Mama got a new TV

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Christmas came early this year! I finally got the Sony Bravia TV that was gifted to me after FedEx apparently stole the first one. What a process this was.

At the end of October, my dad won a Sony flat screen TV when he was entered in a drawing at the Step Out to Fight Diabetes walk that we participate in each year. Because he loves me SOOO much, he gifted this prize to me. It was unclear when it would be delivered, but on November 7 I got a door slip from FedEx saying they tried to deliver the TV, but nobody was home to sign for the package so they couldn't leave it. Since I didn't have a tracking number before, I was able to look online using the door-tag number to see where it was. Since it was a Friday, I figured it would be delivered again on Monday. I stayed home ALL day Monday, saw multiple FedEx trucks drive by my house, but nothing was delivered and nothing was updated with the tracking info.

To make a long story short, it never got delivered and after the 2 week period that you have to wait before you can file a claim for a missing package, Sony ordered me a new TV and FedEx claimed responsibility for the TV being stolen.

The TV was finally delivered this week and I almost kissed the FedEx man on the spot when I saw him carrying the box. Figured that would have been a little inappropriate though. Of course I tore the box open and immediately started setting it up, even though the new stand I bought for it at Costco was not assembled yet.

Thursday night came the fun part and when I say fun, I mean horribly daunting and super frustrating. I got home from work and started de-boxing the TV stand. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. There were 13 individually wrapped bag filled with nuts, bolts, screws, washers, pegs, etc. Then I unrolled another package that had about 20 other packets of nuts, bolts, screws, washers, etc. YIKES! After about 2 hours, I finally assembled the stand and just needed some help mounting the TV on the provided pole.

Friday morning the TV was mounted with some ease. Then came the connecting of the Cox HD-DVR box. First of all, it's not a good sign when it comes packaged with at least 8 different cords. Second, it's not a good sign when the written instructions on how to connect everything doesn't match the picture on how to connect everything -- this just creates confusion. After jamming wires down the pole so they'd be hidden and finally getting all the included cords attached to either the TV, cable box or DVD player, Liz and I turned on the TV with great trepidation and fingers crossed.

Ta-da! Picture, check. Sound, ummm, no sound. Ok, we're smart women, we said to each other, we can figure this out (no thanks to the Cox instructions). And without the help of any man or lame instructions, we did figure out how to get sound (even though it was rather quiet at first, to which I later found was due to a weird setting on the cable box). Who says women and electronics don't go well together? There may have been a high-five in there, there was definitely some sighs of relief. Our new TV had arrived and we had successfully set it all up -- and by ourselves.

The finished product. It is so pretty. Have to move the pictures now though.

Today we explored all that Cox has to offer in the HD department and boy were we impressed with the quality. Travel, Discovery and Food Network have so far been the most exciting to watch in HD, but count on us, we'll find plenty more to keep us occupied.