Since I'm the closest thing to a "technology" reporter for this fair establishment, I'm setting aside the pop culture in this week's Scanner in favor of more gadgets, toys and expensive high–tech goodness.

Why, you may ask?

CES.

Thanks to the NXT network of spies (one could be sitting next to you right now and you would not even know it ... until it was too late) there's some interesting news on the local video gaming front.

Sure you like to think your time is precious, especially at work, but come on ... don't fight your inner procrastinator.

Succumb to The Scanner, it will waste your time in ways you won't feel so bad about.

I know most of you are in full-fledge Thanksgiving & family mode, which as they say is the reason for the season.

Still, I'm a firm believer in the power of moderation – in food, booze and family, especially this week. So if you're looking for a few minutes diversion, here it is.

If you've had the opportunity to travel around this grand old country of ours, it's possible at some point or another you've encountered something that made you say "I wish we had that in Maine."

You know the people who run out to be the First to have a new product, gadget or album?
I am not that guy.
It's not that I don't want things like the newest iPod, the newest Nintendo console, or to be the first to see the newest Harry Potter movie.

But I have to admit my curiosity got the best of me last night. How else could you explain why I gave up sitting on the couch, having a beer and watching Monday Night Football?

I spent a good portion of this morning trying to figure out how many blogs I was going to post today, a task made more difficult thanks to cold medication (thanks a lot fall, your creepy seesaw weather patterns are making me ill.).

In the end, I went for quality (in theory) over quantity. This is a long one, we got Halo 3, local music and youth radio on tap.

If it's Thursday then it must mean time for The Scanner - it's like an intervention, only more fun.

Yeah, you read that right. Girls Gone Wild, as in "reliably-sketchy-
always-getting-sued-for-not-getting-girls'-permission
-to-air-their-drunken-exploits" "Girls Gone Wild."

What? A day without some sort of skateboarding news? For a guy who didn’t skateboard growing up, I seem to be talking about it a lot lately.

What? A day without some sort of skateboarding news? For a guy who didn’t skateboard growing up, I seem to be talking about it a lot lately.