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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Please not in 3's!

In the past week I've killed two gadgets in our home. The first was a DVD player which we inherited from the previous occupant of our previous apartment. I paused a movie the kids were watching, then left it on pause overnight, and well into the next day. When I came back to it, it did the electronic equivalent of staggering around until it fell on its face in the gutter and didn't get back up again: "Loading... loading... loading... No disc." You just can't argue with persistence like that. It was a freebie, so I'm not too upset.

The kids are dying, or at least doing a good impression of dying. When we moved here, we decided to not hook up the cable box, so we can't watch tv.  (The cable TV is still part of our TV/Internet/Phone package, but it turns out to be cheaper to leave it in than to cancel it.  Go figure.)  Horyon and I were relying way too much on it to keep the kids occupied, so now it is practically not there. We did let them watch some of their DVDs, but it was kind of like...

Hmmm, let me think.  What's a good addiction metaphor that doesn't make my kids sound like junkies and my wife and I sound like pushers? Can't think of one. Never mind.

 So the tv hasn't been on for the past few days. Doesn't really bother me. Sometimes the whining from the kids bothers me a little, and Maxine wants to get on the computer for a fix of PBSKidsGo.org. Sorry, I meant "a little quality time on PBSKidsGo.org." But they are adjusting to the new reality. And I, while writing this piece, have decided not to get myself the birthday present I had previously wanted to get. Which may solve my problem of 3's.

You see, the second gadget to go is much more sharply missed by me: I dropped my Kindle Touch. Put it down on a high place wrong, it fell off, and now it just doesn't work.
non-functioning KTouch with screwdrivers purchased to access its innards

Some time ago my friend Elaine stepped on hers, killing it dead.  (By the way, completely off topic, she has an excellent blog which you will undoubtedly enjoy more than mine, or at least enjoy more often than mine.)  She gave the body to me, and I found that I am unable to Frankenstein it without a $60 replacement screen, and no guarantee that that will fix the problem.
Elaine's Deceased Kindle
The deceased, autopsy in progress, tools shown.
Prognosis: coffee stains likely non-fatal.

You can buy a regular, non-keyboard Kindle for $69, and a new Keyboard Kindle 3G for $139, so it's a tough call: fix or replace?  (Her KK is not 3G, only wireless, so the replacement is a more expensive model.)  However, my Kindle touch replacement screen is only $30. Again, no guarantee that it will work, and I've got to get it here from America. Ironically, I can have my parents send it along with the case for my Kindle Touch that I asked them to hold on to for me until I got together some other stuff to send with it. Dangit. I mean, sure, this will save them money on shipping, but not as much as it would have saved me if I hadn't had to buy a new Kindle. Oh, the irony.

 Since disasters seem to come in 3's, I've been wondering what my 3rd gadget death will be. The computer is just a few months old, so I really don't want it to die. The TV is a freebie, but we don't watch it enough to even know whether or not it is dead. Horyon and I both have Samsung Galaxy Note phones, the most expensive gadgets in the house at around $1000 apiece (paid for in monthly installments over three years). I would really rather not have one of them die. So maybe it's time to sacrifice the birthday present.

You see, I've had my mind on a used DVD player with a built in amplified Dolby 5.1 surround system, speakers included.  Only $100.  Haven't tried it out, but if it works, it's a real bargain.  The thing is, if I buy it, we'll use it to watch DVDs.  More precisely, my kids will watch DVDs.  Maybe we're better off without it?  And if I don't buy it, that's practically the same as buying it then having it break down completely, so I have to throw it away, right?  So not buying it solves three problems:  1) Less tv time for the kids, 2) money saved can help replace dearly departed Kindle, and 3) 3rd bullet dodged.  And hey, I'll probably enjoy the surround sound more in my imagination than I would in real life, right?

Thanks for tuning in.  Coming soon, a review of my new job so far.

A Brief Introduction

Roblog is my writing lab. It is my goal to not let seven days pass without a new post. I welcome your criticism, as I cannot improve on my own.

Here is a link to my cung post, which remains the only word which I have ever invented, and which has not, as far as I know, caught on. Yet.