GrumpySmurf

What they said - S2 - 150

If you are looking for really good quality stuff - have a gander at Bujin Design. Pricey, though. I picked up a sword bag from them 3 years ago and it has held up to many a mile strapped across the back of the motorcycle to and fro practice. Bought one for the g/f this past XMas as well. Good luck in the gi hunt

Jagged Alliance 3 -> 6 years in the making

F.E.A.R (it's a F.P.S) is definitely worth a shot - need a moderately beefy system to run it decently. If you thought 'The Ring' or the 'The Grudge' was spooky - this game with mess with you - as the designers appear to have used elements of those movies. If you like multiplayer - give Battlefield 2 a try. Within a week you'll be fluent in some f'ed up forms of Arabic and Chinese (where the only expressions you'll know will be along the lines of 'Enemy Forces spotted.') . The Spec Forces expansion didn't really impress me alot, though. Seems to be a common sentiment amongst the guys here at work.

Aye, leave the meth heads and smack junkies alone and they leave you alone. And I do have to admit, most of the pan handlers are rather polite when you tell them you don't have any change. "I live in the worst neighborhood in Vancouver" Main and E. Hastings? As the lads say, tis not a cheap city to live in. Rent runs between 1K and 2K a month, and with the highest rate of property crime in North America aside from Miami, insurance is not cheap. But....if the dollar was on par with the US - I'd actually be taking home more than I did with the place I worked at in the US at the same salary - simply because health care is alot cheaper here (yeah, it's not private care, but at least everyone gets some degree of coverage). Then's there's partying - not uncommon for the 2 drinking buddies and I to run up a $3 to $4 hundred bar tab in a night. Not for the small of pocket book, this city. But worth the price of admission. And yep, not all that uncommon to see people coming out of the bathrooms in the bars wiping some white powder from thier noses, or the smell weed being smoked outside on the patios, but that comes with the turf too - they like to party hard here. And if you are half aggressive chasing women, you will have a field day here - the local gents are very timid in the dating scene, it appears to be a consistent lament of the ladies - it's open season and you don't need to wear flare orange.

Put the plug in the sink before taking them out. The day you don't will be the day you watch it fall off your finger and right straight down the hole, then realize it was your last one and you forgot to order the next set

And in the continuing saga of going home: The boss walks into my cube yesterday and mentions -> "I know your last day is November 30th, but we've already hired somebody to start on November 8th to replace your position. Since we really don't have anywhere to put him and don't have a PC for him - we'd like to give him him your cube and PC. We might be able to find you a spot out in the lab or in the lunch room. And we might have one of the decommissioned PCs up for sale that we might be able to give you as a temp machine." I was waiting for him to mention a space in Storage Room B and a can of roach spray.

Hey Jaap, Which studio will you be situated at? Looks like I'll be at EAX -> looking at places in Yaletown - dunno how anyone can afford a cup of coffee there, let alone a pad. My sister runs into people from the office all the time and they rant and rave about how they love the place. Thanks for the heads up and the offer - now I got a reason to burn up a 'buddy buck'

Mucho gracias, I'll give you a look up once settled in - now trying to figure out how to fit 1,100 sq.ft of furniture into a 450 sq.ft box. Apartments there are neither big, nor cheap when compared to MidWest America.

First job out of college was on a little known 3rd person tactical called Jagged Alliance 2 - I know the hours No different from automotive - my longest work day was 27 hours straight - and I've worked though XMas Day, New Years Day, the May, July and September long weekends in a single year as a result of our customer pushing up the launch dates for thier vehicles. Both are deadline driven industries - if you don't like it, there are other industries to work in that frequently pay less. I had inquired in depth about the ea_spouse situation during the interview process.

...the days in the US are now officially numbered. Landed a job with EA in Vancouver, starting in Dec. No more Green Card BS, no more 'W', no more getting dollar bills mixed up from all being the same colour, no more not being able to vote, no more -40F January days. Good luck all y'all!

Closeup, me, Jamaica, March.

Today, 31 years ago.

I have a Nelson Rig tail bag that fitted the Oddysy J-3 just fine, with the dividers between the side sections and the main section, cut out. Tossed the helmet et all in either a backpack or saddlebag (depending how how long the trip). Worked well - rig was kept out of the sun and rain, I could toss a raincover over the tailbag in the event of a freek rainshower. Worked well for me. I would rather keep the rig off my back just due to muscle strain/fatigue issues riding with that extra weight to have to work with on my back while on a sport bike.

Got to go from my little 65hp 620 cc 2 cylinder/2 valve to trying out one of these beasties yesterday on the country roads of Wisconsin. All I can say is WOW! ...like serious WOW! When you think it couldn't give you more, it does so, and then some. Temptation is a terrible thing.

Yeah - if the weather looks like rain for a weekend - have a rain suit on hand and wait for no-shows to well..not show. You'ld be amazed how many people drop out at the first hint of a sprinkle or two. Kind of funny since that's the best time to do the course, not only are you learning how to ride, but you're learning how to ride in the rain. I ended up setting a local record on a Honda 125 for the timed long sweeping turn - 2.5 seconds - did my best Duhamel impression hanging off the side and trying to drag a knee

You'ld think they'd try to be more creative by now and the sad thing is, if they are still doing it - there must be someone still willing to fall for it. So far, gotten one of these scam offers for the container, and 2 on my car. You have to laught, eh?

Got this in email today: My asking price for the container is $925. Hello, Thanks for getting back to me,Like i said earlier i am presently in the Western africa .there won't be any probs about the shipment,after payment ,the pick up will be made at your place. i have made arrangements with the prepaid shipping company. As regards payment,this is what i am going to do.I have a client in the US who is owing me $2,600 i would instruct him to makeout a certified check to you in that amount and as soon as it clears your bank. you can now deduct your money from it and send me my balance via western union ,i will be using part of the money to pay for the shipping and other expenses ..Although the value of the check is more than the asking price but i think i should be able to trust you with my balance. So if my terms are acceptable to you,i would like you to give me your full name,address and phone number so that i can instruct my client to make out the check to you. Pls get back to me as soon as you get this mail so that we can round things up in a timely fashion. Thanks in this regard Jessyca. So look out for Jessyca Betty

S2-150 and PD-160R gone, only the container left.

CYPRES is sold. Man, talk about anxious buyers for the car - had one guy last night call up and basically say, "I'll buy your car tommorow" - found out from a friend who works at a dealership that the same model with more miles and in worse shape is up for sale for $4K more than what I am asking. DOH!

The rig has the factory risers - the Sabre 2 has a set of RWS risers.

All the items can now be found in the classifieds - thank you one and all for your suggestions.

Why didn't I think of that? I bought the CYPRES from her back in 01. Thanks a mill for the suggestion!`

Thanks for the suggestion - never through of doing that. Actually thinking of setting up the PayPal account to be a seller to accomadate anyone who wanted to put it on plastic.

Figured this had the widest audience. Anyone who has gone through the process of parting with thier beloved rig - how do you go about coming up with a reasonable asking price. I saw a number of rigs in the classifieds similar to what I have - a Jav J3 Oddsy (200 jmps), S2-150 (140 jmps), PD-160R (1 use) and Cypress Exprt (never fired 4 yrs old) - but seems alot of them are still sitting 'for sale'. Does the market for these things start picking up as the summer approaches? What is the typical depreciation formula be for gear in terms of jmps and age?