Ogre’s Deal

Well, I had to vent somewhere, and I figured here would be the best place.

Things have been long and drawn out in the process of Ogre relinquishing his interests in Ogre’s Network.  There have been many hurdles.  Some, he admits, have been caused by him, others have been caused by others involved.  It all started about five months ago, now.

Two guys from Zboard approached me about buying the network.  I won’t say who they are, because that’d be a breech of trust, but let’s just say at the time they had a good offer.  So, what did Ogre do?

Well, Ogre was so busy with work and life–so he had somebody else handle it.  And, truly, it doesn’t matter who tried to handle it, it was a big task.  But, Ogre should have helped more than he did.  He gave the deal to Besim.  Umm, hmm, a mistake?

I’ll give Besim one thing, he’s a good web designer.  We all know that.  Yet, I’ll be honest, he tends to be selfish and greedy.  That’s just his nature.  Otherwise a good guy, don’t get me wrong.  Herein lies the problem, though.  Everytime I just want to let things go–no matter who’d it be to–Besim gets in the way.  Why?

Even though the copyright on the bottom of each site says “copyright 2006 Ogre’s Network”, he claims the site designs are his.  What the hell?  Yeah.  He might have designed them, but they belong to the network as a whole.  I mean talk about selfish.  I have no problem with him wanting to sell them to others later on, or what not.  But, to say right now that he’ll take them away–I mean he’s pretty much talking about defacing the network.  That’s troubling.

Of course, I’m trying to be the nice guy, like I usually am.  And Besim thinks he’s getting the shaft, but I think I am to be perfectly honest.  And I’m fed up with it.  I am.  This is getting neither of us anywhere.

It’s all giving me a headache.  I’m wanting out of Ogre’s Network, just like Mithras is.  And he is, now.  So, I’m just trying to get things together to sell.  That way things can at least go on without us three.  Besim is wanting to get onboard with the new guys, which is understandable, but he has to understand that they have their own initiative as well.  Also, now, I’ve got some fans from the sites wanting to buy the network as well.  It’s getting extremely messy.

I’m wanting the quickest way out, that doesn’t destroy the network.  And I believe the guy from Zboard is the best bet.  He just seems the right fit for the financing.  It takes a lot to run a game network.  That’s why so many have fallen into the dust.  Only a handful have survived because they took the right actions at the right times.  It’s a business, and Ogre’s just not a business man–he’s an artist.  And all of this is getting in the way for what he truly likes to do.  So…

All he was doing was looking for the best way, for everyone involved.  The money honestly doesn’t matter as much to him as it does to some people.  He’s just wanting to get this chapter of his life done with.  Now, there’s just a lot of things that are finally changing for him, and he’s ready for them to happy.  Games will always be part of his life, but not the running of fan sites for them.  That part is done.  He’ll let others worry about it.  It was fun for awhile, now it’s tiring.

Thanksgiving and Eggs

I meant to write this post over the weekend, but frankly I was too lazy ;)  Anyway.  Thanksgiving was the usual: I ate turkey and everything at home with the family.  However, the next night was a little more interesting.  The house got egged.  Yeah, you heard right.  Egged!  When it happened I was like, “it isn’t even Halloween.”  Go figure.

The idiots probably had the wrong house, too.  They were probably after the house where the punk kid lives, which is right behind us.  Because, I bet that little, excuse me, bastard has probably a lot of enemies.  I know if I were a kid still, I’d probably go after him, too.  So, here’s how it happened.

It was probably about 10 or 11 at night, I was upstairs, and then I heard something hit next to the window and some heavy thuds on the roof, about a dozen in all.  It freaked the hell of me, too.  I thought crap from the space shuttle or international space station had fallen from the sky.  I mean, these eggs were like hard.  Bam!  Bam!  It sounded like rocks hitting the roof.  It wasn’t until the next morning that I saw egg shells and yolk splotched across the roof.

After all this had happened the night before I heard a car tear off down the street.  And I thought I heard some shouting outside as well.  I can just see it, this Monday when they went back to school they probably teased the little bastard, but I guess he had the last laugh that day.  Bastard!

Yeah, you can see I really like the kid ;)  Why does he piss me off so much?  Well, he’s always practice shooting with handguns and shotguns right in his back yard, which is legal here out in the county in the good old USA, but nonetheless irritating.  If I wanted to hear guns like that I’d have signed up for the army and gone to Iraq.  The other irritating thing that he does is come ripping down the street in his crappy pickup truck from the 1980’s with music thumping and engine revving.  Damn, I sound old.  Anyway.  It’s irritating as hell.

*Ogre sharpens the spikes on his club*

Is Bond back?

Today, while at work and bored, I decided to check out the IMDB for some of the latest movie trailers.  Of course, Casino Royale, the new James Bond film, was on the top of the list.  I’ve watched the trailer a few times already, and I’ve read a few of the reviews as well.  From what it sounds like Daniel Craig, the new Bond, has brought a level of realism and believability to the character that’s been missing for quite some time.Also, while at IMDB, I saw a link to an article on the IFC (Independent Film Channel) website about Bond.  Specifically, it was about all the actors who’ve played 007.  It pointed out each’s weaknesses and strengths.  Also, it did the same for the film they debuted in.  The article was actually a fun read.

New Short Stories

Well, the Ogre has finally posted some new stories. Technically, he’s only posted one new short story, but he did place an existing story into PDF format. That’s how it’s going to work from now on here at the Lair. Alll of Ogre’s short stories will be converted to PDF files for easier viewing.

Frostbit is the new story, and Stacy’s Encounter is the other that has been converted. Frostbit is a sci-fi thriller that involves government coverups, conspiracies, aliens, teleportation–you know all that fun stuff. Please, let Ogre know what you thing of his stories, he’s dying to know Go to the “Writing” link on the side bar to see all of Ogre’s stories.

Coasters, Lawsuits

I was surfing the web today when I came across a site called Ride Accidents, which gave information on rollercoaster and amusement park safety.  It’s basically a site that records when accidents occurred and why and what the result was afterward.  So, being the coaster fanatic that I am, I had to take a look around.

I looked at accidents from this past season and came across a few that got my goat.  Here’s one:

“Monday, March 6, 2006) - A woman who claimed she was injured while riding a roller coaster at the former Six Flags Worlds of Adventure in Aurora, Ohio, was awarded $3.6 million by a jury in Ohio. The woman claimed that she was struck by an object while she was traveling at about 60 mph on the Villain roller coaster in 2000. The woman’s attorneys convinced the jury that Six Flags was negligent, citing testimony that indicated park officials were aware that people sometimes threw rocks at rides. Rocks covered the ground underneath the Villain roller coaster, and rocks were found on the ride’s catwalk and along its track. Attorneys for the park argued that the woman was hit by a cell phone.

Doctors removed pieces of bone from the woman’s brain as well as a piece of her skull in order to relieve pressure on her brain. She also claims to suffer continued headaches and numbness in her face. The jury awarded the woman $1.1 million for medical and other expenses and another $2.5 million in punitive damages. Six Flags had offered to settle the case for $200,000.

Six Flags no longer owns the Aurora park.”

Yes, it’s bad that this one was hit in the head by an “object”, a rock, supposedly.  But, come one, is Six Flags really liable here?  I doubt it.  This one just got the sympathy vote.  I’d be mad too if this happened to me.  However, Six Flags is not to blame here.  The asshole who threw the rock is–they should find the bastard and bring him up on charges of attempted murder.  Six Flags shouldn’t have had to pay 3.6 million dollars for somebody else’s stupidity.  Though, if park officials knew, they should have at least warned people about being ejecting from the park if they threw objects on the ride.  But, still, this lawsuit is ridiculous.

All right, yet another stupid accident that didn’t need to happen.

“(Monday, March 6, 2006) - An amusement park worker was killed after falling out of the Atlantis Adventure roller coaster at the Lotte World amusement park in Seoul, South Korea. Investigators discovered that the 28-year-old victim, who was visiting the park on his day off, had been drinking, and that the operator of the ride allowed him to ride even though he had not lowered his safety bar or secured his seat belt. Safety regulations prohibit riders from boarding rides if they are under the influence of alcohol, and require that ride operators ensure that all passengers are properly secured before starting a ride. The victim fell about 70 feet from the topmost section of the ride, which is billed as a flume coaster, and landed in a lake. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Can you say operator error–stupidity?

“(Sunday, March 12, 2006) - At the Miami-Dade County Fair in Miami, Florida, four carnival workers were injured on the Galaxi Mark 1 roller coaster during a routine test run before the fair opened. The workers were inspecting the ride’s equipment several days before the fair was scheduled to open to the public. They fell about six feet when their 2-car train derailed and tipped to the side. Four of the workers were treated at area hospitals and three others were treated at the scene.

The ride was disassembled, removed from the fairgrounds, and taken to its owner’s maintenance repair facility. The accident is under investigation.”

Now if somebody should be sued for millions, it should have been these guys.

October, November

Yikes!  Two posts for October, I’m slipping.  I’ll try to do better this month.

I don’t really have an excuse, either.  Well, except for me being lazy.  I guess that counts.  Then again, I think I had a right to be lazy.  So, as I sit here right now at work, Visual Studio 2005 open and Rush’s album Test For Echo playing in the background, I decided to write at least something.  Maybe it’ll get me back into the mood.  What have I been doing?

Well, October was an interesting month.  First, we started back on the insertion tracking program at work, which is all completely written in–yes–Visual Basic.  Second, I started looking around at buying a house.  And third, I finished writing another extensive short story and have begun on another.  Oh, and Ogre’s Network.  Getting it ready for sale has been yet another thing to worry about.  Ogre’s don’t handle stress very well

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to.  Also, I’ve been trying to catch up on my TV watching and book reading.  Heroes on NBC has been awesome thus far.  At first, I thought it might be kind of cool, from the promos, but after watching it up until this point it’s just gotten better and better, so I have decided to change my opinion of it to from cool to awesome.  However, LOST is still my favorite show at the moment.  Last week’s episode with Mr. Eko being killed off was kind of lackluster, though, except for Locke finally getting to see maybe his true nemesis–the one-eyed man.  Gees, that was scary too, in a creepy way.  He just slid out into view of that security camera, eyepatch and all, stared knowingly, and then crushed the camera’s lens with his bare hand.

LOST just keeps adding more new characters it seems at the moment.  But, are they new?  Or, were they always there?  The one-eyed guy I think was always there.  After all, Ana Lucia and the other Tailies found a glass eyeball in the Arrow bunker.  What is the guy up to and who is he?  Well, I guess we’ll find out sometime during this season–I hope.  The only thing that’s obvious is his location, another hatch.  The Flame?  Probably.  Anyway.  Paulo and Nikki, two other newly introduced characters on the show, are kind of irritating.

OK, Nikki, yeah she’s a nice piece of eye candy, but is she really necessary?  Her lines have been rather air-headed too.  She’s just going to be another Shannon I have a feeling.  And Paulo, whom I’m sure all the girls are going crazy over right now, is just going to be another Boon.  Both will get killed off during this season, I bet, or at the beginning of the next.  That’s what I think.

Well, the six-week story arc is coming to a close with tomorrow’s episode.  The Others’ motive for bringing Jack, Kate, and Sawyer to their home is almost becoming clear.  Yet, we’ll have to wait thirteen more weeks to see what becomes of it all :(  Anyway.

I finally plan on doing some more posts here, and some upgrades to the site too.  I’m probably going to install the latest version of WordPress and maybe try out the bbpress forum sofware, which integrates with it.  Also, I’m going to put several of my short stories into PDF format and hopefully place them on the site.  I think that’ll work out better than trying to do it all on a couple of web pages.

Damn, I’m on the last song.  Hmm.  Surprising how I never remembered this album being this cool.  It’s typical of Rush, though, except heavier.  Test For Echo is actually pretty good