192/365 DWTS returns!

We don't have cable or satellite TV. We don't have TiVo. We don't even buy TV Guide.

Okay, I'll wait a second to let you pick yourself up off the floor.

Back in your chair now? Great.

It's really not so bad. Honestly. (And I had cable in college, so I know what I'm missing on that front.)

Of these three luxuries (and yes, they are luxuries, no matter how much you may protest), TiVo/DVR is the one that I would want first. You know as well as I do that watching TV live, with the commercials, is a royal pain.

So believe me, we have a system to get around this. It may be complicated. And yes, sometimes it breaks down for lack of proper communication between users (a.k.a. Dad and me), but it is a system. Here's how it works:

1. We have three VCRs. Each, depending on its location in the house, picks up some channels more strongly than others. This factors into the strategic assignment of taping.
2. Each Sunday, Dad pulls the new television schedule out of the Sunday paper and grabs two highlighters, one green and one pink. He scans through the week, highlights in green the shows that he wants taped, and highlights in pink the shows that either Mom or I want taped. (I follow to make sure he caught everything.)
   
3. Now, just this week he threw an extra signal into the mix: yellow. Yellow now equals shows that he doesn't want taped, but that he wants to be aware of to watch live. (Still with me?)
4. Before 8:00 on the night in question, the designated taper (usually me) scans the guide, assesses channels to be taped, grabs a blank tape, writes the date and show(s) on an index card contained inside the cover, and begins recording.

Now, seeing how this works, how could you think that we would need TiVo? (She writes with a knowing smile.)

One of my favorite shows, Dancing with the Stars, premiered last night (highlighted in pink, as it should be). I've been a devoted fan of this show since the very first season. I even vote.

Sometimes I screw with our system and even tape it while I watch it live. Now what color should that be?

Camera: Canon 40D with 60mm macro lens, 1/125s, f/2.8 at ISO 800 in incandescent lighting.