The Olympics have started. I’ll probably watch most of them, thanks to our digital video recorder. There’s only one problem — the delay. Results are posted online before they air on television, and I’ll wait a while to watch them so that I can skip over the commercials. So, I have to stay away from CNN.com, ESPN, Google news, and every other major news site. No problem, right?
Ha. It’s not as easy at it looks. I also have to be careful I don’t accidentally watch another channel when the news is on. Here’s a scenario for you:
I was running in the company fitness center at lunchtime. The WGN (channel 9) news was on, and the volume was turned up somewhat loud so that it could be heard above the din of treadmills and elliptical machines. I was listening to music on my iPod shuffle (not too loud, too many warnings about hearing damage these days). So, I can hear both music and the TV at the same time.
All of a sudden, I saw a picture of a U.S. Athlete with the Torino logo on the screen. ACK! I quickly looked down at the treadmill display, turned up my headphones and covered my ears as best I could. I could still hear the TV a little bit, but it was muffled enough so that I didn’t understand anything. I was *this* close to singing along with my iPod as to be sure not to get any unwanted information. A minute or so later, I glanced up at the TV, and the news folks had moved on to another story.
All this just to save my viewing experience. Is it worth it? Who knows.
