iowa wampler and the quest for the alabaster wii

After months of denying my destiny, I gave in and decided to search for a Wii. That task is easier said than done, my friend. I had hoped (selfishly and cynically) that the economy was bad enough to prevent other people from spending money so frivolously, but it appears that there are still enough people out there willing to buy a new gaming console that the Wii sells out regularly even in Des Moines. I tried several stores yesterday to no avail. But, unlike adventurers of old, I have the Internet to solve my problems -- and so rather than packing a dogsled with provisions and heading off into the wild, I went to walmart.com and ordered a Wii bundle that is slated to arrive early next week.

Until then, my brother has conned me into playing Mario Kart on his friend's Nintendo 64. I'm getting somewhat better, although I was abysmal at first -- and my basic strategy now is to keep playing him until he gets motion sickness from the game, and then trounce him on the last game before he has to give up to avoid puking. I get motion sickness from games sometimes too, although Mario Kart didn't do it to me -- but it will be interesting to see if I can continue to maintain control of my stomach when I'm pretending to snowboard on the Wii.

My day was pretty uneventful; lots of stuff going on in the family that I won't bore you with here, but I did read the first part of 'How the Scots Invented the Modern World'. The book was a bestseller a couple of years ago; the basic premise is that the Scottish people were directly responsible for shaping the culture, lifestyle, government, etc. that we all enjoy today. I'm not far enough along to decide whether or not I agree with the author, but it's giving me some good ideas for the Scottish portions of my book, so it's most certainly not a waste of time.

Now that you know I'm still alive, and now that I've dispensed with my duties toward the European photo contest, I think it's time for bed! I really really need to start writing again tomorrow -- between my trip and my post-trip vacation, I haven't written anything in almost a month. Tragic! Sleep will cure many ills, though, and I can awake tomorrow ready to make some decent headway.