In one of those instances (rare enough to be pure coincidence), my brother and I are doing the same thing at about the same time on opposite sides of the planet. Shopping for home theater gear. Which, let's face it, my brother does often enough that such a coincidence is barely coincidental.
We spent less time and money than he did, but that goes without saying.
I was getting tired of unplugging and switching cables around to run the sound from the various components through my stereo, so we went out to an electronics store. I had in mind a switchbox. Oz was thinking about A/V receivers, with speakers and various other doodads. At the electronics store, we zip past the games, where a mother is trying to detach her sons from a bongo drum game controller on a shelf so high that they can barely reach it, even standing on the lowest shelf and using their chins to hook onto an upper shelf while they bang randomly on the drums.
Back in the TV labyrinth, Oz surveys the A/V receivers, which—I have to say—I've never even heard of because I haven't been shopping in years. I find a switchbox and then find Oz, who says, "These receivers are all ugly. They are big and black, they don't have any nice little silver ones."
I say, "This switchbox is only $40." Actually, that's probably a pretty steep markup considering how simple the electronics inside are. I could probably build one. Oz is still after me to build a stereo, now that I'm an engineer and all.
So anyway, we have an overpriced switchbox now.
274 words | May 29, 2005 08:31 PM | Real true story