The DISH Box Died

If you're keeping count, that's two -- given that I had to call the DISH guy back about an hour after he'd first left because my initial box was malfunctioning. He swapped it out for a new one. I woke up this morning, turned on the TV and ... no DISH. Pushed various reset buttons until DISH magically appeared again. It worked for about 40 minutes and then ... no DISH again. This time, I called Tech Support; they had me monkey around with it for awhile, and then decided it's well and truly dead (it's really most sincerely dead) and they'll have to swap it out. "How's Monday from noon to five sound?" Sounds like time I have to be in the office, actually.

I have my technician's direct number, and will give him a ring tomorrow (decided that, on the whole, I probably shouldn't bother him on Easter) and see if he can give me something better than a five-hour time window. But, basically, no television -- and probably no television until Saturday, when I can be home for the whole window.

And, even when I get a new box, that means I'll have lost the 8 hours of television I've already DVR'd. Damn and blast. (I'd been looking forward to that Ashes to Ashes marathon. Anyone? Anyone? OK, moving on...)

So, tonight, it's back to unpacking. Have found some very important stuff. (Yes! I struck alarm clock!) (Which was followed by digging into my magic bag of cords to see if I had an extension cord that was polarized, but not grounded. Why, yes, I do. Score one for saving cables from college.) And then I found it.

Rabbit ears.

These are some seriously old rabbit ears. (Dude, I don't even know the terms here -- but remember when your TV had a little plug where you plug in the VHF antenna; and then two little screws for the UHF antenna, and your UHF antenna was a cord that had two little U-shaped metal connectors that you screwed down on your TV? These rabbit ears had the U-shaped things on the end. They're that old. But I'd also saved a UHF to VHF little attachment job, so these were functioning rabbit ears.)

Attached them to the nearest television that would take such old-school inputs (which was on the floor of the room in which I was unpacking), sat on the nearest piece of furniture (a small cat tree) and watched the last half hour of Amazing Race. So, I'm not completely without TV.

Isn't exactly High-Def, though.