Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for May 19, 2020

It wasn’t written by a boomer!

SLP was on VHS recorders all the time, even when they changed from 3-speed to 2-speed boxes (SuperLongPlay)

Adventures in electronics…

“SLP” you have a multi-remote for a VCR???

I’m sure I’m not alone. The whole idea of being able to record your own video tapes was just amazing. The idea of getting six hours worth on one cassette was futuristic. Still have a couple hundred not touched in twenty years.

It does not matter which button on the multi-function remote I hit, and I still cannot figure out how to set its timer to start or to show a picture of its cleaning. The carpet saucer thingy that annoys the dog will not do anything until I walk over to it and hit the start button and to do that I have to stoop. OH, THE HUMANITY!

Hey Arlo, you were supposed to help.

A #1, Arlo. You da man! :-|

Smart TV’s make me realize how dumb I am.

Unfortunately I’ve never needed an alarm. I consider sleeping to 4:30 am a victory.

The most frustrating things about the various remotes i own are:

1) the button layout/functions are all different from one to another

2) i need my reading glasses to see which the hell button i need to push.

Yet another set of reasons i don’t watch much video.

complexity varies directly as versatility

SERENITY NOW

Why KISS when it can be Complex and Wonderful (CAW)!

Yep you need to figure it out or you’re not gonna get any sleep tonight, unless that’s the idea.

TV in the bedroom? We know why they only had one kid.

Isn’t a Sleep function a concession that television is ultimately boring?

I don’t watch TV in bed. I’ve got other priorities.

For me, a designed for humans remote would be the size and weight of a brick. Impossible to lose down the back of the sofa then, and easy to locate anywhere else.

The more new tech is added to proven tech, the more complicated it gets

While I remember “SLP” as being a VCR speed, in this case, I think Janis is using the TV, not VCR, remote, and going through the labyrinth to find the SLeeP Timer; but then again, I’ve misinterpreted things before.

When we got engaged in 1977 he insisted on buying me a ring – I thought it a waste of money and got him down to an antique dinner ring for less 1/3 the cost of a solitaire (his mom kept apologizing to mine about the ring – my mom knew me – no need to do so). I bought him a Beta II video recorder. Why? Well, I was going to night grad school and he could tape the shows I was missing for me. That darn recorder is still here – sitting on the floor of his bedroom closet. I tell him to get rid of it – then he can put his shoes on the floor in the closet instead of on the floor in front of his dresser where he trips over them and I have to move them to clean the floor – so I don’t clean it.

Since then we have had other Betas, VHS, and DVDs – all of which are still in the house. We have 5 TVs and 4 of them have more than one recording device on them. The one in the Teddy Bear’s room no longer even has a cable box – he said they could pay for their own.

Sleep timer one of the most important function on remotes. When it 4:30 am I set the one for the TV and the one for cable box for half an hour and hope I am asleep by then.

What does drive me crazy is that the assorted remotes for our cable boxes have buttons in different places though they look identical and when working them without looking at them in the dark – I can really mess up what we are watching and what the remote is doing.