Not long ago in a galaxy near by….

I know I’m a bit behind the times, but I haven’t seen the new Star Wars movie yet.  In fact, I haven’t seen all of the Star Wars movies.  I saw bits and pieces of some, but never quite got the whole story line in my head.

That was all fixed by my boss, who kindly lent me all 6 DVDs, so I could watch the franchise in story order before seeing Episode VII.  I was all excited to crochet and watch the movies so I could finally get in my head what all the fuss was about.  My husband agreed to watch them with me.  We decided on our next free weekend, we would go see the movie in 3D at the theatre.  Eager for my 1st night of Episode I, I ran into a bit a of problem.

I couldn’t find the “on” button for our DVD player.

I could plainly see where the “on” button was suppose to be, but alas, it was gone.  Did it pop off?  I looked around and found nothing.  Befuddled, I grabbed some toothpicks and the flashlight on my cellphone to investigate.  I found the “on” button – it appears it had been pushed all the way into the component.  I couldn’t fish it out.  I tried to secure it so I could at least push the button to turn on the DVD player.  No dice.

Why not use the remote?  The remote was listed as MIA awhile ago.

Stuck without a functioning DVD player, I was forced to watch Episode I off my computer.  I missed the big screen and surround sound with such an epic movie.  “This is not going to happen again,” I said to my husband.  “We need to buy a new DVD player.”  Seeing as how  the one we had came with the house and was manufactured in 2004, I felt we got our money’s worth.

We spent a day researching DVD players and settled on one with HD quality.  We’re not super  auto/visualphiles, so anything would have pleased me.  We located the one we wanted at Walmart (ugh) and the husband and I drove together to pick it up.  After some searching, we found it.  The plot thickened: there were 2 southern rednecks (for lack of a better term) parked in a motorized shopping cart directly in front of all the DVD players.  They were carrying on a conversation about how to best fit an oblong (and entirely too large) object in the basket of the cart.  We waited politely.  It went for awhile.  I actually had to leave the aisle because I started laughing at the absurdity of the situation.  First, I can’t find the freakin’ “on” button and now I can’t purchase a DVD player because crazy Walmart shoppers are blocking the way.  My husband eventually said, “Excuse me,” and grabbed it off the shelf as we high-tailed it to the checkout counter.

Being the technical director of the household, it was up to me to set up the DVD player.  I was pleased that it was with HDMI and not RCA plugs.  What a difference in sound and picture!  We then proceeded to watch Episode II.  Finally, success!  I say it’s a success because with the first battle scene of the movie, the explosion was so loud with the surround sound, our cat took off out of the room in a mad dash for safety.