Now, the mall is fairly upscale and drives in a LOT of traffic from out-of-towners, tourists, whatnot, so the mall is a fairly common place to find special kiosks set up to promote virtually anything. A few years ago I spotted The Nintendo DS Spa, wherein you could opt for a free massage while you play one of their DS games onhand. More recently, Nintendo again set up a huge display with the Wii Sports Resort, with about a half dozen to a dozen televisions each with a specific Wii Sports Resort game playing, not to mention “scenery” like the fake palm trees you see there, and staff handing out leis. Finally, Microsoft is getting into this, but the last time I saw them in the mall, they were advertising Windows Phone… too bad one of their guys was doing an excel spreadsheet for them on a MacBook. Irony at its best.

Anyway, I found this one notable enough to make a thread considering at the time these mentioned demo kiosks were set up, the product was available for purchase. Today, though, in Macy’s we ran across a Kinect – obviously NOT for sale yet.

The game the Kinect was demoing at the time was Kinect Adventures, as you can see across the screen of the demo TV. The only one Trish and I tried though, for sake of time, was the first thing it offered us: a slalom-like river rafting experience, where the object was to direct the raft by sidestepping left or right, and jumping to get extra points off ramps and such.

Needless to say, the game requires a TON of communication with your teammate, but although we struggled here and there a bit we still pulled something like 107 points for a Silver Medal by the end of it. Very fun, and surprisingly accurate avatar representation of motions, given the infamous “you can see the bottom of your avatar’s shoe” thing E3′s ago – they’ve obviously improved it. Tricia’s hands were on her hips, and so were her avatar’s.

One thing that did concern me, though, was when the game had finished, it presented to us a series of snapshots taken from the Kinect device of Trish and I jumping around during gameplay. I don’t like that it took those without telling me, but I imagine the device has settings for that when it’s released in November.

Altogether, though, very fun. Probably still won’t get it though unless I have THAT much disposable income. Anyone else played a Kinect yet, or seen one in a Macy’s or their mall?

First up: I’m engaged. Yeah that’s right. You guys have no idea how hard it is to write here over the last few months and try to say something meaningful without talking about the only freaking thing I want to talk about. Here’s how it went down.

So I planned way earlier this year to pop the question. Reason being that we’ve been going out for almost 3 years now, been friends for about 7, and I knew that living together wouldn’t be an issue. Surprise – it’s been awesome. Considering I uprooted this poor girl from everything she knew in Oregon to come live in the Dirty South, I figured I’d better keep her close and let her know that I’m serious about us. :)

With my job from over the summer, I had more than enough money to get a ring. The original plan was to go to Walt Disney World, be at the World Showcase Lagoon on New Year’s Eve, wait for the kiss at the new year and, amidst the fireworks, ask on a bended knee. The only way I could pull this off (and afford this), though, was bringing friends – preferably a couple. Kiki and Patches, ok.

Yeah, that didn’t work out for obvious reasons. And of course I don’t blame either of them. So, new plan – owaitwheredidtheymoneygo. New Macbook was needed. Crapcrap.

The my monetary savior came in the form of a Marta bus. A bump to my car inflated my bank account by almost $800, and I was back in the game. A call to my aunt, and I had a ring. More on that later. Now how do I propose?

Well, I still wanted New Year’s Eve. Tricia is addicted to food, so I had to bring her out for dinner. Then what? Began to go through ideas online… and then it hit me. Online. We met online, we cultured our relationship online, and I am an online freak. Why not draw upon that? I love to share funny videos off of Youtube. I had my answer. Make a video! Rather than try to describe it, I’ll share it:

Tada. :) So obvious, I have a moment there to present the ring. And here it is:

And for some more pictures, click on these links.

Now for why I called my wonderful aunt. She has connections and really knows this stuff. Through her and her expertise, I ended up purchasing this ring. White gold, with a .47 carat centerpiece diamond, 2 sapphires, and a slew of smaller diamonds, this ring is over 1 carat, yet I paid $1050, tax included. But. My aunt, being as smart as she is, bought it at the New York Diamond Exchange for wholesale. The ring itself is appraised for $1700, and I’m told such a ring would sell here in Atlanta for about $3000. I’m pleased. :)

Oh, and she said yes. Hyperventilating and excited, after a great meal at Stonecrest Steakhouse in Augusta, resting at home alongside me on the sofa, Tricia said yes. And best of all, she had no idea. :)

Well! I’ve babbled on enough about romance stuff. In the last month, my Xbox red-ringed and was returned yesterday, much to the pleasure of my brother and I (Modern Warfare 2 ahoy!), and I’ve been played far too much Maplestory with my friends, see? Yep. I’ve reformatted Tricia’s Macbook so it will run better, and I got a 3.75 GPA last semester.

Life has been pretty good.

And I’m done for now. Perhaps I’ll write later about stuff that everyone else hasn’t seen already. XD