n u l l g e l

It was actually a decent Christmas this year. We hosted one of the family Christmas parties at our house and had a pretty good time. I enjoyed watching people play Wii Sports, some of them for the first time. My GRANDMOTHER even took a few tries at bowling. Very cool. Oh. I mustn’t forget the T-O-Y-S! I got the best gift ever from Amanda. A mini remote controlled helicopter that I can’t seem to stop playing with. It’s like crack. (I assume) I also got seasons 2 & 3 of MacGyver (I already had season 1) and plenty of practical gift cards. Oh, and I have to mention this… 8000 Wii Points! Woohoo! Those came in handy on Christmas day when Street Fighter II and Castlevania IV were released for the Virtual Console. :)

Mark wanted to get some target practice in before leaving for Arizona again and asked me to join him on a short trip to the firing range during our lunch break. I had never fired a pistol in my life (except for the Nerf varieties), but was curious to try. So, after some quick tips, I was loading rounds, sliding the the clip into the handle (best part) and then firing the Glock 22 at a poor piece of paper hanging just over 20 feet away. I think I got him. It’s good to know that as long as my enemy doesn’t move and doesn’t fire back, I should be able to take him out. If I actually carried a gun, that is.

I finally created a YouTube account today and uploaded my Crazy Plant Video.  I don’t really know why.  I rescued this plant from an abandoned office when I worked at CBN about 8 years ago.  It has followed me ever since then.  I used to tell people that it moves considerable distances in a short time, by itself, but no one believed me until I made this video.  I usually have it placed it on a shelf, over my computer.  Without even noticing it, it has reached out and touched the side of my head a few times while I was deep in code, scaring the dickens out of me.  But I’m still very fond of it.

Yep. Picked it up last night and I must say, it’s a lot of fun. Amanda and I created our Mii characters first, which was neat, and then we played two fierce games of tennis. You just can’t help but to smile. As a lot of people have said before, this thing really feels well built and thought out. Not unlike some Apple product. In fact, the Wii feels like it came from those hippies in California. Anyway, based only on a first impression, the Wii is just fantastic and if it will get people a little physical exercise while “playing,” it can only be a good thing. If you have a Wii and a Christmas tree, be sure to go to the remote setup on the Wii and then point the remote at your Christmas tree. Lots of IR sparkle.

Boo-hoo. So, we spent 3 hours driving out to Portsmouth (we get lost easy) to buy a $300 gift card to GameStop to give to my “hookup.” He was then going to use that to process the purchase of a Wii and an extra Wiimote as soon as the shipment came in. Well, the shipment arrived and the manager put one aside for me, but another customer came in with a defective Wii and the manager had to give our Wii to this person who obviously poured orange soda on his. ::Sigh:: The real bummer is that Amanda and I worked until 2 AM last night to get the house put back together and cleaned up, so that we would be ready to play tonight. Ah well. I was planning on waiting until next year to get the Wii anyway, and it looks like I might be back to that plan. At least the house is clean! :(

UPDATE: I just got a call from my friend at GameStop. A new shipment comes in early next week. It’s going to be hard not to get too excited.