Most of the time you’ll find me playing Team SWAT in matchmaking. This is my favorite thing to do because the matches are generally quick and shields are bothersome to worry about. Also if you see me on there, I won’t have a mic on. In fact I usually have it muted. It didn’t used to be that way. I’m only a 35 in SWAT and it’s taken me a while to get there. I also like to be a Spartan because it seems kind of cheap to be an Elite just for SWAT. Occasionally I’ll un-mute it to see if anyone’s talking. A lot of people don’t communicate with their teammates and I think it’s because they don’t want to listen to those people out there that have nothing better to do than talk down to other people. I find that it’s mostly minors (18 and under) who have nothing useful to say. Not all kids are like this of course, but the antagonistic punks out there are generally teenagers and occasionally people into their early twenties.

Several times I’ve received messages from my muted teammates that say something like “ELITE!!!” and so I respond “NO!!!” I’ve been playing Team SWAT long enough to know most people are an Elite because there is an advantage getting shot from behind. Why do people feel the need to tell me? I have over 200 XP in this playlist. So I get a lot of “How do you have over 200 XP and are still just a (whatever skill level I was at)?” Well I will say that a lot of my Team SWAT time early in my Halo 3 career was spent playing late at night when I was so tired I should have just went to bed but my teammates carried me and so I’d get the XP but my skill level wouldn’t really go up. Sometimes I would party up with people that weren’t very good but we would have a good time because we wouldn’t dog each other for playing lousy. We’d actually talk to each other with respect. These were the times when my skill level would really drop.

Another reason why I’m only a 35 in SWAT is because I’m just not as good as some of you guys out there…and I’m fine with that. I don’t see why you feel the need to tell me. How bleak is your real life that you have to get online and talk down to people to feel better about yourself? And most of you nerds wouldn’t say it to my face because you’re little scrubs that still live at home with mommy and daddy. But when you sign in to Xbox live with your level 50 account, you feel like you are the man (and I only say men because I’ve found that women don’t act like this online). It’s easy to talk trash hundreds of miles away with an anonymous identity to protect you. But a word to the not so wise…if someone was psychotic enough with the right equipment and knowledge, they could find you if they wanted to. So don’t send me messages like “u suck bad!” (courtesy of gamertag: LENGADRy1) or “garbage” because your opinion is worthless.

I’ve actually started being an Elite recently, but not only in SWAT. My kid likes to play with me sometimes in Social Matchmaking and he is always an Elite because he thinks they are cool. I use the Elite now because I’d rather not hear some kid tell me to change into one. One moron (gamertag: SKI15) told me that the reason I’m only a 34 (my skill level at the time) with so much XP in SWAT is because I was a Spartan. He said even a sack of rocks could put two and two together and that I need to change. Well I’ve never seen a sack of rocks add numbers, so call me if anyone sees this, and I’ve seen many Spartans own Elites in matches. I threw some grenades at that guy during the match. I shot at him a few times as well. I didn’t want to betray him, just let him know I heard what he said. I had it un-muted but didn’t have my headset on to talk. I had a killing spree going before he even had 2 kills. He started doing pretty good and told me I should quit because I wasn’t even helping the team. I guess that got in my head because I don’t think I had many kills after that. Stupid kid.

I’ve also started quitting matches to lose XP so that I don’t become a General in the playlist with a low skill level. I did this so I don’t have to listen to those jerks out there. So I salute those Staff Captains out there that play SWAT as a General or Brigadier in the playlist at a skill level of 25. Hey guys – don’t stop playing just because some pre-pubescent creep feels the need to make himself feel bigger than he really is. And if you are a 50 and you’ve never talked down to anyone online, you are the elite players in the game and everyone should take a lesson from you.

So to all of you a-holes out there that like to ruin everyone’s fun…GET A LIFE!

Here are some ODST wallpapers. I’m going to try to put out new versions of previous medals I’ve already done. I’ll probably make them “cleaner” looking. I’ve also began working on some other wallpaper sizes for widescreens.

At the request of a friend of mine from XBox Live, I’ve started working on some achievement wallpapers. Here’s my first three: Steppin’ Razor, Road Rage and Alas, Poor Yorick… I’ve turned a lot of medals and achievements into vector art and so turning it into a grungey-looking wallpaper can either be quick or slow depending on whether or not I’ve already made that medal or achievement. So requests for certain things might take longer than others (if I fulfill the request at all).

Sorry for the long time in between posts. It seems my blog has become mainly Halo 3 stuff. Here’s the next set of three: Killtacular, Last Man Standing and Perfection. All of these were requested. Again I’ll try to get around to the other requests.

Here are some more wallpapers that were requested. I’ll try to get to other requests as soon as I can. Thanks for all the compliments.

Just some more Halo 3 wallpapers.

My Halo 3 wallpapers have been getting a lot of hits but I haven’t seen a single comment on any of them. I don’t know if people are just looking around or what, but they seem to be finding them. So I decided to make a new set. These were inspired by this past weekend’s Grifball double EXP playlist. The Killionaire medal was probably only achieved by very few people prior to the Grifball era. So here’s to you spawn-killers.

I am responsible for our wildlife management program here at work. We are a registered wildlife habitat with the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) and Wildlife and Industry Together (WAIT). We have a few projects I have to keep up with and one of them is a coverboard project that is associated with the Catawba River Corridor Coverboard Project (CRCCP) that is run by the Central Carolina Amphibian and Reptile Initiative (CCARI).

I turn in data and photographs to Michael Dorcas, a professor of biology at Davidson University. He and a professor from Georgia have been putting together field guides of amphibian and reptile species in the southeastern U.S. and having them published. I received a copy of the Frogs & Toads of the Southeast in the mail at work last week. When I opened the envelope and looked at the book I was surprised to see one of my photos on the back cover. They also used another photo of mine in the book. The photo on the back is also used inside the book for the beginning page of the Toads section.

Here is my third set of Halo 3 Medal wallpapers. There are a lot of medals you can obtain through multiplayer game play and these are only a few. I could go and make wallpapers of all of them, but who would really want a Double Kill medal as a wallpaper? The lowest multi-kill medal wallpaper I would make would be an Overkill because they are more rare than Triple and Double Kills. I would probably just go ahead and make the Killionaire medal wallpaper because that is the highest multi-kill medal you can get. Maybe next time…

I just can’t help myself! I made this a while back. Actually I made it before I made the Seat Nazi logo. He he he…

Never take yourself too seriously…this means you Elevation sell-outs!!!

All joking aside, the ushers have done a pretty good job about not goose-stepping down the aisle lately. I still don’t like to be told where to sit…