hi supernintendo chalmers!

I'm in love. I didn't know it was possible to love a hunk of plastic this much. No, I'm not talking about anything dirty; I'm talking about my brand new Nintendo DS. (By brand new, I mean used, but it's in pristine condition and it’s new to me). I never wanted a game boy when I was a kid. While I enjoyed playing Kirby on my cousin's, I never had much interest in owning one, nor could I convince my parents to buy me one or any other system, like the SNES or N64. Their argument always was "you already HAVE a game system" meaning the old school NES. Which, I did revive in middle school playing The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3, and the old standby Tetris. I got a PS1 in High School, playing only Spyro, Chrono Cross, and Final Fantasy 8 & 9 - then abandoning it because I lost interest and I have the attention span of a goldfish. Despite that however, I'm surprised I played them for as long as I did.

And then there was college. I had weird periods of downtime. I longed for a SNES and a stockpile of games to not only waste time but also keep me from doing my homework and you know, friends and a life. But I lacked the funds. I think my average bank balance throughout college was 300 bucks. I discovered Emulators! Whoever developed this very illegal bit of software should be crowned and worshiped by people like me - poor, game hungry college or post college students. I have NES, SNES and N64 emulators on my computer. Come and arrest me Nintendo.

So anyway, I've wanted a DS for a while. I don't know what sparked it other than how cool it looked and it's portable. I think the final push was a commercial for the New Super Mario Bros. game. There is a power up where you turn into a Mario who has essentially taken growth hormones and grows to 5 times his normal size. There are many other enjoyable aspects of the game too. But there are too many to list.

Having beaten the game however, I am quite sad. I'm going to miss that fat little Italian stereotype in red pants. The good news is, I have Mario Kart and Tetris on their way, and as of today I own the Simpsons game. It's like the XBox game but bitty and DS'erized. It's really fun; so far I have played as Homer, Bart and Lisa. If I can play as Maggie, I will be a happy bunny.

I now have something new to spend my money on. Although, I don't think I can ever spend enough money on gadgets (I'm going to buy a new ipod eventually, I just bought headphones, and there's an LG cell phone calling my name, aka taunting me until my contract is up and I can trade in my current phone for the new shiny one).

So, I'm going to geek out with my DS and see how much of my life I can destroy.

Somewhat Useless Japanese Gadgets

I love Japan, and all Asian countries for that matter. If not for it's kooky, innovative art and fashion, than the mindfuck that is Japanese anime. I frequent the oh so cute and trendy tech blog, Geek Sugar, home to random blips of technology, geek chic laptop bags and devices and some of the strangest Japanese gadgets I have ever seen. From the country that brought us Nintendo, here are the contenders for weirdest Japanese gadgets (The following were all found on geeksugar).

This is an actual woven rug, but in tiny, mousepad form. They are available for $19 each from Museum, Persian, Native American, Gregorian, Designer, and Woolrich collections from joshinweb.jpg. Don't get me wrong, I love me a Persian/Oriental rug. I think they add texture to an otherwise drab room. I never thought however, to put one under my mouse. Sure, it would probably be better looking than my black gel filled pillow mouse pad from Staples, but I would wonder how an optical mouse would fare on it.

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While weird, this is actually kind of useful. Everybody knows that UV rays are slowly killing us all. Limiting one's time is essential these days. Wouldn't it be cool if your cell phone could tell you how strong the UV index is? The neat little charms start out as white and change colour as they absorb sunlight. (If you can read Japanese, you can buy them here). The price starts at $6, but goes up by how many beads and bling you decide to add (there is an option to add real Swarovski crystals). It may be a neat thing for people who, unlike me turn violently red without obsessively reapplying sunscreen, worship the sun.

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This was actually found on gizmodo.com. If I were maybe 10-15 years younger, I would want these for my doll house. Considering I had one of these chairs in normal size (I think it was pink with daisies on it), my tea parties with Barbie, Donatello, a rubber Ducky, and Snoopy would have been much cuter. However, I think the purpose of this mini chair is to act as a stand for one's ipod, cell phone, or as pictured, a pile of paper clips (cause you know, they need a place to sit?). I don't even know where one could buy this thing, or why one would want to. If your ipod says, "I'm tired of laying on your desk, give me a chair," first of all, wonder what you are smoking to make you think your ipod is talking to you, and then maybe consider hunting down this mini chair.

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Remember that scene in Return of the Jedi where R2D2 is serving drinks? Well I think whoever came up with this little dude totally was trying to recreate that scene. According to Geeksugar,

"The robotic refrigerator Asahi - named after the beer of course - not only pours the beer for you, but he keeps it cool in his inbuilt refrigerator as well."

I know a lot of boys who would love to have something like this in their apartments. It requires far too much energy to put down the Wii controller and get a beer! Why not make your little robot do it for you? I would probably replace the beer with really good Sangria, but that's just me. Apparently this is only available in Japan. Can you see this running around at a super bowl party? Hey give it another purpose and put the dip bowl on its head!