WHO POSTED THIS?

...if you like Robert Parker, you'll love Lawrence Block. They're gritty,very New York, with his detective's struggle with alcoholism underlying the plots. I can't remember the name of that detective, but he has two other series: one about Bernie Rhodenbarr, a professional burglar, and Jesse Stone, a sleuth with amnesia. All are very good, but the first series with the alcoholic detective are the best.

...I live in an area where most of the stations broadcast in HD as well as NTSC. Don't worry, your old analog sets will work for years to come precisely for this reason. HD broadcasting equipment is an add on, they aren't going to throw out the NTSC equipment and lose 90% of their viewership overnight. Trust me on this.

Most HD sets currently sold do not contain an HD tuner, you have to buy it separately. Currently, most HD signals are broadcast over the airwaves. DirecTV only offers a few signals in HD, and none of the satellite feed "local channels" are. You need a good antenna. There are HD tuners than can handle both antenna and satellite signals so you only need one, and they are dropping in price. It's still expensive, and you need a special dish too, so, unless you really want to watch the Sopranos in HD, the ideal setup right now is an antenna, combo sat/ant HD decoder (for future sat use) and a standard one or two room dish...

With the ensuing holiday season, my birthday is once again upon me.

Having been dragged into this world on the 24th of December, I am always curious how others that have birthdays on or near holidays feel about the situation.

I always enjoyed the uniqueness of the timing of my birthday for several reasons.

1. I have nothing to compare it to. Although, family and friends have threatened to have a "half-birthday". Thankfully I have been spared this uprooting of tradition.

2. When you are a kid and your birthday is near Christmas, when the family gets together you have carte blanche to remind them of that fact. Much better than say a time when family doesn't get together. Then they can get away with just a card.

3. First me, then Jesus.

I remeber when I moved to Houston in the late 70's I was accompanied to the crime of misdemeanor murder, I wife who stabbed her husband to death in the apartment parking lot. Of course, he deserved it. Or how about the convience store that was robbed with a
1) snake
2) cactus.
Or more recently the guy who scoped out the store first and got a six pack of beer to kinda blend you know. Went to the register and told the guy to empty out the register for him and put the beer in a sack. The attendant told him he would have to give him ID for the beer and he complied!