Forum: RoAdRaGe912 - Viewing Profile - Forum

To say I've been frugal in the past couple of years is probably an understatement. I haven't bought much of anything outside of my budget for quite a while.

Well, it happened. We had been debating on where to put the TV in the bedroom and after a couple years finally settled on it. I picked up a couple of 40" Sony LCDs 2 years ago for less than the price of one and had been using one of those, but that just wasn't going to cut it. I sold one to a co-worker who was getting by with a 19" CRT. And I don't mean a young broke co-worker, I mean a 57 year old man with a bank full of money and a love for television and movies. Some people amaze me.

I decided to look around and found one of the new Samsung LED with the 0.2" border for a steal. I never cared about 3D and had no intention of buying another TV anytime soon. I had been happy with the 52" I've had for 3 years and the 2 40". That said, I was really impressed with these new Samsungs. Even though I love technology I don't necessarily have to have the latest and greatest just because, but having practically no border was very impressive. I actually looked around to see if I could find a non-3D for cheaper, but they just don't do it.

So, I picked up a 46" UN46D7000. Luckily at the same time, Samsung was offering BOTH a 3D blu-ray player (BD-D5500) and 3D blu-ray starter kit (2 pairs of glasses and 5 blu-rays) FOR FREE. I ended up getting it ALL for $1500 from Amazon (so no tax and free shipping). I consider that to be pretty ridiculous. I might not have bought anything had it not been for this deal, but I would have been borderline on paying that just for the TV.

I've had it for just over a month now and can't praise it enough. DAMN this TV looks good!! You can read the reviews if you want and all the ones I've seen are accurate. A totally black screen shows to be quite uneven, but I've never been able to notice anything wrong with the lighting while watching something. The 3D is pretty cool too, a lot better than I expected.

Now I just need to hang it on the wall...

Well, the time has come to make a life changing decision. I've been talking about going back to school and saving for years, but now it's really here. I jumped through all the hoops, got accepted into the program, and hit my savings goal. Luckily I planned for the worst, that I would get absolutely no help whatsoever from my company or anyone else, and that I would pay for it in cash, because right now that's exactly how it's playing out.

Classes start on Aug 22nd, which gives me just a couple days over two weeks left. I'm going to talk to HR on Monday to iron out all the final details but unless something crazy happens I'll be quitting my job to go back to school full time.

It's been a fantastic job actually. The pay exceeds anything I ever expect to make again, the company philosophy and people I work with are great, and it's allowed me to get into some really technical areas that usually aren't open for my position. That said, there's still a lot of limitation in where you can take this kind of job. I've only been here for 4.5 years, but I'm at the top of my field and quickly getting stagnant. I think it's the perfect time to get out. It's also shift work, which although it has its pros, can really wear on you. If I had kids yet, it would be very intrusive to that part of my life as well.

So, basically I'm sitting here wanting to throw up thinking about leaving such a great job and absolute financial security, but there will be no better time to do it. I'm 27, married with dual incomes, no kids, all the savings ready, refreshed in the classes I need from last semester, and my reputation at the company couldn't be any better.

Fukk...

I'm headed off on a 7 night Caribbean Cruise. My sister-in-law graduated high school, this is part of her graduation present, and we decided to tag along. I've never been on an actual cruise, although I've been around saltwater and deep sea fishing my whole life. I'm taking a GoPro Hero, although I didn't get a flat lens ordered for underwater filming. I didn't schedule any scuba diving because noone else in the party will be, but I may jump on a last minute dive or two if we finish up what we were doing.

Looks like there's some storm action going on down around the Caymans and Jamaica, which are two of our stops. We'll see how it goes.