Ha, my dad said the same about MTV.

I actually did the math on mine last month and it came out to about 3 hours, but half of that was just facing a block of aluminum I didn't even need faced. My problem is the opposite of yours though, I burn through cheap end mills like candy and then get mad when the finish looks terrible. I keep telling myself I'll buy one nice carbide bit and take my time, then I see a $12 pack of ten on sale and here we go again. My machine probably hates me.

Gary basements always smell worse than they are, $4800 sounds right.