December 4, 2004

• And then there’s Sears. . . .

  
  

  Sears has a special place on my list because when I went bankrupt some years ago,  Sears was the only creditor that sent a suit to my hearing, to try to squeeze a few more bucks out of me.  They did it, too.  I owed around $2000 on a laptop that is now a high-tech paperweight–they managed to get, I dunno, around $400 out of me.  It was pay up on the spot or else have the bankruptcy proceedings go to court or go to hell or something.  But I digress.

  
  

  For some time, I have been lusting after hi-tech goodies, at least a new TV.  Not that there is anything wrong with my 13-inch TV/VCR, other than the chronic toothpaste drool that gets sprayed on the screen from time to time, but it would be nice to be able to watch the occasional DVD, or maybe get a new TV, one with a screen I could see from farther than four feet away. Now maybe I’ll  hold out and wait until 20-inch LCD TVs go down under $299, which would be around the middle of 2006, according to an industry insider.  To make a long story  interminable, Sears had Memorex DVD players on sale at $39.99, with a $10 rebate.  Even Doug was impressed when I told him that yesterday, so I decided to go for it.

  
  

  The deal seemed even sweeter when I got there.  It seems that if I signed up for a Sears card–which I would probably never use, Sears being way on the other side of town, and you have to go through a bunch of hellish road construction to get there–they would deduct another $15 from my first invoice.  Thus, the DVD would cost me a tad over $15.  It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.  Then we moved into cable land.  The DVD has component and S-video outputs; my TV /VCR has a co-ax and something else.  The Sears guy tried to sell me a cable for $12; he said I needed it.  I told him, thanks but no thanks, I can probably get the same thing cheaper at Wal-mart.  I had to go there for kitty litter anyway.

  
  

  So I get to Wal-mart, ask for help, three of the clerks draw straws, and the loser waited on me.  I told him the situation, and he tried to sell me some complicated damn junction box that cost more than the fucking DVD player.  I ended up buying a cable that looked right, after the guy assured me I could return it if it wasn’t right.

  
  

  So I get to the net cafe just before it opens, figured what the hell–if all else fails, read the instructions.  So I managed to open the box, kind of wishing the framing axe was in the car–they  really box those suckers up!  Waded through the instructions.  It seems that the box contained a cable just like the one the guy at Sears had tried to sell me.  What I need is this little gadget called a Y-connector.  Y, I don’t know.

  
  

  So anyway, as soon as I’m done here, it’s off to Fred Meyers to see if I can get a cheap Y-connector.  If not, I’ll try Radio Shack.  Sigh.

  
  

  I do SO miss my  five-transistor radio.

  
  

  PS–Skipped Fred Meyers, went right to Radio Shack.  At first the clerk said that the part I picked out was wrong, she  looked at every other connector in the store, conceded I might be right, but keep the sales slip in case you need to return it.  Got everything home, the connectors physically fit what they are supposed to, but I am stumped by the warning in the DVD instruction book about don’t put it too close to a TV.  Um, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?  More later.

  • 5:28 pm
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