It is coming soon...are you prepared?
February 17, 2009 is the last day analog TV will be broadcast. On February 18 - only digital TV broadcasts, known as DTV will be available.
If you haven't been paying attention - and you don't have cable or dish TV - you won't have any TV signals that your 'old' TV can receive. If you have a newer TV, made after March 1, 2007 - you already have a digital TV tuner. If you TV is older than that - it might have just an analog tuner. If that is the case - you can purchase a digital TV converter box. This is basically a digital TV tuner that converts the digital audio/video signals into a signal your TV can display.
Check out http://www.dtv.gov for information. Go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ for a $40 coupon from the government that use can use in purchasing a converter box. The program is apparently out of coupons - but more money might be added by Congress.
The new president also might push back the February 17 date...but don't bet on it.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
February 17, 2009 - Analog TV's last day
Saturday, January 03, 2009
More snow? Big deal...
During the night of Jan 1st - it snowed here in Portland. Wow! We'd usually be really excited to see the flakes flying - and the accumulation! There must have been almost an inch of snow on the ground. I got up at 2am to take Yukon outside, and the snow was coming down hard. It was quite a change from when we went to bed.
It has been raining hard this week - I think it rained around three inches one 24 hour period this week. There have been flooding and landslide problems all around the state. The snow we got didn't last long - it changed over to rain, and a lot had melted by morning. Later in the day the sun came out and anything not in the shade disappeared. All in all - a snow event that was more snow than we got for the entire 2007-2008 winter just wasn't that impressive. Compared to the storms that brought the most snow in December in Portland in over 50 years - well - we now have something to judge all future snowfalls against. The stories our kids will tell for years of how they survived the 'Arctic Blast of 2008' will go down in history.
Friday night we went to the Oregon Zoo Zoolights. Our zoo membership had lapsed, and with all the snow we had in December - the Zoo canceled many of the Zoolight nights. Grandpapa & Grandmama Johnson got us a Zoo membership for Christmas - so when the Kraakeviks called - we made a great evening with them at Red Robin and the Zoolights.
Up at the zoo - the parking lot still had a lot of snow and was very ice covered and slippery. The temperature was near 32° - but it seemed warmer than other years when it had been rainy. We had a great time - though we didn't see many animals. Apparently they don't like the cold and snow that much...but we did.
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