It is about time for an update.

We blessed Ashton this last Sunday and it was great to have everyone over that could make it. We got to meet "the girl" when she came with Mathazar. She was very out-going and super nice. She makes a real good first impression. Everything seemed to go well despite not having enough seats for everyone. Thanks again to those of you who brought food and drinks.

It has been over a month since EPiC passed away. I find myself still thinking about him a lot. I get sad about it, but I'm ok. The funeral was great and I really needed it. We decided as a squad that we would hold a Truly "EPiC" cLAN Party in his honor. The event is going to be May 24th and we have a record number of people coming. There hasn't been a LAN with this many of us since the Computech days. Even Bolg is flying in from Oregon! It's too bad EPiC won't be fragging with us, but I think he'll be smiling down at us while we are having a good time in his memory. We thought of some of EPiC's favorite games and ended up going with Battlefield Vietnam with the WWII Mod. That should be good because it is old enough to run on anyone's hardware, it has bots so we won't have people QQ'ing about me pwning them all night, and EPiC did injoy that game.

Work on the basement has progressed a lot. My brother laid the carpet last weekend. We got the painting done, just need to touch up some areas. The carpet is pretty dirty and needs to be shampooed but I've been taking a break this week from working down there.

Well, I'm looking forward to the cLAN Party. I think it will be a lot of fun to get the squad together for some gaming.

[-F69-]bl00k

LIFE

Owneress and I are happy to be celebrating the birth of baby Ashton. He was born Monday March 31, 2008 at 4:59pm. He was 7 lbs 12 oz and was 19.5 inches long. Both he and Mom are doing well and we are home from the hospital now. We would love to have you meet Ashton (as long as you are not sick). Just give us a call to let us know when you are coming over.

DEATH

It has been such a rollercoaster of emotions for my family as we welcomed our new son we lost our dear friend and squad mate. Phr0st called and informed me that Epic had passed away on Tuesday, April 1st. It has been a couple days and I still have so many emotions that I don't know what to say. I don't think it has fully sunk in that I won't be able to talk to my friend again. No more LAN parties, snowboarding, DefCon or omgwtfbbq's. I have tried to think back to what our last conversation was and I can't remember it. I can't remember what the last thing I said to him was. We had our share of arguments and disagreements and now I wish he was still here to cause me grief. I know that he now knows how much he was loved and is missed by all of us.

Hack3r

Third

ocYrus

Wooties

Blunt Logic

Southern Utah Mortuary

s3k's Words

[-F69-]bl00k

I know I missed a month. I even had an extra day to post and still missed it. I am teh suck. I'll try and make up for it now.

I've been keeping myself busy the last three weeks with trying to finish our basement. It has been a huge project well beyond what was initially perceived. I guess we have to go back a little further though.

Sydney got wicked sick. She was a puke machine starting on Friday February 8th. She didn't keep anything down. Same with Saturday. Sunday was a little different though; instead of just Syd puking now Owneress had joined her. Owneress puked all day Sunday and became very dehydrated very quickly. She started having contraptions that were painful which was a bit scary as it was a bit early for Ashton to come. Her doctor told her she needed to go to the hospital to get IV fluids. Since Syd was still throwing up everywhere and in miserable shape we didn't want to take her with us to the hospital and we didn't think it would be fair to ask someone to watch her in that state. We ended up getting Owneress' Aunt to take her to the hospital. The contraptions stopped and Ashton stayed put. I ended up staying home from work Monday and Tuesday to help out. My parents were planning to drive up that coming Friday to help us with the basement but my Mom took the bus up Monday to help take care of the sickies. This whole time I'd been dealing with barf and two sick girls I did not come down with whatever gomboo they had. However I did have a cold that started the week before and never got better so I was feeling pretty run down the entire time. So now my Mom is there to help out and then she starts puking. Now everyone is sick and we needed that time to clear out the junk in the basement so we could start working down there that Friday when my Dad came up. I tried my best to haul junk up but having a cold really sapped my energy. 

*ran out of time on this post and it actually was not uploaded till April 3, 2008

[-F69-]bl00k

A good time to be a gamer. I mean, we have Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal, Call of Duty 4 and recently a few of us have revisited some older games and a few that we missed when they were brand new. I finally finished Far Cry, which I will rant about below. I'm in the process of downloading Company of Heroes on Steam right now to join Phr0st and Epic. Yesterday we had fun playing some Command and Conquer 3 which Epic also picked up from Wal-Mart. And I have yet to mention a certain 8 million pound gorilla in this paragraph.

WoW has continued to be fun although it has slowed down a bit for me. We are slowly progressing into Karazahn as a guild. Bolg has stepped up to fill in the role of a Main Tank for the guild and is doing awesome. We have grown enough that we seem to have more than 10 people keyed to Kara for the last two weeks. I've had to implement a sign up sheet on the forum to try and keep it fair and organized. I would encourage anyone that is part of the Fighting SixtyNinth guild in WoW to visit the forums frequently to keep up on what is happening.

As for my Far Cry rant. Man that game just ended up pissing me off. I needed to make room for Company of Heroes on my HDD so I wanted to finish Far Cry to clear that space. I had already used the cheat to give me all the weapons and ammo. I was making progress until one day my saved game was just gone. I was super annoyed. So at this point I decide that I will use the cheat to just load the level I was on and use God Mode to finish the game. I had to get some script and add it to a .lua in order for it to work. Playing through the rest of the game I am soooo glad I cheated. I can't imagine how anyone could finish that game without cheating. I mean the levels were just insanely unfair. It actually pissed me off to see how hard those levels were. They would be impossible without hacking. I did like the twist at the end and was satisfied enough with the ending. I am glad however to have it off my hard drive. Now I'm questioning Crytek's ability to make a good game. Do I want to play Crysis? Far Cry 2 looked amazing at PAX last year and it isn't made by the original Far Cry team so maybe that is a good thing. We'll have to see what happens. In the meantime I still need to make room for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and BioShock.

It is hard to be whiney when too many games is your biggest complaint. I have a computer that runs everything, I have broadband, I have a great monitor, sweet keyboard and I just got a new mouse. It is, indeed, a good time to be a gamer.

[-F69-]bl00k

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, it seems to have come and gone so fast. We got a stack of DVDs to watch but haven't watched any yet. I also got Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock. I haven't loaded up Bioshock yet, but CoD4 is really cool so far. It reminds me of camping because it is IN TENTS!!!! I haven't finished the single player yet, I just got to the Death From Above level. There's been some really cool levels and I've been really impressed with the game so far. I played some multiplayer with phr0st for a little while and leveled up a bit. Haven't had time to go back and play some more since Christmas though.

Tomorrow some of the squad are heading up the mountain to snowboard. It seems like I'm only able to go about once a year, but I'm glad I get to go. Snowboarding is such a rich white boy sport. Honestly, how do people afford it? While we were Christmas shopping we were at the Sports Chalet (sorry Peepee) and I saw this awesome jacket. I mean it was flippin' sweet! It looked super cool, but was incredibly functional. It had snow guards to keep snow from going up your sleeves and back, it had a special pouch for your mp3 player with a special place for your earphones, etc. It had pockets for everything you need for boarding. I can't ever remember it all. Anyway, it was $200 just for the jacket. I didn't even both to look at how much the pants were. I hope I can fit into my snow pants still.

In WoW news Bolgrad and Mormir have hit 70. This means we have a Main Tank to run Kara or anything with. Bolg is on vacation at the moment but it will be fun to start running things with him when he gets back. Blooklyn now has the full Primal Mooncloth set made. We helped Ghandisar start his Kara attunment last night for Guild Raid Night. I believe he is caught up to Bolgrad now in the quest line. Poop is plugging right along, last night I believe he was level 31. Taco and Remy are right around there too.

After talking with Ghandisar yesterday, I would like to reiterate that the forums are an excellent place to keep up with what is happening. We have a lot of good info in there that is really helpful for anyone playing WoW. I also would like to plead with anyone not using XFire to download and install it. Post your XFire username in the XFire thread that is stickied under the Squad Area so we can add you to our list. This is a great way to see who is playing what, where and when. XFire is especially handy for those who play other games like TF2 or CoD4.

Finally I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Years. For anyone that cares, I only slipped on my New Years' Resolution twice this last year. People have asked if I'll start up with the Your Mom jokes next year, but I think that goes against what resolutions are for. I'll make one last recommendation for a New Years' Resolution for you; visit the forums often and use XFire.

[-F69-]bl00k

I am driving to St. George today for my parents 40th anniversary. We were having a surprise dinner for them at my grandma's house but not everyone got the memo about it being a surprise so they know I'm coming down despite my constant lies to the contrary. Owneress and I are quite busy so this will be a quick day trip. Personally I'm not thrilled about 5 hours down and 5 hours back while only staying for 4 or 5 hours there, but then I think about how rough it will be for Syd and that sux. Oh well, at least it will all work out in the end.

Christmas is almost here. We finished up the last of our shopping last night. Owneress did a ton of wrapping and all the decorating. I was in charge of putting up the Christmas lights and hauling boxes. I also did my share of wrapping as well. Phr0st is going to spend Christmas Eve and Day with us. He is even going to Owneress' father's house on Christmas Eve with us for dinner and her grandma's Christmas Day for breakfast. Then I think the plan is to play all day. I know some of my gifts already (I bought some of them ;). I'm getting some PC games, lots of DVDs and I'm not sure about the rest. Suffice it to say we should be well entertained on Christmas.

I hope everyone has a good Christmas and since I probably won't post before the end of the month, have a happy New Year's also! Bolg is travelling for the holidays and so Bolg Town is more of a Ghost Town right now. I do have his login info because he was nice enough to offer his mooncloth cooldown for me while he is away. I'm just a few mooncloth away from my full set. Hopefully the new year will yield some better Kara runs for the Fighting SixtyNinth. Last Thursday was a pitiful showing with only four people online for Guild Raid Night. I was hoping to at least run a 5 man. On a brighter note, Bolgrad hit 70 before he left so we will have a dedicated Main Tank to run things with once he comes home.

A New Year's Resolution suggestion would be to visit the forums with some regularity if you don't currently do so. ;)

[-F69-]bl00k

Almost missed a month... almost.

So Thanksgiving has come and gone, I hope everyone got to have a nice dinner and spend time with family. I was sick all week and ate my dinner alone rather than infect everyone. I did muster the strength to wake up at 4am and go to Best Buy with Jackdruid. He scored a 22" Samsung LCD for $200! I was there to only pick up some small items, but I was able to get everything on my list and we really had a good experience. I was back in bed by 7am.

We are less than four weeks to Christmas. I said it last post and it is holding true; Time flies once you hit November. This month is wrapping up and then you have a few weeks cram packed with Christmas parties, lights on the house, getting the tree up, Christmas cards, etc. I've been ruined on Christmas and feel the burden of it more than the joy. I'm hoping that having kids will alter my feeling towards Christmas. I think it has already started. It was fun last year to have Syd open presents, and this year she is even more excited about it. I hope we can be fun parents for her and our upcoming release; Boy. We haven't been able to settle on a name for the new baby yet. Any time someone asks me about it I tell them the most horrible name that pops into my head because I usually don't want to have the conversation. It isn't that I don't want to talk about the baby or about names, it is because everyone that brings up the subject will then proceed to tell me what I should name him. They don't make suggestions, or say, "I like this name..." It is always, "you should name him this or that". NO. We will name him whatever we want. If you want to make a suggestion, then present it as such. I know this sounds harsh and petty, but it just seems to strike a nerve with me when people come across as some authority on baby names and how I should do whatever they say. I think reverse psychology is still effective on me. /sigh

So let's look forward to Christmas and what "could be". Despite already having gift exchange issues with my family I'm looking forward to the holiday. It is less than ideal that the 25th is on a Tuesday, but it should be fine. We don't have any travelling planned. In fact we are planning to spend Christmas in our own home this year, a novel idea to a lot of people. I still think we have a year or two before we really get to "play Santa" since Syd has a bedtime and it is much earlier than mine. It should be fun to have her wake up and see all the presents though.

Gift Ideas for yourself: Call of Duty 4 and Team Fortress 2. That way you can play with some fellow squad mates (another novel idea). I've been told by a little Santa's Helper that I'll be receiving CoD4. Yay!

[-F69-]bl00k

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Tonight is our big show and I'm way excited. I think it is going to be a really good show and those who are not going are missing out.

I had a good time at Remy's house for his BDay LAN. Internet would have made it better, but we still had a good time playing TF2 with the five of us. Remy has a nice house with a dirt yard that he made a little cemetery out of, complete with a grave for teh orcish general. Too bad I pwned him in TF2. I didn't get him anything for his BDay, but I did make a card. It was ghetto and cheap which are two things I like, but it was also fun to make. I think I'm going to try and make this a new practice for birthdays and such. Homemade cards FTW! Besides, isn't it better when it comes from the heart, or something?

There hasn't been too much going on in the WoW front for Owneress and I lately. The big news is: Bolg is a God. He has created a world, a world of WarCraft. Bolg never ceases to amaze me. We've had some fun jumping into his server and playing with GM rights. It sux to go back to "real" WoW and not be able to run like the Flash. Guild Raid Night has been decided with nine votes. Check the forums for specifics.

Tomorrow begins November and the start of teh "Holidizays". Hooray! if that is your bag. All I know is time flies from here on through the end of the year.

[-F69-]bl00k

Today is 10-4 good buddy. (I know, I'm lame).

I've been On Call the last week. On Call sux. At least it hasn't been as rough as it could have been. I'm glad it is over though. Some of my coworkers and I planned to go to lunch today with our respective wives and offspring. I'm thinking of it as a celebratory meal to end On Call.

I helped phr0st move some of his stuff last Saturday. He is currently adrift in a housing sea as he looks for a permanent place to call 127.0.0.1. Luckily he has p00p to crash with. I offered but my location is less than ideal. Everyone needs a p00py pal. Hopefully phr0st is able to procure a dwelling of his own soon.

NOTLR played a show at Burt's Tiki Lounge last Friday. It was a lot of fun and a good turn out. The Willkills played a show last night with Voodoo Glow Skulls where they released their brand new CD! I wasn't able to go (see on call above) but heard it was great. The Willkills are headlining SKAlloween this year. Fer was able to get NOTLR on the bill as well, and since NOTLR and the Willkills are all the same people, except for me, we get to play second to last. It is so nice to not have to open. We are super excited for this show. It is at the Avalon Theatre, which is an All Ages venue. There are a lot of bands playing so I'm thinking the turn out will be good. There is an open invitation to the squad to come. I will have pre-sale tickets by this weekend.

Owneress and I are level 67 in WoW. Titahn was able to grind out 70 before us, gratz to him. Our progress has really slowed down due to Owneress being ill with child. I've tried to two box as much as I can, but you just can't replace teh Owneress. Bolg has been most helpful, as always.

I hope everyone has some fun plans for Halloween (like going to our show!).

[-F69-]bl00k

There is a lot to catch up on, so hang on tight!

PAX was teh Pwnage!!! Huge thanks to phr0st, poop, and my bro @~. I had so much fun with you guys. Highlights of the show for me were; Wil Wheaton doing the Keynote, Seeing the FarCry2 demo, the PAX panels (especially the comic one), Sneaking backstage after the show was over to get Tycho's autograph, and of course the Final Round of the Omegathon which has been discussed already at phr0st's new blog: Third. Seeing the new HP Blackbird and meeting Rahul Sood was really cool. Going to the World in Conflict party was really neat, but it just kinda fell flat for the overall experience. It was kinda sad to see that much effort go into a party for a game that just sucks. Getting to feel like I fit in with everyone else at PAX because I had a DS was cool too. I played my first multiplayer game of Puzzle Quest, and pwned some noob. I got to play Bioshock and Gears of War on the PC, I did not play Rock Band however, but enjoyed laughing at those who did. Everything was great and I am looking forward to going next year.

I flew home from Seattle the Monday after PAX and made the most of not having to go to work that day. I went to The Bourne Ultimatum with c1as1c and phr0st. I really liked the movie but have to agree with everyone else; the shakey cam got old, fast. After the movie c1as1c and I drove out into the middle of nowhere in the radioactive desert of Utah and blasted our shotguns. It had been quite a while since I shot my shotgun and c1as1c had a new gun that he had never shot before. Once we started glowing we decided to head home and take a chemical shower.

Much like phr0st, I was inspired by the FarCry2 demo and started playing FarCry again. I never finished the first game and I am now further than I have ever been. It really is a cool game. I totally dig the engine and love the environments you get to play in. When we were watching the FarCry2 demo it was amazing looking, but at the same time I was thinking about how fun it looked to play. It was exciting, fast and fluid. The engine was totally incredible, but it didn't feel like we were just watching some tech demo of "what could be done", everything I saw was adding to the gameplay and making a more immersive game world. The AI was very impressive as well. Watching as the AI hunted you down mercilessly was very intense (much like camping). I'm not sure of the politics behind what happened with the developers of the first FarCry and who is on what team now but FarCry2 and Crysis are different games, from different devs, and they both look amazing.

After spending a few days home alone, blasting my computer speakers, I drove back to Seattle with my parents. No matter what you do, that is a long drive. After spending one night at my brother's house my whole family went to Canadia for a week's vacation in lovely Victoria, BC. Our hotel was right on the harbor, which was really cool to be able to watch the boats and seaplanes, but bad because the seaplanes are wicked loud. A lot of things were within walking distance but we ended up driving most of the time. That's just how my family rolls. We rented scooters one day and rode along the coast and then up this hill where there were some really bling houses and a lookout spot where we took some pictures. The scooters were seriously a riot. Owneress really wanted to go whale watching. It was quite pricey, but we did it anyway and it turned out to be a really great experience. We had a super cool guide/skipper that was 100% Canadian eh. We were on a "zodiac" style boat which has the inflated raft thingy around it but still has a metal bottom (I know there is a Your Mom joke there, but I'm still doing good with my New Years Resolution). Anyway, there are like 5 rows of seats on this boat and no restraints anywhere. We were all in these huge suits that look like astronaut suits that double as a life preserver. Despite my brother sitting on the top of the backrest of the bench we did not get to test the buoyancy of the suits. We got to see Orca's closer than I had expected. There was a calf with them that was really quite cute. On the way back the tide was going out and the wind was coming in which made for some big waves, which our skipper took full advantage of and gave us a killer ride. It was totally worth the price. As with most family oblications, we were ready to come home at the end of the week. We had a great time and the fun outweighed the bad for sure.

While I was away life moved along without my supervision. s3k is married now. Congorats to her and Sinone. Eth3r tried to have a LAN but it didn't work out. Hopefully he can find a time to reschedule it when some of us can make it. Phr0st told me that he gamed a TON while I was away. Apparently there was Counter-Strike: Source to be had, along with C&C3, WC3, and even StarCraft. I did play a couple games of C&C3 with Phr0st and Dbag yesterday and had a good time. I'm totally down with playing some other games so hit me on XFire if you are going to play something. However, Owneress and I have been away from WoW for over a week and have a lot of rest XP to burn through. Titahn is 67 now and thinks he could beat me to 70. I hit 61 last night and don't think he stands a chance.

Next week I'll be out of town again, this time we'll be going to Denver. We are going to visit Owneress' mom who I have only seen once, at our wedding reception where I think a "hello" was exchanged and that was it. We are a bit nervous about the trip since she doesn't know we are coming. This whole trip is a surprise for Owneress' mom that was planned by her new husband. Take that and multiply it by the harrowing stories c1as1c has told me about Denver and I'm checking with the airline to see what I need to do in order to bring my gun. Even with another week away Titahn still won't beat me to 70 unless he farms it out to China, or just has Atrestra finish leveling him.

I'm home the rest of the week so let's get our game on! Keep XFire going and give a shout if you are going to play something. I imagine I'll be spending significant time in WoW, but I'll try to take advantage of any other opportunities that come my way.

[-F69-]bl00k

T00T!!!!! PAX is this weekend and I'm super stoked! Phr0st, Poop, my brother and I are all planning to go. I had a blast last year with my bro, but I think it will be even more fun with phr0st and p00p. ALL HAIL THE BALL! (I know the shirt says, "ALL HAIL BALL" but I was there and we they said "ALL HAIL THE BALL". I'm nitpicky that way).

I actually am doing a lot of travel in the next few weeks. I will drive to Seattle Thursday night, it is a 12 hour drive. Get to Seattle around 7am Friday and sleep for a bit. Pick up Phr0st and Poop from the airport and go to PAX. Have fun that weekend and fly home Monday. Then I'll drive back to Seattle Friday with my parents and spend a week in Victoria Island. That's in Canada eh? Then I'll drive back home a week later on Sunday. I'll be home a week and then it is off to Denver for a week to visit Owneress' mom and husband. So, in total, I'll be driving to Seattle twice, home once, and taking three flights. Whew!

In WoW news, Owneress and I have hit 60. We owe it mostly to Bolg for helping us so much. We are in Outland and seeing some new stuff. We've been through the first instance and are working on the good ol' rep grind. We haven't got our epic mounts yet. I'm waiting to hit Exalted with Orgrimmar. I do NOT want an epic riding turkey. Phr0st has mentioned that he believes he is done with WoW. I can't hold it against him for not playing, but at the same time I'm bummed that he is leaving. I'll still play C&C3 or whatever you want dude.

[-F69-]bl00k

HA! Two in a month, I rock! Someday I'll give Wooties.net a run for their money.

The WoW train rolls on. Owneress and bl00k have hit level 52 and are closing in on others in the guild that are strolling through the game. I still think we will beat Titahn to 70. And, lo, there shall much mockery be made. We really owe a lot to b0lg, who has been a superstar. As if equipment, bags, and cash weren't enough, he continues to run our noob toons through instance after instance. Our debt is becoming national in stature. We also need to welcome Adr0ck back to Azeroth. He has rerolled a troll rogue named Slithery. He too faces the long grind to 70.

Phr0st came up for a visit this last weekend. We tried really hard to grind some RL XP, but it isn't easy. You know how when you log in to WoW and you can't decide where you want to go questing? Well, that happens IRL too! We ended up going to the pet store and pet puppies. Syd loved it, but not as much as Owneress, I think. Of course we had to play some WoW but phr0st and I did manage to balance the budget for a little while. Oh, and it is worth mentioning phr0st went to church with us on Sunday. That is worth some RL XP right there!

Night of the Living Rednecks are playing a show August 10th. Come check it out if you are in the area and want to listen to the jams. You can find some details at the MySpace page. I'm not a fan of MySpace, but I do realize the importance of it for any band out there. If you aren't interested in hearing Dead Kennedys music you can alway come support the Willkills.

[-F69-]bl00k

*I meant to post this back on the 6th, but I never got around to actually doing it. Sorry it is late.*

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July. Phr0st and I went to see Transformers. I liked the movie quite a bit. It was better than I was expecting it to be, but I did set my expectations low. However, I do think it was probably as good a job as anyone could have done with a Transformers movie. I was totally prepared to hate the movie and be critical of it, but it turned out just fine. Sure there are parts that are lame, but they were not major offenders. So while I may refer to the director as Michael Ghey, I think he did a good job.

We did end up having a last minute cLAN Tuesday night with Jackdruid, Melodi, Phr0st, Owneress and myself. It was a WoW cLAN party only which was fine, but I think next time Phr0st and I should sneak in a game of C&C3. We did a bunch of Arathi quests and then the five of us ran Scarlet Monastery, doing the Library, Armory and Cathedral wings. It was a lot of fun.

The forums and Vent are not getting as much use as I hoped they would. I hope that for those that are using them it is of benefit to them. I know Vent makes life much easier for me when playing games and there have been some good things shared on the forums.

*End of Old Post*

I am going out of town this weekend for my 10 year High School reunion. I never thought in a million years I would want to go to a high school reunion, but now 10 years later I find myself wanting to go. I guess I'm like getting old or something. Anyway, Owneress and Syd are not able to go with me so I'm going to try riding my bike down to Cedar. This will be the longest trip I've taken on it thus far. I hope it doesn't kill my back. I'll be back Sunday sometime.

[-F69-]bl00k

It’s summer time! I wish that meant what it used to, back when you were a kid and summer meant no school, riding bikes, swimming, shaved ice, and all of that fun stuff. Summer is still awesome, but having a job to go to everyday makes it a little less awesome. However, getting together with your pals for a cLAN party makes for good times. Eth3r is hosting his first cLAN for the squad tonight. Although we have a few members MIA, our gravitational pull has snared Remy and TacoSauce. They are riding the Poop Express from Happy Valley to meet us. The burning question on people’s mind is what games will be played? Will it be DotA, Unreal Tournament, DoD:S, or the evil WoW? I think the odds are still favoring Windows.

This is almost week old news, so in case you haven’t heard, Owneress and I fell off the WoWgan. We have rejoined our friends in the Fighting SixtyNinth and started leveling new toons. Owneress has created a Blood Elf Mage, while I have opted to roll a Blood Elf Priest to help balance the priest deficiency in the guild. I also created another Orc Shaman because I truly loved playing that class. We are anxious to get to 70 and see the new content, but it is fun just to be back with our friends. Check out the new WoW forum on the BBS.

Sorry, no links. I was in a hurry today.

[-F69-]bl00k

Today is Memorial Day, hope you did something memorable.

ArmA came out this month. I was super excited for this game, a true successor to our beloved OFP. My disappoint could be heard 'round the world. Not disappointment in the game itself, but rather in the fact that I can't play it. Apparently the Nvidia 8800's are not the cat's pajama's they would have you believe. It wouldn't be so frustrating if I weren't greeted by a certain splash screen every time I try to load the damn game. Do I wait for drivers or take the game back in protest? I have heard that I am not the only one unable to play ArmA. Eth3r's GeForce 4 was told it was too old to hang with the cool kids and that it needed to check into a retirement home. That's just plain rude if you ask me. Poop and Phr0st were able to get in a MP game and promptly died several times without ever knowing what hit 'em. I must make note that Poop did make a successful kill, and not of a teammate either!

Since teh ArmA is leaving much to be desired right now we (Poop, Phr0st and I) have been hitting the DoD:S to much delight. We've played some of those "orange" maps that all the kids are doing these days as well as some remakes of original DoD maps. It has really been fun and has really hit the spot for us.

I finally finished Half-Life 2 and started on Episode 1. Maybe I'll finish it by the time Episode 2 comes out. As far as single player games go, I've been replaying WC3, I haven't quite finished C&C3, and the bug that would crash FarCry seems to be fixed with the latest Nvidia drivers (too bad they suck for ArmA). I have also been playing a lot of GTA: San Andreas. That game is such a guilty pleasure! I'm straight up gangsta now. Phr0st has been playing it as well. We get on Vent and pretend it is an MMO and we are just in different areas.

I am sorry to report that Phr0st has fallen off the wagon. Part of me is le cry, and another part is le jealous. I know that it is the best thing for me and Owneress to not be playing WoW right now, but we do miss it. I think she misses it more than I do, but we still have those fond memories that tug at us. I think that someday we could return, but it is certain that if we currently had WoW we would not have painted our living room today.

Next weekend is the Go Live for a major project at work. I'm not looking forward to it. I hope it doesn't impact me as much as it potentially could, but there is that chance that things go terribly. I'll just have to wait and see.

A cLAN party or OMGWTFBBQ still sounds like fun but it will be some time before I am able to plan something. If anyone else wants to take the initiative, by all means, go for it.

To close things out today I leave you with a snippet from a chat Phr0st and I had:

[21:02] <phr0st stopped playing Grand Theft Auto San Andreas>
[21:02] phr0st: sorry was actually watching mi3
[21:03] phr0st: not a very good movie but meh it looks good in hd
[21:03] [-F69-]bl00k: i have that but haven't seen it yet.
[21:03] [-F69-]bl00k: lol
[21:03] phr0st: are you kidding?
[21:03] phr0st: lol
[21:03] phr0st: get to wathcing movies man
[21:03] [-F69-]bl00k: HD is to bad movies what beer is to ugly chicks?

[-F69-]bl00k

Thanks to everyone that helped make the Non-WoW cLAN Party II a blast. We had fun playing OG Unreal Tournament, CS:S Gun Game Mod, and the single game of C&C3. Treats were plentiful, windows was minimal, and laughter uncontrollable. We need to do that more often.

I guess everyone may not know, but the Orcs are looking to relocate to the Seattle area. We want to go and be closer to my brother and his family. I've been sending out resumes like crazy, but nothing has panned out yet. If anyone knows of a hook-up in that area let me know. I am taking some vacation time in two weeks and we are going to drive to Seattle to visit my brother. I really need a break from work, but it would be nice to make it a productive trip and have some interviews while I'm there. We leave the day before Cinco de Mayo and return the 13th.

Phr0st and I have tried out DotA and under no uncertain terms we are noobs. I've always understood that b.net denizens are different than you and I, but I mean these DotA players are just dicks. The game itself is fun and I believe that fun would be magnified to a factor of the Nth degree if we could play it with people that weren't complete smacktards. I'm told such people exist in "provo", but this remains to be verified.

Command and Conquer 3 is still fun for me, while Phr0st has been enjoying Battlefield 2142 as of late. The thought of buying BF2142 has crossed my mind once or twice but has yet to convince my body to action.

I must mention before I go; Eth3r played more UT than Windows. I believe this is an [-F69-] cLAN first! I'm glad he was able to make it over and hang out with us. He also seemed to retain some of his SoCen Skillz and pwned up some biznatches proper.

[-F69-]bl00k

You asked for it, you got it.

There is truly life after WoW. My house is clean, we've painted the family room, installed vinyl tile in the kitchen, and started a box for the D.I. Also, WoW isn't the only game that is out there. Now that I have a new UBER computer thanks to our tax return I've been able to play; Max Payne 2, Half-Life 2, DoD:Source, FarCry, X2, and just to get that little WarCraft fix a few of us have been playing some WarCraft 3 on Battle.net. Gaming lives on in this life after WoW. When I see stuff like this...

...I can honestly say I don't miss it.

I've been playing a lot of DoD:S lately. I found a group of people that were pretty nice and fun to play with. They were a clan called Hooters. They recently merged with another clan called Open Wings and now just go by the tags {ht|ow}. I have "officially" joined their clan, strictly for playing DoD:S. We have a team and are playing in the TPG League. I'm pretty excited to be playing with a team. It was always what I wanted with the [-F69-] but that isn't what we ended up being. I'm happy with what the squad is and I'm not looking to change anything. I am just able to game with this clan in an organized team in a league. Blook isn't going anywhere and the Fighting 69th is here to stay.

Phr0st has recently picked up the new C&C3 and has good things to say about it. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow with my Game Stop gift card I've had for two years. It will kinda suck because Owneress has been playing WC3 with phr0st and I and it has been a lot of fun. I'm not sure she would want to learn another RTS, especially paying for another copy.

The squad has even more mileage between us now. Epic has moved to Florida and has started a new job. Haven't heard too many details about it, but he says he is working on something to destroy teh interwebs and all those evil punks that are downloading illegal stuffs and putting movie set carpenters out of jobs. I'm glad you have a job and all, I just wish it was like creating a new, better way to do peer to peer. Oh well, that's life. Hope things are well in FL with you and Lysis.

Poop has put the most mileage between himself and the squad as he is back in South Africa again. At least his trip is a temporary one. It is nice to keep in touch with Poop via Wooties, but it still feels different knowing you are on the other side of Google Earth. Maybe when you come back you'll come hang out, or at least play some games with us.

I hope everything is going with those that don't check in very often. Things are going fine with me, Owneress and the orclet.

[-F69-]bl00k

News from the front! We have two new members of the Fighting 69th, welcome b0lg and Owneress. I'm glad to have them as official members now. Watch for them on XFire and jump in a game with them when you can.

Owneress, Phr0st, and I have all quit playing WoW. Owneress and Phr0st sold their accounts on eBay, mine had problems and hasn't sold yet. I'm pretty irritated about the whole thing. It is nice to be done with it, I admit there is a feeling of freedom associated with it.

I've been playing a lot of different games lately now that I have the option. I played through Max Payne 2 from start to finish. I've played some more Half-Life 2, CS, NS, etc. Lately though, I've had an interest in revisiting an old classic, StarCraft. The single player game was so good, and the multiplayer consumed days of my time. A bunch of us have been playing on b.net. I have some people from work that have joined us for some SC action. If anyone wants to join us, just let us know. We are playing StarCraft Brood War on b.net, so you need both the original and expansion, as well as a working CD Key.

I missed posting a Happy Birthday two days ago for Owneress so I'll mention it now. However today is our Anniversary so I'll make sure to get that in here. Three years and still going strong! Family's that game together, stay together.

[-F69-]bl00k