It's June 12; Do You Know Where Your TV Signal Is?

Wall Street has really taken an economical hit, eh? I took this photo in Plainfield, NJ.

Oh no! It's DTV Transition Day!
I hope everyone is either set with cable service, satellite, or have their DTV converter boxes and a good UHF/VHF antenna. Where I first moved when I came to NJ (about a mile from where I am now), I had actual reception with rabbit ears. I could pick up all of the NYC stations, all the Jersey ones, and even two Philly ones.

I was in the midst of moving here to this apartment when 9/11 happened. I had both places for a few weeks and found I had snowy reception of most of the NYC stations, no Philly. But then when the towers went down, I lost all reception as the transmitters for the stations were atop of one of the towers. So I've had basic cable ever since.

I didn't have any issues today and didn't expect any. Eventually I plan on getting a DTV converter and perhaps a decent in-home UHF/VHF antenna for one of my old unused 13" color televisions (or maybe the ancient 12" B&W one). It sounds like I might actually have reception with it. We'll see.

Off TV Topic, but sometimes money does fall from the sky
Oh, I'm not talking about a ton of money. I'm talking about $90. Yep, it fell from the sky. It seems I was part of a class action lawsuit with no knowledge about the lawsuit at all. If they sent me something previously, I probably shredded it as junk mail.

As it is, I was skeptical of the check I received yesterday. It was a lawsuit against an insurance company whose name meant absolutely nothing to me. I thought it was a scam -- you know, cash the check and get charged for some sort of never-ending deductions from your bank account.

So I went to the online URL in the letter with the check. The FAQ document cleared it all up. When I bought my last car over a decade ago, I paid it off a few years early. Although I had contacted the loan company for the exact balance owed, no thought was given to the insurance which came along with the car loan. I gave up the car more than a few years ago as it got all persnickity on me. Apparently the $90 check I received is thanks to someone named Poole who sued and started a class action suit against the insurance company. According to the paperwork, it's actually only 45% of my loss. But seeing as I didn't realize I lost anything, it's money from the sky.

Tonight, tonight
Right now as I type this, I have old reruns of Roseanne on from TVLand. At 9 PM I intend to watch Mental. It's the episode from earlier this week with David Carradine's last television performance. I missed it the first airing, so it's on the slate for tonight. That whole thing with his death is just plain old bizarre. I doubt that when I die it will be anything which compromises my integrity (I lead a boring life). But, sheesh ... I do feel bad for the family.

I will be watching A&E's 11 PM showing of Criminal Minds. A lot of this series is fresh to me as I missed most of the shows on their initial airing. So, even if it's an old repeat, I probably haven't seen it.

More off topic
I stopped by yesterday and visited my physical therapist who dealt with my knee replacement. He finally has his website up and I invite everyone who has aches and pains to take a peek. And, if you're anywhere in the area and in need of physical therapy, I highly recommend him.

I've been loading a lot of my older photos to my Photobucket account (linked on the sidebar). If you want to take a slideshow gander, just head here.

That's it for now. I hope you all survived the DTV transition!

So You Think You Can Dance - June 11 Results Show

Yes, I know I set up a blog discussion post for the show (which you can find on the sidebar). But, by popular demand, I'll be making a post for commenting each show. I'm not sure how involved I'll be able to get into actually posting about the SYTYCD after Big Brother 11 starts on July 9. But we'll worry about that when the time comes.

The show is starting here on the East Coast. I'm going to miss whoever leaves tonight -- they all have so much to offer us. I think this season has the most talented dancers ever! I'll update this post with big news as it airs and everyone is welcome to hang out in comments. Bring your own bottles ... er, snacks, please.

Kayla and Max, Randi and Evan, Phillip and Jeanine are safe. (Yay, Phillip!)

Jason and Caitlin are safe (Bollywood). Melissa and Ade are safe. Ashley and Kupono are safe (crash test dummies). Tony and Paris are in the bottom three couples.

Vitolio and Asuka are in the bottom three. Brandon and Janette are safe. Jonathan and Karla are in the bottom three.

Paris is going home. Tony is going home.

I'm Being Entertained (not by I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here)

Cat in a window, Plainfield, NJ

Don't ask me what's going on with that screen. I believe the cat lives inside the house or maybe he just sits there for the view. I don't know.

I'm here to report that I'm finally having a great TV night! Am I watching pseudo-celebs eat bugs and have rats bite them? Nope! I'm watching the first night of the top twenty dancers on So You Think You Can Dance. What a fantastic group!

I think my heart is going to be with Phillip Chbeeb through the season. However, my favorite number was the crash test dummies dance. I'm glad I never vote on these shows. As I'm typing this, only one performance remains. Now, this is entertainment! I don't want to be a part of deciding who's going to go home. They should all stay another week!

The only drawback to the show tonight was my sucky Comcast cable. Similar to an incident last week in which all of my NYC stations lost signal, tonight's signal for all the NYC stations cut in and out, pixeled, froze, aired with no volume, etc. That went on for the first half hour. Grr.

A very little known fact about me:
My mother made me take tap dance starting at the age of five. That lasted until I took jazz dance at eight. Unfortunately, the only dance style I ever got to be good at was square dancing in backwoods upstate New York bars when I was a teen (with my parents and their friends and their friends' kids). These were the kind of places which had signs up which read "Dance at your own risk." Oh ... and I was also heavy into disco dancing on roller skates for a number of years.

But, to quote an old Genesis song:
No, I can't dance, I can't talk.
The only thing about me is the way I walk.
No, I can't dance, I can't sing
I'm just standing here selling everything.

But I can walk.

Um. Let's make that last line ... "but I can limp."

Someone asked me if I have a date set for the next knee surgery. Not yet. I'm thinking late fall. While I don't want it so late it would spread out my deductible into two years, but an overlap of years for the physical therapy insurance limitations would be a good idea. Since that's just a co-pay and the deductible doesn't come into play, it might be worth considering. The drawback is I'd be returning to work and going to PT on ice and snow. I don't know. I just know the knee can't make it through another winter.

Leather-clad dude on Plainfield (NJ) street corner.
No, that's not where Dog the Bounty Hunter works.
At least, I don't think so.

TV Doldrums ...

Is it just me or is television at its worst in a long, long time? One redeeming shiny gem could be the openings for The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson.



Since I watch Letterman almost religiously, I try to catch the Ferguson openings before hitting the sack. It's always a delight when they're "special." I hear the two dancers are staff members, but don't ask me the story about the gay leather bondage little dude. Of course, the puppets are part of the scene. Last week when this opening in the above video played, I couldn't get to sleep right away. I kept singing the tune in my head.

So... what have I been watching? Hmmm ... I stayed up really late one night (perhaps the "Istanbul" night) watching Craig, but then flipped to Jimmy Fallon during a commercial. Oh my. He had Paul Simon and Steve Martin TOGETHER on the show. They interacted with each other, did a skit, performed. The only drawback is that Fallon hasn't gotten the hang of interviewing people down yet. Great guests; I'm just glad they talked to each other most of the time while Fallon was basically limited to dorky comments now and then.

I watched Mental on FOX, the first episode. I didn't catch the second one. It wasn't bad, but not an instant hit with me.

The Bonnie Hunt Show is in reruns. It's been two weeks now. Does she get the entire summer off?

I watched The Tony Awards last night. I've actually seen one of the shows. Well, kind of, sort of. Hair was the first Broadway show I ever saw on my own. Alas, I saw it when I was 14 or so and it's not quite the same cast these days. Some of the men would have to be singing, "Hair, hair, comin' out of my ears" if it were the same bunch. I was very happy for the three boys who play Billy Elliot. Liza and Elton were their usual big shot selves. And, what was that suit that Neil Patrick Harris was wearing?

I also caught the season premiere of Gene Simmons Family Jewels on A&E last night. I think Nick and Sophie are the only two teenagers I like on TV these days.

It's going for 8 PM and I'm not sure if I'll watch I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. It's almost embarrassing that I've actually seen three of the four shows so far. It's two hours of my life I'd never get back.

There's a new episode of The Closer on TNT at 9 PM ET/PT tonight. That sounds much better.

TV Stuff and Stuff

I'm a pseudo-celeb and I'm stuck in weeds ... get me out of here!

Yes, I watched the second night of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. I'm not proud. It seems that Heidi and Spencer are gone. I hope it stays that way. The next one I want out is that Janice. Not only is she annoying, but she looks a bit like that Cat Lady with too much plastic surgery. She was really a supermodel at one point? I find that hard to believe!

I find it a bit incongruous that the show was followed by an NBC special featuring President Obama's day in the White House. As I watched that one, all I could think was that if I had so much important for the world stress on my shoulders I'd be screaming, "I'm not really the President! I was joking! Get me out of here!" I'd definitely crack under the pressure. But the burgers looked good.

Tonight on Letterman it's Jack Hanna! I'm such a sucker for those segments. Not only do I find the animals so interesting, I enjoy the interaction between Dave and Jack. I took a nap. I will stay up! I peeked in on Conan last night on and off between Dave. He's got some good guests lined up, but nothing will take me away from Jack Hanna tonight.

On writing bits, I wrote up a brief article on I'm a Celeb, blah-blah for TV Squad. Yesterday TVS posted my short newsy bit about the upcoming Big Brother 11. It's been confirmed that once again I'll be posting live feed reports from the BB house on TVS. Of course, I'll still be posting them here, too. And, not the same reports. Also yesterday, my latest Reality Clack column for CliqueClack TV was posted.

Other than that, there's not much TV going on in my life. Tomorrow will bring us So You Think You Can Dance. I haven't really checked the schedule, but watching that over the pseudo-celebs is a given.

Today's musical non sequitur:
The monkeys stand for honesty,
Giraffes are insincere,
And the elephants are kindly but
They're dumb.
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages,
And the zookeeper is very fond of rum.
-- "At the Zoo" by Simon and Garfunkel

I'm a pseudo-celeb and I'm stuck in poison ivy ... get me out of here!