Today (Thursday 4/16) I mailed something I sold on E-Bay via UPS. It was a big, heavy item, and they packaged it up for me for just $14. A couple of minutes after I left the store I realized I hadn't written a transaction number on the box that the buyer had wanted me to put on there. I called the UPS store and they said it was already on the truck, but they would jump on the truck and write it on there for me. Wasn't that great?

Then I went to Guitar Center. They have a gold top Les Paul there on clearance for $1,500, which is a bargain for one of those. There's loads of other guitars, too, of course, like a Ibanez Iceman (Paul Stanley) for just $400, a Gibson Explorer for $900...just great stuff at enticing prices.

Next it was up to Barnes n' Noble. They have their own in-store series of classic books in either hardback or paperback for low, low prices. Moby Dick, Jane Eyre, the I Ching, all there for less than $10 so you can put them on a bookshelf and make visitors to your home think you're well-read and smart. The bargain table had stuff by George Carlin, Jim Cramer, Dr. Phil, anyone you can think of, for less than $7 in hardback. There's also a rack of hardback Beatles photo books for $25 and less. Makes ya wanna buy one!

Now it was off to dinner. Within just a five mile area we've got: Indian food, fondue, tapas, New Orleans cuisine, Cuban and Caribbean cuisine, multiple Italian restaurants, Jamaican, chipotle, Ted Turner's bison burgers, Mexican food, four or five good steakhouses, multiple Chinese and Japanese restaurants, two O'Charley's, T.G.I. Friday's, Applebee's, and good ol' Cracker Barrel. If you like coffee you're really in luck, because there's about six Starbuck's.

How about a movie? We've got two -- not one, two -- movie theaters with 24 screens apiece! I can remember when there were only six screens in the whole county, and now we've got 48 just in this particular suburb!

The other day I took my Corolla to Wal-Mart to get the oil changed. They said despite the fact this car is seven years old and has over 120,000 miles, it's barely losing oil! It was inconceivable a car could hold up like that just a few years ago.

Now I'm home. There are two Gibson Les Paul Standards here, as well as a Gibson SG, an Ibanez, and two Telecasters. These are played through a 1970's Music Man head, which is considered a vintage amp now, and that's plugged into a legendary Marshall 4x12 cabinet that has nary a nick in the grill cloth or Tolex.

Up on the shelf: all of Eddie Murphy's best movies, Sixteen Candle's, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. There's also a slew of concert DVD's. Tons of CD's everywhere, too.

And now on my computer I'm listening to Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart back in 1968. I got this off the Internet. Later on the Internet may show me some stimulating porn. I also did my taxes for free on the Internet.

Kinda makes you wonder how we ever find anything to complain about. If we wait around long enough, though, I'll probably find something.