mousedroid

((If no one can make it, or you want to do it with non-BS characters, it's cool. I'm gonna check it out, but I have to mow the lawn after work so I'm not sure if I'll be on right at 7 o'clock or not. Also, if there are any badges to be earned from it, I'll probably switch to my redside badger.

Congrats on the bonus shindig tonight, BD! The company I started with used to do stuff like that but after multiple aquisitions, the company I work for now is too large to care about the little engineering cogs like me who keep the business running. But at least they pay me gobs of money.

Also, glad to hear things are getting back to normal for you, Todd. Sounds like Mama Nature has a real gudge against the south these days - first killer tornadoes in Alabama and now a 100-year flood on the lower Mississippi.))

((I kept trying every few minutes until about 7:30. I gave up and went to watch last night's Daily Show. I came back around 8:00 to find the servers and forums still down so I watched the UStream broadcast for a bit. I don't know what time it was that I checked again (maybe around 8:40ish) but I was able to get on so I hopped over to Union and created a bunch of name-holder toons. I figured Blue Shield was a no-go, so I just logged off after that.))

From: callsha@pcpd.gov
To: mccawil@pcpd.gov, hilldre@pcpd.gov, hillmag@pcpd.gov
Date: 05-11-11
Subject: Blue Shield Initiative

Hi guys,

Sorry about last night. As you may have heard there was a weird power surge at HQ last night and it knocked all the servers and phones offline, among other things. We even lost cell phone reception. After the incident with that mind controller last week, the whole place went on immediate lockdown.

Nothing the IT guys tried could restore any of the systems, but everything came back online a couple hours later as if nothing had happened. Still no word on what caused it, but it gives me a really uneasy feeling. Call it woman's intuition, but it feels like it was an attack to me.

Since all I did last night was sit on my butt in the dark, I volunteered for extra duty tonight - I'm gonna join some of the flatfoots on patrol from around 7-10 PM, just to make sure everything is kosher. It'll probably be a boring night of busting Hellions and stopping the Outcasts from hassling little old ladies, but I could use a boring night after some of the crap we've been through.

Speaking of which, could one of you shoot me a report on your activities last night so I can add it to the official Blue Shield log?

Thanks,

Shannon

I rolled up a few new characters on Union last night. It was pretty cool logging into Outbreak and seeing 15-20 other new characters. I'm not sure if I'll transfer any characters over from Virtue or not.

I kept hoping to see double decker buses on the streets and Big Ben off in the distance, even though I knew I wouldn't.

Good deal. Thanks.

((There's a post in the announcements section saying the forums will be down from about 1-7 pm ET today. Doesn't say if it'll affect the servers though. I'm in tonight barring any unforeseen snafu on NCSOFT's part.

ETA: OK, it looks like the gaming servers are scheduled to be down until 7 PM ET. I guess we'll see what happens at that point.))

Unfortunately I won't be around Saturday night to try for any of the prizes, but if I may ask, are you, by chance, holding any of the following names...?

Waitress
Decoy
Ingot
Atom Master
Tarantula Hawk
Dead Serious
Thermocouple
Plan B

((That played very Shannon-like, SF, so I'm good with it. As for Mags replacement, I'm somewhat torn, but if Planet Smasher is a hero Shannon would have heard of, that's who I'm gonna go with. Second choice would be Midnight Might, and third is Suzy. No way Shannon's bringing a ninja on this op after what Bochco told her about the origin point of the drug.))

Deebs, thanks for making my evil Scandanavian weather diety more adorable than he has a right to be!

As soon as I get around to coloring him I will finally have an avatar.

Gonna miss today guys. Sorry!

Ah, so that's why I couldn't find a discussion thread this morning. I guess I missed all the hubbub.

When I read the announcement, I was a little confused why the badge would be tied to a single event on a single server, but I shrugged and thought, "I guess I'll need to create my first alt on Freedom."

My bigger disappointment is that I was expecting an "all day/all server" event like the awesomely fun Paragon City/Rogue Isles invasions of the past two anniversaries. I even took the day off work expecting an all day event. I can reclaim that vacation day, but I'm still bummed that this is going to be so small in scope comparitively speaking.

Is there a technical reason that this event couldn't be run that way?

Hey Z, you know what would be really awesome...? If you collected an account-wide badge for each server event that you took part in, and then when you collected them all, it unlocked an Accolade badge! *Listens for the sound of fellow badgers heads exploding*

((Honest, Shannon didn't know Giz was walking into the trap of an other-dimensional super villain when she asked him to come to PPD HQ. I knew it, but she didn't. ))

((We'll hold off running Mags' arc until you're back Todd, even if circumstances prevent your return this week.))

Meanwhile...


Shannon sets her bag down at her desk and looks at the stack of reports in her in-box. "Great. Another day of papercuts and Wite-Out highs," she thinks to herself. She presses the power button on her computer, and while she waits for it to boot up, she fishes her cell phone out of her purse. Pulling up her speed dial list, she presses 5 and waits.

"...leave me a message after the beep."

"Hi, Will, it's Shannon. I know it's your day off, but I'd really like you to come down to HQ tonight. I'm working a 3-to-11, and I overhead one of the IA boys mention Mags is coming in tonight for a meeting. I'm going to try to get you and I into that meeting as well; it's a shame Drew isn't back yet. My lunch break's at seven, so stop by around then and we can get something to eat before the meeting. Gimme a call back if you get this, 'k? I lo... uh... ...ook forward to seeing you then."

Hanging up and dropping the phone onto her desk, Shannon lowers her head and smacks her palm against her forehead.

War Witch: "Wow, I never realized how crowded Pocket D got on a Saturday night, it's really... wait, what did that guy just say? He wants that girl to do what...? To his what...?? With her WHAT...???"


Sally: "I can see why you like Lake Salamanca... its so peaceful. Look, there's Captain Astonishing. He must be here to fight the Tuatha. Oh look, he's coming over to say... OW! Did he just punch us in the nose???"

There were gamer girls 15 years ago, but I don't remember them looking like this!

I forgot to vote yesterday, but I threw you another one today.

Dear folks who put these things together,

Thank you for doing so, I love to learn about the history of things I enjoy.

I have one suggestion/request... is there any chance you could post some reminiscences from folks who are no longer with the company? Not to take anything away from the great folks who are still there, but I think it would be cool to hear from long timers like Castle, or BAB. I'll understand if that's not feasible though.

Hope this works (and hope one of mine gets picked).

In order of preference:

Officer Howard



or...


Dead Serious



or...


Lord Stormbringer

Azuria's got the biggest chuckle from me.

I honestly thought Fusionette's would be something like... "Wow... it's really roomy in here!"

Looks great! Chilly, but great. You got my vote.

Thermocouple can also supply some support if we need it. Not only is he an ice/ice dominator, she's also a fire/thermal corruptor.

I didn't realize you were in Alabama, Todd. I'm glad to hear you weren't more seriously affected by the storms. Take care and we'll see you when real life is a little more normalized for you.