"How Do You Work This Thing?"

Most of you who know me pretty well know that I am not a techy person. I'm adequate in working with computers and computer programs, but other technology does not come naturally to me. I usually give up trying to make someone else's TV/DVD player work after the first try.

Despite my own technological shortcomings, Marcus and I gave my parents a hard time over Memorial Day weekend about their "new" combo DVD player. Apparently, when they upgraded to a flat screen TV and satellite service a couple of years ago, they learned how to use the remote to work the satellite channels, but couldn't figure out how to use it for the DVD player. Since my dad is the complete opposite of techy, they ended up letting their DVDs collect dust for over a year before enlisting my brother's help. Michael was in town for a visit, so he figured out how it worked and even wrote out the three steps needed to switch from satellite to the DVD player for my parents to refer to when he was gone. Despite his efforts, what he taught did not stick and my parents found themselves staring blankly at the remote once again.

While we were in town for Memorial Day weekend, I wanted to play a DVD for Caleb and Ethan, and was incredulous to hear that neither of them had any idea how to use their DVD player. My mom tracked down my brother's written instructions, but try as she might, she couldn't get it to work. Marcus was sleeping at the time, but when he woke up, it took him about two minutes to start The Jungle Book. Mom asked me to write down what he did, so I started to do so. While I was writing it out, I noticed the paper my brother had written on sitting out on a TV tray. I laughed out loud to see that he had written down the exact same words that I was writing for the steps. Clearly, written instruction was not the best way to assure that my parents could use their DVD player after we left. Instead, Marcus showed them how to do it and had them both practice a few times.

The reason I'm blogging about this today is that I spoke to my mom last night and she reported happily that both she and my dad know how to watch DVDs in their living room now! My dad has a large collection of his favorite old TV shows on DVD that he has not watched for more than two years, and he says he has really missed them. They are both very happy to be able to use their DVD player again :)

In case you think I'm making merciless fun of my poor parents, my mom thinks the whole thing is even funnier than I do, and she's the one who suggested I blog about it. And, no offense, Mom, but this saga has motivated me to try a little harder the next time I need to use an unfamiliar television :)