Jon and Kate plus 8, cable tv, and I miss my tivo

So the husband and I decided to finally join the masses and get cable.  I hate comcast which is our local cable company.  But we couldn't get satellite (because my husband thinks they are unsightly)  and we couldn't get ATT digital TV because they don't serve our area as yet. So we tried to get the triple package deal where you get phone, internet and HD cable with DVR and all for $99 a month.  We figured we would save some money because our phone bill was ridiculously high even though we pretty much just use our cell phones, and because TIVO (which I love and highly recommend) was more expensive than what the calculated DVR price would be.  

Well there are some great things about cable.  And 1st is HGTV.  I love it.  I feel like it is tv where I really learn something.  I'm a big copy cat and snag lots of design ideas.  And I'm already addicted to Design Star and have been catching up on all the episodes via the ON DEMAND feature.  The second great thing is Jon and Kate plus 8.  I also stumbled onto this show via ON DEMAND.  It is a documentary style reality show about an IF couple who went on to have two sets of multiples.  In one way it is like watching a train wreck.  In another way it is incredibly sweet.  The kids are all adorable.  And although the mom and dad bicker a little you can tell how much they love each other and that it is very very stressful dealing with that many children.  The sextuplets are only 3 or 4.  Even 1 child that age can be a handful.  I really respect them for dealing with this so gracefully, airing their laundry for the public, and for being so honest about their journey.  On one episode Kate described how she came to become pregnant (through clomid no less), and how they were firm on not reducing any of the babies.  I think the real reason I love this show is because it shows a great success story from IF.  I don't personally know anyone who has had success after IF.  Yes I know people from message boards and blogs but I can't count that.  And obviously I don't know Jon and Kate, but getting to see them on TV makes it more real to me for some reason.

O.K. so back to cable.  When the tech came to our house she explained that the router would not be wireless like our current DSL router, but that we could go to Best Buy and pick one up.  I got annoyed and said I would prefer to just keep my current router and DSL because I had assumed (it being 2008 and all) that the router would be wireless.  Well wouldn't you know it, they took away my triple deal and the cost for cable and phone shot up.  So I dumped the phone service and just went with cable.  I thought this would satisfy me enough even without the cheap price.  And it is o.k.  But not great.  My 1st complaint is the DVR.  I should have known.  I've been spoiled by TIVO.  The DVR just doesn't work as elegantly.  It is like going from using a viking range to downgrading to a Hotpoint electric stove.  The thing that really tipped the scales I'll call THE INCIDENT.  Now I love TV.  And I love recording shows and watching them at my leisure.  I daily record the young and the restless and a bunch of other programs.  Recently I started watching friends reruns because I wanted to view the episodes where Monica and Chandler learn they are infertile.  I got to see all of the episodes leading  up to the one with the fertility clinic, and when I went to MY RECORDINGS, there was nothing saved.  No Friends, no Y and R, nothing.  I was pissed.  And I could tell by the guide that I missed the one episode that I'd been waiting for.   When I called cable to find out what went wrong they told me to unplug the unit, wait 30 seconds and then plug it back in.  WHAT!  This process worked but come-on.  I can't have a DVR that decides it just doesn't want to work sometimes.  If that had happened during LOSTs season I would have cancelled cable right there and then.  

In my 4 years of TIVO service that has never ever happened.  I miss my TIVO.  I miss the bloop bloop bloop sound of when you press the keys on the remote.  I miss the reliability.

But I do love Jon and Kate plus 8 and my husband loves having ESPN.  So we will stick with cable for a little while.  But I've got TIVO safely packed away in the attic, and he may be coming back soon.