Gearheads of War

Some of you may not have noticed me being gone but a few days ago I just got back to Oakland, California after being in China for 33 days. Starting on August 12th, my brother and 5 other friends flew into Shanghai, China to meet our Chinese classmate who took us on a trip across the country. To keep it somewhat short, some of the best parts of the trip was the overall culture shock and of course being in Beijing during the Olympics and being able to experience it first hand. I don't travel at all, so this was a treat. The most foreign place I had been was Canada..and let's just say it wasn't as foreign as being in Asia ha. We traveled around not only the larger cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Xian nd Beijing, but also a lot of other smaller cities whose names escape me. The funny thing is, a lot of the smaller cities are not used to seeing foreigners in person, let alone white Americans. They took it well however and we had a lot of fun celebrating and partying it up with the folks who spoke little to no English, but enjoyed a different experience just like us. When we finally got to Beijing we were excited to see the Olympic fever as we had gotten there on the day of the Opening Ceremony. Although we did not have tickets, we taxied down to a popular party street filled with clubs and bars and watched it on a large screen tv with over 400 Chinese and foreigners from all over the world. I swear I have met people from at least 30 counties from Iceland to Madagascar. We did have tickets to watch women's basketball, the USA team who played and spanked the Czech Republic. The game was somewhat boring but the overall atmosphere was great. 20,000 people doing the wave with you as well as chanting Kobe Bryant's name as the men's team came to watch. There were down sides of course, as people denied the Tibetan crisis, denied the pollution that was awful in a lot of places, and the slums in which we ate at some points were not sanitary at all.  To cut it short though, it was a great experience.

I'd post a picture of us meeting the Argentina men's basketball team and Manu Ginobli, but my friend hasn't uploaded the pictures haha.

Hey guys, I know I havent been online at all really for the past few months but I wanted to say ill be online somewhat in the next two weeks. I graduated school a few weeks back and have been very busy spending time with people that I wont being seeing for awhile. Although most of them will be on the West Coast with me, and about 20 other people attending the same school as me, I wont be in California but in Eugene, Oregon at the University of Oregon. Some other things also kinda distracted me as I just got back from Tahoe with a few of my buddies and found that my internet was down for some odd reason. AT&T were being complete douches so I decided to switch over to Comcast which was just installed today. I will also only be on for the next two weeks because on the 12th of July I leave for China for a month. My brother and about 8 other of our friends will be exploring China with a guy we know from highschool who lives over there, it should be awesome. Anyways thought I might let you guys have a update on my lfie haha.

Go Ducks

He also wants to get all the Doe guys toegther for a group picture which I wouldnt mind but we'll see. And yes, Really Doe, you are that ugly. Ha

I know all of this may not seem to big, but summers over for me and it sucks.

 Now, COD4 is one of the most hyped games out there. I'm making this point purely on how much Really Doe screams in my ear about the BETA and how sick it will be.

 I've been researching it a bit and the only real thing that I have a bit of a problem with is the ranking system. Now I havent read all that much about it but what I can get from it is that it's much like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. Dont get me wrong, I love that game, but I dont really like the ranking system. I understand theres no achievements for ranking up but the fact still remains that you need to play longer to unlock different levels and equipment.

 Now I may be missing some things so fill me in on your opinion.

I dont know if you guys have already seen this or not. I usually see a random article from gamedaily everytime I sign onto AIM to talk with friends. I noticed this article and thought you guys might like to read it seeing how Halo 3 is just around the corner.

 Although the article makes vaild points, I couldnt help but get mad at the fact that this person was writing it to begin with. I agree that it does take alot out of the pocket sometimes but willing gamers make that choice. If thats a strategy game companies use, so be it, I dont ever want to know really. Now the fact that they used Halo and Half Life as examples also makes me angry. I'd explain more but Fo Reel Doe just got over.

Revised release dates for games. If this has already been posted, my mistake.

Frankly i'm looking forward to all of october and November 5th. It's my brithday and the release date of COD4 for now.

Remember these are just revised, knowing some game companies like Rockstar, they can be pushed back but I highly doubt it on the closer dates.

I know you missed me =P

I know Really did.

If you want to see the list, just go to the main site on AFI.com Sorry I dont have a better link, I did watch it on TV after all. =P

 1.Schindlers List

2. Dr. Strangelove
   
3. North by Northwest
   
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
   
5. Citizen Kane
   
6. Rearwindow
   
7. Midnight Cowboy
   
8. The Treasure of Sierra Madre
   
9. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
   
10. Singin' in the Rain

 So incase you get confused on why I just signed on when I said I was leaving or dont remember a certain incident or event, blame my brother. =]

To avoid it, just ask which Seriously it is. haha

Should I go for it? Or look for something else?

Any suggestions?