The Love Show!

(Click on any images to embiggen them for easy viewing.)

Melissa and I were at the table, eating a tasty pasta dinner. It was the evening of Saturday, September 1, 2007. Very unassuming, really.

We had enjoyed a productive-but-laid-back day, doing laundry and making a tasty pasta dinner (Miss made some killer meatballs). It was around 5:45PM, and I was sipping some wine when my cell phone rang.

It was my mini-boss and coworker, Joe (of the Internet's Fourhman.com), with awesome news.

"We're at Target right now, and they have 4 or 5 Wii's in stock," he announced.


(Photo by Joe)

He wasn't sure if I was still interested, considering all the pain and suffering I went through trying to get a Wii for several months earlier this year (read about that here); however, I was in the car and on my way to Target as soon as I informed Melissa and received special permission to leave in the middle of her hard-cooked meal and spend a ton of money that, by all means, should be going toward housing upgrades and/or baby stuff.

He said they (he, his wife and son) would hover around for a while, and I added, "Just make sure they have at least one by the time I get there."


(Photo by Joe)

He put one on hold, unbeknownst to yours truly. I was busy driving carefully and heeding all traffic signs.

(VROOOOOOOOM!)


(Photo by Joe)

I made it to Target rather quickly...and Joe snapped this shot of me, posing with one of my trademark goofy/smarmy expressions. He waved "HURRY UP!" and I trotted over to the Fourhman family.

Joe and I waited for the guy behind the counter to stop fidding with random things under the counter and pay attention to us. The "HELD" unit (heh) was on the desk behind him, as you could see 2 photos ago. We chatted about the end of my long Wii search and how we wondered if Josh would head over and try to pick one up.

Finally, he got to me.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Yeah, hold on. I want to get another remote (Wii-mote)," I replied, heading over to the Wii section and hoping he'd follow. Instead, he waited on another douchy-looking couple who also wanted a Wii. After ringing them up, he sprang into action...and I instead told him just to grab a "Wii Play" box, as it contains a controller AND game for roughly the same price.

I have a lot of mini-game loving pals, so I figured it'd go over well at the next Game Night (TM) event...and with Miss.

After paying for everything (around $315, all said and done)...I exchanged pleasantries with the Fourhmans for a little while longer (Clark had a cool book about potties that made "flush" sounds, which I noted I both love and have at home)...and as I took off for home with my new toy, Clarkster asked where I was going. One of those fun kid moments that makes me feel like this whole baby thing is going to be pretty cool.



I'm home! Melissa snapped a shot of the conquering hero...Wii in tow. Whee!

No time to laugh about that now, though...I had dinner to microwave. Man, it was good. Wine wasn't bad, either.

After belated dinner, I ran to the bathroom and popped an allergy pill...remembering, as I swallowed it, that I'd just downed a glass of wine. D'oh...

Oh, well. I'll just have to put off passing out until this Wii thing's set up!



I showed Murray. He was intrigued, which is good. You want the dog to be cool with any new addition to the family.



Shame Josh won't be able to enjoy it, though. Sadly, I neglected to pick up a Gluten-Free system in my hurry to grab a Wii, ANY Wii. He'll have to wear rubber gloves, I guess.



Miss and I unpacked the console, and began sorting through all the bits and pieces that come with it.



Isn't it slick? Matches our iMac so well! Poor thing has to live on the floor for now, because its being next to the TV/the TV being off-center is not an easy transition for Melissa. We'll get there. Baby-steps.



Here's the whole mess, spread out. Quite a haul, really..and long-awaited!



I approve. Hard.

I plugged everything in, ran set-up (during which Melissa turned off the Wii by mistake, hitting the power button on the second Wii-mote and thinking it powered-up the controller)...and Melissa and I played Wii Play for a good, long while.

It was fun, and we got addicted to the "Tank" game and the "Find a Mii" game. And speaking of Mii's...



We took a bit of a break, and Melissa got to making some Mii's! A Mii, if you don't know, is a little, customized version of yourself that pops up in some games for the Wii. You can play as a little virtual "you," which is neat. There are a bunch of Mii versions of Melissa and me out there...on various friends' consoles. No longer necessary, as we have the official versions!

Mii's can travel to other people's systems and pop up in their games when you're not around, too. So...yeah. Let's move on.



Melissa's Mii. She's cute! As a favorite, she gets special, red pants!



I took the controls and designed my own little virtual Tony critter. Aren't I adorable?



Couldn't have a family Wii without a Murray Mii, right? He's hilarious! Melissa designed this one, as I made suggestions. He's a Favorite, so his red pants can represent his red collar. Genius!



Miss still on the remote and with me as co-pilot, we even went so far as to make a Bailey Mii. This was actually the first one she made, I believe. Very comical. We had a debate over whether his skin should be white/pink or black/brown (as his SKIN is pinkish, but his FUR is black). Darker is better for a good likeness, I thought...and so, here's our rabbit. Note, the hair hanging down like ears.



A family Mii portrait! Note that Bailey's segregated. This photo was taken because we laughed at how unintentionally racist our screen appeared when Melissa organized our Mii's by "Favorites." Yeesh! I'd like to point out that Bailey is not a Favorite because he looks better in the standard, black pants that non-Favorite Mii's get. I think I've since removed my special, red Favorite pants, so I can stand with poor Bailey. So many subtle, awful things in this shot, though. At least I thought so, in my drugged and drunken state.

Not long after this, we both passed out. I zonked on the couch, and Miss had trouble waking my comatose butt up to head to the bedroom.

Josh called to invite himself over to play with my Wii, but we were both DEAD ASLEEP. Heard NOTHING. I saw his message the next morning and decided I'd invite him over that night, post-shopping.

The next day (Sunday, Sept. 2), Melissa and I left the apartment and did some shopping. We had a list of non-food things to purchase...and on that list was a wireless router, so that the iMac, her work laptop and the Wii could all sniff out the Internets! Woohoo!



While we were out, I stopped by the Electronics Boutique at the mall and picked up a game for my new system.

I like that my first major game purchase for my first Nintendo system since the Super NES a billion years ago is...a SEGA game. A SONIC game, for that matter.

lololol i M teh fanboi sonic roxxx!!1

The only reason this was allowed is I had a bunch of trade-in games and a small amount left on the gift card Billy had given as a wedding gift.



Check out Harvest Moon, coming in at a WHOPPING $7! Insane! Last year's Smackdown! got me a cool $5, while my under-played PS2 version of The SIMS came in third. NFL 2K5's piddly 20 cents is laugh-worthy (though not shocking). The others on there were nothing to write home about, money-wise...and I'd already played through or decided I no longer needed them all.

We'll grab a new Harvest Moon for the Wii, and still have TWO others in our possession, playable at any time. Sorry, Melissa. I know I traded in the "pretty" one. But $7 is an honorable sacrifice!



After gift card, my copy of Sonic and the Secret Rings cost me $5.91! Not bad. Next, I'll need Mario Galaxy, NiGHTS, Smash Bros. and MAYBE, if I decide to go for the slick, white guitar of the Wii version over the "I finally have 2 guitars for the PS2" version, Guitar Hero 3.

Xmas is coming. Shop early and often.

What's that? The baby means I never get presents again?!!! Aww, CRAP! Better get a second job to fund my gaming habit...



Anyway, here's a shot Melissa took of one of the multiplayer modes in my new Sonic game in action. Whee! Look at that little boat go!



And, lo, Josh and I DID game. For HOURS. Sunday night/Monday morning, he left at 2AM.

The Wii is upon us, friends.

Rejoice, and give Joe a hug if you see him. He'll know it's from me, and he'll know why.