Cory Cavin will be crashing at my house this weekend. If you know who Cory is (or even if you don't), you will likely get a chuckle out of this gem from the past:

If you read Brooklynne's blog, you already know that I got a Wii for Christmas. No joke, my arms and back are sore.

But here's what I really love about the Wii right now: the Wiiware and Virtualconsole features.

When I got the Gamecube 7 years ago, I thought I was in heaven. But it turned out that it was very difficult to collect games to play on the system. Most of the titles were at least $40, if not $50 or $60, and I just wasn't ever in a position to drop that much cash on more than a few games over the years. Fastforward to this year and I wondered if it would be a long time before I would have a good mix of games to go with the new Wii.

However, I was happy to discover that with the Wii's built-in wireless, I could easily connect to the Nintendo website and download games any time of the day or night without leaving the comfort of my own couch. Granted, these games are not the full-blown blockbuster hits that most people think of in connection with the latest, most powerful gaming systems. But there is a good mix of classic titles from past systems as well as new, innovative games that might be too quirky or unorthodox to win the backing of the big budget developer studios.

And perhaps the best part of the whole thing is that these lightweight games only cost $5-15. If you stay on the cheap end of the spectrum, you can get 10 of these games for the price of one full-sized title. This mix of nostalgia and fresh ideas at bargan basement prices makes me even more excited about the Wii.

Sure, I'll still splash out for a few big games this year, but in between, you'll find me playing a lot of Wiiware and Virtualconsole games and having a blast.

I'm not usually a candy person, but there is a girl at work who has a pile of pixie sticks on her desk. Apparently, someone was unloading old halloween candy and gave her a bunch (even though she claims she doesn't eat them). Now whenever I walk by her desk, I grab a pixie stick and I get my entire day's sugar allowance in 30 seconds. Awesome.

In looking for a picture to include, I stumbled across a couple of fun facts.

1. The stuff in the pixie stick straws is actually a drink mix that was rebranded as a snack when kids started eating it straight from the package.
2. Fundip (with a licking stick and in a larger package) and SweeTarts (compressed) are the same candy in different forms.

I saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Play List this weekend, and it reminded me of how much I like teen party movies. Not that Nick and Norah's was really that good--I would give it a solid B--but it certainly had the same general feel as some of the classic, goofy party movies, specificly Dazed and Confused.

Which makes my think I should develop a top ten list of TPMs. Any other fans out there? What are your favorites?

Also, we saw the premier of HBO's Battle for Tobacco Road documentary, yesterday. It was good. Coming from inside the rivalry, there was nothing in the film that hasn't been said before, and I wish that they had spent more time reliving the classic head-to-head game moments instead of talking about each program's general level of success. But all in all, it was a fun summary of what makes the rivalry great. (Also, Brooklynne and I agreed that it had a slight UNC tilt.) If you want to see it yourself, it will air at 9pm on HBO on Feb. 23.

While Brooklynne and I were at the Filling Station Saturday, I came to the realization that there is no dessert or treat that I like better than a milkshake. Brooklynne tried to challenge that notion by listing every good, sweet thing she could think of, but I could definitely say that there was nothing that either of us could think of that I would enjoy more than a milkshake. In fact, give me an endles eggnog milkshake and some fritos, and I'll be happy forever.

Actually, not really. I would be fat. Have you noticed that 3 out of the 5 "things that I love" have been junk foods? I think I'm addicted to junk food.

Which doesn't make it easy for me this winter, since Evan, Dad, and I are locked in a weight-loss battle royale. We each have a goal and we're racing to see who can get there first. I've lost 4 pounds in the first week by simply eating less and minimally increasing my level of physical activity (20 pushups and 25 situps--total--one short bike ride in place of driving, and an hour of basketball with the guys). I really need to pump up that excercise because what's the point of being skinny if you can't have a milkshake? Just ask Daniel Day Lewis. 

I love bluegrass. There is a fine line between bluegrass and country music, and I loath country, but I love bluegrass. Especially the newer, twangy-but-not-whiney type of bluegrass. Here is an example by The Meat Purveyors.

I'm always looking for a music suggestion. Any favorite bluegrass bands I should know about?

It's that time of year again, and Kate (my cousin who has been staying with us lately) has already come home with multiple quartz of pure heavenly goodness. She must not have noticed that I've gained 30 pounds since college.

As I was looking for a good image for this post, I ran across this recipe for spiked egg nog french toast. I think I will try this recipe Thanksgiving weekend. It just sounds too good to ignor.

You know, when I was little, we used to drink homemade egg nog made with raw eggs. What were we thinking?!!!

I love Fritos corn chips.

Last night, Brooklynne sent me to the sore with a list:

• skim milk
• cherry tomatoes
• blueberries
• chips....

Ok, skim milk is pretty obvious. And there were no cherry tomatoes, but grape tomatoes are essentially the same thing. A blueberry is a blueberry. But when I got to "chips," I was dumbfounded. I kid you not--Kroger has no less than 437 different varieties of "chips."

So I did what any reasonable husband would do. I got two kinds. First I got some regular tortilla chips for dipping (I figured that would be a safe bet), but then I went for the gusto, and got a bag of Fritos.

Brooklynne later described Fritos as "sick" and "gross." However, I am ready to declare Fritos my number one favorite snack within the chip category. What is your favorite kind of chips?