The nuclear life, literally and figuratively

I was chatting this evening on FB with a friend from high school. One thing we always had in common was a love for music. He told me what he was listening to right now - Sam Cooke - and because I am not a naive young teenager anymore afraid of not knowing something, I admitted that I wasn't familiar with him. My friend then typed "American Idol".

And fear set into my heart. Must change the subject.

And a whole new type of nervousness kicked in... the "I can't admit that I have never seen American Idol" type of nervousness.

Nope. It's true. Never seen American Idol.

I blogged recently about how AB and I have dropped off the face of the planet with respect to TV.

Thanks to Facebook I knew to set the Tivo for Top Chef - though I am certain that Rachel or Vanessa would have clued me in. I also knew that a new season of Entourage would be starting soon.

AB says we don't watch TV because we have a crappy CRT TV.

Yes, we do have a 12 year old or so CRT TV, but the thing works. And plus, we never watch it.

My mom was an avid TV watcher. And she admitted it proudly too - she loved watching TV. When I was a kid our evenings were filled with watching TV. Cosby Show, Different Strokes, Mork and Mindy, Dallas, Charlie's Angels... you name it, we were there.

After my mom passed away we opted to do a few things in her memory. One was to plant some roses in our garden and get a stepping stone to create a living memorial to her.

The other was to bite the bullet and buy a new TV. This one pleased my husband greatly. But really, last I saw my mom she said to me, "I don't understand, high def TV's just AREN'T that expensive anymore!" I didn't tell her we just never watched TV, though I think it was obvious when I hadn't seen any of the HGTV episodes and admitted to having never seen a long list of shows she watched.

So really, it was an appropriate thing to do.

AB researched what "we" wanted. And then one night a little over a week ago we sat down and placed the order for the top of the line, 50" Panasonic Plasma TV. And a blu ray. And a new receiver with DVR. And an articulating mounting arm.

We are going to get back on the TV bandwagon one way or another!!

We thought that was going to happen this weekend.

I came home over lunch today to receive this nice, nifty new TV from the shipping company that drove it over to our little town from "the west side".

They unloaded it, brought it in, unpacked it.

Then the driver sat shaking his head.

"It's broken," he announced.

"What?" I asked.

He beckoned me to the other side of the TV and there before me was a massive crack across the screen.

"Wow." I said.

"That's a shame," the driver said.

"Wow," I said.

The driver picked up his phone and called the distributing warehouse to tell them it was refused for the crack. He pointed to the Amazon.com number for me to call at the same time. I did, and told them it was refused.

They quickly credited the account, but told me since it was a third party seller fulfilled by Amazon I would have to go reorder it online, they could not simply replace it.

That... has proven more difficult than I anticipated since it appears that cracked TV may have been the last one on earth like it. Or at least the last one on earth for what my husband deemed to be an appropriate price to pay.

Ok, so back to the point. Appears our foray back into watching TV? Delayed.

But someday? I will know who Sam Cooke is, or what the flap is about Cougar Town, and I can even see myself delving into Pawn Stars. (Which is about as appropriate as my mom's love for "Ice Road Truckers".) Maybe I will return to getting my Adam and Jamie fix? Big Love was supposed to redeem me this past year and make me love TV again. Top Chef will make me want to go cook. What is going to make me want to waste my time in front of the TV instead of on the internet?