The Bunny Bowl

Sports fans, we have recently completed the first annual Bunny Bowl! What is the Bunny Bowl, praytell? Why, it is a single elimination Wii bowling tournament played between some of our friends here in the 'Nois: the Panther, Punjab, the lovebirds, Pirate, Pinky, P and myself. The number one seed, me, won. However, Punjab (the number seven seed) made it to the championship and P rolled her first 200 game to nearly beat me in the final four. For the first time, Bru remained in the room and heckled the crew with inopportune howls. Pictures to come.

Houston Wii Have Some Problems

In the past couple of days that we have owned a wii, we have learned some things that we did not expect. These things aren't negative per se, but they give us pause and call us to reflect on the thing we wished so hard for.

1. Bru is crazy scared of the wii. So scared that he runs upstairs and will not return until he hears that we are finished. At times he will come down to check on us to see whether we have broken something, but for the most part he wants nothing to do with this new gadget. We feel bad because he is our #1. Still trying to solve this problem.

2. P has developed wii arm, which means that she is complaining of soreness behind her right shoulder. This soreness doesn't lead to a reduction in wii play. It does, however, lead to an increase in griping. To solve this problem, P is learning to play with both arms. She is also trying to convince herself that she is as good with the left as she is with the right.

3. The unfortunate naming of the wii has also led to an increase in wii-wii jokes by all parties. I am complicit, P is too, but we are seeking counciling for our inappropriate social behaviour.

4. P is as interested in creating mii's as she is playing wii. This is confusing, so let me explain. The wii allows you to create cartoon characters called mii's that can look pretty close to what you see in the mirror (if you do it right). P is obsessed with this feature as we have more mii's than we know what to do with. Our neighbors have mii's, all of our good friends have mii's, heck we even have mii's of our family members. There is also an online site that gives directions on how to create famous mii's. For example, we have made Abe Lincoln, George W, Paris Hilton, Napoleon Dynamite and so on. I am going to create an Oprah mii and get in the boxing ring with her. Those who know mii know that this is not a secret desire to fight women, just a frustration with her book publishing habits.

More to come...

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hunt is OVER!!! We got a Wii yesterday...here's the amazing and heartwarming story. By the way, Lifetime contacted us last evening for the rights and told us that it should come out in November of this year. Here's an early preview, cue the music.

Last Sunday, we resolved to give up on the Wii search when P and I realized that to compete for a Wii in our town (note "compete" not "get") you have to sit outside Circuit City for almost three hours. That means that people are/were sitting out there around 6:00am. Crazy.

On our way to the windy city yesterday, however, our friend S called to tell us that her sister and her sister's husband were standing in line for them at a Best Buy in the burbs and wanted to know if we wanted them to pick one up for us? Answer: yes (in a supersonic high-pitched squeal from me). Mind you, we haven't made a deliberate trip up to the burbs since October, so for this to happen on the day we decided to "get out of Normal" was incredibly seredipitous (as if I wouldn't have driven up there just for that). We got this call while we were at Red Robin (one of P's and my favorite restaurants) with two of our good friends. So . . . let me get this straight, good food, not in Normal, great company and we get a Wii? Must've done something good! Actually, I made a wish by holding my breath over a bridge so do that cause it really works (not really)! (By the way, I was so happy to hear about the Wii that I nearly forgot that P and I were accosted by the Red Robin manager for drinking out of the same lemonade glass! sigh...)

So we got the Wii, and had the crew over to test it out. Best system ever! Everyone loves to play, and for the first time in my life I had to tell P that SHE needed to put down the video game and go to bed because she has to work this week (I am on SPRING BREAK).

Anyway, thanks to Pinky and the Pirate!

Happy 5th Birthday

Yesterday was our five-year-old nephew's birthday. Rumor has it Chuck E. Cheese was filled with A. and all of his little buddies--and of course his crazy little sisters. We also heard that pinatas no longer break after a few beatings from a five-year-old. It now takes adult intervention to get to the good stuff. Happy Birthday, A!

2 of 3

Last Tuesday, my final doctoral synthesis got approved which means that I have spent the past two Thursdays mornings/afternoons locked in a room taking 2 of my 3 doctoral exams. The first two exams are four hours long, in my case 9-1 pm, and they include responding to an essay question from your exam chair. As I found out, these exams are pretty taxing and I am pretty excited to be done with the two timed sections. The last exam question, which I received when I completed the second timed exam is a take home question that I have one full week to complete. Seems to me like you lose a bunch of time from the beginning and really have less than a week. Following the timed exam, the most productive thing you can do is stare blankly at a television so I have already lost today. I will lose tomorrow too because I have to work at the journal and teach. I am not worried, though. The question I received make sense to me and even though it will need to deal with some pretty complex issues, I have a feeling I will be alright. Anyway, just thought I would post because I haven't in a while. P is doing pilates and I am a little bored at the moment.

Some random final thoughts:

1. This winter has been way too long. It is nearly the beginning of March and it is still snowing outside. It is also freezing cold. This has been the worst winter yet.

2. I thought it was pretty funny that John McCain critiqued Barack Obama for *answering* a hypothetical question regarding the potential for Iraq Invasion 3.0 (in some distant future). I am not going to try to sway your vote, it is yours to make, but you have to wonder about the political integrity of a man who tries to critique a fellow candidate for actually answering a question. Anyway.

3. Yesteday espn aired a conversation between Skip Bayless and some other brilliant ncaa basketball analyst where each of them decided which teams were in the top 3. Memphis, who has only lost one (freakin tight) game to a very good #2 Tennessee team, was not mentioned by either. I believe the top three were North Carolina, Kansas, and UCLA. All three teams are very good, don't get me wrong, but this is what drives me nuts about espn analysts: they get all hyped for a #1 vs. #2 game, it is all they can talk about, and not more than four days later *neither* team is in the top 3. Questionable.

p.s. Skip Bayless is an arrogant airbag on par with Rush Limbaugh. Both make me sick

4. P tried to a Carmen Electra workout session, which should have been titled "Lap Dance your Way to a Better Body." The only requisite for being able to do this workout was a chair. P tried for about 3 minutes, then gave up. I was glad because it seemed like it was only a matter of time before she tripped over the chair and we needed to go the hospital. Why is it suddenly a fad to lose weight while pretending to be a stripper. Seems to be a double-layered form of subjugation. Not only are women working out to attain a fitter body that meets unattainable social norms (which men in most cases never think about) but to get that body, they are convinced that the best way to do so is to become the object of a sexualized gaze. Where is Billy Blanks when you need him?

5. I saw There Will Be Blood and concur that Daniel Day Lewis should have won the Oscar for best actor; the film would have been truly boring without him. In my view he is the best living actor and the film's overarching message was kairotic (timely).

6. Not surprised that Juno didn't win anything. In my view, the film was neither funny nor endearing. I liked all of the actors, but the plot and dialogue were both uninteresting and unimaginative. My students tell me that the soundtrack is awesome. To me, it sounded like a reprise of Napoleon Dynamite, which, for the record, was both funny and imaginative.

7. Why is Hannah Montana so popular? Seriously, I see her everywhere and I don't get it. at. all.

8. Why is Regis Philbin so popular? To me, he was utterly annoying in the red carpet pre-Oscar show. Best moment was when he tried to interview Jack Nicholson while he was talking to someone else, and Nicholson replies "heyyyyy its the reeeeegeeee" - that's it. I was laughing pretty hard!

9. Did anyone see the Moment of Truth episode where the woman confessed to cheating on her husband and wanting to be married to another man? Before that part of the show aired, the host came on and said "if it were my preference, this would never have been aired" and said repeatedly throughout "you don't want me to ask you this question" as if to say "I am getting paid to do this, NBC has advertised this episode for more than a week, and I am going to claim I am against it so that I can convince myself I had no part in destroying this family on national television." When will it happen that a host has enough integrity to simply get up and say, I am not going to participate in this anymore and leaves the show? Never, because that would require actual political commitment.

10. David Archuleta is amazing, best singer *ever* on American Idol, but he will NOT win (the best ones never do!)

11. LOST IS ON TONIGHT!!!!

12. What is with the sudden cultural obsession with Jane Austen?

13. Still no Wii! Prospects aren't looking good after four weeks of semi-invested research.

14. Cool technology tip: Edirol voice recorders. Simply amazing.

15. Eastern Promises is a good movie, but disturbing. Rent at your own peril and if you do you need to REALLY like Vigo Mortennson.

16. Liked Michael Clayton, a lot. (remember, P was REALLY sick all last week)

17. The beagle is really scared of other dogs. Today, our neighbor's dog ran up to him and all the hair on his back stood straight up. I think he thinks he might get attacked like he did when he was little. Poor boy!

18. My best friend is no longer blogging, this is a formal threat if he is reading this post.

19. Bru is running laps around the house. I love him!

20. Get an iPod Touch! Again, totally worth the money!

I am not technically a doctor yet, but come on...

For those who know P, it may be hard to believe that she has any faults. In fact, on more than one occasion, I have caught faint murmurings that catalogue the degree of her perfection. This post is meant to alert you, however, that she does indeed have a fault: she is the most stubborn human being alive. Case in point. P spent most of yesterday curled in a blanket passing in and out of sleep with what appeared to be a nice combination of a flu and sinus infection. She was so sick that she spent most of the night swetting out a fever and most of the morning shaking around a cup of tea. In spite of this obvious illness, P informed me when I returned home from teaching this morning that although she was not feeling any better, she would be going to school to conduct parent-teacher conferences. Let it be known that twenty minutes before she left I had to shake her from a sleep deprived stupor.

Following a good two hours of conferencing, P then informed me that she would be going to night class for three hours. I told her she needed to stay home, that she was sick, and that she would regret leaving the house. Shockingly, I was right. I just picked P up about twenty minutes ago and she was shivering, hacking, and generally the most unhappily sick she has been since we have been married. So sick, in fact, she looked at me and told me "you were right, I should have stayed home" (I nearly drove into oncoming traffic I was so surprised). P is now in bed, and we'll see if she has learned her lesson. My theory on sickness is that if it hurts to get up, your body is telling you not to. If you care about this woman, please call her not to tell her you hope she feels better (you may do so, of course), but that she should listen to the people who care about her.

P, the scholar

I sometimes like to jot down things I hear people say that seem fun or contradictory or stupid, so I thought I would share something P said in the car on the way home from dinner. We were discussing the possibility of her teaching in a strictly bi-lingual classroom and she said:

"I don't want to learn anything new right now, I am getting a PhD"

P the scholar folks.

p.s. I have been instructed to include that she sat through a seven hour class that met one hour outside of where we live.