Yes, even though I carry on, Alice, I love Barbados.  Love it.  Sitting by Carlisle Bay last night, watching the sun set and the waves softly stroke the sand at our feet, I felt deeply happy to be alive.  In this context, Chubbies and the bad service you sometimes get in Barbados doesn’t seem like such a big deal.  I’m proud to call Barbados my home and grateful that I get to live here.  The beautiful aqua sea and sugar-white beaches are among the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in my world travels.

The incident at Chubbies on Saturday was such a shame, really.  I’ve been really down since my sister’s sudden passing and went to Chubbies innocently looking for a 90-minute diversion.  It was the first time I’d been anywhere except the beach since I returned from Miami Beach.  To see my kind and patient husband treated so poorly pained me.  And it was utterly unnecessary.

As things happen, we got a happy surprise the very next morning.  A package had arrived at Greg’s office while we were away in May … a wedding gift.  Greg picked it up Saturday afternoon and we opened it Sunday morning.

And a wondrous gift it is: an Apple TV.  More than just a gizmo that gives instant access to movies, tv shows, and documentaries galore, Apple TV means I never, ever again have to step foot inside Chubbies video rental, home of scowling service.  As Greg hooked the thing up, I danced around the house like the Munchkins in Wizard of Oz when they found out the witch was dead.

Before Sunday, I’d never heard of Apple TV. Now I can’t live without it.

Apple TV delivers non-bootleg movies and tv shows that you can either buy or rent.  Whatever you’re watching fills the entire real estate of the tv screen — no more black at the top and bottom. And such beautiful clarity and perfect sound HDTV offers, wowie.

Because everything we buy or rent exists in the Apple TV hard drive, we don’t have to store dvds.  We don’t have to await a package from amazon.  We don’t have to wander among the wasteland of offerings at our local dvd store.  We don’t have to drive back to Chubbies for anything evah.

Best of all, we can order whatever we want bippity-bam … takes two secs … no frowns, no attitude.  Just great entertainment.  Life in Barbados is great in nearly every respect.  A little bit of technology just made it a even better in our household.

Now that’s service with a smile!