Welcome to the 20th Century, Longworths

The Longworths have "officially" joined the 20th century. That's right folks. We now have BASIC CABLE. All because FOX is showing the Super Bowl this year. If it had been CBS, NBC or ABC, we'd've stuck with the rabbit ears. However, getting FOX on this side of town can be tricky. This is my 3rd year in a row of hosting a Super Bowl party. Had to be able to actually see the game, you know?
As I mentioned, getting FOX on this side of town is tricky. Apparently getting basic cable is too.

At MIDNIGHT last night, they hooked it up! Yes. Midnight.

The installers came out some time last week and informed us that our house wasn't currently set up for cable and we needed to get cables run through the house before the could turn it on. *sigh* So the night before Bill's surgery, we are up in the attic trying to figure out just how we want to do this. We gave up. We had cable in the attic running to the box, but weren't sure where to go from there. This week, a friend from church came over to help Bill run the cable through the basement instead. (BTW - the surgery went well)

SO - we called the cable company, Insight, on Wednesday and they set us up for an "all day" appointment for Thursday. We called them at 7:00 pm when no one had called or come yet. They assured us that the technicians work until they are finished, which could be as late as 9:00. Well, at 9:00 no one had come yet. So I called again. They told me that the technicians work until they are finished which could be as late as 9:30. Well, customer service closes at 9, so I couldn't keep harassing them. I call the next day to hear that the installers claimed to have been here aroun 5PM!! What?!?!?! No they weren't! Besides, we called at 7 & 9 and were told they hadn't come. Someone was lying and it wasn't me. That installation company, called Boland (or something like that), is useless.


Friday comes. We are still cable-less. I call Insight first thing in the morning. The woman offered me an "al -day" appointment for Friday. Well, we weren't going to be around "all day" - so her other offer was a 2pm - 5pm window on Sunday. I told her that if it wasn't here by 5:00 Sunday they might as well forget it.
I told her I'd be home around 3:00 on Friday and she said she would call if they had any more appointments.
I got home at 1:00 and called back. I got to talk to the same girl and she signed me up for an "all day" appointment yesterday. Of course, these customer service reps are under the impression that the techinicians work until they are done "as late as 9:00". I asked which installation contractors we were signed up with and they said Shepherd. Well, at least it wasn't Boland.
ANYWAY - the technician calls us at 11:00 PM last night. Well, they do work until they are done, but it's not at 9:00! We told him to come on out. We were up and were messing with the TV anyway...in case they never came.

So - around midnight last night, we got cable. *whew* That guy told us that Boland only has a week left on their contract with Insight and probably doesn't really care about working for them. Oh well.

Our little TV now has the good set of rabbit ears and the picture is just as good as the cable connected TV. *sigh* At least we have now joined the 20th century. Maybe next year we'll catch up with the calendar and buy a flat panel.

It's Later

I decided to google my NFL on TV concerns and I found what Wikipedia had to say about it. As we all know, Wikipedia knows everything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television

If anyone wants to buy me season tickets to any NFL team within a 3 hour radius, I'll gladly accept them and quit whining. (Examples: Colts, Titans, Bengals...) Colts tickets would be the best but I'm not going to be THAT picky if you are going to give me tickets...heck...tickets to just ONE game will hush me for a bit...

NFL Fleecing of America

I am a football fan. Somewhere along the past 10 years, I became a football fan. Over the past 2 or 3 years, I've found myself to be, more specifically, an Indy COLTS fan :-) I like their team logo and colors...
Anyway...
So my Sunday afternoons are typically "reserved" for laying around watching football on network TV. We typically get 2 games on CBS, 2 games on FOX, then the Sunday night game on NBC. I believe this is standard, eh?
This past Sunday, I sit down on the couch to watch football...as is my custom...um...where's the football?!?!?!!? Why is there "paid programming" on? Who wants to watch infomercials? No one. Who wants to watch football? ME and lots of other people.
So this ticks me off a bit. So much that I am still thinking about it on Thursday. So, finally, today, I think to email the TV Station, our local CBS affiliate about this paid programming nonsense.
I got a quick response, which was nice. :-) However, I didn't like the answer:
Jennifer,
When CBS airs a SINGLE HEADER – station’s only get ONE game. WKYT’s game was at 4:00 pm – since it included Cincinnati. We did not have a 1:00 pm game! In the future, I will run a crawl letting you know that our singleheader is at 4:00 pm.
Sincerely, [Lady at TV Station]
Why, oh why, is CBS only airing a Single Header? WHY?!?!?! Is there only one ballgame at 4:00 on Sunday, and none at 1:00? NO! You go to cbssportsline and can see all of the sports action there. I couldn't find where to click about "why we don't feel like showing you the football you want to watch..."
My thought --
It's the NFL trying to fleece the American football fans. Why, if we can't see our games on the local network, then maybe we'll need to get DISH and a subscription to NFL Network or Sunday Ticket, or whatever -- i.e. PAY to see our games.
So is there some sort of conspiracy going on here? Is the NFL paying CBS not to air football so that the NFL can steal more of our money when we have to buy their silly subscriptions?

Raaaar. That makes me ill. It's bad enough that the price to see a LIVE game is so high (esp. thanks to eBay and such for enabling scalpers to scalper wider and higher).
Thank heavens for SportsRadio!!! ESPN Radio is free (for now). Of course, last week, I got to listen to the SAME game on two different radio stations, two different broadcasters. Not cool.
Gotta run. Possibly more on this later...

What not to do on your sister's bed...

So, I'm sitting down here in the basement - probably on the computer as usual - and Neleh comes down and says "Rebekah peed on my bed on purpose." WHAT?!?!?! So, I go upstairs, confused as to why something like this might happen. Sure enough, it was true. From what I gathered, Rebekah told Neleh that she had to GO and Neleh told her to do so. Neleh MEANT go to the bathroom, but Rebekah decided that the box on Neleh's bed was good enough. WHAT!?!?! She even took the time to pull her pants down and everything. This is one of those times that I think is hilarious, but I have to do my darnedest not to let the kids know that. It's very difficult for me. I giggle way to much. After the deed had been done, Neleh moved said box across her room. So now the bed is wet, and the rug, and the floor. All this was done before I came up. When asked what she was thinking, Becka blames Neleh, of course, "She told me to go." Neleh comes back with "To the bathroom!!!" We really didn't figure out any other explanation from them.

SO - what would you do as a parent?? Becka had to strip down Neleh's bed. Luckily we still have those plastic mattress covers on their beds, so Becka had to spray and wipe that down. She had to take the box out to the herbie and clean the floor.
I ask her if she thought it would be fair if I let Neleh do the same to her bed now. She thought not, but recently I've been hearing a lot of "But that not FAIR!!!" Not that Neleh would have cooperated if I thought that was appropriate, but I didn't.

I removed Rebekah's CD player from her room. She listens to her CDs all night if you let her!! She was shocked at this. I also told her she had to sleep in her bed, not on the floor (which she likes to do). Becka was actually going to have a "sleepover" in Neleh's room tonight. HA! That didn't happen.
*sigh* She asked if she was grounded. Perhaps she is.

Quick Single Thought Here...

I recently heard a friend say, "Yeah. I know. I saw that on your blog." That says to me that perhaps I should update these things more often if people are watching!?!?!