Shark Week, etc. at 12:18 AM

I ran the booth for work on Saturday at the county fair, and that was an interesting experience. You can read about Zimm's observations here. I saw more of the same on Saturday, but it was probably a little bit slower for me (most of the day) because of the rain. It poured down rain for about a half hour, even causing the lights to go out inside our building. Once the rain let up, though, holy smoke. There were many people in various states of dress and toothlessness (i.e.: real teeth, fake teeth, and neither) that stopped by the booth, and most of them were interested in the rubber bracelets that I had (the kind that Lance Armstrong made popular). Everyone has these bracelets, and I just don't get it. The library booth was next to mine, and they even had some. But then again I suppose I'm out of touch with that kind of thing (as you might have guessed from my Billboard column on Eight Cents).

After the fair, Zimm and I went to check out a concert down in Indy (which is reviewed in yet another Eight Cents column). It was great. I've mentioned The Black Keys before on this blog, and I'm even more high on them after seeing them live. It was just a great show.

By the way, in case you're an animal show nerd like me, it's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. (Of course, if you're an animal show nerd, you may already know that.) So I've got TiVo working overtime to catch all the shows. This is right after the Great Outdoor Games this past weekend (these are two of my favorite multi-day TV events), so I've had plenty to watch while doing whatever else it is that I do. I don't sleep much. Does it show?

In baby news, Luke has started scooting around, pulling himself with his arms. He actually just started doing this a couple days ago, and already today, he's getting up on his hands and knees and starting to rock back and forth. He's pretty funny about it too. He'll get this look on his face like he's really concentrating hard, but he just isn't going anywhere. I suppose we should be anxious about him getting mobile and everything, since he'll obviously be getting into stuff, but it's more exciting to us than anything else.

Song of the Day: "Still Got the Blues", by Gary Moore. This is a pretty generic song, but sometimes I just get in the mood for something simple. There's some decent guitar work here too.

And now the continuing saga of why everyone needs TiVo (for part one of this list, see my previous post):

4. Flexibility of Schedule - Prime time means nothing to me. The only thing I ever watch at the time it airs is sports. If something comes up, or the wife and I suddenly get an urge for ice cream but it's time for "Lost", it makes no difference. I don't even know when most shows are on. I just tell TiVo what I want to see, and it hooks me up.

5. Pause, Rewind, Fast Forward - Say the Eagles game is on, and the phone rings. I don't answer it. So don't call me during an Eagles game. I don't like talking on the phone anyway. Now, on the other hand, say the game is on and I'm hungry, but the commercials aren't on. What to do? Just pause it. Pausing live (or taped) TV is something that you use way more than you think you would. At least that's been the case for me. And of course, rewinding is also great. Want an instant replay with the same camera angle, or do you want to put in slow-motion yourself? Go ahead. And with recorded programs, you can program your remote to do the 30-second skip. This rockets you through commercial breaks, since commercial slots are sold in 30-second increments.

6. It's Cheap - If you have DirecTV, it costs an extra $5 per month. This is what I have, and really it's not even the full version of TiVo (for some reason, DirecTV won't let you have that--but if you get it like it's supposed to be, you get tons more features than I even know about). Without DirecTV, it's $13 a month (not as cheap), or $299 for a lifetime subscription. Yes, lifetime. Maybe it's a lot to pay at once, but you never have to pay it again. Ridiculous. Also, they have a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If TiVo isn't the best thing ever, you get your money back. You won't need it.

7. Ratings Accuracy - If everyone had TiVo, you could throw the Nielsen ratings out the window. It would be like everyone was participating in the Nielsen survey. Then we'd really know what people were watching.