I have a TV in my living room, family room, shop, main room in the basement, garage, shed and all 3 bedrooms. There's no TV in the kitchen, but there is a cable jack hidden in a corner cabinet. There's also a jack on the deck.
It's mainly about football. I can spend all day Saturday and Sunday watching football and still get stuff done. All I have to do is turn on 4 or 5 TV's and I never miss a play.
The TV in the shed is a 12" portable on a tall end table. It has a long cable and power cord. Sometimes in the winter I'll move it out by the fire pit, start a fire and watch the games. "Home games", weather included. ;-)
I spend my work time seated with my mind doing all of the "work". So, for me, vegging-out entails engaging my body and distracting my mind.
As I have a lot of flexibility in how I spend my time, I arrange to have some suitable "activity" in each day that allows me to get things done while also giving me a mental diversion and some physical exertion.
E.g., an hour walk. Juicing lemons/limes/oranges. Painting the roof. Weeding the yard. Washing a car. Changing oil, filters, brakes. Baking. Shampooing carpets (I don't vacuum! :> ). Volunteering. Defrosting freezer chest. Cleaning refrigerator interior. Sorting cables. Shredding documents. Framing paintings. Cleaning/smoking/packaging meats. Felling trees. Sharpening tools. etc.
The idea of sitting -- motionless, unthinking -- in front of the Idiot Box has no appeal to me.
I dread the prospect of retirement as that will come when I no longer have the skills/abilities to continue with my primary passion -- my *work*! There are far too many interesting ideas to pursue while I have the skills to pursue them!
I suspect we don't watch 4.5 hours of TV in a month! We *try* to catch the local weather -- in the last 5 minutes of the nightly newscast. But, tend to rely on on-line forecasts most of the time (as we can better relate those to our actual microclimate instead of "forecast FOR the airport"). We long ago realized that the local news was just a replay of the national news with some trivial, feel-good, (local) "special interest" story thrown in. And, we can grab the national news from any of dozens of web sites in far less time -- and more detail -- than any broadcast outlet.
We have no interest in "reality TV" -- we live our own "real lives", thankyouverymuch! :> And, can pick the movies that we *want* to see at will instead of hoping someone airs something that we'd like to watch, *when* we'd like to watch it (or, when we want to sit down and browse the upcoming schedules to decide what to configure the HTPC to record on our behalf).
SWMBO sees the most regular "TV usage" with her morning exercise routine (from DVD or media tank). I'm not sure she would count that as "TV time"!
I have full shebang of HD channels on TV, 2 phones(one is dedicated to fax), 50/3 Internet. Service over all is excellent. Interruption of service(down time) is almost none. Tech support is good too.
220.00CAD(~165.00 USD) per month including tax. Our cable is under ground. Nothing runs overhead, all under ground.
I spend a LOT of time reading (and writing) -- but primarily technical issues. My eyes tire pretty quickly so I don't do much "recreational" reading -- about 500pp/week.
I spent a lot of years doing a lot of traveling so now see it mainly as an inconvenience. I wouldn't mind *being* other places... just not
*going* to them! And, there needs to be some compelling reason to be/go there; I have no desire to go sit on a beach (been there, done that) or "sightsee" (ick), etc.
The places I'd like to go tend to either now be in locations that aren't particularly safe/convenient *or* would not support the sorts of activities that I'd like to engage while there (e.g., I'd like to *climb* The Great Pyramid, not just "look up at it")
I can't stand ear buds but I have a 900mz head set that works 2 houses away when I am walking the dog. I did cheat and put the antenna on the roof. It still works anywhere in the house and yard. I want to get one of my ham buddies to help me make a better antenna although 900 mz works pretty good with nothing but a wire the right length.
Range isn't the problem. Rather, there is a difficult to quantify problem with dead spots -- as if nulls in the antenna pattern. So, I can move my head and pass through a null (momentarily) which manifests as a "fuzz out". Or, get up and walk into the kitchen and have (apparently) "random" fuzz-outs along the way. Yet, never be able to identify specific places where the problem repeats.
I have an old, 900MHz DSS cordless phone:
that allows me to remain connected to our land line virtually anywhere in the neighborhood (which is about 400 single family, detached homes) from a "base unit" sitting in the "furnace closet". I had considered installing a roof-mount antenna but figured it wasn't going to give me any more *useable* range (unless I wanted to carry a handset up to the grocery store??)
This allows each of us (SWMBO + myself) to remain connected to The House (not just The Phone) so we can "command it" (e.g., "Close garage door", "Shut off water on lemon tree", etc.) in addition to remaining connected to each other -- and The Telephone *without* being in the house, at the time.
E.g., if we're working in the yard and wander over to visit with a neighbor -- leaving the garage open as we've been fetching yard tools from within -- we can answer incoming calls as well as command the garage door closed if the neighbor invites us "in" to see some new purchase of theirs, etc. Or, if I'm on the other side of the neighborhood and SWMBO wants to ask me a question (i.e., use the "page handset" feature) or vice versa. Or, is wondering why I've been gone so long (ans: encountered another neighbor and am having a visit with them)
From what I've heard about hearing aids, they are anything but cheap! (and, probably not designed for "high fidelity" given that speech is a rather narrow band)
Why would you think a head set would "fuzz out" any more than a phone? Mine doesn't seem to fuzz out until I am down the street a ways. Anywhere around the house and yard it is locked in pretty well unless the batteries are dying.
It's not a question of "think" but, rather, *observing*!
I can put the headphones on and within *seconds* encounter one of these dropouts. They will persist for an hour or more -- until I get tired of having my listening interrupted, thusly. I.e., the batteries are fully charged and I'm within
*feet* of the "base".
OTOH, I can take my phone around the neighborhood and not experience any dropouts, "fuzz outs", etc.
If I were to purchase a new cordless headphone, I'd select with very different criteria (the ones I have were purchased long ago with an emphasis on convenience and comfort instead of concern for the hostility of my current office environment). But, I'd rather have *no* headphones -- which I can do during "early" work hours (e.g., before ~10PM).
I'm working with a firm to modify a COTS BT (stereo) headset to incorporate a microphone to interface with my automation system (I present a spatialized audio interface to the user so a BT
*earpiece* is not as effective as a stereo headset -- but, headsets don't tend to have microphones, very long running times *or* custom firmware). When this is available, I can use it in lieu of a COTS solution and have access to *everything* in the home (TV, telephone, automation system, etc.) instead of just the "stereo".
It also lets the house know where I am physically located so it can interpret my commands/request in an appropriate context. E.g., if I'm in the living room, audio from the TV would be routed to the headset, not the "stereo" that would be used if I happened to be in the office. Commanding "louder" would mean the TV's volume should be increased, not the stereo's -- without my having to qualify that command: "TV louder" vs. "stereo louder".
Reality TV is garbage. And that seems to be most of the programs these days. Other than that there are game shows, which dont interest me. If I had to rely on the "regular" TV channels, I'd probably only turn the tv on to watch the weather reports and maybe the local news. Honestly, there is nothing worth watching on modern tv programming, at least not for me.
However, I do like to watch the "oldies channels". Mostly Me-Tv. I like those old westerns and many of the other old shows. I dont spend a lot of time watching, but when I'm taking a break from my neverending farm work, (and I do need more breaks than when I was younger), I flip on Me-Tv, and go on the computer (usually this newsgroup). I do both at the same time, along with some snacks.
I have to comment about this. What the hell happened to all those great programs they used to have on tv? I mean the series, like Bonanza, The Rifleman, Emergency, even some of the light stuff like The Brady Bunch, or Mr. Ed, Donna Reed show, or Lassie. Dont they have any talented actors anymore? Isnt there any money to be made by actors making these series? Or do they just make full length movies now? (Personally, I cant sit thru a full lenght movie too often. But a half hour series fits my resting time well).
It's kind of ironic. Back when tv's were only black and white, or the early days of color tv, there were so many great things to watch. Now we have all these high tech tv's HDTV with surround sound, and tv sets that cover a whole wall, AND ALL THEY HAVE ON TV IS CRAP. Who need HDTV for watching a talk show, or some Judge Judy trying a bunch of total losers in her court, or that repulsive Springer show, and others like it. Or who needs HDTV even for the news. ????
Maybe I'm just showing my age, but I cant find any of the modern programming that I'd even spend 5 minutes worth of my time to watch any of the crap they have on the tube now.
Funny thing, I feel the same way about the web now. Back in the 90's the web was alot of fun. Lots of funny stuff and informative sites too, which were intresting. Yea, some of that still exists, but little. Most of the web is just advrtising, and poliical bickering, or other junk. And there seems to be no website anymore that does NOT link to Facebook, and in my opinion, Facebook is the biggest pile of time wasting rubbish ever to hit the internet. I briefly tried it, I opened my own page based on a specific interest (topic) and limited membership to only people who fit the topic. Within a month, it became nothing but a pile of rubbish, including political bickering and name calling, people begging for money or whining about their spouse, or just posting any damn thing they wanted. One day I just killed the account and will never go back. (and that dont include all the data mining and identity theft they do on that miserable piece of worthless garbage).
But I'm not really complaining. Now I spend more time being productive with my tools and farm stuff, and spend more time with friends and with my animals too. All of that is far better than staring at a tube, or in these days, it's a piece of plastic with pixels....
Any commercial channels, I do what Ralph suggests and DVR any shows I like and fast forward through commercials.
Wife does not have DRV but watches mostly old movies with few commercials.
I get these low ball offers all the time, mainly from FIOS, when they expire, the cost is just as high. I could do like my neighbor across the street and switch every two years but, mainly my wife, would not like the aggravation of doing it.
OK, what do you pay for internet access? For TV? Do you bundle TV internet and landline together? Do you have your cell included in your monthly bill with your TV internet and landline? Is that a little better, Ed?
No, I've been in the Los Angles, San Diego and Riverside county areas for 59 years. I moved here when I was seven. I don't think the old TV frequencies are available any longer here.
You are getting a very good deal for all those services. My cell bill alone is $190.00+. I'm thinking about dropping the landline and go with viop. I THINK the cell service can be handled with viop as well, but I'm not sure about that.
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