Pickles are definitely my favorite on that list. My favorite is probably zesty bread and butter, but I also love dill. Black olives are alright. Most pickled veg are pretty good. Pickled jalapenos are good, but I much prefer fresh ones.

Homegrown tomatoes of any type will beat the hell out of anything purchased at a store.

I was hoping EA would greenlight the overhaul project, as I also really liked the flight and combat. I understand why they didn’t, but it still sucks to see this.

Don’t skimp out on things that separate you from the ground. Shoes, chairs, beds, etc. Those things can affect your posture and bad ones can put you in pain, and you’ll likely be spending a lot of time in them, so it’s worthwhile to spend extra on quality ones. I’d say getting 4 years out of a pair of boots is a steal.

On the subject of boots, I bought a pair of Wolverine leather work boots for about $120 back in the early '00s, and wore them for 10+ years, albeit only during the colder months and casually. The only thing that wore out on them were the insoles.

Relevant (NSFW kinda)

Gunpla and other mecha model builder, here. 1k Euro could get you anywhere from 4-75 model kits (likely more if you really wanted to stretch it), a sweet airbrush setup plus all the tools you could need, or a few nice display cases to show the finished models off in.

i would consider that to be part of find an employer who cares less about the corpo garbage, but yes, employers who actually care about their employees do exist.

Hiring managers are well aware people’s primary motivation for work is pay and that the question is bullshit, but are directed by their superiors to find applicants who are more enthusiastic to work for them, as they’re likely to work harder and for less. Look at the video games industry as a prime example. Many many studios and publishers hire developers and pay them beans because people are lined up around the block to work their “dream job” in the games industry. Those same developers could likely get a job in some other industry making software for something boring, but for far greater pay, benefits, work/life balance, etc.

I am in agreement that not being able to be more upfront with employment motivations is troublesome, but our choices are either play the game, find an employer who cares less about the corpo garbage, or self-employ.

For sure. They’re trying to find people who will work harder for less.

It’s a given that you’re interviewing because you need money. They want to know why else you want the job.

And what do you know… it just went on sale. Thanks for the info, I just picked it up.

My favorite is the original Final Fantasy Tactics, hands down. I also liked XCOM 1, Advance Wars, Ogre Battle 64, Unicorn Overlord, Fire Emblem 3 Houses, and probably a few others I can’t think of right now.

I’ve had my eye on Tactics Ogre Reborn for a while now, but haven’t bought yet since it seemingly won’t go below 50% off, and the reviews say some of the later missions are pretty stacked against you, forcing you to play a certain way. Thoughts on this?

I would suggest looking at MS certification programs, even if you don’t want to take the exams. I haven’t taken a Windows Server exam in a while, but looks like the latest one is Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate. You’ll also want to look into things like Active Directory, Group Policy, printing and print servers, and domains and domain controllers. As you mentioned, some networking can be handled Windows-side, like DHCP and DNS, but depending on the org, may be handled by other solutions.

As far as getting your hands on Windows Server software, you can download from MS, and it will have a 180 day trial before activation, which can be extended.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-server-2022

So, the article is about gacha MMOs, but then doesn’t list any? Of the games it references, Honkai Star Rail isn’t a MMO, and World of Warcraft isn’t a gacha game.

Sometimes I think my primary hobby is collecting boxes, rather than building Gunpla.

Looks good, but I’m not looking to pick up a new game right now. I wishlisted it, though.

Personally, I’m indifferent to it, though, if you don’t like the name, then no reason to keep perpetuating the tradition. A buddy of mine was the 3rd with his name, but did not pass the name to either of his sons (his oldest got it as a middle name, though). His family was not happy about that.

That’s clearly something that Steve would say. Source: am Steve… or am I?

While not building bricks, you may want to look into Gunpla and/or 30 Minutes MIssions. 30MM in particular is a line designed to mix parts from different kits, and as a Lego and Gunpla fan, certainly scratches that itch like Bionicle did.