Andy Laub

If you were to examine my recent gaming habits, you’d notice that in between my sporadic bouts of Borderlands and my re-play of Mass Effect to prepare for the sequel, the void is filled by an unlikely source: Nintendo. More specifically, Mario. And not New Super Mario Bros., even.

One of the games on my Christmas Manifesto™ was Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story for the Ninetudo DS. It’s your basic RPG: levels, hit points, etc, etc, but one that takes place in the Mario universe (but not the Mario Galaxy). I was somewhat excited for it ever since playing Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, which I look back upon with much fondness as likely being my favorite Gamecube game.

Bowser’s Inside Story doesn’t share the same paper atmosphere as the Paper Mario franchise; it’s actually a direct successor to Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, a game I’ve long since owned for the Game Boy Advance and struggled with, to the point of abandoning it near the end of the game.

Fortunately that problem didn’t persist with the new game. I really enjoyed the characters and the humor this time around. You’ll find yourself alternating between playing as Bowser (super fun) and the Mario duo (not quite as fun), as you attempt to thwart a villain who speaks fluent Engrish. The biggest complaint I had was the extensive explanation that accompanied every new discovery or ability. You have the option to skip it, but then you risk not know what’s going on. After about 30 minutes of the game, 15 minutes of which is text, it was awesome to hear Bowser echo my sentiments: TOO MANY WORDS!.

Actually, that’s not true. The biggest complaint I had is one that I will attach to every modern Nintendo game, and that is gimmickry for gimmickry’s sake. I can live with the touch screen, but blowing into the microphone to engage certain actions (fortunately this is rare) is nothing more than a pain in the ass, and would make me ashamed to play this game in any sort of public setting. The game still remains a ton of fun to play and I enjoyed the vast majority of it, so much so that I decided to revisit Superstar Saga after a hiatus of over 6 years.

It was a little weird to try playing it again; at first I tried loading up my last save, which was at the front gate of the final area, but I quickly found myself outclassed. I cursed my past self for being so unprepared for these sorts of situations and decided it would be best to start from scratch. I’ve adopted a philosophy in playing RPG’s recently that seems to pay off more often than not: fight everybody. Fighting equals experience equals power equals victory. For comparison’s sake, the duo in my saved game was hovering around level 30, while my new game ended with them having reached level 40. That doesn’t sound like a huge difference, but trust me, it was worth the extra effort, especially when the main difference in my playing was confronting enemies that were nearby instead of avoiding them.

All of this Mario RPG-ness has made me hungry for the other games in the series. I’ve already found myself giving Super Paper Mario another chance, and Paper Mario 64 and Super Mario RPG are available on the Wii Virtual Console. As if that’s not enough, I just found out that there’s a third game in the Mario & Luigi series that will be requiring my immediate attention as soon as I can find a used copy of it. So I have to go find a used copy of it.

After what seems like decades, Abe and I finally have a week where we don’t have extracurricular activities eating up every evening. Thanks to a Target gift card and some smooth talking on my part, we decided to spend some of that time with New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

We played through the first world last night, and looking back I think I enjoyed it. The game looks great, and we did a decent job of remaining alive (a definite plus) and so I hope that trend continues. Similar to 2006′s New Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo DS, this game is a spiritual successor Super Mario Bros. 3 from the NES days. A prime choice; I consider SMB3 to be the pinnacle of Mario side-scrollers. So all is great, right? Well… no. While the game in and of itself has a lot of potential, there were also some attributes that really felt detrimental to the whole experience.

The big news in NSMBW is that you can play with up to four people simultaneously – no waiting for your turn; everybody’s on the screen, all the time. Except when they’re not. Unfortunately, it is possible for players to find themselves scrolled right off the screen, which can be overcome but may also result in death if they’re beyond the threshold of what the game decides is “safe”. Fortunately, the deceased player will quickly return in a bubble that you need to pop to get them back into the action (imagine Baby Mario in the Yoshi’s Island series).

Player interaction is another iffy item. For better or worse, your characters cannot all occupy the same space at the same time. This becomes problematic when two overzealous teammates decide to tackle the same obstacle simultaneously and instead end up as obstacles themselves. You can overcome this by constantly trying to call out your plans (“okay, now I’m going to jump on this Koopa”) but that seems like a strange thing to need to do for what should be a relatively casual experience. At the same time, it really does add to the atmosphere of the game and make it more interesting.

The biggest problem with this game, though, is where it is. My opinion is and always will be that the Wii platform is a hinderance to “normal” games. The controllers suck, not only in a physical sense but in an “it takes me 5-10 minutes to even get them to work” sense. By the time I’ve gotten the console to function I’m already beginning a game with a feeling of disappointment. Maybe it’s a repetitive fluke (oxymoron?), but how can Nintendo expect the console to appeal to non-techy casual gaming types when they can’t reliably sync their controllers to their consoles?

And while I realize that motion control is the Wii’s bread and butter at the moment, I think it’s ridiculous that they feel obligated to tack it on to every game just because it’s there. Making the game rely on motion control means that we are stuck with the basic Wiimote turned sideways (ugh, just like Super Paper Mario) instead of being able to use a Gamecube controller, the Wiimote/nunchuk combo, or the classic controller.

And that interface! Still so terrible.

First, a confession: I haven’t picked up Wii Fit since April, if that. Instead, I’ve been biking. Riding. Cycling. I think I like that last term the most; it sounds so official. I never felt comfortable calling it that when I just rode my mountain bike(s) around town; you need drop bars and skinny tires first.

I’m pretty much smitten with the LeMond in spite of the combined efforts of the weather and mechanical gremlins trying to make me hate riding. I mentioned after picking it up that my goal was to reach 1100 miles on it this season – equal to the cost of the bike. I figured it was doable, but what I didn’t know was how quickly that milestone would be reached.

Not quite three months later, I had my answer – I reached that goal on June 11th. Then came 1500 miles, and yesterday I hit 2000. I’m finding that 500 miles or more a month is pretty easily attained, especially now that I don’t have constant after-work commitments.

Furthermore, weather this year has been awfully strange; it seriously feels like everything is delayed by 1-2 months. If this trend keeps up, the great biking weather could continue well into November. In the meantime, I’ll ride outside as much as I can until the snow falls, and then I have to figure out what kind of routine I want to use to keep the exercise up – Wii Fit again? Rollers? Some other ridiculous Wii game?

Time will tell. For now, I bike.

I like to save money on stuff. Not that that’s unusual – but between places like Amazon and just general sales on things, I have a hard time convincing myself to shell out a bunch of money if I don’t feel like I’m getting a good deal. Oftentimes this involves a little extra shopping around, but it’s worth it.

But then sometimes, stuff just basically ends up right under your nose.

Anecdote #1

With a Best Buy gift card burning a hole in my pocket, I finally decided to pick up Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS. I don’t generally enjoy buying games for the DS as I feel that $35 is an awful lot of money for such a tiny cartridge; but the gift card dampened the impact, if only a tiny bit.

And then they picked the next day to knock $15 off. It’s still on sale – definitely pick it up if you’ve been on the fence. It really is amazing what they’ve been able to accomplish on the DS platform.

Anecdote #2

I’ve long thought that the Keen Newport H2 would be the perfect sandal if they’d just add a cleated option for us bikers – there’s just no way I can justify that kind of money if I can’t use it for biking, as my typical summer footwear rarely breaks the $10 mark.

And then, thanks to BSNYC I discovered the Commuter. At $115, it’s at the higher end of what I’d be willing to pay for such a product, I figured I’d think more about it when (if?) biking-in-sandals weather returns. But that same afternoon, REI sent us a catalog and was all like “we’re having a sale!” (it started today). $85 is still a lot for sandals, but that’s about what I paid for my (well-worn) Shimanos and I expect these to be even more useful when off the bike.

Yesterday marked day 120 of Wii Fit, so I’ll start with the numbers:

BMI: 22.18 / Weight 167.3 for a total loss of 6.51 BMI percentage points and 48.7 lbs.

Not bad, but it’s slight increase from my all-time low of 21.83 / 164.7 lbs. And the numbers aren’t nearly as impressive as they had been the previous three months. But that’s because I stopped worrying about it.

Two weeks ago, something in me snapped. I had reached the point where I was sitting just around BMI 22, and not losing any more weight. By anyone’s standard, this is a healthy number, but I had become addicted to the process, to the thrill of seeing those numbers drop.

I realized it was keeping me from enjoying food, making me skip the occasional breakfast, pushing me to work 20 more minutes on top of what I was already doing. I decided it was time to let it go, and just enjoy eating again. So I did. I kept working out, but I stopped measuring for a week. And I ate horribly and indiscriminately: Pizza Hut, pasta, cookies (I missed them so), muffins – you name it.

When the next week rolled around, I stepped on the proverbial scale again, dreading the inevitable increase. I figured it was going to be big, regardless of how much exercise I had been doing in the meantime.

I was very wrong. It was two pounds. Two. It was then I realized that I don’t need to worry about this anymore. I’m going to enjoy eating again, and I will keep working out. But to lose nearly fifty pounds (with a video game!) during the middle of winter is a pretty fantastic victory for me.

So with that, consider this my wrap-up review of Wii Fit. It works.

Last month I spent some time rambling about Microsoft’s new dashboard for the Xbox 360, and the general verdict was that I liked it more than the XMB used by Sony’s PS3. But the slight preference exhibited here was just that – slight. The two experiences are both consistent, attractive, and refined enough that you can’t complain too loudly about either.

Which is a good thing, because that means I can save all the complaining for whatever that crap is that I see every time I power on the Wii. Honestly – Nintendo can do product design. They can do packaging. Even the DS GUI isn’t bad. So how did the crapshoot that is the Wii dashboard even happen?

I admit, this started out as some sort of diatribe but turned into an excuse to play with FancyZoom.

I’ll be honest here: for the last couple of years, I really haven’t been pleased with what I saw when I looked in the mirror. Because looking back at me was someone who was out of shape and yet not motivated enough to actually do anything about it. I could remember when I liked how I looked, and I missed those days. Days I haven’t seen since college, at least.

I’ve tried my share of remedies – eating a little less, biking a lot more, situps here, pushups there… heck, I was even going to the gym for awhile. But there was no discernible difference, no matter what I did.

So I’ve approached Nintendo’s Wii Fit with cautious optimism. I’d seen lackluster reviews from some of the gaming sites but also some positive real life experiences. I figured I’d keep an eye out for it and maybe pick it up if I got the chance, but I didn’t approach it with the same tenacity that I did when looking for the Wii or other hard-to-find items.

But the time finally came at Best Buy last month, and as I walked out with Wii Fit in hand, trying not to let too many people see it, I found myself wondering if this was really a good idea.

If I could call myself back then, the answer would be a resounding yes.

Day 1

Setup is relatively straightforward, as expected. You register one of your Miis to your account, put in your height, and when it weighs you it scales your poor avatar accordingly. I prepared for the worst, stepped on, and…

BMI: 28.69 / Weight: 216.5 lbs

Well, that’s kind of depressing, but not as bad as I had worried. You see, I have actively avoided weighing myself for the better part of five years. Maybe that had something to do with the motivation.

At the same time, the BMI (Body Mass Index) numbers provided by Wii Fit have been the cause for some contention throughout the internets, and the reason for this lies entirely in the hardware: the balance board is just a scale with some extra sensors. All it can do is measure your weight and determine what quadrants your weight is being placed on. It does not have the body composition sensors that some of the nicer body monitoring scales have, which means that it has to use a fixed table (similar to this one) by cross referencing your weight with your height. The problem here is that people with greater than average muscle mass may still be labeled as “overweight”, when they are in fact quite healthy.

But I digress. Wii Fit has four different types of activities: yoga, strength, aerobic, and balance. Yoga is pretty self-explanatory, strength consists of exercises like pushups or jackknifes, aerobics included running and boxing, and the balance category is home to some games that get old fast.

My major problem with the game (if you want to call it that) was that they really don’t tell you what to do. It’s helpful in that it will tell you what the results of each activity will be, but there isn’t any kind of recommended regimen for weight loss, or for strength training. Quite honestly that’s the one feature I feel they really omitted.

Routine

Over the next week or so I gradually unlocked all of the activities and started to establish a routine that I felt was working. In the last 31 days I’ve spent just over 27 hours on the various activities, which averages out to about 54 minutes per day (I missed a day when I was out of town). That 54 minutes generally consisted of:

• Free Run – 10 minutes
  Run in place for a set number of minutes. I can do a little over 2 miles (according to the game, so take that with a grain of salt) in that time, which should give an idea of my pace.
• Advanced Step
  Some step aerobics. A nice cooldown after the run.
• Super Hula Hoop – 6 minutes
  Easily my least favorite activity. Swing your hips around until you die!
• Pushup / Side Plank – 10 reps OR Arm & Leg Lift – 20 reps
  Just some generic arm/core exercises.
• Jackknifes – 30 reps
  Abs. Actually I find this really relaxing.
• Tricep Extension – 20 reps
  Lift a thing up and down, up and down.
• Basic Run – Long
  Instead of being timed, this has you run for a set distance. “Long” is actually quite short – about 4 minutes.
• Rhythm Boxing – 10 minutes
  I was really bored by this one, actually. I wanted to like it but it’s so slow and feels like I’m not accomplishing anything so I started doing more step aerobics instead. However, it seemed to be getting results so I’ll probably start doing it again.
• Free Step – 10 minutes
  Like Free Run, it’s timed and you step on and off the balance board for that amount of time. I do about 1300 steps in that time.

Overall though, it seems to be going pretty well. I’ve felt better about myself even if I don’t find the results particularly noticeable. Speaking of which…

Day 31

When I weighed in today it made me wish I hadn’t eaten the fried chicken from Texas Roadhouse but WOW it was so good this time. That reminds me of another point – weighing every day has a way of making you much more aware of what you’re eating. I still eat mostly the same stuff, but I’ve been trying very hard to eat less of it. I’ve also cut out some of the unnecessary trimmings (mayo, syrup, etc) and I don’t really miss them. Also no more full packages of cookies (this makes me saddest of all).

But it has its benefits, as my final numbers after a month were…

BMI 26.27 / Weight 198.2 lbs

That adds up to 18.3 pounds and 2.42 BMI lost! I am pretty proud of that – it’s been a long time since my weight started with a one, and I intend to keep it that way. I’m still not at ideal BMI (that would be sub-25) but I am well on my way and it’s suddenly become a very achievable goal.

Well, this will be the last entry this year, which is kind of nice. I survived another year and put in at least one entry a month. My Christmas/Birthday was good, I got some great games (Mario Kart, Simpsons Hit & Run) and so did Abe (Mario Golf). We bought lots of IKEA stuff in leiu of buying Christmas presents for eachother. We also found out yesterday that the move-in date for the new apartment will probably be towards the end of February as opposed to the beginning. It will be absolutely fantastic to be in a place twice the size of our current one. I can hardly wait. Also fantastic is the fact that MacWorld San Francisco is only a week away. I really hope the 12″ Powerbook gets some updates. I wish for a larger amount of non-removable base RAM (512 Mb would be nice) and maybe the 1.25 Ghz G4. Those two things alone would make me very happy. So, we’ll see.

It is the 7th of December today, and still no snow. Normally I wouldn’t be even remotely disappointed by this (because of commuting), but since my drive each day has been reduced from 45 minutes to, well, 4, the snow is now OK in my book. It’s kind of disappointing and weird to get up and think “hey, it’s December,” but then look outside and not see any snow. We had a little bit very briefly in November but it’s gone.

Also, being that it’s December and almost Christmas, here is my 2003 Want List:

1. Herman Miller Aeron PostureFit Chair : $850
2. LaCie d2 160 Gb : $200 (ed. discount)
3. Apple PowerMac G5 dual 2Ghz maxed out : $10400 (ed. discount)
4. Sony Grand Wega 42″ LCD Projection Monitor : $2800
5. Sony PS2 : $180
6. Mario Kart Double Dash : $50
7. Infiniti FX45 : $50000
8. $$$$$ : $?

Well, the dog never made it out last night, but the horse did, again. It was a fun time, I went to the theatre where Abe works, and hung out with Lucille Ball.

Anyway, it is definitely November. I am not sure how I feel about this – November is one of those months that is not one you wait for in and of itself so much as one you have to wait through. In this case, that wait is obviously for Christmas and other holidays that December brings. Once again (this seems to be common as of late) I have no idea where I’m going with this.

Instead, let me tell you about the atmosphere. Currently, I’m sitting at my desk and staring at my 19″ Viewsonic as I write this. Dashboard Confessional’s Hands Down (non-acoustic) is playing in iTunes which runs out of the computer and to a Sony surround reciever, which, incidentally, is also attached to a 300-disc changer, a Gamecube, a Dreamcast, and a Panasonic TV. My computer used to sit under my desk but after many episodes of me having to crawl down there to play with cords I have moved it to the top of a two-drawer file cabinet to my left. This also makes for easy plugging in of my iPod. On my desk right now is a tag from a Gap jacket, the April 2003 issue of Automobile magazine, a remote, my cell phone and keys, a reindeer candle holder (it’s better than it sounds), as well as catalogs from American Eagle and Eastbay. I also have a bill sitting on my keyboard so I don’t forget to pay it when I am paid tomorrow. Abe’s desk is in this room as well, facing the wall. His laptop is closed and sitting atop his Alienware tower, which has been in a non-working state for about two months because he’s too busy to worry about it. His chair is rolled into the middle of the room for God knows why, although I probably did that. My bag is sitting on the floor to my right and later tonight I will more than likely put my wallet and iPod in there so I don’t forget to take them to work tomorrow. If I look slightly left of center, I can see a map of the city in which I live, as well as polaroids from Halloweens 2001 and 2002, where I am dressed as a horse. There’s also a picture of an old Mini Cooper as well as an ad for a 1971 Toyota Celica. The shelf to my left is filled with things, from school books to models of cars to an old Canon camera whose lens I need to have looked at (it’s stuck on full-open). I have a three-whole punch that I don’t use and broken pedal from my bike. There is a multitude of Fossil tins from assorted watches and sunglasses that I own, as well as a Bulls-eye toy from Toy Story 2 who really neighs and kicks when you push a button. I don’t know why I’m writing this, but maybe it will give some insight as to who is actually writing here.

I am the biggest slacker ever, perhaps. Not really though. I have a real job and that counts for something. I’m sure there have been a lot of things that have gone on recently. I picked up a coupla GC games (Legend of Zelda, Wario World, Star Fox Adventures) for fairly reasonable prices. I like the first two; I have yet to play the third one. It also occurs to me that Abe hasn’t written anything for like, a year so maybe I can convince him to do so. Right now he’s working on more edumacations from Phoenix online. I think it’s effective albeit boring. Hey, we saw Urinetown this past weekend and I think it would have to be the best musical I’ve ever seen, ever. It was great. I would definitely see it again. Also, I found this Danger Mouse guy in a Spin magazine, and was rather enthused. Although I have yet to listen to his music, I really like his costume.

I actually finished Metroid Fusion like an hour ago. It’s good. I’m also almost done with Prime–that’s an ending I’m really looking forward to. I’ve now gained the ability to play the original Metroid on the Gamecube, but I have to buy a link cable for that. I’m not too eager, since I already have a real copy of the original.

Also, thanks partially to iMesh and Abe’s computer, we’ve been seeing lots of movies lately. And Adult Swim. Lots of Adult Swim.

Also, I pre-advise for classes tomorrow for next fall. Whee!

Yeah, that’s about all I know. I’m in the midst of preparing for painting and also just fixed a bug on the site that made it bad. I’ve been playing lots of Mario Sunshine to the point where it’s getting a) hard and b) on my nerves. Regarding b), the camera angles are absolutely ridiculous at some points of the game, to the point where it impairs judgement and also removes some of the fun. But anyway, I am glad not to be able to say the same about Metroid Prime. It has the classic scary “what’s going to happen to me?” atmosphere shared by all the other games of the series. I like it. I want to play it now. I also feel like I should be starting Fusion sometime soon.

Also, I recieved my final item ever from BuyRite, the memory card, which I’ll soon be trading in for a nice black 251.

Or at least judging from this, one might assume so. That’s right, it’s a cardboard GameCube.

Anyway, that’s enough of that. Hamtaro arrived yesterday. That’s pretty freakin’ amazing, since it only shipped two days prior and I ordered it regular ground. So obviously, I cannot give EB Games a higher recommendation. If you need a game (and can’t find it locally, of course, look there).

And finally, I actually watched “Must-See TV” last night. Does that make me mainstream? And that brings about another thought. I think they should make it mandatory to watch, since it certainly sounds like that already, and punish people who don’t watch it by drawing mustaches on them. Yeah, I don’t know where that last part came from but I’m gonna leave it there because it’s silly.

Titan is a cool word. Because of that, I tend to become biased about things that have that name, even if they are not great (but they usually are). I was reading Discover this morning, and Saturn has a big moon called Titan. I think it’s my new favorite. There’s also the new Nissan Titan, as well as a set of Titan (link to be added) wheels for your Volvo. And then, of course, there’s titanium.

Now onto the small things. Hamtaro. He is a hamster. I don’t know why we like him but we do. Abe, about a month ago, had brought home a catalog for Nintendo products, and one of the featured Game Boy games was Hamtaro. He was all like, “oooh, Hamtaro!” and I was like, “what?” But then I read a bit about the game, and it sounded pretty fun, so I thought maybe I’d pick it up sometime. Somewhere between then and now, though, it became an obsession to find this game. I saw it at Circuit City awhile ago, but neglected to buy it at that time. Then we were in the Twin Cities over the weekend so I had thought, hey, I’ll just pick it up there. Wrong. 5 stores later, we were still Hamtaro-less. So we checked everywhere locally, and probably ended up looking at about 15 or so physical stores, total. The Appleton Circuit City, which is where I saw it before, still has it, but it’s a two-hour drive. I also looked on the internet where it’s either a)not available or b)at least $35. Then, by some twist of fate, I came upon EB Games, who actually had it in stock at a normal price. So now, Hamtaro is on his way via UPS Ground.

Also, I have a copy of Metroid Fusion sitting here, and I am trying to figure out a good time to actually start playing it. I feel as though I still have some issues to resolve with Yoshi’s Island.

Let’s just make a quick note of this. My Game Boy Advance was purchased on 123102. Fine. One week and one day later version is announced, for release in March. And it’s actually good-looking. This is actually what I was picturing when I was thinking about what I’d really want a Game Boy to be. So I am kind of sad but kind of not. I don’t think I could’ve held out for it anyway, because, as I mentioned below, Yoshi’s Island has kept me from going insane, and I’ve decided to blame this whole ordeal on Buy Rite rather than my lack of foresight. So anyway, if anyone is wondering, the GBASP (that’s not a very good acronym) would make an excellent gift (for me), especially if the US of A eventually gets it in black.

In other news, according to the Planet Gamecube release list, I guess that Grand Theft Auto 3 was originally slated to be available on the Cube, but, to my dismay, it’s apparently been cancelled. That makes me sad. Unlike the cancellation of Banjo-Threeie; that makes me laugh. Apparently, this is because of Rare’s sale to Microsoft, so this crap for crap game will be available to all you lucky Xbox owners out there.

I do. And so does Abe. I think that’s why there’s so much in the apartment. I could actually put together a “stuff list” if you really wanted one, and if I’m bored enough later on I may actually do so. Anyway, how was Christmas? And New Years? Mine were ok. I got, of course, more stuff, something that I’m very proud of. Seriously though, I somehow actually got most of the stuff on my list, with the exception of numbers 7-9. All I can say right now is, I like the tires, and I am really glad I picked up the Game Boy Advance when I was in Schaumburg (we went to the big IKEA again). I haven’t played any of the games on the list at this point, because I am in the middle of Yoshi’s Island. That game is so freakin’ cute, and if I didn’t have it, I think I’d be insane right now. Anyway, sitting next to my TV are Metroid Prime, Sonic, and Mario Sunshine, and also a Memory card 251 and a black controller, but no Gamecube. Abe and his parents went together and got it for me for Christmas, whish was awesome, and I was totally off guard, but there was a problem with it, and we had to send it back to Buy Rite, which is being a real bastard about it. They recieved it two days after we mailed it (on 12/26) and refused it (on 12/28). So now, it is somewhere between North Carolina and here, maybe it will come back to day, at which point I can send it out again. Yay. I’m hoping it gets lost so I can get the insurance from it and get one from Best Buy. Pain in the ass. So I guess I am a little irritable about having to wait, but I’m really looking forward to actually using it. Some times I take the controller that I have out and just press buttons on it to pretend I’m playing a game. No, that’s not really true. I bought a game for the ol’ Playstation, of all things, that’s been helping me take my mind off the situation. It’s called The Italian Job. It is worth 8 dollars, possibly more. So yeah, that’s what the story is. Yoshi is calling me now.