Things NOT To Do With Your Husband

K went out and bought an HDTV-ready Sony the other night. It is absolutely gorgeous and I THINK the picture will be worth the money--when we get it set up properly. I don't know if we are total idiots, if the Sony company has no idea HOW to write instruction manuals, if we didn't do the right kind of or enough research, or if Charter cable has us over a barrel, but things just are not going the way I thought they should. It should be as easy as plug in a cable and you're done, right? In your dreams!

First, K is just like every other man: try first, read the directions later. All of this was going on while the Wings were playing, so I wasn't going to be part of the hook-up. While the TV got hooked-up and playing, it wasn't completely right. It didn't help that he insisted on having the display as wide-screen zoom, even though the feed wasn't made to be seen in wide-screen. The pixilation was horrid! He was happy just to be able to watch TV in wide-screen. After the game was over, he went to bed. Of course, before closing the bedroom door he told me, "You can tweak it to make it better if you want." (Translation: fix the TV so that it works right.)

The following day after he got home from work, the first thing he asked was, "Did you fix the TV?" "No, I had other things I needed to do, so it is just the way you left it." He left the kitchen in a bit of a funk. Later that evening, after he had gone to bed, I tried tweaking the thing. It is not doing what I think it should.

Today after he came home we BOTH tried different things to get the thing working properly. It is working fine, it just is not working as it should and I have a solution for fixing it: Call someone who works with these things and have them set it up the right way! We don't even have to go through the cable company proper--maybe--because we know someone who works FOR the company. All K has to do is call the guy and ask his opinion--he just might be willing to come in and take a look. I know we will HAVE to get an HDTV receiver in order to get the HDTV signal--that much is a given. K won't even agree to that, yet. At this point, we have to use TWO remotes in order to watch the TV--one for the digital box to change channels and one for the TV to work the volume and every other feature the TV has. I'm thinking there MUST be a way to only have to use one remote in order to watch TV--but, then, this IS Charter we are talking about. I'm also thinking we will be able to get the HDTV feed for broadcast stations WITHOUT having to buy the HDTV tier through Charter--as long as we have the receiver. K thinks we will have to buy the tier. I am not understanding why we can't find any digital channels when we try setting them up--we ARE paying for digital cable, after all. K thinks it is because the digital channels are coming directly through the receiver--and he might be right about that. There just are too many unanswered questions and I think we need help.

In the span of about an hour, while trying to get this thing hooked-up properly, I was ready to call a lawyer and start divorce proceedings. The two of us CANNOT work with any electronics, TALK about electronics, be in the same room as any electronic devises, turn on and use any electronic devises, and still expect to stay married. I am an example of 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' and K is a man, so this is NOT going to work. If we can't come to some kind of understanding, then I will have to do something on my own--and then I will have to call a lawyer.