Nearing 200 Netflix Rentals 

Thanks to a little tool called FlixQueue, I'm able to see at a glance that I've returned 195 movies to Netflix since I signed up.

The first movie I returned was Underworld, on January 19, 2004. Sure, not the most amazing movie to have at #1, but sometimes you need some cheesy action (2 and 3 were The 25th Hour and Rashomon, slightly more upscale). The last movie I returned was Hustle & Flow on May 31, 2006.

In between I've returned 193 other movies for my grand total of 195. Making the math easy, I started in January 2004 and last returned a movie in May 2006, which is 29 months. 195 movies over 29 months is about 6.7 movies per month. Not too bad -- I'm on the 3 out/$18 plan, which means I'm at about $2.70/movie. That's far less than I'd pay at Blockbuster (I think ... I haven't walked into a Blockbuster in over a year), so I think I'm getting my money's worth.

Over the weekend, since my DVRs are pretty much empty (nothing new on TV), I cleared out the three movies I had out (#196 = Bubble, 197 = The Devil's Backbone, 198 = All the Real Girls). If all goes well, I should be getting my next 2 or 3 movies on Tuesday. That means that rental #200 will either be Good Night, and Good Luck or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

This isn't really a milestone ... but it felt interesting to write about. Plus, given that I'll get through 200 movies in approximately 29 months, it means I'll get to the end of my Netflix Queue, assuming I don't add any more movies, sometime in 2008.

Maybe I should be more selective ...