The Democratic Convention is in full swing in Boston as I write this but I have no intention of watching it, or the upcoming Republican convention later this year. Conventions are for the party faithful, raging pep rallies that are designed to give a boost to a preordained candidate and to the party in general.

Sure, in the bad old days convention goers had business to conduct but these days everything is so cut and dried beforehand that the only reason delegates have to be there is to party and rub shoulders with the party elite. That's good enough reason for the party faithful to attend and to watch but for the rest of us who couldn't care less there is no reason to pay much attention to all the hoopla.

The rest of the week I'm going to take a break from my usual practice of having the television going whether I'm watching it or not. I usually tune into a news show and either get on the computer or read while it blathers on.

I guess because my wife and I have different schedules and I'm alone most evenings I've taken to having the babble box on just to have some noise in the house. Of course Rusty, our trusty guard Chihuahua, vicious predator of crickets and other small pests, will occasionally deign to let me pet him or scratch behind his ears but he isn't too talkative and I miss hearing another voice when alone.

My preference is to have a news program on to keep me company. When my attention wanders and I actually pay attention to the television chances are I can pick up on what the newscasters are talking about without too much trouble, even if I haven't heard about the particular item before.

On the other hand if I have a regular entertainment program on it can be difficult to figure out what is going on, especially if I happen to start paying attention halfway into the show. Particularly confusing is when the network will show two episodes of the same program on back-to-back. I can zone out while one is on, return my attention to the set later and be totally unaware of the change in episodes until obvious differences manifest themselves.

The big three networks aren't going to be showing gavel to gavel coverage of the conventions but most of the news networks are. That's the problem.

I'm going to be stuck listening to people repeat the same messages they've been putting out for months, first the Democrats, then the Republicans.

I guess I could just turn the stupid thing off but it's strange how strong a hold something inanimate like television can have on you. It's not a physical addiction like drugs but years of habit make it seem as if there is some kind of power that won't let you go without a titanic struggle.

I suppose I could even take Rusty out for more walks than I do but I don't want to wear the poor thing out. As I've tried to explain to him, since he is so much smaller than I a walk around the block is the equivalent of a 20 mile march to him, he should be tired out and ready to come in after one lap, but he rarely is.

Whatever happens at the conventions I won't be watching, even if I have to come up with new ways of entertaining myself, like teaching Rusty to attack something larger than a grasshopper, maybe I could get him up to something larger, like my wife's ankles.

It's only a paragraph to you but since I wrote the above the convention is over. Surprise, surprise, according to the newscasts I couldn't avoid, the Democrats say they don't want Bush to be president next year.

I did get a dose of the conventions on, of all places, the Tonight Show. A nine-year-old Republican, who has already started his campaign for president in 2032, attended the convention and took on delegates and visitors in a presidential quiz.

The result? The nine-year-old Republican wowed the crowd.