Nintendo Wii

A slow day in the KingDom - crunching numbers and formatting some reports.

Slow was not however how my day started. Today started with a bang at exactly 8:30am when Target opened. Each store in Perth got in 10 Nintendo Wii's today. There were 30 people pressed up against the door waiting for them to open at the one I went to - although I didn't realise at the time they were all there for the same thing.

I imagined I was going to briskly stroll to the electronics section and buy one with my dignity intact. However all thoughts of that ended when the doors opened and the mad sprint began.

Once I got sucked in to the sprinting race I quickly decided "Heck I'm already embarrassing myself - there is now NO way I'm doing this for nothing." I somewhat recklessly put on a burst of speed at that moment. There was no way those ladies, those grandparents and those 15 year olds are going to beat me.

Fortunately I knew a good route to the electronics section and managed to get there with only a bruised knee from weaving between clothing racks. I'm not quite sure how it was that I didn't knock any over - I was the only thing that fell to the ground.

Once we got to the electronic section people began madly looking around for boxes of Wii's. Queen Dom had advised me that there was no way they'd be stacking them up for people to madly grab. Her advice proved correct and going immediately to the counter and asking for one was the smart move. I lined up third at the counter and actually felt good about handing over $400. It's amazing what a little competition can do.

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Well I've been enjoying a summer break so I'll ramble a bit on unrelated topics here as a catchup.

On the DVD I watched Season 5 of 24. Most predictable line of the series "Jack your daughter has called on the LANDLINE it is just inside (this abandoned building)". Gee that mega-surprise ambush wasn't predictable. The moment they used the word LANDLINE in a show which has people on mobile phones for at least 15 minutes an episode stood out like a flashing red light. They use mobiles so much I've often wondered if the agents on these shows would be able to in later life sue their governments for mobile phone radiation damage to their brains.

Next on my list to watch is Battlestar Galactica Season 3. Great show. Looking forward to it.

I bought my wife the complete works of Shakespeare for Christmas. Many songs and plays in there that I have never read and I'm looking forward to it myself. People forget Shakespeare was a popular writer. He wrote not for scholars but for the common man. Everyone can enjoy his work. The best advice I received though was to read it aloud - his plays were meant to be heard by the ear.

We bought our daughters a kitchen set which unfortunately you had to assemble. It took six hours to assemble it piece by tiny piece. Six hours. Six long hours.

I'm considering buying a Nintendo Wii (should they ever become available again).

"You should blog more" - that's the message from my friends at a recent BBQ over the festive season. Perhaps I should.

Well for openers here is a list of names for the next US president.

Clinton / Obama / Edwards / Gore
McCain / Giuliani / Romney

Get used to hearing those names.

It's a long way out but it's hard to imagine Clinton not getting the Democratic nomination at this point. Obama's inexperienced, Hillary is loaded with money and Edwards (from my observation of 2004) isn't a great debater. Gore has already had a turn.

The Republican candidates all have problems so I'm less certain about which it will be, although I am fairly certain it will be limited to these three candidates. McCain is getting old, Giuliani is too liberal for many conservative voters, and while Romney is the best conservative in the field he's also a Mormon which many conservatives will find hard to accept.

For a long time I've said Hillary would win the nomination but lose the election. Now I'm beginning to have second thoughts. None of the three viable Republican candidates can unite the conservative voters behind them. In the US turnout is everything. So while Hillary is likely to increase conservative turnout (due to their widespread despisal of her) I'm guessing this will be offset by the problems with the Republican candidates turning off their own base.

The wildcard in the mix is President Bush. Is he really going to let Iran go nuclear in the next two years and kick the problem down the line to the next administration? I hope not, but whether he still has the ability or the stomach to do anything about it is yet to be seen.

Perhaps this will become the defining question of the age. Turbulent times ahead - the impacts of which at this point cannot be known.