Surrender

For certain considerations of barter of services, first born has arranged for me to have access to the Dish Network. The problem had been the inconsistent nature of the digital reception of local stations, and now I also have a nice bonus of two horse racing channels, two C-SPANs, and ESPN in its various incarnations.

No money will change hands between us and her friend and our relatives on the family compound to make this possible. I appreciate the largesse of all those involved in extending me this service without seriously compromising my feeling that we shouldn't have to pay to receive that media which has always been free.

Although I have frequently been disappointed by movies, I suspect I will view some of the "All Things Oscar" winners and nominees being aired all month on TCM.

NONSENSE: The Super Bowl hype has turned an embarrassing number of residents of the local college town into cheeseheads, because the Packers' quarterback is "one of them." Go, Steelers. (I wonder what will be showing on TCM during that interminable 6-8 hours of jock talk.)