Andy Wood

For ten days now, we have been on the new AT&T U-Verse and so far no real problems.  Well, I just need to learn all new channels now for my favorites.  I am happy to report, that I was able to record 3 TV shows and watch something else, all at the same time!  That is awesome!  Also, from the other TV’s in the house, one can access the recorded information and watch it also.

I am still making my way through the missions in Dawn of War II, the story is pretty good.  At first, you think that the threats of the Orks and the other Eladan <sp?> are your main problem.  Nope!  There is a fourth race to deal with and they almost put the “Aliens” to shame the way that they just keep coming at you from no where.  I have played a couple of Multiplayer game, this is where the team “strategic” comes into play.

The new shops Point of Sale system has been online for 5 days now.  The POS has had no hiccups, just a ton of work getting the stores inventory into the system.  Getting a new process down at the cash register station is a little slow, but I am sure over time it will be just ‘aces’.  The only thing that I have not been able to get to work is the Zebra 2824 printer which is used for printing barcodes.  I have had the tech support from the company that I bought it from, Zebra and Microsoft all on the phone at one time or another and it will simply not print.  All of the internal diagnoses work, I can send ZPL commands to it from the computer, so the printer is working just fine.  I just cannot get RMS to talk to it correctly, yet.

GamersCircle Comics has been nominated as one of the Sacramento area’s favorite local businesses in the “2009 KCRA 3 A-List” contest.

Voting for the contest begins today, February 23rd and runs through Friday, April 17th.

What is the KCRA 3 A-List?
The KCRA 3 A-List is the leading source for the insider’s scoop in the Sacramento area. During this annual 8-week contest, insiders from all over the Sacramento area come to the guide to vote for the best local businesses.

How do I Vote?
Visit the KCRA 3 A-List site.  In the ’search’ field in the upper right corner, put in GamersCircle Comics and click the search button.  Click on our picture, then above the picture you will see a “Vote” button to record your vote.

Feel free to spread the word, and thanks for your support!

Makes me wonder if there are support groups for folks like this:

Don’t get me wrong, I can be competitive, but even when I worked for fortune 500 companies, using the computer wasn’t that important.

Boss, “Why is your report wet?!!!”

Me, “Ummmm”

I saw this on GameSpot and based on what I have played so far, the review is dead on.  I have yet to play a “perfect” game, so I will take any faults that DOW II has to offer until the perfect game does surface.

I got the game yesterday, installed it (I think a patch is on the way), logged into both my steam and Microsoft Live accounts. (which btw, this the first game that I have ever had to do this for, but okay.)

Started a solo campaign and well, I am having fun!  I have yet to try out any Multiplayer or CO-Op stuff.

Swapping from Satellite to FIOS had no hiccups, now time to evaluate the performance.

Empire: Total War -

Command the seas, control the land, forge a new nation, and conquer the globe. Empire: Total War takes the Total War franchise to the eighteenth century Age of Enlightenment — a time of political upheaval, military advancements, and radical thought, captured in stunning detail in Empire: Total War.

Call the shots in epic battles all over the world and expand your realm of influence throughout the tumultuous eighteenth century with Empire: Total War for your PC. Set against the bold intellectual landscape of the Enlightenment, this extension of the Total War franchise brings you out of the middle ages and into a realm where guns, gunpowder, and naval warfare have a dramatic influence on the face of combat.

Warhammer Dawn of War II -

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II transports players into Games Workshop’s vast Warhammer 40,000 universe, where an intergalactic war between ancient races has raged on for countless millennia. Featuring vicious front-line combat, destructible environments, a fully cooperative multiplayer mode, four unique playable races and an epic single-player campaign, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers the ultimate sci-fi fantasy Real-Time Strategy (RTS) experience.

Via U-Verse

I have always been a person that thinks that if you can integrate certain elements of certain things.  Then you can spend time on what really counts and leave the redundant and mundane to either an automated process or less manual task.

Since we have had our store , we knew that a ‘ma and pa’ shop would not be able to open and maintain a store with a staff until we were established and made is past the growing bumped that all new business’ go through.

Part of the business plan was to have a Point of Sale (POS) system that would not only keep track of sales, but something that would also keep track of trending reports and help maintain the free shoppers.

There were about 3 options out there and after talking to both east and west coast peers, we went with a system that would work on our current hardware and software; however it was about the worse business decision that I have ever made and regret it to this date.

After attending the Alliance and Diamond retailer summit in 2008 and saw a demo of the Comic Suite and got to play with it.  I knew this would be a much better fit.

Needless to say, up front there is a lot of work as you have to get your entire store into the inventory system, but so far it hasn’t been that painful.  The only current hurdle is getting those items that are not bar coded, into the system and coded.

In about 2 weeks I am estimating to be online with the new system

Now, I cannot test this out yet as the MTGO will not have conflux until 2/23/2009