I went to a used CD/DVD/Video Game store the other day after work. I had not been in one of these stores in years, and I was surprised at all the great deals to be had! Back when I lived in West L.A., I used to go used cd shopping all the time, and the price for a good disc was around $8-9. At the store I went to the other day, the two cd’s I bought came out to be a grand total of $4. And there were a few more I wanted, each for $1.99. I did find a few that I really wanted that were $7.99, but still, much cheaper than buying the mp3 (if you like the whole disc, that is).

Mariko ordered a nice new Dell 17″ Flat Panel monitor to use with her laptop. I guess the screen on that tiny machine is just no good for everyday use. Anyways, she ordered it yesterday afternoon, and it arrived at about 9am this morning. I was so surprised that it was so quick. The delivery estimate on the invoice said 3-5 days, but it only took about 15 hours. Amazing! Go buy a Dell! (and use the link in the sidebar to get there 🙂 )

After waiting for three months, the Michelin Gazelle tires I ordered for my C70 arrived at the shop. Apparently a big batch comes over from Asia to the distribution channels here in the states only a few times a year. But, the bike is in storage while we wait for our new house to be built. I will have to put on the new tires later in the year. 🙁 Which reminds me, I gotta charge the battery…

Mariko bought me a Nintendo DS yesterday! It’s so cool. She also bought me the game Super Mario 64 DS, which is the port of the original N64 game. It’s neat because it brings back memories of when I first met Mariko and we used to play the game on her N64 in Osaka.

The DS is a great system, the screens are really bright and crisp, and the sound is awesome. I want to get a couple more games: Nintendogs, Electroplankton, and Wario Touched. And then Animal Crossing when that comes out towards the end of the year.

We are back from our Caribbean vacation! It was tons of fun, and we had lots of great food and drank more than our share of Red Stripe. I started putting up some pictures at Flickr, so check them out! More to come!

After tonight’s bath.

The other night, I was shopping at the HEB supermarket to buy things for Bay’s Birthday party. It was about 10pm, and I thought it was strange that there were lots of kids there with their parents. It was a Friday night, but still, isn’t that a little late for keeping the kids out? I figured that it on the borderline, shrugged to myself, and didn’t think further about it.

Then after buying most of the food, I went across the freeway to the Super Walmart to finish up my shopping. It was now about 11pm. And there I was amazed at the number of kids, of all ages, that were there with their parents! I can understand going to the market with a sleeping baby in the carseat, but there were toddlers, young kids, pre-teens and teens running around the store, trying on clothes, playing with toys, etc. It was wild. I don’t know, maybe I am a little conservative about this, but 11pm is just too late to be out and about with the kids. I left the store a half hour later, and I could still see more families arriving in the parking lot.

On Saturday, my friend Mikey and I made the trek down highway 290 from Austin to Houston to watch the Dodgers take on the Astros at Minute Maid park. The stadium is really awesome! The roof was closed, so we weren’t affected by the outside heat, which was probably close to 100°. Our seats were on the first base side, between first base and the foul pole, six rows back. The view was great, and when I bought the tickets online at stubhub.com, the seller said, “Great seats for foul balls”. I always bring, my glove to a game, but this time I almost didn’t, thinking that since I always bring my glove, but never even come close to getting a foul ball, I’d reverse it and not bring the glove in hopes that a foul ball would come my way. Anyways, I am glad I brought it, because in the top of the 4th inning, Jayson Werth hit a foul that came our way. It was a pretty high pop-up, not a liner by any means, and it looked at first like it was headed to the rows behind us, but then it started curving towards our seats. I stood up, kept my eye on the ball, stuck out my glove, and “Bam!”. I reached in the glove and pulled out the ball! It was totally awesome!!! Then I raised the ball in the air in triumph. 🙂 I was so stoked, and when Mikey took my picture holding the ball, my hand was shaking like crazy.

Minute Maid park is a great place to see a game. There is tons of food, at reasonable prices. We each got super-astro dogs, which were huge, and I later got a bbq beef sandwich, while Mikey got a big bowl of nachos. We also had plenty of beer, peanuts and cracker jack. I was surprised by the large number of Dodger fans there. It was pretty cool. But it was kind of lame because the Astros fans had a lot to cheer about since they won the game… But, it was an awesome day at the ballpark, nonetheless!

You can read Mikey’s account of the day here at webmikey.com, and check out his photo-set at flickr.com.

I really want a Nintendo DS. The PSP looks cool, but I really love Nintendo. One of the reasons is because they always have some really innovative and creative games, for instance Animal Crossing for the Gamecube. Electroplankton is another strange and original concept for a video game. You control small plankton creatures and create music. I know it sounds silly, but that’s just the sort of thing I really find interesting. Electroplankton is probably not going to be sold in the U.S., but since the system is region-free, a Japanese game will work on a U.S. DS. Another neat game is Nintendogs, which is like Tamagotchi, where you have to take care of a virtual pet. And later, Animal Crossing DS will be released! The Nintendo DS is really neat, I wish I had one!