Congrats Logan!

Heard the good news yesterday. Congratulations! Also, I moved to Clearwater this weekend - expect a housewarming (apartmentwarming?) party invite whenever it is that we get situated... so, maybe Christmas. :)

Nick in real life...

You HAVE to get one!

Greg Biffle is Gay

J do you think you can remove that thread or whatever it is, for some reason when you search some of our names that and only that pops up. Not sure if deleting that will cause another instance to appear or not.

Nick to the abc

[L] Yet another reason to hate France

I brought this up when this law was first passed. It blows my mind that the French think this is okay. Can you imagine a $200 fine just because of what you're wearing? Maybe if I was wearing a T-Shirt of a woman doing a donkey show while walking through an elementary school. The French make me sick.

Fasoli Day

Happy Birthday Adam and Drew. Today I am trying to recognize you each individually instead of lumping you under one name Fasoli Brothers since you are both special in our hearts. Have a good day gents.

Happy Birthday Nick D

NJD >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> everyone else (for today, anyway)

BAS

How is BAS (Braden Alexander Sammy) doing? Are you guys able to get some sleep or have you started downing 5 hr energy shots??

NJD > BAS > RJZ

Little Mexicans that Live in Pyramids

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=fbe212ba-d8fd-42ee-ab8c-b6d3379b0ab4" target="_new" title="">College Experiment: 'MegaSkeet420'</a>

60 mins

just got around to watching the 60 minutes episode on the new tax havens.

it's remarkably frustrating to listen to leslie stahl in the same breath say that the us has the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world and blame cisco's ceo for moving profits overseas to lower tax-rate countries like ireland and switzerland.

the houston dem that was blaming companies in his district for having shell offices in switzerland is infuriating. he can't see that the end-game of his attempts are not lucrative companies paying a large percentage of their profits to the government. the end-game is lucrative companies moving out of the country for good.

drew, i want you to find repr. lloyd doggett and pass along that he is an idiot. thanks.

edit: my point exactly

Zoolander

Blue Steel:

First Week With Tunderbolt

Last week I upgraded phones and got an HTC Thunderbolt on launch day. Everything has been great except for battery life. After some playing around trying to figure it out I found that simply being connected to the 4G network killed the battery (100% to 0%) in about 5 hours. Of course there is no official way to turn off 4G service, so I had to turn to the internet for answers. As you can see in the screenshot, I've created a shortcut that allows me to toggle between 3G and 4G on demand. This completely solved the problem, and I'm still able to connect to the 4G network when I need the speed (for those that care, currently getting 17Mbps down). If anyone is up for a phone upgrade, I would highly reccommend this phone provided you perform this little hack.

Chavez Quote {L}

Nothing really needs to be said, but I can't believe these words were actually said in a serious fashion. Wonder if those celebrity morons who visit this guy harbor the same belief. I can't believe this guy "leads" a nation and has other countries who support him, kind of scary.

Meet Braden

Braden Alexander Sammy born 3/21/11 @ 6:35 pm

7 lb 8.4 oz, 20"

Mom and baby are recuperating after a long day and a half.

Uploading pics/vids from the hospital is proving to be a royal pain, so any more updates will be sparse until we get home on Thursday evening.

Sweet 16....

Congrats to both FSU and UF for advancing to the sweet 16. For UF this is not something new (well as of the last 3-4 yrs yes), but obviously UF has had recent basketball success. For FSU though this is our first trip since 1993 and it feels great. UF seemingly has a good draw to the Final Four, but still has got to beat Jimmer in the next round. FSU has to beat a extremely hot VCU team on Friday to make it to the elite 8...good luck to our teams.

PS F the Big East

Nick D

Reese Wannabe

Proof positive that Ava will put up with just about anything.

Any day now...

Thanks for the shout out, Jared. 10 days and counting (and I'm hoping it will be sooner than later!) Maybe even a St. Patty's baby :)

For comparison, here's a pic of baby Jae...

Hope you all enjoy a cold, green beer for me tomorrow!

The babies are coming!

So i know Jae and Jenny as well as Eric and Christina are in the process of growing babies (Congratulations to both couples). And I just realized how crazy it is that I'm about to be an uncle! So first, I would like to acknowledge Jennifer **last named remove** for being an awesome sister-in-law as well as wife to my brother, and soon to be exceptional mother to my first nephew. I can't say too many things about Jae that I know for sure, but I can say I have enjoyed and appreciated him being my brother and displaying for me how to be a good citizen, man, and husband. So J and J, I love you guys and hope your son learns as much from you two as I have.

Best wishes,

Jared **last name removed**

NCAA Tournament Challenge {L}

Hey guys I created a bracket pool on ESPN for everybody to submit their picks. No money just pure respect....Except with you Rory we will have a challenge within the challenge.

Go Noles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (assuming they make it because their name has not been shown yet)

Nick to the D

I Expect the COD Guys to Practice These

Funny Jumping Dog

We get a kick out of this guy whenever we go by on our walks...

Fanasty Baseball

If you feel like joining in the age old tradition of fantasy baseball feel free to join up. Looking to do it for money this year to keep it a little interesting as sometimes baseball season can drag on, nothing major something like $2o. Let's keep the original fantasy sport rolling along.

ID: 89776
Password : tribe

What Pi Sounds Like

I thought this was pretty cool.

3D TV Smut {L}

Some very intriguing thoughts about this, which I will not discuss here. Either way when us sexual prudes in America finally get access to this count me in as somebody who want's to see it. I will leave you all with one thought though...money shots may never be the same.

Nick --------D

[L] The end of an era

Completed the transaction this morning...

Got in one last ride to bring it into work in freezing cold weather.

I better start saving my pennies now for my Harley when I turn 50

[L] - For the COD players

MW3 teaser site, seems to be counting down to a premier at the Game Developers Conference.

New Car Vid

Gray-Hoverman antenna

We're well on our way to cutting cable service. I've recently ordered parts to build a HTPC and the plan is to use it for torrent downloads, netflix, hulu, etc. While waiting for the parts to come, I decided to look into what I could get over the air when we want to watch a live event, have the itch to channel surf, or just need some background noise. I tested an antenna that I already owned (Terk HDTVa) and was disappointed that I got 14 channels, some of them weak, and 3 of the 4 major networks missing. I did a little research on the internet and found that people had great results with this design. A trip to the hardware store and about thirty minutes later I ended up with this. I tested this as pictured, leaning on the dresser, no amplifier and got 30 channels! I plan on adding the amplifer that came with the Terk and installing it in the attic, expecting to get a few more channels.

gmail getting slow

is it just me or is gmail getting slower?

i remember a time when i could send an email to my gmail account and it would show up in my inbox by the time i switched tabs to look for it.

both yesterday and today i did the same thing but it has taken upwards of 5-10 minutes to show up in my inbox.

anyone else seeing this problem or having less of an issue with a different email service?

maybe i'm being petty but 10 minutes feels like eternity when i'm sitting here constantly clicking the refresh button waiting for my password reminder...

New Whip

We've been car shopping for about 6 months now (car shopping = Hell) and we finally came across the perfect match for us.

It's an '08 Honda Pilot in about the exact same color as Jen's Civic (strange coincidence since color was not a constraint of ours).

Pics/vids to follow when I get a chance to take em'.

Now it's time to sell the bike so we can fit both cars in the garage. Know anyone lookin' for a bike?

New Site

I added another link under the "Good Sites" section to a new page we made on shutterfly where we will be posting short videos and pics related to the new arrival.

This is mainly for the grandparents but if anyone wants the password to the page let me know.

Grammy's Best New Artist

You gotta love it when a talented musician and singer like Esperanza Spalding wins out over publicity stunts like Justin Beiber. This is a short video showcasing her talent.

Axis of Awesome

Well we should all know how simple it can be to have a smash hit on the music charts these days, considering the hottest performers are Lil Wayne Kesha and Katy Perry. Most of their songs are villanelle in style and just repeat the same couple specific lines over and over and over. This repetition is filled with a formulaic verse usually befitting of the song but sometimes just as random as the way these puppets with voices got to be famous. This is a short video of some UK bloaks that have pointed out the Four Chord Dillema with music. Enjoy

[L] Watson dominates "Jeopardy!"

Did anyone else watch this the past 3 nights? Overall it was pretty impressive. Watson completely dominated the two best Jeopardy contestants in history, finishing with a two game total of over $53,000 more than Ken Jennings. There were some odd moments where Watson came up with some completely nonsensical answers including Tuesday night's Final Jeopardy where it answered "Toronto" to a question that started "What US city...". This huge step in language AI could develop into some truly great tech or it could mark the rise of our computer overlords...

[L] Toomer's Corner poisoned

Most of you may not know anything about Toomer's Corner, but this is a BIG deal!

To put things in context, think of the most storied landmark at your university being destroyed by your biggest rival.

Hopefully, the person responsible will be locked up for a loooong time.

By the way, both Georgia and bama fans have attempted to set fire to the trees in the past.

Pretty sad stuff!

Computer Question

Got a question for the board. I am in the market for a new laptop and just wanted to throw this out there to see if there is a certain brand I should not get. I am not looking for anything crazy as I will be using it for mostly basic functions. From my initial research I should be able to find something in the $500-$600 that should take care of my needs. Toshiba seems to be pretty popular and last time I bought a computer (which was a while ago) they did not seem to be around. Are they decent?? Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick D (engaged).

Possible Wine Country Trip

So while Alex was playing hours of COD with most of you other blog people...I was looking into dates to possibly go to CA. I checked it against both the Auburn and Florida football schedules. Which dates (could be made shorter in length for sure) would be preferred?

Sept 24-Oct 1 or 2
OR
Oct 1-Oct 8 or 9?

Florida plays at KY Sept 24, Alabama at FL Oct 1, and at LSU Oct 8
Auburn plays Florida Atlantic at Auburn Sept 24, at S. Carolina Oct 1, and at Arkansas Oct 8.

Thoughts? I've got some e-mails out to VRBO people regarding house rentals. Again, all preliminary, may not work out at all. But what was I supposed to do while Alex played COD all day??

:)

Ashley

Rooney's goal against Manchester City 12/02/2011

Big Announcement

Just wanted to let everybody know that me and Irene are officially engaged. Not much else to say other then that. Love you guys and gals.

Nick D

It's a girl!

It's official, we're having a girl! We're very excited and now it's time to agree on a name. The technician said everything looks great and the baby's growth is on schedule. She currently weighs 8 ounces and her foot can fit in a Barbie shoe!

Bulletstorm!

Not sure if the other XBOX players on this blog have heard of this game yet...but I just read an article on FoxNews talking about how violent and sexually charged this game is...so naturally it peaked my interest and went to check it out:) Looks awesome...kind of like Gears of War...but even MORE violent! Comes out Feb 22nd.

Group Trip

Ashley and I have been talking about how much fun it would be to take a trip with a big group of friends. So, I figured the blog has been slow and it might be a good time to gauge interests and probe for ideas.

We have discussed cruises, resorts, renting a house in wine country, Vegas, and renting a house/cabin in mountains.

Ashley and I are very open on destinations and scheduling, but we need to plan ahead.

No idea about time tables considering work schedules and babies on the way.

Let me know what y'all think.

Super Bowl

Just want to brag to everybody that I will be heading to the apparently frozen tundra of Dallas for the big game. This weekend should be full of the typical debauchery and total lack of sleep that the other SB have provided, with a lunch with Irene's dad squeezed in. It is pretty sad that I am more excited to see the inside of this stadium than anything else. Let's hope the game is good and everybody has a nice Sunday relaxing on your couch pigging out. Have a good weekend everybody!

Nick in the big D

Got my new office

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I moved into my new office about 2 weeks ago!



Just got my sign on the door the other day.

Tinkering with expensive electronics, again

For some time my receiver's been taking its sweet time finding a signal from any source, and lately it's been getting worse. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes or more for it to produce a picture. A little internet research revealed this is a common problem with this model and many people have fixed the problem by replacing 5 specific capacitors on the HDMI daughterboard. I was prepared to take the risk.

The dying receiver

The damages

Success!

Late February

Who is going to be around the last weekend in February? I am going to be down in Florida for a district retreat, but I am thinking of sticking around for the weekend (like the 25th t0 the 2zth), so if people are going to be around. If people are around, definitely want to see everyone.

COLD!

So in case any of you guys are thinking of moving up north, when I drove to work this morning, my car said it was 22 degrees below zero outside. I am amazed my car actually started!

Gasparilla

This coming weekend is the Gasparilla parade on Saturday starting around 2PM I think. As of now the plan is to get out there early and setup a spot on the street and just hang out and watch the festivities. Assuming the weather is nice it should be a great time so anybody who want's to come up should. We plan on just bringing some folding chairs and coolers and making a whole day out of it. Let me know if anybody is interested!

Also, Josh and Amanda let me know if you guys have plans or have been before, because none of us have. We plan on walking from Danny and Gina's place as of right now....

Peace be the journey...

Nick D

Black Ops DLC Out Feb 1st

[L] GS to offer Facebook to only Foreign Investors

So it looks like the SEC scrutiny has taken one of the most popular products of this century and forced it to be owned internationally. And this is helping America how?

J E T S JETS JETS JETS!!!

Thats all I have to say. And hey, now maybe Tom Brady can forget about football and catch another musical on Broadway next Saturday.

New Toy

I Just picked up a new piece of hardware. I purchased a Korg Padkontrol which is a beat pad for music making. Still installing software and learning how to use it but it is definitely a cool tech toy and i got it half price cause it was open box.... SCORE!

[L] So, I'm a Sagittarius now?

You guys hear about this? I've never been one to obsess over my horoscope, but I did always fit surprisingly well with the Capricorn personality description. Apparently now I'm going to have an identity crisis :)

[L] and this surprised absolutely nobody

Well Alex, it was great while it lasted. Pick predictions anyone?

Official Amanda Day

Happy Birthday Amanda!! Have a good one. Maybe one day we will trip it over to St. Pete to pay you a visit :)

Faith Versus Facts

I stumbled upon this article, read it, loved it. stimulating to say the least.

Iphone comes to Verizon

Well we all know that the best all-in-one phone is the Iphone. I say we all, because even if you hate the iphone it's for one of two reasons. The first, you have a phone that is a shitty copy of the iphone. Or, two you don't want to switch to AT&T because of there spotty coverage, outrageous pricing and hostage like situations in which you sign your life away to own one of god's gifts. But alas the iphone is now available "soon" on the Verizon network.

My response to this is... Fuck you Apple! I was happy living in the only state that has good AT&T coverage. And i wasn't getting tired of being mortally superior to anybody with a Droid or HTC. Now I have to spend the next year listening to everybody say the Iphone 4 for Verizon is better than the AT&T Iphone 4. Erroneous! The point is AT&T had the world by the balls, similar to bill gates or that creepy bastard from the social network. But they bitched out, opting not to pay more money to keep the Iphone exclusively AT&T sold. Which maybe the only reason I would ever use AT&T. Yes the Iphone will still be sold at AT&T stores but it has lost its mystique. Mark Zuckerberg had the idea that exclusivity would draw the masses to facebook. This worked well, he had people giving him terabytes of data that he then used against his facebook minons. Same as apple, you buy an Iphone fueling their R&D then they in return release another phone shortly after you purchased your first. This angers the child inside of you. The testosterone in your body drops when you realize you have been outdated. So to regain your manhood and technological foot up, you must purchase another new Iphone. Which then starts the cycle again.

this Is how AT&T should keep handling there business, but unfortunately for its' stockholders the gravy train is running out of rue. There will soon be nothing left but hardened bacon fat stuck to the empty pot that Was the AT&T empire. But if you act like a pig someone's gonna roast you. So Thumbs up to Verizon, your not the retarded kid picking his nose anymore, you have become a gourmet chef whom just prepared himself a feast. It took a while but that's what happens when your handicapped.

No offense to handicapped people, muslims, facebook users or anyone else that may feel alienated by this post.

The Shooting

By now I'm sure everyone has heard about the shooting in Tucson this past weekend. For everyone's info this happened on the other side of town from where we live.

I have to admit I didn't expect the media to grab onto this story as hard and fast as they did. The President is going to be visiting UofA today.

The event is tragic there is no doubt about that. But it seems like people are shot every day all around the country; is it *this* much more important that one of the people was a congresswoman?

Maybe I'm just callous, but I would rather see this airtime devoted to some of the other victims especially the little girl who will never have the chance to grow up and become a congresswoman herself.

Congrats

To Alex and the Auburn Tigers. It was truly a good game to watch on TV and I am sure in person. I can't say I am surprised that the defenses kind of stepped up, but I thought both teams would definitely be over 20. Either way Alex I hope to hear more about it this weekend as I should be in Btown a bit. Enjoy it my friend I am definitely a little jealous!

Puppy Love

Can't think of a group who'd appreciate this more...

For those that don't know about history... here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters & gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer, and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter. The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement. Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. They became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting – to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided. Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass for obvious reasons.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare... another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Liberals also invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher bat too. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists (but not all!), dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals.

Conservatives drink domestic beer; mostly Bud, Coors, or Miller. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots, railroad men, and generally anyone who works productively.

Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living. Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America (they crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing).

Here ends today's lesson in world history: it should be noted that a liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above, while a conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately – to other true believers and to more liberals just to piss them off. Let your next action reveal your true self... I'm going to have another beer.

New Years Btown

So we have discussed this, but have not yet nailed down any plans. Not that we have to have anything big time planned out or have anything set in stone. However, seems like over what was discussed so far going over the Kanzler's house was the best. If anybody has any other suggestions or ideas let's lay them out and see what else is out there. Maybe we can go out to the Fasoli's beach house haha, sans Fasoli of course......

Whatever the case may be I challenge you Rory to a decathlon..game on bitch.

Kinect Hurdles

Fun with Kinect

Can I Have the Envelope, Please...

The good news keeps on rollin'...

...it's a boy :)

Baby Announcement & Merry Christmas

For those of you that haven't already heard, we're expecting! We made the announcement to everyone present at Nick's party this afternoon. Christina is currently at the 12 week mark and the due date is July 7th. I recently acquired the mousseau.info domain and have started a blog for keeping family and friends up to date on the pregnancy and eventually the new addition to the family. If you would like access, email me at eric(at)mousseau.info and I will send you an invite. Merry Christmas everybody!

Sneaky Beaver

I show this guy what I really think of his RCXD.

I'm on a plane

With free wifi. It's really slow though. Exciting huh....

Christmas Plans

So Holly and I were FINALLY able to nail down some travel plans for Christmas. We will be traveling Christmas day and will get into B-Town close to midnight @ the Kanzler house. For those willing to stay up and have a beer or two with us...we would appreciate it. We will stay until after dinner Tuesday so hopefully we will get to see most of you (not sure who will still be around). Also, Alex mentioned shooting, so I will bring my gat so we can pop a few caps. Word.

[L] - The blog needs a new title

Unless you're a Temple fan...

For Rory

Here's the video I was talking about...

[L] Merry Christmas, Pats fans...

... and/or non-fans of Peyton Manning (all others need not read - you surely won't find it as awesome as, say, Eric and Adam will).

Drop Shot Tomahawk Miss

I drop shot just as he throws his tomahawk. In the first-person view you can see his 'hawk bounce off the wall and drop in front of me...

...I win

Funny stuff

Looks great! Little full... lotta sap...

I give you: the Mousseau family Christmas tree!

... and my Chandler Bing :)

Warrior Dash {L}

What's up my blogging friends. Me and a couple of people up in Tampa were thinking about doing this event that is linked above. We are probably going to be signing up before the New Year let me know if you are interested. It seems to fit the idea of a good time: Close, Affordable and Fun. Also, if we convince Rorina to do it we can place bets on who wins out of us two. Let me know....

Nick D ( Saint Nick) this time of year.....

[L] This is for You Nick

I'm not able to embed the video, but hopefully this will take you to it... I almost peed.

(not really, but still... hilarious)

[L] Them Cheatin' Jets

Rory, your team better come down hard on this guy...

New Hire

So how do you guys feel about this? This seemed pretty off the radar for me mostly because they only mentioned names with people with head coaching experience. Obviously Texas has been pretty solid for a while and he has a good rep around the nation.

I hear he's pretty good...

So this is happening again

Urban Meyer is resigning as UF coach. Depending on if this is actually true or just him playing again, Urban might be a bigger douche than Brett Favre.

College Bowl Mania

Well it was a fun and eventful college football season, like they always are. Obviously some of us enjoyed it more than other and for once it was FSU and especially Auburn fans. Anyway let's everybody sign up and pick all the bowl games to prove how much you really know about college football. Hope to see most of you around for the holidays where I plan on bragging about my perfect record. Alex I titled the group name in your honor and you know it is not something good. I will leave you with a quote from one of my favorite holiday movies.

Website: ESPN
Group Name: Pay to Pick
Password: nole

"Your fucking with me, you sit there like the dead lice are falling off you then your like like sea biscuit across the board"

More Tree

So this isn't as spectacular as Eric's tree. It is minimalist. We decided that since there is absolutely nowhere to put our tree inside our house that we would put it outside on the deck. It is right outside the door, so we can see it very easily and it also doubles as outdoor decoration. As an added benefit it gets covered in snow and looks even more festive! Now if I can only figure out how to prevent the water in the tree stand from freezing...

This was taken after I got home from work. (Yes, it is pitch black at 4:30pm up here and yes I get home from work before 5)
This was taken this morning. We were supposed to get a light dusting of snow today. It has been snowing all day long.

New Camera

With the little one on the way we decided it was time to step into the DSLR realm.

After sitting on the fence for a while between the Canon Rebel XS and the Nikon D3000 we decided on the Canon. We had originally planned on picking up a kit at Best Buy on black friday but ended up finding a better deal online.

This is the kit we picked up off Amazon:

• Rebel XS Body
• 18-55mm Lens
• 75-300mm Lens
• 8GB Card
• USB card reader
• Spare battery
• Carrying case

Battery is currently charging so no fun w/ it yet. I find it funny that I had to take a picture of my new fancy camera on my old P&S.

Show us your tree!

and the obligatory picture of Moose...

Post some links to you pictures in the comments! Happy Holidays!

[L] Alabama official approved songs

Well, it looks like Alabama had to fire somebody, so the guy that got canned appears to be the fall guy. Do the rednecks still seem classy?

Bamer PA Fired {L}

Alex I know you mentioned this to me and I thought you would like to see this. See looks like they do have a little class after all. Personally I thought it was hilarious, but if I was in your shoes would probably hold your viewpoint as well...:)

Nick D

Steve Mustachio

All good things must come to an end. The punctuation point on an embarassing season. Miscues and misses applenty this year, all attributable to one man. At this point one has to look to the head coach to pull the trigger on the person that is bound and determined to sink Florida football. Steve Addazio will call a game without any considerations for the other teams strengths. Enjoy the win FSU, lord knows it has been a bit since the last one.

Black Ops

--EDIT--

Here's a video to support my claim...

--/EDIT--

I'm going to go out on a limb here but it has to be said. Black Ops isn't very good. I know I'm not alone in this sentiment. I find this installment of the series much less enjoyable to play. At times it even feels like work. I feel like I should like it because it is new and shiny. But all it does is take, and never gives anything back. Here are a few reasons why I am really starting to hate this game.

The single player campaign on veteran is down-right impossible

Anyone who has started their veteran campaign must be feeling my pain. I have spent hours at a time making zero progress on the storyline, that is not enjoyable. A word of wisdom to Treyarch, they're called "checkpoints" fucking use them. Why make me spend 20 minutes battling inch by inch killing everything on the screen because the AI on my team can't find it in their hearts to shoot anything just to make me do it all over again when a grenade pins me down with nowhere for cover? I beat both MW2 and W@W on veteran thinking they were really hard but enjoyable, BO on veteran is not enjoyable at all.

Multiplayer Spawns

On more than one occasion I have had the opposite team spawn immediately off-camera from me and kill me. Just because they are off of my camera, that just means I won't shoot them immediately. It doesn't mean they won't kill me immediately. wtf.

The Multiplayer Maps Suck

Maybe it's just because I haven't learned them yet, but I don't enjoy any of the maps. It's not easy to follow the flow of the game and whenever I spawn, it takes me 5-10 seconds to figure out where I am. For contrast on Reach, I can spawn and pick up on where I am within a second or two. Given that I respawn on average 15 times a game, that is a lot of the game time essentially wasted. It also seems like every map is a camper's paradise. It's like within a week of the game coming out, everyone had found every box that they could stand behind and be practically invisible (and invincible). Hanoi is absolutely terrible for this. I dread playing that map.

I'm still willing to play this game, and God knows I'm an achievement whore so I will have to eventually finish my veteran campaign. But suffice it to say that I don't look forward to playing Black Ops like I did with MW2 and Reach.

Bammers

In light of the recent post about the UF-FSU rivalry. I thought I would share some of the fans of Auburn's rival.

http://www.warblogle.com/2010/11/24/football/the-epitome-of-a-bammer/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7KdbvJUOL4&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Q6vRLaqe8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kmr0UoZnwQ

There are more examples, but this should help everyone see why I no longer live in North Alabama.

"The Game"

Well it is hear the annual game between FSU and FU. Lately it has not been much of a game as UF has pretty much clocked us the last couple of years. This year it will definitely be a different story, not saying FSU will dominate, but I think this game will come down to which team shows up. I think FSU is better on offense and special teams, defense might be a push, but the Gators certainly hold the mental edge which is huge. This game would be to the Gators what it used to be for FSU a way to end a dismal season on a high note. For FSU a win over UF would make this our best since since 2005 and maybe even 2003 (if Maryland beats NC State and we go to the ACCCG.)

Either way UF offense has mostly been shutdown by good defenses, but I don't think FSU is on that level so I expect a close game. I do think FSU will pull this out and defeat the Gators for the first time in forever. This could be a great year for first year head coach Jimbo Fisher....defeating UF and Miami in one year...

Bottom line is F the Gators and I hope you get a taste of defeat and a mediocre bowl season with no answer in sight for next year. Maybe you guys can rotate 4 players in at QB??? Think that might help.

PS Good luck Alex hope you win let the trash talking begin!!

Bradenton Herald

So I was in the paper the other day...

New gear, new hobby

I should be posting some higher quality pictures from now on following the arrival of my birthday present. It's a Sony SLT-A55V with the 18-55mm kit lens. Also pictured are some used Minolta AF lenses I picked up online. It's going to take some time to figure out what I'm doing, but even the first pics are way better than the old P&S. Anyone else on the blog using an SLR? Tips?

Sammy's

Do you all plan on being in Btown for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Just curious to what your plans were to see if we would be able to see you. I thought my mom mentioned you would be home for one of the two, but could not remember which one.

I would ask about the Fasoli's, but alas I know you guys will not be in town ending our glorious run of sausage making during the holiday season. Don't worry though I am still game for figuring out a long weekend where we can make that happen.

The Nick

New blog title

Nice change, Jae! Very appropriate! Hopefully, for Rory's health, Urban will pull the trigger.

Eric "Iglesias" Mousseau

Happy Bday man!!!!!!

Really Clever 3D Effect for Wii

This is from back in '07 but a co-worker just brought it to my attention...

[L] Deficit Commission Statements

What do you guys think? They seem to be saying a lot of things that I have heard on this very blog. Who knows, maybe they were trolling us for suggestions :).

Drew, I am not familiar with the process but I guess they need 14 out of 18 members to sign off before it can even get in front of congress. What do you think the likelihood of that happening is? Will it even resemble the same advice by the time they get enough yeses?

In my opinion, if this would have come out prior to the Nov 2nd elections, I think the dems would have done a lot better. I think a lot of the backlash landed on the dems due to deficit concerns.

[L] - And all is right with the world

Did anyone else see the show last night? He kind of limped in with the quality of guests for the first show, but I thought he was funny. The jam session with Jack White kicked ass, it would be cool if he played along with his musical guests on a regular basis.

Remember to vote

Not that I have to tell anyone here but remember to vote. Big election today. I got about an hour of sleep last night. I am running on Rockstar and Diet Coke at this point. By this time tomorrow you will not be seeing any more political commercials.

Halloween '10

Happy Halloween from Don and Betty Draper...

...and Ava the Cat...

..."I can't believe they would do this to me. How embarrassing."