Happy Birthday Dad - Day 3

Day 3 was actually May 3rd, my dad's actual birthday. By the time that day rolled around, all the out of town guests had returned to Toronto, and my dad was finally able to get a day to himself. I came over for a while during the evening to try to set up the DVD player my sister had bought. Since he has an old TV with only a cable-input, I had purchased a multi-input converter... something that would allow him to plug the cable input and the DVD into a single box, and would hook up to his TV via the cable input connector.

I spent nearly an hour trying to get the thing hooked up, because first, he didn't have a power source close enough to the TV (i.e. a power source with enough empty plugs to accommodate the new equipment). Rummaging through the miscellaneous crap drawer in the utility room, we came up with a polarized extension cord. Next, he didn't have an extra cable patch cord to go from the converter to his set. A quick trip to Wal-Mart solved the latter problem (thank God they're open past 9PM). I hooked everything up, hoping to see great things happen, only to find a snow-filled screen any time the DVD player was turned on. I tried for a half hour to find the problem, but finally had to give up. I resolved to return the next day with a good quality S-Video cable, instead of the crappy RCA's that came with the converter.

Despite my failure, my dad seemed truly appreciative of my efforts.