The VCR is Dead, Long Live the VCR

I am the last person in America using a VCR.

At least, that's how it sounded when I went to Radio Shack to try to work out my VCR issues. The woman working there looked at me askance and said something along the lines of "You know they're disappearing... you can't really find a VCR these days..." as if to imply there was something deeply troubling about my trying to use a VCR at this point in time.

Now, mind you, I didn't go to Circuit City and I didn't go to Best Buy. I went to Radio Shack. Remember Radio Shack? Where the geeks went to get additional parts for their Commodore 64? The company isn't exactly cutting edge--they still have RADIO in their name!

When she realized I wasn't going to hop on the DVR or Tivo bandwagon until such time that I was sure the VCR (of which we have 2) was a no-go, she and another colleague worked out the issue and I am now, once again, able to use my antique as I please.

I was tempted to buy out all the blank videotapes at the grocery store, just in case they stopped making them, but there didn't seem to be any shortage. So maybe I'm not the sole VCR user in America. How long do I have? I'd say the "clock is ticking" but since we're talking VCRs, how about the "clock is blinking 12:00"...