An Unexpected Celebrity Sighting

Guess who K found parked next to him at Target?

That's right, folks - it's Lightning McQueen in real life O_O

Given how many times I've seen the movie Cars because of my two nephews, I'm totally a fan. Too bad I wasn't brave enough to ask for his signature. :)

Holy Poo-Catcher, Batman!

I have a confession to make: I'm an incognito cloth diaper user. No altruistic reason behind it; I just like saving money. To minimize cost while maintaining some semblance of convenience, I standardized on bumGenius one size pocket diapers, all purchased secondhand via Craigslist. No fancy patterns, just a solid palette of unisex pastels. However, I know many a cloth diapering mom who are addicted to decorating their babies' bums in the cutest possible way, and that includes ordering custom tailored diapers. Normally I would never consider purchasing such frivolous luxuries, but then I came across this creation by Cadoozled...

Oh. My. Goodness. Soooo coool! Who knew tush wrappers could be so geekalicious? This is one of the many times when I wish I could sew. Please tell me she's making a Wonder Woman diaper next. :)

Digital Honeys Attract More Flies

K's friend Shawn told me the craziest story this week that had me collapsing with laughter in our booth at Outback Steakhouse. Apparently, back when graphical MMORPGs were brand new, Shawn played one called The Realm and picked the thief character to start with. Unfortunately, the way this class of character levels up is by pickpocketing, so even though Shawn was trying to play a "good thief" (one who steals for his team), everyone avoided him like the plague for fear of being swindled.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't want to be friends with him either

This not only made for a very lonely experience, but also made leveling up a slow and painful ordeal since no one would help him. So Shawn decided to do a little social experiment. In this game, people who are linked as "friends" could use the same house as a base for storing and sharing equipment. Therefore, he made 4 new login names and created 4 very attractive (aka sexy) female characters. Then he would go around typing newbie phrases like "I'm new to this game, can someone help me?" and add a few winks and smiley faces for good measure.

Yes, it's exactly what it looks like: a harem of elves

And what do you know, all the guys swarmed to help him! "Let me show you how to use your spells." "Come join our team, we're about to go on a raid." "Here, have some of this extra level 15 armor I have lying around." After accepting their generous offerings, Shawn would teleport to his home base to dump off the loot, and then would log back in as his main character to sell everything for ludicrous amounts of gold. His thief character really was like a digital pimp!

Welcome to Shawn's house of ill repute!

While K hasn't gone as far in exploiting the system, he knows at least ten other guys who have, and he did note that it was easier to find people to join his team in Monster Hunter Tri when he used a female character. What do you think? Is it wrong to deliberately choose a female character because you know you'll have greater favor among the majority male population in online gaming? Have you ever done it yourself?

Play Super Mario Bros. with Your Eyes

Remember the engineers at Waterloo Labs who invented a way to play Half-Life with real guns? Now they've come up with a way to play any NES game with your eyes.  ^_^   x_x   ¬_¬   v_v   O_O

As expected, it's a bit twitchy to try and control poor Mario with just a glance, given how much precision is required to play with your hands. Still, it's pretty cool how bioelectronics can be used not just for good, but for geekery. ^_~

Winner of the Chain Chomp Baby Hat Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who entered the drawing via Facebook and Twitter! Using the random number generator, I'd like to congratulate Honey Holman for winning the Mario Chain Chomp beanie. Be on the lookout for a Facebook message from me for further details.

In other news, K, Dexter, and I have all been doing well. I had no idea these first couple of months of motherhood would be so hard, and he's considered an "easy baby." O_O The little chunker has been inputting and outputting quite nicely, is growing like Alice in Wonderland on pills, and recently started sleeping through the night (praise God!). We've settled down into a nice little schedule, so expect to see more posts once again. Thanks for your patience during this time!