Fezmid

Thank you for that introduction, Campy. I'm going to counter the original question with a counter-question -- why do you have a standalone TiVo with DirecTV??? That doesn't make any sense... Sell your TiVo (if it has a Lifetime subscription, you can get some good money on eBay), and buy a DirecTV/TiVo unit. For only $6/month, you'll solve your Center Ice problem and be able to record TWO things at once (ie: two hockey games!). You can get a DirecTiVo for free (with $100 mail in rebate). Otherwise, you're on your own since Center Ice is a special package that the standalone TiVo doesn't know anything about. CW PS: Campy, you'd have the same problem if you had a standalone TiVo and a cable box.

You're assuming that you won't be mugged/killed while walking down Main St. Wow, between this and my Love Canal comment, can you sense my contempt for Niagara Falls? CW

I grew up in Love Canal until I was 4... My house was one of the lucky ones that was smashed into the basement and capped off... I wonder why I glow in the dark... CW

LOVE the series. In college, there were several times where I was playing the original at night, and I'd keep saying, "One more turn, then I'm going to sleep." My roommate would wake up the next morning with me still playing, and say, "Did you stay up all night?!" Sounds crazy, since it's just a game, but it's addicting... (the only game I've lost sleep over...) I still play CiVIII and love it. I'm hoping that CivIV doesn't ruin it; I'm a bit worried with the "making it more accessible to new people" angle. Hopefully it's still Civ, and not a turn-based RTS game or something. I have a copy preordered from Amazon, so should have it sometime next week. Can't wait. And in case you havn't seen this site, tons of Civ info: http://www.civfanatics.com CW

I bet people in Buffalo were just voting for their city over and over and over to inflate the vote count. CW

Yeah, I found that odd. We had our IDs out and ready to hand to the border guy, but they never asked to see them. Go figure. At least people entering NFL stadiums are safe CW

You shouldn't, although if you have a passport, I'd bring it just in case. When we crossed the border, they never even looked at our IDs (both leaving and coming back). CW

Just don't take Mapquest's directions for the Butterly thing. We tried to go see that, but ended up in some residential area. Couldn't find any signs for it anywhere, so we gave up and continued up to Toronto. CW

My wife and I went up to Toronto for a day. Drove up in the morning, went to the Ontario science museum, looked around downtown Toronto, had dinner, then saw Blue Man Group at night. We left at around 8am, and got back at about midnight. It was a BLAST. Not really WNY, but still something cool to do. I bet the drive would be awesome this time of the year too wich all the colors changing. CW

Superfan gives more than just the HD games. The "shortcuts" they have on Monday is AWESOME. Watch an entire game in 30 minutes. Very nice for watching games from other teams (for example, the team Buffalo plays the next week). There's some other things they show you during the week which also make it worth it, IMHO. Especially since you can get it for free this year, if you ask. CW

Weird, I'll have to pay closer attention. CW

My wife's a big hockey fan. I recorded some of a game in HD and showed it to her. She said, "It's like we're right in the stands, in the good seats!" That said, if I could only choose between HD or TiVo (DVR), I'd choose the DVR. We had a non-TiVo HD receiver a couple of years ago, and while it was great for the Superbowl (only thing we really watched on it), we couldn't stand having to watch shows when they were being aired, so we went back to the TiVo. (now we have the best of both worlds - the HDTiVo ). CW

Actually, Fox shows ALL of their games in HD It does suck, but it's entirely CBS' fault. I'd recommend calling DirecTV and explain to them that you're not getting a lot of use out of Superfan. They should give it to you for free (or at the very least, $49). You have a legit complaint. CW

My condolenses. We have two cats, and I try not to think about the fact that they won't be here forever. Teaches you to enjoy your time while you can. CW

Hey, I'm game. If anyone's in the Twin Cities area and wants to get together to watch a movie or something, just shoot me a message Hopefully my Berkline recliners will be setup this weekend (with the Buttkickers being setup a week or two after that, once I get the last component for it:) CW

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2198438

Maybe, but I doubt it. The local networks are the ones who put up a stink about people watching on Sunday Ticket instead of the local channel and they got the NFL to have DirecTV change the rules last year (after testing it out in Seattle and Pittsburgh the year before, known as the "Seattle and Pittsburgh experiment"). I find it hard to believe that the local networks will back down now. Unless a lot of people are complaining (good!), I just don't see it happening http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writ...ex.html?cnn=yes CW

I've heard that the "maintenance" is unnecessary and is just a way for them to make more money. People I've talked to have said it works great after a few sessions, and then it's no longer necessary to go. YMMV. CW

Moss listed as doubtful http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2197919 CW

*cough* Patdowns *cough*

I did see the trailer in HD and it looked AMAZING. Sad that the DVD won't look as good CW

Idiots... Lana, did you get that roundtrip ticket I bought you for Minneapolis? All those suckers are in Oregon, and you're not. CW

CBS Sportsline has it at 3.5.

Yeah, you're right. I'll stop. Screw the Bills fans in Canada, UK, and Germany who can't watch the game. CW

Just got my gas/electric bill for the month. My gas use hasn't gone up over the past few months (since the only thing gas in the house that is used in the summer is our water heater). This month, we paid $30 for gas. Last month, it was only $25, and the month before was only $20. They weren't kidding when they said heating costs would go up 50% from last year. CW