attention TiVo programmers ...

I programmed TiVo to record the Academy Awards on Sunday night ... even told it to grab an extra 15 minutes at the end. As it turned out, that wasn't enough .. it ran at least 16 minutes long (at least it captured the Best Picture award). Since I'd seen several of those nominated in the category (No Country for Old Men; There Will Be Blood; Juno) I can't say I was too disappointed .. although I did like Blood a wee bit better.

Note to future awards show hosts: unless TiVo finds a way to automagically adjust for delays (starting and ending) please find a way to end on time. More and more of us depend on TiVo and you're going to alienate more of us as the trend away from live TV viewing continues.

During (American) football season, I've learned to program [60 Minutes] to record one hour additional, due to the overtime of so many games. Sometimes, even an hour delay isn't sufficient.

A few days ago, my (tube) television started power cycling all by itself. At first, I assumed it was some practical joker standing outside with a remote on the same frequency. Then I realised that this television was bought in January 1999! I've been holding off on a (plasma HDTV) replacement until it finally kicks the bucket. Last night, it performed normally so I will (temporarily) blame an overheated component, and restrict its duty cycle for awhile. If it weren't such a pain to remove the back and blow out the accumulated dust, I'd do that too. As such, this 27-inch CRT (a Sony KV27V65) is simply too heavy for one person to move without risking serious injury, so .. I wait.

Worth noting: there's no sign of a KV27V65 on Sony's website (I was hoping for a PDF of the user's manual). So much for customer service.