Saturday became a day of infamy in my house: my brain broke or at least it broke a little more. I can actually pinpoint the exact moment it happened too. To understand this a little history is needed first. Back in the day, specifically the month just before the PS2 was released (and I do mean the number TWO, yes it was that long ago) I realized that with my starting in a new job and having to pay rent myself that certain sacrifices would have to be made in the name of survival. I reasoned with myself that if I avoided the PS2 now, I could certainly afford to buy a PS3 many years later; hoping that Sony didn't bomb out along the way somewhere. Many years, one wedding, one child and one hugh mortgage later I find myself in the same predicament: PS3 is about to be released but the bills are no where near accomodating of such a purchase. My wife reasoned with me and stated that "maybe" a year later we could get a Wii instead since they're better aimed for children. A good point and a good comprimise though I'd have to dash my dreams of another Playstation model. One year, new bedroom furniture for my first born and the news of a newborn to grace our home in the summer (yeah, that's news too, and I'll get on it later as it is time to share it) later, still no Wii and still no signs of any gap in extra funds to even make that purchase. Grace fell to me in the way of my brother offering to give me his ailing PS2 as he had just upgraded to a PS3. At least my younger brother could carry on the family addiction, and I was proud to accept his offer and finally looked forward to playing the many PS2 classics I had missed out on. The following month and $36 out of pocket to cover the shipping it arrived, but of course life is not willing to even let me set it up until the weekend. Which was in fact this weekend. Where I broke my brain, or broke it a little more. And here is how it happened. I gleefully unpacked this little machine, pausing only to admire my brother's apparent taste of titles that screamed of single male dominance (my wife would not approve of any of them). I got all the cords unravelled and hooked into the correct spots and proceeded to turn it on. Upon pushing the open button I noticed that door was stuck and won't come out. Problem? Not really since I had been warned that the door was sticking occasionally and only needed some "tender loving" to coax it out. Numerous nudges, gentle pulls and polite coaxing to get it out produced nothing but a stuck door. Next came pulling on it not quite as gently as possible so as not to break it still. Still stuck. Screwdriver was the next weapon of choice hoping to help pry it gently from it's stuck status. Still nothing. Needle nose pliers were selected and here is where things got interesting. I had to pull with all my strength and finally ripped the front plastic door off and out came the tray! Half a second later the tray must have been frightened as it shot back in and STILL did not respond to coming out with touching the open button. Many minutes went by as I wrestled with this door with all might applied to the needle nose pliers. I ripped off more plastic bits and did eventually pry the tray from out of the machine. Thinking that I had finally got in unstuck from something it had caught on I touched the open button to get it to retract. Stuck opne now, no hope of budging back in. I played the exact opposite game with trying to push the tray back in and only managed to get it in half way. THIS IS WHERE MY BRAIN BROKE! I had waited literal years to get my hands on one of these damn things. Payed to make sure it would get here in a decent time and insured against massive damage. Here lay a perfectly good working PS2 except for the obvious fault in the door/tray mechanism which is what would prevent the playing of any game as none would ever make it into the device in one piece with the manner that I had to use on it. Intrestingly enough, I noticed I never did cuss at the thing once. I must be mellowing in my fatherhood since I can recount numerous times where I have sworn up a storm at my old PS1, PC and various instruments at work. I think my brain had broken and just came to the only logical conclusion on how this could all be fixed: I was going to have to go and buy a PS3. And that is exactly what I did. The broken PS2 netted me $15 and the PS2 games I knew I would never play got me about $15 as well. I traded in the packed in Motor Storm game upon purchase (only because I know my wife and I do not like racing games and it would only sit and collect dust at home; plus it got me an additional $11 to spend on some used PS2 titles I had missed out on and one which my wife really did want to play). Due to obvious money concerns, I'll be purchasing nearly all my PS3 games used, will have to wait and get a HDMI cable for it in a few months and wait even longer to get a second HDTV that supports 1080p (720p is all we got now but it's been good enough for me so far). So for now, my family is enjoying a PS2 in PS3 clothing. My wife has been appeased mildly with the purchase of Crazy Taxi for her, but I know I'll have to put some effort into locating some two-player, not too violent, and at least some sort of kid friendly games. I might as well just break my brain completely on that one since it may be very hard to do considering Sony's most recent releases. They don't seem to be of the child oriented variety nor do many have same monitor multiplayer options. But considering the fact that I'll be playing the darn thing most of the time, and while doing my thirty minute stationary bike ride, I'll be making a good number of purchases that fit my tastes in gaming. I can already say with certainty that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Final Fantasy XIII, and Madden (whatever number first offers Lucas Oil Stadium, hopefully 09) will be coming home with me within weeks of release. Guess I better start hiding money for those now! Until then, if anyone notices some decent PS3 or PS2 titles that fit only the lines of my tastes (namely RPGs, strategies, puzzles, life sims) then leave me a comment as I know I've missed, and will continue to miss, many great games. If I can get my hands on only a few then this purchase will have been well worth it.

Now, as I promised I mentioned that our house will be receiving yet another blessing in the form of a newborn. I'm slowly coming to terms with this over the past few months and still wonder how I'm going to handle the whole idea of having TWO children running wild in the house. My wife and I can barely handle our one bundle of joy so two will likely be a nightmare in it's own right. But considering that my wife's thyroid condition could render her sterile within a span of one to five years, I'm realizing just how great a blessing this second child will be since we probably would not be able to have another one had we waited. So chaos will once again rein supreme...wait a minute it's always reined in my house so why fight it? At least the PS3 and exercise bike will afford me a thirty minute break from the chaos, that is when I can escape to them. :lol: