Old tv conked out...new tv coming in

The 34" Philips CRTV served the family for almost 6 yrs when it finally decided to retire on tues aftn. 1ed to watch the CNA panel of analysts talking abt the budget statement and when I tried to power up the tv, there was no light and i heard a crackling sound followed by what seemed to be a mini explosion. I knew it was gone. There was no light at all and not even a hint of any life. My guess is that the tube and circuit board had blown. Called up the svc ctr and the base charge was 40 bucks excluding parts. Initially, I thought if it can be fixed at a cost of below 100 bucks, maybe we could consider but this morning on our way to work, Angela and I felt it was not worth the while or risk it breaking down and wasting the repair cost.

I then called the svc ctr to cancel the repair support. On my way home from campus, heard on the radio that Harvey Norman was having a 'massive price reduction' across their whole range of electrical products. Picked Esther from day care and after a quick shower, we went to check out HN at west mall which is just adjacent to where we live. Then it caught our eyes.

42" LG full HD LCD going for 879 after discount with a 3yr factory warranty. I could extend it for another 2 yrs through the HN in-house promotion. Being our 2nd purchase of a tv from HN, my records were still in their data base. Settled the paper work and swiped the credit card in less than 30min. We saw the Samsung and Toshiba which was 100 dearer but decided on the LG as the screen was the slightly harder kind. So delivery on sat and we will have a brand new tv after 6 years.

Now I dread looking at my next credit card statement..........

1 module about to be done in a few days...

Science will soon be out of the way. That leaves the 4 maths modules. And they are very hectic. I am the most uncomfortable with Modern Algebra then followed by Combinatorial Analysis. I seriously wonder if these knowledge gained will ever be of use in the future. Since they are part and parcel of course requirements, no choice. Just have to swallow all these 'bitter medicine'.

I find that the past 2 years have been a very humbling journey for me as I have always had to taste failure or just passing by my hair's width. However, this serves as a good way to appreciate and understand the hardship my future students go through when they learn mathematics even at the primary level. To them, the CA and SA questions are like how I find some of my modules. So I guess it is a learning journey for me to trek through and get 'tortured', 'whacked' and battered so that I can empathise with them.