We have about 25% of our staff here today. I do like that it's quiet. And no meetings scheduled. :)

It is quiet here as well. I am all alone. Our chief pilot has a large project out of town near a city he likes to explore. He is going to just stay an extra day and hang out there. The other guy that works here is off today. NAP TIME!

I remember those days. I wish I didn't.

I remember thinking my 2400 Baud modem was FAST after upgrading from the 300 baud modem.

yep

Yup. 4 port wireless router where the line comes in, a wireless access point across the house and 2 8 port switches in the basement for LAN parties. One is full for our computers and the connection to the other switch. Wireless is NOT reliable enough for LAN parties. Our home theater receiver is on the network as well and can stream Pandora, etc.

OK, I am a geek-nerd but what the heck is a LAN party? A bunch of wild party goers that bring their own laptop and all surf the internet separately? Do they all just post on Facebook while sitting side by side rather than talking?

You are close, but the one group that came to do their own thing never got asked back.

We have a few games that we all own and play them together but on separate computers. Some, like Wings Over Europe don't have a dedicated server but the first person shooters and racing games have that a dedicated server available. We then get to see just our own screen so when you are flying you can't cheat and look at the other guy/gal's portion and see what they are doing. While racing everyone gets their own screen to view as well which makes it easier to see things. Same with the FPS and since there are so many controls on the fps games it would be difficult to share keyboards. Artemis is a space ship bridge simulator that is fun for a little bit.

There is nothing like a 3 way furball in the air and having a 12 year old girl laugh maniacally as she fires a short burst from her Vulcan cannon attached to her F-16 and shoots the Su-27 into a great big ball of flame making the guy chasing me literally jump in his seat from the surprise. Situational awareness is important!

Or having one person flying a Blackhawk and a couple guys in the door mini-guns clearing an area.

They really are a lot of fun and since everyone is together (or in two rooms sometimes during vs battles) we get laughing pretty good and communicate strategies pretty well with each other. When it is nice we shoot each other for real in airsoft though.

OK, that makes sense. I have never played online games. I have not played any computer games since the late 80s or early 90s.

bingo!!!!!

In the 90's visiting a friend that worked at the Apple call center in Austin. We went in to his office on a Sunday afternoon. The huge cubical farm looked empty. My friend and I started playing Spectre. It's a multi player tank battle game where you play capture the flag. It's based on the arcade game Battlezone.

We started laughing and yelling at each other while playing from cubicals next to each other. Within 15 minutes there were 50 people playing the game with us. I was the top player until everyone figured out I was driving my tank around backwards and they couldn't attack me from behind. Then they started yelling cheater and ganged up and started ambushing me. Too many to shoot before I got killed. Great fun!

It was very interesting to me that it was a Sunday afternoon and there were 50 people in the office on their day off just messing around.

we used to play Duke Nukem at lunch. the boss put a stop to it so now most leave and can not be reached during lunch.

You know, I could set up a virtual server for...

Nah, my work PC would suck at games.

I don't play online games much, but with a group of friends on a LAN it is a lot of fun since you can converse much easier. There have been times we are laughing so hard we have to stop playing.

One day we were doing the Iranian Embassy siege and were were playing family against family. The teen boy on the other side dove down the stairs to meet our son who had a Skorpion. He started laughing and burst out "I just got owned by a 4 year old".

Wings Over Europe is less a twitch game and more aerial combat maneuvering. Lots of thinking ahead, inertia management, thinking in three directions, weapons and radar management and threat defense management.

Start about 1:33 in.

<iframe width="640" height="512" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7fx5i8QXNA0?t=93" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Same friend that worked at Apple used to work for Heath Zenith in Dallas. They installed all the Macs and network stuff in the American Airlines logistics center. This included some of the very first 21" color displays made by SuperMac. He was also friends with the guy that wrote the Flying game Hellcats of the South Pacific. We setup a 21 inch main display with a 17in on each side in his computer room like a cockpit and the Hellcats guy customized the program to use the 3 monitors. It was way cool and you got really immersed with the front and two side views around your head. We only had one cockpit setup so we took turns.

The Hellcats guy got pissed at me for beating his game and more importantly his scores. Accused me of cheating and refused to give me a copy, said I would have to buy it. Instead of flying high and dive bombing like the Hellcat historically did, I flew in very low under the flak guns and took out the ground defenses and planes before climbing up and leisurely bombing bases.

There was also a Japanese aircraft carrier that was really difficult to sink. Sometimes both bombs wouldn't sink it. I figured out you could go in low and fly thru the open hangar deck on the back of the carrier and drop a bomb while flying thru. That would sink it, but it was still difficult to get in and away without getting shot up. On one carrier bombing mission I was shot down and parachuted. I landed on the deck of the Japanese carrier and the program said I was found by friendlies and returned me to base. That was hilarious.

It was way fun taking turns competing with each other. Got him to add a lot of fun stuff like unexpected results if you bombed or shot up an obviously residential structure on the ground on the way to or from a target.

I have ditched a bandit or two flying through the hangar deck of my friendly carrier. The having to avoid the Phalanx and try to be steady enough to follow through the hangar usually makes them peel off.

I have also used the skids on a helicopter to knock guys out of the back of a jeep in the Viet Nam era.

You all have a good weekend.

My three day weekend has begun. I am home already. Beer thirty is here!

Evening Y'all,
When my son was living here and the daughter was in Hawaii with possil thy would play call of duty n line and my son would go out of his way to snipe possil. He never did figure out who was ding it.
My fun for the weekend I get to repo a car in a rather seedy section of the county just south of me. I tld my boss, I was going to be very well armed as will my son who is driving the chase vehicle. My only concern is do I break ut the tac holster and wear the 1911 or do I go full on psycho and swing the Uzi?

Uzi FTW

Brother got a car repoed in Cali after his first divorce. They waited until he went to the grocery store and jacked it while he was shopping.

Another brother rented his old house out to a guy that repoed cars for the banks for a living. He did all his at night. My Dad always called him a professional car thief and he would just laugh.

Hope you don't have any trouble like those Lizard Lick Towing guys always seem to have.