@Iendicis: How about you start by writing two reviews. PM me when you're done, and I give you my word they'll go up on the site within a reasonable period of time. Then you can write two more reviews after they go up (same goes if you've already written some that haven't gone up yet - just make sure to PM me to let me know which games you're waiting on)

@Juni:

Ya know, I'm going to back up DD on this one. Knowing him pretty well, I realize the reason he does so many reviews is because so few others actually bother to claim any, and he's dedicated enough to make sure we always actually have something to update with. Not to mention, he does a ton of his own scouting for games to review, meaning a portion of what he does review isn't necessarily even added to the games list.

Point of fact, the most I've ever known him to claim at any given time is 5, and his overall average is more like three at any given time. Currently, he's claiming one game on the games list, out of over 160 games (over 150 of which are listed as unclaimed - though I won't attest as to the current accuracy of the games list).

Bottom line is that regardless of how much DD does (which is a whole lot), there's still plenty left for anyone who's willing to roll up their sleeves and help out.

It shouldn't be too much for a Dopey plush

Well, if we only ever did things we were interested in doing, we probably wouldn't get very much accomplished.

Besides, it's good to be open minded and step outside the box once in a while.

Aaagh, I am so sad I missed the brunt of this discussion, new workies has been really strenuous :'(

Rather than rehashing a bunch of old stuff, and giving my opinions on the causes of problems for this site, I'll just state my basic opinion. If we want to rev up Reloaded and start growing again, here is my very simple proposal:

• Less talk, more action - volunteer to do something rather than pointing fingers at someone else for not doing it (case in point, about 90% of the reviews we receive are from DD or Frodo, kudos to them, shame on the rest of us)
  
• Participate in the community - if you want it to be active, make it active

I really think these two basic things need to be worked on before we start moving onto bigger ideas such as trailers and whatnot. I'm just as guilty lately of not being as proactive as I should be as the next person - I overextended myself with the site stuff and burned myself out hardcore. I'm willing to work on it.

Thanks everybody

I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off right now, but I've been trying to finish up a website project I started while I was still working at the old job (they hired me freelance for their company site design), as well dog/house sitting for my dad while he was out of town a few weeks last month, on top of trying to squeeze in visits with Tom amongst my 12 hour per day work schedule.

Also, the new term started this week, but I may have to hold off on that for my own sanity. I signed up for classes, but I have until Friday to drop them and get a refund.

@Frodo: Are you serious about wanting a Dopey plushie? We have them, you know

@Beef: I had a somewhat related job as a loan processor a while back. Only, instead of determining the score necessary, I would use the guidelines put forth by individuals such as yourself (among other criteria such as debt ratio) to determine whether a loan application should be accepted or rejected. It wasn't a bad job, just not really in my personal area of interest. Congratulations on getting that job, it sounds really good for you.

And I get to make all the slightly late people look good by being super late

Happy Birthday, Moogle

okay, impressions (after the first month)

It took a few weeks to get used to the boot-camp-like physical activity my new job requires, but I'm finally at the point where I don't just collapse when I get home and sleep until I have to get up to go to work the next day (a luxury that true boot-camp participants don't have, from what I understand).

It's been very good for me, it feels like I think a job is supposed to be. Decent relationships with managers and co-workers, a sense of purpose and all-around usefulness, and most of all, community and cohesiveness.

I'm not saying it doesn't have it's moments of suckiness, Disney loves to work you to death given the opportunity, and within strict scheduling guidelines to avoid unnecessary overtime (though you can pick up overtime shifts for any store you have the required training for if you want).

I think the best part is that the job is totally flexible in the sense that I'm not doing the exact same thing every day. It keeps you from going completely out of your head in what might otherwise be a pretty unglamorous job.

I've had some really cool things happen, too. A guest gave me a thank you card with a lifesaver package stapled to it that had their names on it and  said, "Thank you... you are a Lifesaver! You have brightened our day by sending Disney Magic our way!"

I also had a guest come in who lives near me, and mentioned so when she saw my nametag (Disney nametags include hometowns), and we had a nice chat, and she asked me if this was my full time or part time job. When I told her it was full time, she said, "Well, I just want you to know, if you ever feel down about what you do here, just remember that what you do is important. You create a bit of happiness for people all over the world, and there is absolutely no shame in that at all." (As I've said, it's not a glamorous job, and it's really tough, so I was pretty touched that she thought to say anything about it, as I hadn't complained - in fact, I told her I loved working there).

And then there's the fact that I get to play around with kids. It's awesome when you see a kid's face light up when you ask him or her if he's a Jedi or a Sith while he's building a lightsaber.

There are bad things, too, but the amazing thing about Disney is that the cast members are so resilient when it comes to dealing with "bad" guest behavior. At my old job, my co-workers would have complained for hours about one incident, but at Disney, we just joke about it and then it's forgotten. I suppose we're just too busy to really dwell on negativity, and imho, that's the way it really should be, anyway.

All in all, I'm feeling really good about this... and although I'm still not where I feel I should be career-wise at this point in my life, I finally feel as though I'm on the right path to actually getting somewhere - and that means more than I could ever decently put into words.

Just thought I'd mention for the benefit of the powers-that-be who have access to fix such things that the site layout is not happening with IE 7.0 (have known this for a while, but had more pressing things to deal with).

Not really a "major" issue, but kind of annoying. I figured if anyone else came across layout issues, they could point them out in this topic as well.

Example:

It's fun getting 16 lines of error reports when you update along with the message "Game has been SUCCESSFULLY added to the database" though (sync issues, I guess)

There are still some minor errors, but I've managed to push through an update with Kosta's assistance, and we'll continue with our updating schedule.

Please report any issues you come across, it will help us track down any errant bugs.

@Peter Smith: I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced, but Kosta's skill is not in question - he is only one person, with only so much time on his hands, and many projects to divide it between. I understand your frustration, though, and I thank you for being so dedicated to the site that you have taken the time to comment on the matter.

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review + download

Just to keep everyone informed, we're still troubleshooting the update issues.

And just to respond a bit more to the previous post by Peter Smith, sometimes a small bit of code can cause huge problems during a server transfer, depending on the differences in server environment. It can take quite a bit of time to fix, depending on what's causing the problem, especially when you take into account that both AB and AR are non-corporate sites that don't have huge human resources to fall back on when such issues occur.

The AR crew is doing our best to help troubleshoot the problem, but we're all volunteers, and we only have one actual site programmer, so please bear with us. We'll do our best to make it up to you guys for your patience when we finally get things running again

It does feel weird commenting on a story that has a character even loosely based on myself...

Anyway, I think your writing style (language issues considered) is still Tolkienesque, but you've broken into some more descriptively interpersonal writing, which I personally feel adds a whole lot more depth.

Content-wise, there were a few things I didn't really understand - mainly terms, but I think I'm missing the in-story encyclopedia that would probably be a part of the final publication, as well as some backstory Overall, I think it is very enjoyable, and I think you're a good story-weaver.

Thanks to Frodo for encouraging our budding author to write more, and thanks of course to Juni for writing and having the courage to post it publically, I enjoyed it.

Hey everyone,

This message is to inform you all that we are having temporary updating problems due to the server transfer. Once these are ironed out, we will return to our regular updating schedule. Please be patient in the meantime, thank you.

I turned in my letter of resignation today with one week's notice (I couldn't give a full two week's notice, because Disney can only reserve the position two weeks, and you have to go to their pre-training seminar thingies before starting), and my manager wanted today to be my last day

I am so loved and appreciated

Well, pretty much everyone else said they were going to miss me, and that it was sad that I was leaving, so that made me feel better

@Beef: Kids are a lot more fun than adults, who mostly are just large children with less intelligence and maturity

Guess who gets to work in a GIANT FREAKING TOY STORE at Disney?!



Whee!

If you can't tell, I'm stupidly excited right now.

*goes off to write her resignation letter for her current (boring) job with no small amount of glee*

[and now back to our regularly scheduled forum posting and stuff]

It's been one of those weeks...

most times, I feel like the soft version

I haven't actually played any of the Dragon Quest series, unfortunately. I checked out the box to DQVIII, but chose to pick up Condemned instead.

I would say: Grandia II is a good choice in that series (but avoid Grandia III like the plague), Skies of Arcadia is spiffy, and the .hack series rocks my socks, especially //GU, as you don't really need to know the backstory to enjoy the game's story.

Well, I sort of kicked around the idea of claiming it, and then RL killed me (as it often does). We're fairly short on interviewing staff at the moment, unfortunately - most of our crew resources go to getting games on the site.

The answer:

DeathDude



I listen to some of that, but my nerves can only handle most of it in small doses. It's not that I don't like it, that kind of music just gives me headaches.

"Proper" Metallica or Queen would be my favorites on the list.

Heyas Dan

Welcome to AR, and thank you for the kind words.

If you really hate your nick, I can change it for you, just PM me

Personally, though, I think it's fine. Of course, I'm an anime fan, so whatever

@Frodo: Well, I think I used a poor phrase here. She didn't say anything really out-of-line, it was more her tone and attitude. I would get into it, but to do so effectively, I'd have to reveal some of my medical history to Teh Public, and due to past experience, that is probably a Bad Idea

@BP: Yeah, my pediatrician was awesome. I think pediatricians care a hell of a lot more about their patients. Ever since I Grew Up, I've hated all my internists (primary care physicians, whatever the hell they call themselves now - doctors who suck too much to specialize, maybe?). This one really has been the absolute worst, though. At least the others kind of pretended to give a damn

@Beef: Actually, in most cases, the US health system sucks a lot more for people who can actually afford to buy into it than it does for those who can't. You can walk into one of the health department or welfare clinics and get a diagnosis and required medications for almost nothing. If you have insurance, though, watch out. When I got a sinus infection a couple weeks ago, I went to the private clinic that my company uses - the doctor asked me if I had insurance, and I wish I had said no, because she says, "Great, then I can prescribe you the really good stuff." She then proceeded to write a prescription for a $120 antibiotic (which I didn't know was that expensive until I got to the pharmacy). The insurance company I use doesn't provide immediate coverage for prescriptions - they give you a discount card which takes about 20% off, depending on the medication in question, and then you have to personally wrangle with them over what they cover on the rest of the cost. If I had gone to the health department clinic, I would have had to spend probably about $30.00 on the whole shebang, with no extraneous worries.

I haven't had a primary care physician since I was about 21, so I decided it was probably time to get one. The convenience of being able to call in and get an appointment within 24 hours was mighty tempting, as I've had a few bouts with various infections recently.

Very Bad Idea.

First of all, in order to get a new primary care physician, I had to call in and make an appointment - and apparently, new patients are not priority, so it was a  6 month waiting period until I could actually get in to see the doctor I chose. Fine, it's no better anywhere else, whatever. I could just keep going to the clinic in the meantime if I really needed to see a doctor.

So, I finally get in, and let's just say it was the worst consultation I've had with a physician ever. She wouldn't even let me finish statements, and worse, she said some shockingly nasty things which I won't even get into.

The thing I found truly obnoxious was her over-eagerness to deem me a depressed individual and put me on anti-depressant medication. No tests, nothing. She suggested this as a solution before she ever even touched me.

Her reason? All of my physical complaints can apparently be explained by depression.

However, just about EVERY physical symptom can be explained by depression.

Headache ---> Depression
Upset stomach ---> Depression
Lethargy ---> Depression
Nausea ---> Depression
Constipation/Diarrhea ---> Depression
Weight loss/gain ---> Depression
Muscle pain/soreness ---> Depression
Stubbed toe ---> Depression
Skin rash ---> Depression
Infection ---> Depression

If some of these don't make sense, they can still be explained by depression. For example, you stub your toe because you can't concentrate because you are depressed. If you are depressed, your immune system sucks, so you get infections. Think about it - pretty much every physical symptom can either directly or indirectly be caused by the stupidly vague "illness" we call depression.

It's all very convenient if you don't know the person, don't care to know the person, and don't feel like probing into their statements any further. So, I'm wondering, what the hell do we even have doctors for if everything can be explained by depression?

Contrarily enough, I consider myself a generally pretty happy individual. Sure, life sucks sometimes, but hey, that's just life.

The worst part is, if I want to change physicians (which I probably will, though you know what they say - the hell you know is better than the one you don't), I would have to go primary physician-less for another six months. Apparently, it's their policy that if you're switching to a new doctor, you can't make appointments with the old one.

Whee.

This would be a good time to discuss how you feel about the ever-more-common practice of prescribing anti-depressants for stomach aches. If you can't tell, I'm very much against it.

(Note: She finally conceded to at least a standard battery of tests when I mentioned my medical history and previous test results from prior institutions, albeit grudgingly.)

Split all the debate stuff into another topic. This one is really more about Flop's newfound celebrity-ness.

Pfft!

If I actually live in the fiery death zone, you could've managed to visit for a day or two