With COPD, I'm stuck at home a lot... or trapped at home. My air filters running constantly helps my breathing to the point it's bearable most days. Outside the apartment it gets much worse. So it would be like being in prison stuck at home all the time if not for the kitties, radio, TV, & the internet. The few times I see anybody else is when somebody drops off something to fix, or to pick it up.
Although I will sometimes leave the TV off for days in a row, I will turn it on for the news if I haven't had a chance to read it online yet, or run in the TV in the background when I'm doing other stuff. I'll take a day or a night once in a while to watch everything I wanted to catch up on or see all at once. After a long or hard day, it's nice to lay back with some nice music or cool movie at the end of the day.
I'm lucky that many of the local channels also run sub-channels that run old movies & TV shows. Our newest TV channel, 56, runs 4 sub-channels of just old stuff, & plans to be running 6 by spring. It's only a 1,000 watt channel, but I've read people in your area picking it up with a rooftop or attic antenna. Channel 67 runs 3 channels of old stuff. They're more powerful, but broadcast on the old VHF channel 7 frequency. So your average flat, mini, or so-called "digital" antennas won't pick it up well because they're designed for the UHF channels. You need an old style pair of rabbit ears extended 15-18 inches to pick it up well. Channel 2 WGRZ dropped their weather channel but is now running 2 sub-channels of old shows in it's place. PBS runs "Think bright" on their sub-channel but also runs their regular shows from earlier in the week or last week on the sub-channel.
I get about 30 channels including the sub-channels with an ordinary indoor antenna. But about half are religious, shopping, & a country music station, so the TV is programmed to skip those.
I get netflix online for $7.99/mo. They don't carry a lot of new stuff or a lot of mega blockbusters, but they do have almost an unlimited amount of TV shows & movies to choose from. There are other pay online service too, like Hulu & stuff. But I find those carry the same stuff you can get or stream from the networks, affiliates, or distributors for free anyway. So why pay a streaming service to get stuff that's free anyway?
I keep my laptop permanently plugged into my big TV with a VGA jack. Since I can't go anywhere anymore, it's a good use for it. I use it as my media player to play TV shows & movies. I usually download or stream to my primary computer. But if I'm watching mp4 or mkv video (which is all the good video quality downloads these days) I watch it on the TV with the laptop. The laptop is too old for an HDMI jack, but HD video looks great just through the VGA jack. And unlike most modern laptops & tablets, it also has a DVD/CD slot for playing regular DVDs too.
I got my newest big 32" LED TV almost for free. I was going to get it for free broken, but I got it running for almost a minute before it went back out, so the guy suddenly wanted something for it. I ended up having to trade it for a very old computer that I made into a linux based media center long ago (my laptop took it's place). The TV's power supply was shot. I got it running by connecting a very old computer power supply externally (it was too big to fit inside). Later I got the real power supply for it for almost $60. Looks & runs like brand new. My other 26" LED LCD TV I got for free with a fried power supply too a couple years ago. I got that supply for around $50 to get it running like new. I'm using it as my primary computer's monitor since I got the 32" TV running. I had a wonderful 23" LED monitor connected to it that I got new for only $89 about 4 years ago. For now it sits disconnected sitting behind the 26" TV. These are recent model units with quality panels. The image quality & contrast ratios are as good as some of the best modern ones.
Meanwhile I still have my very old 27" LCD TV that I rebuilt from the fire ( maybe around 13-14 years old). I noticed when displaying solid colors like on a computer display there were areas faintly darker than other areas, but not noticeable when playing movies or regular TV. A sure sign the LCD panel itself is wearing out, & will only get worse over more time. Even if I could afford a new panel, it's so old, it would be hard to find a compatible panel new or in better shape used. So it sits as a spare in the back. It also was never as sensitive as pulling in weaker HDTV channels with an antenna than the newer ones either.
My laptop & primary computer, also rebuilt after the fire, just turned 10 years old this month. No new parts. Still all original. Not running XP on them anymore. Tried running Win 8 & 8.1 but didn't like them. So my primary computer is running Windows 7 & Linux Zorin as it's second OS. My laptop is running Windows 7 & Linux Xubuntu. I use W7 almost all the time. But there are a few things to do in Linux that can't be done or done well in Windows. Also it's an emergency OS. If windows dies or fails, you can access all your drives, windows, & files to save repair, edit, download, or modify in Linux. Windows can't access the Linux partition or drive, but Linux can access windows & it's drives or files.
As a Tech nut, of course I'm a sci-fi nut too, & love Star Trek. Didn't care for their series Deep Space 9 (about the a space station). I also stopped watching Star Trek Next Generation (and all the movies related to that series) when it seemed like almost every other episode was Shakespeare or Sherlock Holmes based. It just got way too corny even for a Star Trek fan. One doesn't tune into Sci-fi or Star Trek to watch Shakespeare & Sherlock Holmes being poorly done on a space ship. Eventually I did collect some of the better episodes of that series though. Other than that, I got everything else Star Trek, & loved their new movies too.
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: Well it's definitely cold so I think we'll start the Winter Flickr now (Read 32541 times)
