One day I was speaking to one of my co-workers when the subject suddenly turned to his girlfriend. They are both a little older, and more mature; 40’s. “I gotta tell you” he began; “she’s a great lady, and I really love her, but do you know what she did last night?” Shaking my head no, I was thinking she scooped up his wallet in the middle of the night and ordered up some shoes online with his credit cards. It was way worse! He began again; “last night I’m sitting on the couch in deep concentration watching Star Trek, and she comes into the room, sits down next to me and starts talking!” Oh boy I’m thinking……this is worse than shoes! “It wasn’t even a REAL story” he said. “This is not the first time it happened. It was just about one of her friends who misplaced her keys!” Three guys  around the table just shook our heads in disbelief! “NOBODY TALKS DURING STAR TREK” he said. We all now nodded our heads in complete concurrent; after all, everybody knows the protocol; well unless it’s talk about how either Captain Kirk is THE MAN, or Captain Janeway is the most clever, bad-ass chick in the galaxy!

Fear not, this is not one of “those” Man/Woman, Venus/ Mars blogs. There are even men who don’t understand other men. In fact the guys at work (no, I’m not a full-time professional, high paid blogger) continue to be in complete shock concerning my TV status. One; I don’t have a cable TV service. Two; I don’t even have an antenna for my TV so I’m cut off from free broadcast TV. Three……this one really kills them; I DON’T even have a TV in my bedroom!!!

I’m not some “uptight digital puritan” (I just made that up), who snickers at TV watching. TV has come a long way, and I download or steam all kind of things including Netflix and Amazon because among other reasons, I can’t tolerate the commercials on free and paid TV! I enjoy my programming immensely, but cable and a TV in the bedroom are not the Alpha and Omega!

Having said that, here are a few more notes from the Man Cave.

Food is allowed. Watching TV while eating is rather enjoyable if the program is something that doesn’t need my full undivided attention, then it’s either or.

I don’t leave dishes or take-out boxes lying around after I eat. Yea, it’s the cave, but there’s no point in being a pig.

The dishes may be gone, but it’s perfectly acceptable to leave a stack of napkins or a small “secret stash” of ketchup packs hidden in a jar just in case some emergency french fries break out!

There is no such thing as  “guest remote control privileges!” Allow this, and you might as well allow talking during……….well, you KNOW when!

A nearby blanket is a great idea should you fall into a “post-food coma” and require a nap.

Then, there’s this conversation; “hey, I called you there times, even once on the house land-line number, why didn’t you answer the phone?” “I didn’t hear it; the phones are in the other room.” I say. “Why don’t you bring the cordless or cell in the room with you” they say. “So I can’t hear” I say.

Shocking!