calm
Yesterday evening, after loudly cursing out the FUBAR Yamaha receiver, I figured it would be better for my blood pressure level to just replace the damn thing, so, after doing some online research, settled on the receiver pictured above. Bought an extended service plan this time, to be on the safe side. It will be fully covered for 4 years... if it can't be repaired, Best Buy will replace it with an equivalent model.
This one was a heck of a lot easier to set up also over the Yamaha. In the little over two years I was using the Yamaha, neither my son or I could figure out how to preset radio stations in the thing, even after reading the manual over and over. I would just turn the knob to get to the station I wanted. The Yamaha had two HDMI-In, one HDMI-Out, yet no on-screen display on the TV. The Denon has four HDMI-In, one HDMI-Out, has an on-screen menu, AND presets radio stations automatically! To top that, it was about $240 cheaper than what I paid for the Yamaha. With the extended warranty, it will hopefully be "worry-free" for a while.
They tried to sell me the next model up in the Denon line, but I don't need a 7.1 system, 5.1 is plenty. Besides, hardly anything is released or broadcast in 7.1, and I only have 5 speakers and a subwoofer anyway.
In other news, actually remembered to pick up some Powerball Lottery tickets when I was out earlier today on the job hunt. Haven't bought any in about two months. Probably won't win anything, but at least my chances are somewhat better than if I didn't buy any tickets at all...