Still Crazy After All These Years

There's a new addition at the JoyZeeBoy home. His name is Philips and he's a bouncing 72 pound, 42" 1080p, 120hz, LCD-HDTV.

He was landed not without a certain amount of high drama and self-loathing. It all started at my Big Gay 12-Step meeting in Princeton on Friday night when I asked for a "some strapping lad" to assist me in getting Philips home from Sam's Club Saturday afternoon. I got a volunteer, alright, all 5'6", 130 pounds sopping wet of him.

But beggars can't be choosers so I offered to buy my newfound friend lunch on Saturday in exchange for his services in picking up the new set and helping me to schlepp it home and up the stairs to my 2nd story aerie in the Oldest Decrepit Victorian in Hightstown, NJ.

I picked him up on Saturday, we had lunch at the beautiful Americana Diner on Route 130 and then drove cross-country to the Sam's Club out on Route 1 near Princeton.

Where a week ago had stood a plethora of boxes of 42" sets there now stood nada, nil, zip. They'd sold out all 9 of them in the course of one week. I cornered a couple of the young miscreants who pretend to work at Sam's and demanded to be shown to the hidden stash of tv's. But, alas, they really were out ... and they couldn't sell me the floor model because they "might" get more in later this week.

Well, later this week would NOT DO. I want my toys when I want 'em. And I wanted it then. I drove my new friend back to his place and then headed home for a well-deserved evening of self-pitying, isolationist, God-hating. I excel at that at times.

Sunday morning, after an evening of much acting out with inappropriate foodstuffs, I rousted myself out of the house to another 12-Step meeting where I knew I would see my sponsor. After the meeting, as I explained to him how God had carefully plotted and crafted the entire previous two weeks so that I would "think" I was getting a new TV but was, in reality, get a new sponsee (my friend from the day before who, at lunch, worked up the nerve to ask me to sponsor him), my sponsor just nodded sagely, commiserated fully, pronounced me a bat-shit-crazy alcoholic and asked me if I'd checked out the Sam's Club on Route 18 in East Brunswick.

Well, I sputtered, ahem, uh, er, well, no.

He smiled and went home. I tore across country to the turnpike northbound and was there in less than 20 minutes.

They had it.

I bought it.

I brought it home.

It's gorgeous.

And now, of course, I have buyer's regret.

Some weeks it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

And it NEVER pays to be me.

WOW! I got color tv!

It's official. Well, not quite. But soon! I'm buying a high-def LCD tv this weekend. I even know which one. It's a Philips 7403 series, 42", 1080p, 120hz refresh rate tv with 4 (count 'em) 4 HDMI connectors. It doesn't have that stupid "ambi-light" thing that Philips had tried to flog which did nothing but add to the cost of the set. It's a bargain because Philips is surrendering the domestic US market for tv's and selling their franchise name to the Chinese. Meanwhile, though, they're having a fire sale on their existing stock (with full warranties).



It's a bargain at twelve-hundred bucks.

When I saw it my mind flashed back to 1960, and to the following commercial which I fondly recalled from my childhood. This'll drag you down memory lane (if you're over 50).



It also reminds me of the good old days when television commercials were interminably long at 60 seconds. Thank God THOSE days are over.

You will, no doubt, be hearing lots more about the new set once I get it (mostly buyer's remorse, no doubt).

Meanwhile, sit back and relax. The following program ...