We interrupt this broadcast......

In the ancient days of the early 2000's, I had two choices when it came to television viewing. First, I could actually watch a show while it was being broadcast in real time- just like my forefathers before me. Commercials merely acted like stop watches. I actually had it down to a science. It took exactly three minutes and twenty-six seconds to complete my routine. Run to the bathroom, sprint into the kitchen, rip the lid off of the Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, grab a spoon and slide across the tile; landing back on the couch with the gracefulness of Sasha Cohen at the completion of a triple lutz.

It was a well timed, perfectly coordinated routine. It also provided me with goals. I was always trying to beat my best time. In an unfortunate incident in spring of 2003, I slipped on a melted ice cube, which sent me flying across the kitchen. Two broken fingers later, and I was asking the ER nurses to set the waiting room TV to Friends.

The other option for getting my fix of daily television was to set a VCR to record. I graduated from college, but evidently they teach VCR 101 in graduate school, because I never took that course. On more than one occasion, I taped several hours of channel 3, as opposed to channel 10. I also had a VCR that didn't rewind, so I had to manually rewind my tapes.

In late 2004, my husband mentioned this fancy new contraption they had introduced called a DVR. It would record our favorite shows, and save them on a hard drive to view at OUR convenience. In addition, we would have the super human like ability to pause, rewind and fast forward as well. "Where do I sign?" I exclaimed.

At first, the box seemed intimidating. It was delivered with a remote control one would normally expect to find in the mission control room at NASA. After completing our online MBA courses, we sat down and tackled it together. I swear I heard Angels sing as we set it to record our favorite shows.

Within days, I was hooked. This gift that Time Warner delivered to us was the answer to all of my problems, and the cause of some new ones. You see, although miraculous in its own way, the DVR does know limits. The ability to only record two shows at one time is one such limit.

Mork & Mindy re-runs and King Of Queens were already set to record- what to do with Everybody Loves Raymond? As luck would have it, the DVR had another fancy little feature- usually reserved for the rich and famous. You can ASK the box to tell you when the show will be broadcast AGAIN, and it will tell you!! So recording 'King' and "Raymond' was fine- Mork would tape at 2:30am.

I found myself recording programs I would never think twice to watch. Why? Because I could. And, as a paying subscriber, it was not only my right, but my duty. The only major drawback with the DVR was that I found myself doing unthinkable things when I should have been watching TV. I was playing with my kids, (gasp!) reading books, (without pictures) and talking to my husband- good old what's his name.

The thing is, although I have all of these programs recorded, I seldom find time to watch them. There are certain shows I still watch in real time. House, ER and American Idol to name a few. Yet, as I sit there watching the shows, I find myself habitually pressing fast forward at commercial time. My heart sinks a little when I realize I am forced to sit and watch them.

Does anyone else think that the Mucinex commercial is THE biggest waste of advertising dollars on the planet? Boogers do NOT wear pants and carry briefcases!

DVR (Digital Video Recorder) has changed my life. Not for the better, but not necessarily for the worse either. It occurred to me today that I have more shows programmed into my DVR than I have friend's phone numbers in my phone. What's wrong with this picture?

Until we meet again,

Cici

Cici@mycoupons.com