In these economic times, I have no simpathy for greed but that is exactly what I am getting from the credit union of which I have been a member for about 17 years. In an attempt to secure a certain amount of money, they have decided to implement a fee schedule (in mid-September) that is a mile long. At the very top is the offender that will usher me to another institution: "Share Draft Fee (per mo/under $300 bal)...........$3.00". So, if I allow my checking account to fall below $300, I will be fined $3. The problem is that my checking account had dwindled to $53 due to my activity on eBay (well actually $47 due to the fact that they stole $6 from me over the last 2 months though I was told I had nothing to worry about back in July when the fee schedule was announced). In order to comply, I would have to take $253 out of my next check and not spend a dime of it until I could make sure that my account was sufficiently funded to allow for any spending that might occur. Now I have bills to pay and don't have the money to take $253 off the top. What better time to hold $300 of my money hostage anyway right? Honestly, I have no patience for this at all and have already found another credit union that has no minimum balance. I am going to close my checking account at one and open it at the other while on my way to work today. The main problem with this is that I will not be able to buy or sell on eBay until I update my financial info with PayPal. I know that starting my PayPal account about 6 years ago was quite a headache. Hopefully updating it will be different. My new debit card should arrive in a week so at least that problem is out of the way. There is one complicating matter though: I have a loan for my new Ford Focus to pay off.....and I still have about $20,500 left. I will have to either maintain $5 in my savings account, re-finance, or pay it all off at once to get away from that credit union completely. Re-financing will probably cause me to incur a charge and I can't afford to pay the car off. Maintain only $5 in my savings......I need that in writing with the company letterhead please.....

As you all probably know, there are a lot of kids these days that suffer from low self-esteem. Well, I have an answer......but it's going to take billions of our hard-earned tax dollars to implement. I believe that we need to overhaul our school transportation system. How will this help a child's self-esteem you ask.....simple. We need to manufacture buses that offer front row seating to comfortably fit at least 25 kids. This will not only assure that the back row is actually near the front of the bus but it will have the added advantage of keeping the trouble-makers near the front where they can be watched. No child wants to be ignored by being tucked away in the very back. Join my cause and we will put an end to low self esteem.

Oh....and here is the clincher......It will be easier to see the buses coming down the road..

Recap

Positives:

Increased self-esteem

Shorter buses

Trouble-makers near front

Buses will be even more visible

Negatives:

None that I am aware of....:P

In order to document my collection for insurance purposes, I have decided to take pics of all of my games and consoles. There are only a few consoles that I have not photographed so the most daunting task is photographing my games. I am trying to knock out the main consoles first and after 3 days of spending nearly all of my free time taking pics, my NES collection is finally documented (except for 1 game). Since I already took pics of my Dreamcast and Game Gear games, my total number of games photographed is about 949....about 1600 to go...

If any of you want to keep track of my progress, my pics are linked in the collection thread.

I just wanted to let you all know that on September 1st, I captured all of the stats necessary to complete the August leaderboard and am currently in the process of compiling the data. SHEATH013 will be the newest addition to the leaderboard while SL4IN and JNKtastic will be cut due to inactivity on the Gamespot site. Those of you that have Backloggery accounts will see those stats used instead of your Gamespot stats as the memory card feature makes the former easier to use than the latter. Please let me know if your Backloggery stats are outdated.

If you have been keeping up with the system-by-system leaderboard, you may have noticed a few members that haven't shown up on the forum in quite a while. This begs a question: What consitiutes being a member of the CCU? To me, if you haven't even posted on the forum in a while, it would be hard to say that you are still a member. For example, sonicboom713, and Sanctuary13 haven't posted in a CCU thread in nearly 2 years. Are they still members or were they just passing through? This begs yet another question: Should they be included in the leaderboard stats? I am already removing JNKtastic (less than 350 games), SL4IN (less than 350 games), and bears_lp (he never did post collection pics and hasn't posted in the CCU since January) and am strongly considering the removal of sonicboom and Sanctuary from the leaderboard as it seems that I am only padding the totals by including them. What are your thoughts?

Just to let you guys know......I am still working on the leaderboard stats. My plan is to have everything finished tonight and post everything up shortly thereafter. I have added a couple of different OCD leaderboards including rarity stats (by request). Hopefully my efforts will make for an interesting thread. Take care. :)

As one who doesn't purchase games with add-ons, it is easy for me to bash companies that make them available. The reason: My belief is that the games should be put out with that content already packed in instead of making gamers pay for the game over and over again. Is it because the games are rushed to the shelves and are not ready or is this strictly a money grab? Perhaps the software developers are trying to make up for mistakes by putting the content out later on, but it seems more likely that the latter is true. Is this an indictment on society today? Are we on the go so much that we don't have time for an involved game and require bite-size pieces to consume the experience? Are we being groomed in this direction by gaming companies or are they taking advantage of a propensity that is already there?

Perhaps the games still feel like a finished project and the add-ons are just a welcome addition, but it seems that a lot of games nowadays are completed in record time........buy the game one week and finish it the next.

I have my perspective but what is your take on the matter?

It has been a little over a month now and time for me to reflect on how I feel about joining the CCU. First off, let me say that it has been a great experience. Being among other gamers that feel as I do about collecting is something I have wanted to do for quite some time now. I have tried to start threads about game collecting in another forum but it seemed as though there was limited participation (Only one other member seems serious.). The Candid Collector's Union is lively and I have gotten valuable info from members in the process.......from members sharing their thoughts about games to the mention of Backloggery in the leaderboard threads (I hope that registration for that site will reopen soon.). It is difficult to put into a blog entry everything that I find positive about having joined. From day one, I have really felt at home there and I recommend that anyone who is serious about game collecting join up.

It is about time for the new leaderboard to go up. I can't wait to hit the stats! :D