Time Keeps on Slippin'

"Time continues to skip forward randomly, details at 11." (time jump) "This is the news at 11. The mysterious and unexplained…" (time jump) "Turning to entertainment news: Teen singer 'Wendy' might just be the lates…" (time jump) "…won 3 Grammy's last nigh." (time jump) "…was found dead. In her bathtub."

Source: This is a news segment from the Time Keeps on Slippin' episode of Futurama.

Explanation: I TiVoed the Virginia Tech football game last night and started watching it this morning. (At this point I have only seen the first half, so please don't talk to me about it.) Something is flaky about my TiVo, or maybe my cable, because I kept missing little segments of the game. Even more annoyingly, the first incident happened when Maryland was attempting their first field goal. The snap was good. The hold was good. The kick was up... "...ever live without this product. It's amazing technology". I had no idea what happened. The kick was in the air and suddenly I was in a commercial. At first I thought this was an ESPN issue. Then it happened again. And again it was during a Maryland field goal attempt. Again the play started and I was suddenly in a commercial. The only way I knew the result was because the score was different when I got back from commercial. I was certain it was an ESPN issue until it happened during live play as well. At that point, I realized that I had completely missed 2 minutes of broadcast. Then I missed the last 3 minutes before halftime as well.

So, on the bright side, I expect to finish the rest of the game in about half of the normal time. Sure, I'll miss most of it, but at least I can still claim that I went cannon to cannon.

By the way, if you're wondering, "cannon to cannon" is my Virginia Tech football motto. Tech fires off a cannon at the start of the game and at the end of the game. (And for scores in between, but that's not pertinent to my motto.) I watch games cannon to cannon. Start to finish. If we are winning in a blowout, I go cannon to cannon and enjoy every moment of it. If we lose in a blowout, I still sit tight until the final cannon and endure the pain.

I believe the only exception I've ever made to this rule was when my parents came to join me at a VT vs. Akron game in October of 1995. It was absolutely pouring rain on a typically cold fall day in Blacksburg. We left after the third quarter, when Tech's band was substituted into the game for the third string players. Tech went on to win the game 77-27. I would have stayed for the whole thing, except I left in deference to my parents, who were a bit soggier than they were used to being. It only seemed appropriate, seeing as they were paying for me to be there in the first place.

Beat the Rush! Fall Behind Now!

According to my TiVo, I left home at 4:45am today.

Explanation: No, I did not leave at 4:45am, nor did I watch any television this morning.* This weekend began the exciting period where the government's change in Daylight Saving Time screws up devices that were "smartly" programmed to change automatically based on the old standard.

Yesterday, my mom was telling me about how half the clocks in her house were suddenly an hour off and I laughed at it, only later realizing that my TiVo showed 12:00 and 3:00 NFL games yesterday. Luckily, it thought the games were at 12:00 and 3:00, so other than the bad time, it still functions correctly.

*I actually left home for Poughkeepsie at 5:45am this morning. If you see me yawning today, it's not because you're boring me. Well, maybe it is, but at least I have a really good excuse.

Noooooo!

The one flaw with my TiVo has been exposed.

Explanation: I rarely watch Monday Night Football. Last night the Eagles were playing the Cowboys, so I made an exception. After the most exciting first half of football I've seen in a long time, it was way past my bedtime, so I set the TiVo to record the rest of the game (plus an hour, because sometimes these things run over). Then I went to bed, knowing I wouldn't miss a thing.

This morning, I woke up excitedly telling my wife about the first half of the game. I went flying downstairs to watch as much as I could of the exciting conclusion before work, only to find that my recording lasted a whopping 7 minutes. After pulling my jaw back from the floor and recovering from the shock, I realized that my internet connection had been down as well. I went outside to check things out.

Sure enough, when moving a car last night, the temporary cable line in my driveway managed to get pulled from my house right before I went to bed. The TiVo works great, but you need cable for it to work.

So, as far as I know, the Eagles won last night by 6 points. Go Philly!!!

On My TiVo the Packers Still Have a Chance

I have a dream that one day my TiVo will actually record an NFL game in its entirety.

Explanation: Since I played volleyball all day yesterday, I was having trouble keeping my eyes open during the Packers-Giants game last night. So, I told the TiVo to record the rest of it and went to bed around halftime. This morning, I watched the second half of the game. At the end of the recording, the score is tied 20-20 and the Giants are driving toward a possible game winning field goal with about 1:30 left in regulation.

This is exactly why my Virginia Tech recording preferences always record an hour and a half after the network schedules the game to end. When recording on the fly, however, sometimes it just doesn't seem worth the effort to go through all of those options. Oh well. Only one more game left this year, and I'll be watching that live.

Also, I'd like to send a "hello" to all those Americans who get today off. You'll be reading this after you wake up around 10:00, I'm sure. Jerks.

Important Note From The Management: You may notice that there were no posts this weekend. Well, there weren't. I will backfill them when I have a spare moment or two today. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.