The apparent importance of electronics in a man’s world never ceases to amaze me.
I feel like this entire blog could revolve around hubby’s fascination, perhaps better known as an obsession (which I prefer to call lunacy) with technology. And, I’d have to say that it’s not just technology itself that gets him all fired up.. it’s anything technology based, that offers more or does it better or brighter or with more pizzazz. He’s so easily swayed by extra bells & whistles that recently I told him he’s the perfect lemming for those marketing campaigns that sell you on some super-fantastic, new-fangled, piece of crap. The moment he thinks it’s better than what he currently has, he is immediately unhappy with the item he owns (even if he just bought it last week).
Just a few examples of hubby’s Electronics Enthusiasm:
- I’ve shared stories about his TV envy (his bigger is always better mentality)
- I’ve shared stories about his excitement about our new fridge (not because it’s a new fridge but, because it had LED lights that “you could see from the moon”)
- I’ve shared stories about his initial enthusiasm for our Dyson (this enthusiasm has certainly waned.. but at the beginning it was a cool new vacuum that actually got him to clean!)
But today, since I tend to blog about current events in my home, we’re heading back to yet another TV conversation.
I mentioned that we have a 52” LCD HDTV in our Man Cave. This TV is less than a year old… it has a great picture and I might add, that we actually do most of our TV watching in our family room… so, the TV in the Man Cave is primarily used for video games, an occasional movie or football games.
This week hubby declared that he can see “blurring” on our TV and he’s unhappy with the “refresh rate”. Now, I don’t claim to be all that savvy when it comes to TV technology, but I believe this to be a crock of you know what. This is hubby’s way of telling me that he’s suffering from a new form of neighborhood TV Envy. It’s called.. “The-Neighbors-All-Have-Bigger-TVs-And-They-Keep-Making-Fun-Of-Me”.
I’ve previously shared the story about Vinny (our next door neighbor) and the day he came home with his 55” new TV. As he removed it from his car, hubby drooled with envy. But even more recently we visited another set of neighbors who have not only one 60” LCD TV in their family room but ALSO, a 60” LED TV in their Man Cave. I knew I was in trouble after this visit for a couple of reasons:
- I watched hubby’s eyes light up.
- I watched him lick his lips.
- He lightly caressed the top of the TV (it was love at first sight..)
- And then…. he asked me to run interference while he tried to steal the TV off the wall.
Needless to say, we didn’t steal the neighbors TV but I’ve heard about nothing else since that day. And, both Vinny & Marvin (the other neighbor) have taken it upon themselves to taunt hubby. Countless text messages asking him how it feels to be the inferior neighbor, wondering if he can actually see a particular play during the football game on his “puny TV”, and even references to Fisher Price. They are making MY life miserable.
So now, hubby (who has apparently gained super-hero like powers) has a perfectly trained eye that can see the difference between a 120Hz refresh rate and a 240Hz refresh rate… because apparently our TV looks “blurry”. (I beg to differ, but I’m just a woman who doesn’t “get it”!)
The neighbors ribbing has motivated hubby to start researching how we can sell our perfectly fine TV to “upgrade” to a new, bigger & better TV. God help me!
Now, if only I could figure out a way to harness this motivation and make it work for useful things… Perhaps I can get Vinny & Marvin to harass hubby into buying us new kitchen counters, or doing the “perfect load of laundry”. Or maybe, just maybe they could taunt him into renovating our bathroom? Hmmm… I may just be on to something here, Maybe I should have a talk with all the wives. Perhaps if we band together, we can find a way to use this power for good rather than evil?
Wish me luck!
The Hubby Diaries 