Monthly Archives: December 2010

Crackheads at the Adoption Center

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Posted by Rob on December 30, 2010 – 8:58 pm
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So Shell and I worked our first official joint shift together at the adoption center tonight. It was definitely an interesting night, with two parties ready to adopt two cats by the time we got there. After that it was pretty slow…until the crackhead decided to visit.

Shell was cleaning up and I was talking to her, and all of a sudden this guy walks over. Between the dirty clothes, nasty skin, and missing teeth, I was pretty sure he was a crackhead. By the time our encounter with him was over, I am positive that he was a crackhead.

So the guy decides to bang on the glass and shout “HEY!” at us. Shell opens the door and greets him. He says, “can I see the puppies.” This was when I knew for sure he was a crackhead, since all we have are cats there, and you can see them all right through the glass window, so there was no way a sane/normal person would mistake them for dogs.

Shell says, “Ummm…no, they’re cats, and we’re getting ready to close. Were you interested in adopting?”

Mr. Crackhead said, “No my mom adopts the animals. I just wanted to see them.”

Shell says, “Well, since we’re getting ready to close up, you can view the animals online on our website.”

The crackhead then grabs a magazine and says “can I put my name on here?” Shell says, “no, that’s a magazine for the shelter.”

Then he grabs a slip of paper and says, “can I put my name on here?” Again, Shell says “no,” and this time, I think he gets the hint that he’s acting like an idiot.

He looks at Shell and says, “Sorry, I just make up stupid stuff as I go.” He then turned and walked away…

Strange Addictions

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Posted by Rob on December 29, 2010 – 9:56 pm
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We started watching this show tonight on TLC called Strange Addictions, and it definitely lives up to its name. Basically, each half-hour episode follows two individuals who have a strange compulsive addiction. The first episode we watched tonight was very odd indeed. The first lady had an addiction to eating toilet paper, and ate over 100 sheets a day. She would just sit around and snack on toilet paper, whether she was home or out and about.

The second lady on the show was addicted to sleeping with her hair dryer blowing on her. She could not sleep without this hair dryer going, and she would wake up with burns on her body from the heat. I just kept thinking about what a fire hazard that has to be. Read More »

Fable III Finally on the Way

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Posted by Rob on December 29, 2010 – 12:33 pm
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My Gamefly queue has been full for almost two weeks, just waiting to ship a game. Unfortuately, of the fourteen games on my queue, apparently all of them had been labeled “low availability.” I finally got an e-mail saying they were shipping out Fable III, so I’m happy. Now I have a huge influx of games, with all the ones I got for Christmas along with Fable III, which I’m sure will be as addicting as the second one was. I’ve been looking forward to checking out the new Fable, so I guess I can excuse Gamefly’s lack of shipping since I’m getting the top game in my queue.

My Christmas Swag 2010

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Posted by Rob on December 29, 2010 – 7:45 am
Filed under Books, My Personal Life, Video Games
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Here’s some of the nifty gifts I received for Christmas this year:

Video Games:

  • NHL ’11 (PS3)
  • Plants vs. Zombies (360)
  • Gears of War 2 (360)
  • PlayStation Move Controller

Books:

DVDs/CDs:

  • Futurama: Volume 5
  • Jim Gaffigan: Beyond the Pale

Clothing:

Gift Cards:

Other Stuff:

  • Windshield mount for my Droid
  • Candy
  • Cash

With my gift cards and cash, I went out to the mall yesterday and bought:

  • New computer
  • Sports Champions (PS3)

How I Spent My Christmas

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Posted by Rob on December 28, 2010 – 11:17 pm
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Christmas Eve

For years, my family tradition was always the same: we went down to Long Island on Christmas Eve to see my extended family at either my grandparents’ or aunt’s house. We would spend the night at my grandparent’s, and then after breakfast we would jump in the car and drive back to my parents house for Christmas Day. Once Shell and I were dating, things soon changed, as we had to start dividing up time between the two families. Last year it happened that we spent Christmas with Shell’s mom down in South Carolina, so this year we remained up here. This year we decided to have Shell’s dad come up to our apartment for Christmas Eve, and then we would drive down to my parents house to see them and my sister for Christmas Day.

One of the reasons we made these plans was because Shell actually had to work Christmas Eve. So that morning, after she went to work, I ventured out to the local grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner that night, and for the next week. Price Chopper was a mad house, and plenty of people had the same idea as me apparently. After pushing though crowds and waiting on line, I made it back to the apartment in one piece. I then straightened up the house, prepared the guest bedroom, and then I had like five hours to kill before Shell and her dad got back. It was a weird Christmas Eve for me…most probably the least stressful one I ever had since we moved away from Long Island about fifteen years ago.  Read More »

New Laptop Means More Blogs

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Posted by Rob on December 28, 2010 – 5:49 pm
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As many may know, I’ve had a laptop issue for quite some time now…almost a month, during which my laptop was inaccessible. With only one computer in the apartment, my internet time was cut down, so I haven’t been as active online, with blogs and doing other stuff.

Luckily, I got plenty of cash for Christmas, so today I headed over to Best Buy and picked up a new laptop. It’s not the best, and is definitely lower-end, but I don’t really care since I won’t be using it for gaming or anything else super fancy like that. After speaking with the clerk at Best Buy, I decided on a Gateway.

I got it up and running pretty quickly, and this is in fact the first blog from my new laptop. I’ve got some blogs backed up that just need some re-touching before I publish them, so hopefully I’ll get around to that some time tomorrow.

Next Platinum Will Be Smackdown vs. Raw 2011

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Posted by Rob on December 21, 2010 – 5:59 pm
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I got the platinum trophy for WWE SvR 2010, and I will soon do the same for 2011. I must admit, it is quite a challenge this year, since the most elusive trophy requires you to win an online Royal Rumble match, which is a pain. Last year’s edition wasn’t as challenging, and none of the trophies required you to play online matches.

I currently have three trophies left to go. I have to push someone off a ladder so they fall through a table, I have to smash someone into a table from the top rope, and I have to win a Royal Rumble match online. I got another very elusive one today, which required you to perform total of 1,004 signature and finisher moves combined. This technically isn’t too hard, and should come fairly quickly and naturally through regular play. However, the trophy is a bit mis-leading. First off, CAWs don’t count, and since I play mostly with them, this wasn’t going to happen naturally. Secondly, it only counts for one wrestler, not a combination of all wrestlers. Lastly, it has to take place in the same kind of match. It can be done in multiple gaming sessions, but it requires the same wrestler and the same match type. Due to these stipulations, I would never achieve this trophy naturally. Read More »

Update on Foster Car Starr

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Posted by Rob on December 21, 2010 – 7:50 am
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We’ve had Starr for four weeks now…two weeks more than was initially estimated. She still has the sneezing and she continues to throw up on a daily basis. She also recently started to get irritated eyes, where they are red and crusty. We’ve called the vet several times, and they are stumped as to what’s wrong with her, since her tests come back ok.

At first she wasn’t taking her medicine. For starters, she wouldn’t open her mouth to take it, and when we finally were able to force it open, she wouldn’t swallow the medicine. She would let it just sit in her mouth and eventually it would just drool out. The vet said that it wasn’t a big deal, and that she would be fine without the medicine, since she was in a home where it was quiet and stress-free as opposed to the shelter. However, she never improved. So they gave us two more medicines, both of which were oral again, but Starr was somewhat willing to take these. Still, she hasn’t improved as far as her symptoms go, but she is still as frisky and active as ever. You wouldn’t guess she was sick as she is always running and playing in the room when we visit her.  Read More »

Gearing Up for Christmas

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Posted by Rob on December 17, 2010 – 4:49 pm
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With Christmas almost a week away now, Shell and I are close to be as prepared as can be. The house has been decorated and the tree has been up since the weekend after Thanksgiving. So far, the cats have been relatively well-behaved, and neither Loki nor Odin have tried climbing up the tree yet. Holiday cookies have been baked regularly, and there are now about three batches left to go. We spent several nights last week baking together after dinner, and made some tasty treats. Shopping wise, we are all done with what gifts we needed to buy. We got a few things done the week of Black Friday, and everything else was done either online or with some shopping at local stores.

We have also begun our annual tradition of watching a crud-load of Christmas movies. This year marks the first time I was able to get Shell to agree watching one of my favorites; Ernest Saves Christmas. She is not a fan of Ernest, but I love the movies, and Ernest Saves Christmas is one of my top holiday movies. We’ve also watched some of Shell’s classic favorites like Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and Garfield. We also watched some old-fashioned classics this year, including White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

So I think it’s safe to say that we are set for the holidays. The next week will be spent doing some last-minute baking and then preparing for Christmas Eve when Shell’s dad comes up. Then Christmas Day will be spent down at my parents, and I’ll finally see my sister and bro-in-law for Christmas, who I haven’t seen for Christmas in a few years, between them visiting in-laws in Ohio and us visiting Shell’s mom in South Carolina.

I hope everyone has a happy, safe, and MERRY CHRISTMAS this year!

XBLA Review: X-Men (1992 Arcade)

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Posted by Rob on December 17, 2010 – 3:09 pm
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Anyone who knows me as a gamer knows I’m a sucker for beat ‘em ups. I think I own most of them that are available digitally on PSN or XBLA like Castle Crashers, Final Fight, TMNT, Scott Pilgrim, and probably some others as well. Heck, I even pop in the ol’ Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection from time to time to play some Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, and others. So when X-Men, an awesome arcade game I used to play growing up, came out last week, I bought it first thing when I woke up. I was a bit tossed up on whether to buy it on PSN or XBLA, but in the end I felt that I needed some more 360 games, so I went with the XBLA version. Also, I had some free MS points thanks to Bing rewards!

The game is pretty much a direct port of the arcade version. Unlike Turtles In Time Reshelled, the graphics are the same as they were when you were popping quarters into the dual-screen, six-player cabinet. And yes, the game does support up to six players, with drop-in/drop-out co-op, and you can choose from classic X-Men Wolverine, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Storm, and Dazzler. This is a great feature since it makes it easier for you to join in a game, and others can join or leave your game at their leisure without affecting the flow of your game. The other thing that remains unchanged is the ridiculously horrible/corny dialogue. Pyro will still threaten to turn you to toast, nothing will still be able to move the Blob, and Magneto will still proclaim “welcome to die” and call you an “X-chicken.”

Read More »

My Thoughts on DC Universe Online Beta

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Posted by Rob on December 16, 2010 – 9:19 am
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First and foremost, the DC Universe is not exactly my forte…I am much more familiar with the world of Marvel comics. However, I think that the DC canon makes a better backdrop for a game than Marvel, and I am enjoying my time exploring it within the beta, thanks to good ol’ PlayStation Plus.

The game begins with a very decent “movie” depicting many key DC heroes and villains battling it out. Eventually, a third party enters the fray and defeats both heroes and villains. Lex Luthor then travels back in time to warn the heroes what will happen, and that the world needs to be ready for this invasion when it comes. So Luthor releases some nanobot-thingys into the atmosphere, and when regular people make contact with them, they develop super powers. Thus, this is the basic origin of your character, who will then be mentored by one of the six main heroes or villains. Read More »

Dinosaur BBQ Topples Brooks

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Posted by Rob on December 13, 2010 – 3:06 pm
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Ever since spending two years at SUNY Oneonta, I have sworn by Brooks BBQ. It was a decent BBQ with a ridiculously sweet sauce, and I loved it. However, this has proven to be a temporary fling, as a new BBQ love has entered my life…Dinosaur BBQ. They opened a restaurant in Troy about a month or two ago, and Shell and I met for lunch there to give it a whirl. I can honestly say that my heart has been stolen by this saucy seductress that is Dinosaur BBQ.

Since it was lunch, I didn’t go all-out and snag the ribs, which I would have loved to do. Instead, I settled for the BBS sandwich, which is brisket, bacon, and swiss heaped onto a nice sandwich roll. Shell went for the pulled pork sandwich…Memphis style, which meant it was topped with coleslaw. Both sandwiches were ridiculously tasty. The sauce for Dinosaur is far superior to Brooks in terms of taste. While Brooks is overly sweet, Dinosaur has a slight spicy tang to it, which makes for a much more sophisticated BBQ sauce. Read More »

November 2011 is Gonna Break My Wallet

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Posted by Rob on December 12, 2010 – 10:06 am
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So I was kinda watching the VGAs last night, and what I didn’t watch I followed on joystiq’s live blog, and the game announcements for next year were epic. It’s not like there were one or two game announcements to get me excited…there were FOUR! Four games which come from some of my most adored franchises, and they all come out in November. This Fall season didn’t offer too many must-haves for me, aside from Fallout: New Vegas, but next year is a different story indeed.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will be released on 11/1/11. I love the Uncharted series, and Uncharted 2 took the franchise to new heights by adding in some awesome co-op and multiplayer modes, which really added to the life and replay value of the game. I’ve got my fingers crossed that there will finally be some campaign co-op, especially since there are almost always two characters on screen at any given time in the games. Read More »

What Shell Said: 12/10/10

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Posted by Rob on December 11, 2010 – 1:30 am
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Shell was sleeping in bed while I was reading. I was done, so I woke her up so she could get ready for bed.

“Hey babe, why don’t you get up and brush your teeth?”

“WHY DON’T YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH!”

“I did this morning. Come on, brush them so we can go to bed.”

“I e-mailed them this morning.”

“Huh?”

“Leave me alone.”

“Come on, if you go in now you can be done in five minutes.”

“No I can’t. I have to floss.”

“You can do all that in five minutes.

“BUT I HAVE TO FLOSS EVERYWHERE!”

“Like where? Between your toes?”

“No. I sent them out this morning.”

“What?”

“I sent those e-mails out this morning.”

“That’s good. But now it’s time to brush your teeth.”

She finally got up, stuck her tongue out at me, and went off to the bathroom.

Getting into the Riverworld Series

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Posted by Rob on December 6, 2010 – 1:12 am
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After finishing up book four in the Song of Ice and Fire series (since Martin has yet to finish writing book five,) I was looking for a new fantasy/sci-fi series to get into…and I do believe I found it. After researching online, I went to my local library about a month ago and picked up the first book in the Riverworld series, written by Philip Jose Farmer. I am currently on Book 2 (The Fabulous Riverboat), and I’m enjoying it so far.

For those not familiar, the book starts right off the bat with every human being ever born suddenly all resurrected on a mystery planet. The adults, regardless of their age of death on Earth, are all reborn into twenty year-old bodies. There are children, and they appear as they did on Earth. All humans are born naked and hairless, and no one knows what’s going on. What’s really interesting is that this allows humans from all walks of life (including different countries and time periods) to mingle together. Some of the characters are an 19th century British explorer, a caveman, a German Nazi officer, Prince John (of Robin Hood/Magna Carta fame), an alien who visited Earth in the mid twenty-first century, and others as well. While most humans get to creating civilizations and warring against one-another, a small group decide to set out to see if they can solve the mystery of this odd planet they are on.

Oh, and did I mention that if you die on this strange planet, you will be resurrected, but in a totally different part of the planet?

Just the basic plot of the storyline is insane, not to mention all the ridiculous details that it gets into as answers are uncovered. It’s a really great read, and I totally recommend checking the first book in the series, To Your Scattered Bodies Go, if you’re on the lookout for a new series to get into.

Getting Into Some New Games

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Posted by Rob on December 6, 2010 – 12:42 am
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WWE SvR 2011 continues to take up a good chunk of what gaming time I have…or at least it was, until I finally unleashed Borderlands this weekend. I had forgotten how much fun it was, and I decided to start from scratch and re-roll a new character. I’m currently playing a Hunter, focusing on the Rogue skill set. The thing I realized today is that Borderlands is has many similarities with Fallout 3 and New Vegas, in that it successfully merges the FPS and RPG genres into one neat, awesome package. I’m pretty addicted to Borderlands right now, and I’m regretting taking a year to finally buy it. This one will be lasting quite some time, between four distinct characters and all the juicy DLC which I have but have not touched yet.

On the DS front, I am getting into Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. The game is a surprise hit, and is also a combo of genres, to a degree. The meat of the game plays as a platformer, as you control Professor Hatsworth in a quest for a golden suit. One of the great features of the game is that Hatsworth is a British chap, and has the look of an aristocratic, eccentric British adventurer, complete with elephant gun, sword, cane, and monocle. Oh, and the bowler hat! The twist is that while the platforming action is going on the top screen, the bottom screen contains an advancing puzzle of blocks, kind of like Bejeweled. Eventually, if the blocks get to far up, they will begin to invade the platforming screen and can cause trouble. Thus, as you run around the main level, you will continually have to stop that and switch to the puzzle screen to clear it out. Doing this is also what gives Hatsworth health, extra lives, and “energy” which is used to more powerful projectiles, as well as for donning a gigantic robotic suit. It’s proven to be quite the addictive game so far.

Double Virus

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Posted by Rob on December 4, 2010 – 10:59 pm
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I haven’t been posting as much as I would like to be, for two main reasons. First off, I’ve been a little under the weather the past two days with a sore throat/headache/other generic symptoms, so I haven’t been in much of a mood to do much in the way of anything productive.

Secondly, my computer has virus yet again…or maybe the first one never went away. Anywho, we are now down to one computer in the place. I tried to reboot mine under safe mode today, and that didn’t seem too safe, as I got a weird error message in what looked like DOS mode, and I also had a little window pop up warning me about my C drive.

All I know is that I am happy that my important files, like my work and my writing, is backed up on a flash drive. Sadly, my pictures are another story, and I hope that those are salvageable.