Very Upset

Yes, like just about everyone else I have been mathematically eliminated from my NCAA pool this year. I have actually heard of George Mason and I've even been to their arena, but who thought they would make it past the first half of the first game?? Certainly none of the so-called experts who told me that Kansas was a good pick. I work with a guy who went to Kansas - I told him they have a new slogan - "Rock, chalk, we suck" (Sorry- you have to be a big sports fan to get that one) I did OK in the first few rounds and I was in my usual place near the top of the standings - then things started to go wrong. Just ask Duke, Uconn, Memphis and Villanova- oh and also Gonzaga and Tennesee. It turns out that the probable winner of our pool this year is one of our long time players who picks teams by voo doo or weather or color charts. We're still waiting to see for sure. Once in a while one of the "Nut Jobs" will stumble into a few good picks but they are usually well out of it by Final Four time.

Even worse than being out of the pool is being without my TIVO. I know, you are asking, how can you possibly survive? Have you missed episodes of Oprah? Have you been trying to pause and fast-foward things in vain? If television is like a drug than TIVO is like Crack. It will change your habits and get you addicted- half hours seem like 25 minutes- hours seem more like fifty minutes. I have even had to watch a few commercials over the last few days- apparently Wendy's has a new Chicken sandwich that is VERY spicy. My TIVO got fried when I was doing some home improvement work and had to turn off a circuit breaker. I was putting in a new bathroom fan, just a project to spend some time before the games started last Saturday. Little did I know that this little chore would lead to me having to replace a major appliance and have to watch the basketball games totally live. Usually I can start the games late and zap the commercials and the five time outs and twelve foul shots in the last two minutes of a game.

So of course I needed to buy a new TIVO and I discovered a good deal on TIVO's own web site. (My new one has a much larger capacity too- I can save entire seasons of shows I'll never watch again!!) TIVO is for impatient people like me who want to watch what they want when they want it and not have to wait through any ads- people who want to watch one thing and record another. So how long does it take them to ship the damn thing out? Four to Six "business" days for delivery? You've got to be kidding me- Am I supposed to watch the Final four at regular person speed? TIVO you've got to know your customers better.