Its getting near the end of summer, and time to prep the pond for winter, but I couldn’t resist posting this picture. As you can see, the frog has found (called?) a friend for the long sleep …
Quite a change since the picture from June 29 …
Author Archives: Heather
Test Posting
Just a test to see how the new config for Movable Type 3.2 is working here!
OK – I did have to rebuild the system with the all new default templates.
Then once i was on the new templates I hacked the new design to bring in some features of the old site (like the Blogroll) – and tweaked the page design to make it my own … but once I did, everything seems fine!
Cozy TheatreVision
Thats Teddy – our guard cat, scowling over everything! (click image to enlarge)
This is a small room downstairs, with a lovely view out the large windows to the left. But with a cozy futon and the light rope, its become a really comfy theatre room! Note how crisp the Channel 9 HD news broadcast is – and this is a daytime picture. Thats why we choose a CRT instead of DLP or a projection set. Plus, it fits the scale of the room
Look at the small “trays” I built on the walls near the ceiling – these conceal a long string of LED light rope that runs around 3 walls of the TV room. At night, even with the lights on, its not a distraction to the TV/movies.
34″ Phillips Widescreen HD CRT –
We’ve got an OLD pair of L36 decade JBL speakers (circa 1974) in the front, 2 more recent small JBLs hang from the ceiling in the rear, and a Sony subwoofer sits off to the side. AV/Sound control is handled by a JVC AV Receiver (a few years old now) and JVC components make up the rest (CD, DVD, Casette tape and VCR).
Oh – the shiney white lump next to the cable box is an Apple airport express, so I can use the Mac up in my office to feed music like a huge jukebox.
Got Profit?
Since we got the Phillips Widescreen HDTV in March, we have been watching a lot of movies. Of course, network TV is more inane than ever in widescreen – We’ve never found any reason to watch “reality” shows. I did put up an old but very good UHF antenna and rotor to get the Over-The-Air (OTA or Broadcast) stations from Washington and Baltimore. There are a few shows sent in HD (even a local news show in HD!), there just isn’t that much we want to watch. And our local Blockbuster doesn’t have much of a selection. Sure – they have the latest Adam Sandler movies, but when it comes to the classics, or even old Hitchcock films … nada.
So, on a whim, I joined Netflix last month to see what they had.
Good move – I found out they have 40,000 films in stock, and they are always adding to it. Lots of classics and independant films – and more recent films that I didn’t get to see when they quickly passed through our local art-film house. I finally got to see one of my long desired wish list films – “Fitzcarraldo”! Oh, that was such an excellent film … Klaus Kinski as the dreamer having the natives drag a steamboat up and over the hillside between the two rivers – amazing stuff. And they have episodic TV shows – we watched the first season of “The L Word” during a number of nights last month.
But last week, I saw a show listed that I never thought I’d see again, something I only saw a few episodes of once, when it first aired on FOX TV back in 1996. I added the 3 discs of the show to my Netflix queue, and today – I got disc one of “Profit”.
We watched the 2 hour Pilot at dinner, then watched the next episode “Hero” after the 8PM showing of “The Daily Show with John Stewart”. Great stuff, very dark humour, yet its still hard to believe they thought this would play on broadcast TV 10 years ago …
NoBlog Entry?
Yes, its been ages since I posted anything here – mid-July Emma went off to Calgary for a week for the UFMCC World Conference – I stayed behind and fed the cats, watered tomatoes, and sweltered … gahh!
2005 Local Motorcycle Events
2005 BRITISH & EUROPEAN MOTORCYCLE SHOWS in the Wash, DC area
Virginia British Motorcycle Club 2005 Rallye
Sun October 2, 2005 – Leesburg, VA.
Westminster Regional Antique Motor Cycle Show/Parts Extravaganza
Sat/Sun Oct 15-16, 2005 Westminster, MD
Motor Maids rallye in Maryland
Pond scum!
Least you think I sit indoors all the time, amusing myself with a cuddly cat and Doctor Who, here’s a shot of our latest pet – living out back in the pond! …
Everyone should have one – or two … they keep down the ‘skeeters!
Its not all Geeky
Just so you don’t think I’m all computers and motorcycles and sportscars, here’s 2 pictures of Dolly Lama Diva from this weekend …
Dolly Lama – because she is a Himalayan Cat, and Diva … well … if you knew her, you’d know thats exactly what she is!
The Parting of the Ways – aka – CE steps out!
Well, its over … and it’s going to be a L O N G wait until Christmas.
What’s over? – Why, the best TV show of the Season – the new Doctor Who with Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor. You say you never heard of Doctor Who, or if you have, you thought it went off the air years ago? Well – it did go off the air in 1989 – but Russell T Davies brought it back to the BBC and its been fantastic!
Yep, its not a US show – its the hottest new show on the BBC and we can’t get it here!
This was a new show, but with references to the background story of the old shows. But it still played well for the folks (like Emma) who never saw any of the old shows.
And tonight was the last of the 13 episodes for this new season, and even though we knew that Eccelston was only doing this one season, it was still a great series of stories arced to this final event, when the Doctor “regenerates” into a new persona and appearance (a cat may have 9 lives, The Doctor has 13) …
If it was available to watch realtime I would have done it – I would have paid $5 or more per episode to watch it on pay-per-view simultaneously with the UK audience. Instead, I had to hunt around the dark corners of the internet to find it … and I am quite glad I did!
It has been the high point of my TV watching week – kind of like the old days of Babylon V – and its so popular the BBC has agreed to another 2 seasons!
But – no more new shows until Christmas – when “The Christmas Invasion” will air ..