So I got a PM the other day, which I only read now, telling me I was in the community spotlight. I want to thank  FernandoDANTE, as I had no idea. I guess this explains the mountain of people tracking me, which I was completely confused about. I was wondering why people cared.

This of course caused me to update my outdated "about me" and visit this abandoned blog.

Unfortunatly, I no longer plan on having a union for photography, as I'm no longer as active here at gamespot. Sorry about that.

I will however post one more picture, reflecting what Im doing now.... Boston

Charles river.

Sorry for the huge delay between pics, but I had a hectic week followed by extreme laziness thanks to the hectic week.

Anyway, Unions are now up at GS, and i thought this might be a good idea for a Union...you know, a place where I, and anyone else, could put pictures of home or places weve been.

Anybody think this is a good idea and would like to join up?

I believe I need 3 more members.

If not, Ill just continue it here in the journals...for real

And since the pics are still here:

Key Biscayne, florida. Near the end of the island is the state park....Our apartment borders it. Walk for a bit, and you get to this:

(Picture taken by my sister)

Thanks for stopping by Bob.

"Perrito Moreno? Maybe Jamesinclair can help me with my spanish, but doesn't that mean something like "dark-haired puppy?" Why is the glacier dark-haired little dog? Is there some kind of story behind it? "

I hadnt thought of it, but you're right. Translate it, and youre talking about a small brown dog. However, i believe the glacier is named after the guy who discovered it. Why his name is this, I dont know....

Its late, but tommorow Ill do some reaserch on the subject and include it with the next update.

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(Excuse the dots, but for some reason, when i post, these spaces I leave arent recognised)

Anyway, Ive spent awhile trying to force MSn Groups to acept my pictures, naturally butchering them into small files. Oh well...

The first picture is of course, up close.

Its cropped to exclude my sister and I.

On the other side of the fence, youll find yourself in a freezing river.... This picture really illustrates how long the thing is.

.

So to get to the glacier, we had to walk around.

This is one of my favorite pictures...

Extremely green grass, then dirt, then ice....

Thats it for today then. Tommorow, Ill show one picture from on top of the glacier, and see if I have one of the city (El Calafate). If not, then Ill bring on the penguins from Ushuaia. Soon after, well move to less cold lands....

(It wasnt cold btw, March 7 is still technically Summer)

I planned to upload 3 pics today, but my friends at MSN Groups decided to not let me host with them anymore. Darn limits. Any suggestions?

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I managed to get one up, but fist, some Geography

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I thought this was a great map. At the bottom, you see Ushuaia, on the Tierra del Fuego Island. Find El Calafate: Thats the closest city to the glaciers, including the one below, which is on Lago Argentino. Near the top is Bariloche, Ill be showing that in the future. Mind you, this map isnt that accurate, but it gives a good idea.

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So heres a picture I took of the biggest Glacier there, Perrito moreno. Again, I wanted to show more...but I need to find a new host, even after reducing these pics from 2MB to 300KB and then MSN groups making it even smaller...

Of course, I have pics from on top the glacier.

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Beautiful place isnt it?

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Tommorow, I expect to upload the two/3 other pictures from that area on one go. Then from there move up to Buenos Aires, and then leave Argentina for a bit.

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hope you enjoy.

Lets get the new format started with (explained in the entry below). I was going to begin yesterday, but I wasnt home.

Also, any suggestions for an alternate hosting site other then MSN groups?

And, as always, please feel free to leave a comment suggesting any change. Want more city, less countryside? Prefer pics from the Pantanal (western Brazil0 to the Patagonia (this pic)? Say so. Do you want me to go in order, or mix things around? Argentina, then my city, then uruguay, then a mall, then Argentina...?

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This is one of my favorite pictures. Ushuaia is the southernmost civilian city in the world, and it lies in Tierra del Fuego, the island shared by Chile and Argentina. For this pic, we left the city, and took a boat south, past the most southern military city in the world (on Chile's side, which I believe is called Port Edward) towards the pinguins. On the left is Argentina, right is Chile. The lighthouse? I have no idea. I knew I had to capture a shot from the boat.

Interestingly, I saw an amazingly similar picture in the Miami Herald a few weeks back. I skimmed past it, thought "wait a sec" and went back to see it. Only difference? their pic was taken a bit further away.

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Game related:

Yesterday, I played Katamari Damacy with my friends. Funny how a situation can go from "OMG thats so gay, i cant believe you payed for this" to "ok, let me try..."to "ahaha, Im the winner, this owns" in 5 minutes.

I like the Journal system, but get too lazy to actually come out and write anything. I like pictures though, so Im going to start a new style of Journal:

Jamesinclair's Gamespot Fotolog: Views from the World.

Although it wont really be game related, its better then nothing IMO.

Whats this about?

Every day (oh oh, I sense a lie) Ill be posting a "new" picture I've taken. I've traveled around South America, and I thought it would be cool to show what the different parts are like. Maybe Ill erase some stereotypes, and make you all stop wondering what the hell uruguay looks like.

I will add a caption below the picture, explaining what it is...and maybe adding SOMETHING videogame related.

Hopefully, youll enjoy.

BTW: The last entry had a picture from fresno california. While I, and others did not see the first two version of the pic...suddenly the thumbnail is appearing for me today. ANyone else see it?

Also, please comment if you stop by, even if its a "hi", so i know this isnt a huge waste of time. An actual comment would, of course, be better.

I'll spare you all pictures of myself, and starting tommorow, begin with the bottom of the world: Ushuaia, Argentina, then move into Buenos Aires, then Brasil.

I assure you that all the pictures will be taken by me.

So bye bye "My Hole" and enter "Views from the world"

I was thinking about starting a new Journal style, but need confirmation that:

a) can you see the picture
b) if not, what browser are you using?
c) is it of an appropriate size?
d) if not, whats the code to resize?

Thanks.

And heres the pic:

- Copy one

Copy two (thumbnail)

Copy three, MSN groups:

The picture was taken on the outskirts of Fresno, California.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am, I lie alot. Scroll down this journal....you'll note I promissed a series of articles...in November. I said theyd be up within 48 hours. Oops.

I do crap like this alot, Im so incredibly lazy.

Instead, what Ill do is forget that for now, and post other stuff, then go back to the anime thing. I have alot written up anyway....

Im writting part 2 of my little anime story, but got tired and will now take a break. Im 1,000 words in, which is longer then it should be. I should spend that word count elsewhere, like school essays.

I saved it in word and will finish, and publish in the next 14 hours, yay!

I've never been a fan of revealing too much about myself. Offline, I rarely ever mention videogames (well, at least my knowledge of them), and any anime talk is limited to me and one other person.

Online, I obviously enjoy discussing games with other gamers, which is why Ive been here so long, but anime is mostly a newer thing for me, or at least a new public thing...

Lets start with my anime history:

As a kid, when i used to visit Mexico, I used to watch some anime shows on Canal 5. Ranma 1/2, Speedracer, DragonBall, a soccer anime.. they all used to pass at 7pm in this channel (non cable!) and so Id use to watch with my cousin. I couldnt say i was a fan of anime, mostly because I was 5 and didn't really spend time thinking about what made Ranma 1/2 different from the Flintstones or Ren and Stimpy.

Anyway, zoom forward a few years, and I never watched Anime in any real dose...for one, I stopped watching cartoon network and besides DragonBall, which i had watched years earlier, the channel didnt pass much anime anyway. The vacations i spent in the US are when i had most time for TV, and then here anime wasn't mainstream yet, and so there was even less of it then in Venezuela or Brasil.

So come last Summer (2003), i was in the US and began to watch Adult Swim.

Why? Mostly because I love sleeping late, and basically, there was nothing else to watch at this time. Except 1 hour cooking utencil specials.

So I watched because of Futurama and Family Guy, which I had enjoyed previously, and stayed for the rest. I became introduced to Lupin 3, which art style reminded me of the Speed Racer I used to watch so many years ago. Not the deepest show, but still fun. I also became aware of Cowboy bebop, whcih caught my eye immediatly because of the great art direction and incredible detail given to the animation. I stayed for the story, and was entertained. Drama, action, philosphy....basically, a great show, one id watch every night. A few vacations later, and Ive watched every episode (and I rented the movie, which i didnt like that much)

There were two more shows on....Inuyasha which didnt catch my eye (demons, magic attacks? I havent like Dragon Ball since Z started...) and Yu Yu Hakusho, which I did enjoy (and contineud to watch until that storyline turned more into hunting down evil demons.

Note: i have nothing against demons, I just didnt like that stoyline....

So my summer continued and Id watch every night, rekindking my enjoyment of anime, and doing my braincells a favor, since the only other TV show on at 2am would be MTVs undressed. And of course, the never ending super knife commercial everywhere else.

So break ended and I came back to Brasil. Because of school, my TV time was more limtied, and anyway, theres no Adult Swim on CN here. Even if there were, staying awake until 2am every schoolnight for a cartoon? Nope.

TV was kept very casual, with maybe a Raymond here, and a CSi.

Basically, I dropped most anime until Christmas 2003 (to January 2004), when i was off to the US again...

This time around, I knew what to expect from AS, and so watched a bit more. Shows had changed when I arrived, but if i remember correctly, it was Trigun, Inuyasha, Bebop and something else. Family Guy and Futurama remained, and I continued to watch both.

Hre I watched Bebop much more constantly, repeating some episodes from Summer and watching many i had missed, It wasnt in rotation the whole time I believe...However, now id stay up just for the episode, and lay some Advance Wars 2 as I waited for Trigun to end.

Trigun, I watched a couple of episodes and then ignored it. Same for Inuyasha, although I gave it more of a chance then the Summer. If I had nothing better to do, id watch, but it wasnt something I set my clocks to.

Why?

i had come in the middle of the story, with no idea why these characters were together, what had happened before, or basically anything. Worse of all? I didnt get why Saturdays episode went off on a tangent.

I did love the animation however. And the dubbing wasnt bad. Definitly more interest then 6 months before.

All this anime even led me out to buy Spirited Away on DVD just for the hell of it.

So in conclusion, i was back into anime. Hell, i even liked Hamtaro (well, the show is for kids, but the way the hamsters are drawn...!). Now, my mind was a bit better then 10 years before, and so the animation, story and character development of anime vs american cartoons was much more obvious.

American animators are way too lazy... Static backrounds vs lush worlds with individual blades of grass.

Sounds like Im comparing PacMan to BC here...

And obviously, the stories are much more mature (and not in the South Park way)

I still think Cosplay is scary though. And hentai is still wierd. As ChronoSquall14 put it....why are tentacles in my porn?

Thanks for reading, Soon:

Part 2: Summer 2004: My appreciation for Anime expands exponentially and I admit to loving - no, being adicted to -Inuyasha

Part 3: Audio tracks (dubbing): English vs Spanish vs Portuguese

Part 4: Die Cartoon network, die!

Part 5: Happy Easter! (fine, i promiss not to take THAt long)

(I havent written any of these, so I have no timeline for when theyll be up....thats hoping someone reads all this...)

(NOTE: I wrote as little detail as possible to avoid spoliers)

So Im playing Eternal Darkness (bought it in July, last played in September (had 4:15 mins today, now 5:01)) and I was just finishing a chapter (Dr Lindsey).

So theres an ending video, then i move the character abit, get a real sanity effect and start that part again. I go into a room and get another video, well 2.

Then like usual the screen turns to sepia and it says chapter complete....

Only suddenly, I get a warning acorss the screen:

Gamecube game disk can not be read. Please consult your Nintendo Gamecube Game manual.

Im thinking to myself "har har" a sanity effect.

So I wait a few seconds, and nothing. I push a few buttons, and nothing. Wait a few more seconds, and nothing.

Now Im thinking....if I go do something stupid with my system, I might lose what I just played (maybe 10 mins before last save). Its probably a sanity effect, but ntohing is happening.

So I finally decide to go and open the system cover. Disk wasnt spinning (it didnt stop, it already was stopped) so I simply closed the cover, and the game continued as normal (into that last bit of video ending that chapter).

Very wierd.

Good thing this happened on the GC and not PS2 or Xbox, since opening the disk tray resets the system.

A random series of events led to me playing Ikaruga today.

Halo 2 reviewed

I check Gamerankings to see average

I read DarkCatalyst talking about making a top 100 ranking

I see my Gamerankins ranking

I decide to update my Gamerankings review based on gamespot

I hit my Gamespot collection to see what Ive reveiwed here and not at gamerankings

I decide to see what game I own is least popular

Decide to search up Super Nova (SNES), a game that has never been on gamespots collection

Apparently, Gamespot recently added it to the database, so i add (and 12 others have it as well)

It inspries me to play Ikaruga.

So anyway, I suck at Ikaruga, but think its a really fun game. I always play on easy, with 5 lives. I have 7 credits.

So, for some reason, after not playing since August (and I have 5 hours total since I boguht it July 2003) I manage to get to beat Chapter 1 without dieing. Ive done it before, but tis nice. I then got to CHapter 3 without using a continue, a personal record. I beat the chapter 3 boss with tons of time to spare, yay.

So for the first time, I actually finish chapter 4 and get to the elusive Chapter 5. I eventually use up all my credits here.

So im show to the high score table, and what I played today was in first of course. But then I see its also second. WTF?

1) JAM 11/7/04
2 JAM 11/7/03

I look again and I see 2nd place was today exactly a year ago. I dont play Ikaruga much, so its a surprise that I was playing at the same time a year ago, but an even bigger surprise is that on this day, ive played my best.

So November 7th is my official Ikaruga day. Maybe next year Ill beat Chapter 5?

Incidently, Conquest and Practice say Ive never gotten past Chapter 3...any ideas why they might say this? Do I have to do it on Normal?

I recently got a PM from The_Kills asking me about my "News Hound" badge. Whats this? A new badge? one that wasnt there yesterday? one Ive always wanted?

One that only three other people have?

Of which two work for GS?

Oh the wonderness.

This is a pretty hard badge to get. Most of you who know me, know i love news. And so i read the enws every day. Yahoo, CNN, IGN, GS.

Well, admitedly, I dont speand so much time on GS news, but I do read most stories, even if its on the same topic as something Ive read before.

And if my memmory is correct, Tor, one of the GS news editors, didnt get his badge until recently.

So just a tiyn little thing to make me happy. I feel so 1337 its amazing.

Ok, thats a bit tooo far...

Anywya, I just thought Id share...

Im a news hound and you're not.

Next step: Admin. Adam did it, Bethany did it....

Remember yesterday i said I was so lazy?

Well, at 11:30 tonight I started the 2nd draft of the essay, which was due today.

I emailed the teacher at

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 23:59:24

Not my best work, but Im still getting credit...

You have no idea how much rushing I did at the end...

Word limit is 1,000 (thats the jardest part, getting below the word limit).

I had 1,200 words and 5 mins to cut.

I started cutting some paragraphs, and got 1,005 words. i rewrote a sentence, and landed at 1,000.

I then rushed to attach the mail on yahoo...but it took like 2 mins to appear (the attach box). iw as freaking out....

I attached, sent, and then ran to my "sent messages box" to see the time stamp...

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:59:24 -0700 (PDT)

So much ownage. Now I need a shower....and math hmk...

I become extremely lazy on Sundays. Its almost 1am and I havent even started my hmk, which includes a 2nd draft of an essay thats due tommorow....I need to make a dumb excuse and email it to him tommorow afternoon (iff I do it, but I have to...its worth an assload of grade).

I was also going to write a large journal entry, but I got equally lazy.

I suck.

The average price for gasoline is almost certain to top $2 a gallon Friday, and the average could hit a record over the weekend or early next week as fuel prices rebound much faster and appear headed much higher than experts had predicted.

It is incredibly unusual to have gasoline prices higher on Halloween than on the spring and summer holidays," says Tom Kloza, senior analyst at Oil Price Information Service, which surveys prices daily at 60,000 gas stations.

The nationwide average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $1.989, up nine-tenths of a cent overnight, motorists' club AAA reported Thursday, using OPIS data.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration, which samples prices each Monday, showed the average at $1.993 earlier this week, up 5.5 cents from a week earlier.

Prices are about 42 cents a gallon higher than a year ago, adding roughly $200 to the yearly fuel bill for a midsize sedan, $300 for a midsize sport-utility vehicle, perhaps $500 for a full-size SUV that uses premium fuel.

Highest averages are Hawaii, $2.383 a gallon, and California, $2.378.

Diesel is a hefty 59 cents higher than a year ago - about $250 more for a tractor-trailer rig to go cross-country. That eats up profits of trucking companies, ruins small operators and boosts prices of goods the trucks carry.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=677&e=14&u=/usatoday/averagegaspricelikelytotop2

Thats for you guys. Today I saw in the newspaper here that one of the biggest refineries in the country had an accident or something and so were getting a 10% gas price hike this weekend.

However, the oil industry here decided not to go on strike after all. Brasil is one of the worlds top 10 oil producers.

So now gas has spiked to an average of $R2.20 per liter in the state (vs 2.00 a few days ago)

Thats $2.91 a gallon for regular gas.

Damn government...theres a 55% tax on gasoline. Its pathetic isnt it? Almost 3 dollars a gallon, while Brasil can support itself with mining and refining oil?

Alcohol is at $1.70 a gallon.

In happier news here, today the bank strike ended, after 30 days.

Basically, every single bank in Brasil has been closed for the past 30 days. Money had to be managed through ATMs and bills paid either online or through lottery stores (for some reason, you can pay bills there, except interest which they dont calculate)

Here, Im guessing all the bank employees are in the same union, because if one bank goes on strike, all of them stop. They agreed on an 8.5% pay increase.

Tthursday was a halfday.

Friday-Tuesday vacation, so we're going to uruguay for the next few days (dad had to work and my sister was in Sao Paulo so we couldnt go thurs). Uruguay is one of the few places I havent been in southern South America.

Brasil ive been to all the major places... Manaus (Amazon), Bahia, Fortaleza, Natal (Northeast, desert and beaches), Rio, Sao Paulo, Belo (interior). Argentina Ive also done a fair share of traveling...Buenos Aires, Ushuia (most southern city in the world) aand the andes. Chile...Santiago, but considering 2/4 of the pop lives there, theres not much else. Paraguay, Ive never seen the capital, just the area near the Foz (Cataratas) dde Iguaçu.

So now onto the last country nearby, one so neutral and untalked about i dont know whats there. When has uruguay made world news? What are they famouse for?

I guess Ill find out.

Obviously, the GBA Sp seems like itll be used...but nope. I have way to much reading for school. I need to read The Dead by James Joyce....and then 400 pages on the Pol Pot regime, oh joy. And thats just the first book. I havent gotten near the second Pol Pot book....(another 400 pages)

Ill be chilling at the Holiday Inn in montevideo until Tuesday night, so bye bye.

Seriously, they're the worst. Sure, you're picking whos going to be in charge of your city, state and country, but at the same time...they wont shut up.

Tommorow is the Eelection here in Brasil for Mayors and "vereadores". No idea what vereadores are in English (translation site says alderman), no one seems to know what they do. Theyre supposed to be the mayors advisors or something, but everyone says they just run to get their foot into politics and make a load of money with it - they usually spend their first month on the job deciding on the salary they want.

Here, voting is mandatory for people aged 18--64 and optional for 16,17 and 65+.

On one side, this is a good thing, it means everyones opinion counts, and it prevents people from not voting because they think their candidate will lose anyway.

On the other hand, this means there are alot of people that dont care about voting but have to vote anyway, on penalty of a fine. "Voting is a right and a duty for all citizens"

With that, you get these huge, annoying campaigns:

Around May the mayor candidates started. At first it was gradual...maybe a billboard, or a wall with their name. As time went on, more signs, posters on streetlights, and then radio and TV ads. I was in the center the other day, and on every single block there was at least one person who was payed by a candidate to wave a giant flag with their party number on it. On one street, there were 8 people, representing 4 parties, who walk in front of your cars on the red light and then move away on green.

Ever been stuck behind a parade of slow moving cars waving party banners? It really sucks. Especially when theyre playing the party slogan songs.

And then there are the trucks that roam the city with loudspeakers, yesterday, the last day of campaigning, every candidate hosted a cocnert or giant party. Of course, these events were advertised as well.

But no, it doesnt end there. Brasil has a law that at 7-8pm every weekday, all radio stations must air a government news program. Starting one month before the elections (Septmeber 2) from 7-7:30am and 12-13:30pm all radio stations must play free electorial commericals. And of course, the national news hour continues. So for two hours a day, you have to turn of the radio and switch to a CD if you want any music. Sucks when youre in a car and you forgot a CD/

So now on the radio you get regular commericals (one candidate, Vanhoni from the workers party has a 1 minute slot, 52 seconds being his song at 8 seconds listing his parties allies), mandatory candidate times, and on top of that, the government advertising that you need to vote.

Basically, the government advertises voting instructions, as well as slots on why voting is good. just now, they passed a 10minute commerical simultaniously on all channels about how voting is secret, its a right and a duty, bribing is illegal blah blah blah.

So good thing the voting is tommorow right?

Nope. The top two candidates here have 28% each, and a candidate needs a majority to win. So they go to the 2nd turn, which is in November. here, only the top two candidates are on the ballots.

That means another month of campaigning, joy.

And at the same time, theres US elevtion coverage on the internet and on TV. Thursdays debate was on CNN and foxnews.

On one side, Brasil has one of the top electoral systems. Theyve used electronic voting for years, which gets the voting results for the entire country out in hours. One TV channel is set up during the presidential elections to keep track of the results as theyre calculated around the country. Voting ends at 9pm and the results were in at around 2am, including from remote areas in the Amazon were the machines have to be brought in by helicopter with a generator. the Indians have to vote as well.

Brasil actually exports the technology to Europe and Australia. The booths are like an ATM. You swipe your voting card, press in the party number, and then on the screen get the candidatename, picture and description as a confirmation. You then accept this if you want.

Next year theyre going to experiment with Internet Voting in Santa Catarina.

But on the other side, STOP WITH ALL THE ADS!

Theres one party, the Green Party, that has less then 1% in the polls, but they have all these annoying ads on the radio....Nobodys going to vote for them, they should shut up already.

On the plus side, Curitiba doesnt have so many parties. When I was in Sao Paulo for a few hours 2 weeks ago, on the radio I heard a commerical from the communist party (vote 21 for the 21st century) and a random party saying "vote 16 against the Bourgeoisie" (rhymes in portugues). they have no chance in hell of winning, so please, they should shut up as well.

Speak of the devil, another government ad about voting on the radio right now....

"if you dont have a voting card, fill in the form......even if youre in a wheelchair, special booths..."

Which was just followed by the radio station saying that you should register to vote as soon as you turn 16....sigh

And remember this is just for mayor....

Septmeber really isnt known for its hardware anouncements, especially for consoles due in November. usually thats reserved for E3, or even earlier:

Gamecube and Xbox launch date and price revealed at E3 2001
GBA launch details revealed earlier, due to earlier launch.

Bot here we are, 2 months from November, and only this week has eveyrone come out with their battle plans.

Take a look at Gamespot news:

Infinium anounces partnersa
Sony anounces new PSP details
Redesigned $149 PS2 to launch November 1
Nintendo DS: $149 on November 21
NVIDIA announces GoForce 4500 Mobile Graphics Chipset

Yesterday, there was an ATI anouncement and more DS details, as well as some enw PS3 stuff.

I personally didnt expect all this...yes, Sony had a conference, but I expected the PSP info to come at the TGS, and the DS stuff to come on the Nintendo conference schedualed for early October.

As for Infinium ....

Usually, my birthday comes with some Nintendo game releases set for that day, such as Starfox Adventures and Yoshis island in 2002, but this year, it looks like Im getting a handful of great news.

I like.

I have no time for a big Journal entry tonight, so I just want to thank Greg and JSD for visiting this Journal, reading, and then posting a comment. I guess Noel, the project manager, deserves a thanks as well, for future effort.

You see, Im refering to the last entry where I talked about the Site Enhancements forum. Both editors/directors came in, replyd and even decided to do something about my suggestion. Apparently, it will be implemented soon, which sounds great.

With that, i recommend that everybody make suggestions more frequently, since its obvious that people are listening and things are being done - just do it in the Site Enhancements forum and not the Journals like I did. Im sure thats much more effective.

Personally, now that I know that the Site Enhancements forum isnt a virtual trash can for suggestions (that get deleted after a month) I will begin sending comments there. i suggest you all do the same, its much more proactive then simply complaining.

So, thanks guys for the reasurance, and goodnight.