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The Buffer Zone, and a Quick Trip Down Memory Lane (Part II)
Posted 11-15-2007 at 11:38 AM by eaglechick
I’ve gotten spoiled.
A few of you have been there. We’re in the chat area on Sunday afternoon (evening for me) or evening (Monday morning) or Monday night (Tuesday morning), and I start complaining about the buffer.
“I hate 85%,” I write.
“Buffering problems again, EC?” says Coach.
“Damn,” I say.
A short time later, I will be quiet(er), as the buffer has come through and I’m busy watching the game. And then this happens.
“What a sack,” Mike writes.
“Hold on a minute, I’m on delay!!” I say. Of course I don’t close down the laptop. I might miss out on some hot SO chat.
“What a play!!! Was that for real?” RC chimes in.
“I can’t believe they blocked that FG,” says somebody.
“Damn,” I say, and then I watch it on the screen.
It’s tough relying on the live stream. My parents were visiting last week during the (ahem) Philly-Dallas game. You know, the one Sunday night, after the Colts-Pats contest? This was unfortunate scheduling. I went to bed at 7:15 pm, after kickoff of the first game, and slept just 3 hours because I didn’t want to miss the undefeated showdown. I got another twenty minute nap after that one, and then…
“THIS CHANNEL IS OFFLINE.”
WTF?
Tried the next one. “THIS CHANNEL IS OFFLINE.”
The next. “THIS CHANNEL IS OFFLINE.”
Starting to sweat. Tried the last link. “BUFFERING.”
Hooray!!! But then, five minutes later, still: “BUFFERING.”
My dad shuffles down the hallway in his pajamas. “How’s it going?” he asks.
“14-7 Dallas,” I tell him.
“Why aren’t you watching?”
He receives the “it’s three a.m. and I’m pissed off” look of death.
Eventually, I actually found a new set of channels, and was thrilled to reconnect to the game, with only a slight delay. I got to watch the halftime show and part of the third quarter. I woke my parents, who joined me for a beer. We even used the Eagles bottle opener that plays the Eagles fight song. It was fun. And short lived.
The power shut off for a millisecond, enough to reset our wireless LAN (and the passwords), and the internet was down completely. After ten minutes or so of fussing I went to bed and missed the end of the game. Just as well, I guess, considering the outcome.
Anyway, my point here is, well, hmmm, what was my point?
IT SUCKS!!!
Oh, I remember. I wanted to talk about my history here, how my first trip to Europe I had to sit for an hour watching the CNN World ticker just to find out if the Eagles had beaten Tampa Bay during the Wild Card game (they had). And then how I used to go to this bar and they showed just one game per time slot, and a lot of times it was a crappy one that no one cared about, but they couldn’t or wouldn’t change it. And then how if I wanted to stay home I could just listen to Philly radio and watch the internet play-by-play on nfl.com (which used to be quite funny, with little helmets moving back and forth across the screen).
We’ve come a long way, baby. I mean, now I can watch the games… well, most of them… at HOME!!! For free!!! How sweet is that?
Yeah, I’m spoiled. Because that’s really an amazing thing, isn’t it? Now excuse me. I’m gonna go work on some buffering exercises.
A few of you have been there. We’re in the chat area on Sunday afternoon (evening for me) or evening (Monday morning) or Monday night (Tuesday morning), and I start complaining about the buffer.
“I hate 85%,” I write.
“Buffering problems again, EC?” says Coach.
“Damn,” I say.
A short time later, I will be quiet(er), as the buffer has come through and I’m busy watching the game. And then this happens.
“What a sack,” Mike writes.
“Hold on a minute, I’m on delay!!” I say. Of course I don’t close down the laptop. I might miss out on some hot SO chat.
“What a play!!! Was that for real?” RC chimes in.
“I can’t believe they blocked that FG,” says somebody.
“Damn,” I say, and then I watch it on the screen.
It’s tough relying on the live stream. My parents were visiting last week during the (ahem) Philly-Dallas game. You know, the one Sunday night, after the Colts-Pats contest? This was unfortunate scheduling. I went to bed at 7:15 pm, after kickoff of the first game, and slept just 3 hours because I didn’t want to miss the undefeated showdown. I got another twenty minute nap after that one, and then…
“THIS CHANNEL IS OFFLINE.”
WTF?
Tried the next one. “THIS CHANNEL IS OFFLINE.”
The next. “THIS CHANNEL IS OFFLINE.”
Starting to sweat. Tried the last link. “BUFFERING.”
Hooray!!! But then, five minutes later, still: “BUFFERING.”
My dad shuffles down the hallway in his pajamas. “How’s it going?” he asks.
“14-7 Dallas,” I tell him.
“Why aren’t you watching?”
He receives the “it’s three a.m. and I’m pissed off” look of death.
Eventually, I actually found a new set of channels, and was thrilled to reconnect to the game, with only a slight delay. I got to watch the halftime show and part of the third quarter. I woke my parents, who joined me for a beer. We even used the Eagles bottle opener that plays the Eagles fight song. It was fun. And short lived.
The power shut off for a millisecond, enough to reset our wireless LAN (and the passwords), and the internet was down completely. After ten minutes or so of fussing I went to bed and missed the end of the game. Just as well, I guess, considering the outcome.
Anyway, my point here is, well, hmmm, what was my point?
IT SUCKS!!!
Oh, I remember. I wanted to talk about my history here, how my first trip to Europe I had to sit for an hour watching the CNN World ticker just to find out if the Eagles had beaten Tampa Bay during the Wild Card game (they had). And then how I used to go to this bar and they showed just one game per time slot, and a lot of times it was a crappy one that no one cared about, but they couldn’t or wouldn’t change it. And then how if I wanted to stay home I could just listen to Philly radio and watch the internet play-by-play on nfl.com (which used to be quite funny, with little helmets moving back and forth across the screen).
We’ve come a long way, baby. I mean, now I can watch the games… well, most of them… at HOME!!! For free!!! How sweet is that?
Yeah, I’m spoiled. Because that’s really an amazing thing, isn’t it? Now excuse me. I’m gonna go work on some buffering exercises.
Total Comments 1
Comments
 | Lol eaglechick, this is great writing here! Keep this dialog with us, just imagine how spoiled we are over here. Oh yeah, I will be sure to send you some bottles of Buffering before the season begins.  |
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- Happy Holidays! Please drink an egg nog for me. (12-21-2007)
- The Buffer Zone, and a Quick Trip Down Memory Lane (Part II) (11-15-2007)
- Stick a fork in them Birds, 'cuz they are DONE (10-24-2007)
- Thank you Sheldon Brown! And check out my eyebrows, too. (10-16-2007)
