We have TVs all through the house but mostly I watch the one in my bedroom. I see the kitchen and living room tvs thoughout the day and sometimes sit and watch them. Mostly, though, I watch in my room.

I noticed today that my bedroom TV is the only one in the house that displays closed captioning whenever you mute the sound. I don’t know if that’s a setting on every TV or just this one. Either way, I like it. A quick glance at the text and I can decide if I want the sound on or off. I’m going to check the other TVs to see if they do the same, but I don’t think they do.

Now that the writer’s strike is over, are we going to see that new TV show about the cavemen? I’m not that interested in commercials but I just loved the cavemen on that commercial for car insurance. In fact, I don’t watch much TV at all but I was really excited about this show.

Did it ever air? Or was it put on hold because of the strike? Will it be on now? Like I said, I don’t watch much TV and was only slightly aware of the strike because I heard mention of it on the news. Anyone know the scoop on that TV show?

Sometime during this next year, we’re going to get HD TV. That’s right, the old guy who runs this little cable operation and still does all his bookkeeping/billing on paper is going to upgrade his equipment and stuff to comply with the regulation that says High Def TV must be available to those of us living in the far reaches of the country. (If you don’t know what “Hoopieville” means, that’s okay. It’s a local thing.)

So we’re looking at High Definition TVs and getting kind of excited. No, we’re not really excited about the better quality picture, except for football games. What’s really got us thinking is the decorating options. We have a great wall for a flat panel TV so we’re pricing different models and brands and looking into lcd mount options as well.

Come to think about it, maybe we’ll look at new furniture, too.

This great big Internet world is very much like real life. There are wonderful, interesting, entertaining and educational places to visit, just as there are places less desirable sites that I prefer to avoid. I love that we all have the choice to decide for ourselves and I love that every once in a while, someone will put out a site that offers something for free that is of real value. Such is the case with Manybooks.net.

Matthew McClintock, the guy who maintains the site, provides a huge database of ebooks as a service to the internet community. Not only can you find all the books from the Gutenberg Project (except for the Human Genome Project and audio eBooks) but also many public domain and creative commons works from other sources.

The ebooks at manybooks.net are listed by Title, Author, Category or Language. I’m not sure how many books are listed but the categories I’ve browsed are filled with great reads. Whether you’re interested in Computers, Humor, Fiction or the Classics, you’ll find something here to download. There are even book covers that you can download! These would be as cool hanging on my wall as rare movie posters or vintage photographs, especially in a home library or reading room.

Free is good. Books are wonderful. Free books are just plain old fantastic. Thanks to manybooks.net, we can all enjoy great books at no charge. Of course, if you want to help out, there are ways. You can donate through paypal or amazon.com to manybooks.net or to Project Gutenberg. If you can’t afford a donation but would still like to help, check out the Distributed Proofreaders site and consider signing up to volunteer to proofread a page or two of the books that are made available online. It’s really a great way to get involved and give something to the Internet community.

Looking for something new to tickle your ears? No, not a feather. I’m talking music.

I have to confess that my musical tastes are eclectic. Some days I listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers and other days I’m kicking back with Aretha Franklin. I’ve been known swipe my daughter’s Eminem or Nellie CDs or borrow my son’s Lynard Skynard. There really is no music that I don’t enjoy.

The internet has opened up a new world of music to many, including me. I’m not sure how I found Jonathan Coulton’s site or when I first discovered it but I have gone back to it many times, just to listen.

Jonathan is a 37 year old guy who used to write software but quit that job so that he could pursue music. His site offers all of his songs, both those he’s written and a few cover songs. He had this year long project where he recorded a new song every week and offered them for free on his website. I think that might be when I first listened to him. You can now buy any song for a dollar or albums for $10. Of course, you can listen to any of the music before you buy.

Anyway, Coulton’s music reminds me a little of They Might Be Giants for some reason. I love TMBG, by the way, so naturally I enjoy a lot of the songs that Jonathan offers on his site. If you head over and wonder what to sample first, check out Code Monkey. Love that one. Tom Cruise Crazy is good, too. Oh, and I’m not usually one to listen to cover songs but I’m glad I made an exception for the Beatles’ I Will. Memories, you know.

Coulton is a self-described Internet Musician; you won’t find him playing a Vegas hotel or nightclub. You can enter some info to Demand a performance in your town, though. You know I’ve already done that.

To get you started, Jonathan has listed some favorite songs by topic - funny, sweet, funny and sad, geeky - so you can get a taste of his music. This guy thinks of everything, doesn’t he? And if you are musically inclined, go ahead, pick a favorite song, record yourself performing it and send it to him. He might post it to his blog!

Did any of you get out to see The Mist by Stephen King today? This is the day it was supposed to hit theaters. I’m not a fan of the slasher movies but I love psychological thrillers. This one looks like it’s going to be fascinating.

Imagine shopping in the neighborhood grocery store, running into neighbors and friends, and then finding that you’re all trapped inside by a mysterious mist that hides some horrendous evil. Then imagine that the people you thought you knew so well begin to behave in uncharacteristic ways. Really, we never know how we’ll react to a threatening or dangerous situation. We can hope that we’ll be in control, but you just never know.

It’s been about 35 years since I found myself in a situation that, even now, makes my heart skip a beat. I was about 13; my sisters were 12 and 5. We were at a picnic and decided to walk down by the lake. We took my little cousin Chris with us; he was around 3.

We stood at the edge of the lake, tossing rocks in and trying to skip stones. I have hay fever and could feel my eyes beginning to burn. I told my sister Monette that I was going back to the shelter and asked if she was coming. Monette said that she, our youngest sister Mary Beth and Chris were staying there a while. So I turned to head up toward the shelter.

To this day, I don’t know what made me turn around. My eyes were itching and beginning to water and I had sneezed a few times. I really wanted to get to my mom for some benedryl. Still, I turned around one last time to make sure my sisters didn’t want to come with me. And that’s when I saw it.

Monette was staring at the water, frozen. Chris was chattering away, pointing at the lake. And in the lake, I could see the top of Mary Beth’s head. She’d fallen in.

I ran toward the lake and even as I approached and ran past Monette, she never moved. She was like a statue, her eyes glazed over. I took a step into the lake, then another and I sunk down several feet. I wasn’t sure if there was another drop so I reached and luckily was able to grab Mary Beth and pull her out of the water.

I had no training for such a situation and I’m not even sure why I did what I did or if it was right. I just turned Mary Beth upside down and started screaming at her to “spit!” And she did! By the time we got to the shelter, Mary Beth was rambling on and on about having her eyes open under water as my mom dried her off and held her. Monette was very quiet and for a long time was unable to talk about the incident. Eventually, when we were all adults, she did tell us that she couldn’t move. She just couldn’t make her body move. I suppose some people freeze in those kinds of situations, some people think logically and others, like me, are just moved by some inexplicable force. I don’t remember having a single logical thought that day. I just reacted.

The more I think about the way that situation unfolded, the more I’d like to explore the differences in peoples reactions to threatening or frightening events. Two of my sons have been talking about seeing The Mist so maybe that would be a good film to see together. This is a great time, too, since they have a long weekend vacation.

Will you be heading out to the movies this weekend? If you see this Steven King thriller, stop back here and let me know what you think. I’d love to read your thoughts on it.

Sometimes I just want some nice music playing in the background as I do my work. I don’t want to think about it; I don’t want to select it. I just want to find a nice radio station and listen. Trouble is, radio reception here is not so good, mostly because of interference from our small, local airport. Sigh.

The solution is Shoutcast with hundreds of radio stations listed. Whatever mood strikes me, I can always find a music genre that will fit perfectly. The front page of Shoutcast lists the 20 currently most popular stations. There are over 1000 pages of radio stations listed, though, and you can even search a specific genre and filter by bandwidth.

I know almost everyone these days has an ipod or some other media player. Heck, I even have the ability to play MP3s on my new cell phone. Maybe it’s because I’m so old, but there’s still something appealing about turning to a radio channel and just being pleasantly surprised at the music that’s piped through. Sometimes it’s nice to give up a little control for the sake of being reminded of a song or two that you hadn’t even thought about for years.

Go ahead. Head over to Shoutcast, kick back and enjoy the music.

I’m one of those odd people who love to take tests. All through school I did well on tests, quizzes and exams. Even when I didn’t pay attention in high school or spent more time skipping class than attending, I managed to pass my classes by whizzing through tests. Did I know the material or did I simply do a good job at guessing? I’d like to believe that I was just intelligent beyond anyone’s realization but the truth is, much of my success was a matter of being able to guess the right answer most of the time.

Naturally, when I found a site that rewards participants for guessing correctly, my heart skipped a beat. I’ve been clicking around at GuessNow and honestly, I’m so giddy that I’m having to really slow down and focus. This site is addicting! And fun!

Okay, here’s how it works. Just sign up, invite your friends and find questions that you’d like to answer. Take a guess at the right answer and wait to see if you’ve guessed right or not. You can earn points for your own right guesses, for your friends’ right guesses or for submitting your own questions. The current topics are sports, politics, entertainment and finance so there’s a topic for everyone!

Signing up is free and playing is free, too. It’s more than just a game, though. There’s an informative blog and a active discussion forum for getting to know all the other Guessers. This is an entire community filled with fun, not to mention there’s a cash pool awarded every month. Wow!

After you’ve signed up and played a little, let me know how you like it. If you get points for guessing correctly, stop back here and tell me that, too. Anyone up for a little friendly competition?

Sometimes I’m a walking contradiction. An example would be my love of musical artists Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath and White Zombie and my fear of scary movies. It doesn’t make much sense, does it? And yet, I’ve learned to come to terms with my personal, inner contradictions and feel comfortable with them. Except now, I’ll have to overcome my fear in order to enjoy one of my passions.

Rob Zombie, formerly of White Zombie, is the writer and director of Halloween the movie, to be released on August 31. No matter how much I’m tempted to hide under a blanket during horror movies, I know I’m going to have to force myself to watch this one.

Now, don’t laugh at me. I know this is going to seem really pathetic to all you hard-core horror movie fans. Just keep in mind that I’m old. In fact, I’m old enough to have seen Black Sabbath long before there was an Ozzfest. So it should come as no surprise to any of you that my first experience with any horror movie was Night Of The Living Dead. Yes, the black and white, filmed in and around Pittsburgh, campy horror flick. And it scared me. It was the late 60s, we didn’t have cable and the spookiest show I’d ever watched was the Twilight Zone.

I know that Halloween the movie, written and directed by Rob Zombie, is going to be way beyond that first horror flick I watched. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s going to far surpass one of my favorites, Nightmare On Elm Street. And I’m absolutely certain I’m going to have to take my son to this one because there is no horror film that he hasn’t seen. Just as my own mother couldn’t talk me out of seeing Night Of The Living Dead, Boomer will insist on seeing this one.

Here’s the thing, though. Because Zombie is doing this film, I have to see it, too. I just know he’s going to twist this, make it different, leave an impact. Yeah, I love his music and that is influencing me. I just don’t want my kid coming home to tell me what happened - I want to see it myself.

I’ve seen two previous Halloween movies. We have them all around here somewhere. Often, I make the kids wait till the film is released on DVD but I know this won’t be one of those times. This time, we’ll be at the theater on the 31st, ready for whatever Rob Zombie has planned for us.

If anyone can take us back to show us how Michale Myers came to be evil, it’s Rob Zombie. Are you ready for this?

Just check out this trailer. Yeah, the kids are going to love it!

There is only one way to spend a rainy, dreary Sunday: watching a Law & Order Marathon! Yes, I’m a fan and I can never get enough. This marathon is Law & Order SVU but that’s good, too. I love Olivia and Elliot and Munch and Fin and the Captain. I can watch them all day and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

Now, I won’t admit this to anyone else but I’ve actually seen a few episodes today that I’d never seen before. I thought I’d see them all. And there were a few actors that I didn’t realize had been on th show. One actor played a New York car accident lawyer but I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him before. I hate when that happens. I know the face, sometimes I recognize the name, but I can’t remember where I’d see them before.

Heh. I guess the point of this marathon is just to enjoy, not think. Okay, back to enjoying.