There must be a light under the bushel!

Evolution of the Remote Control

Warning: This leads to one of those "back in the day" stories.

Tonight I was looking for my remote control to turn my TV on. I had the control that changes channels on the satellite, but the remote for the actual on button for the TV was swallowed up somewhere in the bowels of my bedroom. I'm ashamed to say that it did not cross my mind to push the little green button right on front of the TV.

I really wanted to watch a show that I thought started at 7:00. It was now 7:10 and I'd been searching for 10 minutes. Finally, I gave up, and I don't mean I pushed the little green button. I just went in the other room to look for entertainment.

About that time, my mom walks in the room and asks why I don't have American Idol on. I looked at her kinda blankly. Why didn't I just turn it on in the living room? I guess I was still depressed about my own missing remote! Crazy!

That got me thinking about when I was a kid before we had remote controls for the TV. It really didn't bother me to turn the channels by hand, maybe because I didn't know any better or maybe because I just sat so close to the TV (even though I had perfect vision--it's a kid thing, I guess).

However, I know that my dad would wait patiently for one of us to walk by his TV set so that we could act as his human remote. We'd switch the channel for him and start to walk away, but then he'd say, "No, no, wait a minute. I want to see what else is on."

If we were watching in the same room with him, we didn't dare shift in our seats because he'd immediately ask, "You getting up?" This acted as a prelude to one of the following requests: to get him something to drink, to fetch another pack of his cigarettes, or to transform into his personal push-button device.

I mentioned this memory to Dad. He laughed and said, "Yeah, that was before you found out you really didn't have to do those things..."