I’m in a light hearted mood today. Holiday next week, and feeling on top of things. My recent Posts have been about Conflict, so an easier topic is in order. Time for me to fess up to yet another personal embarassment caused by my well proven inability to do anything at a sensible pace.
It involves the little TV in our kitchen we use for watching the evening news. It all started about 10 days ago, when we switched it on and got the blue screen of death. Nothing. Reluctant to chuck it out and switch to a far more sensible option such as an iPad, I moved swiftly (far too swiftly) into “fix it” mode. As someone with no electronic or technical skills, it was a no brainer for me to sort this out and thus contribute one less item to the refuse tip. My little bit for Global Warming.
Here’s how the sorry saga played out from there:
- Because the digital converter gadget (it is an old analog TV) wasn’t responding to the remote control, I concluded it was the culprit. I researched Amazon for 10 minutes, and ordered a cheaper replacement.
- Plugged the new gadget in. No difference.
- Tested the new gadget on the other TV, where it worked. Concluded that the problem must lie with the arial booster box on the floor that I have never really understood.
- Chucked out the booster box and attempted to plug in direct. I am now 1 metre short on arial cable. I got lucky: found some old cable lying behind some books near the other TV. Even luckier, found a male to female (note the technical jargon here!) cable adapter allowing me to extend the original cable with this bit, lying at the bottom of my Man Drawer (every man has one of these, designed for just these occasions). Connected it all up and switched on. There is a bit of a bang (but no smell, so this incident went unnoticed).
- By a process of elimination I realise that the original culprit was NOT the digital gadget, but the old rattly electrical adapter it was plugged into. If I had worked this out the whole repair would have been a 10 second exercise. I now need a new power supply for the gadget. Amazon oblige, next day (they are amazing, are they not?). I plug in, and pray again.
- I now have a picture but very hissy sound. Concluded that the reason for this is the gadget’s SCART socket doesn’t quite fit into the back of the TV. I need an adapter to ensure a perfect fit. 10 more minutes of Amazon research and I guess at something to do the job (total cost £2.99), order it and pray once more.
It arrived today. I connected everything (whilst my wife was out shopping). I hesitate to tell you this (and she doesn’t yet know): it still hisses. I think this may be because the booster box was in fact there for a reason. The signal may not be strong enough. The only way to find out is to connect everything up using the working TV’s arial and find out. I will have to do this whilst my wife is out this afternoon in the garden. She hasn’t yet asked me about it as she doesn’t know the new part has arrived.
I can hear “told you so” ringing in my ears already. I know I did it too fast, should have used more logic right at the start. If I’d checked the original gadget on the good TV I would have known I didn’t need to replace it..
One of my big client’s mantras is “get more done by slowing down”. Time for me to learn that lesson, I fear. And most of the other people I know. We’re all barking mad, I’ve concluded. I know I’m not alone.
But please don’t tell my wife until I’ve had one last go this afternoon.
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You had me laughing. In our house, I’m “Mr Fix-it” or I guess “Ms. Fix-it”. I plead guilty to doing the exact same thing … jump first, look later and unfortunately, not only with minor home repairs. Thankfully I have gotten much better at taking a pause and reflecting before acting, which in the end saves time and a whole lot of frustration.
Laurie, you have me wondering what it is you put your mind to that is not in the “minor repair” category 🙂 I’m glad you are getting better at pausing: in my case I see no progress at all. sadly. I am beyond redemption!
I told you so! (I wanted to be the first of many…)
Dave, you know what you can do. And by the way. as a fellow ENFP, did my approach resonate at all with you?
Not many men would “fess up.” Good thing your wife doesn’t know (ha, ha). Only the whole world knows. I hope no one tells her. She must be the only one who doesn’t read your blog. 😉
Spot on! She doesn’t read my Blog, thank goodness, otherwise I might have been a bit more cautious. If I get away with it (which I very much doubt now), it will make success all the more sweet with so many onlookers!
I was only half-kidding, as you know, but on further thought, I realized that, although my husband supports my writing, he doesn’t read my blog either! You can probably get away with saying whatever you want.