BYU Removes ESPN from Cable Package

I haven't posted about this development for a week or so because I am quite irate about the very thought of it. Here at BYU the campus cable package is severely lacking, as in so lacking it probably should never be referred to as an actual cable package, but the one thing it did have was ESPN to provide sports coverage whenever I wanted it.

The entire time I've been in married student housing I've settled for this knowing that as long as I could get highlights and news from ESPN I could consider myself lucky and move along with life.

Then not long ago I got the following message from BYU:

With the industry changes in television from an analog to a digital signal, changes are being made to our Campus Television service. A new contract for digital content has been negotiated and will take effect May 1, 2009.

The CBS College Sports network will be added to the line-up. The network carries Mountain West Conference athletic events and will allow students and employees to access additional BYU games from campus locations.

All other currently offered channels will continue to be available with the exception of ESPN. The cost of the ESPN package alone is now more than all of our other content combined, and this expense could not be justified. ESPN will no longer be provided as part of our television content beginning May 1st.

Yep, my ESPN channel disappears in two days. I'm not happy about it, not happy at all. Sure, a lot of the stuff can be found on the ESPN website, but most of the video coverage cannot, especially not my favorite one, Top 10 Plays of each day.

Sometimes BYU is run by unintelligent people. Sometimes.

Alias

I have been a member of Netflix for well over a year now, possibly even pushing 18 months if I were to actually look up the information, and it has been one of the best decisions that I ever made. Prior to using Netflix I was spending a ton of money on movie rentals and now for much, much less I get unlimited movies each month. I would estimate that the subscription to Netflix saves us about $30 a month at least, so it was definitely a better option.

Recently I just finished watching the tv show Alias on DVD using my Netflix. I had watched the first six or seven episodes when the show first aired many years ago, but then got busy and lost interest. However, I always wanted to watch it again, and when I had finished watching Las Vegas a few months ago I thought I would give Alias another try.

Watching that show on DVD is an entirely different experience. You don't lose track of who is who or who is doing what or who is double-crossing who. It is far more enjoyable when you don't have to wait weeks or months between episodes.

Overall I think Alias was a great show. The last two seasons started to stretch the limits of reality, but only by a little bit, and the series finale was a little over the top, but then, most finales for tv shows are, so I can give Alias the benefit of the doubt. There were certainly some twists and turns along the road during the five seasons that I was not expecting, and there were some that I saw coming from a mile away. It was a pleasant balance I think, one that kept me coming back for more without frustrating me or making me think I was smarter than the characters in the show at the same time.

To anyone who hasn't seen Alias and is looking for another show to pick up on their own Netflix or something to pass the time in the upcoming summer months, give it a try, I think you will enjoy it.

Glory of the DVR

Right after Holly and I got married we purchased a DVR so that we could record our television shows around class, work, adventures, etc. It's been a workhorse for us, and has made it really nice when we want to watch two different shows that happen to be on at the same time. We just record one, and watch the other one, and then watch the recorded one later.

It's a perfect solution for our small budget life since paying for something like Tivo is way out of the question.

Well, anyways, ever since moving over to Grandma Chatfield's I haven't been very proactive in getting the DVR hooked up to work alongside the fancy digital cable box thingie that sits under the TV now. Since last night was the premiere of The Office, I spent some time during the afternoon trying to get it to work and after a couple of different tries managed to get everything working properly.

Now I don't have to miss my shows because of evening class. How cool is that?

Cranking Up the Television

It's that time again, the time when new television shows try to make their mark on the psyche of the American public, and when shows disappear without any warning because they simply weren't good enough to stay on the air. Holly and I like this time of year when we can see all the new previews and try to decide which shows we might watch the first couple of episodes of to see if we want to stick with them.

Right now, I'm excited about a new show called The Mentalist, which I watched the premiere of last night. I'm hoping it makes the cut because it's definitely a show I can get into watching. It features a detective who has uncanny powers of observation which he uses to solve crimes. A very good show, I recommend it.

I'm also stoked for Knight Rider to finally make its appearance after watching the teaser movie almost a year ago. Some people say the show won't be all that good, but I like that kind of stuff, so I'll probably watch it anyways.

As usual, we will be having The Office parties each Thursday evening, and I'll be watching Big Bang Theory and a smattering of other shows that are back for another season.

Weekly Wanderings #2

It's that time again, time to sit down and hammer out a recap of the events of the week so that people don't think all I do is sit around and play Conquer Club all day.This week has a few more things going for it than last week. First off, I have developed a bit of a routine at work now so that I don't sit around trying to decide what to do next when none of the graduate instructors need anything. I will do the answering of emails and photocopying first thing when I get to the office in the morning, and then I'll take CC turns, and then I'll cruise around on ESPN for a little while, then and tournament updating that needs done with short reading breaks and such, and then when I have finished all of that I just kind of putter around online looking for web design tutorials and such.I didn't get much done in the way of web design practice done this week, but that is okay I suppose. I did try to work on some of the javascript exercises that Russell sent to me, but it appears my javascript skills are far below what they are supposed to be. I guess my teacher didn't cover it nearly as much as some of the others do, which is helpful for Russell to know in the end.My birthday was this week, as most of you know from the previous post. I'm 24 years old now, which doesn't feel any different from when I was 23, but I guess that isn't really news to anyone. However, by the time I get to be 25 I will have been a dad for almost 6 months, so that should prove to be the difference between 24 and 25 I guess.I also went to see Speed Racer, which was not disappointing, but not mind-blowing either. The way they made the film was certainly visually stimulating, but the races were the best part of the movie hands down. Everything else seemed to be somewhat secondary to that, and the nice part was that there was 1 more race in the movie than I had expected there to be. It was longer than most movies of its kind, but I enjoyed that I think. I don't think that Holly was particularly impressed by Speed Racer, but she did enjoy certain parts of it, so that was good.Finally, American Gladiators made its return for Season 2 this week, and I am thrilled. I loved that show as a kid in England when Dad would sit us all down to watch it, and I love it even more in its modernized version. Bringing that show back was one of the smartest moves EVER by NBC.