Where else in life do you get a 97% guarantee of success?  Sold!

With all the various tech progress we have made in the last few decades, it is interesting that battery tech has not progressed all that much.  Chemistry's a bitch, I guess.

The factory wrapping is your assurance that you are the first person to handle or use the game.  How do you know they didn't take a returned copy and put it back on the shelf?  What if there was a pack-in bonus that was taken?  Did they handle the disc or cartridge as well as you would?  Did they drop or scratch it?  Get fingerprints on it?  

I bought a new but unwrapped DS game once from GameStop that already had a savefile on it.  One of the employees must've given it a spin.  Never again.

Exactly.  I want the game new and unplayed, with all the contents intact.  For me, unwrapping a brand new game is part of the enjoyment.  It matters to me, but I understand that a lot of folks don't care. 

The new batteries also have a 3 in 100 chance of exploding during recharge, but hey, life is full of little risks.

I don't shop at Gamestop due to their game-gutting procedure.  I prefer to buy new games that are still sealed.  Maybe they keep plenty of sealed copies of their DS games behind the counter, but I haven't bothered to check.  And I walk right by a Gamestop once or twice a week.

3-25

The Crane Wife
The Decemberist

Great record.

I finally watched this last night and enjoyed it.  It's not Best Picture material or anything, but it's a pretty good caper flick.  Still need to see Gone Baby Gone.

The only thing I really hate is the automatic door locks. The car insists on locking you in. I think that's programmable if you buy the keyless entry option ($650 IIRC), but you're just stuck without it. I need to find out if there's a way to disable that "feature" without harming the power locks. It is most irritating.

You should be able to disable that behavior.  I know my new Civic came with instructions on how to reconfigure the autolocking AI.  Consult your manual (did you get a separate, rather thin "technology manual" booklet?) or try this procedure: http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2009/11/2009-honda-fit-sport-deactivating-big-brother.html

Coming from an older Honda with no power anything, I was a little startled that the locks on the new vehicle had a mind of their own.  I like it, though I may see if I can adjust mine so it unlocks all the doors when I put it into Park.

This worked, btw. The automatic door locking is now disabled, and my only complaint with our Fit is solved. My wife grumbles because it doesn't have a map light (just dome light), but that doesn't bother me.

We just figured out that one can lay the front passenger seat back flat and create a continuous flat cargo bed from the dashboard to the hatch. That is going to be handy for carrying lumber.

Cool, congrats on hacking your Fit.  My first two cars ever were hatchbacks, and sometimes I really miss the flexibility of having a huge cargo space when you need it.

The only thing I really hate is the automatic door locks. The car insists on locking you in. I think that's programmable if you buy the keyless entry option ($650 IIRC), but you're just stuck without it. I need to find out if there's a way to disable that "feature" without harming the power locks. It is most irritating.

You should be able to disable that behavior.  I know my new Civic came with instructions on how to reconfigure the autolocking AI.  Consult your manual (did you get a separate, rather thin "technology manual" booklet?) or try this procedure: http://blogs.insideline.com/roadtests/2009/11/2009-honda-fit-sport-deactivating-big-brother.html

Coming from an older Honda with no power anything, I was a little startled that the locks on the new vehicle had a mind of their own.  I like it, though I may see if I can adjust mine so it unlocks all the doors when I put it into Park.

He probably removed the front driver's seat and sat in the back.  The Fit is very configurable.

I'll have to make sure I grabbed that over the last Xmas sale.

I want this game but am not willing to go to too much trouble to get it.  I hope they produce another batch.

My wife has us playing it any chance we get.  We're level 16-17 and just started on Krokotopia last night.  The combat and quests get repetitive, but I am enjoying the deckbuilding strategies and harder challenges like the boss fights and dungeons.  My wife also has gotten really into the pet, crafting, and gardening stuff.

Has there been any confirmation on whose jet that was?

I should finally be grabbing the game this evening and firing it up this weekend.  Any further thoughts on the starters?  I'm kinda drawn to the Oshawott or maybe the Tepig.  I saw the note above about having your starting Pokemon be female.

I bet I could negotiate him down under half a mil, easy.  Kids are easy to roll.

In my head I still see Dr Who as David Tennant.  Even after seeing all the new episodes so far, every time I go a little while without watching Dr Who and I see him as Matt Smith, I say "oh ya, I forgot about that, David Tennant is not Dr Who any more."

I don't know if that is just because Tennant was so great or because Smith is kind of forgettable.  Maybe both.

I loved Tennant but by the end I was so tired of all the melodramatic crap with Rose and him saying "I'm sorry.  I'm so, so sorry" every other episode.  Smith is a breath of fresh air and doesn't have the continuity problems Tennant had to deal with.

I agree the overwrought Rose drama stretched out way too long, but I can't really blame Tennant for that (not that you are, exactly).  He was a fantastic Doctor and played the range of light to rather dark very well.  I love the moments when the Doctor goes from carefree adventurer to dark and dangerous in an instant.  If done well, it's very chilling.

I was skeptical about Smith coming in (just as I was with Tennant), but I really enjoyed the last season.  Amy is also a great companion.  Her mischievous streak complements the Doctor nicely.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

The link you posted above is the exact stuff you bought, right?

My wife and I are ready to check out the paid content, so I think we'll be linking our accounts and taking advantage of the bulk crown sale this weekend.  The crowns will let us play at our own pace and not worry about managing our monthly subscriptions if we take a few months off from the game or whatever.

Question about enchantment cards: if you use an enchantment treasure card to power up one of your regular spell cards, does the creation of the new enchanted card also destroy the original card you are enchanting?  I assume it doesn't but want to check before I try it.  I know once you use the enchanted card it is destroyed, but I cannot imagine your original card would also go away.

Also, are you sure your old stuff was DDR2-800 and not 667?  You may try just running your new pair to see whether it will autodetect and run it at 800.  Are you using a utility like CPU-Z to check your RAM speeds?

The BIOS should have settings to adjust the RAM speed and the RAM/FSB ratio.  DDR2-800 runs at 400x2, and the base FSB for your CPU may be 333.  By default, the system may be clocking down the RAM to 667 (333x2) to match the base FSB.  You may have to change a setting to adjust the RAM:FSB ration so that they don't have to run at the same base speed.

It's possible that the Dell BIOS is hiding these settings from users.  Some motherboards also may balk at running certain configurations of RAM at higher than FSB settings.

You may try checking if Dell has a BIOS update for your system.  I once had a problem getting some new Crucial memory to be recognized by an old Dell P2 system.  I called Crucial and they directed me to a BIOS update from Dell that fixed the issue.  Since you bought the Crucial stuff, you may want to try calling them to help troubleshoot.

[DRAGON AGE 3: QUICK REFERENCE CARD]

DRAGON AGE 3: QUICK REFERENCE CARD

Left-click: Kill Monster
Right-click: Talk to Non-monster

 

Everyone don't forget to grab your free Victini pokemon from the Mar 6- Apr 10 event.  Just go someplace where you have a Wi-Fi connection set up for your DS and hit "Mystery Gift" from the main menu and choose "Nintendo Wi-Fi retrieval" or some such.  You get a ticket that let's you find Victini somewhere around the 3rd gym.

To clarify, can I do this from home, or do you have to go to a store like Gamestop or Best Buy and connect up with their special Nintendo wi-fi network?

My wife is clearly hooked (she was playing again this morning), so it looks like we will need to get into the paid content soon.  I saw the crown sale deal that runs until Sunday, but I'm not sure whether to do that or just try a subscription for a few months.  It seems like even with a subscription, there are some things that still cost crowns ingame, though I haven't looked closely to see whether any of that stuff is important.  The subscription option also gives a few ingame benefits (like faster crafting and pet energy regen).

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to buy the game yet, but fortunately I remembered that I have a Best Buy gift card from Christmas that I can use.  BB is offering a $5 gift card with purchase of Pokemon B/W this week, so at least that's something.  I think I've settled on White, so I need to buy it soon before I change my mind again.

Ok, I finally got a chance to play some yesterday.  My wife started playing Sunday night and played some yesterday also.  I think she's level 8 Myth and I'm 6 or 7 Fire.  We haven't tried to group together yet.  She's having a great time and even played a bit more this morning after breakfast.  She's already running into more quests that require paid content, but there's still plenty to do for now, including pet training.  I don't think she's ever played a game using the holy quad (ASWD) controls but she's getting it very quickly.

Fire seems pretty solid.  Boosted DoT spells paired with healing while you watch the baddies burn is a decent strategy, so I'll eventually pursue some more healing/draining/protection spells to complement the Fire stuff.  I've had several ill-timed fizzles, so I'll also keep an eye out for gear or other things that can boost my casting %.

It's a fun little game + wife is really happy with it = WIN.

I find it amusing that they're "rebooting" franchises that are barely 10 years old.

With such short times between all these reboots, it's like all Windows 98 up in here.

PairIng up will let you get past about anything. I don't think the school matters for that. I think a life or death second school would be good for myth. My wife says that balance is the way to go for a second on myth. Her second character was myth so I would believe her. She originally used storm/life.

What school do you plan to use?

For me, my ice/storm/moon has trouble soloing in the dungeons.  My death has had trouble with ONE battle (that I still can't do at lvl 42)

Oh wait, I thought you only got to choose one major school per character.  Do you get to choose two, or by second school do you mean just somehow picking up some spells from that school?

I'm probably going with Fire for my character (for the elephant), though Death, Ice, and Balance also sound good.  I like the sound of Storm, but I don't like the idea of my spells fizzling more often or having wimpy hitpoints.

[Conan: Apple Gets Cocky About iPad 2 03/03/11]

Even though I may order one later this week, I found this clip from Conan pretty damn funny.  

Conan: Apple Gets Cocky About iPad 2 03/03/11
http://video.teamcoco.com/video/conan.jsp?oid=245467&eref=sharethisUrl

  I'm a bit more interested now that it's thinner, though apparently it's only a few oz. lighter.

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

I think my wife is set on playing a Myth mage (she wants minions).  Any suggestions on a good school to complement that?  I was thinking maybe fire, because apparently you can get a giant Fire Elephant.  That sounds useful.

My wife expressed interest in finding a computer game we could play together, and somehow I vaguely remembered this thread.  This one looks like it would be casual enough for her yet still interesting enough for me.  She has about a 3 year-old laptop, but it looks like the game can run on just about anything.  I actually haven't played an MMO since the old text-MUD days so this will be a new gaming experience for me.  I hope I can handle it.

The payment stuff looks reasonable, if we get that far.

Is anyone still playing?  Is it doable solo as well as in a pair for casual play?  I have a feeling she will end up playing solo a bit when I'm not around. 

(I should reword that last part.)

Ah, Space Channel.  C'mon you groovy Space Cats, dance along with Oolala!

If I pre-order from Amazon, then I won't receive the game in time to go by Gamestop and get the bonus Celebi tomorrow.

...

Oy, I need a drink.   

4) GameStop is giving away two free pokemon to anyone who walks into one of their shops: one ending on March 6^th named Celebi, and another beginning that same day named Victini.  Both are unique in a couple ways, but Celebi is apparently the key to unlocking another ultra-rare pokemon in Black and White.

How does that work -- do you have to just go into a store with your DS and download it somehow, or do they just hand out a code?

I'm starting to think these games are dangerous for those with gamer-OCD.

I was just going to pick the cutest looking pokemon, is that wrong?

Hmm, I like the idea of lots of items but I also like more pokemon to capture.  From the PA quote, I gather that items are more useful for battling another player online?  The city sounds cooler than the forest, maybe.

Hmm.

The only Blizzard game I have ever played is . . . wait for it . . . Blackthorne.

Pokemon: Ebony and Ivory editions are apparently coming out March 6, and Amazon is offering a $10 credit for pre-ordering.

I've never played a Pokemon game but have heard pretty good things about them, even for grown-ups.  I'm thinking about grabbing one as an RPG-lite option for my DSXL.

Is anyone planning to get Black or White, and how do you decide which version to get?  I guess each one has its own set of exclusive Pokemon, but I have no idea how to decide between them.  Maybe it doesn't really matter?

Can you play these games solo, or are you really supposed to trade and battle other people's monsters to get full value?

As you can tell, I know little.

And yesterday continued with "Birdemic: Shock and Terror"

With the best CG birds ever.

It's like a live action Phoenix arcade game.

I did like the comment delivered by Donnie Darko that the short film categories are often what makes or breaks Oscar pools.  Watch the shorts, win the pool!

Ninja!  Hai!