Yeah, that’s me. Mister Satellite Geek. I wonder if there is a twelve step program for people like me. I think that I’m past the point of being an enthusiast… I believe I may have a problem.
This thought occurred to me the other day when I was in the waiting room of the auto dealership, waiting for my car to get serviced. I sat there, looking at a DIRECTV H20 receiver. My first clue should have been that I thought not of the helpful auto dealer who provided for my television entertainment, but of the fact that as an installer, I should be reclaiming that H20 and leaving the customer with a newer receiver as per protocol.
Somehow I resisted the urge to replace the receiver. After all, I didn’t have my tools with me. I then looked around for the remote, hoping that I wouldn’t be stuck watching Nickelodeon. After all, there is only so much SpongeBob that a grown human can tolerate. My second clue as to my utter geekiness was my thought that I had a spare remote in my car, if only I had brought it in with me. Ah well, I could always go back and ask the service advisor for access to my trunk.
Luckily I caught the edge of a familiar white monolith sticking out of the corner of a chair cushion. My problems were solved! The batteries in the remote were fairly fresh (again, saving me a trip to the car) and… at that point I had no choice, dear readers, but to acknowledge that I had a problem. No, the receiver didn’t have a problem… It was ME.
You see, dear reader, the volume button on the remote didn’t work, and the TV was uncomfortably loud. I could have gotten up and pushed the volume button on the TV, but before I was really cognizant of what I was doing, I was programming the remote. I was halfway into MUTE+SELECT before I realized what I was doing.
I wonder if the folks at the dealership will even notice. And I wonder if there is a support group for technicians who can’t stop helping people.