CONFESSION: I’m such a satellite geek that I…

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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.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.