New entertainment options whilst convalescing

alaskaflyer

alaskaflyer

Final Approach
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Feb 18, 2006
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Alaskaflyer
My timing is off - way off. I picked the same week to return home to finish recuperating from knee surgery, and to kill my television. Yep, kill it.

Not in a particularly violent way, though I have always fantasized off and on about shooting it with my government-issued M4A1 carbine, particularly during the more inane commercials, or while watching Fox News. No, instead I have canceled my Dish Network subscription, moved my DVD player to a old 13 inch TV I have in my bedroom for when I want to watch a movie, and put my 32 inch TV into a closet until I can either sell it or give it away.

Day three. A few pangs of regret, but nothing I couldn't overcome. I blame these emotional relapses on the timing - I can't get out of the house to do many of the things I like doing outdoors. So far discipline has been maintained.

And so...what now?
  • Well...I'm going to keep my Netflix subscription, though I may pare it down to a two-at-a-time subscription from three :redface: Going cold turkey from any addiction is hard to do...
  • A friend turned me on to this a few weeks ago, and so far I am very happy with the discovery: Pandora.com from the Music Genome Project. Do any of you use it? It's at www.pandora.com and is basically your personal radio station - you input an artist or song name that you like, and the site will create a streaming radio station based on attributes of the artist or song using an adobe flash player interface on their website. You can create (I think) an unlimited number of "stations" and can shuffle multiple stations while listening. The sound quality is pretty darn good. Also when you create your user profile it automatically creates a personal website for you similar to a "myspace" page. Here's mine though I haven't done much with it yet. Best of all it is advertising based and so free. Still adding stations as I think of artists. Check out Jack Johnson. Really.
  • Other streaming options: npr.org has a 24 hour stream of their national programing, or you can select specific programs to download and listen to, or podcasts...we have an internet webcast "radio" station in Talkeetna at www.wholewheatradio.org that I enjoy listening to, very funky and quirky - kinda like me...
  • Online book exchanges. I'm actually soliciting recommendations from anyone for a good one. I've been looking at http://www.thebookcart.com/ and am about to sign up.
  • And then there are online discussion boards. Sigh. At least I currently limit mine to a few aviation related ones, and one work-related. Another semi-addiction that I will likely have to nip in the bud too one day. You people kill me :rofl:
Anyway, feel free to kill your TV too. I suspect that once I am back on my feet again I won't miss it much. At all. And though my decision was a very personal one - I just decided that I was wasting too much of my life watching the damn boob tube - check out www.turnoffyourtv.com and www.adbusters.org :cheerswine:
 
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If you have broadband, and like music, try www.radioio.com. There are quite a few different genres of music there. I prefer radioio70's myself, though radioiohistory is good too.
 
Hope you get back on your feet soon! Both of 'em!

As for TV, we went completely without one for years, then got one for movies. We're out in the woods and don't have cable for the tv, so we don't get much in the way of programming here. We do have cable for the computer, though and THE COMPUTER is my worst addiction!

I'm thinking about just getting away from it for a while. dang.
 
Keith Lane said:
If you have broadband, and like music, try www.radioio.com. There are quite a few different genres of music there. I prefer radioio70's myself, though radioiohistory is good too.
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Nice! My DSL connection can just manage the CD quality feed, so long as I give it a minute without otherwise browsing for it to cache. Listening currently to RadioioAmbient.

The advantage as I see it to Pandora over some of the other streaming websites is that the music content is highly customizable and interactive. The disadvantage is that (especially for the more obscure artists) I hear some repeats if I listen to one channel long enough. Also the flash player doesn't have a lot of user controls compared to, say, Real Player (which is what is playing Radioio on my computer at the moment.)
 
etsisk said:
Hope you get back on your feet soon! Both of 'em!

As for TV, we went completely without one for years, then got one for movies. We're out in the woods and don't have cable for the tv, so we don't get much in the way of programming here. We do have cable for the computer, though and THE COMPUTER is my worst addiction!

I'm thinking about just getting away from it for a while. dang.
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Yeah, it's going to be hard to not replace one "addiction" with another. If I do I hope it will be a healthier one. Like getting much more into reading than I have been for the last few years. Or learning to play guitar :eek:
 
Get a copy of Dosage IV from Big UP Productions. Watching Tommy Caldwell free El Cap 2x in a day (The Nose and Freerider) will entertain you for hours on end.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
Get a copy of Dosage IV from Big UP Productions. Watching Tommy Caldwell free El Cap 2x in a day (The Nose and Freerider) will entertain you for hours on end.

Cheers,

-Andrew
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Hmm...that and ski porn will could very easily put me right back in front of the TV again :(

(e.g. Warren Miller and Teton Gravity Research films, you perverts!)
 
Get rid of the tv? No way!!!

Then again I Tivo my shows and do not live my life around it.
 
This will keep you busy for a hour or so.

fridaypage.com
 
PSSST, Rich, you can get all the TV (and movies) you want for free over the same DSL link. Ya just gotta know how...and you'll need lots of hard disk space. :rolleyes:

Gill Bates announced that they will be the new center of your living room with a new little PC/XBOX device from LOL! Sony! :goofy: (Now THERE'S a consumer media sharing match made in heaven!)

Steve Jobs will show the same tomorrow.
 
mikea said:
PSSST, Rich, you can get all the TV (and movies) you want for free over the same DSL link. Ya just gotta know how...and you'll need lots of hard disk space. :rolleyes:
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Arrgh!
eusa_wall.gif


Nope
eusa_snooty.gif
Not only has my actual TV gone into the closet, but the TV programming too. Two or three movies a week, and that's it.
"You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on."
-- Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computer and Pixar, in Macworld Magazine, February 2004​
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Well, you could do what I've been doing for the past 3 weeks ... shoveling snow! On crutches!!!! Friggin' surgical boot keeps getting snow and slush in it ... I just tell my wife I'm icing my foot!

Heal quickly!
 
TV just steals your life from you and rots your brain in the process. I gave mine up a couple months ago literally overnight and simply don't miss it in the least. I seriously doubt I'll ever have one again. You'll be amazed how many extra hours you have in a day.

Since you're essentially trapped indoors, how about getting back to basics, toss all the technology garbage and find an enjoyable rainy day activity:
Puzzles with 1000-1500 or more pieces. It's really good therapy actually.
If there's anyone around: Monopoly, Chess or any board game


P.S. If you do decide to shoot your tv, don't put a round through the center of a large picture tube screen without great care and consideration for 2 reasons: (1) The glass is tougher than you realize and small calibers will often bounce off and (2) If you destroy the screen with say a 30.06 or 44 and dump the vacuum inside all at once, the thin back section of glass will often shatter. If that happens there's a chance the electron guns in the back will be sucked toward the vacuum and come through the front toward you. BTDT a handful of times and none of which were very funny at 25-30ft.
 
Just imagine... you don't have to worry about the wing icing up! :)
 
keep the stove stoked up and pour some sippin' whiskey, grab a deck of cards and start a gin rummy marathon? That forecast is a three dog night for sure!
 
alaskaflyer said:
  • Online book exchanges. I'm actually soliciting recommendations from anyone for a good one. I've been looking at http://www.thebookcart.com/ and am about to sign up.
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I am a non TV person myself and a HUGE library supporter (as I have said in the past, I believe that most public libraries are under utilized)
But for the best IMHO book site in the web is hands down www.bookcrossing.com

Book crossing is a totally FREE site that allows you to trade books, release books, discuss books, and make some great friends. The idea behind the site is a "Read and Release" premis and the Good Karma one expieriances in knowing you have contributed in some way to bringing the power and enjoyment of reading to people.

A neat feature is that you can actually track your books journies across the world (much like the "where's George' dollar bill tracker) and best of all it's free.

Sorry for such a long rant, it's just great to see someone abondoning their TV!

p.s. speedy recovery!
 
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I did a max assist to gravity of my first TV off the backyard deck once. That was awesome.
Then skied and sailed and _____ for about a year, then bought a color TV & HBO cable and watched it religiously, skied & sailed & flew & _____ forever.

Get well soon.
 
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I'm a big fan of http://www.audible.com . For $25 a month, you get two book credits you can use to download any of their titles (and they have a very large unabridged section) and listen to as often as you want, and you can burn them to CD as well. You are buying the audiobook without buying the medium on which its produced. If 2 books a month isn't enough, you can buy additional titles for deeply reduced prices.

There is also www.audiotogo.com which is like netflix for audiobooks, but my cousin has been somewhat disappointed with their service - slow and not always in the format they said it would be.
 
Hey! Don't MDs now promote rapid return to function?? Don't change anything without talking to your doc but I am hearing the 'stay immobile for weeks' after an injury, surgery, fracture, joint replacement is now thought have a worse outcome than getting up and moving around! Maybe a doc will comment.
Frank has shot not just one TV, but several??
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Frank has shot not just one TV, but several??
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Yep. My dad had his own TV repair business. We ended up with a lot of dead hardware including picture tubes. Guns + picture tubes = ban+whiz+(&#%#$.
I still have a vivid image in my mind of my dad putting a round through the screen followed very quickly by the electron guns and the jagged glass that's attached to it go over his shoulder without a lot of separation. He thought I was full of bs until I walked over and picked it up from behind him.
 
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