Fairly Entertaining at 7:12 PM

The county fair is going on now, and the wife and I went there yesterday with a couple of friends. I've been to state fairs before, but I don't know if they were 4-H fairs. In fact, to be honest, I'm not sure what the difference is between a 4-H fair and a regular(?) fair. But anyway, the Howard County fair is a 4-H fair, whatever that means. It was pretty surreal at times, with things that you hear about but never really see--a demolition derby, tractor pull, animal auction (which wouldn't be as noteworthy without the auctioneer that talks really fast), etc.

For my part, I got one of those turkey legs that make you look like a caveman while you're eating it. Seriously, I could have hurt someone with this thing. And I should be able to for how much it cost me. It had a good flavor, but was a bit dry. Also on the menu was my first elephant ear. The meat was a bit tough, and I felt bad eating an endangered animal, but all in all it was pretty tasty. No, I kid. Elephant ears, for those who don't know are a carnival/state fair-type food (read: deep-fried). It's fried dough in the tradition of a funnel cake, but in the shape of an elephant ear--hence the name--and with cinnamon sugar on it. It was actually a lot better than I thought it would be, since funnel cakes don't really do that much for me. Also, I got a gyro (pronounced "yeero", and not "jiero"), made by authentic Greek people. Good stuff. If you ever get a gyro, make sure there's zaziki sauce on it. I don't know what else would be on it, but you never know. Ordering a gyro from a non-Greek is almost like ordering a Philly cheesesteak outside of the northeast.

But I think the funniest scene at the fair was walking into the auction tent where they were auctioning off a cow, and seeing the auctioneer up in his booth saying something no one could understand, watching his spotters get very enthusiastic when people would place a bid, and then seeing the winner and runners-up for the Miss Howard County pageant sitting in the front row, right in front of the cow. Three girls (one with a tiara) all dressed up in their fancy clothes, not trying to smile anymore and obviously wanting to leave. Perhaps it was more hilarious in person than it is in this description, but still.

I'm going up there again tomorrow, but this time it'll be for business purposes. I'm manning the booth that our company has up there. It's set up in an indoor tennis facility, and made to look pretty much like your average homeshow (but more country-fied). So that will be fun. Or something. Zimm was up there on Wednesday and Thursday. Perhaps he'll detail some of his experiences there to make up for his short posts as of late (besides the last one). But maybe not.

Song of the day: "Cult of Personality", by Living Colour. What ever happened to this band? This song is still awesome, but I don't think I've ever heard anything else from them.

This is the first of two Lists that will expound on the greatest innovations in visual media to date: TiVo and Netflix. I promise I'm not getting paid for this...I just want everyone to share in my joy. Those who know me know that I tend to get obsessive about things I like. Case in point: this list. After writing this, I've decided it looks way too much like a commercial if I publish it all at once. Also no one would read it. So I'm publishing it in two parts, as sub-posts.

1. The Season Pass - One of the greatest features of TiVo is the season pass. It allows you to catch every episode of whatever program you like. You can record only first run episodes, first run and repeats, or all episodes including duplicates (the system automatically detects whether a rerun airs twice over a 90 day period, and won't record these "duplicates" unless you tell it to). This feature also come in handy for shows that air erratically, such as VH1's "Storytellers", or "Primetime Glick". And who says you have to watch every episode that TiVo records? There's about 60 season passes on my machine right now. You think I watch that much TV? No way. But if I'm ever in the mood for something, it's there. (Of course, some of those are shows that Jessica watches and I don't, or vice versa, but you get the picture.)

2. Ease of Use - Programming TiVo makes programming a VCR look like rocket science. You want to record something? Go to your main menu, "Pick Programs to Record", then use your remote to type in the letters of the program you want to see. You know all those commercials you see and you say, "I might like to check that out", but the next time you think about it, the program has already aired? That doesn't happen to me anymore. Whenever you think of it, you can program your TiVo to record it. For example, I love the Great Outdoor Games, but I never know when my favorite event (Big Air Dogs) is coming on (if you don't know what I'm talking about here, it's just an example, so bear with me). So I get a season pass to the Great Outdoor Games (which takes 10 seconds), and I never miss it.

3. Simultaneous Recordings - You can record two shows at once. Do I need to say more? Oh. You can also watch a recorded program while recording two others. By the way, there's 40 hours of space on the basic TiVo box. I've never filled it up. (That's a whole lot of hours.)