NOFX

So everyone has asked me about setting up a blog, etc.. I'm on the fence, I'd like to give some shout outs, updates, etc.. but not sure what platform I should check out. Having never used twitter, I set up an account and made my first twit.. I like the idea of 140 characters max.. Keeps it short and simple and I can post pics. Do you guys have any recommendations on something else? I really don't want to spam everyone on facebook

voice_scale x x=0-1. I usually have mine around .5

Good timing with the last post Sam.. About 3-4 weeks ago, I was approached by my bosses boss.. He was approached by his boss who told him to ask me if I would be interested in doing a leave of absence. Now with 4 days left before I leave, that guys boss denied it. There is a huge disconnect between corporate squeezing nickles and what is actually going on. I've worked for the company for 9 years and it's going to cost the company way more money in the long run. They are going to hire "a consultant" for $200 an hour (my boss told me). So perhaps, I will come back and be a consultant for them as well. It affects me in no way, but they should not have offered it to me and then deny it right before I leave. I'm going to go out of my way to try and never again work full time for a 40,000+ employee corporation.

I haven't been to one yet, I think I'm going to keep that streak going.

Just an update to this. 8 more days of work, a week off of work and then I'll be flying down to Atlanta on the 28th. I'll be hitting the trail first thing on Saturday the 29th. Oh yea. Work offered me a 6 month leave of absence. So it looks like I have health insurance and job to come back to... if I want to come back.

I don't if it's our server or if its just the game in general, but it's gone to crap for me... So much that I'd rather not even play on our server when it's populated. The delay from when the bullet is fired to when it hits is awful. I can hit someone with an AWP and it feels like a half second passes before they die.

Sweet, a homosapien termination device.

well, I was only referring to in game sound. I'm not a big audiophile and didn't try to get into quality of sound. I was referring more to the idea that onboard soundcards used to make the games sound like crap. Not just audio quality. I mean the guns sounded like crap and the positional audio was simply left or right. Then, I upgraded to a decent sound card, it took some of the load off my CPU and the guns in game sounded like totally new guns. It was night and day difference. Not to mention I could hear things I could never hear before... But all this was back in the day about 10 years ago... Then came USB headset that essentially has their own sound card built in them. Whether that sound card is a $5 cheapo or a $200 CREATIVE BLASTER MX PRO 2000 Ti + Tri force technology... I don't know. I've always assumed it was somewhere in the middle. Although now days onboard sound is nowhere near as bad as it used to be. It sounds pretty solid to me, but then again, I've never had any inclination to buy an expensive sound card to test against it.

I am lol I may be wrong here, but I've always been under the impression that USB headsets are much better than your cheap onboard sound, but they aren't in the same ball park as those expensive cards with an analog headset. You should make tirtul buy a good analog headset instead of a sound card and then give him your usb headset. You may be like turnbull and be able to hear dudes walking on the other side of the map... that is, if you can hear over your teaming whining every time they get shot

It happens a few hours into gaming? Doesn't happen outside of gaming? These are my guesses in order... 1) overheating of video card or CPU. Clean all the dust out of your PC and make sure your CPU and GPU fans are still spinning 2) video card is going bad. I've never had CPU's go out on me and I've only had one stick of RAM just crap out on me. I've replaced at least 3 video cards due to eventually having problems. 3) Something is corrupt OS/Driver side. Reformat and reinstall In all likeliness it's one of those three. If it's not.. I would start replacing or only use one stick of memory and then I would move on to mobo... but I seriously doubt it will get to that. Stress test your GPU with something like http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ or use prime95 to stress test the cpu. If your GPU test fails, you have the answer. It's either heat or just dying on you. Personally, I'd do a reformat before buying a new video card because if you get a new card, you will want to reformat anyway..

Mumble employs AGC (Automatic Gain Control) to normalize the volumes of all players automatically. This means the individual adjustment of a single user is not required, nor wanted. We feel that it makes no sense for every user on a server to adjust the volume of someone manually when the person in question could just fix things on his end instead. Note that pretty much all questions we receive on this this come up because of users who did not bother to do our Audio Wizard, AGC is powerfull but if there is not enough signal to begin with (e.g. Mic volume turned way down) it will not be able to operate correctly. I don't care either way, but I like it because it's open source, sounds good, and doesn't take up any resources server or client side.

I went with Minus33 instead of Icebreaker or smart wool. Still expensive stuff and great quality. I discovered merino wool socks about 3 years ago and I haven't owned a pair of cotton socks since. Actually my first pair of merino wool socks finally bit the dust a few months ago.. which means they lasted 3 years. There is absolutely no way I could go back to synthetics now. I have midweight bottom and top, a lightweight top and light T-Shirt. Granted I wasn't out hiking or sweating alot, but I wore that shirt for about 2 weeks straight without cleaning it and it had no funky smell at all.

And please don't tell me you have a USB headset with that ridiculously expensive sound card

In my humble opinion, your dollar spent to performance ratio is way too expensive. You should be able to upgrade an existing computer that will have comparable performance for well under $1000. Aside from the video card, I dropped $400 on an I5, mobo and RAM. Water cooled? Are you planning on pushing the processor as far as you can? A solid air cooled CPU fan has been one of the best investments I ever made. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 Also, only a 23" in monitor? If I was gonna drop 2.6k on a computer, I'd have a beast monitor. I was using a 23" CRT back in 2002. I switched to a 28" LCD in 2007-2008 and have recently been running with a 42" TV. I couldn't imagine gaming on anything smaller than the 28". To me, it's like dropping a 5.2L V8 in a mustang and then only buying 13" half bald tires. A big screen + mid range video card > small screen + top of the line card.

Shoes are Brooks Cascadia.. As far as the trekking poles go, I'll probably just be bringing one. As for rain pants... I've heard they suck and most people toss them. I've read rain kilts work pretty good though.. may try to make one before I go

Here's my cold weather setup that I'm starting out with TOP ROW Top left bag - 30 degree down sleeping bag Green bag - 15 degree down underquilt for the hammock Grey Bag - A down jacket packed into its pocket Blue bag - extra socks, beanie, gloves Orange bag - Wool base layers and very thick socks (This is for camp/sleeping only) Small Black bag - Water filter and plastic water bottles Small Blue Bag and gray bag - Rain Jacket and Pack cover + trekking poles. NEXT ROW Whiteish/Green bag - Its an 8x11 cuben fiber tarp with doors.. Only weights about 6.5 ounces. Dark green bag - My hammock + tree straps Tent stakes, bug net, pillow and the orange bag is toothbrush, advil, bandaids, soap, etc... Orange bag is my pot + stove, fuel and spoon Next is just a guide book, headlamp, a very small leatherman, very small towel and the last blue bag is electronics. 2 usb cables, wall charger and camera charger Things not in the picture are a small camera, phone, my food bag and 3 liter water bladder for camp. When it warms up I'll be able send back the sleeping bag, underquilt, base layers and I'll get someone to send me my 40 degree quilt. One month and one week left to go until my last day of work....

Long time no see Jiffy. Osprey makes solid packs, but I've been gearing up for years. I'll be using a ULA Circuit

Well.. I do have a little over a month before I take off, so I'm not disappearing just yet. I'm trying to decide now if I want to start an online journal of the whole thing, either way.. I'll definitely be stopping by and sharing some stories and pictures. I'd say my chances of death are somewhere around slim to none. Aside from a stretch in Maine, you are never really more than a day or so walk to civilization.

Well not quite... but a major hurdle was crossed which makes it almost official. I just handed in my resignation at work. I gave them a 5 week heads up and my last day is March 21st. I've been employed by this company for 9 years. My life has pretty much been devoted to an office job, staring at code from 9-5 every weekday since I was 23. I've been skeptical to talk about my plans because I figured something would come up, but it now looks like everything is good to go. I'm canceling the lease on my apartment, throwing a few things in storage, getting a friend to drop me off at Springer Mountain Gerogia and I'll start heading north on the Appalachian Trail during the last week of March. So that means I'll pretty much be MIA from the servers all Spring and Summer, but I'll definitely be dropping by the forums while I'm AFK. Life is too short to get stuck doing one thing. My bag packed and ready to go. I can almost taste the freedom that is waiting for me.

dadeo and greg are always inviting me to cmm. I saw gunnsforhire not too long ago on the server killing bots

I think the oldest server I remember is Platinum.

Sir Tony is still around and I occasionally see Woden playing CMM

Nice man. I like much better.

I had a Mini-ITX htpc. It was loud, very hot and consumed alot of power. It's been sitting in a box somewhere for the past few years. Raspberry Pi with XBMC - $35. Its so small and quiet, I sometimes forget I even have it. It works pretty well. However, my TV has software built in for hulu, netflix, amazon prime and to stream from video files from the PC. The TV with built in software has been the easiest solution for me.