8:53 p.m. | 2003-05-26 I�ve Only Just Begun. Whew! I thought I�d take a break for a minute and update. I�ve been working on the upstairs since 9:00am this morning and I only have to complete one more project tonight and then I�ll be done with the Spring cleaning and the various projects I�ve been doing up there. Oh yeah, and I got my sight back in my eye. Boy, was I relieved. And, it made everything much easier. I�m not quite sure what�s going on with my eyes. I think it might be time to schedule an appointment with my eye doctor. Ya think? Anyway, I drive myself nuts when I get into Spring cleaning. I�m a detail person and pay quite a bit of attention to all the little things in addition to the whole picture. That means EVERYTHING gets cleaned, including spider webs. I swear those damn spiders are just way too industrious. I did have one set back. The vacuum bag filled up, so took the bag out, threw it away and grabbed a new one from a new package of bags. The problem? Come on, you know what it was. Yup, the new package was the wrong one. Don�t you just HATE it when that happens? So, I had to trek back out the trash to determine what type of bag I needed, run to the store and buy a new package of bags. Fortunately, the first store I tried had the right ones. I watched TV while I cleaned. It was a somewhat retro experience. See, my upstairs TV is 23 years old. It has 15�-16�ish screen, no remote and it�s not hooked up to cable. I�ve never had it cabled because they�d have to install all that. As it is, I have to use an extension cord just to plug it in. This 1923 house has not been updated for all that. Which, you know, is fine by me. You guys know my ignorant techno ways. But, it was kind of fun watching TV the �old fashioned way� just like I did all the way up through my teen years. See, for you youngsters, they didn�t have cable where I lived. Shoot, I didn�t even know anyone back then that had a remote controlled TV. And, lets talk about reception and channels. First off, reception was location dependent and only enhanced by the old �rabbit ears�, otherwise known as antennae. Do TVs even come with antennae anymore? There were only a handful of channels back then, which was reception based. There were the VHF channels � 3, 6, 10, 13 (the major networks and public TV), and the UHF channels � 31, 40, 58 (UPN, Fox, WB). And each set had it�s own knob. To get UHF channels, you had to manually turn the VHF knob to �U� and then turn the UHF knob to the channel you wanted. Of course, that�d be after you stood up, walked over to the TV and turned it on, so to speak. You had to adjust the volume, reception and color all manually, in addition to changing channels. Oh, and you had to adjust the rabbit ears for each channel to improve the reception. And, there wasn�t something on the TV 24/7. Early in the morning, after the programming was complete, the Star Spangled Banner was played and then the color bars � accompanied by an incredibly annoying beeeep � appeared until the next day�s programs began. For a lot of people, the color bars were like an alarm clock, except it woke you up so you could drag your sorry ass to bed. In my opinion, the invention of the remote control has contributed, at least slightly, to the overall heftiness of both adults and children. But mostly children. Cause back in those days, people had kids for the sole purpose of having a living, breathing remote control. Kids were useful for other things too, of course, but they did get quite a bit of exercise by changing channels, adjusting rabbit ears and fine-tuning the color. It was kind of fun to revisit those days today. I kept reaching for a nonexistent remote before I�d remember that I had to change the channel manually. And, I actually found it little nostalgic adjusting the rabbit ears, reception and color tuners. Well, I need to go tackle my last project and I want to catch up on diaries, so I best get going before it gets too late. your thoughts? seed flower