The luckiest man (stadium echo) on the face of the earth...

With all the talk around this monkey having focused (rightly so) on impending babies and blooming bellies, I thought that having just last week returned to the frozen tundra that currently is Ukraine, I can’t let the story of the latest addition to our family go unwritten before the wee one comes and deservedly monopolizes this space.

Over the Christmas break back in the U.S. Wendy Lu stepped up so large and made a move that in my mind (and most certainly in my heart) makes her a mortal lock for enshrinement in the Wives’ Hall of Fame. We’re talking first ballot, Hammerin’ Hank Aaron landslide of writers support...no squeaking in 15 years later by a vote via the veterans committee here.

For those of you not in the know, Microsoft’s new XBOX 360 is the pinnacle of electronics nirvana right now, every man’s quiet little fantasy of diodes and digital delights. This beast of a console packs the guts and glory of the highest end gaming PC (we’re talking USD 3,000+) in a beautiful box for USD 400 retail. Not to mention that this lively little merger of form and function looks like what one could imagine an iPod would daydream of growing up to be. Microsoft obviously took a cue from Apple in creating a real work of art, a system that merges all that you’d need in gaming, movies and music right at the epicenter of your living room.

The mere fact that she could even put her hands on one, much less put it under our tree at my folks in California without me being none the wiser speaks volumes about my lovely bride. Look, I know she loves me. I’ve known this fact for years. We’re married and we’re having a child together. She obviously gets my charms and appreciates my quirks…even when those little idiosyncrasies could drive the most patient and loving wife mad. These charms may go unnoticed or unappreciated by others, but she digs me. I get it. But to step up the way she did, to completely blow all my gift expectations out of the water…damn, I don’t even know where to begin.

Wives around the world are renowned for their jealousies in the ongoing war with the machines. These very same electronic delights that we as men love so vie for our attention each and every day, pulling our thoughts away (albeit temporarily) from the women who share our homes and our hearts. Hell, just this past weekend one of her friend’s told her that she wouldn’t even let her husband have a Playstation. A PLAYSTATION, a 10+ year old piece of technology that while definitely holding nostalgia, can not hold a candle to the power and the allure of this magical white box. I only wish I could have seen her face when Wendy Lu told her that not only does she support my gaming, she actually gave me a 360.

As if there were any doubts, or if my Xbox Live gamercard to the right didn't clear it up for you and you have to ask, do I love the box? Are you fucking kidding me? This thing is what I was dreaming of the first time I got my twelve year old hands on an Atari 2600. But more importantly, I absolutely adore the woman behind it. And until they cut the ribbon and open the doors of my imagined Hall of Fame, I’ll enshrine her here. Because with all due respect to Lou Gehrig, I'm the luckiest man alive. She gets me…and damn do I love her for it.

i'm right here.