Prereqs

The first problem I have is that every time I decide what to buy something comes along to unconvince me. I thought I’d start by buying the Spectre 37″ 1080p LCD from Costco. It had all the right specs my research told me to look for. It supports 1080p, which I insist on even though there’s nothing that can generate that kind of signal. It’s an LCD so I won’t get burn-in from leaving the TV on the same channel or non-moving image for days on end. Its speakers are on the sides so I’ll be able to fit it into the height-challenged nook I have set aside for it, even though I’ll definitely be removing the speakers before setting it up. And the price is very right. Then, after all that, we looked at 37″ TVs and decided they were a little bit too small. So I’m still looking for a TV. Besides, I still don’t have anything to drive a TV. I’m a Dish Network subscriber and so I need to get a new box to hook up to the TV first. Well, second actually because before I can do that I need to have a dish that’s capable of receiving a signal from one of the satellites that carry Dish’s HDTV programming. Luckily a weird law and a helpful Dish employee helped me get that for free. See there’s a requirement that a cable or satellite provider provide all the local over-the-air broadcast channels in your particular area to you over their system. It’s the “must carry” provision. In Dallas the local religious channel and the Spanish channel are both coincidentally on the satellite that also carries the HDTV programming. And even though I’ll never watch either channel, Dish was obligated to come out and install a new dish that could receive them for free. Plus, the poor Satellite Guy who had to climb on my roof in near-freezing temperatures and near gale-force wind also wired up my guest room’s cable outlet just for the askin’.