Patrick

Glad you were able to bounce back relatively quickly!

Thanks. The menorah is on clearance if anyone wants one! https://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/happy-hanukkah-countdown-banner/

Happy New Year!

Fixed the song link in my first post. Nice. I made a sweet potato one with just egg for the baby. Found a nice cloth wall hanging with a Velcro menorah, too, so he could "light" the candles without actually getting near any fire. But, we lit a couple of menorahs, too.

Have enjoyed that, as well.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for November is... Nevinyrral for the 3rd time, becoming one of only 3 members to reach that mark. Congrats! Good to see you back, and thank you for all of your contributions over the years! Thanks, Patrick

Hey all, If you're seeing this, thank you for making KarateForums.com a part of your life. Happy holidays! Made latkes tonight, going to like the great Tom Lehrer tomorrow, and get back to my annual Christmas movies the next day.Hope you're able to find some peace this holiday season. Patrick

So far, I've used it to play the Zombies Outbreak mode in Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Paid for the PS5 upgrade. Love that mode. Also played a bit of the new compilation of old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. One thing I'll say is I love the in-controller mic. Works great.

Will do. Still waiting for it because I bought 2 copies from GameStop but when I opened the box, there was only 1. So, they are investigating. I'm hoping I can get a decent bang for my buck for what I paid on Black Friday. I enjoyed Avengers, too, though it didn't grip me enough to keep going. I might go back at some point as I never finished the story mode and there have been a few chapters released since then.

That stinks.

Thanks for the updates, Bob.

By the way, I picked up Arkham Knights during Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. (I also picked up Doom Eternal to play on PS5 but obviously that's a PS4 game).

I appreciate all of the replies to this thread. Yes, aurik (Ken) recently joined our team. We normally don't announce new staff members or, at least, haven't previously, so that is why there wasn't a post. I also didn't want to impact the awards in any way, as he was eligible for Member of the Year, and not Staff Member of the Year, based on when he joined our team, so I didn't want to confuse anyone in voting. Thanks, Patrick

Thanks for the info, DarthPenguin and Zaine!

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. After more than a month of nominations and votes, the 21st edition of the KarateForums.com Awards have come to an end. It is now time for us to announce the winners! Before I do so, I wanted to once again congratulate everyone who was nominated. Regardless of whether or not you won the award, the fact that you were nominated means that, when asked to identify a member who really stood out in the past year, your fellow community members thought of you. Out of the 18,542 registered members in the history of this community, only 168 have ever been nominated for an award. To be nominated is pretty cool, and you should be proud. If you did not win or were not nominated, please don't take it badly. These awards do have meaning, but they are also for fun and not everyone can win or be nominated. Please join me in congratulating our winners. I would like to specifically thank everyone who participated in the process by nominating and voting. It is the community that selected the nominees and decided the winners. There are no KarateForums.com Awards without you. Several nominees took the time to vote in categories where they were nominated. Since you can't vote for yourself, your choice is to vote for someone else or not vote at all. Though I can't reveal who voted for whom, please know that I appreciate everyone who thoughtfully voted in the categories where they were nominated. It says a lot about you, and I love to see it. If you are reading this now and realizing that you accidentally voted for yourself: Don't worry, those votes were deleted. Without further ado, here are our winners: 1. Member of the Year: (tie) aurik and Zaine (for the 2nd consecutive year!) 2. New Member of the Year: DarthPenguin 3. Community Spirit Award: bushido_man96 (for the 7th time!) 4. Staff Member of the Year: bushido_man96 (for the 6th time and 3rd consecutive year!) 5. Funniest Member of the Year: ashworth 6. Karate Contributor of the Year: aurik 7. Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year: bushido_man96 (for the 5th time!) 8. Instructors and School Owners Contributor of the Year: Wastelander (for the 2nd consecutive year!) Congratulations to bushido_man96 (3 wins!), aurik (2 wins!), Zaine, DarthPenguin, ashworth, and Wastelander! We had 3 first time winners this year, including aurik, DarthPenguin, and ashworth! In addition, bushido_man96 had reached an incredible milestone of 20 KarateForums.com Awards wins, now at 21, which puts him 2nd all-time. Another fun detail, which gives perspective to how long-running these awards are, is that bushido_man96 won the Community Spirit Award for the 7th time, but it was his first time winning that category in a decade, as sensei8 has won it for the 9 consecutive years prior. Amazing marks for both. For past winners and all of the awards historical data, please check out: http://www.karateforums.com/awards.php Thank you for reading and for supporting the KarateForums.com Awards. Sincerely, Patrick

No need to apologize, Keith. Glad to see you whenever you find time.

Thank you for the recommendations! I was eyeing Elden Ring during the Black Friday sales. Does anyone play it multiplayer or co-op? Just curious how that stands up because it sounded like people could only sort of drop-in and drop-out of your world.

Voting is now closed! Thank you to everyone who voted. Results will be revealed soon.

Hello, Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com. We recognize one member every month as the KarateForums.com Member of the Month for their positive contributions to this community. Our honoree for October is... Wado Heretic, who becomes the first member ever selected 4 times! That's a really cool mark. Congrats Keith! Thank you for all of the contributions that you have made over the last 8+ years! Thanks, Patrick

Voting closes today! There's still time to get those last minute votes in. Thank you to everyone who has participated thus far, as every vote makes a difference. Patrick

My wife tracked down a PS5 for my birthday. If you have one, what are your favorite games? I skew toward multiplayer and things I can play with my brother and/or friends, but don't let that stop you from recommending other stuff so that this thread is worthwhile for more than just me. Thanks.

Thank you for your kind words. We had a nice weekend. Kara took me to a mini golf course that we've seen when going from Los Angeles to Anaheim, but it was in sort of a weird place, so we never stopped. Had good food and coffee at places we hadn't been before and one we had. She also got me a PS5! Plus some other nice things from her and my parents and brother. Patrick

Thank you for sharing this, Danielle. In the last 21 and a half years, I've seen many staff members come and go. Many great ones, who made tremendous contributions to the community. And yet, this one hits me differently. Danielle, you have been such a rock here. In public, an exemplary member, who has helped so many and also been vulnerable and shared your story. To watch you grow, to see you start a school and lead it, it's truly been a pleasure. As a person, you are a joy to be around. As a moderator, you have been truly unique, among the best I have ever seen. The attention-to-detail through which you approached the role, the fair-minded process you went through with each decision, it was impressive, and made things work better here. Having staff members like you is what makes me feel comfortable enough not to always be here, to be able to step away, and have a child (as an extreme example from this year!), and not worry about what might happen. Along with other staff members and our overall great community members, too. I will miss you. I'll miss your presence here, I'll miss your influence in forum-related matters. Thank you for being here, thank you for everything that you have done. I look forward to staying in touch both here and elsewhere. Patrick

Thank you to everyone who has voted so far! If you haven't, please do! This is a quick, easy way to recognize some of your favorite members here at KarateForums.com. Every vote matters! Please take a few minutes and vote in the polls above. I appreciate it.