On the Edge of Insanity

Early in the new year, I was relaxing at home when the phone rang. Caller ID revealed the caller to be my mother. I answered, heard her voice, and knew at once that she was frantic.

"They're changing my channels again."

"What?"

"They're changing my channels again!"

"What in the world are you talking about?!?!"

"My television...they are changing my channels again."

"Momma, have you started cocktail hour a little early?"

"No! I haven't had anything to drink today."

My mother lives on a street where many new houses have gone up in the past couple of years. One of her neighbors must have Dish Network, as does my mother, because his remote control is operating her receiver. Both of them must be very frustrated because every time her channel changed, she would change it back. This back-and-forth has since continued off and on for all of the new year. At one point, her neighbor attempted to order pay-per-view sports. She was so scared by that she called Dish Network to block her account from ordering pay-per-view of any kind.

The latest generation of Dish Network equipment includes remote controls that operate on radio frequencies instead of IR signals to communicate their commands from remote controls to receivers. With this technology, the remote controls work from greater distances.

I'm sure that the correction will involve a small adjustment of frequencies or some such. I hope not to receive another call from my mother that makes me think that she is being annoyed by aliens or any other creatures who are able to annoy people.