More Technical Difficulties

More than a few years ago, Mr. Fixit won a bit on our then new state lottery. Since it was “found” money we decided to do something totally frivolous. We bought a satellite TV system. That was when the systems were relatively new and very expensive. I hesitate to say what it cost but it took almost all of his winnings. It was worth it. Our cable service was unreliable to say the least.

A couple of years ago, the receiver on the living room TV malfunctioned and needed to be replaced. Jason had gone back to cable for their high speed internet service so he suggested that we take his satellite receivers instead of buying new ones. I simply called Directv and explained that we wanted to transfer the card from our malfunctioning receiver to a borrowed one. The old card was activated with no problem and no cost.

Last Thursday the original receiver on the TV in computer room (mine) finally gave up. Some channels were lost completely, and on others the picture was breaking up. Mr. Fixit said that we should use the other receiver that Jason had given us. When I called Directv to notify them of the change and to ask them to re-activate the old card, the young lady said that she couldn’t re-activate the old card. She explained that I had two options that, of course, would cost us money. I chose the option of getting two new receivers. She said it would take two to five days for the receivers to arrive. I thought it would be Wednesday of this week before delivery; they actually arrived Saturday afternoon. Yea! For FedEx!

Sunday Mr. Fixit decided to install the new equipment. After several hours of foreign language swearing, patronizing eye-rolling at my every attempt to lend my technical expertise, groaning, and thinning of his upper lip (I can’t figure out why and how his upper lip disappears when he gets frustrated), he finally connected the receiver, the DVD recorder, and the sound system to the television, and partially programmed the new remote. The cat had pleaded pitifully to go out at the height of our “technical discussion.” The poor thing apparently doesn’t care for slightly raised voices.

The next step was to connect the receiver and the DVD player to my television and to program the remote. It didn’t take quite as long to complete the job and the swearing, patronizing eye-rolling and the thinning of the lip thing and my reaction to it were reduced and a bit less forceful. The cat came in from outside and only hid under the bed.

I then called to have the cards activated. The young man even helped us program the remotes and we were ready for TV viewing. Later in the afternoon, when I decided to watch a DVD I discovered that I couldn’t get the sound or picture even though the DVD player was running. Uh-oh, more technical problems!

After several more hours of Mr. Fixit using all his God-given talents and the swearing, etc. the problem still was not solved. Jason called and offered to come over to help when he heard of our problems. Mr. Fixit continued to try to solve the problem, his frustration growing worse by the second. I suggested, “Maybe you should wait until Jason gets here. Thirty seconds after he walks in the door, it will be fixed.” Of course, that earned another eye-roll in my direction. Somehow it seems that failing to fix something is a dent in his masculinity and to his ego.

Jason finally arrived. Thirty seconds later my DVD player was working.