Like I need one more piece of technology in my life, I picked up a DVR this weekend. What is a DVR you ask. It's a Digital Video Recorder like TiVo. I call it a TiVo even though mine is not really a TiVo but Time Warner Cable's venture into the DVR arena. I think the word TiVo is fast becomming a verb i.e. I TiVo'd The Sopranos last night, meaning I recorded it to watch later. It also allows you to pause live tv if a phone rings or something. And, if that's not sales pitch enough, you can watch any show and rewind back to any point at which you began watching the show. This came in handy over the weekend as we were about 20 minutes into Trading Spaces and a friend called because she was locked out of her house and needed to be let in. I just pressed the record button and the entire show, from the beginning, was saved for later viewing.

I know, I'm starting to sound like Ron Popeil aren't I? My point is that technology is allowing me to shift time like never before - at least as far as tv programming goes and if you know me, you know that I love tv. Granted, we've had VCRs around for a long time, but they are a pain remember to set and finding a blank tape is a like trying to find a pepperoni pizza at a supermodel convention. (At least that's the way it is at my house, finding a tape, that is, not a pepperoni pizza.) I've just increased the choice in my life. It used to be if I wanted to see CSI, I just planned on being home on Thursday night. Now, it doesn't matter. I can stay up on the shows that form the collective cultural literacy on my time, not that of the networks.

Sure, this might be one more thing to compete for my time in the 24/7 society we're living in today, but did I mention you can skip commercials too?