HDTV

Our color went out on our 12 +/- year-old television. Actually the yellow went out. One minute we watched a full length DVD, the next time we turned it on, the yellow was gone and just the blue and red existed. My sweet husband is red/green pattern color blind and it didn't seem to bother him too much, but it drove me crazy. He did notice that it was different, but his eyes played tricks on him. What appeared to be a florescent hunter's orange to me, seemed yellow to him. But the thing that clued him in was the brake lights of a car. They appeared yellow to him. Obviously we didn't see it the same. And it was really not bothering him enough to drive him to buy another television, but it was driving me nuts.

A word of explanation. I am an art major. I never finished college, but I took many art classes. I love color. I collect colors. How? you might ask. I collect pens, in every color, I collect thread, in every color, I collect paint, in every color, I collect fabric, in every color, I collect embroidery floss, IN EVERY COLOR. You get the picture.

So, being a connoisseur of colors I could hardly stand this. We didn't have it in our budget to buy a television. It was just before Christmas and we were concentrating on using the credit card towards Christmas purchases for everyone else but ourselves. So we put off buying another television for awhile.

We still watched television, our favorite being Friend's, of which we have all 10 seasons. So one night we got caught up in the continuing saga of whether Ross and Rachel would get together and watched one full disk, consisting of 6 episodes, or about 2 hours of watching. When I realized that this television had to go was when I got up to go into the next room, turned on the light and the whole room glowed yellow! My poor eyes had tried to compensate for the lack of yellow.

So a few weeks before Christmas when we had to make a trip up north for a Christmas party for the Choir Board, we stopped by Wal*Mart and looked at all they offered. We picked a flat screen 32" Vizio brand. It was so large in its box we could barely fit it in the back of our little Grand Am. I was afraid of HDTV, because I was sure they would require we get cable, which we do not have. I have held out on signing up for Cable or satellite dish because I don't need to pay only 29.95 a month for 150 channels of NOTHING. Everyone I talk to, unless they are big "sports nuts" pretty much say the same thing: "I love the discovery channel and something else like it. The rest is really a bunch of stuff I am not interested in."

To make a long story short (because I can smell the casserole getting done and it is time to wrap this up) we set it up, and it programmed itself. It found 19 channels as opposed to the 12 we had before. The happiest part is I get 10 PBS channels! KBYU has four channels, so while the kids in other households are watching Sesame Street, I don't have to wait all day for Sewing With Nancy to come on for one measly half hour, once a week! I get a full day of something they call "Create!" I can watch from morning to night programs about your garden, sewing, quilting, painting, crafts, beading, cooking, travel, etc, etc, etc. I am a happy camper! Just before Christmas, I could watch re-runs of all the Music and the Spoken Word with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas programs. I was in Heaven. I could listen to that choir sing all night as I sewed a quilt getting ready for Christmas. I had such a happy spirit!

So Life Is GOOD. I never have watched much TV in the daytime, I suppose our power bill will show an increase, but I will have to wait until I get a bill that doesn't reflect our Christmas tree rotating day and night since just before Thanksgiving.
Yeah, it is time I take that down now, isn't it?

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