Service Care TV and Appliance Repair Blog

Thank you for your service and your sacrifice.

Let us remember this weekend, while we are enjoying ourselves, that there were those who died in military service to protect our freedoms and preserve our American way of life. Remember them, and honor their sacrifice.

A special thank you to active members of the military for what they do every day for us.

Posted by Toxey at 10:14 AM
Categories: Community, Miscellaneous
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Buddy the dog visits us with Mike and Pat

We had a visitor who goes by the name of Buddy come in with Mike and Pat.

He's a cutie, and doesn't know a stranger. You would never guess that this lil' guy is 10 years old!

We'd love for our customers to bring their pets by for a picture, and while you are here, why not check in at Service Care's Facebook page on your Facebook app and like us? We'd appreciate the heck out of it. :)

Thank you Pat and Mike for bringing your pet to visit us!

Posted by Toxey at 4:25 PM
Categories: Miscellaneous, Pets
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Our belated condolences to the family of M. Ellaistine Johnson, deceased February 20, 2012

Recently, one of our new customers informed us that Southeastern Appliance Service was closed for business. This was quite a shock, as they had been a fixture in Birmingham for a long, long time.

Finding this hard to believe, we looked into it and discovered that the long-time owner of Southeastern Appliance, Ellaistine Johnson, had passed away back in February 2012. We spoke with a neighboring business who described the closing, and spoke fondly of Mrs. Johnson as a neighbor.

While we did not have the pleasure to know her personally, we continue to hear and read kind words about her from her very loyal customers who are looking for someone to take care of their appliance repair. Mrs. Johnson was not only the engine that kept Southeastern Appliance Service thriving for many years, her customers speak kindly of her as a friend. I wish I had known her.

If you would like to express your condolences, although as belatedly as ours, you can go to the following link and sign their guest book:

http://obits.al.com/obituaries/birmingham/obituary.aspx?pid=156036841

Posted by Toxey at 10:15 AM
Edited on: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 10:36 AM
Categories: Appliances, Birmingham, Community, Miscellaneous
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Remembering April 27, 2011 Tornado Outbreak

This morning at 7 am I got five calls from the office. The server was down, the telephone was down, and several computers had no power. There was a hint of frustration and anxiousness behind these calls from people who wanted to get their work done in a timely manner.

I must admit, there was a small part of me that was irked by 5 calls about a problem I could not solve from my home. (I was walking the dog near my home, many miles away from the office). The best I could do was to phone in instructions on where the backup power supply was, how to turn on the server, etc.

When I arrived, we were partially revived with phones and server. Many of the specialty programs I have written for the operation of our business were not functioning, and there was the natural annoyance that is caused by a disturbance in our routine. Things weren't running smoothly, and we didn't like it.

-------------------------------------

But we all, each one of us, are aware that these are merely tiny, tiny obstacles compared to the disruption, pain and confusion that was to follow this day, one year ago, when the tornado outbreak caused so much damage across the state of Alabama (and of course, in other states).

There are people still trying to recover even today, and we have to remember that. Yes, there were members of the team at Service Care and their families that were touched by the devastating effects of the tornadoes, but on the whole we were spared the worst, and we are thankful.

But we are also mindful of those that were not spared, and remember them this day.

Posted by Toxey at 8:26 AM
Categories: Alabama, Birmingham, Community, Miscellaneous, Weather
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Child safety: Be careful where you put a television.

It's been brought to our attention that each year, a number of children are injured or even die from improperly installed television sets. Of particular concern are situations where the older and heavier tube-style television is placed in the child's room when the family gets a larger television, and often installed on top of a dresser or something else not really designed to hold a TV.

Let's face it, kids get excited, and they could easily pull or push that TV in their efforts to get to the controls or to what they are perceiving on the screen.

It's not just the older TVs that can be dangerous. Larger flat-screen TVs that are improperly installed can be a danger as well.

It's just something to think about. We are in the business of fixing televisions, but we're also people with families who worry about the little ones. Just be careful out there.

Posted by Toxey at 10:49 AM
Categories: Miscellaneous, Safety, Televisions
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Apropos of nothing, we love animals (on our blog).

I was just thinking, how much we love it the few times that an employee or customer has brought a dog to our shop for a visit, and I wanted to invite anyone to bring their dog, cat, bird, monkey (or whatever) to our shop to see the gang.

If it's alright with you, we'd love to post a picture of them on our website or blog, too.

Frankly, we work hard and have a lot of fun, but it can be stressful trying to provide high-quality service... a visit from one of our furry or feathered friends would be like a ray of sunshine for all of us.

As I finish this post, it seems more and more weird to be making this request, but who cares, right?

I'll start. This is my dog Snap (on left) and my sister's puppy Libby (on the right):

Posted by Toxey at 3:55 PM
Categories: Miscellaneous, Pets
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Consumer confidence? Electronics, Yes. Economy... Not so much.

It looks like we're excited about the future of electronics, and have confidence in the products that will be delivered (which I guess extends to the industry as a whole).

Hopefully some of this will improve things all around.

Read the original article here: http://www.dealerscope.com/article/ce-confidence-hits-2012-high

Posted by Toxey at 11:34 AM
Edited on: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 3:30 PM
Categories: Electronics, Miscellaneous
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Consumer confidence up in February 2012. Yay!

This is good news. Hiring is up, stocks are up. I hope it is a continuing trend, because consumer confidence is everything.

Read more: http://www.dealerscope.com/article/consumer-confidence-jumps-9-points-25029347#

Posted by Toxey at 4:37 PM
Edited on: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 3:56 PM
Categories: Miscellaneous
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$35 Raspberry Pi computer sells out, surprises retailers

British designers create a credit card sized computer to encourage kids to learn programming, and boy did it sell out fast!

Within hours of launch, with retailer websites crashing due to traffic, they were all gone... but they promise to produce more.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/29/tech/raspberry-pi-launch/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29

Posted by Toxey at 4:28 PM
Edited on: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 3:56 PM
Categories: Electronics, Miscellaneous
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Panasonic, Toshiba sponsoring Capitol Learning Institute Expo in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Capital, a distributor of electronics, home theater, commercial A/V, etc, has a learning expo about products and technologies in the home and light commercial arena, and Panasonic and Toshiba have committed to participating as sponsors.

More info here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=296981233673742

Posted by Toxey at 11:41 AM
Categories: Miscellaneous, Televisions
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Win a free AudioSource S3D60 Soundbar

TechnologyTell and AudioSource are giving away two S3D60 Soundbars. A Soundbar is basically a long speaker you can attach to your TV to give you dramatically better sound with easy hookup (so they say).

It looks like it's free to sign up, hope you win!

http://www.technologytell.com/hometech/83328/audiosource-s3d60-soundbar-giveaway/

Posted by Toxey at 2:50 PM
Edited on: Friday, February 10, 2012 2:53 PM
Categories: Electronics, Miscellaneous
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This Valentine's Day, skip the roses and buy her electronics?

It looks like the ladies have been equally as gadget conscious as the fellas, at least according to a recent study of men and women in relation to electronics desirability.

Interesting... such much for candy and flowers.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/consumer-electronics/study-no-gender-divide-electronics-26388

Posted by Toxey at 2:47 PM
Categories: Electronics, Miscellaneous
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The "people costs" of cheap electronics

An interesting article, really makes you think, about how we enjoy our electronics at relatively low prices through the horrible working conditions of Chinese electronics factories.

Seems like we could find a nice middle ground:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/the-dilemma-of-cheap-electronics

Posted by Toxey at 5:45 PM
Edited on: Friday, February 10, 2012 2:53 PM
Categories: Electronics, Miscellaneous
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Very few consumer electronics advertisements on Super Bowl XLVI

The big boom of new TV buying may be slowing down a bit. It was noticable how few advertisements were played during Super Bowl XLVI were from electronics marketers (i.e. televisions).

http://www.technologytell.com/hometech/83185/super-bowl-xlvi-a-little-light-on-consumer-electronics-ads/

Of course, we're hopeful that we'll see a trend of people fixing their televisions rather than throwing them onto the ever-growing gigantic landfill of dead TVs that is growing and growing. But then... we do have a bias for repairing TVs :)

Posted by Toxey at 11:58 AM
Edited on: Friday, February 10, 2012 2:55 PM
Categories: Miscellaneous, Televisions
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Delivery of water donation from Girl Scout troup # 521

Service Care delivering a pallet of water to the Church of The Highlands on Grants Mill for victims of the April tornado damage.

This water was paid for and provided by the wonderful girls of Girl Scout Troop # 521.

The forklift operator at the church was very good, considering our pallet of water was unbalanced and threatening to fall over. (You can't see me but I'm pushing on the back side of the pallet).

Currently we're in the planning stage of working on more donations to help out, as quickly as we can.

Posted by Toxey at 2:17 PM
Edited on: Friday, April 29, 2011 2:36 PM
Categories: Birmingham, Community, Company, Miscellaneous, Weather
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After the storm, 04/28/2011, Service Care

A series of terrible storms have caused terrible devastation in the great state of Alabama. We have been witness to destroyed homes and businesses, but we have also seen the courage and determination of the people who call Alabama their home.

Service Care is open today, and will be contacting our customers by cell phones as our main office phones are down (AT&T has declared a state of emergency for the area). If you have power and we can get to you, and you still need service, we will be taking care of you.

Service Care's employees are all praying for those who suffered damages and loss in this terrible series of storms, especially those who have lost loved ones. We are working hard to restore our telephones so that we may do what we can to help out our neighbors.

Posted by Toxey at 8:47 AM
Categories: Birmingham, Community, Company, Miscellaneous, Weather
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Today in History December 8th

Just a little something from history about today, December 8th.

In 1813, Ludwig von Beethoven's 7th Symphony in A premieres.

In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared?

In 1931, the standard coaxial cable (that you used to use to plug the cable companies signal in to your TV) patented.

In 1940, the Bears beat the Redskins 73 to 0. I guess they wanted to impress everyone on the 1st NFL championship to be broadcast on the radio.

In 1941, the US enters the fight in WWII.

In 1951, Alabama decides to allow light on Sunday for baseball games.

In 1967, the Beatles release the Magical Mystery Tour in the UK.

I'm sure there's a lot more that happend on this day, but I've got work to do. ;)

Posted by Toxey at 11:18 AM
Categories: Miscellaneous
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First post on the new blog

Hello! This is the first post of the new Service Care TV and Appliance Repair Blog.

We had to go to a new blog, since our old service changed their terms and no longer will allow us to host it on our server (something we felt strongly about).

Hopefully we'll be able to provide interesting posts and articles that will keep you informed on community events, appliance and television service information, and safety issues. Maybe even a little fun.

Thanks to all our customers and friends, and I look forward to posting good stuff in the future.

Posted by Toxey at 6:04 PM
Categories: Company, Miscellaneous
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