video games (was Re: UFCS for D)

[Nick Sabalausky]

"Adam D. Ruppe" <destructionator at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:ywifkafuypvfduunmatf at forum.dlang.org...
> On Saturday, 31 March 2012 at 20:54:49 UTC, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>> Oh yea, and the set-top boxes themselves don't
>> even work right anymore!
>
> That was *terrible* when digital was new, but wasn't
> bad at all when I left (in December). The cable
> was pretty good... just /ridiculously/ overpriced.
>

That would make more sense, but for some reason it was backwards for us. Our 
area was initially Adelphia, and everything actually worked 100% fine for a 
long time. Then their CEO, or some other board member or whatever went to 
jail apperently, and Time Warner scooped us up, and everything just went 
straight downhill from there.

I still find it wonderfully amusing that the known-corrupt Adelphia actually 
gave us better service than Time Warner.

>> That's *cheap* for cable. (Still not worth it though, I agree.)
>
> Actually, I think I flipped that... I'm paying $55 now
> for the internet. (that reminds me, it is time to pay that
> again)
>
> At first, the cable+internet was $90 / month. But, after
> the first year, they jacked it up to $120.
>
> And then, the next year, they jacked it up to $130. So
> I was probably paying $75 for the cable. Even worse.
> Totally not worth it.
>

I don't remember our exact numbers, but that sound right about on par with 
us.

Interstingly though, Time Warner was always more expensive than Adelphia. We 
first got cable w/ digital w/ internet through Adelphia when I was in 12th 
grade IIRC (Cleveland area - Northeast Ohio). Then two or three years later, 
when I got out of the college dorms and into a college apartment (Toledo 
area - Northwest Ohio), *that* area was served by Time Warner and IIRC they 
were charging something like $20-$40 more than the folks were paying back 
home in Cleveland for the same service.

Then later on when Adelphia collapsed and Time Warner took over, the prices 
back here in Cleveland started getting jacked up more and more each year 
(and like I said, the service got worse and worse).

> I'm not terribly happy with that internet price either,
> but I use the crap out of it and my job relies on it,
> so meh.
>

That does seem about $15 higher than it should be. I'd have to check what 
we're paying though, might actually be the same these days. I could never go 
back to dial-up though. Seriously. Like you, I just wouldn't be able to do 
my work.

>
> But, speaking of raising prices, this reminds me of a
> convo I had with my landlady a couple weeks ago.
>
> She noted that I've been here for two and a half years
> and only jacked the rent once.
>
> "I've been getting behind on that... I have to raise it
> at least 3% a year. The cost of living is going up..."
>

Wow, what a moronic load of crap! That's why I think people with a < 100 IQ 
should be institutionalized or at least kept from making decisions that 
affect other people.

>
> Yes, the cost of living is going up because YOU are
> insisting on raising the rent on some fixed schedule!
>

Exactly!

It pisses me off when people blame things on "inflation". Yes, there *is* 
certainly inflation involved, but inflation means the money *itself* has 
reduced worth: Ie, more $ going out *and* more $ coming in.

See, going from earning $100 and then paying $0.10 for product X, to earning 
$1,000 and paying $1 for product X - *THAT'S* inflation. You know, "$100 / 
$0.10" with 10x inflation == "$1,000 / $1".  But that's NOT what we have: 
What we have is more like "$100 / $0.10 -> $115 / $1". That's not inflation, 
that's just corporate greed and bullshit excuses.


> But, ugh. I hate moving and I hate being in debt, but

Yea, same here.

> she made the decision for me - I'm just going to buy
> a house and be done with it. I hate annual price hikes,
> no matter who's doing it.

Good for you! (Stick it to the...*ahem*..."man" ;) ). The one thing to be 
careful with though is maintenance. If it's an older house, sometimes the 
upkeep can end up costing more than what you'd expect to save (My mom ran 
into that once).

Finances are a pain the the ass, eh?