High Def rules my life

OK, so normally I'd say that yes, I like to watch tv, and there are certain shows that I keep as a staple in my life no matter where I am in the country (thanks to my good friend Tivo). But I'm not one to waste an entire Saturday or Sunday watching mindless entertainment for hours on end while my brain rots and my tan goes away. Now, however, I'm finding myself in a pickle. Basically, I have recently added a high definition digital box to my LCD widescreen, and my life has been changed. I am literally mesmerized by what I see and am finding it hard to look away. Even now as I type, I am looking at the screen. I guess the positive side of that is that I'm getting better at typing without looking at the keyboard...a skill I never really mastered, until now. Some may say, "Adam, this is sad. It's just tv." But these are the people that don't have high def and can't fathom the beauty and clarity of everything on the screen. And I mean EVERYTHING. Right now I am watching, I kid you not, video footage of freshwater fish in a reef, accompanied by, and sychronized to, the entire Nutcracker Suite composition. I wonder how Tchaikovsky would feel about this. I guess that would depend on how he feels about fish. Now this is something that I probably wouldn't watch if I was just flipping channels and came across this on a regular tv. Although I do love the Nutcracker's music. But in this case, I just can't look away. I find myself watching the Discovery Channel mostly, no matter what is on. "Profiles of Nature" is a show I've become especially fond of...interesting even on a regular tv, it profiles a different animal every week, and follows their every moves, narrating their daily lives, how they eat and how they survive in the wild. The last show profiled the Scorpion, and I couldn't have been more fascinated by watching it capture, kill, and eat a Tatantula in real time. You could even see the "Oh shit, I think I'm about to die" look in the Tarantula's eyes, and every hair on it stand straight up as it's caught. So cool. The Discovery Channel even has a daily "Live Sunrise" at 7am. Every morning is a live, HD footage of a different lake, national park, or ocean sunrise. From dark to bright, you hear and see more animals as time goes on, including all the sounds of the birds and insects as they come out in the sunlight. And now I'm watching "Trains of the American West", profiling 8 tourist trains, including the American Orient Express and the Durango&Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad. I feel like I should look at my addiction in a positive light, in the sense that I am learning so much more from tv than if I stuck with Comedy Central or the Disney Channel (you know you loved Even Stevens). Ok I have to concentrate now on the screen.

p.s. We won TWO games at beach volleyball today, woo hoo! We're getting better! Granted we got creamed in all the other games, but in those 2 we looked soooo good! Overall I'm happy, even though I felt like tearing the net down after we blew a 7-1 lead and wound up losing 15-8. Ouch. Next week, 3 wins!