Zombies, Kill Streaks and Matche Types! OH MY!

Halloween approaches and soon the door bell will be ringing non-stop with children screeching "Trick Or Treat!" dressed as vampires, Iron Man and Loonette the clown.  With preparations still needing to be done, such as the carving of the pumpkin, putting the final touches on the decorations outside and the making of candy bags, I cannot stop thinking about the more important subject at hand.  In 13 days Call of Duty: Blacks Ops will be released to the world and I will be as giddy as a can be.

Not only will there be a new story line to play out and new zombies to kill on new maps.  Both players with online accounts can rank-up while playing split-screen on the same console.  That is Awesome.  I have wanted this ever since I went to Montreal last spring and could not use my own account to play Modern Warfare 2 with my brothers.   But this is only available on only for Xbox 360 version.  PS3 and Wii console owner will be left out in the rain.

The game customization is even more epic.  You can program the Time Limit and Score Limit, or as deep as which weapons, Perks, and gear is available.  You want a Pistols Only match?  Make one!  No longer do custom game modes rely on trusting that my brothers are not going to cheat.  He always does, sooner or later.  I am not going to name names.  You know who you are brother.

They also announced that there will be co-op missions that you can play online.  Way better than the Special Ops that they had with MW2 and hopefully it will take more than 4 hours to finish the whole schlemiel.

They also have new online match types.  The Wager matches are where you bet a certain amount of COD Points before the round starts and you cycle through the weapons.  Start out with a basic pistol. After every kill, you get a better weapon. Kill someone with the pistol and you’ll be pulling out the shotgun. Plug the enemy with that and you’re whipping out the SMG. From there, the weapons only get better. Get shanked and you’re set back one tier. Get through all 20 tiers first and you're in the money.  The other Wager type game is where everyone starts with the same randomly selected weapon, and only that weapon. The chosen weapon for everyone cycles after fixed amounts of time. It could be every 20 seconds or every 45; we do not know the specifiable amounts. Each kill earns you a perk, and stringing kills earns you a score multiplier. Die and you lose both.  I am not a very good player nor am I great a gambling.  On the blue moon I might take 40$ and go to the casino.  If I start making huge money while playing black jack or on the slots I usually cash out and head to the cashier so she can convert my chips into money and then I am ready to go home with my pockets now bulging with the 40$ I started with and the 40 or 60 dollars I won.  So I am not too sure how often I will play that style of game but it is definitely something worth trying out.  Maybe if the stakes are low enough or if I somehow become an 31337(elite) player, so not anytime soon.

The other exciting aspect of this new game is the kill streaks.  There is going to be an RC car available after 3 kills.  This RC car has a pound of C4 on the back of it as well as a camera and a micro phone so you can track down your enemy from a safe distance and turn him into rat food.  Napalm is another kill streak that you can call in after 5 kills. Choose a target and direction on the map and a fighter jet will fly by dropping a load of hot napalm right on the target area.  Not only will it take out anyone unlucky enough to get caught in the blast, but the napalm will also continue to burn, incinerating anyone foolish enough to get too close.  This will be perfect on objective type game modes where you can protect an area temporarily while your either being over run or you are planning on overrunning them.  There a few more kill streaks out there.  I just do not know what they are yet, but i do know that the kills you get from your kill streaks do not add towards your next kill streak.  Meaning; you get 3 kills which gives you the RC car.  You drive that around and kill 2 people with the RC car.  You do not suddenly acquire the Napalm strike.  You will still have to go out and get those kills yourself. 

All these new things coming out under one tittle is exciting.  Add in the customizations you can do with you guns and face paints.  OH! BOY! OH! BOY!  I am counting down the days.  Look forward to seeing you on the battle field.

Wrong Number

Ever had a phone number that was close to a popular business and you end up getting the odd call from people who miss read the number, miss a button on their phone or who just didn't really pay attention when dialing?  Our home phone number similar but I would never have thought it was that close.  Our number would be "555-9999" and Walmart's number would be "577-9999".  Not too close but close enough to confuse some people.

It comes in waves.  We could go for months without a wrong number, then all of the sudden we are getting 8 calls a week.  This week because of the winter roll out, phone calls are coming in droves.  Most people are polite and apologetic.  But you get the odd cretin, who has the manners or a koala bear.  I had one person call today, as soon as I said hello they asked me if this were the automotive department.  I said not it is not the automotive department.  Right away they go off on me telling me to transfer them to the automotive department then and why is this number listed as the automotive department when it isn't.  I replied that this is not the automotive department because this is a private residence.  He then repeated the number he thought he had dialed and I told him the number he had dialed and he gave me a rude fine whatever.  I politely proceeded to tell him that next time he should check the number before he dials and that he should check the attitude with it then promptly hung up. 

This obtuse customer called and told me to transfer them to the electronics department before I even had the chance to say hello.  I told them plainly no I would not transfer them.  This guy then gets real snippy with me and tells me to get my manager on the line right now.  I calmly told him that i was unable to do so because my wife was not home at this time.  He hung up.

 

My favorite was this one woman who called asking for the Walmart pharmacy.  I politely told her that she had the wrong number.  She meekly apologized and hung up.  5 minutes later the phone rings and the same woman asks for the Walmart pharmacy, I again told her she had the wrong number, this time i went the extra mile and gave her the correct number to dial.  She apologized again, thanked me and hung up.  5 minutes later the same woman's number shows up on my caller id.  I answer the phone changing the tone of my voice and cheerily exclaiming "Walmart pharmacy! How may I help you?"  I took her order and told her that it should be ready for pick up in an hour.

I now have an understanding of what the people who work the phones at Walmart go through everyday.  People are telephone tough guys and feel that they can treat the person on the other end of the phone as if they owe them something instead of treating people with respect.  To get respect you must show respect.  I read an article at one time telling me that Walmart customers are the worst customers in the retail industry.  I believe it.  I also believe that there is a bunch of them who are not the sharpest knives in the drawer either. 

She's a comedian

Austin 1 month old in his Bouncer

Our family was having a nice lazy day inside.  Austin was cooing and kicking comfortably in his colorful bouncer with oscillator set to maximum.  Meanwhile my daughter Erika, my wife and myself were playing with a variety of toys.  All around an awesome time together.

Erika loves her plastic food, a wonderful gift from my sister in law.  It has an assortment of fruit, vegetables, canned goods, cereals and condiments.  I am uncertain of the exact number of pieces this particular play food set came with, due to several stragglers who keep disappearing and re-emerging in different parts of the house, but I would put the count at 500 or 70 give or take a couple.  I think we did something to my sister in law to make her mad at us.

Erika also loves books, there is this one book in particular, a Thomas the Train book.  It is fairly large, about 2 feet by 1 foot with a musical keyboard on the side of it.  Erika was encouraging me to juggle 2 plastic eggs and a plastic apple.  Juggling 3 items is at the very limit of my skill.  Erika accidentally steps on her Thomas the Train book.  I see this and tell Erika; "Be careful sweetheart that is a nice book and you do not want wreck it."  Erika stepped off the book then she gave me this sideways glance with a hint of a smile that reeks of defiance.  Making sure that she had full eye contact with me she proceeded to step back down on her Thomas the Train book.  I briskly got up from my juggling spot, walked up to Erika and took her book and said; " If you are not going to take care of it, I am going to take it away."  I then walked into the entranceway and place it in the closet to be retrieved at a later time.

My wife told me later, that when I had left the room Erika had this look as though she was going to cry.  She never did.

One of Erika's looks of contempt

I return to the living room and sat back down on the floor, the whole while my daughter was looking at me with this look of total contempt on her face.  Erika then casually walked over to where I was sitting, all the while keeping the same look of disapproval.  She stopped directly in front of me calmly raised her arm and simply bonked me on the head, and then she just started laughing it up.  I couldn't help but smile.  To be quite honest she did a good job at confusing me, because I had been expecting Erika to lash out for having taken her book, but I did not see this coming.  All I hear from my wife is quiet snorting and gasping, because she had turned to face the wall trying to stem her laughter.

It is times like these that make it all worth while.  2 days later and it still makes me chuckle.


P.S. 22 days until my attack dogs are munching on my brothers behind.