Wii Mii Celeb Creations

Want to create Jesus, Charlie Brown or Conan O'Brien approximations on your Wii? Watch this video!

Wii Sensor Bar (For the Geeks!)

This is for all you Wii owners who have been curious about the workings of the Wii sensor bar and the Wiiremote. The videos I have posted simply explain to you how they work and show you how to make your own. I am pondering if the Wiiremote will be more accurate if I were to build about 3 more bars and set them up 360 around me? Perhaps I'll look for some IR LED's on ebay. Anyways enjoy the dorky videos.




Making your own center bar

Oh Wii oh my...

So I've had the Nintendo Wii for 6 days now and I have found out that my specific unit is already defective. The good news is the defect doesn't affect the game play, but it does affect the Wii's online capabilities. I discovered this while trying to connect my Wii to my wireless network (very similar to connecting your DS to your wireless network). I would test the connection after I finished the setup and it would give me this error message

Error #110213

"There is a problem with the Wii Connect 24 service. Please try again later"

For the first few days I just kept on trying it but to no avail. So yesterday I decided to go to the Nintendo.com site to see if there was any tech support that could help me out. I found the Error Code Entry Page and entered my code and this is what came up:

Connnect 24 Errors 110210, 110211, 110212, 110213 Wii Connect 24 Errors If you are receiving the following error message: " There is a problem with the Wii Connect 24 service. Please try again later " ...we ask that you call as at (800) 255-3700

What the?

That didn't really help me. So I posted my predicament on beyond and a kind soul gave me this article:

WiiConnect 24 Update Breaking Systems?
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get a broken Wii.
by Micah Seff

November 20, 2006 - We have received word from numerous sources that running the initial WiiConnect 24 update on the Wii has had a tendency to cause a recurring error code. Several error codes have been reported so far, but the most prevalent of them are 110213 and 32002. We contacted Nintendo about this issue, and they filled us in on what you should do if you find yourself in this predicament.

Currently, Nintendo has two options in place to resolve the problem. If you do not have any data saved to your system that is important to keep, then you can contact Nintendo customer service and they will ship a new console to you in 3-4 business days. However, if you do have important data saved to your system, then things get a little trickier. Data like game saves and Miis are not disastrous to lose, but Virtual Console data is. While Virtual Console games are re-downloadable should you delete them, the data saved on your console regarding which games you have downloaded is tied to your system. In this situation, option #2 is the way to go.

Option #2 requires that Nintendo send you a shipping label which should take 4-10 business days. Once you receive the shipping label, you can use it to send the console to Nintendo for repairs, after which they will send it back to you. Sadly, this process takes 8-12 business days, meaning that if you choose option #2, you will be Wii-less for a good long while.

Nintendo could not comment on how widespread this problem is, but did say that they are currently looking into fixes that can be done without Nintendo replacing or repairing the console itself. If you find yourself receiving either of these error codes, or any others, please visit Nintendo's customer service website.

taken from IGN

Boourns....

So after classes today I arrived home and the first thing I did was call up Nintendo. I was on hold for 5 minutes before I was able to talk to someone (not bad at all), and when I did I told them about the error code I was receiving. He told me that it was a bad system error and the only thing they could do was give me a new one and have me send in the defective one. He took about 15 minutes to set up an order account with all my vitals and now I should be getting a new Wii sometime next week! 2 Wii's in 2 weeks!

Now I know what you are all thinking..."Why return my Wii when I get the new one?" Well they took my credit card info down for collateral in case I were to do it. Plus they are only sending the console, so there are no cords, power adapter, controllers, sensor bar, etc. Pretty much it would be useless to me or to anyone else.

Anywho, I hope this was informative to those of you who have a new Wii and are getting error codes as well. Make sure you go check the code out at the page line I provided (somewhere in this post).

Back to playing with my Wii!

yes I know how that sounded :D

Oh yes Wii did!

Chris and I were so excited about the launch of the new Nintendo Wii that we mustered up enough self-dignity and humility to wait for it in the long lines early Sunday morning. How early did we show up for the line? We were at Futureshop at Deerfoot Meadows by 3AM today. Crazy? Yes. Worth it? Hell yes! But to put it into perspective, we weren't as crazy as the first four people had been there since 4PM Saturday!

This was the first time either of us have ever "camped out" for a console, but we came well prepared. I brought camping chairs for the both of us and both of us brought appropriate items to keep ourselves warm. I brought a sleeping bag, hoodie, two shirts, long johns, toque and gloves. Chris brought similar items. All this barely kept the cold night air out. I can't even imagine what it would have been like if Calgary wasn't experiencing chinook weather! However, compared to the people behind us, who laid on the cold concrete with just a sleeping bag, blankets and a tarp, we were super prepared. Both of us brought our DS' but it was just too cold to play them, however others in the lineup sacrificed warm fingers to play their DS/PSP. The night was long and involved chatting with the people in the lineup and brief little naps. Some people were extremely interesting to talk to and others were just plain too annoying or geeky. What made the night a little bit more warm (for a brief moment) was when this nice lady bought the 18 of us hot chocolate from Tim Horton's around 4AM! It was fantastic! Thanks Hot Chocolate lady!

The lineup for the Wii at Futureshop Deerfoot Meadows that night went something like this. The lineup was about 5 people from 4PM to Midnight. From Midnight to 3AM (when we came) it grew to 16 people (including us). Only 4 more people came from 3AM to 5AM. There were a few that came at those times, but were not prepared and left after 20 minutes. The line grew significantly after 7AM. And by the time we received our tickets at 8:30AM there were probably 80-100 people in line. Even though there were only 57 tickets given out (because there were only 57 units) some people (stupid people) still decided to wait. Perhaps they thought the employees were lying? Or perhaps they thought that someone at the front after waiting many hours in the cold would decide to give theirs up? Stupid.

They opened the doors up to only a few people at around 9AM. And I ended up getting out of the store around 9:20AM with a Wii console, Wiimote, nunchuk, Rayman and Zelda. Chris bought the same things minus Rayman.
My Wii!

When I got home I ate breakfast, took a shower and slept from 11-3PM. It wasn't much, but it sure felt nice. I didn't end up hooking up the unit until later that night and Tuyet, my bro and I gave Wii sports a try. It was so much fun, and a pretty good workout! I think we most enjoyed Wii boxing and baseball.

Overall if someone asked me "Would you do it again?". The answer would most likely be "No". It was quite an experience, but the loss of sleep and the cold weather really made for a miserable night. The only reason I was only willing to wait for the Wii in the cold was because Chris wanted to do it too. Otherwise I would have bought it a few months after release, just like I did with the 360.

Reading Days!

Reading days afforded me with a 4 day long weekend this past weekend and with that I used it to its full potential.

Thursday night I went to relieve some much pent up stress by having a "few" drinks at the Blind Monk and then finishing the night with some crazy ass dancing at Hi-Fi. Much props go out to Mike and Chris for taking me out that night *electronic high five*

Friday I stuffed myself full of Tylenol to get over the huge hangover and went to the Flames vs. Anaheim game and watched the Flames kick some tired Ducks ass. It was sweet. Even sweeter because it was the first Flames win that I have witnessed at the Dome. The other 2 games I have been to, they have lost (not including pre-season losses).

Saturday morning I cooked a big breakfast for Tuyet and my brother. I made Irish style eggs (I saw Martha Stewart make it on Conan O'Brien for St. Patty's day), bacon and hashbrowns..mmmm now I'm hungry. Afterwards I got to enjoy a movie with Tuyet. I have been wanting for so long to go to The Departed. The cast was stellar (Nicholson, Damon, DiCaprio, Wahlberg, M.Sheen and A.Baldwin) and the story line was fantastic and was basically a modern day Shakespeare tragedy. Makes me want to watch the original Japanese version now! If you haven't seen it, you definitely have to go now....NOW!!!

Then we ended off the night watching the Flames awesome comeback win against the Canucks. Go Flames Go!

Sunday involved me playing a few video games with the brother and watching a few bits and pieces of NFL Games. Then Tuyet and I went out to (I don't know the name) the all-you-can-eat Chinese place up in Deerfoot Mall. I forget what the occasion was, but Tuyet's family and relatives were there. The food was filling but not overly good...but hey it was free so there's no complaining coming from this full stomach :D After that we went to see ANOTHER movie! That's right I had to squeeze in as many movies as I could with this little break in the semester. This time we chose to go see The Prestige. It stars Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Michael Caine. It is directed by Chris Nolan (Batman Begins and Memento). It is about two magicians who are in competition with each other, each one trying to one-up the other in tricks. The movie was awesome. The twists were great and the acting was well done. I totally recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

Monday...what did we do Monday? I think we went shopping. Specifically we were looking for boots for Tuyet. First we went to Market and then went to Chinook. She couldn't find anything though...booo.

Tuesday I just spent at home chilling and illin. Later on in the night Tuyet and I watch the Flames slaughter the Blues :D

But yeah, the long weekend was very nice. Too bad we don't have more of them per month :D

Y M C A!!!!!!

Absolutely brilliant!

Taken from JimSmash

Greek Ribs

6 servings
1 hour 30 minutes (20 minutes prep)

- 3lbs pork back ribs
- 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon rind
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup grated onions
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons liquid honey
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper

1. Cut pork into individual ribs, trimming off fat
2. In small bowl, whisk together lemond rind and juice, onion, oregano, oil, honey, garlic powder, salt and pepper; pour int large ziplock bag.
3. Add pork back ribs, turning to coat; seal bag tightly
4. Refrigerate, turning bag occasionally, for at least 8 hours or for up to 24 hours.
5. Arrange ribs on rack in large foil-lined roasting pan; pour marinade all over ribs.
6. Roast in 400F oven for 10 mins.
7. Reduce oven temp to 375F; roast, turning once and basting occasionally with marinade, for 1 hour or until meat is tender enough to almost fall off the bone.


My personal tips:
-Instead roasting for 1 hour at 375F, do it for a bit longer...half an hour more and for the last 4 minutes turn it on broil and broil both sides so they can turn a golden brown.
- Serve with extra slices of lemon so guests can add more to the ribs if they wish
- You can also serve this with some tzatziki sauce for dipping (its fantastic!). I bought mine pre-made at the supermarket. You can also be dilligent and make it yourself, I chose to be lazy.