converter box envy

it's been over a year since i got my coupons for my 2 new converter boxes. i bought them last february, i think. anyway, seeing as how i only have one tv and i was sent 2 coupons with expiration dates, i bought both, but gave my second box to my mother, who also only has one tv. we are both too cheap to pay for cable, so our hopes and dreams of filling our nights with hours of tv watching all rested upon these little black boxes. i was thrilled to see the quality and clearness of the 16 channels i received. i had only had 9 channels with my rooftop antenna alone. however, my thrill only lasted for a little over a year...now i am just jealous. my parents have lived in the same house for 30 years, and for 30 years they have watched a snowy tv. it was a snowy black and white tv until i was old enough to know smurfs should be blue, not gray. and the best part of our family television was that the channel changing knob had broken and been replaced with the temperature knob off of the kitchen stove. channel 20...which used to be FOX, was somewhere around simmer. even now, their stations are broadcasted out of colorado and new mexico, so good luck finding local news. sadly for my mother, as of last tuesday, they all went off the analog air...mom was so upset that she was being forced to change. she just knew that she would lose all 6 of her beloved, snowy channels. i was pretty sure she would, too. my mom was literally crying when i went to install her box today. she was so angry and certain that with her luck her snowy channels would be too weak to provide a proper signal. it took some rearranging of antennas and some reattaching of the coiled wires, and some yelling and screaming on both of our parts, but when all was said and done all 29, yes 29 of her new crystal clear channels loaded up into the little black box. WHAT? 29 channels? i don't even live in the boondocks and i only got 16...i'm jealous, and quite frankly, considering moving back in with my parents.