Today Valve has released another post on the official Team Fortress 2 blog.   This post doesn’t provide any new information on the new class update, but some good insight into the respawn waves.

Respawn waves occur on regular intervals, based on the map settings. Most of our maps use a 10 second respawn wave time. That 10 seconds is then modified by the map state, generally reduced for the team that controls the most capture points. Each team’s respawn wave time is then scaled down if the team has less than 8 players in it, to a minimum of 5 seconds if team has 3 or less players in it. When you die, you are assigned to the respawn wave after the next one. So if the respawn wave time is currently 10 seconds for your team, you’ll respawn somewhere between 10 and 20 seconds from your death. Your individual performance doesn’t affect your respawn time in any way.

As I mentioned no new news about what class is getting an upgrade next or any other new content.  They did give a mention to the official Left 4 Dead blog though.  We are just over a month from the release of that game (Nov 20th) and I can’t begin to describe how excited I am to finally play that game.  In fact the entire house is ready for that game, we are all chumping at the bit for information, a demo and finally the game.

Hey I have a website still, and even a blog!! Woooo

Not a lot of updates lately.  I haven’t found the urge to write.  A lot has happened since I last posted.

• Got a promotion
• Moved back to NH
• Drove to South Carolina in on day
• Red Sox made the playoffs
• I bought an iPhone 3G
• Held NorEaster lan
• Went to Showdown lan
• Almost bought a house

So maybe I will update a bit more.  Just need reminders, and the will to write.

Who would have thought that I would miss New England so much? I think this is the first time in my life that I am homesick. Not to the point that I am not having a good time here-the work is still good and the people here are still all cool- there are just things in New England that I miss. Being able to watch the Red Sox on tv everyday, going to Sea Dogs games and being able to see friends. Also, I didn’t pack very well when I came down here, I really only packed for a week.

I like it here, I like the lifestyle and I like the work. But I feel that something is missing. I am going to enjoy my last month here, but I am also looking ahead to spending a month or so in New England seeing people and doing some hiking.

I realized last night that working the peninsula is therapeutic. Riding a 6 mile stretch of beach, rocking out to music on my Zune, and no one around. Finding a turtle is an excellent break in the monotony of riding the quad.

I saw my first green turtle last night. Very different than the boring old loggerhead. First their carapace is considerably bigger than the loggerhead while their head is tiny. The first thing that came to mind when seeing the mini head was the goombas from the Super Mario Brothers movie.

So I am living here for the summer, working with the University of Florida. Interning really. So far my job consists of riding an ATV on the beach for 5 hours a night, under beautifully clear skies looking for turtle crawls. The season has been slow so far, I have spent most nights sitting in the back of the old blue S10, or laying across the quad staring at the stars and getting to know the milky-way. The bugs can get bad, they bother me most when I get one in the eye as I’m driving down the beach. Even still they do not disrupt the beauty of Cape San Blas.

While riding I need to keep a keen eye to look for a turtle crawl, the mark the turtles leave as they lurch up the beach in search of the perfect spot to drop their eggs. This is when we spring into action, and watch the turtle as it slowly crawls to its spot, and starts to dig. When it starts to drop eggs 15 minutes later I will sneak up behind it, measure the carapace and tag it with one metal tag in each flipper and a sub-dermal RFID PIT tag. I mark the nest with GPS, and measure how wide the crawl is. This is of course what I do if they turtle actually nests, sometimes they walk around for a bit, decide its not the right place or right time and head back into the water.

Basically what I’m saying is the work is awesome, I love it. I also like the majority of the people that I am working with. Really I only dislike one technician. Nearly every night, around 6:30 or 7 a group of us will get the grill going, throw on some food and hang out until work time. Eating food, listening to music, throwing some sort of ball around. Some days include a trip to the water, which is literally in my back yard. The water here can best be described as piss warm. It is still refreshing, much different than New England water. I like it when my legs dont hurt after being in the water for 5 minutes.

The sun shines every day, the pelicans fly by, the dolphins and sharks swim in the distance. This is so much better than I thought Florida would be. So why am I letting pointless things bother me? Do I want to work with sea turtles for the rest of my life? Probably not, they cool but ultimately big and dumb. Can I still do my job and put up with hearing 3 different things from all of my bosses? Most definitely. Just an off day I guess.

I shall soldier through the next month and a half, and decide what I am going to do after that. Do I stay here as long as possible? Do I go back to New England for a bit? There is still time to figure it all out I guess.

Hello again. I feel like I have been neglecting this blog-o-mine. I started another a while ago, just dealing with how I want to lose weight. I have been avoiding that one as well, so don’t feel bad.

Since the last time we talked I have finished my course-work at Colby-Sawyer College and I am currently at my internship in Port Saint Joe, Florida. It’s late/early so I wont go into it now. But soon, perhaps tomorrow.

After tomorrow I will maybe talk about some other stuff going on. Perhaps I’ll be reflective.

Rob, out

I went and saw Iron Man tonight.  It could be the best super hero movie ever, and it is in the top 3 in my personal list, maybe #1!   If you go see a movie in the next few weeks, go see this, or maybe Forgetting Sarah Marshall, that was good too.

Seriously go see this movie, it is a great movie.

5 out of 5

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I have been so lazy lately.  I should and will post more, promise…. right?

Thinking about seeing Iron Man tonight, I know GTA 4 was supposed to stop me from seeing it, but it looks good enough that I can leave GTA for a few hours to go see it.