Interesting read: http://blogs.msdn.com/micahel/archive/2004/06/16/157202.aspx

He makes some really good points....I've got a lot of work ahead of me.  :-)

I doubt I'm the only one who grew up watching "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" around Halloween every year as a kid.  So, naturally I've got our kids onto it.  Though I don't remember so many "sock you's" and "block head's" when I was a kid...boy how your prospective changes as you grow up and have kids.

Anyway, what's my point?  TiVo to the rescue.  Saw an ad for it so I had TiVo search for it and record it.  My two oldest kids were excited when they found out TiVo was going to record it for us.  The night it came on we had soccer practice until 6:30 or so and it came on at 7.  The kids said something about it and a few people asked when and what time it was coming on.  I told them, they looked at their watches, and then realized they were going to miss it.  By the time we got home and got the kids ready for bed it was about 7:20.  The kids watched the whole show and still made it to bed on time.  The greatness of TiVo.  :-)

I've got 5 gmail invites to give out.  Contact me if you want one of them.

Although the interface and functionality is very good and cool I'm not sure I'll switch 100% since I've got soooo many things tied to other accounts already.

Fellowship Church is the church we've been visiting for the last six weeks or so.  It's sometimes called a "seeker" church since its style is very contemporary (style of message, dress, music) - makes it inviting and comfortable for unchurched people but still stands strong on the fact that they are sinners in need of salvation.  It's been a change for us but even though the style is contemporary the messages are relevant and are from the Word of God.

This weekend was the first time we've been there when they served The Lord's Supper, communion for you Catholics :-).  For Christians this is a sacred event for people who have faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Each person must make their own decision as to whether to partake or not...God knows those who are His.  Ed made the significance clear to those might not be familiar with it.

This helped me reaffirm that this church was "good-to-go" or at least let me feel more comfortable since this was more of the style I've become accustomed to.  I've read many negative things about these type of churches and I guess everyone is allowed to have their opinion.  I know God is at work there and Ed delivers messages that are relevant to me and my family and are biblically solid.

Most non-TiVo DVR's (DishNetwork, and Cable Company Brands) are just digital VCR's with the added functionality of controlling live TV.

Here are my main points with TiVo that justify the cost of 3 DVD rentals a month.  It's normally $12/month but with DirecTV it's only $5 unless you've got the high-end package then it's included.

1.  TiVo doesn't rely on a time to record a show.  It relies on the show name and station.  So if there is a special episode of Survivor on Tuesday instead of at its regular Thursday slot...TiVo will record it and you didn't even know it was on until you sat down.  You don't have to remember when something is "on" since TiVo takes care of it.  You worry about when you can watch it. :-)

2.  To go along with the non-time dependant theme:  I love Seinfeld and always want two episodes available for me to watch.  I search for Seinfeld in the show listings and it shows me the different networks that have it.  I pick the network (Fox for me) and it will record them and keep two episodes available for me.  When it's time for the 3rd episode to record it will automatically delete the older of the previous and record the new one.  It will also not re-record any episode that's been recorded within the past 28 days...so it keeps two fresh shows for me.  There's still a lot of customization there also.  Example for new shows, I can tell it to only record new episodes (say The Amazing Race) because it's a new season I don't want to see any reruns.

3.  If you've got kids (I've got 4 under the age of 7) - you can always have a few of their favorite shows on so they're there when you let them watch TV - also lets you keep track of what kind of stuff your kids are watching.  It also has a parental controls that won't let it record or view shows based on the rating limits you set without entering a secret code.

4.  If you are into shows or movies based on the type of movie it is or you have favorite actors/directors.  There is an item called a wishlist that's like google for TV.  Enter in some keywords, specify if they should show up in the title or in the title and description and that's it.  If a show/movie comes on that matches that criteria it will record it for you..no matter what time it comes on.  There's lots of customizations on that too - down to show categories (drama/action) and show types (reality/game show/sitcom) those are just examples since the lists are very extensive.  Example:  I like John Cusack and when I was younger there was a movie on HBO called "Hot Pursuit".  I entered that as a title wishlist and 3 months later it showed up in my now playing list.  It came on TBS or something late at night and TiVo got it for me.

5.  Let's say you're watching a show/movie and you see a commercial for something that's coming on another day/time.  Stop you current show and go into TiVo and tell it to record that show for you.  Now, you don't have to remember to be in front of the TV and later, when you have time, it will be there for you to watch...and if it stinks you've not wasted your time - you just delete it.  That happens to me a lot with shows on the History channel.

6.  Let's say you happen to be watching live TV and you run across a show/movie that's on and already started.  You can click a few buttons and TiVo will tell you the next time that it's coming on and you and have it record it for you.

All of this comes down to getting your money's worth out of your cable/sat bill and your time.  I no longer watch TV based on the network's time schedule - I watch it on my schedule.  When I'm have time and I'm ready to watch some TV I know there will be something on that I want to watch.

Here is a link to a good community for TiVo'ers.

Good link for this

http://blogs.crsw.com/mark/archive/2004/02/23/205.aspx

Supposedly this is a car commercial that never aired. I'm thinking that it is more probably a very good student project using Computer Graphics.

http://www.princeton.edu/~ccaro/mist_or_ghost.html

So yesterday our oddly out of place cache was not found for the 3rd time in a row.  We loaded up the kiddos and headed out to make sure it was still there - YEP still there!!  I grant you, we even had to look for it but it was still there and oddly out of place.  :-)

We try to be creative but I think sometimes other geocachers want it to be easy and straight forward.  Don't get me wrong, I like those too but I don't expect them when the difficulty rating is at 3 (on a scale of 1-5).  It seems that some cachers just don't think outside the box; they look in the usual hiding spots and maybe some not so usual spots and then figure it's not there.  Normally when I can't find a cache in the normal/logical spots I step back and think about it for a few minutes and re-read the description/title/clues and try again.  There are only a few that we've not found that were actually still there.

It's still tons of fun and I'm glad people are attempting our caches.

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Kevin Donahue has a very good explanation here

I like his color coding of the TiVo logo plus he's got some real thoughts on the differences between TiVo and other DVR/PVR's.  That's the big issue I have as well.  People have a DVR and they say they've got a TiVo.  I guess it's like calling tissue paper a Kleenex but really different in the case of TiVo since the functionality is waaay different.

Excerpt from Kevin's post:

What's the difference between a DirecTV TiVo and a DishPVR?
There are some core differences which people don't seem to understand. Most DishPVR user think TiVo is a commodity term to describe a PVR, like "TV", "DVD", "VCR", etc. If you ask them if they have a TiVo, they'll say "yes" but they actually have a DVR. If you're looking at the two (DishPVR vs. standalone TiVo or DirectDVR/DTivo), it's important to understand that each one is a Digital Video Recorder. Only the TiVo units are TiVos. Why the big deal?

Both TiVo units and DishPVR can perform the "TRICK PLAY" features I described above. Both types of units can record. That's where the similarities end.

DTivo/DirectDVR can record two signals at once - DishPVR cannot. Even better, your DTivo/DirectDVR lets you watch one saved program and record two others at the same time. This is a key feature in our house when West Wing goes up against Amazing Race or when Monday Night Football is on opposite some sappy, girly movie. Another drawback (as I understand it) is that you pretty much have to watch what you're recording. You can't record Friends and watch something else. If you want to record Friends, you have to sit there and watch Friends. Boo!

Also, DishPVR units do not have the TiVo service. That means they cannot search out programming, accept thumbs up/down, wishlists and other features described above.

Essentially, the DishPVR is a fancy VCR - nothing more. You still need to figure out what you're going to record and when you're going to record it.

One "feature" of the DTivo/DirectDVR is that you could upgrade/add hard drives if you were so inclined. I say that carefully, because you could void your warranty. But, if you have to have a larger hard drive, its definately possible.

Even if you get a DishPVR for free, it really doesn't do that much for your TV experience other than let you fast forward through commercials. The smart money is on the TiVo system which offers a lot of service features that truly change the way you experience television.