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My wife just reported that she’s first in line to buy the new Nintendo DS at Walmart. Most stores start selling it tomorrow morning. This 24-hour Walmart has it available at midnight tonight. Woo-hoo! Can’t wait to *ahem* test the unit for my son.

I actually published the above entry around 12 midnight on November 22, then pulled it. The wife called me half an hour after I posted the entry saying that Walmart didn’t have them until the 26th. Someone at the electronics department had given her and the dozens of people behind her the wrong information. They all left disappointed. But that didn’t stop my wife. She was up at 5 a.m. and first in line at the local Target. A line formed behind her again. She came home with the unit just in time to get ready for church. I stayed home with the baby who was still recovering from another bout of ear infection. You’re thinking I probably stayed home so I can play with the Nintendo DS all morning, huh? I didn’t have the heart. I had to wait until son no. 1 came home.

Quick first impression of Nintendo’s newest handheld system:

• It’s made out of cheap plastic whose paint will eventually chip and lose its luster.
• The dual screen adds a new dimension to handheld gaming.
• I like that it’s backward-compatible with Gameboy Advance games.
• Using the stylus to look around 360° takes getting used to; it felt a little weird using something I normally use the mouse for. I suppose it’s not much different from using your finger on a trackpad. But, hey, to look around 360° in a handheld when a regular-sized console can’t even do that I guess is pretty cool.
• I didn’t get to try the wireless connectivity since there are no other Nintendo DSs to test it with.

I’m not much of a gamer. Our eldest is turning out to be a prolific one though. We got the Nintendo DS for him as an “early” Christmas present. But after today’s Parent/Teacher conference we should’ve probably made him earn it much more deservedly.

Here’s a quick rundown of my weekend. On Friday, I got out early from work in order to prepare for the meditation on the Seven Last Sayings of Christ at the Good Friday service that evening. I was assigned to speak on the third saying of Christ, “Dear woman, here is your son.” It was a privilege and honor to speak in front of the congregation. But I feel I’m not cut out for public speaking (like Moses?).

Saturday morning was all about chores. Later I took the kids to Fry’s Electronics where I saw a couple of really good deals on Mac games. I bought the Spider-Man game and Alice game for $9.99 each. My wife meanwhile went to see her good friend’s newborn baby at the hospital. We are still waiting for our own little bundle of joy to arrive.

Later that evening, we had choir practice at my cousin Winston’s house for our Easter Cantata presentation the next day. It was also the birthday of Winston’s wife, Alma, so mucho delicious food was served.

At 6:00 a.m. the next morning, I woke up to head over to our Easter Sunrise Service at a park close by. It was quite chilly. Pastor Alois delivered a stirring sermon on the resurrection of Christ. Here are some pictures:

Shortly afterwards, we went to our respective homes to get ready for the later service where we were to perform the cantata. I got the church bulletins to print out almost without a hitch. My printer had a knack of stopping mid-way in manual feed mode. I’m glad I found out that having the paper go out through the back slot minimizes snags.

We had several guests that morning. Our Easter Cantata presentation, just like our past performances, was preceded by several weeks of practice. This time, however, felt like we were less prepared than usual. Sure enough the entire choir forgot a stanza as we sang the final song. We quickly substituted words from an earlier part of the song. From later inquiries, some audience members indicated they hadn’t noticed the faux pas. I think they were just trying to be nice. Overall, I feel the resurrection message has been proclaimed joyfully, both in song and sermon. Our fallibility does not diminish Christ’s glory and honor.

After church, the family went to my sister’s house for a little egg hunt for the young ones. Also present were our parents and our tito and tita from Virginia. The apos kept them entertained the whole afternoon.

We capped off the day with an evening at the movies. We saw Anger Management. I’d have to tag on a full movie review here if I talked about it so I won’t go there. So much for the quick rundown.