Overwhelmed

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:09:43 GMT

We need a new dishwasher. The old one doesn't heat water anymore and, while our kitchen is currently tidy enough, it won't last without a new one.

Luckily we have a Choice subscription and have the finances to pretty quickly sort something out. Also, in this case Choice and the energy rating website basically agree. Of course, I'm yet to walk into a shop, which is when these plans have come unstuck in the past, as shops rearely have the Choice recommended item, but they have good reasons you should buy the thing that's there. Most of all just because its there.

The TV sitch is not so straightforward, although reading this you will possibly think it is.

The TV we currently have is a 55cm CRT. Rose uses it most often, to watch TV during the day and play videos. Until the DVD player broke, she watched DVD's too.

The rest of us seem to mostly use our laptops or computers. MsNotaGoth watches movies, either on DVD or stuff she's downloaded. Mr-bassman and I watch youtube and iview. Sneetch watches downloads or youtube or iview on his computer screen, 17inch, I think.

Sometimes, we watch stuff together and we all huddle on the couch, laptop on the coffee table and computer speakers plugged in.

This needs to change, but I don't like to throw out a perfectly functional piece of equipment. Particularly when I know that thousands of similar functional pieces of equipment are being thrown out all the time and I despise the consumerist world we live in that's raping the planet, just to have something that shows bigger explosions or faster sport.

I've spent several pleasant evenings playing with S-video to RCA connectors, trying to persuade my laptop or the desktop computer we have under the TV to play nice and show me a decent image on the TV. I've bought new connectors, installed new video cards and new pieces of software and now I've reached the end of my interest in attempting to solve my problem that way.

I started the new phase of problem solving on Boxing Day this year, when I first decided that things had to change and that I could spend up to $500 making it happen. I boldly looked up the JB website to work out what I could afford. And the questions started;

How big is the space I have available?
Why don't they advertise the energy rating of these tv's?
Why don't the serial no's on the advertised tv's match the serial no's on the energy rating website?
What's LED?
What connectors do I need and what can I afford?
Can I attach one of these tv's to my laptop when I don't have an HDMI connector?
What about the computer we've talked about setting up as a media server, it's pretty old, can I connect that?
Maybe we should look at other options for a media server?
Should I spend more money and get something bigger than the tv we have now?
Can I resist the urgings of my children and spend less, rather than more?
If I ignore my children will I regret it?
The DVD player just died, should I buy a bluray, will a new telly work with bluray?

What I really hate is that I feell that spending money on this problem is admitting that TV is an important thing in my life. The amount I spend and the size of the device will advertise where they fit on the scale of stuff in my life. And really, I watch TV for about 5-6 hours a week. I'm likely to use this thing for about 2 hours a week, 'cos when I'm watching by myself or with mr-bassman, we use my laptop. I should definately spend less on this than on a dishwasher.

Also, this illness I have is weird. I started with a sore throat on Monday. I've felt crap every morning, but normal during the day and then yesterday I conked it at 6pm. Today I avoided exerting myself this morning but got really tired at 4pm, came home from work and slept for 2 hours. I'm really tired again, but I don't feel like I have a particularly bad cold. Only a minor sniffle. There must be something happening though, I've seen green snot twice. I hope I make it through the day tomorrow.

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MrsBrown's philosophy of life and stuff

Overwhelmed