Waterborn's Blog - 2old2play

Gears of War 2 LE Guidebook

I just picked up the Limited Edition Hard Cover Guide Book today. I have never been big on guide books as I like to discover things on my own and if I do get stuck, there is plenty of free info and walkthroughs available on the web. However, when I saw this baby, I knew that I was just going to have to pick it up.

Front Cover

Back Cover

This hard-bound collection of Gears Glory contains the usual walk-throughs, guides to finding in-game collectables and strategies. However, the moment you open up the book, you realize that this is indeed a very nice collector's piece.

Front Liner

The first thing you notice once you get past the fine binding and glossy cover art is the Limited Edition Lithograph of the Scorge character from the game. This lithograph is signed by James Hawkins (Conceptual Artist at Epic Games) and numbered. My copy is # 3051 out of 46,000 which is not bad at all.

Limeted Edition Lithograph

In the back of the Guide is a Conceptual Art Section that you will not find in the normal, paperback edition of the guide. This area includes several conceptual pieces from the development process.

Conceptual Art Title Page

Conceptual Art Piece #1

Conceptual Art Piece #2

Conceptual Art Piece #3

Also included in the Conceptual Art Secion is a 5-page pull-out depicting a massive undrground battle. Below are picutres of this pull-out from left to right.

Pull Out - Left Panels

Pull Out - Middle Panels

Pull Out - Right Panels

Suggested retail price for this Limited Edition Guide is $29.99 and worth every penny. Keep an eye out for my upcoming blog on the Gears of War comic series that promises to fill in a few of the gaps left open between the end of the Aspho Fields novel and the start of the in-game story for Gears of War 2.

[3 Comments]

My Day Off on Halloween

Had the day off today and decided to carve up a pumpkin and make some fresh pumpkin pie. Check it out. Took me all friggin day to get this done, but not bad for a gue with absolutely no artistic skills. Now I am off to buy some candy.

[7 Comments]

Every COG Tells A Story

And my COG story begins on Monday, October 13th.

But, a little background first. I belong to the 2Old2Play Gears of War Clan, Art of War(http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Clans&clan=ARTofWAR). I joined AOW shortly after GOW I came out. Our clan is made up of some of the coolest gamers out there. We play GOW every Monday night (MNG) and usually several times a week. We talk smack, laugh and simply enjoy one of the best games to come out in a long time. Oh yeah, and we give each other tons of shite. In essence, we are a family, and we stick together, which will be obvious as our story unfolds.

So back to our story. On Monday, October 13th, my clanmate IsNotNull posted a thread in our Clan forum mentioning the Last Day Viral campaign that Epic is running to support the November 7th release of Gears of War II. For those of you unfamiliar with this campaign, Epic is placing 1000 heavy duty GOW COGs in various locations throughout the world and leaving hints in an number of online locales. To get updates on this campaign, check out Epic's GOW Community blog at http://gearsofwar.xbox.com/Templates/cmblog.aspx. After Null mentioned the campaign, I did a little investigating and learned that Epic's Community Manager, SixOkay was the ringleader of this program. SixOkay posts updates via Twitter, sometimes including GPS coordinates and other hints to where the latest COG has been hidden. As any true GOW fan would do, I signed up for an account on the Epic GOW web site and decided to keep an eye out for any COGs that might show up in Boston where I live.

Being busy with work, I would check the Epic web page now and again during breaks, but never thougth that a COG would show up in Boston. But, I was wrong. After a long day of meetings and office work, I came home on Wednesday, October 15th and plopped down at my computer to get caught up on what was going on in the world of AOW. I noticed some updates on the Last Day Campaign and clicked on the thread. I see that a COG has been dropped in Boston, and at Fenway Park, only two blocks away from my office! I begin to go into overdrive looking for intel on the location. I post for more info in the clan thread and head over to the Epic site to see what is up. After reading a few pages of posts, I realize (much to my dismay) that the COG has been found, much earlier in the day. I kick myself, thinking that this was my one chance to find a COG. I cringe to think that I was only two blocks away and oblivious to the prize that was minutes from my desk. Here is the COG as it was found: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixokay/2944815171/in/set-72157607834669563/

That day I signed up for a Twitter account and had SixOkay's posts forwarded to my cell phone. I swore that I would not miss another opportunity, if by some stroke of luck, another COG would be placed in Boston. I followed Epic's site religeously, refreshing way too often while in the office. I became obsessed with the search and followed other GOW fans as COGs appeared around the world.

Forward to October 20th, the call goes out that a COG has been placed in Berkley, and this time there is a clue to go along with the GPS Coords "They Marched into Sunlight". My clanmate Tank lives near there and was thinking about going on the hunt. But Tank had been foiled twice before in the Bay area and was hesitant to meet with disspapintment a third time. I had the day off and offered to provide beta to Tank as info came into the Epic web site. After some hesitation, Tank decided to go check it out, and after some work, Tank was the owner of his very own COG (see his story here: http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=49054.

Tank's Prize: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixokay/2959330051/in/set-72157607834669563/

It was nice to be a part of the hunt, but I still wanted my own hunk of metal.

Fast forward to this morning, where my personal saga begins. I woke up at 4:30 am as I had to be at an event for work in New Bedford, at 7 am, which is about an hour south of Boston. We were scheduled for a long day as the event that we were working was scheduled to end at 6:00 pm. Around 4:00 pm, the event began to wind down and we decided to pack up early. I had another event to work at on Saturday and had to swing by our office in Hingham, MA on the way home to pick up some supplies for the following day. Hingham is out of the way, so I had to travel about an extra 30 minutes to get to that location. A few minutes after I arrived, my phone vibrated. I looked and there were three text messages in rapid succession, all GPS coordinates from SixOkay's Twitter. The strange thing was that all of the coords seemed to be in the same general area. I logged into my comp and went straight to google maps, figuring the West Coast was gettng more love. To my suprise the coordinates were in Boston! HOLY SHIT!

I printed one set of coordinates, logged out of my computer and hit the floor running, not even slowing as I ran past the printer to pick up the directions. I called Tank on my cell and told him I was on it and heading to my car. My fellow employees must have thought someone died as I bolted out of the store, to my car and sped away. I put my earphone in and called tank back, asking him where the three coordinates were located. The one set that I had printed out were on Commonwealth Ave, near Boston University. Not good, too many people with too much time on their hands in that area. Next set were near Hanover St. That sounded famililar, but I wasn't sure where that was. The third set were on Memorial Drive, near MIT, another bad location due to it's proximity to several colleges. I decide to go for the Hanover Street locaton and started peppering Tank with questions. He must have thought I was nuts. Here I am in rush hour traffice, driving a bright yellow Subaru Baja, weaving in an out of traffic while trying to read a road atlas to figure out where the hell Hanover St was. Finally I figured out that the coordinates were near an area call Government Center. Perfect location for a GOW drop. This place is like a huge concrete fortrees, wtih barriers and it's own subway station.

Government Center - Boston, MA

I told Tank I would call him back when I got close and hung up. The next 20 minutes seemed like an eternity. I kept thinking "what if someone beats me there?". My only hope was that anyone on the trail would hit the low hanging fruit near the schools as parking in downtown Boston can be a bitch. I thought I would never make it. But finally I saw the exit for Government Center and cut over, got off the exit and called Tank back. "Where on the street do the coordinates put the COG?" I asked him. He told me basically right in the middle of the street. So I looked for a place to pull over, but there was no streetside parking in that area. So I bange a hard right and luckily found a public parking lot. I pulled in, snagged my ticket, parked and was out of the car before the engine was all the way off. The coordinates were released at around 4:30 pm local time. It ws now 5:05 pm. Not sure if I made it in time, I went to the spot that Tank had pinpointed and called him back, cell phone on and head set in place. He said the coordinates landed right in the median, so that is where I started my search. The median had a long row of planter in sets of two, each with dirt but no plants.

Median at Coordinates

I started walking up and down the median, looking in each planter, digging in the shallow dirt and along the rail fence that split the walkway.NOTHING. After spending about 20 minutes casing out the entire median, Tank indicated that the coordinates plotted slightly to the south of the road, which is in the area of Government Center Proper, several acres of concrete, pillars and people. I started to look everywhere. I noticed a section of stairs that was blocked by concrete barricades similar to those in Gears of War used for cover. Ah Ha! I thought, this must be it!

Still, no luck. At that point, Tank is still on the phone with me and I am bugging out thinking I might loose this one. He told me to check out the Park on the North side of the road. Many of the COGs found up to this point were located in parks, so this seemed like a logical choice, so I headed to the park.

So I am looking around the park and there are all kinds of places to look. There are these tall glass monuments that you can walk through, lights burried in the ground, statues, bascially a million places to hide a COG. It is starting to get dark and people are milling about the park. I envision that everyone there is looking for "my" COG. I see a couple of college age guys who look like they are looking, so I walk up to them and ask "Are you looking for the COG?" The look at me like I am asking them to donate a kidney or something and then I clarify that I am looking for a Gears of War Cog. I explain the viral campaign and ask if they will help me. They start looking around and I begin to wonder if these are allies or competors. One guy finds one fake rock that was apparently used to house a light. The case is cracked open and he says that he thinks the COG might have been in there and that it is gone. My first thought "You took my precious!" all Gollum-like. Man, was I going off the deep end here. If one of those guys had showed me the COG, I might have tried to grab it and run. Not really, but it did cross my mind. So I keep looking and then I see this sign:

And I am like "Carmen? Carmine? Dude this HAS to be the spot!" Then I finally open my eyes and see this sign:

I think to myself "This has to be the location, Holocaust Memorial at Carmen Park? Come on!" You couldn't make this shit up! At this point, I relay my findings to Tank, who has been on the phone with me for almost 40 minutes at this point. I keep looking, even asking a few bums if they have seen the COG. When one says "Yeah, I saw that thing two months ago" I knew that I would get no help from them. But I offer them an unspecified amount of cash if they find the COG and keep looking. I start to get discouraged and tell Tank that I will call him if I find anything and ask him to let me know if someone posts that they have found the COG on the Epic site. This whole time, Tank is relaying the news of Avatrix's succes with the other two COGs and that Avatrix is heading my way to help in my search. Though I appreciate the offer of help, I really want to find this thing on my own, and not really knowing Avatryx at this time, I worry that he might be going for the Trifecta and that I could end up empty handed.

I keep looking and start to feel a little bad, runnning around this memorial for the dead as others are showing their respects. I decide that I will stay there and keep looking until I find the COG or learn that someone else has found it. Throughout the park there are these stone monuments with the names of the dead on them. Beside each monument is a stone bowl with numerous small rocks in each. People who visit the memorial take a rock out of the bowl and place in on the stone monuments in a sign of respect. So I decide to do just that, feeling that I should pay my respects given all the tresspassing that I have done. I start to walk around and look at the monument, really looking at it. I am still searching for the cog mind you, but I am also taking in this place that I never knew was even here, despite living just outside of Boston for over four years. I start to really admire this choice of location for the COG search, gaining a new level of respect for Six and his team as they create this parallel reality that we have all bought into. This place looks and feels as if it has been pulled right out of Sera itself. Right out of the Gears Universe.

I keep walking around, looking and thinking. By this time it is full on dark and I and wondering if I should go back to my car to get my headlamp to help in my search. I fear that as soon as I do this, someone will show up and find the COG, so I keep searching.

Then something catches my eye, a little glimmer in the lights that illuminate the park. I look and THIS is what I saw:

I could not believe it! I found it! I immediately called Tank to tell him the good news. A few minutes later I Twitter SixOkay with the news and Jedi with the CSID info from the tag. My heart is beating like I am on speed and I am feeling good. I tip my head to the monument one more time and head home, stopping to pick up some beer on the way home. Time: 8:05 PM.

Once home, I cleaned up my COG, placed in on an ArtOfWar Tshirt and took this picture to forward to SixOkay for his gallery:

This has been quite an experience and I wish to thank Tank for his support and SixOaky for putting together such an incredibly cool campaign.

And I would like to leave everyone with this image, set in stone at the Carmen Monument for Holocaust Victims. May we never truly allow our world to become like Sera.

And for Jedi Kez

[15 Comments]

2Old2Play Chi LAN 2008

So, I found this cool camera that lets me take photos from the future. I decided to see if it worked and what better way than to get a preview of the Chi-LAN. I don't want to spoil the fun for everyone, but BUY YOUR TICKETS NOW - cause it is going to be a blast. I will give you one little taste of things to come.

I present - Mike James (Day 1)

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Spring Thaws and Classic Gaming at its best!

My girl and I took a road trip yesterday to New Hampshire to check out some VW's that I am thinking of buying. On the way to the first location, we came across tthe scene below. As best as we could figure, someone had left their car in this shopping center parking lot during a snowstorm. Then, apparently some sleep deprived, perhaps slightly inebriated, plow driver burried the guy's/gal's jeep under the snow while clearing the lot. The crazy thing is, it is now 40 degrees in this part of NH and the only snow left are the huge piles like this left over from plowing. I really wonder what the owner of this car thought or if they even knew what happened to their car. Any YOU thought you had a tough winter!

NO PARKING ZONE

So what does this have to do with Classic Gaming you ask? Well, after checking out a few VW Vans, I took my girl to Fun Spot at Lake Winniepesake. Now if you have ever seen the movie "The King of Kong" then you will know this place. This is the classic arcade where Steve Wiebe beat Billy's "I'm a dick" (whatever his name was) world record for the highest score of all time on Donkey Kong. This place rocks! I grew up in the late 70's and early 80's (yeah, I am getting up there, so shuddup!) and this place brought back the memories. They have just about every classic game that I can remember, and a few that I completely forgot about. And ALL the games still only cost a quarter! So join me on a walk down memory lane.

Here is a row of classic coin-ops including Food Fight, Centepede, Millipede and Dig Dug

More Classics (Anyone remember Vanguard?)

The "Old School" Old School Section

Pong, Burger Time and Gorf (GAWD! I had forgotten about Gorf)

Pengo & Xevious - My girl went nuts when she saw Pengo (can't remember it myself) and of course Xevius rocks.

Loderunner - I remember this one from the Apple IIc, but did not realize that they made a coin-op version.

Satan's Hollow - This one always appealled to my "Burnout" and "Metalhead" side. Fun game.

Karate Champ - This is a game I spent countless hours (and quarters) trying to perfect my spin kick on back in "the Day"

Here is my girl on the "posessed" Donkey Kong machine made famous in "King of Kong". I forgot how hard this game really is. I never got past the first conveyor belt screne (#7 I thinnk).

Another angle of DK and DK Jr.

Star Castle - Now here is another game that I completely forgot about. I spent my share of quarters on this one in my youth. Check out the primative attempt at "colorization" of the screen.

Robotron 2004 - My ALL-Time Favorite coin-op game. I was able to break 350,000 on this yesterday and did not even scratch the list of "All Time Heroes" stored in the game. The high score was over 1.5 Mil!

Tutankham - Here is another game that I had completely forgotten about. Loved this one.

1943 - Now available on XBL Marketplace. Great Game!

Time Pilot - Another recent additon to the XBL Arcade list. This was another of my favorites when it came out. There is just something very satisfying about shooting down blimps.

Phoenix - I had forgotten about this one. I remember playing this alot because it was the only game available at the local bowling alley. I seem to remember wishing that they would just get Galaga, but still played it quite a bit.

Space Harrier - I used to SUCK at this game and still do. I remember this being one of the first "sit down" arcade games that I played as a kid, along with After Burner.

Tron - Spawn of one of the worst movies of all time (or did the movie spawn the game? I can never remember). To this day, I cannot get past the Light Cycle Screen to save my life.

Congo Bongo - I don't remember alot about this one, but do have vague recollections of it from the Popeye & DK Jr era. Someone can correct me if I am wrong on the timing here.

Zaxxon - One of my first "3-D" gaming experiences. Guiding the ship through those holes in the wall were tough (still are).

Frenzy - Now this game reminded me of Berzerk, and I noticed that it was made by the same company STERN. I thought that Berzerk had two joysticks like Robotron, so maybe this was its predecessor. If anyone knows the correct timing on this, let me know.

Contra - I never really got into this game, but know that there are some Contra fans out there, so this one is for you.

Star Wars - This was another of the early "3-D" games that I remember fondly. The Grahpics were all straight line drawings, but the game play rocked.

Battlezone - What can you say about this game that hasn't already been said? I did see a special on the History Channel that stated the US Military hire the makers of this game to design training programs for their tank commanders - pretty cool!

Crystal Castle - Here is another game that my girl went apeshit over. This game always reminded me of an acid trip. You run around a multi-dimensional landscape being chased by wierd and dangerous "plants" while trying to pick up all the "dots". Hmmm, makes ya think.

Marble Madness - Another game that is available on XBL now. This game used to drive me nuts. It was one of those that allowed you to put in more quarters if you wanted to continue from you last death point. This game was unbelievably hard to me and ate up alot of my money.

Xybots - I save another of my favorites for last. This was what I remeber being the first "truly" 3-D game a la the Doom-type first person perspective. The actual gaming screen itself was rather small (lower right hand 1/4 of the screen), but this one had radar and guns and it rocked. Still does.

Classic Home Arcade Systems

Fun Stop also serves as a the "Classic Arcade Museum" and had some cool new articles and classic home consoles on display. See if you remember these.

Odyssey 400 by Magnovox - I never owned this console, but remember a friend having it when it first came out. If I remember correctly, everything was some variation on Pong (Hockey, breakout, etc).

Coleco Vison - Why did everyone have to have the word "Vision" in the name of their console early on?? I remember the controls on this one sucking. What was with the number pad?? But they were the first to have the classic Nintendo Games, so we had to have this one.

And of course, the other "Vison" - Intellivision. With the same numbers plus thumb-wheel setup, I had a hard time seeing much difference between this one and Coleco, though if my memory is correct, the Intellivision came out first. Correct me if I am wrong on this.

So that is my walk down the Classic Arcade Memory Lane. I hope everyone enjoyed this as much as I did. I stongly advise anyone who is in the New England area to check this place out. And if there is ever talk about trying to get another NE LAN going, this is the place to have it. If the event were scheduled in the off-season (late Fall to early Spring) there is plenty of cheap lodging available. Plus you have the Classic arcade to keep you busy if you get tired of gaming in the LAN. Oh yeah, and they have a bowling alley and a bar on-site. They even have a bingo hall next door for those of you who might want to let your innner old lady come on out.

[7 Comments]

Waterborn's "Sure Thing" recipe

Fatalvision was looking for good recipes in the "Off Topic" thread, so I thought that I would post my "Sure Thing" meal. I used to prepare this meal for a special lady when I wanted to impress her. Now it is reserved for my girl when I want to show her how much I care (and she always provides the desert! ). Let me know if you have any questions and enjoy!

Waterborn's Sure Thing

Ingredients (more or less)

3 chicken breasts

white mushrooms, sliced

3 links Italian sausage

1 bulb of garlic, minced

1/2 onion, diced

4 bay leaves

fresh oregano to taste

fresh dill to taste

1 tbsp butter plus additional for brushing

olive oil

6 slices provolone cheese

1 cup whole/heavy cream

1/2 cup white wine

Small amt of flour for thickening sauce

grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1 box angel hair pasta

2 rolls of Pillsbury croissant dough

Serves 2

Total prep/cooking time: 2 hours

CROISSANTS

·;;; Brush olive oil in a thin layer in a 9"x13" baking dish. Set aside.

·;;; Pound chicken breasts out until 1/4 inch thick all around. Cut off all fat. Set aside.

·;;; Remove sausage skin and cook sausage and 2 bay leaves over medium high heat with small amount of olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, and the onion.

·;;; Break up sausage and cook until garlic and sausage are golden brown.

·;;; Remove sausage with a ladle, leaving drippings and grease in the pan.

·;;; Add mushrooms, 1/2 tbsp butter, and 2 more cloves of garlic to the pan (with sausage drippings).

·;;; Cook over medium heat till mushrooms are golden brown. Remove mushrooms and garlic and drain.

·;;; Clean the pan out, discarding drippings and grease.

·;;; Add white wine, the other 1/2 tbsp of butter, and the remaining garlic, along with 1 tbsp of olive oil, and bring to medium heat.

·;;; Add chicken breast.

·;;; Add 2 bay leaves, the oregano, and some olive oil.

·;;; Cook till chicken is golden brown. Discard bay leaves.

·;;; Remove chicken and garlic.

·;;; Pour the drippings from the pan through a strainer into another sauce pan.

SAUCE

·;;; Put the new saucepan on low heat.

·;;; Add the cream and the dill and simmer, covered, on low heat.

PASTA

·;;; Make the pasta and drain when done.

CROISSANTS

·;;; Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

·;;; Take 1 square of the crescent roll dough (=2 croissants, about 1/4 of the package) and roll it out evenly.

·;;; Put 2 pieces of the cheese on the dough so cheese is in the middle (does not reach the ends of the dough).

·;;; Put a small portion of the sausage and the onion on top of the cheese (not too much; you don't want the mixture to fall off the cheese).

·;;; Trim 1 chicken breast so that it fits within the cheese and sausage mixture (no overlapping the croissant).

·;;; Fold each corner of the croissant over the chicken, pinching them together in the center.

·;;; Put the entire croissant face down (seams on the bottom) into the prepared baking dish. Follow the same steps for the rest of the croissants until you're out of ingredients!

·;;; Bake at 400 degrees until croissants are golden brown (about 20-30 min.) A few minutes before removing from oven, brush melted butter on the croissants.

·;;; Remove from oven.

SAUCE

·;;; Return to the simmering saucepan (on low heat).

·;;; Turn the heat up to medium low and sift in a small amount of flour to thicken. Whisk the flour mixture as you're sifting.

·;;; Add a small amount of grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

·;;; Continue whisking until sauce thickens.

FINAL STEPS

·;;; Prepare a bed of cooked pasta. Place croissants on the pasta and add the sauce.

·;;; Serve hot.

This particular night I garnished the meal with Kiwi Fruit and grilled asparagus to add some color.

[4 Comments]

Tattoo Update

Though delayed, here are some close-ups of my tattoos.

The Tattoo one my left shulder was my first. It is an inverted Blue Triangle (representing focus and symetry) with the Left eye of Horus in the Middle (in this case, representing my recent reinvention of myself upon going to college - I was a complete loner in high school). In a circle around the eye are three dolphins head to tail (I studied Marine Biology) Each corner of the Triangle has a Greek Symbol in it (Phi, Delta & Theta - my fraternity in undergrad). At the base of the triangle is a banner reading "en coelo quis est" which is Latin for "in heaven there is rest" which was our fraternity epiteph, though we took this to mean you can sleep when you are dead. I got this tattoo after getting into my fraternity. For someone who never had any real friends up until college, being part of a real tight knit group for the first time in my life was a big deal to me.

My second tattoo, on my right shoulder is a square, a circle and triangle combined. The square represents stability and strength, the circle represents life cycle, rebirth and the cyclical nature of life, the triangle represents focus, being pointed to a single goal. In the middle of the circle is a figure kneeling in meditation. This symbol was the caligraphy signature of Sokaku Takeda, the originator of Daito Ryu Aiki Jujitsu and the "Grandfather of Aikido", a martial art that I study to this day. Over the figure's head is a traditional Japanese wave. These images together represent being calm amidst the chaos of life, a key tenet of Aikido (which literally means "Way of Harmony with the Spirit"). In each corner of the square are the caligraphy for the shinto concepts of earth, air, water & fire. The remaining vertical conji (caligraphy) read as follows: "Aikido" - the martial art of harmony "Kannagara no michi"" - Shinto term that can mean spirit, but more accurately, it represents collective consciousness over time (basically all sentient knowledge ever collected by "the source" or "Gaia" "Shinrai" - trust "Shinjutsu" - truth "Jikogisei" - sacrafice "Satori" - enlightenment "Hi No Ki" - a japenese wood known for its strength and use in shinto spiritual practice "Musubi" - the process of living "Zanshin" - Harmony with ki (or spirit). I got this tatto after beginning to study Aikido. This martial art changed my perspective on many things and taught me that strength is not always what it seems and that sometimes blending with adversity is the best way to beat it.

The third Tattoo that I received was my "tramp Stamp" above my lower back. To clarify, I got this tattoo in 1993, long before the placement of ink in this area was deemed the mark of a slut. Nonetheless, part of blending with the world is dealing with its illogical misperceptions. Such is life. This tattoo depicts another japanese wave, crashing at sunset. The wave is set inside a square celtic knot, signifying how tied to the ocean I was at the time. I lived within a mile of the beach and surfed every chance I got. My girlfriend at the time got a very similar tattoo, but with the square changed into a diamond shape (we both were very superstitious about having identical tattoos). As it turned out, we broke up after dating for two years, so the evidence for such superstiion is yet inconclusive, but swaying towards the feeling that we were right.

My fourth tattoo (one my chest over my heart - picture to come shortly) is a simple japanese conji (or caligraphy) for the word "ai", which means "harmony" or "peace". This is printed in a mirror image, so that it looks backward to those who look at it, but I can read it in a mirror. This tattoo reminds me to try to harmonize or blend/love people when I do not feel like doing so. I have had several people of Japanese decent come to me and tell me that it is backward. When I tell them why, they usually understand.

My fith Tattoo is on my right arm, just below my shoulder. Orginally, it was supposed to be an upper arm band, but I decided against this when arm bands became very popular in the mid to late 90's. The band conists of a snake, wrapped in a circle, biting its own tail. Across the circle are Phoenician letters that spell out a word that I will not disclose (only one other person knows what this word means). Originally, the tattoo was supposed to comemorate a long-term relationship that I thougt "was the one". The meaning has morphed into "Love and pain are forever". I will let you decide why.

My sixth/seventh (done in two parts) and final tattoo(s) (so far) icomprise the big back piece. This tattoo came into my life after a long, drawn out breakup with my girlfriend at the time. To make a long story shorter, I met this girl, fell for her, then fell for her two kids, moved in, became boyfriend, dad and best friend to all three only to have mom freak out after 9-11 (can't really explain why, just know this date changed our lives) and kick me out of the house, out of her life, and worst of all, out of her kids lives. So I guess the tattoo is pretty self explanatory. The original image (the man) was taken from Henry Rollins' book "Solipsist". Henry has always been a hero of mine, and the term Solipsist basically refers to the belief that a person can only truly know ones self, and nothing else. The tattoo represents feeling restrained by powers that I could not control and feeling that my heart was torn out at the same time that I felt my heart was all that I truly knew. The three stars were added later, and represent the three people that I lost from my life at that time. Since then, I have made amends to some extent with the lady in question. We are now friends and I still keep in touch with her kids on a regular basis. This is the only tattoo that I can remember physically hurting. The mind and body are one I guess.

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My Tattoos

After reading Fatal Poison's last Blog, I figured that I would post some pics of my own ink. I have seven, each designed by me and each represents a significant moment in my life.

Back Tattoos

My sixth/seventh (done in two parts) and final tattoo(s) (so far) icomprise the big back piece. As I have to run for now, I will update this blog later tonight with the symbolism of this piece. I will also try to get my girl to take some close-up pics of the individual tattoos, so stay tuned.

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Jennifer Nettles

Here is the "official" video of the song by Sugarland "Stay". I have known Jennifer since 99 and she is one of the most genuine people a person could ever meet. This video has more soul that pretty any I have ever seen. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIyxkZod2cM

I can't get the video to imbed, so you have to head over to youtube to check it out.

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My Friend Jennifer is a big star!

My friend from Atlanta, Jennifer Nettles, just won duo of the year at the Country Music Awards. Check out the voice on this girl.

Embedded YouTube Video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1z-UP-ynDc

Country is not necessarily my thing. Jennifer started out with a Band called Soulminer's Daughter, which morphed into the Jennifer Nettles Band. When she is singing bluesy rock, watch out! If anyone is interested in some MP3's of her older stuff, let me know.

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Surfs Up!

It has been ages since I blogged, but today and am Jonesin' like you would not believe. After a long, waveless summer (which is typical on the east coast), the Nor'easter Gods have smiled on us this morning and granted us EPIC WAVES! Sets are now coming in at overhead to double-overhead (8' - 10') and in perfect shape with the westerly, offshore winds. I am packed up and heading out to meet some friends and, provided I survive , I will post photos and a report later today. To give you an idea of what we will be seeing out there today, here is a photo fromthe last great swell which occurred in fall '06.

Oh, an by the way, I surf in a kayak these days, so if you have never seen someone do this, you definitely will want to check back. I also have a new water proof camera that takes 30 fps mpegs, so hopefully we will have some good videos as well.

See you on the other side!

OK, so I am back from the Beach. Surf was fun, but not nearly as big as we had hoped. Here are a few pics. I tried to get some video from the water with my new camera, but need to work on technique. Enjoy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6B2pZOxNI[/youtube]

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Recovering from the LAN

Well, it has been a very long time since I made a blog entry. But after attending the LAN and meeting so many cool 2old2players, I had to take a minute to sit down and write a bit. First, a HUGE thanks and great job to Doodi, Phreak, MJ and co (sorry for everyone that I forgot) for all the hard work. This was my first 20ld2Con and it was well worth the 16 hr drive from Boston. I learned two big lessons this trip: 1) Take it easy on the first night there (Potbellys anyone?) and 2) Keep an eye on MikeJames at ALL times. But seriously, I drank way too much on Friday night. That, mixed with some ill-timed Chinese takeout at 11:00 PM( my suggestion is go for the pizza, skip the asian delivery), resulted in an ill fated attempt at breakfast on Saturday morning. I also learned that Infection is even worse at Gears than I am, at least after a liter of crown that is. The bottom line is that I had a blast and will be back for #4. I also want to extend an open invitation to anyone that I met at the LAN to stop by and visit if you are ever in Boston, you have a place to crash and me and my girl would be happy to show you around Beantown. Have to run for now, but it was great to meet everyone.

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The Decent, good but not as good as the hype.

My girl and I just watched The Decent last night. This movie came up right around the same time as The Cave. Both are about groups of spelunkers who end up stranded deep in a cave and on the wrong end of a Darwinian nightmare in a struggle to get out. The Cave was not worth the $4 I spent to rent it at Blockbuster. The Decent was much better. However, I had heard so much hype about just how good this movie was, that I was left a little dissapointed. Don't get me wrong, as "Horror" flicks go, this movie was far better than most these days. However, when critics are even hyping the quality of such a flick, I expect something on the level of the first saw movie. The best parts of the DVD were the outakes and the documentry on the making of the film. This movie was directed by Neil Marshall's, the English bloke who also wrote and directed Dog Soldiers. The documentary on the making of this film mixes dry English humor into the set of a horror movie, really good stuff. Thing The Living Dead meets Monty Python.

Here is the trailer from IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/trailers-screenplay-E27410-14-2

And here is another trailer from youtube set to Linkin Park.

Embedded YouTube Video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKcnfZMwwGA

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And now for your viewing entertainment . .

I have been trying to get this video uploaded to youtube for some time. After much gnashing of teeth, I have succeeded.

A little background. I have my Bachelor's Degree in Marine Science & Biology and a Masters in Marine Aquaculture. I actually worked as a Marine Biologist for several large public and private aquariums for about 11 years. (more ties to the water). I first heard rumors about this video when in undergrad. I was a bit of an urban legend, or more appropriately an aquatic legend, around school. Marine Biology students would talk about this video much as people now talk about Paris Hilton videos, though at the time there was no youtube or myspace to help track it down. I saw this video for the first time just before graduating undergrad, and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.

The subject matter at first glance seems blasse and perhaps a bit traggic, a whale, beached in Oregon, dead and in need of disposal. What to do with such a large corpse? Well, leave it to municipal powers that be to come up with the most entertaining, if not wise, answer.

When you watch this video, the quality is poor. The best part though is the sound. Turn it up and wait for the blast. The next ten seconds are golden.

Without further adieu, the Great Exploding Whale Trick. Enjoy!

Embedded YouTube Video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfb2i9ubgNU

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Currently one of my favorite songs

Warning: NSFW

I love this song, though it drives my girl nuts when I sing it around her.

Embedded YouTube Video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8tWES3-_ok

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