Hehe, thanks Joe N and Davtran. Wise words.
Davtran: Easy for you to say, you got an Onyx! *wants one baaaad* But I agree, I probably won't ever sell my Sterling. If there was ever a bass that grew on you the first time you held/played it, and deserves not to be let go, even when those tough times come breaking down the door, the Sterling would probably be it.
(wow, I've been on this forum for 2-3 days and look at how I'm talking already)
Joe N: From what I've heard already playing the Sterling full time and playing the Bongo for a little bit at the store, I see what you are saying. The Bongo can do that Sterling growl and punch to a certain degree. I heard it while at the store and I wasn't even trying. But man, could that Bongo set off the richter scale if engaged to. Holy moly. And yeah, I did hear that "rubbery" sound you speak of. That's something I really could NEVER get out of my Sterling. It's not a bad thing...the Sterling just has that much serious BITE. Growl for days. The Bongo has this certain "name a bass on steroids" sound to it. Reminds me of the kind of sound I got while auditioning the expensive basses I couldn't afford just to hear what they sounded like. They had this refined tone that I'm sure could be tweaked to be mild to ROCKED OUT. This is what the Bongo was doing for me while demoing it.
Well, I've all but sealed the deal on pulling the trigger on the Bongo and selling most of the other misc gear I've collected over the years that don't do much but be backup to our band's main gear. It seems like a worthy and safe investment.
Update: Spoke to a certain individual who is knowledgable about certain things and he restated (as I'm sure you all already know) that these MM deals at said national chain music store are probably never to be seen at a retail store again unless they (MM) repeated this same excercise. But the key message was "unless you can afford the regular price at which you could buy at your leisure and model/color choice, this is a perfect time to get into an MM that normally wouldn't even be able to cross your mind". I can't help but choose to agree with this statement as it pertains to me and my situation.
I can't wait to put my hot hands for keeps on that Bongo. Yeah!
Transverz fun fact of the day for those bored enough to care: I started off playing bongos in the band, and now, I'm heading towards playing a Bongo again!

(Just making this statement to the band alone is worth buying it)
-T