Thanks, but no thanks

I'm not joining Facebook, Smackaroony dot org or Huggme dot inc or any other social networking group. (Two of those I made up.) I'm all techno'd out. I've forgotten more passwords than I remember. I just got an invite from Helen who has more friends than any one person I know. She can walk through a strange city, in a country where she doesn't speak the language, and the next summer, people she met in a restaurant or bookstore are flying to the USA for a 2 week visit! The woman is amazing. She's never met a stranger. And now she invites me to be her Facebook friend! Well, I'm her friend in "for-real life," when I can get an appointment to see her, and even then there will be 4 or 5 others waiting in line, sitting on the porch or calling. I just checked her account and she's already signed on 20+ and just started! And I think Sally (England) has started up on Facebook, too. It reminds me of junior high cliques; been there done that, no thanks. My experience on the net and in real life is that if people don't agree with your politics or religion, they get hurt, then nasty and soon they de-link you.

In real life friendships we will soon be going to a Robert Burns 250th birthday party. How cool is that? I'm trying to learn that poem about the louse in a lady's hair. "O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as others see us!" And our Holy Land cruise group is going to have a pot luck (I'm taking a main dish because that's how the alphabet crumbles). If our friend recovers from his bronchitis, we'll be going out for dinner on Friday. I think he's been sick since New Year's. There's some 168 Film Project festivities this week-end we should take in. I'm planning a little luncheon for retirees in February--soup and salad. And then there's the usual activities like exercise class, watercolor class, serving lunch at the senior center, gathering with church friends for Bible study, praying for Obama every day, sending notes to shut-ins, new parents, and grieving families. But Facebook can be useful. I found my first grade piano teacher that way. Of course, what I'll do with her, I don't know.

Today my husband hooked up the digital converter box to the 1988 TV at our summer cottage (he watched our daughter do it here). He says we can now get 14 stations. And no pipes were frozen, which is good news. It's much colder on Lake Erie than here.

Finally, I've agreed with Obama!

Although I didn't hear it directly, I heard it reported that Obama thinks the government should extend the time on the digital conversion. He's not President yet, but I'm guessing someone's listening--especially since they ran out of money, and there aren't enough landfills to accept all the old sets. I never saw the importance of it anyway--TV being the wasteland that it is, why do something to expand it? No one in Obama's administration wants more views on radio. As soon as Obama appoints just one liberal to the FCC vacancy, the fairness doctrine will go away (fair to conservatives, that is). Yes, it doesn't have to be Pelosi or Reid or Obama that takes away our right to hear the whole story, it only has to be a regulatory commission. This is how groups like ACORN brought down the banking industry and started the world wide recession with the CRA--any group under these rules is allowed to complain about treatment or coverage. The way I figure it, there are 60 different viewpoints on religion, politics and gender in the country, so by the time a station manager/owner has to file all the papers and hire a lawyer, the talking heads will be removed and we can all go back to do-wop and hip-hop top 20 formats and destroy the radio industry by having them all move to the Internet.

I really do listen to Obama's speeches, at least the first 2 or 3 minutes, before I change channels. I swear I don't know what excites you libs. The man says nothing but platitudes, promises and proverbs. Off teleprompter he's a worse speaker than Bush. Ah, ah, ah, er, um. And if he hadn't sat under the tutelage of Rev. Wright for 20 years, he wouldn't even get the cadence correct that makes it sound like he's God's oracle. You don't learn that in Hawaii living with white grandparents from Kansas.

But back to the digital TV conversion boxes which I wrote about the other day. My daughter came over last night to work on our two TVs that aren't hooked to cable. The kitchen TV which is also an am/fm radio, its primary use, may be a lost cause. The TV in the guest room is going great guns, even though it looks a little odd. The cord runs from the back of the TV, then drapes across the second bed, where an old pair of rabbit ears is propped up with several pillows, and from there to an outlet too far. She thinks we can buy a new set of rabbit ears for about $10, and then if we get an extension cord/surge protector we can construct something a little less hill billy.

As I mentioned before, I used to get WOSU fairly clear if I was lucky. Now I'm getting all sorts of channels--don't recognize the stations even. For instance, Channel 4 (NBC) and Channel 6 (ABC) come in as 4.1 and 6.1, then they both have sister stations 4.2 and 6.2 that seem to be 1950s-1980s reruns. Weird sci-fi movies, Martha Stewart. Sort of neat. It has a remote and there's an on screen menu. If a channel doesn't broadcast in digital the screen shape is a bit narrow, but nothing seems distorted. Now, WOSU is the poorest. I may try to put it on the dressing table so I don't have to drag it across the bed. First we'll try those new rabbit ears.

Digital Converter Box

Those of you hoping the government will take over health care should notice they are now out of money to offset the cost for the digital converter boxes and there is a waiting list. We were on time as usual, got our coupons, and received the 2 boxes as a Christmas gift. However, they don't work. We have a $14 b & w 7" set in the kitchen with an am/fm radio, and a 1988 9" set in the guest room that gets WOSU fine, an occasionally if the wind is blowing, and it's a month with 5 Tuesdays, a few other channels. So our techie relative, our daughter, is going to come over today to see if she can make it work. As a fall back, I found a phone number of a high school kid who is doing his "service credits" for graduation by helping senior citizens hook up their boxes.

The Federal Government has run out of money to help analog TV owners go digital in mid-February.

"USA Today" reports the $1.3 billion dollar program to offset the cost of buying converter boxes scraped bottom on Sunday.

Instead of giving out discount coupons worth $40 apiece, the Feds are now compiling a waiting list. If consumers can't wait, they can always spring for the box's 40-to-70-dollar cost without the coupon. MSNBC