Sunday, August 22, 2004
Hardly Missed Ya
I haven't bothered to scroll through the archives and check, but I believe the two-week gap is the longest I've gone between posts on this site since the season started. I'm wishfully thinking that someone out there felt a little disappointed by the inactivity. "Where would we be without wishful thinking..."
August is evolving into one of my least favorite months. It's the lethargy that swells into your bones, brought on by a thousand pounds of humidity. Yesterday was the worst. A mass of low pressure took its sweet time sliding across the land. In the process it dumped buckets of rain ("buckets of tears") and brought humidity percentages that approached 90. You couldn't move. You couldn't eat. The coffee turned out bad...
However, I did manage to rearrange some furniture, put together one of those d0-it-yourself bookcases. Put in a different room than I originally intended. The day just swirled around, waiting for the front to pass.
It's Sunday morning now and the air is clean. It's that fresh, late September clean. The clean that gets you moving, breathing, enjoying. On a morning like this in late August you realize the baseball season is approaching its closing. I've already noticed a tinge of color change on several trees that line the two-lane road that leads me to the highway. Time to grasp a little. Time to look ahead a little. It is a brilliant morning.
---
My relevatory tech moment last night came when I figured out that I could run a "S Video" line from my laptop directly into my television, and subsequently run the MLB.TV feed through the TV. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out and put it into action. I had certainly thought about it from time to time. Last night, however, after a day of interior changes I had the initiative to dig out the manual and figure out where to go and what buttons to push. It worked. By about 11:20 last night I had Marlins/Padres running on my TV, with the audio running through my sound system. It was one of those "sigh" moments. When you say, "Ah, the world is good."
Audio quality: B+. There is no real discernible difference between an actual TV feed, and one coming from the Internet. It's very acceptable, just maybe loses some crispness.
Video quality: B-. On close-up shots (shots of the pitcher, shots of the manager, etc.), resolution was not a problem. On panoramic-type shots (of the stadium, of the defensive alignment, etc.), there was an issue. Very passable though. Shots from the centerfield camera are fine.
That was the only game I watched yesterday. Stayed with it until Jeff Conine's three-run shot that put the game out of reach.
Watched a huge chunk of the Jets-Colts pre-season game last night. Maybe I'll post some thoughts later, if I get a chance. It's good to be blogging. Again.
I haven't bothered to scroll through the archives and check, but I believe the two-week gap is the longest I've gone between posts on this site since the season started. I'm wishfully thinking that someone out there felt a little disappointed by the inactivity. "Where would we be without wishful thinking..."
August is evolving into one of my least favorite months. It's the lethargy that swells into your bones, brought on by a thousand pounds of humidity. Yesterday was the worst. A mass of low pressure took its sweet time sliding across the land. In the process it dumped buckets of rain ("buckets of tears") and brought humidity percentages that approached 90. You couldn't move. You couldn't eat. The coffee turned out bad...
However, I did manage to rearrange some furniture, put together one of those d0-it-yourself bookcases. Put in a different room than I originally intended. The day just swirled around, waiting for the front to pass.
It's Sunday morning now and the air is clean. It's that fresh, late September clean. The clean that gets you moving, breathing, enjoying. On a morning like this in late August you realize the baseball season is approaching its closing. I've already noticed a tinge of color change on several trees that line the two-lane road that leads me to the highway. Time to grasp a little. Time to look ahead a little. It is a brilliant morning.
---
My relevatory tech moment last night came when I figured out that I could run a "S Video" line from my laptop directly into my television, and subsequently run the MLB.TV feed through the TV. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out and put it into action. I had certainly thought about it from time to time. Last night, however, after a day of interior changes I had the initiative to dig out the manual and figure out where to go and what buttons to push. It worked. By about 11:20 last night I had Marlins/Padres running on my TV, with the audio running through my sound system. It was one of those "sigh" moments. When you say, "Ah, the world is good."
Audio quality: B+. There is no real discernible difference between an actual TV feed, and one coming from the Internet. It's very acceptable, just maybe loses some crispness.
Video quality: B-. On close-up shots (shots of the pitcher, shots of the manager, etc.), resolution was not a problem. On panoramic-type shots (of the stadium, of the defensive alignment, etc.), there was an issue. Very passable though. Shots from the centerfield camera are fine.
That was the only game I watched yesterday. Stayed with it until Jeff Conine's three-run shot that put the game out of reach.
Watched a huge chunk of the Jets-Colts pre-season game last night. Maybe I'll post some thoughts later, if I get a chance. It's good to be blogging. Again.
