Confessions of a junkie

Hello, my name is Bob and I am a junkie.

Hello, Bob.

I live with my junkie wife in a nice house. No one would ever suspect us.

We are addicted to TiVo.

We're now on our 5th box. The first three came from the same big box store. The first two, sold as new, when activated, were discovered to have already been activated by previous owners who returned them to the store, which then resold them as new. Bad store. Its initials have a b in them.

That 3rd box worked, but eventually the modem within died. TiVo calls out to get the program listings so it knows what to record for you.

Box number 4 was difficult to set up when we moved to Austin, as it wouldn't initiatize through a VOIP (internet phone) setup. I had to go bother a neighbor, use his REAL phone and TV.

Box 4 has just become very sick - this time the hard drive is fading. Actually, it has the stoppies (cute name for imminent death, don't you think? Not my name - TiVo did it.) A new hard drive is $169. A new box is $199. Even though we expect to go Hi-Def in the fall, and that will involve some other PVR (hi-def disc drive video recorder), we can't live without our fix of TiVo all summer.

Box 5 has just been purchased. Because we are addicts.

TiVo saves SO much time and transforms the TV experience into something wonderful. NO MORE COMMERCIALS. NO MISSED SHOWS. I could go on and on, but I need to go bother the neighbor and get this box working. I have evangelized TiVo to non-believers/potential addicts and they say they don't want to watch more TV. But TiVo cuts all shows down by the time of promos and commercials! You save - what? 18 to 22 minutes per hour of viewing. That's LESS TV.

I am becoming addicted to SKYPE too... a WAY COOL VOIP free program that allows me to talk to other SKYPERS over a microphone and hear them back on speakers. That reads like "speaker phone" but it's SO much better, so much more intimate. Has to be experienced to be believed. It also has instant chat - last night I was messaging a friend in Singapore. We would have spoken but his kids were stil asleep.

If you want to get Skype, check this out:
http://www.skype.com/community/movies/frisbee/

Okay, I have admitted my addictions (well, okay, the computer too, and the internet) and I feel better and clean.

Now I need some chocolate.