Monday, August 20, 2012

Goodbye TV... Hello, iPhone...

Hi friends!! It's been sooo long, trust me, I know. While I have limited to no justification for not keeping up with my blog, I would like to chalk SOME of the blame up to that two week stint we called the Olympics... how anyone is expected to do anything but keep one's eyes glued to an NBC channel of sorts is beyond me.

Anyway! I'm back! To be fair... I've been pretty lazy the past few weeks- I haven't really done anything that actually warrants a blog post... granted, that's never stopped me from yapping about nothing in the past, but whatever.

So why the sudden return to blogging? Well, aside from the fact that it is, in fact, one of my favorite things (I swear! It is!)... I have to chalk this return to... my defunct television.

I came home Friday emotionally, mentally and physically drained (God bless what corporate America can do to people)... all ready and set just to PARK it in front of my television for the en-tire evening (despite the GORGEOUS weather Chicago's been having as of late!). Well... this plan would have worked out just fine and dandy if, lo and behold, I hadn't turned on my television set like immediately after entering my apartment only to find that, while I can see the picture perfectly clearly, there was zero audio. Wtf (and yes, for those of you who know my ditzy ways well enough, I DID check the Mute button, thank you very much).

Argh. It was the last thing I wanted to deal with on a Friday evening. A quick call to Best Buy (where I bought the TV three years ago... I didn't know who else to call!) and I realized that, not only did the TV need to be taken in for inspection (I was hoping they could just identify and fix the problem over the phone... sigh) but I had to take it in myself (since my TV was less than 46 inches).

What the...

If you know me at all, you know I lack a lot of general common sense/practicality in my personal life. So there I was, just staring at my 26-inch TV, truly contemplating how the hell I was expected to lug that thing half a mile to my neighborhood Best Buy store.

Note to self- trying to shovel a 26-inch TV into a paper Gap bag is NOT the solution.



Well, WHAT?! I had limited resources in which to lug something so large around! Next try...


Believe it or not... this did the trick.I didn't think this was actually going to work, but my TV certainly DID end up squeezing into the largest piece of luggage that I owned. Sigh, this is like the DEFINITION of ghetto, right? But oh well... creativity does have its perks, I guess. Ugh, but look at what a hot MESS emptying my suitcase caused! Again, not the way I was planning on spending my Friday night.

Anyway, so I ended up (carefully) dragging that suitcase to my lobby and hailing a cab to take me the half mile to Best Buy (...what, you think I was going to be walking?)... only to find out that they were going to have to ship it in for an estimate and could take at least 2 days to get an estimate (that doesn't even include the time it'll take to fix the TV!).

What else could I do? I dejectedly left my beloved TV at Best Buy and traipsed on home... only to have a slight panic attack when I got back to my apartment (the same slight panic ensued when I awoke on Saturday morning as well)... you know you have an addiction to TV when your heart literally clenches at the mere thought of having to go TV-less for an entire weekend. Seriously, I had no idea how I was going to fill my time. (In keeping with my apparent month of MIA-ness, I didn't have any significant plans for this weekend.)

But MAN!! It's amazing how much more PRODUCTIVE I am without my TV! Who would've THOUGHT?? Let's see, I did some chores...


I went to the salon...


I rediscovered my love for reading (please note that I hadn't begun this book until Saturday morning... and that's where I was by Saturday evening...


I discovered my new favorite Trader Joe's sweet treat (holy YUMMMMMM!!!!)...


I did some shopping...


Full stop. Like how I just snuck that last one on in there? Sure, these bags are clearly reflective of all things "necessity" in life, but let's focus here on that little tiny white box... with the iconic APPLE symbol! That's right, my friends- I got myself a little iPhone!

Okay, to be fair, this was kind of an impulse buy... I mean, I'd been having issues with my Droid (don't even GET me started), but I'm pretty low-maintenance when it comes to technology, so I've just been "dealing" with the Droid issues. I'd honestly just gone into the Verizon store to innocently ask how I can fix my Droid this time around... and, well, I'm sorry, but I can't help it that I happened to talk to like one of THE most charming sales guys that I've ever encountered on a visit to a Verizon store (normally, as soon as they start going into all these details about all the high-tech things phone A vs. phone B can do, I get bored and zone out). But MAN!! I wish I'd snapped a picture (because that wouldn't have been awkward at all)... he was just the most adorable, most friendly, most patient, most funny, most, well, not gonna lie, kind of smooth talking people I'd met! AND!!! He was giving me discounts left and right!! I felt like I was winning the lottery with each little "accessory" I was picking up along the way!! (This is not an exaggeration- there was even one point in my little shopping spree where his fellow sales guy was like "Jesus, why don't you just GIVE her the stuff for free at this point?")

So that, my friends, is how I wound up with an iPhone. I'm a sucker, what can I say? But in my defense, I got a good DEAL, thank you very much.

Oh, I guess I got kinda sidetracked. Whoops. Hahaha. This was supposed to be how much more productive my life has become sans TV... but... well, this counts, right? You tell me when finding true love at the Verizon store isn't a true measure of life productivity...