TV Time

I like television. I used to work in television for a television production company. I loved most of our shows. I was absolutely addicted to Dallas--I knew who shot JR. When I miss something on TV, I really miss it. People tell me, why don't you tape it? There was a time when I was quite adept at taping, but no more. That requires planning and time to plan is in very short supply.

So Dad got me an early birthday present--Tivo. He had it and really liked it. I had tried to get Mom Tivo, but she didn't want the monthly expense. Me neither, I always thought. I can live without seeing every show--it will come on again in reruns (even if I feel blue missing something). But then came tennis. I do not get the tennis channel and two years ago, I went to live matches and tried to tape the slams. This past year I got taping the slams down to a science and I loved having all that tennis to watch and then at the Australian, I missed a lot of taping (I can't figure out exactly what I did wrong, but not enough hours in a day is a probably cause of my problem). When I missed matches, I really missed not seeing them. [Just like I really missed not seeing any tennis at the Olympics--I didn't catch a single match although I was forced to sit through hours and hours of beach volleyball and badminton just in case they televised tennis--but I digress.]

I was already paying a whopping $5.00 per month for a digital cable box (but only in the sitting room) and a whopping $5.00 per month for HD (but I think it is included in the monthly rate now, because I tried to cancel it when I kept forgetting to turn the tv to the 700 numbers and I still have it now). So the tivo came with three months free, but after that it will be a monthly charge. I really don't like monthly charges--I pay my curves membership annually--I pay my car insurance every six months in full--I worked it so that I don't have a car payment--I hate monthly charges. After loving tivo for a few weeks, I upgraded and got netflix too. Two monthly charges now, oh my, but I can't wait to get home to turn on the tv. The French is coming soon, so I'm going to have to cancel a bunch of my season passes to make room for all the tennis that they will show me on TV. And then it will be time for Wimbledon and then the US Open series--I sure hope that my tivo is smart enough not to cut off taping when Nadal takes Federer to five.

Anyway on netflixs, there are so many cool movies, I may never buy another movie again--I can get rid of all the old ones that I have now, well maybe not get rid of--I don't want to go crazy.

So I'm all set up with tivo, loving tv and my tv died. It just stopped working. Turn it on and nothing. This happened last year when it was under warrenty and it took days and days to fix it. I don't like unreliable things in the least, so we went to costco and they had a great flat screen cheap--it is even energy efficient (I'm a sucker for going green). So I had my new tv all set up, with tivo, with netflix--I was all set. And then I lost my remote for the tivo. I didn't lose it--Adam took it into his room and forgot to return it. No worries. One night of no tv gave me a chance to read a book and really, really, really miss my tv. No monthly expense is too high anymore--I want my tv. Well the remote was returned and I thought finally, no more trouble in tv paradise. Now the remote for the tv is missing, so for two days I couldn't adjust the volume. I searched high and low. I delved into minute details of when did I see it last. I went through the trash. I even went into Adam's room. No remote.

Luckily, I finally remembered to Think. The tivo remote can be programed to work on the tv and the volume and so I did that last night and all is right with the world. Swine flu do your worst, I have tivo and netflix and I will not try to go to work if I get sick.