Rubes

That just tells me that the guy knows a tasty piece of meat when he sees one.

I still can't figure out what's so bad about this story.

Colin brings up some decent points once in a while, but they're few and far between. The thing I really can't stand about him is that, when he wants to make a point, he just basically repeats the same phrase over and over again. Once he gets to the third iteration, I'm basically forced to switch to NPR.

'the quarterback'....yeah, what was his name again?

Who's ODB?

I was the singles state champ in Utah for racquetball two years ago. B division, but what the hell. Now that I have a juicy bulging disc in my lumbar spine, racquetball is quickly turning into a fading memory...

I'm not really interesting in recording "in" HD, but I can imagine wanting to record a show that is being broadcast in HD. I guess the question is, if a regular VCR can be hooked up to the system, would the recording be ugly? Or would it look the same as if the show was broadcast in SD?

Hey, what about regular old VCRs? Can they fit into the system? (To record things for other people.) What happens if you try to tape a program displayed in HD?

Interesting. If that's the case, and he still doesn't make the playoffs this year, how.....ironic.

What does it use the phone line for, aside from PPV? It makes daily calls, but as I understand it you can't program the exact time it makes those calls.

Salisbury. Logic. That's a joke, right?

Thanks again. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. One thing I hadn't thought of is, with TiVo, I would need a phone line running near the TV, right? Right now I have no phone jack in the TV room.

Three weeks from now, we may be playing the biggest game in many years against the Steelers, with a playoff spot on the line. Even if the playoffs are out of reach by then, it will still be a big game for a lot of folks, perhaps the game to secure our first winning season in a long time. How ironic that, in order to reach our goal, we would have to beat Pittsburgh. By doing so, we may end up handing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, and very likely another trip to the Super Bowl, right over to the frigging New England Patriots. Irony's a B word.

After five losing seasons in Cincinnati, Takeo Spikes moves over to Buffalo...and now, finally, he has a chance at making the playoffs. How ironic that the team he suffered so many years with may be the one to knock him out of the playoff race. Irony sucks. Ironing sucks, too. Wait, maybe I have them confused...

This is great stuff, thanks. I actually think that I would consider cable, were it not for two things: 1. Like Fez said, I can't stand the cable companies. I had high-speed internet via cable for a month before I got rid of it and went back to DSL. I had some technical issues and the cable company had me fuming. I swore I would do my best to avoid them whenever possible. 2. Comcast doesn't offer HD programming in my area yet. Don't know how long until they do. So for now I'll just look into DirecTV.

Only because I might get hooked on it and end up paying more every month! Actually, it looks like most places are offering the service free for 6 months when you sign up for a year. I'm not sure if that means I'll end up paying for 6 months, or if I'll have to pay for a full year after the 6 months, but it probably doesn't matter. Those look like good deals for the basic systems. One thing I noted that was different between the two deals is one had a basic dish, the other a Tri-LNB dish. Zoinks. Looks like something else I'll have to learn about.

Dump-offs. Willis in the passing game, except for a screen or two. What happened to using the running back or tight end as a safety valve? What happened to short, over-the-middle or outside dumps to Willis? Man, I'd really like to see the ball thrown to Willis some more. I think it helps Drew. Not only that, but I'd like to see some more no-huddle.

This sounds good, but I'm still a little confused as to what equipment to get from whom. I guess what I need is a dish, a DirecTV DVR, and an HD receiver. The dish, I presume, is free, as is installation. The DVR is $50 with a rebate right now. The HD receiver is $299 or so. Plus an extra antenna. I'm a little confused because DirecTV says to get the HD receiver you also need to sign up for a year of HD programming, which is $11/month. Could I just get the HD receiver from anywhere and not deal with this? I tell you, I'm a real techno-geek and this stuff is confusing as hell.

Thanks again. By the way, what are the montly surcharges/taxes like for you? Can you use a regular TiVo with a HD receiver? I guess TiVo sounds interesting enough but not for the cost of a HD-TiVo. Cable is an interesting option, because there are no extra setup or hardware costs, even for HD. The cost difference is substantial, but what's interesting is that I could have digital cable for 3 full years before the extra cost of the cable equals what it would cost to switch to DirecTV now. That's probably the main reason to try to get some kind of deal, if possible.

Your wife loved anyone for it? How many did she get through before she had enough? Thanks, that was very helpful...I think right now I'll keep my eyes open for another deal like that before proceeding. It's a tough call.

That's okay, thanks. I probably wouldn't have listened to you anyway.

Thanks for that... TiVo is not a huge concern for me. I never tape any shows as it is, and there's not much on that I would find the need to record. I'm a little concerned about your comments with respect to the antenna. I was looking at a $50 one. The startup costs overall are pretty high, but adding a $250 antenna on top of that is tough. Bad reception for non-HD programming? That can't be. If that's the case, I wouldn't want it!

I'd just stop worrying about it until after we beat Cincy. If we don't beat them, then there's nothing to worry about.

Been thinking about making the dive into DirecTV lately. Got ourselves an HD-ready TV, but right now all we have is your plain-old basic cable. We pay something like $45 per month for that (including all those damn taxes), plus we seem to be getting HBO for free. Of course, now we're hooked on HBO, which makes it tough to switch. Thought about upgrading to Digital cable, but the monthly cost (without all those damn taxes) including HBO goes up to something like $66. DirecTV would cost $52 per month (without all those damn taxes) with HBO, although without the HD package. That would make it $63 per month. Setup for an HD system is pretty expensive, though, and I'd need the extra antenna to get the local HD broadcasts. Question is, does this sound right? What kind of extra taxes per month do people usually see? I'm finding it tough to justify the jump in monthly cost, particularly when the wife is not a fan of any TV, much less cool but expensive TV.

Actually, I'm sure they were all watching that game thinking, "How the hell is KC ever gonna beat Denver when they can't stop frigging Tennessee?"