Yesterday or a couple days ago I finally reached Prestige 1, Level 51 after about 3 days, 8 hours of total play. I am progressing slowly!

Mostly I think I’m having CoD fatigue. I have been getting slaughtered and to spice things up I’ve been trying Search & Destroy which I absolutely stink at. To get a boost I bought the map expansion pack during 2x points weekend. Unfortunately being unfamiliar with the maps I had several crappy outings. Chinatown is by far my worst map. The experience level of competing players in the expansion pack is much tougher. The proportion of P10 players is considerably higher than in the regular maps.

If I just play free-for-all I could rack up the kills for single weapons pretty quickly but the extra bonus points are fewer. So, the question is: do I go for the kills to progress the guns or do I go for the bonus points? I haven’t devised a solid strategy for this yet.

Like the badge? I downloaded it from a pack of CoD 4 prestige badges from artistpavel.

The 2008 Kentucky Derby is May 3, 2008. I’m planning to go there with some old college buddies. Since the Derby is 2 weekends from now hotel prices in the area are astronomical. As such we’ve decided to be a little adventurous and we will try to camp somewhere in Kentucky for nights (Friday and Saturday) around the derby area. By camp I mean tent or cabin not RV. Most of the “camp” sites I have seen thus far are for RV camping.

Look at a Google Map of the Campgrounds listed below.

A basic Google search for “camping near Louisville, kentucky” does not yield many good results. However, after perusing various local chamber of commerce and Kentucky tourism websites I found Kentucky’s Derby Region. This appears to be Kentucky Camping Gold. I have yet to look it over in detail but they have a good list of campgrounds in Kentucky’s derby region

Some highlights include:

• Elizabethtown Crossroads Campground
• Guist Creek
• Lake Jericho
• Nolin Lake
• Otter Creek

• Rough River Dam State Resort Park

Indiana: solid alternative

Indiana has at least 2 large parks near Louisville that may provide a better value than the other campgrounds in Kentucky proper. These Indiana campgrounds are also closer to Louisville than some of the other sites in the list above!

• Deam Lake
• Charlestown State Park

• Indiana State Park Rates & Fees

I also noticed that West Point is somewhat near to Louisville. West Point has at least one promising camp site within 1 hr of Churchill Downs.

http://www.westpointky.org/tourism.shtml#recreation
Salt River Recreation Area
99 Salt River Drive
West Point, KY 40177
502-922-4065
Camping: $10 per night (no hook ups)
Directions: From the north or south, U.S. 31W to Salt River Drive

Being a car buying novice I hear all this talk about holdbacks, invoice, rebates, chargebacks, and a jillion other supposed ways to get a good price on a car. Truly, I don’t know if any of that shit works so I just walked into a dealership just to see how much cars cost. Now I realize that is a mistake. Edmunds has a Prices Paid – Buying & Leasing forum where scores of car buyers share their actual out-the-door (or OTD) prices paid. With this kind of information, how can I lose or overpay? I should have looked at the Honda Fit forum before my trip to the dealership.

This afternoon I spent about 90 minutes at my local Honda dealer — Serramonte Honda in Colma, California scoping out the 2008 Honda Fit. I took a solid test drive including a near accident turning left out of the parking lot. We went around the block and up some hills. I am mildly disappointed in the Fit’s lack of uphill power. However, the price is right and I like the interior space. Knowing all this I go into the dealership thinking I will probably buy this vehicle if not today, this month.

Inside the dealership I realized I hadn’t done enough homework to know how much I should pay. The dealer’s initial proposal was $17,700 out-the-door for base Honda Fit with some of the necessary add-ons like power windows, cruise control, AC, etc. I knew the MSRP sticker of $16,100 I thought car prices are supposed to sell for BELOW the sticker! Am I right? I said $14,500. The manager came over to show me what the dealer paid in invoice of about $14,800 — which matches the Edmunds invoice price — and that they would need to sell for $16,885 just to make out OK on the sale of the car. I said no way, knowing that I was sitting there unprepared on price information.

The Edmunds forum would have confirmed me that a regular Honda Fit can be had for less than $16,885. No remorse for passing on the dealer’s offer.