Mmm, finally...
So, it's late, and I've been walking around town for... hmm... seven? Eight hours? I didn't get any writing done, and I'm tired, but I'll be darned if I go to sleep without blogging THIS. After months of saving and researching and planning and... stuff... my eBay job boss told me about some shop he gets stuff from sometimes that sells new TVs for cheapish. So I thought, hey, why not go in and see what this guy's got? I've got to do some banking, and Mom wanted that special hair conditioner that was on sale, and wanted me to get that dog food that was on sale. (For our dog... not me...) So my bro' and I decided to take a trip.
Well... that guy my boss was talking about DID sell TVs, but I think they MIGHT have been new about seven years ago. I was ticked off. We got lost going there, we got lost coming back. We weren't happy. I especially wasn't happy because I'd (perhaps foolishly) gotten my hopes up. Ah well. Back to the original game plan. I needed to go to town to get the layout of the stores for National Wii Day and see what everyone had as far as TVs went. Best Buy first. Great googley moogley, the selection of TVs they have. Expensive, geez, but they had tons and tons and tons of TVs. LCDs... CRTs... Plasmas... Rear-Projection... Expensive, though. So that was a no-go. Got a good glimpse of the sizes and colors, though, even though they were factory-tuned and looked nasty in some cases. Actually, I take that back. I found one really nice, really cheap Magnavox 32" LCD HDTV. It was on sale for just today and was begging to be purchased. I debated getting it right then and there, but decided against it and left to check out the other stores first.
After that, we went to a midwest store chain called HHGregg. I guess the New York and New Jersey doesn't have these. I know Indiana and Ohio do. I know it's not a national chain, but it's still nice. Anyway, the customer service folks mill around and help you pick things out. I didn't remember that at first and I really didn't like the help, but he turned out to be more helpful than they usually are. He directed us to two sets. The same Magnavox 32" LCD HDTV we saw at Best Buy, and a Westinghouse 32" LCD HDTV for $100 less than the Magnavox sale price at Best Buy. (It wasn't on sale at HHGregg.) He ran over the connectivity features and what it lacks. It doesn't have an over-the-air HD tuner, which I just remembered there on the spot that we live in a dead-air area. We need an amplifier to pick ANYTHING up. We hardly ever have clear antenna channels, so over-the-air HD channels definitely wouldn't work here. So I just shaved off some mega-bucks right there. No Magnavox. Nice, so we've got a Westinghouse candidate. My friend said he's heard nice things about them, and I trust him, so it was a major possibility. Okay, we told the guy we'd go to Sam's Club next and check there before making a decision.
So then we ran off to Sam's Club, which is literally in the next parking lot from Gregg's, secured a membership for good ol' Wii Day, took a quick glance at their horrible selection of TVs, browsed the games and tried to estimate where the Wii would be placed. Quickly got bored and left. Back to HHGregg and that nice little Westinghouse HDTV. By that time, I was getting tired and we'd been to all the specialty stores. I already knew Wal-Mart's selection of TVs by heart. Nothing ever worth buying.
After about half an hour, we'd secured ourselves a brand new 32" 720p LCD HDTV with a 3-year extended warranty and were merrily on our way to Steak n Shake for a celebration. But oh crap! We needed component cables! You know, those things that actually make HDTVs work in high definition! Argh. Okay. Wal-Mart's right here, too, so let's look there real quick since Sam's Club didn't have any and HHGregg didn't carry any video game stuff. Bah! Wal-Mart carried S-Video, but not component. WHY?! Nobody knows. I run back to the van and decide to head to Radio Shack, which is in the same mall as Best Buy. All this time, my brother's in the van, playing Mario Kart DS and rockin' out to Weird Al on my iPod. So we get to Radio Shack, I run in, ask if they have component cables for PS2 and Xbox... They don't know. We walk back, see nothing... I'm running back out to the van. Oh, hey! Best Buy's like... RIGHT THERE. Okay, so I run in there while we're here. If there's nothing here, I'm calling it quits and buying the cable for uber-cheap on the internet. I run in, same guy greets me who greeted me last time I was there. I run back to the video game section, do a quick browse... Do a second quick browse. AHA! A combination cable! Connect your PS2 AND Xbox up to your TV with the same cable. For cheaper than I found online! Bingo! I run to the cash register, check out... Deny a request to try a free subscription of Time magazine (yeah, you go try selling me liberal news junk, Best Buy) and I was out the door. HDTV... component connectors. I'm happy... I'm in heaven. We go to Steak n Shake.
Now... I probably built you all up for a horrible time at Steak n Shake, but, actually, it was really nice, as always. Except for the worrying someone was gonna swipe all our new stuff. Dog food, conditioner, HDTV, iPod, Nintendo DS... Major money in that van, man. Especially the dog food. (Oh, speaking of which, I haven't blogged about that news...) Steak n Shake is always cool. We eat there a lot when we actually DO eat out. Steak n Shake and Subway. The two staple food sources. Except... There was one quirk with Steak n Shake tonight. One of the cooks in the back... Was singing the theme song to Elmo's World, while some horrible 60s rock band was playing over the radio. Yes. Elmo's World. It was a big guy singing it, too. We heard them briefly discussing the Tickle Me Elmo, too. Don't ask me why.
Anyway... yeah. New HDTV. Wii in about 12 days. I'm going to be so broke. Oh, and you can click the banner image to see a nice big ol' image, too. Okami looks awesome on it. Halo 2, too. Can't wait for Halo 3 to put it through the real tests. That comes lots later, thank goodness. I have no money. I need to recuperate during the Christmas season eBay sales.