Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion

Do you watch Craig Ferguson on the "Late Late" Show?
He is such a funny man!

He is funny, and underrated. We used like him but stopped watching him.

I watch Craig Ferguson when I can.
Lately, I try to get some reading done instead, if I'm up that late.

I DVR everything. I will not suffer through commercials. When we watched him, we'd tape it at night and watch it the next day.

Good idea, Jackie. I wish I were more technically minded so that I were comfortable taping shows off TV. However, I find that I'm not inclined to watch taped TV programs. Don't know why.

I started doing it because I'm forgetful. I'd miss the show completely. Once I did it, I realized that for every 3 hours of TV shows, I was getting ONE FULL HOUR of commercials and only 2 hours of actual TV programs!
That was it for me, life is too short to waste commercials.

Jackie, you make a lot of sense! Hmmmm, I'll have to think about this. Do you fast-forward during commercials? How does that work? Is "DVR-ing" the same as the old "video-taping"?

Absolutely Fast Foward. It's the greatest invention, I'd cry without the FF Button!

DVR is the same in the sense that you record, but it's digitized and the info is stored in the box, no need to buy tapes. It costs about $25. a month extra on your Time Warner bill.
My husband didn't want it, but you can't buy old style VCRs anymore, only ones that attach to a cable or satellite box. Either way we were going have to pay extra for the cable box. And the DVR gives is so many more channels! It's totally worth it. Now my husband admits that he loves the DVR and can't live without it!

Jackie wrote: "Absolutely Fast Foward. It's the greatest invention, I'd cry without the FF Button!

LOL. I know what you mean, Jackie. :)

Jackie wrote: DVR is the same in the sense that you record, but it's digitized and the info is stored in the box, no need t..."

We have a cable box with Time Warner. How does DVR give you more channels than a cable box?

I didn't have a cable box, only cable coming through the wall, our channels went up to Ch. 78, now with the DVR box we get channels into the 1000.
I'm not sure what the cable box had, but this sure beats what I had.

Jackie, I called Time Warner and they explained that they have 4 different boxes.

Two of them are for HD:(HD & HD/DVR).

The other 2 are for folks who don't have HD. One is a regular cable box. The other is what you have, a DVR box.

Your DVR Box also includes what my cable box gives me.

The lady told me that we actually have an HD box. I thought it was a regular cable box. But, actually, the one we now have would handle HD if we had it.

Our former cable box was a regular cable box without HD, but it had to be replaced. So they upgraded it to an HD box even though we don't have an HD TV.

We get channels up to 1999 with our HD Cable Box.

Eric has one of those big screen HDTVs so we had to get the HD Box for him which doesn't come with the DVR, that feature can be added for more $$. Our cable bill is pretty big, but we have internet, cable and phone services. When you count all three services, it's not that big. I like the convenience of writing one check!

Eric paid for half of his TV, me and his grandmother went in on the rest as a birthday present. I don't want you thinking I spoil Eric with exorbitant gifts, LOL
The picture on his TV is incredible!
Eric likes expensive items. I don't feel the need for such extravagant items. Yes, it looks good but do I really need it? No.
So if Eric comes up with half or more, I'll help him and it is a birthday or christmas gift. He's really a very good kid who's never given me an ounce of trouble, I don't mind giving him some things if I can.

Yes, Jackie, we find ourselves paying unbelievable amounts for Internet and TV. But it's now part of our culture and we have to adapt if we can.

Eddie was just saying that so many of our tech items are now obsolete. Keeping up is not only expensive but confusing. We take it step by step.

It does seem rather unfair. For example, you buy a VCR and all the tapes of your favorite movies, that's a lot of money invested. Now you'd be hard pressed to find VCRs, and if you do, they are dual, where they have the DVD player in them.
We bought a lot of DVDs, and someday, probably not too far away, they will be obsolete too. Same thing with video games, they keep making better and more expensive consoles, and games, and the kids want them. Eric is one person and he has:
Sega Genesis (so old, he'll never use it)
PlayStation 2 (he gave to Anthony)
PlayStation 3
GameCube
XBox360
And the hand held ones too:
Gameboy (2, because shortly after he had the first one, they made a better one)
PSP, and probably more, I just don't know the names of them.
I cringe when I hear new game consoles come out, like the Wii, but Eric had to buy GameCube and XBox for himself. If something new comes out, and he wants it, he'll have buy it himself. I got him PlayStation3 for Xas when it came out, I told him, don't even THINK about another game console and if he does, he has to pay for it himself.
All our technology is cool, but it gets mighty expensive.

Jackie wrote: "All our technology is cool, but it gets mighty expensive."

You said it. Our son and his wife buy all those games and things for our grandkids. I don't know how they can afford it. They're going to need money for putting the kids through college... unless the kids are gonna muck out stables for a living. :)

Eric's going to have to get student loans. I have a little saved for him, but I want him to use that to live on, not for school itself. We'll be applying in January for grants and loans.

Good luck, Jackie. I feel sorry for the kids nowadays. Everything is so expensive.

Then they will have to make more money. They'll need to, if they want all those 'can't-live-without' gadgets.
Eric is so funny, he'll say he wants someone but it's only $300 (interject any number).
ONLY $300? Right, I have to work all week to bring that home and it's ONLY. Kids these days have NO conception of money. He worked at George's the past 2 years and made a lot of money. According to him, it's not 'so hard' to save money because he can do it.(LOL) Right, if I had not one bill I had to pay for, I'd be able to save money too. I don't think they get it, not until they have to pay their own way completely, their own apartment, telephone bill, cable, car ins., and the thousand other things we adults have to think of. He'll see, soon enough.
And then I'll say, it's ONLY $300, LOL

With the way inflation is going, you will actually MEAN "only $300".

There's a story about a man who had himself frozen for the future so that all his money would collect interest in the bank and he'd be a rich man when he was defrosted.

When he was finally defrosted he went to the phone booth to make a telephone call and the operator said: "Deposit thirty thousand dollars for the next three minutes, please".

Right! LOL