The calendar on my desk says it’s officially Spring.
Outside my window, on the other hand, it’s snowing. In a lovely, Christmassy kind of way.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But yesterday (not today’s yesterday, but the day before I wrote this, which are two entirely different “yesterdays”) - yesterday, it was 10 degrees out. And sunny. And you, I, and everyone else who ventured outdoors on that day were certain that Spring had finally, truly, Sprung.
Everywhere I looked, I saw the Official Signs of Spring.
First of all, there were the “shorts” sightings. I don’t know who you people are who keep your short pants handy all winter long, so that the moment the sky clears and the sun peeks out just a wee bit, you can whip them on and head jauntily out the door, regardless of the actual air temperature – but there are a lot of you out there.
Have your calves simply been withering, all pent-up in long pants and confined in high boots for so long? Have you been dying to air those ashen legs out, dust them off, give them that little bit of freedom they have been so desperately craving since August? Perhaps we should keep in mind that this was the first nice-ish day in, oh, four months of sub-zero temperatures and miserable weather. So yeah, relatively-speaking it was warm out. Relative to Tuktoyaktuk.
Hand-in-hand (or, I guess, foot-in-foot) with the short pants went the flip-flops. Flip-flops! In the month of March, in Canada. I applaud your optimism, and, again, the wealth of storage space which allows you to keep your flip-flops at the ready position near the front door, poised for a frisky frolic on the first day the temperature rises above freezing. “Socks are for wimps,” you assert, regardless of the several centimeters of slush that persist just a flop away from where you’re flipping. “Bare feet are cool,” scream your naked toes. Yes, you’ve got that right, my chilly friends.
But the flip-floppers were not the bravest of all on this particular day. No. On this day in March, while it was still, I remind you, Winter, I saw a runner in shorts and sneakers and …uh…nothing else. This runner was a man, but still, I was shocked to see his bare nipples all over the path where I was about to walk my dog. Seriously, bare man-chest is something you don’t necessarily want to see even on the sweatiest of days (or, perhaps, particularly on the sweatiest of days). I had to adjust my reality-meter as I shivered and zipped up my fleece hoodie.
Perhaps he was simply concerned with aerodynamics and didn’t want to create drag with a bunch of unnecessary fabric. Perhaps he had chafing issues. Perhaps he was just extremely proud of his pasty pecs. Whatever his reasons, I wasn’t able to eat lunch for several hours.
And on this, the first sunny day in months, I also witnessed: four Chihuahuas in the park (I believe they keep this model of dog indoors all winter, for the same reasons you keep your Miata in the garage: low suspension and susceptibility to internal freezing), several hot dog vendors, and, oh yes, potholes on Bell Road big enough to lose a Miata filled with Chihuahuas in. More proof that Spring had actually arrived in Halifax.
Not that I’m complaining. The potholes, I guess, are inevitable, and I’m in awe of the early-adopters. And it’s understandable that we might jump the gun a bit when we see the sun in Halifax. Heaven knows, it could be September before we see it again.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Conversion Confusion
To hear my mother-in-law tell it, there’s an awful lot of confusion over at the seniors' residence about the analog-to-digital TV conversion that’s under way now in the U.S. “You should write a column about that,” Marguerite instructed me, “because nobody here seems to understand what’s going on.”
So this one’s for the seniors, and for anybody else who’s confused about the issue. Because to be honest, it is pretty confusing.
The cause of all the confusion is the fact that Canadian and American broadcasters are working toward changing the nature of the TV signals they transmit – from analog to digital. The upshot of that is that some people – particularly those who don’t have cable or sattelite and who receive their TV channels via an antenna – eventually won’t be able to get the new signals unless they buy a digital converter box.
But the first thing you need to know is that we Canadians need not panic. The changeover has already begun in the USA and will be complete there by June 12th of this year. But unless you are receiving U.S. stations over an antenna (which is unlikely unless you live close to the U.S. border), you will not be affected by those changes. And if you have cable or a sattelite service, you should see no change, even when the transition in the U.S. is complete. So, Northwood residents and anyone else who’s concerned – no worries. You won’t notice any change in your American programming at all.
Canadian broadcasters have a completely separate deadline of August 31, 2011 to make the digital transition, and in this case, there’s a greater chance that it could affect you. Again, if you have cable or receive a sattelite service, you won’t be affected by any of these changes.
But if you don’t, you’ll need to figure out whether your TV set has an analog or a digital tuner. The tuner is essentially the part of your TV that receives the signals. Figuring this out could be a bit tricky, but you can begin by checking your owner’s manual. Better yet, go to a website called dtvtransition.org. That site (even though it’s American) has a really convenient list of most TV models that have digital tuners. If your TV set is a bit older, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s analog, and it won’t be on the list.
So here is the only scenario in which you might be affected by the transition: if you’ve determined that your TV set has an analog tuner, and you’re using an antenna to receive your TV channels, you will eventually have to buy a converter box when the Canadian deadline kicks in. That’s it. You won’t need a new TV, you’ll just attach this box to your set, and off you go. Already the local electronics stores are stocking them, and they run about $80.
And if it turns out that your set has a digital tuner, and you get your TV signals over an antenna, you will continue to receive the channels you’ve always received, even after the Canadian transition.
Clear as mud? Any confusion is completely understandable, whether you live in Northwood or Goodwood, Melville or Beechville. But hopefully this will help clear things up a bit, so we can all focus on the real issue: whether there’s actually anything worth watching on television in the first place.
So this one’s for the seniors, and for anybody else who’s confused about the issue. Because to be honest, it is pretty confusing.
The cause of all the confusion is the fact that Canadian and American broadcasters are working toward changing the nature of the TV signals they transmit – from analog to digital. The upshot of that is that some people – particularly those who don’t have cable or sattelite and who receive their TV channels via an antenna – eventually won’t be able to get the new signals unless they buy a digital converter box.
But the first thing you need to know is that we Canadians need not panic. The changeover has already begun in the USA and will be complete there by June 12th of this year. But unless you are receiving U.S. stations over an antenna (which is unlikely unless you live close to the U.S. border), you will not be affected by those changes. And if you have cable or a sattelite service, you should see no change, even when the transition in the U.S. is complete. So, Northwood residents and anyone else who’s concerned – no worries. You won’t notice any change in your American programming at all.
Canadian broadcasters have a completely separate deadline of August 31, 2011 to make the digital transition, and in this case, there’s a greater chance that it could affect you. Again, if you have cable or receive a sattelite service, you won’t be affected by any of these changes.
But if you don’t, you’ll need to figure out whether your TV set has an analog or a digital tuner. The tuner is essentially the part of your TV that receives the signals. Figuring this out could be a bit tricky, but you can begin by checking your owner’s manual. Better yet, go to a website called dtvtransition.org. That site (even though it’s American) has a really convenient list of most TV models that have digital tuners. If your TV set is a bit older, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s analog, and it won’t be on the list.
So here is the only scenario in which you might be affected by the transition: if you’ve determined that your TV set has an analog tuner, and you’re using an antenna to receive your TV channels, you will eventually have to buy a converter box when the Canadian deadline kicks in. That’s it. You won’t need a new TV, you’ll just attach this box to your set, and off you go. Already the local electronics stores are stocking them, and they run about $80.
And if it turns out that your set has a digital tuner, and you get your TV signals over an antenna, you will continue to receive the channels you’ve always received, even after the Canadian transition.
Clear as mud? Any confusion is completely understandable, whether you live in Northwood or Goodwood, Melville or Beechville. But hopefully this will help clear things up a bit, so we can all focus on the real issue: whether there’s actually anything worth watching on television in the first place.
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