Actually, when I really think about it, annoyance is winning out.

Why am I feeling annoyed, you may ask? Well, back over at Mortal Kombat Online, I was pointed to this thread posted by some kid going by the username “Scorpioninhellmode”. I didn’t think much about it, until I scrolled down and read the comments. After that, I went and looked at the kid’s profile, and was greeted by this little gem:

Homepage: http://www.Mortalkombatonline.com and alot more but one thing ill tell you my email address drkbish@mortalkombatonline.com and one websitehttp://www.darquecathedral.org

Great. Someone pretending to be me.

By all rights the kid needs to be banned for passing off other artist’s works as his own. I’m still a bit surprised that someone would WANT to masquerade as me; a lot of the time MK Online’s popularity hasn’t quite sunk in yet. (Hell, I was shocked when someone on #TNL asked if I was the same DArqueBishop from MK Online.) That’s pretty much a bannable offense too. So, right now, there are three of us who have ban claims. I guess I’d better step in and deal with it…

Well, it’s Friday… and for some reason today was the one day I went to work. I had gone to Las Vegas for vacation on Sunday and came back yesterday; I suppose I could have taken today off as well, but I had planned on saving my remaining vacation days so I could use them for when Misty came here next week. Of course, that’s not happening now, as unforeseen circumstances have forced her to scrap any plans to come visit. Ah, well… still, it was a good week for the most part.

On Sunday, Dad and I arrived in Vegas, got checked in at Bally’s, and got settled in. Not too long after we arrived we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory over in the Forum Shoppes at Caesars Palace. When we arrived at Caesars, Dad decided to kill some time by playing some slots before dinner. While I watched him play (as I wasn’t in the mood to play slots), I saw movement out of the corner of my eye; someone was walking towards us. A familiar voice then said, “Man, what are you doing here?” I turned, and realized it was the president of my employer’s Pipeline Valve division. It turned out he was in town for the national bullriding championship (he breeds bulls for bullriding competitions) and was leaving that evening. Neither he nor I had any idea that the other would be in Vegas. Small world, eh? After that, Dad and I ate at Cheesecake Factory, and then went back to the hotel. While he played slots, I relaxed in the room, and soon we both called it an early night.

On Monday, after having breakfast in the Sidewalk Cafe, Dad and I hit the games. Dad hit the slots, while I eventually found a $3-$6 limit Texas Hold Em table and played for three or four hours. Once we got tired of playing, we decided to head back over to Cheesecake Factory for another late lunch/early supper, as we had played through lunch. After we ate there (with Dad having tried Tex-Mex eggrolls for the first time), we headed back to Bally’s to get changed and get ready to see Donn Arden’s Jubilee!. Our seats happened to be at a table right up at the front. This worked to our disadvantage, as not only were we TOO close to the action, the chairs were uncomfortable. My butt was sore as hell by the time the show was over. As for the show itself… eh, it was okay. It was your typical topless showgirl revue, and it was well-presented… but it was just not my thing. I can say now that I’ve seen it, and I don’t have any particular desire to see another one.

On Tuesday, Dad and I went ahead and hit the slots and tables again. I have to say, it was not a good showing for me at the poker tables; I ended up losing my entire buy-in and walking away. At around 1 PM or so, Dad and I went over to the Rio, where our next show was. Unfortunately, while we really liked the Rio, we didn’t find enough to do to occupy us for eight hours. :-) I played on the poker tables there, but lost my buy-in even quicker than I did at Bally’s. Having convinced myself that day was a wash, I met up with Dad, and we had dinner at a bar and grill in the Rio that not only had the best burger I had had in a while, they served Shiner Bock as well. :-) Once we were done at the Rio, we took the shuttle back to Bally’s and relaxed for a bit. That evening, we went back to the Rio and went to see Penn & Teller. As ho-hum and meh as Jubilee! was, Penn & Teller was hilarious and entertaining. It was worth every penny we paid for tickets, and I wouldn’t hesitate to see them again. :-)

Wednesday was a kind of slow day, as Dad and I were beginning to tire of being in Vegas. In hindsight, we should have chosen to leave on that day instead of Thursday. We had breakfast at the buffet in Caesars, then went back to Bally’s for more gaming. After Dad played some slots and I played some poker, we went over to the Forum Shops to see if they had anything new and interesting there, and then topped it off with… you guessed it, Cheesecake Factory. The evening was spent with Dad watching TV, and I did a ice cream run downstairs as a treat for ourselves. Then, at 9:30 PM, I went over to Caesars (and was almost accosted by a couple of women I’m guessing were prostitutes) to see the Pussycat Dolls gaming area for a friend. Unfortunately, it was closed; I could have sworn it was supposed to be open at that time. I went back to the room and went to bed instead.

Thursday was relatively quiet; I got up and packed, and once that was done we had breakfast down in the Sidewalk Cafe. Soon after that, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the airport. I had hoped to have some lunch at the airport before the flight, and was briefly disappointed; water supply issues had closed all the restaurants. They reopened soon, though, and I had a burger from Chili’s before the flight. Once we got home, I unpacked, did some work on the PC, and eventually went to bed…

When I woke up this morning, everything seemed normal and usual. It wasn’t until I got downstairs and saw the presents on the breakfast table that I remembered that it was my birthday. :-) Mom had gotten me a couple of slightly unusual gifts: a four-port USB hub in the shape of the TARDIS, and a webcam in the shape of a Dalek. I left for work before Dad got up, which means it wasn’t until I got home that he gave me his gift to me: the box set of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. :-) Tomorrow we’ll be going to PF Chang’s to celebrate my birthday.

All in all, while the Vegas trip was fun and enjoyable (if a tad long), the birthday itself was very low-key and quiet. I had a somewhat okay day today (though I ran into a few problems at work), but otherwise, it’s been a good week. We’ll see if the weekend continues that trend.

Some of you might remember me mentioning in an earlier post that my friend Becky had an absolutely horrific experience dealing with the McDonald’s at FM 1960 West and Breck Road. Well, last night, I happened to go to a Halloween movie night at her and Brian’s house, and the topic of conversation eventually turned to the aftermath of that incident. Apparently the word got out a lot farther than anyone expected (not that this was a BAD thing), especially due to the community at their church, and action was finally taken. According to Brian, the restaurant had been heavily spamming the surrounding neighborhoods with flyers that have been proclaiming that they’re “UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT”. From what he’s been told, almost the entire staff there has been replaced.

Not that Brian or Becky will ever find out for themselves, though. As Brian quite pointedly explained to the district manager, they never ever plan on setting foot in that McDonald’s again. That bridge has already not just burned, but demolished. I don’t blame them; there’s one Sonic in the Houston area that I would never go to again, even if they changed the management there. What happened to me was nowhere near as bad as what happened to Becky, but it’s still the principle of it. Still, it’s good to see that karma does win out in the end.

Well, not a whole lot to talk about… but first, because no one’s interested, here’s a picture of my latest desktop. :-)

Yes, that is Cortana. I got the image from here. Hopefully Misty won’t have a fit when she sees this image… :-)

I was supposed to go to the Renaissance Festival with friends yesterday morning. Unfortunately, the day before I pulled a shift from 7:40 AM to 9:40 PM, so I ended up emailing the one organizing the trip apologizing, and saying that there was no way in hell I would feel like driving to/from Plantersville. It turned out that that was a GOOD thing, as I ended up getting three or four support calls during the day. Also, my allergies and fatigue caught up with me, as I ended up suffering from allergies and a massive headache most of the day. I napped some, but it wasn’t until after I took some Advil and Benadryl that I started feeling better. Even then, I had to stop playing Halo 3 with Sinner, Mimik, and Genku because I was feeling so lousy. It was not one of my better days.

Today was more or less uneventful and restful, except for me and my parents going up to Friday’s in the Woodlands and then to Borders so I could pick up the DVD and score CD for Transformers. Unfortunately, dinner in Friday’s ended up being the worst experience we’ve ever had in a Friday’s. We ordered our drinks at the same time we ordered our appetizer (fried cheese). The fried cheese arrived right before the drinks did. As for our drinks… I THINK what Dad got was Johnnie Walker Black, but it was so watered down it was unreal. Dad sent it back, and the bartender sent it back insisting it was JWB. Dad wasn’t happy, but he grudgingly accepted it. Then when we put in our order, Mom ordered green bean fries and pot stickers. The chefs thought it was an appetizer, so it was served first. About five minutes after Mom had gotten her food, we grabbed the waiter and asked him what was going on. He ran back, checked on the order, found out what happened, and fast tracked it. Ten minutes later, our entrees were served… and Dad had been given the wrong item. By that time we had had it, and the manager came over to talk to us. She was very apologetic and embarrassed by what happened, and ended up taking Dad’s and Mom’s entrees and Dad’s drink off the tab, plus gave us a coupon for a free appetizer next time we go in. She ended up redeeming herself somewhat in my eyes as a result. As for the waiter, we hold him mostly blameless because A) it was a support problem, and B) he’s only a trainee there.

After dinner, we wandered over to Borders, where I picked up a copy of Transformers on DVD using the gift card Misty had gotten me. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the score CD in stock, but will hold a copy for me when it comes in on Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll have enough time on Tuesday to go up there and pick it up. Who knows…

Ah, well. For now, I’m just going to relax a bit and spend a little bit of time talking to Misty before I go to bed. Tomorrow should be fun at work, as I have to oversee one of our locations as they have their first day with their brand new phone system (the reason I was at work so late on Friday). I just hope it all works out relatively okay. We’ll see. :-)

It’s the end of the weekend, and quite frankly, I could use another day. It’s not going to happen, though, so I’m just going to grin and bear it. I’ve got a lot of work to do when I get into the office tomorrow, including setting up a couple of laptops and a heavy-duty printer/scanner/copier. It’s not going to be a fun day, really, but I’m kind of hoping I can hole myself up in my cubicle for most of the day and get the work done. The less I have on my plate, the happier I am.

I do have to say, though, that I did get to wind down this evening somewhat. It’s become something of a tradition in this house to make late Sunday afternoons a “cocktail hour”. Mom makes an appetizer of some sort, and while she’s making it we all have drinks. It’s made for a nice change of pace here, plus it’s a good excuse to sit down, relax, and have a drink. The only real regret we have about it per se is the fact that we usually get TGI Friday’s brand appetizers (cheese sticks, spinach & artichoke dip, or chicken tenders), and they don’t have their fried green bean fries available. Ah, well… I suppose they’re saving them for the actual restaurants. :-)

The main other thing that happened this past week and weekend that’s of note is the fact that Misty had to go to the hospital on Monday. Her doctor thought she had a kidney infection but sent her to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t her appendix or gall bladder. It turned out it was her appendix and that she needed to have it removed. :-( She’s back home now and resting up (on doctor’s orders). She’s been overly quiet as a result, too, which does tend to be rather lonesome. On the other hand, I was a bit annoyed because the flowers I ordered for her arrived a day later than I had intended. I’m willing to blame myself there, though, considering how late I ordered the flowers the day before. Still, I’m hoping she gets much better soon…

Anyway, I should consider starting to get ready for bed, as it’s another early morning for me tomorrow. Fun fun…

Some months ago, I mentioned that Missy had said that Christmas isn’t over until all of the presents have been bought or given. Well, among the gifts I had gotten for Christmas were a $50 Visa debit gift card from my father, and a $30 Borders gift card from Misty. I hadn’t used them yet, simply because I couldn’t think of what exactly I wanted to get with them. Well, I finally decided it was high time to actually USE the cards, as it’d be kind of embarrassing for Christmas to come around this year and not have used the cards from last year. So, on my way home from work tonight, I stopped by Fry’s and used the Visa debit card towards Halo 3. I’ve already started playing it, but I’m admittedly not that good at it so far. Ah, well… I suppose I will get better with practice. Now maybe Jonin01 and BloodySinner will stop getting on my case about not having the game. :-)

As for the $30 Borders gift card, that will wait for another couple of weeks. Transformers is being released on DVD on the 16th, and I’ll use the Borders gift card towards that. It seemed appropriate, as that was the movie Misty and I went to see when I went to visit her a month and a half ago. :-) The only real annoyance is that there really isn’t a Borders convenient to me; I suppose I’d need to go to the Woodlands Town Center or go to the Galleria when the time comes. Ah, well…

On a completely different subject, my trip to Vegas is getting closer, and Dad and I are getting ready for it. A couple of nights ago, I went ahead and booked our tickets for the two shows we’re going to see. On Monday night, we’re seeing Donn Arden’s Jubilee!, which is at the same hotel we’re staying at (Bally’s). On Tuesday night we’re going to be seeing Penn & Teller at the Rio. It should be fun; we’ve stayed at Bally’s enough times where it’s time we saw their showgirl revue, and I’d been wanting to see Penn & Teller for a while. At the very least it’ll be a break from playing at the poker room. :-) Now, the big question is whether or not Dad’s going to insist on doing the Klingon Encounter at the Star Trek Experience. We’ll see, I suppose…

In any event, I still have a month until the trip. For now, though, I’ve got work in the morning, and I need to get rested for that. Fun fun…

Those who have known me at Mortal Kombat Online (and even back when it was called MK5.ORG) know that with the work I do on the site, I need to do a complete disconnect every once in a while or I suffer from burnout. Usually said vacation occurs a month or two after the last major game’s release. Unfortunately, my last real vacation from the site was shortly after the release of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. I kept meaning to take a vacation from the site after the release of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, but with Scott Howell resigning as webmaster and various other things, said vacation never happened, and now I’m closer to burnout than ever before.

So, after talking to CCShadow last night, I’ve decided to take a month away from the site and channel. As soon as I’ve finished this post, I’ll leave #mortalkombat (leaving MKBot there just in case), close the channel stats page, and be a hermit, so to speak. I’ll still be available to everyone for non-MK-related issues (if you know where to find me… heh), but otherwise I’m doing as much of a disconnect as possible so I can return refreshed and ready for the build up to Mortal Kombat 8.

So, for the most part… to those of you in the MK community, I’ll see you all in a month or so. :-)

The following was emailed to me by my friends Brian and Becky. I am horrified and disgusted by what it said, and it’s more or less proof that fast food workers WILL do what they can to fuck you over. Brian and Becky were kind enough to give me permission to repost this, so read on…

Hey everyone,

Becky had a nasty little experience at the McDonalds on 4803 W 1960 this afternoon, and we felt that all of you who live in the area or may pass by should know about it.

Becky went through the drive-through lane, ordered, and when she moved forward to pay at the first window they realized that her order was incorrect, and the cashier told her to pull forward to the next window to pay. She pulled forward, gave her card to the girl, and her drinks were given to her…the drinks were incorrect and Becky realized that her order was completely messed up – no problem…right? She and the cashier/drink girl discussed it and still she couldn’t fix it, and proceeded to charge her for an extra drink (which Becky never got in the end). After Becky figured it was resolved she noticed that the girl still had her credit card. Becky asked for her card back and the girl DENIED EVEN HAVING IT. Becky and the girl argued about it for a minute until Becky actually pulled up a bit, got herself and the girls out of the car and went into the establishment. She asked to see the manager and demanded her card back, which was finally done without apology. Next Becky began to tell the manager about the problems…and when she looked over at the girl who had given her problems she saw the girl SPIT INTO A DRINK – A DRINK THAT WAS GOING TO BECKY!

Becky told the manager what she saw and all of a sudden the manager was “no compredo…no English…”

She tried to argue…tried to get her money back…tried to give the food back but everyone in the store started acting like they didn’t speak English and the ones that were OBVIOUSLY English speakers refused to speak to her.

Needless to say, she threw the food out immediately and never received a penny back.

Normally little problems happen at this McDonalds…every time we go there we’ll have a problem with the toys or the size of a drink or a simple mess up and we don’t really fuss much, but this time it’s gone WAY too far.

I know that some might think it silly, but I really encourage each and every one of you to avoid this restaurant and let others know about it so they can help. We’ve already contacted (via email) the corporate office with the complaint.

We just thought everyone should know – seems that the consequence for requiring adequate service at this McDonalds is spit in your food…but you decide…

My personal advice for people if you encounter this situation? Don’t just threaten to contact McDonald’s corporate. Contact the police… because not only were they trying to steal Becky’s credit card, tampering with food as was described is actually a felony. Still, this helps vindicate why I don’t go to many fast food places anymore…