In our previous post, you can see the happy Seminole fan getting the season kicked off. What you can't see in that picture is what had to happen for that to be possible. You see, our current home is about 6506 Miles.(10,470 kilometers) from Doak Campbell Stadium, so lots of electrons have to move through lots of wires (and probably some waves have to bounce of a satellite or two, as well) in order for live images of boys playing a game with a funny-shaped ball to reach my desk. It's not quite as simple as sitting on the couch and pushing a couple of buttons on the old remote.
First, you might have seen the two computer monitors on my desk. I just bought the bigger one a couple of weeks ago. It lets me read news stories or study maps on one screen while reading and responding to email on the other. Really, I got it so the little letters on my laptop screen could be big enough for my 40somethingyearold eyes to read. But I digress.
(Here's a cute shot of our youngest Seminole fan, just because almost everyone reading this is her grandparent)
For the past three football seasons, we've been able to watch American college ball with the aid of a device called the Slingbox. The Slingbox connects a cable TV box to the internet, so we can see whatever is on at Beth's parents' house. We sign in and whatever they are watching comes on our computer screen. And if they're watching a movie and it's time for the 'Noles to kick off, we have the power to change channels from that same computer screen. (Mysteriously, our phone always rings right after I do that.)
This weekend, however, my Slingbox remote wasn't working, and Beth's folks were not home to fix it. But those proverbial cats can be skinned using a variety of methods. OnE of the biggeSt American sPorts Networks offers lots of games online. You go to their website and click on a game and Poof, there it is. So I did that, but they have this pesky rule that their service is only offered to people in the States.
But there are ways around that, too.
I simply had to sign on to a VPN connection to make my computer appear to be in the States. I did that, then went back to the aforementioned website to watch. They are a little selective and wanted to be really sure I was in the States and with a partnering cable provider. So I had to sign in with the user name and password from our American cable provider. And it worked!
After all that, we were still a few hours away from the midnight kickoff in our time zone. So I got to watch a little of the Miami-Boston College game. I was proud that my kids noticed how much the BC colors look like FSU colors. I really wanted to watch UF struggling against Bowling Green, but that one was blacked out and it wasn't worth trying to skin a different cat to try to get to that!
We're undefeated so far, and looking forward to a fun season!
First, you might have seen the two computer monitors on my desk. I just bought the bigger one a couple of weeks ago. It lets me read news stories or study maps on one screen while reading and responding to email on the other. Really, I got it so the little letters on my laptop screen could be big enough for my 40somethingyearold eyes to read. But I digress.
For the past three football seasons, we've been able to watch American college ball with the aid of a device called the Slingbox. The Slingbox connects a cable TV box to the internet, so we can see whatever is on at Beth's parents' house. We sign in and whatever they are watching comes on our computer screen. And if they're watching a movie and it's time for the 'Noles to kick off, we have the power to change channels from that same computer screen. (Mysteriously, our phone always rings right after I do that.)
This weekend, however, my Slingbox remote wasn't working, and Beth's folks were not home to fix it. But those proverbial cats can be skinned using a variety of methods. OnE of the biggeSt American sPorts Networks offers lots of games online. You go to their website and click on a game and Poof, there it is. So I did that, but they have this pesky rule that their service is only offered to people in the States.
But there are ways around that, too.
I simply had to sign on to a VPN connection to make my computer appear to be in the States. I did that, then went back to the aforementioned website to watch. They are a little selective and wanted to be really sure I was in the States and with a partnering cable provider. So I had to sign in with the user name and password from our American cable provider. And it worked!
After all that, we were still a few hours away from the midnight kickoff in our time zone. So I got to watch a little of the Miami-Boston College game. I was proud that my kids noticed how much the BC colors look like FSU colors. I really wanted to watch UF struggling against Bowling Green, but that one was blacked out and it wasn't worth trying to skin a different cat to try to get to that!
We're undefeated so far, and looking forward to a fun season!
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