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Tagselectronic attachment
First, let me say that I wish I had knitting to show or really talk about. I’ve finished the back and both fronts of my Cambridge Jacket, and I’m more than halfway done with one sleeve, but it’s just a mess of long skinny bits of knits, not much to photograph. I decided to not do any binding off, anticipating 3-needle bindoffs, so all the pieces are sitting next to each other, threaded onto the same piece of waste yarn, and most pieces are still connected to the original ball of yarn they were being knitted from. In short, it’s kind of a mess. Can’t reveal publicly. Soon enough!
So the rest of this post is going to be the most ridiculous thing: A small homage to my old TV.
Everything about this picture is bad, but I didn’t think to take a better one before I hauled this 50-pound monster out of the apartment and disassembled the crappy shelving it was sitting on.
About this TV. It was big. I have no idea how many inches it was, but it being a tube TV, it was hefty. I got it as a sophomore or junior in high school, as a gift from my grandparents. I remember when I first got it, and having real trouble adjusting to the remote’s layout, and kind of hating the remote and thus the TV. It wasn’t long before the configuration (volume and channel up/down arranged in a circle like a Simon Says, with volume as East/West and Channels as North/South) came naturally, and we were BFF.
I had this TV for 12+ years. Over the last 3+ years the picture has started going a bit. It was blowing out whites, and it made some scenes (that snow fight scene in House of Flying Daggers?) pretty impossible to see at all. It was infuriating. So for three years I was thinking “oh, god, my TV is dying!” In the past few months, the remote has required some really hard pushing to get it to respond. And in addition to all this, I moved to the tiniest of apartments, and I decided a slim flat-screen TV would solve my space issues.
I’ve had the new TV for two weeks but hadn’t brought myself to get rid of the old TV. After all, it still worked pretty much fine, and it seemed so wasteful. But it didn’t work perfectly, so I couldn’t really sell it or give it to a friend. Finally, last night I put a note on it that read “Still works ok! Looking for a good home,” taped the remote to the top, and managed to pick it up and walk down the three flights of stairs. I cannot even describe how heavy this was. Each step was agony; my legs were quivering. I got to the ground floor and couldn’t figure out how to open the door. I put it on the floor, went outside, and looked for a stranger to help me. I didn’t think I could pick the TV up again, but when an elderly neighbor offered to hold the door, I found some last burst of energy and managed it.
I set it gently on the front stoop and went to the laundromat. I wondered how quickly someone would take it–everyone says free stuff in New York gets snatched up. When I passed by again 25 minutes later, the TV was gone. I can only hope it found an excellent new home.
21 Responses to electronic attachment
Oh, the woes of a broken/near broken TV. The monstrous one I have blew up so long ago, and I have no hopes of carrying it anywhere…not even if the entire building of elderly people held the door. I guess I’ll get rid of it when I actually get a new one…Oh, and I am so jealous of your *slim, flat-screen* purchase! It is still on my to-go-get list…
when my husband and i started dating i had this pathetic little 13 inch tv that i was strangely attached to. i had bought it used with a vcr from a friend and i wasn’t going to get rid of it until it died. well j thought this was pathetic and one day found a big ass tv in the trash. he brought it back to my apartment, deteremined that it could be fixed, got me a remote, and there i had it, a 36 inch behemoth for free that worked perfectly. (when i moved out to the burbs, between the two of us we had so many tvs that i gave this tv to one of the guys who moved my stuff).
so maybe you’re little tv was found by someone with the expertise to bring it back to it’s glory.
I have also had my tV for going on 12 years now–still works; why spend the money?–but more importantly OMG I have the same crappy shelving! IKEA garage shelving!
I guess now that I have a real job I can spring for some actual indoor shelving, huh.
To follow up, the blown-up monster in my living room is so large, I cannot get my arms around it…let alone carry it downstairs (strong as I may be…). And, I am still trying to determine if I can get it fixed. I hate to make more waste. :)
You should’ve added a P.S. to your note: “Please send me a note and let me how you like it, or better yet drop me a photo of my TV in it’s new home.” Now you’ll always wonder… Hey ! I’m going try to cast on for my Anastasia socks this week! I can’t wait!
I love the picture you painted of carrying that TV down the stairs! You’ll love the new TV, trust me. Every time I put on a Eagles game (go Iggles!) I am just so thrilled at the crisp picture!
What a great idea to give your old TV a new home. I’m sure the new owner is very appreciative of a “new” TV.
i love putting out stuff to the curb in NYC. it’s always a sure bet that it’ll be gone within an hour. just this weekend the hubby and i cleared out a lot of books and put them out to the curb. they were all gone by the next day and we didn’t even have to worry about trashing them! ah, NYC. i love you.
I like it when useful things find new homes. We don’t live in NYC but we do put stuff out for others to grab as they see fit, and the stuff disappears very quickly. I hope you are enjoying your new TV!
Goodbye, noble television. May you be happy in your new life.
Re: your comment on my blog. I’ve never been to Big Jar, but dammit I’m going now. I liked BT’s old location, and I completely agree with you about having two stores on one block. At least the new location has a big window looking out over a park (or something) instead of windows facing The Gap.
When we moved this summer, we tried to get rid of as much of our accumulated junk as possible. We created a sizable pile on the curb, and within a couple of hours, more than half of it had been hauled away by passersby. This was in a small town in upstate NY, so it happens everywhere!
Hey, I have the same Sten shelves! Ha! Since finding the freecycle community, I hardly drag anything to the curb any more. One little e-mail to the group, no matter how inconsequential the “junk” I’m looking to rid myself of, and there’s a ton of people looking for that exact thing! Woo-hoo! http://www.freecycle.org to find one in your community. PS am positively green with envy re your flatscreen!
Go Eagles!
Oh the joys of City living and having a “curb” to re-cycle your unwanteds. I’m tempted to rent a small U-Haul, load it with our “treasures”, park it in NY, or even up in Baltimore with the back opened up and a sign that says “Free to a good home!” :)
Please tell me more about your new TV! I am currently using my parents’ old TV, it’s from like 1986. I need to upgrade as well, but haven’t had the time/energy to really research new ones. TIA!
I’m sorry you had to give it up, but that’s so cool that you just had to put it outside and then it was gone. We used to do that with stuff in Virginia, and it usually took a few hours, but someone would always take it.
I always avail myself of freebies left on the side of the road and try to repay the favour by leaving good stuff out when I have the opportunity. Here we have organised neighbourhood trash-or-treasure events, where everyone is encouraged to put their unwanted goods out on the street, then people stroll along and pick up whatever they want. Good for community bonding!
Just did the same thing with an old futon frame. It was gone in about an hour of sitting beside a dumpster near our townhouse complex. It’s amazing how quickly something that big can disappear!! It is nice to know though, that rather than adding to the landfill, that it’s still getting some use. Your old trusty tv serves another viewer now. *grin*
Very New York of you to put your free stuff out on the curb. (Like I would know.) It’s fun to think about your TV beginning a whole new life. I hope its new owners treat it well.
I can’t wait to see your finished Cambridge Jacket (when it IS finished, I mean). That pattern has been rising to the surface of my mind for the last few days…definitely on the maybe list now.
That sounds exactly like our TV in London. We loved that sucker even though there was no remote, the picture was in a sort of hourglass shape and you had to turn it on, go and have a shower, make your breakfast and by the time you came back the thing had warmed up enough that the picture was just appearing. We left it in the flat for the next person to fall in love with (or get so annoyed they threw it out of the window).
I’m sure the old girl is happy in her new home.
Amy
Alas, I fear my TV is nearing the same fate. The sound is starting to get really muffled so that no matter how loud the volume, it still sounds like everyone is muzzled. Definitely going to make it a curbside donation.