As scheduled, I left work early yesterday. I stopped by the house on the way to Trainboy’s school and I wasn’t here more than a couple of minutes and Super Nurse walked in.

The powwow with the doctors went better than expected. The Mother-In-Law, is still fighting a nasty infection so she’s still running a temperature. However, her elevated white cell count is going down and that would indicate her body is winning. Her kidneys are still working fine so the swelling is going down and it shouldn’t be much longer that they’ll be able to wire her chest together and close her up for good.

Also, she can be lucid enough to help the physical therapist, so the lights are still on. Super Nurse was happy.

Then we were off to Trainboy’s school. He seemed pleased to see both of us there. When we looked through his scrapbook I was surprised that the things mentioned most were Wal-Mart and the cruise. I had no idea the cruise was that big a deal for him, or that he’d remember it, but he had at least three mentions of it.

Super Mom mentioned to me that when she took Joshua to school that morning he’d commented on the bird droppings on the window and said the van needed to be washed. When we got home the kids didn’t want to go look for a TV and eat out, they wanted to stay home. For how long it might take that would probably be best, so okay, stay home. Super Wife fed the kids and we were gone.

The first stop was to get gas, and a car wash to offend the offensive bird doo. Then we stopped at Taco Johns. After she finished her chicken taco she helped me eat my taco salad. It was kind of romantic. That made me happy.

Then it was on to Best Buy. We liked a Samsung, exceptional picture, but it was too big. The next smaller size was on sale, but they didn’t even have one on display. Okay, fine, we’ll keep it in mind.

Then it was across the street to Ultimate Electronics. The chain is going out of business and it only took a minute to see why. Everything was supposed to have “prices slashed!” But it was still more expensive than Best Buy. And we are out of there.

Then it was on to K-Mart. Nothing. On to Target. Nothing. On to Wal-Mart to look at the Philips again. They also carry a nice Sanyo 32-inch, it’s gotten rave reviews, but it’s not even an issue- they’re still out of stock. Then I got diplomatic, or devious, depending on how you look at it.

Time for a little background- When our Sams membership expired earlier this year she said we shouldn’t renew it because it wasn’t worth it. I pointed out that it WAS worth it if we spent at least $500 there per year, and we easily did that. She still didn’t want to pay the $30. Alright, fine. I paid it when she wasn’t around and didn’t dare tell her. Am I going to admit that? I don’t think so. I told her they don’t check to see if the card is current when you go in, so we could still go in and check the prices. She agreed it was a good idea. So to Sams we went, because I gotta look, I have to be sure.

Up until then the leading TV was a wide-screen 16:9 30-inch Philips at Wal-Mart. Sams also had a Philips, but it was 32-inch and in 4:3. I prefer the 16:9, they just look cooler. However, I’d brought along a tape measure, so measure I did. The tube was an inch narrower than the 30-inch, but it was 4 inches taller. So the current broadcast TV would be noticeably bigger, and in letterbox it would be about the same as the 30-inch widescreen, for about $30 less. That appealed to Thrifty Wife, even though it was a silver case instead of black. It worked for me, I prefer silver. So I got a flat bed cart and quickly discovered it was going to be a bitch to move.

We got it checked out using my Sams card with no problems. I wasn’t going to tempt God by declaring it a miracle. Keep moving, keep moving, nothing to see here folks, keep it moving. I got a kid to help load it into the van and it fit nice and snug, just like I knew it would- because, I had the tape measure. You don’t have to be a Boy Scout to be prepared.

When we got home I went next door to get The Handyman to help unload it. At around 150 pounds there was no way Patricia could help with her bad wrists. When he saw the box he said “36-incher?” “No, 32.” He proudly said he’d bought a new TV also, and he bought a 36-incher. No doubt about it, guys are obsessed with size. But I was not embarrassed, because I know that it’s not the size that’s really important. At least that’s what the wife tells me. At any rate I consoled myself with the almost certain knowledge that he might have 36 inches, but it probably isn’t HDTV, because THAT would be an expensive set. Even so, I didn’t ask, because it might be better not to know. Not that I’m petty. I’m just a guy.

The Handyman helped carry it inside, and it just squeezed through the door. We thanked him and he returned to whatever we’d interrupted, and I didn’t ask about that either. Then we unboxed it and called Ms. Pikachul down to help move it. On our first attempt she declared in exasperation, “Dad, I’m brains, not brawn!” Not to mention always good for a laugh. We slid it over to the entertainment center. I hooked the wires to it because moving it around after we got it in the hole wasn’t going to happen. Then into the hole it went with an inch to spare on the sides, finished hooking it up, turned it on, and my what a picture it was.

Thrifty Wife didn’t want to spend the money, but considering our last set lasted 12 years, if this one lasts as long then on a yearly basis it’s not that bad. Especially for the improvement in the picture it’s not that bad.

Ms. Pikachu can hardly wait to plug a game console into it. Trainboy will certainly like seeing ‘Spongebob’ and ‘Ed, Edd and Eddie’ bigger than ever. Everybody is probably going to be happy with this one.

BTW, the link for our latest distraction is
http://www.samsclub.com/eclub/main_shopping.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&n=0&mt=a&coe=0&oidPath=0:-23542:-23589:-24298:-25204:917068