Even though I could be a lot thinner, I consider myself to be in fairly good condition. The life I lead is far from sedentary. My job is very physical, and in my free time I do a lot of hiking. Lately, I've been walking everywhere -- to the movie theater, to the beach, to bars and restaurants downtown. Some stretches of the Superior Hiking Trail wear me out, but generally, I can keep up pretty well and not feel so horrible the next day.

Today, however, I woke up with every muscle in my body screaming bloody murder. I was stiff all over. It hurt to move. My hair was sore. I could barely get out of bed.

You see, it all started on Thursday afternoon at Target. Christa and I were there buying mundane things. I needed light bulbs. She needed a toothbrush. As we were walking past the electronics, something caught my eye: the little white box we'd both been lusting after for weeks but had been unable to locate anywhere.

It was a Nintendo Wii.

"They have a Wii," I said, whispering reverently. Christa's pupils visibly dialated. "Should we buy --"

"YES."

An hour later we were jumping around the living room, hurling imaginary baseballs and swinging virtual tennis rackets. We took turns beating the shit of out various cartoon characters in the boxing ring, all the time screaming, "GET YOUR GLOVES UP! GET YOUR GLOVES UP!"

It was fucking awesome.

After about two hours, we needed food and a break. We went out to dinner in Wisconsin and decided to check in on the Head of the Lakes Fair. We ate ice cream cones. But the whole time we were both silently thinking about how every moment we spent in the world was a moment we were spending away from the Wii.

We got back home at about 9:30, went immediately to the Wii, and then proceeded to play practically nonstop for the next eight hours. Birds were chirping. The sun was rising. I was mastering my hook in bowling and Christa returned my tennis serves viciously.

At one point, I think it was around 3:30am, we were out on the deck catching our breath, when I said, "Do you want to quit and go to bed? Or do you want to play a game of baseball?"

Christa looked at me like I was insane, and had just asked the stupidest question in the universe. "Oh ... we're playing baseball. Don't worry about that."

Today, I feel like shit. But still, the Wii calls ...