My weekend has already started, but there’ll be little leisure to it: I’m moving, from one portion of Montgomery County to another. Gus is heading up from No. Va. very early Saturday morning in his van to help out. Normally, even in the company of a good friend, such a task is drudgery, but the overall hauling in my move is modest, and this one carries a particularly appealing payoff in that our very first van trip will deliver not one but two brand new LCD television sets to the new blog base.
That largesse is a story in itself. In the first place, I’ve never owned a high-def television before. Mere moments after I’d settled on my new home my mind raced to high anxiety, knowing that I wanted, and could afford (sorta), that dynamic entertainment experience. The anxiety centered on my being less fluent with technology than the GEICO cavemen. I emailed Vogel, for while we were in Moscow together this spring he recounted for me the religious experience of bringing high-def into his home. He claims to know little more about technology than I do, proof of which may have arrived when he replied with “Get to Circuit City and just buy the picture you like best. That’s what I did.”
Good friends can be both devils and angels on your shoulders. Some are chums enough to be both at once. Recently, my Costco-membershipped mate Michael led me through that quaint garage full of goodies, with the express purpose of helping me purchase high-def television for my new home. The first trouble sign of splurge there was Michael’s securing a backhoe on my behalf. Actually, the two of us pushed around one of those industrial strength carts that appears in hauling capacity to replicate a crane on wheels. The Caps’ equipment staff would need one of these to transport the team’s armor from arena to airport.
My plan, prior to Michael’s intervention, was to invest in a nice-sized TV for my living area — a handful of quality 36-inch high-defs can now be had for less than $800 if you shop well — and modernize my bedroom with an appreciably smaller one. I had a budget, you know.
When Michael was through with his corruption crusade (note that his wallet was remaining in his bluejeans) I’d heard from him “Can you truly have too much TV?” . . . then, while with our cargo and our cart we blocked out the sun in the checkout line, he followed with “You know, you can always return the second giant; you have 90 days to return stuff here.” I had more square footage of TV than I did living space.
My father, investing as significantly as he did in my liberal arts education some years back, is going to be particularly awestruck by the orgy of “Idiot box” technology now eliminating guest seating in my new home.
I’m most concerned about Gus and his mission of mercy this weekend — will he return home to his wife and child after an introduction to the technology toys? Of course he will; we’ve but Nats and O’s on the tube these dog days.
About three hours after Gus and I begin heaving and hauling Saturday morning the Comcast cable guys arrive to connect the new sets to my new visual frontier, which will expand this fall to include, I tell you this morning somewhat breathlessly, NHL CenterIce. The Analog Kid truly is morphing into the Digital Man.
Of course I’ve seen my share of high-def TV events, in bars and in the basements of friends, but the anticipation I’m experiencing this week being audience to my own such broadcast is unlike anything I’ve enjoyed before.
Now Orderedchaos, being man about all things new media, has played his part, too, pressing into digital existence any number of audio and visual presents for me. As Saturday’s morning and afternoon labor transitions into evening R&R, I need help deciding how best to christen Night 1 in high definition. Have at it.
19 Comments
Hey! Your voting screen doesn’t work! I couldn’t add the answer. How about “Anna the Usher” from the private Moscow collection?
Excellent read. Your friend Gus is a good man. Peer presure like this doesn’t hurt. I too plan on joining the high def club right around September.
I’ve been promised generous amounts of puck sodas…. with some lame caveat of “payment after the safe movement of talking picture boxes”.
So what HDTV models did you settle on?
I hope more people will vote for Anna the Usher
SovSport, I would consider it if I could see a pic of the box cover
pucksandbooks, you heard the man. let’s see the picture
Do NOT make High-Def “Adult Films” your first viewing — you may never turn on the TV again after that. You really do not want to see all the **** and **** ****** in such detail.
I say Miracle or Mystery; as newer films they’ll have better video quality than Slap Shot. Then again, Casino Royale IS a kickass flick and will look amazing on that screen . . . what the hell, just watch everything on the list and don’t leave your couch all weekend!
The remark about Costco being “a quaint garage” is a little reaching, is it not?
Im the one who put Casino Royale on the poll, I myself don’t have HD yet. But I cant wait to see the first chase scene on HD.
Analog Kid to Digital Man…nice Rush reference.
Congrats, my friend. Two TVs, way to go, I’m proud of you. Life is good.
If the weather girl list includes Stephanie Abrams, thst’s my vote.
If not, go with planet Earth DVDs.
My answer would depend on if I were invited to said christening and what types of beverages would be involved. Congrats on the new place!
Which did you go with, Plasma or LCD? Did you get a HD DCD player as well? Are all the Center Ice games in HD? If all I wanted to see were the Caps, do I really need Center Ice?
v/r
Doug
Congrats and hope the move is uneventful!
sidenote: I am shopping for my first LCD HDTV right now, looking forward to watching hockey in HD next season.
My buddy just picked up a Samsung 52 inch LCD, those things are sweet. Im considering the 46 inch. Its got a sweet picture and a really good contrast ratio.
Now if Verizon FIOS TV would get the damn NHL Package….grrr
So, what did you watch?
pucksandbooks is offline for a little while. The “good” folks at Comcast called earlier in the day to “confirm” the installation appointment window of 11am to 2pm.
At 3:20pm, we left to continue the disposal of unwanted furniture items. Is it a surprise to anyone that we never saw or heard from a Comcast installation tech?
Apparently, the new neighbors are tech-savvy enough to lock down their wireless networks to prohibit an unconnected blogger from accessing the outside world.
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