(A tongue-in-cheek comparison of how life changes)
The OLD TV
The first TV I bought was in response to a friend’s question, “Could you watch my six-year-old daughter for a week or so? I’m getting married!” That was over thirty years ago.
Buying a TV seemed like a logical thing to do for a single workaholic in that circumstance. I went straight to K-Mart, the only store in this small town that sold TVs, and bought a TV stand and a color TV with a big screen: 19 inches! The whole thing took less than an hour, round trip, from my house about three miles from the store. It required no research.
Cable guy hooked it up a few days later and Voila! Tons of entertainment for the little girl.
For those having trouble following this, please recall that Internet was invented in 1991 and was not available in all areas for some years after that. I learned about it in 1996 and have been online ever since.
That Curtis Mathes was a fantastic TV. It was still working great – good picture, great sound – even twenty-five years later! I had dumped the TV service when I learned the girl wasn’t coming but still used the TV with a VHS component to do exercises like dancing.
When I finally decided to use a TV service again, the cable guy could not hook it up. He had only brought equipment for the new flat screen TVs.
Because I was still a people-pleaser then, I said, “Oh! Well… I have one of those new flat screens in my garage, but I’ve never used it.” So I went out there and found the NEW TV, one an ex-boyfriend gave me when he upgraded.
I’ll never forget how sad I was when I went to the recycle station to release my Curtis Mathes because it was an incredible TV that still worked and I loved it! Not only that, but it cost me $20. My mistake. Never toss something that still works!
the NEW Flat Screen TV
The new flat TV sucked. The picture never fit the screen, the color was either mostly green or mostly red, and the sound was distorted. I recycled that one after a few days.
But I’m a movie buff and had to do something to access films I could watch. Because I work with a 23-inch computer monitor, I’ve been using my laptop and watching tons of movies and re-runs of TV shows I never saw. I have to admit to loving the concept of streaming — as in Netflix and Amazon Prime. But I missed being able to do Tai Chi and Chi Gong and dancing because I had no way to see them without a TV, especially now, recovering from Plantar Fasciitis which restricts walking.
the high-tech nightmare
I’ve spent a week doing research for the best 32 – inch flat screen TV I could afford and learning about all essential TV accouterments for my attic apartment. Shopping for the TV and TV stand is different now, especially when your walls only go to 47 inches high, and you have about 500 square feet of usable space total in the entire apartment. And things have changed so much that I had to learn how I could use what I already have — like buying RCA to HDMI adaptors to use my VCR and DVD components. (Yep: I’m a minimalist.)
Buying a TV this time was a nightmare compared to the first one. I spent five hours on Friday just making diagrams with heights of stands, swivel tables, and TV’s because I was hoping to put it in the corner. The skylight makes using the other walls difficult: bright light on the screen.
Unlike living in a house, living in an attic requires measuring and intensive research! I don’t dare order something I can’t use, because if it’s my mistake, Amazon will let me pay the return postage. I’ve donated all kinds of stuff to the Thrift Store because it wasn’t cost-effective to return them.
Is NEW Really better than OLD?
Remains to be seen whether this new TV is worth all the precious time it took to learn everything I needed to know even to place an order. I guess that’s the advantage of having children who learned about high-tech entertainment from their friends at school.
I don’t feel stupid about not keeping up with this branch of technology because I live a mostly balanced life and I know how to do a lot of things — like how to do all the parts of publishing books, which requires a certain level of computer know-how. But keeping up with “entertainment technology” has never been a priority.
Your Turn!
Are you keeping up with everything necessary in your life? Do you live a balanced life?
[Note that technology is not among the aspects typical of a well-balanced life unless you must work with it, but these areas are: physical, emotional, mental, social, personal, work, family, spiritual, and financial.]
Till next time, please be kind to everyone you meet, for we all have our hidden sorrows. ~Tzaddi
Update:
Another strike against the NEW TV is that you must sit directly in front of it or the picture is not the same. Last night I watched a favorite old movie and switched from directly in front of the screen (although maybe six feet away from it) to a chair that was not exactly in front of it. Bottom line: flat screens require sitting opposite them; you lose a lot if you sit even slightly off that position.
skatingthru2012 