Driving in the Snow, and the People who Can't.

I live in Minnesota, where we get snow. Why is it that every year people act all surprised that it snows? Is everyone in the state a new resident from Florida or Texas or California?

 Yesterday I was at work, listening to all the people whining and crying at the office about the forecasted snow. The dj's on the local radio station (KS95) the other people in the office were listening to (I listen to my iPod) were crying about it too. Seriously? What is wrong with these people? Do you or do you not live in a place where it snows 4-6 months out of the year. Stop adding to the cattles paranoia.

When the fuck did society become a bunch of fucking pussies? If you can't drive "normal" in the snow, and stay the fuck outta the peoples way who can drive, Stay the Fuck home, curl up in the corner and cry like the Little Bitch you are. You Fucking Bitches are the ones who cause accidents in the snow. People like you should be ticketed and taken off the roads.

I once was driving in a snowstorm with a girl years ago, a car I had never driven before, in fact she had only had it for 2 weeks. Anyway, I am driving along in the snow, and she asks me "How can you drive normal?" I looked at her and said "What do you mean, Normal?" I was just driving.

I used to drive Trans Ams, Mustangs and Camaros through the winter. Never once had a problem, it is actually funner and makes taking a corner easy. People for years drove cars without Front Wheel Drive and Anti Lock Brakes. Do you think some guy in the 50's or 60's would cry about the snow and contemplate not going into the office? Fuck no, back then men were men and did what was necessary. Today's society wouldn't survive the past.

Don't even get me started on the jack asses who think just because they have Four Wheel Drive they are safe, those are the worst Fuckin' Idiots who I have seen in the ditch time and time again. Learn how to drive for real Fucktards.

Latest Video Games Pickups

Here are a few of my latest game pickups

Black Friday Pickups for the Xbox One: Evolve and The Evil Within

And it had been awhile since I swung by my favorite pawn shop, and picked up a few things.

The Sims Bustin' Out, Complete for the Original Xbox. The Original Sims on Xbox was my first time playing the Sims, so Picked up another.

Hexen for the Nintendo 64, I originally got and played this on the Original Playstation way back in the mid 90's, it was fun, so why not pick it up for the N64 as well?

  After a few minutes cleaning

And a Sega Genesis Game I had not seen before, it looks brand new, and is complete and in great shape. Triple Score 3 Games in 1. Includes Super Hang On, World Championship Soccer and Columns.

That's it for now, no more game hunting until after Christmas.

Newsted Album Update + A Small Rant

I posted my original opinion of the Album here: http://daveswickedthoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/newst3d.html

I just decided rather than update that post, to my regular readers, who may not go back to it, to make this new post. This album consistently makes its way back into my CD player, every week, and I listen to it for days. Great Album, From a Great Band, I look forward to the next one!

I waited until I found a physical copy locally to pick up this album, I found out later about the Deluxe Edition, which had a few extra tracks Including: Spiderbiter, Godsnake and Skyscraper. I also found out that the iTunes album got an exclusive song, The Differents, which turns out to be my favorite song on the whole album. Once I put my band together, We are going to play that one!

Here you go, Enjoy!

Which brings me to my Rant.

Why do Bands make separate albums? Don't they want to get their music out there?

Even had I bought the Deluxe Edition, I still would not have got the Differents, which as I stated, turns out to be my favorite song on the album.

As I prefer physical media, I don't download albums from iTunes, I never would have heard this song at all. I am one of those "Old Dogs" that prefer to have an actual CD in my hand. Sure, I immediately rip it to the computer, and burn a copy to have in the car, that way if it gets all beat up and scratched, I can just burn a new copy, But I still have the actual, original CD.

I don't know, it just seems weird to me to have 3 separate versions of the same album. Put the songs you want on the album, and get it out, fans shouldn't need to check how many different versions are out there.

Just my opinion.

Life

Sometimes the things in life that seem important, aren't as important as we thought. I have had an interesting couple of months.

On the work front, I had a nice cushy office job for 5 years almost to the day, That #1 I was very very good at, #2 Paid very well and #3 I genuinely liked and respected most of my co-workers. However, the company brought in a consultant, and got rid of several of the higher paid, longer tenured employees, Including me.

 I drifted here and there, worked at Walmart for a few weeks in the Tire and Lube Express, with all of the automotive experience I had, I basically walked into that job. It however, sucked.

Then I got a job at a salvage yard I had worked at while I was in college, but it was just not the same (yes I should have listened to you Jim) as it had been bought out by a large corporation, and the whole experience went down the toilet.

Then I worked as an office manager for a collateral recovery company that told me when I was hired, It's $450.00 a week salary, office hours are mon-thurs 10:00am to 4:00pm. Not bad huh? Well, in actuality, I was expected to be available, and work 24/7, which was never mentioned in either of the 2 interviews, or the job offer. Sorry, you couldn't pay me enough. I quit/was fired after 2 weeks. The boss asked why I hadn't been working the weekends, I said I didn't know I had to, to which he replied "why do you think you got a company phone and laptop?" I advised him to let the next guy know ahead of time of the expectations, not drop it on them after 2 weeks.

The next position, Which I started the same day as I left the above position, was as a data analyst consultant. It was pretty cool, it was at a very nice office, very good pay, and I was able to listen to my iPod all day long. Sadly, as I knew when I was hired, it was a temporary position, as the office was closing up and moving it's operations to Poland.

Then I got this warehouse job, the pay was terrible, should have been at least 50% more, for the work that was required. They had such a high turnover rate, they had 3 temp agencies (which is what I worked there through) supplying them with people. 90% of the people I saw come through lasted a day or less. I made it 2 weeks before.......

I sucked up my pride, called my old boss at the job I had for 5 years, and am now re-employed with them, in my same position and at the same rate of pay. My old boss told me he never agreed with my termination, and that he was very glad I called him, that was nice. My first few days, I had numerous employees swing by my office and just to say hi, and that they were glad to see me back, it felt great. I plan on staying there until it's time to retire, or my writing career takes off.

A couple weeks ago, I asked my beautiful, wonderful, girlfriend of 5 1/2 years to marry me, she said yes. We have grown really close recently, and I can't imagine my life without her. We are so great together, I Love You Babe!

I have not been out game hunting in awhile and I am not playing as many video games as I used to, I just have better things to do, Like hangout with and "play" with my fiancee' :)  She bought us Black Ops III to play on the Xbox One, We used to play Call of Duty ghosts together on the 360, I have this really cute picture of her in front of the tv playing with my Turtle Beach Headset on that I like a lot, she doesn't like it LoL, I want to print it and frame it. But, eventually we stopped, glad we got back into it, it is a fun time to spend together.

New Video Game Pickups

Been awhile, but got a few new game pickups.

At Goodwill, picked up a few items for the Sony PSP. Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories, Midway Arcade Treasures and a UMD Video, Clerks. I love Kevin Smiths stuff.

I also stopped by Half Price Books, I was looking for a certain Star Wars Novel (X-wing #5) Which I found, and I swung through the game section, and found this.

                    Complete in Box and in great shape, 1080 Snowboarding for the Nintendo 64

And this morning, my girlfriend brought me home this, I never even mentioned to her I wanted it.

Call of Duty Black Ops III for the Xbox One

.88 Cent Auto Loan Refund, 4 Years later.

I got a check in the mail, from my old finance company on a car I bought in January of 2011, and paid off in October 2011. for a whopping, .88 Cents?

Free money, is free money I guess, but .88 Cents, Really? how many people did this have to go through, how much in misc wages, postage and supplies to refund me .88 Cents?

The car, a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville

The Letter

And, The Check.

Just found this an interesting waste, and wanted to share. I mean, really .88 Cents after 5 years, what was the point?

Back to the Future Day

 Thank Fucking God this day has come and gone...... 

 I was soooo sick and tired of hearing about it. Don't get me wrong, I like the movies too (the first two more than the third) but, the ignorance, and stupidity of it all just irked me.

 The biggest thing that bothered me about it was, Back to the Future TWO was the movie that had to do with 2015, but all people talked about, quoted, carried on about, etc. was the First movie? The one that had NOTHING at all to do with 2015. If you are going to carry on like ignorant, uneducated morons, at least talk about the correct fucking movie.

 The other thing that has always bothered me is they way people carry on about the DeLorean. I personally happen to like the DeLorean, as the DeLorean. I would love to add one to my garage and NOT modify it to look like the car from the movie. The first thing I would do is ditch that shitty 130 HP Peugeot engine, for a General Motors Supercharged 3.8L V6 from a mid 2000's Pontiac Bonneville SSEI or Grand Prix GTP. Then fins a nice set of 5 Spoke wheels, thats it. I swear IF I were ever able to add a DeLorean to my stable, and I was out somewhere and someone said anything about Back to the Future to me about it, I would tell them to Go Fuck Themselves.

A stock DeLorean (aside from the wheels), is a beautiful car, even by today's standards.

Even when I watch car restoration shows, and they are restoring a DeLorean completely factory stock, they still make back to the Future jokes, Why? What does that movie have to do with a stock DeLorean, Nothing!

 When you see a 1976 Mustang Cobra II, do you say "look the car from Charlie's Angels", or when you see a 1986 Dodge Daytona Turbo Z do you think of Dee Dee McCalls car from Hunter? A 1970 Challenger remind you of Vanishing Point? No.

Enough Ranting, I got candy to eat.

Console Online Multiplayer

I was playing Destiny the other day on my Xbox One, when I realized, Online multiplayer just isn't as fun or the same as it used to be.

 I first got on Xbox Live back in February of 2007, when I bought an Xbox 360 which was bundled with Need for Speed Most Wanted. I also bought Tomb Raider Legend, Burnout Revenge, F.E.A.R. and Condemned Criminal Origins as well. The first game I played online was Burnout Revenge (Very Fun Game). I remember being in multiplayer lobbies, and having actual conversations. Talking about the game, or other games, or life in general. There were for the most part, normal, reasonable, educated individuals. We would also see when each other would be online, and have gaming nights as a group, I miss those people.

 One of the things that I absolutely enjoyed about playing against actual people online was, the competition. I had played through a bunch of the races in Burnout, where the AI was only so competitive, and after half to three quarters of the course, you were out in front for the rest of the race. I remember there was a 5 race series online, where another gamer and I swapped placing first and second all the way through the series, it was awesome, and lots of fun.

 Then, I decided to play online with F.E.A.R., which is an awesome First Person Shooter (and one of my absolute favorite games made), and in my opinion, is a million and a half times better than any Call of Duty. I immediately fell in love with this game, and it's online community, and to this day the year and a half I spent playing that game online remains my absolute favorite online gaming experience. It is also where I met one of my best friends online, he lives in PA, and I in MN, but we became fast friends, and a great duo online. We got to the point where we were number 1 and 2 on the Xbox Live leader boards for F.E.A.R., and would take on just us two vs six others in Capture the Flag, and win!

 Fast forward to October 2015: I currently have my Xbox Live settings to all communications blocked except people on my friends list, which has less than 10 people. It's sad, just sad.

 Why is this? Well, the online community in general has gone so far down the toilet, it is just pathetic. So many unattended 8 year olds screaming obscenities into the mic, for no other reason than they can because some worthless parent is using the Xbox as their babysitter. Don't get me wrong, I am not against blurting out a good hard FUCK here or there, I mean it is a great adjective to use to express frustration, but seriously, it is really bad online. Or all the people calling each other homos, fag, etc.. I just don't need to hear that shit constantly.

 Then there are the music people. I love music (if you are a follower of my blog, you are fully aware) and enjoy listening to some music when I am playing online, but I don't feel the need to share it with the whole lobby, or sing to my fellow teammates. Seriously people, have a little common courtesy and respect. You also have the people who are playing online in a room with their friends, family or whatever, and feel the need to carry on a conversation, which we have to hear one side, turn off your mic asshat!

 Speaking of mics. Turtle Beach makes very nice headsets for online gaming. I love my Turtle Beaches I have for the 360 (too bad they wont work with my Xbox One, Oh Well will buy another set), when playing online multiplayer it really helps to hear where people are. I can tell if they are in front of or behind me, to the left or right, hear a grenade rolling, they are awesome! But, the mic is also overly sensitive, so when using them, Courteous players turn the volume down or off on their television, otherwise the Turtle Beach mic picks it up, and broadcast it back through the mic.

 Overall online gaming can be, and is generally fun, but I find myself playing more and more Single Player campaigns these days, Forza Motorsport 6 is great, and I am having lots of fun. Wolfenstein the New Order and The Old Blood are both great games in this regard as well. I do miss the old days though, when people where actually decent online, worked together, and just more pleasant to interact with. However, these days the normal, reasonable, pleasant, educated individuals seem to the minority, and that makes me sad. But, it is just a symptom of the degradation of today's society. That underground bunker is looking better and better everyday.

That's my bitch for tonight, have fun y'all!

Update: I'm Alive!

 I haven't posted in 3+ weeks, Wow. You would think since I have not worked since Sept. 30th, I would have plenty of time to post. I have been busy, looking for a job, going to interviews, playing my new Xbox One, Watching Movies and TV shows via Netflix, DVD's and Blu-Rays, and actually writing.

 When I sit down to type these, I generally have a rough idea in my head of what I am going to rant about, share, show, etc... And just start typing. Being that it has been nearly a month, I started typing and realized I had a lot to carry on about, and if I tried to jam it all in one blog, it would have been quite the long blog. So I narrowed it down to one subject, and will sprinkle the rest of the subjects/posts out throughout the rest of the week.

On to Today's Topic:

 I originally started this blog to get myself back into writing. I currently have 2 unfinished writing projects, I haven't touched in several years. The first is titled "Book I will never Finish" on my computer (and backup copy on my flash drive), which is an autobiography I started back in January of 2009, and haven't really touched since mid 09. I plan, if I ever get back to this project, to end it in August of 09.
 The second is presently untitled, and is a Murder Novel, told in the first person, which is the one I have started working on again. I originally started on this one, as a way to vent my frustration, anger and pain I was harboring regarding my second ex-wife. I fucking hated this lying, backstabbing, two faced fucking lying cheating cunt so much, I was letting it affect me for a long time after I left her, that it was a way to work out those feelings, and pain. My plan was to finish it, self publish it, and send her a copy to hurt her. But at some point, I let go of the pain, the anger, and the frustration, which made it hard to write a book about murder, when the passion to commit the crime was gone.

 Now, after some time has passed, I have a lot of expression I want to put into the novel, and I can be more objective and not as nasty and violent as the first draft (which was/is in my head) had been. Which ultimately, will make for a better story.

 Whether or not, I get this published professionally, it is a project I want to finish for myself. Just to be able to prove to myself, that I can do it. I may even self publish the novel, if I finish it, as that is something that is pretty common today. I have been listening to a self publishing podcast, to get a little insight and what not into helping me write a better book. There are people who make a living with this. However, it is mainly electronically.

 I am absolutely, positively NOT a fan of "e-books", and will never buy one myself. I have remained firm that I will never own a Kindle, Nook, etc.. or read from one. There is nothing like a physical copy of a book in your hand. In my opinion, two of the best smells in the world are New book smell, and Old book smell. A paperback book is convenient to carry with you, where as an electronic device is not. You don't ever need to charge a real book.

 Unfortunately (to me), the e-book market is huge, and a lot of people read them regularly, while as a reader myself, I find this revolting. But as an aspiring author, is something I would need to consider if I were to actually publish a novel. Would I want to alienate a large market from reading my novel? Would I want to turn down that stream of revenue? I would like to think that if it were good enough, that people would buy a physical copy. But there are probably plenty of people completely opposite of me, who will only buy e-books.

 At present that line of thinking is far in my future, we will see how long I continue to write, or if I even finish. It is hard to dedicate time to just sit down and write, you have to be in a creative mood. Most of the time I get the inspiration when I am just driving somewhere, or sitting somewhere no where near my computer, so I try to store what I thought of in my head for later dissemination, but a lot of the time, I forget, maybe I should start carrying a pad and pen. Sometimes I have started writing, wrote 2 paragraphs and stopped. Other times I have sat down and wrote an entire chapter.

Well, enough rambling, I see I carried on even with this small topic. If I finish this novel great, a personal goal for myself. If I were to actually get it published, either professionally of via the self publishing route, I will of course keep all of you, my loyal blog readers posted.

If I were to actually sell enough to make a comfortable living....

More Video Game Pickups

Picked up a few things Game Hunting yesterday

Was near my favorite Salvation Army for a job interview, and couldn't resist swinging in and perusing their wares. It was a Playstation day. Picked up games for the PS1, PS2 & PS3!

Original Playstation games, .99 each

Midnight Club 2 and a Brand New memory card, 1.99 each

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for PS3, Missing the Artwork, .99

Then later in the day I had to drive my daughter home to Isanti, so we swung by the pawn shop that usually has good prices, but because of their short daytime hours, I don't get to go much.

Found a few things

Playstation Games .50 each

PSP Puzzle game .99 and 24 for PS2 1.99

Thief for Xbox One, 6.99

Not a bad days haul, all for Less than $24.00 after tax.

Free Titanfall, Thanks Gamestop!

I had some Power Up Rewards points (which I get for free, without ever going to a Gamestop), so I used them to print off a $15.00 Certificate. Gamestop had Titanfall for Xbox One for $15.97 Brand New. I love playing Titanfall on the 360, and figured since I had a Xbox One now, I would play it on there too.

I also had $1.60 left on a gift card I had gotten for my Birthday, Between the Rewards Certificate and the Gift Card, I paid nothing, and still have money left on the gift card, Awesome!

More Target Video Game Pickups

(Actual shelf not pictured, pic found with Google Images)

Today was the last day of my work assignment, yesterday we had a little party where the company had Famous Daves catered in, Yum! We also each got $25.00 Target Gift Cards for our service. So, Of course I had to swing in and check out the Clearance shelf where I was able to pick up one game.

Lego Star Wars III for the Sony PSP

I really enjoy playing the Star Wars Lego Games, Especially with the kids. I haven't played this one yet, I had been planning on picking it up for the 360, just haven't had a chance to yet.

Gears of War Ultimate for the Xbox Box One

I also decided to pick up Gears for the Xbox Box One, figured I had $19.00 to throw at it, so it only cost me $22.00 after tax out of pocket, so why not. I remember playing the shit outta it on the 360 with my friends, and my best friend (on Xbox Live) said this remaster was awesome, plus it has extra levels that only came on the PC version originally. 

Since I have a few days off now, I know what I am doing!

Video Game Pickups

I am back with some misc Video Game Pickups. nothing super spectacular, things I Wanted/Needed.

They are all complete (Case, Artwork, Manual and Disc) and in great shape

Band Hero and DT Racer

I am collecting all the Guitar Hero games on the PS2, So had to get Band Hero as well.  DT Racer looks like a fun game, and I like Racing games.

The Legend of Spyro A New Beginning and Lego Indiana Jones The Original Adventure

I had been on the lookout for Lego Indiana Jones for the Xbox 360 (still am), But couldn't pass up a nice clean copy for $2.00 on the PS2. And you cannot go wrong with a Spyro game, they are all fun.

Rainbow Six 3 and Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition

Rainbow Six games are fun FPS's, and More racing with Midnight Club.

My 1990 Pontiac Firebird Formula

Tonight, Something Different

I Mainly post Video Game related things, along with Books and Music. But, Once upon a time, I sunk a lot of time, money (too much) and work into my car, a 1990 Pontiac Firebird Formula.

The Only Factory Stock Picture I have

I bought my Formula in March of 1998, after having gotten rid of my first car, a 1983 Pontiac Trans Am, about a year before. I was craving another 80's Firebird, and trying to find a rust free example in MN, isn't the easiest thing in the world. I was looking for a Formula or Trans Am, T-Top with a Tuned Port Injected Engine. I wanted ANYTHING but Red, and of course, I ended up with Red. It took 6 months to find a good rust free, not beat to shit example, but in the end, I was happy with it.

My Formula had under gone an engine swap at some point in it's life, as it left the Factory with a Throttle Body Injected 305 engine, but now it has a 1989 350 with Tuned Port Injection. I ran it on the Dyno one year at the Car Craft Magazine Summer Nationals, Where I would show the car and it made 265 Rear Wheel Horsepower and 365 Rear Wheel Torque.

I used to do a lot of Autocross and Road Racing, Ironically I stopped after dumping $1500.00 into the suspension.  Between that and the 17x9.5 wheels with 275/40ZR17 Tires, it handles really really well on the street.

I swapped out the bumper covers with ones from an earlier car, as I liked them better than the stock ones, and I also swapped out the Taillights with ones from a Trans Am.

I spent one winter making up a custom interior for the car, and installed it in 2003, when I had it repainted in Red (ugh), One of these days I want to tear the whole car apart and repainting it Black over Yellow, and I want to redo the Interior yet again, A car is never done.

And here is where the car has sat since 2008, in the garage, undriven. Lots of factors have lead here, and I feel sad, I love my car, there is nothing like taking the T-Tops off, cranking up some Pantera on the radio and finding a twisty road to blast down.

Someday soon, When I get a house and garage where I can work on it, I will put it back on the road

Xbox One Accessories

I playing my new Xbox One last night, and decided I needed a few more accessories to go with it.

I opened up my Forza 6 controller, and found that it came with batteries. I was kind of disappointed that Microsoft did not include the Play N Charge kit with the Controllers, There is one thing Playstation does right, Anyway....

THE best accessory you can buy for your Xbox, is a Play N Charge Kit. I remember when I first got my 360, before I was aware of the Play N Charge Kit, I used to keep a 20 pack of AA batteries next to the TV, LoL. With the Play N Charge Kit, if you are in the middle of a game, you can plug in the charging cord (Keep it close) and keep playing.

I also decided to get a 2nd Controller, for my GF or a 2nd person to use, as I am hording the Forza 6 Controller all to myself! I picked this one.

And, I got a "mini" Controller for my 4 yr old daughter, so she could play Minecraft and Rare Reply. They had Black, Blue and Red, She choose Red.

And here it is with a Full Size Xbox One controller

That's it for today, Back to playing Forza!