#2782

Confession… I’m a Luddite

Sunday our current TV died. The screen suddenly decided to only display a bright fluctulating line across the middle. It was a bit like sharing our front room with a Cylon – the campy 80s version. Mildly amusing for half an hour or so but by Tuesday the lack of TV, combined with the cabin fever induced by the “Winter Storm of 2006″ had started to send The Susan a bit wiggy. On the plus side we missed the awsomely lame local news coverage, that made 2” of snow seem like a sequel to The Donner Party was right around the corner.

I was assigned the task of getting a replacement, preferably before The Susan’s favorite mid-week shows. No easy task given that the whole of Seattle was shut down by the storm. The solution is pretty obvious. Head to my local big box electronics retailer and drop a couple of grand on a high definition flat TV. Problem. Television just doesn’t do it for me. There are things I can get really excited about and televisions just aren’t one of them. Climbing gear, bicycles, computers – Nice! These are “toys”. Cars, televisions and washing machines are, well, appliances – Boring.

So there’s obviously something deeply wrong with me. So what. If TV could make itself a bit more interesting or interactive then I might be able to get a bit more excited. In the end I picked up something from Craig’s List for a couple of hundred bucks. With everyone else upgrading there’s lots of deals to be had. The Susan can watch Prison Break and I can see Heroes – which is at least reasonably interesting, not that the Fall lineup gave it much competition. All is right with the world. Plus I can still say I own a set of climbing ropes that cost more than the TV.