Sounds like my husand is pretty similar to yours -- he

insisted on buying a plasma TV two years ago, knowing that in a year the price would go down by 50%, and it did. We have the pretty expensive so-called Select Number mattress, which to me feels no different from the ordinary ones that are at least half the price. And, I just bought him an $800 high definition DVD playey as a Christmas present (well, I made a mistake of asking him what he would like to have :-), which even he admits is no different than the other progressive scan DVD player that he bought himself barely two years ago. Sigh....