrimac
• Narcissus
• Olive
• Peony
• Queensland
• Ranier
• Shadyview
• Troy
• Urbandale
• Vagabond
• Walnut Grove
• Xanthus
• Yellowstone
• Zircon
• And on and on?

Update: I love it when I find fellow geeks on the internet.  Here- a collection of images of all of the road signs, and here a history of the namesakes of the first set.  Here, a wikipedia entry to Minneapolis native Prince’s song Alphabet Street, which was written in iambic pentameter and cycles through the street names.  Actually it doesn’t, but wouldn’t that be awesome?

Update 2: I see that the street signs guy has some different names.  He gets Texas in place of Winnetka, which solves the missing T problem, and he also gets Alabama instead of Adair.  And his second set it almost totally different than mine.  Conspiracy?

I just sold my old cell phone on Gazelle.com.  They gave me $6 for it.  I was going to either toss it or recycle it.  Or leave it in the drawer to collect dust.  Now I have $6.  They pay for shipping.  It all went down as advertised.  Now I’m going to search for other things to sell.

“Can you imagine getting a package in the mail from this complete stranger that you know from Facebook because you joined a group, and say here, drink this purported spit from some other kid?” Martin told The Associated Press.

Misconception: Most of what Americans spend their money on is made in China.

Fact: Just 2.7% of personal consumption expenditures go to Chinese-made goods and services. 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on American-made goods and services.

The “ice cream of the future” first has to deal with some debts of the past.

Dippin’ Dots Inc., maker of the tiny orbs of ice cream that are a staple of American malls and amusement parks, has filed for Chapter 11 protection in federal bankruptcy court in the Western District of Kentucky.