My life? No complaints.

We received our economic stimulus package Friday and spent a big portion of it today. Today was one of those days that make you sit back and realize just how lucky you (umm...err...me, actually) are. Notwithstanding the fact that I was awakened around 0445 this morning by work calling needing help. I had just gotten dressed and was getting ready to walk out the door when they called back and said that I wasn't needed. Oh, well. Looks like the city is going to pay me for 2 hours of work due to the callback policy. Anyway, went back to bed and got up late before heading to the Wally World. I decided that I wanted a new HD LCD TV. I originally wanted a 42 inch TV, and the costs ran from about $950 to $1800. While at the store, I got to thinking about how big a 42 inch TV would look in my small family room. My father has a 42 inch plasma, but his primary seating position is approximately 16 feet from the screen. The primary seating position in my family room is only 7 feet away from the screen. Did more thinking and decided that 42 inches would dominate the room instead of complimenting it, so I settled for a 37 inch TV. After getting it set up in the family room, I see that 37 inches is a comfortable size for the room. A 42 inch would have also worked, but would have been unnecessary. The up side? Saved some money! Of course, I still have to replace the wife's laptop (guess what? Still using the linux computer!). Some time this week I'm going to upgrade my Direct TV to the HD system. Get this: The old family room TV was a 31 inch stereo TV, and I put that one in the office. The office TV was a 27 inch TV, which I put in my son's room. My son, who is 7, has one heck of a setup. In his room he has his big stereo TV, with his PS2 hooked to it, along with his own Dell desktop with flat panel monitor. We are probable going to either get a Direct TV hookup for his room, or pay $10 for a basic cable hookup. I also did the online thing to obtain two of the $40 coupons for a digital TV tuner in anticipation of the switchover. Yes, I know that cable and satellite customers are not affected, but the TV in my shop is open air receiving, and I'm going to need one of the DTV tuners. Walmart had them for something like $42, so purchasing one will really be cheap!

Anyway, what does all of this have to do with my headline? Well, isn't life great that I can buy a nice TV, drive home, stop at a fast food joint to feed the family along the way, hit a grocery store, and grill out some tasty steaks with baked potatoes and salad, followed by strawberry shortcake?!?

Life is good for Patrick, too. He got to use his money and bought a large model of a FW190 and another BB gun. He's been smiling all day.