Is it Worth it to be a Cheapo?

This is a really long story so bear with me. So we took a trip to Inidanapolis this past weekend. Bryan interviewed there and really liked the program so he wanted to have me go and take a look and see if it is a place I would enjoy spending the next four years. The offer of a free hotel and free lunch made it an easy decision and we embarked on our journey early Friday morning. Because I am such a cheapo we have a dvd player that we got last year, and a few months ago the screen shorted out and it blinks on and off, mostly off, for about twenty minutes before you can get it working. Because Julia watches it while I teach piano it is a necessary item in our home. So I watched the black Friday ads and got up at four thirty to get a great deal on a dvd player so we could take it on our flight to Utah. Julia is a GREAT movie watcher and I am a great mother that lets her so on the flight out to Utah I anxiously awaited the two or so hours of peace this wonderful machine would give me. Well someone, BRYAN, forgot to charge it. So the trip to Utah was not as peaceful as I would have hoped. Well given that, we made sure it was charged for the trip home and it gave us two fantastic hours of quiet. Well that is the last time that the dang machine worked. When I got home I tried to plug it in and it no longer works. Absolutely no power whatsoever. After calling warranty companines, writing emails and very nearly throwing the thing out the window we took the old piece of junk on our trip to Indianapolis. Well in addition to a dvd player that takes atleast twenty minutes to get up and running, my blinker is spastic in my car. One day all of the sudden the ticking noise just started going off at spastic speeds. Some days are worse than others but it has been particularly bad lately. So as you can imagine we hit the point where the blinker was tick tick tick tick tick tick ticking non-stop and Julia was yelling, "I want to watch Lazy Town!" non stop and I am shaking and hitting and pressing buttons on that piece of junk dvd player praying in my heart it will start working soon. Eventually it did and we only had to endure the tick tick ticking for the three hours of the trip. So needless to say it was a long three hours.
Upon arriving in Indianapolis we had a really great visit with the Residency director and residents and enjoyed the hospital. That night we went swimming and had a great time wearing Julia out so she would sleep good which is a worst nightmare to have her screaming in a hotel for all to hear. Well luckily Julia slept great. Bryan and I on the other hand were not so lucky. Some freaks next to us had the loudest conversation ever from midnight until one in the morning when Bryan finally went and complained to the front desk. I was so annoyed I thought I should wake Julia up like at seven in the morning and have her yell just to pay them back. I didn't even have time to do that, because they picked up their conversation, slamming of doors, and general noisiness at five in the morning until six. So we all woke up a little groggy and not in too good of a mood. I think Bryan said, "We will never leave Columbus ever, because to go anywhere is just such a pain!" And I must agree after that night I shared his feelings. We did take Julia to the largest Children's Museum in the country, which was pretty fun except for the extreme crowds of people, Julia having a stinky poopy diaper with the diapers in the car, two total meltdown fits and Julia running full speed into a mirror because she didn't think it was a mirror (we cruelly laughed for a good while over that one). It really is a nice museum though and I think that Indianapolis would be a fine place to live. The drive home was great and Julia slept most of the way and the dvd player actually worked the first try. SO the moral of the story is....don't buy cheap dvd players! It is not worth it. Pony up the extra fifty bucks and save your sanity. Also don't buy cars with faulty blinkers. It will drive you crazy! So much so that you find yourself hitting the dash of the car with great force. Anyways I suppose I only dwelled on the negative parts of the trip, there were some fun parts but they aren't nearly as interesting or comical, but it is safe to say we are going to avoid road trips at least in the near future.