It’s such a dilemma. I love our technology toys — the new HDTV, Guitar Hero, the iPhone on our home wifi network. I enjoy playing with them, exploring the features and figuring out how to make it all work together in our house. I’ve always adored television (the writers’ strike is really starting to hurt me!), more so when we got TiVo three years ago, and even more now with beautiful HD. And I think we’re almost at the point where we’ve decided not to wait for the old computer to die: we’re just going to go ahead and get the Mac we’ve been talking about for, like, four years now.

The problem with all these wonderful entertainments is that they’re resource hogs. Between the cost of the phone bill and the cable and internet bill, we could be fully funding an IRA. And the time! Sheesh! In that regard, TiVo is a double-edged sword. Back in the day, if you had to be out when your favorite show was on, you either taped it or not, watched it or not. But TiVo always records it and keeps it in a list, a list that grows and grows faster than you have time in which to watch it. It’s nice to know there’s almost always something worth watching when I feel like sitting down in front of the TV, but there are some shows I feel like I could let go of, only when they’re in the Now Playing list, it’s hard to ignore them. So I feel like I have to “catch up” on TV, and it takes on some of the same character as catching up on laundry or weeding. Not so fun.

And then there’s all the online stuff. Ravelry. Facebook. Flickr. This blog, even. I feel pretty strongly about maintaining an online presence, both for personal reasons and because it’s important for me to keep up professionally, and I want to be a consistent updater. But when there’s been a full day at work and I’m already tired and there’s a ton of TV to watch, me sitting at the computer is highly unlikely.

Some days, I just want to chuck it all — TV, video games, computer, everything. I have this utopian vision of being able to read and listen to music more, going to bed earlier, getting back to a routine, feeling like my responsibilities are under control. I hate feeling like I’m in a time crunch, and the next month or so is going to be pretty stressful on that front (more to come on that). So what can give? If the writers’ strike keeps going, I’m hoping it’s TV, but if the Now Playing list starts to stack up again… I don’t know.