When The Going Gets Tough...

 
... The Tough Go Shopping!

Did I need a 32" curved gaming monitor for $329.99? Hell no. Well, how about one marked down to $199.99 for Cyber Monday? Hell yes! 

Sometimes it's tough reading blogs on my MSI laptop's 15" screen first thing in the morning, so I've been thinking about hooking it up to a large monitor for about a year and a half. Today I finally took the plunge and I have no regrets.

Yesterday morning my Oral B IO Series 4(?) toothbrush bit the dust, so I splurged on a Series 7 that was marked $80 off it's original $200 price. I also picked up a protective screen for my Samsung tablet that was 10% off for the Black Friday weekend.

The one splurge item on my writing desk is... 

... a Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) as driven in the movie Fast & Furious. It was regular price at $24.95 and I had fun assembling it in roughly 90 minutes. I'm sure The Muse and others would wonder why I don't own the real thing, so I've put a handy list of reasons why:

• It costs $125k or more to either import one from Japan or buy it from a JDM dealer in the States
• It would cost about $10k(!) to get it smogged for California. The process includes building a custom exhaust system using catalytic converters from a 1990s Camaro Z28 and then having the car tested in a lab to confirm it meets smog laws.
• I'd likely lose my Umbrella policy. No insurance company in their right mind would offer me $1M or more in excess liability coverage for owing this mythical beast, aka Godzilla.
• Hagerty might be the only insurance company in America willing to cover it for its stated value.
• Every muscle car, exotic car made in Europe and modified Japanese crap cans would race me every time I'd drive it.
• It would only be a matter of days before someone stole it from my front curb. This car requires it to be kept in a locked garage.

I'll stick with my MINIs. No car thieves want them.