All the drama, none of the commercials

It must be fate that I set up my new TiVo the same week as the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Olympics seem tailor-made to put the TiVo through its paces: I set a Season Pass for it and can now pause before the big figure-skating final, fast-forward through the compulsory ice-dancing routine, and watch Stephen Colbert be interviewed in full Mountie regalia without having to stay up until 1 a.m.

Because I can control what parts of the coverage I'm watching, I find myself absolutely riveted by the Olympics this year. I get all teary-eyed at the footage of the men's super G winner's dad cheering and jumping up and down. I adore how finishers in cross-country skiing events cross the finish line and then just fall over. I'm enthralled by how Evan Lysacek somehow avoids getting tangled up in his own limbs, each of which are approximately 17 feet long. I thrill to biathlon.

(By the by: Biathlon? Is going to be the next "curling" in the sense of a wacky, off-the-beaten-path sport that everyone loves to talk about. I know it. NPR knows it. Captain Awesome knows it. So study up.)


Watch out, Bob Costas - there's a new Olympic expert in town. (Just don't ask me to watch the entire second heat of men's skeleton in real time. I'll fast-forward to the medal round, thanks.)

[Images come from the Olympics' gallery.]

A TiVo post: IR code for RCA STB766C

(This is not so much a blog post as a public service announcement, because I spent several hours looking for this information , and now that I have the solution, I would like to put it in a place where a search engine can get at it.)

Perhaps, dear stranger who happened upon this page by searching for rca stb766c ir codes, you are trying to set up your new TiVo to work with a digital converter box you purchased at Target. It has RCA printed on the bottom of it, so you choose that when the TiVo asks you what brand your converter box is. And then you go through the infrared setup so that the TiVo can change the channel when it wants to start recording something - and NOTHING HAPPENS. And you're about ready to tear your hair out.

Here is what you do: You will notice on the TiVo page that lists which converters are compatible with their service, they list a box with a model number very similar to your RCA STB7766C: the Venturer STB7766G. You know what? It turns out that that's close enough!

So go back through your channel changing setup and say your box is a Venturer instead of an RCA. I can't guarantee that it'll work for you, but it worked for me. I hope this helps you.

P.S. Just in case you were wondering, stranger who did a search for rca stb766c ir codes, I am not a tech head. Everything I know about this issue I learned from Googling various configurations of my problem. If this does not solve your problem, I PROMISE YOU, I will be unable to help. I apologize in advance, and I suggest you try browsing the help forums at tivocommunity.com.

Just in case you were wondering ...

Created by Oatmeal

My New Year's resolutions (more or less)

Less clutter. Less piling of junk into corners. Less stuff in my life.

More thank-you notes. (More thanks in general, in fact.)

More veggies.

I would say a lot more (less sugar, more moving around instead of sitting at the computer all day, more blog posts), but let's try to keep it simple for now.

How about you?

Time for an adventure!

An adventure into an operating system I've avoided for 10 years, but am now trying because Mac = expensive (you might not have known that; it is kind of a secret).

Also: Pink!

What a Midwestern potluck looks like

You really can never have too many Crock-Pots.

Nerrrrrrrrd!

Your result for The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test...

Pure Nerd

78 % Nerd, 48% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record:



A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.



You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.



The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.



Congratulations!





Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following:



Buffy the Vampire Slayer




Professional Wrestling






Love & Sexuality




America/Politics




Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Take The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test at OkCupid

Unboxing: Random movie stuff

Last night I took my friend Sue to a fundraising gala for my employer's charitable foundation. I've never been to a gala before, so that was fun! There was a pasta bar! Free drinks!

And of course, there were several ways for those in attendance to give more money to the foundation. Like the silent auction, which had packages ranging from "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Beanie Babies" to "diamond necklace." I bid on (of course I bid on) a package called "Harry Potter and the Film Memorabilia," a Gryffindor scarf and Hogwarts messenger bag filled with unseen random stuff from other movies. (It was donated by a co-worker who used to work for film promotion company The Owens Group.)



I'm kind of surprised I won with my paltry bid, because the bag on its own is pretty nice.



And hey, now I have a scarf to go with the Gryffindor hat Jeff bought me!



But what crazy movie tie-in promotional items are hiding inside? Let's find out!

(I love this kind of thing.)




We've got hats! Hats from LOTR, Spider-Man 2, and ... what's The Express?




A DVD of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I have mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, free DVDs are great! On the other hand, zombies are very scary.




A travel coffee mug from The Proposal. (There was coffee in that movie for all of about 5 minutes, but I guess when you're looking for a tie-in promotional product for your movie, a speedboat or a horrible wedding dress doesn't work so well.) I will totally use this - if the lid doesn't leak. (The lid's going to leak; I can tell. The lid always leaks.)




A flashlight for 30 Days of Night. Clever girl.




A tiny speaker set for your iPod, for August Rush. I hear that movie is terrible! But the speakers are kind of neat.




Fred Claus mug. Wait, what?





Wow, that's terrifying.




Hahahaha - the novelization of the movie Beowulf! This is a thing that exists! (It's written in the present tense, which is something you don't see that often in novels. Also: HAHAHAHAHA!)




And finally, two T-shirts - one from We Are Marshall, and one from ...



AWESOME! The Incredibles! My favorite Pixar movie is now my favorite casual T-shirt!

Well, that was a fun little grab bag! I'm very happy I was able to get it by donating a a bit of money to charity. Maybe (if you're lucky) I'll do some sort of blog contest to give away a few of the items. (Hmm, what sort of contest has a Fred Claus mug as its prize?)

Pub crawlin'

At Animations.

Nein on 9!