So there really aren't a lot of TV shows out there that I like. Mostly what I watch is sports and Seinfeld reruns. Andy started watching Lost last year, and that's pretty good, but the show I actually got hooked on is 24. However, there's just no way I'm watching when it's on TV -- it's the kind of show in which missing an episode means not watching any further until you catch up. A swell marketing approach if I ever saw one.
So instead of spending a whole winter planning our Thursday nights around the idiot box, we instead rent the DVDs when they come out. (A big side benefit: no commercials!) Season 4 came out in December but somebody's little project called a "thesis" for some "master's degree" got in the way. So in an enormous exercise in self-restraint we waited until this weekend to even consider starting to think about maybe watching season 4.
Coincidentally, this was also the weekend when we had a dog-sitter available, so we had to go somewhere. Plan A was Mexico, Plan B was Vancouver, Plan C was Montreal, Plan D was Lutsen. Ultimately we decided on Plan E, the White Fox Inn, a lovely little retreat about 20 minutes south of town where the deer (but no antelope) play. Once there, Plan A was to spend Saturday snowshoeing over their 15 acres of rolling hills and forest, but we were foiled by windchills in the -40s. I'm no diehard, I tell you. Plan B? You guessed it, season 4. We had considered the fact that they might not be equipped with DVD players, and we brought along Andy's computer just in case.
So... we settle in on Saturday for our 24 marathon, and fire up Andy's computer... and the screen is dead. Horrors! Andy monkeys around with it (by shining a bright light directly on the screen, we could sort of make out what was on it) for a while and concludes that whatever the problem is, it's not a simple matter of changing some settings. (Hey, Windows has been known to do far stranger things than just randomly change some display settings.)
So we leave our idyllic little inn with its fireplace and jacuzzi, and venture out into that fearsome -40 windchill to make an emergency trip back to town for my computer, which last time I looked was in... well, not perfect working order by any means (see January 29 post), but hey, at least we could see the screen.
Okay, so, a temporary little blip in the plan, right? Now we're back on track, ready to huddle for warmth in the glow of some terrorist plot just waiting to be thwarted by the heroic Jack Bauer. We take the ten minutes to start up my computer, pop in the DVD and... no DVD decoder. Turns out when I reformatted my computer (twice) I didn't bother to re-install my DVD program. Whoops.
ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH! We consider our options: go back to town again to pick up either our DVD player or the software for my computer, or accept that maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Fortunately, a third option is available to save us from these twin hells -- the inn has internet access (wireless, yet!), so maybe we can get a DVD decoder off the net! Yeah!
Hmmmm. All the DVD decoders are like 15 bucks. Not really wanting to go that route, considering the same software is sitting at home in my office. Scouring Google for "free dvd decoder" doesn't get us very far either. Wait! There's one with a free 30-day trial! Score!
And that was how we saved the day. We got through the first three episodes that night. Andy's computer screen is still fried, and my computer still runs like molasses going uphill, but hey... at least Jack Bauer has a terrorist threat to deal with once again.
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