Highlander

I just stopped in to say "Hi". It's been a long, long since I had the time to surf around. So glad I was able to navigate back here. I did a google search and misspelled a word and saw in one of the responses "Ogame". I immediately thought of the great times in UNI 9 and now I hear there's going to server merges. It took longer than I thought. Just for giggles, I found DARK MATTERS once again [at least 3 computers later] and read through the Eleanor thread(s) - those were the days! Hoping to find all of you prospering in your current endeavors. I've been playing LOTRO pretty solid for the last 5 years with a little RIFT thrown in, but sure do miss this place a lot. Gogo - Hope you are doing well!

Holy smokes, I thought broccoli was pretty bad. Those poor ducks. Isn't the best part of eating the tasting of the food? I can't imagine anything else, even for ducks.

Hey Gogo Check this out for news on the sequel: Avatar - The Sequel Gotta love the irony! Avatar will be profitable and that's what will drive this new franchise.

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Cool thread and very interesting responses. For me it have to be The Wizard of Oz. Certainly not my favorite movie, but as a kid growing up it seemed this movie was on network TV twice a year, once in the fall and again in the spring. As I grew up and had kids of my own and a VCR player, it was The Wizard of Oz that seemed to be the most viewed, like once a week. Now that I'm even older and with grandkids -- you guessed it -- they love The Wizard of Oz, now on DVD. I guessing it gotta be over hundred times already, I've watched the darned thing. Something about those flying monkeys keeps us coming back...

That was the best way to start off my Christmas Eve. Thanks for finding that BHJ. And from all of us here to all of you...Merry Christmas and may the Spirit of the Christmas Season be with all year long!

Wow a topic dear to my heart: Fat Tire Amber Ale - made in Fort Collins, CO by New Belgium Brewing It's the best...but, very hard to find on the east coast.

Hey thanks you all. I did have great day; and yes Italian food FTW.

Gogo Yer just gonna love it. And what a great deal you got - super planning and execution as always. Can't wait to read the live review once you get it home.

Wow!! Steak Braciole! I haven't thought about this dish in years. There was a super Italian restaurant in my hometown whose specialty was Steak Braciole. The chef made the small finger-sized variety stuff with a filling of creamy (pureed) and spiced olives laced with some wonderful Italian sausage. The steak itself was melt in your mouth. It was served with a mild marinara sauce over the top. Too bad that old restaurant is out of business now. Such wonderful memories! Enjoy that recipe Funk!

Gogo Another one? Enjoy and have Happy Birthday!!

Turbine has been updating LotRO with a free upgrade about every two months or so since the general release last April. We are scheduled for the next one real soon, it was rumored to be coming this month, but time runs short, so possibly in February. These usually take the form of expansions to the land area, character skill tweaks/nerfs (depending on who you talk to, lol), more quests (EPIC, solo, fellowship and raid), new gear, enhancements like player housing, crafting options and the like. There are rumors of a paid expansion to the game in the future, but no date has been announced. No one knows, but there's tons of speculation on what form it will take. Right now, from a timeline perspective the fellowship (Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Aragron, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas and Gandalf) are in Rivendell and it's presumably the day before the Council of Elrond. The land area encompasses the area from the Shire to Bree thru the Midgewater Marshes and Lone Lands and into the Trollshaws and finally into Rivendell. The Misty Mountains, Angmar, Annuminas are there to explore as well as the Dwarven and Elven homelands. The next big expansion is rumored to move into areas like Rohan, Gondor or even the Mines of Moria. Increasing the level current level cap of 50 to maybe 60 or more is also rumored. Speculation puts it around next Christmas or first quarter of 2009. For me, I looked at Age of Conan and decided it's not what I'm looking for and did the same with Crysis and Hellgate London. So for the time being, I'm content to stay with LotRO through the forseeable future. A call went out recently for new content testers, but the competition was fierce and I didn't get the nod. One of my kinmates did, however and he's having the time of his life testing the new stuff. They accorded the testers quite a lot of freedom and near-administrator rights to the game, but he's bound to a non-disclosure agreement and can't tell anyone what he sees in the new stuff. He is one of the best players I know in the game and his insight will be very valuable to the developers. He's an engineer with a quick and keen insight into the game mechanics and has the rare skill of being able to talk in complete sentences, too. I expect the call will go out soon for new content testers and I'll be in line once again, hopefully for the big expansion that's planned. Because I was a Beta tester in this game and a "Founder" I got a special deal on the pay-to-play costs, so I took the lifetime offer when it was $199. Given the hours of playtime I've invested I'm guessing my cost is in the pennies/hour range, so I've got my investment back a few times over all ready. And the really cool thing about it is you don't have to fleetsave or worry that when you sign back after being away for a couple of days that some fleetcrasher raided all your goodies. It's so nice just to sign out and not worry.

Hey all Yeah, I'm still playing Lord of the Rings online and still loving it. It is a little like WoW but without the kiddies - the community is much more mature, 6 different characters to choose from: Loremaster (crowd control), Champion (Area of Effect DPS), Captain (Buffer, dps), Hunter (single target DPS), Burglar (Trickster, dps), and Guardian (Tank). Character build is set on virtues and traits which you earn through exploration, killing (grinding) mobs and using your skills. Level maximum now is 50 and it should take a casual player many weeks of playtime to achieve - it took me from April (general release) to about July to get there. I have two level 50s now a Hunter and a Guardian. Questing is the core of the game. The developers have tried very hard to develop content that appeals to a broad audience, there is much solo content designed for rewards, experience and exploration; small group fellowships (2-3 player) cooperative adventures, 6-player groups (more challenging) quests, 12-man raids, 24-man raids and the EPIC quests where you can quest with Aragorn, Gimli, Radagast the Brown, find lost palantirs, chase the Nazgul, aid the fellowship as they make their way thru the story. Much fun! The Tolkien lore is well maintained, thoroughly researched and simply amazing. The world is laid out just as you saw it in the maps in the books: The Shire, Bree-town, Lone Lands, Trollshaws, Rivendell, Misty Mountains, Angmar. You meet and interact with known characters from the books, Frodo, Tom Bombadil, Pippen, Merry, Gandalf and the evil ones as well: Nazgul, Bill Ferney, the Witch King, Gollum and even a Balrog! The visuals are terrific - Bree town at night, Weathertop, Annuminas, Misty Mountains, the Shire. Yeah it takes a bit of a decent rig to play - I use a GeForce 6800 sitting on top of 2 gigs Ram and don't have any problems - but that about the minimum. The new 8800s are much better. Crafting is alive and well in the game - You can specialize and make weapons, jewellery, armour, potions, bows, furnture and things for player housing. You can gather ore, wood and other materilas - you can cook and farm. The economy works pretty well - I've had to balance activities from crafting and gathering to accumulate the coin necessary to upgrade armour and weapons and purchase potions and other goodies. A great sideline. The is a form of PVP, in a select area called the Ettenmoors. Players can roll a monster or can play as their own character against other players - never did it, but some like it a lot. Great game, very immersive and loads of fun. I play on the Gladden server as Armequen (Hunter) or Armori (Guardian). Stop in and look me up and I'll show you around Middle Earth!

Claire, thanks for the cool video, Christmas time is pretty special! Wishing all of you and yours a joyous, happy and healthy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Howdy Old friends and new - I have not disappeared from the face of the earth. I did want stop by and wish all of you the greatest of Thanksgiving Days (and for my friends in Canada... errr ... um... Happy Thursday and belated Happy Thanksgiving). Since I retired from OGame a while back, I've busy with real life things. As you may remember, I was awarded a contract to provide interim management services to a long-time client right here in my home town of Raleigh, NC. I was thrilled that I didn't have to engage the skies as a road warrior any longer. It was so refreshing not to have to pass through airport security each morning as a condition to arrive at work. The management team I had the opportunity to direct in this hospital was a great group. Results oriented, hard working, and a real pleasure to coach and mentor. The original engagement was for a term of three months and began last April with a month-by-month renewal. July came and went, August did too. In September, the Senior Financial Executive and I had a talk as she had been pressured by my team and others in the organization to keep me around on a more permanent basis. I was excited about the chance. Great pay potential, super benefits, a growing organization with a record of profitability and well respected in the community. I went through a series of interviews in late September and October with the other executives, hospital president and certain board members. An offer was made that knocked my socks off - lets say 30% more than I expected... I took it! I started there fulltime October 22 and now after a month of really digging in - truly feel I made the best decision in my entire career. Time really is a luxury now - of course I'm back to the executive schedule of 50 -55 hours a week and this is really the first time I've had to stop long enough to drop in and say Howdy. I miss you guys a lot - I see OGame has taken a back seat to a renewed interest in Sacred. The SacredWiki is an awesome idea. The new look is just super. The forums seem busier than ever and so many new names and faces. Wow!! I hope this wish of a happy holiday finds you all well and oh --- don't forget to fleetsave...