Life is a mashup of toys and gadgets, hobbies and recipes, kids and odd socks, all held together with love and duct tape.

My hubby's birthday is coming up, and I gave him his gift early, because it was big and hard to hide. Plus, I couldn't wait to see how excited he would be to open it! He's been hinting about wanting this Playstation 3 (80GB) for months.

I had thought about waiting until Christmas to buy it, but I've been working a lot lately, and decided to go for it, to surprise him. Plus, he told me it will play Blu-Ray discs, and that would be a good deal, since a Blu-Ray player would be almost as expensive on its own... Sure, sure.

The first game I got him is Call of Duty 4. If you're not familiar with the Call of Duty games, it's a first-person wartime simulation. (Do you watch The Office? Remember when Jim went to the Stamford branch, and they were playing Call of Duty as a team-building exercise? And Jim was in the corner with his sniper rifle, jumping around and going nowhere? That's the game.)

Anyway, he fired it up and started playing, and I was watching the screen, amazed by the clarity of the graphics, and the realism of the motion and everything. The flash-bang grenades actually have a blinding effect, and you can hear the ringing in your ears.

There is a scene where the team has to escape from a sinking ship. You have to run through the labyrinth of cargo crates, metal stairways, narrow corridors, and make your way up to the deck and jump into a helicopter, all while the ship lists and leans. It's thoroughly disorienting.

As I was watching him negotiate the sinking ship level, I started getting all clammy and hot. My tummy tightened and twisted. "Is it hot in here? Why is it so hot in here?" I leaned back and put my feet up on the coffee table, suddenly feeling very sick. Nausea... uck.

After about 3 tries, Hubby completed the level and went on to the next chapter of the story. I still felt yucky, and I was trying to figure out how I could be sick.

"I think I'm seasick from your game."

"Oh, yeah. There's a note in the instructions about that."

Stupid game. I went upstairs to lie on the bed and recover, with the fan blowing cool air on my face and arms. Much better.

If you get a PS3, be careful if you're prone to motion sickness. I'll be sticking with less realistic games, I think. :-)

A while back, I posted a prototype of my blog business card, and asked for comments and suggestions. You all came up with lots of great ideas, and I promised to post a picture of the finished product, so here it is!

I decided to go with the vertical front design and horizontal back. Your suggestions were incorporated by adding white space to the back of the card, and only using the glossy coating on the front. The position of the blog address was also moved so it doesn't look like a mustache anymore.

Thanks for all of your input! I really appreciate it, and I love the way the cards turned out! Also, a huge thanks to Jason at GorillaSushi, for his patience, design skillz, and willingness to tweak the details until they were just the way I wanted them. (I made him change the color of the hair a couple of times. I'm annoying like that.) If you need something printed, go ask Jason. :-)

P.S. - And don't forget to enter our contest to win a free month of advertising on a whole bunch of blogs! It used to be 10 blogs, but now it's up to 35!