So, as many of the adults here in the US know, its tax time. What this means is that smart people who are disciplined and can budget through out the year and give more to the government each paycheck get that money back... like me.

That's right, I'm rich, b****es!

As a responsible person in a committed relationship I promised my girlfriend that I would use half of my tax refund for us to go on vacation somewhere in the continental US or maybe up to Canada. (The finalists are Vancouver, Montreal, New Orleans and Las Vegas)

With the other half I get to do whatever the hell I want so I've been kicking around a few ideas.

1. New tattoos. It's been 8 years since I last got any ink permanently injected into my body and getting my other sleeve done would be awesome. Kinda selfish but something I've wanted for a really long time.

2. A PS3. This would round out the current gen of consoles in our house and I think would be a nice and relatively cheap addition (at least when compared to the tattoos). My only problem with this is that I don't feel this huge overwhelming need to buy a PS3. Yes, it would be nice to not be excluded from ANY game coming out this generation but with the exception of God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2 and MLB: The Show I don't know any other games that I really feel like I'm missing out on.

3. A home theatre. I keep hearing how great gaming is with a badass surround sound system in your house and I can only imagine. The idea of my fillings rattling loose when a grenade goes off in MW2 just seems awesome. Do any of you have a home theatre attached to your gaming TV? If so, is it great? Is it worth it? Do I need a 360 elite for the best effect or can I just use my old one?

4. Audience suggestion. Lets say you were getting a lot of money back on your taxes. What would you get? If you are getting a lot of money back what are you getting with your tax money?

Opinion away!

Take care and happy gaming!

Laughlyn

So, last night I was thrust into a situation that I'm not typically used to. Through the course of events yesterday I was blessed with a night home alone. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't enjoy spending time with the girlfriend and kids its just that very rarely do I get a night completely to myself so I was excited.

Given this night home alone I was going to spend it playing MW2 online with people from GS and from work. I don't get the opportunity to play with the people that I know very often as our schedules are usually conflicted and the one time when I can play with them is during normal night time hours... 8-10pm or so.

So, I got myself all situated. I took the dogs out. I got my Cokes. I sat down on the couch and got into some MW2.

After nearly an hour of playing and finally getting into some kind of groove what happened?

MY FREAKING INTERNET WENT OUT!

Now, this wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't happened before under very similar circumstances. Five years ago I wrote this blog while I was living in Florida and it was basically the same story.

Now, I know that this happening twice in 5 years is no big deal but it is when these two occassions in five years are the only times when I've actually sat down with the express purpose of playing online with friends only to have it crap out on me.

So, I guess that I'll have to wait until sometime in 2015 for another opportunity like this. Hopefully MW4 will be awesome.

Laughlyn

Ever since my gf got a video camera I've been itching to start doing a weekly video blog "show". While I have most of the chops required for the show I want to make the one skill I'm lacking in is graphic design.

What I'm hoping for is that one of you amazing Gamespotters has some skill with Photoshop and would be willing to do some graphics for the show. Unfortunately, I can't pay because I'm broke but I would be happy to plug the artist in whatever way possible.

If you have some Photoshop skills and would be interested in helping me out please let me know and believe me, your work will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Laughlyn