AtomicMrX

I have neglected my blogging! I had stuff to say just didn’t put it down into words - so here it is in review.

They re-arranged our desks at work to try a new system where we are broken down into “teams.” Each team consists of three artists and one copy checker and we are in a row of desks. I moved from the side of the room to the center of the room and now I share a desk with a night shift person.

The team I’m on is the only team in the room that is sharing with the night shift. All the other teams (6 teams total) have their own desk (double the drawer space). This meant I had to go from a two drawer desk to a single drawer desk. I had some consolidating to do and some throwing away to do as well.

It was good to go through all the crap hanging on the walls and trim it up. The person I share with is clean and organized so that is a perfect match and should work well in the future.

I’ve been enjoying my Wii! I bought Wii Play last weekend so now I have a total of two Wii-motes (their way of saying a remote) - meaning two players can play together. This brings the total of games up to three (Wii Play, Mario Party 8, and Wii Sports which came with the system free).

Last night on the way home from eating with Jim I stopped at Blockbuster and rented Big Brain Academy for Wii so I could see if it was any good and if I would enjoy buying it or not. I’m going to try and rent the games before I buy them so I don’t spend a lot of money on a game “I thought I would like” but end up not enjoying or playing much. I do like Big Brain Academy but just like the version I have for my Nintendo DS, it has way too many talking bubbles from the professor telling you what’s about to happen, what just happened, what you can do, and how you can do the next thing… it just gets old pressing the A button after every little thing he says - and he says a lot!

I mentioned I ate with Jim… it was great! We ate at the sushi bar again - Sakura. We got there at 6:00 which we thought was a little early but we were wrong! We had to wait about 10 minutes for a place at the bar. They have a oval bar with a train track that goes around the center area filled with sushi trays that you can help yourself to. It was packed! We both got the famous Spider Roll (which you have to request - it’s an $8.00 item and not on the train). I don’t think I will get it next time. I’ve noticed the last two times that the Spider Roll is getting VERY small from what it use to be. It used to be worth the $8.00 but now it is so small it isn’t worth the price! Plus they are getting stingy with the soft shell crab (when it’s fried it looks like a fried spider - hence the name)! Prices are based on the kind of tray the sushi is on. They have $1.50 and $2.50 trays on the train. At the end of eating they just total up your trays and that is what you pay. Most of their trays are $2.50 so it adds up quickly.

Well that is pretty much the last two weeks. Not a lot that is exciting but there it is. Now I will try to be a little more diligent this next week!

Shannon and me celebrated our 4 year Anniversary Thursday. I would have posted it earlier but I’ve been a busy boy! Beware this is a major geek post with lots of “useless” pictures and it’s a little wordy too.

The money I got from doggie sitting got put to use. I made my first (and probably last) purchase off of Ebay. I say last, not because of a bad experience, but because you tend to spend more for the item than you would if you went to the store and bought it. I bought a Nintendo Wii off of Ebay and did pay more for it than at the store but I could not find a store that had any in stock. Apparently as soon as they get five or six Wii’s in the store someone buys them all up (and probably puts them up for auction on Ebay!).

So I had been searching Ebay trying to find a deal. I bid on a couple that were lower than store cost, but quickly got out bid. That was all. No more bidding because it quickly got ridiculous in price. The Wii goes for $250 in all the stores. On Ebay the “brand new - never opened - with store receipt” goes for upwards of $400! It’s just crazy!

I did come across a Wii that only had four minutes left and the bid price was only $200! So I bid on that. Unfortunately the price that the seller had chosen for finally sell price had not been matched yet. So that means bidding would continue past the “clock” time until the “unknown sell price” was matched. So the current bid was $250, so I put in $260 because that was only a little over store price (actually a little less if you included the sales tax you would pay in the store). Some one else bid $270 and so I though what the heck and I put in $275 - and won the bidding on the Wii! I was shocked! So I did pay more than I would have at the store but not insanely more. Unfortunately Ebay makes their money off of shipping charges. So there is where I loose in the deal.

I payed the seller with my PayPal account which is usually the only method accepted because it is safe and secure. This was on Sunday August 5, and the seller then shipped it on Monday morning. The USPS attempted to deliver the package on Wednesday but we were at work so I was going to get it Thursday after work.

So I told Shannon I would not be getting him an Anniversary gift because it would be tight for the next few weeks because I used my extra money for a Wii. Actually he will be using the Wii too so it is really a gift for the both of us. We tend to do that anyway. Like for my birthday I got a dinning room table which was great looking and we needed - and it was for the both of us. We do that a lot and it makes sense.

On Thursday I left Shannon a card in the morning and went to work. I took a half day of vacation because Shannon has Thursdays off and we were going to go out to eat (Shannon was paying). When I got home from work about 11:45 after picking up the Package at the post office, Shannon gave me a gift. I was just about to tear into the wrapping and he said “It’s a good movie - you’ll like it!” and I said “Shannon don’t tell me it’s a movie! Now I know what it is!” Because the shape was that of a DVD case. When I opened it - it was a Wii game I had on my list to buy in the next few months “Mario Party 8″! He tricked me good!

We went out to lunch at 54th Street Bar & Grill and it was very good! Then when we got back home I started the opening and unpacking of the Wii while Shannon went thrift store shopping and mowed the front lawn.

Let the photos begin! Click on any image to view a larger pop up image.

So here it is the picture off of Ebay of the item I bided on and won.

The shipping box (the bottom of the box had a tear in it - shown in picture):

Opening the shipping box:

The damaged corner:

Opening the Wii box:

Mario Party 8 Game:

The contents of Wii:

Where the Wii will go:

Here I am at work. I really should have sat up - I look really fat. Well, okay I am really fat. Sitting behind me reading a book is Connie and then behind her is Dave. It was our break and Karen and I just finished a fun game of New Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo DS and she wanted to see my camera. She snapped this picture of me.

I haven’t figured out how to get a good image/transfer our Mii’s to the computer so here is a bad photo of the TV showing Shannon’s Mii and my Mii.

The Wii came with Wii Sports which is five games (Baseball, Bowling, Boxing, Golf, and Tennis) and they are really fun! I didn’t think they would be very entertaining but I really enjoy playing them. Last night Shannon played boxing and he won both matches (he played the computer). I will need to get another Wii-mote and Nunchuck to have two players play each other.

I definitely feel muscles that I haven’t used in a while after playing a few games. So far I’ve lost one pound from just playing it instead of being a couch potato.

Thanks for bearing with me through this very geeky post.

Okay, I found a new toy for the blog. It’s called Sphere and it finds related content to your blog post (if it’s over 30 words). The Sphere Related Content plug-in displays an icon link at the end of your blog posts. When a reader clicks on the icon link, Sphere finds blog posts and media articles related to your content.

Pretty cool (in a geeky kind of way)!

Today Shannon turns 42! I took the day off work so I could spend it with Shannon. I got up early and went over to Greg & Ron’s to take care of their two babies (dogs: Ruffus & Fiona) while they are off on a short trip.

When I got back Shannon was up and then we went for lunch at Jack Stack BBQ. The afternoon was filled with thrift store shopping. Then back to Greg & Ron’s to spend a little quality time with the wiener dogs. Then we got a frozen drink at Starbucks and walked the Plaza. Followed by dinner at Jerusalem Cafe.

What a busy day!