F. Scott Fitzgerald said it: "The rich are different from you and me" and, Thursday morning on FirstNews, we had three different stories that would seem to support his sentiment. First there was the piece about the extra-special mattress. It is made of latex, flax, memory foam, silk, cashmere, lambswool and horse hair...hand-tufted, whatever that means. The cost for this overstuffed people pillow is 50 thousand dollars. For that price, my dreams better be pretty upscale. That memory foam better not only contour to my flabby old body perfectly but it better also tell me I look great, despite my flabby old body. When you snore on this thing, it doesn't come out ZZZZZZZ, it comes out $$$$$$$$. Now, I've slept on decent mattresses and floors and sofas and, every now and then, sitting upright in a chair in the weather center. I just can't believe I'm going to rest better on a 50 grand surface than a 5 dollar futon from a garage sale. In fact, I think I would sleep worse...knowing I'd just eliminated several semesters of college from my children's' futures just so I could know the pleasure of hand-tufted horse hair. Something tells me the horse didn't like it very much. Frankly, since the dog spends more time sleeping on our bed than anyone else...and he would drink out of the toilet if he could...I think he can get by with a regular mattress.

Then, once you're out of the $50 grand bed, it's time for a cup of coffee. Not just any old cup will do...you need some brew from an $11,000.00 coffee-maker. Somewhere Joe DiMaggio just dropped his sugar spoon! This thing-a-ma-bob is called A Clover and controls the grind of the bean...the size of the cup...something called steep time (Perhaps, meaning the hours you'll devote to how "steep" the price was for this thing)...and temperature. Again, does anyone really need a cup of coffee that costs that much money to create? Would it be discernibly different from the gourmet stuff at the gas station, where I can also buy a lottery ticket and a Butterfinger? My wife loves coffee and I love my wife but if I bought her an $11,ooo.oo coffee maker, she'd insist I get psychological help where I would refuse to lie down on the doctor's ratty sofa and insist on bringing my $50,000 mattress.

Well, that ultra-rich cup of coffee will only hold you so long before you need some real food. How about a pizza? How about a thousand dollar pizza? It is available in New York and includes caviar, lobster and top of the line cheeses. If it was delivery, you'd need a Brinks truck. Maybe, if you cut it into 1000 pieces, it wouldn't seem so expensive... per slice. Since I feel we are indulging ourselves when we get the stuffed-crust pie, I don't think I could stomach this costly concoction.

So, there you go. Three items that would indicate you have too much money. Fitzgerald was right. But, so was Hemingway, who replied to F. Scott's assertion with "Yes. They are. They have more money." At these prices, not for long.