Ok, so, I was never one to waste too much money on TV technology. My big screen LCD TV I bought with hotel points. I bought my BDP at the end of its selling-season for a song. The only reason I bought the A/V head that I did was because I needed something to integrate my brand new "free" TV with my fifteen year old stereo system.
So, needless to say, I never went out and bought a DVR, nor did I seek to rent one from Cox when they were my cable provider. It wasn't until switching to FiOS (and they offered it free for the first three months) that I added a DVR to my setup. Even then, I don't think I actually used the DVR functionality till nearly the end of the first full month of having it in my house.
Now... Well, I use it pretty frequently. Usually for pausing TV when I need to answer the phone, go to the bathroom or kitchen, etc. But, I've also found it useful for recording Flyers games. Mostly, I do that for the nights where I'm not going to be home for (all of) the game. Though, in honesty, I've also used it so that I can find out the score and then watch the game if it ends the way I wanted it to.
Tonight was sort of one such night. My friend starts a new job this weekend that will keep him out of town for the next two months. So, it was his "going away" tonight. He was cool if we came by after the game was over, but, the DVR meant we could enjoy more of the evening. It also meant that I could avoid watching the Flyers get swept, but still choose to watch them if they won (though, the playoff games are repeated on NHL Network, later in the morning or next day).
While over at my friend's house, I got a text from a hockey-buddy that said, simply, "wow." I'd initially ignored the text thinking it was him sending a dig message at a Flyers loss. Looking at the message told me nothing. All I could think was, "either they won, dramatically, or embarrassed themselves." I was glad to find that it was the former. Now I can sit and watch the game, dread-free, tomorrow.
