By Gary Wamsley
Berthoud Recorder

There certainly has been a lot going on in Berthoud this week. There are even things going on that don’t make it into the Community Calendar. It makes for a busy week and a week of choices.

I chose the Library Board over the Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday and the Show Choir Showcase over the Chamber installation dinner on Saturday. Other Saturday events included the Red Hat luncheon and the Ivy Stockwell Carnival. Who says that there is nothing to do in Berthoud?

On Monday, I forgot to go to the Tree Board meeting but did attend Safety Night at the Library. Unfortunately, no kids braved the cold weather to come so the event will need to be rescheduled. On Tuesday, I did not remember the Fire Board Meeting until it was too late. I like the Fire Board meetings; they are often interesting and they always have food.

This coming week appears to be a little less populated with activities and this is good. Perhaps I will finally have time to put the Christmas tree away. Shar has been gently suggesting we should do that before it is time to put it up again. Leaving it up all year did not seem like such a bad idea to me, but I can tell she doesn’t approve.

There has been a lot of talk about the change over to digital TV. I am sure that most of you are on cable or satellite and it doesn’t effect you. We, however, are content with broadcast channels for the little bit of television we watch. I ordered my $40 coupons early and spent them on two digital TV converter boxes.

I did some research and decided on an RCA model and a Zenith model. The RCA was top rated and seemed to be available only at Wal-Mart. When I went to the superstore, the RCA units were all gone and only Magnavox were on the shelves. The sales clerk said they were cross-referenced and would not get any more of the RCA units in until the other units were gone. Great planning, no one wants the Magnavox. I finally found the RCA at Target and the Zenith at Circuit City.

I installed the RCA unit on the bedroom TV and it works well if you can figure out how to control it. The digital signal gives a cleaner picture even on the old analog TV, but it is one more remote to deal with. Having one more remote really becomes an issue downstairs where there are seven remotes already. There’s a remote for the old TV, the stereo receiver, the VCR, the DVD player, the CD player, the tape player, the digital projector and one that I don’t know what it is for.

If you have an off-air signal and want to watch television, you need to get your converter box soon. The changeover is not far off.

If I don’t forget to go, I’ll see you around town.