Helllllloooooo OTTERITES!

Welcome to this Thursday edition of Wobert Wednesday. By which I mean, welcome to this late posting of Wobert Wednesday.

The picture of Abe above is indicative of the theme today. I gots better stuff to do.

As Marty said in his post Monday… Hey, I gots better stuff to do. I was actually out of the house and in the office yesterday afternoon. Really in the office I mean. Actually drove in for a huge meeting to discuss disaster recovery plans. Weird being in the office. Especially since so many are apparently doing a hybrid schedule. The place was quiet as a tomb. Still, got to say hi to people in person for the first time in almost two years. That was nice.

Then last night I went to my first Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus meeting. Just did the Fourth Degree last month. This was the first meeting since then. If you don’t know much about the Knights, they’re a fantastic Catholic service organization. They’re also very much a patriotic organization which is at the heart of the Fourth Degree in fact. I’m always both inspired and somewhat ashamed when I go to meetings and hear what the Knights have been up to of late. I haven’t really devoted my time to it as I would like, though I’m making that more of a priority in the future.

Tonight, and tomorrow night I’m going to the Bellarmine Knights (no relation to the KofC directly) basketball home games with the middle spawn. She’s become quite the sports fan over the years and has followed my footsteps in her love of Michigan related teams. Yes, even the Lions. We got season tickets to the Knights’ games this year. They play in the old Freedom Hall that the Louisville Cardinals played in before moving to the Yum Center. In fact, we’re going to see them at the Yum Center tonight. Scheduling conflict. Which is great. Yum is an awesome venue.

While talking about the venues, I must say there needs to be a drive to rename Freedom Hall since BU is the main user. I suggest Knights Arena since there’s already a Knights Hall on Bellarmine’s campus.

Get busy Otterites! Let’s make it happen.

Then we have a podcast recording session Saturday.

All this is to echo Marty’s post. I gots better stuff going on.

I do watch a lot of TV via the streaming services, but almost nothing gets watched in real time as it runs the first time. If it weren’t for DVRs and the streamers, I’d probably not watch anything. I’d almost never be in front of a TV at the right time or on a consistent basis.

Which I do not regret. Most of what’s on broadcast TV doesn’t interest me at all. There are exceptions, but they are few. Instead, I watch stuff on Apple TV +, Netflix, Hulu, Disney, Paramount and Amazon Prime. Usually, I’m engrossed in the offerings of one service at a time but do flip over to Disney and Paramount to catch the Marvel and Trek shows pretty much as they debut each week. Give or take. I still get to watch them as I want to, not at a specific time.

This of course lets me make my own schedule. Often the longer series, I will have on while I’m doing other things at my desk. Except when writing. Can’t allow the distractions then. I’ll binge a show, then not watch stuff for a while. Sometimes I’ll flip between shows depending on my level of interest. The Boy and I watch Lost in Space on Netflix (new version), though only one episode at a time. He’s not much for prolonged watching, which I have no trouble with. Except he can do prolonged gaming with no problem.

Anyway, all this is to say that my day is generally freaking full too. Again, stuff to do. For all the binging I do, when I do it, it’s almost never the sole focus of my time. It’s almost always a shared thing. I often do this with series I like to revisit from time to time, like Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate and so on.

Technology has created a way to watch when we’re so busy all the time.

BUT….

This has also created more pressure in our lives. There are so many really good shows and movies out there to choose from. Too many to actually watch all of them. In our busy days, the tech has allowed us greater freedom and ability to watch, but also far greater pressure to not miss out on something.

For instance, I was talking with a great friend in Michigan on his birthday recently. He’s into several shows, that I haven’t watched or have any direct plans to watch any time soon. He was gob smacked at that. He insisted I MUST watch them.

Maybe. I just have too many things going on to get done what I need to do and want to do. What I really need is people to come and tell me, “Hey, you know that series you were going to watch? That is absolute crap. Don’t watch it. It’s stupid. Horrible. Annoying. Insulting. Badly written and acted. All the women on it are ugly.”

OK. That last one wouldn’t REALLY keep me from watching something, probably. But my point is that I need people to remind me to use my time better. There are other things for me to do. Read good books. It invokes the imagination and thinking skills so much better than watching something on a screen. Go outside. Play with the kids. Enjoy a date night with Mrs. Robert. Whatever.

If I stopped watching everything cold turkey, right now, what effect would that have on my life? Mostly positive. There are a few things I’d have small regrets not seeing the end of, but very few. A few I would regret, because I watch with people. Other than that? Nah.

I gots better stuff to do, dang it.