Sometimes being a bit out of focus can be a good thing… I was watching Wonders of the Solar System when Annie the cat jumped up on the entertainment center; she likes to sit right in front of the TV and watch the action. In this case, Annie was watching program host Prof. Brian Cox. I was amused by the sight of the cat staring up into the professor’s face and tried an iPad photo of the scene. The iPad had a bit of trouble focussing, the scene changed, and I got a mystic, unworldly, artsy shot instead of a funny picture!
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The way an antenna should be installed: displayed proudly under clear blue skies.
So far the “cut the cable” experiment has gone pretty well. Special thanks go to the digital television conversion — local broadcasters now transmit HD content but have taken advantage of digital technologies (and new regulations) to add channels.
On the “up” side: we don’t pay high cable fees for gobs of content we never watch. And HD content looks better when it comes straight to your antenna rather than through anyone’s cable system.
On the “down” side: we live in a condominium and reception sucks! We’re only a few miles from the primary TV broadcast towers for this region. Since the condo association forbids exterior antennas, our modern signal-catcher is mounted in the attic. The attic wasn’t too awful except that now the roof over it is carrying about a foot of ice and snow which, it turns out, is pretty effective in blocking TV signals. Formerly sufficient reception is now unreliable and signals that once were strong are now only adequate. {sigh}
Now I’m told FCC regulations say condo associations may not forbid installation of TV antennas outdoors. But the FCC doesn’t live here and they don’t have to deal with the formidable (being polite) woman who rules the board. So we’ll wait for the thaw to return our signal strength. (And wish we had our own single-family house.)
In the mean time we’ve a new favorite program in the wonderful 1960s series Mr. Ed being shown on one of those “secondary” channels. We also enjoy a number of new shows on the big commercial networks and are rediscovering the joys of PBS. Fortunately or not “Downton Abbey” on Masterpiece Classic has us watching every week. Yeah, it’s a high-class soap opera but engrosses us with its characters, acting, story, and amazing sets all shown in glorious HD.
We haven’t yet felt the need to attach a computer to the TV to view content from the Web. She Who Must Be Obeyed does regularly watch some of her favorite shows on her big notebook especially when the TV signal is too weak.
A recent ice storm-related power outage made for an interesting experience. The electricity went out for about two hours one evening. We lit candles, used flashlights, and when the house began to cool we pressed the wood-burning stove into its ultimately practical use. So in our cozy living room by candlelight, She and I fired up our respective notebook computers –She with on online TV show, me with my Web and Twitter activities– and spent an enjoyable evening. Er, computers and Internet when the power’s out? Easy… the notebooks ran on their own high-capacity internal batteries and our wireless Internet router was running on its big external “UPS” battery.
What an odd thing… sitting there in our living room in a darkened neighborhood using technologies colonial settlers would recognize and use –candles for light and wood stove for heat– alongside our 21st century wireless Internet with its movies, email, and global instant messages! Yeah, they’d have burned us at the stake!
Tasha knows how to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon: A favorite comfy pad on a chair next to a window… all that's needed. We didn't nap but some light miscellaneous shopping, and prepping for the arrival of a new TV pleasantly occupied the day.
I just watched an excellent program on PBS's NOVA tonight … Telescope: Hunting the Edge of Space. This was part one and entitled, "The Mystery of the Milky Way," but that really didn't matter. The film was a wonderful telling of the history of the astronomical telescope and the state of the science today. Part two comes next week. The program can be seen online or on your local PBS station. Check here for program details, local times, background, and much more: Telescope: Hunting the Edge of Space.
When I visited the PBS site I was surprised and delighted to see that, just in time for his birthday, the network will be broadcasting The Buddha, a film by David Grubin, premiering April 7 at 8 PM EST (check local listings). Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born about 450 BC and April 8 (Thursday, this week) is the day it is observed. Happy birthday! Yes, I'm thinkin' cake Buddhist style … cake with no attachments: you can't have it and eat it too!
This is good stuff! I guess I'm gonna have to renew my PBS membership!
Thank you PBS!
We passed New Year's Eve watching old movies and enjoying a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti served up with too much smoked Gouda cheese and crackers. The Asti was excellent — so light and delicious and (for better or worse) with seemingly very little "kick." The cheese was good, but a little too old, and we ate too much of it. The movies were excellent and we had a fine night waiting for the end of the year to arrive. She managed to stay awake which is unusual in itself but She not only stayed awake 'til midnight, She stayed up 'til 1:00 AM and would have stayed awake even longer if Yours Truly hadn't shut off everything around her and toddled off to bed by Himself!
New Year's Day felt like a Sunday. It was quiet, cold, and windy. Late in the morning we visited Mom-in-Law and, whilst She tended to her mother's needs, I headed to the attic to swap out the antenna installed a few weeks ago for a much larger model wa already owned. The larger antenna supplied critical signal strength to Mom-in-Law's living room TV to give her solid reception on a couple of formerly weak stations. She'll enjoy that. We'll install the smaller model at our house — we live within sight of the local TV broadcast towers so don't need much antenna.
Then we did a big loop tour of points south, just to get out, on a beautiful winter's day. We some looking around to see how and whether the fortunes of an outlet mall { Lodi Station Outlets } had changed since its renaming and the addition of an amusement passenger railroad around and through the property. The train, which was running, looked great but the shopping center looked like its decline is unchecked. There are lots of dark stores and "closing" signs on a couple of others. It will be interesting to see if it survives another year. I think its troubles started well before the ongoing sag in our economy began: it was supposed to be an outlet center implying low-low prices on name-brand merchandise. In reality, few bargains were to be had and its remote location made the trip not worth the effort. The recession may well do it in as, apparently, happened to a neighboring automobile dealership. That's my opinion, anyway. We do love the countryside out in Wayne County, however, and very much enjoyed the day's travels.
Um, the title of this article? As we arrived back in our driveway on January 1, 2009, the odometer on my car read 111,111. The miles are really piling up on the 2002 Honda. I like seeing the number patterns develop on the odometer and all ones is nifty. Alright, it's maybe not as big as celebrating the arrival of 2009 in Times Square, New York City, but I think 111111 on 01-01-09 is most excellent. Or kinda sad.
PhotonStopper 