A Matter of Perspective

Posted by Troy

December 16, 2007

I continued with my mission of cleaning/disposing this weekend, this time turning myself to the living room. I have always had a giant entertainment center. My most recent purchase in this regard was several years ago when I bought a black entertainment center with silver bars holding up the shelves from Target. It isn’t the biggest entertainment center I have had, but certainly big enough. It has shelves on one side, a CD rack that goes up the entire front, a place for a 27″ TV (could probably fit a 32″) several shelves for VCRs, video games, etc. In all it was probably 5-6 feet long . It dominated the living room.

I had bought a black/silver computer cart similar to the one here to house my commodore 64 setup. Since I have come to the conclusion that all of my Commodore stuff is “fun to have” but not necessarily “fun to use” - t he Commodore stuff has been put back into a plastic tote and stuffed into the closet, leaving the computer cart free.

I decided to try and put the TV on the computer cart. After unplugging everything from the entertainment center and heaving it out of the way, I moved the TV over to the cart. Hm, not bad. Add the DVD player and the PS2. Very nice. The only problem - the VCR.

One of my leftovers from my time spent in LA is my SuperVHS VCR. I actually have less than 10 videotapes left. mostly of things that I really should convert over to DVD sometime. I looked at the VCR and the cart, trying to figure out the best way to hook it up - then realized that I can’t even remember the last time I taped something. If I miss an episode of something I either buy it on iTunes or watch it on the web site of the network that played it. (I don’t have cable, so that’s easy). So, I put the VCR up in the closet, where it’s accessible if I need it, but out of the way.

Looking at the living room now, it has a very different feeling. Instead of dominated by the TV and electronics, it is more dominated by the tall bookcase next to the computer cart. Suddenly the TV is the least important thing in the room.

I’ve been to some people’s homes where they do not have a TV in the “living room” and that is still unthinkable to me, but in some way I am very content looking at my “new room” and how it has changed. Definitely a change for the better.

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