Jason’s Blog

The time it takes for the IRS to accept a tax return where you owe money.

2 Months
The time to get money back from the government.

Yeah.. That was it. Please excuse my brevity. WordPress Mobile

I am a sucker for sales and Best Buy had one on Logitech Harmony Remotes so I decided to try them out.  I heard good things in forums and there were many good reviews on various electronic sites so, $65 dollars later I have the Harmony 650.  The main difference in the different remotes are the number of devices that you are “allowed” to control at a given time.  You can of course change your mind and change which devices are controlled.  Logitech claims that is is about memory in the device, I think that it is really just a limitation imposed on you due to the cost of the device.  That being said, I opted for one that can control 5 devices.  Turns out I would have liked 6 or 7, but not for an extra $100!  I ended up getting 2 of them one for the living room and one for the bedroom.  Have not opened up the bedroom one yet in case I find I don’t really need it since the setup in there is not as complex.

Living Room

What I have…

• AV Receiver
• DVD Recorder / Digital Tuner
• Blu-Ray Player
• HD DVD Player :( (I was an early adopter)
• Apple TV
• Projector
• Projection Screen

I had learned about home automation control options with the Harmony and though perhaps I could control my projection screen too.  Who would not like to press one button and have the lights dim, screen lower, pop corn machine start and movie play right? LOL.  I am exaggerating a bit of course.  You need to watch the popcorn, but a auto grinding coffee maker…..hmm.

Software

There were many “advanced features” I wanted and was able to read about in online discussions.  After talking with level 2 support, they were not able to assist me.  I did however find a link to an old version which I installed.  Sadly, it did not work with the web site it was supposed to enable, but I was able to just open up the application file on my Mac and was ready to go.  It scared me a bit because it insisted on updating itself before it allowed me to use it.  If I did not allow the update, it would just close.  I was concerned because the version I was using seemed like just a few minor revisions away so it would likely be updated.  For example I installed 7.1.3 based on what I saw online to get the functions I needed and when it was done updating I was at the current version 7.1.6.  It was not like I installed 6.0.1 and upgraded to the latest 6.1.2 in which case I would not have been worried.

To my happy surprise the application opened and viola!  I had access to so many more advanced features.  Granted the software is not nearly as intuitive as the new online version, but for the advanced features, is quite necessary.  Your average user would do well with the simplified and very quick to setup version.

End Result

So I needed to choose the devices that I controlled with the remote and came up with the following.

A nice thing about the remote as there is an “All Off” which turns all devices off and puts up the projection screen.

If you switch an activity the appropriate devices are turned on (if not already) and any that are not used are turned off.

• TV Activity
  • Screen
  • Projector and Select Input
  • DVD Recorder
  • AV Receiver and Input
• DVD Activity
  • Screen
  • Projector and Select Input
  • Blu-Ray DVD
  • AV Receiver and Input

• Music Activity (Apple TV – Manually Control)
  • Screen
  • Projector and Select Input
  • AV Receiver and Input

• Custom Activity (HD DVD – Manually Control)
  • Screen
  • Projector and Select Input
  • AV Receiver and Input

As you can see I was limited on the 5 devices I chose to use, but have the other settings automated on the HD DVD and Apple TV.

GRRRREAT Product Logitech!

So I would highly recommend these remotes to those with lots of devices that need to be used for multimedia systems, but not for the user with TV speakers.  HDMI control of the TV input by new HDMI devices would make that input switching on your TV automatic and not really worth the money :)

I had a Swiss Army brand back pack for a little over a year and the main pocket bottom stitching has come apart and I have a big hole in it.  I have come to expect great quality based on the Swiss Army knife I have had for close to 20 years, but don’t expect that with other products.  After contacting the company that actually  makes the backpacks, I find that there is no limited lifetime warranty, only a 1 year one.  Unfortunate because I don’t save receipts in case it was less than a year.

Swiss Army Branded Backpacks only have a 1 year warranty.

Does any one have a suggestion for a good backpack?  Something relatively light and frameless that has a large capacity and a real lifetime warranty that covers wear and tear?  Otherwise I may head to Wal-mart and get the cheapest one I can find expecting it to last only 9 months.

I will leave the management company anonymous as it would be my luck that they would sue me for saying the following….

Read the entire lease in the presence of the leasing agent.

While I don’t usually read the entire lease, I will from this point on.  I will also do it while the leasing agent is waiting for me to sign the lease.  Who knows what kind of goodies there are in there.  I know that they have the right to terminate your lease at any time with no reason, but you cannot end your lease early without being penalized.

We will sue you if you are late with rent for a month.

This is the kicker I found out the other day.  With the terrible snow storm, and my online bill payment originating from Pennsylvania, it is no surprise that my payment for rent did not arrive on time.  It was sent on Feb 2, for payment on Feb 5, but as of this date, has not arrived yet.  We received a note under the door on February 13 that said “we have not received your rent payment and we will take you to court for none payment.”  Looking beyond the grammatical error, I was quite surprised the payment had not made it yet.  I am convinced it is sitting in a snow covered postal service truck and will eventually make it to the management company someday. 

What really urks me is that the leasing office of my building operates separate from the management company.  The management company apparently filed a court case for non-payment on Feb 11.  This is one day after the final due date for rent each month.  Now this is the first time I have ever been late for rent and have been living at this address for close to 15 months now.  One would think that perhaps someone should contact me and see if everyting was okay since it was my first time?  Apparently not.  The leasing office is responsible for notifying.  They put a note under my door 2 days after the lawsuit was filed!!!!!  Now isn’t that helpful?!

Late for rent one month when ontime for 14 others. 

I was able to get my bank to waive the cashiers check fee for payment and the management company is going to waive the late fees since it was scheduled on time and no fault of mine for the lateness.  This is good, but very frustrating that the management just sends every reputable renter to court.  This seems much like what the credit card companies are doing…. “Thank you for being a loyal customer for 15 years.  We are sorry, but during economic hardship, we need to double your interest rate.  Thank you again for being a loyal customer.”

Time to buy a house again.

I have learned my lesson.  Be your own rental agent!!!!  I will be looking for a new apartment soon and better yet a house again where I don’t need to deal with late rent payments :)