PixlBit

Pixlbit Nation, how are you all doing? The past week has been an odd collection of weather as it’s been muggy and humid, to F’n hot, to breezy. A lot of thanking Air Conditioning for doing a good job has been going on. So how was this week? Hopefully you folks who had/are going through rough spots, keep positive and remember it’s just a rough spot.

 

Adventures at Walmart

Yup my favorite place on earth (sarcasm X 100000000). I saw on Reddit that someone encountered a shopping cart full of clearance media for $5 and he pull a bunch of games. Naturally I wanted to see if this happened at my local store. The last big clearance I saw like this was years ago when they blew out a ton of Lego and that got me back into buying Lego. So I made the trek to this store (it’s also next to GameStop), so I could hit two spots with this trip.

 

While digging through a bargain bin in the electronics section I spotted this PS3 game

 

Oh DJ Hero 2, and then I took a closer look

 

Wait, what?

 

The same Walmart that used to sell Madden 2004 on XBox for $40, a couple of years ago, while the tin case version of The Force Unleashed was $20. Good luck moving that game only for $60

 

GameStop Part II

Last Quick Hits blog I wrote about my experiences with a GameStop employee about who could have been a problem with the Club Nintendo Points. On Monday I received a call from the manager from the store. He was very apologetic, and I mentioned that everyone in his store is very chill and usually very helpful. I also mentioned that I didn’t care for having a dismissive attitude toward my concerns, especially with customers who wouldn’t bother to check and be screwed out of something they paid for. The manager said starting that day games that are gutted would have their points placed with the game.

 

For as much hate that GameStop gets, there are some good people that work there, and this is one store I will continue to shop at.

 

Scenes From The Oil Change

Oh Monday was muggy, and I was glad that I got to the dealership early to get an oil change. They just remodeled so the waiting room was huge with two TVs, instead of the old dungeon closet.

 

There were a bunch of comfy seats with little tables and a couple of them were for us Lefty’s

 

These were GOLD in college for me, and I hated right-handed folks who took these seats. I had the next two hours to kill so the night before I downloaded a couple of tech video podcasts (All About Android, iPad Today, and Techzilla)

 

My next two hours were spent between jumping between the podcasts, tweeting on my phone (I didn’t want to jump on their free wifi), and every so often looking up to watch some bad morning shows. The other folks there were also on tablets, phones, and laptops. A new feature that this dealership had was a deli. I thought about picking up a donut but I didn’t want to leave my left-handed desk. It’s GOLD I tell ya, GOOOOLLLDDD!

 

That’s me!

The Nike Free Run 2 are my new favorite ultra comfy sneakers. I found this pair at a Marshall’s for $31, and have become my favorite pair of summer shoes. Comfy, and the colors are a bit loud.

 

I Finished Another Book

 

This was a really short audiobook that I bought from a dollar store a year ago, and finished in two sittings. It’s not really a book but rather a collection of quotes from Jim Henson, read by John Lithgow and Whoopi Goldberg. I enjoyed it.

 

Gaming Items

 

Video game Chris hit his first Cycle in the majors. I also went 5 for 5 and was caught stealing second. I’m going to take my talents to South Beach for four years, and then come back to the team that drafted me.

 

I saw this game on a video by Snazzylabs on Youtube and it looked like a lot of fun

 

I don’t read Russian, so figuring out what’s going on is a bit of a struggle but the game is a ton of fun, the music is perfect for this game and the graphics are nice. Gameplay is a lot like Jetpack Joyride except you’re a woodpecker and you collect coins and green orbs. The orbs send in you into a quick bonus stage that is filled with a ton of coins

 

There are little things to collect like a magnet, special ships, and with each orb you collect you also gain a little bird that follows you. These act like lives within the game. When the enemies you crash hit you and you are met with this screen

 

Apparently there are missions and with each completed mission you can raise your level. This is seen in just about every runner game. The game I think costs a buck, which isn’t much, and after you navigate your way through the game

 

I started playing NBA 2K14 after LeBron went home, and started a new Association once Melo decided losing in NYK was better than competing for rings in Chicago. I updated the rosters with the big off season moves, and traded away Tony Snell to Memphis for

Aztec great Jamaal Franklin. One of the favorite stories about him was that in a pick up game trying to dunk lost a tooth between the net and rim. Apparently it got caught and boom urban legends of him dunking soon appeared…and then he made SportsCenter’s Top 10 with this

 

He’s in my starting lineup and I traded Jimmy Butler to the Knicks for a 1^st Rd Pick and Tim Hardaway Jr. I’m going to try and package that pick, Hardaway Jr, and another 1^st Round pick for an up and coming star. We shall see if this happens or I might just keep the pics and this will be the building blocks for a future lineup of D Rose, Jamaal, Hardaway, Draft Pick, and Noah. Not a bad up and coming lineup.

 

Twitter Randoms 

This headline made me laugh

 

A little bit of water falls out of the sky and local news goes into STORM WATCH 2014.

 

 

This better be good, because chicken and waffles from last year tasted like Top Ramen.

 

 

#Re2pect

 

 

Parody Accounts always get a laugh from me. This one about Heat fans is perfect

 

Pickups

Games

 

So after I went an got an oil change I hit up a thrift store down the street that I seem to visit once a month. When I walked in I saw something cool sitting on the counter but there were some people around it so I didn’t want to add another body to that area so I went to look at the CDs. There was nothing worth picking up, no games in the DVD section, and the records were slim pickings, so I made my way back to the front. There was a Peugeot Bicycle in the front of the store, but I don’t know much about bicycles (I do know that Peugeot made those funky looking cars when I was growing up). I went back to the counter where those people were standing and I saw a Nintendo Wii sitting there for $30.

I went to stand in line for it, and after the lady in front of me bought her items and decided to look at a piece of costume jewelry instead of getting out of way. That added an extra couple of minutes. I had the cashier pull the console out and she said they just got it in that morning. I had the usual 7 days to return it in case it doesn’t work and I picked up a game for $5.

 

That’s my new Wii and Lunch. The perfect Happy Meal.

So for $35 I got a Wii and Mad World. It was missing a Wiimote so I hit GameStop on the way home for one. After plugging it in, doing some heavy cleaning on the Wiimote, and the Nun chuck the Wii came with, it was time to see if it works. The dang thing works fine. To Eric, I’m giving your old Wii a good home! I wiped all the saves and other stuff, and it’s now sitting next to my TV. It has the connections for the GameCube stuff so I guess I should be looking for GameCube stuff now.

 

My Wiimote.

 

I went back to GameStop the next day to pick up some games.

 

Nothing too fancy, but now I need a steering wheel for the Crusi’n game. When checking out the Wiki on the Crusi’n game I thought it might be related to the Crusin USA games but it turns out it was based on the Fast and Furious Arcade game.

A trip to another GameStop on Thursday to take advantage of the Buy 2 Get 1 Free deal for Wii and DS games.

 

I figured I’d add the more expensive must have games first. The 3DS game gave me the Mario bug, and I think I’ll have my hands free for a bit.

 

And a couple of super cheap games. I actually just wanted WiiPlay, but FarCry seemed interesting, but I need the Wii gun holder.

 

The Wii Steering Wheel! I think I’m ready to take on some racing.

 

My local Goodwill had some random NES games show up, but were a little bit more pricey than the usual $1.99 that they used to be.

 

I do love the Tengen carts and I wish I had more. Marble Madness is a nostalgia trip because I used to play this at a friend’s house growing up. I hated that I couldn’t control that damn marble on the Gameboy.

 

Like many of you good folks I saved up my Club Nintendo points, and I hit the Platinum status and I constantly checked the website when the cool freebies were available. I used to see things like CDs, statues, and physical copies of games that were available to their users. I was excited and soon it was it my turn…and we saw this

 

I was hoping for a CD to add to my collection, so seeing all digital content was a bit disappointing. I know it’s crazy to be disappointed by something free and I can get instantly, but a little part of me was, but that was quickly shaken by having a GameStop window tab open, and I was price checking the Platinum games (don’t lie you were doing the same). I decided with Donkey Kong because it was a full release and when I went to hit the submit order I got this fun screen

 

I got a little worried so I tried the process again and moved past this point to this screen

 

Props to Nintendo for some fun “We’re sorry” screens. I finally got my download code and 17k blocks later I have Donky Kong on my 3DS. Thanks Nintendo!

 

Music

Some thrift store vinyl

 

Random Russian Marching Band music

 

And some Carole King

For vinyl I’ve decided to focus on a handful of artists that I like, along with groups from the 70s and 80s as well as anything marching bands.

 

Some CD pickups from the Best Buy

 

Metallica and Led Zeppelin are currently on sale. I have the Led Zeppelin stuff so it was nice to finally add these Metallica albums

 

Tone Loc is my middle school days. The running joke with my friends during that time was Funky Cold Medina and Wild Thing were the same song. I now have the Black Keys on CD, especially after rediscovering this track

 

It was stuck in my head earlier in the week. I posted this on Instagram.

 

Ok Pixlbit I’m really going to try and catch up with your blogs this weekend. I’ve had a bunch on my plate but I have some free time so between Playstation Skee Ball, and a bunch of Wii goodness I will be reading your work!

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris