Hi there people. I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I promise that I'm still kickin and hangin in there. From now until probably the end of April, the blog will be going on short haituses (haitii? whatever it is, you know what I mean). It's officially the middle of "busy season," which means that work has been crazy, to say the least. But I've also been busy heading out with friends and basically doing the "work hard, play hard" routine. I'm actually so busy that I've had to cut my daily phone calls with Agnes back from 45 minutes per call to only 25 minutes....now you know that's serious!
Anyways, so tonight I'm going to blog about my TV. You might remember a couple of blogs ago I said that "nothing here (in Luxembourg) can be taken care of quickly or cheaply." At the time, I was talking about my car. But in my head there were other examples, which I will share with you now.
So when I first moved here, I was in a hotel for two weeks. In the hotel I had the internet, and I had basic French cable, which basically gave me BBC, CNN and MTV. It was okay, honestly. Not too bad. Then I moved on up to my apartment, which was a vast improvement from the hotel. But....my cable at my apartment was different. The only English-speaking channel was MTV Europe.
After watching the European Music Awards for the 25th time, and my 15th soccer game (announced in German), I decided I needed an upgrade. So I started asking some questions around the office and found out that I could get Sky TV (from the UK) here in Luxembourg. It has like 500 channels, all sorts of sports (even the NFL on Sundays!), and was fairly reasonably priced. I just needed a receiver (basically a cable box), a satellite dish, and a UK address.
After doing some research on the internet, I found a company from France that could supply me with the box, the address, and even set up the subscription for me so that Sky would just charge my credit card each month (36 GBP, roughly $55 per month).
So I ordered the box (225 EUR), the address (75 EUR), and the subscription. I actually orderd the "sports package" which comes with all the Sky Sports channels, plus a ton of other random channels (Discovery Channel, National Geographic, etc). For this, they will send you the card for free (when you get a special subscription, you need this thing that is like a credit card...you stick it in this slot on the box, and it "unlocks" the channels that you're paying for). Shipping was another 35 EUR, so all told I paid 335 EUR (about $400), plus 36 GBP per month. Sounds steep, but believe me, I would have paid much more at that point.
Now for the satellite dish. A guy at work recommended another guy, who set up his dish "under the table" and did a good job. So I call the guy and he comes over, tells me that there's nowhere for him to put the dish so that it's facing south (dish has to face south to catch the signal), except for up on the chimney. He'd have to build a special clamp, but it shouldn't be a problem...he's done it before.
About a week goes by and the guy calls me back. He can't find the right parts to build the clamp, but he is still looking. Another week goes by and now I've received the box, etc. So I'm chompin' at the bit. I keep calling this satellite dude, but he's not answering his phone. For like three days I'm trying, then I realize....he's screening my calls! Freakin' punk! So I call him from work, and he picks right up. I'm laughing at this point b/c now I've got him. I tell him that there's one other place, the roof off my bathroom (which is flat), that faces south. Should be no problem.
So he agrees and comes over. Sets it all up. Clamps the dish to a seemingly flimsy "hook" protruding from the roof. I ask "Are you sure that's a good place to put that thing...it won't blow off will it?" He assures me that it's okay...he's done this many times before. He runs all the cable down through my apartment from my bathroom, and hooks it to the box. Hooks the box to my TV.
Now the TV that came with this place was interesting. And old. So old, in fact, that it had no remote (not even equipped for one), and you had to turn the "canal," and then adjust the "frequency" to pick up the channels. Straight dinosaur. But, it's okay b/c with Sky, you set the TV to one channel and then the box has a remote you use to turn the channels coming through the satellite.
So, it's all hooked up. We turn on the box, find the right canal and frequency on my TV, and.....poof! It works!
But, what's this....no sound. Hmmmmm.... Welp, the TV is so old, that it can get the picture ok, but can't pick up the sound correctly. (Those that know me well, I'm sure you can picture my reaction) The guy tells me that if I just go buy a new TV, it will work fine. No problem.
Then I go to put the subscription card into the slot on the box. It won't go in!! I swear. So he tries it. Won't work for him either. He says that it's probably a faulty card reader in the box....I'll need a new box. As soon as he tells me this, I am on my phone calling the company that sent me the box. The guy picks up and I explain what is going on. He doesn't believe me...says he tested the card and box before he sent it and it was fine. I must have broken it. Then the dish guy gets on the horn and explains to the French dude that he watched me open the box, tried the card himself and that the box is definitely faulty.
Luckily the French dude believes the dish guy, and agrees to send me a new box. Also luckily, by just having the box, you can get like 12 channels at least. The basic British channels (like our NBC, ABC, etc). Not too bad...baby steps, man! But it will be about a week before I have the new box. Then I've got to send the broken one back. Once he gets it back, he's going to check it out and if he suspects me of any foul play, he's charging me for both (remember, he's got my credit card number). I say okay...I know I didn't break it, so I'm confident that he'll realize it was broken when he sent it.
Okay...so everything is set up and I assess my situation. The dish guy is gone (with an extra 150 EUR in his pocket). Either way, I'm going to need a new TV. Problem: this was during the two week span where my car was in the shop. Undeterred, I go get the bus and head for the mall. It's a weekend so it's guaranteed to be packed. It's about a 40 minute ride on the bus, b/c you have to go all the way to the City Centre, then back out to the mall (like a big "V" from my apartment).
I get there, and yup, it's packed. So was the bus on the way there...a bad omen for what I had in mind.
I buy a TV. Decent deal...about 180 EUR. Really nice TV...flat screen, decent size. However, decent size = huge box. Next thing you know, there's me, wading through a sea of Europeans (who, on average, do not pay one bit of attention to where they are going) toting this gigantic (and heavy) box. I must have looked pissed, though, as I lugged this thing through the mall, up the escalator, and out to the bus stop, b/c people actually didn't really bump into me too much.
As I walk out into the fresh air (and cloudy sky), I see the bus pulling away. No way I'm running to catch that thing...not with the extra cargo I'm carrying. So I just head to the stop and wait. With my box.
About 20 minutes later, after a huge crowd has gathered, the next bus comes around. It is freakin packed. I'm talking packed like the Brown Line at 7.45am on a weekday morning. I don't care. I get on. But right in front of the door, which is the only place that had room for the box. So, for the next 10 or so stops, everytime people had to get off, I had to pick up my new TV, get out of the bus, let them out, and then get back on. I was getting some seriously dirty looks.
Eventually I get to my stop. About 300 yards to my apartment and paydirt. What do you know...it starts pouring rain! So here I am, carrying this huge box, lifted up over my head acting as my umbrella. Good thing I had it, or my hair might have gotten wet!!
I end up in my apartment, turn on the TV and thank God it works. And you can hear it. Wonderful!
About a week later, the new box arrives. The card slips right in. And there you have it...I am finally all set up. Only, I have to wait another week for Sky TV to "pair up" my card to my new box. Oh well. I can wait another week.
So all is good. Finally...everything seems to be going well. The car is back and in good shape. The TV works. There is peace and harmony in the world.
Then one random Wednesday night like three weeks ago, I come home from dinner with some friends. Flip on the TV to veg out before heading to bed. Blue screen with the words "No signal is being received." Shoite!
I run upstairs to look at the dish, and sure enough, it blew over!! Unreal!! I call the dish guy. Doesn't even ring. He's cancelled his number. Figures. So I'm out on my roof, freezing, at like 11.30pm, trying to realign this dish. After about 15 minutes I realize that I'm likely to do more harm than good so I call it a night.
The next day I call this legitimate satellite company here in Lux to ask if they can re-attach my dish and re-lock the signal. I was desperate, because the Super Bowl was on the following Sunday. They come out on Friday night, take one look at the thing and tell me "No way. If we re-attach this thing tonight, you'll just be calling us again in like two weeks to re-attach it again. But...if you want, we can set up a base and a pole and attach the dish to it. It's guaranteed to stay put. Oh and by the way, your current dish won't fit on our stand, so you'll have to buy a new dish from us. We just happen to have all of the equipment in our truck and we can do it right now."
The reason I didn't go with this company from the beginning was that they are expensive. This would be no different. It was going to run me 200 EUR. Without hesitation, my response was "Great. Go ahead and do it." What could I do? I was already in so far...I needed to just seal the deal and get it over with and done correctly.
So that's where we stand as of now. My only question is this: Does anyone need a satellite dish? I've got an extra one that I'll give you a good deal on.
CAR UPDATE: Here in Lux, they have something similar to the E-Check. It's called "Controle Technique" and is the same as E-Check, where they'll check your emissions, but also they inspect your lights, breaks, tires, steering, and a handful of other things. If anything needs work, your car doesn't pass, you have to get everything that's wrong fixed within 21 days, and bring it back for a second inspection with mechanic's invoices to prove that you've had the work done by a professional.
My Controle Technique appointment was this morning at 7.30am. And good news, the old Saaber passed with flying colors!! The only bad thing about the whole experience was that no one spoke English at the inspection place (in fact, I don't think any of the inspectors spoke anything but Luxembourgish, b/c I asked one if he spoke French and he still said no!)...so I was a little confused as to what to do, where to go, etc. But they were nice enough to help me out with pointing, gesturing, etc. Hoo-ray!
