The Experiment

Oh,where do i begin...

This summer has been interesting without cable. Half of me liked not having T.V because our family has spent more time together. For instance, my dad and I are now going golfing together every Sunday(unless we cancel). On the other half, I miss T.V. I miss relaxing and watching the shows that are stupid but don't feel like changing the channel because it is kinda interesting. For the whole summer our friends go,"Have you seen the commercial where the animals are dancing? "And our answer is,"No, we don't have T.V. remember."

Overall, this summer was interesting I wouldn't say that i hated the idea, but i definitely wouldn't of said i loved the idea. Well, the T.V. is coming back on...hallelujah(:

Sara

Weekly Status: Week 12

Well, I can't say that I'm all that happy about the results, but it would appear that the family vote on whether to stay TV-Free is in. It was a hard fought campaign, but I'm afraid it looks like our television is coming back.

I have to give the family credit though, for more than 12 weeks, we have managed to turn it off and leave it off. But the original deal was "...for the summer", and a deal's a deal. School starts on Tuesday.

There will likely be a few modifications to our new lifestyle, though.

I don't think that Momma's going to allow the old living room TV to live on. This will avoid the "background noise" television that always seemed to be on regardless if anyone was sitting in front of it or not.

I doubt that we go crawling back to Time Warner for the full digital viewing onslaught. I think everyone is fine with "basic cable". I, personally, can live with only the Weather Radar Loop channel, but I am sure Kate and Shortie are looking forward to Survivor and Momma won't go much longer without a LOST fix.

After spending a summer getting my news from RSS feeds and such, I won't be watching much CNN, FOX, or MSNBC -- and the newspaper is truly DEAD and buried. I like being able to manage subscriptions to dozens of publications all in my Google Reader. However, it might be nice to catch a Jon Stewart monologue on the 42" LCD in the family room every once in a while.

We've read more books, listened to more music, and discovered more new things on the Internet than we thought possible. And yes, we've even managed to talk to one another.

So here we sit at the end of the grand experiment. The days are getting shorter, and the cicadas are buzzing. Summer's winding down, and football season is just around the corner. Even if it was only for a short time, we tried to make a minor change in our world and we succeeded. That's pretty cool.

If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'

-Bob Dylan


Next summer? Vegetarianism! LOL!! :o)

Weekly Status: Week 11

We had a big soccer weekend so this post is a little late. Nothing all that new to report except I once again floated the subject of not turning the cable back on at the end of the summer. Kate was concerned about missing Survivor. Sara was worried about the ever-present threat of a profound boredom setting in. The topic is still open for discussion.

For those that might be further interested in streaming internet to their televisions, the New York Times had an interesting article about some of the more useful gadgetry that is available.


August 17, 2009, 6:41 pm

Why Your PC May Be Your Best TV

By Sonia Zjawinski

http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/why-your-pc-may-be-your-best-tv/

Camp L.E.E.D

For the past 3 weeks Sara and I have been attending a camp called L.E.E.D. I'm almost 100% sure a lot of you are wondering what L.E.E.D stands for, or what you do in the camp. Well this is my explanation in a nut shell:

What it stands for:
L - leadership
E - ethics
E - esteem
D - duty

What do you do?
First of all, you do A LOT of different activities. But mostly it has to do with volunteering in the community, at camps, and cleaning up the enviroment. But you also have a choice; you can volunteer or you can stay back. When you choose not to go volunteer you usually play in the gym, go outside, rent and watch a movie, or play card games all day.
Personally, I'd rather get out of "The Dublin Bubble" and see what's happening outside of it. But when you DO volunteer this is some of the things you can do.

Volunteering Opportunities:
- Help set up the Irish Festival
- Go to the Soup Kitchen
- Go to the Free Store
- Go to the Faith Mission Shelter for Men
- Go to the Ronald Mcdonald House
1. Make lunches for the families
2. Clean every nook and cranny of every floor(: <-- this was fun.
- Help at the Wyandot Camps, Kidzone, My first Camp, and Wee Folk.
- Go to Faith Mission on 8th Street and help serve lunch
- Help sort donations at Faith Mission on 8th
- Go to the Cozy Cat Cottage
- You also learn a bit about CPR and Bullying.
- Pick up trash at Hayden Run Falls

These are just some of the things you do!

L.E.E.D are for kids in the range of 6 - 8 grade and it's a lot of fun. It's such a great exprience too! I learned so much about what's going on in the world and how I can help. So check it out, and maybe even sign your kids up for it next summer.;)

- Katie