Cable Box Is Being Petulant

How's that for a 'word of the day'?

I've mentioned before that I just LOVE me some TV.  So, when the cable box starts to go kaput, I'm a little bummed.  It started doing some weird things yesterday.  Giving a lot of "please wait" and "downloading" messages.  The DVR portion of the box has been flaking out a litlle but the whole box is now refusing to discuss anything with the cable company.  So, I'll have to break down the whole thing and take it in to get a new box tomorrow.  The good thing is that it has forced me to FINALLY down grade my cable service (leaving me another $40 a month to pay debt with).  I've been putting it off because I didn't want to deal with breaking down the whole set up and setting it all back up again.  When I moved to this place, my parents helped me fix my huge TV over the fireplace, and set up all the equipment it the adjacent bedroom.  It involved power tools and running wires, Not fun.  It took 3 people (including an electrician & a mechanical engineer), a LONG day,  but It looks really cool!  Just the flat screen TV is showing in the living room, none of the boxes that usually surround a TV.  That will mean dealing with more wires and using more brain power than I care to on a day off.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  Looking forward to some time of work in 2 weeks.  I'm getting vactionitis in a bad way.  I'm going to do something special for one day of my vacation but will mostly include enjoying the nice weather and not having to deal with work.