Yesterday afternoon, I decided it was long past time to pick up my comics from the downtown Stevens Point comics shop where my pull list goes. It had literally been months, and Galaxy Comics beyond-the-call-of-duty continued to set aside an ever-increasing stack o' stuff.

Today, of course, will be partly devoted to putting all that in order (though Galaxy had done a great job on the preliminaries) -- and otherwise digging out from "things-to-do" that had been piling up. (The Spamalot CD I ordered after seeing the show is helpful in keeping me moving. However, I strongly suggest you wait to listen to it till after you see the musical, since part of the delight of the experience of watching it came from the surprises embedded throughout.)

The shopping trip also reinforced my annoyances at progress. Yes, I'm finally becoming one of those annoyingly grumpy people who complains about real improvements. I earlier groused about the 75-ohm video connectors and the difficulties of administering them, so one of my goals yesterday was to find a good cable and the modifiers that convert the nasty pointy nuts into a slip-on input. Got the cable. Got the modifiers. So yesterday I continued the quest to find a VCR (and maybe a VCR-DVD recorder) to replace my son's antique VCR on his primary (moderately old) TV. The RCA plugs have seemed to lack effectiveness on this TV (though it has several input options); the 75-ohm input has worked the best. Moreover, the cable output (supplied by the cable folks less than a year ago) was of the 75-ohm variety. Hey, guess what most of the new equipment doesn't have? Yep, a 75-ohm input. It's all S-connectors and RCA plugs. (A Shopko shelf notice said that, if you had to adapt things for the needly inputs, you should buy an adaptor, to be found in the "Accessories" area. Do I have to say there was no such adaptor in that area?)

Thing is: We're in a stage of such transition that (as proud owner of more than 1,000 Beta tapes in addition to the later VHS tapes to which I was forced to adapt) I have no interest in buying The Newest of the New until (a) prices come down, (b) broadcasts demand it, and (c) the Format of the Future is settled -- settled for at least, say, the next five years. So I intend (as, I would guess, do most other members of my family) to limp along with technology of the past for a little longer.

But, wow, it's getting more and more difficult.