The Original Remote Control Needs A Replacement
I think I’ve done a comment on a post, or a comment on one of your posts about the original remote control. If you read it and now have to read through it again, I apologize.
So when I was a kid, I was the oldest of three brothers. As the oldest, I had certain chores, especially in the early days, as the two younger brothers just weren’t old enough to do them. I cut the grass and shoveled the sidewalk and driveway. A lesser assigned chore was to serve as the household’s TV remote control.
Picture our living room. Hardwood floors with an area rug. As you entered the front door, the couch was immediately to your left. To its left along the “side” wall was my Dad’s and Mom’s chairs, then the bookshelves. They moved on into the dining room; but, if you looked to the right you’d see the television. A big console. I’m not sure what the size of the screen was, 15”, 18”? Tiny by today’s standards.
When settling in TV time began, Mom sat on the couch or “her” chair. My Dad in his. Us kids, for the most part laid on the area rug in the middle of the room.
“David, channel seven.” Twenty or so minutes later, “channel two.” I was an non-electronic remote control. It worked fine. There was only ABC, CBS, NBC and a Windsor, Ontario, Canada independent channel in the early years. Later on we got a couple of independent UHF channels.
Well, I’ve had my new TV since late morning yesterday. By physical count, I now have five operative remotes. I’m in the process of consolidation, but it’s slow. I need me a nine year old kid. Not to tell to change the channel. Rather, to accomplish the accommodation.
“David, make the home theater remote give the TV not just the audio from the DVD, add the video.”
“David, you know what I want to watch, create a favorites list without the shopping, religious, ethnic and porn channels.” Did you know that Jenna Jamison has her own porn channel?
“David, make the satellite receiver talk to the wireless broadband Internet. It won’t? Go to the store and buy an Ethernet cable, and when that doesn’t work, buy a crossover Ethernet cable and then pull out the wireless router that I couldn’t get to work a year or so ago. Can’t find the installation CD? Go on line and download it. For some strange reason it’s going to take an hour to open the compressed file? OK, I’ll do a post and watch the golf tournament in HD. If I want to watch individual blades of grass growing, I can see them."
So, how have all ya'll spent your weekend?
8 comments:
"make the satellite receiver talk to the wireless broadband Internet"
What in heaven's name for? Does your satellite box feature a browser or something?
I thought a TIVO took care of all that stuff with one little remote. But then, what the heck do I know about a TIVO except that Oprah loves 'em.
Pos, the "reason" is, as my engineer friend that works for EchoStar (Dish) is that they sell more pay per view with an Internet connection. I don't quite understand it; but, from my point of view, if you aren't connected to a phone line or an Internet connection, they want another five bucks a month, which I'm not going to pay. I've learned that my wireless router won't work, I have to get a wired one.
Finally, since the post, the signal died and I spent about an hour on the phone with a tech guy rebooting the entire system.
So far, I'm not in love with Dish -Bill? (my engineer friend who reads the blog).
Jeni, I miss my TiVo with the old DirecTv.
I spent a good part of my weekend outside, which sounds way better than being inside trying to make your tech toys talk to one another, in spite of the fact that much of this outdoor time included doing yard work.
I don't care anything about having one remote that rules them all (echoes of Lord of the Rings here), so I just drag out whichever of the five remotes I need for what I am doing.
Just another routine weekend of making Cumberland River water drinkable.
Doc, you've got water, no bitching.
Yeah, and you guys are trying to take it away from us...
You've got to admit Doc, it's a kind of cool ploy. I'm not sure which way it would go legally, to my knowledge, adverse possession doesn't work against a government.
In the meantime, we're taking other measures, our Governor's prayer rally a month or so ago, just started working. It rained all night and just stopped a couple of hours ago.
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