I feel that the best way to pay tribute to someone is to tell stories that represent their character.

Dave was a technician that I (and Knightshade) used to evaluate. He moved up quickly to management, as I went the technical route. So he became my supervisor. We had an overbearing, practically soulless manager that had been dangling a carrot in front of me for several years (technical training, Cisco CCNA). I knew she would never keep her word, and yet I had no choice but to try. When I moved to Dave's team, she was still trying to get me fired (I had listed her as the reason for making a move that was less than lateral). Dave fought for me, made a deal that he felt was fair, and got me the training.

The odd part was, the deal involved meeting certain metrics for dealing with customer calls. I had just rewritten the criteria myself before moving onto his team. I thought I was getting off too easy, but it was something that he knew he could push through management. That jump started my career (I am now essentially the primary Cisco Engineer for my company).  Without his help, I might have left the company and gone on aimlessly to another random job. I don't think I can ever truly convey how much that changed my life: I know that this caused endless political grief for him, but it was something that I can never repay to him. I can only hope that my actions since that day have helped me earn such a kindness that he did simply because he felt it was the right thing to do.

I smoked my first cigar with Dave, as we went to a party for a mutual friend. The cigar was kinda disgusting, but it was a good memory. I gamed with him on and off, but we had different preferences, and thus we didn't play that often. When we did, it was usually Battlefield, and I was usually the dead one.

I am the mutual friend, and I believe that event was at my birthday party; I still buy Cohiba cigars on occasion, and every time I do, I think of him.  Dave was also my supervisor for a while during the storm that ultimately ended in me getting the boot from the aforementioned company that employs Einsteinium here.  Long story short, he fought for me during a proverbial witch hunt to get me sacked.  When he walked me to my car to get my parking pass, he practically cried because he knew the entire thing was bull.  He apologized, over and over again, reminding me that it was only one person (female listed above) who wanted me gone.  Everyone else thought I got a raw deal.  I played NWN2 and Battlefield 1942 (Desert Combat!!) with Dave, and I have seen him laugh so hard tears ran down his face and he literally could not stand up straight.

Oh, and his Cliff Claven (from Cheers) impression was the absolute best.  Thanks for being there for me Dave; you will definitely be missed.

Ah, see - my understanding was that all the stargates had it but it was a problem with power that prevented it to be dialed (IE: When you dial it, the planet's naquadria core overloads... or something)

So then - what is the Destiny's pre-programmed purpose?

As I understand it, Destiny's original purpose was to explore the universe that had been pre-seeded with stargates.  It is following a trajectory made by even older seeder ships that dropped the stargates onto the planets the SG folks land on.  Eli is the one who figured out that even though the 9 chevron address was originally designed to be dialed only from earth, you cuold change it to dial from anywhere...IF you had the massive power needed to be able to establish a wormhole that traveled that distance.  Unfortunately, as written above, the only 2 planets discovered to be able to do that have met with disastrous ends.

You said it, pendejo.

If you are a fan of the book, then there is no way the movie will live up to expectations.  Ive found it best, when a good book is adapted, to try to seperate the movie from the book and hopefully enjoy the movie on its own merits.  I tend to be greatly disappointed otherwise.

See: Jurassic Park.

Make sure you get the Pepsi Cease Fire to go with them!

Actually that's just what the radio ad says to me. Haven't actually tried either yet.

they have an ad for it on the back of the bag, don't think I've seen it in the coolers yet though.

you know, I still haven't seen the Cease Fire anywhere.  I think it's a myth created by Pepsi.

We have the Cease Fire here.

I have actually had the Cease Fire, but not the Doritos.  I like it, the lime-y flavor I would assume would go well with the heat.

A cameo by Anthony Hopkins reprising his role as Ted Brautigan would be sheer geek love.

One other thing on DS9. The opening double length pilot episode is horrid. It's the primary reason I never watched it when it aired. I remember watching it in my dorm room with a lot of fans of TNG, and we all hated it. Whenever I do a reviewing of the series, watching it again is painful. On the other hand, no one should skip it because it lays the foundation of Sisko as the Emissary. There's one other one in season 1 I hate, the one where the aliens from the Gamma quadrant make the crew play that damn game. Where they all have to hop around a board singing. Ugh. It's amazing that the show became so awesome!

Double their peril, double your winnings.  Move along home!

Allamaraine, count to four,: Allamaraine, then three more,: Allamaraine, if you can see,: Allamaraine, you'll come with me!

Get Einsteinium in here, he's a huge DS9 fan.

I am as well, but I notice that it is the least rerun ST series that I know of.  I want to go back and watch them all and I'm too cheap to buy the DVD's and too stupid to get Netflix.

Wait, what?

Yes, there is. TV series (and games) weren't respect before, but with shows like 24 and Lost they've gained a lot of traction in Hollywood.

Good point.  Playing Mass Effect and Fallout 3 and I'm really noticing that as well.  TONS of talent in voice form.

I like the trailer...Adrien Brody?  I didn't expect that.

However, I also saw Walton Goggins, of the new show Justified in there as well.

Is it me, or is there a LOT more TV/movie crossover for actors than when I was a kid?  It seemed you were either on the big screen or the little screen (usually after your time on the big screen) and that was it.

Upon hearing her voice, I would have wanted to pull the Tony Stark and say, "Oh wow, you're a woman!  Honestly, I wouldn't have pegged that."

I'd like to vote for Christina Hendricks for Ginger.

I hope his debut makes it to an undercard fight at a UFC event.  It'll be amazing to watch.

All 9 seconds of it.

He already fought his debut fight, in which he won by an omaplata submission at the 1:28 mark.

Well, I stand corrected.  Go go Power Rangers!

I hope his debut makes it to an undercard fight at a UFC event.  It'll be amazing to watch.

All 9 seconds of it.

Since I rarely post these days, let me get the cocksucking hoople head out of the way...

Oh, and it's all really good, IMO.

I work in the IT department for a mortgage lender, and they have decided, as of this morning, to close their Western office here in Phoenix.  Myself and the other 2 helpdesk/sysadmin guys are staying for another 5 weeks or so to facilitate the stepdown from production.

So, now that the frenzy of people cleaning their desks is over, I've been granting mailbox rights to Exchange boxes to managers still here and forwarding electronic faxes to email addresses of people still working here.  Tomorrow begins the inventory process so we know exactly how much we're shipping back to the home office; then we can begin packing and shipping.

The catch:  I have to work until February 15th or I don't get my severance.  That includes regular pay and accrued PTO through March 7th, my yearly bonus from last year, and benefits.  The Warn Act says they have to pay us through March 7th, and the skeleton crew left over is getting a bonus 6 weeks of pay to help with the transition.

I'm basically a help desk guy with knowledge of Active Directory and some server administration.  Working on my CCNA certification.  I was hoping my current company would weather the storm, but alas, no such luck.  Speaking of luck, wish me some for the months ahead.

(Cross-posted at OO Everything But Gaming forums)

As Mr. Sloan always says, there is no "I" in team, but there is an "I" in pie. And there's an "I" in meat pie. Anagram of meat is team... I don't know what he was talking about.

Oooh the second one is Boondock Saints.  Does that warrant me doing another quote?

This is Radar.  We name our trees every year.

Was last year's tree Hot Lips?

The Swamp. 

Actually, It was Dr. Theopolis.  Before that it was Mister Pointy, and Smokey McSmokerson.

This is Radar.  We name our trees every year.

Oh, and Probst...I like the guy, he does a good job hosting.  The "I got nothing for ya" line is a direct jab at the losers.  I'm sure he gets pushed by producers to say it in order to evoke an emotional response in the contestants as well as us, the audience.

apparently it works with well on paul 'I ain't got nothing for ya' bot.

ZING!

Rude.

Isn't the entire point of reality TV the cheap thrill of watching people act like dicks?

It's why I watch Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares.   

There's another reason Ron and I get along so well.  Gordon Ramsay is my hero.  I find myself saying "yeah?" at the end of every instructional sentence to make sure whomever I'm speaking to has heard and understands what I just said.  I also now tend to slap the back of one hand into the palm of the other for emphasis when I speak.  Jill (my gf) told me that I do this and I didn't believe her until she riled me up on something until I was doing it.

Oh, and Probst...I like the guy, he does a good job hosting.  The "I got nothing for ya" line is a direct jab at the losers.  I'm sure he gets pushed by producers to say it in order to evoke an emotional response in the contestants as well as us, the audience.

Welcome!


Glad your not a spambot or an evil clone!

Yes, but how do we prove he's not an evil clone?

Oh, and welcome to GT, you of dubious genetic composition!

Circuit City still has the original Freelancer for 10 bucks:

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Freelancer-PC-755142107505/sem/rpsm/oid/174693/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

Target has it too for 10 with the other jewel case games. I nabbed it recently and played a bit. Its on hold until I finish other games.

Now I know I have to make a stop on the way home from work today.

THE HELL YOU SAY!

I apologize for my excitement, but I played the hell out of Freelancer, both single player and mutliplayer mods.  Having lost my original copy, maybe it's time to go get a new one somewhere.  I am excited beyond words for Freelancer 2.  God, I feel like a kid on Christmas.  It better be released for PC as well as the 360.

I don't think they are actually making it.....

Yeah, I edited my comment after I realized I got caught up in my own excitement.  I know it's not coming out...thanks for rubbing salt in the wound. 

THE HELL YOU SAY!

I apologize for my excitement, but I played the hell out of Freelancer, both single player and mutliplayer mods.  Having lost my original copy, maybe it's time to go get a new one somewhere.  I am excited to learn they were working on a sequel...but upset that it'll never be released.  Let me go cry a bit.

Did'nt care for the story when I was a kid in school so did'nt watch the first movie. I just cant take more kiddie movies filled with kids saving the universe. Maybe I should try it tough. Then again I have Galaxy Quest DVDrd and Im guessing its better

You guess correctly.

I suppose I'll never find out if Metal Health really will drive me mad...

Rich has some sort of chronic ailment that severely weakens his immune system.  I've seen forum posts about it, but he won't go into what it is.  Needless to say, frustration mounts when something happens, and yes, slipping on ice and hurting yourself isn't necessarily indicative of a chronic illness, but who knows?  Maybe he was dizzy because he realized how fast the world is spinning.

I want to see a Wraith-Goa'uld hybrid...

There's also unfortunate talk that NBC saw the writer's strike coming and purposely re-tooled a script for December to act as the season finale if need be.

On the other hand, NBC/Universal could possibly move Battlestar Galactica to network TV...

This is a triumph!

I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.

High school dropout shows up GM engineers with both improved mileage and more horsepower

Bite the bullet and ask Brian for study help.  He's already got a tutorial lesson plan made to help me get my cert.

Dragonlance got me into the D&D books in general.  Since then, I've become a hardcore Forgotten Realms guy.  Oh, and Ron, the books you were thinking of with the cleric/MacGyver guy is a series of books called The Cleric Quintet.  Good series.

I can only hope that this thing doesn't make any money so they don't attempt it with my beloved Forgotten Realms characters.  I would rather them stay on their pages than be ruined on screen.

Who is "Daddy"?

I hope he can still absorb powers rather than being "full".

Maybe he has inventory slots, and since he got the subscription based hellgate, he has more inventory slots and use his brother as a mule.

I think Bob is Daddy.  It makes sense, given the parent/child connections of most of the heroes.

I got to play last night on the OO server.  I am also one of these folks who never really played TFC and I'm just getting into the dynamic of the game.  I love it!  Since I knew I was getting the Orange Box, I loaded up Fortress Forever to get used to the style of the game.  I must say, I'm a big fan of the game; both its comedic qualities and refined gameplay from each class' perspective.

I think the only name I saw on last night that I recognized was Gellar, but there were good times had by all.  I tend to lean toward Medic/Pyro/Heavy (if there's another medic) when I play.  Which map has the train station?  cp_well?  Anyway, I had racked up a number of kills to a guy named woober who had been playing as a scout against my pyro.  I saw him type in chat "I hate pyros and (another class that I wasn't paying attention to)" right after I had killed him.  Ah, good times.

I'm not kidding when I say everyone who can (health-wise) should purchase bacon salt.  Would I be exaggerating if I said it changed my life?  For the better?

No, I would not.

[Book Category:]

Book Category:  "Good Omens"

   

At Amazon:  $7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.

"The world will end on Saturday. Next Saturday. Just before dinner, according to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch, the world's only completely accurate book of prophecies written in 1655. The armies of Good and Evil are amassing and everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not actually looking forward to the coming Rapture. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist."

"The book is a comedy and a quasi-parody of the 1976 film The Omen (as well as other books and films of the genre), concerning the birth of the son of Satan, the coming of the End Times and the attempts of the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to avert them, having become accustomed to their comfortable situations in the human world. A subplot features the gathering of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse—War, Famine, Pollution (Pestilence having retired in 1936 following the discovery of penicillin), and Death..."

(At least now we know where Crowley went...)

This is an awesome book.  I am a huge Gaiman fan and have read most of his works.

My love for the bacon salt knows few bounds.  It doesn't taste fake.  I've been on Nutrisystem for the past few months (66 pounds lost, baby!) and only recently discovered the happiness that is bacon salt.  It has given me the strength to lose the last 50 or so pounds to reach my goal weight.  Nutrisystem food isn't that bad these days (think "Lean Cuisine" from the market) but it is oh so much better with the bacon salt.

Can I say it again?  Bacon salt. Ooh yeah that's nice.