Posted by Rob on April 29, 2010 – 7:59 am
Filed under Sports
Tagged as canadians, capitals, caps, crosby, habs, halak, montreal, ovechkin, penguins, pittsburgh, playoffs, rangers, washington
I cannot believe that Washington was stopped in the first round of the playoffs, but Halak was extremely impressive the past few nights in goal for Montreal. Next to the Rangers, I would love to see the Caps go all the way to the finals. Also, I would have liked to have seen Ovechkin smack Crosby’s stupid ass around the ice. Now, that job falls to the Canadians, and I’m hoping they can take out Pittsburgh in the next round. Man, I would LOVE to see Crosby fall to Montreal, so he could cry his babyness all the way home!!!
So for the next week or two, I will be rooting for the Canadians to take out the Penguins. I guess you can say that after the Rangers, I will root for any team that plays against Pittsburgh…
Posted by Rob on April 28, 2010 – 8:52 pm
The wedding is in pretty much a month, and things have been going crazy. We met with our priest last week to go over all the final details and what-not. We met up with the DJ today, who seems pretty cool. He promised plenty of inflatable guitars for all, so that will rock! The rsvp’s for the invitations are pretty much all in, with just a few stragglers we are waiting to hear from, but it looks like it’s going to be a pretty decent-sized party, though not as big as we anticipated.
This weekend is also gonna be jampacked with my bachelor party and Shell’s bachelorette party. Shell will be heading down to NYC with her bridesmaids and friends for a night on the town, and then crashing at my sister’s place. As for me…I don’t know. Apparently Steve has decided that it should be a surprise, so I am in the dark as to what he has planned for the weekend. I am driving down to his place Friday night, and then Saturday we are off to the mysterious destination of my bachelor party. I’m looking forward to it, and seeing some friends and family, though I don’t know who exactly is coming (aside from Steve and my bro-in-law Nick).
No need to worry…when I eventually return on Sunday, I will post up (non-incriminating) pics of the weekend festivities. After this weekend, we are into May, and that’s the WEDDING MONTH!!! It’s coming up pretty fast, and I’m excited…and probably a little nervous…but more excited than anything.
Posted by Rob on April 25, 2010 – 11:24 pm
Filed under History, TV Shows
Tagged as America, america: the story of us, american revolution, battle of saratoga, battle of yorktown, colonies, douglas, gingrich, History, history channel, jamestown, obama, petraeus, powell, the story of us, trump, United States, valley forge
Being the American history nerd that I am, when I saw that the History Channel was doing a mini-series on American history, I got excited. I was a bit skeptical at first, since it was a six-part series, but when I realized that each part was two hours long, I felt better about it. The series was introduced my President Obama, and then throughout the show, a cast of well known Americans (including Colin Powell, Gen. Petraeus, Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich and Michael Douglas, as well as other military and history professionals) will add in comments here and there. The first episode aired tonight, and while there are some things I didn’t like, there’s a lot I did like.
The first episode starts with the founding of the Jamestown colony, and goes up until the end of the American Revolution. Within that two hour episode (including commercials, of course), the series focused quite a bit on the colonies and the actions leading up to Revolution. What could have been easily covered in about ten minutes was done in more like forty-fifty minutes, and it was a pretty decent job.
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Posted by Rob on April 24, 2010 – 11:58 am
Filed under Geocaching
Tagged as ammo, Books, cache, east greenbush, family guy, geocache, Geocaching, gps, hiking, magellan, schodack, technology park, town park
My last two outings were on my own, but I really wanted to start enjoying them with Shell. So this morning, we got up at 8, ate breakfast, then headed out for an early morning geocaching run. I wanted to go to East Greenbush Town Park to show her the two I already found and to find the one I haven’t yet, the East Greenbush Industrial Park, and the Schodack Town Park.
It was a beautiful morning at the E.G. Park. We had a little trouble at first getting the new Magellan GPS (that my Dad gave me) working, but once we figured it out it was accurate and worked fine and dandy. I let Shell navigate to the two caches I had found earlier, and we dropped off some new stuff. It also seemed that there had been more visitors there since I was there less than ten days ago! Shell dropped off this really annoying Family Guy pen she had and a green bling ring. Along the way we ran into a dog who thought the GPS Shell was holding was a tennis ball, so that was interesting! Read More »
Posted by Rob on April 24, 2010 – 1:14 am
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, co-op, co-optimus, headset, medic, online, PlayStation 3, PS3, Resistance 2, soldier, spec. op, xp
I met up with some of the folks over at co-optimus, and I played for about three and a half hours, until I was near exhaustion, while the rest of the guys carried on. I’ve been enjoying getting back into Resistance 2 these past few Fridays, and look forward to continuing this trend on a nightly basis, if I’m available. With my medic being maxed at level 30, I have been working on getting my spec. ops up in levels. I’ve been getting better with him, and have been getting some nice xp. He is at level 12 now, and I also have my soldier at level 15. I doubt I will ever max either of them, since it took me long enough to get my medic maxed, but it’s fun to play a different class than I used to.
However, on a down note, my headset seems to be acting up. I can communicate just fine in the lobby, but later in the night my headset wasn’t allowing me to talk during missions, but it was fine once we got back to the lobby. I don’t know what’s wrong with it, but it’s pretty sad…
Posted by Rob on April 23, 2010 – 7:47 am
Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, Gamestop, Geocaching, gift card, hiking, honeymoon, mall, mass, priest, wedding
With April winding down and May (the month of our wedding) fast approaching, our weekends are guaranteed to get busier and busier. This weekend is no exception.
Tonight we have to head over to the church after we get off of work to have our final meeting with the priest. We will have to be making all the plans, such as how we are going to be situated and how the ceremony is going to go, as well as go over the readings we selected for the mass. Fun in a bun for sure.
Tomorrow is kind of a lax day, but I am taking Shell geocaching around town. There are a lot of parks nearby that have multiple caches. I am going to start by going back to the town park and let her find the two that I already found there. Then there is another there that I have not yet found. After that, I would like to go to two more parks in town that have two caches each. Should be a fun-filled day of hiking, exploring, and enjoying the great outdoors.
Sunday is a pretty busy day. After church in the morning, we have to hit the mall for a day of shopping. Shell wants to buy a new wardrobe for her bachelorette party and the honeymoon. As for me, I will probably be buying some new clothes for the honeymoon as well (not because I want to, but because Shell believes that all my clothes are “faded”.) I also want to stop over at Gamestop and see what my gift card will get me. Later in the day, Shell also has to go to David’s Bridal for a final fitting on her dress.
So there you have it…a jam-packed weekend. I am actually looking forward to the weekend since this is the first time since November that I have had a full week of work, so I can actually relish in the time off!
Posted by Rob on April 22, 2010 – 11:02 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, dinosaurs, FPS, jp, Jurassic Park, jurassic: the hunted, PlayStation 3, PS3, ps3 review, raptor, t-rex, tyrannosaurus rex, velicoraptor
Jurassic: The Hunted was a game that received mixed reviews. It has a few flaws that people really picked up on, and this game has gotten little recognition. However, I beg to differ. I really enjoyed this unique FPS, and I highly recommend it to FPS players, dinosaur lovers, and trophy whores.
One of the first things to mention is that the game is seriously lacking in the story department. Basically you play a security guard who gets sucked into dinosaur times, and must shoot your way through the giant reptiles to survive. Eventually you will come across some other people, and will help them build some machine that returns you to present day. The game does not go into detail on the story, and I was constantly confused if I was on some island lost to time (kind of like Jurassic Park…with dinos living in the modern day) or if I had traveled back in time. Luckily, the lack of story did not ruin the game play one bit.
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Posted by Rob on April 21, 2010 – 10:40 pm
Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, certification, data entry, job, masters, nys, part time job, School, survey, temp, work
So I’ve been at my job for three days now. It’s not the most glamourous or highest paying, but it’s steady money for the time being, which is important. It’s a shame that a guy with his masters degree and NYS certification can’t find steady work in the education field, and has to resort to this kind of stuff.
Basically, I’m doing data entry. To be more specific, the company I’m working for produces surveys for schools, then collects the surveys, enters the answers into the computer (that’s where I come in), and then produces calculations/graphs/reports based on the results. I’m not used to a job where I am sitting in a chair for over seven hours a day, redundantly entering the same information into the computer over and over again, with no end in sight. It’s a temp job, and is scheduled to last for four more weeks, and I believe it based on the boxes of surveys just waiting for me.
It’s not a pretty job, but I need a steady income, and this job happened to be there. It’s kind of lame since no one wants to talk to “the temp”, and I’m pretty much isolated at a table in the boss’ office as it is, so it’s a pretty boring day…
Posted by Rob on April 19, 2010 – 7:45 am
In a little over an hour from now, I will be stepping foot into my new job for the first time. I’m really looking forward to being out of the house and getting a steady income for the first time in a LONG time.
Wish me luck!!!
Posted by Rob on April 18, 2010 – 11:12 pm
I wanted to be able to just back and enjoy a simple game. These ideals brought my attention to Jurassic: The Hunted, which is a dino-killing FPS, that has received some pretty crummy reviews. However, I for one am really enjoying it. There is almost no story to the game at all, and the little that is revealed makes no sense. But that’s just fine for me…I just pretend I’m on Isla Nublar, protecting Jurassic Park from rampaging killer dinosaurs.
The game is definitely a guilty pleasure. I never thought I’d enjoy a FPS that didn’t have mutants or Nazis, but I was wrong…dinosaurs definitely top the list. Most of the dinosaurs I know of, either from Jurassic Park, or from my childhood fascination with dinos. The usual enemies are velociraptors, deinonychus, and dilophasaurs, but of course there are others at particular levels such as the Tyrannosaurs Rex, Utahraptor, and pteradons. Grabbing an assortment of guns, including pistols, shotguns, and machine guns, you basically run around killing any of the giant lizards you come across.
The game is a lot of fun, if you are looking for a brainless FPS. Having dinosaurs as the enemies was a great change of pace (aside from the horrible Turok game that didn’t have nearly enough dinos), and the game is simple enough. The addition of a bunch of fun silver and gold trophies also makes the game a blast to play through. Despite the relatively negative reviews the game received, I am enjoying it so far. I will definitely be making up a full review when I’m done, simply because the game deserves that much.
Posted by Rob on April 17, 2010 – 12:20 am
I joined up with a bunch of guys from co-optimus.com to play some Resistance 2 tonight. It’s funny…I always forget how great the co-op in this game is until I play it again. A total of six of us joined forces to drive back the Chimera horde, and we definitely ended up having one of the toughest missions I’ve ever been privvy too (probably since a few of the guys characters were maxed out at level 30.)
Still, a good time was had by all. Resistance 2 may not have campaign co-op, but the missions really breath unlimited replay into the game. Even though I always forget to mention it, I think Resistance 2 is one of my favorite online games to play on the PS3. And now that it’s become a greatest hit for $30, there’s no excuse for any PS3 owner to not get in on the fun.
Posted by Rob on April 16, 2010 – 1:50 pm
That’s right, I finally snagged my fourth gift card for doing my surveys. Keep the games coming!
Posted by Rob on April 16, 2010 – 12:32 pm
Filed under Geocaching
Tagged as adventure, ammo, big bad bob, bigbadbob, cache, forest, geocache, Geocaching, gps, treasure, woods
So I saw on the geocache website that someone else had hidden a second geocache at the local town park, and this morning I braved the drizzling, cold rain and went in search of it. It was in a different part of the park, where instead of heading into the woods through hiking trails, I would be following alongside a river/stream on the completely other end of the park.
As I got to the waters edge, I saw a little trail going alongside it through some brush. I followed the trail down a ways, only to find that I was eventually blocked off by a chainlink fence. Being the relatively unathletic type, I back-tracked and found a way around the fence to the other side, rather than saving time by climbing over the fence.
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Posted by Rob on April 16, 2010 – 10:28 am
Filed under Geocaching
Tagged as ammo, big bad bob, bigbadbob, cache, geocache, Geocaching, gps, hiking, log, oneonta, treasure
So my first geocache adventure took me to the nearby East Greenbush Town Park. This was my first adventure, so I wanted to do an easy one that was close to home. It was ranked a very easy difficulty, so I figured that I would give it a whirl.
I got to the park at around 8:00am. After parking my car in the designated area, I walked a ways down to the other end of the park, where there are trails going into the woods. As I walked, I had the car GPS in my hand, in which I had entered in the coordinates of the cache the night before. The GPS took me into the woods, and I began walking the trails looking for it. It was a challenge using the car GPS…I think it would be much easier with one of the handheld GPS devices that hikers normally use.
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Posted by Rob on April 15, 2010 – 11:03 pm
Filed under My Personal Life
Tagged as amazon, barnsiders, big bad bob, bigbadbob, camera, clash of the titans, crossover crisis, dentist, fabio, filling, final fight, final fight: double impact, futurama, geocache, Geocaching, god of war collection, life, oblivion, PS3, Simpsons, steak, steakhouse, town park, treasure
Well, my day started out on a horrible note, but only went uphill. This morning I had to go to the dentist at 7:30am to get a filling. It’s my own fault since I was an idiot and decided not to go to the dentist for the past two years. Let me tell you…that ain’t happening again. I already have my next six-month appointment set for sometime in October!
After the dentist, I went straight to the local town park to partake in my first geocache hunt (post and pics upcoming tomorrow). It was a lot of fun, and I definitely see this being a new hobby for myself. What’s more, it’s something that I think Shell will enjoy also, so being able to do this together will be a blast. Read More »
Posted by Rob on April 14, 2010 – 9:51 pm
Geocaching is basically a treasure hunt, where a person hides a container of items and only leaves the GPS coordinates on the website. You can then take a GPS device with you to track down the chest. Generally, you sign a log book and then take a look at their items. You can leave something behind yourself if you want. It’s kind of like a internet-based time capsule, I guess. It sounds interesting, and I’m curious to give it a whirl.
So tomorrow I’m going out on my first hunt. It’s not a difficult one, and is apparently located somewhere at the town park. We shall see.
Posted by Rob on April 13, 2010 – 1:53 pm
I enjoyed the single player campaign and the online co-op modes for the Ghostbusters game. However, I wasn’t keen on dropping $40+ for it. Today, Gamefly sent me a list of their April Bargain Bin games, and Ghostbusters was listed for $11.69. After my $5.00 coupon I had for them, the total for the game came out to $7.23 (including .54 for tax.) $7.00 is totally worth it for such a fantastic game! I look forward to playing through the game again and picking up trophies I missed out on during my first playthrough.
Posted by Rob on April 13, 2010 – 1:29 pm
Filed under Video Games
Tagged as among thieves, big bad bob, bigbadbob, campaign, co-op, competitive, Drake, gold rush, online, ps3 review, siege, survival, trophies, uncharted, Uncharted 2
I got Uncharted 2 in from Gamefly early last week, but I had a busy schedule and had little time to play it. Luckily with the weekend spent at home, I was able to get in a few hours in the mornings, and got a good feel for the game. All I can say is, like the first Uncharted, it is a must-have!
The game continues the adventures of Nathan Drake, pro treasure hunter. The story takes you from Africa to Nepal and other locales as you search for clues to lead you to the lost treasure fleet of Marco Polo and eventually to the fabled city of Shang-ra-la. Along the way you meet up with some old friends from the previous game (Sully and Elena) as well as some new buddies. The game is totally beautiful, and boasts the best graphics you have seen yet on the PS3. The game uses cutscenes not just to help tell the awesome and in-depth story, but also serves as loading time in between levels. Thus, once you start up the game, you will never have to suffer though a load screen, which I was very pleased with. The voice acting is also top-notch, and does a lot for moving the story along.
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Posted by Rob on April 12, 2010 – 11:40 pm
Filed under Site Updates, Video Games
Tagged as big bad bob, bigbadbob, Boom Blox, demo, DS, ds review, first impressions, ghost squad, Mario Strikers, nintendo wii, PlayStation 3, PS3, ps3 review, PSN, psn review, quick review, Resistance 2, review, Sacred 2, super smash bros. brawl, video games, Wii, wii review
In an attempt to make my game reviews easier to find, I have put them all in one section. Now if you go to the “Game Reviews” page, you will see an alphabetical listing of all the full reviews, quick reviews, and demo reviews that I have done, broken down by system (PS3, PSN, Wii, and DS). You may see the same game listed twice, but that’s because I wrote a quick review, and later wrote up a full review for the same game, and can’t bring myself to get rid of my older posts.
Also, as a heads up, many of the Wii game reviews really stink. These were mostly done on my old blog (thejournalofronconnery), and I didn’t really have much of a professional feel back then. Thus, many of them will only be a few sentences long and contain no pictures. I also realized that as I went through all my game review posts, some games I never reviewed that I should have (particularly Uncharted 2, Resistance 2, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Sacred 2), and that a lot of my Wii game reviews are way to short, and don’t do some of the great games any good (like Boom Blox, Ghost Squad, and Mario Strikers Charged.)
From now on I will update this page continously as I add new reviews, whether they be for new games or full updates of the games I only skimmed over.
Enjoy!
Posted by Rob on April 12, 2010 – 4:26 pm
Now I have previously praised KFC for it’s grilled chicken but this I cannot condone. I saw a commercial for it last night, and I just couldn’t get over it. KFC has put out a sandwich called the Double Down. The key to understanding the Double Down sandwich is that, instead of bread, the sandwich is supported by two fried chicken breasts. Between these two greasy strips lies a pool of cheese with some bacon strips to boot. This sandwich has got to contain more than 2000 calories in itself! For a company that was trying to be healthier and convert KFC into meaning “Kitchen Fresh Chicken”, this is a huge step back in by book.
