Residence hall rooms bring new meaning to the word small. They are crammed, rectangular shoeboxes where students attempt to encase all that stands for personal style and character.

Josh Abrego, a sophomore marketing major, has integrated the epitome of style into his room: a 50-inch flat screen television. Residing on Floor 11 of Grant Tower A, Abrego is convinced he is living it up.

“We’re living pretty nice, I enjoy the lifestyle in here. It’s a lot better than the rest, I think, but it’s still a little crowded,” Abrego said, referring to the bikes stuffed into the closets belonging to him and his roommate. He explained his TV is the result of this past summer’s sweat and hard work.

“I worked at an iron foundry,” Abrego said. “I thought I’d treat myself to something nice.”

Nice things always come with a nice price, a fact Abrego can surely attest to, despite the deal he acquired on his find.

“It sells for around $4,000, but I got it for $2,000,” Abrego said.

For the technologically illiterate, Abrego’s prize entertainment equipment is what some college students would dream of having in their small, however cozy, living quarters. The high definition, Digital Light Processing flat screen resembles a giant computer monitor. Equipped with a split-screen feature, it gives Abrego the option of playing two video games or watching two movies simultaneously.

“Everything hooks up to the computer, so anything you can imagine, it can pretty much do,” Abrego said.

But having moved in only three weeks ago, not enough time has elapsed yet for the entertainment connoisseur to have tested all of the television’s features.

“The only thing I’ve done with split-screen so far is have my computer on one half and my TV on the other half,” Abrego said. “Other than that, we haven’t watched two movies at once.”

Other residence hall inhabitants of NIU surely recall the downpour of rain on the Aug. 18 move-in day. Abrego was no exception.

“Moving in was horrible with the rain, but it was in a box, wrapped in a tarp,” Abrego said. “It’s 100 pounds, the size of a small-framed girl. It takes two people to carry. Everything is attached. The glass on the bottom doesn’t disassemble, so it’s an awkward shape to carry by yourself.”

Despite the irritation of uncooperative weather, Abrego has a reputation as the guy with the TV.

“People always ask how I bought it,” Abrego said. “A couple cops did too. They stopped in and commented on it, but just because they’re interested Some people act kind of shifty. Some people think I’m into dirty business, but I worked pretty hard this summer for 35 hours a week.”

Fellow residents of Grant Towers and random passers-by have noticed the super TV. Their reactions are, according to Abrego, equally amusing forms of entertainment.

“It was pretty funny on move-in day. We didn’t even have to watch the TV,” Abrego said. “We just had to look into the hall and watch people walking by. They’d walk by and then come back.”

It’s hard to believe anyone would have complaints about what seems to be the wonder machine of entertainment. But of the TV he bought specifically for his room at NIU, the sophomore already has aims for improvement.

“I was hoping we’d have High Definition channels, but we don’t,” Abrego said. “Hopefully next year. Now, we just get dorm channels. I don’t think they’d let me put a satellite on the side of the building. The only thing I could probably do to it is get a better surround-sound system.”

When asked to elaborate on his intended means of acquiring funds for such upgrades, Abrego shrugged and said, “It only took a week of work to buy this.”