Tech trouble: don’t you love it when tech goes retrograde?

I recently migrated this site from one host to another.It… took a little work. It was in fact (for non techy me) something of an obstacle course, where I kept on tripping over things and falling flat on my face. We made it, eventually. You’re here, right? So evidently things are functioning under – as Data from TNG would put it – within acceptable parameter. But tech trouble is tech trouble and things came home to roost.

Just got a billing from the host I moved the site from. Apparently they neglected to close my account there when I migrated the site away, and just billed me for an entire cycle. it’s a bit of an eyewatering amount and not something I can just sneeze at so I have to call them during normal office working hours and get to the bottom of this one – and things are complicated by the fact that they appear to have a different credit card on file than the one that was charged, but…but…really, can’t things just be easy just ONCE…? That would be great.

And then, my TiVo worked JUST FINE last night but today… today… my remote just DIED. The TIVo is is working fine – it’s busy taping something right now – but I *can’t access it* because my remote is dead. I tried calling them and they said, oh, sorry, your TiVo is too old we don’t carry those remotes any more (i mean, just how DIFFERENT does a remote have to be not to function at this point? Record, FastForward, Rewind, go to Menus and choose which programs to record or watch – you’d think that would BASIC, right? That a remote for that machine could simply use the same buttons to deal with the same issues…?) Try Amazon, they said, or eBay, for a new remote (is EVERYTHING on Amazon these days???) But even if I find the precise remote I need on Amazon (which still boggles me – the BRAND doesn’t have the remotes, but a third party reseller sells them???) is there a guarantee that I will be able to access the TiVo ever again? I certainly can’t watch anything right now. Not that I watch a great deal of TV but there’s stuff saved on that TiVo that Deck and I had watched. Or that I taped for when he came home (and he never did… so those things now have a hard sentimental value…) or the new stuff that is being taped right now (I have no idea what but i can see by the lights on the TiVo that it is doing something…) I am informed that TiVo is dying, anyway – that it’s all streaming services now. But I LIKED having the TiVo. I don’t want to pay for ten separate streaming services. Again. Why can’t something be easy? Just ONCE? Why does everything have to be trouble? And usually everything comes crashing at once – so what else is due to break on me now? I keep on having anticipatory shivers just thinking about it. Things come in threes, don’t they?