Remotely possible

In this week’s Open Question:

We have three standard remotes and a couple of extras.

There’s the Silver RCA remote that controls the TV and the DVD/Receiver.

There’s the Comcast remote that controls the cable box/DVR.

There’s the Sony remote that controls the VCR.

These three tend to get scattered over time, but have a home in a little ceramic bowl over by the TV. It is actually possible to do most things on the equipment without them, but a pain to do so.

Katherine has her own “Wee-mote” (a programmable kid-friendly remote) that she doesn’t use much any more because she prefers to watch DVRed shows and videos; she’s mastered the real remotes for that functionality which she can (pause, play, FF, REW, menu navigation).

We have an older Black RCA remote that actually goes with the TV; alas, it doesn’t handle all the functions on the DVD/Receiver. We also have a few generic remote from earlier TVs and simpler days.

Can someone figure out our TV setup? But of course, thanks to the handy directions I’ve worked out and printed up — mostly for babysitters who come over. It’s easy, once you learn how. Without it, though, you’d likely never quite find what you want.

On the non-TV front, we have a remote for the ceiling fan in the breakfast room (which remote sits over by the phone). It can adjust the light intensity (which we rarely change) and the fan speed (which we keep at either off or low, lest papers blow away or the slightly unbalanced fan oscillate too much).

We also have a remote in the bedroom for the pedestal fan there. It’s only used in the summer. It is convenient, though, to be able to turn it on from the bed without having to haul our lazy carcasses up to do so, especially on a hot summer night.

I think there are remotes for the video camera and a couple of other things, but they’re never used.