Last night I played in GameSpot's Saving Vegas tournament. Even though our team didn't win, the experience was enlightening and generally a positive experience. GameSpot can definitely run tournaments. Since I hardly knew the members of my team (or the opposing team), it felt a lot like the online matches I had been playing, just without the jerks.

As I have been both practicing for the tournament and working to unlock the Vegas achievements, I have come across numerous instances of unsportsman-like conduct. Due to some odd networking issues yesterday, the matches I played with the most wicked offenders wasn't logged. Thus, I couldn't go back and leave feedback.

Many people have been clearing their XBL friendslists lately. I am one of them. I like to keep my list somewhere between 70 and 80 people. Yesterday it had grown into the 90s. While I try to leave GameSpot community members on my list, I had to pare down that burgeoning list. About 80% of the people on my list don't join matches with me or actively communicate. Some people have been pinging me lately about games, GameSpot, and what-not, but I could go for some more activity from the people on the friendslist. In an effort to diversify my list, I have been getting a lot of invites from Vegas players. They seem to like to add genial people. Playing with the randomly encountered members of the Vegas community has been great for picking up more experience in T-Hunts and learning maps and tactics I would otherwise have been unaware of.

Just last night I played a T-Hunt game with a couple guys who only play with the GI Joe laser option enabled. Blue lasers are treacherous. . . but all that cuss language has been giving me nightmares. Last night I had too many dreams about playing Vegas. We all know one dream is too many when games are involved.

I have some questions I have prepared to ask the Development Directors of a particular Developer/Publisher. I am meeting with them this afternoon for three hours.

However, what questions would you ask of the mightiest of business taskmasters the game world employs?

Status: Still alive, but very tired.

Viva Pinata: 98% complete.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance: Hard mode completed. Excelsior!

Gamerscore: Within 6 GRAND of the market leader.

Shakeup: Final round tomorrow. Thank you notes are in the mail. Other opportunities are pending.

Wife: Taking good care of sick Don.

Current activity: Working from home.

Bozanimal has created a series of great blogs for anybody looking for tips on life. Those blogs range from how to dress smartly to the soundest financial advice one can follow when buying consumer electronics. While I'm sure he has something up his sleeve for negotitating with potential employers, I'd just like to indicate keeping sick days separated from vacation days is the best thing ever.

Being confined to bed rest at the expense of your vacation is no fun. Once the vacation (PTO) reserve is gone, any time off is at the expense of wages. I had one employer that had the perfect policy: unlimited sick days. Sure you needed a doctor's note for three sick days in a row, but your time off was at your discretion despite being subject to manager auditing. . . because you never know when you are going to get sick.

[RANT] If somebody sends out an announcement to a large number of individuals DO NOT hit Reply to All with insignificant changes. Be polite to the receiver of the message and to the rest of us being copied. Only send it to one person. Chances are we disregarded the initial announcement, the follow-up to the original sender is of even less interest to the rest of us. [/RANT]

After waking up with a 100-degree fever, yesterday I went to the doctor. Turns out I got a get-out-of-work free pass. This offer is only valid with three days of bed rest and antibiotics. That means, I have those waking hours confined at home with nothing else to do.

After finishing off Eragon over the weekend, I decided it was time to crack open Viva Pinata. Even without the Ruffians, the game would be a pleasant challenge on its own. I could really go for some more low-key gardening and breeding. . . I hope that wasn't a spoiler-filled rumination on the gameplay of Rare's best 360 game.

Recently, a lot of people have been PM'ing me about my blog. Sorry I haven't posted since revealing my unusual discovery. I have been busy with work, school, and my shake-up. Seriously, finals will do that to you.

That probably explains why I haven't dedicated some of the limited bandwidth I have left to writing reviews. My achievement harvesting has also been stunted. That said, I have had some noteworthy gaming moments in the last week:

Guyzea and his clan helped me with some Vegas map attacks

Caro and I played some online TabTenn

Eragon has started to mock me for finishing the Normal difficulty but then neglecting the Hard

Raving Rabbids said, "Waaaaaaaaah!" after being abandoned following a weekend of play

Carcassonne is still really fun to play . . . even after unlocking all of the achievements

Uno is better with people you know (Thanks Dave!)

GUS, seriously, more Super Contra achievements STAT

One of these days Rawr and I are going to finish MUA's hard mode

My wife even played We Love Katamari with me one night. That was both a surprise and a delight

That's all I've got. Thanks everybody for playing! It's been a fun week.

Am I the only one who thinks this guy from Dead Rising bears more than just a passing resemblance to movie-maker Michael Moore?

= ?

What was the original price of Eragon?

I neither remember, nor really care. Most retailers are continuing to push the xbox 360 version of the game for $39.99. That seems about $30 too much. It turns out Amazon decided to liquidate their inventory of the title for about the cost of an expensive Xbox Live Arcade game. By paying $9.99, you could take home a bad tie-in to a poorly executed movie. What a deal!

The good news is it has 1000 gamerscore associated with it.

I paired that purchase with a birthday gift for my dad. That should save me both the shipping and the taxes associated with the purchase. Now all I have to do is wait for it to arrive and forget I actually spent money for a steaming pile of 4.2.

. . . Now to decide on a name.

Hopefully we can finalize our selection before he arrives in December. There's nothing worse than giving a perfectly good child a bad name.

The following is a rhetorical question I've been kicking around the last few days. . .

I have 800 Microsoft credits left in my online account.

Do I support my spiritual siblings at Ninja Bee with a purchase of Band of Bugs?

or

Do I hold out for Discs of Tron and another 400-point Xbox Live Arcade title?

Purchasing two 400-point games should yield 400 achievement points. Purchasing one game made by people in my extended network would yield a mere 200 points.

Traditionally, 400-point games yield a couple hours of play time before being cast away. The 800-point games offer additional value, or stir greater nostalgia. The trade-offs are inconclusive.

This, I suppose, is a long-term question. Rockstar Table Tennis is on my desk waiting to vex me, Rainbow Six: Vegas is in queue for tournamenting, and that copy of Viva Pinata that should've arrived a month ago . . . it should be arriving in another week. I have enough on my plate right now.

Rawr and I are rocking MUA. Only two more chapters until we finish Hard mode. If anybody else wants in on that achievement, speak up now, because once I get it, I'll be hard-pressed to play story mode again.

UPDATE: This news has settled the pressing question. "When Dodgeball is outlawed, only outlaws play Dodgeball."

Stand by Ion Control . . .

The next phase of the epic shake-up is set for tomorrow.

After a serious search and career-building extravaganza yesterday, I am seriously feeling sore. Lots of in-city running with my coworkers in a vain attempt at winning a scavenger hunt.

Seeing your coworkers get stupefyingly drunk is also never a good thing. I don't care how many stars are associated with the particular restaurant in which you are dining.