Scandinavian cruise 2015

by | Jun 21, 2015 | Travel

We have been so busy with everything in our business that this trip has kind of snuck up on me. It’s hard to believe that we are leaving for Europe in just under two weeks. This is a trip that we have been planning on since January. It all started over dinner with some friends, when we said “We really should go on another vacation together some time.” These are really good friends of ours who we’ve traveled with in the past to places like Costa Rica, Death Valley, Las Vegas, and more. They are really easy going, have similar interests, and are just really fun to hang out with. In our initial planning stages, we talked about all kinds of things such as China, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, and Scandinavia. The trip ended up coming down to China in Scandinavia. We ended up ruling China out, because my wife and I are going there for a business trip in October. So, Scandinavia took the lead. The problem is there are so many countries in Scandinavia that we wanted to visit and I’m not big fan of packing and unpacking. So, we started looking at cruises. In the end we found the cruise that worked out perfectly for us. We get to visit places like Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, and Germany. The cruise itself is 11 days and is round-trip from Copenhagen. So, we are going to arrive in Copenhagen a couple of days early in order to acclimate to the time change. It will also give us the opportunity to see more of Copenhagen. On the way...

Time To Cut The Cord?

by | Jun 20, 2015 | Technology

Over the past couple of years I’ve been reading a lot about people who have been “cutting the cord” and I think it’s time I become one of those people. Back in October 2013, we moved into a new house in Escondido, California. When we first moved in the only Internet service available was from Cox Cable. Within a few weeks I was seriously wondering if we a mistake buying this house, because the Internet service was just that awful. I was getting so desperate I was considering using a hot spot for Internet service in my own home. Streaming was out of the question irregardless. A hot spot was looking like the only alternative, so I could at least get some work done. Just as I was reaching my tipping point with the horrible Internet service, we got a letter in the mail notifying us the AT&T Universe was finally in our neighborhood. I couldn’t sign up quick enough; our Internet troubles became distant memories. We signed up for a package getting us top tier Internet speeds and just about every channel they offer for right around $130 a month. I think that’s pretty reasonable. That was about one year ago, and evidently this was only introductory pricing. This month our bill skyrocketed to $242.59! I’m not sure who can justify almost $250 for Internet and television service each month, but it sure is NOT us. To prepare for cutting the cord, I ordered a Roku 3 set top box and an amplified HDTV antenna. My plan is to use the antenna to watch live TV and use...