The previous owner of this 3DS didn't wipe anything off of the device. Including a Netflix account that logs into a queue of movies and several photos and customized Miis.

When selling electronics it's a good idea to try and set the device back to factory settings. Or at least remove login information for existing accounts.


When they first announced the 3DS years ago, I was skeptical. After seeing one in the store I was still not sold. Who cares about getting 3D on a handheld? Plus it makes me sick just looking at it. Now, you can turn off the 3D, so for people (like me) who don't like it that's a win.

Fast forward years later and all the games I want to play are coming out on the thing.

All the games. Like Animal Crossing. Like Luigi's Mansion. Like a new found series (to me) Fire Emblem. Any any new pokemon games (although admittedly, I still haven't beat the one I bought 3 years ago).

Since Fire Emblem just launched and the other two I really want are launching this spring, I started stalking ebay for deals on 3DS systems. What I wanted was one cheap. Like 60%-70%-off-the-normal-price cheap. Of course, to get something like that you need to pick up a used console.

A broken, used console.

So I did some research on common fixes and decided anything that needed a shoulder button or touch screen replacement was fair game. The top screen seemed like more of a pain to replace, so I didn't want to get into that, but if one cheap enough came along I'd try. No power and broken game slots were a little bit trickier to repair and for the cost of a broken console (averaging between $40-$70) I didn't want to risk buying an expensive paperweight.

I lucked out and found a unit that definitely turned on (not all ebay listings are terribly descriptive on what's wrong, so it's hit and miss) and just had some broken shoulder buttons. In theory, that's an easy fix. Add that to the fact that most RPGs/Strategy games I play don't actually use the shoulder buttons, I was sold.

The unit arrived yesterday and I poked around a little with it yesterday and tonight. I definitely like a lot of things more on my DSi, but the circle pad is interesting and the home screen is reminiscent of the Wii system.

Best of all, I discovered, the unit is an ambassador unit. In that - it was part of the batch of 3DS units sold before Nintendo dropped the price from $250 to $170. Anyone who had purchased the unit for a full $250 was offered 20 free games.

So that's 10 Gameboy and 10 Gameboy Advance games at my disposal. Not all of them are interesting, and several I actually own as original Nintendo Gameboy cartridges, but enough are new to me that it's a great treat. Kirby, an old Fire Emblem, Zelda: Minish Cap, and a few others.

I've been enjoying poking around with it. I look forward to eventually laying my hands on some 3DS games - especially Animal Crossing when it come's out. I'm weirdly addicted to those games...

Happy 5th birthday to my favorite orange sausage-cat!

He really enjoyed the half can of tasty cat food he received. And, maybe because he's getting older, he didn't eat so fast he vomited. Normally when he's excited he does that. Progress!

After some running around this afternoon, making dinner, and cleaning the house I made sure to have a pretty low key evening. Just some poking around on the DS with a stylus, a round-ish orange cat, and some anime.

I'm still trying to give my wrists and forearm a break since they've been bothering me a lot lately, so that means less weekend projects and more reading and watching things.

So I decided to boot up Crunchyroll, which I haven't been on in ages. It's a website with all sorts of subbed (and some dubbed) anime.

What did I stumble across but an adorable slice of life anime called Polar Bear Cafe.

It's finally Friday. Never mind the snow, the hazy sky, or the cold weather. It's Friday!

Years ago my little brother made me this zebra-print pillow case.

Years later I still use it. Almost every day.

Watched the Sony livestream event this evening. It was pretty lackluster. At one point I just opened up my Nintendo DS and started playing a video game.

Sony wants to be cool, but they make all the wrong moves with their consoles now.

Yesterday it rained, today it snowed....
Snow is an excellent excuse to stay indoors and play a video game.

I'm digging these Google Now cards on my phone. Also, new game arrives tomorrow!

I put together two additional arduino components today; an LED matrix and the NFC/RFID arduino shield.
Assembly went quick and both devices worked without any issues.

Next I'll have to begin working on projects for both of them.

It's been a weird day. I woke up around 3:30 in the morning and I couldn't get back to sleep. By 5:30 I'd manage to wake up Chris and by 6am I was making us pancakes.

The cat was happy since that meant eating breakfast earlier (and potentially getting fed twice as much). And he was happy as can be to go back to bed after breakfast. I woke up hours later with a very fuzzy orange ball nestled against me. Normally he's a terror in the morning, so I think I've found the key to success with him. I just dont know that I want to repeat this morning every morning to make him happy.
We went out shopping in the afternoon and I came back with a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle. At the time I thought that was a good idea, but I wasn't really thinking about the cat or the fact that I can't leave anything out for an extended period of time with him around.

Plus 2000 pieces takes up two tables. I'll have to move everything into a room that I can close off so someone orange and fuzzy cant lay on the pieces while I'm not looking. Or knock them off the table (which he enjoyed doing today).

I spent a lot of time with the Wii this evening. It's been a long time since I've played much on the console. It wasn't even hooked up for the first 6 months (at least) that we lived in the house. But I've pulled out a box of games and I've started playing on it again.

It's an adorable little console and I wish I lived closer to my little brother so would battle each other in Mario Kart, Mario Party, or well, any multi-player game.

It's Valentine's Day and that means treats. And this year it means a lot of treats showed up in the office. These cupcakes were pretty adorable, especially with the heart-shaped strawberry topping.
This delicious confetti cupcake with pink and red sprinkles was a great after lunch snack.
And then freakishly large chocolate covered strawberries, rolled in sprinkles showed up for a co-worker. When one is offered to you, you don't turn something like that down.

All in all a very sugar heavy and pink heavy day. I really don't like the color pink, but if these types of treats are involved, I'm mostly ok with it.

Another dentist checkup this afternoon. Hooray for no cavities!

The State of the Union is tonight! So, Chris and I Skyped a little with Adam and Comfort before the address...
...then played a little bingo during.

It's another rainy slushy day downtown. It's not fully rain or snow. Instead it's somewhere in between making everything wet.
Chris had the day off so he had dinner already cooked when I got home. He made a bacon wrapped kielbasa dish with some vegetables and rice. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've actually had something wrapped in bacon. It wasn't bad.

Made some tasty granola today because it's been far too long!

Today started out pretty awesome. In spite of waking up a little after 4 am, as I've done the past week now, my morning was pretty good. I met my friend Lori for a late breakfast at Mr Burger. I've never actually dined there so I chose it just to try it. We had a pretty good time and spent hours catching up.
When I did finally come home, it was a little after lunch time. But the breakfast I'd had was so big I was in no mood to eat again. Instead I cleaning up a little, poked around on the computer, and flashed the latest Android OS (Jellybean) on my phone.

The whole experience went smoothly, which has been the case with pretty much every change I made on the device. And since I was coming from Gingerbread, I didn't have very many new features. That included Google Now. So I messed around with that a bit on and off throughout the afternoon.
We did manage to sneak in a stroll around the park a few times in the afternoon before the sun went down. From what I've seen the city does a pretty good job keeping the paths at the park clean for kids and dog walkers alike. I know I appreciated it!

With all the snow the kids in the neighborhood are finally able to use the two small hills for sledding, which they were out doing while we were at the park.

Over all it's been a pretty low key day. There are certainly things I feel like I should have gotten done, but I really just wanted to relax for the day. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more productive.

It's been several years but I've finally switched back to contacts. I've found a brand that isn't too dry and uncomfortable so I've been wearing them for the last month. So far I'm pretty impressed. They're not nearly as dry as the brand I wore years ago.

Because of the snow storm Grand Rapids is currently experiencing, we both got out of work early and headed home to shovel and clear everything away from the sidewalk and driveway. I know full well that it will have to be done again tomorrow morning before work, but that's okay.

With the extra time from getting out of work early, I really wanted to work on some projects or get something extra done. Of course, one of the problems with working all day on the computer and then shoveling heavy snow is occasionally over doing it with my wrists, which I've apparently done. My entire lower arms are pretty sore and uncomfortable, thanks to tendinitis.So, instead of working on some python scripts, or knitting, or arduino projects, I'm more or less lounging around trying not to do much with my hands aside from this blog post.

Meanwhile the snowstorm is continuing and we have interesting icicles hanging off of the house now.

It's been a good 7 months since I've gotten together with Shelly, who I used to work with years ago. So today after work I headed across town to catch up over dinner. I had a good time hanging out for several hours eating tasty food (and shakes!). Looking forward to doing it again soon!

Of course, I was so busy catching up with her that I completely forgot to take a photo, so instead you get one of Chris shoveling the drive way. Cause...that's all I've got.

Yesterday I spent a big chunk of the evening listening to an audiobook and messing around with my tablet. I was trying to get iOS updated to 6.1 and ready for jailbreak. Of course, the update failed, the backup failed, and in general everything went wrong.

Luckily I'd backed everything up to the cloud last May, so it wasn't a complete waste. I am annoyed that the backup I'd literally performed half an hour earlier was somehow corrupted and unusable.

Anyway, with all of that going on yesterday I didn't get to actually jailbreak the device until today.

Now I'm back to using chrome as my default browser and a few other tweaks I use the jailbreak for. Huzzah!

Back when I commuted from Grand Rapids to Muskegon for work, I had an account with Audible. Trusting a bunch of recommendations, a picked up several books in the Wheel of Time series. I wasn't over impressed and I've started and stopped the series several times since then.

But years later I now find myself devouring weekly podcasts by then end of Monday. So I decided to give the series another try.

I picked it back up around book three and I'm on five now. It's an ok series. I don't actually like very many of the characters, but I do like some of the other creations in the book. It's probably how rigid the characters perceive sex roles and they don't really appear to be growing much. But the series is fourteen books long and I am only on five. Maybe it gets better.

I've made a lot of food today. Chocolate chip cookies, garlic and cheddar drop biscuits, oven-baked feta cheese dip, cheeseburger pie (from a recipe book my parents gave me for Christmas), pizza pinwheels, and sugar cookies.

But not just any sugar cookies. Pac-Man themed sugar cookies!

See, a few weeks ago the geeky cookie cutters I ordered on Etsy arrived. They're printed from a 3D printer using ABS material (the same plastic used to make LEGO blocks).

There's some debate back and forth on the food safety of reusing these types of printed objects over and over and over. The general consensus I've found is that ABS is safer than PLA (simply because ABS has been around longer and tested). The concern isn't about plastic leeching into the food. It's that over time you might not be able to get the cutters clean enough to remove all the debris and bacteria. Warpzone, the home page of the Etsy seller I purchased these from, has a pretty good FAQ if you're interested in reading more.

Plus you can peruse all of the different cutter styles she makes. My Little Pony, video game characters, anime characters (there's even a Totoro people!)
Anyway, I washed the Pac-Man themed cutters and got cutting. The recipe I used is actually one recommended on the site. I used the "Best Sugar Cookies EVAR" recipe. It really is one of the better sugar cookie recipes I've ever had.
Next up was icing them! I used this icing recipe (substituting corn syrup for sugar and water).
They came out pretty cute.

I look forward to making Dalek and Tardis cookies when we get closer to the start of the new Doctor Who season.

We got about 6 inches of snow over night. Pretty...but time consuming to clear.

I typically prefer my dramas with ruthless characters in a fantasy or science fiction setting, but Netflix's new political drama House of Cards is pretty impressive. Excellent writing, fantastic acting, and a large enough budget to support multiple sets.

I'm impressed.