Want to use your Gamesville Avatar as your instant messenger buddy icon or add your Gamesville Avatar to your web page? How about use your Gamesville Avatar as your cell phone wallpaper? Now you can!

Sign into the Gamesville Avatar Creator and download your avatar in four different sizes, for all kinds of occasions!

The first person to send us a picture of their avatar as their cell phone wallpaper wins 5,000 GV Rewards--so get cracking! Send your picture to members@gamesville.com with the subject line "Avatar Cell Phone". 

If you're anything like Gamesviller sydneyfleiss, you're a snappy dresser and you've asked us for a way to say a little something about yourself in your Gamesville Profile.

Well, ask and you shall receive!

We're proud to announce the new "About Me" section in your Gamesville Profile that lets you tell people where you're from, what you're into, and what you believe in. For example:

Making changes to your profile is easy. Simply sign into My Gamesville, update your Profile information, click "Save Changes", and you're good to go.

Gamesville profiles are fun, FREE, and offer a great way to meet other people. If only real life made it this easy to get to know so many people so quickly!

Update your Gamesville Profile today...

This week's Best Gamesville Avatar was created by Afrodyte02 of Los Angeles, CA (pictured at left).

Afrodyte02 says: "The inspiration for my avatar was ME :-) I am a hard working woman (hence the outfit). When I am not working, I love to drink and have a good time; that's why I have my bottle filled with "XXX" right by my side. I think off myself as a little firecracker, wild and crazy; that's why I chose the background to show off my colorful and explosive personality."

Think you have the Best Gamesville Avatar?

Shine up your Gamesville Avatar, then send your Gamesville member name to: members@gamesville.com We'll check out your avatar and see if it has was it takes to be Best Gamesville Avatar.

Be sure to include a little bit about yourself and your Gamesville Avatar with your entry, so we can understand that special connection between you and your Gamesville Avatar.

If we publish you as "Best Gamesville Avatar", we'll give you 500 GV Rewards.

Don't have a Gamesville Avatar yet? Create your FREE Gamesville Avatar now!

This week's Best Pet hails from Narvon, PA. Useless fact: Narvon clay is a naturally-occurring mineral that can be used as a filler material, a water filtration agent, flux and several other uses in several different industries. So says Narvon Minerals.

Pet Name:
Buttwheat

Pet Owner:
Gamesviller "Mmndluvin"

View Mmndluvin's Profile
Get Your Free Gamesville Avatar Today

Distinguishing Personality Traits:
Mmndluvin says: "Buttwheat is 12 years old. He just can't keep up with the late nights in Gamesville anymore! "

Want to share photos of your own favorite pet with the Gamesville community?

Send photos to: members@gamesville.com

In addition to your pet's picture, please include:

• your member name
• your pet's most distinguishing personality trait

Please note: All submissions become the sole property of Gamesville, which reserves the right to hold, reject and/or edit submissions without notice and without limitation in perpetuity.

This recipe for Blackened Braised Short Ribs was sent to us by Gamesviller Ragincajun3000 from Las Vegas, NV.

Ingredients:

• 6 each 18-ounce beef short ribs
• 3 tablespoons Creole seasoning blend
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2.5 cups onions (diced)
• 1.5 cups celery (diced)
• 1.5 cups carrots (diced)
• 3 tablespoons garlic
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 2 bottles dark Louisiana beer
• 8 14-ounce cans beef broth
• 2 14-ounce cans vegetable broth
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme

1. Heat a large shallow stew pot over high heat.
2. Rub short ribs thoroughly with Creole seasoning.
3. Add two tablespoons of vegetable oil to hot pot and sear the short ribs until the spices are blackened on all sides.
4. Remove short ribs from pot and dump out any used oil and burnt spices.
5. Add remaining vegetable oil, onions and carrots. Stir occasionally. Allow vegetables to caramelize.
6. Once vegetables are caramelized, add celery, garlic, and thyme and sauté until celery is tender.
7. Reduce heat to medium and add tomato paste. Cook for two minutes and deglaze with beer.
8. Cook for approximately four minutes until alcohol has cooked out. Add broths. Stir well.
9. Submerge blackened short ribs in seasoned broth.
10. Simmer slowly for 2 - 2.5 hours, skimming off excess fat, until short ribs are fork tender.
11. Gently remove and serve with truffled buttermilk whipped Yukon gold potatoes, young root vegetables and reduced braising jus.

Do you have a favorite recipe to share with the Gamesville community?

Send it to: members@gamesville.com

Please include:

•    your Gamesville member name
•    the complete recipe with ingredients and directions

If we use your recipe as a feature article, you'll receive 500 GV Rewards!

Today's Weird Wire™ comes from our friends at Lycos News:

MAHOPAC, N.Y (AP) -- It was just another morning at the senior center: Women were sewing, men were playing pool - and seven demonstrators, average age 76, were picketing outside, demanding doughnuts.

They wore sandwich boards proclaiming, "Give Us Our Just Desserts" and "They're Carbs, Not Contraband."

At issue is a decision to refuse free doughnuts, pies and bread that were being donated to senior centers around Putnam County, north of New York City. Officials were concerned that the county was setting a bad nutritional precedent by providing mounds of doughnuts and other sweets to seniors.

The picketers said they were objecting not to a lack of sweets but that they weren't consulted about the ban.

"Lack of respect is what it's all about," said Joe Hajkowski, 75, a former labor union official who organized the demonstration. He said officials had implied that seniors were gorging themselves on jelly doughnuts and were too senile to make the choice for themselves.

"I'm 86, not 8," added C. Michael Sibilia.

Inside, some seniors said they missed the doughnuts but others said they were glad to see them go.

"It was disgusting the way people went after them," said 80-year-old Rita Jorgensen. "I think the senior center did them a favor by taking it away."

Stan Tuttle, coordinator of nutritional services for the county's Office for the Aging, said the program had gotten out of control. As many as 16 cases of breads, cakes and pastries were delivered, by various means, to the William Koehler Memorial Senior Center each day. Some were moldy and some had been stored overnight in the trunks of volunteers' cars, he said.

[...]

"Senior citizens can walk down to the store and buy doughnuts. Nobody's stopping them," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.

This week's Best Gamesville Avatar was created by Tweetypie84 of Melbourne, Australia (pictured at left).

Tweetypie84 says: "Hi! I created this avatar because it reflects me when I play Magic 21 with my friends Dana, Mammie, Red-rubies, Dragon, and dodds... a.k.a., the Gamesvillans Baaaaaa Lambs (Baaaaa, LOL). I chose this outfit and these accessories because it's usually 1AM in the morning here in Australia when my American friends play, so I stay up all night to chat to them and have fun. The drip is my caffeine to keep me awake LOL. Love those guys! They're the best friends anyone could have."

Think you have the Best Gamesville Avatar?

Shine up your Gamesville Avatar, then send your Gamesville member name to: members@gamesville.com We'll check out your avatar and see if it has was it takes to be Best Gamesville Avatar.

Be sure to include a little bit about yourself and your Gamesville Avatar with your entry, so we can understand that special connection between you and your Gamesville Avatar.

If we publish you as "Best Gamesville Avatar", we'll give you 500 GV Rewards.

Don't have a Gamesville Avatar yet? Create your FREE Gamesville Avatar now!

We understand from comments here in the Blog and from emails into customer service that some of the ads running on some Gamesville games are causing playability issues for several of you.

Our ad operations group is investigating and removing ads that are causing problems, and we need your continued help to identify exactly which ads are causing problems for you.

The next time an ad starts to interfere with your game, please take a screenshot of that ad and send it to us so our ad operations group can investigate and remove that ad from our site.

The easiest way to capture a screenshot using Microsoft Windows is to press one of the following on your keyboard:

• Alt + Print Screen to capture the active window, or
• Print Screen to capture your full computer screen

• Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Paint. This will open the Paint application.
• Press Ctrl + V to paste the screen capture into Paint.
• Now go to Select File > Save As.
• In the Save In field, select a location to save the file, such as your Desktop.
• In the File name field, type in a name for the file.
• In the Type field, select .bmp, .gif, or .jpg.
• Click Save.

Send us your screenshot and a description of your issue--including the game where the ad appeared--via our ticket submission form.

Thanks for your help, and your patience as we work together to address these issues.

Sincerely,
Chris Cummings
Manager, Gamesville.com

Congratulations go out to sandy70607 of Lake Charles, LA. Yesterday, she won a bountiful $2,937 playing Three-Eyed Bingo.

Useless fact about Lake Charles, LA: Local legends say the pirate Jean Lafitte stashed hidden treasures on the shores of the lake. The locals celebrate this legend each year during the Contraband Days festivities which include dramatic re-enactments of Jean Lafitte and his crew taking over the town and the firing of live cannonballs. They even go as far as to force the mayor to walk the plank! Now that sounds like our kind of town.

Weird coincidence:  Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, me maties. Arrrrr!