Today's Notes 2/3/21

Good morning everybody,

Last night's stream of The Division 2 was a lot of fun as it was four-player silliness with Iceman7667 (twitch.tv/iceman7667), FnDanteSavage (twitch.tv/fndantesavage) and PowerThumbz (twitch.tv/powerthumbz) as we spent the night tackling The Division 2's version of a zombie mode, where we basically have to put down enemies twice unless they were killed with a head shot. It was pure shenanigans the entire way. Now I did went ahead and acquired all the costume pieces related to Resident Evil as part of the event, and while nearly everything looks awesome, I'm not too keen on how the shirt for the Jill Valentine Resident Evil 1's attire looks, as the color and it's style seems just wrong.  I wonder how many people feel the same way about that.

Lot's of people are upset about the Mass Effect Legendary Edition Remastered not including any cut content, mostly more same sex relationships that were originally intended for the game that got cut because someone at EA or BioWare got scared by the cucks at Fox News. This is why Mass Effect: Andromeda is awesome it has all of that in it, now that said, I do understand the developers reasoning for not having it.... one it would delay the remaster for at least a year because not only do record dialog for the romance path, but also create reaction dialog, animate different sequences and add a new level of lore and other touches to the Trilogy that is already pretty fucking deep to be begin with. Would I have loved to have seen it, yes I would, am I disappointed it's not there.... nope because I understand it. Besides this is a remaster.... not a remake.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 sessions felt good but man, the bicep focus exercises followed by the waist focused set is probably the most evil combination possible, as I always feel sore after doing them back to back. Also unlocked the transonic Hitter achievement which was to have 80,000 perfect punches which is actually perfect motions ( meaning all punches, ducks, weaves, steps).  I don't get why they say punches as its more of executing things perfectly and in rhythm with the game, because as I've said before, there is a separate counter for actual punches, as my actual punch count is 72,070.

Tonight's stream will probably start at 6 PM EST, because I work from 12 PM to 5 PM EST today, so we'll have a fairly long stream, with the focus being on ESPN Major League Baseball. My 2004 Philadelphis Phillies are rolling into Colorado to take on the Rockies in a four-game set. While I would love to win all four games, I'll settle for a two-game split. But we'll see what happens later today.

And on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 2/2/21

Good morning everyone,

Because of work, my schedule this week is adjusted to compensate for the the fact I have to wake up earlier, so I've been up since about 7:30 AM EST. Granted I didn't sleep much last night, hell I went to bed so early I ended up waking up at 6 AM and then forced myself back to sleep. Changing a schedule is never easy, not to mention my preparing for this adjustment was thrown off by the issues with Comcast on Saturday night.Which is why I'm glad I remembered I had some stuff on Audible, as I've been listening to the Blackadder series.... because when that show aired, the BBC also did an radio version of it, and released a collection on audible of the full series. Even though one can't see the physical actions and reactions to what's being performed... the writing for the Blackadder series is so good, it more than makes up for it.

Anyway last night we started up Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix which is apart of the 1.5 + 2.5 Collection that you can get digitally for the Xbox One, granted I posted the Amazon link for the physical versions for the PlayStation 4 (because Amazon doesn't offer the Xbox versions for whatever reason). Anyway, It's been a long time I played the original version of Kingdom Hearts II, but event I was shocked at how much of an prologue there was involving Roxas. I get that it acts as the tutorial and bridge between Re:Chain of Memories where Sora, Donald and Goofy go to sleep and then wake up here in KH2... but I don't remember having it taking so long to get to where were can use Sora. Regardless, we left off after getting to Hallow Bastion and having to defend the gate with Leon (aka Squall) from Final Fantasy VIII against some Dusk and we'll continue Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix on Friday of this week.

Had a pretty damn good Fitness Boxing 2 session this morning, missing only one motions during the first few sets.... then  the double-step (front back steps) popped up in the last one and my timing was a bit off. Anyway we reached the Super Welterweight Puncher Lv. 2 achievement which was to have a total punch count of 70,000 HITs, with my exact total being 70,653 punches performed over the last 53 days. Also since I've been up for a few hours now, also dropped into Animal Crossing New Horizons, found a lost item for Agnes and I'm still pondering what the festival on February 15 is going to be, as there are dance reactions, and a stage one can get from Nook's Cranny. Even managed to get in a little Super Mario Bros 35, had another top 5 finish that ended in the usual way.... with me plummeting to my death because I didn't time a jump correctly. Ah well.

Tonight we'll be doing another stream of the Division 2, as Ieemany, PowerThumbz (twitch.tv/powerthumbz), FnDanteSavages (twitch.tv/fndantesavage) and I will be just goofy around doing levels and stuff to try and get the items associated with the Resident Evil apparel event that is happening. So there will be no real focus, as it's just the four of us being knuckleheads and having a good time. Because this will end up being a triple co-stream, I'll be starting at 9 PM EST to try and keep it even with Thumbz and Dante who are both in the Mountain time-zones.

And on that note, I'm gonna go get ready for work, see ya later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 2/1/21

Good afternoon everybody,

Well we still got snow coming down here in New Jersey today, which is just great... well not really, I hate snow. Because unless the next few days will melt it quick, snow just has a way of making things feel colder, because it's just frozen water. Give me a cold day or night without snow anytime anywhere. Anyway the tech Comcast came out yesterday, and made sure that all the new lines were good before replacing the modem. Apparently, the one I had was a model being phased out gradually, and it's replacement is the one Comcast just started to roll out in the past few months. I also swapped my two cat8 Ethernet cables to hardwired connect my Xbox One S and PC to it, so from this point the only things that should hinder my upload speeds (if anything) would be either my tier of service I'm paying for (and 200Mbps DL/5 Mbps Upload is more than enough for what I do) or my PC itself. 

Last night's Overwatch stream featured nothing but Mayhem matches, and big thanks to PandaSweet for joining in on the chaos, as we had our fair share of wins and losses and general epic moments.Speaking of Overwatch, the Nintendo Switch version of it will probably be the game that will replace Super Mario Bros 35 on bonus streams because SMB35 shuts down on March 31, 2021. So featuring the Switch version of Overwatch makes sense since the bonus streams typically feature three games.

And speaking of which, we did do a bonus stream earlier, with Fitness Boxing 2 leading things off, had a nice session as most folks saw, actually did real good on Front-Back Step movements this go round, but Side-Steps were a problem.... hell I missed 8 motions today, and 4 involved side-stepping. 

We did do some Animal Crossing New Horizons, I am loving that my residents are hanging out more in the plaza area, it makes finding them a lot easier day to day. Apparently Animal Crossing will be having an in-game event on February 15, I know Chinese New Year is February 12 this year, so I wonder what is being marked on the 15th?

Getting back to Super Mario Bros 35, we did one run and game in second place, only because, as usual I did a short jump that saw me plummet to my death! Still I finished in the top 3 and I'm pleased with that. More than likely I was going to lose because I ran out of time.

Tonight we'll be starting early because of a change in my work schedule, and we'll be starting up Kingdom Hearts II today. Last time I played that game was was back in like 2005-2006 on the PlayStation 2, so I doubt I'll remember much beyond the pain in the butt rhythm mini game involving the Little Mermaid.

So on that note we'll see you later tonight over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 1/31/21

Good afternoon everybody,

Well let's talk about last night's stream first, granted we always do that, but remember the upload speed issue I was having back around January 10th and 11th that was resolved on the 12th when a Comcast tech came out to check all the exterior wiring, discovering that things that they should've been maintaining weren't touch in years, that lines were chewed up to the point actual signal degradation was happening? Well that came back in full force last night, as twice my Upload speed which was staying steady at 2500 kpbs (which is what I set it at) dropped to 1100 kpbs. The stream was interrupted at 9:20 PM, did a modem reset through Comcast, called them, and things seemed to sorted themselves out and we came back on at 10 PM, then at about 11:50 PM EST, it happened again. Called Comcast up and that time I kept the stream going so I can literally read off the upload speeds from Task Manager to them, and now they said the modem that I rent from them is 'too old' for a firmware update, which of course exposes Comcast to once again not maintaining equipment, letting customers know that what they have in their homes that they RENT FROM COMCAST is not current. 

For fucks sake, I was stuck with the Scientific Atlanta cable boxes that were in this house from my father lived here that he was issued in the late 90s and was only made aware they were out of date when I continued to have problems with my TV service! That said, after calling them out on that, they are sending a tech out today with a new modem which I'm going to have them set up and to take the old one because quite frankly, the updating of equipment on a regular basis is something Comcast should be doing, particularly if one is paying $200 a month!

Now in terms of what we were streaming Zero Escape Virtue's Last Reward, we didn't get to any endings last night because of the tech issues, but the awesomeness of Zero III, and some of the comedic elements in the game were awesome, as it gave me a lot to react to. I'm rather surprised that the protagonist Sigma has no voiced dialog as opposed to Junpei in the first game who did have a lot of voiced dialog. Still it adds to the immersion as I read off Sigma's lines. We went int the Magenta and Green and allied with Luna from the start, and were in the middle of the conversation with Golem when I shut down the second stream last night due to all the technical issues I was having with Comcast as I detailed above.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was solid, going about 32 minutes (40 if I add in the stretching), and everything felt good, things were going so smoothly that I even added a little 'Free Exercise' set on top of the daily routine to just to have things end on a positive note.

Now tonight's stream is of course scheduled for feature Overwatch and hopefully things will be smooth sailing. We are getting hit with a large snow storm, so hopefully that won't cause any issues in my area, but according to the local weather service I'm on the outer edge of the heart of the snow that's coming, and we're expecting six to twelve inches. If it was Casey Kisses I was getting hit with I wouldn't mind getting hit with something in that range, but when it comes to snow I don't want to deal with it.

And on that note, we'll (fingers crossed) see you later tonight over on twitch.tv/fredcasden

Highlights For The Week Of January 24, 2021

Here are highlights featuring all the games streamed over on http://twitch.tv/fredcasden for the week of January 24, 2021 which included Overwatch, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm and Music, Saints Row The Third: Remastered, Super Mario Bros 35, ESPN Major League Baseball, Star trek Online & Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward!

Today's Notes 1/30/21

Good afternoon everybody,

Last night's stream of Saints Row The Third: Remastered saw us finishing the game (going for the Gangstas In Space ending) as well as tackling the DLC for Gangstas In Space and The Trouble With Clones. The stream ended up being nearly six hours because I did get myself distracted with a few things on the side, such as going after some in game challenges. The end result being in just the six-streams dedicated to Saints Row The Third: Remastered, we did unlock 59 out 79 achievements, as the last 20 achievements are clearly a major pain in the ass to deal with. I do feel like I got cheated out of one, The Johnnyguard achievement as apparently something hit The clone of Johnny Gat right after I took out the last helicopter. Oh well. I can go and just do the opposite ending for Three-Way to get achievement number 60.

We're more than likely going to start tonight's stream early because we are beginning Zero Escape Virtue's Last Reward, and we want to avoid another stream going 11 hours. Already have my notebook on my desk, and set up OBS to capture the game before hand. 

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 Session may have gone only a half hour, but in terms of estimated calories burned it was on par with the last two days as today's set have more movements like turns, ducks and weaves.... actually today seemed totally focused on my mid section now that I think about it. We picked up a new achievement called Super Stamper Lv. 1 which was to acquire 50 stamps from daily exercises. 

If I could rant about people at my job for a moment, if you're going to give someone say like me constructive criticism, be sure to do it on a night where I'm not doing well. Because it not only comes across as wanting to sabotage someone's production, but I swear there are some dudes who clearly are not on the same page with one another over what advice to give because all they do is end up giving 'input' that is actually the opposite of what someone else told me to tweak. Bad enough I know as I try to do some day shift things this week that I'll have to remember how to do certain things that take a much different approach than what evening shift does.

And on that note we'll see ya in a later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!

Today's Notes 1/28/21

 Good afternoon everybody,

Last night's stream of Star Trek Online was certainly Klingon lore heavy, as we finally played the two new missions that are apart of the Anniversary Event. The first mission Knowledge is Power is another of the rare missions where we are not using our character for the majority of it, this time we get to play as J'ula who leads an away time consisting of Martok and Adet'pa down to Boreth to go on a quest to see what she must do to save the Klingon Empire. Lots of ground combat in it, but it does have some wickedly cool cut scenes where we see our character among the dead in a vision J'ula is having. The second mission, Leap of Faith will see any Klingon Defense Force character once again returning to hell, or Gre'thor to find the soul of a hero of the empire, L'Rell, who can help prevent the empire from completely dissolving. The big surprise here is the return of Gowron, which I should've seen coming considering his actor Robert O'Reilly, is also the voice of AaKar... so it makes sense. But now the stakes are risen higher, because not just the fate of Klingon Empire is at stake, but so is the soul of the former Chancellor.

Found out I do have some work this evening so tonight's stream will start at 9:30 PM EST, and the plan is to finish the main story of Saints Row The Third, and we might just jump into doing the DLC content, since all I have left in the game is main story missions anyway.

Today's Fitness Boxing 2 session was really solid, only missed on motion (a sway back) from the southpaw stance. So nothing too bad, as I kept a pretty good rhythm the entire time. Also logged into Animal Crossing New Horizons and apparently it had a patch update but the only thing I noticed was the addition of a bench on the plaza for my residents to sit on. 

Now granted, some of Fitness Boxing 2 progress for the today will be negated because I ordered tonight's dinner from Papa Johns....it's been a while since I had a Pizza what can I say. 

On a positive note, I did finally get paid for the second commissioned fan fic I did this week, if you know where I would post such things, you can find it there (in fact it's actually in just two places on line), but Blogger's TOS prevents me from posting it here, unless I want to make some serious changes to this page and want my blog buried further than it already is!

And on that note we'll see you later over on twitch.tv/fredcasden!