So the local station complex managed to do three days of digital broadcasting. It seems as if they now have the analog transmitter up and running once again so we are now back in 1953. One unnamed source said, “we won’t be going digital again until the feds force us to do it.”
It was nice while it lasted. The 50′s are good…right?
As I mentioned the other day, the local television monopoly (ABC, CBS, and FOX all in one building with one owner) recently started broadcasting a digital signal. I was under the impression that the day they started that a fire occurred in the studio. It seems as if the opposite is true. A fire took out the analog signal and that seems to be the only reason they started sending out the digital signal. Why couldn’t they have cranked on the digital signal months (or even years) ago? Why did they have to wait for a fire to FORCE them to do that?
Following a small fire at our Carter’s Mountain transmitter site on Thursday evening, ABC16′s analog signal has been off the air. As a result, we have turned on our digital transmitter broadcasting on Channel 16. Viewers with a digital tuner should perform a rescan, and will be able to find ABC16 programming in full digital quality on Channel 16.1
Were they trying their best to never broadcast a digital signal here in the primitive village? Were they trying to save $10/month in electrical costs? The fact that they had the capability of this signal and just chose not to broadcast it is reprehensible.
I now wonder if they will pull the digital signal off the air the day they get the analog working again? Of course now that they are broadcasting digital, why don’t they just pump out a few more pixels so we finally get local high def content (other than NBC).
Do you hear me ABC? Yeah, you.
It is brutal that for the 2nd season in a row the Fins start out as the worst team in the NFL and then begin to win. They managed to sneak by Kansas City today despite the fact that they often seem to do everything they can to lose a game.
Three wins and counting. Can it go up to four? If they continue to play the way they have for the past two games it is more than possible.
Tipster D managed to get me a ticket to Earth, Wind, and Fire last night. The sound quality at “The Jack” wasn’t great, but the concert was really fun. So many classic tunes. I recorded the whole thing on my cute little digital camera, although I doubt I’ll ever watch it. I’m just amazed what you can do with a little piece of digital technology and it was fun to see what it could do.
When the concert ended it had started to rain. It continued all night long. It was 78 degrees yesterday. Today it will only make it up to 47.
While out this morning I noticed that someone had decided to drive in to a street light next to Live Arts/Atomic Burrito. There it was laying in its long and tall glory..flat on the sidewalk with cables sprouting from the top in a pile of shattered glass. Wires like roots were dangling from the bottom. Just a guess, but I have a feeling the person that mowed it down didn’t bother to leave their name or number. No ticket for you.
The race didn’t start until 10am on a smoking hot fall day. I biked on over to UVA and jogged a bit. The crowd (about 600 racers) headed over to the start line. We switched directions 3 times since no one seemed positive about the starting direction. Eventually we settled in and the pack took off very slowly on the crowded narrow path. Eventually it thinned out a bit and I could start running at a normal pace.
I knew the 8.5 miles Thursday night wouldn’t feel great. My legs were still tired from that run but I managed a 22:07 race. Pretty good time considering the heat and the crowded course. Now it is time to clean house….and maybe see Earth, Wind, and Fire tonite if I can snag a ticket.
The continued rumors that Comcast will start offering HD service here in the village in mid-December are still around. Cabling continues around town almost every day (with the lovely chunks of wire everywhere).
There was another story that the local FOX, CBS, and ABC wouldn’t go digital (or HD) until Comcast arrived with their HD.
Can any of these rumors possibly be true? Well…hard to say. Today the locals (owned by the same guy..in the same building) went digital! Shocking. No HD has appeared yet. Bummer. For the real bummer, adding a few cables seems to have ignited the station with an electrical fire.
They had a short blurb on the front page of the newsplex website, but they have now pulled the story (it was here – I guess all the news ISN’T fit to leave on a site). It said they were currently off the air due to an electrical fire in the studio. That was about it. If they actually show some HD this year I’ll give each of my loyal readers $10 (you will of course have to prove you are a loyal reader). That might add up to $30 or so if it actually happens…but something tells me my money is safe.
The fact that they pulled the story seems so C-Ville-like. If anything bad happens…make it go away. Page not found. I hope that the fire didn’t burn their one and only spare cable…since that might cause a three year delay with the progress typically made in this village. I also hope the fire didn’t burn anyone…
Yesterday was a nice 70 degree day. I wanted to go for a run, come home to some food, and settle in with Lost in HD. The run part was good (the 5ish miler), food was there, but as is so typical in VA the only available HD station here in the village had a nice strong signal of black emptiness. That was a good symbolism for the village. Empty.
Today was another nice day (a tad warm). Figuring I should take advantage of it I headed out for another run. I was going to do the standard one, but continued on for the 8ish miler. I hadn’t done that one since the day before I left for Vegas. It was good, but I’m a bit sore.
A warm humid evening has settled in. It is crystal clear with a nearly full moon. I can’t remember the last time I could see so many stars in the sky (despite the moon). Crickets are still chirping.
Work is making my brain think too much. I am starting to despise technology…but I want to learn more about Lightroom, Aperture, Flex Builder,..etc. Do I love it or hate it? I just don’t know. A week in a cabin with a lot of snow around it, snowshoes to use, and a nice fire with no computer in sight sounds pretty good right now.
I ran the 5k last weekend and just realized there were two others that same morning. Last year I ran two that day (both were at UVA) but I missed out on that this year. I really wish some group would keep ALL the race info on one site here in the village. Currently it is really hit or miss with finding the info. Back in the 90′s other places started doing that…but the village hangs on to the past with every last gasp and prying claw. If you want to see the past be sure to stop by the CVS store on the downtown mall and look at lots of historical photos (along the back stairs). Has the village really changed?
There is a 5k this Saturday morning. Current forecast is rather warm (50′s at that time) and sunny. Why is every day around here sunny? Running the 8ish today probably won’t help my time on Saturday, but such is life. I’ll let you know if I survive. I haven’t yet run the UVA course this year.
Time to sleep. Is it Saturday yet?
Ohhh…what an exciting night here in VA. Can Macaca Man hold on to his Senate seat? Will VA ban gays? (OK..that already passed by a wide margin)
As results trickle in (not a single vote from the village has made it to CNN’s ticker yet) Macaca continues to lead by a tad under 1%. One woman was running as an independent and the day before the election she said anti-Macaca Man was not as evil as the M himself – a rather lackluster endorsement.
In any event, if she had not run for the office “the author” would have had a slight lead all night. Will it turn out that the 1% of voters will lead to the crowning of Macaca? A deer head in every pot!
I’m still predicting that Macaca will win by a narrow margin (due entirely to the independent candidate). Now…time to sleep. Overworked, underpaid, and just wondering when it will end…the American dream.
Looks like good old Allen supporters have been having fun making a few phone calls to scare potential votes for Webb. The FBI is looking in to the situation.
I guess Allen can’t shoot deer and put their heads in mailboxes like the old days.
Rock on. So very Virginia.
What are three things you’ll find in C-Ville every weekend?
I wonder if anyone thought of Johnny Carson while reading that. Anyway…this was yet another weekend in C-Ville. Here in this lazy little village which is so safe and family oriented I continue to be amazed at the amount of petty crime which occurs. As I was biking back from CVS late this afternoon I noticed two young males playing with a little pink bike with training wheels on it. One got on the bike and got up to a pretty high speed. He then jumped off the bike and the two of them howled in laughter as the bike headed down a hill, coasted for about 20 yards, and crashed in to a curb at the bottom of the hill. They then ran back towards their complex.
Something tells me neither of the boys owned a pink bike with training wheels. I wonder who did. I’ll bet she isn’t to happy that her bike is now toast. I thought about saying something, but last time I did that here in town the group of youth pulled a gun out and told me to leave or I’ll be snuffed. I just kept rolling today. No need to stop.
The crime rolls on. In another part of town a few bullets went flying through some houses. The people in the house wonder what they did wrong. I wonder if they had a cat, since they seem to like shooting cats around here (and going to jail for a few days). Maybe they confused the sleeping people for cats. Oh well.
My bike was stripped three times in the first three years I lived here. Now I have old school wheels that you can’t get off without a wrench. My seat is bolted to the frame. It is an old junky bike. Someone punctured my tire once, but other than that it has been untouched for two years. As I walk past the fancy gym here in town (one of the more expensive in the country) I have been finding it interesting how many bikes get stripped when they are locked on the racks. I lock my bike there when I’m at the gym. From the evidence it is clear the bike owners hadn’t adapted for life in C-Ville. I guess they’ve now learned.
In the 5k the other morning the pack runs along the historic downtown mall. While running I noticed that I had to watch my step since a lot of big plant pots had been smashed that evening and chunks of pots were all about. Later in the day the owner had cleaned up the area, but the poor plants now sat potless. What amazes me about this one is that it was less than 50 feet from the entrance to the police station, and about the same distance from a region monitored by video surveillance.
When will this village realize that petty crime is rampant in and around the historic downtown mall and just place a few more cameras on the mall to monitor the entire region. Either do that, or buy me a few plant pots, a bike, and some new bullets. Or maybe just some paint so I can go have fun painting any wall in sight.
At least we didn’t have our flagship U send out the SSN of hundreds of students. Oh..never mind. Just another day in the #1 city in Virginia.
