Jan's and John's Peripatetic Adventure

A Visit to Venus

We're in California for just a few more days, continues...

Last night we drove over to Berkeley to have our weekly friends dinner, our last one for this California time before going to London. Teresa is away so she couldn't make it. So it was just us and Bob.

We went to Venus, our favorite Berkeley restaurant. There is a photo of me with owner/chef Amy. Yay, I love it when people say yes to a photo for the blog. She is delightful and always stops by to say hello.

We have been going there for years and always have a fabulous time. Thanks again, Amy. See you in a few weeks!

The Wall of Music

We're in California for only a few more days, continues...

This week our general contractors are building custom shelves for our 6000 cd's.

We had packed them up when we moved with the idea of keep them in storage. But I decided I wanted them around and didn't like the idea of them being exposed to the damp in the basement. Although we don't listen to them anymore because we converted them all to mp3, I discovered a few cd's that I missed converting and a few mp3's that had errors. So I still need access to the cd's and decided shelves would be nice.

Our general contractors are amazing and are doing fabulous things to the house. They built the shelves in their garage and then brought them over to attach to the wall in our guest room. So whoever stays here will have to sleep with our cd's. No stains please.

Chumby

We're in California for only a few more days, continues...

I have been wanting a digital photo frame ever since they were invented but never got around to buying one. Somehow the idea of an electrical wire sticking out of a photo frame didn't work for me aesthetically. But I have so many photos that I decided it was time.

John had read about a new device called Chumby. Once again, we are early adopters of a brand new device. Yea, we're nerds, I know.

The Chumby is very impressive. It turns out to be a personal internet player, which cleverly displays just about anything on the internet. It's a bit on the ugly side but I can see they intended it to be whimsical and it is. The interface is excellent, John had it set up in minutes. We've only just started out exploring the fun things it can do. I have it on my desk displaying the time, weather and a stream of my Flickr photos. Ah, Paris.

Mountain Rainbow

We're in California for only a few more days, continues...

It looks like the buckets of rain have finally stopped and while I was putting together today's blog photos the sun came out and the sky is blue. Every time I was uploading the photos I just took John would point out the window and indicate that it was even more beautiful than it had been a few minutes before. Then the rainbow appeared. I have never seen such a vivid rainbow so close. I actually watched it move from a distant hill across the valley to our road. Gorgeous.

One of the unfortunate results of the recent storm is the flooding in Santa Venetia. I looked out my window a couple days ago and there was a new lake where a field used to be and it's still there. Yikes.

This weekend, as usual, we spent most of our time reading in the living room enjoying the view from the giant window. It was a very happy moment when the sun appeared. Everything is incredibly green outside from the rain. Gorgeous.

The Big Goodbye

We're in California for one more week, continues...

Yesterday we had to drive to Berkeley to pick up some stuff. I decided I wanted to stop by our house to see if I could find Clyde.

I had already said an emotional goodbye to the house on moving day but I didn't really get to say goodbye to Clyde. We had spent that morning together but by the afternoon he'd had enough of the noisy moving chaos and strangers carrying large objects out of the house and was elsewhere in the neighborhood when it came time to leave. So I didn't get to say goodbye to him.

The house will likely be sold while we are away in London so I knew it was my last chance to visit the house while we still owned it. John went across the street to say hello to our friend Bob and I went in search of Clyde. It was weird going into the house with all the presentation furniture there. I went back to the sunroom and there Cyde was on the back porch, as usual.

I burst into tears as soon as I saw him. I picked him up and told him how much I miss him and I never saw him so happy to see me. We sat on the back porch and I gave his head a good scratch while he lay on my lap. After a while I heard John and Bob in front of the house so I called to John to come take photos of me and Clyde. Then of course Clyde followed me to the front sidewalk so there were more photos and many head scratches.

The photos are breaking my heart, especially the one of him sitting on the step watching me that I took from the car as we were leaving. Once the house is sold I won't be able to pop over there and visit him so chances are yesterday was the last. We had so much fun together over the last few years that my heart is broken, I miss him so much. Goodbye my precious Clyde.

Counting Down on the Mountain

We're in California for a while, continues...

One week from today we fly to London!

We love life on the mountain but after dealing with more storms we are ready for London. It has been raining buckets for days and yesterday was one of the worst I've seen. It did not let up all day and just when you thought it couldn't rain any harder, it did. I read that the worst of the storm has passed but it is supposed to continue to rain until Tuesday. Damn. At least our electricity is ok.

However, we are not looking forward to the construction right outside our London windows. There you can see the old crumbled Victorian water mains sitting on the road and the shiny new pipes waiting to be installed.

So one more week on the mountain and then off to London. Moti Mahal, here we come!

Rain and Windlight

We're in California for a while, continues...

John spent the day in bed yesterday to get over his cold and actually feels better. Today it is still raining buckets and we're completely bored. But in Second Life it is sunny and beautiful. In fact, it is more sunny and beautiful than usual since I downloaded the viewer that uses the new Windlight feature in Second Life which creates more realistic skies and water. The rippling water shimmers, refracts objects in the water and reflects the sky. Gorgeous. It really cheers me up on a gloomy day.

The Twisty Road, Mooches and the Trench

We're in California for a while, continues...

There won't be any music remixing today because John has a bad cold and is spending the day resting on the sofa listening to the rain.

When we tell people we are headed to London next week they usually say something like, "How can you give up California for miserable London weather?" Ok, take a look:

It's been raining buckets here all week with more predicted, plus thunder storms. Hopefully the electricity will hold. It looks like it will clear up on the weekend so maybe our last week in California will be nice.

Yesterday we drove to the post office to mail 40 books to bookmoochers. There they are taking up the entire trunk of our car. We purged our books yet even more after moving and right after typing them in to bookmooch most of them were mooched right away, yay. I am going to purge even more.

Although I enjoyed the books I still have, am I going to read them again? No. I have a stack of new books waiting to be read so I have to let go. It's hard, I love my books. But I also like empty shelves so off they go to happy moochers.

There are some photos I took while John drove down the twisty mountain road. And there are some photos that our friend Claire took out of the window of our London house when she stopped by to do maintenance on my harpsichord. Although the trench here in California has been filled back up, the trench in our street in London is still being worked on. What a mess. The disturbing part is that it looks like they have not made any progress since the photo from 12 days ago. Yikes.

That last row of photos shows the real dilemna: how can we give up the California weather for London winter? Easy. The hard part is going to be giving up the serenity of our mountain for the chaos of Covent Garden.

More Master Mixing

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday, John and I worked on more remixing for my upcoming release on Magnatune.

Here is a little preview: Immortal

That one is not remastered so the sound is not perfect. The new version sounds amazing.

Going back and remixing my music from the 80's is really an emotional experience. I put so much into that music. It's all recorded the old-fashioned way: one melody line at a time, overdubbed on tape. No computers, no sequencers, no editing. So there are a few flaws in the performances that are literally etched in stone and cannot be fixed. Well, maybe they can be fixed but I'm not interested in the hours of digital trickery it would take to fix them. Those songs are burnt into my brain as they are and I love them.

Rainbows and Trenches

We're in California for a while, continues...

The trench project continues and is almost done. It rained buckets yesterday which makes it tough for the builders. They are so fabulous, we are really lucky to have found them.

There are some photos of the amazing sky as the storm rolled in. There are a couple photos of the house from different angles than I've shown before. Looking down at it from the hill in the front yard and the view of the side/rear with the pool there in the distance.

We're excited about returning to London in a couple weeks but sad about leaving our lovely new house for a while since we only just got here. Although it will be nice to get away from the cold and rainy California winter and go to London where winter is... cold and rainy. LOL.

Introducing: TubeClan

We're in California for a while, continues...

YouTube is another of those internet phenomenons that comes along every few years.

John and I are always emailing each other and our friends (and vice versa) with links to great videos on YouTube. Sometimes when I go to YouTube for a particular video, the related videos are just as good. But more often they are not.

The common reaction to YouTube is "what a bunch of crap" and it is. That's what's so fabulous about it. Anyone can post their home-made video, no matter how bad it is. But many of them are great.

So, how do you find the great videos on YouTube? John had the idea to start a blog that embedded our favorite YouTube videos so they would all be together in one place. We brainstormed over some names and came up with:

TubeClan

John actually came up with that name. All the names I thought of weren't available, wah. We started it about a week ago and have been collecting our favorite videos. We also welcome suggestions for videos and will include the ones we like in TubeClan.

We hope you enjoy watching these videos as much as we do.

BBQ and Prosecco

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday we drove over to Berkeley to meet with the realtor about selling our old house. On the way back to Marin we took the opportunity to stop and have lunch at one of our favorite East Bay restaurants, T-Rex. I always have the same thing: pulled pork sandwich. Although this time I told them no bbq chips please and they gave me extra cole slaw so I feel very dietary. And we both had prosecco, of course.

It was a gorgeous, typically California day with clear blue skies.

Connected

Then after lunch we rushed home so that I could go to my friend Kirsty's club warming party at her brand new Club Connected in Second Life.

It was an awesome party! Many of our Second life/Real Life friends were there. Our favorite DJ Nexeus Fatale did a live DJ set and it was incredible. Kirsty and I had met him at the Second Life convention in Chicago back in August where he was DJing the big party and now he DJ's at Kirsty's Second Life club parties.

It was fun to see all our friends and to give a warm welcome to Kirsty's club in its new, fabulous location in Second Life.

Farewell Rego

We're in California for a while, continues...

I am very sad. Yesterday Teresa told me that our former Berkeley neighbors' cat Rego died. She had been very ill a couple years ago and recovered. But the illness returned and there was no hope this time.

Our (former) neighbors have ten cats. When they moved in, Rego was the first one who found her way into our yard. She was the happiest cat I've ever seen. She would literally jump up and down with enthusiasm. It wasn't long before she marched right into the house. Her favorite thing to do was rub up against the harpsichord leg. She would sniff it and then roll around like it was catnip.

She also made herself at home and would spend hours sleeping on my lap on the sofa while I read. John is not a cat person but Rego would walk over and plop herself down in his lap anyway. I found an old photo of them together and it's a heartbreaker.

Rego was Clyde's mom. They did not get along. I can totally relate to that. So when Clyde started hanging out in the back yard and I seduced him to start coming into the house, Rego came in less often. But she still hung out in the area and would just show up at the front door and walk into the house like she lived there. No matter how long her absences were, she marched over to the harpsichord and started rolling around like a maniac.

She was one of the most wonderful cats I've ever known and I miss her.

Macworld Excursion

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday, John and I went to Macworld or, as I like to call it, Greedworld. I call it that because of Apple's recent decision to charge $19.99 for people to upgrade their iPod Touch with the applications that it should have come with in the first place. We love Apple but that kind of customer rip-off is just plain wrong. That and the astonishing number of vendors selling tons of chachkas for iPods and Macs. But trade shows are all about greed so who am I kidding.

I haven't been to Macworld in about three years. The last time I was there we had a booth for Magnatune. I was still willing to be a booth bunny back then and it was a combination of tedious and interesting. Although nothing as interesting as Midem happened.

Since we don't do trade shows anymore, this time John and I just went to Macworld to look at the chachkas. And wow were there chachkas. We saw some very cool stuff. The vendors were mostly really nice.

The new Macbook Air is indeed amazing. We really want one but can't think of a reason to buy it. We already have too many computers. So we'll wait until they come out with yet something else more amazing.

We are very much looking forward to the new Apple TV movie rentals. Although the 24-hour watching limit is obnoxious, it is going to be great being able to download movies and watch them on our TV or iPhones.

After Macworld, we went to lunch at Two. It was very good. There was champagne.

Internet Happiness

When we got home from Macworld the ISP came to finish installing our new internet connection. And it works! Hurrah! We now have a blinding fast 6Mbit internet connection. It's amazing. I can do Second Life again and when I buy amazon.com downloads they fly onto my computer. We are so relieved.

We celebrated with champagne, of course. Below you can see my tiny little dinner of champagne and two pieces of Rotis. Well, I had a big lunch: beef carpaccio and then sausage pizza. Yea, I was bad. Since we've been in California this time I have gained eight pounds. Dammit. I really have to lose it so I'm only eating one big meal a day and one little one and no snacking except for the occasional apple. But I don't care, I have internet now '-)

Internet Pending

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday, the isp came to install the dish for our internet. There is it positioned on a tree on the top of the hill in our front yard, pointing at Mount Tamalpais where the signal is broadcast from. Of course, after it was all connected we switched it on and... nothing. So they're coming back today to work on it some more. Once they get it working we are supposed to have 6 Mbit internet with low latency.

Work on the trench continues and should be done this week. Then we have a bunch of ongoing repair/renovation projects which is always the case when buying a new house. We love it here and will love it even more once we have a good internet connection.

Berkeley Be Gone

Last night was yet another shocking and sad reminder of why we left Berkeley. We drove over to have dinner with our friends Bob and Teresa. Again we went to the fabulous Venus. However, right next door to the restaurant is the building you see in the photo. Just a few months ago that was a CitiBank that had been in Berkeley for years. Downtown Berkeley is a disaster area. Many stores have left and the buildings remain empty.

We were very excited when we first moved to Berkeley. We loved walking to the office every day and our frequent excursions to the stores downtown and Telegraph Avenue. But as the years passed each of our favorite places shut down or left. It really broke our hearts seeing Berkeley deteriorate into the condition it's in now.

Sadly, our friends all agree with us. They all still enjoy living in Berkeley but acknowledge the ongoing and escalating problems. Hopefully Berkeley will eventually get a clue and do something about it but from what I've seen and heard about Berkeley politics that is not likely to happen. It's such a shame because Berkeley has been and can still be a fabulous place to live.

The Trenches: Part 2

We're in California for a while, continues...

This week the contractors are back to add electricity and water to our little cabin in the forest. Yesterday they dug a trench to the cabin to lay the cables, etc. Yikes. What a mess. But they did an amazing job on the cables in the front so I am confident they will make it all look fabulous when they are finished. Then renovation on the cabin itself will begin and will be a little hideaway in the forest. A hideaway with ethernet to a 6 Mbit internet connection. '-)

The sea of fog also hung around for most of yesterday and was gorgeous. Today it is crystal clear both at the top of the mountain and the valley so it's a day of lovely views once again.

Dinner with Derek

We're in California for a while, continues...

Last night, our friend Derek and his friend Kaitlin came for dinner on the mountain. John cooked yet another amazing dinner. And, of course, there was champagne. Lots of it, yay. We haven't seen Derek since he was staying at our house in London last summer. He is fabulous and we always enjoy hanging out with him. After dinner Derek and Kaitlin gave the Wii at try and it was hilarious. We were shooting Rabbids and laughing hysterically. This morning we woke up to sunshine on the mountain with a sea of fog in the valley. Gorgeous.

Beethoven vs. DRM

We're in California for a while, continues...

As my friends know, I buy a lot of music. A LOT of music. At this point we have 7300+ albums, which is a combination of cd's and purchased downloads. I usually buy an album a day but have known to buy as many as six or more.

Yesterday, I was surfing iTunes and discovered a new album of Rameau Keyboard Suites by one of my favorite pianists, Angela Hewitt. I was excited to see it was iTunes Plus which means there is no DRM (digital rights management) so I bought it. It's gorgeous.

Then I discovered that she is also recording the Beethoven Piano Sonatas. I say "also" because my other two favorite pianists, Mitsuko Uchida and Andras Schiff, are also recording the Beethoven Piano Sonatas. WTF? How many effing versions of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas does the world need? There are already way too many.

I had resisted buying any of them because I'm not really a Beethoven fan. If anything, his piano sonatas are one of the few things of his I can tolerate or even sometimes enjoy. But I realized that in the hands of Uchida/Schiff/Hewitt even Beethoven is going to sound good and decided I would buy them. Which one? All of them. Yea, I'm nuts like that.

However, the stupidity of the record labels presented a problem. Here is the wacky combination of issues that caused me to buy only one.

1. And the winner is: Andras Schiff at Amazon.com mp3 downloads. His version of the Beethoven Piano Sonatas is the only one available in its (so far) multiple volumes without DRM. Congrats to ECM Records for getting it right. Sort of. Although the downloads at Amazon.com have no DRM, the ones at iTunes do. I'm not sure why that is but in my experience iTunes is very slow to respond to updates, so the non-DRM version may be pending. Or not. We may never know.

2. The version by Mitsuko Uchida is only on iTunes and does have DRM. Decca Records is one of the most clueless labels out there. Hopefully a non-DRM version will happen some day and also be on amazon.com.

3. The version by Angela Hewitt is only on iTunes. They only have two of the three volumes released so far and only one of them is DRM-free. What a mess.

So, the bottom line is that I want to buy all these albums, plus their future volumes, but I want downloads, not cd's, and I want no DRM. So I guess I will only have the delicious Andras Schiff version until the other record labels get a clue.

Lately the evil records labels have all announced the end of DRM. This is exciting news. It has not yet filtered down to the actual online stores but I'm cautiously optimistic that in a few months I'll be able to buy only downloads without DRM, at last.

Pump Up The Volume

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday, John stopped for gas. As soon as he started pumping the gas a television screen came on and screamed:

"I'm Kevin and I'm so glad you're here at Shell!"

OMFG.

Apparently NBC has televisions at Shell station gas pumps that play "NBC at the Pump" and inflicts Hollywood News on everyone. What a nightmare. NBC (and television media in general) is taking over the world. We have to deal with NBC's mindless crap in movie theatres which plays at top volume while every one gets seated. Yet another reason not to go to the movies.

This travesty should be easy to avoid by avoiding Shell gas stations. Hopefully the other gas companies have not been infiltrated by NBC. Yet.

But gas stations are a new addition to the media blitz. It's impossible to find a quiet area anywhere. Airports, trains, restaurants and too many more. Even the product counters at the drug store have video screens that are motion activated so when I walk past five times looking for the Advil I have to deal with "hi there, need help? Just touch the screen for assistance to find the products that are right for you." It's impossible to even tell them "no thanks." They just keep going on and on.

All this "media" being screamed at us everywhere reminds me of the scene in Minority Report where Tom Cruise is walking through the mall and the stores, walls and billboards address him by name (well, the wrong name but you have to see the movie) as he walks past and try to sell him stuff. It's only a matter of time before I go to Macy's and the escalator says "Good morning, Mrs. Buckman. We have those sheets you like in mocha toffee today. Would you like us to charge your credit card now and have the package ready for you when you arrive on the third floor? "

I always talk about how much fun it is to live in the future but that is not a future I'm looking forward to.

Any minute now.

Austere Asteria

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday, John went into San Francisco for a day of museums and galleries and a long walk with our friend Cary. A few days ago, he discovered that Magnatune artists Asteria were performing in San Francisco. I was disappointed to miss them but I was not up for an all-day-evening excursion into San Francisco and we only have one car.

John said that Asteria's performance was amazing. They are incredibly talented and their music is breathtakingly beautiful. After the concert they all went out for dessert and had a great time. Now I really feel left out. Eric and Sylvia are incredibly nice. I had met them when John and I were in New York a few years ago and we had a fab dinner. I hope our paths cross again some time.

The Trenches

We're in California for a while, continues...

After days of fog the sun is finally visible today and the trees are slowly reappearing as the fog dissipates.

Last night we drove over to Berkeley for a fabulous dinner at Fonda. Yes, we used our iPhones as illumination devices to take photos of each other with our iPhones. We are hopeless geeks, haha.

Then we went to a concert by our friends David and Hanneke's group, Voices of Music. The concert was gorgeous and the venue was packed. Loved it.

Yesterday, the electrical contractor came to install electricity for: our new internet connection! Yes, we finally found an ISP that offers line-of-sight high-speed wireless. On the hill near the well in our front yard they will install a dish that points to their tower on Mount Tamalpais. Then we'll have blinding fast (fingers crossed) internet instead of the crappy 3G we're using now.

The two electrical guys were so nice and spent the day installing the electrical box for the dish and then digging a trench to the house to lay the ethernet cable. I can't help being impressed by a contractor that brings Voss water for himself (see photo). The dish installation should be next week, we're very excited.

Speaking of trenches, our friend Mary sent me a photo that Eliza took of the street in front of our house in London. The ongoing project of replacing the Victorian water mains has reached our block. Yikes.

We are going to London three weeks from today (yay!) but I doubt they will be finished the construction by then. Oh boy, we're not looking forward to construction hell but we really are looking forward to going back to London. I've been craving Pizza Express and Moti Mahal.

The Fog and The Force

We're in California for a while, continues...

We're fogged in. It's so thick that we can't see much of anything. Wow, is it boring. Driving on the super twistie mountain road in the fog is really nerve wracking. So we stayed in and played Lego Star Wars on the Wii.

I know that the computer game industry is huge but had no idea of what the games were like. Wow. Lego Star Wars looks amazing and is really fun. It's also really difficult. Since neither of us has played computer games since the 80's, we are a bit overwhelmed. We especially enjoyed the teamwork aspect of the game. My approach is to shoot everything I can find, including John's character, unfortunately. LOL.

We also played a hilarious game called Rayman Raving Rabbids 2. It is completely bizarre, ingenious and hilarious. We loved it and played the same sections over and over because we laughed out loud every time. The graphics are astonishing. Running around Paris being attacked by rabbits with sink plungers has to be some of the most fun we've ever had.

Our Back Yard

We're in California for a while, continues...

Our back yard is the forest. It goes several acres beyond the pool, with a reasonably large flat area which then dips down on each side into deep ravines. Recently we had a tree company come and clear out all the dead underbrush and fallen trees that had accumulated over the years to make it more fire-safe and more walkable. The result is beautiful.

We discovered a picnic bench quite far from the house, which you can barely see through the trees. There is also a tiny cabin that we are going to have remodeled to make it more comfortable. John is looking forward to taking his laptop out there in the summer and hanging out.

I am not much of an outdoors person. I really enjoy looking at it but I don't really enjoy exploring it. But I must admit that I find the forest around our house very compelling and will probably spend time walking through it, especially once it gets warmer.

Master Mixing and Fireside Chat

We're in California for a while, continues...

Yesterday, John started a new audio project: mastering my next album. Yay! It is another collection of music I created in the 80's using my analog studio. A few months ago I transferred the raw tracks from my master tapes to my iMac. Since John is a wiz at digital audio engineering, and I don't have a clue, he volunteered to do the digital remastering for me. We got one track finished and it sounds amazing. We're going to try to do one or two tracks a day so the album will be ready soon. I'm so excited!

Fireside Bullshit

Yesterday, Kirsty and I went to a "fireside chat" in Second Life by Philip Rosedale, CEO of Second Life, and Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco.

What a crock. I love Second Life. LOVE IT. But it's inevitable that our evil government will start using Second Life as a platform to spread its propaganda to its continually victimized citizens. Philip Rosedale is a pretty face, I met him in Chicago in August, and he's a nice enough guy. He talked the usual fluff about the future of Second Life, etc. and it's all really exciting stuff and would be more exciting if he would find a way for government to keep its hands off it. I have two words of advice for Philip Rosedale: Cayman Islands.

After hearing Gavin Newsom it is now clear to me why San Francisco is such a street-person and drug addict disaster area. He babbled a lot of expensive PR trained self-congratulatory propaganda. He speaks really badly and sounds like an extra from The Sopranos. Creepy. He went on and on about how Second Life is the future of community communication, government/citizen interaction, etc. he called "Government 2.0." Yikes. What a tool. He also made a ridiculous statement along the lines of San Francisco being the best city in the U.S. to do business. I hate that kind of crap. Territorial narcissism pisses me off. My-city-is-better-than-your-city mentality is so destructive to society. People go nuts over it and it scares me. San Francisco is one of the most self-satisfied cities I've seen. It thinks it's New York. I enjoy San Francisco but, get real, it's not New York.

Also, the audience was one of the biggest collections of assholes I've experienced in Second Life. That's not surprising considering it was a bunch of Second Life insiders, several of whom were at the Second Life Conference in Chicago, where I was not impressed by them either. I love geeks, generally, but when you get more than two of them together it's way too much like junior high school for my comfort. =:-0

But despite my political and social cynicism, I thought that the fireside chat happening inside Second Life is fascinating. The auditorium was nicely done, although I thought that the tiers of seating was hilarious considering that a "region" can't hold more than 60 or so people. Yesterday I counted 68 people there which is a lot. And the lag was horrendous. So events like this one can't really happen easily until Second Life gets more technically robust. But I think it will, it's only a matter of time.

Sadly, I think it's also only a matter of time before the government infiltrates Second Life even more, to spread its propaganda and fascism. Yea, I'm a cynic, I know. Sigh.

Video of the event is here

Gamin' on the Mountain

We're in California for a while, continues...

John and I are not computer game people. We both played arcade games when we were young but now we spend our time at our computers maintaining our web content, communicating with friends, reading the news, Second Life, etc. None of the games we have seen appealed to us.

Until now.

I played the Nintendo Wii for the first time back in August when Kirsty and I visited Chuck and Dayna in Chicago. Then John played for the first time last week at the new year's eve party at our friends Cory and Jennifer's house. When we played together we decided, yep, we have to have a Wii.

It arrived today and John hooked it up to our flat screen. It is hilarious! The best part is that we can play together. It being active and responding to movement is amazing. We were laughing hysterically because we both sucked so badly. We did a lot better at the new year's eve party, probably because of the champagne.

We also love the cute aspect of it, designing our little characters that look like weebles, and the reaction of the crowd during the tennis match is hilarious. The graphics are really amazing. So far we've only played the bowling and tennis but there are many other games to explore, some of which we would never be interested in (boxing?) except the Wii is completely ingenious and a ton of fun.