Aelric

That is news to me. I've not had any problem thus far, I'm in Yucca Valley, CA now and I was living in Thailand last year, and San Jose in 2012, Thailand again back in 2010-2011 and Korea from 2008-2010. I think the region locking means that you can't buy a game if you get gifted a game that is banned or unavailable in your region, but if you already own it than I think it'll be fine. at least, that is my experience. Dark Souls and LA Noire were not available in Thailand, but when I moved back to the states, I bought both, no problem, then was able to download and play them without any problem when I went back to Thailand.

And if it comes down to it, I can use a VPN/proxy to mask my region and fool steam into thinking I'm still in California, which I'll have to do to get on Youtube and Facebook anyway. It's the common way of dealing with Chinese censorship.

Now, the waiting truly begins. I've not kept myself pure for it, what with all the Dark Souls II content on the site, but I'll still be mostly virgin. I don't have any consoles right now, but I still got my gaming PC so it was my only option. I'd usually wait until a sale, for any game, I juat act like games come out a few months aftr they really do, and I hardly ever Pre-Order (Last Pre-Order I made was Dragon Age 2. Before that, Bioshock 2. got burned twice, shame on me). But, this one seems worth it, particularly on the ground floor, at least with the other PC users.

The bad part, I'll be in Living in China by then, and the online stuff will likely be a lagfest. Oh well, even if it just means bloodstains and messages, I always liked being online more than offline. I rarely beat invasions anyway.

About a month. Tick Tock.

It is entirely possible that who they would hire wouldn't be an editor, this more of a Ian figure, mostly behind the cameras. I got the impression that they weren't planning on hiring new personalities, more like new workers for the nuts and bolts. Also, they have been talking about being on the verge of doing some cools stuff since they got to CBSi, but seemed to get slowed down by the corporate structure. I think that is specifically meaning that hiring folks has been difficult because CBS bought GB as is and didn't plan to do much with it other than let it be itself, but that is total speculation. Plus, obviously, Ryan dying likely put a long hold on many plans. Last year, a whole lot of bad happened, including Patrick moving and the cameras getting jacked at E3, all of which probably made GB seem like a budget sinkhole to some executive in control of the money. Have you noticed that they talk like they haven't even gotten the equipment replaced yet when they bring it up? I think their budget has been the biggest problem after the setbacks.

Well, that got a little off topic, but I still think my money is on them hiring more worker bees and not new editors. Cheaper too and that might be the only way CBSi will agree to it. Hell, they might only be able to get interns again.

As for who i would like to see if they do hire a new editor? Well, Carrie would be alright if she wanted to do it, so would Danny if CBSi let him. Jeff Green might be alright. All three offer something new, Jeff Green being older, Carrie being a girl, Danny being Irish, And those perspectives would be interesting to hear. I'd also say Leigh Alexander, but this site has a history of jumping all over her ass, and to be fair, she has been a sloppy drunk on camera before. Her writing is better than her personality, so she might not mix well here where their isn't much written stuff anyway.

I would really like to see a girl hired, not to sex the site up with her looks but because she hangs well with the guys and has well formed opinions, but everyone would scream Social Justice Warrior (like it's a bad thing) and harrass the hell out of her. I think Carrie is the only one that might get a pass due to being oldschool gamespot.

This morning I weighed in at 239.8. That means I broke ten pounds. It took roughly 6 weeks to do but I'll call that a milestone. Just need to do that 5 more times and I'll reach my goal. I do wish I could just pay EA for some coins to speed up the process, but I'm pretty happy nonetheless.

Why the conflict, really? Some like PC, some like Console. I like both when I can. I'm limited to PC due to my means currently, but I totally want to pick up the new consoles when I can. My ideal is not loyalty to one box or the other, but to have a console trifecta of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and a decent but not crazy powered PC for a reasonable cost.

I don't see the markets really being in strict competition with each other. The companies that make games are often porting them to both and it's the consoles that get most of the exclusives, unless you count a lot of indie games and free games.

As far as costs go, well, you save on cheap games during steam sales what you pay for hardware on PC, but console is cheaper to get started with higher priced games usually and a longer time before prices drop. Unless you are pirating, it balances out to the same costs after a year or two, I think.

Finally, Consoles drive PC hardware to upgrade, which in turn drives new consoles to come out. It's a largely symbiotic relationship.

It doesn't have to be a war, folks. We can live together.

The Governor: Liar *decapitates Hershel.*

I quit in a few years ago. The trick I used is isolation. I was staying with my folks for a few months where there were none in the house and I didn't have a car and they are out most days, so I was stuck in the house. Add to that that their house is far from any store. I basically never left for the first month. This also led me to exercising too, which I think helps you not want to smoke as well. After the first month, I started taking walks into town, which takes about a hour to do, and didn't get tempted to buy while I was shopping. I still get a twinge seeing someone smoke in a movie, but for the most part I think I can hold out from this point on. you just need to get past that first 8 weeks or so.

I personally think that the patch sets folks up to fail, but that is just me. If it helps you, great, just don't fall into the traps where you swap a bad thing for another. I have a friend that quit smoking 10 years ago but still chews nicotine gum every day. Also, vaping is crap, it's just a different form of the same thing and more insidious because it's smoother. If you vape, you might feel better but there is still nicotine fucking up your body and FAR too often, like the patch or gum, people think it'll help them quit but it just becomes their new habit, same as smoking was. Vaping is not quiting, I don't care what the cultish vapeing subculture claims. Also, vape people are hyper defensive and slavishly loyal to their habit. Nothing that creates those reactions is good for you, be it chemicals or ideas. I mean, just look at whoever replies or quotes me in this thread to defend it, I'm sure a few will.

Anyway, the important thing is that you are on the path.Good luck, there isn't anything good bout smoking.

Thanks. Yeah, I think the biggest problem folks have, that I certainly have still, is the info overload. That's another reason why I picked this simple program that I linked above because it doesn't make any claims about weight loss, it's just good daily constitutionals, really. I can't say my weight loss it really from that, but rather from the calorie counting and the stationary bike I've been riding as extra.

I also am using MyFitnessPal. I don't have full control of my menu due to currently staying with my parents before I head off to China. Example, tonight, my dad make homemade gumbo, which is godly good, and I wouldn't have been able to resist having some. the way it has been working out is that I eat what I need too (i.e.: oatmeal breakfasts, tuna salad lunches, grilled chicken dinners and vegetable snacks are all fairly common) and keep everything in the 1200-1700 range daily, and then weekends when my dad takes over the kitchen, I limit myself to raw veggies and fruit and such for the day and then eat whatever he makes for dinner. It's two cheat meals two days in a row but I'm good for the rest of the week and I still try to keep my portions small. I'd guess those days I'm up to 2500 for the day, which is not that much higher than my BMR anyway. So, for five days of the week, I aim for a 500 exercise deficit and a 500 diet deficit below my BMR for 1000 calorie deficit per day. If 3500 calories make a pound, then I should stay in the safe 1-2 pound per week range for the foreseeable future. I'm 6'5" with a small frame, so I'm aiming to get around 185-190. Once I hit that, which is a little lower than my ideal weight, then I hope tone up and maybe add a little muscle weight, but that is a far off goal. It'll still be another 6 months or so until I'm there so long as I keep this pace.

Once I'm in China, I'll have both more and less control over my diet. On one hand, i'll be doing my own shopping and cooking most of the time. On the other hand, it's China and not everything will be available. Usually that is fine in Asian countries, though, since it's stuff like cheese and beef that is less common than the states and isn't good stuff or a diet anyway. Caloie counting might be a little hard there when I go out, though, what with all the unfamiliar foods, but I think I'll manage.

I wrote this to a friend of mine tonight. I figure it works as a decent review of the show, if anyone cares to read it:

So, I've watched the new Cosmos series tonight and I've got some thoughts.

First, it's better than I expected. I was worried there may have been too many compromises due to it airing on Fox and that it might be too fast paced or 'in your face' due to the involvement of Seth MacFarlane. I think that this turned out to be partially true, but not as bad as I thought.

Now, let's get the bad out of the way. While I find DeGrasse Tyson likable, I fear that his presentation lacked a little something. I think it's a death by comparison, when held up against Sagan. Sagan had a very personal, very poetic cadence and tone to his words that very often moved me to tears when contemplating the enormity of the universe. Tyson seems more like a cool high school teacher that is looking to blow your mind when he reveals the scale of things. Sagans moving line about us all being made from star stuff is delivered by Tyson with an explosion sound effect like he just revealed that Kevin Spacey was Cesare Soze all along. It's not a problem of content, but delivery that I think to new viewers would work fine, but to old sentimentalists like me lose some of the power of the otherwise utterly gorgeous concept.

That brings me to the compromises, of which there are surprisingly few. This was the first episode, we shall see how the rest pans out, but being able to hear the line "Your god is too small" regardless of context on a Newscorp owned channel was not something I expected. That said, there is wishy-washyness when referring to evolution and lip service paid to every major religion, as well as a little more mystical imagery than I'd prefer.

There is also an over-reliance on animation, I felt, but that is more a symptom of the times. They will cheaply produce animation and it'll look less cheesy than period dressed actors re-enacting scenes under a narration. I will miss the actor playing Tycho Brahe with his obviously plastic 'gold nose'.

Finally, the pacing the of whole thing seems a little fast. It's a network show, it's got commercials, I get it but kids are not as stupid as we treat them and you don't honestly need images of starships zipping around asteroids to keep their attention or to rush through every section to keep it from getting dry. Even Tyson's personal story about meeting Sagan as a boy felt like someone was off camera telling him to wrap it up. Again, not a terrible thing, but I feel part of what made the first Cosmos special was it's slow, contemplative pacing and the personal intimacy that creates.

All in all, I did like what I saw. It's not perfect, but it's firmly in the good category. I have doubts it'll be remembered on the same level as the original, I mean, Sagan was a beast of a man, involved in a billions and billions of aspects of public scientific life and while Tyson is technically more visible with technology these days, there is also that much more noise to distract you from him. We shall see.

Oh, and True Detective wrapped up nicely too, so long as you cared more about characters than having a twist.

I was a little worried that I'd gotten too old to enjoy it. I too hadn't watched much since season 3 or so, and I as afraid I'd not get a lot of the references and think the jokes were a bit much, but I was suprised that I didn't feel uncomfortable at all through the whole game. That and I luckily had picked and chosen the right episodes through the years to catch because I got most the big references. It wasn't a killer game or anything, but i thought it was solid and made my laugh a few times, so it did what it was meant to do, and that's enough for me.

Down to 242.5. Hoping to be into the 230s by the end of March. Still doing well.