Books and TV

Last weekend...and the start of this week...have been sheer madness. Some good, some bad, heavier on the good.

The week ended with the sudden and unexplained death of our ancient TV. On the other hand, I guess the mere fact that it was ancient makes its demise explainable. The bad part was the timing. It seems smaller televisions are a rare commodity these days thanks to distribution chain issues. Normally, I'd research online, make a decision, and click BUY. 

I will say, having no TV resulted in a couple of productive days. It also made for a grumpy and bored husband. By Saturday night, I'd tracked down what had to be the only set matching my criteria within several hundred miles. I clicked BUY along with the option to pick it up the next day. (Seeing the words "last one in stock" tends to nudge me to stop researching and show them the money.)

Sunday morning, my no longer grumpy and bored husband and I drove to Oakmont PA and Mystery Lovers Bookshop to attend a personal appearance by Craig Johnson. I make no secret about the fact he's one of my favorite authors. I might even be slightly guilty of stalking the man, having traveled to Cincinnati, Erie, and even Green Bay, Wisconsin to hear him speak. (In my own defense, I was going to be in Green Bay anyway.) You better believe I would be there when I only had to drive an hour. 

Plus, I'd been given the honor of introducing him to the hometown crowd. 

Craig has a gift for storytelling. If you haven't read any of his Longmire books, start with The Cold Dish. This year's release, Daughter of the Morning Star, is one of my favorites of the entire series. Still, start at the beginning. If you're like me, you'll binge-read your way through the first sixteen books. 

After the event and after hanging out at the bookstore with Craig and his wife, Judy, for a while, we headed toward home with a stop at Target to pick up our new TV. While there, I received an email from my new editor at my new publisher. Although the new Zoe Chambers mystery wasn't due to them until later this month, she had time in her schedule NOW. Thankfully, it was "ready." I'd been tinkering with it and would continue to do so until the very last minute, so the request saved me from myself. 

Yes, the eleventh Zoe Chambers is officially in the publishing pipeline.

Back home, with the manuscript sent off to Level Best Books, we started setting up the TV. Or trying to. I like to think I'm moderately tech-savvy where these things are concerned. I could get it to stream Prime, but couldn't get it to connect to either the cable box or the DVD player. We called over my grandnephew who is not only tech-savvy but is young. Something about that combination usually helps in these cases. 

Not this time. He was stymied as well. I felt a little better about myself. But nervous about the prospect of the last set in stock meeting my criteria having to be returned.

We watched Leverage: Redemption on Prime. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.

Monday, I called our cable company's tech support. I listened to the clatter of computer keys as the tech guy tried to solve my problem. I'd already done everything he recommended. He was stumped and said he'd send someone out. 

Now here's the joy of having a small-town cable company located four miles away. Two young tech-savvy guys showed up at my door a couple hours later. I never got that from Verizon.

I got the impression that one of the tech guys was less savvy and was in training. But the savvy one got to work. Within a minute, he'd synced the cable box's remote control with the new set. I'd have never figured that one out, so YAY. But when it came to getting the set and box to talk to each other, nothing. He sat on my floor and said, "Huh." This is not a good sound coming from the tech-savvy cable guy. 

It took some puzzling and switching of cables (I'd already done that at least three times) and switching them back, but suddenly, the picture and sound were there! "What'd you do?" I asked.

He'd unplugged it and plugged it back in.

Duh.

I had done that. But I hadn't left it unplugged long enough. I learned something Monday afternoon. Leave electronics unplugged for at least a minute before plugging them back in. 

We have a functioning new TV. I still worry every time I turn it off. Will it come back on? But so far so good.