Happy Birthday -- Again

Perhaps I don't need a reason to spend money on myself, but having one makes swiping the card more palatable. My friend recently asked me to go shopping with her to replace her desktop TV with a flat screen. I did some research into models 20" and smaller, narrowed the choices based on price, brand name, and standard features, then looked onlline for best prices: WalMart wins that contest hands down.

I drove to WalMart, which also carries the particular brand of coffee pods I prefer, as well as row after row of books, a win-win trip on a holiday weekend as I could also stay off the interstate. I found few people in the electronics department, much to my delight, and specifically picked the younger CSA, rather than the dinosaur supplementing his retirement check who, so far, has never been able to answer any of the questions I have asked in the past. I had printed the TV specs from the web, and although the internet site said that both were available in-store, that did not prove to be the case, but since I preferred the Vizio over the Sony, I had actually done my comparison shopping before I walked in and asked for the Vizio.

The Vizio VA 19L is an excellent buy at $207, especially since it comes with a one-year warranty, not offered by most of the competition. It was so easy to plug in and set up that it took longer to get it out of the box than it did to wait for the auto set-up feature. I played with the remote to set a couple of features, including the sound (less treble, simulated surround sound), the colors (warm palette), the appearance of the screen (custom, standard, movie, game/sports), and the feature that lessens the amount of sound burst during commercials (DNR). It has the 'back' feature, which means I can switch between 2 channels, which I'll admit I do often. And I registered on-line in about a New York minute.

Best of all: the screen is small enough to sit on my dresser, but big enough that I can actually read the words from my bed! The older I am, the more important size becomes to me.

So, happy birthday to me: I have a new flat screen TV and an invitation for a free dessert from Denny's to celebrate the joyous anniversary of my birth. Doesn't get much better than that, does it.