I remember when I saw Rachel Maddow first substitute for Olbermann on COUNTDOWN.  I thought to myself Rachel should have her own show… when MSNBC signed her to take over Dan Abram’s spot I just had a feeling that she would be ratings gold.  I’ve watched her show every night since it premiered.  She’s already beating COUNTDOWN’s ratings, which is MSNBC’s signature, highest-rated show.

Check out these ratings for last night (courtesy TV By The Numbers):

8PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor- 3,060,000 viewers (731,000) (1,253,000)
Election Center-1,166,000 viewers (431,000) (576,000)
Countdown w/Keith Olbermann- 1,635,000 viewers (509,000) (771,000)
On the Money–207,000 viewers (65,000) (106,000)
Nancy Grace -1,166,000 viewers (412,000) (618,000)

9 PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Hannity & Colmes-3,136,000 viewers (716,000) (1,375,000)
Larry King–1,710,000 viewers (496,000) (801,000)
Rachel Maddow Show-1,801,000 viewers (534,000) (872,000)
Business of Innovation–a scratch w/102,000 viewers (a scratch w/42,000) (59,000)
Glenn Beck- 656,000 viewers (211,000) (354,000)

10 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
On the Record w/Greta–2,908,000 viewers (727,000) (1,367,000)
Anderson Cooper 360-1,828,000 viewers (647,000) (898,000)
Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann-1,127,000 viewers (412,000) (616,000)
Saving General Motors-187,000 viewers (93,000) (121,000)
Nancy Grace -717,000 viewers (373,000) (420,000)

Nerd Heaven

I recently setup the computer portion of this trading system at a residence for the manager of a fund.  It covers all the LCD TVs on the wall except the middle which is used for watching TV, and functions as one big Windows XP desktop.  The system is powered by a Dell Precision with dual-quad core processors and 2 PNY NVidia 4-Output Quadro cards.

In my recent effort to reduce expenses at the Waldron compound, I took it upon myself to call Time Warner to see if it was worth downgrading my services. I was contemplating changing my Road Runner service from Standard to Basic (-$10) and removing a secondary cable box in my bedroom (-$10).

What I have with TW Cable:

• Living Room HD DVR box
• Bedroom HD Cable box
• HBO, Cinemax and HD NET
• Road Runner Standard

After talking to the customer service rep, he took about 5 minutes dissecting my bill to see if I could save money with my current subscriptions. Turns out he was able to bundle the services for a year with a savings of $25/month. On top of that they gave me a free HD DVR to replace my bedroom box. Not bad for a 20 minute phone call.

Moral of the story: Call Time Warner at least every 6-12 months to make sure you aren’t getting screwed.

Everyone has been saying that Sarah Palin looks just like Tina Fey.  I though her impression was right on.

It came time to renew my Internet hosting services recently, and as my side-consulting-business is really dropping off, I wanted to keep hosting expenses as low as possible.  Previously my domains and hosting services were provided by Network Solutions.  I use DNAMail (DSL Extreme’s hosted Exchange service = CHEAP!) for my e-mail, so I really only needed web hosting and a place to park my domains.

I’ve been a loyal customer of NetSol for several years, but with some significant outages in both the hosting and DNS space and lackluster pricing, I figured now would be a good time to make a switch. 

Hosting with Network Solutions was $119 annually (includes a free domain or renewal), which was more than I wanted to spend this year.  I proceeded to head over to GoDaddy.com, transferring both domains and purchasing one year of hosting, all for the low price of $66!  

I’m quite pleased with the services and support offered by GoDaddy.  You can’t beat it for the price.