I haven’t played that many video games in 2006. With the little one and being broke gaming just got lost in the shuffle. Now the baby is a little older and the financial outlook is better, I have begun to play more video games.

My best video games of 2006 is a short list for the above reason that I haven’t played that many. One game that I have really enjoyed is Marvel Ultimate Alliance. While the Marvel RPG improves upon the X-Men Legends, there are some aspects of character building that are automatically set like the automatic distribution of build points. It’s a minor complaint since gameplay is a lot of fun. I love the co-op play.

Guitar Hero. One of the biggest games at our household has been Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero has quickly become the game of choice for me. You can jam out to some great rock and roll songs and quit at any time without losing your game progress. Scores are saved after each song, so when the baby demands me I can just put the game down and tend to her. As a casual gamer, it’s great to play since I can play for 5 or 50 minutes.

Brain Age. We’ve only been playing for about a week and already hooked on this game. In future posts, I will be talking more about Brain Age and revealing my brain age. Brain Age is a fun “workout” for the mind. It’s good to develop the cranium while alsp being highly entertaining.

There have been countless other titles that have come out this year. Since I haven’t played them, I can’t really add them to my list of best video games of 2006. Tell me your favorite games from the past year by leaving a comment.

Fans of the highly entertaining web reality show RockStartup can now watch episode 3. Being a reality TV junkie, I love this format for the show. Not only do I get to see the people behind PayPerPost, but I get to learn about them in a fun way.

In epidode 3, The PayPerPost folks settle into their new downtown office. If I go back to work, I want to work for PPP. The office is gorgeous. With $700 chairs, it seems the employee is treated well. I think my last whole office space didn’t cost $700.

I rank RockStartup right up there with my other web shows of Red Vs Blue and Strangerhood. It’s well done, very entertaining, and will leave you wanting more.

Brought to you by PayPerPost.

For Christmas, I bought my darling husband a Nintendo DS Lite. A shift has taken place in recent years with our gift giving: I now give him gifts that I really want.

I had a Nintendo DS but sold it. I bought it right after the DS came out and quickly became disheartened with the selection of games. I sold when I thought I could still get most of my money back and did. Since then, they have retooled the DS (DS Lite) and have a ton of games that interest me. I figure since my birthday is in February that I will get him one for Christmas and I will get one for my birthday then we came play games together.

He seems to really like the DS Lite. He already has Mario Kart and Brain Age. Brain Age is a lot of fun. My brain age is very old, so I need to work on that.

My husband use to always buy me gifts that he thought were really cool. The past few years he has gotten better at giving what I want while I’ve digressed. Maybe the next swing will have us both giving gifts the other person really wants.

Ever since the arrival of the firstborn in October 2005, I’ve taken lots of pictures. It is because I have taken so many that I’ve come to realize I really need a new digital camera.

My current camera is just 3.1 megapixels and has the slowest shutter speed known to man. I snap the picture, then about 30 seconds later it captures the moment, which has already past. It’s been really hard to get those cute photos of the baby when she is doing something adorable. She hasn’t quite learned yet “now hold that pose.”

Since I’m taking all these pictures, I really want to print them out. Our printer is OK, but it’d be great to have a photo printer. I’m meeting a friend for lunch this Saturday, and she wants me to bring pictures of the baby. The truth is I have a lot of digital photos but not that many printouts. It’s a hassle with a toddler in tow to even upload photos to a service. A photo printer at home would be a great resource.

I really love digital photography and probably will never go back to a film camera. An upgrade to my digital camera will help me capture those great things the baby is doing. It’s amazing how one day she will do something 20 times and then the next you can’t pay her to do it. I really need a digital camera that will capture those moments that happen in a flash because that may be the last time she does whatever cuteness she was inspired to do.

Hewlett-Packard has some really sweet digital cameras and photo printers. I’d love to get my hands on one. Maybe Santa is checking that list of his and will bring me one.

This post was brought to you by HP.

This week I broke out Guitar Hero II. While I haven’t completed Guitar Hero I, in true casual gamer fashion, I have moved on to another game.

GH II improves on a lot of the shortcomngs of the first one. The sequel also does some things that I thinked worked better in the first Guitar Hero. An example would be the lefty flip. In the first one, this setting was remembered with your profile, now you have to flip it back when someone else plays with different settings. It’s a minor quirk of mine with the game.

The graphics are astounding, and the animations are really nice. The music, as always, rocks. I like that you can do an encore after playing three songs well in the career mode. You have to be on at least medium level to play this songs not on your song list.

I’m still enjoying GH II for the PS2. In fact, it’s the only game I’ve played for the PS2. I still haven’t opened up Kingdom Hearts, the reason I bought a PS2 in the first place. Maybe I will get to it over the Christmas season.

My husband has always wanted a telescope. I would love to get him one but want a good deal. There are telescope classifieds as well as other astronomy classifieds at Astro Ads. You can list your astronomy-related items for free. You can also post what you are looking for.

Joe loves astronomy and getting him a telescope would be an ideal gift. I’ll have to do some research into the type of telescope I’d like to purchase. I might get my good deal afterall.

Brought to you by Astro Ads.

If a PS3 had been on someone’s Christmas list, I could have gotten one today. Our local Wal-Mart announced they had a stock in of PlayStation 3s.

I’m still going to hold off getting one for a few more months. Probably more like six or so. I’m thinking at least through the first recall as I’m sure there will be some problem that will arise with the first PS3s. It just makes sense since the technology is fairly state-of-the-art and untested.

Hopefully the massive shortage of PS3s for Christmas will not be as dire as once believed. I mean if Wal-Mart is getting them in then they must be easier to attain than believed.

I’m always on the lookout for new ringtones. U-DOO lets you not only make your own ringtone but add a matching avatar. You can send it to friends or publish it on MySpace. Check it out here.

Maybe it’s because I love The Sims so much that this site really appeals to me. You can change hair color, eye color, even add accessories to your avatar. It’s a lot of fun. Take a look at my custom avatar:

I’m not sure my old phone can use the ringtones. It’s time to update the cell phones anyway.

Brought to you by U-DOO.

We are growing out of our home pretty fast. With the three of us, it seems each day we have a little less space. Since we don’t use everything we have on a daily basis, I’m looking into storage options for some of our stuff.

Since there are so many storage places in town, and I want to get the best deal, I’m going to do some research. Moving.bz has helped me find the information I need. I can not only find local storage places that meet my requirements(ie climate controlled) but can also receive price quotes.

Self storage can be a hassle, and I’m sure I’ll wonder why I ever stored the stuff that I will eventually have to do something with. At least Moving.bz can relieve some of the pressure by helping me find the best self storage deal in town.

I haven’t owned a pair of boots in a couple of years. I love boots, so I’m sad to realize this fact. At one time I had several pairs of boots. After weeding out some boots, I was left with a pair that has since vanished from our home. Since winter is fast approaching, a new pair of boots are in order.

The Ugg Classic Short is looking really good to me. The reviews for the Ugg short classic are full of praise. Those who own a pair of Uggs seem to have only nice things to say about them. The Uggs look so comfortable and warm–a great plus for our chilly home in the winter. The basic rundown of the Ugg classic short sounds perfect for me. What is best about the description is that if you are unfamiliar with a term, they have an online glossary.

I’ll have to tell Santa about Uggs. I’ve been a good girl this year, at least for the most part. I’ve already done the legwork (no pun intended, well maybe a little bit) and found a great pair of boots for him to leave under my tree.

Brought to you by Toecovers.