The TV repair shop just called me and they say they’ve been playing the set for four days now and haven’t seen the problems I’ve been talking about. No distortions, no color changes, no nothing.

They can’t reproduce that shit?

Unbelievable. I told them precisely what to check (solid colors on the screen, straight lines like the bars that show up in widescreen mode, etc.) - and how I illustrated it to the guy who came to my house - and they’re going to ensure the tech who’s working on the set has checked all that. I also mentioned that we used to live in the same area as the TV repair shop and if the North Pole plays a factor in this thing, that’s going to be less of an issue in the same geographic region.

If they can’t reproduce it, I’m going down there to see with my own eyes that the problem isn’t there.

If it turns out it really isn’t there when it’s in the shop… well, it looks like I’m screwed. They will claim it’s “environmental” (sure it is

• the North Pole is environmental) and they can’t reproduce it, at which point I have to fight with the National Electronics Warranty company to get them to replace the tube, which, I’m told, rarely happens for environmental issues.

So I’d have to get a new TV, which I’m not anxious to do. Or try moving this TV into a different room, which really isn’t going to work. Or try changing things around in that same room to guess and see if I can figure out what’s going on.

If the guy calls me tomorrow, they’re sending the TV back to me next Tuesday. If he doesn’t, then they’re checking into it some more.

Let’s hope he doesn’t call me.