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AndrewB

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Status Updates posted by AndrewB

  1. Listing:

    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes [Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + Digital Copy] (Bilingual)

    Life of Pi - Collector's Edition [Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy] (Bilingual)

    Hello. I just received The Life of Pi 3 disc collectors edition. Unfortunately, it only contained one of the three discs (the 3D blu ray) along with a written explanation that the other 2 discs were not included. This was not indicated at any stage during the ordering process. Since the item was not as described, please indicate how I may receive a full refund. Thank you.

    As this was at one time a rental product the discs were separated so that both discs could be rented separately. We stated this in our product disclaimer on Amazon as follows:

    "FULLY GUARANTEED! 3D BLU-RAY DISC ONLY – BLU-RAY AND DVD DISCS NOT INCLUDED. Previously viewed rental product, all discs cleaned and checked for playability. Cases or UPC’s may not be exactly as shown. Cases and discs MAY have rental label(s) attached. Purchase is for feature disc only, all secondary discs, bonus features and/or digital copies may not be included."

    This disclaimer can be seen in the Condition column on the same screen used to "add to cart". This was also reflected in the price, at $13.99, I suspect when you receive your copy of the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, you will have the same concerns, this again would be reflected in the $8.00 price point.

    That said, we do not want unhappy customers, so if you would return the movies to us (you should be able to use the same package and just mark it "return to sender") once received, we will be happy to refund you the amount of the products, which in this case would be $21.99. Thank you and please acknowledge if you will be returning these two items.

    Hello and thanks for your response. However I'm not quite sure you understand. I did not make any mistake on my part. The listing is clearly for the 3-disc collector's set. You admitted to intentionally sending me the collection with missing discs, which is a serious violation of Amazon's rules. You also admitted that the Planet of the Apes movie will also have a missing disc. I see no reason why I should go to the cost or inconvenience of returning the item due to a mistake on your part. Please go ahead and refund me the total cost of both items, plus the original shipping cost, which comes to a total of $28.97. If you do this then I will happy and there will be no further problems. I would also suggest that you review your listings to make sure to remove any items that do not comply with Amazon's selling rules, as I buy a lot of 3D movies and I would hate to have to inconvenience you with this again. Thanks and have a great day.

    Hello,

    We are writing to confirm that we have processed your refund in the amount of CDN$ 28.97 for your Order 701-8312977-3711417 from --------------.

    1. Clonehunter

      Clonehunter

      Heh, I like it. Good share.

  2. Just placed an order for a new computer. My current desktop is 8 years old, with the most recent upgrade being 5 years ago. It still works great for me, but video editing is a new hobby of mine, and the old system just isn't up to it. The new system should be able to handle 4K video editing, with multiple streams, without any slowdown at all. As a bonus, I'll be able to play newer games such as GTA5 and Skyrim for the first time.

    I'll be running both the old and new system, side by side, using a KVM switch. I still use some legacy software that isn't usable on any OS newer than XP.

    In addition to the below, I'll be adding four 1TB hard drives in RAID 10 as a scratch drive, and two 5TB external USB as export drives.


    CPU
    Intel Core I7-5820K 3.30GHZ (3.6GHZ Turbo Mode) Six Core 15MB

    Motherboard
    ASUS X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 X99 DDR4 SLI 4XPCI-E16 2XPCI-E1 SATA3 USB3.0

    Memory
    Crucial 32GB Kit 4X8GB DDR4-2133 CL16 DR X8 Unbuffered DIMM 288PIN

    Graphics
    MSI GeForce GTX 970 100 Million Edition TwinFrozr V 1140/1279MHZ 4GB 7GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E Video Card

    Storage
    Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB SV300S37A/120G 2.5IN SATA3 LSI Sandforce SSD (Quantity: 2)

    Optical
    ASUS BW-12B1ST Blu-ray Writer 12X BD-R 16X DVD+R SATA Black Retail

    Power supply
    Seasonic PLATINUM-760 760W 24PIN Active PFC 80PLUS Fully Modular DC to DC

    Cooling
    Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H100I CPU Cooler System LGA1150 1155 1156 1366 2011 AM2 AM3 FM1 & FM2

    Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm Ultra Quiet Cooling Fan 300-1500RPM 93.1M3/H 22.4DBA 4-PIN PWM (Quantity: 2)

    Case
    Fractal Design Define R4 ATX Tower Case Black Pearl 2X5.25 8X3.5INT No PSU Front 2XUSB3.0 Audio

    Display
    Acer B286HK Ymjdpprz 28IN 4K UHD 3840X2160 1ms 1000:1 LED Monitor MHL DVI HDMI Dport Speakers

    Operating system
    Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64Bit DVD SP1 OEM

    Other
    TRENDnet TK-214I 2 Port DVI Audio KVM Switch *IR-$10*

    1. Show previous comments  9 more
    2. SYS

      SYS

      Were the 240gb SSDs Kingston V300's as well? NCIX has a killer price on them right now: http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-ssdnow-v300-240gb-sv300s37a-240g-ec-80209-1115.htm

      V300s don't have the best NAND IC's but they're still miles away from mechanical drives.

    3. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      That's exactly what they were.

    4. Hellbent

      Hellbent

      I like how AndrewB's custom titles evolve over time.......

      I recently learned about the site pcpartpicker.com which is great aggregate site for finding the cheapest price on the best hardware.

  3. I started dating this 8/10 black girl (22 y/o) about a month ago. We slept together 3 times and it was pretty great. I work regular hours and she works retail, so our schedules don't match that often.

    Anyway, Thursday was her day off, so she asks me Wednesday if I want to do something Thursday night. I say sure. Thursday afternoon she texts saying that her phone is dying and she wants to know where to meet I'm case she can't contact me. I text back 715 at my apartment building and she says ok.

    I wait at the front doors at 710. Eventually 8pm comes and there's no sign of her and no text. I bail back to my apartment. I'm pretty ticked off, but I'm thinking that maybe her phone is dead and she forgot where I live. Still, who has an entire day off and yet can't charge their phone?

    Here is the series of texts that took place.

    THURSDAY NIGHT
    Me
    7:41 No?
    Me
    8:08 Not OK

    Her 8:57 Sorry I can't make it
    Her
    8:59 What is not okey
    Me
    9:13 You decided to text me just now letting me know? I could have done other things

    Her 9:53 Is okey if I come after 30 muny
    Her
    9:53 My sister gave me the night off (sidenote: her story is that she has to sleep in the same bed with her sister every night because her sister's husband is in another city looking for a job and her sister doesn't want to sleep alone)
    Her 9:53 Is up u
    Her 9:53 I am sorry I had a lot to do (She calls twice, I just let it ring)
    Her 10:04 I am outside pick up the phone (sidenote: apparently she showed up thinking she could get a booty call)

    FRIDAY MORNING
    I'm at work
    Her 11:10 Hi are mad me
    Her 11:10 Can I see u before I star work (sidenote: we work at the same mall. That's how we met.)
    Her 11:12 How many time I have apology
    Her 11:12 I told my phone was dead

    Needless to say this biotch is dead to me. It just floors me that anyone can be so immature and oblivious to think that blowing off a date and disrespecting someone's time like that is in any way OK. It's like this behavior is completely normal to her and no guy has called her on this bullshit behavior.

    So yeah, I plan on going NC and ignoring all contact from her. Maybe girls can get away with disrespecting other dudes like that, but not me. I'm curious to see what her future attempts to contact me entail, and if there are any I'll post them here.

    1. Show previous comments  49 more
    2. StevieWolfe

      StevieWolfe

      "Are U Mad Me"

      Texts like that would have me wondering if my girlfriend had a concussion or not...either way, she doesn't sound interested all that much in you and just using you for some quick dick.

    3. Memfis

      Memfis

      I thought 8/10 is a prettiness rating.

      edit: oh, you said it already.

    4. DuckReconMajor

      DuckReconMajor

      AndrewB said:

      Her 9:53 I am sorry I had a lot to do (She calls twice, I just let it ring)
      Her 10:04 I am outside pick up the phone (sidenote: apparently she showed up thinking she could get a booty call)

      I wouldn't assume she wants a booty call, probably just wanted to apologize. unless theres parts here i misread. I mean honestly I think even if you'd picked up the phone and yelled at her it would have been better than ignoring the call (not suggesting you do this though)

      But overall it sounds like she is young and not mature enough to understand how she's bothering you. Have you had a serious talk with her about how this issue affects you? I know that's probably the typical answer but i don't think it rings any less true in this case.

      Honestly though if you really think there is no avoiding this behavior continuing into the future, sure, move on. I would do it a bit more tactfully though. Try not to burn these bridges too badly. Nothing wrong with having more friends/acquaintances. She could have cool friends that either a) she could introduce you to, or b) you could avoid the awkwardness of trying to befriend/date someone whose friend you left a bad impression on.

      AndrewB said:

      Actually not a bad analogy. There are a lot of similarities between first dates and job interviews.

      I have a few friends who are "on the prowl" these days (also helping me out as well, as someone who never really dated anyone). And the similarities I've seen between dating and looking for a job are everywhere. The one guy I know uses multiple dating services and spends a lot of time talking to everyone he matches with (on top of going out and meeting girls in person), calling it the "shotgun approach" as if he's looking for a job in today's market. He's not some super-macho douchebag either, he just knows what he wants and wants a greater chance of finding that person.

  4. Ice cream cake, patron, and a brand new (work) laptop marks my personal anniversary.

  5. Saturday night I got the impulse to go to a night club. I go maybe once or twice a year. I've learned to enjoy it a lot more in recent years. My favorite club is a tropical-themed venue. They play plenty of top 40, but they mix in a lot of 80s and 90s hits as well. The crowd is really diverse. Even couples in their 60s come there to dance. The overall douchebaggery level is at an absolute minimum.

    There's one thing that still bugs me though, more than anything else. The ridiculous volume levels. Pretty easy problem to solve with a $2 bag full of earplugs. But why waste that money when you can make your own?

    The idea seems pretty life hacky. Those little in-ear earphones come with 3 sets of ear buds. Small, medium, large. I use the large for listening. I can use the medium as makeshift earplugs. Oh, but I can only find one of the damned things. No problem, the small should work just fine.

    But wait, what about the little hole in the middle of them that lets the sound trough? Seems to defeat the whole idea. If only I could plug that hole somehow. Glue? Seems kind of messy, and I don't have it anyway. Cover the hole with tape? No luck, the stuff doesn't adhere to the silicon at all.

    My genius strikes! Rubber bands. Yep, thin little ones. I just cut off about a 3cm section, fold it twice over, and cram it into the hole. Works perfect! Repeat for the other bud, and try them out. I turn up the volume on the TV. It muffles the sound wonderfully. I see how they look in the mirror. It's almost impossible to tell I'm wearing them.

    I head off to the club around 11. I thoroughly enjoy the music in all its uber-comfortable treble-neutered glory. My ears feel very protected.

    Head home at 2am. Pull out the left bud. Pull out the right, oh. Can't seem to get a grip. Try a bit more. Okay. Probably would be best to use tweezers to avoid risking pushing it in. (By the way, try holding a mirror to another mirror while holding tweezers, and then actually try to get your brain to move your hand in the proper direction. For a perfect analogy of what it's like, turn your mouse around 180 degrees and use your browser for a bit.)

    3 minutes later, the homemade earplug is completely buried deep within my ear. The tweezers can reach the bud, they just can't maintain any kind of grip on the thin, oily, rubbery material.

    This was the story of my first ever trip to the ER. Fortunately, I only had to wait until 5:45am for the doctor to see me, and it took him maybe 15 seconds to get it out. I was home and in bed by 6. And my ears are happy and healthy.

    As for the ear buds, I've learned my lesson. From now on, I'll use the large buds as earplugs, and the small ones for listening.

    1. darknation

      darknation

      you need bigger plugs.

    2. darknation

      darknation

      I can't believe that AndrewB just quite literally filled his head with elastic bands and broken earphones, quite kindly dropped into blogs to give us all the lulz-down, and not one person is going to show their appreciation.

      for shame.

    3. Maes

      Maes

      What's the worst that could happen? AndrewB's ears get infected and his hearing destroyed? We can live with that (I guess).

  6. I have no idea whether I've talked about this before or not, but I've been dating a girl whom I met at work nearly 3 years ago.

    We've had some bumpy patches, no different than almost all relationships, but for the most part the relationship is highly functional. There is a fair amount of overlap between our interests. Maybe not so much in terms of life goals. She wants a family, or at least to live with me. I want good times.

    On several occasions she brought up the topic of moving in together (she's been living in her sister's house for 4 years, halfway across the city). I said that would only happen if we signed a legal document first, which she said she would never do. I also said that she would have to pay 1/3 of the expenses, which she wasn't happy about. After a while of explaining my reasoning, she seemed to agree that it was fair. (She currently chips in a couple hundred a month to her sister, that's about it, so it's not surprising that she has a hard time facing reality.)

    I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with the idea of moving in, though. If she turned into some kind of monster, I'm not sure how easy it would be for me to kick her out. So I decided to offer a "small" commitment to see what effect it had on our relationship. I brought up the idea that the 2 of us should take a weekend trip to Toronto, catch 3 baseball games, hit the nightclubs, maybe edgewalk the CN tower, all my treat. She seemed pretty excited about it, but wanted some time to think. After a week, I asked her if she was still up for it. She said yes.

    A few days later, I booked the flights. Then found a decent hotel with a great location and booked that. I let her know that everything was going ahead. Probably a few days later, she asked me "can you cancel the reservation"? Surprised by this, I said not really. The flights can be postponed, but not refunded. "But what if we have an argument?" I basically said there's no point in being negative about it, and you have to be willing to take some chances in life.

    In the past few months, we've had a lot of fun. I've taken her on two snowboarding trips, and most weekends she's here where the two of us play Diablo II and Ticket to Ride.

    But things this weekend were simply too much for me to handle.

    I invited her over Thursday night to play Diablo II. She insisted that I take the bus to her house to come get her that night. This is a recent habit of hers which is somewhat annoying to me. It's not a safety issue or anything. She just feels it's more "fair" if I come get her since I don't have a car. It's a 45 minute bus ride for her, but it's a nearly two-hour bus ride round-trip for me. That's a huge chunk of my evening, and precludes me from doing other things such as cooking/exercise/laundry. She asks me where my grocery bags are. (???!). I said I didn't bring them, why? She said "Oh, I thought you needed groceries tonight." I needed a couple of things, but nothing that couldn't wait til the weekend. "Oh, I thought you were getting groceries, that's why I asked you to come! You didn't need to come get me if you weren't getting groceries!" Sidenote: She definitely did not give any indication that she was willing to come over if I didn't escort her.

    More than a little annoyed at this point. I stew for a while, but by the time we get back to my place, I've pretty much let it go.

    So we play Diablo II for an hour, maybe two. I get to the point where I can barely stay awake, so I lay down for a few minutes. She protests. "Let's beat Andariel, then we can go to bed." I summon the energy and we finish the act.

    Friday, we play off and on. I want to switch up the activities and watch a little TV, but she wants to continue playing Diablo II. She's becoming more and more assertive with her demands. At this point, I'm caving maybe half the time, and doing what I want the other half.

    We spend maybe another hour or 2 that afternoon on Diablo II. I said I'm getting tired of being inside all day, and maybe we should go out. She thinks about it and decides it's a good idea. So we take the bus to The Keg, where we enjoy a meal that we both find excellent - steak, iceberg salad, calamari, and cider. We're both having a great time.

    We get back and play another 2 hours, and I'm once again worn out for the day. I say I'm just not up for it anymore tonight. She protests, and after losing the argument, she curls up on the couch and goes to sleep.

    She stays there the whole night.

    Saturday afternoon, after maybe another hour of playing, I say I'd like a 5 minute nap. Severe whining and complaining ensues. I say "Why can't you just give me 5 minutes?" She responds that we've hardly been playing, this is the whole reason she came here, and I've had plenty of rests already. I'm really getting annoyed at this point, so I ignore her. Literally 5 minutes later, maybe not even that, she says "Let's play!" I still haven't shaken off the drowsiness.

    I decided I've had enough. I said I don't want to play with her if she's going to give me such a hard time about it. She enters insta-pout mode, plugging in her headphones loading up Netflix on her laptop. She spends the next 3 hours watching some TV show.

    Around 5pm, she finishes her season of whatever on Netflix and accounces that she's hungry. Leftovers? No, she wants KFC. Knowing they charge ridiculous delivery fees and give crap value for the money even without delivery, I offer to take the bus to the grocery store a grab some chicken and salad, a 1-hour trip. I get back. We eat.

    Then she says that we haven't been playing enough. This is pretty much when TSHTF. I tell her that she's acting like a princess and I'm tired of her entitled attitude. She says something along the lines of "you don't care about me anyway". I mentally freak out, but manage to keep my composure. I explain all the ways I've shown her how I care for her recently. She says she doesn't like the fact that I'm "keeping count". And that what I've done is nothing special, and that where she comes from, men are expected to take care of women in that fashion.

    At this point I basically start destroying her arguments and pointing out every little bit of hypocrisy in what she's saying. She evades every one of these by changing the subject as much as possible. She mentions how bad I made her feel one time when I said her perfume was too strong and I didn't like it. I explain that it's no different than the time she complained about me wearing a sweaty shirt after coming back from the gym. I said there's a reason why they ask people not to wear strong perfumes in public places. She says the two are completely different, that sweat is offensive and perfume is not.

    I point out all the commitments I've made and things I've done for her recently, including having a personalized jersey made for her to wear on our trip. She say "What, are you saying you want me to buy things for you too? You want me to take you on vacations?" I tell her that's not what I want at all. What I would like is for her to be considerate enough to let me rest when I feel tired. I tell her that I do 20 times for her what she does for me, and she's still unwilling to let me have a few breaks now and then.

    The argument degrades to the point where I feel like I'm talking to a 12 year old, then a 5 year old, and then finally a 3 year old. I reach my limit and finally leave the room. She marches after me and insists that we talk. I say that I don't know what there is to talk about.

    She stands there for a few seconds, and then announces that she's not going on any trip with me. This is a trip where I've basically committed $3000, pretty much all non-refundable. I mentally say fuck it, and go to bed.

    Sunday morning I'm still pissed off to the point of utter silence. The dishes have been piling up for days, and I point this out. It's kind of an unmentioned understanding that she takes care of the dishes when she's eating my food and sleeping in my bed. She says that it hurts for her to stand because she has a stomach pain. I just shake my head. She finally storms off to do the dishes, and halfway through she sits down and starts sobbing. What I see is so beyond pathetic that I have absolutely nothing to say.

    After she's done, at 11am, she asks me if I want to talk. (I need to leave at 11:30 for a practice.) Again, I say I don't know what there is to talk about. She again states assertively that she's done and she's not going on any trip. I leave at 11:30. She leaves probably at 12.

    No contact since.

    I guess I should be thankful that I made a relatively "small" commitment. Now I know how she treats someone when she's given any upper hand whatsoever.

    And likely enough, she will come back apologizing in a few days. She'll probably go on the trip with me, which is a very important event for me by the way. It will be the first time I've ever been at a baseball game, and the seats I got us are quite amazing.

    Still, the very fact that she would threaten to ruin this trip for me is pretty much a deal-breaker. I can't see us going anywhere other than our separate ways once we return, assuming she really is a decent enough person to come along.

    1. Show previous comments  45 more
    2. printz

      printz

      Is it written in the American constitution that one of your obligations is to serve jury if summoned?

    3. exp(x)

      exp(x)

      printz said:

      Is it written in the American constitution that one of your obligations is to serve jury if summoned?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_Selection_and_Service_Act

    4. Grazza

      Grazza

      From my jury summons:

      Failure to return this summons or appear for Jury Duty may result in an Order to Show Cause Warrant/Misdemeanor charges

      http://www.mncourts.gov/?page=1341#WhyMustIServe

      Generally speaking, US citizens who are resident in the US can only get jury duty postponed.

  7. The last couple of days I haven't been hungry enough to eat more than about 500-800 calories a day. I went to the gym tonight and worked out non-stop from 645 to 9pm. Still not enough. After this protein powder and milk, I think I'll run up and down 22 flights of stairs about three times.

    Yes, this is all because of stupid crap first world problems.

    1. Show previous comments  29 more
    2. esselfortium

      esselfortium

      Creaphis said:

      At least the woman you love and can't have still technically exists in the physical plane. I fall in love with webcomic characters. I won't specify which ones because then I'll look even more fucked up.

      Woah, P.E., you look stuffed!


      Or... wait a..... Dromiceiomimus?!

    3. Creaphis

      Creaphis

      esselfortium said:

      Or... wait a..... Dromiceiomimus?!


      You figured me out.

  8. Are you serious? Is this how you really want to run your site? Why don't you show a little appreciation to the people who provide content to your website and make it popular? I never spammed your site. I never went out of my way to offend people or hurt their feelings. I'm basically donating my time to give advice, as I see it, to others, and you can't even be bothered to send me a message talking about your problem. No polite request, no warning, nothing.

    I've received plenty of "Like"s for my posts and I haven't had a single person complain to me about anything I said. But apparently, none of that matters to the power-hungry control freaks running this site.

    I've posted on many, MANY web forums over the years, but NOTHING compares to the incompetence in how your moderator/administrator, or whoever, demonstrated in handling this situation. Maybe I should be thankful that people like you are administrators of marriage websites instead of police officers or judges.




    1. Show previous comments  26 more
    2. Jonathan

      Jonathan

      From searching that forum, there seems to be plenty of people throwing the n-word around. Clearly, you should make it your mission to report each and every one of them. The moderators will struggle under the mass of these reports, and the banned users will lead a popular outcry against the repressive policies of their crazy relationship forum.

    3. Sharessa
    4. DuckReconMajor

      DuckReconMajor

      exp(x) said:

      Because some moderator didn't know what it was and Googled it – an action that could be considered NSFW.

      Read the FAQ. Anything that brings up p**n when Googled is not allowed.

      >takes another bite of banana c***m p*e

  9. Just before Christmas, with not a whole lot to do over the holidays, I decided to buy a copy of the Battle Chest (I gave my original game away after I stopped playing). I figured the 40 dollars couldn't be nearly as bad a waste as some other games I bought over the years.

    I'm pleased to find out the game isn't nearly as screwed up and unbalanced as it used to be. There are a wide variety of viable characters, and the ladders don't seem to be dominated by a very specific type of character.

    I've really gotten into the game, and I started to notice all the qualities it has compared to more modern games. Over the last week I've been telling my girlfriend about my character, describing things from the game, etc. A few days ago I decided to show her the game. Usually her undivided attention in the evening goes to the Game Show Network, American Idol, or some kind of movie with a 5 or 6 IMDB rating, so I was happy when I noticed that she didn't take her eyes off the computer screen. When I took a break from the game, she asked me if I could play again.

    On Saturday, she asked me if it's possible to play together. I installed it on both our laptops, and made me stay up till 2am playing with her.

    She had 3 or 4 of her characters die over the weekend, and she's thinking of maybe not playing Hardcore mode anymore, but the fact that she doesn't seem ready to quit Hardcore is kinda impressive.

    She went back home tonight (halfway across the city) and she texted me around 12:30am telling me she can't sleep because she keeps thinking about the game. She can't really play because she borrowed my other mouse while we were playing in my living room, and now she doesn't have a mouse at her place. We're going to the computer store after work tomorrow to get her a new mouse.

    I always thought the hot gamer girlfriend was some kind of fortune that befell men in some kinds of fairy tales. It's interesting how quickly life can change, and you don't realized it's happened until you're in it.


    Sidenotes:

    Diablo 3 looks terrible, like some kind of slow-paced, cartoony, WoW-inspired Activision mess.

    After 10 years of having nothing to do with Diablo II, and not being able to remember any of the music, I expected to hear the memories come flooding back when I started playing. I was amazed to find that I had no memory of the music whatsoever. Considering I put about 500 hours into the game when it first came out, I definitely wasn't expecting that.

    1. Show previous comments  33 more
    2. DooMAD

      DooMAD

      Jodwin said:

      Eastern Sun > Vanilla LoD

      Will have to give that a try at some point. Tried MedianXL, but didn't think much of it. Seemed somewhat unpolished.

    3. ReFracture

      ReFracture

      I've played the original Diablo countless times...

      Now a twist:
      Playing the Playstation version!

      Actually.. it's not bad. I'm surprised how well they have kept everything together.

    4. DooMAD

      DooMAD

      Finally got round to trying Eastern Sun. Liking it so far, although some of the item descriptions are a tad bewildering. I'll have to learn this strange new shorthand language before I have any idea of what does what, heh.

  10. I'm doing something I've never done before in my life. I'm playing through Doom 2. UV -FAST and only allowed to save the game at the beginning of each level. I don't really know where most of the traps are in the game, so I've had some hands-in-the-air jaw-open deaths. Just this morning, I cleared MAP13 with two enemies remaining, only to step through a portal and be flash-fried by two cacodemons. I was an idiot not to grab an invulnerability sphere before entering the one unvisited part of the map.

    I have to say, the game is superb, ammo balance is crazy good, and the difficulty outstrips any modern game by great distances.

    1. Show previous comments  11 more
    2. 40oz

      40oz

      Yeah doom 2 is pretty sick if you abandon all the posts you've read about how it's unrealistic or has shittier map design compared to Doom 1. It's a hell of a game with a ton of replay value in the IWAD maps alone.

    3. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      For map design, in terms of gameplay, Doom 2 kicks Doom's ass all over the place.

      I always knew the levels were non-linear, but I'm struck by just how much it is so, particularly with teleporter-heavy maps like 13 and 20.

    4. Bucket

      Bucket

      I'd love to play D2 coop more often, but it's hard to find a server nowadays that doesn't have COWA DOODY weapon mods where you earn XP for bigger guns and bullshit like that.

  11. Sorry, it's been a while since I posted an epic new thread. My priorities have changed somewhat and the idea of opening my life up to debate has seemed less and less interesting to me. But things are getting a bit settled lately so I figure what the hell.

    Last week, I switched almost my entire investment portfolio to global precious metals stocks. I also just placed an order for physical gold and silver and I should soon be in possession of three 1oz Canadian maple leaf gold coins and 55 1oz Canadian maple leaf silver coins. I'm also pressing hard for my mom to take out a HELOC on her ridiculously overpriced house to buy physical gold and silver. She's putting up a lot of resistance. The way that the U.S. fed is printing money and Canada ties itself to U.S. policies, anyone who has their money tied up in home equity, cash, and low-risk investments is going to get wiped out. Anyone who has gold, silver, food, oil, and debt is going to do very well in the coming years. She doesn't seem to have any retirement plan at all. She believes that she'll be able to hunt, live off the land, and rely on neighbors for help through her 60's, 70's and beyond. I think she's a sitting duck and just waiting to be wiped out through the coming hyperinflation.

    In other news... I've been dating my girlfriend for about 9 months now. She's from the Philippines and is 8 months older than me. She works in the same office as me, and that's how we met. She lives in her sister's house. Her sister and brother-in-law and going back to the Philippines for a month and she doesn't want to spend an entire month alone in the house. She has to commute a total of 80 minutes on the bus each day. If she stayed with me, she'd have to walk a total of 20 minutes to/from work each day. Obviously it would be great for her to live with me for a month but what does it do for me?

    Right now, she shares the cost of groceries with her sister but does not pay any rent. Even though she makes about 40% of the money that I make, she spends a lot of money on clothes, accessories, and entertainment. She also sends about $400/month to her family in the Philippines because that's what Filipino Canadians do. They come here for the opportunity to help their family back home. She basically has no savings. Every time I talk to her about money issues and how everyone needs to prepare, she says something like "Why do you worry so much?" I think she's just immature and naive when it comes to important life issues.

    Anyway, back to the main topic. She wants to live with me for a month. I basically told her that staying with me for a month is a completely different dynamic than spending 1 or 2 days a week with me, and that if she wants to stay with me for a month she should pay her fair share of expenses. In my mind, this would be about $500 (less than half my rent) plus groceries. She was very disappointed to hear this. I said that I don't want to harm our relationship by creating a situation where I resented her for freeloading off of me. She said she understood this but was hoping I would do her this favor. She tried to argue that I would be paying the full expenses anyway if she didn't stay with me and therefore she shouldn't have to share. I explained to her that I value my space and privacy, and of course she acted offended by this. I think she has a lot of growing up to do and that allowing her to freeload off of me for even one month would set a very bad precedent. As it stands now, she's going to continue to stay in her sister's house. I think this is the best arrangement. She ought to be very grateful for the privilege of staying in her sister's house for next to nothing. Maybe this month alone will help her gain some maturity.

    More later.

    1. Show previous comments  30 more
    2. deathbringer

      deathbringer

      I invested in the Japanese nuclear industry. WHAT COULD GO WRONG

    3. Grazza

      Grazza

      Might be a smart move to do that right now, depending on how this plays out.

      The "unthinkable" investments, the ones you're almost embarrassed to tell people about in case they go sour for reasons that seemed only too obvious when you bought, are often the ones that end up doing best.

      And if nothing else, you'd be supporting Japan at a time of need.

    4. Creaphis

      Creaphis

      The best bet might ultimately be to invest in the inevitability of catastrophe.

      (Read the article! It's really good!)

  12. They now have an auto-play feature that automatically skips to the "next" video when the current video is done. It does so by making a semi-random guess at what video the user might want to look at next. Unsurprisngly, it fails at guessing at least 90 percent of the time. It also makes stopping to read video comments and and viewing related videos an extreme pain in the ass. This is enabled by default and must be disabled by clicking on the tab at the bottom of the screen. This must be done EVERY TIME you visit the site. There is no way to disable it by default. That is, unless you download and install 3rd party software which is only available for Firefox. Really, who wants to install software and possibly switch browsers just to accomplish something that should simply be an account setting on the website?

    I always thought of Google as a company that puts user-friendliness and "not being evil" above all else. Now I don't know.

    On an unrelated note, I just discovered that "auto-play" (minus the quotes and hyphen) is starred out when posting on these forums.

    1. Show previous comments  19 more
    2. Hellbent

      Hellbent

      DuckReconMajor said:

      From things you've said before I think you listen to more mainstream stuff than everyone else here.Consider the average YouTube user.

      I wasn't viewing the lady gaga channel.... Every average youtube user knows how the fuck to get out of full screen. And if they panic, their first instinct should be to hit the esc key. Really, everyone knows how to get out of full screen by this point.

    3. Quasar

      Quasar

      Youtube and Google Image Search have both proven that nobody at Google has any clue about UI issues in web design. Evidently they herded anyone who did off into the Chrome team, since I've not heard similar complaints about it so far. Youtube has become more and more annoying to use with every single incremental "improvement" they've tried to make.

    4. GreyGhost

      GreyGhost

      <rumour>
      They're saving the real improvements for the yet to be announced subscription service option.
      </rumour>
      ;-)

  13. Blerk.

    1. MajorRawne

      MajorRawne

      The "Two Steps From Hell" Star Trek trailer has got nothing on this.

  14. She's 17. Age of consent is 16. Discuss.

    1. Show previous comments  19 more
    2. Shaikoten

      Shaikoten

      Yup. This thread's pretty creepy.

    3. deathbringer

      deathbringer

      8? is that all?

      Ive done 18 years before (mind you that was just for fun) and my current girlfriend is, i reckon, between 5 and 10 years apart from me. She won't tell me her age which makes me suspect it's the higher number.

    4. DuckReconMajor

      DuckReconMajor

      deathbringer said:

      I'm 18 years old and my current girlfriend is, i reckon, between 5 and 10 years apart from me. She won't tell me her age which makes me hope dearly it's the higher number.

      ftfy

  15. I just felt like saying that I'm currently battling something called avoidant personality disorder. You can look it up. When you look up and down the list of typical symptoms, almost all of them apply to me. The ones that don't apply to me are "avoids social events" or "avoids jobs involving working with other people". Just about every other typical symptom is true, I think.

    I've been undergoing 1 hour per week of cognital behavioral therapy for the past 3 months or so. I was also referred to a more intense program which would have been group therapy involving an additional 2 hours per week, but this was unfortunately canceled due to the person running the course getting injured or something. As a result, I think, progress is going much slower than I would like.

    I also feel like mentioning that from a very young age, I was overexposed to feminism through my mom. Every time some cute girls in bathing suits appeared on TV, she would invariably say something like "that's just so demeaning and objectifying to women." Over the years I guess I got it drilled into my head that being attracted to girls and their bodies was wrong and sexist or something. The effects have been quite devastating. I can't even look in the general direction of an incredibly hot girl without feeling like I'm doing something creepy or wrong.

    My current strategies for dealing with the problem are as follows:

    1) Try to introduce myself to as many cute girls as possible.
    2) Try to think of events and places to attend to have as many opportunities of accomplishing 1) as possible and attend them.
    3) Try to talk to people using their names as often as possible.
    4) Try to say "hello" or "how's it going" to strangers, particulary cute girls, as often as possible.

    Number 2 is tough because my interests are very different than what most people have. I'm not a reader, music-listener, concert-goer, sports fan, or clubber. Number 3 is coming along quite well with a high rate of success and proving to show a noticeable difference in the way people respond to me. Numbers 1 and 4 are proving to be extremely different, running a success rate of about 10%.

    That's all I can think of at the moment.

    1. Show previous comments  40 more
    2. ReFracture

      ReFracture

      If/when you come back and mope about not being able to have kids, then I would give you some shit, but this isn't the case.. so I am really dumbfounded as to why people are making such a big deal about it now.

      7 years is a lot of time, it sure doesn't sound like an impulse, so people shouldn't criticize you for impulse decisions you didn't make.

      As for the real purpose you started this thread, yeah, I hate people personally, but I can deal with them. I can only partially relate to your issues.

    3. Use

      Use

      I hope you find your dog. And don't worry, the roads seem bad now but in a few months the thaw will come.

    4. DuckReconMajor

      DuckReconMajor

      Screw vasectomy, I'm getting castrated.

  16. This is the title of tonight's episode of House.

    1. Show previous comments  8 more
    2. Sporku

      Sporku

      Technician said:

      I love the show but it keeps setting up a situation and simply backs away from it and goes back to the formula. The last two seasons had some ballsy episodes so heres hoping for a great season just the same.

      Isn't that how most season finales work? It's always been about setting up some awesome cliffhanger and then solving it 5 minutes into the first episode of the next season, or at most having it solved by the end of the first episode of the next season and then having things go right back to the way they were.

      I could be wrong though; I haven't been keeping up with House. I've only really watched an episode here and there, most of which were from the first season.

    3. Planky

      Planky

      Just watched this episode. The intro wasn't what I was expecting. Thought it was one of those bogus named torrents, and got some clip of someone playing a shooter.

    4. Technician

      Technician

      That buzzcut wig must have been troublesome to put on him.

  17. I bought in for the maximum $200. I had terrible cards all night and one bad beat. In the five hours I played, I had AA once, 10-10 once, and AK twice. Those were my best starting hands. On one hand I went all-in with pocket 5s on a JJ5T2 board. I won that pot which was about $450 against a guy who had AJ. Then a few hands later I picked up the AA... Read More. The flop came something like 25Q rainbow. A guy made a pot-size bet and I put him all-in. He called and turned over QT. Well as it turns out he picked up runner-runner diamonds to win with a flush. That was about a $350 pot. Even though I lost I'm happy with that hand because I was an 80% favorite to win. Then my stack whittled down for the rest of the night as I never so much as picked up top pair.

    However, despite my bad beat and terrible cards all night, I'm happy to say that I came away with a $15 profit, even after drinks and tipping. It could have easily been a $350 profit if I had an average amount of luck. Maybe next time.

    Also, as my first time playing a live cash poker game, I definitely think the hardest part is keeping track of the pot size. The action is much harder to follow than online when everything is spelled out on screen.

    1. Show previous comments  1 more
    2. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      Thanks because that's totally what's expected when I post a blog.

    3. Csonicgo
    4. AndrewB
  18. http://www.abluesky.com/asp/catalogue/products.asp?linkid=20&prodcode=00012

    Much better than earbuds for mixing music. I threw together a mix today for my favorite Duke3D level.

    http://www.yomina.com/andrewb/audio/e1l4.mp3

    1. Csonicgo

      Csonicgo

      Jesus stop being a tease, when is that ASS KICKING SF2 patch comin' out?

    2. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      Never. I'm off of soundfonts because they're crap technology.

      I tried uploading the file again but it's still choppy. It's bizarre because the MP3 is fine before I upload it but after I download it again there are spaces throughout the MP3 file. I guess command-line FTP is doing something really stupid.

    3. Csonicgo

      Csonicgo

      AndrewB said:

      Never. I'm off of soundfonts because they're crap technology.


      :(

  19. My girlfriend and I had a long phone conversation just a few minutes ago, and we both came to realize that we had the same viewpoint on our relationship: It needs to end, but not anytime soon. We know that it's not going to become anything permanent and has no real potential beyond what it already is. At the same time, though, there's no pressing need or want to break up preemptively.

    From her perspective, there's no real future potential mainly because of a difference in personal interests. I'm interested in games, techy hobbies, living a wealthy lifestyle, and traditional pastimes like fancy dinner, movies, and alcohol here and there. She's interested in the outdoors, reading, celtic music, and environmentalism. The small amount of overlap in our interests includes a few TV shows and the occasional movie. That's about it.

    From my perspective, there's no real future potential because of the reasons mentioned above and because of the fact that I know I can't live with her. The relationship is great when we see each other 2 to 3 times a week, spending the night here and there. Anything much more or less than that has proven to be a strain on the relationship. Another factor is that she's riddled with family problems and is struggling (financially) to make it through university. I don't really want her to be a burden on me financially, as she has no way to pay her fair share if she were to live with me. Her future prospects for earning money are pretty mediocre as well, as she's majoring in biology and she has said loud and clear that money isn't what she cares about in life. I can understand that but I also can't escape the fact that I would want a life partner to help free me up financially and work toward some more exciting life goals such as traveling, homebuilding and maybe getting involved in playing sports or games with other people.

    As it stands today, neither of us want to ever have kids, but she wouldn't mind the idea of getting married some day. I'm dead set against marriage because of its religious stigma. This kind of explains why we're both OK with just riding out our relationship until it glides to some kind of stop. Neither of us feel any pressing need to have a relationship that's going to "lead to something." Essentially we're getting our jollies from food, sex, small talk, and some mindless TV entertainment. I also get along with her family really well, despite the fact that they're the major cause of her stress and worries.

    Is our arrangement bizarre or is it more common than I think?

  20. I just learned my rent goes to $1119 in March '09 and to at least $1199 in March '10.

    1. Show previous comments  16 more
    2. Lüt

      Lüt

      Even so, houses are still priced about 3 times what they should be. If they drop another 50% in price, they may enter the realm of "remotely affordable". Out here, at least.

    3. Ralphis

      Ralphis

      Governments and banks aren't in the business of owning homes. It's pretty much the best time to buy.

    4. Sharessa

      Sharessa

      This is one of those times when I wish I had more than $50 spending money.

  21. I stayed up too late last night playing this game, but that's hardly noteworthy these days. I finally finished the game on hard. My next challenge is to tackle Through The Fire And Flames, and then hopefully finish up expert (done 33 of 42 songs so far).

    1. Show previous comments  12 more
    2. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      Guitar Hero is NOT a game for guitar players.

    3. Sporku

      Sporku

      Danarchy said:

      True. Vocals is vocals, exactly the same as you would in a real band. Drums is almost the same, except you're playing on a mock set with the drums in more manageable positions than real ones. The guitars have nothing to do with actual guitar playing, and the only skill that will bleed over is timing really. I end up pressing down to hard on the buttons like they were real guitar strings, which ends up cramping my fingers very quickly. At least the guitars in this are easier to manipulate than the GH ones. Also, playing fake guitar just makes me wish I were playing real guitar which is insanely frustrating, especially when your guitar is like 5 feet away from you as it was the other night. :P

      I wouldn't say exactly; I know a lot of the time you can get away with just humming the tune for the vocals if you don't know the words and still get 5 stars. :P But still, I guess if you can hit the right notes, then I guess it still counts for something.

      Drums are my favorite instrument to play in Rock Band. While they're more accurate to the real instrument than guitar, I wouldn't say the game is at all useful in teaching people how to play the actual instrument. I've seen plenty of people playing on drums who are actually good at the drums. You can usually tell by the quality of the person's drum fills. :P I can beat a large chunk of the songs on drums on expert, but if you sat me down in front of a real drum kit I'd probably be a little intimidated. :P

      EDIT: Oh, but this $300 drum kit that works with Rock Band looks pretty neat.

      EDIT2: While I'm at it.. anyone have Rock Band 2 for the 360? If so, how 'bout some gamertags, eh? Mine's *gasp* AgentSpork. Even if you don't have Rock Band 2, some gamertags would be pretty rad. I mostly play Rock Band 1/2 and Guitar Hero III online, with an occasional game of Halo 3 every once and a while.

    4. Sharessa

      Sharessa

      AgentSpork said:

      I wouldn't say exactly; I know a lot of the time you can get away with just humming the tune for the vocals if you don't know the words and still get 5 stars. :P But still, I guess if you can hit the right notes, then I guess it still counts for something.

      Well some people make millions just by lip-syncing into their mics, so it's not THAT far off. :P

  22. I'm not a hockey fun, but I enjoy working with my home music studio. When CBC lost its rights to its decades-old theme song and subsequently announced a contest to find a new theme, I knew I had to enter. I immediately got to work, and about two months later, my composition was complete.

    Please listen to my entry and give your thoughts.

    http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/mediadetail/322434

    1. Show previous comments  4 more
    2. Sharessa

      Sharessa

      In agreement with Lüt and Ralphis. Pretty good, needs better instrumentation, more percussion probably.

    3. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      With the comments of "needs more X, Y" I should mention that the deadline was August 31st and so the entry is final and no changes can be made at this point. The suggestions are really helpful for my future projects, though.

  23. "Just so you know... I'm not interested in sex."

    So says J, who also happens to be my younger brother's best friend. She is in her first year of university and is staying in a boarding home a few blocks from where I live. She is introverted and maybe even a bit intellectual. She has a very grounded, stable personality, and I would say that she's the complete opposite of a drama queen. For all of these reasons, I find myself very attracted to her. Given that she's been my brother's friend for the past few years, I've only known her very distantly: She would occasionally come over to watch a movie. She went camping with us last year. I barely knew her. Still, feelings had built up for some time.

    But as I found out last night, her social life has been far from typical. I already knew that she went to an all-girls school during the years she wasn't home schooled, and that living out in the country (much like me) combined to limit her exposure to friends. She has never had a boyfriend (or girlfriend).

    Giving the developing feelings, her comment is troubling. It's mostly troubling because I don't know how to properly interpret it. What is the basis of her position? Any of the following are possible: She's religious. She's choosing celibacy. She doesn't feel she's old enough. She doesn't want any accidents. She just means she's not interested _yet_. She doesn't like me in "that way" (though that theory leaves me at odds with the frenching). She's not entirely heterosexual. It could be any or none of these reasons, and to me, the reason would affect my choice as to whether I'd keep it going or call it quits.

    If I find out that her reason is "I'm celibate" or "marriage before sex," or even worse, "sex for reproduction" then I'll tell her that it's definitely not going to work. I have no intention of committing myself to months/years of emotional repression and reservation.

    1. Show previous comments  40 more
    2. Linguica

      Linguica

      Mordeth said:

      AndrewB's posts here is why I visit the blogs :) Too bad he never is too clear about the outcome. Like, I never found out what happened to that old man in the pub?

      He WAS interested in sex.

    3. AndrewB

      AndrewB

      Mordeth said:

      AndrewB's posts here is why I visit the blogs :) Too bad he never is too clear about the outcome. Like, I never found out what happened to that old man in the pub?

      I never found out either.

    4. Kid Airbag

      Kid Airbag

      Mordeth said:

      AndrewB's posts here is why I visit the blogs :)

      Kid Airbag said:

      Yeah, really. AndrewB's threads are the only reason I even visit this forum anymore.



      Okay, so it's not just me.

  24. Every once in a while I stop by my favorite local English pub. They've got over 100 different ales from all over the world and over time I'm trying out a wide variety of them.

    A few weeks ago, while sitting at the bar, I'm approached by a guy who proceeds to strike up a conversation and offer to buy me drinks.

    Now this isn't just some guy in my age group that I can reject on the grounds of him likely being gay. Far from it: He's around 60, almost bald, gray hair, short, stalky, and he has a raspy voice. He bears a resemblance to Ebeneezer Scrooge or Wilhelm from Seinfeld. As you might understand, presuming that someone like this might be trying to pick me up is almost ludicrous. Not one to be rude or make unreasonable presumptions, I engage. It turns out that he's from the same area where I grew up, so we did have some things to talk about.

    A few days later he approaches me again. He decides to buy me drinks yet again. We talk a bit more about friends that we had in common. Then he starts telling some jokes; extremely dirty and barely funny. Then he invites me out for supper. I reject his invitation by making up some excuse about needing to leave early. It's at this point that I suspect that my good-mannered presumptions were failing me.

    After almost forgetting about all of this, today I was approached by him again. He pats me on the back, says hello, and invites me to sit down at a table with him. I reluctantly do so. It's probably not too hard to understand that a 23-year-old IS analyst and a 60-year-old Wal-Mart manager only have so much in common worth talking about. One drink, a couple of terrible jokes, and a lot of awkward silence later, I get the F out of there.

    Here, I think, are the important points.

    1) This guy was so obviously unqualified to be "hitting on" me that I felt I should give him the benefit of the doubt. For as long as I could, I assumed he was a friendly old man who had some interesting things to talk about.

    2) As a counter-point to the last one, who invites another person out to dinner (as long as it's not buddies going together, family, or a business meeting) without seriously hitting on them? I know of no examples.

    3) When he last invited me to sit at his table, there was almost enough awkward silence to make a complete performance of John Cage's 4'33". Any excuse of having a "casual chat" with a friendly old man has long since been rendered invalid.


    If he approaches me again (quite likely) then I'll want to know what his intentions likely are. If he's definitely hitting on me, then I'll want to tell him to get lost. If he's not, then I'll want to (somewhat more politely) stop accepting his drinks and lame invitations because it's not my idea of a good time.

    1. Show previous comments  21 more
    2. deathbringer

      deathbringer

      An old smelly guy was chatting me up in a gay pub last night, just after i went there with the university LGB. Do you think he might have been trying to chat me up?

    3. GGG

      GGG

      You just said he was.

    4. Sharessa
  25. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/KeystationPro88-main.html

    I walked down to a local music store today on somewhat of a whim to check out some keyboards. I ended up coming home with this.

    The touch-sensitivity is great (meaning it has a good velocity curve, and not too much contrast). The pitch wheel, mod wheel, and programmable everything may end up being very useful. It works brilliantly, and is somewhat of a revolutionary product in its class.

    Also, I recently received my M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card, but I haven't opened it yet. I'm waiting to get a new PC that will be able to handle what it's going to be used for.

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. Bucket

      Bucket

      Very nice. I was looking at one of those back when I bought my electric piano.

    3. SYS

      SYS

      Audiophile 2496, very good choice. Got myself one of those. I run protools 6.7LE h@][0red with it. Involves getting some cracks and a serial and utilizing the Maudio protools drivers.

    4. Ed

      Ed

      Very nice!

      What's the controller linked to as far as MIDI in devices? Arturia makes some really nice software remakes of older, hard-to-find expensive synthesizers.

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