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Originally Posted by kbmuri
Thing about this forum is we're from all over the country (the world actually), and from every age bracket and walk of life.
I had a 20-year span in my career where I traveled for a living. I've spent extended periods from Boston to San Diego, Miami to Seattle. Just about every city in between. People are still amazingly different across the country, despite the TV set's and pop culture's efforts to homogenize us all. You can walk down the street in New York, look a total stranger in the eye and say "Whassup?". He'll likely smile and say "Whassup?" back. It's a greeting there. Try that in Minneapolis, and the person will probably look up, not see anything, and then look at you funny. Say "Whassup?" to a complete stranger in the wrong part of Los Angeles, you almost certainly get shot.
Be 50 and say "whassup" to a 14-year-old Denver skateboarder with a tatoo and a ring in his nose and he'll say "none of your f-king business, flip you the bird, and tear up your lawn soon as you're not looking. Be 14 and say "whassup?" to a 70-year-old man, and he'll think you're trying to rob him and he'll call for a cop or whack you with his cane.
And that's just "Whassup?". Not "I have extra CRTs but I'm keeping them as spares".
Note to everyone here, whenever you THINK somebody's insulting you and/or "cold-shouldering" you, or excluding you from all the good TV sets by "networking" against you, the odds are better than even that it's all in your head. Take 5 deep breaths and count to 10 before going off on a 3-page sideways hysterical rage over how unfair the whole world is. In general, most people who think the world is a rotten place, built their own hell and are sadly living in it alone.
I'm a fellow Hoosier to OldTVMan, and in a somewhat near age-bracket I would guess. while we haven't met, and while I wouldn't presume to speak for him, I suspect he was just being a middle-aged Hoosier, which is being a very matter-of-fact and pragmatic speaker. Bobby said "Nobody has one". He didn't say, "Nobody has one for sale", just "Nobody has one". I think OldTVMan was just saying he had one. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn't say, "I have one, and Bobby Brady specifically can't have it, Nya Nya, NYA". Bobby leapt to that conclusion on his own. OldTVMan just said he keeps some spares. I took it as advice not to think nobody has one, and to realize that there are still plenty of them out there, and just because nobody's knocking down the door to benevolently GIVE one to Bobby Brady, just because Bobby Brady wants one, doesn't speak a word to how few or many of them are still out there. I suspect he was, in fact, just trying to be helpful. "Don't give up hope of finding one, because I know first hand there are some more out there" would have been my translation. As a fellow Hoosier.
Instead of wailing for pages about how rotten the whole world is, if you had said, "Really? Give 'ya $300 for one of your spares", both of you would be happier right now.
It's chilling as hell to know, whenever you consider posting something here, that you have to run the risk of somebody going berserk and screaming "I'm offended!!!". Happened to me awhile back here and I'm still leery from it. Sucks all the joy out of the room. If, as a rule, people should "keep it to themselves", so "if no one knows, no bad feelings will result", What's the point of having a forum at all? If we all gotta be quiet.
If a few people are giving me a "cold shoulder", first thing I ask is "What's wrong with me?", not "What's wrong with them?". That's called being humble.
My 2 cents. -k
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