Life is TiVo-licious

Happiness and excitement radiate from my living room: My new TiVo is up and running!

The fun began the week I got back to Gainesville, when I ordered the TiVo. It intensified last Thursday, when the TiVo arrived by UPS. But then it abruptly turned to frustration on Friday, when our little installation crew discovered that it takes a lot more than three grad students to install a TiVo.

Actually, it wasn't our fault that the first TiVo was a lemon. Something was wrong with its power supply. I called a TiVo technician and described the clicking sound it was making, and he confirmed my suspicions. "TiVos do not click," he said. So I sent it back and demanded a replacement from Amazon.

Well, that one got here yesterday, and passed its setup tests with flying colors. It works, it's on, and it's recording "The OC" as I write.

I'm almost baffled. I'd forgotten what it is like to have a TiVo, to be able to buzz around doing other things while TiVo picks up all my shows at my command.

You see, once upon a time, I had a different TiVo. We spent a lot of time together, and it knew me well. But I came to grad school, and TiVo moved onto that long list of things that I just didn't have anymore.

So now, I have gone and gotten a TiVo of my own, one that answers to me alone. Soon it will help me catch up with shows I haven't seen in a long time. It will introduce me to new favorites I might have overlooked. It will free me from my schedule and let me do what I want, when I want.

TiVo is a great invention. It's almost enough to make me want to ...

... stop watching TV for a while, so I can go away and come back and see what the TiVo has been up to in my absence.