Blogged Down

ED NOTE: This is being posted late because Blogger crashed in a big, ugly way on Thursday. They were down from hours and hours, and as of this writing, it obliterated my Wednesday post, too. I saw something in their technical update about trying to restore Wednesdays posts, but I will believe it when I see it. Looks like obviously they had to do some system restore that turned the clock back to Tuesday.

CONSUMER ADVOCATES: To fellow Americans, as you read this, you will glow inside, knowing that by our efforts alone today, the economy has been stimulated. That said, it would have been MUCH more stimulated if our finds weren't all from Goodwill, but hey, we're on a budget here. :)

One of the day's great finds at the Dearborn Goodwill store were comic books that are history text books in disguise. Score! Mixed in with old Oprah and Country Home magazines, we found five issues from the "The Cartoon History of the Universe" series. The ones we found (volumes 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8) are in pristine and protected condition. They are written and illustrated by mathemetician and professor Larry Gonick. From Wikipedia I learn from 1990 to 1997, Gonick penned a bimonthly "Science Classics" cartoon for Discover magazine. Gonick has published lots of other titles - it looks like we've just scratched the surface with him. What a great find - and only .49 cents apiece!

Annabelle curled up on the couch with "Volume 1, The Evolution of Everything Including Sex!!" (I know, scandalous!) this afternoon. When she opened to the first facing pages that read "BIG BANG!" it reminded me that yesterday, during sceince, while she and her age 5-8 classmates were mixing straw, dirt and clay to make bricks, she asked of her tablemates, "So, have you heard of the Big Bang theory?"

Yes, that's my kindergartener, making small talk. :)

Back in the toy section of the store I spotted what I know to be astronaut orange on a limb of a stuffed animal in a huge pile. Upon pulling it out, sure 'nuff, it was a astronaut teddy bear in a flight suit embroidered with Kennedy Space Center and NASA patches. We saw plenty of these on our trip back to KSC last year, but we're too cheap to pay $20 for one. But $1.99? Yes, please! Annabelle was QUITE happy with her "new" bear.
And as a funny footnote, when we were at Albertsons, getting our cheap on again by stocking up on 10 bags of Goldfish for $1 apiece, hanging right next to the Goldfish for some inexplicable reason, was a little space shuttle. The kids pointed it out, of course, and then Annabelle noticed it wasn't just any shuttle, it was *OUR* shuttle - the Atlantis, the one we watched launch in person. So that went into the cart - $3 I didn't plan on spending, but less than half the price they were at KSC, where we didn't buy one.

HAPPINESE: A few days back, we were the high bid on a lot of video intrigue from Seattle Goodwill's eBay store. The lot was three Super Famicom (Japanese Nindento system) games, and some mystery "Super Adaptor." Frankly, we had little to no interest in the games; We were hope Hope HOPING the adapter would allow CJ to play more Super Famicom games in his Super NES - including the prized/rather pricey Wrecking Crew '98 he bought with an eBay gift card he got for his b-day last month.

This afternoon, we picked up the booty. As soon as we got home, CJ started getting his Super NES lined out, ready to test the "new" games and adapter. First, we tried each game with the old Super Famicom adapter we have. Only one of the three (Chrono Trigger) worked. We were happy at that, though, as there was a chance we'd be 0-for-3 with that adapter. Next, we plugged in the "new" green, made-in-Korea "Super Adaptor" and tried our luck. One by one we plugged in the Japanese games and one by one, they worked. CJ retrieved his Wrecking Crew '98 game from its Spot of Privelge and carefully plugged it into the "Super Adaptor." We held our breath and ... IT WORKED!!! O Happy Day!!!
So CJ spent some time this afternoon getting to know his Wrecking Crew. Sweet! We had the added bonus of checking out the very Japanese games that came with the "Super Adaptor." One was Front Mission, which, according to Wikipedia, is "a tactical role-playing game developed by G-Craft and published by Square Co., Ltd., released in Japan in 1995 for the Super Famicom." The game is the first in what turned into the Front Mission series. It follows various characters and their battles against mecha known as wanzers. Turns out it's a pretty popular series in Japan, but we were happy to learn there is also an English version of its Web site.

Next up was Chrono Trigger. A role playing game, I've actually heard of that one (yes, I'm that nerdy). The Japanese version we now have is the first in a series that is apparently considered one of the greatest video games of all time. Nintendo Power praises Chrono Trigger as revolutionary for its multiple endings, sidequests, unique battle system and detailed graphics.

The third game we picked up not so on purposely was a bit harder to decode. There's absolutely no English on the label or any of the game play screens. We finally gleaned Yu Yu Hakisho from one of the intro screens and found out that it's one in a series based on a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. Mystery solved.

PIZZARIA: The kids got to have do-it-yourself dinners tonight. They really like making their meals. It reminds me, I need to get them more involved in the daily grind cooking instead of just the 'stunt' cooking (crazy cookies, cupcakes and such) we do from time to time.
STARRY, STARRY NIGHT: Christian wasn't home for 15 minutes tonight when he tore back out the door. When CJ asked him where he was going, Christian explained he was going to a lecture, which is a bit like a class, and sometimes people go to class just for FUN.

Tonight's fun is a lecture by rock star astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on the University of Washington campus.