Switch!
This Christmas, Santa bought our house a new Nintendo Switch! It’s our first gaming system. Actually, I just realized that I think this is my first dedicated game system since my Atari 2600! I never owned another Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, Sega, or any of those. Other than playing Metal Gear at Kelvin’s house in San Diego, I haven’t even really played the games, so most of the Mario characters are new to me.
So far, we have a couple of games: MarioKart 8 Deluxe (the kids’ favorite), Mario Tennis Aces, and Just Dance 2020. Our library also has Switch games for checkout — I’ve played the Zelda Breath of the Wild game a little and it’s really fun. We also bought an extra set of joy cons so the four of us can play MarioKart.
Since our kids don’t have iPads or anything, they aren’t used to having a portable game, and we’re trying to keep it as a home-based console for now (we would have gladly bought a TV-only Switch if there were one available).
Do any of you have a Switch? Any tips on games, other accessories we need, or how to manage kids’ screen time?
Night Before Pyslentmas
Twas the night before Christmas, and on our group blog,
Logging in proved difficult, a ten-minute slog.
WordPress still running Pyslent with due care
Only seldom we write, yet we still come & stare
Eight children now, all snug in their beds
While visions of gadgets danced in dads’ heads
The stock market was soaring, the president impeached
One might wonder, could sanity ever be reached?
Chiefs and Pats won divisions, Niners right back on top
Lebron and the Lakers? Winning, almost non-stop.
Spring training was just fifty, long long days away
The Raiders in Oakland? They’ll never stay.
Out on the internet arose such a clatter
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter
Turned my Apple Watch on to the Christmas Eve feed
(There’s one now with cellular? That’s just what I need!)
The internet was crazy, I’d never seen such a flurry
But I must be quick, I must be in a hurry
Then I just saw him, almost did not catch it.
It’s Rotiveo– the patron saint of gadgets!
He flew around quick, to learn of our tribe
To get presents be good, and don’t pay a bribe.
He saw some cruise to Alaska, I guess that’s a thing,
Then Tiffany came home for some dance and to sing.
Lucas still watching and treading the boards
Jordan’s singing on stage (without any words),
The Lego king of Brookline still building strong,
When Adam’s not reading, he’s joking along.
Evan and Brandon and their dad Derrick, too
Visited Disneyland, it was probably a zoo.
Jason’s not crawling, but starting to scoot,
He really needs to find, the most easiest route.
Emma is crafting things from a big catalog,
Maybe one will come to life, she’ll have her own dog!
Brandon is crafting his own kind of thing,
A gaming PC, with a heatsink for fast ping.
Rotiveo’s stuff is all amazing, none old,
No Foleo, Moviepass, nor ‘Galaxy Fold
Instead it’s AirPods, iPhones and more Apple gear,
Alexa does more and more, each and every year.
Joanie and Mike getting ready with presents all wrapped
With enough extra Legos, Adam and Emma would like to get trapped!
Kelvin & Serena now looking up to their boy,
The step stool in the kitchen, only the parents deploy.
The Four Jays are rocking, Hanukkah Night number three
There are even more presents, how could that be!
Jason now enjoying all the diapers, cribs & plugs
Jordan’s now a big brother, kneeling down for low hugs.
At Tahoe again, two clans will ski & have fun
Lucas might just head down, the scariest run.
Back in the lodge, the day soon comes to its end,
And Derrick walks in (that’s Evan’s best friend).
Now 16 young hands, some big and some small
How do we even keep track of it all,
Nearly 25 years since the core four first met,
Maybe next summer, the biggest gathering yet?
Rotiveo sprang to Roomba (hacked years before)
And away they went, after cleaning the floor
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”