Big Idea

I love TV shows that look back to the past and sometimes attempt to countdown/rank the best or worst of some thing. I don't know if that last sentence made a bit of sense, so here's a couple of examples: the VH1 series "I Love the '80s" and the E! network series "E! True Hollywood Story". These were pretty huge 7-10 years ago but have pretty much died out thanks to the onslaught of stupid "reality" shows. I am so ready for the "reality TV" phenomenon to end. It is going to end, right?

Anyways, I missed a lot of these shows as we did not have cable or satellite TV for much of that time. Although I have "I Love the '80s" preserved on videotape, I totally missed "I Love the 70s" and "I Love the 90s". I could only envy people who were able to watch "Top 100 One-Hit Wonders" or whatever other fine programming might have been on.

Occassionally, VHI will throw me a bone and rerun something old like "Top 100 Metal Songs" but they broadcast it at random times, like 5:00 on a Friday, which isn't really my prime viewing time. For example, I was about to head off to bed one night a couple of weeks ago when I noticed that VHI was running a program called "Top 20 Soft Rock Hits" or something like that. YES! The only problem was that it was 11:00 PM when this program kicked off. I was tired and had to work the next day. And VH1 didn't give me advance notice that they were running this little gem, so I didn't have time to properly set the VCR (don't make fun, but yes, that is still my recording mechanism!) so that I could enjoy at a more convenient time. So I enjoyed for a very few minutes as I was told wonderful tales of Captain and Tenille, Michael Bolton, Juice Newton, and Toto. And then I had to turn it off before they got to Lionel Richie and Air Supply. Oh well.

For a few weeks, I've been talking about my idea for a Countdown Network. A channel that does nothing but count stuff down. Imagine the possibilities. Top 50 Songs of the Seventies. Top 10 John Hughes Films. Top 50 Politicians of the 20th Century. Top 20 Hollywood Starlets of the Sixties. Top 25 White Collar Criminals. Top 25 Sitcoms. I could go on and on. Tell me you wouldn't want to watch any of those shows.

And then I had another thought while watching the end of "Glee" on Fox, which is a terrible show, but I wasn't controlling the remote, so whatever. They did some sort of a remake of Madonna's "Vogue" video. I wondered, "What happened to all those vintage music videos from the 80s? Why don't they show those anymore? Maybe I could start another cable network called the Vintage Music Video Channel?

Or better, I could roll that into my Countdown Network! I'd have tons of programming!

It would be called the Nostalgia Network. I could also run classic episodes of TV shows and maybe throw in replays of classic sporting events if I needed to fill some time.

So you might be wondering, that is a great idea! I wish I had thought of it! I would so do it, but I don't want to steal his idea.

Please do! Please steal my idea! I don't know how to start a network and certainly don't have the capital. So if you do it, then I can just sit home and watch it, even if I might be the only person in America watching.

Come on! Do it! I promise that I will buy from your advertisers.

I also have an idea for an Accounting Channel, but I'll save that for another post.

It's Over

After 10 years, we have finally divested ourselves of our Sam's Club membership and joined the Costco Revolution. We signed up for Sam's while at BYU and have carried our membership from Utah to North Carolina and back to Colorado. I guess we were about ready for a change. Elizabeth has been talking it up for a few months after making several visits with Natalie. I'm not sure if it was the prices or selection or the fact that they sell Izze sodas by the case that convinced her. Our Sam's membership didn't expire until the end of March, so we didn't pull the trigger until today.

We'll see how it goes, I guess. The two clubs are pretty similar. Costco is more red, Sam's Club is blue. Mainly we just want to put less of our money into Wal-Mart's pocket. Surely we won't topple the Walton Empire by taking away the $1,000 a year we probably spent there, but it feels kinda good to stick it to them however we can.

Besides, as Sam's Club began proclaiming several years ago, "We're in business for small business."

That statement always sounded to me like, "We're not in business for you. But I guess we'll let you in."

Of course, Costco was a zoo at 1:00 in the afternoon. If it's always like that, I don't know if I will enjoy it quite as much.