Not just any song… a parody! I keep trying to think up words for it, and it’s been going on for days.
Some ways it’s worse than having a regular song stuck in my head. Trying to come up with new words or remember the regular ones so that I can come up with new words is really, really distracting.
I have no idea if I’m going to finish it or not. I think I’m just going to have to write out what I have so far, see if that helps to banish the song.
No, not going to share it yet. And definitely don’t expect me to sing it on tape for YouTube or anything. I really doubt I’m that brave… crazy… stupid… self obsessed, or whatever else you want to call it. But if I like how it comes out, I might post the words.
Been sick the past couple weeks. Started with my kids getting sick with the flu, then I got sick, and finally ended up with a sinus infection. These things have a way of making it really hard to blog, and I’m only now getting back on track.
Bugs in the computer, that is.
My computer was crashing a lot today. This particular machine has always been exceptionally sensitive to dust. I can tell when it needs to be dusted again (about every other month) because it starts crashing.
But this time it was more than just the dust. Yes, indeed, there was a bug in my computer, of the pincher bug variety.
Know what? They really don’t like cold air being sprayed on them, even to get them out of the computer. And when the air is especially cold, coming from a can of air that has just dusted a computer, they really, really don’t like it.
My sister and her husband gave me a very nice Christmas present this year - their spare TiVo
plus an annual subscription. They say if I like they can just renew it each year for me rather than buying a present. Not a bad deal, but I told them I will think on it.
You see, I already have Media Center on my computer. But TiVo was the version I first tried out, back when it first came out and one of my other sisters had it. And I’ve long thought that I like it best.
Don’t get me wrong. Media Center is nice. It came with my computer that I was buying anyhow, and all I had to do was get the tuner card so that it could receive cable channels. No subscription fees.
Each one has some advantages and disadvantages.
TiVo Advantages:
- Designed just for the television.
- Great operating system. Easier to interact with in many ways.
- I like watching my shows on the television.
- Makes suggestions of shows you might like to watch, and records them. This can be turned off if/when it drives you nuts.
- I think the picture quality is better in my experience.
TiVo Disadvantages:
- Subscription fees.
- Watching a lot of television on the television means I work less.
- If you just want to record, for example, the 9:00 showing of a show every week, you can’t just type in the name and tell it to do it. You have to go by time and channel for this. Otherwise the subscription will go for all showings. This is a pain if it’s on a channel that does a lot of reruns, such as the Discovery Channel.
- My own problem - living room is really not set up for an internet connection or telephone connection, so we have a cord running through the house to the nearest phone outlet. We hope to eventually do wireless internet, but it’s not in the budget now.
Media Center Advantages:
- No subscription fees.
- Sometimes it’s nice to watch television on my computer monitor.
- Add on for the computer. Designed to deal with much more than just recording and watching television.
- Could be set up to work with the television if I cared to do it. They’re in separate rooms, so it’s not happening for me.
- When you decide you need to program in a show you’d like to record, what you are currently watching appears in a small screen near the bottom, so you don’t stop watching completely.
- You can choose the airtime of shows you want to record, so episodes run at other times do not record.
Media Center Disadvantages:
- Add on for the computer. Designed to deal with much more than just recording and watching television. Yes, good and bad.
- Watching a lot of television on the computer means I work less.
- I’ve always felt the picture quality was poorer.
- Took a very long time to figure out how to change show priorities. You have to go to the Scheduled recording section, then switch to series before you can mess around with recording priority on anything other than a case by case basis.
All in all, it’s interesting having both. I don’t know if my preferences will change or not over time. One plus to having both that I’ve already noticed is that my husband and I can more easily enjoy our preferred shows separately and together. With Media Center on my computer, not his, he hasn’t always been able to watch his shows as easily as I could watch mine.
Technorati Tags: tivo, media center, television, dvr
One of the things I look for in Christmas presents is something that will not cause clutter. Most adults I know already have a problem with clutter. This lead to one of my favorite presents to give when budget allows… Netflix.
The memberships can be pretty cheap, starting at $4.99 a month, which translates to a bit less than $60 a year, and the person can get up to 2 discs a month. For a lot of people that’s probably plenty. How many movies do you usually rent a month anyhow?
Netflix is really, really fast about shipping out discs. That’s one of the things that always amazed me, that they could be so efficient at it.
This is what my sisters and I got for my mother last year, although it was a more than minimum subscription. She’s gotten good use out of it.
It’s a gift I’d enjoy too, although I really don’t watch that many movies. The selection is just amazing, more than you can get at a regular video store or even those vending machines that rent movies I’ve seen a couple places.
Technorati Tags: netflix, gift ideas
