Rantings of Stu

I’m a bit embarrassed that I forgot to blog about Memorial Day. No, let me say that I am ashamed. I took advantage of the day off from work to play some poker and didn’t bother paying homage to those unto whom I am so indebted that I could never possibly repay them.

Rather than rant at length about this nation’s haters — especially the domestic ones — I’ll simply refer you to my previous year’s post on this subject and repeat these lines from it:

A true soldier serves to honor himself in the service of his country, and respects his enemy for doing the same. And when he kills his enemy counterpart, he remembers to respect the enemy soldier for his bravery, courage, and willingness to sacrifice in a time when the willing are so few.

So this Memorial Day I call upon all Americans to take a few moments to remember our fallen who served with courage, distinction, and most importantly honor. May God forever bless you for your service. I shall always remember your sacrifice.

This Missing Man Formation is an aerial salute in which four planes fly in formation. One plane breaks formation by going vertical, representing that not everyone made it home. It is a salute to those who fell.

The plane goes vertical, heading towards heaven, because to die in the service is to die with honor and in my book, that gets you an automatic ticket into heaven.

And when he goes to heaven
To St. Peter he will tell
Another Marine reporting, Sir
I’ve served my time in hell

So a few months ago, my old TV started to go on the fritz. It started with the speakers, then the on/off switch started to fry. Just the excuse I needed to go out and finally hook up with a brand new HDTV.

Now, normally I’m an early adopter. I bought my first DVD player for $350 (and that was the cheap one!) way back in 1996′ish. I believe me, I’ve wanted an HDTV ever since 1988 when I first heard of their use in Japan, and I REALLY wanted to get one when they finally introduced them in the states. Unfortunately, I didn’t happen to have $10 grand lying around begging to be spent, so I waited.

Well, I saved a few bones by waiting. Thanks to James, Best Buy area manager in northern Utah, and Johnnie, manager at the Best Buy in West Jordan, I totally got hooked up with a sweet 1080p 42″ Panasonic plasma screen.

Am I happy with my purchase? Incredibly so. The picture is awesome and, uh, big. Not as big as the 70-incher that I hope to someday have (oh man, that just sounds so naughty!) but it will tide me over until the day I take over the world.

Next step? A Blu Ray player. I already switched my Netflix account over to Blu Ray… I better buy one soon!