Back in Nashville after spending Thanksgiving in Birmingham. Of course, even before heading down to Birmingham, I was one of the brave souls camping out for an XBox 360 outside of the Best Buy down in Cool Springs. I arrived at 8:15, after my weekly tutoring session with the 8th grader I tutor in Algebra, expecting to survey the scene and report back home to grab what I needed and maybe catch some Z's before heading out in the early AM.

Unfortunately, didn't happen that way. When I arrived at Best Buy, I discovered a crowd of about 30 people were already there...and with rumors of only 40 units to sell, I couldn't go home because that 30 people could have easily become 60 by the time I could get back. So I called up Lori, who graciously brought me extra clothes, water, and food ... and the 13 hours of waiting began.

It didn't take me long to realize it was REALLY REALLY REALLY COLD (about 20-25 degrees) and so I came up with an idea on how to beat the system. I ordered two pizzas ("Yeah, I need you to deliver to the Best Buy PARKING LOT. Yes, I am one of those XBox camper people.") and I sold the first pizza for $15 to immediately make my money back. I ate four pieces myself (half of the remaining pizza) since I was really hungry, and I took the remaining four pieces and gave two to the person in front of me and two to the person behind me in line. In exchange, I got them to agree to hold my place in line until the store opened at 9 AM the next day. I then went and got in my car and slept an incredibly-comfortable-in-comparison-to-the-alternative 5+ hours before getting up around 5:15 to make sure I was there when the Best Buy management arrived to distribute vouchers. When I got the voucher that officially marked my space in line, of course it was back to the car until the store opened just before 9.

The system itself is incredible. I picked up NBA Live '06 and Perfect Dark Zero, which are both titles I have enjoyed so far. I've started a season as the Cavs in Live and LeBron's dumping in 40+ per game in highly-realistic fashion...and the Perfect Dark game is great too. I want to get more into the multiplayer of that one on the newly revamped XBox Live...

Naturally, I've heard how crazy I am from all sorts of people for waiting out there for that long. Of course it's crazy! That's what made it so enjoyable. I like getting caught up in events like this every now and then.

It was certainly abundantly clear how far the demand for video games has come just in my lifetime. After observing the rabid fans in Nashville that were in line with me, to reading online about everything that happened across the country that day for the system launch, I'm convinced the XBox 360 will go down as a key event in video game history as the day that video games took over the living room for good.

The complement of "simple games" for people who aren't hardcore gamers can be had on Microsoft's innovative XBox Live Marketplace for a couple of bucks apiece, with current launch offerings of a dead-on port of Joust, as well as Robotron, Smash TV, and other old-school titles for cheap. Somebody in Seattle's been listening to the marketplace, obviously.

And for those hardcore gamers, the games are about to take a big step up. Perfect Dark Zero is one example of a game that has so many different gameplay options that it will make your head spin. The complexity of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, which will be the first major RPG to hit the system and will arrive in Q1 '06, will be staggering compared to any current title on any system or even the PC. The return on consumer investment stands to be much greater than before, in terms of hours of gameplay per dollar, despite ratcheted-up cost per game from $49.99 retail to $59.99 for most titles on the system.

I could go on and on about video games and the game industry, so I'll cut that off there and address some other topics quickly:

- Headed to New York next week for Fortune's Innovation Forum. All sorts of big-time speakers there (Fred Smith of Fed Ex, Billy Beane of the A's, Starbucks chief that was the one who made the decision to bring music into the chain, #2 at Target, etc., etc.). I am EXTREMELY excited about this event. I'll also be paying a visit to the Darwin exhibit at the American History of Natural Museum (the one that's been in the news a lot lately) which Ellen, Ben's girlfriend, helped create. Toss in a critical iTest fundraising meeting on Thursday before my flight out and you've got a packed three-day period.

- Speaking of the iTest, I wholeheartedly welcome John Hart to my Board of Directors, effective immediately. (I also am simultaneously installing myself as Chairman of the Board of AHSIMC as we expand into computer science and debate over the next year.)

There isn't anybody I'd rather have participate in this thing than John. Though quite obviously brilliant, I can find brains anywhere. It's his passion and heart that will hopefully rub off on our operation and make it better. There isn't anyone I know or am even aware of that lives at a greater deficit between what he deserves and what he has had happen to him, and it's his persistence and rare degree of fortitude that I so crave to make a characteristic of our fledgling enterprise.

After all, what I seem to fail to communicate to people I discuss this project with is the fascinating reality that the subject matter of our tests is increasingly peripheral to what we do. Our goal of opening up the world of competitive academics to every single student in the United States - FOR FREE - is so unprecedented that in order to position ourselves for victory, we've got to have the right personnel in place to shape the decisions that will guide us to becoming the organization we can, and will, become.

This is a step in the right direction. AHSIMC is instantaneously a better organization with John aboard.

- The Titans take on the 49ers Sunday in the "Battle for Matt Leinart." The loser of this game will likely draft at or near the top in the 2006 Draft, and will be able to select the consensus #1 pick out of USC. (Assuming, of course, the Texans luck up and win another one before the end of the season.) The Titans have been steadily improving throughout the season (though not visible in their record) and should wipe the floor with this flimsy, undisciplined group of West Coast also-rans...as long as penalties don't kill them.

- After reading an article earlier tonight on web aggregators and the profit some folks have made from portfolios of domain names by getting click-through revenue this way, I have opened up some of my own portfolio to one of the more well-known aggregators, Sedo.com, to see if I can make any money this way. Sedo.com opens my domains up to a wide market of buyers who might be interested in purchasing one of my domains (the biggest domain sale of the year, of website.com, was done through these guys earlier this year for $750,000)...so I look forward to seeing what becomes of this.

The domains I own that are listed through the service and populated with ads are:

LeBronVsTheWorld.com
Number1Pick.com
Number1OverallPick.com
NumberOneOverallPick.com
StatusQuotient.com
Sphyramid.com
ItsSanAndreasFault.com
TenYearReunion.com
TheToyTest.com
WorthAMillionBucks.com
Oltomato.com
Myoltomato.com
SanFranQuake.com
USInvitational.com
LetTOPlay.com (no ads on this one)
VGHOF.com (stands for Video Game Hall of Fame)
myVGHOF.com
TheseThingsAreSellingLikeHotcakes.com
UnitedStatesOfMath.com
UnitedStatesOfScience.com


Off to bed. Until next time...