Among the Living 01/24/2008

January 18-22 were spent barking like a seal. Congested enough that I bought a vaporizer and brought my bedroom to near jungle like humidity. Added something called Vicks VapoSteam to the solution so when vaporized it smelled like menthol and camphor. Sort of like smoking Marlboro menthols without the smoky goodness.

At times the congestion was bad enough that my teeth hurt. Man I hate that. And oh my did the work pile up while I was out a few days.

It worked, so don't knock it if you haven't tried it. Really. I was less congested every morning I used it. I didn't use a lot of over the counter dubious drugs, just let the respiratory flu take its course. So much for this year's flu shot working to prevent it. I did drink lots of juice, water, 7 up, and other liquids. And plenty of naps.

I've now had the annual dose of bad daytime television. Actually not so bad, with satellite, you can always find some re-run of Diagnosing Amy, Judging Matilda, Law and Disorder - Middle School Principal Assistant Janitors (L&O-MSPAJ) or something. That is when I didn't find the energy to change the cd in the player. I listened to a fair amount of music and its the one time I thought; "Huh, a changer would be cool about now."

I wish I could listen to 89.3 "The Current" (I dislike the name, but its not my fault), but my tuner and it don't get along or something. I've tried a variety of antenna and no luck. When I can get it I tend to get a lot of weird annoying feedback as if someone is pulsing power to something within the circuit. Sometimes they are easily ignored, but at least once every half hour or so one "pops" loud enough to really annoy and for all I know distress the speakers. Two different amps, different pair of interconnects, two pair of speakers, two different homes, and the problem is the same. I'm guessing its the tuner. Its easily 20 years old, but little used for the most part and a quality Yamaha piece. I give up. Its a digital tuner, so I can't figure out what would be pulsing inside.

Good things; Thing 1 was out at the house working on a car and it was another nice visit. Sure am proud of that guy.

Thing 3 got to visit a couple of times with Thing 2. Glad she found some time for him.

Sparky has been fine. He really gets a case of the nerves when it comes to putting him into the kennel, but that's tough. The house is a lot cleaner and he gets into less trouble this way. The 10 minutes it takes to carry him to the kennel (I think it'd take a cattle prod and pain on his part to get him into it otherwise) and get him to drag himself (oh, I do mean drag, his legs move in slow motion, like I might change my mind in the meantime) into the kennel its hard not to laugh.

Poor Planning Part Deux

Came home early from work to work from home where I don't get people visiting and I can ignore email if I like.

First I tried the TV. Tried plugging the antenna into the VCR and then the VCR into the TV. Slight improvement. I could hear audio on several stations. I could actually see someone named "Rachel Ray" on channel 11 or NBC.

Say it with me now, N-n-n-n-n-n-n-Beeeee-Sea. Always reminds me of Pig Vomit in Private Parts. Gosh I love that actor, Paul Giamatti, son of the late Bart Giamatti, who banned that moron Pete Rose from baseball and thereby the hall of fame. If they won't let in Shoeless Joe, then Rose can rot until he's worm food.

I screamed and turned the show off.

You could ask, maybe I should have planned this? Tried the antenna before I got satellite cut off? No, then I'd never have gotten it cut off. Hell, I procrastinated as it is. This way, I've got to try to make it work instead of vice versa.

I'm telling you, its hell. I might actually go sleep early. Sheesh. I might have to gulp read! (Oh, come on, I read every night before I turn the light off and try to sleep. Last few nights its been the latest Bicycle Quarterly, the issue with my pal Bob Brown's article about building an all stainless steel bike frame.

Not What I Planned

Since I moved into my house three years ago I've had Direct TV. Yes, satellite television instead of cable. My justification then (read carefully) was it was an enticement for my then 12 year old son to be comfortable to visit. He'd have something to do so he'd not get bored. At the time I only had a 13 inch TV. The other excuse was the previous owners left behind the entire set up. Dish, boxes, wiring, the whole smear, for nothing. Later found out they were running away from bills like crazy.

After a year I bought a 30 inch something flat screen (but real cathode ray tube design) 16:8 or whatever design TV, so letter box movies look great. Still kept the satellite. If I'd kept track of my viewing hours I think I know the change in trend. If I'd have logged in my TV hours versus my music listening, I'm sure I did more TV viewing then before. Bigger screens rock, lets face it.

I've kept the satellite service so that I could watch the Tour de France each year. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I really get into it. I started to think that was pretty silly, so I made the decision in March to get rid of it after the NCAA basketball championship.

I called Direct TV Tuesday since the finals were Monday night and talked to them. They offered a "vacation" for three months. They don't bill me until July, they switch the service off, and we see how it goes. Cool. In July, if I don't call them, the service is gone.

First couple of nights service continued. Then I realized I'd disconnected the satellite control boxes from the telephone jack. Last night before I went to sleep I realized this and plugged the boxes (I had two) in to the phone. This morning service was gone.

I will really miss not only tour coverage, but The Daily Show and Pardon The Interruption. Maybe I'll get more riding in and such. I hope so. Listen to my collection of music more too. Again, hope so.

It does look like I'll watch little TV. I plugged in the $30 antenna I bought from Target this morning before work. Nothing. No channels 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 17, 23, 29, or 45. Colored fuzz. I heard the word "Clifford" which I believe was the cartoon about the big red dog on Channel 2, but that was all the audio I got. I extended the antenna as far as I could, rotated the thing and anything else I could think of. It is even amplified with a cord you plug in. Supposedly 10 dB of attenuation.

This is not what I planned and I'm thinking going without The Simpsons might be a little tough. Maybe I'll trade in for an even better antenna. Stick something into my attic? I really don't want to spend the money on that either. Stay tuned for the insanity that settles in.

Sanjaya

Ever watch American Idle? I've never seen it. Its one of many "reality" shows I've never taken in.

There is a few folks where I work that really get into it and a few other shows. Pick their favorites and keep track of who is doing the best and junk. I see it amusing them with no harm. One fellow really dislikes some guy named Sanjaya. All I know is that he appears to be reasonably handsome and has a lot of hair. At any rate they were harassing him by putting up huge blown up print-outs of his publicity photos. Again, good fun and I'm all in favor of that at the work place.

I also read somewhere how Howard Stern has been trying to get his listeners to vote for this guy. Not that he cares, but he's trying to influence the results just to screw things up. Now, that I'm in favor of in a big way.

Now, I'm so clueless about the show, I'm not even sure how to vote for the spudnick, but dang, I sure would like it, if you do know how, would you please vote for Sanjaya? Maybe if the show gets all hosed up this guy Simon's head will explode with disgust like a squeezed pimple. Now if I knew that was coming, I might watch the show.

Not. (See last post)