HD and Digital Nothingness

Still no dial tone. Yesterday was the installation date for COMCAST'S NEW DIGITAL VOICE! (Actually, Plotnik doesn't care one bit about COMCAST'S NEW DIGITAL VOICE! except that combining phone (including long distance) with cable modem and cable TV means his monthly bill drops by around 60%.)

Of course it didn't happen. Fifteen minutes after the incompetent (but nice) service guys left there was no dial tone. It's for sure a handshake problem with the alarm system. It always is. This happens every time. In the end, Plotnik will probably be right back with the older, more expensive service.

HOWEVER, GET THIS: one of the incompetent (but nice) service guys pointed out something Plotnik had suspected. When he and Duck bought their new Samsung Time Wasting Instrument (6/30/06), they were overjoyed to have HD! Wow, HD! Compared to their old 30-year-old Magnavox, the new Time Wasting Instrument was a major improvement. You could see stuff.

Of course, from time to time Plot secretly wondered if HD was really worth all that much talk, because he wasn't completely sure he noticed that much difference. Of course, the channels all said ESPN in HD!! and PBS in HD! so he figured, well, so he must be watching HD, and HD must be basically hype, like everything else.

Until yesterday, when the i(but n)Comcast guy said: Do you know you have to go to Channel 700 and up to get HD? No, Plotnik didn't know that and no, no one had ever mentioned that to him. So he turned on the TV. There was Montel Williams. HOLY COW! Then he turned on ESPN. HOLY HOLY COW COW!

Which is to say, the Plotniks have been paying for their HD service for over a year and never watched it, never knew they weren't watching it, never realized what it's supposed to look like. NOW THEY KNOW. Wow! This is fabulous.

Montel is still really ugly. But clear! Pledge Drives on KQED! Fantastic!

Anyone that needs to call us today, use the cell.