Now I know why I can’t find a damn Wii: They’re being snapped up by retirement communities.

Well, and everyone else and their brother, mother, sister, and now grandparents. The video that’s on that story is pretty cute though, especially the 89 year old woman who hasn’t bowled since 1945.

Well, it took four guys from the cable company standing around my apartment for an hour to get the two CableCards properly installed in my HD TiVo, but good lord, SPECTACULAR HD (™ Laz) is pretty fucking cool.

I’m watching the Lakers-Wizards game right now (ironic, since a) I hate basketball and b) I hate DC even more), and the picture is absolutely unreal. You can see the individual beads of sweat on Gilbert Arenas as he comes up to the free throw line.

Nate came over earlier and The Empire Strikes Back was on HBO HD, and…wow. Darth Vader’s helmet was so very, very shiny. You could count the individual hairs on Chewbacca.

I moved the new-old TiVo that had been in the living room to the bedroom and disconnected the old-old TiVo. I’m in the process of trying to find a home in L.A. for the old-old one (since I’d prefer not to ship it), but if I can’t, you kids will get first dibs before I put it on eBay.

I also changed my TiVo naming scheme, since the old one was a bit too practical (“living room” and “bedroom” were the old names). Fixed that problem: The new-old TiVo is now Pinky, and the HD TiVo is The Brain.

Between this and my new Netflix subscription (Snakes on a Motherfuckin’ Plane arrived today) I think there’s a very real danger that I’m never going to leave my apartment again.

My trusty old iPod, which I bought about two and a half years ago, finally started succumbing to the daily drudgery of being carried in my pocket without a case about a month ago.

I waited patiently for MacWorld as it deteriorated further and further, but when no new standalone iPod* was introduced, I could justify waiting no longer.

And so it was, I walked into the shiny shiny Apple store yesterday and walked out significantly lighter of wallet with a shiny shiny new black 80gb 5.5gen iPod.

Yes, I know I’m a trendy schmuck for going with the black, but there’s some trick of the eye that makes video look better on it, so I went for it. Plus: Shiny!

The best news that comes from doubling my music capacity is that I can now carry my entire music collection around with me again, something I haven’t been able to do since I filled the my old iPod up three months after I got it.

I also now have a little free space to try these things the kids are calling “podcasts,” so if anyone has any to recommend (I’m already subscribed to the NPR All Songs Considered one), please do.

Hooray electronics!

*- On the iPhone, I only have two words: Fuck Cingular.

Sewing christmas lights onto a tie: Much harder than I thought.

I bought a Nikon D50 about a month and a half ago because really, I need some of the most advanced photographic technology available to take a picture this cute:

More photo phun is available at my flickr site. Chaplin’s going to hate my guts very, very soon. Especially once I get a macro lens and start in with the extreme closeups.