Too much television

It’s a good thing the Olympics only last two weeks, or I’d permanently grow into the sofa. It’s not the evening wrap-up broadcast which has my attention (I TiVo it and zip through it a day later so it’s compressed to about 90 minutes), but I’m totally enamoured of the daytime broadcasts of hockey and curling. Gawd, I’m such a Canadian.

I never think that much about curling until I start watching, and then it’s so hypnotic and addictive that I can’t turn away. So, for the past week, I’ve spent three hours each afternoon watching CNBC’s curling coverage (while also reading a book or newspaper, for maximum multitasking benefit). Today is an off day for curling, with the semi-finals starting tomorrow, so I’m in a bit of withdrawal. I love the finesse, the exacting nature of curling—it’s like a chess game played by a group of people. I also enjoy the play-by-play by Canadian announcers Don Chevrier and Don Duguid, as their voices make me a bit nostalgic.

I’ll admit that for most of the big events (for example, figure skating and skiing), I read the results online many hours before I watch the actual event on TV. I don’t really mind, although I notice I do tend to skip past most of the events I’m not interested in when I already know the results. I’ll sit and watch the top couple of runs in two-man bobsleigh, for example, but if I know who wins, I’m not going to watch a dozen other teams who aren’t contenders.

I probably would have fast-forwarded through a bunch of the ice dancing short program if I hadn’t known there were so many falls and crashes though, so maybe knowing the results ahead of time is a good thing, too. As I posted on someone else’s blog, I’d ideally love the option to have access to the events in real-time, even if I had to pay a premium for it.

My suggestion to NBC, or whomever has the contract for Olympic coverage in the future, is to offer a “pay-per-view” pass to all the raw feeds of all the events. Stick the feeds on some unused cable channels, and I’ll give you $50 or so for the privilege of being able to tune in whenever I want to, knowing I’m seeing live action. That way I’ll be able to watch New Zealand play Italy in curling if I so desire, and I won’t have to curse NBC for generally only showing the games featuring the American teams.

So, I hope my admission about too much television helps explain my lack of posts lately. All the pets are doing well, and Eli is feeling quite well on her Rimadyl. Tomorrow the kittens go in for their 10 week vaccinations, so we expect a quiet night out of them after they come home.

Now that they’ve got free run of the house, every night is like a circus as they jump, hop, climb, and run. One unexpected benefit of having the kittens around is that our adult cats really like them. What started with some hissing and spitting from the elders has turned into playfulness, with Derek acting like a young guy last night as he played on a cat tree with Scampi, and at one point, even Jackson came down to play a bit with Tie. Jackson! Jackson hates everyone, and he’s afraid of everything! Our house has been transformed by the zen of kittens.