February 27, 2003: TiVo Malfunction
It wasn't until today that I realized exactly how dependent on TiVo I've become. I was about to start watching an episode of Southpark when I noticed a warning message altering me that the box had only 6 days of program data left. Since it's supposed to call for new data every morning, I was understandably alarmed. At first, I reacted methodically- checking the connections, making sure the DSL wasn't messing up the line, restarting the player. After that failed to correct the problem I began to wig out a little- I started having wild thoughts like "what if I have to replace my TiVo and I have to re-teach it all my preferences" and "is this just a ploy to make me upgrade to a TiVo2 player?" Anyway- a scene very reminicent of the end of The Conversation ensued, as I basically ripped apart the living room trying to track down the problem. Suddenly, just as I neared absolute despair, a thought occured to me: TiVo might not prefix the local dialup number with the 212 prefix. Since the phone company started requiring all of us to dial full 11 digit numbers last week, if the TiVo was still dialing only 7, it probably wouldn't be connecting. A couple of minutes of checking and I confirmed this was the source of the problem. As I corrected it and watched the TiVo dial in for new information, I felt a wave of relief sweep over me. I only hope other New York TiVo users don't have to go through the same hell.
yeah i went the other route and did the "lets ignore the problem and hope it fixes itself" until i eventually ran out of program data... after it came down to it, it took me a good 15 minutes of brainstorming but i managed to figure out the problem without soiling myself...
yeah- you know me- "cool hand" dobkin i'm not.
Yikes. I know I'm going to have to make the leap to Tivo, but that shit would have me close to tears.
I can't believe I've had TiVo for a year in a half. What a wild ride it has been.