Cable angst

Cable. Most everyone in the United States has it. Most everyone gets it within a few days of moving in to a new place. Not Mike and I. Why? Part laziness, part thinking it cost more than it really did (they wanted payment on delivery), part my subconscious desire to not get cable for fear Mike and I would become couch potatoes and get fat, part fear that my apartment wasn't cable ready and a huge project was on our hands.

So we agreed once football started we couldn't bear it anymore and that after the wedding I would make the dreaded call. So Monday morning Mike said I better call and I wrote CABLE real big on a scrap piece of paper and put it on the kitchen counter. That day upon coming home from work I had competely forgotten about calling and saw the note after changing into more comfy calls and decided it was time.

Ring Ring
Mike: "Hello?"
Jess "Who's the best?"
Mike: "What?"
Jess: "Who is the best?"
Mike: "What test?"
Jess: "Arrgh. I got cable! Dude's coming tomorrow between 3:00 and 7:00"
Mike: "Oh sweet"
A brief question and answer session ensued regarding cost and internet access and yada yada. We were happy.

Fast forward to yesterday (Tuesday)

Ring ring
Jess: "Jessica Walsh?"
Mike: "Hi."
Jess: "Did he come?"
Mike: "Yeah he just left. TV should be on in an hour."
Jess: "I am so excited."
A brief chat ensued where I said the word excited about 27 times and stated that we must do nothing tonight (last night) in honor of tv day.

On the way home I just knew I wasn't going to walk in to TV. Another night of Robot Chicken Season 1 episodes and Rampart (Best Atari game EVER!). Nothing, I repeat NOTHING, works in our house the first time or without loads of cursing, mental angst and stress.

I got home and the tv didn't work and Mike and I were pissed because who the hell knows what's wrong with it and I called and complained and the guy only had one box instead of the requested two and he didn't even attempt to hook up the internet. There's weird cables all over the house and the guy was just so certain the nice new looking one was for cable and he left and nothing worked.

"That's it, we're going out to dinner."

Let's speed this up shall we. A new Arby's opened nearby and I had never been since it's not a local chain so we checked that out. I said to Mike that we should really go out and get a longer cable to try this one other weird wire looking thing near the dining room in all its frayed wire glory and he said he had long wire at home. We drove right past Staples and Wal-Mart to get home to see Mike did not have it. I couldn't believe he actually put a little stock into my idea but he did and we went back out. Afterall, there were wires along the house that went right into our dining room.

We got the cable and a used copy of Tetris Worlds for PS2 since we figured we'd need a new game to play when we got home and realized our plan didn't work. I like puzzle games and it was cheap.

We hooked it up and it didn't work so we got all pissed. I was carrying on trying to straighten up the living room to get back to a sense of order when Mike gasped and scared the hell out of me and kind of gasped screamed, "It's on!"

My idea worked. The scary looking frayed half dead splitter thing worked. It was great. Mike channel surfed all night which makes me want to kill myself and I didn't even watch tv but enjoyed hearing "TV" in the background while I did other things. Finally we settled down quite late and caught "Whose Line is it Anyway?" then an episode of "Family Guy" which we really missed all these months and then I started to doze at 12:10, 10 minutes into "PeeWee's Playhouse". It was the latest I've stayed up on a work night in ages.

It was really exciting to actually have cable again but then I realized I missed absolutely nothing but the first half of Project Runway Season 3 and the Eagles/Giants game last week. But Mike's happier now and I'm happy for him. Tonight I have the house to myself and I intend to watch Project Runway and pick up a TV guide since I do want to get into one Fall show. I always thought it would be romantic to have TV night. A night of drama sitcom we can look forward to once a week.

Any suggestions? Kirk, I need to rent the first few seasons of Lost before I start watching this new one whenever it starts.