2004-10-27

* * * TV talk in this section (I still haven’t gotten around to figuring out where to put up the Couch Potato blog. Maybe this weekend.). If you’re not interested in The Swan or The Biggest Loser skip to the next section, ‘k? We actually watched The Swan Monday night, since I didn’t trust the DVR to tape it and not delete it before I’d watched it. Also, there was nothing else to watch. The first hour was a recap of all the “Swans” from last season, including how they’re doing/ what they’re doing today, how their relationships are going and the like. I enjoyed it, because I always enjoy that shit, and Fred pointed out several times that they all look much better in their real life when they’re not all made up and wearing beaded gowns. They played the clip of Rachel Love Fraser’s husband saying “She’s a little average”, so Fred was happy. I was actually a little surprised at how many of the women I remembered, though there was one or two that made me say “Who the hell is that? I don’t remember her!” Is it just me, or do they tend to pair up a gung-ho woman with a whiner as often as possible? That woman who fought them the entire way, not wanting to eat the food, whining about working out, not wanting to talk about her Issues – what the hell is up with that? Why would you go on a show like The Swan and then fight them on every issue? Ingrate. They did a really good job on both the women this time around, though I wasn’t crazy about the extensions. Do they let anyone get away without extensions? We watched The Biggest Loser while it was on last night because, again, nothing else was on and we had nothing taped to watch. Here is my question – how can these people, being overweight, not know about water weight? Did they truly and honestly believe they were going to lose as much the second week as they did the first? For the love of god, people! You cannot lose twenty pounds one week and then expect to lose another twenty the next! I was a little surprised that Mo didn’t lose anything at all, though. I still think they’re overdoing the exercise. When they were voting on who to eliminate and that guy said “I’m sorry Dave (big pause, then he showed his vote) I’ve voted for Lizzeth!”, what an asshole. How could he think that was funny? I mean, I know they’re not curing cancer, Captain Asshole, but you don’t need to go out of your way to be cruel. Jeez. Is he the same one who said “What took you so long?” when the other team had to vote off a member? Because he’s not funny at all. What a jerk. Yeah, I guess I’m hooked on the show. I liked the way the trainers told their teams to just stay the course and they’d start losing again. The baking-and-selling challenge was a little goofy, but I was impressed that not a single person licked frosting or batter from their fingers while they were cooking.

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There is a special seat deep in the bowels of Hell for those motherfuckers who invented styrofoam packing peanuts. I hate those goddamn packing peanuts like I hate nothing else on earth. And now I have a huge box filled with them. What I should do is mail the whole box of peanuts back to the fucking company they came from. Fuckers.
* * *
From my comments: So, DVR. Yeah, I’m supposed to have the cable company come and set me up with that on Wednesday. I’m wondering if I should save myself the headaches that you’ve been having and order TiVo instead. One question though, why does Fred not want to get TiVo? I’ve been wondering what the pros and cons are of each and haven’t heard anything to really sway me either way. The only reason I decided to go with DVR is because I have to get cable hooked up anyway, so I thought it would be easiest to just get the DVR at the same time. Should I re-think this? Thanks! We opted for the DVR over the TiVo only because of the cost – there’s a low monthly fee for the DVR, whereas with the TiVo you have to buy the TiVo and then also pay a monthly fee for service, or come up with $300 for lifetime service. What I really like about the TiVo (having never used one, only from reading online) is that it learns what you like and will tape things for you it thinks you might like. That, to me, is very cool. I will say that for what we pay for it every month, the DVR is worth it. We haven’t really had that many problems with it – when we first got the DVR we got two bad units in a row, but once we got the box we have now, it’s been working just fine. If I recall correctly, this is really the first big snafu we’ve had with it, and I’m mostly just pissed that last week’s ER got deleted, but I do know that I’ll surely see that episode in reruns at some point in the future. Trust me, though – whether you decide to go the DVR route or whether you decide to go the TiVo route, you will get so accustomed to the pausing and rewinding of live TV that when you’re in front of a TV you can’t pause or rewind, you will compulsively say “What did he say? Rewind it!” to the other people watching with you, and you will drive them nuts. (Edited to add: Yeah, apparently our box is in the process of shitting the bed and we’ll need a new one – it locked up at least twice on us last night. TiVo users who’ve had your unit for at least a year – have you had a problem like this at all?) Hey Robyn! I’ll show you my cross-stitching if you’ll show me yours….
I’m still working on this picture for the spud (she picked it out). I got the statue done (obviously), now I just have to do the flag. I put it down for a few days because I’m not looking forward to doing the flag. Hush, of course I’m not anti-flag – I just always have to take a little break when I go from doing one big piece of a picture to another. I’m looking forward to getting this done, though I think the outlining is going to take forEVER.
* * *
When I get up in the morning and am puttering around the house putting in my contacts and making the bed and all that, I tend to turn the TV on to CMT and listen to the videos while I putter. Which is how I discovered that there is this new absolutely horrifying Shania Twain video. Now, before I get into the complaining about the video, I should say that for the most part I like Shania Twain just fine. I like her earlier stuff more than her most recent stuff, but I also haven’t hated anything she’s put out recently. Until now. There’s this video for a song called something like “Party for Two” and it starts with her talking on her cell phone while she struts along, and she says in the most annoying breathy voice that has ever crossed my ears “Hhhhhey, Billy” and then there’s a whole conversation wherein she tries to get him to come to the party or some shit. I cannot stand this song. I cannot stand this video. I am filled with extreme hatred every time I happen across either the song or the video. Sometimes when there’s nothing on TV and Fred is flipping channels, he’ll flip to the country music video stations and every once in a while that video will be coming on and I scream “Change it! Change it! CHANGE IT!” and he never quite moves fast enough to change the channel and some of the horror enters my brain and I die a little inside. If I just so happen to die in my sleep one of these nights, y’all are in charge of suing Shania Twain. Got it?
* * *
“Hey. HEY! That’s my toy. Put it down. PUT IT DOWN, Spanky, or I will come over there and kick your ASS, you understand? You want a fight? Yeah, that’s what I thought, tough boy.
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30 thoughts on “2004-10-27”

  1. Hey! I’m #1! I was going to post b-day wishes for the youngin’ yesterday, but there were too many people hogging the comment section. So, I’ll do it here! HHHHHHAAAAAAAPPPPYYYYYY Day. Aren’t you glad you don’t have to go through labor every year on their b-day? So, is she taller than you yet? My daughter (12) is as tall as me (5’4″) However, my feet are bigger, so I can walk around on my toes and feel like the mommy for a little while longer. At least, until my calves cramp up! : )

  2. I loved Shania when she hit the radio waves with “Any Man of Mine” and I liked the stuff that came from her immediately after that, but she has gotten REALLY annoying. She does that breathy singing thing that Jessica Simpson does (when they sing the whole song and leave out the consanants? What is up with that? Andblendingallofthewordstogetherlikethissothereisntachancetobreatheinthereanywhere. I hate that!) Anyway, I think the only good thing about that Party for Two song is that Billy Currington sounds good in it.

  3. Haven’t seen the new Shania video, the song is bad enough thank you very much. My bet is she wrote it, if you listen to the words it sounds like the crap off her last album. Yep, this Canadian has little respect for her latest efforts. You would think she is rich enough by now to be able to only do QUALITY stuff…
    But hey, my 7 year old daughters commented they liked it when they heard it on the radio this morning. So she is obviously pleasing someone (although at 7 their buying power is pretty limited 😉

  4. I constantly want to rewind the radio (and actually at XM satellite radio they will have technology within a year to DO JUST THAT…WHEEE!). bUT You know you’re really addicted to DVR when you actually want to rewind REAL LIFE. You think I’m kidding, but I’ve actually thought to myself briefly when I missed what a real person said, “I better find the remote.”
    Have I just revealed that I’m completely nuts?

  5. Renee – Yeah, she’s at least an inch taller than me. That’s just wrong – I never got taller than MY mother!
    Jane – If you’re nuts, I’m nuts too, ’cause at least twice when I was in SC I wanted to rewind real life so I could hear what my father had just said. If we could rewind real life, I’d have to say “Huh? What did you just say?” a WHOLE lot less.

  6. I’ve had my Tivo for at least 5 years and haven’t had any problems with it whatsoever. I can’t live without being able to pause.

  7. I haven’t seen the new Shania video but it can’t possibly be any more annoying than that “UP UP UP” video she put out awhile back…I would react just like you Robyn every time it came on!
    ick…

  8. I’m so glad you guys mentioned it first. I’m always thinking I need to “rewind” real life. Or pause it. It’s really pretty eerie if you think about it. I think it is akin to the thing that happened to me when I played Snood for too many hours in a row…

  9. Completely agree with your comment about the guy on the biggest loser (was it Andy?) being a JERK! His sense of humor is off base. But I think the show has gotten way more interesting now that they’ve entered the “real” world of weight loss, where 2 -3 pounds a week is Great!

  10. Re: TIVO — I can’t live without it. If you’re trying to decide between DVR and Tivo, here’s a long, convoluted explanation below of the only problem I’ve had with Tivo (skip this if you haven’t had your coffee yet, because I wrote it and even I had trouble following what the hell I was trying to say):
    My cable requires you punch in three numbers to change the channel (“004” or “007”, etc.), and since the channel has to change both through the cable box and the Tivo it sometimes takes too long and it will only make it to “04” or “00”) so the channel won’t change and my show doesn’t get recorded. Gah — that sounds like it doesn’t make any sense…anyway — when this happens it’s beYOND annoying. This has also happened to my friend, so I know I’m not the only one, but DAMN, it’s a pisser. Other than that, I LOVE my Tivo.

  11. Another TiVo addict–we’ve had it since it first came out, and just recently upgraded to a new unit (only because we wanted a larger hard drive). Ours is a Tivo/Directv unit, so maybe they’re different from the regular units, but we’ve had zero problems with it, even after all these years. Can’t live without it!

  12. I can’t stand packing peanuts, either. We have two trash bags full of them (from shipments received back in June!) sitting in our living room against the wall. My husband *says* he’s going to take them to some recycling place that recycles the peanuts, but has he done that yet? No.

  13. First, Happy Belated Birthday to the Spud! I read real fast yesterday but didn’t take the time to comment. 2nd, I agree, the person who invented packing peanuts (but especially the green ones, that might be recycled that crumble in the box) should be taken out and tortured. I won something off ebay and the pieces of the peanuts are now all over my kitchen. I LOVE my DVR and haven’t had a lot of trouble with it, but I just switched to Dish network and have only had this unit about a month. I had the old one for about 4 months.

  14. I know two people here in NYC who have DVR. Both of them have had to have their boxes replaced TWICE!! Personally, I’m waiting for the technology to improve.
    God, that sounds snooty.
    Happy Belated Birthday Spud!

  15. Thanks Robyn for answering my DVR/TiVo question in your post! I feel very special! And thanks to everyone else who weighed in. The cost is a big factor right now for me, having just purchased a condo, so I think I’m going to stick with the DVR decision for now. If I find that I have many problems with it AND I end up with extra money (HA!) then maybe I’ll go the TiVo route later on. Thanks again everyone! 🙂

  16. We’ve had our TiVo for at least 3 years, with no problems — and we just moved it to a different state. I was afraid of losing the stuff on it, but it came through just fine (I need to get off my ass and record my Jeopardy episodes to DVD).
    Love the learning feature on it, too — we’ve found a lot of shows that we wouldn’t normally watch that way. And, now we have two feeds coming in, so we can watch one thing and record another!

  17. Very nice stitching, Robyn! I am now duly challenged to show you mine. I’ll load up some pictures tonight when I gethome from work.

  18. Hi Robyn! My husband bought me a TIVO off Ebay about 2 years ago. We have never had any problems with it. In fact I’m so addicted to my TIVO that I would rather record things and watch them later than watch live TV. Also I really love the pause feature. You can pause live TV for 20 minutes. It’s great when it’s time to tuck in my little girl. I don’t have to miss a minute of my show. You should look into buying a used TIVO off of Ebay. I think we paid $150 for mine and it had a bigger hard drive installed on it so we can record 60 hours instead of 30.

  19. We have TiVo thru Direct TV and we’ve never had any problems. I would NEVER be without it again. I also have to agree there is nothing more annoying than watching live tv and being unable to fast forward thru commericals.

  20. Yeah Shania’s stuff is starting to sound the same to me. I don’t like the Party for Two song either. I heard it the other day..listened for about a minute and changed stations.
    I know when I was 16 I would of loved to get all those well wishes and compliments. I hope she had a great day!

  21. I am SOO with you Robyn. I hate that song and video. I love Billy Currington however and just want to take him out back and kick him for doing that song with her. Ick!

  22. 1st off, send the packing peanuts to me! I’m always needing them and never have them and REFUSE to pay what they ask for them in the shipping places like Kinko’s.
    Love DVR. I too have tried to rewind radio and have even tried to rewind real life a time or two. I’m *very* relieved to find out that if I’m nuts, at least I’m not alone.
    And did you know that Shania has actually released that bastard song on both country AND pop stations, with different men singing with her? How sick is this? My DH loves the song, but I’m with all y’all. It makes my stomach hurt!

  23. I agree with Katy about taking Billy Currinton “out back”,but I’m not going to kick him-I lurve the boy!GGGGGRRRRROOOWWWLLLLL !!!
    Tomorrow my housemate gets her DirectTV Tivo($99) while I opted to go the old-fashioned route and buy myself a new 27 inch TV($190) and DVD/VCR combo($90) from Sears. I love that electronics get cheaper as time goes by. Years ago,that package would have cost me twice as much.
    The Big Loser…arg! I am going to hunt down Mr. Asshole and hurt him bad! Dave is also an arrogant lazy git!
    Does anyone else cringe at the amount and intensity that these folks are exercising?? I see joint injuries in their future!
    I am disabled because for years I worked out hard and worked a job hard(on my feet all day,up and down stairs with loads)whilst heavy. I didn’t blow out my knees by staying on the couch. I did it from being too active whilst heavy.Ironic,eh? I should have swam and cycled- non-weightbearing exercises. Every time I see them doing squats and lunges I want to reach through the screen and throttle the trainer.

  24. I have had my tivo for years and can’t live without it. We have to “reboot” the tivo every few months but never any big problems just freeze ups. I don’t know if anyone said this but I was told if you have Directv there isn’t a monthly fee for Tivo because they own Tivo now.

  25. Almost any of those packing/shipping/moving places will happily take your peanuts. We have one that’s sort of central to where we run a lot of errands, so we just wait til we fill a big trash bag and then run them over while we’re already out. Robyn, check your phone book! Greg’s parents send everything in those damn peanuts and until we found this moving place I used to get pissed off too.

  26. Count me in on the packing peanut hatred. The bozo across the alley dumped over a box of them by his garbage several years ago, and I’m STILL picking them out of my bushes, THREE SUMMERS LATER.
    Evil little non-biodegradable pieces of shite!!!

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