Ice Cream Trucks
My neighborhood is filthy with ice cream trucks. During the summer, it's not uncommon to see four to six of them roaming the streets from noon to 8pm. Generally, I don't have a problem with them. I like ice cream. I also like our Rhode Island favorite, frozen lemonade, which they all sell. What I do have a problem with is the way they announce their presence.
It used to be that ice cream trucks would ring a loud bell to call the children to the curb. There still is one in the neighborhood that does that, but for the most part they have these crappy musical horns. Those things should be banned for a multitude of reasons. First off, they sound like shit. Second, they have Christmas music built in. Third, these dumb asses driving the ice cream trucks don't bother to exclude the Christmas songs from the playlist.
Don't get me wrong, I like a good Christmas carol in season. I seriously do not need to hear them from mid-May through late-September. I fear that all this overexposure to them may ruin them for me come the holiday season. Only time will tell. In the mean time, I'd like all the ice cream truck drivers of Providence to start playing Michael Hearst's Songs for Ice Cream Trucks.
Posted by John on August 23, 2008
Over the Air HDTV - My interview with WJAR
I got interviewed by our local NBC affiliate, WJAR 10, about a month ago for a segment on over the air (OTA) HDTV. It aired last night and apparently again tonight because they got so many calls about it. It was a lot of fun being the technology evangelist for OTA HDTV for Rhode Island.
First, here's the link to WJAR's page for the segment, where you can watch the video.
Not bad, huh? I was a little nervous and forgot to mention a couple of things during the interview. While I did mention that I get all the Boston stations with my OTA antenna, I forgot to note that Cox doesn't carry any of them, whether in standard def or high def. Also, despite what the operations guy from Cox said, you can totally tell the difference between the recompressed HD signal on cable and the pure OTA signal.
For the most part, 98% of what's on regular cable is crap. I will admit that I love the original series on HBO and Showtime like Deadwood, Rome, Weeds, Six Feet Under, etc. I see them when they come out on DVD. I like watching a whole season of something in one shot anyway. Except for those few series, how many times can you watch Beverly Hills Cop on HBO? There are also a few of those reality competition shows on Bravo (Top Chef, Top Design, Project Runway) that we don't get to see live. But if we're really dying to see them, we can always get them from the iTunes store.
When you figure that I'd pay about $100 per month for the pleasure of having all that entertainment piped into my house by Cox every month, I'm way ahead of the game by going OTA for network television and then buying everything else a la carte.
Posted by John on May 9, 2007
Playing in the dirt
I spent the better part of yesterday digging up about 24 square feet of the side yard to make room for a raised bed garden. Late in the afternoon, a friend stopped by and helped with installing the raised bed frames and getting them level. I'm pretty sore today in places where I forgot I had muscles.
Today I've got to go get a whole boatload of peat moss to fluff up the soil. Our soil is really sticky and clay like.
Posted by John on June 5, 2006
