Hurlshort

It has become more profitable as I have figure out the best way to do it. I had a batch at 6:30 AM this morning that paid $55 for about 90 minutes of work and maybe 10 miles of driving. That is pretty typical for the early jobs. I would say I am averaging $15-25 an hour. I do about 12-15 hours a week total.

Hmm, I finished Wasteland 3 as well and forgot it. I will blame the ending on that. It was decent though.

Ah, I figured it out. Metacritic is garbage.

The crazy thing about that list is how the sales numbers are probably nowhere near in sync with it. PoE 1 and 2 definitepy didnt sell anything like The Outer Worlds or F:NV. I'm surprised how low Outer Worlds is, actually. It had a low price point, was fairly stable, and seemed to be popular.

People are really all over the place on tipping when it comes to Instacart. My base pay for a job is about $7, although it can be increased by the weight of items. Then the default tip amount on the app seems to be about $2. Now some people are great, and realize that is really low, and bump it up to $5, $10, or even $20. I get tipping only a couple bucks if you want me to grab a few things and drop them off at your house which is close to the store. But if you want me to scour the store for 20+ items that are all over the place, and then drop them off to your mansion on top of a mountain, maybe bump up that tip a bit? Ain't nobody going to spend an hour+ shopping for you for $9.

I don't believe I actually bought any brand new games this year until Cyberpunk. I did pick up a lot of early access titles. I spent a good chunk of the year trying to find the perfect space game too. Off the top of my head, these are the games I sunk a good amount of time into: Conan Exiles - Played this throughout the year, every couple months or so. It's probably my favorite game in the last decade. No Man's Sky - This sat in my library for years, but around February/March I suddenly found myself playing it and enjoying it. The game has come a long way and deserves another look if you played it at release. Empyrion - This is a fun, super indie, space and planetary building game. Pretty janky in a lot of ways, but also had enough charm to keep my interest. If this game had the graphics of NMS, it would be huge. X3 - This is my last space game, promise! This is a complicated game, but it is pretty amazing flying through space and walking around in your spaceship. It just needs planets. Lord of the Rings Online - I played this with my son over the summer for a couple months, and we had a blast watching the movies and working our way towards the Mines of Moria. It has aged, for sure, but it still has a lot of Tolkien charm. Phoenix Point - I enjoyed it. Is it as good as Xcom? No, but it has a lot to like. I am curious to go back after more of the DLC is done. Chimera Squad - Xcom goodness in a buddy cop setting. This was a fantastic adventure and the only game on the list I actually reached an ending for. Cyberpunk 2077 - Well worth the full price for me. I've really enjoyed exploring the story and the setting. I grew up with Shadowrun instead of Cyberpunk, so I wasn't sure I would dig it, but this has definitely been the top RPG for me in awhile.

My 13-year old daughter has been watching Big Mouth. At first I was like "This is inappropriate for you" but then I thought to myself, this is really going to hammer home the lesson that boys are gross. Of course, we watch Rick and Morty together, so I'm probably not the best at judging appropriate content.

Oh yeah, everything hurts in the winter. I now understand why old people usually retire to warmer climates.

Honestly I haven't either. I mean, I have been to a lot of places, but it is a pretty big map. I havent really explored the snowy north stuff much. Dangit, now I am tempted to go back.

I just bought that for my son for Christmas, so I will tell him I need to play it for a bit. You know, for "research".

This negative buzz is weird from my perspective because if you set aside the bugs and performance issues, it really is an impressive game. Huge world, great characters, decent gameplay and solid character progression. Of course, I didn't really pay much attention to the hype ahead of time. Were people expecting to really plug into cyberspace or something? What other game compares to it in terms of a fully realized city?

I am watching San Jose State try and win their first League Championship in football in about 50 years. So far so good, up 19-6 on Boise St.

People might be overstating the backlash a bit, though. It still sold like gangbusters and is likely going to turn a massive profit. I'm just not sure what the long term effect of this is going to be for them. Will they struggle to recover in the console market? Maybe. The PC market is still going to be a strength for them. If it takes another 5-6 years to release the next game, I'd say there is a decent chance that this will all be water under the bridge. Particularly if they can address the major issues.

Conan Exiles is getting some big changed to their expansion: https://www.conanexiles.com/blog/isle-of-siptah-producer-letter/ I'm impressed. Funcom is pretty hit or miss on some stuff, but they definitely have shown a ton of commitment to Conan Exiles and really seem to take player feedback into account. The addition of NPC factions and camps makes me very happy. The Isle of Siptah is beautiful and I've enjoyed exploring it lately. The weather effects are extremely well done. It will really improve the experience to have some more NPC's around to tangle with. Regardless, it is pretty crazy how this game has gone from one I was pretty meh about at release to possibly my favorite game of all time. It is definitely ahead of all of the RPG's and MMO's I've played.

Yo, imma let you finish, but Alpha Protocol is Obsidian's greatest creation of all time!

He probably ordered the collectors edition of KotOR Online and got the CE crystal.

About 6 weeks ago I started Instacarting, which basically pays me to go grocery shopping for other people. It has turned into a pretty awesome side hustle. My current schedule goes something like this: I wake up around 5-5:30, shower and eat my breakfast shake. The first batches of the day seem to come in around 6:00 AM, and they are far and away the best. They are all at a somewhat fancy local grocery chain called Nob Hill, and they range between $30-60. Usually these are double batches, meaning I'm shopping for 2 people at the same time and then delivering. Because it is so early, the store is nice and empty, and I can fly around easily getting everything. It usually takes about 60 minutes to shop and maybe another 30 to checkout and deliver. So I typically get back home by 8 AM at the latest, and my first class starts at 9:00 AM. I get my kids moving and on their computers, and then I get my stuff ready. My teaching day is done at 2:30 PM. I get my daughter off to dance class around 3-3:30, and pick up an afternoon batch if something looks good. These don't pay as well, but I can usually get another $20-30 in an hour or two. Then I head home for dinner and my shopping day is done. I've been doing this most days now. On the weekend I can shop all morning, but I usually stop around 11 for lunch and then enjoy my afternoon. I've done something around 80 batches so far, and I've been given 43 reviews, and they are all 5 stars. So yeah, it's pretty fun. I imagine this job will only last until I have to start driving to work again, but it is helping pay some bills, and it's pretty entertaining.

Yep, we only talk about Cyberpunk here. Luckily it took 17 years to develop the game, so we've all had a good run discussing it. Other games are not allowed.

Newsome is certainly a hypocrite, and I agree with Grommie on the inequity across the counties, but California as a whole has still done pretty well over the course of the pandemic. I'd say the initial response was actually pretty solid across the board, local and state, while the recent stuff has been much more hit and miss. Still better than a good percentage of other states, though. So yeah, not ready to uproot our government quite yet. Particularly given how bad it went last time.

Again, I am really enjoying the world they have created. It may be buggy or whatever, but it is clearly a classic for me, and I can see myself going back and playing it more than once.

I have been going around and turning all of the radios in the game to classic jazz.

It seems strange that Amazon would need to use that model. I would assume the vast majority of Prime members are in it for much more than the limited content they create. I mean, the free shipping alone tends to cover the costs for myself. I do get that it allows them to generate buzz about a show over a longer window of time.

If you ignore the desperate for attention poster, they will go away... And create an alt. account until that one gets played out as well. I am thoroughly enjoying my time living in Night City. I just beat up some twins. Err...Conjoined personalities... I'm having a lot of fun driving around on my motorbike too. They did a good on the road design. It isn't quite GTA, but for a real RPG, it is excellent.

I think some people overestimate the cultural impact of GamerGate.

As I've seen bandied about, Mandalorian kinda fits that space western niche that Firefly was so unique in. Ah, who am I kidding? If they brought back Mal and Jane I'd be happy as a clam.