Movin' on up

I'm not George and Weezie, but I am moving my blog over to Wordpress. http://matthewpetro.wordpress.com

Satellite free today!

Today Tracie and I celebrate our freedom from satellite TV! Over the weekend, I hooked up our second TV to a DTV converter, thereby eliminating the need for Dish Network's expensive bill. All seemed to be well and the TiVos did fine with the local broadcast channel lineup, so after nearly 10 years of being a loyal customer to Dish, I canceled the service.

Why did we decide to pull the plug on Dish? Primarily, the price. The base package alone was $63/month. Add on a second receiver and the "Dish Home Protection Plan" and the total cost actually came to $74/month. That included 250 channels and the local stations, but no premium packages. $74 for 250 channels? How much TV can two people possibly watch? Seriously!

The funny thing is that when I was talking with the customer service agent, she actually offered me a $10/month "local only" package. How does this make sense? I spent $30 on two DTV converters which will now bring me all the local TV I want for no additional cost, and Dish wants me to keep giving them $10/month for the SAME EXACT THING.

Finally, I have two Dish Network receivers for sale. I'll give a good price to anyone who mentions this blog post.

Going satellite free

This week, Tracie and I took our fist steps toward being free of the satellite TV...I ordered a DTV converter box for our old and decidedly non-digital TV. I'd requested two coupons from the government and they arrived recently, so we decided to test the concept by going satellite free on one of our two TVs. I already have an antenna in the attic, so we'll see if it can pull in DTV signals.

We first thought about going satellite free a couple of months ago, when Tracie looked at all of our expenditures and realized that we spend $70/month JUST FOR TELEVISION! Seriously. And we don't even have the most expensive package, nor do we get any premium channels.

Further updates to come!

Hey Glendale, you have a downtown. Use it!

I finally got around to reading "Glendale rethinking light-rail path" from last weeks Republic. While I can see some of Glendale's economic points regarding a different light rail path, I'm really bummed to see the city's total lack of commitment to downtown.

Granted, Glendale's downtown is definitely not in the same class as Scottsdale, Tempe or Gilbert, but it has a lot of potential to gain a distinct vibe which would attract people. But, it would take some effort from the city to act as the catalyst to start that change. Instead, the city seems entirely focused on developing the shiny, chain-based glitz which is Westgate.

I'm not opposed to Westgate...it definitely can become a large economic driver for the west side and the stadiums are ready-made seeds for growth in the area. But, to me it feels like Glendale is trying to create a "destination" by building lots of stuff and throwing in some chain restaurants. This will undoubtedly generate a lot of revenue from sports fans, but it doesn't seem connected to the Valley or even to Arizona in any way. Westgate and the stadiums could be picked up and set down just about anywhere in the country and they wouldn't feel out of place.

On the other hand, downtown Glendale has some historical connection to the city and it has some character. It doesn't yet have the vibe that other Valley spots have developed, but I really think that with some nurturing by the city, it could.

Feeling better about American Idol

OK, three weeks into the Top 12/13 and I feel better about American Idol. Despite the crapola which was the top 36, it seems like a pretty good group of finalists have emerged. The judges comments have been better, Tatiana has gone back under whatever hyper-melodramatic rock she crawled out from under and I can ignore Seacrest's intros. At least I don't feel like I wasted all those hours gritting my teeth watching the top 36 anymore.

Things About "American Idol" That Annoy Me This Season

• Tatiana
• Kara's overbite
• Having 36 people in the first round
  
• Seacrest's overdramatic delivery of "This........is American Idol!" at the beginning of the show
• Judges critiques which involve the phrases "it didn't tell me what kind of artist you'll be" or "it didn't tell me anything about you"
  

What's wrong with Heroes

WARNING: SPOILER!! Stop reading here if you're not current on Heroes!

I know the world really doesn't need another blog post analyzing what's up on Heroes, but I'm in a ranting mood. I'm kind of a sci-fi geek (I've been to the Star Trek exhibit at the Arizona Science Center), so I'll probably keep watching Heroes regardless, but I gotta admit, they've gone astray.

Heroes was supposed to be about the characters. It started off promising to look at what happens to ordinary people who have discovered they had extraordinary abilities. This laid a good foundation for a character-driven show which mostly focuses on the characters internal struggles and interpersonal relationships. Somewhere along the way, the writers got way to fascinated with the sci-fi geekery of hero abilities. They forgot that the characters matter and that they need to be consistent and believable.

The bottom line: Heroes needs to quit being written by sci-fi and comic book fanboys, and needs to be written by the staff from Lost.