CountryMouse's Refuge

I forgot to post on Tuesday, the 12th: the cable guy came out and gave us a new DVR box and got us set up for the basic level of digital cable. We don't *have* a digital HD TV, but...

It's cheaper than what we would have to pay for what we've gotten before--our other plan ran out. This was the best deal I could wangle.

However, cable guy got confused by all the wires back there, so he just plunked/slid/wedged the box on top of a tuner AND the TiVo. ::sigh:: He said he couldn't promise it wouldn't overheat.

So I haven't been using the TV at all except for Tuesday night, when Bunnicula and I watched the return of "Jericho" (wow, just as good as ever!!!).

This weekend Cat'r is going to get things rearranged, take out the TiVo and (I think) the tuner, put in an older DVD player we still have, and generally give everything enough space to breathe. Yes, we still have a VCR and even a laser disc player. :-P But the laser disc player is not hooked up at present. It's just sitting on the bottom shelf of the media cart. I think all our game machines run through the VCR.

I don't like things to overheat...or get anywhere near that. That's why I only have the Nintendo Wii's Connect24 on while I am playing a game (and the machine's fan is on). When I finish playing a game, I always go back into the options and toggle that back off. When the Wii is off, so is the fan. If the WiiConnect24 is on all the time, the unit gets waaay too warm for my peace of mind.

Northern Illinois University: I am so shocked and yet not. I feel so bad for the kids and their families and friends.

Why are these shooting incidents happening more and more? This sort of thing didn't happen on a regular basis ten years ago...did it?? Is this a case of "monkey see monkey do"? The more the media covers incidents like this, the more off-balance people think, "Yeah, I should do that." ?

If I were college-age and going to college, I don't know if I could make myself continue to go to classes. For that matter, malls don't feel safe anymore. Most places don't feel safe anymore.

If Al-Qaeda had hired/recruited local citizens to make everyone on edge all the time, not knowing when the next horrible thing would happen, they couldn't have done a better job.

It makes ya wonder, "Who poisoned the well water??".