Those infernal Machines!

I am a bit of a techie. I like having new electronic gizmos that improve my life. Things that will let me hear “more music in better quality”. Allow me to watch TV in “higher definition”, compute faster, play my guitars louder and take more pictures.

I am geek, hear me roar.

Why oh why them do my beloved toys always turn on me? I only ask that they perform their assigned duties, continue to improve my enjoyment of media and I will be their slave. I will sing the praises of my iPod. Shout the name of my video card from the highest peaks, and kneel in praise to my HDTV. Yet… I spend so much time playing, tweaking and fixing the infernal machines that I rarely spend any time enjoying them! The $400 speaker which were my Christmas gift to me this year (damn I’m generous) required an afternoon of set up, then a quest for the perfect wall mounts. Hours of angling and balancing levels, running speaker wire.

My computer case seems to be open more than it is closed as I add in more hardware to allow me to organize all those electrons fractions of a millisecond faster.

I love the thrill of opening a new box full of silicon goodness. DVD plalers, Amps, TV’s. Damn but they are some sexy machines. And they all break!!!!!! Remember the first VCR you had? If you are my age, then it was probably the ONLY VCR you had for your childhood and adolescence. The machines used to be a part of the family. Those rugged pieces of hardware used to be able to withstand nuclear blasts! I’d wager that a higher percentage of all the Betamax machines produced are still in working order than DVD players made in the past 10 years! It drives me nuts! I hate it when the things just up and plotz on me. Why o Why do you torment me!?

Anyway, my HD PVR is on the fritz. Turned it on and it made a sound like a cat was stuck in it. (bad sign #1) Then the digital display on the front just started randomly displaying digits. A call the the cable company from whom we rent the infernal device confirmed that it was toast long with all the stuff I recorded and hadn’t watched. Double GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. This is the 3rd PVR we have gone through in the past 2 years. At least I am glad that I am paying a monthly rental on it, rather than having spent $500 to purchase the cheap thing.

Ah well
New Arcade Fire out today…. I’m closing in on the end of one of those great first listens. I think this record will spend some time with me. Like their first record. I love that record as it was just this amazing fully formed band that came out of nowhere