• by Sean , January 22, 2007

At the time of this writing, it’s 10:22pm on a Monday night. My favorite new addition to the prime-time lineup is on. And I’m not watching it. Why should I? Who can stand the endless minutes of professionally produced attempts to grab my attention, trying to coerce me into buying some product I don’t likely need. But I do want to watch the show.

Enter TiVo. Yes, the funny little caricature logo has become a daily part of my life. But I’ve found it to be useful for more than just grabbing my favorite shows while I’m not at home. I’m actually using it for something that would send shivers down any Madison Avenue-type’s spine: I’m avoiding commercials.

Here’s what I do: At about the same time the program begins, I sit down to check my e-mail. I read a little bit ... possibly flip through a magazine. Then, I fetch myself a drink, and sit down straight to the ‘Now Playing’ section of my TiVo. There, I select the program currently being recorded, and start watching. As soon as the commercials hit, I click through them to that all familiar “blip” sound.

TiVo has been pretty good to me for three years now. In fact, this past holiday season, I was ecstatic to receive an upgraded 80-hour Dual Tuner box. This means that I can now record two shows at once, allowing me to catch up on all the shows I had previously longed to watch. (Heroes and 24 in the same timeslot? No problem!)

I have developed an annoying little habit, however, of reaching for the remote while watching television outside of my residence. I always feel that same level of disappointment to realize that I can’t skip past the boring parts, or rewind something that I happened to miss.

How did I ever survive without a DVR?