Yes, we're Lost

Ed and I are total dorks. Now, for those of you who know us, that's probably a big "duh!" For those of you who don't know us well, this may come as a surprise - or you could also be thinking, "duh!"

Either way, here's official proof. We had considered renting the first season of Lost a few times, but then decided we didn't want to get hooked on any more tv shoes. Until that fateful BBQ we had in June when a family member said, "Man, don't get started on that one or you'll be totally stuck!!" That's it. The gauntlet had been thrown down and we foolishly took on the challenge. Ed got an Amazon.com gift card for his birthday so part of that went to purchasing Season 1. I mean, if we didn't like it, we could always sell it on e-bay.

By the time we got to Episode 4 or 5, Ed was on the computer ordering Seasons 2 and 3. Thankfully, Season 4 doesn't come out on DVD until November and Season 5 starts on tv in January. So, we theorized that once we completed Season 3, we'd have our life back. Au contraire.

In browsing the Lost website, I discovered that the bastards have streaming video of Season 4!! Do I tell Ed or not? If course, I told him. Next came a couple of discussions about whether or not we wanted to watch it that way, or just wait until November. I mean, if we watch streaming video we would also have to watch a few 30-second commercials. Could we do that? We are the Tivo generation, after all.

We were two episodes away from the end of Season 3. How could we NOT watch the streaming video? How could we allow it to be there for our viewing and not partake. By the time we got to the cliff-hanger finale, we knew the answer. We could not wait until November.

For the first episode of Season 4, we huddled around my computer. We clicked it on, got some great info about Listerine, then watched. Sitting in front of my desk. At one point something happened that made Ed jump and he almost fell out of his little folding chair. That's it! We need to find a way to stream this to our big screen tv. Another gauntlet had been tossed.

We have wireless in our house, but for some reason it won't work on our laptops. This was no time to get a computer guy out here to look at it. No, sir. We would improvise. Ed set up his new laptop on a tv tray next to the big tv. The plan was to string a cord from the laptop to our home office to connect to the Internet. Heh, heh, heh. We'd show 'em. Alas, the cord we had was too short. So Ed got up early on Sunday morning and headed to Fry's to buy a longer cord. Came home, attached it, and it connected fine. Wait, now the cord from the laptop to the big screen has the wrong plugs. Something about male and female and all that. After a series of "shits" and "damn its", Ed put his shoes back on and headed back to Fry's to get the right sex for the cords.

Oh, yes, now we were sailing. The video came through on the big screen and was surprisingly clear. Except the sound was still coming out of the laptop and wasn't the best quality. What happened next, you might ask?!? Correct! Another trip to Fry's to get a cable for the sound.

So now the sound and picture come through the big tv. It actually works quite well. Of course, there is one of those 30-second commercials every 10 minutes so one of us has to get off the couch, go to the laptop, wait for the commercial to end, and then hit "Click to Continue". Oh, yes, and move the mouse arrow over to the side so it doesn't wind up in one of the actors' nose. We have a little code - if the person who has click duty doesn't move the mouse, the person lounging on the couch yels out "MM" (for "move mouse").

Two more episodes and then we can truly have our life back. Well, until the DVD comes out in November and we have to watch a few episodes before Season 5 starts to refresh our memories.

Did I mention that we were dorks?