F1 annoyance
I've been a Formula One fan for the past several years, following Juan Pablo Montoya when he left ChampCar (the racing series that runs the San Jose Grand Prix -- of course, it was called CART back when Montoya was there). Although I unbelievably got Erika hooked on it as well, she declines to watch the qualifying sessions, so I was watching it on the TiVo today after she left for a meeting.
This year, F1 switched to a new knock-out format of qualifying. It used to be that everybody did a qualifying lap, one by one (and they occasionally switched back and forth from single-lap qualifying to multiple laps). Makes for kinda repetitive viewing, I suppose, but it was perfect for TiVo, because you could just fast-forward through the drivers you weren't interested in. Hey, I'm an econ geek, so I'm always thinking about opportunity costs of my time. Although the new format seems like it'd be more interesting to most people, it means I can't fast-forward through qualifying, because everybody takes the track at the same time and has a time limit to get in their best laps. Still, I solved the opportunity cost issue by doing my ironing while I watched, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
Of course, I didn't notice that the TiVo hadn't recorded the whole thing due to a power outage. Yes, there's that green bar that didn't go to the end, but most Formula One races are overseas (and TiVo so disconnects you with air-time anyway), that I assumed it was just still in the process of recording. But no, it cut off right after the 2nd of 3 rounds of qualifying -- right after I find out that Montoya, now with McLaren-Mercedes, didn't make it to the 3rd round, and thus will start way back in 12th. I just checked online for the rest of the results, and the two teams we hate, Renault and Ferrari, swept the first two rows.
Argh. Adding insult to... um... two other insults. I suppose I could injure myself, but what would be the point of that?
On the upside, the race is at Circuit de Catalunya, where "Circuit" is pronounced "ser-KWEE." Saying "ser-KWEE! ser-KWEE! ser-KWEE!" amuses me to no end. Doesn't quite make up for it all, but it'll have to do.
This year, F1 switched to a new knock-out format of qualifying. It used to be that everybody did a qualifying lap, one by one (and they occasionally switched back and forth from single-lap qualifying to multiple laps). Makes for kinda repetitive viewing, I suppose, but it was perfect for TiVo, because you could just fast-forward through the drivers you weren't interested in. Hey, I'm an econ geek, so I'm always thinking about opportunity costs of my time. Although the new format seems like it'd be more interesting to most people, it means I can't fast-forward through qualifying, because everybody takes the track at the same time and has a time limit to get in their best laps. Still, I solved the opportunity cost issue by doing my ironing while I watched, so I guess I shouldn't complain.
Of course, I didn't notice that the TiVo hadn't recorded the whole thing due to a power outage. Yes, there's that green bar that didn't go to the end, but most Formula One races are overseas (and TiVo so disconnects you with air-time anyway), that I assumed it was just still in the process of recording. But no, it cut off right after the 2nd of 3 rounds of qualifying -- right after I find out that Montoya, now with McLaren-Mercedes, didn't make it to the 3rd round, and thus will start way back in 12th. I just checked online for the rest of the results, and the two teams we hate, Renault and Ferrari, swept the first two rows.
Argh. Adding insult to... um... two other insults. I suppose I could injure myself, but what would be the point of that?
On the upside, the race is at Circuit de Catalunya, where "Circuit" is pronounced "ser-KWEE." Saying "ser-KWEE! ser-KWEE! ser-KWEE!" amuses me to no end. Doesn't quite make up for it all, but it'll have to do.