Maybe I Can Drive My Car

Within the next few weeks, I will hopefully have a new car.  There's still a chance that I won't, but considering the shape of my current, I hope not.  I've been seriously looking for the past few months. Okay, it is ac tally closer to a year or two.  What can I say, I have very strict standards. It only took two weeks to get my first car, but that was when I needed one almost immediately.  I had two dealerships competing to get me the exact model I wanted.  It could have ben the exact same one.  I loved that car, even with all the problems I had with it.  I had the bumper smashed by unknown means within a year or so.  One of the manual windows developed a problem, and it had to be fixed so that it could work.  I had a two-door, so the windows had to lower.  The main problem was with the computer.  All of a sudden, my car wouldn't start properly.  When they thought they had the problem fixed, I tried driving it off the lot.  The engine would die on me every few dozen yards.  I had to start it back up multiple times to get to where my mother was waiting and then find a way to get it towed back to the dealership for the problem to actually be fixed.  When I finally decided on my second car, after a month or so of looking, I was driving it to my store before picking up the new one.  About a mile or two from the store, the break failure light came on.  Fortunately, they brakes worked well enough to get to the store.  Unfortunately, my mother had to drive the car to the dealership to get it the breaks fixed, and she would up being the first one to drive my new car.  I never could feel as comfortable with that car because of that.  What's worse, we wound up paying for the repairs, instead of the man we were selling the old one too, even though he had offered to do so.  That car would have its fair share of problems too.  At least two of the power windows would tear up.  It was a four-door, so there were more windows to have problems.  I hydroplaned down a hill and into a lawn ornament, causing damage to the rear bumper, because someone was watering their lawn and it ran onto the road.  Took forever to get it fixed, as well as figuring out a way to get to work while waiting for it to be repaired.  At least it was still in working order when I finally got a new car, from a different dealership, although they were a little angry when I forgot to mention that accident.  My current car has had quite a few problems, as well.  I've kept it two years longer than my previous ones.  It's just so hard finding something I like and afford that also has the exact features I need.  Don't get me wrong, I do like my current car, even though I could never get the headrest to fit me properly.  The windshield had to be replaced, twice.  The transmission failed for no discernible reason.  The brake pads have had to be replaced more often than in my other cars.  The battery had to be replaced rather frequently.  The heating/cooling system has had multiple random failures, including having a motor whir at odd times and near constant clicking whenever certain doors are opened, for about thirty seconds.  The tire pressure monitors keep failing.  Once, a monitor said a tire was flat, even when it wasn't.  While driving to a garage to have the tire checked, the monitor went from flat to full pressure to even higher and everything in between.  During a recent opportunity for an OnStar free trial, I found out that the antenna was broken, and I would be unable to start the service. Oh, one of the windows recently had to be fixed so that it would stay up.  There is so much going wrong with my car, that I won't be able to get a new one if I have all of the current problems fixed.  I need a new car.

What Not to Read about What to Watch

It the time of year again for a new season of television shows to debut.  In concert with the new season, some entertainment magazines offer previews about said season.  Usually, this is a quite thorough affair.  However, this year, it is anything but.  First up, TV Guide offered up its preview of new series.  Unlike previous years they organized the series by genre instead of by day.  I feel that this makes it more difficult to judge if a new series should be watched, as having to keep track of when a new show is coming on without a way to compare it to times for other series is complicated.  At least they returned to having a neutral cover again, instead of focusing on one series or having a collage of multiple shows or stars.  Most new network shows were featured, with other new series were mentioned in a calendar at the end or the feature.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any program grid either to help organize network information.  Two weeks later, the mag came out with its returning show guide.  This time, the cover focused on NCIS.  As it is a top-rated scripted program, one with a cliffhanger featuring the return of a presumed dead character, it made sense.  This time around, the shows were organized by day.  This format was much easier to read and comprehend.  Still no day-to-day grid for network programming though. Some cable and streaming shows were also mentioned, even though much of the latter do not have a standardized start day.  In comparison, Entertainment Monthly, make that Weekly, also has its fall television preview issue out.  For the least few years, it had dedicated the entire issue to the new season, giving each new and returning scripted series, and a few reality series, at least a brief synopsis for a new show or a recap for a returning show.  Not this time.  Not only did the preview not take over the entire issue, but not even each show was featured.  The main cover was dedicated to the new Jennifer Anniston vehicle The Morning Show, which will debut on Apple's new streaming service later this year (Disclaimer:  As I have mentioned previously, I own a Mac.  I will probably be getting some form of this service as part of the next upgrade in OS, probably with a free trial if not more.  I have yet to watch or pay for any streaming service, and I do not intend to start anytime soon.). In fact, the start of the article focused on streaming shows, as well as the new streaming services set to debut.  The rest of the article went in the standard daily format, with one new or returning series getting top-billing and other shows following suit.  However, not even half of the network and cable shows deserved to be mentioned.  The overwhelming majority were delegated to a calendar of start dates at the end of the feature.  A few had a brief comment with them, but that was it.  Friday (and Saturday, they combined the two) only had one show, out of the nine or so featured those days on the networks.  At least each day had a show from a different network featured.  The most obvious difference between these two magazines is that the series featured on the cover of one is only given a mention in the calendar of the other.  The audience for the two mags, as well as the reporters, are so far apart that what's important to one is not so important to the interests of the other.  I would have thought that there would be some greater overlap between them, and TV Guide will probably cover The Morning Show closer to its debut, but I still feel slighted.  My own tastes in television falls somewhere between these two extremes.  I am still disgusted about EW's change in publication. Maybe it's just the me and my lack of wanting to do my watching (and reading about watching) online.  I barely know when my favorite shows will be airing this fall.  Many have new times.  I am not sure if there are any new shows that I would want to watch.  I have a little more time to decide these things, but I still am not sure about what I will do.  I will see, I mean watch.

The Emoji Television Show!

I have been a long-time reader, and solver, of what is now called Games World of Puzzles magazine.  Since grade school, in fact.  While I admit to getting the occasional other non-related puzzle magazine, Games had remained the favorite.  Mostly it is the articles.  Sure, I love the puzzles, but I usually only solve a little less than half of them.  Sure, I look at them, but I only solve those that I like.  Well, earlier this year, Games has featured a new variety of puzzle based on emojis.  Readers are given a string of emojis and have to figure out what they mean.  The two puzzles dealt with book and film titles respectively.  I admit that I am not that good at "emoji speak" yet.  I am still getting the ins and outs of such things.  However, I have come up with my own version of this puzzle based on television shows.  Below are a series of emojis.  Each one represents a television show that has had new episodes within the past year.  Your job is to figure out what each one is.  Answers appear beneath the puzzle, so don't scroll down too far until you are finished.  Good luck! 👍
(I'm sorry if the picture isn't quite right.  I worked out the puzzle in Pages and took a screenshot, before transferring it here as an image.  I wasn't sure I could get the range of emojis I needed here, and at the proper size.)