Yep, ALL wives do the same thing when it comes to a man's extra money, especially when he wants to by some new toyz. I agree with Sandman about the Mesa gear, just go to your local pawnshop and see how much PV gear you find versus other "name" brands, and at rock bottom prices. Sometimes you luck out though and find a diamond among all the lumps of coal. I did.
How's that GT 10 man? I had a GT 8, but traded it off for a bunch of pedals at the UG site. Too much tweaking for ONE effect to sound the way you want, let alone a whole amp sim. I tried a GT10 at the LMS, it seemed like it was a little faster to tweak with the visual thingy, and not so many knobs and stuff to mess with.