Category: Uncategorized

Last night, after I got done watching one of my new favorite shows (“Worlds Apart” on National Geographic) on Tivo, the end of another National Geo show was on live TV (yes, I do watch non-Tivo’d TV once in a while). It’s called “Taboo” and delights in gross out footage of people eating live snakes, etc. Last night, the fine folks in China were eating bull penis (with detailed descriptions of how you have to clean the urinary tract to make sure the meat doesn’t taste like urine).

Then I went to bed. Where I dreamed I was in an arcade full of pinball machines, and I had to urinate. So I started urinating on one of the machines, right on the button you press to set a new game. And half way through, I realized the machine had a couple of dozen free games on it. Du-oh! Now I couldn’t get the free games without mucking around in my own urine …

OK, all you Freudians out there. What’s going on in my head? Clearly the Taboo show was an influence. I’m afraid to think what else might be going on here …

As for World’s Apart, this one is worth checking out. They take a totally yuppie family, complete with stereotypical soccer mom, and dump them into the middle of some so-called primitive culture. Each episode features a great scene where the yuppies get to see their food killed before their very eyes and another scene where the soccer mom breaks down in tears. I’m not sure if they’re out there trying to find the soccer mom stereotype, or if the stereotype is just so prevalent they can’t miss.

Maybe the most interesting part is how little control the Americans have over their children. While all the village children listen and do what they’re told, the American kids whine and moan and are generally a pain in the ass.

It’s definitely interesting to see how different we are from much of the rest of the world.

Go see “School of Rock,” people. It will remind you that rock was supposed to be fun and rebellious, a way to stick it to the Man instead of helping the Man sell stuff.

And Jack Black will have you laughing out loud.

I guess my techno-hubris eventually had to get the better of me. After turning my Tivo into a wireless wonder, I thought I was set. Until I came home last week to find the screen frozen in a pixelated scream that would have done Edvard Munch proud. I couldn’t get it to respond. After rebooting, it became clear the worst had happened: a hard drive failure.

After spending an hour on the phone with Tivo support, I finally got the kid I was talking to to agree with me. It was the hard drive. But of course the warranty on labor is expired (though parts were still covered). It cost me $99 to get a new hard drive put in it. One cool thing they did: They sent me a replacement Tivo first, which I’ve already hooked up and configured. Now I just send the fried box back to them. They put a charge on your credit card until they get the deceased unit back. So in the end, it cost $99 and I was without Tivo for less than a week. Not sure I could have lasted much longer. Live TV sucks.

But my technology slump didn’t end there. I purchased an Onkyo CP-500 five-disc CD/DVD changer when I set up our surround sound system. It never worked quite right, and I finally take it to the authorized dealer for repair. After a few weeks, they report parts aren’t available for it. After a few more weeks and wrangling with Onkyo, I get a new one, which is even an upgrade. I’m pissed that it took almost two months, but happy to have a new CP-701 with a six-disc changer.

Until I get it home.

And it won’t work. No matter what I try, the tray won’t come out. I try resetting it. Even resort to reading the manual. Nothing.

So I take it back to the authorized service center. Fortunately, this one takes only a day to resolve. But it apparently is a design flaw. The guy who fixed it said they’d issued a bulletin on the problem, noting that it happens if the player gets jostled during transit.

Moral of the story: Be humble when facing the technology gods. Buy protection plans on Tivos. And never, ever buy an Onkyo DVD player.