Off Like a Prom Dress | - 08.30.2002

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Just got done with the VMAs...

Alright, Christina Aguilera... mother of pearl, at this rate she'll be naked at next years awards, who's complaining?

Avril, what are you doing tomorow night darlin?

Eminem about beat the shit out of Moby, boy was that funny. Terrance the Comedian Dog brought it on tho, oh man it was some good shit.

Mike Myers quoted a famous Poet, "Sir Mix-Alot"

Is the 80s coming back? We got Bruce Springsteen AND Guns ~n~ Roses making an appearance. The GNR appearance was cool as shit d00d, couldnt believe it.

Why do I always miss all the hot stuff?

I resent the comment of G'n'R being an '80s band, they're an early '90s band, thank you very much, and The Boss will always be The Boss, he won't go away, at least untill well after he dies. Anyway, enough about that. Avril mentioned Much Music on MTV! This is something that I doubt has ever been done before, and it should be noted that it got more cheers than when she thank MTV, anyway it doesn't matter Much kicks MTV's ass and always has. any way enough of my rambling....
Presto

Die Wordwrap | - 08.29.2002

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So, yes, fixed that slight moment of stupidity where wordwrap fucks up the html spacing and therefore breaks everything. I also fixed the moment of someones idocy where they thought it'd be funny to use an app that put three or four returns between each line of code. No idea how long I'd been putting that off for.
Mark

a stink worse then a newborn fart | - 08.29.2002

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I've Said it before, and Ill say it again, if life was a video game, I would have already hit the reset button.

Contrary to popular belief, the economy is NOT doing better, in fact its doing worse.
I just checked my portfolio, and whats left of my stocks are worth a whole wopping 13$. I think im going to cry.

Ive been looking for a job since I was kicked out of the Marines 4 months ago, I can't file with unemployment because those jack asses havent sent me my damn DD214 yet, and thus Ive applied with ever company in this area that is not a burger joint with no avail. Im an IT Student, and damnit there is no work for me anywhere, even hard core manual laborors wont hire me. This shit sucks.

On the bright side of things, I met the girl of my dreams finally. She's 5'6" 120-130lbs, and loves an adrenaline rush as much as I do. She's a member of the local volunteer rescue squad, and damn. Only problem is, since I dont have a job I cant afford to take her out. This is slowly starting to piss me off.
Presto

News of the World | - 08.29.2002

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The RIAA site was hacked, I bet you didn't hear that here first. I'm only noting it because I love it so much. I love that it wasn't some lame defacement, that it had humor ('Inside RIAA with Eric Cartman') but more than anything else that actual mp3's were hosted on their site. This has to be the biggest 'fuck you' I could imagine, and I find the concept that people were downloading linkin park from riaa.org very amusing.

This PlanetCrap post is quite interesting. Basically, it describes and event where game designers were given a mature 3d engine (an edited doom2 one) and plenty of documentation, and were left to their own devices for four days so that each of them could simply worry about creating a game.

I was thinking how interesting it would be to get some well known 3d, rts or rpg game designers together from different places and see who came up with the most interesting concept (it would never happen of course, due to the fragile ego’s throughout the industry). Also as some have commented, it's the kind of thing that would be really good for different development houses to think about doing so that they could foster some creativity.

So you've decided to lose your mind? a k5 article... the amusing, blase title caught my attention.

wm

Cars | - 08.29.2002

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I almost got a car today. I was out looking, as I frequently have been doing over the last couple of months, yet this time was quite a bit different. I was at a dealership, and found a really good 92 prelude for which i was offered $15700, down $1300 from the amount advertised. I basically agreed to buying the car there and then (verbally) but told the guy I needed to go and get the money for a deposit, and that I would be back mid afternoon - so that i'd have an hour or two to think through the decision without the scum-of-the-earth salesman pestering me.

Thankfully I did. I went to my brothers work just to make a couple of calls, most importantly the insurance company to verify what the cost of the insurance of the car would be (I've been using their online estimator quite frequently while I was tossing around ideas of different cars.) To my surprise, the online quote is nothing like the phone one, I was expecting to be told that it would be around $2100 a year and found out that it was actually $3000. A Prelude isn't the only one where things change, over the phone a 97 civic coupe is $2200 ($700 up) and a 98 lancer coupe is $2000 ($500 up.) surely they would use the same maths and database? That was my assumption...

Regardless, $3000 is just too much for me to afford for insurance at the moment so there go those grand plans. If I wanted to pay that kind of insurance, I may as well get an import - a friend of mine got a 180sx in a couple of months ago and he's only paying $4000 to insure it. It lead to an embarrassing call where I had to tell the place that my finance had fallen through and it would be a few weeks until I could get things back together.

It's exhausting to go from making such a large decision and deciding to buy a car using the money that represents something like 1000 hours of my life, to the disappointment of having all my excitement dashed by an insurance company...

wm

opencube help | - 08.25.2002

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(newbie alert)

what do i need to change to get the opencube menu (like the ccu or cncnz one) to work? as far as i can see 'DQM_codebase' is the only variable i need to change (and i've changed it to equal "http://localhost/vc/" - static, similar to how its setup and cncnz). i'm using the ccu version (i just downloaded it) however for trouble-shooting i've got all my .js files in the root directory. it is seeing the two .js files, because when i remove the line "[script language="JavaScript1.2" src="/dqm_script.js"][/script]" or the line for menu_data.js i get different errors.

the error im getting is that when i put my mouseover the menu, i get the message 'Object not found' - based on onmouseover="showMenu(event)"

i tried playing around with the cncnz files too, but ended out with the same problem. what am i missing?
wm

heh | - 08.25.2002

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it's still there!

does anyone have an old mirror of tumsun? i'd really like to fix up those images...
wm

hmmmmm | - 08.24.2002

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I think the last place I would like to be beamed is 'Up scotty'.
Cyberman0

ouch | - 08.24.2002

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a couple of days ago some dude wrote off his 355 spider really close to where i work. the thing that makes this even more painful is that he had only owned the car for two days. check out the newspaper article, which has a photo of the car on the show room floor, and then it wrapped around a pole. as the article says, there's less than 1500 ferrari's in au, shared between 19 million people.

descriptions of the model of car he was racing ranged between a "Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Lancer and Nissan Skyline." sydney-siders dont know their cars too well, it seems.


wm

more xhtml and css | - 08.24.2002

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the first thing that you need to understand is the concept, so that you can use either in the correct way. xhtml is used to describe the structure of a document. for example as you would specify a paragraph with [p] and [/p] tags. you use css to define the actual layout of the page - the css tells the brower how to display the text within the [p] tag. therefore, [font] tags arnt used as you're not using html to define the way that your page looks.

for the source code of what i did, the css is at http://charlie.it.uts.edu.au/~mahamel/vc/style.css. the page is borken at the moment, im trying to get the opencube style to drop down without they unregisted popup message...

the reference material i used to learn was pretty limited. to get a good introduction i used the w3schools css and xhtml tutorials. also useful was this article. it outlines how they converted their table based layout, to a xhtml + css layout - it was great because it reflected the situation i was in nicely, that being 'I have a solid grasp of html, just how do i do things the proper way?'
wm

official ww forums | - 08.24.2002

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how does anyone keep up with these? i sure as hell cant.

i found this thread quite amusing. the guy posts a message telling everyone not to spam or worry about their post count and then keeps bumping it up...

9 pages in not even 12 hours, they have all led horrifying lives. I love how they all accuse each other of spam, and vehemently deny spamming themselves, very mccarthy-esque in nature.
wm

i'm normal i swear... | - 08.24.2002

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in UT one of the power ups you can get is the anth, or damage amplifier which is to UT what quad damage is to quake. apart from your weapon going a dark pink / purple color, when you have the amp you also emit a pinkish aura. this is quite a useful fact, as it gives those without the amp one advantage over you, they can tell if your just about to come around the corner. depending on what weapon they have, they would either chose to turn and run, or spam the fuck out of the corner (with shock, flak or rocket.)

anyway, i was out getting myself quite and nicely drunk at a local top 40 club, as i often do and there was just some random up on one of the podiums. she was catching one of the purple lights, my thought - "she's got the amp!"

i live a sad existence.
wm

broadband | - 08.24.2002

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i've had a boradband connect for what? like only 4 months now nad im already taking it for granted. i just caught myself being annoyed that it would take me an entire 5 minutes to get this 20 meg file... that kinda stuff once took 3 hours...
wm

McAfrika Burger | - 08.24.2002

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Eskil aren't you from Norway... let us know how the McAfrika burger tastes. ;)

Oh god... Well, I wouldn't be seen dead in a McDonalds anyway :)
Gobalopper

XHTML + CSS!!@!@ | - 08.22.2002

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as i was saying to mark, up until yesterday, i had been using the same html technique that i learnt in 97 and 98. i used icky font tags, and table's as layout elements.

for one of my uni subjects, virtual communities (the one where we learn about emoticons) i have to have a personal webpage where i post various crap such as preparation and reflection notes. creating the page seemed to be as good as any ecuse to actually learn xhtml and css, and this is what i came up with - the first layout i've made in like over a year. take a look (user: www / pass: rosebud)! it's not awesome, but i was never good at layouts and would love comments / suggestions on how to improve upon the various theme that i've started... web design is a skill i really need to improve.

Porn. Lesbian Grasshopper Kangaroo Porn.

I'd *really* love to see some source code for that, I've been meaning to get into XML/XSL/CSS myself (XHTML = XML, right...?)

"XHTML is HTML defined as an XML application." Basically its just HTML but more strict so you can't write sloppy code. I converted over the main page of my site so it validates as proper XHTML and it really isn't that hard once you understand the basic rules.
The only problem with CSS is that IE sucks at a lot of the more advanced stuff and doesn't even fully support CSS1. Take a look at this page in Mozilla and IE and you will see what I mean.

Get it right its Pr0N.... and yes I am alive :) lol
wm

Boredom | - 08.22.2002

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Gee I'm getting bored, but at least I get the house to myself for 5 whole days starting tomorrow. Party at my place, B.Y.O.B.(brring you own booze). Boooyaaaahhhh! For those who can actually get here(nobody who looks at this site), msg me on ICQ. Don't forget to bring computers for a LAN party!!!!
Grim

random | - 08.21.2002

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eric and the rest of the [-lp-] CS guys have been doing the tag proud. they won their first sta match the other day and have been owning hardcore in a heap of pickups. ever since i've started idling (sp?) in #clanlp its amazed me how much preparation they do...

in related news i still suck at UT... i'm getting better with the mini gun though.

i was going to shell out last week and pick up planetscape torment but i scored myself a speeding ticket instead. 71 in a 60... thats not even speeding, really...

which avril lavinge song are you? im sure you always wanted to know. i'm 'complicated'. if clicking radio buttons is your thing then you might like this too.
wm

Ferry Corsten - Punk | - 08.20.2002

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This track is owning me at the moment - you have to get it! So far this year, it's definately my favourite electronica track.

When I was at sublime the other day it was dropped and i went absolutely mental, in such a way that i've probably only reacted to mauro picotto's baguette and johan gielen's the beauty of silence.

I'm really back into trance at the moment. I started listening to tiesto's in my memory (his recent album) and its just gone from there, listening to all my old tiesto remixs, system f / ferry corsten, gouryella, push, rank 1, dutch force and even a little bit of ian van dahl. it's reminding me why this was the only stuff i ever used to listen to during 99 and 2000...

To ensure that i'm going to spend my night doing anything but this report, i've been browsing through the archives at the aussie clubbing site inthemix, and have come across their video reviews. if you've got a few spare minutes, check out the video of sublime's fifth birthday, one of the better nights i've had out for sure (also one of the longest lines i've seen... it streched on for hundreds of metres)
wm

Project Dolphin | - 08.20.2002

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A few of the lads at AWD have signed up for a team account at project dolphin. for those who aren't aware (and i wasn't until a couple of minutes ago) project dolphin is just a tiny app that sits in your system tray and counts how many keystrokes you make. it then takes this info and uploads it to their server, so that you can compare who types more with all your friends. it's all very clever, and stops you cheating by opening up notepad, putting a heavy book on your keyboard and walking away for an hour. i'm told playing cs is a good way to bring up your ranking, but i think this uni report i've got to write will prove to be gold as well.

it's all very geeky, but thats why i like it. i've always been the sort of person that's excited by these kinds of stats (anyone remember those apps that logged how far your pointer moved accross the screen? i had one of those installed for many a kilometer) and i cant wait to see how much we all type over a longish period of time - say a month.

if you like you can check or stats - which by the time you check it, won't have me at the bottom of the list (hopefully).

It is nifty, I'm signed up with the crew as well, and a productive 4 hours of irc chatting have netted me 30k strokes. I don't think anyone will catch Mark though, as he has led a horrifying life.

I think if we get the rest of the CS Clan signed up to this 1st place will be ours within a matter of days, espcially if we can get eric. To join team AWD, look for AWD in the team finder and the password is awd.
wm

yum | - 08.19.2002

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one hour of no doubt video clips!

i <3 gwen
wm

Answer | - 08.17.2002

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It's back now, complete with lots of server spam.
Mark

Question | - 08.15.2002

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Umm... Mail server down?
Eskil

grr | - 08.12.2002

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It's only like ten minutes later and i give in - i hate having to open winamp to skip tracks, im that lazy. i needed to restart my gateway anyway, so i may as well kill two birds with one stone. bye bye uptime...

Edit: I was under the mis-taken impression that it was Winamp itself that captured the media keys and dealt with them, when it's actually iTouch that deals with it. So because the iTouch drivers don't know about winamp 3 yet, you can to edit the players.ini file in your itouch directory adding this linr;

Wa3=key,Studio.exe,BaseWindow_RootWnd,xxx,xxx,X,C,V,Z,B,0,1,WinAmp3

wm

Winamp 3 | - 08.12.2002

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As i'd assume you all know, winamp 3 came out a few days ago. One of the most notable things that it brings to the table is the crossfader, which is something i'm going to either end out loving or hating - i'm just not sure yet. Sure, it's great when you're just listening to a really long playlist, but its annoying to have to deal with all the fading in when you just want to skip through a few songs. Thankfully, you can turn it straight off from the main pane.

Also really cool is the media library that sorts all your songs by artist for you, even into albums. Ever since i totally re-arranged my HD situation i've lost all of the playlists that i had and one day planned to re-do then all (it's a daunting task.) It seems that storing all my playlists within winamp will be far easier (and more dynamic) than just a whole lot of .m3u shortcuts in my start bar. while nullsoft do ask you if you mind sending anonymous usage stats back to them (which i left on... why not i guess) i think its far more scary to think of the huge amount of stats whoever is sorting my media library for me is getting...

like i found when i was playing around with the winamp 3 beta, they didn't really design it with people who have their start bar anywhere but the bottom in mind (mines at the top, mac style) - just a minor annoyance. And finally, my play / stop / next etc. buttons dont link up win winamp 3 (i'm just using the logitech software...) i assume that will sort itself out when i reboot.

oh, and finally the skins suck so far. all of the good ones dont use the normal form and just make winamp into sonique. sure, sonique made me cream my pants everytime i used it - but it was still a bitch to use. the ease and simplicity of the winamp generic skin makes it such a lovely app to use.
wm

Switch! | - 08.12.2002

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It's pretty funny to see that Ellen Feiss, the chick that is in the apple switch adds seems to be the latest victim from the photoshoppers that gave us the 9/11 guy and all your base. check out one or two of the web-sites based on her or the wired story that covers the trend.
wm

games i want | - 08.10.2002

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those top 100 lists that gaming mags put out are really evil things. not only are they a generic, thought-less and cliched ("hey bob, we've got no idea for a proper feature article in this issue, so lets just quickly chuck together another top 100 list - the kids love that"), but they are also irritating (how the fuck could dungeon seige be placed at 25, only one spot behind SC and ahead of system shock 2 (26) and BG2(28)), but finally they leave me wanting to go out and buy a heap of games, despite the fact that i have a heap of unfinished classics sitting right here.

over the last few days i've been slowly reading through PCPP's 100 (in the current issue) and its left me with this list of games that i want.

- Grim Fandango (it got spot 38) - I've been after this game since mark talked about it here like 2 years ago. it would be great to play a fresh adventure game again - something totally different to what i normally play. on the adventure genre front, sam and max 2 seems to be well into production.

- homeworld (20) - Some of you may remember me bitching and whining a year or two back about how i could see no justification on 3/4's of the 3d rts' that we see. It's still my opinion in many rts' sprite based graphics allow for far more character (say, for the craft series), and in the end 3d graphics often just increase the barrier for entry for casual gamers, without adding any real gameplay (on a side note, i do think that a 3d engine would be suitable for generals, due to the way that it depicts more of a real world universe.) anyway (back to the point...) homeworld is still one of the few rts' that really justifies the use of a 3d engine.

- planetscape torment (14) - probably the next game i'll buy. despite often put into the background by baldurs gate, it's meant to be a better rpg

- deus ex (2) - i played the demo for this game and never really got into it, but it seems you're not a hardcore gamer unless you cant talk for hours on end about deus ex....

- neverwinter nights (1) - i'm not rushing out to buy this game, the thing that annoys me most about the reviews of this game are how everyone rates it so highly because of its potential, not because of what it is. the single player is meant to be good, but its hard to differentiate what this game is really like from the massive hype that surrounds its multiplayer.

System Shock 2... yummmmmm.... I know where my next two weeks are going

Is this a list of a 100 random games placed in completely random places? But yea, I'd still recommend Grim Fandango, I've played it all way through more than 3 times now (no mean feat I can assure you) and it still didn't seem dated or look old, it's still that good. I lost interest in NWN after Chp1. Maybe I'll pick it back up later, I don't know.

Homeworld is all graphics and very little game play, it's all nice a pretty floating through the void of space, and the sprites used as weapon fire are decent, but it's very, very, tedious. All you do is build up a fleet, and go kill the other guy, there's very little to building a base, and Single player is too tedious and difficult to bother with. So if you want to look at the nicest space game to come out since Wing Commander and untill EnB is officially released, go right ahead.

I agree with your comments about top 100 lists being evil. You tend to look down them thinking: 'I haven't got any of these games and I want them all' with the added disadvantage of having little/no capital to buy them with. Out of the ones you mentioned I would most definately recommended Grim Fandango and Deus Ex. They are both well worth the money (both are on budget now I believe) and will provide you with an excuse to waste away the hours
wm

SOF II | - 08.10.2002

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I've just spent an hour or two playing the single player demo of SOF II - and have only just realised how unqualified i am to comment on it, considering the last single player FPS i dedicated any time to was half life...

regardless, it was pretty good fun. the single player demo give you two levels (from the full player game?) - one set in central america, and another on a cargo ship. with no background in SOF i wasn't quite sure what type of game it was meant to be. originally, i went in all guns blazing, however the slow, cumbersome movement and the fact that i kept being ambushed lead me to belive that crouching and crawling around the map. this tactic didnt really work for me either, as whenever i was crouching the enemy seemed to pick me out anyway, and as you crawl you cant fire - so whenever you pop your head out for a look around to get owned anyway.

once i work out how i want to play this game it should prove to be a heap of fun. it's relatively easy, until one of the enemy lobs a grenade towards you, which can basically kill you from full health. wouldn't buy it, but the demo is great to kill an afternoon.
wm

CS 0wnage (Aka Getting 0wned) | - 08.09.2002

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I loaded up HL and CS two days ago and began the mammoth task of downloading the 121mb CS Patch and the 82mb HL Patch on 56k. The CS patch I did overnight and the HL one I did the following afternoon. After about 30 mins of messing about with servers I managed to get it set up and as you would expect for someone who has only played CS briefly in the past....I got totally fucking 0wned :0

Mark's oh so useful advice of 'point and shoot' really did sum up the experience and after I hit the 'Disconnect' button I didn't know if I felt like I had learned something or if I had just made myself look like a dick. Either way - it was entertaining.....

I hope to be playing fairly regularly now and so hopefully i'll improve, gradually.

I think you did fairly well. Although, I also think you are bad luck because the two maps that I played while you weren't there I got much better scores :P Welcome aboard our CS exploits.
TheKiller

You wont catch me dying! You'll have to kill me before I die | - 08.08.2002

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Alright then! Everyone else is posting so I guess I have to. I'll give mighty respect to anyone who knows what movie I quoted that title from. I'll give you one hint, it comes from a group that comes from the land that Mark calls home. Anyway on to actual updating, life was grand for a couple days there, got out golfing, drank some beer, met a girl. Then god noticed good things were happening to me so he made it so the girl has to leave for school out of town in....hmmm.... 2 days now? Then just to really fuck with me he desided to get me rejected from college for not have enough art credits. ART FUCKING CREDITS. To quote gone in sixty seconds, "I know i can't swim, so you know what? I stay my black ass outta the pool!". Same can be said for me, I cant draw so I stay my sexy ass away from the canvas. So back to high school I go to take one class of art. ONE FRICKEN CLASS. The stupid part of this? I'm taking Network Engineering... the closest I'll come to drawing something is using Viso to map a network. Shit happens I guess and it will be good to save up some cash for a year instead of paying god knows what in tutition each semester.

Just a parting gift for you in the form of another quote from the same movie:
"Wheres the map?!"
"What map??"
"If you say you dont know where it is... I'll nail your tits to the table!!!"

"She couldn't be your mother. No woman ever slept with me and lived."

Sounds like black adder to me.

Nope, Yellowbeard by the Monty Python crew

/me bows to Eskil's vast knowledge and gives him a rather large cookie
YFJ

North...to Alaska | - 08.08.2002

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Well, I haven't posted in a while obviously. This is thanks to about a week after I graduated I, with about two days notice, am in the fucking middle of no where, in Alaska. Actually, I think the middle of no where would probably be easier to find. I'll have to post some pictures when I get back of this shithole. It isn't all bad, at least I'm making decent money and have no where to spend it. Well I guess I COULD spend it, but seeing as things are about 3 times what they cost back home, no thanks. For example, a fifth of the cheapest alchol is about $150. There isn't a whole hell of a lot to do up here, as you can see, there is internet service. Well sort of, only if there is no wind or rain. That and at top speed it is going at 26k. Anyway I just thought I'd post some pointless post to make sure the front page had some shit on it. And if anyone ever asks you to go to Alaska, don't go, its boring as hell.
Todd

bleh | - 08.07.2002

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How fun... I'm finally ready for re-taking my PL/SQL final, and I wake up with the cold/flu of the century... Fuck, now I gotta wait at least six more months to take this final, and by then, of course, it's all forgotten again.
Eskil

meh | - 08.06.2002

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i have to be up in 4 1/2 hours.... thats three nights in a row now where i'll get less than 5 hours sleep.

getting up before 8 (err.... make that 12) should be illegal.

I share your pain, bro. Getting up because the alarm tells you to get up should be illegal, in my opinion. Sleep until you wake up naturally.
wm

reality check? | - 08.06.2002

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I don't know what's worse... that you guys are so into your games... or you all seem overly fond of this Delphi guy and that you somehow know that he works 3 jobs.......

[sassy @ the AWD forums]

sometimes i have a similar thought - wondering if the countless hours (fuck... at least a thousand (more than a month), considering i've had gaming sites for 5 years and spent a minimum of two hours a day just during the time i was webmaster at tumsun) i've spent working on sites about games, would have been better spent actually playing games. of course, it wouldnt, sites are as much of a hobby as gaming itself for me and i've got so so much out of it yet its still a valid point to consider sometimes. even if it makes you take a step back and perhaps not take things so seriously....
wm

Re: Site Title | - 08.05.2002

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I knew that you would do that, you dirty man.

wm: anything to get you back for raping me in CS!
Mark

#clanlp | - 08.04.2002

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Feel free to join eric and I, and idle 24hrs a day in #clanlp on gamesnet (east.gamesnet.net is one of their servers.) I've got CS installed again so if you're after a game we've been using the channel to organise some random matches... i get ~250 ping on our actual lp CS server, but i'm more than happy to oblige if you wish to play on an au server where i get 50.
wm

Hot | - 08.02.2002

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Is it me or is there a new chick in the rotation? Shes hot.

There's like three new ones. Would have bee funny if you were just seeing random chicks though. To me anyway.

Yeah, three new ones. But none of them have bios, and I want their names... STEVE!

#18=Natalie Portman. #19=Ali Landry. No idea what #17's name is, ask grim. Bios later today when I'm awake.
YFJ