Gears of War 2 is really good! Played through about 1/4 of the single-player and it's a billion times more solid/fun than the first one. Played some multiplayer last night, and it was fun, but the people I played with were kinda lame. They've got a 5-player co-op mode called "Horde" where you basically try to survive 50 waves of enemies. We got to about lvl 15 and that was hard as hell. We tried to jump into level 19 to try it and that shit was impossible. On "casual" difficulty at that.

Something I didn't know, the voice actor of the main character also does the voice of Bender, ha. Pretty cool.

Real life Office Space, that's awesome Jon.

Bonus Cup: THIS IS FUCKING FUNNY (right panel)!

And then the very next day I got a raise and a promotion, which I assume was for my daring initiative in skipping out on my meetings.

| Irresponsibility Day

I awoke this morning with a funny feeling of dread. I logged in to my work email from home and realized why -- five solid hours of meetings scheduled today, most of them totally worthless. One of them during lunch!

I burned a sick day.

Man, I hate meetings.

Politics

I feel like a huge weight is off me for sure. Yes, the country is still fucked, and in four years we have to go through all this again, but at least for now things are undeniably better than they were a few days ago.

Enron, myself and our respective (and respectable) ladyfriends went over to a local sports bar/taco place to watch the results. We had barely settled in and started drinking when they announced the results. I don't even think it was eight o' clok! Amazing. And a biiiig first for our country.

Although I think I was not as pessimistic about this election as Aeryk was, I also expected some sheisty election fraud, although I thought it was going to come from the other direction. The morning of the election the RNC announced that they were basically going to sue for voter fraud if any counties fell outside expected results. I guess fortunately the ass-kicking Obama gave McCain was fairly well within expected results. And also so overwhelming that there was really no denying it. Still, they gotta fix these goddamn voting machines. They will be a problem in any election that is not a one legged ass kicking contest.

HOPE you motherfuckers, HOOOOOOPE!

And Eric was just telling me today that the election was going to be stolen yet again.

Yeah, I am still alive. Due to the lack of economic goodness, my job may be subject to axing before the end of the year. I have no idea if or when, as there seems to be a dearth of info trickling down.

On the brighter side, Fallout 3 is pretty phenomenal. Bethesda actually seemed to have learned a great deal from the travesty Oblivion. I was worried they would fuck up the legacy of Brian Fargo, and they made a kick-ass game.

I also pre-ordered Red Alert 3. Partly because that has been my favorite RTS series, and partly because the campaign is co-op, which is a rarity that I have not seen or heard of outside of Total Annihilation. But I have not even installed it yet because of Fallout 3.

I'm also playing Fallout 3 and it's good! I also have Fable 2, and that game is incredibly fun also , but they're both very different games. Sorta open-worldy (fallout more obviously) but Fable totally has the feel of a single player WoW exp, in a totally good way. Makes me feel happy when I play it. Fallout 3 is pretty depressing, but I'm enjoying myself and I think it is worlds better than Oblivion (totally more focused), even though some of the annoyances from Elder Scrolls find their way here. It's rad though. In both games, I'm mister good-guy as well - I just don't have it in me to be an asshole. Sometimes I'll be a little snarky, and I kill motherfuckers ALL DAY without them so much as seeing me, but yeah. speech-wise I'm mr. nice guy.

Don't spoil it for me outright Jon, but let me get a little hintage from you. I don't have Dogmeat, the dog. Um, is it something you do that makes him available or will it just happen eventually? The dog in Fable 2 is awesome and totally lovable, so I kinda wanted some company in Fallout 3 as well. But I'm level 8 now, and fuck if I'm starting over - I've done way too many quests.

*******
Me and Eric have been doing our Podcast for a few weeks now and it's a lot of fun. Eric is shy about it (!?) but I'm going to pimp it to you guys real quick, just so if you have some time to take a listen and give advice (or of course, participate which is always welcome.) You can search for it on iTunes: Electric Cardboard Mayhem. Or it's even hosted on this here site: SECRET

I listen to a ton of podcasts so it's fun to actually make one and edit it, etc. It's rough, it's two assholes you guys already know, but it's fun and would be rad to get some feedback. THanks

| Man-Con II!!!!(?)

Hope everyone is well!

Back in August Enron, Aeryk and I rented a room at the Embassy Suites and used it as the location of our mini con. It was really fun, because we focused on one thing (playing D&D) with little else to distract us, and it had a very different flavor from the normal fun of the cons, which are typically less focused.

I think we should do another one, and I think it would be great if another couple members of the Action Team could make it up! Holiday season is pretty crazy but I was thinking that sometime in late January or early February would work out. Would anybody be interested? Basically the idea would be to get a tight focus on one game (prob. D&D) with occasional breaks for free drinks in the "businessman's lounge," aka the lobby.

And when two o'clock rolls around, of course, it's time for rape. (According to EJ.)

Sound good to anyone? How about the timing?

Other notes:
* My proud character, Borst, is now level 55 and tearing shit up in the Plaguelands. Three more levels 'til the Outlands! Whoo-hoo!
* I wish Rudy was still playing, 'cause I could really use some new bags :[
* I have also been playing Fallout 3. Lots of fun so far. My first character was Gandhi's evil brother, Snake Gandhi, who never saw a situation he couldn't punch his way out of. While playing however I had two realizations. One was that I just do not like playing evil characters and can't stick with it. The other was that I was spending most of my time scrounging for junk (coffee cups, plates, etc.) and selling it. So I created my new character, Fred Sanford, master of repair, barter and shotguns. Every time I am near death I shout: "This is the big one! Elizabeth, I'm comin'!" I also make acerbic, yet insightful jabs about race. All in all it's a good game and I recommend it.

| I'll carve a B in yo forehead, bitch!

This campaign keeps getting weirder and weirder! Man I cannot wait for this thing to be over.

So my cousin got married in vegas this weekend, at the Shalimar, which is in a Howard Johnson's. When they made the reservation they were told they could have the wedding either with Elvis or without, to which my cousin responded "man, that's not even a question.". It was pretty cool. Every time the ceremony threatened to get too moving,Elvis would launch into another song. Also, a fat lady broke a pew. You can't ask for a better wedding than that, man.

| Hypnotised then Fucked

Here's my Rock Band character - broke Cobra Commander!

Yes, I'm still alive (barely)

Job is still absorbing the majority of my life force these days. I gotta figure something out with the amount of hours vs. family time vs. bills to pay. Sigh.

On a lighter note, I give you MANLY BIKE FOR SALE

| Okay...

If this guy was running for Mayor I'd totally vote for him based on these images alone. Maybe even as the President of United Zombies of America. But Prez of the US... Not so much.










D>M>

| Get out of my head!

Jon - It's almost like we are living parallel lives! Get out of my head! Were you missing any figures from the box? If not, that lorvely piece of Chinese plastic was ballast. It's to keep people from figuring out where the chase figures are.

1. My dead end job is wearing thin as well.

2. It's illegal for temp workers to start a 401K or think about the future.

3. My sister finally finished college (all other siblings dropped out).

4. I am entirely responsible for the downfall of the guild. I embezzeled the guild treasury to fund the surge.

5. I almost felt bad for McCain when he had to defend Obama from his own pitchfork waving mob. Ah, mainstreet, the real folks. Shucks!

6. I sure hope your brain doesn't melt. I've been trying to jog to loose weight. Unfortunately I killed my knees a few years back when I was a running addict. Need to buy bigger clothes instead.

7. I've been know to use the facilities from time to time.

8. Just to show you I'm my own man. You're not the boss of me. Point eight: I'm off to Ireland this coming weekend. Just my luck, the world is going to hell as I travel abroad. I shall be this country's representative and apologize for causing the coming Mad Max and the Thunderdome economy. I've been doing research and am sad to report that Dublin is not a gaming city. No miniature/game stores to speak of (there are GW stores there, but they're here as well so it doesn't count). Be forced to do touristy stuff. Stupid tourist stuff...

| random sh1t

I picked up a starter box for a new collectible miniatures game from Privateer Press. I guess they don't quite have all the kinks worked out of their process yet because I got a weird block of clear plastic resin, nicely polybagged, along with everything else that was supposed to be there.

RARE CHASE MINIATURE!!!

Anyway it's been a while since I posted, but I'm still alive for now. Updates:

1. I don't like my job, and yet, it is hard to find a different job. What a conundrum!
2. Literally every time I am about to start a 401k the economy takes a huge shit in its own mouth. This also happened back in 2001 and in the late '90s. Conclusion: the stock market is for chumps, saving is worthless, get ready to eat cat food in my old age.
3. My sister got engaged. Crazy! She has been dating the guy for a year but I haven't met him yet since I've barely been home. He sounds like a good guy though and my parents are pretty fired up. Fortunately we are meeting at my cousin's combo drunken party/wedding in Las Vegas next weekend. I am fully prepared to play the part of the thuggish brother. I predict a series of events leading up to a high-stakes poker game followed by tearful speeches and reconciliation.
4. WoW has me by the balls again. Borst is almost level 49 and soon after that, the big five-oh! Perfect timing too because a patch with a whole ton of fun new shit is about to drop. The only thing I don't like is that our guild has really gone down the tubes since our change of leadership. Docnorvell has committed nepotism, banking and other war crimes. That's not change we can believe in!
5. Speaking of politics, holy shit the McCain camp is getting desperate and crazy. They are really appealing to the wingnuts. I caught part of a McCain speech this morning and he kept getting interrupted by angry yells and really hostile sounding chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" I was also struck by how much older and frailer he sounds since the start of this long ass campaign. I used to think McCain was "pretty cool for a Republican" but he has really not behaved in an honorable way this campaign season. Although, let's not forget, for five and half years he wasn't even able to have a political campaign.
6. I have been having this persistent eyestrain and weird visual effect in my field of vision for five weeks, similar to a mild version of what you get if you press on your eyeballs. The first opthamologist (sp?) I went to said he had no idea what it was and I should just see if it goes away. He also yelled, "You could trying Googling it up, too!" from the other room as he was walking away. The second guy I just went to was a little more helpful. He said it's not an eye problem, basically it is either some bizarre, persistent low-level migraine and I should just load up on ibuprofen for a couple weeks and it will probably go away, or alternatively there is something totally wrong with my brain and this is the first sign of a condition that will cause it to melt into putrescent goo. It is funny how the two guys basically said the same thing but the first guy filled me with disgust at his rank incompetence while the second guy inspired me with his medical derring-do. Anyway we'll see about my brain.
7. I don't have a seventh point, but I'm a bit superstitious about the number six so I just had to add another thing. Oh, I know: I need to take a large shit.

Au revoir!

| Equities - Crude oil - I don't get it

Why should this be a commodity that is traded? Should be regulated. So when price of oil was 120+ it was the equity traders pushing the price up? I don't think the demand of oil has changed, in fact if anything the demand of oil usage is still increasing specially for christmas time. Offshore drilling, was that ever the answer.

OPEC has been saying that they were producing enough oil for the world market.

So what's wrong with the scene here?