[mattress blues]

I just want a damn mattress.

Right now I'm sleeping on an AeroBed, and it's actually not bad, but it's not great either, and I'm not too keen on having to reinflate my bed every night. What if there's a power outage? Will I have to sleep on the couch?

But then the question of buying a mattress looms, and I am overcome with the horrible complexity of it all.

Just over a year ago, Jenny and I paid a fortune at Sleepy's (probably not a good place to shop, but oh well) for a mattress I never really liked all that much. It had a pillowtop, which sagged into divots just like I feared it would.

What I want now is a firm mattress without any stupid memory foam or air chambers or anything else freaky, and without excessive cushioning on the top that will sink into a trough within a year. If I want to put foam or a featherbed on top of my mattress, I can. Then I can take it off again when it gets grungy or saggy or whatever.

But where do you even go to buy a mattress? Sleepy's has a terrible rep. Is 1-800-Mattress any better? And how do I even begin to compare all these confusing features? How do I not get stuck with a sagging beast?

GAH!