Dear Brynn at Comcast,

Thank you for listening to my concerns. Thank you for validating my feelings AND for saying you're going to do something to change the system.

Let me back up - 

We mainly use Comcast's OnDemand service for the kids' programming available anytime - Eli gets to choose two shows during his quiet time while Charlie's napping. He loves shows like Disney's Imagination Movers, Nick Jr.'s Umi Zoomi, Diego, Dora, Handy Manny, etc.

I love that we have a variety of kids shows easily accessible, whenever we want and we don't have to clog up the DVR in the process.

But I have become more and more frustrated with the violent or inappropriate advertising on the Comcast OnDemand screen when you scroll through to find the shows that you want.

I don't think it's okay for young kids to see the movie preview for Angelina Jolie's SALT. Or some other show or movie with intense scenes, shooting, fighting, cars exploding, etc. There is no way these ads would be shown on a kids' channel, and I kept wishing there was a way to have parental controls or some other method to avoid these ads when putting a show on for my child.

I became so fed up with the ads that I called Comcast's customer service line. Good old 1-800-COMCAST. (which is often a frustrating experience) At first I thought calling was totally unproductive--the customer service reps were ZERO help - basically said there was nothing they could do to change these ads. I spoke with a supervisor and it was the same old story. It was out of their hands.

But this WAS productive, because my blood started to boil. Don't tell me there is nothing you can do when I know this could be better...

I started doing some research. I called an advocacy group that speaks out against violence in the media, and the woman who answered the phone gave me the idea to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. So I did--I wanted this to be on record and in their files. But I wasn't convinced that this would lead to immediate results...I'm sure these agencies receive a variety of complaints and get bogged down. And who knows if they would investigate my complaints in the first place.

I wanted faster results. So I decided, why not try to contact Comcast's headquarters directly and see if I can track down the person or group who manages these ads??

I called Comcast at its Philadelphia office and told the operator who I was looking for. She transferred me to the voice mail of someone who deals with the advertising on Comcast. This person, the very nice Jenna, called me back the next day and said she wasn't directly over those ads, but was happy to give me the name/number of the person who was.

Enter Brynn. I left her a message late yesterday afternoon, and she promptly called me back today. We were on the phone for a good 20 minutes, discussing my frustrations with the movie ads and content when using OnDemand. She explained how the ads work--they are called "barker ads," produced by an entertainment company in Los Angeles that creates two 20-minute advertising loops--one for daytime, the other for nighttime (which starts at 9 p.m.) The ad loops are updated each week to keep the content fresh, and all daytime loop ads have been rated "suitable for all audiences."

Which, as a side note, I think is a TOTAL joke. Suitable for all audiences means no drug or alcohol use, no guns being pointed directly at a person but otherwise guns are okay...come on. I think that rating could be revamped too. 

Brynn was very understanding of my plight. She appreciated the feedback and said her team is going to start previewing the ads before they run for the week to make sure the content is suitable for young eyes. She gave me her email address so I can send her a quick note if I see an advertisement that is violent or inappropriate on there. Brynn said she would talk with the ad producers and communicate these concerns, and we should hopefully see changes in a few weeks when the next round of barker ads are up (they are produced about two weeks in advance).

Bravo to Brynn at Comcast for taking the time to listen, to care, and to commit to making changes. I really hope this makes a difference.

Silly Eli

Here's Eli trying on my athletic shoes while still in his pjs:

Eli has been doing some funny things lately that I wanted to write down while I was thinking about it.

He recently discovered the junk drawer in the kitchen and has had all kinds of fun with the random stuff inside... orange tea lights from Halloween (for lighting the pumpkin), birthday candles, toothpicks, pencils, etc. Anyway, he was wearing his crocs over the weekend and decided to stick the birthday candles in the holes of the crocs. It was pretty funny because he kept singing "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..." (and I of course forgot to take a picture or get a video).

On Sunday as we were driving to church, I turned the radio to the classical music station for some mellow Sunday music (something I haven't done before -usually we just have the radio off). Eli kept saying, "Trip! Trip!" and I realized he was referring to the cartoon, Little Einstein's (the show's theme song says, "We're going on a trip..." so he refers to that show as "trip"). I think it's neat that he connected the classical music, since the show always features a classical song/composer. Eli's only watched it a handful of times, but it stuck with him!

Tonight after dinner, Eli kept saying he wanted to watch Finding Nemo. Now, this child does not watch tv very often (though this post makes it sound like he does). Ben and I figured we would let him watch 15 minutes of Nemo before putting him to bed... but it was probably not the best idea. The movie was so scary to him! Eli started crying at one point in the movie when Nemo's dad and Dory went flying out of the EAC (is that what it's called - where they're swimming w/ the turtles?) and are spinning out of control - I think Eli was worried they were hurt. And there were a few other times where he kept saying, "Scary!" and seemed really worried, so we would skip to the next scene. Eli is really sensitive and I have yet to find a Disney movie that doesn't totally scare him. We occasionally watch Sesame Street, Little Einstein's, Thomas, or Curious George, and none of those freak him out.

Another random thing - Eli loves to chase us around the house (and be chased), especially when Ben and I are both home. Then he and I run together, holding hands, and we try to sneak up on Ben. Eli SQUEALS with excitement and it's so cute.

And lastly, I need to get a video of this, but lately Eli answers, "Yes" to everything, rather than "Yeah." It's really funny hearing him clearly say, "yes" when you ask him a question. He has also picked up the phase, "Stop it!" somewhere and says it constantly. I'm not such a fan of that one. Today he was telling Charlie to "stop it" over and over again while we were at the store... Eli was sitting in the front seat of the cart and Charlie was in his car seat in the back of the cart. Charlie kept putting his feet up on the back of Eli's seat and it was driving him CRAZY. It was funny to me for a little bit and then hearing "stop it!" a million times started to drive me crazy :)

Sick at Home and Watching TV

I have been home sick with bronchitis all weekend, which was so sad to me because yesterday was Easter and my Gram's 83rd birthday. We had planned on having my family at our place for dinner, but ended up not getting together since I was so sick.

Ben was nice and took Eli out with him to different places, so I got some breaks and was able to rest, but I also ended up lying on the couch watching a lot of t.v. I watched some shows that I had recorded on the DVR, but soon was ready for something besides Law and Order reruns. Last night I scrolled through the guide and two shows caught my eye - "I Can Make You Thin" and "Play Piano in a Flash." Here are my reviews.

I Can Make You Thin - it's a new show on TLC where British weight-loss guru Paul McKenna discusses 4 simple techniques that will connect you with your body's hunger signals and help you have a healthy relationship with food. Apparently this show has been a huge hit in Britain. Here are his rules:

1. When You're Hungry, Eat!
2. Eat What you Want
3. Eat Consciously
4. When You Think You're Full, Stop

Ben and I both feel like we have a tendency to overeat, especially if we're at a restaurant or eating takeout. It was really interesting to hear this McKenna's suggestions for becoming more in tune to when you're hungry and full. He emphasizes that this isn't a diet, but he does feature people on his show who have lost a lot of weight after following the guidelines.

This week we're going to practice one of his suggestions: when you take a bite of food, chew it a quarter of the speed you normally chew, and with each bite, put the fork DOWN! (McKenna says this is key) We tried it at dinner last night, and it's hard to do! I hardly ever put my fork or spoon down because I feel like I need to hurry and help Eli or get things cleaned up. The other thing McKenna suggested - try eating with your eyes closed! He says you will be way more in tune when you are actually full. (And if you don't eat a lot in one sitting and you're hungry 10 minutes later, go back and have more to eat, but only until you're full).

Overall, I thought the show was interesting and plan on watching the rest of the shows in his 5-part series. This is the 12th and last week of the Healthy Living Challenge... while I am a little tired of following the rules, I do want to continue being healthy.

Play Piano in a Flash: this was on a PBS channel. It caught my eye because I took years of piano lessons but have lost most of my piano skills. This show apparently is in its ninth season, but I was tired of it after the first eight minutes. Piano Guy Scott Houston gives LENGTHY explanations on everything and it was painful to watch. I finally turned it off when I couldn't stand it anymore. So much for relearning how to play piano in a flash :)

Let me know if you have any favorite new shows to watch... I am always looking for something different to put on our DVR list!