Category: Fun & Games

Organized files and Puzzle League

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For me there’s an internal struggle on the weekends between feeling productive and getting an appropriate amount of relaxation. If I sit around too much I feel like I wasted time and energy I usually lack during the week that I could have spent on projects and the like. However, if I do too much cleaning and otherwise non-fun stuff, I feel like I never get a break. Finding a balance is tough. I think today I did quite well as I did a little laundry and finally finished the overhaul of our filing I began last weekend. It went from looking like this to this. Not only does it look more organized, it should be easier to file paperwork in their appropriate folders.

Now all I have to focus on the rest of the evening is playing games with the kids and finding time for my latest addiction: Puzzle League. I rented the GBA version of Dr. Mario from Gamefly and Puzzle League came with it. I tried it and have been hooked ever since, even going so far as to order it at Amazon.com when I ordered a handful of DS games on behalf of my brother. Now I’ve also learned that a DS version of the game is coming out later this year. I can’t wait! I’ve been sneaking upstairs and playing in the bathroom while the kids are here since they don’t know about the DS. I haven’t played Dr. Mario since the day the game came in either.

Peggle

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I’d like to thank the blogger for mentioning this game in an entry and piquing my interest. It’s so much fun! I like puzzle games. In fact, my favorite original Gameboy games were Tetris and Dr. Mario.

So who wants to buy me the full version? I’ve gotten through the trial and I’m hooked. You know, my half birthday is in July…

Random musings

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Friday afternoon I got a call from Joe. He was at SuperTarget and couldn’t find the frozen fish aisle. Of course he found it just as I answered the phone! I thought it was cute how much he depends on me for the little things.

This morning I was blow-drying my hair when I heard a loud pop and the dryer started squealing. It scared the living shit out of me! I immediately unplugged it in fear it would catch fire. Then I went to SuperTarget and bought this replacement. Actually I bought a Revlon hair-dryer at K-Mart first, but the one from Target was cheaper, smaller, and the brand I always buy, so I’m taking the other one back.

While at Target I saw cannibalistic Peeps!

One of my new favorite shows is The L Word. I just started watching a few weeks ago and set up a series recording on the DVR in case I liked it. I’m not too fond of the girl on girl action (or any kissing scenes, hetero or otherwise for that matter), but other than that it’s a very interesting show. Now I have three seasons to catch up on!

Lego Star Wars II is not meant to be played on the DS. Take it from me: it’s one of those games that reminds you just how small the screen really is. I’m excited because the new game, Diddy Kong Racing DS, is on its way from Game Crazy. It looks like a more fun version of Mario Kart DS. I hope so!

T.G.I. Friday’s & The Wild

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Since we haven’t been going anywhere with the kids the past few weekends they’ve been over, we thought it would be a nice change of pace to go out for lunch. We chose T.G.I. Friday’s because it’s close, we haven’t been there in ages, and they have a decent kids menu. We tried their new appetizer, crispy green bean fries, which were awesome. Everything else, from the service to the food, was just ok. The hostess was very bored and not very friendly and the waiter wasn’t much better. I don’t expect to be treated like royalty but would it have killed either of them to pretend like they wanted us there?

Honestly, I’m not sure why we even dine out anymore as more often than not I’m not impressed with the food. I’d rather make my own. Luckily the kids meals are cheap so the bill wasn’t bad, otherwise I would have been more annoyed. I didn’t appreciate that they brought out our food but neglected to provide utensils. Those are rather important when you order salad and spaghetti. In any case that place has been lumped into the same category as Denny’s: nice in theory but always a disappointment. Therefore I can’t see us dining there again.

Anyway, after lunch we played two games of Scene It Jr. with the kids. They sure know how to kill the fun with their constant bickering. The game is actually quite decent but they argue at every opportunity over who gets to ask the trivia questions. Who cares?!? Man, I’m sure I was just as annoying when I was a kid but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. The boy in particular gets so angry if he thinks it’s his turn to ask a question. He needs to take a chill pill.

After the game we watched Disney’s The Wild. We wanted to rent Flushed Away, but it was out. I wasn’t too sad, though, since I had planned to see The Wild anyway after learning that Kiefer Sutherland is the voice of the main character, Sampson the lion. The movie wasn’t anything special although it had some cute parts like when they were in downtown New York and the giraffe spotted a Toys R Us and was enthralled (you know, because their mascot is a giraffe also). The koala bear was my favorite, however. Oh, and there were a few scenes in particular where a Jack Bauer “DAMMIT!” would have fit in quite nicely. I even whispered it to Joe at the appropriate places and he laughed.

Super Princess Peach

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Super Princess Peach Something a little interesting happened with one of the gifts Joe bought me for Christmas. He ordered it online right around the same time I rented it from Gamefly. It turned out that the game stunk, but it had already shipped by the time Joe heard my opinion. It wasn’t his fault, of course: I did have it on my CD Universe wish list. The game? Burnout. It never failed us on the PS2 so I was surprised at how much it sucked on the DS. Not wanting to pay return shipping, we figured we’d just exchange it at a local store since it was still sealed.

I decided I’d pay the difference to get Kirby Squeak Squad since Burnout cost $19.99 and Kirby retails for $35. First we went to Circuit City, but as Joe waited in the returns line, I ran to the back of the store to check what DS games they had in stock: not many, and not Kirby, so we left.

Next we went to Target. I used the restroom while Joe waited at the customer service counter. The girl at the counter advised him that they do allow returns without a receipt: two per guest per year. They track this by taking down the person’s driver’s license information.

So off we went to look at the DS games, but they didn’t have Kirby in stock either. In fact, they didn’t have any games that looked good that I didn’t already own. We decided to get Lego Star Wars for the PS2. It was $19.99 so it would be an even exchange, or so we guessed as Joe forgot to ask the girl how much the return was worth.

When we got up to the counter, the girl apologized for not telling us before that their policy states the new item has to cost the same, or more, than the return. To our surprise, Target sells Burnout for $34.99.

Back we went to the electronics department to find a more expensive game. All the DS games were $29.99 or less except one, so we started looking at Gamecube and PS2 games but didn’t like what was in stock. Who knew it would be so hard to find a pricier game?! Finally I decided to take my chances and grabbed the only $34.99 DS game they were selling: Super Princess Peach. I never heard of the game before, but it looked interesting and it was better than keeping a game I knew sucked.

I finally popped it into the DS tonight and it is pretty cute and entertaining. Not quite up to the level of Yoshi, but still fun. Much better than the suck that is Burnout, that’s for certain!