A B A T T O I R . N E T - Any-ping else is useless...

News, rants, verbal assaults...
	05-15

All opinions expressed herein are those of the author

"Why am I cancelling? Let's see... Your speed has gone down, you're limiting the use of your unlimited service with caps, I can't output anything over your connection without being in violation of your EULA, and your prices haven't dropped to reflect the drop in the service. Your Internet Service has devolved... Did I leave anything out?"	Quickie Leaf's Schedule
MeatMan 2 Cgocable

02:01pm Mon Feb 03, 2003

EPISODE ONE
"The Lord Of the Rings"
(...even he didn't realize the power he was about to unleash...)

Yes! It's BTM Week and we're back from our little Winter Break and raring to go... An entire month has passed since we signed-off, so there's a little catch-up to do. We've got a full house again for this BTM, and I for one have been itching for some LAN action. Forewarning is now being issued to all attendees... If Isis approaches you holding thirty pounds of catalogues asking, "Do you like this centrepiece more, or this one?" Just nod and smile, that's been the best I've been able to come up with so far. Continuing with "The Male Perspective", allow me to introduce my theory on the female brain and how it's geared to work... The "Flywheel" gene females have from birth manifests itself far before puberty hits as young women play "dress-up", "house" and other such marriage related things at a young age. This gene (...absent in males as it's replaced by the 'driving' gene...) causes iron in the blood to collect in the brain forming a solid mass, or flywheel if you will... Each and every thought regarding marriage increases the mass of this flywheel as well as its rotational speed. When I proposed to Isis, it was like pulling the pins on a grenade from each ear... The flywheel, now at an estimated 10,000+RPM flies out of their heads, throws sparks as it hits the floor and quickly accelerates through the wall at break-neck speeds, anything in its way is subject to destruction (...take note, the 'biological clock' doubles this flywheel's speed...). As it stands, our wedding date has been set for June 28th, the venue is still in the air, flowers have been picked and I think there'll be beer. I've been of little use to her in this endeavour as the most input she's received from me has involved head motions and grunts, but I guess I best start helping out. My understanding is, I'm here for the ride, don't ask me questions with regards to flowers and planning as having clean underwear for that day is the most forethought I've produced thus far. Perhaps a LAN Party wedding? Isis comes screaming down the isle straddling a redeemer? Unfortunately, that's the best suggestion I've had. Forgive me, I'm male.

You did put enough glue here, huh? My mind's still reeling from the news of Columbia's burn-up on re-entry Saturday morning... Can you believe that within moments of the incident, the news agencies already started asking if this was a terrorist act? Sure, it was... Mohammed atop his camel makes a direct hit with his rocket launcher at an object over 63,135 meters in the air which was moving in excess of 21,800 km/h... Judging by how many of you miss the toilet during the BTM at a distance of 2 feet (...less for some of us, Ahem!..), I say you're an idiot to even ask if a missile was involved. Do they always have to pop out the 'terrorist card' now? Condolences to the family and friends of these heroes who gave themselves in pursuit of the betterment of humanity. It may be premature to say, but I think everyone knows the damage caused by the insulation breaking off and impacting the underside of the wing 80 seconds after launch was the culprit, even though NASA had played that down... Hit me with a pillow, no big deal... Hit me with that same pillow at over 3,000 km/h and there's a good chance I'll cry.

We may just try a little experiment this BTM just for you folks who've read about the LAN Parties, but have yet to make the jump to join us, or live simply too far away... We're going to attempt a rig-up with the MeatCAM in LAN Central to provide live 'streaming' video of the action, rather than a static image that updates once every 30 seconds. We'll keep you posted here!

11:01pm Fri Dec 27, 2002

Well all I can say is Ho-Ho-Ho... Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I personally hope all your stockings got stuffed. As for Christmas around the Abattoir, I've come to learn that people love to live vicariously through others, so I'll let you relax with the cup of hot coco (...spiked or not...) while I spin... Isis and myself are now engaged! *life flashes* I know how her parents feel, so I didn't do the honourable thing and request her Father's permission, rather, I wanted it to be a surprise to everyone. No one had a clue I had decided to pop the question other than a couple people (...you know who you are...) who were informed of my intension while floating in a Dingy powered by a small electric motor, more on that later. None of these persons were family members, because no one person in my family can be trusted to keep a secret. The ring was brought to my parents new place where we had our Christmas gathering and dinner... By this point, Isis and myself had already opened our Christmas presents from each other. All said and done as far as presents and such where concerned, all 18 of us headed down for Christmas chow! Prior to the huge feast before us, I snipped a Christmas Cracker from the place setting and bolted to a nearby bathroom where the scissors, tape and other surgical instruments I carried with great discomfort emerged in a pre-planned and never before attempted 'Cracker tracheotomy'... The ring was implanted beside the sweatshop created gift in the Cracker, all of which was smuggled back to the table none the wiser. Everyone sat to start on the soup, just placed. Napkin first, then the Crackers... She snapped both ends and with a non-threatening PoP!.. the ring popped out and plopped into her soup. Not catching a glimpse of what it was, she dug for a second uncomfortably, and pulled out a ring that looked almost too good to be a Christmas Cracker toy from CostCo (...$19.95/doz... Nice stuph inside, check 'em out...) I guess it took a couple seconds for it to sink in (...and the soup to clear...) but she got the point with nothing said and it was off around the table to hug anything that didn't move faster than her. I think she said 'yes'.

So that's the start of our new feature on the Abattoir, call it the soap opera version: "What will happen to you after you Pop The Question – The Male Perspective" Yes, live and constant updates of TMP will be embedded in the Minutes for all to either learn from, laugh at, or wince... Did you know that our wedding date was picked two days ago? *glances at watch* That was about 8 hours after she found a rock in her soup! I wish I could Gib that fast in Quake. The Bride's Maid has already been shuffled, size of wedding decided, I'm not sure what the food will be like, but I hope there's Beer. (...she's going to either laugh, or kill me when she reads this...) Either way, I love you Sweetheart, I'm glad you like my Mother's soup.

(...note the clever use of flash in photo to hide the size of the cubic zirconium... MeatMan smart, like train...)

12:00pm Tue Dec 24, 2002

Sorry if I'm about to be "politically incorrect", but you couldn't possibly know how much I'm sick of hearing "Happy Holidays" from everyone… Thus, "Merry Christmas"! One more sleep till the fat man sings and with the tree (…yes, a Christmas Tree, not a "Holiday Tree"…) all lit up and good to go, we're geared-up for some Christmas cheer at the Abattoir! We just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a safe and happy "holiday", no matter what faith you hold (…or don't hold as your case may be…) Don't drink and drive!

That being said and done, it's time we post the date for BTM37 (…who's theme's not been decided as yet…) We're going to take a little Winter break from hosting and we hope too many don't go into withdraw over this… BTM37 will be held on February 8th, that leaves everyone loads of time to find out if they're working, can get a drive, etc. Head to the Sign-Up Page and get your name in!

More inquiries about the Abattoir's connectivity are coming in, many asking about the speed... For those who don't have a SuperFTP Account, you can grab a file or two from MBHD, we've finished modifying all the links (...site was severely broken...) and although it's not completely up-to-date, it's working! Check it out.

We've had several inquiries about New Years Eve as people are wondering if we're doing our traditional hang-out at the Abattoir deal, well… Sure!! As per usual, the Holiday season can be taxing… Who needs all the hubbub trying to decide what to do on New Years Eve, many make big, huge plans that either cost a small fortune, or just end up falling through… Not at the Abattoir! We don't make plans at all! We just get together, play some tunes, play some games, drink some beer, then yell at 11:59:59pm till 12:00:01am. Simple, cost efficient, fun. If you've not made plans, join us! We'll even turn it into a mini-LAN-Party, so drop us a note and let us know if you want to ring in the New Year at the Abattoir, bring your PC and we'll paint the walls with rockets.

Don't forget, kiddies… You can track Santa's progress through the NORAD Santa Tracking Site! Have a great Christmas everyone, we hope your stocking gets stuffed!

12:00pm Thu Dec 05, 2002

Well, it's time to let everyone know who we chose as the main connectivity supplier of Abattoir.Net and it's Servers… But first, MeatMan's tips on "Breaking-up with your Cable ISP". Remember, no matter how long you've been with them, when the service starts going downhill, it's time to move on! You signed on with them because they were supposed to be fast, unlimited and cost effective, now they're slow, capped to hell and you're going to be charged more now (...if you go over your 'limit' on their 'unlimited' service...) for the service and getting less for your buck (…funny how people change once they think you're committed to them…) Be stern and strong, they may cry a little, they may start making promises you know they can't keep, they may even deny fact when confronted but you're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Such was the case with Cgocable after the switch-over was done and the call had to be made. "Thank-you for called Cgocable, how may I help you?" she said… "I'm calling to cancel my Internet service with you." I replied. "Oh dear! May I ask why you want to cancel?" she said in a concerned manner, "Do you really want to know, or are you just reading off a cue-card?" I retorted. The reasons were laid out in a cold, point-for-point fashion, then the argument and denial started… Knowing she wasn't going to charm me back, my call was shuttled off to the Supervisor. She read off the same cue card, "Is there a particular reason you wish to cancel?", "No…" I said, "…there's many reasons. You're not unlimited anymore and the amount you'll be charging for bandwidth overage is border-line extortion, besides that, after reading your EULA I've determined that any activity on the Internet with your connection other than surfing web pages is a violation of your EULA. Your service has become useless to me by your own design so I'm upgrading to ADSL." There was a couple seconds of silence, then she said "we do not charge for overage, where did you hear that?". I said "You don't charge now becuase you've not been able to inforce it, but you will be.", again she said "We're not charging anything for overage." I then told her I'm well aware of the difference between an "introductory interest rate" on a credit card and what you'll be charged later after you've been "introduced". "You're not charging now, but you will be, and more people than you think know it, as such, you'll find more people canceling with you…" Suffice to say, the conversation ended in a very "I told you so" manner. I headed off to Cgocable to return my modem. While at the desk, a gentleman was just picking up his modem after signing-up with them moments before I got there. The woman at the Customer Service desk asks "Can I help you?", "Yes… I'm here to return my cable modem and cancel my Internet service with you.", "Oh dear! Is there a reason you're canceling?" I turned my head and looked at the guy standing two feet away from me with his shinny new modem under his arm, then glanced back at her and spewed the whole story a third time. I don't think I left a good impression on the dude standing there as he learned a lot more about the box under his arm than Cgocable came up front with… He was still there when I left.

Regardless of all that, we've dumped cable like so much tofu as promised and moved on, it was painless, Folks (…and it even felt good for some odd reason…). So, who's our new provider? After doing a little looking around on CanadianISP.com, a site that allows you to choose your Province and area, then lists every ISP that services your area, we started calling… I had in mind what I wanted, and rather than pick a "package", I let each selected provider know my demands and let them throw their price back at me. The most expensive quote provided was over $200.00/mo, while the lower priced scale offered MORE than the highest bidder did… It just goes to show you, shop around, I got to a point where three providers were fighting over me… It also goes to show you there's a lot of hungry providers out there will to fight for your business, a nice change. It doesn't take a lot of effort to check them all out and you'll end up getting a deal that works best for you. We chose Net@ccess in Hamilton for our connection, and so far, it's been nothing shy of an incredible pleasure to deal with them! Get this, they even answer the phone when you call! (…No, it's true!..) Here's the goodies list, compare if you dare to what your "cable company" is offering you:

Net@ccess	Cgocable
3488 Kb/sec down	2000 Kb/sec down
800 Kb/sec up	384 Kb/sec up
Allows all Servers	None! (see the EULA)
No caps or limits whatsoever (give and take all you like)	5Gig/up x 10Gig/down. $8 Gig (combined up/down thereafter)
Customer service answers the phone	Customer service will answer, eventually.

Now compare your cable bill

As many of you regular BTM'ers may know, Tim (AKRIA) Marshall works for Net@ccess and we would like to take the opportunity to thank him, along with Wendy in Sales and everyone else at Net@ccess for the totally painless, fast and flawless switchover they orchestrated, I'm now connected rock-solid to a network that doesn't make me feel like I'm sitting on a Taxi Meter every time I use my computer. The speed's unreal and you'll get a taste of it at this weekend's BTM… The Folks at Net@ccess are ready to take your calls now and would be delighted to take care of your connectivity needs (…operators are standing by…) so why not check them out right now and discover the great flavour of consumer choice that's out there… Tell them the Abattoir sent you!

With the BTM right around corner, we've still got a couple spots open from cancellations, so if you didn't think you could get in, think again! Come on out and enjoy the December BTM! Additional breakers have been added to LAN Central to accommodate our MiniArcade's additional load and kill-off that pesky "Blackout Alley" area. Time to go check "the twist" and make sure everything's good to go!

05:30pm Wed Nov 27, 2002

Our ADSL service has been picked! After a short but extensive search for a reliable connectivity supplier (...note how do not use the term "ISP", since Cgocable considers themselves one, yet you're not 'allowed' to use your connection to the internet to give or contribute, or you'll be violating your EULA. From this point on I'll refer to them as "web page distributors" since that's what they really are...) Our search criteria: Speed, we need lots... More importantly, we need lots of up-pipe since the Abattoir's doing the serving. You may be able to eat fast, but if the kitchen can't dish it out, there's a lot of unhappy patrons. Next were the ground rules... We run servers here, we intend to run many, we're not interested in seeing a list of servers we're not 'allowed' to run, thus we need connectivity, not web-surf permissions. Next, a static IP, I really would like one please. Finally, of course the price is a factor... If it had not been, the Abattoir would have been on it's own OC3 a long time ago. We got all that, with no caps or limits for a lot less than many of you may have thought possible. Get out your cable bills, keep them by your computer, and tune back in soon as we revile who we chose, why, and what we got for our buck (...the juicy details...) After, you can take a peek at your cable bill and do a little comparison. We're switching over now, our IP will change, so the Abattoir SuperFTP Server and WebPortal Server will not be available till we can relay the new IP and everyone's DNS Servers repopulate. Other than that, see you on the 'fast side' shortly as we start our "Move2DSL" Campaign (...I told you we weren't joking Cgocable, Merry Christmas from the Staff at the Abattoir...)

HoT FilE AlerT 02:00pm Thu Nov 14, 2002

There's never been any doubt, when Tom Clancy's name is on something, you just know it's going to be good! Rainbow Six: Raven Shield is no exception. Released about noon today, the multiplayer demo is sure to be a big hit… That of course, is if you can get it. The PC multiplayer demo is using the next-generation Unreal engine, has a few maps (…including the "City Street Large" map...) Weapons and Gadgets out the ying-yang, plus two multiplayer modes, survival and team survival. So what are you waiting for? There's no line-up on the Abattoir SuperFTP! *hint-hint*

The search for the Abattoir's new DSL Carrier started today… My very first call was promising and we're hoping to have some great news soon, stay tuned!

FTP - Frags from The Past (Part 6/6) 03:20pm Mon Nov 11, 2002

Oh no! Guess who forgot to upload Saturday's update! I'm fired. Here's Saturday's "Frag from The Past", Scorpio! I recall a certain Friday afternoon when the BTM was cancelled due to last minute reasons, we sent out notice to all who were coming that it was off, but I guess Scorpio didn't check his email before heading over… My place of work was empty as everyone headed out for the weekend, one manager was still in the back shutting the place down, when he walked into the front office, he found Scorpio (…who he didn't know from a hole in the ground…) sitting at one of the salesman's computers playing Quake by himself. The somewhat surprised manager, thrown back that this stranger was in the office unannounced and sitting in front of a computer asked "Can I help you?", Scorpio said "Is Craig here?", when he was told no, he stood up and left leaving the manager wondering what the hell was going on. That's the pivotal point when the BTM's moved to the Abattoir. Now Scorpio was able to bring his own equipment over, including a flatbed scanner (…an important piece of equipment at a LAN Party…) Scorpio's only missed a few BTM's when he's been out of the country, so there's a good chance you'll see him at the next one playing an online game in the corner against someone on the Internet while everyone around him plays Quake.

Let Cgocable take you ... To the bank!

Seems we're in for a fight with Cable again… As good as Cogeco's been to the Abattoir over the years, it would appear they're about to render their entire network unusable in the near future by imposing a bandwidth cap on their "unlimited" internet service (…following the stupidity and greed of Sympatico…). Starting soon, you'll not be able to transfer more than 5 useless gigabytes a MONTH over their network or be slapped with an $8.00 per gig charge. Looks like people aren't going to be able to keep up on Microsoft Windows Updates now. Understand this, Cogeco (…because I know you read the Abattoir…) as soon as this cap is put in place, I'll be dumping you like so much tofu. Gone will be my full digital TV package as well as my cable Internet… You will never see me again. I hope your bean counters over there realize exactly what they're doing (…which is losing business, of course…) So when can we expect the new Fall commercials? After all, you'll have to redo all your commercials now since they boast the glories of your broadband and what you can do with it, like streaming video, downloading games, sharing your family photos, internet radio, shoutcast and all the other great things you say you can do with your service (…except, don't do it longer than a few minutes a day, because we don't want you to enjoy the service too much, other than that, it's 'unlimited'…) Let me know when you impose this "Loss of Business" cap so I can cancel everything to do with your company, Internet access was the only reason I was with you and now that you've rendered it useless to me, I'll have to move on. I know you won't miss the $150.00 a month. Let's hear your feedback on this! Join in on the Abattoir.BBs and let us know what you think of this cap in the forums.

FTP - Frags from The Past (Part 5/6) 02:00pm Fri Nov 08, 2002

Friday is upon us, and what a great weekend we have ahead of us! The temperature's climbing to 16c (60F) for the weekend starting right now and the sun's out, looks like this weekend will be backyard clean-up for the winter weekend. Who's today's "Frag from The Past", why it's Sputnik! Paul's been to many BTM's and we hope many more… Polite to the end, Sputnik will even apologize when he kills you! Hope to see you at another BTM soon! One Polaroid left, who's it going to be?

Seems it's Hollywood Friday at work, a Movie Truck just rolled in for a genset tune-up because now is the only chance he's got before his truck's needed back on the shoot location, but first Shannia Twain's Tour Bus is here to greet me when I got to work, it needs it's generator worked over for a sudden issue… In the words of the Coach owner, "It still smells like Shannia", who apparently smells like "lemons" in the morning, Hmmm? Here's a nifty shot of the inside of the bus if you're wondering where Shannia spent the last three weeks. There's bedding for almost 24 people for crying out loud, it sports a nifty cocktail lounge/master headroom in the rear and a nice satellite tracking systems so you can watch your zillion channels on the road. Either way, it was a lot cleaner than Metallica's Bus when it was here! (…I ripped off an ashtray, I'm selling it on Ebay for $4,000.00 to help cover my Ontario Hydro Bill this month, forgive me, Shannia!..)

FTP - Frags from The Past (Part 4/6) 03:32pm Thu Nov 07, 2002

Who do we have today? Well lookie, lookie… It's Creeping Death, or just Creep as he's called now. Patrick never liked his shot taken, nor when I called him Patrick… I'm not too sure, but I think he's part of the Witness Protection Program or something, which doesn't make any sense seeing as he has a Warriors Profile on the Abattoir. Either way, Creep is a member of the band Endorphins (…take a listen to a free clip via the Abattoir SuperFTP Server of their song "Pussy Killer", it's a love song, I think…) I can't remember the last time Creep was over, but he always came with Macross, so it's been a while! Wonder who's up for tomorrow?

FTP - Frags from The Past (Part 3/6) 10:45am Wed Nov 06, 2002

Many of you old time BTM'ers would remember this guy, Big D was the Abattoir's original roommate when I bought the joint… His boisterous laugh was infectious to say the least, and always fun to shoot in the back, however, my Mother always taught me, if you don't have anything good to say about someone, don't say anything at all. Since I personally bailed this guy out of financial trouble time and time again, he rewarded my good nature by racking up over $3,800.00 worth of debt to me, then took off. His whereabouts is unknown at this time, but I would hope it probably involves a small cubed room with lots of wrought iron decor. If you see him, frag on site. I'm sure we'll have something nice to say about tomorrows "Frag from the Past".

Is it worth it? As I said yesterday, I've been attempting to download the wacky physics video "Owned" from FilePlanet... After five failed attempts to get this file (...which at this point, had now become more of an obsession...) I caved. Each download from the Public Servers had a wait time no less than 70 minutes, and after the fifth timeout I lost it... The link "You don't have to wait in line!" stared at me, burning into the back of my retina, I couldn't fight it anymore... "After all, GameSpy's been good to the Abattoir in the past, the least I can do is try a subscription..." I rationed. So off to the page I went, filled in all my info and punched the process button. Just like that, GameSpy Industries sucked $xx of my favourite monies from my account and my status at GameSpy was raised to God level. So what does this all do for me? Well, firstly and foremost is the fact that I no longer wait for any download as I'm shuttled off, first class to a Personal Server which sits on a higher bandwidth pipe than the Public Servers. This one factor is reason alone to get a subscription, but there's also the other perks... Priority Tech Support (...which I've just tested with a quick question, so we'll let you know how well that works shortly...) as well as first, exclusive shot at playing some beta's. There's also the nice bonus of being able to click one button, and almost all of the advertising on GameSpy networks goes bye-bye, this helps make your surfing a good deal faster. So now the question on everyone's mind... "How much faster is it?" In my case, it was instantly 70 minutes faster (...since the line issue is no longer an issue...) Last night I pulled down my file at over 120k/sec, and the file finished with the bit rate still climbing! Is it worth the cash? That's up to you, for the time being, I'll just stand at the front of the line and enjoy my view from here. I wonder if Fargo at GameSpy would be interested in giving us a couple subscriptions for a BTM giveaway?

FTP - Frags from The Past (Part 2/6) 07:00pm Tue Nov 05, 2002

Day two... Who do we have here? It's our long time, so see, no hear from Buddy, Macross! Don't judge by the hair, he's a great guy! I can't really tell you too much about Luke, since he's not said "Boo!" in years, but I know he still checks into the Abattoir once and again, so we're hoping he'll see this and give us a clue as to what he's up to. Luke! Call us, we know you're out there! (...if no response from you is received by Friday, we'll publish the 'other' Polaroid...)

Regarding the SuperFTP... Yes it's up, no we don't hate you now that you've discovered you can't log on, however, read an update now and again... You have to reapply! We're getting a lot of hate mail at the Abattoir from people who think they've been cut off (...why am I typing this, they don't read it?!..) On the same train of thought, we'll mention that due to bandwidth 'concerns', the SuperFTP is limited to 12 connections at a time. There, I answered your question! We've had complaints that people are getting a "Too many Users" message, what this message really means is that, at the precise time YOU were trying to connect to the SuperFTP, there were ALREADY many people just like YOU, who where there already... This means, although they're just like you, they're a little faster than you. We're sorry, there's nothing we can do about that right now.

Speaking of "Sick of Waiting" syndrome, guess who, after attempting to download a stupid short movie called "Owned" (Battlefield 1942) for the FIFTH time from FilePlanet, finally caved and purchased a year's subscription... You already know the answer, me. Okay, so now I have my "own personal server" on the great Planet... Now for my sixth attempt to download. You want my true evaluation of FilePlanet's rather pricey "Subscription" Fee? Tomorrow...

FTP - Frags from The Past (Part 1/6) 03:00pm Mon Nov 04, 2002

Would you take a guess at what I found hidden away in my desk… Polaroids! (…we all have some hidden away somewhere, I'm sure…) but unlike the common self-portraits while standing naked in a mirror type shots most enjoyed by users of this photo format, these are shots from way back of the early BTM's when they were back at my work! So for the sake of showing off our BTM heritage, the Abattoir is very proud to introduce it's first week long mini-series… "FTP - Frags from The Past". Sit back, sip on Coco and be sure to tell any friends to check the Abattoir, if you've attended the very early BTM's, you just may see your mug here this week! Let's see our first Poster Child for FTP.

Who doesn't know this smiling face!? Yes, it's our own "Sgt.Slaughter" as seen here in a very rare photo showing a bottle of alcoholic beverage nearby. Since Sgt.Slaughter works right around the corner from my place of employment, he never missed a chance to come over and throw a rocket around after hours. It's difficult to date this picture, especially because Sgt.Slaughter hasn't aged at all over the years, but our best carbon-dating tells us this image was captured somewhere around the Summer of 1997. Sgt.Slaughter was always fun to play against, each time you killed him, he'd either giggle or yell "Crappers!". You could rest assured even if he had 8 health he'd be the first to jump into a battle when he heard nearby fire (…and as such, you'd hear a lot of "Crappers!"…) Sgt.Slaughter is now President of MTC Computers and although he's not been to an actual BTM in quite some time, I know we can convince him to show if I threaten him with the other Polaroids we've found. Who's up for tomorrow? Find out…

04:00pm Fri Nov 01, 2002

Oops! Looks like there's another quick date shuffle happening… It would also appear I have no ability to count, either way, the date posted for BTM36 "Special TwiSt" Edition is incorrect, you may publicly flog me at will. The correct date should be December 7th, for those of you who have already signed-up, we'll leave you on the Reservation Page unless you tell us otherwise, but please check your calendars to make sure you're able to come…

Hope everyone had a safe and scary Halloween… Traffic in our area picked-up and we actually were able to give out most of our candy (…that, and I didn't buy 10 crates of super-sized Mr. Big bars this year…) There were a lot of great costumes, but I think I recognized this guy… Cyclone came to BTM35 in full gear and I think he would be upset if I didn't at least throw a mention in.

The weekend's here and we just got nailed with our first snowfall / blizzard… Gone as quick as it came, but caused over 100 traffic accidents in the short two hours the fluffy stuff blew through... Man, Ontario drivers really do suck. I also understand there's going to be something rather special on the Abattoir SuperFTP by later tonight… If you don't have an account yet, you might want to send that request in now. *hint* Have a great weekend, and remember, don't use any hydro.

Read the archives if you're new or want to catch-up!