Monthly Update
It seems about par for the course that I post to LJ once a month or so. First things first: not a fan of this new layout but like all changes we get used to it, I suppose.
Received a minor "promotion" at work. It's not an official Cabela's position, so to speak, it's my manager's attempt to establish peer leadership amongst our NICS department. I'm now a Captain, one of four total. This position means I must thoroughly look over background check forms before and after being called in to the call center to ensure they are error free. I'm to be available to the rest of our cashiers for whatever they may need and am the first line of defense against upset customers and such. It's not a full time spot, but I suppose it's a step in the right direction.
I have been applying to full time positions as they've been posted but so far haven't had much luck. I most recently applied for a customer service spot that's full time and as soon as I see the front end manager I'm going to let him know. I applied for a customer service lead spot that was put up first and I don't feel my interview went terribly well. He deviated from the typical spreadsheet of Cabela's questions and made up a few of his own that I kind of floundered on. So hopefully I can talk to him and say something like, "if it turns out I'm not the guy for the lead spot, I think coming up there as a regular outfitter and gaining experience would help me get a lead spot in the future." Maybe if I made a good impression during the previous interview, which I think I did (just not enough to be awarded the spot) he'll select me for the standard spot. My full goal is simply to become full time. Being in a leadership position is not a priority. I can move towards that after I'm getting 40 hours a week. With my wife's hours being cut in her department we sorely need it.
So, on to games. Tomb Raider was goddamn amazing. I recommend anyone and everyone play it. My wife is the very definition of a casual gamer. She plays a lot of the Facebook games and some on her iPhone. She's always played on the Xbox with me but usually just if she's playing with me. It's rare for her to start a single player game and totally finish it. But that's precisely what she did with Tomb Raider. She even finished the game with a higher completion rate than me, meaning she found more collectibles and what not than I did by the time I finished. She really enjoyed it. I think having a strong female lead was a big contributor to her interest, but it was the solid story and gameplay that kept her hooked. I'm glad she enjoyed it so much. I told her from what I've read on message boards a lot of players feel it plays just like the Uncharted series on the PS3. We don't have one, but honestly, when the PS4 comes out and the 3 sees a nice, big price drop if we have the expendable income we may just pick one up. There's a handful of exclusives on the PS3 I've wanted to play anyway.
For her birthday I got her a nice Tomb Raider shirt she absolutely loves and the new Walking Dead: Survival Instincts game. She'd repeatedly asked me about it. Frankly, pre-ordering it for the budget price of $36 on Amazon and not being able to find hardly any footage of it on the internet I knew it would be a pretty lousy game. That's what I expected, anyway.
So, for those that don't know, Survival Instincts follows the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle, before they met Rick's group of survivors in Atlanta. It's a fairly simplistic game. Melee kill walkers by stealth if possible and use guns when necessary. Scavenge for fuel and food. You'll find some survivors along the way to help or ignore on your quest to find Merle and travel on. The melee can be a bit ridiculous in that it takes 3-4 swings to kill a walker. Other than the amount of damage it takes to put one down I'd put the melee about on par with an Elder Scrolls game. The gunplay is actually fairly solid. I've had no problems putting bullets to heads. But ammo is scarce and weapons are loud. There's a good bit of jump scares in the game. You'll explore a room of pick up a quest object to find a walker has flash-spawned behind you. Stealth is hit or miss. If a walker is occupied while, say, eating, they're pretty easy to sneak up on. If they're just shambling around they seem to be able to spot you a mile away. I've played a few levels of the game and honestly, I can say it's better than I expected, although my expectations weren't exactly high. Enjoyment can be found here if one can look past the lousy graphics and kind of odd gameplay.
Other than that, I've found my way back in to the warm, tropical island paradise of Far Cry 3. Such a great game. Should really try to do a bit more competitive multiplayer in it before the playerbase is totally gone. There's only a couple hundred online now as it is. Also need to do more Crysis 3. Very, very solid multiplayer. Again, a shame that more people can't pull themselves away from the Call of Dutys and Halos and experience something different.
Well, that's about all I can think of right now. Pretty long entry, I think. Congratulations to anyone who made it the whole way through.
Received a minor "promotion" at work. It's not an official Cabela's position, so to speak, it's my manager's attempt to establish peer leadership amongst our NICS department. I'm now a Captain, one of four total. This position means I must thoroughly look over background check forms before and after being called in to the call center to ensure they are error free. I'm to be available to the rest of our cashiers for whatever they may need and am the first line of defense against upset customers and such. It's not a full time spot, but I suppose it's a step in the right direction.
I have been applying to full time positions as they've been posted but so far haven't had much luck. I most recently applied for a customer service spot that's full time and as soon as I see the front end manager I'm going to let him know. I applied for a customer service lead spot that was put up first and I don't feel my interview went terribly well. He deviated from the typical spreadsheet of Cabela's questions and made up a few of his own that I kind of floundered on. So hopefully I can talk to him and say something like, "if it turns out I'm not the guy for the lead spot, I think coming up there as a regular outfitter and gaining experience would help me get a lead spot in the future." Maybe if I made a good impression during the previous interview, which I think I did (just not enough to be awarded the spot) he'll select me for the standard spot. My full goal is simply to become full time. Being in a leadership position is not a priority. I can move towards that after I'm getting 40 hours a week. With my wife's hours being cut in her department we sorely need it.
So, on to games. Tomb Raider was goddamn amazing. I recommend anyone and everyone play it. My wife is the very definition of a casual gamer. She plays a lot of the Facebook games and some on her iPhone. She's always played on the Xbox with me but usually just if she's playing with me. It's rare for her to start a single player game and totally finish it. But that's precisely what she did with Tomb Raider. She even finished the game with a higher completion rate than me, meaning she found more collectibles and what not than I did by the time I finished. She really enjoyed it. I think having a strong female lead was a big contributor to her interest, but it was the solid story and gameplay that kept her hooked. I'm glad she enjoyed it so much. I told her from what I've read on message boards a lot of players feel it plays just like the Uncharted series on the PS3. We don't have one, but honestly, when the PS4 comes out and the 3 sees a nice, big price drop if we have the expendable income we may just pick one up. There's a handful of exclusives on the PS3 I've wanted to play anyway.
For her birthday I got her a nice Tomb Raider shirt she absolutely loves and the new Walking Dead: Survival Instincts game. She'd repeatedly asked me about it. Frankly, pre-ordering it for the budget price of $36 on Amazon and not being able to find hardly any footage of it on the internet I knew it would be a pretty lousy game. That's what I expected, anyway.
So, for those that don't know, Survival Instincts follows the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle, before they met Rick's group of survivors in Atlanta. It's a fairly simplistic game. Melee kill walkers by stealth if possible and use guns when necessary. Scavenge for fuel and food. You'll find some survivors along the way to help or ignore on your quest to find Merle and travel on. The melee can be a bit ridiculous in that it takes 3-4 swings to kill a walker. Other than the amount of damage it takes to put one down I'd put the melee about on par with an Elder Scrolls game. The gunplay is actually fairly solid. I've had no problems putting bullets to heads. But ammo is scarce and weapons are loud. There's a good bit of jump scares in the game. You'll explore a room of pick up a quest object to find a walker has flash-spawned behind you. Stealth is hit or miss. If a walker is occupied while, say, eating, they're pretty easy to sneak up on. If they're just shambling around they seem to be able to spot you a mile away. I've played a few levels of the game and honestly, I can say it's better than I expected, although my expectations weren't exactly high. Enjoyment can be found here if one can look past the lousy graphics and kind of odd gameplay.
Other than that, I've found my way back in to the warm, tropical island paradise of Far Cry 3. Such a great game. Should really try to do a bit more competitive multiplayer in it before the playerbase is totally gone. There's only a couple hundred online now as it is. Also need to do more Crysis 3. Very, very solid multiplayer. Again, a shame that more people can't pull themselves away from the Call of Dutys and Halos and experience something different.
Well, that's about all I can think of right now. Pretty long entry, I think. Congratulations to anyone who made it the whole way through.