checking in

I've been crazy busy with work, getting my stormtrooper ready for 501st approval, and general day to day.

A few quick thoughts:

Gaming - I picked up Knight's Contract on a price drop at Fry's.  It's okay, but not great.  I don't even think it has the potential to be great.  The characters are uninspiring, and the combat is inconsistent.  The in game map and objective tracking is garbage.  Wow, did I just say it was okay?  The basic idea is you're this dude who used to be an executioner.  You killed a witch a few hundred years ago.  She cursed you and now, you're immortal.  Fast forward a couple hundred years, and all these other witches who were executed are back, and hell bent on destroying humanity.  The witch who cursed the hero of the story is sticking by her litle witch code and wants to save humanity.  She has entered into a Knight's Contract with the executioner, wherein if he helps her dispatch the witches, she'll grant him mortality so he can go ahead and die.  Okay, so you're playing a dude who can't die.  However, the witch can.  You can get completely dismembered and the witch is left to fend for herself until you get yourself back together.  This is accomplished by mashing the A button for like 30 seconds.  While not an instant 'game over', it really puts you in a bind.  Combat seems to rely on luck.  You can get completely butchered with one set of enemies, restart the checkpoint, use the exact same strategy and wipe them out in no time. 

NCAA 12 - I haven't gotten to do much with it.  A few quick hit observations - Trent Richardson is really, really good.  Recruiting is improved this year.  The Road to Glory mode has some nice additions, like platooning on offense and defense, and having to perform well to get colleges to notice you over the course of an entire season.  One puzzling thing to me is that my defensive play has been terrible.  Usually, I play tight defense and lousy offense.  Now, I'm decent offense, and terrible defense.  I played the first game of Bama's season and barely beat Kent State.  I need to work on that.

MLB 2k11 - I remembered on Tuesday that there was an achievement available for playing the all star game on the day of the actual all star game.  I play a game, and win, and no achievement pop.  I look it up online, and yeah, it's glitched, but usually pops after a few tries.  I play another game, as the AL, win, no pop.  I play a short game as the NL, win, no pop, rematch, no pop, rematch, no pop.  I play a short game as the AL, win, no pop, rematch, no pop.  I play a game as the NL, lose, no pop.  WTF 2k?

Phone - I finally got sick of AT&T dropping nearly every call I made from the office.  I was thinking I'd hold out for the Droid Bionic, but finally decided to switch over to Verizon and get a Droid Charge.  It's been an adjustment from the iPhone 3gs, but so far, I'm happy with the phone - and better yet - I have not had one dropped call.  Eat shit AT&T!

College Football - wow, the violations are adding up.  Ohio State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, West Virginia all will be/or are being hit.  Things are looking grim for Oregon.  Tons of smoke still around Auburn - with the NCAA's statements sounding ominous.  Smoke around LSU for dealing with that Lyles cat that's screwing Oregon.  All's I can say is I hope 'Bama's been minding their p's and q's and learned from the past.  I have a feeling something big is about to happen.

San Diego Comic-Con - Flying out next Wednesday.  It will be my first Comic-Con.  Can't wait.  Sadly, my stormtrooper armor won't be done by then, but I should have a couple Star Wars getups to wear. 

TV - I wasn't blown away by Torchwood: Miracle Day.  It was okay, and I'll watch the next episode, but it seems to have something wrong with it.  I finally watched all of the first season of Game of Thrones - wow.  What a fantastic show.  My lady got me into Big Brother a couple years ago.  BB13 has just started.  I'm sure I'll get sucked in, but right now, I'm not really digging it.  Rachel and Brandon are silly geese (I realy wanted to say f*****g c****s but thought I'd keep it clean).  I'm really enjoying Shark Tank.  From a small business owner point of view, it's fun to see these people try to make their pitch.  Weeds has started up again.  Last season was kind of a let down, and this season is a bit slow so far.  I'm 2 episodes in, so hopefully it picks up.  I still question whether or not it was wise to take the show out of Agrestic.

That's about it for now.