More NHL09

I guess it's not something that is readily fixed if you play a lot of games, like I have. Inevitably the game announcers are going to repeat themselves enough that it gets annoying.

Let's see, when someone misses high, "he had to shoot high because he knows he's playing a butterfly goalie". Excuse me, McLean is a stand-up goalie.

"They're taking really poor shots. I would have thought pass before taking a shot. You have to wonder if their confidence is really low." Umm... we're leading 12-1. I don't think our confidence is all that low.

It's unfair that computer goalies can leave their net by so much, while McLean can't. Behind the net, all the same. But if McLean wants to move in front of the goal line for a really loose puck? Nope.

McLean Called Up.

Just a short update to help minimize my NHL09-withdrawal pains induced by the holidays.

To my surprise goalie Kirk McLean was quickly recalled from the Hamilton Bulldogs to the Montreal Canadiens. I think I've figured out why he was sent down to Hamilton in the first place. After each game you're graded in three categories; if you're average grade is poor, or if one bottoms, ta dah! You're sent down to the AHL.

Playing goalie is tough. Picard doesn't really care how many goals against are scored because he's practically still guaranteed to come out of the game on the plus side. Goals against, however, are anathema to McLean's statistics and hence his career success.

McLean's job is made worse by the fact that on average he only earns 27xp per game used to improve his stats. This mean it takes playing 10 games to improve one of McLean's stats by... one point. Picard, however, earns 60-70xp per game and is able to improve every 4-5 games.

McLean's job is made even more difficult because his D-men insist on passing the puck through his crease. The last game McLean had to save 2 shots from his very own D. This is just plain wrong.

Oh yeah, one of McLean's "stretch goals" is to have 7 shutouts this season. Is the coach out of his hockey-lovin' mind!? In the last minute of every period, my D-men are guaranteed to leave a forward parked in front of my net waiting unmolested for a one-timer from the corner.

And the coach repeatedly saying, "you have to keep the puck out of the net", has to be one of the most annoying things I've ever heard. Does coach not think I know that?

One last thing for now: The Curse of the Announcer. Every time the announcer says how great you're playing, you're soon going to have to make some spectacular, impossible save to not prove him wrong.

Credit Cards

I'm relatively responsible with credit card use. My policy has always been to have two, one VISA and one Master Card, and that's it. During my sojourn in the Washington D.C. area I've mainly used my Amazon.com VISA and American Express cards for all my purchases.

Anywhoo, in preparation for leaving the U.S., I've been closing my credit card accounts. It was at this time that it hit me how many credit cards I actually had. Seven. Seven?! Let's see... oh yeah, at Best Buy I wanted their 0% financing when I bought my computer. Circuit City... that's right, 0% financing for my flatscreen television. You get the idea. Credit cards for single purchase use. I wonder if many customers are like me, and if so, how can the stores make any money? Though I guess since they're store credit cards they make their money from the purchase itself, and any profit from credit cards is gravy.

I discovered that many credit cards now have an automated closing option via telephone. Very nice.

I was planning to close all credit cards except the oldest (tip: keep your oldest credit card to better your credit score) until I contacted Amazon.com VISA. With Amazon, run by Chase, owned by Capital One, I spoke to a person, a friendly associate who upon learning I wanted to close the account promptly offered me incentives to stay. Lower interest rates on just about everything, a bonus of 1000 points to put me up for another $25 Amazon.com gift certificate, more ways to earn points.

Hmm, well... I guess I don't have to close now. I'll wait until I get that $25 gift certificate.

Fallout 3

Lest you think I'm fixated on NHL09, I've also been playing Fallout 3 on the Playstation 3. With Resident Evil 4 fallen by the wayside (no ammo) Fallout 3 has taken its place.

Fallout 3 is an open-ended role-playing game played in the first person. Why did I buy a first person game? A few reasons:

• I like RPGs.
• The idea of seeing a post-apocalyptic Washington, DC -- an area I've lived for almost 6 years -- is very appealing.
• The V.A.T. system. The V.A.T.S. in the game lets you pause the action and select your shots at any time. I only wish I could switch weapons in V.A.T.S.

Fallout 3 is open-ended; I've already spent hours just on side quests. Fallout 3 feels like it will be another huge game like Twilight Princess and Okami. Dungeon crawling and monster shooting is reminiscent of my AD&D high school days. At times it can get visually gory, but at night and with the customary dim lighting of abandoned buildings I hardly notice. Sometimes.

Random thoughts:

• One thing I enjoy is using my sniper rifle. It's surprisingly fun to try to discover enemies without being discovered in turn and to take out tough monsters in one shot. From the shadows I once cleared out an entire super-mart filled with raiders, using single shots with my sniper rifle. Extremely satisfying.
• I had to learn to think out of the (my) box. At one time radscorpions were my nemesis (they're still tough) until I discovered the utility of land mines. Mirelurks are annoyingly well-armored and I avoid them with a passion. But now I'm itching to take them on again, utilizing some apt load-screen advice. In your face, mirelurks! Arlington Memorial, here I come.
• So far feral ghouls thankfully are easy kills. I hope that remains true throughout because they're quick, ugly, and they freak me out.
• Radroaches gross me out, which means I have to kill them, but they're not worth the price of a bullet and I don't want to get close enough to use a baseball bat. Dilemma.
• Actually, many of the enemies in the game gross me out.
• Duck and cover, but don't cover so much that you can't shoot. Despite the V.A.T.S giving you a respectable percentage of success you often will shoot the covering object in front of you instead. Irritating.
  
• While specific ammo may temporarily run low, ammo in general is plentiful (if you have the caps, and multiple guns), a far cry from the annoying ammo-deprived Resident Evil 4.
• Once I was ambushed as I exited a Metro station. I almost died. Next time, I saw them first and threw a couple grenades their way to soften them up.
• Once I exited a Metro station and immediately was engulfed in a fire fight only to realize no one was shooting at me. I left without knowing who was fighting who, and why (though I do have an inkling, now).
• On my first visit to Megaton, no one would talk to me except to say that they were watching me and not to "try" anything. Very unfriendly and suspicious people. Then I discovered the sneak mode, and realized I'd been using it the entire time in town. Now they give me food and ammo for free.
• Once I saw a sheriff gunned down from behind. I took his stuff. Then I killed his killer and took his stuff, too.
• My natural inclination is to play the good side of the Force -- that doesn't mean I don't want to be paid for my efforts.
  

Fallout 3 is so far a great game and another I highly recommend, excepting children.

Credit Score Update

I posted earlier about using a free online credit score calculator rather than paying for it and about wondering how accurate the calculator was.

Several weeks ago when I still thought I had to buy a new car, I decided to bite the bullet and pay for my credit score. Guess what? The MSN credit score calculator was accurate. My true score was smack dab in the middle of the MSN credit score range.

A new way to rebel against credit monitoring agencies who profit from a product wholly derived from my history. Gotta love it!

The Land of Tim Hortons

Despite how great it is to live in the Washington DC area, I've always thought one thing is sorely lacking: Tim Hortons. Sure, there are locations in the U.S. but none even remotely near were I live. Disappointing, right?

Anywhoo, a few weeks ago I was in Hamilton, Ontario -- I know! The very city that ushered in the dawn of a new coffee, right? -- and I stopped at a Tim Hortons near my hotel. To my surprise Tim Hortons only takes Master Card.

Strange, right? Most places, if they take credit cards, take both VISA and M/C, and maybe American Express (which you can, despite what commercials say, leave home without), to boot. So why only M/C? I wonder if they have cheaper fees or something.

This odd tidbit (tidbit, get it? Hah, I even amuse myself) leads to a slight tarnishing of Tim Hortons. Since I don't have a M/C, which actually is in violation of my which-credit-cards-to-own policy, and only had U.S. cash I was going to cancel my order. The cashier looked surprised and said, amused and smiling, "We take American money".

Now, when a store says that they take U.S. cash I've always assumed that meant they calculated the current exchange rate. Am I wrong? Well, in this case I was. Tim Hortons took my U.S. cash at face vale, at a 1:1 rate. Eh?

The coffee barely made up for my irritation.

NHL09 Bug

I've found one annoyance or bug with NHL09. When goalie Kirk McLean was first called up to Montreal, his very first game could only be simulated. Why? I don't know. Even worse, when McLean was sent back to Hamilton, his first three games were automatically simulated. What the heck?

What is the function of this tidbit of frustration? What purpose does it serve?

It's some kind of Twilight Zone irony when game designers stop people from playing their game.

What could have been floating around in their quirky little minds... Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?