Netflix is raising their rates by 60%!

So I just got this email from Netflix. We were streaming and getting one DVD at a time for , I think, $8.99 a month. Now, they are going to charge 6.99 a month for one or the other-streaming OR getting DVD's in the mail.

Are they crazy? I thought they were swimming in record profits! Just as all the competitors spring up, Hulu, etc. they hike prices 60%? Woo-hoo, what a great business model, sort of like the oil companies.

Putting my membership on hold while I explore the other options. That keeps my membership, but doesn't give them any revenue. I wonder what would happen if scores of subscribers all did that right now. Abject panic in the boardroom? I certainly think so.

I've been dragging my feet avoiding figuring out how to connect my computer and stream content from it, but I think this will spur me over that little hurdle.

Good weather is so energizing!

It's been in the low 80's here in my desert-y part of Southern California, which is deliciously cool for this time of year (went down to 56 last night!) Now THAT'S good sleeping weather. It really energized me to do some outdoor yardwork that I wouldn't dream of doing this time of year, usually.

Typically it's about 98-104 this time of year here, and I would say 90 is an optimal daytime high, it's so dry. So now I hear the rest of the nation is sweltering in a heat wave...sorry guys, I guess we sent it your way!

I don't even care I'm being held hostage to the Solar guy, who is supposed to come out and fix their metering system, which never worked. A few months ago, we installed a complete PV (photovoltaic, to you newbies) system as well as a pool heating system. My husband works from home, and we use a lot of electronics, so our bill was about $350 a month previously.

Well, now how does $30 a month sound? It even was -$17 on the month we were away for 2 weeks. That's right, the utility company has to buy back the extra power generated. Fabulous! At this rate, payback is in 6 years. We'd rather be paying the $ for the system than the utility company! And the pool is a steady 85 degrees! Yay!

The little high-tec monitor is supposed to show you how many KW's are being produced every hour,etc. But it runs off of Wi-Fi, and the tech claims our signal is too low.Funny, we run 4 computers off of it all over the house, but okay. So he's going to hard-wire it in. That way we don't even have to go outside to see the spoils of our investment.

So we figure that even if we move, more buyers will qualify to buy our house since the utilities are nearly nil. Not that anything is selling right now! Oh, well, no plans to move anyway....

The New Baby shower

So the other day, I get an invitation to a baby shower from a woman I barely know. Okay, so she works with my husband, but although he's also invited, he'll be out of town. So not only do I hardly know her, she's on the rebound from a divorce and isn't even married again.

So I go to get a gift and I'm depressed already. She knows she's having a boy. It's just not as much fun to shop for as a girl, the selection is horrible. I know it's politically incorrect to say, but that's totally how I felt. I bought something perfunctory and left, it occurred to me -- am I the only one who's ever felt like that? Just a thought.

Mommy NEEDS a Margarita!

Am I the only one who has a kid who will complain about ANYTHING? I mean, if you give her something for breakfast she normally likes, she will bitch that she wanted X, which she normally doesn't like.

If I take my mother's tack, which is to say, "That's what we have, eat it or you can go hungry", she will more often than not leave it and then sneak junk food later. AAAAAArrrrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!