Fried TV!

And, no, that's not something you eat....

Our 40" TV (purchased in 1992 - quite a big one at the time) has been acting up. Back in December, we noticed that the bottom of the screen was a little squashed - you know, the channel numbers looked flattened. Then it looked as if the picture tube wasn't quite centered - a black strip across the bottom of the screen, and the top was a little chopped off.

Still, it was working and hey, for those wide screen movies, it was just fine. We did get some comments from our guests when we were watching the half time show during the Super Bowl - quote - "Why does is look like Mick Jagger's legs are really short and fat? Did he shrink or something??". Nope - just the TV.

Well, recently, more issues - sometimes, the remote would not work properly - it would not work at all (and the remote was working just fine - it controlled the radio without issue). Then the TV wouldn't turn off unless you unplugged it. Really, just a little annoyance.

So, we have been lightly researching new TV's - you know, just perusing the Best Buy and Circuit City ads. But only very lightly.

Yesterday afternoon, however, providence spoke. Storms were starting to roll through the area around 3:30. I was watching something on the Food Channel when KABOOM! and the TV went POP! It was like a Bomb went off in the neighborhood. The kids were playing outside at the neighbors and they all screamed and ran inside. And that was the end of the TV. No power light. Black screen. Funny electric sounds when plugged in. It's dead.

It turns out the house which backs up to ours was hit by lightning! That's why it sounded like a bomb went off - there was no sound delay. Fortunately, no one was at home. It hit one of the peaks of their house, but there was no fire. It also fried their two TVs. Both of our families spent this evening browsing the TV selections at Best Buy.... who knew there were so many choices out there??