danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

I recognize that 2008 was, for many, a bad year.  The worst economy in generations, rising unemployment, and record prices for almost everthing stemming from gasoline that topped $4.00 a gallon made life difficult for a lot of people.  In spite of all this, 2008 was good to me.  Some highlights:

• I began classes at the University of Florida.  This is remarkable, because had I waited any longer the window would have closed on me, probably forever.  The University announced this year that they were changing their admissions policy for transfer students.  Unlike other universities in Florida, UF doesn’t have to admit students with transfer degrees from community colleges.  They can pick and choose.  And when the average GPA for entering freshmen at UF is over 4.0, there is little incentive for them to take people like me.  I got in just under the wire.  School is challenging, but rewarding.  I feel very grateful to be where I am.
• This year I became active in a roller debry league.  I am not a skater, of course, but I spent a lot of time with the girls who are skaters, and contributed to the league in my own small way.
• I did lots of traveling in 2008.  In January I spent a weekend in Daytona Beach at the wedding of my closest friends; in June I spent almost a week in Chicago, which is surely one of the world’s great cities; in early August I spent several days in Hilton Head, South Carolina, which I didn’t care much for as a place, but can now say I’ve seen; went to Savannah twice; had a great weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, which is a delightful little town; had an incredibly memorable week in Washington, DC, where I saw a million amazing things.
• I made lots of new friends, and reconnected with many old friends on Facebook.  I saw Burt twice.
• I got myself an amazing Fender Telecaster, which is ideal in nearly every way.
• I continued my incredible no-vomiting streak.
• I paid off all of my credit card debt.
• I watched lots of Olympics on TV.
• I became the last person I know to buy a laptop computer, and it’s changed my life.
• I discovered Samuel Johnson, which also changed my life.
• I had several photographs published in books, magazines, and even the website of the Wall Street Journal.
• I ate an astonishing amount of Hungry Howie’s pizza.
• I perfected the grilled cheese sandwich (the secret ingredient is salt).
• I read: Emma; Persuasion; Oroonoko; Wuthering Heights; Lady Audley’s Secret; Evelina; Robinson Crusoe; Roxana; Oliver Twist; The Monk; Clarissa; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and tons of poetry.
• I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert; they played “Jungleland”.

So long, 2008.  You were good to me.  As I do every year, I close with the Stephen Foster sentiment that has become my credo: Hard Times Come Again No More.

Filed under: Cost of Living, Dana Heritage Project, Food, Friends, General, Literature and Books, Photography, Popular Music, School, Sports, Technology, Television, Travel on January 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment »

If you have watched television for more than five minutes in the past year, you have no doubt seen one of the millions of public service announcements heralding the impending switch to digital-only TV broadcasts.  These announcements, which are aired on practically every channel on broadcast and cable, in nearly every time slot, tell viewers that beginning February 17, 2009, analog broadcasts will cease, and older televisions using only an antenna will no longer function.  The advertisements make clear that cable and satellite subscribers with set-top boxes will still be able to watch TV, and viewers with newer televisions will also be fine.  Only old TVs with antennas will stop working.

Today I read that this public awareness campaign is not going well.  Apparently, Consumers Union thinks people are terribly misinformed about what will happen and how it will affect them.

“We need boots on the ground,” said Joel Kelsey, a Consumers Union policy analyst. Mr. Kelsey advocated armies of people, from firefighters to television industry personnel, going into homes and setting up converter boxes for consumers.

A number of people involved in the switch to digital think the Feb. 17 deadline will leave millions of Americans bewildered when their TVs stop working.

I disagree with these assertions that this is a significant problem, and I certainly do not think we need firefighters doing something so trivial, as though this were not the season for space heater-ignited infernos.  It is claimed that 20 million American households still receive their television signals exclusively via antenna.  I find this number very difficult to believe.  I don’t know anyone who actually watches TV on a regular basis that doesn’t have at least basic cable.  Even very poor people have cable.  Actually, poor people especially have cable.  The photograph above shows me in my apartment in 2000, when I was as very poor and my cupboards were always bare, and I had basic cable.  (There was no way to get CBS or NBC in Gainesville at the the time without cable.)  My guess is that the people who only have an antenna don’t watch much TV at all, and won’t notice their TVs don’t work next February.  This includes the haughty people who never let you forget that they don’t watch any television, as though that is something to be proud of.  I don’t hear this from people who are busy all day curing disease or feeding the hungry.  They’re hanging out like everybody else – just not with the TV on.  That isn’t to say that it won’t be inconvenient for them to have to replace their TVs, but if they have one of these old sets with rabbit-ears, they’ve gotten their money’s worth out of it.  I’ve bought three different TV sets in the last eight years.

Here’s what I suspect is really happening and what will happen: people who actually watch TV on a regular basis know about this digital transition; they are biding their time before they make a new purchase.  On February 18 they’ll get in their horse and buggy and ride to the general store and cash in their green stamps for a new set, and all will be well.  Or, people in big cities where over-the-air signals offer a decent amount of programming will finally have to splurge and get a new set.  This won’t be some Y2K nightmare scenario where everything will grind to a halt, and satellites will fall from the sky.  I think the FCC and Consumers Union is overly worried.

Filed under: Rantings, Technology, Television on December 22nd, 2008 | 2 Comments »

As the end of any year draws near, media outlets publish their lists of ten best this, and ten worst that.  I seldom pay any attention.  But this list of words or phrases popularized in 2008 does include one expression I have become fond of: terrorist fist jab.

Filed under: Current Events, Television on December 21st, 2008 | No Comments »

My understanding of civics and history is decent.  I’m not an authority, of course, and there is something I would really like to understand.

Following a US presidential election, like the one we had last week, when the results come in from states across the country, and one candidate passes the required 270 mark in the electoral college, they are the winner.  Sure, the electoral college doesn’t formally convene until December, but last Tuesday night it was clear that Senator Obama was the winner, and will be president elect.

Here’s where it gets a little foggy for me:  So, Senator Obama is watching CNN, and he sees Wolf Blitzer and John King analyzing the maps, and projecting winners in each state until, finally, the 270 mark is passed. What happens then?  Obviously, Senator Obama–and everyone else–knows he’s won.  But is there some sort of formal procedure that’s followed?  Yes, the loser generally concedes, as John McCain did in a speech that exhibited a great deal of class.  And President Bush called Senator Obama, too.  But neither of those events are necessary.  I mean, even if, hypothetically, John McCain had stood up in that Phoenix hotel ballroom and said, “I declare myself the winner!”, it wouldn’t have mattered; 346 electoral college votes say otherwise.  But does some government official call up Barack Obama and say, “We’re watching CNN.  They say you have the votes, so, if you’re going to be home tomorrow morning, we’d like to come by and start telling you the all the classified state secrets you’re going to need to know”?  Something like that must happen, because, sure enough, the day after the election the NSA or CIA or some agency was briefing President Elect Obama.

Are there any authorities on US presidential history reading?

Filed under: Current Events, History, Politics, Television on November 9th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Osama bin Laden himself could sing our national anthem better than the Backstreet Boys.  They made up their own tune.  You can’t make up your own tune!

Filed under: Popular Music, Television on October 22nd, 2008 | 4 Comments »