Hey Muvico, Get It Together!

I love the Muvico Theaters chain. They are big, pretty, and always clean. They have comfortable seats and even seasoning for the popcorn which is a nice luxury.

Me and Jessica probably attend a Muvico screening 90% of the time we go to the movies, easily. Either the Muvico Pompano, which has been my main movie going place since it opened in 1998, but lately we’ve been gravitating towards the extra fancy Muvico Palace in Boca Raton.

The theme of Palace is that of an grand old movie theater. The kind you would have attended back in 40’s and 50’s and seen a double feature, three cartoons, a newsreel, and endless trailers all for 1.5 cents. Or something like that.

However my latest experiences have been less than Palatial. Back in December me and Jessica shelled out extra bucks to sit in the fancy Premiere section of the theater. Here you are paying a premium price ($18!) for a premium experience. You sit high up in a balcony, above the noise of the regular crowd, and sit in a giant love seat. And this seat is really big.

The problem here is that on this night no one was minding the store. See, just because you sit above the regular loudmouths, that doesn’t mean they can’t buy a ticket and sit in the Premiere with you. So we had loud people there. Some guy snoring. And all in all a lousy experience. Where are the ushers? I realize it’s 1956 but if you’re asking me to pay the extra price I’m going to expect the extra attention. No one was up there and I felt as though I had wasted my money.

Recently I went back to the Palace to see The Wrestler. Once the movie got to its climactic ending the sound went out. Hey, these things happen, I understand. But instead of stopping the movie and fixing the problem, they let it play on. So the end scene goes on with silence and then we got really bizarre sounding digital bleeps. Truly awful and the end of the film was robbed of its emotional impact from me. Granted there were managers there to hand out passes to another film, but how am I going to replace what I was watching? Oh well, I guess now we can see Paul Blart: Mall Cop!

Not to mention there is always an abundance of texters and generally annoying people around. Don’t get me wrong, going to the theater is still my favorite thing to do. It is still the best way to experience a film. But Muvico needs to get it in gear and take care of these issues if they still want my business. And in case anyone was wondering me and Jess went to the theaters 60+ times in 2008.

Tavares Watch 2009

The Islanders have yet to win a game in 2009. And while I am obviously rooting to nail that first overall pick, it is okay to win a game here and there. Now a whopping ten point security for last place it may be time to score a few goals and play some solid D. Yeah, I know the goalie situation is a mess, with DiPietro getting shut down for the year and Wade Dubielewicz getting snagged by Columbus through waivers. But come on!

Standings 1/20/09 GP W L OT Pts

28 Ottawa Senators 47 16 21 7 39

29 Atlanta Thrashers 44 17 25 5 39

30 New York Islanders 46 12 29 5 29

C’est La Vie

So no house for me. At least not yet.

We made an offer. They countered. We countered. They countered again. I said have a great life.

I think the problem stems from the fact that this place was only on the market for about 10 days before me and Jessica put a bid on it. So I’m sure the owner (an octogenarian from what I’ve been told) figures that offers will be coming. And it is a great house in a great neighborhood.

As for me and Jessica though, we’ve found another house. A cheaper house. After work today we’ll go check it out. It’s still in Boca Raton but about an exit or two north of this first one. The good news is that we can afford it at it’s asking price right now. The bad news it that it’s smaller than the place we were looking at. But still it does the requirement of three bedrooms so hopefully this will be it for us.

Merry New House or Merry Christmas

Unexpectedly me and Jessica found ourselves approved for a house. So now finally at the age of 34 I can potentially find myself as a home owner instead of throwing my rent money into a hole every month.
So now me and Jessica found a nice house to put our loan towards. It’s a nice joint in swanky Boca Raton (really it’s moderately swanky West Boca) that I think is perfect for our needs. An extra room for me to broadcast in, a nice big patio, and small yard to mow, and a garage to hide the car in when hurricanes come by. Who could ask for anything more?
So in went a bid and out came a counter offer. This might not bother me if this home was being used by someone. If there was some family that was looking to get something for their money pit. But no. This house is an unoccupied place that was housing an old couple that is no longer there. Now their relatives are trying to squeeze as much out of that house as they can. Which is fine except now it’s putting a squeeze on me.
So as we now await a response to a counter offer, Jessica dug up a new house for us to go after, also in swanky Boca Raton. So we now have the philosphy of if we don’t get this house then we’ll a really nice Christmas.
Either way it’s a win.