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Farewell Little TV
Aug. 27th, 2010 01:25 pmSince the age of three, I have owned my own television. My first was a little 13-inch black & white TV. While it was in the room I shared with the twin, all folks generally recognized that it was mine. With its VHF and UHF dials, my parents hooked up the cable and I was spinning through the dozen channels, of which only a handful had actual stations, to catch cartoons, PBS, etc. I credit "Sesame Street," "3-2-1 Contact," and "The Electric Company" for enabling me to read before school started and allowing me to skip to second grade after two months of being in first.
My love of the TV was absolute. With shows like "Wonder Woman," "The Bionic Woman," "Fantasy Island," and "Charlie's Angels" on the tube, I knew the TV schedule better than TV Guide. My parents more than likely got me the TV so they could watch what they wanted without me griping about it. I watched so much of it, I actually could tell you what station you were watching by the amount of static and the lighting of the screen. It's hardly a super-power that would get me into the Legion, but my dad seemed oddly proud of this skill of mine.
Despite having milk accidentally poured down its vent and the knobs eventually breaking off from years of turning, the little TV was a trooper. Eventually, my folks got me a color TV for my room and the little black & white, while still working, went to my nephew.
When I went to college, my college roommate had a TV so I didn't need one. When I was a senior and had no roommate, my sister got me a small 13-inch color TV for my dorm room. After seven different dorm rooms, apartments, temporary quarters and homes, spanning three states and seventeen years, the little color TV finally gave up the ghost last Tuesday morning in my home office.
I never realized how much I watch TV in the mornings while getting ready for work. I have other TV's in the house, but they are too large for my home office, where I check emails and such before getting out the door in the morning. So I bought a small 18" LCD for my office. So far so good.
Today, I took the day off. One of my errands today was to take the little broken TV to Best Buy to be recycled. It's not a bad program. They charge you a $10 fee, but give you a $10 gift card back. So I bought the original 1978 "Piranha" on DVD, which ironically I probably watched for the first time on that little black & white many, many years ago.
My love of the TV was absolute. With shows like "Wonder Woman," "The Bionic Woman," "Fantasy Island," and "Charlie's Angels" on the tube, I knew the TV schedule better than TV Guide. My parents more than likely got me the TV so they could watch what they wanted without me griping about it. I watched so much of it, I actually could tell you what station you were watching by the amount of static and the lighting of the screen. It's hardly a super-power that would get me into the Legion, but my dad seemed oddly proud of this skill of mine.
Despite having milk accidentally poured down its vent and the knobs eventually breaking off from years of turning, the little TV was a trooper. Eventually, my folks got me a color TV for my room and the little black & white, while still working, went to my nephew.
When I went to college, my college roommate had a TV so I didn't need one. When I was a senior and had no roommate, my sister got me a small 13-inch color TV for my dorm room. After seven different dorm rooms, apartments, temporary quarters and homes, spanning three states and seventeen years, the little color TV finally gave up the ghost last Tuesday morning in my home office.
I never realized how much I watch TV in the mornings while getting ready for work. I have other TV's in the house, but they are too large for my home office, where I check emails and such before getting out the door in the morning. So I bought a small 18" LCD for my office. So far so good.
Today, I took the day off. One of my errands today was to take the little broken TV to Best Buy to be recycled. It's not a bad program. They charge you a $10 fee, but give you a $10 gift card back. So I bought the original 1978 "Piranha" on DVD, which ironically I probably watched for the first time on that little black & white many, many years ago.
