Best. Day. Ever.

Oh hey guys!  Remember how I used to write on this blog occasionally?
Anyways, thought I'd randomly catch up with some goodies.  I really skipped some stuff, like when my family visited me in Maui, and how I moved back to Utah, and then how I got hired for a dental clinic in Taylorsville.

At the end of September I moved back to the Salt Lake valley into a cute little condo in West Jordan.  I started my new job in October, and I was immediately put to work "drilling and filling!"  That's right, being a dentist is pretty awesome.  Because it took a couple of months of interviewing to be offered a job, and then another month before I actually started a job, I went a little while without having an actual "job," and therefore an income.  My budget was pretty tight for that first month while I was earning it, but my first paycheck was totally awesome!  Never mind that a big portion of my checks now go to paying back my student loans, this was the biggest paycheck I had ever received.  Score for life after dental school!  Okay, okay, I was pretty responsible at first.  But then all of a sudden it was Black Friday time, and the new Xbox One was released, and then it was Christmas time!

Last year I missed out on Black Friday, partly because I had to work the next morning, but mostly because I was essentially on a student's salary on a very expensive island.  This year I was down in Cedar, and I had recruited my brothers - and partners in crime - to help me out at Walmart.  As per usual, it was a complete madhouse.  We seriously showed up by mid-evening (like 9-ish) on Thanksgiving day, and all of the Xbox Ones that Walmart had advertised were literally all gone.  Well, long story short, I kept checking with the guys, and at the end of the night two were left unclaimed, and they happily gave one to me!

TADA!
Happy 'you've got a new job' and 'early Christmas' to me.  I tried to explain to my mom just how lucky it was that I actually obtained one of these babies since they were just released like a week prior.  She didn't get it, and I won't attempt to elaborate here.  I let the picture explain just how excited I was!
Well, I got my new friend home, only to discover that it didn't work on my TV.  After reading through lots of FAQ pages on the Xbox site, and a very long, very tedious online chat with someone from Microsoft, I discovered that my TV, which was only four years old, didn't have enough pixels.  Seriously, they should put that on the box!

My reaction.  Also, unlike this scene, the fine print on the box was very misleading.

I was not amused.  Apparently it would work if I could change something in the settings, but it literally wouldn't even turn on (all I got was a black screen).  All of a sudden I had a perfect excuse to buy a new TV.

Do you guys remember that random Church movie that came out in like 2004 called Single's Ward?  My absolute favorite scene is when the main character randomly drives his buddy to RC Willy to get a camera, and instead leaves with a big-screen TV.  He's got this totally goofy sales guy listing off all the features to these TVs, and he keeps just saying "got anything bigger?"

That was me.

Ever since seeing this movie, I couldn't get it out of my head how cool it would be to be able to casually decide one day to buy a big screen TV for your apartment.  Complete fantasy realization.  I just sauntered into Best Buy and started checking out the biggest TVs I could find.  I figured that I would either go big or… go bigger!  I won't tell you how I wedged that giant flat-screen in the back of my friend's trunk, and drove it home in a blizzard because delivery would have taken too long.  I will tell you that dropping a large sum of money on something I really wanted felt fantastic after being a poor student for so long!  Sweet sister Lizzy sing me a sweet song of joy!!  (I really was going to post a Single's Ward clip, but I couldn't find one.  It's too obscure for YouTube.)
Oh yes, and my Xbox worked like a dream.  That was why I bought the TV, right?  Right?