Stop the flow!

A few days ago Don came home with yet another black box with ominous knobs and buttons. Herschel is really hooking him up. Don didn't wait for my response, but quickly bubbled, "Look what Herschel gave me! It's an equalizer ..." I kind of tuned out at that point, as he made his way down to the basement with it.

I met Herschel yesterday, when I dropped Don off at work in the morning. "Hello, Don's wife!" was his greeting. He freely admitted he was the gift-giver, and informed that he has a whole basement full of things that Don would like. I just laughed. Perhaps Don should just move into Herschel's basement.

Last night, while I sat on our front porch watching a newly discovered, awesome TV channel called "NYC TV" (all things New York, with incredible programs like "Reservations Required" and "Eat Out NY"), Don stayed indoors to "rearrange" our little IKEA entertainment cabinet. First he drilled holes in the back, because all of those gadgets were generating so much heat that it was starting to become hazardous. Then he took out his goofy-yet-beloved vintage solid state amp, as well as the tube amp he spent months reconstructing. His plan then was to insert Herschel's pre-amp and another amp, and then put back the high(er)-end CD player, the cheap-o DVD player, the VCR, and the turn table.

(This is funny: When I asked him what he was going to do with those two replaced amps, he said he was going to put them downstairs in storage (in what?! Where?!) and use them again at another point. "It's like the seasons," he said. "You take things out, interchange things, when the seasons change ..." That's a new one!)

About halfway through my program (NY 360) Don called me in, saying that he had to talk to me about something. Oh, how I just knew I was not going to like this. His new array of gadgets would not fit in the cabinet, and he asked if I would "be so kind as to consider" putting another little table that we have elsewhere next to the cabinet, so he could put his turntable on top of that. My answer? NO.

I had 3 good reasons for my answer. First of all, on a purely practical level, that's just asking for trouble. We have two children, and if you put something in their reach with fancy knobs and buttons, and especially a fun swinging arm, you're crazy if you think they will ignore it. Especially Grace. Secondly, also on a practical note, that table is currently being used for something else, so that's just obnoxious. And thirdly, on a deeper level, I saw that as the first sign of this sickness oozing out of its contained space (i.e. the cabinet) into other parts of our house. Our place is small enough as it is, and there is not much of "my stuff" anywhere to be seen (a huge sacrifice on my part). The living room is dominated with stuff belonging to the kids and to Don. So if this ooze continues, we will be surrounded by electronics and Little People. I had to stop the flow!

Thankfully Don accepted my compromise (indeed, figuring what-goes-where has been a compromise, and has now turned into the understanding that he can do whatever he wants, as long as it's contained in the cabinet) and when I came back inside later on, after hearing a lot of sporadic grunting, I saw that somehow he figured out how to get everything to fit. I won't ask any questions. I did get a lesson this morning on how to play a simple CD: I have to push 3 buttons, change one setting, and I think there's a knob involved somewhere too. All that for Bob and Larry's Campfire Songs.