Hurlshort

Well, I finally set up an Origin account and found that someone else had stolen my nick! Either that or I have an old account floating around. Ah well, I set it up to give the Battlefield 3 Alpha test a try.

I have that same issue every night. Except I'm startled awake violently by my children fussing in the middle of the night.

Amy Whinehouse. Or Winehouse. I have no idea who this is. Really? Huh, she won a few awards last year or the year before. She's kind of a jazz singer who hit it big, which I was happy about as it helped a lot of other jazz groups get some mainstream attention. Anyways the fame really put her on the fast lane to a rock star death. She was a bit of a mess from the start, but as her album got bigger, so did her problems it seems. This was highlighted when she was denied a Visa to attend the Grammies (or one of those music awards) in the US because of her issues. She had to phone in her acceptance speech. The folks here don't seem to have much sympathy for junkies, but I'm guessing they haven't had many people close to them struggle with addiction. While I didn't find her death surprising, I fail to see how it is a positive thing. The only hope here is that other young people will learn from her tragedy.

California is considered high at 9.25% sales tax. I really don't recommend Verizon. Two months ago I would have wholeheartedly. I have been with Verizon for almost a decade and they do have the best coverage. But last month my wife went way over our minutes. It was the first time we had ever exceeded them. They wanted to charge us $300 because we were 800 minutes over our normal limit. I called, and I was shocked that customer service really wouldn't work with me. As I said, I had never been over. They told me about all these programs that could have prevented the overage, like friends and family and monitoring online. They offered to increase my minutes. But they still wanted me to pay the $300. They offer a maximum discount of 25% on the overage, which still meant I was paying a lot of money. It was also going to cost about $500 to cancel my contract. When it is up in a year I plan on leaving. So I really recommend going with a different network. I have heard AT&T has great customer service, and a lot of other providers have programs to prevent you from getting killed by this stuff. For example, Sprint charges a flat rate of $5 for every 100 minutes you are over. Verizon is the most expensive of the the providers, and I always figured it was worth it for the large network, but after the crappy customer service I can't recommend them at all.

I have a friend who was paying pretty insane tax rates once his very profitable business took off, basically 35% which came out to around $200,000 a year. Still, he was buying Ferrari's and stuff, so it was hard to really sympathize.

What happened to us, man? You used to always be the negative yin to my positive yang. This whole open mind stuff is out of whack!

All the good looking Canadian women come to the US when they turn 18.

The portraits for me are a huge indicator of the personality of the game. Sure, Jagged Alliance 2 was amazing because of the strategic layers and the TB combat, but it was also dripping with personality. Each merc was unique, and that is what brought me back to it over and over again. In comparison, Silent Storm also had a great TB combat setup, but it wasn't a game I go back to every year. I also don't see what the portraits really have to do with the budget. Sir-Tech managed those nice hand drawn portraits with a pretty small team. Did they not hire any artists for the game? The faces look like they were handled by an intern. "Ok, add a mustache to this guy and a helmet to this guy, and that will distinguish them." Anyways, I would be plenty happy if the game was as entertaining as Silent Storm, although I have major concerns with the combat. I did think the trailer was pretty well done. But when you skimp on something like the portraits, you expose a lack of understanding about how important each individual merc is to Jagged Alliance. We have to stare at those portraits during combat as well, they aren't just on the AIM screen.

I get that too, usually when I'm asleep on my stomach. I wake up and feel like I can't move and I have trouble breathing. It's gotten to the point where I can kick my legs in my sleep and my wife will wake me up.

It felt more Indiana Jones movie than superhero movie. That sounds like a ringing endorsement.

I think Volo is closer to the Eastern coast of Canada, maybe Newfoundland. Kor and alanschu live around there, so that's pretty good company. I'd move there in a heartbeat if I didn't have a family. But I'm a hockey nut, so that's basically like speaking the native language. They don't have baseball at all? I'm sure there must be a minor league team. Canadian Football is also supposed to be a big deal in, um, Canada.

The BBQ went well. I'm thinking about making a trek out to Ikea today to pick up new dressers. My kid's dressers are falling apart, so we plan on buying new one for the wife and I and giving them our current ones. We've already bought part of the bedroom set, so it will finish the ensemble. I'm also thinking about getting a computer chair there.

That's just something you say to make yourself feel better.

I'm BBQing turkey burgers with blue cheese in a little bit for a few friends. Last night I played hockey, the good news is that I broke out of my slump and scored three goals, but the bad news is we lost 6-3.

Whats the "TRDS" part mean? Clearly Overseer's real name is Trudy, hence Trudys' Blue car.

I agree with that, the film really failed to portray him as menacing. He spent too much screen time gasping about his horcruxes and babying his snake. Luckily I felt everything else was done so well that it didn't bother me.

What you are suffering from is called Stockholm Syndrome. I really encourage you to seek out therapy. I tend to always take racism seriously, but I don't actually frequent the Codex, so don't worry too much about me.

I have recurring dreams where I'm trying to get my hockey gear on and the game has already started, but I can't get dressed fast enough. I also have dreams that I'm trying to get to work on time and there are all these obstacles to overcome.

I thought the rest of what you wrote was great and insightful, but I call bullocks on this. "I'm not really a racist, I just play one on the internet" is a pretty sad explanation.

Odd, that's the same way you deal with a large zit.

Jesus, this is complete insanity. Even with Columbine and 9/11, and this may be the worst thing I've ever heard of. Targeting a kids summer camp? I feel sick to my stomach.

I agree with not jumping all over Muslims when something like this happens. Don't get me wrong, I understand why people have that reaction, but it is essentially a victory for the extremist groups when they are automatically given credit every time something terrible happens. I really hope (as weird as that sounds) that this is just the act of one unhinged guy and not a real movement. It makes me sick that he targeted a children's camp to get at politicians.

Well it always depends on the road, but basically its legal here. I agree with the complaint about speed, he is driving far too fast. There is pleanty of footage of people riding in the UK doing similar things, infact, riding into oncoming traffice as you described is extremely common here on A & B roads. You have to bare in mind from my perspective, you're saying people, myself included, deserve to loose their licence for driving within the law - in another country. Hey I think loads of laws in the US are silly, I wouldn't preach that you're wrong though. I'm glad you're aware of bikers out in the world though, so many people in cars don't see bikers. Are you really sure about that? I'm having trouble finding any specific facts, but everything I am reading defines lane-splitting as moving between lanes of vehicles that are proceeding in the same direction. Filtering doesn't seem to fit the bill either. Maybe I'm having trouble finding anything about it because it is absolutely insane. These cars are moving directly towards him.

I live in California where lane splitting is legal. My brother rides his bike to work every day and works for a motorcycle company, he even worked for Ducati in Italy for awhile. I am always on the lookout for motorcyclists and give them as much respect and room on the road as I can. This guy is a complete a-hole. HE RODE INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC! He wasn't just splitting the lanes between two cars moving in the same direction. He rode in between oncoming traffic. Please tell me where that is legal. It isn't how lane splitting is defined in California. So in summary - Splitting lanes, with lanes both moving in the same direction, was stupid at the speeds he was traveling. Still, if the door closed on him, he would probably be the only one hurt and so it is just stupid and not necessarily an a-hole move. He was also doing some wheelies, which on a busy road is again stupid. Riding the lane between oncoming traffic is dangerous and shows little regard for other drivers. He deserves to lose his license and his bike.

What an absolute a-hole. I don't agree - I see and do this kind of crap all the time, the only difference is the speed. The guy has gonads made of titanium! And yes, he's probably insane. I'm sorry to hear that. He isn't alone on the road. He is sharing it with a ton of people. He isn't just an inconsiderate driver, he is a completely self-centered a-hole. The least he is doing is scaring the crap out of a ton of people on the road. This isn't some carnival ride, it's a busy road in a busy city. He is passing families, elderly people, people from all walks of life and he is purposefully scaring the crap out of them. Then there is the possible consequences. Sure, his life is at the greatest risk. His odds of running into a car and getting killed are high. That would be the best case scenario, the person he runs into will have to deal with his death on their conscience, but at least he is the only casualty. But this guy was splitting the middle of two-way traffic. It's amazing that nobody swerved out of the way. He could have caused a dozen accidents in his little display that didn't affect him at all. He could have caused an accident that killed children! Driving is not a game. People die on the road all the time. This guy doesn't deserve a license, and if you drive like that, either do you.