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LEARN HOW TO MAKE OUR TYPE LARGER

	Just a thought
	Betty Lammers

Mediating a complex relationship
Published May 2000

I recently had a dilemma involving my TV and VCR. Their relationship is a complicated thing. They work in tandem with each other and there are numerous buttons to push in order for them to function. I tried to record one program in the den and watch TV in the bedroom. I know there is a way to record one and watch another on the same set, but that requires a lot more electronic knowledge than I am capable of.

First I will confess what caused the problem. I had switched the bedroom remote with the den – who would have thought that little misdeed would cause any problems? With the remote switch, I could not get a TV picture, the tape in the VCR would keep going and not record. Frustration! The next day, a neighbor pushed some A/B switch and got the television picture for me and thought my cable box was defective.

A few days later, my son-in-law took a look and we had all the instruction books out. He realized that the remote had to be reprogrammed. We noticed a card attached to a nearby shelf that my late husband had written with the code “F1, TV, 057, TV.” My son-in-law pushed the right buttons and all was well.

Since then I have had a profound reflection. To vacuum, I just flip a switch and I can clean my carpeting. To use the washer, dryer and iron only means pushing a button or flipping a switch. Microwave, oven, stove – all simple to use. Any appliance that does real work responds readily. I really don’t want to come off like a male-basher, however, the one for recreational purposes is so complicated that only a male can figure it out. And perhaps that is why, in most homes, the husbands have charge of the remote.

E-mail Betty Lammers at betty@homefrontmagazine.com.

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