Sunday - December 14, 2008

Aaaaaaand, one month!

I suppose I shouldn't be proud of not posting in exactly a month, but I suppose you've got to take your victories where you can.

I do apologize to anyone who actually reads this blog for the delay. I have a mental block against writing in this blog when I have a crappy attitude and/or nothing nice to say on a subject, and it's been difficult not to. I've been jobless for almost as long as I've not posted here. Work was just incredibly slow, and Hank was unable to find a true direction for the company. The economy being slow as it was, and the influx of cash being what it wasn't, we simply could not continue, and he had to lay me off.

So, I've been searching for something in the videography arena - the job I feel most comfortable with - but I simply have not found anything yet. The frightening prospect of needing to move out of Michigan and away from everyone I know and love looms on the horizon. Part of me will love the adventure, should it come to pass, but a very large part of me will uproot kicking and screaming. Alas, we must do what we must do.

So, that stated, I'll write things on a lighter note.

I am officially a year older than I was when I wrote my previous post. My birthday was pleasant - my crappy mood was accompanied by a small, "leave me the hell alone" celebration(s), which is exactly what I was looking for. I went over to Ed and Amber's to hang out with Amber and Jason (Ed's out a'truckin') and they kidnapped me and dragged me to Rob and Vicki's, who then kidnapped me and dragged me to Bucca de Bepo's for dinner. It was awesome of them, and we basically spent the evening sitting around playing Guitar Hero and chatting about everything and nothing.

That weekend, my parents treated me to the traditional dinner-of-choice and a quiet evening of gifts and cake at their place. Mind you, I say traditional in a good way - I've found that this arrangement is very comfortable for me, and I greatly enjoy it. Those of you who know me know that I'm greatly annoyed by fuss and muss, and these evenings with my family have none of that. This year, I once again tried to squeeze Osaka past my family, but they vetoed it... although they compromised on Mongolian Barbeque since you still get an "asian" flavor and get to eat with chop sticks. Though they had to twist my arm, I conceded Mongo to them.

Two gifts that stood out mightily that evening were from my parents and from my brother and sister-in-law respectively: an 8 gigabyte iPod nano, and a Shure vocal microphone. I'm utterly blown away by both of these gifts, and they both encourage something I've been neglecting for a long time - music. I actually have yet to hook up the microphone and test it out. I may do that directly after writing this post, though. The iPod is... well, if you want to see it's list of features, I'm sure you can find them up on Apple's website. You don't need me to reitterate them all here. What Apple may or may not tell you though, is that it's WONDERFUL.

My Warcraft guild has made our first stabs into 25-man raid content (now known as Heroic raid content, which was a brilliant move on their part, in my humble opinion - those of you who know, know why) and it's been pretty fun so far. I'm not a terrible tank, and my gear has been getting progressively better. I feel more comfortable with tanking now, and healers have stopped cringing when I volunteer to go under the blade for them. I feel I've made a wise choice with making Maricyl my main character. I never feel gimped in any situation, and can just as easily tank as I can deal damage.

That's about it for now. I'll try not to make it another month before I post again.

Friday - November 14, 2008

As a Bee

Sorry I've not posted in so long. Things have been busy.

I'll not spread drama or air dirty laundry here on the blog - half of the reason I've not posted in quite some time, but suffice to say, there has been drama at the office, and that's where I have my blog software set up. It's been highly distracting at best, so I'm just now getting time to post something constructive.

Ed's 40th Birthday Party was last Saturday. I have no photos from it, but things went reasonably well. I find it difficult to weigh the value of the party, as large gatherings with lots of drinking aren't really my thing, but Ed seems to have enjoyed it immensely, so I suppose it was a success. I dealt poker half the night, and that was pretty fun, like it was last year.

For the first time ever, I've gone to a midnight release of something. Be it a movie, a video game, or otherwise, I've never waited in line at midnight to be the first to get anything. I mark myself a patient man - as I like to say, my patience is only second to my modesty. Usually, I don't see a difference in experiencing something JUST as it comes out, or waiting a day or two to let the crowds die down.

World of Warcraft : Wrath of the Lich King was the notable exception to this rule.

GameStop was offering a pretty nice incentive program : bring in a bunch of your old games when you buy your WotLK expansion, and we'll give you 20% more for them. So, Meg and I cleaned out a bunch of the old PS2 and Wii games (titles like WarioWare and Elebits, that we never play anymore) and ended up getting both of our expansion packs for a grand total of $23. I'd say that was a good trade.

I expected the gathered masses, in some strange, misanthropic way, to be unshowered, greasy neckbeard gamers. I took a moment to wonder why this was - ordinarily I have no problem expecting the lowest out of humanity and being proven right, but this happens to be a community of people I actually belong to... The WoW players, that is, not the stinky neckbeards. Why can I belong to a community, know I'm not like that, know plenty of other WoW players that are like that, and yet still expect the stereotype of the stinky fat WoW player? Maybe because it's somewhat true, and the type of people who look like that, you'd expect are the type fanatical enough about a video game to show up at GameStop at midnight to buy it the moment it's released.

I'm happy to say my lowered expectations of humanity were sorely misplaced. The people at the midnight release were actually pleasantly clean, normal looking people. You wouldn't know most of them on the street. There was nobody notably overweight, greasy, or hairy. Nobody in costume. Nobody shouting "FOR THE HOARD! YUS!" at the top of their lungs. I stood in line and chatted with a nice guy about various things I'd read to expect of the game. I turned in my old games, purchased my new one, and left $23 poorer.

As for the expansion itself : OH EM GEE. Blizzard, thus far, has outdone themselves. I really liked the changes they made in 3.0 thus far (even if they did fail to address core issues with the Priest class, but I digress) and the expansion content, thus far, has been no different. I'll write a more extensive review of it later - this post is already getting long enough as it is - but suffice to say, leveling up my Death Knight was an amazing thing, and still is. The cinematography they've added... the epic feel... and that they pulled no punches making it clear you've begun your career as an agent of horror and death.

I'm also glad that, somewhere in this setting, I've gotten to make Maricyl the way he's SUPPOSED to be. Behold, mortals, and despair.

Monday - October 13, 2008

Weekend Warriors

The weekend was... strange... ish.... I'm not entirely sure if it was relaxing or not yet. I guess we'll see whether or not I explode with rage Tuesday or Wednesday. If I do, then maybe my weekend didn't go so well after all. *shrug*

Friday was more or less uneventful, that I remember. On my way into the apartment when arriving home from work, I saw a big praying mantis in the bush right outside our door. It was just sitting there nicely. I found that mantises have creepy eyes that seem to follow you wherever you go. I snapped a few pictures and moved on - cuz seriously, when do you get to see a praying mantis nowadays?

I spent the evening trying to relax. I took care of a few things around the apartment, and retired for an evening of WoW and beginning to put together one of my Monoliths.

Saturday was a bit more interesting. My parents and I drove out to Mt. Pleasant to visit my sister at Central Michigan University and watch their Homecoming football game. Apparently, it was also a chance for Jamie to introduce us to the tailgating experience.

The drive up was uneventful. We popped in, made up some lunch for everyone which barely anyone ate because half of them were too hung over to stomach food. After that, we went to the stadium to tailgate. Sadly, we only made it around the corner before we hit the huge line of traffic, and were forced (with some great frustration) into a side lot away from the main action. Having to abandon the vehicle there, rather than being able to tailgate where we were sitting, we grabbed a few pops and went into the student parking lot. We were supposed to meet up with some of Jamie's friends there, but those plans never materialized for various reasons. At that point it was waiting for the game, talking to Angela, surrounded by a sea of beer bongs and loud music. I now know why I avoided this scene in college... and, well... at every other point in my life as well. The redeeming factor to the lack of a tailgating locale was that there seems to be general sense of community. Some guy turned around, stuffed a piping hot hamburger in my hand, and said, "This guy looks like he needs a burger, man! Enjoy!" I was flabbergasted.

The game was decent - still football, so not really my cup of tea, but decent. We won, at least. After that, we went back to Jamie's apartment, but that was a wash because ALL of her roommates were asleep. Apparently, Saturday night is not the party night I thought it was, but rather the night to go to bed early. Who knew?

All in all, Jamie felt pretty bad because NOTHING that day went as she planned. I won't pretend it wasn't a little annoying, but at the same time, shit happens. I got to visit with my sister, which is really all I went up for anyway. So, regardless of tailgaiting tomfoolery, mission accomplished.

Sunday was spent trying to get off my rear end. I slept late, got lunch late, and got motivated to go to Ed and Amber's even later. I was shooting for 1pm-ish to be at their place, and got there about 4:30. We hung out for a short while, and within an hour we were on our way to Livonia to visit Arica for 40K night.

I didn't get a whole hell of a lot accomplished with regards to my models - I only got my Pariahs primed - but I had a long discussion with Rob about my LARP rules. Apparently, he knows a thing or two about how LARPs go, since he was a long running GM at Kanar, and, if I'm understanding correctly, one of the people who helped write the rules. I'd say that's a decent resume. He tossed my rules set on the grill, and I'm happy to say it didn't burn as much as I thought it would. I didn't say it didn't burn, but just not horribly charred beyond recognition. All in all, a good night, but just ran a bit late. I got to bed entirely too late for a work night, and stumbled into the office this morning to a busy work load.

Thursday - October 09, 2008

A general sense of unease

That's the best way I can think to describe myself right now. I can't really put my finger on any one thing, really. There's nothing wholly, or even mostly, making me feel like this... but there it is, none the less. Apparently, some of my friends have been wondering about this lately, and why I've been acting like a jerk. This may explain it.

It doesn't excuse it, though - there's no excuse for being a jerk to those who love you most - and for that I apologize.

That said, allow me to explain as best as I can how I've been feeling lately.

There's been a lot going on lately, and those who know me know that I don't function well on a full schedule. I get overwhelmed when there are a million different things going on, and that's the stage on which I'm currently playing. My nephew is getting baptized soon, and Meg and I are the Godparents. That in-and-of itself isn't really stressful, but between family, scheduling, and the church, it's doing a wonderful job of aggravating me. Arica's wedding is looming on the horizon on the 25th, and being in the wedding party, I need to worry about that and Trevor's bachelor party, and anything else anyone needs me for. The apartment is - perpetually so - a mess that we never seem to get cleaned up totally, so free time is devoted to at least making an attempt at that. There's never enough clean laundry, and never enough groceries, so more time needs to be made to get out and do those things.

Then, add in friends. I love my friends. I truly do. They're my support structure. I don't want to make it sound like my friends are in any way wrong for what I'm about to say, because they aren't. Nobody has made demands of me. Nobody has said anything out of sorts, or anything really out of the ordinary... but with my busy schedule right now, I really don't have time to hang out too much. I'd love to, really. But please, please, please don't take it personally if I don't see you for a week and a half. It's not that I've stopped loving you. I'm not avoiding you. But making me feel as such, even in jest, does not reduce my stress levels, nor does it solve any problem that can be solved. I will make time for you when I can. Please do not take it personally if I cannot.

There are other factors as well... more personal than I want to get into on my blog for the world to see; those of you who know me know what's going on. But suffice to say, the above listed issues are only about half of what's going on right now. Add in the failing economy, the difficulty of doing business, and the stress of being the provider for the house on top of all of that, combined with a healthy (unhealthy?) mix of seasonal allergies / sinus problems, and you've got a recipe for me being a real bastard sometimes.

Again, I'm sorry.

Wednesday - September 03, 2008

Deluge

I have been remiss in updating my blog again, and for that I'm deeply sorry. So, I'll deluge you with information now, to make up for it.

First, (thank you Matt Fulton) night vision goggles have become kids' toys. Damn, I love the technology curve!

Second, Carl has updated his web-space. You can find his new personal blog at carl.morlockweb.com. He updates as often as I do, really, which is to say, "next to never," so don't expect miracles. *nudge*

Those shameless plugs having been dealt with, let's get down to brass tacks... (seriously, who talks like that?)

Work's been good thus far. We've had business, I've been busy, and most importantly, I've been bringing in a paycheck. We're more or less back in the black now, and it's a wonderful feeling of relief. We're certainly going to be a bit more careful with our finances now, though, lest something like this happen again. We used up most of any safety net we had, so we've got to start rebuilding it ASAP. I spent yesterday setting up Hank's new computer - a refurbished iMac. It's such a wonderful feeling as a Mac user, knowing I walked into this job in an all-PC office, and had to convince Hank to get me a Mac to do my video work on. Now, he's buying his own Mac, and complaining about the one remaining PC we've got here.

He tasked me with getting all of his files backed up and transfered over to his new Mac while he was away on vacation, and it was admittedly a job I was not looking forward to - not because I dislike working with Macs, but because I greatly dislike and distrust PCs to put all their important files in one place *cough cough registry cough*. The biggest problem I had, actually, was getting all of Outlook Express' settings, saved emails, and incidentals transfered over to Mac Mail. But, thanks to the wonder of a little program called Eudora, I was able to flawlessly migrate the one to the other.

It's also very cool telling him about things like Exposé, Spaces, Dashboard, and Time Machine, and watching his eyes light up. Heck, just showing him the ease-of-use of Address Book, and how it integrates with most everything else in the system, such as Mail and iCal, was cool. He loves iCal, and loved the idea that we could all subscribe to calendars to keep on the same page. There is so much potential for greatness here in this office now that we're all on Macs.

On the friends front : Ed will be back from truck driver training in Iowa this Friday. Amber has missed him terribly... hell, we all have, but obviously, Amber misses her husband the most. Ed seems tired out. Apparently they're grinding them pretty hard, which I suppose is a good thing. Ed's taken to truck driving like a fish to water, though, so I've little doubt he'll excel in this field.

While he's been gone, Amber's been spending a lot more time on World of Warcraft, leveling her Shaman. It's kind of amazing watching the transformation of a n00b into someone who actually knows how to play, more or less. She's always been the token "low level character who will never reach Outlands, let alone 70" because she barely played, and had an interest level in the game that ebbed and flowed like the tides. Now, however, that she needs both human contact and something to occupy her, she's taken to it like a fat kid to chocolate cake, and gained like 15 levels while Ed's been gone. She's 52, and well on her way to cruising through to her 60s in relative ease in the next week. It's kinda cool watching her grow and learn. I see in her the n00b I once was, and watching her gasp in awe at old Azeroth content is refreshing.

That's enough rambling for now... I'll post more later, possibly tomorrow.

Friday - August 22, 2008

Chickens, sans heads

Still no word on Domino. We believe him to be with another family, happily annoying the crap out of them in relative safety and comfort.

The whole rest of this week has been pretty insane. I've had something going on nearly every night, without a chance to just sit down and rest... and this weekend's not going to be much better;

Tuesday night I took a bunch of laundry over to Ed and Amber's, and I was there until 2am getting it done. We watched Stargate, and I have clean pants, so not everything about that was bad, but 2am is much later than I'd like to be out on a work night. 

Wednesday I was back over there for Wednesday jam session (yes, those are still going on.) This week it was "Hotel California," which sounded pretty okay for just a couple of guys trying to memorize the chord progression. I need to keep up on playing my guitar, because my fingers started to really hurt after only a short while. Sadly, there just hasn't been the time.

Last night, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Land's place for dinner. Grandpa Land has lung cancer, and is fighting like a trooper. Dinner was wonderful, and I discovered that a "grandma-sized piece of pie" is a universal term. The drive there is a one hour drive under ideal conditions, and with traffic on I-75, stretched to an almost two hour drive. The drive home was substantially better, but it still left us home at 10:30. That was when I made the mistake of thinking I had enough time to run the Mana Tombs dungeon in Warcraft with Ed... we had to grab 3 PUGs (pick-up group; or, as an individual, a randomly picked-up member of said group) and we were off. In retrospect, I think I'm adding Fury-spec warriors to the list of people who will never set foot in a dungeon with me ever again. He was 4th on the damage meter (out of 5... and we KNEW the healer was going to be last, which is fine, he was busy watching our asses) kept dying, kept breaking our polymorphed targets. Then he ninja'd the tanking shield I needed. Then, the escort quest (which is the only thing I was in there for) was failed on the last part, so I didn't get my tanking boots, and everyone bugged out of the group. All in all, it was one huge exercise in frustration that ended me up going to bed at 2am... again. And I had naught to show for it except for some Consortium reputation.

Tonight is Ed's going-away party, as he's got a new job as a truck driver he's headed off for a few weeks of training for. So once again, I'm home from work, then right back into my car to drive down to Ferndale. Somewhere along the way I have to get a gift for my sister's birthday. I still don't know what I want to do about that. I'll come up with something that isn't lame, hopefully.

I'll be crashing in Ferndale tonight, because tomorrow I'm running Trinity for Ed, Amber, and Jason as a sort of part two to Ed's going away party. One last game to see him off. After that, it's back up to mom & dad's place for Jamie's Birthday BBQ Blowout Bash Spectacular!!! 

THEN, (because there's not enough on my plate) if we get out of there at a decent time, we'll be driving to Detroit to put Ed on the bus and say goodbye to him for a few weeks while he completes his trucking training.

That'll put me till early morning Sunday, as Ed boards the bus at 12:30ish after midnight. By the time we get home and crash, it'll be well into the wee hours.

Sunday's up in the air, but I'm hoping I'll actually get to relax. All this rush-rush-rush has got to stop eventually.

Wednesday - August 13, 2008

A farewell to a friend

Monday night, Domino ran away.

The logistics of how he got out are very sketchy... he's terrified of the outdoors, and would never willingly go out on his own. We don't even know how he got out of the apartment, let alone the building. I have my suspicions, but in lieu of making formal accusations, I'll simply say I suspect foul play and mischievous neighbor kids were involved.

We've put up fliers, sent out multiple search parties, talked to all local authorities... All we can do now is wait and hope for the best.

I want to formally thank all my friends who jumped to the call of duty and helped us search all over the place till odd hours of the night. Though our search was fruitless, it means volumes to me that you were willing to spend your evening digging around in the darkness with naught but flashlights and kitty treats.

... We hope to see him again soon... I'll keep everyone posted.

Monday - August 11, 2008

Rollercoaster of Crud

The last week has been a nice little series of ups and downs for me and mine. I'll try to list them all.

When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they had departed with some friends to go to the tattoo artist to get Meg all inked up for her birthday. Unfortunately, the digital camera crapped out on us, so I have no pictures.

The tattoo turned out really well. Take my word for it.

The camera, on the other hand, did not fare so well. At first we thought the screen was broken, as it was displaying a bunch of squiggly lines. As it turns out, the screen is working perfectly - it's displaying exactly what the camera is seeing. All of the pictures turned out looking exactly like that.

So, alas, no pictures of my earrings or Meg's tattoo.

Her birthday was nice. We went to Olive Garden, and had mediocre service, but really good food.

Saturday and Sunday were both productive and wasteful at the same time. Apparently there was some failed communication with a website I somehow got myself involved with, and I spent the weekend making emergency PHP codes before the client canceled the order and demanded their money back. It was frustrating to lose my weekend, but fulfilling in that I was able to code what needed to be coded with relative ease. Frustrating because the website is ... not to ideal specifications for what I'd like to see in a website, but fulfilling because, in spite of the time-sink, I got my mage to 70 in WoW.

Then, I wake up this morning... something told me not to walk to work, but I did anyway. Now my back hurts, but I don't know if that's because of walking or because I spent the entirety of my weekend in my chair. When I arrive, Greg informs me that his computer is taking a very long time to start up. I tell him to be patient, but then I hear it restart in absence of any input from him... which shouldn't happen.

Long story short : we took it to the Apple Store to be serviced, and they still don't know what's wrong with it. The hard drive is fine, apparently, which is blessing and bane all in one; good, because that means all the data is safe. Bad, because it's not a quick easy fix.

Hopefully I can reclaim my social life soon-ish, and be able to see my friends again. Tonight, I clean the apartment, and tomorrow, Arica comes over to paint 40k minis with me. I'd take pictures, but...

Wednesday - August 06, 2008

I am a perforated-American

Nothing quite like waiting until you're 28 to have your rebellious streak, eh?

So this afternoon, Megan is going to get her tattoo - it's something she's been wanting for quite a while now, and she requested I draw it for her. The drawing is about the size of an average playing card, and features a rose with a scroll draped around it, with "6 • 19 • 04" written on it to commemorate our wedding day. I think it will look nice, but we'll see when it happens if it's as good in practice as it is on paper.

I'll snap picks as much as I can, but I think our camera is broken... I'll have to see if it still snaps pictures, or if the screen is just dead on it.

Anyhow, I decided that if she's going to do something crazy, I'm going to also. So I got my ears pierced! Right now I'm featuring two 4mm gold ball studs. I personally think they look pretty cool. I figure, I'll give'm a chance, and it if turns out I really don't like them, I take them out and they heal up. No harm, no foul, nothing's permanent.

We stopped at my parents' place first, to warn them, and to pick up some stuff, but nobody was home. I was left with no choice but to go ahead with it. (I say that like I wasn't going to anyway... heh.) But we did stop over at Linens n' Things on our way out of the mall and show my mom. She scowled. I don't know how truly upset she is... but I guess it doesn't really matter too much either. It's my ears that are pierced, and the only other two people in my life who can have a legitimate beef with it are Meg (my wife) and Hank (my employer).

I didn't walk to work today. After 8 miles in 2 days, my legs sat me down to have a little talk with me. I'm allowing them a day to heal, and will try for walking again tomorrow.

I'll post pics of my wife's and my self-mutilation / beautification later... and if they'll let me, snap pics of Meg actually GETTING her tattoo.

Monday - August 04, 2008

Various Things

I did something today that hasn't happened in a while. I jogged. I didn't jog terribly far - on the contingency that things work out with Hank, I jogged to the office, roughly 1.5 miles away, as the crow files (which is kinda how I jogged it... not flying per se, but I took some shortcuts through Macomb Community College). I'm hoping two things, at this point : that I can keep this pace up and improve my health and my waistline, and that I won't be dead for an extended period of time... after all, I have to walk home now too.

This weekend was a marathon of gaming for me. Saturday was Jason's Aberrant game - I'd give the update, but the only people who'd care or know what was going on were present when it happened. Suffice to say, it was pretty cool, and we left Jason trying to figure out what the heck to do next. Then, after chilling out there for the evening, I took a break in the morning to go to Saint Claire Shores to visit some relatives on my wife's side that were in from out of town. It was a nice morning, and then after a brief stop at Macomb Mall to get new Converse All-Stars, I was down to Livonia to do a marathon session of 7th Sea THEN Matt's Aberrant game. Both of those games were pretty neat-o, and I felt very involved in both of them... I specify this, only because with upwards of 7 or 8 people playing at any given time, it's sometimes easy to be trivialized. Rob and Matt do the best they can, though.

7th Sea is turning out rather interesting, too, since my character's story is on quite a romantic path. He's got a nice girl that they rescued, and who's fallen in love with him, and after living the life of a wealthy traveler, he's looking to take things a little more seriously, including with her. It's a very very nice break from the dungeon-crawling, orc-slaying, super-power-having, world-saving story I'm used to. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong with those sorts of stories, it's just... when you get pepperoni pizza all the time, sometimes a ham and pineapple pizza is a nice wrench to throw into the mix.

On the subject of games - bare with me briefly, and then I swear I'm off the subject - I've been meaning to take my 40k gaming a little more seriously, as well, specifically from a painting standpoint. I've got a squad of Flayed Ones that are almost done, and have been that way for a long time now. Unfortunately, I think I got too used to painting grey metallic monstrosities, and when I got 10 figures that actually have flesh on them, it ground me to a halt. They should be done shortly, and I will - as always - post pictures. I've also got that other surprise I need to put together... especially if Arica is going to get any of her newly purchased Necron army assembled any time soon. However, with her wedding looming, I don't expect to see any of her Necrons before Christmas.

I promised I'd post a review of The Dark Knight, and I've been milling that promise over in my mind. I'll post the review, but honestly, at this point you've already heard everything you really need to about the movie. So my review is this:

Believe the hype. It's all true. Heath Ledger IS freaking amazing as the Joker. Don't do yourself the disservice of only paying attention to him however; Aaron Eckhart was AMAZING as Harvey Dent, and I think deserves just as much praise. Aaron, however, did not have the fortune / misfortune of dying shortly after filming, so he warrants less mention somehow. I think this is a crime, so I mention him here. Five out of Four Stars.