And then I began reading another chapter of THE DEATHLY HALLOWS and got about 2/3 of the way through it when the doorbell rang and my delivery finally arrived.
A new television set.
I know, some of you are shaking your head in mortification, but the time had come to upgrade to the highest possible resolution (1080p, more than a million pixels more than the 720p high def set I was using before) and a larger screen - 56" rather than 52".
I have only begun calibrating it, and I'm sure this will go on into the night tonight. First impressions were very positive, and it was a great relief when it actually worked when turned on. Sometimes, they don't, but if they do, they're usually good for the life of the set.