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I went up to the Borders store in South Nashua to buy The Bourne Deception for my dad for Father’s Day. I was dressed in grubbies–not only that, but grubbies that are four sizes too big because now everything I own is. Nevertheless I asked to talk to the person who handles their events, Mike, and pitched my “Before Twilight” vampire talk to him for a Borders event. He’s interested but needs to check with the general manager and get back to me. It’s a possible for late August, though! I will keep everyone posted on developments.
I’ve been waiting five months for today! Tentative outcome: better than I expected.
As most of my friends know, I’ve pretty much given up television. Some years back, I cancelled my cable TV for good out of disgust at the constantly increasing prices, the virtual monopoly they held, and the way they packaged their services. I won’t use cable TV, or any simulacrum like satellite TV. (I won’t have a regular cell phone account for similar reasons, but that’s another story.) When I cancelled my cable, I upgraded my Internet service to broadband. I still occasionally watched a broadcast TV program, usually on PBS. I liked the Law & Order shows, too. Sometimes I’d do my workouts to them. And I sometimes watched the Patriots games.
Analog reception at my house was never that great. I got used to watching most things through snow. My house is surrounded by taller buildings and tons of tall trees and is in a somewhat low spot. I bought one of those “amplified” indoor antennas a couple of years ago, but it didn’t seem to make a lot of difference.
So, when all the information started to come out about the switchover to all-digital broadcast, I read about the pros and cons with some pessimism. From what I was reading, it didn’t sound like I’d get much digital reception at my house, and I resigned myself to fate. The digital switch, I figured, would probably be the final death knell for what remained of my TV viewing.
But there was no way to be sure until it happened. Last summer, I sent away for the government coupons, bought two converter boxes, and put them on a shelf. I got a new DVD/VCR combo unit for Christmas, and in January, when I set it up, I got out one of the converter boxes and set it up, too. It wasn’t hard to set it up. But as far as I could tell, I could only pick up two digital channels. I wasn’t sure how to evaluate this because I wasn’t sure what stations were already broadcasting in digital, and if they were, if it was at full power. I decided I’d have to wait until the changeover on February 22 and see what came in.
Then, of course, the changeover was postponed. As a result, I’ve been in complete limbo. Every time I looked for information about the digital switch, I’d just find the same “Digital TV for Dummies” basic stuff about how to hook up your converter box. The technical information I was looking for about signal strength and what stations were already broadcasting and what kind of antenna might be most useful wasn’t easy to find, and I didn’t care enough to spend huge amounts of time hunting for it. I hadn’t even tried watching broadcast TV since last January.
So, on June 12th I was waiting eagerly for two things: my chance to claim Vyrdolak as a username on Facebook, and the final switch to digital broadcasting so at last I could determine what, if any, TV I would have.
This afternoon I checked all the cables and connections on my ridiculous home-brewed “entertainment center,” turned on the converter box, and ran a channel scan. I ended up with ONE channel.
In Spanish.
What had me rolling on the floor was the fact that, just as I got the station set, a movie was beginning. It was The Last Starfighter–that is, El Ultimo Guerrero Espacial. I love that movie, and it’s a trip dubbed in Spanish. But, um…I was kinda hoping I could do a little better than just one channel. So I moved the antenna up onto the mantel, and then I could pick up three channels, including the one from Manchester, NH that I’d really expected to be able to get.
At this point, I decided to try something I’d made a feint at a couple of years ago and didn’t manage to do. I decided to try putting the antenna up in the attic and running the cable down through the ceiling to the converter box. The last time I thought of this, the TV was in a different location, and I didn’t have such strong incentive to bother. This time, it was much easier to do. I drilled a hole through the ceiling, threaded the cable through it and hooked everything up. I ran a scan and was able to pick up about 11 channels. According to the signal map at DTV.gov, I should have 18 channels with strong or moderate signals, and I’m sure other parts of Pepperell do. But I can keep working on it.
So, I actually do have digital TV! And my, but it is nice…when it’s there at all, that is. *wry smile* Sharp clear picture, gorgeous stereo sound, and then a flock of birds goes over or something and it all breaks up into squares like a scratched DVD. But as I said, I’ll keep working on it. It’s a lot better than I expected. I might even be able to watch the Patriots games. Until everything is simulcast as streaming video on the ‘Net, it’s something. I may buy a somewhat better and more powerful amplified antenna, too. The return on my investment is a lot more obvious with digital than it was with the old analog signals.
The local cable company, Charter Communications, has filed for bankruptcy, by the way.
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In
How to Go Viral: The man who created flash mobs explains why crazes like Susan Boyle ruin our ability to focus on the big picture, Salon.com interviews Bill Wasik, whose book,
And Then There’s This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture was just released. From the interview:
“I would say that if there’s one thing that’s causing the novels of the world from getting written right now, it’s surfing the Internet. I do think that a lot of creative people want to be working on their craft, they want to be thinking big about what they should be doing and my belief is that the culture is encouraging them to think small. To me, the challenge is to try to find ways to partially unplug ourselves. To carve out spaces in our lives away from information. Away from the sort of constant buzzing of the hive mind.”
