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I’ve got a fever! And the only prescription… is more cowbell.
I bring up that great SNL line for two reasons.
First, because my son-in-law got Rock Band for Christmas which we played non-stop for two days. Now, I have absolutely no coordination for the guitar and I fared little better on the drums. However I rocked on the microphone with my rendition of “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult – and I got to do the cowbell! With the eternal words of Christopher Walken ringing in my ears, I gave it my all and threw down some serious cowbell for the man. At 98% I felt I gave him his wish for MORE COWBELL! It’s a great game even if you can’t carry a tune with a handle.
Secondly, I bring up that famous line because I do have a fever – cabin fever that is. And I believe my only prescription is more natural vitamin D – sunlight. The ancient affliction has finally set in and it has taken its toll on this once winter loving New Englander. I don’t know how long we have suffered from below freezing temperatures or how many days in a row it has snowed but I do know it has been nearly three weeks since I have driven a car and nearly two weeks since I have left the warm cocoon of my home in the woods. I can’t remember what the sun looks like or what my house sounds like without the constant noise of the heat running and I am a person who enjoys silence a great deal.
Case in point, yesterday I alternated between staring my television screen at the Weather Channel and the Lifetime Movie Channel and taking very long cat naps on my couch surrounded by my three dogs and my oversized orange tabby. I realized around noon that I was suffering from the dreaded “cabin fever” when I finally noticed I was still in my pajamas and eating a salad. I know for a fact that these two things should not be done concurrently, either you are still in your pj’s at noon because you are sick in which case a grilled chicken salad should be replaced with chicken noodle soup or you should have yourself dressed yourself by that time. When I don’t take a shower and get dressed something is wrong with me and I definitely need a cure for this malady. Anyone out there in the blogosphere have any suggestions?
I am hoping today will be better, I have gotten dressed already at least so I have accomplished much more today than yesterday. And is that the sun I see amidst the snow flakes? My Jack Russell at least thinks so – imagined sun beam or not, she’s lying in its warm path that stretches across the back of the couch.
I don’t think Spring can get here soon enough for me. Hurry March come forth with your warmer days.
So it is 2009 and I for one am hoping for a much better year than 2008. Other than my granddaughter being born (which I must admit makes up for a helluva lot), and the Celtics winning the championship, 2008 pretty much sucked in my tiny little world.
Did you ever have one of those years where just nothing seemed to go right? That was 2008 for me. It had been many, many years, oh so many more than I can remember, that I have felt that the world was spinning against me in particular. I have been extremely blessed for the past twenty-five years and so I truly have no reason to complain but yet here I am wondering what went wrong? Or is it just time to pay the piper for all of our good fortune? Perhaps.
The fact is, I am simply tired. My vitality and joy faded over the last year into dread and resolution at the current state of affairs. I don’t believe it is just me either, the world itself seems to be at a turning point, teetering on the edge of a global collapse with no end in sight. Our collective disgust at the growing disappearance of morality, integrity and strength of character in the human animal has sucked the life and light out of the world and unless we as a collective can find something to believe in once more, I don’t see a better day coming.
I don’t know what will help 2009 to give us a brighter day but I still hold out a tiny glimmer of hope that something will happen. Something good.
Bob Dylan said “The Times They Are A-Changin.” Lets all hope that they are a-changin for the better and that this is not just another attempt at the reinvention of the wheel.
It all began a couple of months ago on Christmas Day when my daughter and son-in-law came to visit and brought their Nintendo Wii with them. I watched from the sidelines for a day or so but soon the intrigue of the game became too much for me and I knew I had to try it. My son spent a few minutes setting up a character who would have the name “Mom” – I got to pick all of my features including my hair style – this was almost as much fun as playing the game, and then we were ready to go. My husband and I were given the basics of the technique to the bowling and off we went. After only a couple of games I was hooked and after my son and husband played several rounds of golf, they too found themselves wishing for a Nintendo Wii. My daughter and son-in-law left and with them the Nintendo Wii and we were sorry to see all of them go. After a day or two of Nintendo Wii withdrawal, my husband and I decided we would take our Christmas money and buy a Wii and we headed off to the mall thinking, incorrectly it turns out, that we could walk into any store and purchase a Wii. It was, after all, past all of the Christmas madness and we were sure there would be Wiis everywhere. Boy, we couldn’t have been more wrong. After searching high and low, we returned home empty handed and discouraged. It was then I began my search for a Nintendo Wii.
I plotted out my strategy for finding a Wii and dove in. I began my online search with Amazon, for years my true friend for having those hard to find items but none were to be found. I then tried several other online stores but still had no luck. But I did not give up. I ventured back out into the retail stores. I went everywhere, discount department stores, specialty stores, electronic stores, even wholesale clubs but there were no Nintendo Wiis to be found. Where were they all? I enlisted my son and my daughter in my quest for a Wii and they also went to different towns, even different states looking for a Wii but had no more luck than I had. So after six weeks of searching everywhere I had nearly given up hope at finding a Nintendo but then I decided to do some research and find out what was going on. That was when I found the missing Wiis.
I read an article about the scarcity of the Nintendo Wii. Some people blame Nintendo for not manufacturing enough systems but what I found disturbed me even more. Over a thousand Nintendo Wii are for sale on Ebay – at dramatically increased prices. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. One guy had eight Wiis for sale on there and the bidding was much more than the selling price of $250. I was appalled to say the least. I realized it was these unscrupulous lot who where sucking up the Nintendo Wiis for their own profit. They were controlling the market and controlling the price. Unfortunately there were people out there willing to buy a Nintendo Wii for an inflated price, I am not one of them. At that point I became even more determined to buy a Wii – at the price of $250 – come hell or high water. So I kept looking.
It was at this point when I discovered the Nintendo Wii Tracker. You can find it at:
http://wiitracker.com/
After finding the tracker I did a couple of things. First I put the site on my Google Home Page so that every time I logged on to the Internet, the newest information where I could find a Wii on the Internet would appear. I also made the Wii Tracker page my second home page so it would open up also. I also signed up for ZapTxt – it is on the Wii Tracker home page – you just click and sign up and every time an online store has a Wii in stock you will receive an email. This feature did not work the first two days I had it so you might have to give it time. I also researched the History section of the Wii Tracker and discovered that my best bet for getting a Wii – without a bundle – was through Sears.com. If you don’t mind purchasing a bundle for $500, Toys R Us often has bundles for sale, which are a pretty good deal as long as you wish to purchase the extra games that are included. I decided to try my luck with Sears.com so I went to their site, set up an account, and sat down to wait. I would recommend that no matter which online store you decide to buy from, you should set up an account before hand so that you are not spending time trying to get your shipping and billing addresses in while the Wiis are disappearing.
It took roughly six days before I was able to purchase a Wii but I think that was excellent compared to all the time and gas I had spent driving around looking for one in the stores. I did miss an opportunity on Amazon.com – they had them in stock for seven whole minutes but I was busy helping my son with his lunch at the time. I paid $6 for shipping – I could not have driven to the mall and back for that so I didn’t mind paying it and it is far less than the $40 shipping they are charging the buyers on Ebay.
So there you have it – my quest for a Nintendo Wii. Hopefully this information will get out to every one out there still on their own personal quest for a Wii so that they don’t have to be cornered into buying one from an unscrupulous seller. We can only hope.
