It Came With a Unicorn

There are people my age who remember getting their first TV. I don’t know whether there was always a TV of one kind or another in my house or if I just pay so little attention to the world around me that I simply didn’t notice. No matter, suffice to say that Television played a big part in my life and in the lives of all of those that are my age. I had a friend that was so into Gunsmoke that we would have to plan our evenings after the show had finished. I guess it was lucky for us that there wasn’t really the quantity of shows that there are now, or we would never had had any social life at all.

 

I can remember that every now and then something would go wrong with our TV and dad would have to call the TV repairman to come out and fix it. These guys seemed to be more like magicians than repairmen. The tool box that he would carry had all sorts of strange looking tools and tiny boxes, wires and thing-a-ma-jigs. He could open up the back of the set (even though there was a warning about opening it) and he knew what all of those tubes and wires did. More often than not he would pull out a small box that held a new tube and he would replace the old one. He’d turn the TV on and…well…like I said, it was magic!

I have no idea how much he charged to fix the set, but it must have been cheap enough to make the visit affordable. Now you have to take the set to a repair centre, because to have a repair guy come to the house would cost more than the set was worth. Not to mention that everything inside would be computer chips and without having the proper test equipment it would be impossible to fix. Even at the repair center they more than likely would tell you it would cost more to fix than buying a new set.

 

I do remember when mom and dad bought the first colour set. Back then, TV’s were made to look like a piece of furniture rather than some sleek metal and glass sculpture. The delivery guys carried the box into the house and unpacked it revealing a brand new, shiny, colour TV. They asked where we wanted it and since mom and dad had cleared a spot earlier the guys placed it in the corner and plugged it in. Dad signed the delivery bill and the guys left. Then, dad turned it on, found a channel with some game on it and we watched the magnificent colour TV.

 

Louise and I got a TV today. We bought it online last week when it was Black Friday and waited for the delivery to happen. The truck pulled up out front, a guy grabbed the too small box and brought it inside. He put the box on the floor and Louise signed for it. We took the TV out of the box so that it could warm up and we waited. Once it was warm, it was ready to be set in place and turned on. Gone are the days when you just plugged the TV in and watched a show. I had to try and figure out which wires went where and should I use the red, white and green cables or the HDMI cable. I couldn’t figure out how to get the damned thing to work. We went to the set up screen and waited while it auto selected the channels which didn’t help me at all. I could get it to work if I bypassed the cable box, but that kind of defeated the purpose.

Eventually, I managed to figure out how to get it to work, but I still don’t know how it connects to the computers and our WIFI network. I should be able to surf the web, look at my pictures, stream videos and write a blog. Did I tell you the TV came with a Bluetooth keyboard? It wouldn’t matter it came with a unicorn, because unless I can figure out how to set it up I am hooped.

Arwen and Chris are coming over for dinner tomorrow and I think they will be able to help. I can remember going into mom and dads place and spending a half hour setting the electronic clocks. I suppose Arwen will remember setting my TV and showing me how to use the WIFI every time she comes over. The circle of life I suppose…