Saturday, November 10, 2007

Darned Electronified Contraptions

Yesterday my husband came home with a new computer - a Mac. I'm still not sure exactly why he decided we needed a new computer and why it needed to be a Mac (we've been a devoted PC family until now), but there it is. Thank goodness I had squirreled some money away into our savings account. So, this is my first post from a Mac. I have a lot to learn but I'm getting the hang of things.

About an hour after the Mac was out of its box and running nicely, one of the boys went to turn on the TV. "Dad, the TV isn't working!" echoed from the family room. Yup, you guessed it, our sixteen-year-old TV died. Not a growl, not a whimper, it just rolled over and kicked the bucket. We've just spent big bucks on a new computer (tell me again why we needed a new one?) and now we have no TV. Many people have expressed surprise that we as a family of six managed to make do with just one television. Now we have none. Hubby talked with the kids for a bit and explained that we could buy a small, crappy TV now or go without one for awhile and buy a good one on Boxing Day at a post-Christmas sale - after we've had nearly two months to save up some cash. They surprised me and all voted for the "no TV until the end of December plan". Well, it has been nearly 24 hours without a TV and so far, so good. Twice I've had one of the kids ask if they can watch TV and I've said "Yes (snicker!)" just to watch them run to the blank black screen, press the power button and then get smacked upside the head with a dose of reality. Am I a bad mum to find this so amusing?

We'll see if we can handle life without a television. Personally, I don't mind. I rarely watch the thing - I read the local news on the web and prefer to read or sew instead of staring blankly at the idiot box - but I'm not sure how the rest of the family will cope. The kids will be without their beloved Nintendo/PS2 or whatever the hell the darned thing is, and hubby won't be able to vegetate on the couch every evening. I foresee more reading, board games and cards in our future. Sounds good to me!

2 comments:

Charlie said...

One of my evil plans was to end all television, much like side show bob tried on the simpsons.
But side show bob's plan failed, and if he could not succeed how could I?

Canadian Girl said...

Hi Charlie, thanks for dropping in. Good old Side Show Bob and his failed plans. How many times has he tried and failed to do away with Bart?