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Hi all. The first thing everyone knows about me is that I am a recovering drug addict, thanks to the rooms of NA (and AA). I was lost in drug use until this past May. I was a high school senior coasting down a slippery slope. One day I took benzos before school and passed out. I was escorted out of the classroom and to the office. There I said I was acting like that because I was sleepy from prepairing for finals and things like that. They didn't buy it and gave me a sobriety test which I failed. So I was suspended from school for a year, less than a month before graduation! That same day I was checked into Valley Behavioral Health Hospital. That was where I stayed 2 months in the "Impaired Professionals Program" before coming home. While I was in Valley, I was very lucky, and I was able to appeal my suspension with the deputy-superintendent because the principal liked me. I recieved the grades I had before I was suspended as final grades and that was fortunately enough to get me my diploma and now I'm in college. It was really worse than it sounds. Why don't I mind telling you these intimate details of my life? Because I hope it helps you in your decision to stay away from drugs. But that's not all! Other things you should know about me: Hobbies/Interests: Computers first and foremost. I want to learn as many programming languages as I can. I built both computers in my house (and to anyone who knows anything about computers, that's not a big deal!). I also play guitar and sing. I LOVE Tennessee Volunteers football, infact I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee at the University of Tennessee Student Hospital! When I was a year old I moved to Texas before moving back to Tennessee (albeit to Chattanooga). My favorite food is sushi, and I love trying all sorts of new restaurants. I am interested in Japan but I am not an otaku. Now that you know me, I'll see ya around!

I recently purchased Madden 06 for my PSP. I couldn't resist. How cool is it to carry Madden around with you? Well now I know it would be pretty cool if it was executed better. Don't get me wrong. The basics are there. 3d graphics and same basic in-game play as its console brethern, but it seems that EA Sports has released a development build as a retail product! It is chocked full of bugs, and on top of those there are plenty of annoyances. The game chokes up and snags on some things, especially in gameplay. Almost anytime there is a tackle, the game freezes for a second while it loads (what I assume is) the animation from the disc. This is also the same for the text that comes up after the play (eg "Touchdown!", "4th Down!", "Turnover on Downs", etc). When you are scouting draft picks in Franchise mode the background under the text for name, position, and college is black as is the text! So you can't read it. Sometimes on the screens displayed while loading games or drills the images flash repeatedly or don't display at all. There is a major bug that occurs when playing Franchise mode. When are playing your season using the "Weekly Schedule" view, when you comeout of the game back to the Schedule, the system shutsdown! WTF? Tiburon, the Madden developers have suggested using the "Team schedule" view to avoid this. I have a suggestion for Tiburon and EA. Recall this piece! I am pretty sure that I am going to return it. If you're not convinced yet, please don't buy it. Try it with a rental first, you'll be glad you did.

I know this version of Windows addresses the AMD64 chip natively when you use 64-bit programs, and therefore often takes advantage of 64-bit technology, but when I am using it, it feels more sluggish than regular Windows XP pro.I am considering switching back (though I'd need to buy a new license since I acquired my copy of XP x64 through the Technology Exchange Program, and effectively surrendered my old XP Pro license).I think the issue here is that there are not enough programs that are 64 bit.Does anyone else have any other thoughts?

First of all, I am a big gamer, and when the PSP came out I had it first day, early that morning, and I bought 6 games. Eventually I got tired of those games and decided I wanted Madden 06 for my PSP. At this point I still had Lumines, Ridge Racers, Ghost in the Shell on UMD, and Spiderman on UMD. My goal was to get Madden 06 purely on trade, without any cash paid (which means I need $50 of credit), and keep as much as I could of what I had. The movies were more important though because I had beaten the games. I first went to EBGames in my mall and for all four items they offered me 45 dollars of credit for all of my games/movies. No go. I then went to SoftwareETC which is really GameStop now, which actually owns EBGames from a recent purchase, but hadn't integrated with them, so effectively another place to check my options. SotwareETC offered me what was effectively 41 dollars for all of my games/movies and a membership to their club (which gives 20% extra when you trade 2 games, 30% extra for 3, and 40% extra for 4). For those who want to know, it was 40 credit, minus 15 to join the club, but then the club would net me 16 dollars so as I said they offered effectively 41 dollars and a membership. Still no go. My third trip was worth waiting. I went to a place built in a plaza next to a new Wal-Mart here in Chattanooga called Rhino Video Games. They appear to be a relatively new store, and they are owned by Blockbuster which often features video game stores inside their video rental store. Here I was offered 50 dollars for my two games and 11 for the two movies. I couldn't believe it! I could get Madden 06 for my PSP and keep my movies! I went through with the transaction and was very happy (with the deal anyway; Madden 06 on PSP is another issue and not the fault of Rhino). I would also recommend that if you want to buy a game with cash, try this place to see if they have it used. Their used prices are excellent. The reason the trade was so great was because they have an on-going (not limited time) offer that says when you trade in any 2 games they sell for 24.99 used you can get a game they sell for 50 dollars in return. This is a really good deal since it ammounts to a even trade. No other used video game store offers you credit for a used game in the ammount they sell the game for. I don't see how they are making money with this deal! Check the link to see if they have a store near you. I'd reccomend a visit.