If you're looking for volunteer opportunities in the coming year, there will be sign-up sheets available at the reception for volunteers to help plan projects or events celebrating Marietta's 175th anniversary.  Seven subcommittees representing the Marietta community, including business, culture, education, government, history, neighborhood/civic and religious are working on year-long events celebrating Marietta's 175th anniversary.

 

Marietta City Council will hold its regularly scheduled meeting immediately after the reception at 7:00 p.m. in the Council chamber.

For more information, call the City Manager's Office at 770-794-5507 or visit www.mariettaga.gov.

Well, Santa finally did it, he broke down and brought a Wii to the Price household for Christmas 2008.  Somehow we had managed to stay Wii-free until now, but I guess it was inevitable that we would eventually enter Wii world. 

 

My daughter, having played Wii at her friends' homes for the past year, gleefully introduced me to the Wii world Christmas morning by putting me on a ridiculously difficult MarioKart race course.  She squealed with delight every time I jumped and swerved and fell off the track to my untimely Wii death.   Well, little did she know that while she was at her friend's house the next day, I snuck down to the Wii room and practiced.  It was like discovering a whole new world!  Not only were there race car games, there was bowling, golf, tennis,  boxing, baseball and many more.  It was amazing, my "Mom" character could play all of these games while I jumped around in front of the television in my pajamas!

 

Yesterday, after my first "New Years Resolution" work-out got me warmed up, I decided to try the Wii Fit game.  I had seen my daughter and her friends having so much fun with the hula-hoop workouts, ski jumps, and many other exciting, calorie burning games and I just had to give it a try.  It charts your weight, body mass index, and skill level, and you can even set fitness goals on the calendar!  Of course, I password protected my information so that all the neighborhood kids wouldn't be discussing my weight or my "real age" at the next block party.

 

Needless to say, I got sucked in to the Wii world pretty easily.  We have been having family tournaments almost every night.   I have discovered that while I still stink at Mario Kart, I'm pretty good at bowling and golf.  It's actually given me a brain work-out in many ways too.  I always assumed video games were mind numbing, but I've found that I'm having to dust off the cobwebs in a few corners of my brain to keep up with the high speed graphics and the precise hand eye coordination that is needed to play many Wii games. 

 

And the best part of it all is that we have been having fun playing as a family.  So I guess it's okay that I got "sucked in" after all, because whether it's in the Wii world or the real world, together with my family is a good place to be.