Ever since we bought the plasma tv last year, we haven’t had a good tv to play video games on. Joe has been putting a 19″ tv in front of the fireplace and using that from time to time which clutters the living room, not to mention sucks as far as picture quality goes. We had been mulling over buying an LCD TV strictly for gaming but they aren’t cheap. The least expensive one in an acceptable size was a Polaroid 32″ LCD HDTV that Circuit City normally sells for $999. We looked at it last weekend and Joe read reviews about it on their website but we really couldn’t decide. Until this morning, that is, when Joe opened up their ad in the Sunday paper and saw it was on sale for $899. We headed straight to the store and then spent a good hour or so going from store to store looking for a decent tv stand under $100 for it. We finally found a nice stand at Value City of all places. It was a stand I had been looking at on Walmart’s website that they didn’t have in the store. It cost a bit more, but only by $5 after factoring in the shipping charges we would have had to pay. So now we have a kickass gaming station upstairs in our loft. The only thing that stinks is the space isn’t laid out too well (here’s our current setup) so there’s nowhere good to put the leather chair that was up there so you can sit on it while playing. I think we should put it in storage for the time being and get a bean bag chair or something. I swear, that’s it for furniture. I’m starting to feel like it’s getting a bit too crowded in here as it is.
Month: June 2006
There’s more than corn in Indiana
Damn you, Indiana. As if I didn’t need another reason not to like that state, they go and mess up our arrival time to Indiana Beach by deciding to observe Daylight Saving Time beginning this year. Unbeknownst to us, the majority of the state is in the Eastern time zone. However, since they didn’t observe DST before, we never noticed because we only visited in the summer when our times matched. So imagine our surprise when we arrived at the amusement park this morning at what we thought was 10:20 am and couldn’t figure out why all the good parking was gone and the rides that don’t start until 11 am were already running. Um, yea, because it was actually 11:20 am. We had to park in the free lot and walk. Can you imagine? I’ve never had to do that before. We usually pay the $3 or $5 fee and park right under the Flume ride.
Other than that, we had a nice time. We went on $20 worth of rides, ate tacos, nachos, elephant ears, and a corn dog (well, Joe ate the corn dog), and played air hockey and skeeball. I almost thought I had lost my skeeball skills when I kept getting 10 points on every ball, but as I told Joe (who didn’t believe me at first), it just took me awhile to warm up. My best score was 320. I’m sure I could top that given more quarters to waste but I think $5+ was enough.
I have to say something, though. Either it’s me, or the place is getting more crowded every year. Between the smokers and the people wearing inappropriate clothing, my eyes and nose have been assaulted. I think it’s lost a lot of its magic for me as I’ve grown older. But we’ll be back again later this year because we promised the kids we’d take them. We’re contemplating going in the evening for a different experience and to avoid that awful sun. I put sunscreen on but I still got burned. :p
Slip ‘N Bleed
After work we went to Petsmart to look at the kitties up for adoption. It’s now a tradition to torture ourselves like this. There were two grey kitties with a black one in a cage together and they were all adorable. Only four months old too. Way too cute, we had to move on.
I ended up getting a potty and litter for Peanut. The girl who helped us buy her had said not to bother but I’ve read elsewhere that it’s not too difficult to train hamsters to use a potty so we’ll see how that goes. It would make cleaning her cage much easier. We also got a cheap pet playpen for her so she can run around outside the cage without running off and hiding. She’s playing games with me tonight, hiding out in her bedroom, so I haven’t been able to put her in the playpen just yet.
After Petsmart earlier we went to Target and got a Frappachino from the Starbucks inside. I was craving one after the conversation we had at work because my boss buys Starbucks EVERY morning. I teased her about the fortune she is spending. I can barely bring myself to “splurge” on a 99¢ fruit and yogurt parfait from McDonald’s every other Friday morning. I’m frugal, there’s no doubt.
Anyway, the Frappachino gave me a stomachache so we cut our shopping short which means we didn’t get everything on the list. We did buy a Slip ‘N Slide* for the kids, however. I realize it says for ages 5-12 but I’m probably going to be trying that baby out anyway. I often feel like I’m 12 so that counts, right? My grandparents had one when I was a kid but it was all yellow and it didn’t have that bumper on the end. Oh no, you just slid right off it and crashed headfirst into the garage. I shit you not. Between crashing and sliding over rocks, I was so bruised after using it. Kids are so coddled these days. Now the damn thing is cushioned and everything. When I was a kid (do I sound old here or what?), we played with lawn darts, and those tips were made of sharp metal. They wouldn’t dare sell them like that now.
Anyway, we got home and Joe had it in his head he wanted chicken patties so he got so upset when he realized we were all out. I ended up making homemade mac and beef using Ragu cheese, pasta, and ground beef. Add a little seasoning salt and it’s better than Kraft. My friend called while we were eating to let me know she wouldn’t be meeting us at the local festival as originally planned. I wanted to go there around 9 or so to get some night shots of the rides and play bingo but our laziness won out and we didn’t end up going. If we could just park nearby and walk I think I might have gone anyway, but I wasn’t too keen on having to park in their designated lots (i.e local high schools) and waiting for a shuttle bus to take us to the fairgrounds. So I did some laundry instead.
That’s typical for us, though. We don’t usually go out on Friday nights for some reason. I guess it’s nice to just kick back after a long week of work and sit around knowing we don’t have to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Although we won’t be staying up too late – tomorrow we’re going to Indiana Beach. The weather forecast is 80 and sunny. Best tacos in Indiana, here we come!
* Also known as the Slip ‘N Bleed from the Anus according to Dane Cook
Hamster
Meet the new addition to our family. Or our only one if we’re talking about pets. She’s a short-haired Syrian hamster we got at PetSmart this evening.
I had been thinking about getting a hamster for awhile. I had two dwarfs, Zoey and Chloe, years ago before I met Joe, but never a Syrian before. We had contemplated getting a hedgehog but they were pretty expensive and not really fluffy, although very cute! We stopped at PetSmart tonight (after buying some blinds at Lowes) just to look (I’ve been just looking for weeks) and she was so cute, I had to have her. She is very energetic and aware of her surroundings which is more than I can say for my other hamsters. She’s a greyish/brown color which doesn’t translate well to film with flash, but eventually I’ll get some better photos of her. For someone who wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea, Joe sure likes watching her. Hehehe, I knew he would. I still have cage cleaning duty, however. That’s ok. She may not be a cat, but she’s fluffy, so she will do for now until I can get some kitties. Now I just need to give her a name. :)
Update: We decided to name her Peanut.
MP3s in your car for the low-tech
I had an idea for a new product today. Tell me what you think (and ignore the fact that this quite possibly already exists since I didn’t bother Googling it thus possibly rendering this post useless).
As you know, I have XM satellite radio in my car, so I rarely listen to cds, but there are times when I get newly discovered songs stuck in my head. Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of messing with burning a whole cd just for a few choice songs or dealing with a bunch of wires to synch your iPod, you could stick a thumbdrive into the USB port of your computer, drop a couple of MP3s on it, then stick it into a port on your car stereo and jam to your new favorite tunes during the morning commute? Perfect for those non-techies out there who don’t need their entire music collection at their fingertips, yes?
(Steal my idea and be prepared to say goodbye to your cash and prizes. You’ve been warned.)