THIS is what I am talking about

Now, I know you all sympathized with my plight on the Ipod.

What happened to me tonight not only vindicates me but will gain me further sympathy points.

I hooked up my new Toshiba Bi-directional Dubbing DVD-VHS player. In doing that I eliminated three boxed under my TV AND color coordinated the whole entertainment center to Silver which goes with theme in my living room which is pewter.

It took me exactly 20 minutes to unpack, unhook, rehook AND program the thing and it works PERFECTLY. The only thing I didn't do was the dubbing or recording onto a DVD because I didn't have any spare discs in the house right now. But everything else works.

The book was 30 pages long, detailed and complete on how to hook this up with one page per sub title ( Your Remote, setting the clock, etc). Clearly written - NO FREAKING PICTURES. More than 4 words and was at a 16-18 year old reading level.

THANK YOU TOSHIBA!

It also illustrates my point about Apple. Their target market is a third of my age. Which is fine, but most adults that I know who have recently gotten an Ipod ( and I know three for this year and we all got the exact same one in the same color) have run screaming from the room with frustration.

I will address this to customer improvement at Apple, though why I bother is a mystery to me. They aren't going to change. They have made a career out of not changing and being ridiculously proprietary.

I am not knocking Apple - not by a stretch. The people who have them love them and I am thrilled for those people. Being a former director of IT, its a technology I find infuriating. Because it's very stable but when it breaks it TANKS. Its also not a common platform in the industry that I work in so not really something I care to change to. Makes life too difficult.

Having said that, I still respect the niche they have. They just frustrate the crap out of me.

I spent most of yesterday and today in bed with some weird illness that caused me to have a fever but no other major symptoms. My mother will tell you that I have always been predisposed to fevers with no other symptoms. I don't feel warm to the touch, but I get glassy eyed and tired. My mom used to tell me that the pediatrician used to tell her it was my bodies unique method of fighting an illness before it blossomed into the actual illness.

Let's hope so.

Having spent nearly 24 hours in bed with roughly 18 of it sleeping, I am feeling kind of punchy. I want to do stuff, but I really get tired quickly. I am grateful that the DVD player only took 20 minutes because that's about all I had steam for.

I sat in bed though, with my Ipod functioning well and learned the tenor aria that I am singing in performance next week. I am singing it in my range rather than tenor range ( though I actually can which is weird.) It's gorgeous and I am sad that our tenor isn't doing it because I love his voice. ( Bernie you would kick some butt on it too!).

So I learned that, watched TV but I don't think I saw any show all the way through with all the naps I had. My cats crawled under the covers with me and we had a glorious sick day.

Seriously - I took an entire sick day today. Even I was shocked. I usually drag myself to the computer and work whether I feel like or not. I had a friend who had a very serious life threatening disease who worked through it until she truly had to be hospitalized by using a baby monitor for those times that she had to lay down. I kind of like that and may get one.....

I remember a time I was baby-sitting for Bernie's son. He couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 at the time. His Baby monitor had died so they got a brand new one. I have been going to their house for visits since before his son was born, but this was the first time that I was going to be alone in the house until very late. Bernie and his wife were going to a Concert and I was watching a courtroom drama movie that had been recommended to me. It was dark, it was quiet and though they live on a main road, traffic had died down. There must have been an accident because I heard the siren on the baby monitor before I heard it on the road. Then I heard it racing down the road. I can't tell you how all of sudden hearing something like that coming out of dead silence from multiple sources can freak you out. By the way - that's the only babysitting story that I have after the age 20. But that family has a very special place in my heart and babysitting was always fun.

I am starting to ramble just a bit and get off topic so I'll end where I began.

God Bless Toshiba and their detailed instruction Manual!