Arggggg

Sometimes I tend to over-react to things. I know that is a strange trait that no one ever knew, but it's true.

When the change-over to digital only TV, I was so anxious to get a small, portable TV that would work when the power went out. Now this is pre-generator. So I was really set on getting this stupid TV. Years ago, we went through a hurricane and were without power for a period of time. G tells me it was something like 6 hours, to me it was days. As I said before - me over-react?? We were without TV. Now if you are able to listen to the sound but no picture that is absolutely maddening. We would be wondering just where the weather was heading and so on, and the weatherman would say - "here's the radar view." Yeah, sure thing. So I vowed I would never be without a TV (sounds a little like Scarlet O'Hara doesn't it)

Anyway, when the changeover was here. A reality. The little Sony had no way to hook up a converter box. Alas - it was obsolete. So where is this going - well to me buying another little TV. I was rabid. I understood that one of the pharmacies here (and these places are another story to me!) had them for $99. Hey - good deal.

I didn't want to go to the one closest because the staff there apparently was just hired in the couple of minutes before I arrive - meaning they know NOTHING. So I wasn't going to trust them. Daughter called on one that had competent staff, so off we went. Ah ha I had my TV.

When I first turned in on, getting the signal was a problem. I turned and turned the blasted thing. If you touched it wrong it went off. I began searching for stations. Our main three wouldn't come in (those being CBS, NBC, and ABC). But I found we had more stations than I ever dream of. In those higher numbers, stations abound. The problem is that I don't speak those languages. They are not just the Spanish language stations - they are almost every language spoken here in swampland.

If you move this thing - you have to rescan. So if you find the station you want, and you move - you lose. You get to rescan. And it is almost a given that you will not get the stations you want. If you want to listen in, say Viet Naimese (ooh - sorry, I massacred that spelling), you are in business.

So I went out to buy a new boosted signal antenna. I knew I had one, but since the advent of cable - I had not used it in eons. Now another $25 is invested in the little jewel. It still won't bring in the channels, and now if you move the antenna OR the TV you don't get a picture.

So now we have the generator. OK - we have the big digital tv - that part is ok, but I know as well as I am sitting here that if (when) we have another storm, I will have lights, and a tv that will have a snowy screen because, bless their hearts, the cable won't work. I have thought about going to satellite or even the ATT system that comes over the phone lines, but there is a feature we get on cable that I love (again another story). So I will stick with cable.

When that storm does hit - you will find me behind the big tv trying to find where to hook up my power antenna, and then figuring out how to make it all work. All of this because I want a picture with my sound. The new phone may be the way I go though. It has local radar available, so that means I have to find a way to watch my soap opera. So you will know where to find me.

Peace be with you.