Well, much to Joni's chagrin, we wired the loft for surround sound yesterday.  It turned out great and looks so professional!  I'm really kicking myself in the butt for not doing it downstairs when the house was a shell..although we intend to rework the layout anyway (especially if we get that new TV) so the pre-wired method might not have fit the new layout.  I can't test how effective the setup is just yet as I seem to have lost the fiber optic audio cable that I need to get true Dolby 5.1 audio, the best I can do now is Dolby Pro-logic, which is simulated surround sound.  I don't want to have to buy another cable either as I seem to remember spending nearly $30 for a 6ft cable.  I'm sure they're cheaper now, but still, it's the principle. 

As for the new TV, Best Buy is having one of their no interest deals on their credit card for purchases over $999 until January of 2009.  That's 3 years to pay off whatever we get, although it has to be home theater related (TV, surround sound, wiring, etc). I don't plan on spending millions or anything, but I do want a flat TV to hang on the wall that's HD as well and Joni has her eye on a Sony Dream system.  The biggest reason we haven't done it already (besides the fact that I'm cheap) is that the furniture isn't paid off yet.  We did the 1 year no interest deal with that too and we'll have it paid of months early, but our tax return should be able to just pay off all the furniture then I don't mind doing it so much.  Now if I can just drag my feet for a few weeks I'll get rid of this "buy" bug and go back into saving mode!