The great HD adventure of 2007

So my roommate has become obsessed with HD. That’s Hi-Def or High Definition to the layman. Last week, he bought a HD TV, and with it, all the expensive cords and plugs that make stuff work on HD TVs. (Including a cord for my Wii. Thanks, bud.) Well, he decided there was too much “noise” on the TV with the other electronic devices, and wanted to exchange it for a different one. He found a great TV on Best Buy’s website (only slightly more expensive than the one he just bought), so off we went to the store to look at it. When we got there, it was actually 200 bucks cheaper than the online price, so he was very excited. He also decided to buy a Playstation 3. Not the 40 gig kind, because they don’t play the old PS2 games, but the more expensive 80 gig kind that will play the old PS2 games. The reason behind the PS3 was so he could get Blue Ray movies for his HD TV. So we also looked at those, trying to make the decision on which would be the best blend of action and plot to test the HD on.

Turns out, though, that the store didn’t have any of the TV in stock besides the floor model. But they did have one in the American Fork store. They wouldn’t hold the TV for him, and we were already at 106th south, so we decided to go to American Fork since we were already pretty far south of Taylorsville. We were already carrying around the PS3, a movie, and some other things, but we left them at the home entertainment counter and off we went to American Fork. At an average of 85 MPH. We had to get there before the TV was sold out!

We got there, and they tell us the thing is actually 400 bucks more expensive than the online price ($600 more than the other store), so we tell them we were just at the other store and the price there was much more reasonable. Why should they change prices between stores? The sales guy says his manager will let him match the online price, but that they can’t go to the 106th South store price because that was a misprint. I asked to see the guy’s manager, because how can you call the actual printed label that is out in front of the TVs a misprint!! That’s not a misprint, that’s false advertising. (As you can see, I got into the great HD adventure as much as my roommate by this point.) So, he says he’ll get his manager. The manager didn’t even bother arguing with us. I think when the sales guy said we wanted to talk to him, the manager got right on the phone with the 106th South store. When he came out from the back, the manager said that if we buy the TV there for the internet price, we can go back to the store on 106th and get the $200 from that store, since it was their mistake. Good enough. We decided since we now have the TV, we might as well get the PS3, the movie, and the other things we had, and go strait back to 106th to get his $200. Well, the sales guy brought to our attention that there were certain Blue Ray disks that were buy 1 get 1 free, and the movie we planned on getting was one of those. So we went to check out the movies, and the ones we wanted weren’t there. But they WERE back at the 106th South store. So we left with our goods, sans Blue Ray movies, and headed back to 106th. Oh, I should also mention that this is a 42 inch TV, and it BARELY fit in the back of my car. With one window down for the corner of the box.

So we take a much more careful freeway drive with no rear view capabilities to 106th to get some movies and $200. I, of course, stayed in the car to make sure no one would bogart the TV because the window was nearly wide open. (Cold freeway drive, by the way.) Then back to the condo where we of course have to set everything up, including all the other electronics we already have in the living room, and we HAVE to watch a movie on the Blue Ray player inside the PS3. We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and only got to the part where Angelina hits Brad with her car after he accidentally shoots at her windshield. By then it was 12:45 a.m. and we both had to work in the morning.

So there you have it. And all I went out that night for was to get cheap candy gifts for my coworkers.