Mom's new TV and Blu-ray player

Today I woke up early and went out to lunch with my mom at Mongolian BBQ. I don't like that place, but it's one of the few places that's somewhat healthy. SOMEHOW they removed the discount on vegetarian dishes. Is TOFU going up in price now or something? I don't think so. $12.06 for one bowl of grilled veggies and tofu along with a Diet Pepsi is a rip-off. Sure, I don't need to go there and I shouldn't. The service was slow today and that was a first. It was packed though, so it's not a big deal. I only gave a $1 tip. Is that mean of me? I don't think so. You should reward people for good service. If it's ever truly terrible service, why do some people even leave tips? I do know they get paid based on tips, but still. Then again, sometimes the poor service isn't always their fault but the owner or managers fault. They sometimes don't hire enough people.

I told my mom she needed to get a blu-ray player and that they're now cheap. I kind of told her i'd buy her one, but maybe she can donate a few dollars towards it. I ended up having her pitch in $20. I ended up getting her a Magnavox $98 Blu-ray player they had at Wal-Mart on sale. Took it home and hooked it up to her TV. Of course, 1080i over DVI was not possible due to stupid HDCP. What a joke.

Her TV was on it's way out pretty much and was about 5 years old. I convinced her to get a new TV. They were on sale at Sam's for $550 or so. 37" 1080p for $550. It's a Vizio, but i've had a lot of luck with Vizio. Very few problems. I have a 42" Sony Wega downstairs, a 32" Vizio LCD in the bedroom (720p) and just this december I bought a Vizio 37". Due to this, I told my mom she should get one too since i've had a lot of luck with it. No complaints at all with the 37" Vizion picture quality. It's great and almost as good as my Sony maybe. I still think Sony makes the most reliable televisions, but sometimes they're not always worth it especially as a secondary TV etc.

So we hooked up our $98 Blu-Ray player and it really failed to impress me at all. With Blu-ray you immediately noticed the improved picture quality. I put in a Japanese blu-ray title (i've seen before and known how the quality is) and it was all grainy and looked just plain terrible. About as good as DVD quality. Seriously. I ended up running to Best Buy real quick and getting her a Sony instead. I don't understand how Sony Blu-Ray players have not gone down in price. They're still $249 like they were during Christmas! You'd think they'd drop down $50 by now. Even as a backup player, I do not suggest the Magnavox $98 blu-Ray players at Wal-Mart. What did I expect for $98? Decent picture quality and we didn't really get it.

I went back and forth between two different Blu-Ray players at Best Buy forever. The Sony or a Samsung with Netflix capability. My mom would really like that, but I skipped it because I knew for sure the sony would be good.

Hooked it up and the difference in picture quality between the Sony and Magnavox was HUGE. I also calibrated the TV and matched it up with the settings from my Vizio at home. I also managed to pick up "Slumdog Millionaire" on Blu-Ray at Best Buy for $14. Last one in stock too.

To be honest, one small reason I wanted to get my mom a Blu-Ray player was so that I could loan her the Japanese film "Nabbie's Love". I love that so much and even want to see it a second time, just a day later. I hope they release it in the USA, but it'll probably never happen.

Came home and did a workout again. Zero missed days (1 due to injury though, but I ran on my treadmill instead) so far. I did this first thing when I got home so I didn't delay it and possibly skip it. For the past 2 hours though i've had a bad headache and I don't have any tylenol around. Luckily it's going away. I think what did it is either too much Tea today or too much nutra-sweet. I must have drank like 4 440z plain Teas today.

After my workout I got my living room ready for tomorrow. I'm having a new chair delivered. I wish I could take a picture of it. It looks really nice. Of course, I dislike the idea of leather, but oh well.

Yesterday I made the stupid mistake of going to the mall in Grand Rapids for "fun". It's about 1 hour away but ended up taking me 1 and a half to get there due to the main exit being closed. I had to backtrack and get off at 54th street. I ended up going to only about 4 different stores and stayed only about 1 1/2 hours. What a waste of time! I should have taken a break and gotten lunch somewhere in there or saw a movie. I did end up buying two shirts at Macy's though. They cost me only $88 each. Ok, i'm kidding! $30 each on sale and Macy's somehow carries my size and they fit well somehow. Macy's isn't as expensive as I thought it'd be. They carry the best pillows money can buy and they're cheap! Would you believe that Calvin Klein makes some of the best pillows? Yes, really! They only cost like $15 on Sale. Or they have some $200 Down Pillows, but i'll pass. I'm not crazy enough to buy a $200 pillow. I'm told down isn't painful for the birds to be removed, but I don't know if I believe that or not. I just don't like down pillows.

Right now I think my favorite stores are Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Macy's. Wal-Mart has some bad business practices, but I still can't resist shopping there. Sometimes when I need an item that's of a higher quality i'll go elsewhere. Some things I refuse to buy at Wal-mart. Like Furniture or say a new lamp. Sadly Wal-Mart doesn't sell as many american made items as they did back in the 90's. I'm not sure why this is. It seemed that back then everything they had was available in an American made version. Not so today. Perhaps certain people don't want to pay more if an item is american made and more expensive. I don't mind, but to a point. Unfortunately I don't check labels as much as I should. Some items just can't be found that are made in America.

This eating healthy and working out all the time thing is going well. I have a ton more energy and I get a lot more work done on the days I work. I think yesterday I was a little tired at one point, but it was due to not eating enough. Weight Lifting also seems to make me twice as hungry sometimes. I always make sure to eat enough food without overdoing it.

I was going to give myself a reward day today, but I'll probably skip it this week. Eating junk food again just doesn't interest me. It's hard to give up pizza, but i'll live without it. No sense in buying myself a whole pizza for $15-$20 just to eat two whole pieces.