One Twin Cities TV station got short shrift in my recent write-up about high-def programming choices.

The useful website Where Is HD? listed the HD content of Twin Cities Public Television’s TPT HD channel (Ch. 2.2 on the digital broadcast spectrum) as making up 22 percent of its programming minutes. So I simply lumped it in with the other local network affiliates, which all have about 20 percent HD programming, according to Where Is HD? (except KARE-TV, which is listed at 57 percent).

In reality, high-def programs make up about 66 percent of the TPT HD’s schedule, according to Tom Holter, TPT’s executive director of programming. The rest of the channel’s offerings are up-converted PBS programs.

It’s not clear why Where Is HD? has outdated info for TPT HD, because the site says it gets data directly from programmers, but I’m happy to provide a clarification.

How do you turn a drum and bugle corps into a marching band? One way is to add electronics, in the eyes of many disapproving fans who dislike the addition of amplification and (soon) electronic instruments to the ranks of the formerly acoustic-only drum corps. While it’s easy to blame technology for the unwanted change in drum corps, other fans see it as a natural evolution in an activity that has changed many times over the decades since the early 20th century. Check out my write-up today to see how technology is creating controversy in a unique art form steeped in tradition. 

The traveling exhibit Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination opened just this weekend at the Scince Museum of Minnesota, but I’ve already seen it three times — twice before the opening date for a big article I wrote about it (be sure to watch the video that goes with it) and once after it opened. Obviously, the show holds the greatest appeal to Star Wars geeks like me, but it’s fascinating how the exhibit takes the fiction of the well-loved movies and applies it to the technology and science of our world — robotics, transportation, medicine and more.

If you’re planning to attend the exhibit, here are some tips:

Those are just some quick tips based on my experience. Have fun.

I’m back after three weeks off, and I kept my vow to take a vacation from technology that would otherwise tether me to the office — no checking work-related e-mail or voicemail, no updating the blog, no reading tech websites, etc.

Traveling around Scotland for a few weeks made that easier to do. My wife, Laura, and I didn’t really have free and easy access to the Internet until the end of our trip, when we stayed in Edinburgh for three nights. The Radisson SAS there was the only hotel we visited that offered free access via computers in the lobby. (We didn’t bring a laptop; a few hotels on our cross-country trip offered free Wi-Fi.) Otherwise, the few times an Internet cafe or pay-per-use hotel computer was available, we had to pay £1 for 10 to 15 minutes of use — which is, like, $320 an hour after the conversion against the weak dollar. But I checked only personal e-mail and news about the NFL draft and Miami Dolphins — no work.  I used a cell phone to keep in touch with our daughters, but not office voicemail.

Hooray. There was no downside. I just had to reintroduce myself to colleagues when I returned to the office, reset all my forgotten passwords and take the company’s new-employee orientation class again.

While I was away, a wee thing (as they say in Scotland)  called Grand Theft Auto IV came out and quickly became the biggest video game of all time. That was something we couldn’t help but notice even in another country. Posters and store displays in Edinburgh trumpeted the game’s release. It was selling for £49.99 there — equal to about $6,700 stateside. I haven’t played the game yet, but I’m raring to give it a go soon now that I’m back. The PS3 version has a ridiculously high average Metascore of 99 out of 100 at Metacritic. I’m curious to see if it can live up to that hype. What are your thoughts on the game?

(Yes, those conversions from pounds to dollars are completely made up. It’s more like $2 equals £1 — but it sure feels higher when you’re actually over there and paying the equivalent of $30 for soup and a sandwich at a mom-and-pop lunch counter.)

Is your printer out of ink? Today’s the day you can get it refilled for free at Walgreens, using a coupon that you can print out at the company’s website.

The promotion is to acquaint consumers with the drug-store chain’s ink-refilling service. You can get one ink cartridge, color or black, refilled for free today only at any participating Walgreens store, which includes dozens in the Twin Cities. The main catch is that the service is available only for Dell, Lexmark, HP, Okidata, Primera, Sharp and Xerox printers — not Epson or Canon, which leaves me out. The refilling service normally costs $10 for black cartridges and $15 for color.

“It’s a great opportunity to be both cost- and environmentally-conscious,” Walgreen said in a press release.

Don’t forget to print out the coupon! Find the coupon, more information and your nearest location at the Walgreens website.

Also, be sure to check out the site Deal Ink. You’ll probably find generic ink-refill cartridges for your printer for an even lower price, including shipping, than most local refill services. Of course, it’s not as environmentally friendly.

I wondered in today’s paper if we can ever truly take a vacation from work because of cell phones, e-mail and other personal technology that keeps the office just a quick call or a few clicks away no matter where in the world we go.

Just in the past week, I called four people to interview for various articles I’m working on. All four were on vacation out of state, and all four took my call right away or returned my message within a few hours.

One of them was Dan Buettner, the Minneapolis author and explorer, who was relaxing in the Virgin Islands when I first contacted him. I met him for breakfast once he returned and asked him why he interrupted his vacation to do business essentially. He said he wasn’t bothered at all by it. In fact, he said, he likes the fact that he can keep in touch with the business world while also getting some R&R. “Technology allows me to take a vacation,” he said. That’s an interesting point. As a self-employed person with no formal office, Buettner might be missing important business if he’s not available. 

On the other hand, it’s not just vacationers who can’t escape work. Reader Alexis Todd of Plymouth called to say that she was on doctor-ordered bed rest due to pneumonia. Nevertheless, she still worked 5 1/2 hours on a day when she was supposed to be out sick. Her rest was continually interrupted by e-mails and cell-phone calls from the office. Of course, she admitted, she allowed it to happen. But as a sales manager in tough economic times, she could be losing out on a sale (and its commission) if she doesn’t make herself available. “There’s this fear that even if I drop out of the business world for a day or two, my job is in jeopardy,” she said.

How do you handle your vacation and sick time? Do you really take a break from the office? Or do you let technology keep you available no matter where you are?