Although, not a traditional Xmas tree, we are proud of ours:

I like soccer. 

There was going to more here but I got distracted by video games.  Anyway, we are into our second season of watching Creighton Men's (and Women's) Soccer and this is probably the only "sport" that interests me in the slightest. 

Football is slow, baseball's slower, golf's even slower.  Basketball has been lame since Jordan stopped playing.  Hockey is okay but it's too medieval.  Racing is only okay if it isn't all left turns.  I'm sure there's other sports but frankly my game is almost ready to play.  :^)

Go Jays!

Like most of you out there, I have several accounts which have online websites.  Store cards, gas cards, student loans, etc.; all of which send me paper statements every month.  Before the Internet came along, you'd keep these so you could track history and, more importantly, make sure they weren't screwing you somehow.  Now, we can essentially get this information online any time of the day. 

The word of the past few years for saving the environment (or what I call just not being a thoughtless, disgusting slob) is "green".  Providers of online accounts throw that word at us to switch to online only statements.  "Go green and switch to e-statements!" is really corporate speak for "Paper statements cost a lot of money!" Now, I am not a thoughtless, disgusting slob (in fact, I recycled that picture) so the idea of e-statements seems okay.  I don't want my statements cluttering up any pristine forests either.  But, one thing you don't realize until it's too late is those statements are the only real proof of anything whenever you close an account. 

I switched to e-statements for an account once, tried to get onto them after closing it and was promptly told "No." They don't tell you that after giving up your paper statements, you will lose that access when the company isn't getting your money anymore.  And that's really all this is about.  The company doesn't want to pay for paper and printing and postage anymore. 

Now, the only place I've seen that does it correctly is the Federal Direct Loans.  I switched to all digital communication and they actually gave me something in return: a 0.25% discount on my interest rate.  Granted that's a small thing but it's some thing.  They realize what the loss of a physical statement is worth to their customers.  Most money making corporations seem to not understand that and it's unfortunate.  Does that make me a whore sellout?  Probably.

So, yeah, I watched Nintendo's E3 Presentation today.  Actually I read it through a twitter-like service by IGN because I couldn't get the website at work.  We all knew the "Wii 2" would be displayed and it was.  Except for the 2 they added a U.  We & You...  Wii U...  Get it?  Me neither. 

It looks like the Wii U "box" is more or less the same as the original but with rounded corners and HD graphics.  I don't think it would kill them to release them in red and black right from the get go but I'm guessing that little box will cost about $250.  The thing will use all the same "paddles" as the Wii but the Wii U will also use that thing up there. 

The new controller is huge and can do just about everything including video chat and playing games on it rather than the TV.  This lets others in the house watch TV and ignore the little jerk playing games.  The thing looks neat but it also looks big and heavy.  ...and expensive.  I'm going to guess that thing is going to be about $100 or it'll come with the Wii U for a grand total of $350. 

I know everyone thought Nintendo went nuts when the Wii was first introduced so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt (as I've been doing quite patiently since they brought out the N64 and then no real good games for years after).  What I was impressed with was the sheer number of Nintendo properties which are going to be rolling out here soon.  We have a Super Mario game, Paper Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda: Skyward Sword, Zelda: OoT 3D, Kid Icarus, Animal Crossing, Luigi's Mansion 2 and, apparently, Mario Party 9.  And these all are just for the (old) Wii and the 3DS.  Granted the Wii U games aren't listed but I'm hoping that there will be plenty more first party games for that, too. 

So, we learned some things about the Wii U but it'll be mostly guessing about that until sometime next year.  The only one I'm really excited about is the new Zelda game and I've known about that for quite awhile.  Here's hoping they do something good...cuz my Wii has been unused for months now.

Well, I've had it.  For some reason, idiots feel the need to fill my website with comment spam.  If you're not familiar with this form of trash, it's when people add a comment to a blog with links to websites or other random text so their (crooked) businesses show up on Google or Bing more often.  It's virtual garbage created by real garbage. 

Anyway, I've modified my comments section to disallow any URLs.  Basically, this website will no longer provide free advertisement for trash.  ...and the products they're trying to sell.  I'm not sure why I didn't do this sooner.  I attribute laziness to the cause. 

Also, I've also tweaked the posting pages to work better on my iPhone.  Perhaps this will lead to more posts??? 

I doubt it. :^)