The talks, discussions, back and forths had been going on for almost two years. Should it be here? Should we stop being jealous of our friends who have it? Why are we denying ourselves the pleasure? Will there be an HD version? Shouldn't we practice more if we want to be the Brachowskis in MarioKart?

All of these questions were answered this past weekend when Courtney and I decided to purchase a Nintendo Wii. If anyone from our generation does not have a memory of Mario, Zelda or Mega Man, then something is clearly wrong with them. Granted, the last Nintendo product I owned was the Super Nintendo I still realize the appeal of their products.

I've proudly owned a PS3 since my awesome groomsmen purchased one for me as a wedding gift. The Wii has been around for awhile, we just never pulled the trigger. Honestly I did not know how much Courtney enjoyed their games. I suppose I always looked at it as a kids gaming system. PS3 was so much more advanced. It was in HD. They had a great selection of games. Sure we would play the Wii at friend's houses and yeah it seemed fun.

So about a year ago, after playing Wii for 2 hours at the Brachowski house, we started talking about purchasing one. We said maybe it would be our anniversary gift to each other. Maybe it would be our Christmas gift to each other. Basically we kept putting it off.

Several stores have had some specials on them lately, and since my birthday and our anniversary is coming up soon we decided to pull the trigger. Along with Wii Sports, Sports Resort and MarioKart we have been hooked. All week. I've asked Courtney, "Hey honey, would you like to go for a walk?" To which she answers, "How about some MarioKart?" I did not argue. I'm sure it will all wear off at some point, but we are enjoying acting like kids and playing games.

I realized even more so how much maybe MarioKart meant to her when she told me how she and her step-brother used to play it. I never knew Kevin, as his time on this earth was ended incredibly too fast, but Courtney is great to share stories with me from time to time. Apparently poor Kevin, like many guys his age, wanted to try the new shoot 'em up games or something else. But no, no Courtney always wanted to play MarioKart. Kevin obliged, which obviously made him a hell of a good big brother.

Needless to say, we are having fun with it. So on your next visit to the house ask us to turn on the Wii. Maybe Court will kick your butt in MarioKart.

Finally watched Avatar this past weekend. Of course we picked up the BluRay version because I am a snob. We enjoyed it. All I heard before hand was, "wow, that picture is so long." Honestly it did not seem the two hours and 45 minutes listed on the case. We both really enjoyed it for what it was ... a journey and an incredible display of special effects.

Looking forward to a relaxing yet fun weekend. UGA Men's Tennis takes on Florida tomorrow at 6pm in the sweet 16 of NCAA tennis. The tennis center should be rockin' tomorrow night, and we are not going to miss that. Saturday we have planned a little night out on the town. We plan to be responsible adults and get cabs and such, but the idea is to do an old fashioned bar hop. Athens in the summertime is great so might as well take advantage. Sunday will be followed up with Courtney's family coming over as I cook up several pounds of shrimp. Hey, it is my birthday weekend. I can eat what I want!

This is what part of our backyard has looked like for the past two years. Lots of trees, a slightly grassy area, lots of trails made by the dogs and very little usable space. We've been most regulated to the deck while the dogs had free reign of the yard. It started bothering me last year. I would mow what little lawn we had, dust and clay flying everywhere, while the dogs continued to mess it up. We've got a great space back there, we just needed to actually do something with it.

When we moved into the house there was a small area near the deck which had been sodded with Bermuda. With the dogs and so many trees, that grass had no chance for survival.

We like to entertain. We love our friends and family, and we absolutely like sharing our house with them. So it came to a point where we realized the only way to not be embarrassed by our backyard was to do something. Our next door neighbors have been working on their yard since they moved in about 2 months after we did. They've done a great job and worked their tails off. While I love being outside and working in a yard, we just did not know where to begin.

After about a year of obtaining quotes and working with different landscape companies on designs we came to a decision. It was time for action! So we looked at our bank account, decided we were clinically insane and made the decision to go broke ... err, I mean redo our entire backyard.

The process has been slow. Since making our decision, weather has really delayed ours and other projects around town. This past week we made the first drastic move by ripping out a bunch of trees.

Before you call us eco-terrorists, please know most of the trees we took down were either dying or sweet gums. While they did green up nicely, they just were annoying and all over the place. We did not have the really strong and beautiful trees/plants we wanted. Those will come in time, but as you see we had to start somewhere.

Our new yard will be great. While we both do feel bad about taking out so many trees, the need to have a yard we are proud of and can enjoy simply won out. So what are the rest of the plans?

We will start with a total regrading of the yard. When they built the 2nd phase of our neighborhood, the builders graded each house individually instead of as a whole. Because of this, we have severe water issues when rain is heavy. Literally it is like a river flows through our yard. some adjustments will probably not totally do away with the issues but should help. Reorganizing and adding additional irrigation should allow us to properly maintain our "investment." We will have a nice sized dog run on the left side of our yard, mostly where the remaining trees are located to provide shade. There should be about 10-11 pallets of zoysia sod added to the back, giving us ample space for playing with the dogs and our nephew ... ok, hopefully future kids too. Two patio areas, a walking path and a new flower bed stretching from the fence to the front yard will finish out the job.

No doubt this is a major undertaking. The time and work which will go into it is intense. I would have loved to have done all of this myself and been able to stand back and say, "look what I did," but I have not patience nor prowess to accomplish such a feat. Nope. Leaving this one to the professionals.

And when the project is all done, everyone is invited over to the house to enjoy it ... and to raid the beer fridge. Yep, we added a beer fridge too thanks to Momma and Pappa Olin. Courtney thought we would be using it for other food items to create additional space in our main fridge. I've had other ideas. So far, I am winning. Doubt it will last long.

More updates will be added as we move further along. I can not wait. Realizing something which is such a mess will be something beautiful in a short amount of time is pretty dang exciting. Get ready to enjoy some summer fun at the Lowe's!

This is a week late, but wow what an amazing time playing at Tasty World. As much as we, ARGUS, joke about every show being our last it seems we just cannot let this go. Heck, it even appears if the guys are willing to play a couple of other shows over the summer. Maybe one in Winston and one in Virginia Beach.

My sister-in-law made a good point yesterday. She commented at least we do this; at least we get together and do something we enjoy. It struck me because it is probably true that many talented people give up on things they enjoy. Clearly with all of us in the band, the real world is our priority. Marriage, kids, girlfriends, jobs ... all of that is our priority right now, but having these little glimmers of fun and silliness are special moments.

It was so exciting to be on stage and share those moments with so many friends and family. With the Twilight bike race and heavy rain, I figured people might not show or they would only stick around for a bit. Glad I was wrong, as the vast majority of the crowd hung in the entire time. We did feel bad for the guy after us, because that place cleared out about 30 minutes after our show.

Donovan had a contact who came and recorded the show for us. After listening to the entire show twice now, I realized how out of show shape my voice was. We went through the entire set list earlier in the morning, most songs twice. We needed the practice, but as a singing friend told me it probably wasn't my smartest move. So no, I was not totally pleased with the outcome, but it was such a blast. For those of you who missed the link, you can download the show here:

ARGUS @ Tasty World 04.24.10

It is a zip file, so once downloaded you will simply need to move the tracks into your favorite audio player. Enjoy!

I do want to thank my parents for making the trip down to enjoy the show. Dad's birthday was April 29, so being able to hang out with them over the weekend made up for not being able to be there on his birthday. Mom and Dad love Athens and love to visit, I just wish they could make it more often! Hopefully we won't have two years between visits.

The man with the furthest drive was Greg, coming in all the way from Virginia Beach. He had to leave his loving wife and beautiful daughter to make the show, something which I am sure was not easy. When the show date was set, I honestly did not expect Greg to make it because of family and the distance. Needless to say I am thrilled he made it. Greg has been a good friend for many years now, and it was fun having him share stories and pictures of little Miss Anna all weekend.

Finally this past Friday the backyard re-do began. While I was enjoying a nice furlough day taking in some golf at the Stadion Athens Classic, a few gentlemen were working hard laying down these massive patio pavers underneath the deck. We will have some more attractive pavers for the patio around the stairs, but these suckers were free. They are heavy as hell ... 90 lbs. each, so these guys were earning their money. It is not totally finished, but i bet they will be done tomorrow or Wednesday. Hopefully tree removal will begin tomorrow and the rest of the yard work will follow.

It took us awhile to finally agree to do this. We were both concerned about spending money, but in the long run we believe this project will help the value of our house and will be something we can enjoy. Having outdoor family space in the south is very important and this will provide us what we need.

After a couple of really fun weekends, it is time to get back to the real world. Remember to download the ARGUS show and let us know what you think. Maybe ARGUS will be playing in your neck of the woods soon!