Scarberia

I've been a big fan of Nintendo since becoming a casual gamer and especially since the dawn of the Wii age [this console gets a rough ride from serious gamers - as does the Nintendo DS, which I also love - this is why I'm not a serious gamer]. However, recent events have made me rethink my brand loyalty [and Joseph too - he is indeed a serious gamer and has been loyal to Nintendo since day one of his gaming]. Over the past year our Wii has been in gradual, but certain decline. It makes too much noise, doesn't like swapping discs and overheats. Joseph reached his limit break [super cool video game reference alert!] over the weekend when he couldn't play a more graphically intense game on the Wii due to the visual disturbance on screen. This bar of pixels has been happening for quite some time...almost from the exact day our warranty expired. Yesterday I took matters into my own hands and carted the Wii out to Scarborough to get repaired. Yes, Scarborough. And thanks to the incompetent lass @ Nintendo I ended up staying there all day yesterday as she provided them with an incorrect serial number for my console. Boo on you, Nintendo!

But, Scarborough. How to describe it for the uninitiated? Well, Toronto used to not be this big of a metropolis - it used to be divided up into different cities, but has since merged into the megacity. We are all Toronto. Scarborough is known I guess as the "mean streets" I suppose [I say this in " as I'm from a supposed "bad neighbourhood" too]. My sense is that the population is hard-working, middle class and blue collar...as well as recent and settled immigrants...areas like that always get a bad reputation. I wore my tough chick real leather yes I'm a bad vegetarian motorcycle jacket so that I would fit in. I have been to Scarborough before, but only to go to the Toronto Zoo and to pay for my college education @ their Scarborough prison [which was doing nothing to shy away from the stereotypes as it was so prison chic]. This time I got to ride on the Scarborough Rapid Transit system [totally fun - like a roller coaster] and wander the streets [with expensive electronics in hand!]. If I had been so naive as to expect a wild adventure of crime and terror, I would have been severely let down. People were much more friendly than in regular old Toronto and I even enjoyed their big shopping mall [and I hate big shopping malls].

For the record, the Wii has been returned to "even better than normal" state - it's quiet, the pixel bar is gone and it doesn't mind swapping discs. Basically they gave us an entire new machine [and I paid for it as the warranty was no good] and ripped out the guts that contained our information and stuck it in. While obviously I have nothing better to do with my day than sit in Scarborough - it was a quick fix...and it sucks beyond belief that modern electronics aren't designed to last more than one year.