The Best And The Worst Day

The best and worst day of a man’s life. No, regardless of popular belief, it’s not when you buy and sell a boat. It's not the day you're married and the day you're divorced. It’s when your television set blows up. Every man hopes this day will come, this one in particular. The only thing that makes this day bad is the fight for the money you will need to pry out of your wife’s (well manicured) hands. But you will prevail. Darwin made sure of that.

I had the blessing/misfortune of having the picture go crazy on my 52” high definition projection TV. Yes, while it’s only 6 years old, for some reason, it decide to go out on me (thanks to that ice pick – I'm kidding honey, love you).

The immediate response – buy new, and bigger. Fix this one? No way. This is a disposable society, right? I’m helping the economy. It’s good for America for me to chuck this one into the landfill and get the newest and greatest and biggest. Actually, I don’t subscribe to any of this, except the newest, greatest, and biggest idea. I am, after all, still just a man. It’s a genetic thing. You ladies wouldn't understand.

In all seriousness, when we decided to buy this TV, I knew it wasn’t the one for us. We settled on it due to price. The plasma and LCD TV’s were still double the price. The decision was to settle. And I’ve been unhappy ever since. She wanted a cabinet around the TV, but at 27”deep, the case would be prohibitively ugly. Sure, I’ve done it before, but never really loved the end result. The slim line TV’s can lend themselves much better to case designs that don’t look like refrigerator boxes. So, we have been living with a giant TV in the room, and the stereo and assorted components stacked up on an old nightstand. Sound familiar?

I’m so excited, and not over the new TV that will be coming next week (but that doesn't hurt), but to finally get order in my electronics life. You know, the rat’s nest of wires you try to hide behind the big black thingy over there (that you’re not sure does what). The idea of having a cabinet that will hold all this stuff, and the idea of me not only being willing, but happy to sort out the bundle of wires, is thrilling.

The point I’m trying to make I guess is that life is too short to settle for less than what you want. Sometimes, we need to be a little wasteful. Throw out that old cabinet, or donate it, even though there really is nothing wrong with it. If it fails to enrich your life, why have it? It becomes worth less than worthless because it occupies space in your life and mind that should be otherwise occupied with thoughts of ice cream and sugar plums. Okay, maybe not quite like that, but you get the idea.

I do subscribe to not being wasteful, and finding ways to re-use, recycle, and replenish all things. I will come to some clever conclusion of what to do with this beast of a TV.......later. For now, I see its demise as a mechanism for me to get my life enhanced and simplified. New TV. New cabinet. Professionally done wire management. Thank you, Lord. The end of one thing really is the beginning of another. I’ve already begun designing the case. I'll keep you posted.