I’d just about worked up a good head of steam over the stupidity of the Eureka episode from two weeks ago, when the sound went out on our fancy-schmancy entertainment system five minutes from the end of the show. We’d just eaten a big meal of meat, potatoes, and pasta … and a shot of schnapps. Who wants to deal with a crisis of that magnitude when one is feeling so relaxed and lazy? We just wanted to watch some TV!

I knew what the problem was right away, but, of course, Lin had to push every button on every remote, even though it wasn’t at all possible for him to have done anything more than hit one button and switch the sound input. It wasn’t that. He certainly didn’t dig through ten different menus with six settings for each and mess anything up. Eventually, I managed to manipulate him into proving that the sound from the radio and the DVD player were working just fine, so the problem had to be with either the cable signal or the cable box. Look … everything is always somehow Time Warner’s fault. Trust me.

Well, what are the chances the sound is actually out on every channel, all at the same time, as well as shows recorded to the DVR? Simply not possible. I knew it was the cable box right away. It’s almost always the cable box, isn’t it?

I rebooted the box, which is always a royal pain in the butt, because it never seems to reboot properly the first time. The sound is now back. Secretly, I saved the day. Lin would have taken forever to solve the problem, and it would have ended with him taking everything apart to try to make it work. Dude, it’s always the cable box. Trust me.