Mac's come with a real cool version.

Sometime, it is just too easy.

Because i have this really nice chess board and I even have Chess for Dummies, but I am just the type of person that has to physically have the person standing over me show me how to play with it... i have always been fascinated with it but always thought it was complicated...

Umm, so we bought a tv.

Our current TV, while prefect for what we needed 3 years ago, is definitely living up to being the cheap off-brand model that it is. The picture is still good, but it cuts off the edges and, more importantly to me, it has a high pitched whine that I can hear from anywhere in the house that drives me insane.

So after one quick research trip to Circuit City and an uncharacteristicly small amount of deliberation (we've seen several Samsungs in the past that convinced me that they've got the best LCD picture for the price, and the online reviews for this model were good across the board), we pulled the trigger. Ordered it from the link above for about $250 cheaper than Circuit City. 7-9 days before it arrives.

We were slightly hesitant because it seems a tad silly to buy a brand new HDTV when we have no HD cable, no HD DVR, no HD-DVD/BlueRay player. But it also seemed silly to buy a standard tube TV knowing we'd want to replace it in short order once we do start upgrading to HD services. At least one reviewer specifically mentioned that SD looks good on this set, which is good news (we've seen some HDTVs where an SD signal looks worse than on a standard tv, so that's a worry).

Congrats GD and CP!

Me = TV envy

Congratulations! Will you do a wall mount, or a stand? (this is in reference to the tv, Kevy)

I have TV envy.

Stand is our only option as there's no wall where we have our TV, only a stair banister. Fortunately we thought ahead when purchasing furniture and have a TV cabinet that's the perfect size for standing this thing on.

Has it been 7-9 days yet?

That's the thing--it doesn't. A cheap $10 clock radio has a battery backup, but the smoke alarm doesn't. Go figure.

My apartment has the same type of alarms. And mine have gone all beepy but there's no battery to replace either. I had the maintenance guys come fix it - not sure what they did but it stopped.