My one beef about shooters

I have mentioned before that I love first person shooters on my XBox 360. I guess it is the rush you get from the (mock) kill or be killed situations. I am not great at these games, but I can hold my own. Lately I have been playing Call of Duty 4 alot over Halo 3. My Halo 3 disk got scratched, or I probably would have never tried COD 4. Anyway, I am better at H3 in that I win more games. I win a few COD 4 games, but not as much. ANYWAY, the main point to this post is that there is a HUGE difference in the two games. Yes, they are both shooters. the big difference is the controls. The right trigger is shoot for bother games and A is jump, but beyone that, there are HUGE differences. You may think that it wouldn't make much of a difference, but it does. I got a new H3 game this week, tried to play it, and got SMOKED. The biggest difference is that the melee button is different for each game. It is a big deal when you try to hit someone in H3, but kneel instead. Or vice-versa. I guess I am going to have to go one month playing COD4 and then another month playing H3 so that I can keep the controls straight in my head. I wish that each game would use the same basic controls for each action. Maybe I can change them in my options menu.....

Vacation, sorta

I took a few days off last week and took the family to meet my parents at Great Wolf Lodge. It is an indoor water park in Sandusky, OH. It was pretty fun. I say that it was vacation sorta because we had to chase Gabe and Ally all over the place. Mostly Gabe. He LOVED the water slides. The picture is the result of a huge bucket of water getting dumped on a bunch of people. Noah is in there somewhere. It was cold water compared to the heated pools, so I avoided it. Gabe's favorite thing was the leasure creek thing. He woud get into the tube and run around the creek. It was cute. Ally seemed to enjoy the little kid things. she went on this one slide over and over again. She would squeel each time down. It was cute. There is also an out door pool, but the main fun was indoors. It was a little chilly outside. I took a few pictures, but didn't really want to take my camera around too much. I was worried it would get wet. Plus all the lockers were full and I was worried about it getting lost or stolen. I also didn't want to look like a perv trying to take pictures of little girls in their bikinis. That scares me a little. One day my little girl is going to be a teen wanting to to wear tiny bikinis. I think it is a little scary that they make bikinis for young girls. Why do little girls need to be showing so much skin in public? Seems to me that it would fuel sickos and perverts. I will get off my high horse now.

Yup. It's Bigger Than a Baby's Arm!

I've been picking crazy big zuccinis from my garden lately. Plus a bunch of cucumbers and some yellow squash. Still, not too many tomaotes yet. Just little ones. The big ones are starting to get ripe though. It is so exciting having fresh yummy tomaotes. I am a little worried about my tomato plants though. They have some brown leaves at the bottom. I hope they are not diseased. That six foot plant I posted about before is now bigger than ever. I can't even reach the top anymore. I guess I will have to get the tomatoes that grow too high after they fall off the plant. I just love fresh veggies. The picture of my hand and the plant is me reaching up as high as I can and still not reaching the top.

Ramblings

1. I got the latest NCAA 2009 football game. I'm not really too sure why, other than I like how it gets me pumped up about the upcoming football season. I like playing the game as well, I just am not too good at it. Yet. I played four online games and lost two. The other two, I was winning and my opponents wussed out and quit. You don't get credit for a win if your opponent quits. I was urked. Really, there aren't too many changes to the game from the 2008 version. Most of the same plays and such. There are a few new bells and whistles, but nothing jaw dropping.

2. Is BSG ever coming back? I hope that the lame finding Earth episode wasn't the show finale. There has to be more right? We still need to know who the last Cylon is and what happens to everyone in the fleet. I hope they are just putting the finishing touches on the last several episodes. I am jonesing.

3. Shows I am excited about returning: Eureka at the end of the month, Heroes in September, Terminator, the Sarah Connor Chronicles in September. There was another one, but I forget what. Speaking of TV, everyone should watch Wipe Out at least once this summer. The first time I saw it, I about died laughing. People go through obsticle courses and challenges in order to win $50000. It is something you have to see. Describing it won't do it justice.

What is it about Zombies?

What is up with zombies? I mean, why do I like the zombie movie genre so much? Not just the movies, games and TV shows too. I have seen almost any George Romero movie out there and their remakes. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, all are great fun for me. Add to that Resident Evil flicks, 28 Days later, 28 Weeks Later, you name it, I've probably seen it. Let's not forget two HILARIOUS zombie spoofs: Shawn of the Dead and Fido. The whole idea is rediculous though, the dead rising to feed on the living. Rediculous. It could never really happen, right? I think we all would like to think it could happen though. No hear me out. I think everyone has a bit of a killer spirit inside them. Not enough that any sane person would act on it, but it is there. Now, if an event arose that would make it acceptable to go on a zombie killing spree, it could be exciting. Scary as hell, but exciting. I would definately go for the old school slow and stupid zombies though, rather than the scary as shit modern day fast running zombies. Look at one of my (and Woody's) favorite games on the Xbox: Dead Rising. Basically it is a zombie killin' fun fest of happiness. I hope another one comes out soon.

There are a few things about zombies though that I do not understand. A constant in all zombie movies is that the living dead all want to eat human flesh. Why? I guess the only reason that counts is "just because it is scary." Living dead that just walk around eating plants or plain not eating would be lame. The biggest thing that always bothered me though is why don't they eat each other? I guess they like the freshness, but you see movies where the dead are eating corpses they have killed. Why do these dead (the ones getting eaten) not rise up and say, "stop eating me bitch"? At what point does tasty live people turn into icky dead people?

A side note: Jessica and I watched a cheesey zombie movie where one of the dead (before he died that is) said that he was a vegitarian. So, after he died he did not eat people. I thought this a rediculous notion, but hilarious. Could you imagine the living dead vegitarians walking around looking for fresh veggies to kill and devour? My guess is that the people eaters would make fun of them and cast them out of their zombie society.

Damn I am weird sometimes. And NO. I don't really want the dead to rise and try to eat my ass. I am just trying to understand my zombie facination.

Fun Weekend

I guess Friday was pretty uneventful. We watched some TV.

Saturday, I went to play some cards. I usually don't go out on the weekends, so that I can stay home with the family, but for some reason, I felt the need to get out. I guess I was feeling tired of the same old-same old. I ended up winning $80. I beat up on my buddy Hasan most of the night, which made me feel a little bad. I had a huge suck out against him. He went all in for $30 and I called him. I had a pair of aces with a 10 and he had a pair of aces with a jack. The last card to come up was a 10, giving me two pair. Another hand against him, he his a full house and I hit the hand of all hands: a Royal Flush. I had never seen a royal flush in real life. It was fun.

Sunday was more fun for Gabe than is was for me. Actually, it was a little irritating for me. Gabe was invited to party at Pump it Up, which is an inflated play ground of sorts. there was a bouncer castle, a big slide, and an obstacle course. He had fun and was running around like a maniac. Actually, about 20 kids were. It's amazing how weird some kids are. One asked if I wanted him to tickle me. I said no. He then tickled me and said it was opposite day. Are you serious? What kid would do that to a stranger? Then, the birthday boy started crying because his mom told him to wait and eat his cake after everyone was served. Well, she didn't tell everyone this, so all the kids were eating cake before the birthday boy. I can see how he could be upset, but to go on and cry like that (for a while) seemed a bit much. It really makes me feel better about Gabe. Now I know his whining and overreacting is normal for the age. He was pretty well behaved at the party. Accident prone though. He scraped himself up a but on the slide. I think it happens alot there since the staff people had a big supply of bandages. It was frustrating for me because the place was in the middle of nowhere and the sign was on the back of the building where you couldn't see it. I looked for it for about 15 minutes until I found it.

The Key to Victory

I finally have this Call of Duty 4 game figured out. I have been stuck at the bottom of the pack in my multi player matches. I usually have an equal kill to death ratio and often have the fewest deaths of all players, so I was confused as to why I never won or came into the top three. The key: air support. One this about this game that I find unfair is that all players are NOT treated equally. The higher ranked people get better perks and weapons, making it easier for them to kill us lowly folk. Still, I didn't understand how the top people would get 25 kills before everyone else got 10 or more. It seemed so unlikely. Then, it happened. Yesterday, I got three kill right off the bat, which give me a radar perk (so I can see where everyone is on the map). Then, I got two more, giving me an air strike (I get to call in jets that bomb an area I specify, which gave me another kill. After my seventh kill in a row, I got to call in an attack chopper. This is where the fun starts. A chopper comes in a guns down everyone else in the game. I started getting kills on top of kills. I didn't win the match, but I came in second, scoring 20 kills. I was pretty stoaked. I quit playing right after that so that I wouuld end on a high note for the day.

Six foot Maters

As I commented on Betsy's blog, I have some big ass tomato plants this year. My dad starts tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and several other plants in his basement every spring. No, not pot. As a result, we get a jump on the growing season and more yummy veggies every year. It is no trick of the camera or a weird aspect, that plant in the back is taller than my fence. My six foot fence. It is a cherry tomato plant, so it has about 50 little green tomatoes waiting to ripen. someare about ready. We also have yellow cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and pink tomatoes. YUM. One of the best things in the summer is cutting up some tomatoes, adding some fresh parsley and onion, and putting Italian dressing on it. It is great! See some more plant and kid pictures on my Flickr page. Here's a close up of the six footer.

Xbox Live WTF

I was playing on my Xbox yesterday and got booted from a Call of Duty game I was in. I then received a message that stated that my Live ID was logged in at a different location. I thought it weird, but turned off my Xbox to do some things around the house. Later, I tried to play again and when I logged into Xbox Live I got a message stating that my profile had been suspended. Huh? The message also stated that I could log back in today, but it did not say why I was suspended. This morning I called Xbox support and talked to someone that gave me no information at all. So, I check my email and saw one from Microsoft stating that my account was suspended because they received complaints about some inappropriate content on my account. Huh? I have no idea what that could be because I have no idea how I would go about putting up inappropriate content on my Xbox Live account. So, I am clueless as to why I have been suspended from Xbox Live. I don't talk trash, I don't have a camera to take naughty pictures, and I don't post nasty comments anywhere. the only thing I could think of is that someone gained access to my account somehow or someone just filed a complaint against me just to fuck with me. I am hoping that this was some sort of fluke and won't happen again. I would hate to have to start a new Live account and lose all of my achievements and gamer stats.

General Posts

- I played some cards last night. It was my first good night in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time. I was hitting HUGE hands and making good plays with them. I ended up winning $215. The biggest hand I had was four queens. I think I won about $40 that hand. I also hit some straights and a full house. I'm still WAY down for the year, but it was a nice night. It's alot easier to win when the cards fall your way.

- Happy 4th everyone! I have to work Saturday and Suday, but I get to have tomorrow off. The boys will be out of town. Gabe is staying with my mom for the weekend and Noah is with his bio-dad again. It will be just me and my girls for the long weekend. I don't think we have anything exciting planned, but it will be nice to have a break from the boys' fighting.

- I bowled a 289 the other night! On the Wii.....I finally figured out how to be pretty consistant rolling the Wii ball. I was perfect until the tenth frame. Then I got robbed and left a ten pin. Oh well. I would much rather roll a 300 in real life. I think I am going to get a new bowling ball for the next bowling season.

Finally!!!

Someone with a brain finally came out and made my satellite TV work. He had to move the dish. I am a little irritated that I have a dish arm sticking out of the side of my house, but I will be able to remove it. The dish is now up higher near the second floor. It is silly, I know, but it was very exciting to watch something on a local network. I am just glad that most networks have their shows online to watch.

Fierce Storms Last Night

Last night Noah came into our room and told us he could hear the tornado sirens. Great. We tried to turn our the TV to see what the weather report was, but since we don't get any networks (yup. still) we had to rely on The Weather Channel and the radio. Basically a huge line of storms was traveling straight down I-70 towards Columbus. We live off of I-70. We are all fine and the house seems like it is all in one piece, but the wind and rain last night was a bit scary. I would like to turn on the TV to see what, if any, kind of damage was done, but as previously mentioned, we have no local networks. There were a few thunder booms that literally shook me. It is the only time that I can remember actually FEELING thunder. It was a little scary.

Open letter from Time Warner to Eric - I told you so.

You may remember that I switched from Time Warner Cable to Dish Network a whild back to get the Big Ten Network. The OSU vs. Wisconsin game was going to be on the Big Ten Network and I wasn't going to miss it (Time Warner doesn't carry the network). I was pretty happy with Dish Network. More channels, more HD channels, more DVR space, Sirius radio, and The Big Ten Network. All for, basically, the same price as cable. HOWEVER, things have since changed. If you don't know, when you use satellite TV, you pick up different channels from different signals from different satellites. I have counted three satellite signals that we recieve. Two work, one does not. Satellite 129 is seriously making me consider cancelling our satellite service. It is pretty hit and miss as to whether or not satellite 129 will work or not. Rain ir shine, it doesn't matter. You may think that this is not a huge deal, but satellite 129 carries all of the HD channels and our local networks. So, we can't watch the local news or local channel programming without some SERIOUS signal breaks or no signal at all. We have called, they have sent techs, four times. Each time, they fiddle with the dish, it gets better for a day or so, and then it goes back to crap. We are supposed to get someone else out here to fix the dish AGAIN this Thursday. If they can't get it righ this time, I am going to ask what we need to do to get rid of the service. I think Insight Cable carries the Big Ten Network. Unfortunately, they will probably try to hit us with an early contract agreement charge. I think it is $200. AAARRGGHHH!

New Music

I got a few new albums in the last few weeks. I haven't have too much time to listen to them though:

- Disturbed - Indestructable - I like heavy rock music. Not ear bleeding gives you a headache speed metal, but some good hard rock. That's Disturbed in a nutshell. I have always been a fan. So far so good. Another solid album.

- Seether - Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces - I haven't listened to this one too much yet. I usually listen to music in the car. I need to listen to my IPod more when I play Xbox rather that my Sirius radio. Again, I like all of Seether's old music, so I am hoping that this new album is just as good.

- Fair to Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True - Nice, long album name, eh? This is a different kind of album for me. As mentioned, I listen to Sirius radio when I play Xbox. Well, they play two songs on this album that I really like. All in all, I really like the whole album. The singer's voice is kind of schrill at times, king of like a young Geddy Lee from Rush. Maybe that's why I like them. They have a Irish feel about their music. It is different and I like it.

- Coheed and Cambria - Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Maddness - Another mouthful of an album name. I just got this yesterday, so I haven't listened to it much. Again, I heard a song I really liked on Sirius called Welcome Home. It is very good. The rest of the album has a The Mars Volta feel. I don't know how much I'll like it. I need to give it a few listens.

I bought the first two albums at Best Buy, so I have the CDs. The other two I bought on ITunes, so they are only on my computer and IPod. I can back them up on a CD, but probably won't. It seems a little weird though, buying music that is not on a CD.

The Happening

I mentioned yesterday that Jessica and I were going to see M. Knight Shyamalan's lastest film, The Happening. As mentioned, I have really enjoyed all of M's previous movies. They are all original ideas and usually have a big shocker at end. Bruce Willis is already dead, Samuel L Jackson is the main villian, etc. Some of the films are a bit 'out there' but if you can appreciate a good story, M knight tells some of the best. Anyway, The Happening probably won't go down as the greatest film ever, but I liked it. I can understand how some people may not like it because it requires some suspension of disbelief. It's a pretty intense film though. Some gore, some funniness, some action. I don't really want to go into what all happens, because Betsy wanted to see it, but it kind of makes you think about where our world is heading. The ending is a little anti-climactic, but all in all the movie was pretty intense. I also saw an X-Files movie trailer. I'm not sure how I feel about this after the X-Files have been on the shelf for so long. I'm sure I will see it, but will probably wait for NetFlix to send it to me. Oh and Zooey Deschanel has the most beautiful blue eyes. I give The Happening a B, but can see how others might not like it.

I guess I can go into the story a little. I had already figured out most of what was going to happen from the previews. Stop reading if you don't want to know.

OK. Basically, people living on the east coast start killing themselves due to a toxin in the air. If you've seen the previews, you see people jumping off roofs, stabbing themselves, jumping into lion's cages, etc. A lot of the deaths are pretty graphic and gross. The toxin first starts in large populace areas, so everyone starts leaving the cities and towns, but then it starts spreading. You follow Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel as they try to survive. They basically find evidence of the toxin wherever they try to go (seeing dead people), so they keep trying to evade it. It's a good thing that this movie was kind of short or else I would have gotten tired of seeing Mark and Zooey running all over the place seeing dead people. All in all The Happening is M Knight's 'save the planet' message. The toxin is occuring naturally from plants where people are, like Mother Nature warning us they she can kill us if we don't stop our distructive ways. Also, it shows how people are really kind of crappy to each other as everyone adopts a "save yourself" kind of attitude. The acting wasn't great, the ending was ho-hum, but the story and suspense made this movie worth the watch for me. No big shocker though, like in some of M's other films. You basically figure out where the toxin is coming from about half way through the movie.

Just what I ordered

Some fun things planned now. I'm not exactly going to be a social butterfly, but at least I have some things to look forward to.

- Tonight Jessica and I are going out for dinner and a movie. We LOVE the Movie Tavern. We actually went there a few weeks ago to see Kung Fu Panda, which was pretty good. Well, tonight we are going to see The Happening. I have heard mixed reviews, be we really like all of M Knight Shymalan's other movies. Hopfully the bad reviews are just from low brow people that don't get M Knight's films or they were expecting something different. I am going to keep an open mind.

- I got good news in regards to my Ohio State footbal tickets this year. Instead of getting a crappy 'pre-season' game like Younsgtown State, I am getting tickets for a Big Ten game. October 11th I get to go see the Buckeyes stomp all over Perdue. I think the Perdue Boilermakers are on a team low lately, but it's still a Big Ten game. It is a different feeling in the Shoe when it is a Big Ten game.

- I have decided to get some Indians tickets for a game in September. My dad is a fan, and I am trying to be one too. At least a better fan. I thought that it would be fun to take the boys and dad to see an Indians game. I think I am going for the September 21st game against the Detroit Tigers. Hopfully, it will be a game with some play-off implications. Of course, the way they have been playing lately, the Indians might be watching the play-offs from their couches in their living rooms. Still, it should be a fun time.

- My mom wants to take us (my family) to a resort in Upper Sandusky for a couple days. She is thinking either Cedar Point or one of those water parks up there. I am a little on the fence about this one. We will go, of course, but it may be frustrating chasing the kids all over the place. I know, I am a stick in the mud. I just need to learn how to go with the flow and enjoy myself.

I need to get out more

I have been kind of bored with life lately. I think that my problem is lack of motivation and interests. Plus, it is hard to do stuff when you are either working or home with the kids while your wife is working. I know I could do things with the kids, but adult interests and kid interests aren't quite the same. Plus, most fun things cost money, which I have none. Given the chance, I'm not too sure what I would do with myself. Probably try to join a soccer team or something. I am pretty out of shape though, so that might be a bit too much. I should get out more to excercise, but I hate excercising in front of people. Maybe I am just making excuses for myself to be lazy. Probably. I just wish that there was something out that that I would enjoy and could take my kids. That is harder than it sounds when dealing with a 14, 6, and 3 year old. Do something the little kids like and the big kid gets bored. Do something for the big kid and the little kids get excluded. Maybe I just need to get out of the house. It's been two weeks since I've had a 'break' from being at home. I have gone to the store, sure (with all the kids in tow), but that is far from recreation. I think I am going to go play poker tonight. I should have joined a summer bowling league. That one night a week out keeps me sane during the fall and winter. Boy, I sound like a whiney bitch and a bad parent, don't I? I think I have just been cooped up too long. A night out will do me some good.

In the week of Eric

A few things going on this week:

1. We are painting the basement. I don't mind painting, but the basement has a bunch of weird corners and angles. We are going with a light green. I was hoping that one gallon and one coat would do, but it looks like I am going to need to get a second gallon. The hardest part was moving all of the stuff away from the walls. Also, manuvering around the kids' toys. Oh yeah, since I have maniac children, there were a few holes and dents in the wall. Really, those are the main reason for the painting. four real holes and about fifteen or twenty dents. Fun stuff.

2. In the Best Buy add, I saw a new Quake game for the Xbox that was being sold with a free copy of Call of Duty 3. I bought COD 4 a while ago and went through it pretty quickly. I want to get into the multi player part of the game. I play Halo 3 multi player ALOT, but wanted to try something new. Anyway, a free game is enough for me to buy another game. Fun stuff. Especially if the free game is something I am interested in. I love first person shooters.

3. As mentioned above, I have been playing COD 4. The game itself is WAY fun. You vs. terrorists. It was too short for my taste (I was done in about a week) but I am really trying to get into the multi player mode. It's quite a change from Halo 3. Instead of charging in, guns blazing, you need to be careful and sneaky. It is realistic in that, if you get shot, you get killed. Halo 3 allows for you to take some damage and still keep going. I have my work cut out for myself if I am to get good at this COD game. One negative is that, even if you are a newbie, you get tossed in with experienced players. I am level 1 playing against level 34 players. H3 was better in that level 1 players get matched up with level 1 players.

4. There are new pictures on my Flickr page. See the link to the right.

drawing a blank lately

Not many posts of late.....sorry about that. I guess I have been drawing a blank when it comes to what to write. I guess I can give you a general update:

- We took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. It was really good. Some of it was silly Jack Black comedy that could have been left out, but the animation was great, the story was good, and the kids really liked it. I did too.

- BSG finally seems to be taking off this season. It had better. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. The last Cylon, Earth, Starbuck, why did they turn Apollo into a whiney bitch, etc. Last episode was really good.

- Noah met his bio-dad this weekend. they had been chatting on the phone and via internet for some time now, but they had never met face to face. Mostly because the guy is a bit of an asshole. I won't get into it too much, but Noah said he had a good time visiting with his 'other family'. I am hoping that it makes Noah appreciate what he has here. I would like to think that a weekend in a trailer park would make him see just how hard Jessica and I work for him and the other kids. Not that there is anything wrong with trailer parks, but I think Noah was happy to be back in his own room. With three other kids, I have no idea where they would all have slept. We (Jessica and I) are never going to have a relationship with these people (I think that someone who is behind on child support and has never sent his child a birthday card or Christmas present is a scum bag) but if Noah wants to, there is really nothing we can do about it. I just don't understand why he would want to see them. Personally, I would be pissed at someone that has never really made any effort to be in my life. I just hope that these people don't expect invitations to summer cookouts and family gatherings.

Going to try Poker again

I am hosting another card game tonight. I've been on a run of horrible luck lately. I took a few weeks off to try to get my head straight. I was starting to sit at the table expecting to lose. That usually means that I am going to lose. The lasst few times I've played haven't been too bad. I've played well and only lost due to bad luck. Plus, I usually play to have fun more than to win. That means I am a little more wreckless. I am going to try to keep my head tonight and play smart. I need to start recouping some of my losses over the last few months.