Monster Cables ... please

It was Thursday and I was up within a couple of minutes of 5:30am. I was excited to get the day underway since this was, in affect, my Friday. After completing my exercise routine I dashed off with Ykraps. Meanwhile, it was a much more pleasant morning temperature-wise, in fact, so much so that I skipped wearing a jacket. After a little coffee, internet, and meditation I prepared for my run. I felt good so that I decided to go the full four miles. I finished strong and with plenty left in the tank. For lunch I packed the rest of my tuna fish and then made fried eggs for breakfast. I was ready to leave for work by 8:15am. After hugs and kisses I was out the door. I drove the Trooper. Work was busy thus helping the day go by very quickly. I ended up working straight thru eating my packed lunch all the while I worked. I let Mindy know late afternoon that my Friday comp day was formally approved and so was the week in August I requested off. Meanwhile, the Friday weather forecast kept getting better. It was expected to be sunny and in the low 80’s. We made plans to go boating. I left work just after 5:00pm. I phoned Mindy to let her know that I was stopping at Circuit City to pick-up a wall-mount bracket for our center channel Bose speaker. I also wanted/needed a long (12’) composite video cable to support the VCR and Wii. Mindy reminded me that we were having English roast and mashed potatoes – one of my favorite meals. This was my first stop in the new Hilliard Circuit City. There might have been two or three other customers, but that’s it. Of course that left me vulnerable to a hoard of sales folks. I quickly spurned their offer to assist. I went right to the video cables section first. Holy Smoke! I couldn’t believe the price for video cables – HDMI, Composite, component. & coax. They’re ripping people off. One could easily spend $300 to $400 on cables alone just to complete a video surround sound system. The cheapest composite video cable they had was $40, ands it was only 6’ long. No! I must admit, they have really dressed these cables up to help with the marketing. They look awesome! But folks, they’re just cables!!! Right next to the cables were the speaker brackets. I already knew how much the bracket would be. I priced it online. It was $30. Everything for Bose is expensive. The bracket looks like about $3 worth of parts – tops! Still, I needed it so I bought it. I thought I remembered there being a Radio Shack just around the corner from the Hilliard Wal-Mart. And what’s more, it was on my way home. I’d stop there for the composite video cable. I’ve probably been in a Radio Shack shopping three times in my entire adult life. Behind the counter was your stereotypical Radio Shack rep (geeky, overweight, pocket protector-wearing goomba). He offered an assist right away. I declined for wanting to browse on my own. The place reeked of geek. I eventually found their wall of wires/cables. Like elsewhere, they had a substantial selection of the new cables that were equally over priced. But right next to them, they stocked some of the older, simpler reasonably priced cables. I struggled to find a 12” composite video cable. I asked for an assist. He found one quickly. It was $6.99. More like it. I headed home satisfied with the evening’s hunt. Mindy walked Ykraps with me as soon as we arrived home. Bella went along with us too. We chatted briefly about our day. I shared my video cable story and how the Circuit City clerk tried to stop me to look at my receipt as I was exiting the store. I never stop for those people. I figure if they don’t trust me – tough, and if they don’t trust their own employees, even tougher! We chose to dine on the deck. It was a lovely evening for it. It must’ve been in the mid 70’s. The roast was delicious! Between the four of us, we ate the entire thing. After dinner, Jacob and I went out to practice some hitting and catching. Jacob took an errant throw to the chest and dropped to the ground just as Mindy was joining us. He eventually recovered and our practice continued. We worked on hitting mostly. He did OK. Mindy wanted to bat some too. Jacob teased her the entire time. But Mindy proved to be a formidable hitter. She never missed and cracked a few nice ones. That didn’t stop Jacob, however. He kept up with the badgering. After baseball, everyone wanted to ride bikes. I got Jacob’s bike down from the garage storage hooks and put much needed air in the tires. Mindy & Bella rode off. But poor Jacob, he still doesn’t know how to ride a bike. I opted to assist once again. For whatever reason, riding a bike is not coming naturally. Long story short, he ended up frustrated and angry. He threw and kicked his helmet as he ran back to the house. Of course he blamed me for his failure. Because of his outburst, I recommended he go to his room. Mindy supported my decision. Later, I promised him I’d take him to the church lot next to my Dad’s place where he can ride without worry of oncoming traffic, sidewalks, or pedestrians. That might help. I enjoyed a couple of beers after the kids were in bed. I drank a St Peter’s Pale Ale that I’ve had in the fridge since Xmas - a gift from Jeremy. It was good. We talked about inviting my Dad to the lake with us but also considered it too late to call. It was 9:45pm. Mindy figured she’d call him in the morning. We went to bed fairly early, especially considering it was the beginning of my weekend.