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/

Weekly Status: Week 10

Week 10 and we're in the last few weeks of summer and our grand experiment. All continues to go well, and we've not broken our promises.

This week, fall sports start up again. We have our first Soccer tournament this weekend, and Cross Country practice begins tomorrow morning at 9am. So, the girls have been busying themselves and sorting out athletic equipment situation and such.

Kate needed some new runners, so we had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite old haunts -- The FrontRunner store on Lane Ave. If you're an experience Columbus runner, you already know about this place. If you're a beginner, you'd be doing yourself a favor to get down there and check them out. As per their norm, FrontRunner staff had us in and out with a great fitting pair in no time.

Weekly Status: Week #3

Nothing much new to report on week 3. All systems normal.

Last year, we put in a nice big stone paver patio and pergola. We replaced an old deck that had seen better years. The patio probably doubles (or more) the square footage of the old deck.

The patio is great for sitting outside and enjoying the sunshine and breezes. We chat and watch the cats as they stalk (but can't quite catch) chipmunks, birds, and those little cottonwood fuzzy things that float by.

Kate mentioned that we might be in trouble if we didn't have a nice backyard room to sit in. Everyone else agreed.

Weekly Status: Week T-2(?) Wait.. What?

Okay.. Okay.. Okay...

So last week I said we were ON!. But there's been some last minute negotiations. Momma and I want to wait for the "LOST" season finale (May 13th). Kate wants to outlast the end of "Survivor" (May 17th), and Shortie would be crushed if her "American Idol" dreams go unfulfilled (May 20th). So, let's say that we're going through a little pilot period here, but we are still in agreement that once some of these loose ends are tied - we are a GO!.

Noteworthy:
I unplugged the cable from our living room television. This seemed to go almost without notice. Even I was surprised at how little we missed it. A few times the set was unconsciously clicked on, but the empty blue screen shook us out of TV zombie mode and it was clicked off and forgotten. We still have bedroom TV and family room TV connected. This will be the week that bedroom TV goes away.

Other loose ends:
A few folks have asked for explanations of rules. Is the TIVO going, too? What about DVDs? Video Games? What about the Internet? All of these are good questions. Answers:

TIVO: - Time-shifted TV is still TV in my mind. I can't see the difference. [OUT!]
DVDs: - Movie watching in the theatres or in the family room seems OK to me. [IN!]
Video Games: It's hard for me to distinguish a family-oriented Monopoly-fest from a good "Mario Cart" and popcorn night. [IN!]
Internet: - Hmmm... That's a tough one. Is watching video on CNN.com considered television? How about episodes of Heroes? What about weather broadcasts? [Undecided!] We'll have to play that one by ear. Any suggestions?