They've arrived!

My Mii is fat.

I've been rolling into my job writing for a shoe company at around 9 lately so it was an early morning for me on Wednesday when I headed to Target at 730 to beat the rush and pick up the latest popular fad from Nintendo--Wii Fit.  There were a few cars in the parking lot, so I walked up to the door when I got there.  As if I triggered an alarm by reaching the door, every person waiting in their car got out and into a line that formed behind me.  

When the door opened at 8 there were about 50 people in line behind me.  They walked us in and I picked up my new accessory.  I was back in my car and heading to work (5 minutes away) at 8:05.  35 minutes very painless minutes isn't bad considering they sold out by the time the last person walked through the doors and they've been sold out since.

So I come home and set it all up, sync it to our Wii, and pop in the disk.  I go through a series of tests that involve me stepping on the balance board, trying to stand still on the high tech "balance board" and entering details about my non-Wii based exercise and at end of it all I learn that I could use to lose a few.  (not a shocker there).  But by the time it was all over my Mii expanded in size to illustrate my larger girth. (Fortunately, I'm far from the obese level in the game so my Mii was chunky rather than rotund) There was even a skinny guy getting fat BLOOOOP sound that went with the animation.

After playing around with this new living room toy for a while I've come to see why reviews say that few people will actually lose weight by using Wii Fit.  BUT, where it works great is in the way it helps you keep track of your progress with constant reminders and fun little mini games.  If anything, Wii Fit has made me more glad that I ordered a bike a few days ago. I want my Mii to be skinny again. That bike can't get here soon enough.

A lot has been happening...so here's a couple bikes

Between my grandmother passing away last month to the new job I started the day I got back to LA, it's been a busy few weeks.  At some point in the midst of it all, Liz and I decided that we wanted to buy ourselves beach bikes.  After living within walking distance of the beach for 8 years, I have no logical answer for why we never decided this before.

Just to make sure it was a good idea, we rented bikes by the beach and took an afternoon ride.  We only went a few miles along the 22-mile long bike path known as The Strand, but it was enough to confirm that this was a fantastic idea that we needed to move forward on immediately. Little did we know how extensive the world of beach cruisers would be.  You can go from a basic run of the mill bike to over-the-top custom motorcycle-inspired low rider bikes.  Walk by the local pier on a summer afternoon and you'll see hundreds of them--crossing the entire spectrum. We looked at catalogues, we visited bike shops, and we got recommendations from friends.  And of course we couldn't find exactly what we wanted. Some of the cooler looking bikes are made for only a few months and then discontinued.  So Liz kept seeing pictures of bikes she loved only to discover they were no longer available.   

Eventually, we decided on the two bikes below after test driving them in different colors--both made by Electra--people say that's a good beach cruiser brand, but I dunno...they look cool and were fun to ride.  The local shop is ordering them for us with their next order for the store this week, so we won't pay anything extra like shipping which is nice.  Pictures of the bikes in use will be coming when we actually have them next week (Unfortunately, I don't think they'll be here in time for the holiday wkd).  

A fun summer awaits!