One of the benefits of blogging is the occasional opportunity to share an embarrassing story that doesn’t involve my own many and varied faux pas. For example, this one, which fits today’s “R” theme to a tee R.
R, for “Remote Control.”
Tesla and I like to watch Top Shot, a History channel program involving marksmanship (and, to a lesser degree, sportsmanship…but I digress). It’s one of the few programs I watch regularly, though we normally catch it On Demand (it scares me that I can Wiki-link that concept) rather than live.
Last Tuesday I left work early, however, and our evening ended up surprisingly free. I finished my editing by 9:45 and sat down with Tesla to watch Top Shot when it came on TV at 10.
As usual, we muted the program during commercials and used the time to talk. (We don’t “do” commercials at our house – if I’m watching alone, I normally have something else on tap to switch to, or if we’re watching as a family that’s mute-and-visit time.) The last commercial break came on just before the final challenge, and after a few moments of conversation Tesla picked up the remote and pointed it at the screen. He hit the button repeatedly, but the TV didn’t mute. A commercial for makeup sung its way to completion and a car ad took its place. Engines roared, Tesla clicked, and the TV roared away.
A few moments later Tesla looked at the remote and wondered aloud why it wasn’t working. At first he thought the batteries had shaken loose, but pushing them back into place made no difference. He pointed the remote at the cable box, and leaned forward to ensure he was within range. No dice.
After several moments I asked, “Won’t it mute?”
He shook his head. “I’m not muting. I’m hitting the button, but it won’t fast-forward.”
Which might be due to the fact that we were watching the show on regular TV. A fact I’d like to say I mentioned without laughing (But I’d be lying. I’m laughing again now.). Fortunately, Tesla found it equally funny.
Full disclosure requires me to admit that I found this funny mostly because Tesla doesn’t make this kind of mistake – and I make them frequently. I walk into walls, trip over my shadow, and get lost in my own museum on a regular basis. The guys find my distraction hugely amusing, and it startled me to see the tables turned.
I’m not remotely interested in keeping it a secret, though it’s more than remotely possible that I may have to disclose an embarrassing story of my own to keep Tesla from exacting creative revenge for my decision to post this here.
Stay tuned. You don’t want to miss it.
The comments are open – let me know if you can relate to this one, even…remotely.
Oh, I can so relate to that, Susan. I can’t count the times I’ve hit the remote to stop and replay something, and then remember I’m watching TV and not a DVD.
Me too! Amazing how we “forget” despite all the years of not even having it as an option, isn’t it?
Josh did that the other night when we for once actually watched “live” TV. He also was not amused when I laughed at him 🙂