Paging O. Henry, sort of (Part 1)
Dec. 24th, 2004 01:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
djonnTwo significant pieces of background information: (1) The only accessories presently attached to my parents' television set are a pair of rabbit ears and a VCR. (2) Neither of my parents is particularly gadget-oriented.
As of Monday night, I'd had all my Christmas shopping done save for the apple and orange to go into the bottoms of Christmas stockings (it used to be an orange apiece, but one of my stuffees developed a citrus allergy).
Wednesday afternoon, I get a phone call. Mother wants me to do one major bit of shopping for her -- a portable DVD player for my father, who's mentioned wanting one recently. I can do this, I tell her (I like techie-shopping, especially when someone else's budget is involved).
Wednesday evening, a light bulb goes off over my head and I call Father. What is he getting for Mother for Christmas?"
"Well," he says, "I was seriously considering a DVD player, maybe one of the portable ones...."
Uh-oh. I point out that a portable DVD system counts as a Gadget of the sort Mother retreats from as if they had vampiric soul-draining powers (it's actually not quite that dramatic, but it is worth noting that she has all her email sent to Father's e-address, and won't read it till he prints out a copy on actual paper). By the end of the conversation, I have finessed matters -- I have to be out on an errand the next day anyway, so I can certainly pick up a set-top DVD player which will be more Mother's speed....
Father decides that this is a good idea, and I appear to have averted disaster. I am now committed to picking a portable DVD player for Father on Mother's behalf, and a set-top DVD player for Mother on Father's behalf.
[to be continued]
As of Monday night, I'd had all my Christmas shopping done save for the apple and orange to go into the bottoms of Christmas stockings (it used to be an orange apiece, but one of my stuffees developed a citrus allergy).
Wednesday afternoon, I get a phone call. Mother wants me to do one major bit of shopping for her -- a portable DVD player for my father, who's mentioned wanting one recently. I can do this, I tell her (I like techie-shopping, especially when someone else's budget is involved).
Wednesday evening, a light bulb goes off over my head and I call Father. What is he getting for Mother for Christmas?"
"Well," he says, "I was seriously considering a DVD player, maybe one of the portable ones...."
Uh-oh. I point out that a portable DVD system counts as a Gadget of the sort Mother retreats from as if they had vampiric soul-draining powers (it's actually not quite that dramatic, but it is worth noting that she has all her email sent to Father's e-address, and won't read it till he prints out a copy on actual paper). By the end of the conversation, I have finessed matters -- I have to be out on an errand the next day anyway, so I can certainly pick up a set-top DVD player which will be more Mother's speed....
Father decides that this is a good idea, and I appear to have averted disaster. I am now committed to picking a portable DVD player for Father on Mother's behalf, and a set-top DVD player for Mother on Father's behalf.
[to be continued]
