Uh-Ohs April 26, 2001February 19, 2017 H2 . . . UH-OH Bryan Norcross: ‘To clarify. Federal Flood Insurance covers damage from rising water from any type of weather event. It does not, however, cover water damage from above; if your roof blows off and it rains in, for example. The triggering event for the windstorm coverage varies company by company and seemingly event by event in how they interpret the law, but it normally requires that the storm be designated a hurricane by the National Hurricane Center. It does NOT require that the damage be done by hurricane force winds. This all stirred quite a controversy after Hurricane Irene in 1999, when there were no hurricane force winds over land (top winds were 60 mph), but there was lots of damage. Because it technically was a hurricane that caused the damage, the windstorm policy kicked in and that meant that deductibles went up to 2% or more and there was no replacement-value insurance on personal property.’ TIV . . . UH–OH Nothappy: ‘In response to Bob Smouse yesterday re: Tivo. The Sony box comes with a 90 day labor and 12 months parts warranty. My box froze up 4 months after I bought it. I was on the hook for one way shipping and $92 to fix it. I’m not sure how Bob was able to get Tivo to foot the bill, but I think people should know the reality of getting these things repaired. Also, people should be forewarned that Tivo is still a relatively new product and, if my friends’ experiences are any indication, tends to have problems. All that said, it is an amazing product that does change your life, although not necessarily for the better. My Tivo crashing did have an upside — my wife and I actually talked with each other.’ Alan Rogowsky: ‘I am on my 3rd TIVO since early March. In each case it has been the same: the internal modem burned out. I finally got some good advice from their customer service line (which I agree is absolutely the most extraordinarily helpful group of people I have ever dealt with over a phone!). It seems that power surges through the PHONE-line can all too easily do serious damage to the inner workings of TIVO – but that with the help of a $19 Radio Shack super duper 1000+ joules-rated surge suppressor – which takes both power, phone AND cable lines – I feel confident that my troubles are over. They also credited me back for a month and a half’s service in addition to my ‘lifetime’ membership.’ ☞ I’ve bought four TIVOs; two for us, two as gifts. So far, all have worked fine. (Wish I could say that for Creative.com’s lousy stinking Nomad Jukebox and their lousy stinking customer service. But that’s another story.) Cooking Like a Guy with a Credit Card Like to eat, hate to cook, got a freezer, a microwave and a credit card? Try: greatmeals.com. I was so disappointed that I missed the $50-off promotion – a free lunch – that I couldn’t bring myself to try it. But it sure smells good.