HDTV ~ DAY TWO:

Dec. 10: Do-it-yourselfers Go Wrong:

Wow! What a F-ing day! (Sorry, but sometimes that implied swear is appropriate.)

First thing in the morning, Tom and I took off that TV stand. He was going to carry the stand separately and put the big hunka-hunka screen into the box it came in. Carefully, I might add, with the packing insulating the flawed TV.

Like I had said the night before... he was going to return it himself... but I helped him carry down the TV, where it fit very well into the back seat of my Elantra. (Good thing, as it was raining, and when I'd brought it home, I had to have it hang out of the back, as the cabinet could only fit in the back seat.) Then off Tom went to play "bad cop" and not take any guff from those in the electronics salesroom at Olums. He had a talk with them. They admitted it "Shudda been checked out before it left the store." They assured him the one he brought back had been carefully checked. All he got was an apology. He cancelled the two year warranty. Toshiba has a one year warranty on its products anyway, and we felt they wouldn't do much better if needed, seeing how they didn't respond to our first problem. So, he saved $62 plus tax.

We decided it would be easier to take it up the inside stairs from the walk in basement and brought it in. Tom says, "We'll unpack it here and put on the stand before we take it up"... saying these recallable words..."It will be easier."

I think he thought it will be lighter, but it wasn't, of course... it was just without the cardboard box and styrofoam which couldn't have weighted more than a couple of pounds if that.

Assembled, we took the short ends of the screen, holding it vertically, and he backed up taking the lead up the stairs... those confoundedly steep stairs Charlie (his nephew) put in. The problem with this is that we had no handles--the cardboard box had slots in which to insert hand and carry it safely ...and with that packing insulation against possible bumps.

Tom was on the up side. The day before he took the heavy down side for both the assemled cabinet, and the original TV. I offered to take the down (heavy side) this time...and it WAS heavy. When taking something heavy and non-giving... Something requiring BOTH hands, it takes perfect co-ordination and balance. We sounded off each step: "Up... Up... Up..." Tom and I stopping suddenly with each end of the step up, but each sudden stop would cause a rebound, and after the third step up from the landing, I lost my balance, catching it again by stepping back, and yelled, Wait!" which didn't help. This caused Tom to lose his balance. I was only on the third step, but he was next to the top, and in less than a second, he had dropped the TV, and to my astonishment had hurdled down. I don't know how he rolled or kept himself from not breaking something, and next thing I knew he was crumpled at my feet like a collapsed parade balloon. The TV set had gone "Bump Bump" down as I was forced to back up against the wall opposite the stairs, and the far corner of the TV was precariously balanced on the last step before the landing--one more step and it would have gone crashing in a tumble roll on to the hard un-cushioned carpet of the cement basement floor.

My first thought was, "Should I call 911." Tom's first words were "Get me out of here." His head was bent against the wall, his back was curved on the landing on his left side, and his legs were still up on the stairs. So he was basically kind of upside down.

Knowing he was conscious, and could move, my second thought was for the TV set... the one we had just cancelled the warranty on. I could see the scuff marks on its screen from Tom's shoes as he had careened past it on his flight down. I also wondered if anything got jarred loose inside, and worried that Toshiba was as sturdy TV. I said, "Tom, can you reach the corner of the TV and pull it towards you? It's close to falling. Curled up on the landing, he managed to pull it so it's corner was safely resting on the bottom step while I was still holding the other end. I finally said, "Are you OK? Do you want me to call 911?" I moved my end of the TV so he could move enough to get himself upright again, and didn't answer until he was again standing, rubbing his wrist, making sure he could still use his hand.

"I guess I'm OK," he said, looking up at the stairs. "Can you believe I fell all that way down?! That's probably the worst fall I've ever taken. My wrist hurts, and my left hip, but I guess I'm OK."

"Can you still carry up the TV?" I asked. "Let's carry it up with the screen vertical between us."

It was much easier carrying it across from each other. I was praying that Toshiba had made a set sturdy enough for the bumps it took.

Tom and I managed to get it up to the kitchen, and paused there to catch our breath and wait for our blood pressure to lower as well as our adrenalin level. Then we took it the rest of the way into the living room, setting it on its stand on its final resting place on top of the cabinet. "Tra-La!" As simple as that!

Folks! Please, have the place where you buy your 40"+ new HDTV deliver and set it up for you! This money saving way almost cost us $999 plus tax down the drain-- and also could have cost my husband's life. It's just not worth my ever-saving money ways. We can't afford cutting corners by taking chances anymore.

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about coping with this new technology. And the results. Could we get the reception we had gotten with the analog from those stations broadcasting in digital already? We soon would find out.