Nepenthe

Yeah, but this is Finland we're talking about here, nothing like that this time of year. More like a side effect of my i tensely stressful year and poor fitness. And everybody's been sick at the office over the past month...

I've been feeling like I'm coming down with something for most of the past three months. It's exceptionally bad today, energy levels bottoming. Should do some stuff on a job application, but am instead reading Esquire and White Dwarf on the ipad (and I seriously suspect I'm the only person in the world who reads both of those two).

It wasn't so much that she was slim, it was that she was mind-blowingly sexy (and a phd student like me, one of the smart ones - not necessarily like me). The One that Got Away. Or, as it's starting to look now, one of the two that got away. FML. ;D In fact, I'm also in a somewhat similar situation re your other problem, the awesome girl here from work keeps dropping suggestions about going to the gym together, but huffing and puffing on a crosstrainer is about the last thing I want to show her at the moment. In a few months, sure, but not now...

Holy Smoke, 40 kg is a lot, my g-friend weighs 54 kg If you don't mind me asking how much do you weigh? More than your girlfriend. Let's just say that I'm a big guy, and even with my target weight they wouldn't allow more than three of me in a four person elevator. In fact, I almost got there three years ago (in 8 months), but it was too fast, and when my gf ditched me (short version is that she was engaged a week later, which ****ed me up quite a bit) I ate it all back in the same period of time. I'm now not using a single chick with the flattest stomach on the planet as my motivator, and am taking a slower approach to make sure that it lasts this time.

... That's hysterical.

I'm looking at shedding 40 kilos (well, it's 38,5 after the ~first week), ie. get back to my army/karate days weight and shape. Obviously gonna need to do a mass (no pun intended) of different things to get there, but am enjoying the initial stage where just eating better is working wonders. Exercise and more sleep are coming next...

This was the response from the head guy at BioWare Montreal working on ME to a question on twitter asking whether the new ME will go in a more shooter direction. It sounds rather vague. What exactly does "the quantities may vary" even mean, in regards to what was asked? I think he's making a cooking analogy. The quantity of ingredients will vary. Instead of 2 tablespoons of oregano, he's using 1. So yes, it's vague. He's essentially saying "more or less." Hopefully he doesn’t use cayenne pepper. I never thought cayenne pepper should be used with oregano they just don’t go together. Like oil and water. Nah, It'll be called Mass Effect 4: Fire in the Hole...

As mentioned above, it's from a notoriously untrustworthy source. That said, I think it's been established that DA2 sales dropped fairly fast. Whether it was due to any actual problem with the game or just Internet groupthink is open to debate.

Hi Nepenthe, are you Finnish? The reason I ask is that during World War 2 the Finns had a hard time with the Russians and Germans so your grandfather must have had some fascinating stories Yes. And yes - but let's just say that being a frontline unit chaplain involves, to a large degree, the identification, and if possible, evacuation of the fallen (in addition to the morale role). Not the sort of stuff you want to discuss at length with your 5yo grandson... Yeah, I can imagine. His experiences were not exactly "Xmas feel good discussion material" Especially as this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tali-Ihantala was one of the skirmishes he participated in.

Hi Nepenthe, are you Finnish? The reason I ask is that during World War 2 the Finns had a hard time with the Russians and Germans so your grandfather must have had some fascinating stories Yes. And yes - but let's just say that being a frontline unit chaplain involves, to a large degree, the identification, and if possible, evacuation of the fallen (in addition to the morale role). Not the sort of stuff you want to discuss at length with your 5yo grandson...

My maternal grandfather was a ww2 veteran, a frontline unit chaplain. My paternal grandfather, also a minister, was too old to participate (born in 1895) and considering the administrative role the church played in the boondocks, was probably more useful there, anyway. I was conscripted into air defence, and served my stint. Came out lance gunner, the only one promoted in my platoon. Interesting experience, but I've never managed to defuse a bar fight abroad with "I was trained to kill by the Finnish Army", unlike a friend of mine. Altius!

They share the same building. Bio Montreal has created all the ME2 DLC, ME3 multiplayer and the upcoming Omega DLC. Pretty sure the only ME2 DLC they did was Arrival. Pretty sure I'm not sure about that, but nobody can be sure. Surely you understand? Don't quit your day job. Unless it's comedy or running a gaming news site.

That would explain a lot. So, went to lunch with some coworkers I don't see too much on a friday. Immediately one guy launched into a tirade about how much he would like to **** one of our female colleagues (the one I've also referred to here). I don't creep easily, but I did this time. He kept coming back to it several times after we tried to steer the discussion into a somewhat healthier topic. I spent most of the weekend feeling really bothered about it, as we have the office christmas party coming up and I was getting a borderline "roofies" vibe from him. So, in the end, I decided to break "bros before hos" and tell the girl about it. Apparently they've never even talked, just the two of them. I feel like I did the right thing, but I'm obviously second guessing myself due to my own (even if they're a lot more platonic) feelings towards said lady (who, in addition to being a major hottie also happens to be one of the most wonderful people I've ever met, of any sex or persuasion). Hmpf.

Default weapons in cut scenes... like in all the three games? At least it no longer switches Williams to actually using a pistol like in the final ME1 cutscene. They share the same building. Bio Montreal has created all the ME2 DLC, ME3 multiplayer and the upcoming Omega DLC. Pretty sure the only ME2 DLC they did was Arrival.

Why do you have to? Coz I'm OCD and want to have a proper importable save file I've done myself.

Yeah, Montreal did the final (somewhat disappointing) DLC for ME2, and was involved with ME3... I was under the impression that they did (just) the multiplayer, but I've been getting less sure about that the more I've read about the stuff. Mostly looks like they relegated the franchise into Madden land...

Worse bureaucracy at current workplace than have ever had to deal with when in government employ. Also getting all the bull**** gigs coupled with a multiple boss situation (get "need this tomorrow!" stuff from all directions simultaneously). Motivation low, and additionally dieting so close to flying off the hook at any moment.

I'm not looking forward to having to replay DAO (for the fifth or sixth time) on any class - which I have to do since the great brain fart of early 12 had me delete those saves.

Not ruling that out as a possibility, but if they are like corporate management elsewhere in the world, they will have timed it to coincide with an event where they can cut cost and wash their hands at the same time. It wasn't us, it was the evil government that made us do it. Similar things happened in Australia with carbon taxes, suddenly energy prices got an astronomical price hike, trying to wipe it off on the carbon tax (despite even non-economists being able to do the math, the taxes could in no feasible way account for the amount that prices increased), European corporations used the introduction of the Euro currency as an opportunity to "round up" prices rather than trying to actually convert prices etc. If you can score a few points on the bottom line and pass blame elsewhere, your shareholders will love you. Politics is not the only dirty business ^^ Pretty much what I meant, thanks Gorth for standing in for me while I timezoned.

I think you're traveling in the wrong direction...

I'm pretty sure there's a lot of pre-planned layoffs that were either going to be done on the down-low if the right candidate won, or with much noise if he didn't. That's how the game is played. IIRC, even we here in the boodocks had a similar situation here during our presidential elections, where mass-firings were delayed until after the elections and then done with minimal fuss (because the right candidate won). That said, I'm seeing a lot of mass hysteria, which coupled with the last groans of the big lobbying/PR machine is going to put the signal-to-noise ratio to an all time low.

I didn't read it that way.

While technically correct, there are games that run at 1080p (at least on the ps3), and many of the supposedly 720p games run at a lower resolution. Interesting thing, reader bias. I'm seeing defensiveness on the other side of the argument, not his. Never having considered myself a "tribal gamer", I find his views as a reformed one particularly intriguing and insightful. I know for myself last gen I never had a particular idea what games where available for PS2, since I had my xbox for the kotors etc. and that's it. When I bought a PS3 for the blu-ray drive I suddenly got a much clearer picture about the games that I'd missed. Or 1000e + 22 % VAT, still, if you're not lucky enough to live in the land of the cheap. For a guy who plays something like 4-5 games a year, that's a pretty high buy-in cost.

Especially if one learns to spell it correctly.

Even better, if it fails and you get a bad hangover, you can make it worse with adult-age bedwetting. I tend to get delayed hangovers, I can potter about, sometimes for a couple of hours, feeling perfectly fine and then, ZAM. Usually when I've gone for a walk and I'm at the furthest point from home or something.