Wii So Sore

I went over to my sister's house Monday evening to Wii with my nephews - even my big nephew, Poly, was there for a little while.  I bowled with my sisters.  But The Doctor insisted on acting like an adult and kept trying to clean the kitchen in between her turns so the game did not go quickly.  Mama was over there, but felt terribly.  I spent the night with her and she was ready to go home before I was finished playing, so we left.

Last evening, I headed back over there for some more Wii action.  This time I played with my left-handed character, now named Sidesadl.  I KICKED BUTT in bowling - 216 my first game and something like 198 my second.  I got five strikes in a row in the first game - a record both personally and "for the house." 

Then things got a little controversial as He Tells Jokes and I played the boxing game.  Super Mom wouldn't let her son stay in the room while we played.  I understand that.  I also know that I am not going to develop a love of boxing (or violence) from this game.  This is my favorite game, but simply because it allows me to trick myself into exercising.  This is pretty much the whole reason I bought a Wii.  I want to use it as a way to have fun while getting a workout.  Right now, the only game I have (beyond Wii Ftiness) that makes me move around enough to elevate my heart rate is boxing. 

Which leads me to the soreness.  You know that I bowled left handed a couple of games over the weekend.  But I guess I never ever ever ever use that side of my body to lunge...ever.  I haven't felt particularly sore walking around.  But as soon as I threw my first "ball" playing left handed against my boys, I yelped in pain.  It felt like I tore a huge whole in my right butt cheek just where it connects to my leg.  (Somewhere between the gluteus maximus and the biceps of the thigh.)  Even though I continued to play, I couldn't use my normal bowling stance because it just hurt too much.  When I got home, I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to make it up two flights of stairs - every step was agony.  But after the first flight of stairs I paused to play a few more games on my own Wii.  Why not just cripple myself while I'm at it, right?

This morning, I do feel a little soreness in my butt, but unlike I feared, I can walk freely.  On my left side, my shoulder, biceps and the muscle that runs along my ribcage are sore.  On my right side, only my biceps is a little sore. 

And to let you know how addictive this Wii is (for the couple of you that still haven't played it), Super Mom is convinced that she wants one after playing for only two days.  The people who run Nintendo are geniuses!

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My new favorite website

I have a new favorite website: www.dealnews.com.  It lists useful items that are very well priced at reputable websites.  This is completely different from www.overstock.com.  I like that site too, but few of the items are brand names.  If Overstock sells a brand name, it is typically not a good price. 

Right now, dealnews.com has links to a couple of computer systems that are incredibly cheap.  Like so cheap, I'm thinking about picking one up.  Like $200 for a decent machine.  Both machines are HPs and they are for sale at bestbuy.com.  If you need a new computer, check them out.  But even more bizarre, amazon.com is running a sale on a couple of 8 place settings flatware sets - $10 each.  That's cheap.

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Am I the only one?

The "work" we did this weekend reminded me of a very peculiar food combination that I have loved since ... I don't actually remember not loving it. 

Potato chips on burgers or sandwiches.

I don't load up sandwiches or burgers with lots of fixin's.  On a burger, I typically only go for ketchup, on a sandwich I go for lettuce and a little mayonnaise.  But if I have access to plain potato chips, I love to add them to my sandwich or burger.

Am I the only one who does this?  I tried to Google it to see if it's a regional thing.  So far, it seems to be a guy thing (or at least they're the only ones who 'fess up to doing it).  I don't know who influenced me to start this, but I know that I influenced my cousin, Xoomie's mother, to start this about 10 years ago.  She saw me do it and had to try it - she was hooked.  Can I hook some more people on this yummy practice? 

Try it.  You'll like it. 

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Wii Continue

I didn't get the chance to play my Wii very much this weekend.  I got it set up on Friday night and played a little bit.  I had a headache by the end of the day and didn't feel up to it.  I worked Saturday and Sunday, outside in the 94+ heat, so I was pretty pooped at the end of each day. 

I did, however, take the chance to set up a second Mii for myself.  For the two of you who haven't played the Wii yet, a Mii is a character that you are able to build to represent the various people who will be playing on your console.  Not all Wii games use Miis, some have their own storylines and characters.  But I'm fairly certain that the games I will be interested in will use Miis.  I built a Mii on I Dunno's console.  It doesn't exactly look like me, I was told it looks more like the girl from Napoleon Dynamite, but she's cute.  I built almost the same Mii on my console for myself.  For each game a Mii is going to play, you can decide which hand you will use.  Since I play most sports right handed, I set up my main Mii to be right handed.  But I decided that I also want a left handed Mii.  I created a Mii called "Lefty" (I know, lame).  Lefty is far cooler than I, except for the Princess Leia hair that I couldn't resist giving her. 

I began using Lefty on Saturday night.  I started with Bowling.  With my first game, I crushed any score I've ever bowled before either on Wii or in real life - 202.  I thought I'd been using the wrong hand all along until I did pretty poorly in the second game.  I guess consistency is not great with my left hand yet, but there is the potential for greatness.

I also played golf (right handed) for the first time on the Wii.  I hit the flag twice.  I'm swinging pretty straight, but I have to get the strength of my stroke under control.

I have a Wii date at my nephew's house tonight (He Tells Jokes).  I was told to bring my Wii and my Mii.  Super Mom is bringing her brood into town today to go to our convention this weekend.  We're gonna have fun this week playing on the Wii.

Sorry if this is boring.

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Football Crisis

I'm distraught.  The man who made me love football, Arsenal football in particular, is leaving Arsenal.  Thierry Henry is joining Barcelona.  There are rumors that the fabulous Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, will leave when his contract expires at the end of next year. 

What do I do?  I mean, I will watch Henry play at Barcelona.  I watched several Barca games last year because my second favorite player, Ronaldinho, plays for them.  But Wenger leaving is a real tragedy.  He has a very different team building strategy than any other English League manager.  His strategy didn't server him well last year, but I believe it will pay off in just a couple more years.  He's already brought all kinds of greatness to Arsenal before I started watching.  I was really looking forward to seeing that return. 

I think the dream is over.  The shine has worn off.  I'm deflated. 

... at least until Barca wins their league next year.

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Free iced coffee at McDonalds today.

Wii Begin

So I told you that I bought a Wii from eBay on Monday.  I paid a ridiculous amount for shipping to get it in the quickest amount of time possible.  I know I should have just been patient, but I couldn't wait.  I was finally getting a Wii after months of waiting!  I need this stress reliever so badly.  I went to a couple of online stores to buy the essential accessories, hoping they'd come in soon after my system arrived. 

I came home on Wednesday evening to find a postal notice on my door.  I was notified that the postman had tried to deliver a package to my door, but didn't find me at home.  I had been a little nervous about the Wii sitting on my front porch until I could get home.  My neighborhood is very safe, but my sister-in-law was escorted to her car by store security after she bought the last unit in a retail store.  People are crazy-go-nuts over these things.  The note told me that I could pick up my package at the post office after 8:00 am the next day - Thursday (yesterday). 

I woke up yesterday, "Wiiday", with a bad headache.  All I could think about was getting to the post office to pick up my Wii.  Unfortunately, I had a very important training session scheduled for 8:00.  Since I was doing the training, I couldn't exactly back out.  I went to work where I fought the same nasty headache all day.  My day concluded early, after a fairly stressful meeting with a vendor.  I explained to my boss that I needed to pick up a package from the post office, though I neglected to explain what it was.  We are having a big marketing push this weekend, so everyone in the company is working some portion of both days.  It was pretty easy to get off a little early since I wouldn't really have the opportunity to go by the post office this weekend. 

You know I've had trouble with this post office before.  I was a little nervous that my Wii wouldn't be there.  Based on the general incompetence of my postman, I was afraid that even though he'd checked the box on the form telling me to come pick up the package at the post office, that he would have loaded my Wii back on his truck and tried to deliver it to my house again.  I always think about the size of the packaging after I'm at the post office.  While the man was hunting for my Wii in the bowels of the post office I wondered how large the box would be.  I knew that the Wii is the smallest of all the next gen gaming systems.  Finally, the postal worker reappeared with my Wii in his hands!  The box was a fraction smaller than I expected, but not small enough to cause alarm.

I stopped to get some food on the way home.  All the way home, I wasn't sure if I was going to eat or play first.  By the time I got home, my headache simply got the better of me.  I wasn't really in the mood to open the Wii and figure out how to set it all up.  I decided to eat and watch a little TV to see if my headache would subside.

Sure enough, about 20 minutes after sitting down, my head felt good enough for me to face the wires and sensor bar of the Wii.  I headed into the living room, which shall now be named the Wiiceiving Room.  I grabbed my trusty knife (remind me to explain how much I LOVE my set of trusty knives) to open the box. 

I was humming and bopping. 

I sliced open the package. 

A hidden chorus sang "AWWWWWWW" as I pulled out my ... Ginseng?

CURSES!

I went to all this trouble to retrieve some Ginseng I ordered for my mother?  I mean, she needs this and I'm glad I was able to order it.  But it wasn't "Ginsengday," it was "Wiiday."

Before going to bed, I checked my email.  The eBay seller had sent me the USPS tracking number.  According to the USPS site, my Wii package had come to my house that day (Thursday), not the day before.  Put two and two together and my Wii should be at the post office today at 8:00.  But there was no notice on my door when I got home yesterday.  Was the mailman THAT lazy?  I scribbled down the number for my Wii package and decided that I would go to the post office without a form.  If they were ugly about it, I would shout, "I want my Wii!" and make a big scene.  (Yeah, right.) 

As I came downstairs this morning, I finally saw the package form on the hand rail of the stairs inside my foyer.  I have had warranty work done at my house all week which means that one of the builder's employees has a key to my house.  The work was complete yesterday and he left my key and a warranty form for me to sign on my stairs.  In all my Wii frenzy, I'd ignored the form.  I had completely missed the postal form sitting in an odd location on my hand rail.  I picked up the form and headed for the post office.  I waited in line 30 minutes for it to open.  I was the first customer.  A different worker retrieved my correctly sized Wii box, from the correct sender, and placed it in my very grateful hands.  My Wii is currently stashed in my trunk, waiting for the end of the work day.

Wiiday may resume.

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FW: Tick Warning

A friend forwarded this email to me just a few minutes ago. I giggled so hard that I decided to post it.

--Forwarded Message Attachment--
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 18:52:40 -0700
From:
To:
Subject: Fwd: Fw: Tick Warning

tick wARNING!

I hate it when people forward bogus warnings, and I have even done it myself a couple times unintentionally...but this one is real, and it's important. So please send this warning to everyone on your e- mail list.

If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!!

They only want to see you naked.

I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid.

Clarification

I think I need to clarify that the story I related yesterday was not about my mother.  It was about Xoomie's mother.  If my mother had done that, we would be even more seriously concerned about her mental faculties than we already are.  But if you keep reading long enough, you just may get stories like that about my own mother.

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What's going on

I took Mama to the convention on Sunday.  I figured it would be easier on her to split up the days since she gets tired so easily.  For the next 5 weeks, she will be in therapy every single day.  So I don't think she will get to a Friday of one of the local conventions.  I'll have to see if there is any way to get her to the Friday of another one later in the summer.  I would like to just have a way to record the sessions and play them for her.  I don't have the equipment to do that, but I'm looking around on the net this week.  Maybe I'll even stop by Fry's.

I told Mama that I thought we'd see a lot of our friends from the southside at the convention.  After we negotiated our way to our seats, she looked at me and said, "I haven't seen a single person I recognize."  I had to fess up that I'd only assumed this was the southside convention because T was assigned to this one.  It turns out that only one or two congregations from that district, including T's, had been assigned to this convention.  By the end of the day, I think I spotted about 30 people I knew. 

Most surprisingly, the first people we saw were my cousin's family from Savannah - Xoomie, his parents and sister.  He was also assigned to that convention and his parents had come up to be with him.  They came over to our seats with me. His mother (who is my first cousin) stayed with us until the session began, visiting with my mother.  That was a good thing.  Her mother (Xoomie's grandmother, my aunt) had been up here to see Mama while she was in the hospital.  But no one else from Savannah has been able to see Mama in a while.  I think Mama enjoyed it.  I certainly enjoyed hearing some of her stories. 

One particular story had to do with a really funny tactic she used to avoid visiting with someone who dropped by unexpectedly to see her.  I will just not answer the door if I'm not in the mood to talk (who am I kidding? no one just drops by to see me).  She didn't have that luxury - 1) because her house is nothing but windows and 2) because she was in the backyard which is very easy to get to from her driveway.  Somehow she was able to tell who was coming up the driveway without the person seeing her in the backyard.  She looked at her son and said, "Buh-bye.  I'm gone."  He said, "What do you mean?"  As she turned to flee, she answered, "I'm at the neighbors."  She then literally fled from her yard and ran through the backyards of her neighborhood until she got to the house of someone she knew.  (It's a good thing there aren't any fences on her street.)  I'm not quite sure if she just waited in the neighbor's yard until she thought it was safe to come home or if she actually went to talk to the neighbor.  I personally like the image of her lying in the yard of a neighbor and counting "one-one hundred, two-one hundred, three-one hundred," like we used to do when we played outside as kids.  Ultimately, her son was able to go to the door and tell the unexpected visitor that his mom was "at the neighbor's."  (Is it funnier for you to know that this woman is pushing 50 even though she looks like she's barely 40?)

See, the people in my family would make great characters for a novel.  Who does this kind of stuff at that age?

Let's see, what else is going on? 

Last week I told you that I thought I'd bought a Wii.  I was wrong, though I was right to be suspicious of the price.  The person did refund my Google Checkout purchase, but did not sell me the Wii.  I finally found one on eBay that is higher priced than I could get at retail, but I don't feel like I was gouged.  There's obviously a market for these things right now and I can't expect people not to make some profit from that - the law of supply and demand and all that.  Right now amazon.com is selling the $250 pack for like $450.  That's gouging.  Hopefully, it will come in this week.

Someone called about Stinky Garbage Trailer.  I don't know if it will lead to anything, but it was the most coherent conversation I've had about it since the other deal fell through.  Good signs: 1) the man spoke enough English for us to have a conversation  2) when he heard the price he didn't just hang up, he asked if he could negotiate.  Most other people ask, "How much for a down payment?"  Me: "No, you see, I'm not a bank.  I'm the owner.  You have to BUY the trailer from me.  I can't finance it for you."  (Said in a nicer way.)  Them: "Oh. [click]"  Well, there was the one man who argued with me that I could finance it and refused to believe that it was against the park's regulations for me to do so.  Yeah, I'm not the park.  Thems their rules.

I started reading The Diary of Anne Frank.  I'm kinda glad that I haven't read it until now.  I never kept a journal as a kid.  The closest I've ever come is this blog.  As I read her story, particularly her justifications for keeping a journal of what she thinks are inane musings, I find myself really relating to her.  And of course, there's all the Jewish boys she talks about...

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Why is it so hard to have friends?

Really funny world view

This link is horrible, but sooooooo true. 

I love that New Zealand is simply labeled "Xena."  Up to the far north of us, there is apparently nothing but "Snow."  Check it out.

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Someone beat me to the punch

I've blogged before (probably just before the start of NaNoWriMo) that I would love to write a book using the characters in my father's family.  You just don't find people like these anymore (and in some cases that's a good thing).  I found out last night that someone beat me to the punch!

I spent the night at my parent's house because Daddy was out of town fulfilling his duties as Slum Lord.  Technically, Mama could spend the night alone, but why make her do so?  It's no trouble for me to go over there.  I spent the night with her a couple of nights after she had just gotten out of the hospital.  Under those conditions, I actually slept in her bed with her so that I could help her go to the bathroom if needed (it wasn't).  Last night, there was truly no need for me to sleep with her, so I took the guest bed upstairs.

Since the good TV season is over, I'm getting back into reading.  I hadn't brought a book with me to Mama's thinking that I wouldn't really have any time to myself.  But as I went upstairs at 9:00 I realized that I really wanted something to read.  I went into Daddy's office.  He's got a great bookcase loaded with books.  But I don't know why I thought any of them would be fiction.  Most of his books are ancient encyclopedias, textbooks left over from his college days, or technical manuals on machines that he hasn't sold in 20 years.  Well, that's not entirely fair, Mama has her share of shelf space dedicated to fad diet books from various decades.  In other words, I wasn't likely to find any good reading material.

Finally, I spied two fiction books.  One looked like a romance novel.  I have no idea where that came from, probably a garage sale.  The other looked like a self-published memoir of a sea captain from my family's home city.  I opted for the tales of adventures on the high seas, at least I would recognize place names and it was highly probable that my father knew the author.

I usually don't spend a lot of time reading about the author until after I've finished the story.  But this time, I wanted to see if I knew this man.  Nothing in the Foreward or Acknowledgments made me think I'd ever met this man, but I certainly knew of the places he spoke - even as far away as the Bahamas.  Well, on with the story.

It was clear by the illustrations that the first chapter was going to be about a raid this man had done with the CIA on a port in Cuba in 1960.  Huh.  Well, I don't have any CIA connections, nor have I been to Cuba.  The author spent a lot of time describing the super fast, heavily armed speed boat that he piloted for this mission.  He explained that he needed to approach the Cuban coast alongside a freighter boat so that the two boats would appear to be one blip on radar - then he'd break away at the last minute. 

Finally, he described the captain of the "spy" freighter.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when I read my own last name!  The description was "Captain [insert my last name here] was a big man with a big laugh."  A big man?  In our family?  That can only describe ONE person - the fourth brother, or seventh kid in the family.  To date, he is the only one of my father's siblings no longer living.  But he certainly was "a big man with a big laugh."  (To Jules, you know his oldest son from a long time ago.  His father wasn't quite as heavy as his son, but otherwise, they look quite a bit alike.)

I stopped to calculate how old this uncle of mine would have been in 1960.  The nearest I can figure is around 20, maybe even younger.  So there's no way this can be based on fact.  My uncle wasn't a spy freighter captain helping run raids on Cuba in 1960.  I flipped to the back of the book to see if there were any notes about the story.  Sure enough, I found a footnote that read "To my friends, this is a novel, fiction, fantasy."  I also read that was part of the family that owned the tugboat towing company where so many of my family (including that uncle) to this day still work.  As a matter of fact, that uncle's youngest two sons were two of the last men to get on with that company based on familial ties.  It's nearly impossible to get on down there anymore.  you'd never know it by his laid-back demeanor, but the youngest son of that uncle is currently the captain with the most certifications working out of that very busy port.

I've just started the book.  I have no idea if my uncle's character will show up in later chapters.  But it's awesome to see him alive again, even if it's only in the pages of a silly novel.  I was about 11 when he died.  We didn't live in the same city, so it's not like I saw him often.  But I remember him as my favorite uncle.  He was strict with his own boys, but he had lots of love and big hugs for his nieces.  He always wanted a daughter.  It's easy to get lost in a big family full of kids.  You walk into a room already crowded with aunts, uncles and cousins and nobody notices one more awkward kid.  I remember him as the only uncle who noticed when I walked into the room.  I know he gave that same attention to all my cousins, but it really meant something to me.

Well, I didn't intend for this to turn morose.  Through the years I've always focused on how much I wish he was still around for his own family.  I rarely stop to think about how much I miss him for myself.  Loss threatens to be the theme of my life right now.  No matter how much I fight it, every once in a while it overtakes me.

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And other good news

I think I just bought a Wii.  It's such a good deal that I'm not sure it's legit, though.  The Wii is still very hard to find around these parts.  And they're even hard to find online.  I found one on Craigslist for just a little bit more than you can get it in a store.  Except that it's got an extra wiimote and nunchuck and two extra game discs.  So with all the stuff included, it was cheaper than retail.  That's why I'm suspicious. 

The only reason I think it may be for real is that it looks like this system is for sale in another state.  Perhaps the Wii is not as in short supply over there.

Wii'll see.

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Finally some good news

I Dunno got baptized yesterday. 

Lots of people came for the experience, including all of Affie's family.  Jules wasn't there, but her sister (what do we call her?) CrazyCatAunt (?) was in attendance.  I Dunno had never met CrazyCatAunt.  So we were all standing there and of course she knew who he was.  But he gave her that vacant stare to indicate that he has no idea who she was.  I told him who she was and asked, "You don't know her?"  In true I Dunno fashion, he answered, "No.  What?  Did I offend someone by not knowing that?" 

So cute. 

Also cute is that after the first question was asked (to which he was supposed to answer in a clear voice, "Yes"), Poly and I looked at each other, shrugged and said, "I dunno."

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The Roller Coaster of Life

I know I haven't updated in a while...

Things are happening.

Wow.  That's an understatement.  I'm not really at liberty to talk about what I'm dealing with.  That's one of the things that adds to my stress.  I use this blog as a way to work out my thoughts - to communicate with a small collection of close friends, the people who really matter to me.  But this channel has been cut off simply because it's so public.

Bad news one day, not so bad news the next.  Or, as was the case today, bad news this morning, anticipation of terrible news this afternoon which turned out to be just a repeat of news we already knew followed by some news that may turn out to be decent.

The only thing I can really talk about with you people (but not with my family) is that we've had more lay-offs at my new job.  Li'l Brudder was let go.  I don't agree with that decision.  He is a really smart guy - definitely the smartest in his department.  Anyway, it makes me realize that intelligence and problem-solving skills are not necessarily what this company values.  It crosses my mind that those are two of my strongest skills.  So the natural question is "When will I be let go?" 

I don't have any real proof that my job is in danger.  I have a skill-set and knowledge base that is completely unique in this company.  But ... things can always change.  Not that anyone will suddenly acquire my skill-set or knowledge, but the company may suddenly decide that those things are no longer necessary.  It's a reality I have to face.  So while I'm going to help out Li'l Brudder by looking over his soon-to-be-updated resume, I may also add a spit-shine to my own.  It's just that my industry is the toilet right now - no one is hiring.  I don't mind going outside of my industry, but where do I begin?

As always, keep yer traps shut about this - no need to add this to the worries my family is already experiencing.

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