If you want to destroy my FRIDAY

[JasonPratt]

Haven't gotten a stitch of mp done this weekend, but did discover Rake, a $5 UnityAss shooter which is the tensest little cheap shooter that may currently exist on the planet. I may be setting up my first VAR on it soon...

[Gusington]

In AssCreed Syndicate I passed several places in the Strand that were still there when The Wife and I were in London in 2003. Eerie but fantastic.

[IronX]

Got in a little Verdun today and died more times than Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow (and without learning how not to die). Still, a couple of satisfactory long-range kills ensured I stuck with it for a bit before eventually rage-quiting.  :D

[Gusington]

Rage quit eh :(

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

So we're not doing Verdun tonight then?

[Gusington]

I missed IronX's time online playing. Maybe we can find a time to meet up this week.

[W8taminute]

Damn, W8taminute. That's a lot of rebs to deal with. I got no problem in my game getting troops. There's more than I need in Colorado and California. I just can't get them to New Mexico where I need them without them dying of hunger and thirst. And I totally never expected the damned Indians to be a problem. You're right though, great game.

I think I figured out what I'm doing wrong.  I should have enacted the 'Print more money' policy earlier and used the money to get more troops and ships.  I don't have a manpower shortage, I have issues keeping enough money coming in turn to turn so that I can fund the war.  I'm just worried about the inflation consequences of printing money.

Interestingly the Indians are giving me a head ache as well in both New Mexico and Minnesota.

[BanzaiCat]

Had a really lame Christmas party from the company this past weekend. I'm grateful they threw it, but afterwards I wondered why they even bothered. The wife and I spent nearly 200 dollars on a hotel room there at the resort that hosted it because we thought we'd be too f'd up to drive home (even though it's not far from home).

I'm just going to first world vent, here...

In past Christmas parties, they always had gift bags for everyone in attendance, which had a variety of gift cards in it. I always appreciated this as it was nice even to get a $20 gift card...sometimes if you were lucky you'd grab a bag with $100 worth of gift cards. It was a very cool touch, but they didn't do that this year.

Also in past parties, they had a plethora (say ten or so) big-screen TVs and other big-ticket prizes that they gave away. Everyone got a ticket and then they'd have the drawing near the end of the night. Bonus because you'd be good and drunk by then and if you didn't win, oh well! They didn't have anything like that this year.

Last year they had a band called the Spazmatics (http://www.thespazmatics.net/), a GREAT group that did a bunch of 80s cover songs. This year they had a DJ that played lame Christmas music for the first half and then finally decent music, though it was mostly hip hop so I was pretty meh...though I was fairly in the tank by then.

Speaking of in the tank, the last two party years they had open bar all night long. This year they had open bar until 9pm when it became cash bar. Once word of that spread around everyone flocked to the bars and ordered 2-4 drinks each, so our table was covered with full glasses of straight liquor and mixed drinks. Coincidentally (but probably not), the place cleared out a little after 9pm.

There were only about 50 people there at the party. I work in one building and there's another one close by with more people; combined we're about 200 employees, and this party was for both our offices. My team and I were the only ones present from our office. I didn't see any of the managers (except mine, and one of the sales managers I know). None of the big bosses, none of the other employees.

That was a rather disheartening and disappointing party. We did have a decent time but I'm more worried about WTF my company was thinking throwing something like that when it would not come close to comparing with others. I think they could have given everyone a $50 gift card and not bothered with a Christmas party, saving a butt-ton of money (let alone their huge savings from all the extras they cut this year).

I don't even want to know how the other party went - Pearland, on the other side of town, is home to one of our large service centers. They have a party down in Galveston for them. I think people would be good and pissed if they found out they kept all the extras...you know, as these things tend to go in offices.

I know this all sounded petty, and we did end up having a decent enough time, but now my wife's telling me I need to get my resume together because she thinks this doesn't bode well for the company. I'm hoping to talk to the admin assistant that coordinated everything, to find out what the heck that was all about.

And in honesty, this wasn't the best year. We went through a reorg and lost one of our team members, though that was more that position being not needed than anything else. We just had a quarterly call a week ago and our numbers looked good, so I don't know WTH is up.  :-\

I'm glad I still have a job after everything that happened this year so it's not that I'm ungrateful about this party, just disappointed more than anything since expectations were from past experiences and there was zero warning that we'd have any reason to think otherwise. And also more than a little worried, now.

[Jarhead0331]

Sorry to hear you have to have that concern in the back of your mind now. I would be thinking the same thing in your shoes. It could be nothing though. Maybe someone just dropped the ball? Maybe they had someone new plan the party who didn't know how it had been done in past years? It is possible that it's not a financial decision, or maybe it is and they didn't think the expense was worth it, even though the company is in no financial distress?

My firm holiday party is always pretty disappointing. It's more of a lunch than a dinner and its firm staff only, no spouses or family. People just want to eat, have a few drinks and then go home early. When I worked at a big city firm, the parties were wild...too wild.

My wife's hospital anesthesia group, on the other hand, now they  know how to throw a kickass party. From the second the doors open the music is pumping and people are moving on the dance floor. Work hard, play hard, I guess.

Anyway, don't dwell too much on the lackluster party. I'm sure it's nothing and I wouldn't read into it too much.

[smittyohio]

Played a couple of scenarios of Hell this weekend, and some World of Warcraft..   For Hell, I beat Chapter 8, but couldn't pull off Chapter 9 even on Normal difficulty.   The AI is pretty competent in this game, but man do they give the AI too many units.  If you treat your troop like cannon fodder, you can't stop the masses.  Unfortunately, this game doesn't seem to have a active following, so finding hints from people is hit or miss.   Unfortunate, because I think it's a great use of the Battle Academy engine.   I think Blizzard could make a *great* Warcraft turned based game using this engine as a starting point, and adding a campaign engine.

[Gusington]

I have my group holiday party lunch today. It is always lame. And my new hawt boss looks busted today. I think she forgot we have the lunch today. We have two more parties this week that she can te gussied up for.

And after a three month medical leave my buddy who works next to me returns today. He is very much looking forward to meeting New Hot Boss, especailly after suffering under the other wench along with me.

[jamus34]

My company did away with the holiday party 3 or so years ago. No additional benefits to the employees, just no more holiday parties.
I'm somewhat neutral about it. Recent ones weren't that good and the amount I would need to pay a babysitter for wife and I to attend really isn't worth it.
That said it is another employee benefit taken away that just adds to lining the fat cat's wallets. While I may not enjoy it personally other (younger) employees might so it does suck.

[Jarhead0331]

At least when you have a company party its in essence a day off. I think cancelling the holiday party altogether is a real drain on staff morale and not a wise management decision.

[Sir Slash]

My wife works at a local bank and for many years their X-mas party was THE place to be. But as the staff have aged the parties have gone downhill in fun and the last couple of years, most people are already leaving by 8pm. This year she didn't even get an invitation because she's out of her office so much. But I didn't miss it a bit.

[BanzaiCat]

Appreciate the feedback. I'm glad they had a get-together for us and the spouses, but a friendly heads-up that this was going to be more subdued would have gone many miles in my book, as opposed to the whole let-it-dawn-on-them-when-they-get-here approach.

I was honestly shocked at the first holiday party I had here after coming on board, two years ago. TVs everywhere, gift bags, all kinds of stuff going on. It was huge because they had it with the Pearland people, and this was down in Galveston. I think they split us into two parties because those of us working way up here on the north side of Houston didn't want to have to drive home for 2 hours after it ended. Last year's was the same, tons of free stuff including booze and music. I've NEVER been to company shindigs anything close to these levels.

Had I been a first year employee coming to this party this past weekend, I would have thought it was great. I'll have to manage my expectations for next year, though.

I honestly thought this was one of those "mandatory voluntary" things that corporations like to do. You know, the official line is, "You don't HAVE to come," but if you don't show, it will be noted for future reference. Most everybody not coming was a real downer and very telling.