my proudest moment

this is the most amazing thing i have ever made

i never dreamed replacing a broken TV would prove to be so complicated. for the past 10 years i've been using one of those heavy old-fashioned tube TVs from the 16th century...the kind you can't buy anymore, even if you wanted to.

i don't really watch TV that much, although i do like having a TV to watch DVDs and occasional forensic shows. plus my building provides non-optional basic cable service that i have to pay a small fee for each month anyway.

so when the antique TV finally refused to turn on, i tossed it out, and re-modeled my shoebox apartment, freeing up what amounts to a lot of space when you consider the whole place is about 150 sq. ft. in total.

i then spent weeks researching & purchasing the cheapest 22" flat screen TV/DVD player combo i could find online ($215). it's pretty decent, but i didn't really realize how hi-def and/or digital cable stuff works...i figured a new TV would just automatically look amazing. but turns out you need a lot more than a new TV to get digital or HD pictures...it's all about the source (digital or HD cable, and yes...even "HD-DVDs"). the cable my building provides is only analog & can't be upgraded...so i spent an effload of time researching how all that works cuz when the TV arrived the picture looked like dung. i was kind of depressed, but then in my research found that the picture can be vastly improved just be adjusting the factory picture settings, which are defaulted in a way that make their TV stand out on a showroom floor, but really doesn't look good when you get it home.

the next thing i spent a shitload of time on was which TV mount to buy and how i could safely hang it on the wall. again, not a lot of space around here, so lucky for me its a small tv and it seems to be okay mounted only in the drywall (no stud in the available space). but finding anchors to work with my specific wall construction was a nightmare as well...and i'm forever grateful to the shockingly knowledgeable & helpful Home Depot employees.

but i still haven't gotten to the point of this blog.

one cool feature of my new TV is that i could purchase a couple cables (MUCH cheaper online than in stores) and watch video from my computer on the TV screen!! it took a lot of research to figure out which cables...and to realize that i needed one cable for video & one for audio, etc....but once that all got worked out, my last dilemma was how to semi-stylishly disguise the 15 feet of cables hanging from the television when not in use.

i spent soooo much time shopping online & going to stores around manhattan...envisioning some sort of rectangle vase or oval basket. but i just couldn't find something that looked good and was affordable.

eventually i found a 2-compartment magazine holder on Target's website...and even made my way out to New Jersey one cold Sunday night on public transportation to buy it in person, to save on shipping times & rates.

i wanted to coil up the cords in the back compartment when not in use, and reallllly wanted fake wheatgrass or bamboo or something cute for the front compartment. i took trips all over town (and actually discovered some cool places doing so), looking for fake wheatgrass and the ONLY decent option i could find was from a place in Utah called wheatgrasskits.com.

i also put a lot of effort into finding green styrofoam blocks of the right size to fill the container, so that i had something to put the fake grass on. i ended up using a saw to cut up a huge block of floral foam at Michael's (there actually is one way uptown in Manhattan), where i had already made about 3 excursions in my quest for fake grass and/or bamboo.

in any case, the whole point of this essay was to brag about how much i like the way the cable-storage/fake-wheatgrass-planter-box project turned out, and i needed to make sure i was clear about how much time and effort i put into this whole damn thing. i know the TV cords are all over the place, and probably should be unified and run along the wall under a white cover or something...

but the fake-wheatgrass-planter-box/storage thing sure does look cute & is probably the most amazing thing i've ever made in my whole life!!

i couldn't be more proud.