In my household, my husband and I do not battle for the TV remote. He can have it. He can have that TV remote and all of its stinkin' little friends, too. It was bad enough when we got TIVO and acquired a new remote -- which somehow was magically programmed into a Universal remote -- I had to write down directions, step-by-step, or I couldn't turn on the TV.

Now that we have purchased a plasma TV, I am not ashamed to admit that I have no idea how to operate it. I come from an era when to change a channel, we had to get our big, fat, lazy butts off the floor and walk across the room to turn the dial. If it rained and reception was poor, we crumpled up aluminum foil and attached it to the rabbit ears. TV was in black and white. We had 4 channels. Our choices were not HBO or Showtime, it was VHF or UHF.

Fast-forward 40 years and you have my 3-year-old niece grabbing the remote to skip over the part of the witch on her bike with Toto in the Wizard of Oz. Kids today are so spoiled. They have no idea how good they have it.

"Does the DVD / VCR stay with the set?" an installer asked yesterday. I have no freakin' idea. Ask my husband. That's his department.

We also have something called Blu-ray, which is supposed to provide superior picture quality. I must say, my eyes popped out of my head as I settled in to watch Ken Burns' National Parks: America's Best Idea. This is a 12-hour, 6-part PBS documentary series directed by Burns. It's part of the reason that we made reservations a year in advance at the Yellowstone Lodge for next fall. Because after people watch this series, it will be almost impossible to get a reservation.

The landscapes are spectacular; the beauty is breathtaking, and the colors are magnificent in Blu-ray. But don't ask me how to turn off the thing much less how to turn up the volume.

I know where my strengths lie. As a Sacramento short sale agent, I list and sell short sales throughout the tri-county area of Sacramento. That I can do. Manage a TV remote, not so much.

As the installer was hooking up our equipment, he overheard me speaking with a client on my cell and must have realized that I sell short sales in Sacramento. He wants to sell his house as a short sale. So I gave him a copy of my book, The Short Sale Savior, and my business card. He's not quite ready to go on the market yet, but when he is, I suspect he will call me.

Photo: Yosemite National Park, Elizabeth Weintraub