Much to the dismay of my sister, it looks like my wee lil 8 yo niece will be buying herself a Nintendo DS. Anyone know of any good educational "games" for it? (I'd ask in the game thread, but I'm way too behind, and I figure a ton more parents are in here). She's got enough game-games, but we need to work on her reading comp level and math skills. I know, I'm evil Uncle, but hey! It takes a village to raise a kid, or something.

Omnis, there is a game called my word coach and there are a couple of brain age games. I'm not sure how good they are, but I have come across them when buying DS games for the nephew.

Where are you going in Florida, Vortex? Also, I honestly believe you would look fabulous in the orange jumpsuit, but no killing of the maternal one.

Woo! GC! Celebrate!

In stupid body news, I woke to an ouchy UTI. Always in the past I had a twinge of warning and drowned them before they happened, but no warning this time. Eating pineapple at the moment. Another mom picked up Brendon and took him to school for me because I didn't want to drive. Ouch.

omnis, I'm asking Lewis, who manages a Game Stop, and his suggestions are Brain Quest (this has 2 different games, one for 3-4th grade, the other for 5-6th, so you may have to look to see which would be more appropriate), Big Brain Academy, the My _________ Coach series, Brain Age, although it skews a little older.

If you need more suggestions, just let me know and I'll ask him.

omnis, I'm a big fan of Kakuro for encouraging number skills (and addition), and I see they've got something called Sudokuro (can't believe that site isn't blocked!) for the DS. Mind you, this is essentially a paper-and-pencil puzzle translated to the screen just for the sake of having it on the screen, but it might be worth a try.

(I have my drafting classes do Kakuro now, since they at least need to be able to add quickly.)

Frank, much ~ma for your SiL and her little brother and family.

Much ~ma to your SiL's whole family, Frankenbuddha. Fuck cancer.

Frank, ~ma to your SiL and the rest of the family. I'm so sorry.

Thanks, everyone. It's just so unexpected and horribly sad. There's nothing to be done but wait, basically. My brother and SiL are going down to FL for Xmas with to be with the rest of her family, and while I'm sure they will be glad to be with him, it's also just a wretched way to spend the holidays.

Apart from the lack of any twins, this family could have been the model for the Weasely's - all the kids have bright red hair.

Yeah, fuck cancer in the ear, that's for sure.

Judas as the first vampire

Dracula 2000, baybee!