Geocache Update Victoria Day Weekend

Well let's start off with Friday, which was Ancaster. My first two caches were busts. During my 3rd attempt which led me to a house, unfortunately it wasn't at the house and the owner gave me a hint that it was next door. I found it and made an exchange for a turtle. After that I was wandering around a park trying to get my older GPS to work. Finally it did work and I got my 2nd cache.

Next was Bowling for Micros, which I tried with Sharon12 a week ago. It took awhile but I did find it. In a spot that I should have looked in before, but the coordinates were a bit off. The next one was a quick find by a little bike path. My 5th was a pain, it took me behind a church and my GPS led me around in a huge circle. The next one was a historical magnetic cache, and a quick find. My 7th and 8th were also quick micros.

Now Saturday was going to be my first event. Unfortunately, my older GPS (ironic) screwed me and sent me to the Queenston Bridge at the border. Being Victoria Day weekend in Canada, the line up was an hour, with no way out. So good bye 15 minute flash mob.
When I finally did make it there I immediately set out to find the caches around, including the Floral Clock cache, the Lake Pogo Multi and the Centennial Lilac Gardens Multi. Being that it just had rained, walking through foot high grass soaked my shoes and pants.

Pressing on I went into Queenston and down a trail by the Niagara River, it had beautiful views and I could see jet boats going by. I picked up three caches by Dex on the trail and then grabbed another a short ways away that was a magnetic on some antique equipment. The next was a Virtual that led me from Brock's Monument down to Queenston, I haven't received confirmation yet so it hasn't been submitted yet. Since I was already in Queenston, I decided to skip going back up and do the Tour of Quaint Queenston. A very nice Puzzle cache which takes you on a walking tour through the historic Queenston. After that I attempted another multi but couldn't find the second stage after A LOT of bushwhacking. Short on time I left.

On the way home I wanted to round off my day with a 10th cache. So stopped at a nearby cemetery cache and came up short. So I went to another nearby cemetery and after a little searching I made the find. Then back in Ancaster I found a cache that I had skipped yesterday. I searched for two more but the light was dwindling and called it a day at 11 caches.

On Sunday I did succeed in getting to an event. The Introduction to Geocaching in Cayuga was at a great spot I'd never been to before in Ruthven Park. Although I didn't learn much that I didn't already know about caching, I did get to test drive two GPSs. After finding an on site cache. My sister and I went into Cayuga and did the Cayuga Warrior series. To finish we had some hot dogs and a drink before going back to the Park. After that we headed home. So my total for the whole weekend was 25 caches. Sweet!

Geocache Update

Been awhile since my last big geocache hunt, last Wednesday to be precise, and with Sharon12 down in New York geocaching (lucky bum). I think it's time to do a little tour of Ancaster. After that I'm going down to Niagara Falls tomorrow for a Flash Mob geocache event and then on Sunday it's Cayuga for an Introduction to Geocaching Event! Busy weekend!

I also had my 150th cache this Wednesday. I wanted to help get Sharon12 a travel bug before she went to New York, so at about 10PM we decided to detour and grab a new cache. It was fun, tons of decoys, and it was our first night cache too, without a flashlight we were going by GPS and cell phone light. But in the end someone else grabbed the tb earlier in the day. Too bad.

Book Review Halo: Contact Harvest

This is probably my first Halo novel not featuring SPARTANs or Captain Keyes. So rather than a simply prequel, this was an extension on the Halo universe. By Joseph Staten, the book can be divided into four main narrations: For the Humans there's Avery Johnson (a key character from the video games) training and fighting with the Harvest militia, and Mack and Sif, two Harvest A.I.'s. For the Covenant there's Dadab and Lighter-Than-Some, a Grunt and Engineer respectively, and the politics of the Prophets on High Charity.
Avery is haunted by his fighting with the Insurrectionists and his decisions. Undoubtedly the stars of the book to me were Mack and Sif. Their bickering is humorous and their development as characters is fantastic.

Dadab and Lighter-Than-Some's segments are great too. It's amazing that A.I. which speak through text and Engineer which speaks through sign language are the most fascinating characters in the book. The Covenant segments are confusing until you get used to the names.

The politics with the Prophets on High Charity is about as interesting as it sounds. Of course you want to get back to Avery and Dadab, but it helps weave the back story together, so it has its place.

The fighting sequences are great and a joy to read too. Overall if your a Halo fan or not, the book is a great read. I definitely recommend it.   

 

New Love?

I know, I haven't been updating lately. I'm appalled. A lot has been going on lately and I'm far to busy to do proper posts. I guess my first thing to introduce is Geocaching, geocaching is a game (although I don't like calling it that) in which you use coordinates to find caches that other "players" hide. I enjoy it because it basically combines everything I love: history, geography, nature, exploration, finding stuff, technology. It also gives me a much needed reason to exercise.

It started as a solo thing but I quickly got my mom and girlfriend into it. I'm already at 137 finds! Which is shocking to me because it seemed like I was just at 100 a week ago. I guess I have to set some sort of goal for myself. So if I get to 399 before it starts to snow (so Nov. Dec.) then I'll buy a Premium Membership a Geocaching.com and likely get a GPS for Christmas. If I can somehow keep my current pace it should be no problem.

Places I've Geocached:
Welland
Caledonia
Port Colborne (met Dex4 a veteran geocacher)
Brantford
Angola
Hamilton
Pelham
Petrolia

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

Biggest Game I Didn't Play But Wanted To
Nominees:
Battlestations: Pacific
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Wolfenstein
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Halo 3: ODST
Winner: Halo 3:ODST - No doubt the biggest upset of the year was that I did not play ODST. It just didn't drum up enough interest in me as Modern warfare 2 or Beatles Rockband did.

Worst Game
Winner: None for 2009, I just never played a bad game this year, not saying there weren't any.

Best Music
Nominees:
Band Hero
Lego Rock Band
Modern Warfare 2
Beatles Rock Band

Winner: Beatles Rock Band, tons of great Beatles music. Undeniably good.


Best Cinematics
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles Rock Band
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Just amazingly well done.

Best Voice Acting
Winner: - Billy Murray as Captain Price in Modern Warfare 2

Best Accessory
Nominees:
Facebook
Twitter
Wireless Headset
Winner: Wireless Headset

Best Multiplayer Games

* Best Two-Player One System

Nominees:
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: (Tie)Modern Warfare 2 & Left 4 Dead 2 - Definitely equal, because of how good they are, but also by how limited they are. Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops were great but only offline multiplayer is a huge issue. Playing Left 4 Dead with a friend is how it should be.

* Best Online

Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Halo Wars
Winner: CoD Modern Warfare 2 - By adding attatchments, weapons, titles, callsigns and killstreaks, they revolutionized online play again.

* Best Overall

Nominees:
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Resident Evil 5
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Just magnificent fun, especially adding microphones, just completely enhances the experience.

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game
Nominees:
Braid
Castle Crashers
Battlefield 1943
Shadow Complex
Peggle
Winner: Shadow Complex - Amazingly well made game. Great year for arcade games.

Best Music Game
Nominees:
Band Hero
The Beatles Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Build off of the great Rock Band games with more microphones, better unlocks and great music.

Best Racing Game
Winner: Burnout Paradise - Fortunately its demo wasn't fully indicative of the game. The game was quite good.

Sports Game
None- Just wasn't a big year to me for sports games.

Best RTS/RPG
Winner: Halo Wars

Best Action
Winner: Resident Evil 5

Best Shooter
Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Yet again one of the best experiences in shooters this year.

Best Level
Nominees:
Left 4 Dead- Final Stage of Dead Air
Modern Warfare 2- Second Sun
Resident Evil 5- Volcano
Shadow Complex
Winner: Second Sun - Turns the game on it's head. Completely unexpected.

Best Story
Nominees:
Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Lego Rock Band
Shadow Complex
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Definitely one of the best stories of the year. Also has a ton of history behind it.

Best Game
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Shadow Complex
Winner: Modern Warfare 2 - Although the campaigns a little lack luster. The Spec Ops and Multiplayer more than make up for it

Prediction for Next Year:
Alan Wake (again), Splinter Cell Conviction or Rock Band 3

PEYNTKAL Part 2

BE SURE TO READ PART 1
The Dharma Initiative-
A group of scientists who performed tests for the islands abilities and set up stations throughout the island.
Arrow- Basically the armory. Mostly empty when found by the tail section survivors, probably ransacked by the Others.
The Swan- The Swan is the station found by Locke and holds the button that contains the islands strong electromagnetic pulses. This is what brings down Flight 815. Desmond lived in the Swan for 3 years prior to 815. Locke causes the Station to explode.
The Flame- Communications station.
The Pearl- Basically used for monitoring the other stations. Quite small.
The Orchid- A greenhouse disguises the underground temple like area which Ben uses to teleport away from the island.
The Hydra- A zoo complex where tests on polar bears (and likely sharks) took place.
The Staff- A hospital, usually used for the birth problem.
The Looking Glass- An important station that resupplied and guided submarines, as well as block communications from the island.
The Tempest- A chemical lab that could release poisonous gases throughout the island
The Lamp Post- An off island station that's main use it to find the island.
Basically the Dharma Initiative was destroyed when Ben betrayed them and all the people in the camp were killed.

The Others: A group of people who have been on the island for quite some time. Members include Faraday's Mother, Ben Linus, Richard Alpert, Whitmore, Ethan, Juliet, Tom and Mikhail.

Ben Linus-
Ben's mother died in childbirth and his drunken father became a janitor for the Dharma initiative when he was a boy. Ben befriended Sayid as a boy and helped him escape but Sayid then shot Ben to try and prevent him from growing up. Ben was healed by the Others and became one of them. He became leader of the Others and killed his father and the rest of Dharma. Ben took a liking to Juliet who did not feel the same way. Ben developed a tumor and required Jack to remove it, so he went to the 815 survivors and was freed by Michael. He did get the surgery. He also raised Alex after stealing her from her mother. Whitmore's men killed Alex to try and get to Ben but Ben teleported himself to the real world, moving the island in the process. Ben then used Sayid to kill Whitmore's men and killed Locke before returning to the island and killing Jacob.

Richard Alpert-
Richard is probably one of the biggest mysteries of the show. He doesn't seem to age. He acts as an adviser to the leader of the Others.





Juliet-
Juliet went on the island to help her sister, who Ben promised he would aid. Her job on the island was to solve the birth problem: every mother impregnated on the island would die midway through her pregnancy. Unfortunately she couldn't solve the problem and wanted to leave, even though Ben liked her. Juliet then got into a relationship with Jack. Once they were split up however, she went with Sawyer. In the last Season finale, she fell to the bottom of a pit and activated the bomb.


Alex Rousseau-
Alex was born on the island by Danielle Rousseau, before being stolen and raised by Ben. She falls in love with fellow Other Karl, who Ben disapproves of. Danielle is reunited with her mother. But both Karl and Danielle are killed by Whitmore's men. Alex is then killed in an attempt to get Ben to surrender himself. An enraged Ben attacks Whitmore's men with the smoke monster.


Supporting Characters:
Danielle Rousseau-
Crashed on the island pregnant via a French Research vessel. Danielle later would end up killing the rest of the crew who became sick. After giving birth to Alex, who is kidnapped by Ben. Danielle leaves a message on the radio tower. She also lays traps throughout the island. She is reunited with her daughter Alex. But is later killed by Whitmore's men.


Charles Whitmore-
A member of the Others, he is knocked off the island by Ben. He then becomes a wealthy businessman and father to Penny Whitmore. Penny becomes engaged to Desmond but Whitmore disapproves. Whitmore also sends a crew out to find the island. Ben after his daughter is killed, finds Whitmore and promises to kill his daughter, Penny but fails.



Desmond-
Desmond was a former member of the British army, in order to impress Penny's father Desmond travels around the world by boat. Unfortunately he crashes on the island. He then spends 3 years pressing the button. After being discovered by the survivors he tries to leave the island but cannot. When Locke destroys the Swan computer, Desmond activates the fail safe. The explosion causes Desmond to not only see into the future, but also interact with the past. Desmond is reunited with Penny and they have a son together. After Ben tries to kill Penny, he ends up in the hospital.

Whitmore's Science Team:


Dan Faraday-
A physicist, comes on the island looking for answers. Faraday has done tons of research before coming to the island. Faraday's mother was an Other and kills Faraday in the 60s and neglects to warn him. Faraday falls in love with Charlotte. In the end he is the one who tells Jack to blow up the island, in order to try and bring back Charlotte. Faraday worked at Oxford University.



Charlotte-
An anthropologist, Charlotte was on the island as a child with the Dharma initiative, which causes her to become ill faster. Charlotte begins to fall in love with Faraday but dies before Faraday can save her.






Frank-
Frank is an experienced helicopter pilot. He flies the Oceanic 6, Desmond and himself off the island. While off the island, Frank becomes a pilot and ends up being the pilot of the plane bringing the 6 back to the island. He is currently on the island in the modern era.



Miles-
Is a medium who communicates with the dead. He ends up in the 70s with the Dharma initiative.







Illana-
Arrives on the island with the Oceanic 6 but appears to know a lot about the island






Jacob & The Black Dressed Man-
Jacob IS the island, or the owner of the island or something. Regardless, it appears that Jacob and TBDM are enemies. They cannot kill each other though. Jacob is throughout all the Lost characters history, for example Jin & Sun's wedding and right after Locke is knocked out of the window. Jacob is killed by Ben in the finale.

So where is everyone?
On Island:
In 70's- Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Faraday (Dead), Sayid, Jin, Hurley,
In Present- Ben, Frank, Illana, Locke (Dead), Jacob (Dead), Sun
Claire?

Off-Island:
Desmond, Penny, Walt, Whitmore, Aaron

Practically Everything You Need to Know About Lost

I first recommend you watch a summary video, to get a small gist of the story this is a pretty good one.


The Island: The island is a character itself. It has the ability to heal and has other strange properties including magnetic, a smoke monster, and the island itself can travel.

Here is the timeline of the island (note decades are pretty much guesses):

• ? Jacob and the man in black, The Others
  
• 17-1800s: slave ship Black Rock crashes on island (Used by 815 Survivors for explosives)
• 1950s-60s: US military attempts nuclear testing on the island but are fought off by the Others
• 70s-80s: Dharma Initiative begins tests on the Island, setting up a number of research stations
• 80s: The French ship crashes on island
• 90s: Drug running plane crashes on island
  
• late 90s early 2000s: Desmond's vessel crashes on island
  
• 2000s: Flight 815 crashes

Flight 815 Survivors:
Jack Shepard-
Jack is a surgeon, his half sister is Claire (he did not know this before the crash). Before the island he fell in love with a patient but that relationship ended badly. He was on Flight 815 to transport his fathers body from Australia, he and his father had a difficult relationship and his father appears as a ghost on the island to people. Jack and Sawyer have a conflicting relationship because of their different personalities but also because of both their intimate relationships with Kate. He also has a conflicting relationship with Locke. After being heartbroken by seeing Kate and Sawyer together. Jack begins a relationship with Juliet. After they are split up and Jack becomes part of the Oceanic 6, Jack and Kate become a couple. After returning to the island Jack agrees with Faradays plan to blow up the island because he wants things to have happened with Kate without Sawyers involvement.

*Note: Jack met Desmond before coming to the island before Desmond left for his trip

Sawyer-
Sawyer's parents both died when he was young because of a conman. Sawyer spent his entire life looking for revenge. He found it when Locke needed Sawyer to kill Locke's father, who was the conman. After this he found relative peace. Sawyer was on the plane because he believed the conman was in Australia, and kills the wrong person. Sawyer has a relationship with Kate until she becomes part of the Oceanic 6. Then, as part of the Dharma initiative he becomes involved with Juliet.

*Note: Sawyer makes up nicknames for every one on the island (ex. Freckles is Kate)

Kate-
Before coming on the island Kate was on the run for killing her step-father who was abusive to her mother. Kate became involved with Jack and then Sawyer. She left the island with the Oceanic 6, was acquitted of her crimes and became a couple with Jack, taking care of Claire's baby Aaron.


Claire & Aaron-
Claire is Jack's half-sister. She came on 815 to give up her baby for adoption in America. Claire gave birth to Aaron and was fond of Charlie. Aaron ended up with Claire's mother after Kate gave him to her. The whereabouts of Claire are a mystery as she disappeared from the rest of the survivors.


Charlie-
Charlie was part of the band Driveshaft with his brother. However the band fell apart after going into drugs. Locke mentored Charlie out of drugs and Charlie began taking care of Claire. After being told by Desmond that he was going to die, he said goodbye to Claire and Aaron, and drowned while turning off a Dharma station, allowing rescue for the other survivors (and warning Desmond of the impending attacks). Charlie is also good friends with Hurley.

Sun & Jin-
Sun was born to a wealthy family and Jin a poor farmer. They married and Jin in order to earn her father's respect, began working for him by intimidating others. This changed Jin's personality and Sun began having an affair and was going to run away to America. Sun decided against this in the airport and stayed with Jin. On the island she learned she was pregnant and Jin learned of her affair. Jin was thought to have died in an explosion but survived with the Dharma initiative. Sun meanwhile as part of the Oceanic 6 took hold of her fathers company and raised her daughter before going back to the island for Jin. Jin is good friends with Hurley, Charlie, Sayid and Michael.

Michael & Walt- After years of separation Michael becomes Walt's father again and tasked with protecting him on the island. Walt meanwhile has supernatural powers. Michael loses Walt to the Others and becomes distraught, eventually shooting Libby and Ana Lucia to free Ben and get off the island with Walt. Walt lives with his grandmother after learning that his father killed and Michael becomes depressed, returns to the island and dies in an explosion that saves Jin. Michael was friends with Charlie, Jin and Hurley. Walt is friends with Locke, and is currently still off the island.

Boone and Shannon-
Boone and Shannon were step-siblings. Despite this Boone developed an attraction to Shannon but her feelings were not the same. Boone befriends Locke and dies early in season 1 while scaling the drug plane.
Shannon becomes intimate with Sayid but is killed by Ana Lucia.


Sayid-
Sayid worked for the Iraqi Army as an interrogator. While in the army he met a girl who he fell and love with and was searching for. On the island he made friends with Hurley and Jin. He later fell in love with Shannon and was distraught when she died. After leaving the island as part of the Oceanic 6 he found his true love but she was killed by Whitmore's men and then he joined forces with Ben to kill them. When back on the island Sayid was captured by the Others attempted to kill the young Ben.

Hurley-Hurley's father left him when he was a boy. Later he won a multi-million dollar jackpot using "the numbers" which reunited them. After this he became cursed, having many bad things happen to him. He quickly became friends with Charlie, Sayid, Jin and Michael. He also became friends with Libby, quickly becoming intimate, before she died which crushed him. He left the island as part of the Oceanic 6 and checked into a mental hospital. Hurley went back to the island with rest of the 6.

John Locke-Locke before the island was conned by his father into giving up his kidney. When Locke was going to report him to the police, his father pushed him out of a window, resulting in him being in a wheel chair. Locke then worked at a box factory, and had a telephone relationship with a woman. He traveled to Australia to go on a walkabout but wasn't allowed. On the island he regained the use of his legs and became a man of faith. He discovered the hatch and attempted to expose the button for being a lie, which caused an explosion. Locke became leader of the Others and attempted to get the Oceanic 6 back to the island. Ben killed him and then an impostor Locke got Ben to kill Jacob.


Ana Lucia & Libby: Ana Lucia and Libby were both in the tail section of the plane which landed on the opposite side of the island. After being attacked by the Others, they made their way to the rest of the 815 survivors. Libby started a relationship with Hurley and before the island was a mental patient, her story was never finished before both were killed by Michael.



Mr. Eko- Also from the tail section, Mr. Eko's brother was the drug runner on the drug plane which crashed on the island. Eko was also a drug lord but became a priest. He attempted to build a church on the island and was killed by the smoke monster.





Other characters: Rose & Bernard- These two were ended up on separate parts of the island but eventually found each other. Rose had cancer but the island kept it at bay. The pair didn't go with the rest of the survivors and it's believed they are the Adam & Eve skeletons found in the cave.
Nikki & Paulo- Their story is told in one episode. Essentially they make major discoveries but don't inform the rest of the survivors and are buried alive.

END OF PART 1
Part 2