It’s almost 9:30 PM, and I’m still in the office. I just finished writing & publishing an article comparing the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP for AOL Shopping. It’s going live tomorrow morning on the Electronics & Cameras category page (one of the categories I manage). Take a look, if you’re interested…

Nintendo DS vs. Sony PSP

Even though I had to stay late, I enjoyed doing the article. I would love to just write editorial content full-time at my job. I love doing the research, compiling my notes, drawing analytical conclusions based on my findings, and fashioning my thoughts in clean (and sometimes humorous) prose.

This is what I love to do.

The Nintendo Wii is about to pass the Microsoft XBox 360 as the leading next-gen console. Even though the XBox 360 came out a year before the Wii. The Sony PlayStation 3 is a distant third, but should receive a boost with the recent price drop and the onslaught of excellent games coming this winter (Metal Gear Solid 4, Call of Duty 4). Rumor has it that the XBox 360 will also be dropping in price on August 12, which will keep it selling strong. The XBox 360 has the strongest game line-up going into this holiday season (Halo 3, Mass Effect, Grand Theft Auto 4). Not to be outdone, the Wii will also have some high-profile games between now and Christmas (Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, Super Smash Brothers Brawl).

The Nintendo DS is also dominating the portable game console market (with the Sony PSP a distant second). Looks like Nintendo is the overall king of consoles.

I went to LensCrafters last week to get an eye exam. They charged $100, and I wouldn’t receive any discount through my insurance. Since I didn’t have that much money to spare, I decided to wait until I got paid the following Friday (today).

Instead of going back to the LensCrafters optometrist, I went to Sterling Optical (also in the mall), and they only charged $72 for an eye exam. I didn’t get a discount there either, but the price was nice.

While I was taking the exam, I could really tell that my left eye was seeing a lot less than my right eye. After all the various tests, the doctor said I was slightly near-sighted and had a stigmatism. For all I knew, the word “stigmatism” was akin to the word “malignant,” so I timidly asked him what that meant. He said overall I only needed a minor prescription, so that was good. When he showed me how the glasses would improve my eyesight, I was dumbstruck. I couldn’t believe how bad my eyesight was. Even though he said my prescription was mild, I could now see (and read) far away. It was like I had been seeing the world in standard definition, and now I was able to see in high definition. It was revolutionary.

I took my prescription back to LensCrafters, because they had more fashionable eyewear than Sterling Optical. I checked out the Prada frames first (because I love their sunglasses). Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything good in either sunglasses or regular glasses (I was intending to get both). I eliminated every pair of sunglasses there, so I concentrated on just getting normal glasses. After a couple of rounds in the store, I found a cool set of Ray Ban glasses.

I went back to LensCrafters after work to pick up the finished frames. The attractive girl who gave them to me kept gushing at how good they looked. I kept thinking it was something she said to everyone, then she started saying things like, “Are you going to wear them out? …Who’s going to be the lucky person to first see you wearing them? …Are you going to work? …Are you going home? …Who’s going to see you at home?” I was pretty sure she was trying to see if I was single. I told her that the first people to see me with my glasses would be Mario and Luigi.

I put the glasses on in the parking lot, and the drive home was again awe-inspiring. Everything was in hi-def. I could clearly see individual leaves in the trees. I’d take the glasses off, and all I’d see is a fuzzy glob of green. I couldn’t believe how bad my sight was before.

I couldn’t wait to go home and watch my HDTV. It was going to look better than ever.

Anyway, I’m going to wear these glasses for a while. But I’ll probably look into Lasik as a long-term solution.

…Unless, of course, the glasses end up being chick magnets. Ha, ha.

I’m currently preoccupied with work, learning podcast technology, paying off my remaining debt, setting up a few new websites, increasing my Web 2.0 knowledge, and minimizing my material & financial footprint.

I’m trying to slim down in every way imaginable. I’ve been dieting again and am ready to start exercising. I cancelled some recurring bills (cable) and reduced others (health insurance, cell phone). I did just add a new bill (disability insurance), but that’s something I’ve been meaning to get ever since I left Sprint.

I’m devouring audio books like fruity Mentos. I’ve had a string of really good Web 2.0 books lately: Wikinomics, The Search, and The Long Tail. I downloaded three more from Audible this week and I can’t wait to listen to them: The Google Story, The Cult of the Amateur, and Made to Stick. When you work for an Internet company, the knowledge contained in these books is mandatory. The day I found out I would be the SEO (search engine optimization) expert/contact for my team, I downloaded and listened to The Search, which instantly made me a pseudo-expert in search technology and theory.

My advice… Books can raise your pay grade. Don’t stop studying.

…So, I’m pretty much dorking around these days, being a total nerd. I figure if I focus on learning, not spending a lot of money, getting my spiritual life on track, and being satisfied with staying home every night, I’ll eventually knock out some of my goals. Once those things are taken care of, I’m sure I’ll be ready to enter the dating world again—if it hasn’t already happened by accident.

I have a lot of social stuff I haven’t had time to mention. I actually had to block off this entire evening for personal blogging. No podcasts. No dinner. No television. Just me, a bucket of carb-free Cool Whip, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Mother’s Milk” playing on my iTunes, and three hours of free blog time.

Here we go…

My return to Frontline was about a month ago (July 1). After the service, I went out with my church pals to P.F. Chang’s. I got a table with Kevin, and we talked a lot about technology (audio production, Mac laptops, etc.) and roller derby. Of all my friends still in northern Virginia, I think I have the most in common with Kevin. It was great to hang out and talk after 2 or 3 years, and I look forward to hanging out with him more.

On Friday, July 13, a bunch of us (Jamie, Deanne, Robby, Lissy, and Riley) drove up to Harrisburg, PA to help celebrate my cousin Conrad’s birthday. This was my first time at their new house, and I thought it was marvelous. The trim and furnishings were very intricate and “old-timey” (that’s not the right word). Anyway, the highlight, of course, was playing the Wii on their large, wall-mounted HDTV. The fact that I purchased my HDTV the next day is purely coincidental.

The next day, I had lunch with Mike C. (an ex-coworker at Nextel) at Santini’s, which is right near my place. We both live in Oakton and we both love to play tennis, so we’ve been emailing off n’ on for a while, trying to plan some time to get together. We sat at the bar with our sandwiches and talked for an hour or so. It turns out he and his family go to Vienna Presbyterian Church, which is a church I checked out way back in college. After my Sunday morning tennis classes are over, I’m going to visit VPC and meet Mike’s family.

After that, I went to D.C. to pick up tickets to Buffy. After that, I bought my HDTV at Circuit City.

The following day, Lisa & I went to tennis class and actually talked with the other girl who showed up. It was just us three, and we had a lot of fun talking & goofing off, while we secretly made fun of the two instructors. The other girl, Sarah, actually told the instructors they should help us pick up balls and do some actual instructing, instead of just feeding us balls. Oh, snap! Sarah is a cool girl. I need to make sure to get her email address before the class disbands.

The following week, I went to happy hour at American Taproom with some of my ex-Sprintmates. Ramiro, Mike G., and Ann met me at ATR, and we spent an enjoyable two or three hours talking about the telecom industry (was I a dork for enjoying that?). We did do some drinking. Ann and I participated in some Tequila shot bar game—whatever. The last time I drank Tequila, I totaled my BMW. After downing that shot with Ann, I wasn’t feeling too hot. Luckily, right before Ramiro and Mike took off, one of Ann’s girlfriends showed up, and the three of us went to M&S for some food and chatter. I won’t go into any details, but… Why is everyone married???

The following evening, I went to MBC for a Christian hip-hop dance class. Ha, ha. I laughed too, when I saw it written in the Frontline bulletin. For some reason, I thought the class was going to teach people how to dance casually to hip-hop club music. Either that, or it was going to teach really old school, Adidas track suit kind of dancing—which I would also love. I went straight to MBC from work, so I arrived in jeans and a button-up shirt. Everyone else was in shorts and t-shirts. The instructor had everyone line up in rows and start stretching. Stretching? This wasn’t casual dancing at all. It was an aerobic exercise class! I said, “screw this,” took off my name tag and walked out. I had been feeling horrible all day due to headaches (which I’ve been having a lot lately—I think I need glasses). After going home and taking a short nap, I headed out to Arlington to meet up with Deanne & Stephanie.

That night was the Buffy musical sing-a-long. The three of us arrived at the Avalon Theater in D.C. about an hour early and ended up about 50th in line. There was a huge variety of people there. I saw a lot of white-haired folks, as well as a bunch of young college folks. There weren’t any kids, which was nice. The nerdy girls standing in line behind us were talking about Comic-Con and other dorky things. I wanted to interact with them, but Deanne gave me the “shush.” We got pretty good aisle seats in the theater. We saw Jonathan F. there with his wife. That was pretty cool. He said he remembered me telling him I was a big Buffy fan many years ago. Since his wife is a Buffy fan, he too was now a fan. The actual event was pretty fun. The crowd wasn’t as rambunctious as I was expecting. I was expecting everyone to be standing and dancing around in a drunken orgy of tone-deafness. Instead, everyone sat down. But they were very much into singing along and laughing at the entertaining skits put on by the organizer. I haven’t hung out with just Deanne and Stephanie before, so it was interesting and fun to spend an entertaining night with them. Especially since Deanne was slap-happy on energy drinks.

Saturday was the DC Rollergirls bout double-header. I left my Nikon at home and just brought my dinky little Canon mini-DV camcorder. Currently, my focus has shifted from photography to videography, so I wanted some material to tinker with and use to learn Adobe Premiere Pro on my PC. I’m hoping I can make due with all my current PC hardware & software, so I won’t have to upgrade to a Mac. If I can podcast with my existing equipment, I’ll just purchase a cheap PC laptop (under $1K) in the coming months, so I can finally ditch my old Pentium III machine from 2001 (the Roku laptop). Anyway, it’s always fun to watch roller derby. Although I didn’t feel any connection with anyone at the Dulles Sportsplex that day. Not sure if I’m welcomed in that world anymore.

There were a bunch of birthdays during this stretch of time… Mark L., Conrad T., Nadine H., Veronica Belmont, and Laurel S. Happy birthday to all.

Looking forward, I don’t really foresee a lot of social functions or opportunities to meet new people. I don’t have any love interests in my life right now—or maybe I’m just too distracted to notice. Rather than actively look for a relationship, I’ve diverted my attention to other things and will just be pleasantly surprised if a “special friendship” develops.