Forgotten

Thank you DVR, for not recording V (with the same stupid "set top could not record the program" message that means nothing), so now we have to wait until Saturday to see it on Hulu.

Thank you ABC, for cutting into the beginning of the forgotten to tell me that stupid Mayor Mike won again (it was a "special report" because it is oh-so-shocking that he won, seriously?!), and then in attempting to go back to the program, showing me a black screen and then re-showing the ending of Dancing With the Stars, and then finally showing the forgotten once the story has already been introduced. This is the first episode not on Hulu, so can't watch it later!

Argh.

Catching Up

We're still trying to catch up on TV shows after being gone (and watching no prime time shows) for 2 weeks. Not everything made it on to the DVR, so thank goodness for Hulu and other online viewing. But we're so behind.

The only shows we're up to date on (well, some of them aren't shows we watch together, so those would be just me) are Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, White Collar (because it's new!), Modern Family, The Good Wife, Bones and So You Think You Can Dance. At least I think that's it. Maybe Vampire Diaries. That's not much!

We just caught up on Modern Family today. I love that show. It's one of the best shows on TV and makes me so happy. That's really what I look for in TV these days - something enjoyable. Shows that are really dark (coughCBScough) just aren't working as well for me these days.

I think I have watched White Collar 4 times now. I love USA.

And in the last bit of TV comments, I'm really sad to hear that Billy Bell is sick and had to leave SYTYCD. He was one of our favorites, and it sounds really serious if he had to leave, so we really hope he gets well soon. Sad to hear that.

I can't believe it's already 11:30. Where did today go?!

Strange

It's been SO strange watching "Wake Up With Al" on the Weather Channel when going to sleep everyday. People on the East Coast are waking up and the sun is rising and I'm going to bed. So strange.

Also strange that it's snowing at home and we spent part of the afternoon going on water slides and hanging out in the pool. I don't know how we're going to adjust to time or weather when we get home.

Candy

"Can giving your kids too much candy set them up for a life of crime?"

I'm watching last night's Numb3rs and that was the teaser for the 11:00 news. Seriously?! Eating candy can make you a criminal?

ABDC Top 3

We're finally getting around to watching the top 3 episode of ABDC. I have had a problem with ABDC this season. It seems like the teams the voters keep putting in the bottom 2 consistently have the better performances. For example, this time Afroborike was the safe team, but the other two teams both had better dances! I can't complain that much because I don't watch the show on time and don't vote, but there's something messed up if the safe teams are consistently the worst ones.

At least TPTB will finally have a girl win this show. Too bad it isn't one of the girls from Rhythm City instead.

Sure

I was in the kitchen putting together my panini a little while ago, and heard the most interesting thing from the TV. We were watching the Bears game and they were talking about two players and someone getting married. I heard something like "[he] got married and now they're a threesome." Excellent.

Sleep Mode

WTF is DVR Sleep Mode and why did my DVR just ask me if I wanted to put it in sleep mode? I didn't press any buttons and it just popped up on its own!

Shuttle launch time!

Stupid

Stupid p.o.s. DVR box!

I was going to watch Leverage while doing my time entries because I really want to see this episode! What did you decide to do when I pressed play?

If you guessed freeze, you win! (Win what, I don't know.)

Now it is rebooting. Or something. It's really just not doing anything and just showing me dashes. I have no patience so it's probably only been a minute but it feels excruciating. I have gotten more patient over the years, but not for this.

I am annoyed. However, if you are rebooting it to give us the old DVR format back, then I might forgive this interruption.

ABDC

Finally got around to watching last Sunday's ABDC. It sucks that the two best performances were in the bottom and someone had to go! I wish we could have just sent home one of the other crews (although not Vogue Evolution, please) instead.

Bugs

EWWWWWW.

I was watching the Weather Channel and they were showing views of New York from one of their cameras. There were so many bugs crawling back and forth across the lens. It was disgusting! I really didn't need to see that!

Wedding Day

Just watched the Tyra & Rich episode of "Wedding Day" on the DVR. If you're not familiar with the show, they plan an amazing wedding for deserving people. These two, a firefighter and lifeguard, who have devoted their lives to saving others, are definitely deserving and it was great to see such a beautiful wedding.

I love watching wedding shows, but I only recorded this one because it was in Maui. It was absolutely gorgeous and of course, it made me cry. I always seem to cry watching weddings on TV. I'm sure the music helps. They're always so beautiful.

I can't wait to go to Maui! Although watching this has yet again gotten me confused about what leis to get. Hmm. Need to get this flowers thing done ASAP!

Late Night List

(Warning: Potential TV spoilers ahead! Although SYTYCD should be done airing everywhere - including Hawaii...)

A few random thoughts instead of sleeping:

1. I have no idea why someone would want a denial of service attack on Facebook and Twitter. I was reading an article this evening asking what the point of such attacks would be (and how that may be the point - not having one). (Sorry, I can't remember which article or I would link it.) All it meant was obsessive reloading of Twitter to try to make it work, and annoyance at feeling disconnected from the world! I finally gave in to Twitter, mostly to aggregate my web surfing, and so far, it had worked - I visit many less sites just to check their updates, because I don't need to check as often. But today, I was disconnected again! And today was the day of the Psych and Burn Notice Twitter contests...

2. On to Burn Notice... I can't wait to watch the summer finale again. That was really, really good. I was worried that with all the hype about how good it was, and all the expectations being built up, that it wouldn't live up to the higher expectations, but it did. I really love that show.

3. I've been talking about it a lot over the past couple of weeks, but I really think that USA Network just gets it right now. They are pretty good at reaching people (Twitter and Facebook contests, updates, etc. just an example), making their people accessible to fans and, perhaps most importantly, they deliver on good content. It is at the point where I will watch whatever new show they put out (can't wait for White Collar) because I have faith in their brand. (I will at least check it out. I don't stick with everything. See: Starter Wife.) They find something that works, they give it a chance to develop, and I wish more networks operated that way. Outside of SYTYCD, I think the majority of the DVR right now is USA shows. I have Psych to thank for all of this (and possibly a trip to DC which first alerted me to Psych).

4. On to SYTYCD... congrats to Jeanine! I voted a few times for Jeanine, more for Brandon, but I would be satisfied with either of them winning. I would not have been happy with a Kayla win (she's technically good but I have never felt a connection with her) and even less happy with an Evan win (he's very good at what he does, but just looked out of place when not in his element with the other dancers). I think Brandon was the best dancer this season and would have loved to see him win, but I knew they wanted a girl to win. I think next season they'll want the winner to be an "unusual" or "underrepresented" specialty, or something like that. Or maybe ballroom...

5. I really do like tacos (from the last post). I could have eaten tacos again for dinner today despite having them for lunch. Yum. I really should do one of those favorite foods posts. But it's so hard! So much good food!

6. I'm excited for the fall TV season (Glee!!!!!) and the press tours only make it more exciting. Although I had to scan quickly through anything related to Fringe today (but still managed to see some of it) since we still aren't finished with last season. Yes, I know it's been a few months. But now we have to watch it online because the DVR failed. I hope it's still on Hulu. I love Hulu.

7. We're going to a wedding in Chicago this weekend. Should be fun, even if it's 90 degrees with scattered storms. Classic Chicago summer, right? Although it feels like this trip should still be weeks from now. It hasn't hit me yet that it's August and there's only like 60 days yet to go. Wasn't I supposed to be in shape by now?

8. I haven't done EA in over a week. Part of it is work - late nights, little sleep - and also my knees and ankles were bothering me for a few days. But it's not good to stop doing it! Bad! The past few days I have been using that Slendertone/flex belt thing. I wonder if it works. I feel some tightness in my abs afterwards but does it really do anything? I guess we'll see?

9. I could go for a taco right now. Or a samosa.

10. I need to get into a better sleep routine. Every day around 3 pm, I just can't keep my eyes open no matter what I do and it's really frustrating. Nothing really works either. What foods can I eat to stay awake? I know the answer is more sleep, but I would like to preemptively combat the fatigue by eating things at lunch that don't give me food coma. Suggestions?

Off to get ready for bed and read some more Harry Potter 1 (yes, I am re-reading all the books to make myself feel better after the butchering of movie 6's story).

Hmm

So, the DVR seems to be working better on the new machine, but are the Music Choice channels really broken or is it just the box? That could be disastrous...

DVR

5 minutes until we find out if the new DVR works...

I hope it does, because going down to the cable office and waiting there in that crowded mess is such a pain.

Lost Programs

I'm trying to figure out what we lost in the DVR crash of 2009. This list is really just because I will forget if I don't write it down... At least I think this is it...

Missing, but thank goodness for Hulu and/or cable repeats:
Fringe (many eps)
Burn Notice (1 ep)
Royal Pains (1 ep)
Top Chef Masters (1 ep)
The Philanthropist (3-4 eps)
In Plain Sight (1 ep)
Kings (2 eps)
Glee (1 ep)

Missing, but probably on DVD sometime:
Kyle XY (1 ep)
Eli Stone (3 eps)

Missing, and who knows when we can see it?:
Virtuality (the 2 hr special)
Reaper (maybe 2 eps)
The Unusuals (maybe 3 eps)

Don't know where to put the last ep of Flashpoint. Also, it's unclear to me whether Hawthorne or Leverage are online or repeated. TNT doesn't seem to repeat as much as USA. USA is awesome.

Trying to remember if there is anything else...

DVR Saga II

It happened again. Sigh.

Last night our cable and internet were down. They went down around 9 pm and never went back up before midnight, so I read some Harry Potter and called it an early Friday night (as usual, I am so fatigued by Friday night).

Originally, when cable went down, I thought that if we couldn't watch live tv, at least we could watch the DVR! And we had so much to watch, it could last us quite awhile. But then A checked the list and it said September! I was really worried that this was happening again, so we unplugged the unit so it would restart again later (although we were not that optimistic). Then we thought we could just watch a DVD, but forgot the TV was plugged into the DVR.

Sadly, the DVR has decided it is September 2008. All of those programs have since been erased. What I don't understand is why it seems to keep imprints of old lists of recorded shows, and how it can revert to those lists when those programs no longer exist. Last time, it was May 2008 and it reverted to February, so there were (sadly) still programs we had not seen. The technician who came out told me that our DVR box was dying and that I should take it in to be switched once we had watched everything. Needless to say, we have never watched everything. This time, nothing remains to be watched, so into Time Warner we shall go.

At least in the meantime, there is a Burn Notice marathon. I was really looking forward to watching the new Burn Notice episode last night, so this will have to do for now!

Morning

What is wrong with the perky people at the Weather Channel saying that it's time to rise and shine in California and the West Coast? It's not even 6 am there!!

In other sleep news, my "nap" was completely insufficient and I really, really want to go back to bed. But it's better than no sleep since I am catching all sorts of mistakes...

Amuse

I'm rewatching Top Chef Masters from this week, and still don't understand how Ilan said Wylie's grilled cheese sandwich was "too big" yet Suzanne's multibite shallot rings with salad was not too big and was fantastic. How about holding everyone to the same standard?

Pretty Towels

They're selling a set of microfiber towels on QVC, and asking a caller why she likes the towels.

"I love these towels... because they're pretty."

So then they go on about the towels some more, and she adds in yet again, that they're pretty.

Apparently we should buy these towels because they're pretty.

Ha. I don't know why I found that so amusing.

Late List

A short post, since it is very late, and I should be sleeping!

1. My gmail inbox is now down to 5780 messages. Considering that it was over 6000 messages earlier today, that's progress. But it doesn't feel like it. It feels so slow. How could I have so many thousands of messages still left? What are they?!

2. We finally finished watching last season's episodes of Chuck and I loved it. I was a little spoiled about the finale since it's been awhile since it aired, but I was excited to see it, and it definitely lived up to expectations. Thank goodness there's going to be a next season.

3. I have decided I'm not going to use up DVR space on Mental. It will be Lie to Me-treatment where I watch it on Hulu when I have time. It's interesting but I don't care enough about it to want to give it a spot on the DVR when it's available on Hulu.

4. Yet again it rained today. They said we have had over 5 inches of rain this month already, and the monthly average is only around 2 inches. Sounds about right. It's been gloomy, cloudy and/or rainy almost every day, with some cold thrown in too. This is not June weather! I feel so bad for all the June brides who planned outdoor weddings here in NYC and have been getting hit with this weather.

5. I went on a shoe shopping spree this weekend. I don't usually like to go shoe shopping, and haven't really bought shoes in a long time (other than work shoes), so it was surprising how many pairs I came home with. But it's good - I discovered a style I like for the wedding and now it's on order (they didn't have my size in that color)! Yay! Another thing (almost) done!

Off to sleep. Will never lose weight if I don't get more sleep. They have done studies about that, I think -- how sleep is necessary if you're trying to lose weight and get in shape. Good night!