Needed: A leeetle tiny repair guy

[susandennis]

First of all, drood, do not read this entry. It's about Mom and a Tivo problem and you will get unnecessarily stressed.

So Mom sent a note tonight that her Tivo wouldn't record. We got on the phone which is always a challenge because she reads my email in the guest room where the computer is. My email says 'call me when you are ready to troubleshoot'. She calls me. But, the Tivo is in the bedroom - at the other end of the apartment.

So she puts down the phone - doesn't want to hang it up - and goes to the bedroom and picks up the extension. This would make more sense if the phone in the guest room was NOT cordless. Then in the bedroom she can't hear because of the noise so she goes back to the guest room to hang up that phone. And then she comes back. All at lightening speed for an 81 year old who quit moving fast a decade ago.

Now we can troubleshoot. I'm going to skip over that part except to say that she's really picked up on using the Tivo. I can tell her 'flip to your Now Playing List' and she knows what I'm saying - this is big.

Anyway, after a bit we discover that THE only thing broken is the little red lightbulb that indicates it is recording. It records just fine. It's just the light doesn't come on to tell her. It's a very small light - and one most people wouldn't even notice, but she loves that light and it took a bit to convince her that was the problem. But we recorded and then she found what we had recorded and she believed.

"How are we going to fix it?" she asks "My fingers are too big to get in there!" I assured her that we were not going to fix it. We don't need to fix it. She just needs to get over it.

"Maybe we can find a little tiny repair man to come fix it..." She'll probably start looking for one tomorrow.

Comments

[ehintz.livejournal.com]

How old's the TiVo? Could be under warranty...

Otherwise, bugger it, it's not worth the trouble... Probably cheaper to buy another rather than pay parts and labor to fix the little light.

[susandennis]

Oh it's way passed warranty. I bought it about a year ago from Drood - I think he had it a couple of years.

I was only kidding about getting it fixed. She can live without the little red light. She can check Now Playing if she wants to know if it's recording something.

[susandennis]

And... I should add that Drood gave us a huge senior citizen discount, too. So it's all gravy really...

[ehintz.livejournal.com]

Well, I didn't think you were keen on bothering, but it did sound like maybe Mom was... I know that my Mom, upon finding the little red light not working, would decide this was proof positive that it was dying, and every time she got some slight pixelization she'd call and tell me about it, as further proof that it had not long for this world...

[angelamermaid.livejournal.com]

If she finds a teeny tiny little repairman, ask her to take a picture? :-)

[susandennis]

Oh yeah!!! :)

[fredli.livejournal.com]

It seems that for the elderly a complaint is as good as a compliment. It shows they care what you're doing for them.

Happy Birthday

[ossie.livejournal.com]

hope you have a great day

take care
Ossie

Re: Happy Birthday

[susandennis]

Ohhh! Thank you! An Ozzie Sand Message in my LJ! That's very sweet. Thank you so much!

[judith.livejournal.com]

I kinda sympathize with mom. I would want my red light working too. I have a DVR, very similar, and it too has a red light and I love seeing that thing on.

I'm glad her sense of humor is intact, though. Love to meet that tiny repairman. I'd send him over the phone line to my daughter in Las Vegas, to fix her computer.

[treebreeze.livejournal.com]

I love the bit about the cordless phone. It is too perfect. You can't make stuff like this up!

[susandennis]

YES! Exactly. Parents are our own stand up commedians.