I will have a $0 balance on my credit card.

On the day I achieve that goal, the 28th Bestest Day Ever, I will buy an HDTV. It has been said, so shall it be done.

So I am back in Kansas. Things are better this time around because we are staying in Manhattan (yes, there is a Manhattan in Kansas!!!) as opposed to Junction City (which in many ways is still a one horse town…Wal-Mart was the main attraction there!). We are within walking distance to the ‘mall’, there are more shopping plazas here, there is a Target in addition to the Wal-Mart and Kansas State University is within 5 miles of here. That is important because college towns tend to be filled with fun places like bars and pool halls! I also have my sister Athena with me so I am not that token black chick as in previous trips.

Today, I experienced my first tornado warning. The entire state was practically under a severe storm warning/tornado watch. The wind was fierce as it blew past the building. Around 1730, an alarm almost similar to a fire alarm went off indicating that the storm and possibly a tornado was coming. According to the reports, Manhattan was in the direct path of this storm. We all gathered into the hallway of the first floor and watched as the rain poured down and the wind howled. Ten minutes later, the alarms were turned off on the first floor, but remained on the 2nd and 3rd floor (where my room was). I ran upstairs briefly to get some ‘important things’: my GameBoy Micro, my DS, my GameCube games and memory cards, my wallet and my camera (leaving behind the 2 new Xbox 360’s that I purchased…CRAZY!!!). Twenty minutes later, the alarms were turned off on the 3rd floor and we were allowed to return to our rooms (I stayed in Athena’s room located on the first floor during that time).

It truly was an experience like no other. I know for a fact that I didn’t want to be where that tornado did touch down.

My trip this time is only 18 days compared to my 30 days last time. This is good because I get some time to spend with Will, my family and the girls before embarking on my 2 month stay in San Antonio, Texas, not to mention being able to make our annual pilgrimmage to the New York Auto Show!

I never really understood what a tranreflective screen is. It might be known by a different name, depending on the manufacturer. I think hp calls it “BrightView” and I believe “Ultrasharp” is the name Dell uses. I’m not 100% certain about the names. All I know is that this thing’s screen is extremely reflective. It is the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the box; I could clearly see myself in the reflection.

While watching South Park, I looked over at the notebook and noticed that I could watch the show on its LCD. I then set up my old notebook in the same position and found that virtually no part of the TV could be seen. Take a look (forgive my camera’s extremely poor low-light performance, the reason for all the noise):