- I flew out to Chicago Sunday night
- I had a reservation at the Marriott Suites O'Hare
- Apparently there is also a Marriott O'Hare (no suites) just a mile away
- Details Schmetails
- Checked in to the hotel (detail - wrong one)
- They told me my colleague had already checked in
- I WAS SHARING A ROOM?????
- OK -- Go with the flow...meet new peeps
- Went up to the room
- Opened the door
- Introduced myself to sleeping woman
- Lady went from dazed and confused to totally FREAKED out
- I continued to intro myself as her new colleague
- Tried to shake her hand
- She asked me to to get out of her room
- Oh yes...I persisted
- I thought we could be BFFs
- And make puffy paint shirts together
- And get the matching Be Fri...St Ends necklaces
- She once again told me VERY FIRMLY to leave her room
- I did
- Reluctantly
- Ooops...wrong hotel...
- Someone had the same last name as me
- Talk about serendipitous
- Anyhoo...ate dinner LATE with a friend
- Woke up the next morning
- Went into our Chicago office
- Meeting was CANCELLED
- I totally wasted my new cute shoes.
So now I am in Louisiana working with another district. -- and let me just tell you HONEY CHILD. I just came back from dinner with my colleagues and I KID YOU NOT I ate the following:
- Oysters on a half shell
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Shrimp Gumbo
- Shrimp Etouffee
- Stuffed Baked Potato
- BURP!
I am so full and it was so good and I think I should have worn my stretchy pants.
Anyhoo...the people I work with are AMAZING. And my office has three windows and a stapler. I feel so spoiled. AND I KID YOU NOT...they have a little drink cooler STOCKED WITH ALL THE DR PEPPER I CAN DRINK.....FOR FREE! Be still my beating heart.
Anyhoo...that is the preliminary stuff...now we are getting to the meat and potatoes. I need your help. Oh yes I do...BIG TIME.
Eldest Twerp's birthday is this FRIDAY and she will be 11. I want it to be special. She chose the activities. Friday night she wants the whole family to go see Madagascar 2 and order Sour Patches and a Sprite.
Then she wants to come home and roast marsh mellows and hot dogs in the fire pit.
Followed with a sleep over.
And a visit to the world of coca cola the next day.
No problemo.
But it is the gift that is getting me. She wants a gaming system. I KNOW NOTHING about gaming systems. I grew up on an Atari on our 17 in TV.
I was a KILLER at Space Invaders and Asteroids and Pitfall. Anyone? Anyone? And then came Centipede -- which I TOTALLY dominated.
So, if it were up to me, I would be digging the Atari out of the basement and slap a bow and some candles on that baby and move on to Christmas.
But, she wants one of the following....
PSP
Nintendo DS
We have NO gaming systems at all at our house right now and the main thing she wants is PORTABLE!Anyone got an opinion out there for a mom who really wants to just get her a mac book -- Help!
PSP or Nintendo DS? I know nothing about either -- pros/cons, cost comparisons, etc.....
PS For Christmas she is getting an ipod. If that helps with the decision making process at all.
Let me know and I will go pick it up Thursday and I will also start making her carrot cake ... ya know..Aunt Betty's STRAIGHT FROM HEAVEN AND RIGHT TO YOUR THIGHS cake.
Your thighs will sing my praises.
XXXOOO,
CG
31 comments:
first things first...you are a big ol' cheater...ok..now that is out of the way :)...I say the DS...of course, I am not 11 though I act like it some...I just know the kiddos in my family enjoy theirs...video is up of the tattoo...
My daughter prefers the DS. If that helps any.... shes 15 though. She said the games are cooler for the ds, but... Ive seen the same games for both.
Wow! What a mix up you got yourself into. I'm so glad you eventually found your way to the right hotel. That SO sounds like something I would do. It reminds me of when I got off the plane in Orlando rather than Ft. Lauderdale and waited for 3 hours only to find out my mistake, of course that was after I'd spent the only $20 I had. Yeah I was only 18 but still, that kind of stuff happens to me a lot. It's rather embarrassing. Just be glad the lady wasn't a weirdo and thought since you are cute what the heck! I can't offer any advice on your child's birthday but with carrot cake does anything else really matter?
There is currently no eleven year girl old sleeping at my house. I have almost all other ages covered....literally. However, my eight year old has that very same pink Nintendo DS you posted. And loves it. Wants to marry it. Takes it with her in the car. To ballet. To bed. Did I say loves it. And loves that it's pink. She even bedazzled it.... which I am totally in support of. She plays 'cookin' mama' 'hannah montana' and 'horses'. Every girl we see covets it. And she doesn't want to share. She's afraid someone will knock off the bedazzling. You can't blame her for being concerned. I say go for the DS. Thanks for the update. Loves ya! And I think ET should do another guest post on/near her birthday! So we can give her some love!
we have both and my 8 year old dd prefers the Nintendo DS. it also plays gameboy games.
Okay, although I have teen boys under the same roof, I know nothing about gaming systems either. The last one I bought was pong and we played it on my parents console tv.
BUt I wanted to send an early happy day message to ET, which I know you can't show her now or else she will learn that she's getting an ipod for Christmas, lucky girl!
And I think it is the sweetest thing evah that she wants to go WITH the whole family to see a movie. That's one sweet girl you got there! Make that two, counting yourself.
p.s. cheating is allowed under the circumstances. Glad the sleeping woman was not armed.
I'm getting my daughter a Nintendo DS for Christmas (the cute pink one!). She commented that it was more girlie and cute than the PSP. I must agree. There is a huge selection of games that appeal to girls, as well as quite a few educational games. Did you know that you can get a game that teaches you Spanish!?! Or one of the Brain Quest games?!?
I'm still trying to convince hubby to my ME the Ms. PacMan/Galaga full size arcade game. It will fit in the place of the treadmill.
I personally think Nintendo DS is pretty cool. Cuz it comes in pink. Oh yea. And they have some pretty cool games. The only thing I know about the psp is that it's more expensive. The ds runs around 130-150 and psp runs around 160-200. Go for the pink Ds. She will not be disappointed!
We let the nice lady from Best Buy talk us into the PSP for our 10 year old because it can do SO many thing, and i'm sure it can, we just can't figure it out AND and this is the biggy, PSP doesn't have many "girl" games-atleast not that I have seen. I'm wishing we had gone with the Nintendo thing since that is what she actually asked for and it comes in some really cute colors & has girl games.
Nintendo DS...more kid oriented I believe...ALL the kids in my world LOVE it! There are different colors so you may want to know her top color preferences!
CG-
My 12 year old daughter has the DS (pink of course) and she loves it.
Their are 2 screens, the top screen you can write on with the pen thing that comes with it...you can get lots of kids games for it. My daughters favorite is called Dogs or something like that. You have to "care" for the dogs or they get sad, including feeding, walking, and bathing them! It is really fun! I recommend the DS!
My kiddos have both and I really think they like the PSP better. You can do more with it, watch movies, play games, listen to music. The kids tell me that there is more games for the DS but really I see them with the PSP more times then not. Hope this helps!
Well, I say get her the PSP. My oldest has one and he LOVES it. He can not only play games, but with its wi-fi connection, download music, pictures, movies, and even play games with friends. I know nothing about the Nintendo DS, but I do admit that I have even snuck off with the PSP after Bubs was in bed!!!
I don't have a clue! I have never bought one. My sons dad showers him with that stuff, while I buy the computers and ipods... I would say check out the game prices and that would make my decision... you don't want to buy a player that she will never be able to afford games for :(
It's soooo good to see (hear) you so happy! Good for you! Your family needs a WII! We bowled last night and we are having a great time with that thing! I know, she wants portable. We only have the outdated Gameboy Advance. So...I'm NO help here! Sounds like ET is going to have a wonderful weekend!
Go with the Nintendo Ds. You can use Gameboy Advance games with it too. And definitley get a case for the game system and games... Keeps it all together
My 3 girls all have GameBoys and love them. BUT, they would rather have the Nintendo DS. It is a bit fancier and you can do more stuff with them. I don't know anything about the PSP. Most of the girls friends have the DS and LOVE them. Can we come on the Coke tour with you?
PSP definitely. At our house we have owned both and my kids enjoyed both, but hands down the choice is PSP. The PSP graphics are far and away better and you can watch movies, download music and pictures to it and even get on the internet if you choose. There are plenty of games out there along with PSP movies which are great for long car rides. I'm always very conscious of the game ratings so be mindful of that when you choose games too, we don't do violent games and there are still plenty of options, although you may have to order games online for the greatest selection. {After rereading what I wrote I feel compelled to say that our family isn't a bunch of gaming freaks..my 3 kids are avid readers and all of them are in gifted programs...somehow in my mind that means we aren't video game wackos...we just lived in remote Alaska for a few years (hello... no Target in the whole stinkin' state) and we road tripped a lot.}
I got nothing for you. But I will ask Bekah and let you know later today. Check texts.
Both of my bonus kids have the Nintendo DS's and they still like them. They've had them since last Christmas now. The only problem we have had is that Rug Rat 2 (boy) opened his way to far one day and broke the connections on his. Mailed back to Nintendo and they fixed his for us. Only gone maybe one week total. Very prompt and totally rug rats fault.
Sorry I know nothing about the other one.
My kids have Nintendo DS, and they love, love, LOVE it!! I don't really know anything about PSP, except that they are slightly more expensive than the DS. I know that our DS has been durable (survived being dropped into the sink full of water...which I really don't recommend we may have been lucky on that one, and many other drops/falls). There is also a huge variety of games for the DS.
I'm from the days of "Pong!" Sorry not much help here. But there is a little sumtin-sumtin over at my place for ya. Checkitout=)
LOL, loved your post!
About the gaming systems... I have an 11 yr old boy. He LOVES the Nintendo DS. It's very cool. I'm sure your daughter would love it.
However, my 11 yr old is now asking for a PSP because it does EVEN MORE cool things. He's going to be one of those guys who has to have the latest of everything techie. I haven't decided yet if I'll get him one.
The PSP is more expensive, of course. I don't think you can go wrong with the Nintendo DS.
IMO you should go with the DS in a gender neutral color. It is a good system to start out with and when she out grows it (or wants a PSP)it is easy enough to use that she can pass it on to the youngins. There are great games for her age and for the boys, too. Some of the games even respond to talking into a microphone. (And they have "old school" Mario Brothers still available for it.)
The one tip I have is this...Don't waste your money on the hard shell carrying case because the car charger doesn't allow it to close securely. Go for a soft case with a little "give" or a bigger travel case.
One more tip....buy an extra stylis they get lost easily.
Hope that helps!
Nintendo is the best gaming system for kids - it has the most "kid appropriate" games. We will not buy our kids anything but (much to their shigrin!).
I say DS also.. I'm a Nintendo fan though. But the DS has some really awesome games. Really creative and kid friendly, shoot I'm 22 and can have fun with most of them. There are some that incorporate the microphone, like blowing into it to move a boat across the water, and the brain age games.. really fun. I've never played a PSP though so I don't know about those. I'm sure both would be fun to have, but I'd get a DS.
I'm in the same boat, but for Christmas. I had heard on the Today show ( several months ago) that some of these portable games can allow people who are near you kids with a computer to contact them through thier hand held game. So that concerns me & I'm trying to find out which one & stay away from those. If I find out I'll let you know.
Ok, we have a PSP and while it IS amazing you must go with a DS for a little girl. There are way more little girl games available. The PSP games are mainly geared to teen/adult males. While the PSP does offer many great extra features....the iPod will have her covered with all the extra goodies she will want! Go with the Pink DS!!! I dont think you'll regret it.
go for the Wii. it's FUN and the whole family can play and it's excercising too! i'm not too happy that you posted all that oyster, fried green tomaters, cajun stuff cause i am sooo cajun starved it's killing me! but we are going to have GoodeCo. BBQ AND mandola's cajun fried TURKEY for christmas and in between i'm making your mexican slap your mama chili or whatever you called it!
Careful if you get that Wii....i threw my shoulder out bowlin'. But I would love to see you and those twerps on some Rock Band! Hope you had a great first day!
The Wii is great! Wii fit is a great way to have fun with fitness as a family! Highly recommend it.
Also, the DS is kinda addicting. I used to play when I babysat a lot and it's waaaay fun :)
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