Thoughts From the Front Porch

So, you have decided to take the plunge and purchase a big screen high definition television. The problem is that you walk into your local Best Buy and see what looks like hundreds of various sizes, types, prices and brands. To make matters worse, they all look absolutely great when you see them in the store. You walk down the aisle, feeling overwhelmed and before you know it a salesperson is using such terms as 720p, 1080p, plasma, LCD, HDMI and numerous other terms that you have absolutely no idea what they mean. Don’t worry; purchasing a high definition television is not difficult if you go into the store knowing in advance what you want.

The first thing to consider is how much you are willing to pay for your new set. You can get an excellent big screen television for around $1,900.00. If you go cheaper, unless you can get it on sale which is very easy to do right now, you will find yourself purchasing a Westinghouse, Magnavox or a name you have never heard of before. These cheaper sets will not deliver top notch picture quality and if you have bad luck and it breaks down you will find that it is virtually impossible to get your set repaired. The companies that make these cheaper models make few if any spare parts. If the set goes out, your big screen television is headed for the dump and you will kick yourself for buying it.

If you decide to stay within the $1,900.00-$2,500.00 range the next decision you will need to make is what size set you want. This will be determined by the space you have in the room where you plan to put your new television. In my case, I have a bookcase that has 50 inches of spare space available. I had no suitable wall that I wanted to hang the set on so I purchased a 50″ set. Do not be swayed by the size of your room. Believe it or not, when watching a high definition show or event the best viewing distance for a 50″ television is 6 ft.

You now know your budget and the size television you want; now you need to know the type. Will it be plasma or LCD? If you plan to purchase a set larger than 52″ the decision is easy, purchase a LCD. A plasma larger than 52″ is way too expensive. If you plan to play video games on your new set buy a LCD. But, if you do not plan on playing video games on your new set and you want a television in the 46-52 inch size range purchase a plasma. It offers slightly better picture quality with wider viewing angles than the LCD. Plasma televisions are usually slightly cheaper than LCD’s when buying the 46-52 inch sets. If a 50″ television is what you want, do not let others scare you out of purchasing a plasma by claiming they have short life spans or they get burn-in or ghosting real easy. The facts are that burn-in or ghosting is virtually unheard of today and plasmas now last as long as a LCD. Whether you go plasma or LCD you really cannot go wrong. They both deliver incredible picture quality.

The next thing you need to decide is what brand you want. This is not difficult. Stick with the companies that you recognize. If you plan on buying a plasma, do a little research on Panasonic and Pioneer’s newest models. You will want to purchase a plasma from one of those two companies. If you plan on purchasing an LCD look at a Sony, Panasonic, Sharp or Toshiba. One of those four will offer the most bang for your buck in the LCD category.

Some of the best information you will find when researching the brand of television you want is on store websites. Read the customer reviews and take special notice of those that give detailed comments about their experience with the television you are considering. Amazon is another great place to find customer reviews.

Let us move on to a few other tidbits you will need to know. Most high definition big screens offer 1080p resolution. The salesperson is usually eager to point this out to you. Do not worry about the details; act like you know exactly what he or she is talking about and say, “yep, I want 1080p.” Even though no cable or satellite company delivers shows at this high resolution now or in the foreseeable future, peripherals such as Blue-Ray players do and you may purchase one in the future when the DVD player is phased out.

There are some bells and whistles you should consider. Make sure the television has 3-4 HDMI hookups. HDMI is what you will use to connect your cable box, CD player or video game to your new set.

Also, if you use a digital camera you might want your new television to have a SD slot. I have one and it’s a nice feature. You simply pop the SD card from your digital camera into the SD slot on your big screen television and sit back and watch your own photo presentation.

Another feature to consider is making sure your new television has a USB port on the front. If it does, you can connect your computer to your television and use it as a monitor. I do not recommend doing this but many people love it.

Finally, when you get your new television home, connected up and you have ordered the high definition package from your cable or satellite carrier there are some adjustments you will need to make. At first you may not notice it because the bright colors will make you say, “wow” just like it did in the store. Once you have viewed your new television for a week or so you will realize the picture and color is entirely too bright. The reason for this is because the factory settings are set to make the television look good in the store which is much brighter than your home. To correct the problem, go into the menu and change the setting from Vivid to Cinema. Your television may say Bright and Movie Gallery. Each brand is slightly different. This will tone your brightness and color down considerably and your picture will look much more natural.

If you want to fine tune your picture quality even further, look on your manual and write down your model number. Go online and type your model number into the search box. You will then see the settings the professionals recommend you use. Change to their settings then with just a little more fine tuning to fit your taste you can sit back and enjoy some mesmerizing color and detail on your new high definition television.

Rollin’ Along is a series by Mark Martin.

Rollin' Along

Obama DVD

You just have to love our news media. Every major polling service has shown that the public believed the media were heavily biased in favor of Barack Obama during the last presidential election. Even most Democrats were admitting it. After being slapped in the face with such evidence you would think that newsgroups would be trying to improve their image. Aren’t these the guys that can’t say a sentence about themselves without using words such as fair, balanced and trust? Obviously, most of them could care less about their integrity.

Late last week NBC Nightly News used some of their precious news time to promote their new production, “Yes We Can! The Barack Obama Story!” You can actually go to www.nbcstore.com and purchase the DVD. What do you want to bet that Chris Matthews from CNBC was the first to purchase a copy? Now, he can get a thrill up his leg every night just like the one he said he got listening to Barack Obama on the campaign trail.

As we all know Oprah Winfrey has not hid her support and admiration for Barack Obama. She has stated publicly on numerous occasions that she wept with joy on the night President-elect Obama won the election. Last night while watching the news, former NBA star Magic Johnson said that everyone in his house broke down in tears on the night of the election they were so happy. I must admit, no one cried at my house on the night of the election but we sure felt like it. No one seemed very happy either. I guess it is a cultural thing.

Is anyone else getting tired of seeing Dick Morris on Fox News? It seems every night I turn the television on there is our fluffy friend spouting his opinions and promoting his new book, “Fleeced.” Maybe Fox News will let me appear on one of their shows so that I can promote, “Thoughts from the Front Porch.” I have no problems appearing on Hannity and Colmes and giving my two cents worth about the political and economic landscape. I would say a lot of fine words about StClairCountyAl.com as well.

Can anyone tell me why reporters want to get a celebrity’s opinion whenever there is a fire around Hollywood? For some reason I have the feeling that playing a fireman on a television show or in a movie does not make you an expert on fighting fires. If you want to know how bad the fires are, find someone with smut on their clothes and smells like smoke. A helmet and a coat with the words, “L.A. Fire Department” is another clue to someone who might know.

Space Shuttle Endeaver

I saw the other day where the astronauts on the shuttle Endeavor saw a screw floating by their spacecraft. According to NASA neither they nor the astronauts were concerned. If I was in space and I saw part of my spacecraft floating by you can bet your sweet patutey that what blastoff didn’t remove from my colon seeing that screw would. For all I know that could be the screw that keeps the wing from being ripped off on re-entry.

I noticed that all the CEOs from GM, Ford and Chrysler flew into Washington on private jets asking Congress for billions of dollars to bail out their companies. Can you imagine one of your relatives pulling up at your house driving a Mercedes wanting a loan? You would turn them down in a heartbeat. I think Washington should do the same with Chrysler, Ford and GM. They are just like relatives you have given money to in the past, they blow it and you never see them again until they need more money.

Until next time, don’t send any money to anyone that sends you an email from Nigeria claiming to be your cousin. It seems they are kin to a lady in Oregon. She sent them over $400,000.00 this year.

Rollin’ Along is a series by Mark Martin.

Rollin' Along

If the last election showed us anything, it is that conservative lawmakers must return to their roots if they want to stay in office. Presently, we see a Republican Party that has lost touch with its membership. Liberals promote a welfare state for the individual and conservatives seem to be promoting a welfare state for big business. Here is what I believe the Republican Party and or any conservative Democrat, if there are any, must do if they wish to make inroads in the 2010 and 2012 elections.

Above all else the conservatives must once again actively begin decreasing the size of government. Lowering taxes or at least not raising them should be at the top of their agenda. The capital gains tax has to be cut to promote an influx of working capitol. If not, the market will continue to plummet. They should begin now endorsing a balanced budget. In the last eight years Republicans have increased spending at an alarming rate. Hello, isn’t that the Democrats job!

Conservatives must next return to supporting traditional family values. The average American family does not support abortion on demand, gun control, homosexual marriages or the liberal ideology that is being taught in schools throughout many parts of the United States. To regain the support of the average family, conservative political leaders need to begin providing answers to such issues as job security, retirement, paying college tuition, improving K–12 educations, improving our infrastructure, energy independence and cutting medical costs. These are the issues that are being discussed by workers on the job and families around the dinner table. They are also the issues that conservative lawmakers had better start discussing in Washington and finding answers for or they will continue to get their fannie mays kicked at election time.

It is obvious that 99% of all conservatives and the majority of all Americans want our borders secure. Conservatives must work diligently with the Mexican government and beef up our security at border crossings to decrease the amount of illegal immigrants crossing into this country. Any illegal immigrant that is found within our borders without a green card should be exported immediately. Businesses that hire illegal immigrants should be fined heavily. Obviously this will not stop the influx of illegal immigration but it is a movement in the right direction.

We also want our homeland secure from terrorist attack. President Bush has taken a beating by the media over the last four years and some of it has been justified. But let us give credit where credit is due. On this president’s watch the United States has not suffered one terrorist attack on its homeland in over seven years. I am one American who is grateful to him for that.

Conservative political leaders cannot continue bailing out huge corporations that have been making poor business decisions. We are a free market society and there is no way that we can survive if we continue to pump billions of dollars into companies such as AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac whose leadership are making millions and traveling to extravagant resorts while taxpayers are footing the bill. The average family is sick and tired of this conduct and we are looking for conservatives to put an end to it.

Conservative Americans are fed up with a government that is moving closer to socialism, has lost touch with the middle class and seem to care more about being reelected than doing the work we sent them to Washington to do in the first place. During the election process my congressman called me every day for a week. I wonder what the chances are of him taking a call from me? We all know the answer to that one.

At the present time it is difficult to tell the difference between a conservative and a liberal. It is time that conservative political leaders separate themselves from liberal thinking and once again let their voice be heard on issues that matter to blue collar Americans. If they are not willing to do that then it is time to put them out to pasture and bring in a new crop of conservative candidates and see if they are willing to work for us instead of the other way around.

Of course the problems run much deeper and wider than those mentioned here but in my view when you get your behind kicked you had better get back to the basics. Let all conservatives get back to our core beliefs and then we can begin spreading the word about what we stand for.

Rollin’ Along is a series by Mark Martin

Rollin' Along

The election is over and we now have a new president. I am not very happy about the outcome because Sen. Obama, now President-elect Obama represents so many things that I am opposed to. With that said I woke up this morning to a beautiful fall day. I looked at the bright blue sky, the dazzling autumn leaves and the sounds of birds moving about my yard and I realized that on this day President-elect Obama is the least of my problems.

It is very easy on a day like today to sit back in the midst of all this beauty and let the mind wander back to simpler times when world seemed so innocent. It does not seem that long ago that I gave very little thought to who the next president would be, who controlled the House and Senate or whether the courts were conservative or liberal. Was it not yesterday that I had no idea what being conservative and liberal meant?

On this day, I prefer to look back and recall the days when I was a little boy and the biggest problem I faced each day was whether to have cereal or cinnamon toast for breakfast. Of course that decision was always made while watching Captain Kangaroo.

After watching the Captain and Mr. Green Jeans I would go outside and find that the possibilities for that day were endless. In one corner of the yard there was a basketball goal and I could be any superstar that I wanted to be. There were many days that I would be John Havlicek who played for the Boston Celtics or maybe Willis Reed who played for the New York Knicks. There was not a day that went by that I did not hit the winning shot that won the world championship for my team.

There was always a football in our yard. Of course, just like basketball it was easy to be someone else when you are a little boy. I always liked being Pat Sullivan or Terry Beasley, the famous Auburn duo. It is amazing how many times I scored the winning touchdown to beat Alabama. It might surprise my Alabama friends but on some days I liked pretending to be Ray Perkins or Dennis Holman, the two great Bama receivers in the sixties. I always liked being Dennis Holman the most even though very few Alabama fans remember him today.

Every little boy had a good dirt pile with a few trucks and cars in the middle of it. It was amazing how many fabulous cities and towns were built in the front yard where I lived. Enormous cities such as New York, Los Angeles or Dallas were nothing compared to those small mounds of dirt, a few sticks and a rock or two in my mind’s eye.

Of course a romp in the woods was always part of the daily routine. It was wonderful how many different people a boy could be in the woods. Being a good southern boy I always liked being Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson. In those days, the South always won.

The woods always held an endless array of hopes and dreams. A boy could lie in a sagebrush patch and dream of being anyone he wanted to be. Lying there, I often dreamed of being a fighter pilot during the week and a football hero on the weekends. I dreamed of being a great general or maybe killing a bear or two.

Today I have the feeling that President-elect Obama is discovering that he has bitten off a lot more than he thought he would when he was making all those promises. It will not be long if he has not discovered it already the great responsibility that he will soon bare. As I look up at the blue sky I am glad that it is him that must carry that burden and not me. I wish him well for all our sakes but as for me, I think I’ll just lay back and enjoy the beauty of the day.

Rollin’ Along is a series by Mark Martin

Rollin' Along