Gamestop has Wrath of the Lich King! I decided to not stand in line with the mouthbreathers at 12am like I did last time for Burning Crusade (big, big mistake) and walked in at 11am today to get the latest World of Warcraft expansion. I was well rewarded as there were plenty of copies just chillin' there on the counter.

Its at 93% installed right now. I will keep you updated. Finally, some new content. I was enjoying leveling my paladin (I have a 70 priest but decided against grinding for gear with the expansion so close) but new, fresh stuff is always welcome.

20+ hours of enjoyment per week at 15 bucks a month here I come!

11/14/2008 12:18am

It is an awesome expansion. I played my Death Knight just until the DK quests were over with, then logged onto my 70 priest to do some questing with guildies in Northrend. Blizzard put a ton of work into this game, and it shows. Servers are as smooth as ever, environments feel more detailed, and questing is fun as usual.

Definately an awesome game.

My shorts are really loose. I need a tighter belt.

Does this mean weight is being lost, or is my belt just stretching from use. Maybe both. But I will just take it as a good sign.

With that said, my hands are finally healed (had 2nd degree chemical burns on them for like a month) so I can finally start lifting weights again!

For those that dont know, people who are really into weightlifting need to keep doing it. Ever see retired football (american) players? Notice how they all kinda turn lumpy, soft, and overweight at times? Thats because muscle just turns into fat, its the first thing to happen to once-amazing athletes if they stop working out. I can feel it happening to me too. Time to get strong again!

Well, I seem to keep losing weight. Ironic, especially since I havent been subscribing to my diet. I have been very active though, so I guess thus far if I could offer one piece of advice to anyone wanting to lose weight it is this:

get off your ass and exercise. Just one hour a day. A walk a lot.

Anyway, I thought I have been losing weight but couldnt find a weigh to weigh myself, but my suspicions were proven correct when my family came to visit me and said I looked like I lost weight. Also, my belt is a good two or three inches too big as my pants keep falling down every time I move hoses, bags of malt, and other stuff around at the brewery. Ive never been so happy to be embaressed. A lot of my shirts are too big now; some of my polos feel like tents now.

In conclusion: goodbye 4X shirts and 46+ belt size! Also, if youre active, you can relax on the diet.

OK everyone, thanks for the kind words and advice you have been posting!

Euphoria

The dictionary states that Euphoria is a feeling of confidence, well-being, and happiness. It continues by saying that it is often exagerated as a state of mania.

Well, tonight has confirmed what my Euphoria is.

Food.

Maybe it is the alcohol speaking, but to me, food is the foundation of life. Fundamentally, we need it to survive. Protein, carbohydrate, fat...all necessary to human beings in order to survive. Yet on the idealistic level, food achieves a far greater stature. It can lead to people feeling happy, it can be the centerpiece of a poltical deal, and it can be the essence of religion ranging from loaves to fishes.

To me, on this night, Euphoria is Coq au Vin.

To the gourmand, Coq au Vin is a staple of French cuisine. To the unitiated, it is braised chicken stewed in wine and vegetables.

To me, Coq au Vin is a reflection of my personality. If you ask my Mom, I have been cooking since I was a toddler. I learned to add, subtract, multiply, and divide not in the classroom, but instead in my family's kitcehn using teaspons, tablespoons, quarter cups, and quarts. But I digress...

Tonight I made my own version of Coq au Vin. I chopped leeks, onion, bell pepper, garlic, celery, and onion. After seasoning some chicken things and searing them in a saute pan, I then trasnfered the perfumed oil to a large pot and sauted my aromatic and vegetables. When they became soft, I added half a bottle of red wine and some rehyrdrated porcini mushrooms, brought to a simmer, and then added my chicken thighs. An hour later after a low simmer, I dished it up on some brown rice, the gamiest of grains in my opinion, and consumed along with a bottle of white wine.

A simple, low-intensity dish prepared by perhaps the world's most laid-back (but not lazy!) man. Not only does this dish appeal to my palette, but it appeals to my personality. Rustic cuisine, pure and simple.

It was heaven. Perhaps it is the fact that I havent actually created something in my kitchen for over three weeks, or perhaps it was the wine in my system, but I achieved a state of peace I havent felt for a very, very long time. I apolgize if I come off as an idealist or a romantic, or if I am doing what the call wax poetic (is that the term), but for some reason my soul resonates not just with the consumption of food, but with its creation. Looking back on all the years of my life, I find that the happiest moments were when I created food for people. Whether it was in the Italian restaurant I worked at during college, or whether it was cooking Christmas dinner for all my local family, I relish the opportunity to create food for people.

Well, its been an interesting month. Like I mentioned I got a new job and moved mid-June. Those first few days were hectic as I had spent all my money on a deposit, rent, bed, and other stuff so I did not have enough money to stock my fridge. So I had to eat some fast food. I forgot how good it tastes, but since I've essentially been grease-free for over half a year it wreaked havoc on my system...I woke up feeling sick as a dog.

Fortunately I got paid and I can now buy good stuff. So I have been eating fairly healthy (oatmeal for breakfast, protein shake for snack, mixed greens with a can of tuna on top for lunch, and something lean for dinner) but now there is another issue: my workout schedule!

Work is essentially a "make your own hours" situation. Unfortunately, my hours are based on the head brewer since I am in an apprenticeship position. I have to show up when the other guys shows up. Since my days are usually 10 hours of lifting 50 pound sacks and 100 pound kegs, stirring quicksand-like mash, and doing other physical stuff in a hot and steamy room, I cant workout after work. As a result, I have to workout in the morning. Unfortunately, it seems like the guy I work with always calls me five mins after I get on the elliptical machine! GRRrrrrr!

Anyway, to sum up, I dont feel I have put on too much weight...I am more concerned about losing my muscle mass (which turns to fat, yuck) as a result of not lifting weights. I think my job has me burning enough calories throughout the day that I can stay at my current weight if I continue to eat healthy.

OK, thats it for now...more of an angry rant than a blog. I need to find a scale that can go beyond 300 pounds so I can track my progress...its very difficult to hold yourself accountable when you can tell yourself that you think youre losing weight (as opposed to knowing youre losing weight).

OK, so in the past four hours there have been about five threads built upon anti-atheism of varying degrees.

SO I go to make a pro-atheism thread asking that atheists be left alone by our religious harassers. It gets locked in 10 minutes, the reply being "we dont need another thread"

I agree, another thread was not needed...about FOUR THREADS AGO!

So my question is this...was that fair? Was it fair to allow four or more anti-atheism threads, and zero pro-atheism threads?

It is clear that Gamespot mods have an agenda, and frankly this is the first time moderation has been offensive to me. I have had threads locked before, and I have been suspended, but this is the first time I think Gamespot made a mistake. In short, I feel every Gamespotian deserves equal representation.

PS: for anyone that did see my thread, I wrote "please, for the love of God, leave us atheists ALONE!" as a bit of sarcasm to lighten the mood. I realize sarcasm doesnt translate well through text, but for Christ's sake people wasn't it obvious I was joking? Or were you people that replied so quick to prove me wrong that you typed something before you actually thought about what I mean by it?

My goal for this blog is more to hold myself accountable by making a public record of my progress, while possibly helping those that would also like some tips on weight loss.

OK, so I will just start from the top, give some quick background. When I went to college, I weighed 275. That seems like a lot (and it is lol) but I was not a fatass; I am a tall guy (6'3''), I do have large bone structure, and I have a lot of muscle. I was husky, but I had no gut or anything. Come junior and senior year of college, I had a lot of stress in my life. Combined with me turning 21 years old and drinking heavily, I essentially balooned to 417 pounds by September 2007. My social life went to crap because most of the friends I was comfortable with had graduated and left, and I was too ashamed to pursue any new friendships with whatever acquiantences I had. This only made the problem worse. Oh ya, and I forgot to mention that I was a cook and I am a gourmand, which means I love good food lol.

So, anyway, something had to be done. So when November came around and I was done with school, I moved back home and started to lose weight. The first trick is to get a gym membership. For the first three years of college I was addicted to the gym, and I was able to maintain my weight and strength. But when I moved off campus, it became harder to motivate myself. So, as I worked out, I could feel myself losing weight. It was great.

The second key to me losing weight is my job, which was an active one, so it supplements going to the gym quite well. I was a cook at this startup company, and essentially I was working 70 hours a week. I would stand on my feet for 12 hours a day, six days a week, and eat only one meal with the occasional snack every now and then. It was great; I problably walked about one mile every day going back and forth to the walk-in cooler. I quit that job, but now I work in a brewery, but thankfully that is also an active job and I have been able to keep my beer consumption to a minimum (about 3 beers a week).

Diets are epic failures in my eyes. South Beach, Atkins...theyre not worth it. I have been on all of them, and while I lost a good amount of weight at times, they simply are not something I could live with, nor should they be. With that said, I went about coming up with my own diet (I have a degree in food science, and took a lot of nutrition classes). Essentially, I can eat whatever I want, so long as the glycemic index of the food is low and my fat intake is under 20 grams of fat per day, and I limit my starchy carbs. So I can eat any fruit with edible skins (apples, grapes, plums, cherries, etc) but none with no skins (I cant eat bananas, for example). I can also eat all kinds of vegetables, but not heavy starches like potatoes. HF Corn Syrup is a huge no-no, and should be illegal imo.

By doing that, I have lost 52 pounds since since December. I was 417, and I am now 365. I will continue to make monthly installments on my blogs to keep track of my progress.

Well, after two suspensions in a row (a three-day and a seven-day) I am back.

And, of course, when you are suspended suddenly there is a plethora of interesting, unqiue posts to respond to.

In short, I will be watching my mouth and what pictures I post. I am just happy i did not get banned!

So today was my second day at work in a small microbrewery and it...is...AWESOME! Its a lot of hard work and cleaning, but it is so enjoyable. The pay sucks, but it is good experience for me (I majored in Food Science at college) so it should look good on a resume.

With that said, I can honestly see myself doing this forever, albeit in my own brewery or at a place that can pay me 60+k a year. I got to make five barrels of stout yesterday, and today I learned how to clean kegs, clean bottles, fill bottles, and all kinds of things. The people I work with are super cool as well.

First, before I begin, I just want to say that I do not hate consoles, nor do I hate console players. Hell, most of my friends play consoles, and I jump at every chance to play them as well despite not owning one. None the less, my blog right here will argue against consoles. I will try to keep it as objective as possible, and will certainly do my best to keep it unoffensive, but here it goes.

First, one must consider the types of players on each platform. Console players, from my experience, seem to want immediate and short-term satisfaction from their games. As a result, a console suits them; they can get their 30-60 minutes of gameplay in and be happy. In addition, games on console are also much shorter. While this is imo a quality issue that needs to be addressed (Gears of War was about six hours, Heavenly Sword about five hours, and Halo 3 can be beat in a weekend), it doesnt seem to be a detriment addressed by the console community as a five-to-eight hour game will last them over a week.

Conversely, PC gamers are ethusiasts. We like our games as complex and, at times, as frustrating as we can tolerate them. PC gamers are willing to install patches and edit .ini files to get games to run their best. In addition, PC gamers often play for longer sessions than console gamers: matches of Starcraft exceeding four hours, or beating a six-hour game like Portal in little over a day are not uncommon, and as a result games with less-than-average length receive criticism (as recieved by Bioshock, for example).

Then there is the cost issue, which seems to be a main arguing point for anti-PC console players. Everyone assumes that gaming PCs are expensive, and they would be right. If you are going with mainstream builders such as Dell, Gateway, or Alienware, a gaming computer will exceed 1800 dollars. Unfortunately, these more ignorant console users dont do their research: a good gaming PC can be built by a gamer, or even bought for relatively cheap from a good source. My computer, for example, didnt cost me more than 1300 dollars and it is dual core with an 8800GTS. ANd games only cost about 40 bucks.

Consoles, on the other hand, have a small initial cost that grows quickly. First, there is the console itself, often costing 450 or more dollars. Then there are games, which are 60 bucks a pop. Slap on an HDTV if you want visuals to be their best (while still falling short of PC...just compare UT3 to Gears of War; runs better and looks better on PC) and thats about 1200 dollars right there.Oh, and since you still need a PC for work and internet, add another 500 bucks.

The rest, such as controls and visuals, are imo all subjective so I wont even go there.

Console gaming is no doubt growing quickly, and becoming extremely popular to the point where developers and publishers who once delt solely with PC games are focusing their resources on, at the least, dual-release products.  There are many factors for increasing popularity, the most obvious being the massive audience available, cheaper capital costs, and marketing.

But what does all this mean for PC gamers?  In the past few years it means that some of our beloved PC-only franchises have "sold out;" the once complex, serious games we've loved on PC have been dumbed down to suit the lowest common denominator and a gamepad.  Deus Ex 2, TES4: Oblivion....the list goes on, and this trend gives no indication of giving up its ways as great games in past get watered down sequals or continuations.

Many people have suggested that PC gaming is dying, that PCs are absolete and since theyre so expensive and hard to work with, nobody wants to invest the time and money into a gaming rig when all they need is a TV and console.

I disagree.  There are literally millions of PC gamers in the United States, let alone the rest of the world, who are diehard PC gamers.  Not only that, but I feel PC gamers are a special breed: whereas console gamers are generally more casual gamers and want to put a minimum of effort into a game to get a maximum amount of fun, PC gamers are enthusiests; we are willing to work for our games, willing to take the time to learn complex controls, and more.  Developers know this, and they know there is a market and desire out there for PC games.

But what does all this mean?  To me, I feel that as the social and market trends keep leaning towards consoles, there will be a short-term void for PC gamers.  PC gaming wont die, but it will definately become stagnant.  Stores such as EBGames, Gamestop, and more will stop carrying PC games and developers will make crappier, console-friendly games.  Soon after this "depression," however, developers will see the void and see the potential for massive profit.  They will create PC games, and good ones too, and will go around publishers by creating their own online distribution systems a la Steam.  That is the biggest problem I have with games today: the middle-man, the publisher, has far too much say in what the game should be.  Developers should listen to what gamers want, it shouldnt be publishers telling developers what they think gamers want.

So, to sum up, I feel that console game quality will keep deteriorating and PC gaming will definately enter a dark age.  At the end of the dark age, however, developers will create PC games, circumvent any publisher interaction (forcing developers to make dual-release games, watering down gameplay elements, etc), and will make quality games.  Since there will be little marketing involved in PC games and there is such a huge void, independent developers will get a chance to throw their product into the melee.

Thats just my prediction, as flawed or as crazy as it sounds.

There are many arguments to be had with in-game advertising.  Some are valid, while others dont seem to make sense at all.  Furthermore, there is a disturbingly large amount of passive people out there; gamers who say they dont care, or who say that the ads are subtle enough that they dont notice them while playing.

The truth, in my opinion, is that in-game advertising is taking the ultimate advantage of videogame buyers.

We pay often more than 50 dollars for a newly released game, such as Battlefield 2142.  That is a large fee, and it should adequately pay for any patch work done in the future, and still make a nice profit for EA.  In addition, servers are provided by third parties, not by EA or DICE.  So, why does EA need to in-game ads?  Is it to cover developmental costs for patches, or to provide great servers for their faithful fans?  No, its because theyre greedy.

EA really slipped this one by us.  While we were busy arguing with eachother about why theyre bad and how it will effect our gameplay experiences, nobody really questioned the necessity of ingame advertisements. 

When I watch a football game, I see ads on TV.  Monster.com, for example, might pay for a stadium.  Whereas Coors Light pays for the rights to distribute the game to networks.  The difference between the football game ads is that we get something from it!  Instead of paying to watch the game, we get to watch ads.  However, in the end, we get a cool sport to watch on TV.  Sure, ads may be annoying, but even they can be amusing...and we get a free football game on TV.

With BF2142, the buyer doesnt get anything out of it.  The money goes directly into EA's greedy, fat pocket.  We wont get new maps, new weapons, new classes, new anything except the occasional bug fix. 

Instead, we spend 50 dollars on a bug-ridden game and have to play with ads that ruin the immersion we should experience.  If we got something from the ads, such as a free expansion or a reduced price in the original game, I could live with them (just as I can live with football ads)...the fact, however, is that the consumer doesnt get anything out of the ads.  It is a one-way situation with only the corporation benefitting.

By the way EA, do you think you can fix the "sentry gun shooting through Titan walls problem?"