Drunk Librarians

 

"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up!"

~Dorothy Gambrell 

Cat And The Girl Vol.1

Okay, so later this week we will make the switch to Dish TV. We currently have Xfinity, and have been their devoted customers for over a decade, but the price for it has gotten completely out of control, especially right now, when the price of everything else is equally untenable. We are paying $275 a month for their top tier channel line-up, internet, and home security. The equipment for Xfinity Home is basic, but does alert police if something is happening, like it did several years ago when someone tried to break into our old house, not once, but twice! Also, we had to subscribe to TCM for $9.99 extra a month, rather than get it for free, because Comcast, in it's infinite wisdom, decided that not enough regular customers were watching the channel, so they boxed it with a sports and entertainment package, which I paid for, but never used. Ugh. 

But with the new change we will be saving around $150 a month, and TCM comes standard with our service from Dish. Now, to be clear, the package doesn't include Internet, I get that from T-Mobile for $30 a month, and I am planning to approach our home security differently too. Maybe bolster our Ring account with new equipment, or possibly I will look into ADT or maybe SimpliSafe. We'll see. San Joaquin County charges an additional $75 per year to have a security system that alerts the police, in the event of a break-in, or emergency, and even more if the alarm goes off, when there is no emergency! It get that false alarms can be expensive, but come one, I feel like I am being ripped off right and left! Oh well, I will  figure it out, and in the meantime, I am saving a lot of money, and getting a little more for it!

I hate the idea of a two year contract, because I am 64 years old and who the hell knows if I will even be alive in two years, but here's to making whatever future is ahead of us better! I will update later in the week about how the installation goes. I extremely dislike letting representatives into my home. Everyone thinks there is no such thing as Covid-19 anymore, and no one wants to wear a mask. How many homes will the installation professional be in, before he spends time in our home? What germs might he bring along with him?

I hate that Covid happened, but it did, and it changed my life. Sometimes I feel like a drunk librarian, with all I do to research all the happenings surrounding the Coronavirus, and the FDA Recall lists. It's hard to not feel anxiety about it all, when it has affected me the way it did. I am doing the best I can, and trying to take care of us the best ways I can.

Sigh.

NPR - August 14th, 2026

Is There A Summer Covid-19 Surge This Year?

Yep, It's Ramping Up Again

Bye Bye Uverse... Hello Xfinity

"The only real battle in life is between hanging on and letting go."

~Shannon Adler

I think I may have mentioned maybe once or twice that since we moved into the new place there had been more then one thing that has gone wrong. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect the new place to be the absolute answer to every problem we have, in fact I think it might be the cause of a few new ones, it's just that as the little problems here and there have added up to stuff I can't fix, at least right now. One big one is the fact that the lovely man who owned our house before us, and he really is a great guy, had strange ideas about what "decorating" meant. I will do a pictorial of that after the new year, but in the mean time I will share that one of the decorating obstacles to overcome is the mirrored tiles he put everywhere in the house. Mirrored tiles that were hung wrong. Believe me there is nothing uglier that mirrored tiles that look ugly on top of being hung wrong! LOL. He tried... he really did... and I gotta love the misguided effort he put forth, but every time I look at the job that is in front of us I cringe and swear just a little under my breath! 

LOL.

Now, take that one example, and add five or six additional problems on top of it, and you have a scenario where the very next little bit of nonsense becomes the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back! And in our case that straw was AT&T Uverse. We had it installed on September 9th. We had DirecTV at first, and it was installed on September 3rd, but we decided to drop it, almost immediately when we found out that we were lied to when we were told Uverse wasn't in our area! Yep, the sales rep said that, so I called DirecTV... . Hey, at least it was a part of the AT&T family! I wanted that because it would make paying the bill easier each month, as I could bundle it all together. When we ordered the DirecTV package, we were sold a satellite package for our Internet. No one told me that it maxes out at 10GB per month, and its a fortune for any overage fees. I found out when I got the notice that I was about to go over my allotted 10GBs. Who uses only 10GB of data per month? I use that paying bills!

So, I made another call to Uverse, to just double check that they indeed were not in my area, and was told that in fact... they were! I had been lied to, or mislead, whatever. I turned off the DirecTV and the lousy Internet provider, and was charged $800 in fees, and it didn't even matter that I was staying in the AT&T family! Fine... SHIT SHIT SHIT! But okay... whatever. I had to have a better Internet plan, something more realistic, so I paid the penalty, and went with Uverse. We had it installed on September 9th, and from that date until yesterday, December 9th, we had 19 different repairmen out to our house, trying to fix the service. It shut down about every other day, with a few exceptions. Now the 19 repairmen doesn't count the additional number of supervisors and lead workers that also came to our home to try and diagnose the problems.

But now that is all in the past. Yesterday the AT&T was shut off, and Comcast Xfinity was turned on. We are crossing our fingers! I sure hope this finally works. I need a stable Internet connection, and I live for my political channels. I really love silly stuff like Say Yes To The Dress, and who doesn't love falling asleep to I Love Lucy? We are General Hospital fans, and Oh MY GOD... how great is The Mysteries Of Laura this year?

 I am a hopeless TV addict, I have been my whole life, and let me tell you, when things feel spooky, during those long hours I am alone, I like having a familiar voice around like that of Anderson Cooper. I suppose if I ever needed a reason to go to rehab, it would be to cure me of my television viewing habits. I need a support group just to cure me of my insane addiction to the Real Housewives Of Orange County... and New York... and New Jersey... and Beverly Hills. Do you think Vicki Gunvalson knew Brooks was faking cancer?

Yes, I do too! 

LOL.

Hopefully the Xfinity will come through and the glitching will be a thing of the past. Otherwise, I may need to call in an exorcist. Or maybe Ghost Hunters... or Ghost Asylum... or Amy from The Dead Files. LOL. I watch a lot of ghost shows too! 

Dont-cha Just Love TV?

Wish Us Luck Please!

Leaf Of The Day

December 10th 2015

Mood: Hopeful

~Me :)

And The Emmy Goes To...

"To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than is normal."

-Peter Ustinov

Well, one week from tonight I will put on my high heels, my one evening dress, and I will pop some Pizza Rolls in the oven, then settle in to watch the 60th annual Emmy Awards. I miss the days of my friend June holding her silly awards parties. She didn't always hold an Emmy Award party, but she never missed the Academy Awards... not ever! I thought about holding a shindig, but in the end, I thought it would be fun to just watch the show with my favorite date, Elvis. Alan has to work, so it is just me and my elegant little friend for the evening. That's ok, how many ladies can say that they will be dining with a man in a tuxedo next Sunday night? Tee Hee. My boy never let's me down!

As for the show itself, I must admit to being somewhat bored in recent years. I think if asked to name my favorite moment from past shows, I would have to go all the way back to 2001, when Ellen DeGeneres hosted it, right after the terrorist strike on 9/11. She made me laugh... and laugh... and laugh again. We all needed that, but I haven't been really, truly entertained since then. Am I being too critical? Have you enjoyed the Emmy's the last few years? If so, sing out in the comments, tell me what you think!

As for the nominees this year, I am a bit amazed that more awards weren't offered to what I consider the best new show of the year last year, Pushing Daisies. It was new, creative, and beautifully filmed. Unfortunately, I think it was lost a good bit when the writer's strike hit, as were many other shows I think should have gotten a nod, such as Private Practice, and Big Bang Theory. As for the reality catagory, how could they have possibly overlooked, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, or Hell's Kitchen? Sigh. The unfairness of it all! :)

So tell me, in the following categories, who will you be rooting for? Here are my Picks...

Outstanding Comedy Series

30 Rock
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
The Office
Two And A Half Men - X

Outstanding Drama Series

Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
House
Lost - X
Mad Men

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series

Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Tony Shalhoub (Monk)
Steve Carrell (The Office)
Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) - X
Charlie Sheen (Two And A Half Men)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

James Spader (Boston Legal) - X
Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)
Michael C. Hall (Dexter)
Hugh Laurie (House)
Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment)
Jon Hamm (Mad Men)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series

Tina Fey (30 Rock) - X
Julie Louie-Dreyfus (New Adventures Of Old Christine)
Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?)
America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds)

Outstanding Actress In A Drama Series

Sall Field (Brothers And Sisters) - X
Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
Glenn Close (Damages)
Mariska Hargitay (Law And Order: SVU)
Holly Hunter (Saving Grace)

Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series

The Colbert Report
The Daily Show with John Stewart
Late Show with David Letterman - X
Real Time with Bill Maher
Saturday Night Live

Outstanding Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow
Dirty Jobs
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Intervention
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List - X

Outstanding Reality Competition Program

The Amazing Race
American Idol
Dancing With The Stars - X
Project Runway
Top Chef

Outstanding Made For Television Movie

Bernard and Doris
Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
A Raisin In The Sun
Recount - X

So tell me, what do you think? Will this be a good year for the Emmy Awards? Are your favorites among the contenders? If so, who are you rooting for? Will you be watching the show with me, or do you just hate awards shows? Tell me everything!

-OndineMonet

Bush TV

"Television! Teacher, mother, secret lover."

-Homer Simpson

Ut oh. This is really hard to admit. In fact, I can hardly believe it myself, but I think I am watching too many reality shows! LOL. I say too many, because I can remember the day when I wouldn't even consider wasting my time with the likes of Survivor: Where The Hell Are We Now? Or Fear Factor, or eeeegadddds... American Idol! LOL. Nope, won't do it, don't ask me. I had made my mind up that these shows were an intellectual waste of time. Well, apparently I am no intellectual, because I have succumbed to their mindless seduction. I am addicted. Among my guilty pleasures are...

1. Denise Richards... It's Complicated

2. The Bachelorette

3. America's Got Talent

4. She's Got The Look

5. Ghost Hunters

6. Hell's Kitchen

7. Last Comic Standing

Now ok, so it's only seven reality shows, but honestly, that is a lot for someone who almost never gave in to the genre. Well, I have watched one or two over the years. One of my favorite was, the Fox show, Murder in Small Town X. I really liked that one for it's puzzle/mystery format. I watched the sort of reality show that Ben Affleck produced, Push Nevada, it was an interesting mystery, and besides, it was giving away a million dollars to whoever could solve the mystery. Yeah... that turned out well! Anyway, after those two shows crashed and burned, I didn't watch another reality show... until... Ghost Hunters. But jeepers, how could a ghost enthusiast such as myself, not watch two hunky guys, Jason, and Grant, who are Rotor Rooter men by day, and ghost hunters by night? OMG... that show has it all, and now they have gone international!

See, it makes sense. In fact, I have a good reason for watching all the reality shows currently on my TiVO que. Let's start with Denise Richards... It's Complicated. I saw her on The View back in May, pimping her new show, and I thought at that time that she was just another bimbo, out on the circuit, filled with shameful self-promotion, then I heard how the critics panned her show, and I decided to have a look for myself. I don't usually listen to critics, I like to make up my own mind. What I found was a young woman, raising two little girls, and caring for a recently widowed father, while making some extraordinarily tough decisions. Like having to save time and money by giving herself bikini waxes, as opposed to going to an expensive, and time consuming, Beverly Hills Salon. She's saving money and time... that is just informative TV!

Now, about She's Got The Look. You know, I like seeing women over 35, proving that we cougars got it going on! It's a well done show, and it shows how hard it is to be a model. How rigid the whole world is, how you are not encouraged to be yourself, or to speak your mind. How really evil a scoop of ice-cream can be. How if you don't stop to think about every step you take, you will someday walk the wrong way right off the runway and out of competition with your peers. I like the show. I am a better person for having watched it. And for whatever reason, I can't seem to look away.

Hell's Kitchen. Well, it sometimes seems like Gordon Ramsey is simply another Simon Cowell knockoff, but all his screaming and throwing of plates and dishes is just his way of saying, "I want nothing but the best for you up and coming chefs." I don't know how well the kitchens of America would do, if we all turned into screaming idiots as we fixed our Sloppy Joes, but heck, I could give it try I suppose. "ALAN HURRY UP WITH THOSE BUNS!" To which he would have to reply, "YES CHEF!" Yeah, I like that idea! :) Hey Alan, want Sloppy Joes tonight?

When it comes to America's Got Talent, and Last Comic Standing, well I have actually been watching similar on TV since the days of Star Search. I liked America's Got Talent last year, there was some really talented folks on there who kept me entertained. My favorites where Butterscotch, and Terry Fator. In the end it was Terry Fator who went on to fame and fortune as the big winner. In fact, he has shattered the record for the biggest post production contract of any reality TV star. He recently signed a $100 million dollar contract. He really deserved it too. This year however, I am not seeing anyone nearly as entertaining as his puppetry and impersonations were.

What can I say about the Bachelorette? Deanna Pappas seems to be the smartest of the ladies they have shown so far. When she was dumped by former Bachelor Brad, she got her little heart broken by a guy who she felt kind of lead her on. Who hasn't got a guy like Brad in their past? I don't know, she just seemed like a sincere young lady, and since I hadn't actually watched a single episode of the show in the past, I decided to give it a look see. I have been enjoying her journey to love, but I still have to wonder about the route she has taken. I guess there is just something really nice about not having won Alan on a game show. But then this is a different world then the one I fell in love in. Maybe we need to just grab love wherever it is, even if it's in an alternate reality.

As summer TV goes, these shows aren't all that bad. It's just a little guilty pleasure. I can stop any time I want. No intervention is necessary. LOL.

So tell me, what do you think? Do I need an Intervention?Do you enjoy reality shows? Have you ever voted for someone on a reality show? If you had to do away with one reality show, which one would it be? If you could star on a reality show, which one would it be? If you could bring back a former reality show, which one would it be? Speak up. Tell me everything!


-OndineMonet

John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #167: Bad TV You Loved As A Kid

"Television is a medium, because anything good on it is rare."

-Fred Allen

Weekend Assignment #167: You watched some bad TV as a kid. Tell us your favorites. Now, this doesn't mean you realized at the time it was bad. Just now, in the fullness of time, you recognized that your viewing choices left something to be desired. For the purposes of this assignment, try to stick with shows that were aimed at kids, although if you can't think of any, prime time shows are okay as well.

Extra Credit: How much TV did you watch when you were a kid? A lot? A little?

-John Scalzi



I loved TV when I was a child, although I didn't watch very much daytime TV, because that was when my mother and sister would watch their favorite soap operas. When I was very little, I could most often be found drawing or outside or riding my bike with my best friend Mike, although I would come back into the house late in the day to watch Dark Shadows with my sister. I don't think that would qualify as a show for children, but what can I say? I loved scary stuff even when I was a little girl. Most of my TV viewing started with the evening news, then whatever prime time had to offer. I loved the sitcoms, and variety shows. Laugh-In, That Girl, The Monkees.

Speaking of monkeys, I did enjoy a Saturday morning show called Lancelot Link , Secret Chimp. It had good guys, bad guys, and each week it was another case for the secret agents at A.P.E (Agency to Prevent Evil). See, they had to thwart the evil doings of C.H.U.M.P (Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan). The meanest of the mean of that organization was Baron von Butcher, and he was assisted by his fellow evil doers, Creto, Dr, Strangmind, the Dragon Woman, Wang Fu, among others. They didn't get very far with their nefarious plans, thanks to, Lancelot Link, Secret Spy. Yep... it was indeed actual chimpanzees in the roles, with the voices provided by Bernie Koppell, Dayton Allen, Joan Gerber and Malachi Throne. The show was only on the air for two seasons, back in the early 70's, but I watched every week. Was it bad? Well, yes, but gitchy kind of bad, you know? :) Lancelot Link replayed on TV for a short time on Nickelodeon during the 1980's, but recently it was made available on DVD. I might just have to put this on my Amazon wish list for Christmas! LOL. Gosh monkeys are fun! :)

Extra Credit: I watched tons of TV. I was a weird kid, I like everything but westerns. I even watched the Watergate Hearings! LOL.

-OndineMonet
"Television" By Julia Gilmore