Roku

The TV monitor in my son's spare bedroom doesn't have a cable connection, so when we visit his family in California, I generally watch DVDs or Blu-Rays while propped up on the bed at night.

Recently, he bought a Roku Streaming TV and Media Player. The service comes with a cute little remote and offers 2,000 channels of entertainment. My son subscribed to two of the most popular – Netflix and Hulu Plus. He gets PBS, Smithsonian and Crackle free.

This made the wife happy, because now she can watch her Korean dramas from the bed. It makes me happy because I can watch old first season episodes of How Do They Do It, one of my favorite process-wonk programs in the Science Channel.

Unfortunately, she began hogging the Roku and iced me out of How Do They Do It.

Wives! Can't live with them, can't live without them.