A Tale of Two Televisions

Sorry for the extended time between posts but I've been dealing with a crisis of epic proportions! My tv went out finally went completely out. I had been suspicious of it's overall health for a while - poor picture quality, mysterious buzzing, green spots - so I braced myself for what was sure to come.


When the end finally came, it was almost a relief. I could now test my personal theory that tv has become too important in my life. Now, I'm no anti-tv advocate but I do think I waste too much time with it when other things could be accomplished. So my first solution was to just move the bedroom tv (19 inch) into the living room and make do with that. It quickly became apparent that my middle-aged eyes couldn't clearly see the Tivo information so another solution needed to be reached.


Solution #2 - I picked up a 27 inch tv at a yard sale for $20. A pretty good deal, huh? Not so much. After it was plugged in for about 30 minutes and the entire screen turned RED! I fiddled with it, asked a few experts (tech guys around the office) and determined that I had a lemon, a clunker, I was gypped! So on to...


Solution #3 - I cruised on down to the Habitat Restore to see what they had in stock and YES - there was a gorgeous 27 inch tv that worked like new. The awesome volunteers there tested it for me and even hooked up a VCR to show me that it worked perfectly. All this for only $50 and the money goes to a great cause.

While I was waiting to get the tv delivered out to my car (yep, they even carried it out for me) I checked out some of the other offerings. I ofund a potential french door for my reading room and some coin collection boxes. If you aren't familiar with Habitat Restore, it's an awesome resale store for architectural salvage, supplies and occasionally household items and electronics. The proceeds from sales go to the Habitat for Humanity program. Habitat helps people get into houses that might not normally be able to on their own. Check out the Habitat for Humanity website at http://www.stillwaterhabitat.org/. Be sure to take a look at the Restore site and also another favorite, Elite Repeat. These are hardworking, helpful people that need our business.


So in closing this saga, I spent $70 for 2 tv's but met a lot of nice people along the way. Tomorrow I plan on dropping off the "red" tv at the recycling center for a $5 charge. Not too shabby, huh?