There's nothing quite like getting woke up by a blaring alarm clock radio tuned to Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) playing Wolfgang Amadeus. It gets the blood pumping and the blood pressure sky rockets from fright as one is abruptly awakened from a blissful sleep. Not exactly my favorite way to be torn from sleep especially since it wasn't even my alarm clock going off. Oh well...really didn't need that extra half hour of sleep did I?! It could have been worse I guess...The William Tell Overture could have been playing (a.k.a. The Lone Ranger theme song)...now that would have been cause for cardiac arrhythmia!
As it was I dragged myself out of bed, had peanut butter on a toasted bagel and settled into my recliner to read the newspaper and catch the latest news on tv. I don't know if it's the age thing where one finds themselves flashing back to times gone by but the image of the old Indian Head Test Pattern flashed through my mind as GMA lit up the screen. I can only imagine a majority of my readers saying WTF is that?
In years gone by...okay many years gone by...one could not flip on the tv and immediately be bombarded by the latest news from CNN or romanced by a long forgotten movie on TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Instead the late hours of the evening through the wee hours of the night a single test pattern was broadcast until broadcasting resumed for the new day. Bounding out of bed on a Saturday morning quietly turning on the only tv in the house...yes only one tv...and seeing the test pattern meant you had scored and not missed a single episode of the Saturday morning cartoons. Oh yeah...did I forget to say cartoons were only a Saturday morning phenomenon back then? But that phenomenon is long gone and the Indian Head Test Pattern is something that most have to google to figure out what the he** I'm talking about.
But that was then and this is now and Ellen is about to start so the he** with the test pattern...time to watch some real stimulating television!! Sorry Regis...you have been usurped by Ellen!!
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