I'm on vacation this week, so it's been home improvement time. Some notes and comment:

1-800-Mattress. A recorded voice thanks you for calling and then says "leave off the last 's' for sleep." Huh? Everyone knows it's "leave off the last 's' for savings," a slogan that has been around for years and years.

Here's a tip: when you are told that a bedding consultant will call you back after you provide your name and number, don't believe it. This call never happened. Instead, simply press redial and eventually, within 4-5 attempts, you will wind up with a live person. Just to clarify, this is to place an order. Of course, it's very intelligent business strategy to make hot, active leads jump through hoops and figure out new systems in order to buy your products.

The delivery, however, was outstanding. My window was 11am-3pm and they arrived at 10:49am, providing a huge windfall of free time.

But here was the most incredible part: their customer data goes back 20 years, so they had the exact name and model of the mattress I ordered back in 1994. All I had to do was provide the phone number I had at that time.

Sleepy's (72nd and Broadway). I initially went here first because, let's face it, Sleepy's has a much less annoying TV ad, and I could view the beds in person. However, my generous disposition quickly turned to resentment when the pushy salesperson pressured me into buying something quickly because "on New Year's Day, all the prices go up." This may be true (we'll see) but the salesman would have been better off laying low.

Bed Bath & Beyond (Lincoln Square). I just love those cool escalators just for shopping carts. The staff was very helpful and friendly. For some reason the checkout line had dispersed into random clusters of people, the first time in several visits to this location that the checkout was not perfectly orderly.

West Elm (Chelsea). I was excited that the 2005 colors are on display and you are no longer hit over the head with loud purples and blues. They didn't have what I wanted, but the store atmosphere is vastly improved.

The Door Store (Chelsea). Always reliable and a nice place to walk around. I'm happy with a TV stand I have from there and they had two possibilities for a chair and night table. We'll see.