Beanz Meanz Heinz

Flirting with the Cable Lady

Talking of giving up TV for lent, I called COMCAST the other day to cancel the cable TV (not the internet, mind you; how could I live without it? ... Next year's Lenten Sacrifice maybe?!).  Had a very fun time with the lady on the other end of the line haggling for packages:

It seemed strange at first (well, it still seems strange), but they  were prepared to offer me internet PLUS basic cable for less than  internet alone.  Counter-intuitive, no?  Well, I suppose my continued subscription to cable tv and possible usage of the 'pay-per-view' features makes the $10/month difference worthwhile in their book - but I'm still not planning on switching the box on, so I win :) 

The whole conversation (during which I believe I said the words: "no, I just want to cancel the cable TV, that's all" a full 27 times, and in which I ended up a diatribe justifying why I'm giving up TV for lent - all with a comcast employee) happily reminded me of a recent fundraising drive on the local NPR radio station (WDUQ). In one pitch, Chicago-based presenter, Ira Glass, calls up a cable company to ask whether they would accept his 'donation' in exchange for cable service and whether they would also throw in a free 'thank you gift' mug.   Highly amusing and highly persuasive as an argument for donating to Public Radio.  Can't find the audio for that, but here's another one he's done:

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The Perfect Prompt...

...to resume blogging.

Lent!  Or more specifically, the Love Life Live Lent website which I stumbled upon today thanks to my sister, Sarah. 

And aptly enough, today's Action (well, that for Day 9 of lent, which is actually tomorrow, although, in England where this is based it's already tomorrow, so I think it just about counts for right now... right?!) is to:  "Have a TV-free day and do something you've meant to do for ages".

Et voila! No TV, so I'm blogging.

In fact, my own lenten-vow is to abstain from TV for the entire 40 days - but we'll see just how well I manage that with the pulls of 'Heroes' and 'Grey's Anatomy' ever luring!  I could also delve into the theology of 'giving up' for lent as opposed to 'taking up', which is what the above website advocates - but I'll spare you that for the moment.

Maybe that's another lenten-vow:  no waffling :")

What I've been watching of late

falling off my new toy

Having spent most of he evening cleaning up my lovely new unicycle, I just had to try it out...

Nothing's broken, I don't think (either in the apartment, or on my body), but I certainly made enough loud bangs to concern any vaguely nosey neighbours :)

Tonight's other activities revolved around a trip to the super Carnegie Library to pick up books on - yep, you guessed it - unicycles. The whole of Pittsburgh, it seems, has only one book in it's hundreds of thousands that is about unicylcling and that was published all the way back in 1974 ('The Unicycle Book' by the prolific Jack Wiley). There's a miriad of quite scary looking photos of odd contraptions and inventions and then the following introduction:

IF YOU HAD never before seen anyone ride a one-wheeled cycle, you might well think it would be impossible.  It looks much more difficult than it actually is.

I'm not so convinced...

The origins of it all...

Beanz Meanz Heinz

24/7 access

There it is, the small object that will potentially deny me even the small modicum of sleep that I currently get.

It's a 'Wireless G Desktop Network Card' (long name for small object), which is now happily conjoined with the desktop in my bedroom, thus providing me with internet access in almost every domain of my life (the one exception, thankfully, is the bathroom - though give me a month or two and maybe it will have seeped into that smelly corner too...).

And this extended access is already having it's detrimental impact to my nocturnal routine:
I am currently listening to the wonderful BBC Radio 4 programme Book at Bedtime, one of my favourite things to listen to back home.

In the UK, it broadcasts at 10:45 p.m., just early enough to be listened to before obtaining a good night's sleep. However, with the ingenuity of internet streaming, I can listen to it at any time of the day (or night...), and so I find myself sitting here at 1:45 a.m. listening to:

Arthur and George
By Julian Barnes. Abridged by Katrin Williams.
The true story of how the creator of one of literature's most enduring fictional detectives became the champion of a young solicitor who was the victim of an appalling miscarriage of justice.
The novel was nominated for this year's Booker Prize

Read by Clive Merrison.

It's good, very good, but maybe you shouldn't start listening as you'll soon discover there are just not enough hours in the day to listen to all the delights of Radio 4... at least I know what I'm going to do when I retire :)

Harry Potter...

well, it has been delivered to my house.
But alas, in this case 'house' means 'The Vicarage' rather than Pittsburgh, PA
... which means I still have a week to wait until getting my dirty mits on it and devouring the new Potter book...

*twiddling thumbs*...

not sure I can wait that long...

*exasperated sigh*
Anybody know any good spells to make time pass more quickly???

The people you meet at Barnes & Noble

Ordinarily speaking, a trip to Barnes&Noble hardly figures as the high point of a day...

Introduce Bob, the floor manager, and Mal, the pedestrian from Kingston-on-Thames, and it becomes rather an interesting experience.

Bob

"Being a Christian is important to me, and in this book I've finally been able to resolve the issue of science and faith.  It's funny how scientists now can't deny the existence of God, all their evidence leads them towards that finding.  You should read this book."

A few things about Bob:

1. Bob has only left Pittsburgh 7 or 8 times in his life.
2. He has never left the USA.
3. He is in his late twenties.
4. Bob was diagnosed with cancer on Sept. 11, 2001.
5. He beat it.
6. He used to be a teacher.  Now he sells books.
7. He really really likes the book: "Elegant Universe"

I'm going to read that book, though I'm not quite sure if it'll lead me to the same conclusions as Bob.  I encouraged him to go to England - he's a C.S. Lewis devotee.  I have a feeling he and mum would get on famously...

Mal

"You Wan**r, you can't bloody drive, you're a maniac!"

Mal almost got run over by a crazy driver this evening at this intersection -then proceeded to let the whole of Squirrel Hill know about it.  Great scene.  Anyway.  I spot that he's yelling the particularly English expletives above, and go over to compliment him on standing up for the non-car people in the world.  Turns out he's from Kingston-on-Thames and that we're flying back to England the same week... though the geese are indeed getting fat, and Christmas is coming faster than that ferrari from my first post...