Speaking of "pooped", I'm "whupt." Yes, that's right. I am dragging tail today.
It was a lo-n-n-n-n-n-g weekend for me, starting with my day off on Friday.
Friday was "supposed to be" the day I rid myself of unneeded electronics devices in my home, as well as some bits of furnishings that supported said electronics (i.e. old TV stand, etc.).
Instead, due to the unfortunate shattered safety glass on my FedEx-delivered TV stand from CostCo, I had to return said TV stand (all 125 pounds of it) to CostCo on Friday. My hope was that the store I went to would have the stand in stock.
One of the benefits of being an "Executive Member" of CostCo is that you get to start shopping an hour earlier than the hoi and the polloi. Of course, you have to pay double for that luxury, but I find it's worth it in order to get things done as quickly as possible and get on with my life. Otherwise, CostCo can eat up the better part of a day.
I left my comfortable condo Friday a.m., with shattered-safety-glass-afflicted-TV Stand in my trunk area (the trunk extends well into the car because I can fold down my back seats). (I drive a Ford Probe if that helps anyone visualize the situation). I arrived at CostCo 30 minutes before its "early" opening of 10 a.m.
Happily, I had stopped at "La Farine" bakery to see what goodies might tide me over the morning and discovered they had introduced ham and cheese puff pastry sandwiches. Oh, YUM! I then went to Peet's for my triple-shot latte. So, I sat in my car and had brekkies as cars continued to arrive and fill all the spaces nearest the store. I conveniently parked next to a cart return area as it affords a bit of extra room for getting/loading large objects in or out of my trunk.
Finished with my repast, I got one of the store's large flatbed carts, and then I unloaded the TV stand package onto the cart. Getting it out of the car was far more difficult than getting it in. That's due to "leverage". Putting it in, I could position the package against the car and lift it from the bottom using the car as a lever to slide/push the package into the trunk. Getting it out, I had to do a dead lift and then pull hard to get it back over the edge of the trunk before I could repeat the "lever" process.
I was pushing the flatbed toward the store when the doors opened and a man walked out and announced that the store would not open for an hour because they had broken a water pipe. Folks began returning to their cars and driving away. I parked my flatbed in front of the store and found a concrete ledge on which to sit.
That all happened around 9:55 a.m. The store opened at 11:25 a.m.
Once at the returns counter, I was informed that my particular TV stand was ONLY OFFERED ONLINE. I pointed out that the packing was not conducive to shipping as all the glass was packaged on one side with really inadequate protection. Nevertheless, shipping was the only way one could get an item-for-item replacement. They did have, however, similar stands in the store if I cared to shop for one. A refund was duly instated onto my credit card and I was off and running.
I did, indeed, find ONE (count it, 1) TV stand in the store. By one, I mean one brand. They had several of this one brand in stock, all identical. It looked sleek, it had the mount I wanted, and it seemed sizable enough to hold the components I hoped it would hold. It was a tad wider (by 9") than the one I'd ordered, though, and the shelves were curved rather than rectangular.
I loaded it onto a flatbed and then proceeded to do a bit more shopping. I was out of the store and back home by 1 p.m.
Today may be BK's 61st birthday, and BK may possess buns of steel and abs of granite, but I am not prone to long jogs and stationary bicycle rides. My 60-year-old carcass was exhausted upon arrival at home. I had been wrestling with that "other" TV stand package for two days and now I had one more to unload and get upstairs and, hopefully, assembled with little to no difficulty.
Everything was in perfect condition as I unpacked the box. The "hardware packet" for "Stand Assembly" and "Mount Assembly" was a bit forbidding. I soon learned, after laying out a large white towel and placing all the hardware packets into an assembly line that matched the illustration in an accompanying book, that most of the hardware would not be used. There was hardware for the "3-in-1" assembly...one stand that could be used three different ways. Of course, the way I wanted was the one with the widest range of parts, but there it is. As usual. Story of my life.
(End Part I -- Part 2 anon)
