No…I am not celebrating the British holiday a few months early.  Today, the family gathered at the home of my oldest brother to celebrate the birthday of two of our youngsters.  I guess once you go beyond 18 years, my family does not age.  We also got to meet big brother’s new friend who was introduced in typical fashion:  “This is (____). This is everyone.”  So our uncle got up and did a more traditional introduction.

Apparently, the two groups of parents failed to get the cake situation correct.  Both groups swore the other was to order it and pick it up.  As it happened, grandma ran into Big Brother and his friend at Wal Mart yesterday.   In the end, Grandma and Grandpa went to Dairy Queen in hopes of finding an ice cream cake.  No one better complain about the design.

As the party progressed, some of us ventured over to the Wii.  Bowling, boxing, and Guitar Hero seemed to rule the day.  The boxing is definitely one of the most entertaining games to watch others play as evidenced but the following video.  You may have to click the link… not sure if it will be embedded directly on the post.

And it’s always a good day when the Cowboys get beat!  I’m sure there is another tangenteer who is absolutely ecstatic!

WOO HOO!!!!  Game day party that seemed like a pre-Thanksgiving feast.  I certainly ate like it was a feast… well, just call it another holiday!  But OSU has now defeated the dreaded “Team from the North” six years in a row with an awesome 21-10 victory including an end zone interception turned TD on the Wolvies first series!  Now.. outright Big Ten Champs off to Pasadena on New Years Day!

Joshua, whom I was mildly surprised to see at the house, was anxiously awaiting kickoff time.  At half-time, I challenged him to a good ol’ game of the ORIGINAL Donkey Kong (not the newfangled Super Mario endless array, but the original quarter munching variety… on the Wii).  I surprisingly defeated him.  After that, we saw little of the 13 year old (so much for the football game).

Then, I learned that Jeff is planning to take Elizabeth to see the new Twilight movie tomorrow after her play wraps.  Honestly, I don’t get the hype… too much, I think.  Maybe, one day I will sit and watch it to see what it’s all about; it looks like a teenage, vampire meets girl with a werewolf best friend love triangle.  I’ll pass.

So, now off to church… then to watch my niece on stage with a couple other little ones.

GO BUCKS!!!!

No… nothing to do with the Jonas Brothers but more on the title in a bit.  This evening, we gathered at my oldest brother’s house with the fourteen of us and more extended family for the birthday celebration of my oldest (14!?) niece and 13 year-old nephew/godson.  The kids hunted eggs when we arrived.  Then some of us watched GOLF while others engaged in some Guitar Hero on the Wii.  I actually amazed myself as I went head-to-head with almost everyone then had to go up against the household crowd.  Elizabeth kept selecting the same song again and again and beating everyone again and again until she competed with her dad.  I told them that I would just have to sneak out to the house while she was in school and practice… but as before, a little Wii goes a long way.

Birthdays mean cake and candles.  I don’t know why it took so long between the time the candles were lit and the blowing but I decided to test my wind strength.  Honestly, I was sitting at the opposite end of the 6′ table and blew all 14 candles out… not totally because they relit.  I was thinking that the ice cream cake with peeps on top was going to melt before the candles were extinguished.

After the cake was wrapped up, someone had the BRILLIANT idea of playing golf on the Wii.  WOW… wasn’t it enough to sit and watch Tiger Woods hit a tree and others hit birdies (which kind, I still do not know) and bogies (why anyone would want to hit a poor dead actor is beyond me)?  Needless to say, I was pleased when the 18 holes were done so we could return to Guitar Hero and Elizabeth’s endless selection of My Name is Jonas.  At least on my turn, I was willing to try songs we had not done previously.  And I did get to see a picture of John Truitt’s adorable baby girl.

So the other day I was waiting outside Walmart for my husband to get our Wii-fund…  I know, I said I wasn’t going to wait in the car with the kids anymore, but I dropped him off and went home to get some forgotten items for our Mother’s Day excursion, so I wasn’t sitting there the entire time.  Good thing too, because I went home, bumbled around the house for a bit, came back and still spent a good 10 minutes waiting for him to make his return.  But I turned the car off right away this time, and I was fully expecting it to take awhile because he was making a return at Walmart on a Saturday after all.  I even made the joke, see ya tomorrow…

But while I was waiting, I heard the cargo door of our minivan open up, and I thought, that’s strange, I didn’t know he was going to be buying anything he’d have to put back there…  so I look in my rearview mirror, and there’s a strange lady standing there with a confused look on her face.  “Sally?”  she said.  “Um, no, I think you have the wrong car…”  I replied as my 2 little girls turned around in the back seat and stared at her.  The van she was waiting for then pulled up beside us, with the driver – Sally, I assume – laughing hysterically while her friend loaded her items into the correct van this time and hopped in the passenger side.  She rolled down her window and tried to justify her mistake, “See they look alike; I’m not crazy!”  Well, her friends’ minivan was a Chrysler Pacifica, whereas ours is a Chevy Uplander, and her friends was 2-tone with gray on the undercarriage, but I guess they were similiar in color…  but still, it was a funny experience and probably really embarrassing for Sally’s friend – just a testament to what a circus Walmart can be on a Saturday no matter where you live…  Sunday I have to go there just to pick up my daughter’s birthday cake, ugh.  Maybe I’ll send my husband instead…  no wait, I’d better not – I’d like him to make it back in time for the birthday party!

It is official.  Wii wiiturned the Wii for a Wiifund.

Although I had some fun playing it, I deifnately did not see the long term value and did not see it working well for a workout.  Not better than the lower cost Xavix anyhow.  So, it is now history but…  Funny story!

When I entered the WalMart someone started to follow me from a distance.  It was obvious he was following me so I assumed it was security.  As I approched the customer service desk to Wiiturn the Wii he asked me “does that Wii work or is it defective”.  I told him it works fine and I just didn’t like it.

I then proceeded to return the Wii.  It took forever and right when I finished, that guy stepped up to the customer service counter and asked if he could buy it!

I left before I saw the result, but I assume he is the new owner of the Wiitarded video game system.

BTW — Once I tried Madden ’08 on the Wii that is when I knew it was going bye-bye.  The graphics were below that of my Xbox (not Xbox 360, just plain old Xbox) and the gameplay was just lame.

Goodbye Wii.  Wii will not miss you!

Yesterday when browsing my kind-of-local WalMart store in Defiance, OH I noticed something…  They didn’t have the DVD player I wanted.  But what they did have was far more magical, far more elusive, far more expensive…

The Nintendo Wii

Was I dreaming?  Was I hallucinating?  Or was I in reality about to make a big mistake?…  Yep, the third option.

You see, although I was an early critic of the Nintendo Wii (even having never played it — I thought it seemed like Nintendo built a system around what could have been simply an add-on accessory to any system), I have recently been longing for a fun way to get exercise.  I work on the computer all day long and love to eat — and it shows!

I have been able to cut back on my bad eating habits; limiting my pizza intake, eliminating late-night snacking, and reducing my portions greatly.  However, on the exercise front I have done almost nothing.

Sure, my family does go for walks on most days, but not the kind that get the heart pumping.  The kind where you wait for the kids to catch-up and move at the pace of a pregnant woman…  That kind.

I suppose I could just do some standard exercise but I have very little “me” time so when I do have some, I really want to enjoy it and not run on a treadmill, do situps, or go for a jog.  That would just make me crazy.  I like to keep my mind active too!

So, the Wii seemed like the perfect solution.  Not only could I enjoy exercise — I mean REALLY enjoy exercise — but I could play with my wife and kids!  That would just be awesome…  Or so I thought.

So, I took the Wii home with me and and extra set of controllers.  And Mario Kart — my wife and I LOVE all the Kart games and still play them on my Xbox with a N64 Emulator.  Anyway, back to the Nintendo Wii.

We got home and after some time with the kids I excitedly hooked it up to our tv.  I put the batteries into the Wii remotes and fired the little guy up.

SETUP SCREEN >>

Ok, this was expected.  So, I breezed through the setup screen which was simple enough and was ready for some action!

My first game — Wii Sports of course!  This was included with the Wii so it was the obvious choice.

WII SPORTS

The first game we tried was baseball and well, as I already knew, the Wii graphically looked like a last-generation gaming system.  On par with the PS2 or Xbox, although not even that good.  Of course, this was the included game so the graphics on the Wii were probably not being utilized too well.  Back to Baseball.

I was batting first and my wife was pitching.  She made a simple throwing motion and the ball was on its way.  I swung the Wii remote and saw my litte “Mii” swing his virtual bat…  STTTTRRRIIIKE!  It was going to take a little bit to get used to the controls and timing.

After an inning we both had them down pitch…. HIT!  Although this game was very basic, it had some fun to it.  The novelty of the Wii was “hitting” home (sorry for the bad pun).

Next we tried Tennis.  Same thing, different graphics.  Swing the remote, wait, swing the remote.  This is when I began to notice that the Wii remote was more of a gimick than a serious VR interactive device.  I could basically swing the thing any way I wanted and get the same effect — tennis ball hit or missed based mainly on my timing.  Nothing else really.

On to Wii bowling.  Here, the Wii showed me that it was doing more than just sensing if the remote was moving.  The Wii wanted me to make a particular motion and when I did not, it corrected me.  That being said, the bowling was left with a simple make a “bowling like movement” and watch the Wii do the rest.

Boxing however was probably the biggest disappointment.  Why?  Because I had read raves about what a good workout it provides and how fun it is.  To me, neither was true.  I don’t know about anyone else but I could jab and hook my arms forever and they were not getting tired.  Even adding the ducks and weaves were not really a great cardio fix.  But the worst part was the fun factor, or lack of one.  The game only seemed to respond to particular jabbing movements and not to different punches and moves.  If you got really into it, the nunchuck cord would get in the way.  It was very annyong and simply no fun at all for me.  Plus…  I didn’t come close to breaking a sweat.  I guess I might have after playing for 3 hours straight but who has that kind of time.

Wii Fit is due out in a couple of weeks and that is supposed to be all about the fitness; hence the name.  However, at this point I will probably not own a Wii by the time it comes out.  Considering I can score a Xavix system on eBay for under $100 which includes the major workout titles of Jackie Chan J-Map Fitness Studio and Jackie Chan Boxing I don’t see the Wii as being the answer for me.

In the end, the Wii has potential as both a fun gaming system and a entertainment-fitness machine.  However, I am back to my original opinion — if this was a controller for the Xbox 360 I would probably buy one.  The best of both worlds; good graphics and motion-sensing controllers for new interactive gaming.  But for now, the Wii seems to be to be…  Well, old.  Last generation’s graphics and motion sensing technology that was probably already surpassed by the EyeToy.  Yes, I know it is not the same.  But the new 3D ZCam, which will be under $100 and work with real next gen systems will make the Wii look like it already plays — weak.  Take a look at the ZCam…

The Wii uses REALLY OLD technology to track movement.  It really seems like it was a system from 5 – 6 years ago.  I will give it a couple of more days but if something doesn’t change and make me suddenly a “Wii Addict” I am bringing this back to the store for a Wiifund!

Tonight I had the privilege(?) of watching my brother’s three children (ages 3, 9, & 12). Pretty wild until about 8 o’clock when I stated that it would be silent while we watched “Smallville” after playing the Wii.  I did pretty well but got my brains beat in by a 5th grader playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl.  This is DEFINATELY NOT my Super Mario Brothers game. Speaking of getting beaten by a 5th grader., I allowed the two oldest tykes to stay up and watch “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?”  This is a very fun show with America’s redneck, Jeff Foxworthy, serving as host.  Tonight’s first contestant was a very pregnant female who seemed to draw inspiration by rubbing her belly.  I hate true or false questions: “Africa is the only continent where elephants exist naturally in the wild.”  Katherine eventually answered enough questions with the help of 3 of the five 5th grade students to win $50,000.The second contestant did not fare as well.  The orange grower needed help on his first three questions.  If not for the assistance of two 11 year olds, Vince would have been one of the poor, unfortunate souls who left the show with zip, zero, nada.  “How many times does the letter z appear in the word (lizard)?” Vince’s answer: 2.  Two other equally challenging questions followed.  The orange man did however manage to go home with $25,000.All in all a comparatively calm night to some I have had with the three little darlings. Since spring break begins tomorrow, I do not think big brother would mind the kids staying up one hour past their bedtime. Who knows when he will return from his poker game?