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It’s been a long ride, but it’s time I admitted that it’s over.

I bought my husband a TiVo for Christmas in 1999. It was one of the first ones on the market and we were delighted to suddenly have the freedom to record our favorite shows and watch them whenever we got around to it.

I also purchased a lifetime subscription to the service at the time, which of course refers to the lifetime of the box. The $250 cost of service back then compared to the current yearly fee shows we’ve basically been getting free service since about 2001.

Our TiVo has a small hard drive, can only record one thing at a time, and has gotten rather slow over the years. Still, we were determined to milk it for every ounce of value. That was all well and good until about three weeks ago when there was an apparent software upgrade that screwed everything up.

The first thing we noticed was that the display at the bottom of the screen looked different. The second thing we observed was that the TiVo seemed suddenly incapable of changing channels on its own to record. It thought it was changing channels, but it would just record the requested time slot on whatever channel it happened to be on at the time.

We did everything we could think of to fix it: rebooting, re-selecting our cable provider’s schedule from the list, etc. Sadly, nothing helped. A peek at the TiVo support forums shows that this is not an uncommon problem (in fact, it’s a recurring issue), but doesn’t provide any useful suggestions.

Today’s the day I give up and call to get a DVR from our cable company. We’ve long since gotten our money’s worth out of the original box and as much as I hate to give up the prepaid service, I think it’s time.

Maybe someday we’ll even venture into HD…but not until our ancient projection TV gives up the ghost!

My company allows each employee 16 hours of volunteer time per year. Thus, several co-workers and I spent our lunch breaks yesterday volunteering at an animal shelter called Wayside Waifs (can you guess that it was founded in the 1940s?) "socializing" the cats.

I drove us there in one of our company vans and before we went in, I decided to leave my coat in the van. (Foreshadowing!)

We had a great time with the kitties and of course I found one I liked best and really wanted to take home. It’s hard to remember my pledge to stick with three cats sometimes.

When we got back to the office, I gave the keys to the person who’d reserved the van and went about my day. In the late afternoon, I received a new laptop and the switch from PC to Mac took me until after 6 o’clock, which is well after most people leave.

It was probably 6:30 p.m. before I started to wonder if I’d taken my coat out of the van. I hadn’t.

It wasn’t that cold outside, but my coat was important in a whole different way: it had my car keys in the pocket.

I ended up having to have my boss run me home – luckily he was still around. This morning, my husband begrudgingly got out of bed at 7 o’clock to run me early to Coffee Morning. I’m typing this at the coffee shop with a delicious egg sandwich and a chamomile tea sitting on either side of the laptop.

So that’s my story of scatterbrainedness for the week. Let’s hope it’s the only one.

Too bad it’s supposed to snow on Saturday.

Here’s some stuff that makes me laugh:

• Bob, the Angry Flower – Grammar tips and other advice for life from an irate daisy.
• I Am Bossy – Her site cracks me up, I was delighted to get to meet her at BlogHer last year, and I can’t wait for her stop in K.C. this April on Bossy’s Excellent Road Trip.
• It you’re a "Lost" fan and you’re not reading the recaps from ack-attack, you’re really missing out.
• I’m probably the millionth person to link to this, but I’m enjoying Stuff White People Like. The Bottles of Water and T-Shirts posts hit close to home.

That’s it for today. Enjoy!

Average Jane gets home from work and prepares to lie down for a bit.

Husband: We need to call a plumber.

AJ (listening for water spurting from a burst pipe): Why?

Husband: Because the toilet’s stopped up.

AJ: Well, use the plunger!

Husband: What plunger?

AJ: THE plunger. (Retrieves plunger from tricksy hiding place in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, hands it to husband and lies down in bedroom.)

SFX: Tentative squooshing sounds.

AJ (from bed): You need to be a little more energetic about your plunging.

SFX: Successful flushing noise.

AJ (finally setting down for nap): You’re welcome. I just saved you $100.

I’m going back to work today even though I’m still very, very tired. I understand this tiredness could drag on for a couple of weeks, and I intend to be as inactive as necessary until it goes away. For a woman whose family motto is, "Never stand if you can sit; never sit if you can lie down," this shouldn’t be a problem.

Yesterday I actually managed to run a few errands. I went to the drug store, got some groceries, made a Target run, and finally bought furnace filters at Lowe’s, although they didn’t have one of my sizes. In the evening, I cooked hamburgers on the grill (it was relatively warm out) and we had a brief band practice wherein I wailed like a wounded banshee between coughing fits. Good times.

Aside from feeling as though I could immediately take a three-hour nap if given the opportunity, I’m much better off than I was last week. If I can just avoid getting one of those secondary infections (bronchitis or pneumonia) that the doctor was warning me about, I think I’ll be back to normal in a week or so. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

As if being sicker each day weren’t enough reason for me to take to my bed and stay there, this is happening:

I have nothing more to say.

Just checking in to say that despite all evidence to the contrary, I am still clinging to this mortal plane. I was awake briefly this morning, but I didn’t feel like posting another verse and chorus of the "I Feel Like I’m Fixin’ Ta Die Blues," so I just ate breakfast and went back to bed until about 2:30.

I did manage to get my new iMac set up and running with all of my old files and settings. What a lovely beast it is. My eyes hurt too much for me to be able to spend any significant time surfing today, but it’s nice to know it’s there when I’m ready.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I did get a definitive diagnosis of the flu. The doctor stuck a long, brushy thing in my nose and scraped around in a most uncomfortable manner. Ten minutes later she came back and told me I was definitely among the flu-stricken. She says I’m the only person she’s treated so far this year who got a flu shot and managed to get the flu anyway. Lucky me.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I might be well enough to get some work done tomorrow. It’s probably not a good idea for me to actually go into the office, but maybe I can at least work from home instead of sleeping all day. Of course, if today is an indication, that’s a pipe dream.

All of this thinking is making me tired. I think I’m going to go take a shower and lie down some more. May all of you avoid getting the flu this year.

Well, my illness is starting to take a distinctly flu-y turn. Headache, body aches, sinus pain, chills…it’s all bad.

I’m taking a sick day today and I’ve already lined up a doctor’s appointment, but it’s not until 4:30 p.m. In the meantime, I think I may just go ahead and drug myself senseless with Nyquil Sinus.

Sorry to be so whiny this week, but it’s amazing how much your universe contracts when you’re sick.

In other news, I finally joined Twitter this week. Of course, right now it’s just as complain-y as the blog, but there’s potential for me to talk about interesting little tidbits that don’t make it into the larger narrative.

I have a cold.

I could tell it was coming yesterday because I kept sneezing all day for no apparent reason. I started the Zicam swabs while I was still at work, so I’m hoping that’ll help keep the suffering and duration to a minimum. However, right now my sinuses are aching so much that it’s making my teeth hurt.

I found some old-fashioned, you-could-make-it-into-meth Sudafed kicking around, so I took two of them. I might move on to Tylenol if this headache doesn’t subside.

Band practice tonight should be interesting.