Here's an interesting websit with a whole bunch of old photos... I like the website

I'd like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas... I hope everybody got what they wanted.

So I've had a few weeks with the Nintendo Wii.

Let's start with the back story...

I was planning on getting a Wii after Christmas, but I was still on the lookout for a Wii... on November 18th I attempted to get a Wii from Meijer, but was not able to get one... so I was going to go out on the 19th to Circuit City to see if I can get one, but I didn't get up...

So Fast forward two weeks to December 2nd... I was looking for a Wii throughout the previous week, but to still no avail.... so I thought I might get up early on the 3rd and get one from Toys R Us... well I did wake up, but decided I could wait... I would rather sleep... I had to work so I thought I'd sleep... but I was awoken at 9:30 by my brother saying that I owed him $400 dollars, since he got up early and went out and bought a Wii from Toys R Us... So now I dind't have to look...

I've had about 2 weeks to play with the thing... and I can honestly say I haven't had any issues with it yet.

Unpacking

I know this has been covered in depth by many websites, but oh well... I don't care... so there are two boxes that are in the big Wii box, one has the console, the other has the accessories. Included in the box is Wii Sports (Bowling, Tennis, Boxing, Golf, and Baseball), a Wii Remote (WiiMote), a Nunchuck, the RCA Cables for the Wii, the manual (which nobody reads anyway), the sensor bar, the power cord and the stand.

Now, with unwrapping all of the items, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. Which it didn't. Upon booting up the Wii, you are prompted to go through the obligitaory setup. Entering the date, time, system name... etc, etc... Once that was finished, I chose to update the firmware on the Wii in order to make sure I had the latest features. That went flawlessly, after entering in the connection settings for my wireless connection. Onto the gameplay...

Game Play..

So of course when you look at somebody playing the Wii, they look like a complete moron... but that doesn't stop anybody from playing. I have to say the Wii is like crack, it's really addictive. You always fine yourself saying "one more game" or "one more round". But oh well, it's all about the exercise anyway.

So I first started off with Excite Truck, and I had played the game at Gamestop previously and I sucked then, and sucked when I first started. It does take a while to get the hang of using the Wiimote as a steering wheel but after you get the hang of it, it's not too bad.

After Excite Truck came Wii Sports: Bowling. Of course, it's just like real bowling, except it's free and you don't have to deal with a bunch of other people (unless they're playing with you).

The graphics on the Wii aren't bad even when just using the RCA connection (I did not have a component cable to test). I think it looks pretty good even with just the RCA cables.

Using the Wiimote to control other aspects of the game is a unique experience. The wiimote is bluetooth enabled and does respond to your actions through the sensor bar, but it does have limited range in terms of readable radius from the sensor bar. On more than one occasion I've had the Wiimote stop functioning because it went out of range of the sensor bar.

That's about it for my review, if there's some other section of it that you'd like to know about, let me know, I'll post another part to my review...

Stories of the week have been posted...check them out here

I also plan on posting a Wii review sometime soon

James Kim....

On November 25th the Kim Family (James, Kati, Penelope (4), and Sabine (7 months)) were traveling along the Oregon coast headed to Gold Beach to make a stop on their way back home from visiting Family in Oregon for Thanksgiving. On Tuesday, November 28th James did not return to work at Cnet and by Wednesday authorities were notified.

During their week of hell, they exhausted all their rations. Kati kept the children alive by breastfeeding both of them in order to keep them alive. During their week of being stranded they had burned the tires on their car for warmth after the fuel had run out.

On Saturday, December 2nd after being stranded for over a week, James set out to go and find help. With him, he brough a pair of sweat pants, two lighters, and several items of clothing. Throughout his travels, he had left items of clothing along the way, presumably as markers for any rescuers. He had traveled over eight miles before finally succombing to the exhaustion and weather.

On Monday, December 4th, Kati, Penelope and Sabine were found at their car, after Kati had used an umbrella to flag down rescuers. They were taken to the local hospital and have since been released. They are with family.

Today (December 6th) James Kim's body was found in the Oregon Wilderness. Helicopters with SWAT members on board were brought in to remove the body.

This is a very sad and tragic event.

He was just doing what any rational person would do, try and protect the most important thing in the world to him: his family. And for that he is a Hero.

This from the Twit.tv forums, Thanks to Dreadnought for posting this:

if you'd like to contribute feel free to go to JamesandKati.com and make a donation.

R.I.P James

So My brother got up today and went to Toys R Us for a Wii, and was able to get one.... so I'll be playing that for a while. I still need a couple of classic controllers. We've got Wii Sports, Zelda, and Excite Truck... so we'll see what other games we get.... I'll give a full review in a few days.

My thought when walking out of my house today... this is a quote from Band of Brothers....
"Where are we?"
"It can't be hell, it's too damn cold".

Oh, how true for day.

I've posted the Stories of the Week.... check them out Here Some good funny stuff this week.

So it's Thanksgiving again... and here's my list of things that I'm thankful for.

My Health, not always the best, but it's all I've got.
My Job, despite having it's downsides, it helps me get through the days.
My Family, weirdest group of people I've met
A great group of friends that keep me laughing, and who I manage to make laugh without really trying. Particularly the news ones I've met over the last year...
JS, KW, and most of all, JM.

So tonight confirmed that after this class I will not be taking any Cisco classes in the spring... despite wanting to get my CCNP over with, I don't think I can handle them anymore... but oh well... I'll take computer forensics instead. Sounds more interesting anyway