The US of A is going all-digital on February 17, 2009. Did you know? Pretty sure you may not have heard, so I took it upon myself to notify you.
Now, much of what I hear is that this is going to be a great thing- blah blah blah.
We at this house are prepared. The husband assured me we were.
Our local news stations ran the test. You know the one. Turn on your tv's and if you still get the broadcast you are set. But, if you get the message, "Your television is not good enough for the digital revolution, climb out of the stone age" or something like that, then you should get the government coupon and purchase a converter box. We got one of those coupons for our bedroom tv. And we purchased our converter box. And we turned on all the tv's in the house to participate in the broadcast test and our broadcast went un-interrupted. And we thought we were set.
But we aren't.
Apparently my silver under-the-cabinet cd/radio/tv (the tv part is just audio- it has no monitor) does not make the cut. Whaa? I listen to that thing every day! Well, at least on the days I cook. Which is most days. Cause my fam likes to chow on the tasty vittles I concoct. (I think) So most days I try to feed them. Except, everyday middle daughter says she doesn't like what I put in front of her. And she vows not to eat it. And it drives me nuts. (Especially when we stay at the in-laws for like two weeks and the mother-in-law begins to believe the children are ridiculous. Which, sometimes, they are. But not always. But I think kids turn on the ridiculous act whenever other adults are around so that their parents can be unfairly judged by other adults whose children would never act that way.)
So, this is my routine. Put on apron. Turn on utc cd/r/tv. Heat up cooking instrument. Cook whatever it is that is on the menu. Serve it up with parsley garnishes, sprinkled sugars and drizzled sauces. (And don't forget, my hair is in a glorious up-do and on my delicate feet are lovely heels.)
And as I go through this routine, I listen to the news. Because usually I start cooking around 5:00 pm which is the time the local news comes on. It is, coincidentally, also the time that the children enjoy to have a little melt-down if they feel so inclined. (Why is that? And the 5:00 melt-down is most often the mother of all melt-downs. Complete with weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Oh, how I love a good melt-down!)
The other evening as I was cooking, the local tv station performed their "Is Your TV Gonna Cut It?" test. I thought nothing of it. Until all I could hear was static. Static. Coming from my little silver box.
Serious.
I can't hook up a converter box to my little silver box. Defeats the purpose. What to do? Do they make these silver boxes in the digital format where I can still get tv audio? Because I am kinda used to my news while cooking now.
I don't know what the future holds for me. Keep me in your prayers. And send me a recipe middle daughter will devour as soon as it is placed in front of her. Her majesty is difficult to please, culinarily speaking.
10 comments:
good luck with the little tv thing....maybe an ipod dock with tv will work????? As to the feeding of middle daughter......find the one thing she will eat and then feed it to her over and over and over and over (you get the idea) until she is so sick of it that she is willing to try something new-one of your yummy concoctions....I don't know if it will work, but there is always hope :)
This truly is a tragedy! What ever will you do? I can't imagine they won't come out with a digital version of your utc cd/r/tv! I will keep praying though!
i would go to best buy. grumpy has convince me..that they have everything.! yeah right..
his excuse to shop..
Firstly, I have no idea what to do about your TV issue. Very sad, but I can't help. Fortunately, your husband is a genius, and will probably have some solution I never considered. I'm definitely in the late adopter category with gadgets. I like my technology reliable and cheap. As a result, We still have the TV my wife had in college (complete with converter box).
Secondly, you are dead on with the 5 p.m. tantrums. I thought it was just us.
Lastly, middle daughter's antics also make me feel better in an odd way. I'm positive that our own daughter will exploit this once she is old enough to notice. It reminds me that when I see a kid bawling on the floor of a supermarket, it probably means they are just using my presence to get what they want.
my oldest daughter has not eaten for 12 years--and she is still alive. go figure...
as for tv--i have no clue. i don't cook (see above reference to daughter) so i am no help with the kitchen tv thing. good luck with that steph...
I like Elizabeth's idea for middle daughter. My oldest is only 4, but I got him to eat a few bites by playing a littl game. I tried to eat with my eyes closed. Made a big deal of missing my mouth and accidentally spilling and getting some in my hair. But it made him laugh and he tried to see if he could do any better than me. (Which he did.) I got a good 5 bites out of that.
5:00 meltdowns......ditto. Ditto ditto!
What I find interesting is that my wife and I listen to the radio on the TV. Our cable station has some Cable Access Channels (CAN) that users can call into and select what the screen will show. Well, they broadcast our local NPR station on it as the audio, so we just tune into that station to listen to the radio. Beats dragging out a radio into the living room just to hear NPR.
What kinds of food does middle daughter like? I can send you some of our recipes that my kids will actually eat. I'm pretty sure they are the pickiest eaters east of the Mississippi.
I like to listen to the news while making dinner, too. It's the only way I keep up with what's happening in the world. I don't have a cool utc tv/radio/cd combo, though, I just have the radio. Try NPR. It's a little one-sided sometimes, but at least I get the gist of the main US news and a little local. Good luck!
We have Comcast and "supposedly" we aren't supposed to worry. I guess there is some kind of converter you can purchase, but to tell you the truth, I haven't been listening because I'm "supposedly" okay when the conversion kicks in. I hope you get it worked out!
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