My Best Friend on the Weekend

They say it's the "Simple Things" in life that make it worth living. No other time is that more true than on the weekends. At least for me anyway. What are some of those simple things? Well, let's discuss.

First, is there a sound quite as lovely as that small 'click' when you lean over and switch the alarm button to OFF on the clock? Now I know that for you married people, people who work on the weekends, go to school on Saturdays and especially those of you with kids have forgotten this sound, BUT, when you do get the chance to make the magic click, doesn't it sound as true as any heavenly voice? The knowledge that your body will be able to rest itself as long as it needs on this day. Nothing or no one is waiting for you to be somewhere at a certain time. You just get to rest. Ah, I love that.

Second, showers without pain. Every weekday morning we wake up and what do we do? We pull our down comforters off, we take off all our clothes and stand in the freezing morning air waiting for the shower to warm up. How annoying it this? Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, for me it's the small amount of time I give myself between alarm and being in the office. The weekends, however, allow us the time to wake up, turn the heat up, crawl back under the blanket and wait for the shower to heat up. A quick exchange into the already warm water and it's like taking a swim in a tropical pool compared to the usual penguin plunge the other days. What's even better than this? Not HAVING to shower until later in the day, if at all! Have no plans? No shower! Just relax under those blankets, all warm and toasty, as long as you can! Glory!

My third joy of the weekends is that little picture up there. My DVR (Digital Video Recorder). It is the most wonderful invention I've come across in a very very long time. Take your cellphones, your PDAs, your laptops...you can have them, just give me my DVR. Many people think that DVRs hurt us, they make us watch way more television than we would otherwise. HA! I say it's a GIFT! DVR has given me a life. Rehearsals, school, family, going out with friends, I can do all these things without hesitation because I know my best friend is home, blinking that reassuring red message "recording". My friends in The Unit, The Office and in that crime lab in Las Vegas are going to be safe and sound and waiting for me. Saturdays I can take my time coming out of my weekend slumber and with the push of my little green button, I am surrounded by my imaginary friends on the television. Jack Bauer, Hiro Nakamura, Smash Williams, Liz Lemon, Det. Mac Taylor and the rest of the gang spend their time with me. DVR makes this all happen, and for that DVR, I love you!

Not to mention, watching television DVR STYLE means I don't have to know what the new car trend is, what the side effects of the purple pill are or what the preppy good looking people are wearing from The Gap this month. Commercials just whirl right by as I wait for my friends to reappear. Now, there is one caution with using the ole FF button on the DVR. That's the speed. My DVR allows up to 4x fast forward. That's just too much power. I can't handle it. If you go 4 speed and sneeze or breathe or blink too often you may miss it, you're back in the middle of a scene and have to reverse it back a little. Be careful of this people! Nothing can ruin an hour long program worse than watching the climatic scene in reverse because you didn't listen to me and chanced the 4 speed! You've been warned!

If you're interested, here's a peek inside the scheduled recordings of my DVR:

30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, CSI: NY, CSI, NUMB3RS, King of Queens, Studio 60, The Simpsons, Family Guy, Heroes, 24, The Black Donnellys, SNL, LOST, American Idol, How I Met Your Mother, Scrubs, The Unit, The Office and Entourage, Sopranos, Extras when they are back on HBO.

How about you? Do you use DVR/TiVO? What shows are the ones that you ALWAYS make sure you watch first on DVR? What should I add to my list? Are there any shows you still make sure you're actually live in front of the television every week to watch?