High Definition TV Democracy

Just what I need, to many choices, Plasma, High def, Projection, TV's, Flat screens... Size, I guess matters too...

Well once again, I did it, got the cart before the horse, bought the new DVD, Blu-Ray player and have only, according to my significant other, out dated TV's to use it with.

A complete social mis-step, in most circles. Amy Vanderbilt never covered this in her book on etiquette, what is a guy to do...

Well there is plenty of help from the family, my son says we need a 60 inch plasma, great for football games and of course X-box360, what else would a 13 year old want?




My wife on the other hand is thinking High Definition, 42" is more to her liking and she wants it mounted on the wall. Now this comes from the lady that wants to re-arrange the furniture every month or so. So hey, this will work, I can move it from wall to wall, as the furniture shifts. Not....




Then there is my 11 year old daughter, she really isn't as interested in what kind of new TV we get for the living room, as she is laying claim on the old TV, just your run of the mill 36" TV for her bedroom. I really like this girl, works all the angles, she tells me she wants whatever I want. Playing daddy to improve her position on getting the old TV.

Mom has now interjected, that our son will not be moving his X-box360 any where near the living room and that there will not be a 60" in the living room and forget about football, 24/7. She wants the upgrade to watch her soaps, which is only fair because she gave birth to my children.

It's funny, the times they become my children...

Well democracy in action, isn't cutting it, a command decision has to be made. So being the ordained King of the Castle, I make a royal decree and decide to go with a 42" that my wife wants, but not a wall mount, but one that sits on a stand. After making this grand proclamation, I look at my son and say I am sorry. Your mother has to have her way or it will be Hell to pay. I have no other choice, he gets to move out at 18, I have to deal with and live with her the rest of my life.




Daughter realizing the choice has been made, starts yelling she gets the old TV, she called it first... I kinda wanted it for my office/den, my sanctuary.. Then the true pants in the family states, your father needs a TV in his work room and dear God I win. Over joy ed yet skeptical, wary of more to this than see the eye, gleefully state YES, like I had just won the lottery.




Then reality sets in, when at the store, my wife accompanying me, kids were dropped off at grandma's. The hammer comes down, $1,100.00 for the TV and it is beautiful, the clarity of the picture is truly amazing, I can't wait to get it home. Then I hear, Well Honey, we will need a new stand, $250.00 and of course it would be silly not to have surround sound with a TV this sweet, $490.00, then the maintenance agreements $198.00. I go to cash out, $2,038.00 plus tax.




All this, because I bought a Blu-Ray player... I am really starting to get the economic hard times facing fathers today in the real world... Please say a prayer for me...

Quatro

To Blu-Ray or not to Blu-Ray;

Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed... When my wife and I got married, I thought and she led me to believe, I Was the King of My Castle... Somehow through the years or seconds after I said "I do", I became a mere puppet to the true regime, my love, my soul mate, my significant other, yes the true dictator, more cunning than Noriega, my wife.

The worst thing that can happen to a man, a husband, well actually the second worse thing, first would be the President of the United States, with a important message to the country, cutting into the regularly scheduled programs on TV, yes men, during the soap opera's, that is first. Second is without a doubt when your wife needs a little romance, no we aren't going where you think with this... I am talking about when she wants to watch a movie, not a movie, but the most romantic movie of our time, No not "The Dirty Dozen", but the Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan Classic, "Sleepless in Seattle". She gets her popcorn ready, grabs a box of tissues, gets the DVD and puts it into the DVD player and nothing happens..

Next thing I hear is a blood curdling shrill, "What is wrong with the DVD player"??? Normally, since I have been married nearly 14 years, I would ignore her call, because of my hearing problem, selective hearing, a common affliction among spouses of both genders. But the decibel level spawned by this loving, nurturing woman, meant respond immediately for fear of death or dismemberment.




Upon arriving at the scene, I find that the DVD player is no more, somewhere during the night after my sons and my favorite, "The Hills Have Eyes", our beloved Electronic Apparatus, had given up the ghost. She, my wife was looking at me with hatred in her eyes, declaring "You used it Last what did you do. My son who came running with me, immediately throws dear dad under the bus by proclaiming, "Dad is the one who played the movie last night". That was when her laser beam eyes, went on a search and destroy mission, with me as the target. Quickly surveying the player, taps had to be played...

Knowing, that disturbing the true course of playing, "The Movie", could dramatically shorten my life expectancy, I had to think quick, so I blurted out I am going to run and get a new player... Smart move on my part, further stating " as old as it was, it was just a matter of time, before this happened". Grabbing my keys, I moved quickly to the door, trying to hasten my escape from the snipers scope.

Safely within the confines of my car, speeding out of the driveway, I finally felt safe, at least for the moment. Arriving at our local Electronic's store, I grab a salesman and ask to be shown DVD players. This should be a simple buy, then home to calm to beast. Oh no..... The salesman takes me to a section of the store that seemed as large as a football field, with tons and I mean tons of choices... Panic sets in again, because the wrong choice will increase the retribution I was surely going to get for this bad case of timing, having played the last movie on the player.




So I ask the salesman, "what is your best unit" and he shows me the Blu-Ray players, I say great, I choose one and I am back on my way to the 38th parallel.

Getting home I quickly install the player, of course under the watchful eye of the loving one, grab her DVD and pray I hooked it up right, as I insert it into the player and hit play... Thank God, there is a God, because it worked. As I turn to face her, with my success, I notice a smile slowly crossing her face. I let out a deep sigh because once again there was peace in the jungle.

Or so I thought, because this action, would only be the start, of the Domino Affect. But that is another story, for another time.

Quatro

ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC, COMPUTERS TO I PHONES, WHAT IS NEXT...

Dad, I have to have this LG Lotus, cuz all my friends cells are more advanced than mine...




Daddy, Princess needs a slider for texting, Daddy all my girlfriends have them, I am the only one that doesn't...

Honey, It has been over a year and I need to get GPS, web browsing, capabilities, in Purple, my significant other has spoken, Birthday and Valentines is here at once..



I still have a basic cell, it of all things, calls people, I can text with some effort and take pictures if I choose, can't do anything with them, but I can take them. For $80.00 more I can get the adapter to interface with my computer, so I can upload them into my computer, WEEEEEE..

Okay, a decision is made, we partially upgrade, son gets his, as does the wife, daughter and I will have to wait till January of next year to get what we want without paying out the nose.



Son is dancing, wife is calling her friends and my daughter tells me she hates me and that I am the worst father in the world. Dad of course has the most antiquated cell in the house. What is wrong with this picture.

These are the tough decisions facing fathers around the country, money is tight, so not everyone can be happy. Sprint had a deal on LG lotus cell phones, colors were what was needed by all concerned and the functions fit the wants and desires.




After trying to get them at the local sprint store I went online and got them for free, where the Sprint store was going to charge me $60.00 a piece, cuz according to them they couldn't match the online offers. Sprint, way to stick it to your, local rep's. Feel the love... Phones arrived overnight, free delivery, a real bargain, an extended 2 yr agreement, all is cool.

Accept for the daughter, I am still hated and the worst father on earth, and she will never be able to look her friends in the face, cuz of her cell status. But I know next January when she gets the updated, state of the art phone, all will be well and I will be loved once again.

The trials and tribulations of Fatherhood in this day and age...