A light rain certainly didn't dampen the Olympic spirit - here it is: the torch a couple of blocks from our house.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
And here it is...
A light rain certainly didn't dampen the Olympic spirit - here it is: the torch a couple of blocks from our house.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Olympics coming
While I'm personally not a sports-minded person, I have great admiration for the talents, sacrifices, and efforts to which Olympic athletes commit themselves. I actually enjoy watching the performances of these people - usually on TV. Normally I don't pay to attend hockey games or professional football, baseball, basketball, etc. I think it a bit strange that some of the more brutal professional players get paid in the millions while the doctors who repair the damage those players cause are paid a fraction of those amounts. This, fortunately, does not seem to apply to most Olympic athletes, in my opinion. Regardless of what one may think of the politics (and occasional scandals) involving the Olympic organizations and athletes, I think that the athletes generally embody the spirit of fairness and the joy of the actual competitions - the true Olympic Spirit.
We are therefore very pleased with a Christmas present we received from our son and daughter-in-law: tickets to some of the Olympic events. This gives us a chance to see these remarkable people in person, and since our ten and twelve-year-old granddaughters also have tickets for an event, they'll see what the Olympics are ideally all about. Thanks, Derek and Airdrie!
In a couple of days, the Olympic torch will pass within a couple of blocks of our house, and very close to our granddaughters' school. We'll go there to cheer, and I think the school will also let the kids see the torch.
We're glad to see Derek "facebooking" - we take this as a measure of how well he feels after the chemo sessions.
We are therefore very pleased with a Christmas present we received from our son and daughter-in-law: tickets to some of the Olympic events. This gives us a chance to see these remarkable people in person, and since our ten and twelve-year-old granddaughters also have tickets for an event, they'll see what the Olympics are ideally all about. Thanks, Derek and Airdrie!
In a couple of days, the Olympic torch will pass within a couple of blocks of our house, and very close to our granddaughters' school. We'll go there to cheer, and I think the school will also let the kids see the torch.
We're glad to see Derek "facebooking" - we take this as a measure of how well he feels after the chemo sessions.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
HD TV
A couple of weeks ago, we purchased a 40" Samsung HD TV (actually we bought two at the time - we picked up one for Derek's family at the same time). Thinking that I'd just hook up the current TV cable and have HD TV (after we purchased the correct package and rented two HD decoder boxes from Shaw) I found that this wasn't quite so simple. It turns out that we got next to no HD and digital channels on our side of the house. The regular TV channels which we had been getting before were still available.
The cause turned out to be an antiquated cable feed which was installed when cable TV first became available, and the original external splitter from which a couple of cables ran into the house. So Shaw installed new cables to the house from the pole across the street, a new distribution box, and two new cables from this box into the house (the installer did a neat job - those cables are barely noticable). This improved the situation somewhat for our side - i.e we got some HD and digital channels, but certainly not all of what we contracted for. Derek seemed to get all the channels on his side of the house - he uses a video signal amplifier.
Splitters take the incoming video signal and split it into two or three cable circuits for use with additional TV sets. This comes at a cost, of course. The signal coming out of each the splitter outlets is usually attenuated by 3 DB (more for cheap ones). Without getting into the mathematical details, this means that each loss of 3 DB means that signal strength is cut in half. If you have a couple more splitters "downstream" from the first splitter, you lose another 3 DB for each splitter. This can result in a very weak signal at the far end of the cable.
Since the above-mentioned original external splitter seemed to be at least partly responsible for the problem, I reconfigured the TV cabling on the inside of our side of the house to do away with all splitters on the way to the HD decoder box. Lo and behold, all standard, digital, and HD channels could now displayed on the HD TV.
We have several additonal (cathode ray type) TV sets on our house; the cable re-arrangement resulted in no signal to them. The solution turned out to be relatively simple. The HD box has a built-in bypass, which connects the incoming cable to an identical standard cable outlet, while at the same time feeding the original decoded signal through an HD cable to the HD TV. I used the standard cable outlet on the HD box as a source for all the remaining TV sets in the house - with the various splitters in the original configuration to each remaining TV set. They all work as before, provided that the HD box bypass is turned on.
What's the lesson? Use no splitters on the way to your HD set, and connect your remaining TV sets through splitters only after the you HD set has it's full-strength signal. All our TV's are now working as intended. While I did not purchase one, a video signal amplifier (available at electronics distributors) would also likely solve this issue.
I want to say that Shaw Cable certainly lived up to their end of the bargain. They came to install whatever was necessary to make the HD system work for us whenever they said they would come, and got everything operational. Most often, we only hear about problems with regard to missed appointments; I think that a good job also deserves mention.
Derek is in the middle of another "chemo weekend". I think that he may be feeling a little better, because he posted a comment on Facebook a couple of hours ago.
The cause turned out to be an antiquated cable feed which was installed when cable TV first became available, and the original external splitter from which a couple of cables ran into the house. So Shaw installed new cables to the house from the pole across the street, a new distribution box, and two new cables from this box into the house (the installer did a neat job - those cables are barely noticable). This improved the situation somewhat for our side - i.e we got some HD and digital channels, but certainly not all of what we contracted for. Derek seemed to get all the channels on his side of the house - he uses a video signal amplifier.
Splitters take the incoming video signal and split it into two or three cable circuits for use with additional TV sets. This comes at a cost, of course. The signal coming out of each the splitter outlets is usually attenuated by 3 DB (more for cheap ones). Without getting into the mathematical details, this means that each loss of 3 DB means that signal strength is cut in half. If you have a couple more splitters "downstream" from the first splitter, you lose another 3 DB for each splitter. This can result in a very weak signal at the far end of the cable.
Since the above-mentioned original external splitter seemed to be at least partly responsible for the problem, I reconfigured the TV cabling on the inside of our side of the house to do away with all splitters on the way to the HD decoder box. Lo and behold, all standard, digital, and HD channels could now displayed on the HD TV.
We have several additonal (cathode ray type) TV sets on our house; the cable re-arrangement resulted in no signal to them. The solution turned out to be relatively simple. The HD box has a built-in bypass, which connects the incoming cable to an identical standard cable outlet, while at the same time feeding the original decoded signal through an HD cable to the HD TV. I used the standard cable outlet on the HD box as a source for all the remaining TV sets in the house - with the various splitters in the original configuration to each remaining TV set. They all work as before, provided that the HD box bypass is turned on.
What's the lesson? Use no splitters on the way to your HD set, and connect your remaining TV sets through splitters only after the you HD set has it's full-strength signal. All our TV's are now working as intended. While I did not purchase one, a video signal amplifier (available at electronics distributors) would also likely solve this issue.
I want to say that Shaw Cable certainly lived up to their end of the bargain. They came to install whatever was necessary to make the HD system work for us whenever they said they would come, and got everything operational. Most often, we only hear about problems with regard to missed appointments; I think that a good job also deserves mention.
Derek is in the middle of another "chemo weekend". I think that he may be feeling a little better, because he posted a comment on Facebook a couple of hours ago.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Skating widower
My wife is an avid fan of figureskating and this weekend is full of scheduled CBC TV broadcasts. Since Shaw cable has not been able to provide us with the requisite digital and HD signals (they are scheduled to replace the cables running to our house next Wednesday), she is watching some of these events on the internet. CBC is streaming the skating, and one of our computers is now temporarily dedicated to that purpose. I've become a skating widower this weekend.
Derek's chemo has been postponed for a week, because his blood chemistry isn't quite up to scratch. So he has to recover from the last session some more. This means a "nausea-free" weekend for him, which he obviously welcomes. He'll probably have his next chemo session on Friday. A rescheduling of our granddaughters birthday parties and other social events is therefore necessary.
As I said in my last blog: it's a rollercoaster.
Derek's chemo has been postponed for a week, because his blood chemistry isn't quite up to scratch. So he has to recover from the last session some more. This means a "nausea-free" weekend for him, which he obviously welcomes. He'll probably have his next chemo session on Friday. A rescheduling of our granddaughters birthday parties and other social events is therefore necessary.
As I said in my last blog: it's a rollercoaster.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Mood swings
Derek had his most recent chemotherapy treatment on January 1st. It makes him sick, of course. The recovery period after each treatment appears to be the better part of a week. Speaking just for ourselves, Hilkka and I always feel down when Derek is dealing with the chemo effects, and our mood improves as he starts feeling better. I suppose that's true for any parent, your children will always be your children, regardless of their age.
We talked to Derek a couple of hours ago; he said he was feeling quite a bit better - so we feel quite a bit better, too. It truly is a rollercoaster.
We talked to Derek a couple of hours ago; he said he was feeling quite a bit better - so we feel quite a bit better, too. It truly is a rollercoaster.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
A New Year
My wife and I wish all our family and friends a Healthy, Prosperous and Happy New Year.
Who knows what it'll bring?
Who knows what it'll bring?
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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