What You Pay For

OK, first a bit of explanation. Sound is very important to me. My vision is horrible. Even with glasses, I now struggle to read. My Kindle with text I can enlarge is essential. And things I used to do easily, such as cross-stitch, can now only be accomplished if I use additional magnification. But my hearing is excellent. I was in my 30s before I realized it wasn't a good idea to answer Yes to the question, "I often hear voices others don't," on certain information forms because it was a way of identifying people with mental illness, not people like me with exceptional hearing. I love listening to music as I work. My Amazon cloud is chock full of all sorts of music, from Chris Isaak singing "Ring of Fire" to Rachmaninoff, from Manilow to Chopin (actually, not such a stretch there, but I'll save that for another post on modern composers ripping off the old farts), and from Abba to Stile Antico.

Now when I bought my previous computer--good Lord, that was 12 years ago!--I got a really nifty five-speaker set as a freebie to go with some upgrades I had purchased. I loved that set of speakers! And so over the past few weeks, I've grown concerned that the volume kept decreasing and the sound would waver in and out. I checked every line. Even took every plug out and replugged it back in several times. I checked every cord to make sure a cat hadn't been snacking on it. Nothing helped. So I wasn't terribly shocked when the whole thing just quit earlier today. Bummer!

And there are some things that can be done on a computer with no sound, but lots of things such as my World of Warcraft and, of course, my music, absolutely must have the speakers. So off to Best Buy I went. Having checked out the options on-line, I pretty much knew what I wanted. Another five-piece set that was going to cost me about $100. Well, you know, $99.99 before taxes. A very nice young man met me just inside the door and directed me to the speakers area when I informed him of the purpose of my visit. I was just reaching for the set I had reviewed when he pointed out a smaller set just next to it. Only 3 speakers--two small tower units and the subwoofer thingy on the floor--by a company called Insignia. And only $70. "This," he said, "is the set I have and it's really great. The sound is fantastic." Hey, I thought, why not? Fewer cords to have to mess with. Just plug in a couple of things and away I go. And if the store geek says they're good, why not save $30?

So I brought my little box home and in about 3 minutes I had everything set up. I waited not so patiently as my computer took its good old time booting back up. And then I brought up my Cloud and started up a song. It randomly selected Queen's "Princes of the Universe." YE GADS!! WHAT HAVE I DONE???

That store gremlin must have blown out his eardrums playing his iPod too loudly. No amount of tweaking the treble or stifling the bass makes it sound any better. Even the dogs came over to look at the offending sounds emanating out of the new speakers! Seriously, how bad does something have to sound before the DOGS start complaining about it??

I've sat her for the last 45 minutes trying to decide what to do. I hate taking things back. I hate the hassle that comes with having to pack something up, driving all the way back to the store, filling out the paperwork, explaining why I don't want it because I'm such a sound snob, and getting what I really wanted all along. My own fault, I have to admit. You do get what you pay for, and I tried to get by on the cheap. When it comes to sound, money may not talk but it sure sings a lot better!

Too Plugged In??

We've all heard lately how we're too tuned in to the electronics in our lives. The cell phones, the computers, the laptops, the iPads, etc., etc. There's always something demanding our attention. Well, last night I got a real lesson in just how far I've slipped down that slope. This is an absolutely true story.

Last night around 10:00 p.m., I climbed into my bed. I was exhausted and I was really looking forward to just melting into my tempurpedic mattress (Ask me!) and falling blissfully asleep. My head hit the pillow and I glanced up at the window. Big mistake! There was a green flashing light reflecting in my bedroom window. It was right over my head. On----off----on----off.

All right, what electronic did I have in the bedroom that was causing this reflection? Surely, it was my smart phone. Darned thing! I've had it for a couple of months now and only figured out how to answer calls on it this week. That must be it. I jumped out of bed and grabbed it off the table. Hmmm. Not the smart phone. It was completely dark. No flashing lights anywhere. OK, OK, my Kindle. I was recharging it. I picked it up, turned it every direction. No flashing light. I looked back over at the window: On----off----on----off.

The TV? Nope. The projection alarm clock? No. The satellite box? The DVD player? The iPad? No, No, and no!!! Now this was really starting to get to me. Again, I looked at the window. And now the flashing was faster. On-off-on-off-on-off. Obviously, whatever this thing was needed immediate attention. I frantically looked around the room. Nothing.

All right then--it HAD to be my car. It's parked right under the bedroom. Something in or on the car must be flashing and reflecting that light. It was raining out, so I plastered my face right against the window to see down to the car.

Good Lord! Did that light just move? Yes, it did!! It's moving. It's going higher up the window. Dear Jesus, help me. Either I'm hallucinating or else some electronic device in my home has just become sentient and is making its way to me to get help.

OK, I can hear you laughing at me. It's all right. But how many of you have figured it out yet? Another scan of the bedroom yielded nothing that seemed to be moving. It must be something outside. This time, I pushed my face right up to the light in the window, hoping maybe I could track back the light source sort of the way they do in CSI.

That's when the light looked back. Having found refuge on my window from the rain storm and with his little belly against the glass, there he was. On--off--on--off. Good night, lightening bug! What can I say? I laughed myself to sleep last night.

It's A Cat's Life

As most of you know, I typically blog about my dogs despite the fact that I have 5 cats and only 3 dogs in my household. Dogs truly are a person's best friend! So what, then, is the role of a cat? Well let me tell you. A cat's responsibility is to keep us humble.

I once heard on a show about domestic animals that dogs look at a human and say, "You give me food; you give me shelter; you give me love. You must be a god." Cats, on the other hand, look at a human and say, "You give me food; you give me shelter; you give me love. I must be a god.!" I don't think there's any way to say it better.

Let me give you an example from my life with cats. Over the past week, I've walked into my kitchen a bunch of times and found coffee grounds on the counter. I've repeatedly chastized myself for being so messy every time I fix a cup of coffee. As you may have learned in an earlier post, I switched to Gevalia coffee a while back. This means that instead of using the premade K-pods in my Keurig brewer, I pack loose coffee into a My Cup filter to brew. And then I have to dump the used grounds into the trash. So there's a lot more opportunity for mess.

Still, I was just astonished that over and over again I would walk into the kitchen only to find that the last time I had apparently left it with grounds on the counter. In fact, it had become quite unnerving. I would be certain I had tidied up after myself only to come back in later to find that I hadn't tidied up at all. Obviously, the answer was that I had begun to experience some level of cognitive failure. My memory was clearly starting to go!

Until, that is, this morning. This morning, I was working away at my computer. Now I'm usually in exactly the same place most days, since I work mostly from home. But I always have my music playing. Not really loudly, but at least enthusiastically. This morning, no music. And so it was that I was able to hear tiny little rustlings coming from the kitchen. As I was in the midst of an important set of slides for my class, I didn't jump up right away to go investigate. But after a few moments, I decided I had better check it out. And there was my cat, Anna, leaning way down into the trash bin and digging away as if she were in her litter box. And to my astonishment, the purpose behind this seemed to be to dig the coffee grounds out of the trash. Her efforts this morning truly had beaten all previous results. This was due (I'm sure) to the fact that I had indulged in a second cup so there were twice as many grounds for her to dig out.

As I walked in and saw what was going on, she popped her head out of the bin with an expression that clearly read, "Busted!" Before I could do or say anything, she jumped out and took off running down the hallway. But I'm quite certain I heard that distinctive little sound all cat people will recognize as a cat giggle.

Yep, Miss Anna was doing her part to keep me humble!