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YouTube Beats Cable on a 40-inch Screen

By Gloria Diaz

Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!

Fort Wayne Reader

2017-12-18

I usually don't pay attention to Black Friday sales, because no matter how good the sales are, you can save a ton of money if you don't buy anything. However, I work retail, and the store I work for had televisions, which is not an item we normally stock. I made the mistake of looking at them and the price. The price seemed good to me, and I remembered that I'd get a discount.

Problem was, I didn't actually NEED a television. I'd been scraping by, and I have a couple of trips coming up. I was hoarding money and trying not to buy anything, and surprise, surprise, I found out that if I live on nothing, I can indeed save money. I love to shop though. I'd figured the solution. Just don't buy anything. So I asked a co-worker to talk me out of buying the television set. I honestly tried. “Talk me out of it,” I said. “It's a great deal; you won't regret it,” was her response. I wavered; I thought about my upcoming trips.

Of course, I rationalized it. I had an analog television set. I thought the picture was starting to go. For years, I contented myself with watching VHS tapes and DVDs of movies and shows. I might catch reruns of The Big Bang Theory when working out at school, but that was it. Then I looked closer at the bottom of the box. You can watch YouTube videos on this??? SOLD!

I put it together and hooked it up. For the first time in years, local channels in my living room! Reruns of Roseanne on Laff! The Big Bang Theory on WFFT Fox! But even more exciting for me, was watching YouTube gems like “Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story”, documentaries on Karla Homolka and Tonya Harding, and “Doge Adventure”, the first video I watched on my “big screen.”

At 40 inches, it is twice the size, and 25% of the weight of the early 90s era Magnavox analog.

The old set still works. So do I hold on to it and use it to watch videos in another room? Do I clear it out and use it as a cat bed? Do I recycle it? Use it for an art project? Use it for video game consoles that I never use because I don't have the time for them?

I'll figure it out. I like having the television on to watch and for background sound. It makes the house seem not as quiet.

I will say though, those commercials for catheters and Peyronie's Disease are a bit … icky. I guess men suffered through Midol and sanitary napkin and tampon commercials; I guess it's time for women to get weirded out. Me, I just laugh.