I’ve been looking at High Definition (HDTV) channel lineups for here in Indianapolis and am kind of disappointed.

Here’s what Comcast (my only cable choice) offers:

1. A&E HD
2. Cinemax HDTV East
3. ESPN 2 HD
4. ESPN HD
5. FSN Midwest HD
6. HBO HDTV East
7. HD Theater
8. MHD
9. National Geographic HD
10. Showtime East (HDTV)
11. Showtime HDTV East
12. Starz HDTV
13. Starz HDTV East
14. TNT HD
15. Universal HD
16. Versus/Golf HD
17. WFYI (PBS)
18. WISH (CBS)
19. WRTV (ABC)
20. WTHR (NBC)
21. WTTV-4 (WB)
22. WXIN (FOX)

And from the list above, I wouldn’t get any of the “premium” channels and I can only see myself watching local channels (which I can get in HD over the air) and the sports channels.  But the sports channels are enough to tear me a bit…the main reasons I’d buy an HDTV are for sports and movies.

I don’t really want to get satellite TV because I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t had issues with it. “Oh, it’s windy.” Or “Oh, it’s snowing/raining.” Or “Oh, the suns out today.”  Or, “Oh, Jupiter is in the way.” Or, “Oh, it’s Tuesday.”  Seriously, who hasn’t heard this from people?  As much as I might complain about Comcast prices and service, outages aren’t that common of an occurrence (it does happen though).

AT&T’s U-verse (which I’ve heard good things about and has an amazing HD lineup), isn’t available in my area (not surprising since I can’t even get a decent DSL connection…which is crazy since I live inside Indianapolis city limits in a large neighborhood and very close to many businesses).  I’d probably opt for that if it were an option.

I’ve been reading up on HDTV for a while and with the Februaury 2009 “switch”, it’s time to get on board, so I’m curious as to what any “early adopters” out there have experienced and would suggest.  In my looking over the past few moths, it is very clear that HDTVs have made an amazing stride in both quality and price drop.

So with that, I ask:

• What are your experiences?
• What are you doing for your TV viewing?
• What about Blu-Ray players?
  • Sony PlayStation 3 vs. Stand Alone Players
• What about HDTVs?
  • LCD, DLP or Plasma?  (I personally like the LCDs for the picture and price.)
• What about DVRs?

It’s officially winter here in Indianapolis.  Snow is in the air and coating the ground just enough to cause chaos for the folks who every year forget how to drive in the snow.  As I went out this morning to go to Hardee’s (apparently they got rid of the Hash Rounds in favor of “Country Potatoes”…which were good, but I was wanting my Hash Rounds) and the bank, I witnessed a handful of people spinning tires, sliding around and locking up their tires as they just smashed the break instead of letting up for a moment.  And this was in a mere 2 mile round trip.  I know that we all side around in the snow a bit in the winter, but come on guys, an inch of snow shouldn’t cause such a commotion that it closes down I-69 due to the number of accidents.

News reports are flying that Notre Dame is bringing back Charlie Weis for a fifth season, even after two back-to-back dismal seasons and an overall four season record of 28-21 (.571).

Here’s a quick look at the last four Notre Dame Football coaches records:

• Lou Holtz (1986-1996) 100-30-2 (.738)
• Bob Davie (1997-2001) 35–25 (.583)
• Tyrone Willingham (2002-2004) 21-15 (.583)
• Charlie Weis (2005-present) 28-21 (.571)

Why this is news is beyond me, even given the fact that his win percentage is slightly less than all three previous coaches in the past two decades.  And why would I say that?  Due to the mere fact of that crazy contract they signed him to.  After the previous contract buyouts, and even as much as alumni might like to see Weis hit the road, I just can’t see that taking place for at least another few dismal seasons.  (The buyout number is reportedly anywhere from $4-10 million dollars.)

Looking back at the past few decades, I think that Notre Dame got what it deserved after the supposed unwritten rule to not break Knute Rockne’s 105 win record, thus the resignation of Lou Holtz after the 1996 season (even though Holtz had a reported lifetime contract).  When you have a good thing going, you sure don’t throw on the brakes in light of “tradition” or records.  That’s a surefire way to send a football program down the tubes.

That said, Notre Dame is expected to receive a Toilet Bowl bid with their 6-6 (.500) regular season record.  For Weis’ sake, they better win the bowl game, though I’m not holding my breath since they haven’t won a bowl game since the 1994 Cotton Bowl under Lou Holtz.

Only time will tell with the Notre Dame football program, but if it were me I think I’d be performing a very long search (in terms of a few years) for Charlie Weis’ eventual replacement. And to put it into easier to understand terms, if Charlie Weis wins this years’ bowl game (assuming that they do get the bid) and the next two seasons Notre Dame goes 13-0 (undefeated regular season plus a bowl win), his win percentage would be .724 (rounding up), still less than Lou Holtz’s .738 win percentage.  And honestly I just can’t see that happening.

It took years to get him behind bars in a criminal case, but it is official that this time OJ Simpson is going to spend some time in the big house.  That amount off time seems to be at dispute though…I’ve heard anywhere from 5 years on up through double digits.

I do think that normal people don’t burst into hotel rooms with a crew of armed men and should have to serve time and that we really don’t want these sort of folks on the streets.  If OJ learns anything from this, it should be that Nevada is no longer the “Old West”.

In the never ending Misadventures of Brian, here’s another one to add to the list.

I’ve never owned a portable game system and decided to grab the Nintendo DS Lite Limited Edition Red Mario with New Super Mario Bros. on Black Friday (November 28th, 2008) at Meijer.

It does seem to be a nice system overall and my kids will love it, but I do have two issues with it:

1) This is a bit small for my hands. But I’m not a small guy and am not probably the person they had in mind when they did the design…for kids hands it’d be perfect. So I can live with that.

2) After the initial charge the system seemed to hiccup a bit and not start up after each flip of the power button/slider. Then on Thursday (December 4th, 2008) it just quit all together and I now have the ball rolling on getting this repaired.

Nintendo customer service was easy to talk to and in getting this setup, and they even pay for shipping. I was told that it will take 11-16 business days from when it is sent in, so it should be back by Christmas.

That said, I am a little disappointed given the fact that I have never had a game system just break for no apparent reason (I’ve heard numerous stories with the XBox, but not so much with Sony or Nintendo, though I’m not naive enough to say it doesn’t happen…this is proof of that). Things happen, so I’m giving this a second chance and hopefully it’ll be better than new when it comes back. Until then, it’s back to the Wii & PS2.