New Toy

The Story of the (previously mentioned) Big Ass TV:

Last week, Surfer Pirate came home from the store in a super-excited frenzy. Our favorite cashier had introduced him to her mom, and the conversation came up about a big ol' TV she wanted to sell.

Cheap.

We have been looking for a new TV for the living room. Surfer Pirate's Man Cave has been seriously lacking without a place to watch sports and movies. A new TV in the house means he can watch marathons of Pawn Stars without me having to watch the annoyingness that is the condescending way Rick treats his customers.

And I can watch my wedding shows without him changing the channel when I leave the room for a second.

So he went to look at the TV, and then brought this gigantic beast home.

In seeing that it wasn't a 52" like she'd originally said (TV screens are measured diagonally, not by width, in case you didn't know), I was a little concerned with how it was going to even fit in our small rooms. That's right people! This is a frickin' 60" television!

And then he turned it on. And it was fuzzy. REALLY fuzzy. If you wear contacts and have ever accidentally slept in them and have experienced waking up to eyes full of goop, you'll understand what this thing looked like.

Needless to say, I was NOT happy about the purchase. I told Surfer Pirate I would give it a couple days to see if I could get used to it - knowing full well I wouldn't. So I did. And I still hated it. He'd promised me if I hated it he would move it downstairs.

For the record, that would be really funny. First of all, I have serious doubts about it fitting down the stairs. And if he could manage to get it down there, it would completely dwarf the room. The Man Cave is a small room, and to top it off, it's also very strangely shaped. Watching that TV down there would make you feel like it was getting ready to roll across the floor to eat you!

So yesterday, Surfer Pirate had some errands to run before he came home for lunch. While he was out, he ran into Favorite Cashier's dad. He asked how we were liking the TV, and when he heard it was a little fuzzy, he wasn't surprised. This is a projection TV, and apparently they just need to have their little projectors cleaned every once in a while. He explained what to do, and last night Surfer Pirate brought home the tool we would need to take the back off. (Of course, they can't use simple screws so I could have done it myself while he was at work. But being married to a mechanic means the man has tools. Lots of tools. Note to self: get a set of nut-drivers for the house.) We took the back off, cleaned the projectors and the mirror inside, and voila! Almost perfectly clear picture! (We can't expect perfection. This thing is at least a decade old, but it was a HUGE improvement from what it was when we brought it home.)

So today I'm moving furniture because as you can see from the picture, it covers up my beautiful fireplace, and we can't have that. (You can also see the smaller TV and its stand on the floor in the background of the picture.