Whine & Cheese

TiVo Auto-Recording Wishlists

I have sung the praise of TiVo over and over again... honestly I can not imagine life without it!   While the Season Pass is one of its most heralded features, another feature that I think is equally, if not more, amazing is the Auto-Recording Wish List (henceforth known by the acronym ARWL).   Having read around some discussion boards, I suspect this feature is highly under-utilized.  But perhaps I am wrong... given my little teaser yesterday... at least a couple of folks use it... do you?

Here is how we use it with our TiVos -- anything in CAPS is the wishlist name:

AMAZING RACE, AMERICAN IDOL, SCRUBS, SIX FEET UNDER, SOPRANOS, "BIG BROTHER"
Sure all these could be set up as Season Passes... but ARWLs will pick up any other show on any channel that is related to the program.  If one of the stars from the show appears on a talk show (Leno, Letterman, Oprah, Regis & Kelly, etc) ... or if there is a story on one of a "news" program, such as Entertainment Tonight or Access Hollywood, it will pick it up.

For HBO shows this is particularly a must, since it'll record the show at the earliest available opportunity on any of the 6+ HBO channels that we have. 

For AMAZING RACE, it'll pick up the next day's The Early Show that has an interview with the latest eliminated team. 

BIG BROTHER is in quotes so it only picks up that exact phrase -- granted it is a fairly common phrase so occasionally it will pick up a show (i.e. the movie version of 1984) not related to the summer reality show -- but no re-programming a Season Pass when it is turns from BB4 to BB5 to BB6 (same goes for AMAZING RACE).

xxx & TALK SHOWS (where xxx is WEST WING, LOST, LAS VEGAS, SURVIVOR, 24)
These shows have the traditional Season Passes, but these ARWLs pick up just talk show appearances.   Why not just do an overall wishlist like I did above?   

1) This doesn't work well with shows in syndication... unless you want TiVo recording every old episode of West Wing that is airing on Bravo.  Ditto on Will & Grace.

2) Too common of a word... "Lost," "24," "Survivor" and "Las Vegas" would all make TiVo go into overdrive... so need to get a bit more specific with the TALK SHOW tag.  This is 100% full-proof, i.e., I still get some talk shows about cancer and other "survivors" -- but not an overwhelming amount... and easy enough to prune off the To Do list.

SURVIVOR & ACTION & ADVENTURE/REALITY
Set it and forget it.  Similar to BIG BROTHER and AMAZING RACE in avoiding having to deal with slightly different names are new numbers of each new season.  The extra tag prevents the recording on "Survivor" shows not not hosted by Jeff Probst.  Put this in and you don't have to worry about where the heck the show is... Outback, Palau, or Pearl Islands.  It also automatically picks up the finale/reunion part of the show (which sometimes has something else added onto the title... and is not picked up by a traditional Season Pass).

DIAMONDBACKS
Will pick up Arizona Diamonbacks baseball games on any channel... also picks up other special shows regarding our hometown team.

HILLARY CLINTON, BILL CLINTON
Our household's favorite politicians... again will pick up any talk shows (Larry King, Sunday morning news programs, etc.) ... as well as biography-type programs on any channel.

BILL MAHER
Picks up one of our favorite comedians... recording his HBO series Real Time on any of our HBO channels... as well as talk show appearances (recently recorded a Tonight Show appearance)... and a comedy special when it comes around.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN
One of our favorite journalists.... again those talk show appearances, but also his semi-regular special programs on the Discovery Channel.

xxx & SPORTS/TENNIS (where xxx is NASDAQ, AUSTRALIAN, FRENCH, WIMBLEDON, US OPEN)
I have Season Passes for ATP Tennis and WTA Tennis... but when it is a dual-gender event like the Grand Slams it is not tagged either way.  So this picks up all the matches and is particularly helpful when the event is on multiple channels (i.e. a cable channel on weekdays, major network on the weekends).

QUEER
Picks up queer-titled shows (Queer Eye/Queer As Folk) ... and talk show appearances by anyone from those shows... and occasionally a surprise special show like VH-1's Totally Gay.

Do you have any TiVo tips or tricks?  What are your ARWLs?

AI4: Sponsored By Coke

Oh boy... The Smoking Gun is at it again...  Zap2It reports the quick details ['Idol' Finalist Once Faced Coke Charge]

Any guesses?  Well, no other than Bo "Harold" Bice... eek!  Here are the quick details:

Arrested in June 2001 in his home state of Alabama on a cocaine-possession charge. On Aug. 29, 2001, about two months after the arrest, Bice saw his case dismissed when an investigator from the Huntsville, Ala., police failed to show at a preliminary hearing. The local district attorney's office later moved to refile the charges, at which point Bice agreed to enter a drug-diversion program for first-time offenders. A spokeswoman for the D.A.'s office tells the web site that details of the diversion program are kept confidential, but such programs typically involve counseling and regular drug tests. After Bice completed the program last year, the charge was dismissed.

Given the lack of impact the Gun's discovery of Scott's past has had ... let's hope the same for Bo... given history, I guess Bo's future on AI all depends on whether or not this was disclosed to producers beforehand.

UPDATE:  According to tonight's Entertainment Tonight, producers said Bo was upfront with about his past before the start of the show.

Ok, I think I am just going to officially postpone my intended post for today... check back in tomorrow... especially if you own a TiVo.  Update: Don't get too excited... it is all about our Auto-Recording Wishlists... if you are going... huh?  Definitely come back tomorrow... they are just as wonderful as the Season Pass.

My Give-A-Damn's Busted

Got to love country music sometimes... just saw/heard this on The View (go ahead, snicker away!)... but I am pretty sure I will be downloading this Jo Dee Messina tune...

I really wanna care.
I wanna feel somethin'.
Let me dig a little deeper:.
No, sorry: nothin'.

You can say you've got issues, you can say you're a victim.
It's all your parents fault, after all you didn't pick 'em.
Maybe somebody else has got time to listen:
My give-a-damn's busted.

Still have my entry that I intended to post today... so stay tuned!

AI4: It's All Greek To Me

Wasn't planning on posting about AI today, but guess I should chime in about Constantine getting the boot... have to say that I am pretty surprised.  I gladly admit that I liked him... I found his cheesiness to be endearing, others found it infuriating... but at least it added something to this year's competition.  I almost enjoyed the morning after "debate" (that may be too nice of a word) about him just as much as his performances... he was definitely a polarizing figure... and now that he is gone I think some air has been let out of the AI balloon this season.

Despite what it seems I really don't take these shows too seriously. I slept soundly last night and woke up with my life unchanged.  That said, I can't imagine how Scott did not get the boot... and if not that, how the heck he avoided the Bottom 3.  Beyond his voice, I have more problems with his attitude... and his past is not particularly Idol-worthy (perhaps a double standard... as male contestants can't seem to run from their past as easily the females).

I guess we can blame Simon's "pack your bags" line... it usually backfires... and there are "vote for the worst" campaigns ... but I don't believe there is enough of that going on to counteract "real" voting. 

So we'll see... this stuff happens on Idol (though I dare say, not to this degree)... but with the non-cookie cutter contestants of Nadia and Constantine out of the competition, it is going to be difficult to muster up much excitement for the rest of the season - go Bo!

TAR7: Talkin' Turkey

Thoughts on last night's episode "We Have A Gnome!"

Again, hard to get too excited over a non-elimination episode.  I have to admit I was getting a little stoked when it look like Ron/Kelly were headed for Philimination... but I should have known better... still two more weeks until the finale (and the final episode always has 3 teams) and my TiVo spoiler that there was no Early Show appearance scheduled this morning for the eliminated team.

For those who think I am too much in love with Rob/Amber, don't worry I was laughing the whole time over the going-ons last night.  Just a pretty classic TAR moment, when Rob thinks he is playing Gretchen with a teaser about an earlier flight... which only spurs on Uchenna to, in fact, find an earlier flight.  Also, quite fun when R&A find out that the other two teams were ahead of them.

I agree with Gretchen that this was probably their best leg... but I will disagree with her about the reason.  She said they did it under their own power (partially true) and had lucked out in the past when other teams screwed up (totally true)  -- but the only reason they came in 2nd last night was thanks to Uchenna/Joyce... and they were lucky to do that with the continued bumbling around to find the clue box and what was a pretty physical challenge (props to Gretchen!).

Weighing oneself on a scale is a favorite street activity in Turkey?  Huh and why?

I have to say Ron took Kelly's "get out of the service/POW" thing much better than I thought he would... I think the boards were buzzing with more reaction from last week's previews than Ron was in this episode.  That said, I did not have a whole lot of hope about this relationship being a lasting one even before this "how could you possibly say that aloud" comment.   And while that $20,000 Travelocity gift certificate was a pretty darn cool prize -- the last thing I think I would want to do at this stage in the Race is to go back to my hotel and surf the site looking for vacations!

Speaking of prizes, c'mon Uchenna/Joyce finish in 1st place for the 2nd straight week and no prize... even last week when Joyce shaved her head?!!   C'mon Phil -- come up with something for these two!

On another note, have you read that recently wed Rob & Amber are registered at Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond?  Look quick, since I am sure the registries probably will not be up too much longer.  But what to get that millionnaire couple?  No big surprise that a lot of the items have already been purchased.

AI4: Why 2K?

Last night on American Idol, the contestants were given the task of singing songs from 2000 on... so, in other words, no bellyaching about how you weren't even born yet!  That said, maybe unfamiliarity is a good thing.  I don't think anyone did a bang up job.  In fact, my order is the same as last week.

Given that we only have 6 left, there was more time "to learn more" about each contestant... so we go back to their home towns, which is really just an thinly veiled excuse to guilt trip the viewing audience on why they should vote for them.

#1 Bo Bice - ("I Don't Wanna Be") -  As I said recently, this Gavin DeGraw song is one of my current favorites (yes, I jumped on the bandwagon very late).  I don't think Bo's take on it measured up to the original -- and, at times, I thought he sounded like he was trying to imitate DeGraw.  His look was also a little questionable (the sunglasses and 70s frock-top)... but it was an electrifying performance... so that is good enough to land him my top spot for this week.  GUILT TRIP:  Bo really is nice guy and loves to perform, but will the appearance of a girlfriend work against him?

#2 Constantine Maroulis - ("This Is How You Remind Me") - Scary enough, Paula's "critique" was absolutely coherent and accurate.  Not the best song choice... not the best vocals...  but the performance was just fine (granted not as "authentic" as Bo's).  GUILT TRIP: Little Constantine has a hard time in school with an odd name... but c'mon this is a real-life version of My Big Fat Greek Family... Opa!  And we learn that the guy that I thought was Constantine's father is actually his brother.

#3 Vonzell Solomon - ("I Turn To You") - Thought this was Vonzell's shakiest performance in weeks ... especially at the beginning... but she knew enough that she could bring it home in the end... which she did... pretty much.  GUILT TRIP: Vonzell can karate chop a wood board... and her brother is so proud of "Baby V" that he has tears in his eyes... awww!

#4 Anthony Federov - ("I Surrender") -  Another more than passable job for Anthony... little rocky at the start, but he seems to hit the big notes just fine. GUILT TRIP: It's the American Dream ... immigrant family comes to America, young child achieves goal of singing his heart out in front of millions... awww!

#5 Carrie Underwood - ("When God Fearin' Women Get The Blues") - Carrie returns to her country roots with another Martina McBride song, but unlike "Broken Wing" she doesn't have much success with this one -- the band pretty much drowns her out on this uptempo song... and as the judges say, she does sound kind of flat.  On a good note, she seems to be enjoying herself and showing some facial expression this week.  GUILT TRIP:  She sings to her cows and Mom is brought to tears on what a great daughter she is... awww!

#6 Scott Savol - ("Dance With My Father") - Not too much right going on in this song ... lots of off-notes and some real authenticity problems with the song selection since we just saw his father sitting with his mother at the kitchen table like 30 seconds ago.  So hard to get any connection with this song.  Scotty looks pissed when the judges are all pretty unanimous that it sucked... but probably wisely decides to keep his mouth shut.  GUILT TRIP: Scott is the average Joe, the common man, he is American personified!  And he has an illegitimate child he wants to give a better life to!  Note to self:  Avoid Cincinnati, apparently there are "hundreds" of Scotts roaming around the city.

It seems like this should be Scott's week to go... but I have been saying that for weeks, so I won't be surprised in the least if that does not happen.  Anthony will probably be unable to avoid the Bottom 3 again... and it is probably about time Carrie (and, more so, her fans) get a "scare."

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Primetime Live's much balley-hooed expose on American Idol (they are calling the special episode "Fallen Idol") will air next Wednesday, May 4th on ABC.  Just read that Paula Abdul is threatening a lawsuit... this should be good!

Also, be sure to check out my Actual W&C Search Hits feature on the left hand bar... been getting a lot of funny search hits related to Idol.

A Good Run of Bad Luck

I think I should go into conclave... until I see starting seeing some white smoke rising, because right now it is undoubtedly black.

Okay, maybe it is just that genetic black cloud that my family feels hovers constantly overhead paying me an imaginary visit... but it just does seems like that not a whole heck of lot is going right of late.

Since work was going pretty well this morning, I decided to sneak off to the gas station... yes needed some petrol, but more so my car need a long overdue wash... and a handful of gas stations/convenience stores around the area have car washes.   That all went okay, but getting back out on the street I am pretty sure that I rear-ended the car in front of me.  Yes, I say "pretty sure" -- I thought I heard a crunch but didn't really feel a thrust/bump.  I sat there waiting for the person to get out their car and start waving their hands... but it never happened.  Within 20 seconds (but it seemed like hours), the person turned and went on their way.  I looked at their back bumper and nothing seemed wrong... when I got home I looked at my front bumper... and nary a scratch. 

So are things that bad... that I am imagining disasters now?!  Or did I dodge another bullet with that person not noticing or caring?! 

Update on my own "medical" condition... I am pretty sure that the two "injuries" on my arm are cat bites... the dull/knotty pain is similar to that when I have been bitten in the leg by Toby and the puncture-like wounds seem more consistent with teeth vs. claws.  The forearm (vs. the bicep) one is already turning colors... so I am sure it will be pretty black & blue before too long. 

Elvis is doing pretty fine.  He occasionally favors that paw... but seems to be walking (and running!) on it fine.  The vet said it would probably be sensitive for a few days until the nail/claw started to grow back.

Maybe I should look at my horoscope to see if something is in retrograde?!

Reason #179 That I Am Ready For Vacation

Over the past couple of years it seems like I/we go "run screaming" into our vacations.  Vacations are supposed to be an escape from the stresses in life, but it seems like it is always pretty stressy in the days leading up to it.  Since this is a big vacation coming up, it seems like stresses are coming in a big fashion as well.

You may have read my last entry about my almost distastrous PC problem (latest update, they are going to have to do a total mftrg restore on it)... and the PC problem was intensely stressy since I was already stressy about the current jobs I am working on (and almost lost!)...

But another pre-vacation thing that crops up is pet worries.  Now don't get me wrong, I love them dearly... perhaps too much!  I am wracked with guilt leaving them under perfect/normal circumstances... but usually something happens pre-vacation that makes us worry even more.

Mindy is really getting up their in age... so most days we are often concerned about her.  Friday/Saturday were particularly not good... she was very disoriented, was less than her usual enthusiastic self when it came to eating, and had a very difficult time moving around.  She has had her bad moments like this before... but often in a day or two she'll rebound... granted not back to puppy state (heck, not even 7-year old dog status!), but to some point where we are not cringing or have a pit in our stomach when we watch her.  So going away for 8 days and leaving her at the kennel with her "not so always nice" brother Toby is a concern.  We are realistic... we know that she is in the twilight of her life, but, as always, it is hard to figure out that "quality of life" line in the sand.  She seems to be doing a bit better today... so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Saturday, after the PC horror lifted, we discovered that Elvis the cat (our youngest) was having some problems with his paw.  He was favoring it and was not too happy when you touched his paw.  On closer observation, it seemed as if he was growing another claw beneath his "normal" one.  He could still walk around fine, but there was definitely some discomfort... so I called the vet this morning and they were able to get him in right away.

I suspected Elvis would not like the carrier and going to vet.  While he pratically lived there when we first got him (thanks to eye and respiratory infections), he had not been back in almost a year.  In that time, he has become very shy/skittish... not showing his face when "new" people are in the house (like last night/this morning when we had our guests).

Well, it was far worse than I imagined.  I was able to pick him up just fine, but once he got around the carrier he squirmed, screamed, clawed, bit, and scratched.  When I finally got him in the carrier, it bounced around like something out of Jurassic Park... very very unhappy kitty.  Based on my own personal experience, it is always the shy/quiet cats that turn the most demonic in these situations.

So I had some dull pain in my arm... but it was only when I got to the vet that I realized I was bit and/or scratched pretty badly in two places on my right arm. The vet tech quickly got me antispectic and gauze pads... there was broken skin, some blood and parts of my arm were already bruising... but anyhow back to the cat... (yes, even during all this I am more worried about the cat than me... despite the horrific looks on the faces of the vet office staff when they see my arm)...

In this tirade (and I realize he was just very, very scared and didn't mean me any harm), he managed to rip off his entire claw -- both the "regular" claw and this "new" piece.  His paw was bloodied, but not bleeding.  So the vet never did have the chance to see this "new" claw.  She suspected that the real claw was unhealthy and/or split and that part either got ingrown or implanted underneath the skin.  So, ultimately Elvis solved his own problem... pulled his own bad tooth (the analogy the vet used)... the new claw/nail should start growing in within a couple of days and hopefully all will be fine.

I, on the other hand, am still oozing some blood (4 hours later!) on one of the puncture.  Elvis definitely gets the pillowcase or wrapped in a towel treatment the next time he has to go to the vet... but I am not planning on doing that any time soon!

So, how many more days to go?!

I think I'll just watch some 24 tonite to relax....

Disaster, Relief

Sometimes it is probably not a good idea to publicly declare your weekend plans ... life has a funny way of doing a snickering "screw you" when you try and lay things out in an orderly manner.

So, we did get to the Diamondbacks game on Friday night... the home team won and our new seats are simply incredible (well, until a large man with a rather large head sat in front of me... but fortunately I was able to scoot over to another seat... usually not a huge fan of children at the ballpark, but I admit they are good for unobstructed views)... but things started to go awry when we got home...

My computer's fan was whirring quite loudly and it seemed to be hung up after doing a virus scan.  To make a verrrry long story short, ultimately when I restarted my PC I started getting run-time errors ... and Windows would not load up properly and/or all the way... no Internet connection and Windows would not write files to a CD.  The problem?  No way to access/get my work files off the computer.

I have been very lazy about backing up my work files... in fact, I had not done it for several weeks.  I used to be pretty good about it... but these days (and especially with a "new" 3-4 month old computer!)... I got lulled into sense of security... why spend the time trying to burn all these back-up work CDs (usually takes 3 of them)? When have I ever gone back to a backed-up CD?   Hardly ever.  And most of the time for my own stupidity of deleting a file I shouldn't have... not because of any PC problems...

So here I was with no way to get my work files... I have been through a pretty darn busy 3 week period... so it would take dozens of hours to recreate many things, while other stuff would be pretty difficult to re-produce at all... on top of that I had 2 jobs that needed to go out first thing this morning.... and 2 other very big jobs that would likely require immediate attention early this week.  To say I was in a panic is a serious understatement....

While I was somewhat optimistic that things would be ultimately okay (I was able to get to the desktop, access files and software, copy things off a CD)... that did not solve the problem of getting my files off the computer.

I will skip over several attempts to get the files off on my own, calls to a computer repair/data recovery company that could not get here until Sunday afternoon, downloading registry fix and other "clean up" type software (none of which worked)... it was hours and hours of no progress...

Saturday morning I took the computer over to the local comptuer guru shop... and within minutes they brainstormed a way to get my files off the computer... the Windows CD burning wizard didn't work (obviously since Windows was screwed)... but fortunately another CD burning software that was on my computer (that I never used, or heck, even knew I had) did work...

So a huge sigh of relief (again a huge understatement... I repeated to myself ... do not hug computer guy, do not hug computer guy...).  I brought the PC back home... burned off all the files I needed and then dropped the computer back off to them to hopefully fix.   Loaded everything up on my previous computer and I am back in business... literally!

So dodged a big bullet and lesson learned -- back-up the important files on your computer regularly!!  I think I am going to look into an external hard-drive for a daily back-up and then make sure to back back up my files to a CD/DVD at the end of each week.

Another Nadal Victory

Another tournament victory for my latest FW-er, Rafael Nadal.   His latest win, fourth of the season, comes on the clay courts of Barcelona where he defeated countryman, Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Obviously, tournaments like to give out big trophies... but isn't this a bit ridiculous?!!  And the least they could have done is biggie-sized Juan Carlos' runner-up plate!