I'm in New Orleans (NO) Louisiana (LA) visiting Ryan, Ashley, and Jordan. Ryan and Ashley are great, and about the same as you've seen them in the past.
But Jordan is almost an entirely new person! He has such a little personality now. The usual 2 year old traits are there, like shouting "NO!" in defiance whenever Teletubbies or BackYardigans end. And answering "Yes" anytime you ask him if he wants something.
He says "peesh" for please, and has his own flavor of Jackanese where he can talk in complete sentances that seem to make perfect sense to him.
I can't stop smiling as he does most things, and I know that I'm being stupid about it all. It's nothing novel, kids have been this way for centuries, but that's my nephew's son being so traditionally cute. And by traditionally cute, I mean fare more adorable than 99% of the 1-3 year old population of the world. I have higher standards than most.
This weekend we are going to walk the French quarter with him one night, which I guess is a lot of fun for him, and all the partiers walking around in the past just adore the kid. I'll get a few pictures and try to post them here.
2006-09-13
2006-08-21
2006-05-01
Been a long time
Sorry for ignoring this blog for so long, but a lot have been going on.
I've been looking for a house over the last few months and not having a lot of luck. This is compounded by my work schedule which is from 10-6, and does not have a lunch hour. This means I have no time in the middle of the day to go look at houses. So I was only able to go looking on Saturdays. And when you find a house in Utah, it's got an offer on it within 1-3 days.
And then, my company went through some major changes. WCGS was owned by 3 equal partners, but is now down to 2 partners. The 3rd was "let go" by the other 2. Problem is, that partner was the only other employee in Utah, so what do we now do with the one remaining Utah employee? Yeah, I was thinking that I'd be out of a job, but it doesn't look that bad just yet.
Then I went to NY for 2 weeks to work from there while there was a lot going on. That was good for visibility reasons I guess. One of the partners has an "out of sight, out of mind" kink of mentality. While in NY, we decided to close the Utah office and have me work from home. So that's what I'm doing now.
I've been looking for a house over the last few months and not having a lot of luck. This is compounded by my work schedule which is from 10-6, and does not have a lunch hour. This means I have no time in the middle of the day to go look at houses. So I was only able to go looking on Saturdays. And when you find a house in Utah, it's got an offer on it within 1-3 days.
And then, my company went through some major changes. WCGS was owned by 3 equal partners, but is now down to 2 partners. The 3rd was "let go" by the other 2. Problem is, that partner was the only other employee in Utah, so what do we now do with the one remaining Utah employee? Yeah, I was thinking that I'd be out of a job, but it doesn't look that bad just yet.
Then I went to NY for 2 weeks to work from there while there was a lot going on. That was good for visibility reasons I guess. One of the partners has an "out of sight, out of mind" kink of mentality. While in NY, we decided to close the Utah office and have me work from home. So that's what I'm doing now.
2006-04-23
BigGuyWhoKills
A friend of mine (from WoW) designed a shirt for Threadless.com and it's being voted on. If you would like to see it, follow the link:
Threadless.com has a bunch of really cool t-shirts, and even more really odd shirts. Every now and then you'll find one you like more than anything in your closet. I used "you" in that sentance, because my closet pwns all your closets combined. But even I will sometimes find a new shirt there.
Threadless.com has a bunch of really cool t-shirts, and even more really odd shirts. Every now and then you'll find one you like more than anything in your closet. I used "you" in that sentance, because my closet pwns all your closets combined. But even I will sometimes find a new shirt there.
2006-04-20
Work trip
So I'm in NY for 2 weeks. All I can think about is how much World Of Warcraft I'm missing.
Last week we defeated Majordomo Executus and opened the Cache of the Firelord, where I got the Eye Of Divinity, one of the requirements in the quest for Benediction! Benediction is the premiere healing staff in WoW, and I now have it. In fact I'm the only person in my guild of over 400 people to have this. And it's sitting there, not being used.
On the plus side, I might be able to meet up with some of my guild members while out here (if I'm not too busy). Keep your fingers crossed.
Last week we defeated Majordomo Executus and opened the Cache of the Firelord, where I got the Eye Of Divinity, one of the requirements in the quest for Benediction! Benediction is the premiere healing staff in WoW, and I now have it. In fact I'm the only person in my guild of over 400 people to have this. And it's sitting there, not being used.
On the plus side, I might be able to meet up with some of my guild members while out here (if I'm not too busy). Keep your fingers crossed.
2006-04-04
An interesting date
On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
That won't ever happen again (in our lifetime).
That won't ever happen again (in our lifetime).
2006-03-20
Why do I bother to title these when they're all about Warcraft?
Well, you'll be happy to know that we've defeated the first 6 bosses in Molten Core. The last 4 we took down on our second attempt on each of them. That's a sign that we work well together. Most groups can't do that much that fast, so I'm very proud of our team. Getting 40 people, most of whom have never met one another, from diverse backgrounds, to all work together towards a common goal is a real chore. A lot of our leader's time is spent dealing with drama amongst the various players. But we now have crossed some threshold.
It all goes back to Lucifron, the first boss of MC. We wiped on every attempt during the first run, and gave up eventually. On the second run, we figured it out on our third attempt, and we haven't wiped on Luci since. We had some minor problems on Magmadar, but we got it on what was surely our last attempt for that day. From there on out, we have defeated every subsequent boss on our second attempt.
And so far I haven't missed out on a DKP yielding kill yet. Here's our current DKP standing (which should always show the current listing and will change this Wednesday). DKP stands for Dragon Kill Points, and it's an old Everquest method of making sure that everyone gets a fair shot at the awesome rewards given after every boss kill. Since each boss kill drops about 2-5 very nice items, not everyone is going to get something. To make sure that nobody get's too far ahead of the rest of the group, each item is given a point value, and all the points from all the drops are added up, and divided by the number of participants. So if a item worth 40 DKP drops and there are 40 people, each person gets 1 point. And if you want that item, you have to "spend" DKP in order to get it. Obviously we allow people to go into negative DKP, otherwise nobody could get anything on the first few runs.
That's it for now. This week we hope to finish the last 2 bosses before Majordomo Executus. Wish us luck.
It all goes back to Lucifron, the first boss of MC. We wiped on every attempt during the first run, and gave up eventually. On the second run, we figured it out on our third attempt, and we haven't wiped on Luci since. We had some minor problems on Magmadar, but we got it on what was surely our last attempt for that day. From there on out, we have defeated every subsequent boss on our second attempt.
And so far I haven't missed out on a DKP yielding kill yet. Here's our current DKP standing (which should always show the current listing and will change this Wednesday). DKP stands for Dragon Kill Points, and it's an old Everquest method of making sure that everyone gets a fair shot at the awesome rewards given after every boss kill. Since each boss kill drops about 2-5 very nice items, not everyone is going to get something. To make sure that nobody get's too far ahead of the rest of the group, each item is given a point value, and all the points from all the drops are added up, and divided by the number of participants. So if a item worth 40 DKP drops and there are 40 people, each person gets 1 point. And if you want that item, you have to "spend" DKP in order to get it. Obviously we allow people to go into negative DKP, otherwise nobody could get anything on the first few runs.
That's it for now. This week we hope to finish the last 2 bosses before Majordomo Executus. Wish us luck.
2006-03-02
Lucifron got OMGWTFBBQPWNED!
We downed Lucifron! 39 of my good friends and I went to Molten Core (MC) last night and proceeded to terrorize Ancient Core Hounds, Lava Surgers, and all sorts of magma related bad guys. This was our second real attempt at Lucifron, the first of 9 bosses in MC.
We picked up 3 pieces of epic gear, none of which was useful to me, but I hope to get something on our next run. I was Main Healer (MH) for this run, which means I am responsible for keeping the Main Tank (MT) alive throughout the fight. And I did a very good job, if I do say so myself. The MT is the one person designated to be the punching bag, and usually has the best armor. If the MT dies, we might as well sit down and let the big monster feast on us.
We had our first Onyxia run a week before last Sunday, and though we failed to bring her down, we did get to phase 3 without her taking a single deep breath. Tomorrow we will try again.
For those of you that don't play World Of Warcraft, Onyxia is a very powerful dragon. The Onyxia fight requires 40 people (traditionally), and has 3 stages. In stage 2 she takes to the air and has a particularly devastating flame attack that does a lot of damage over a very large area. You know that this attack is coming when the game tells you that Onyxia is taking a very deep breath. Her fire breath can wipe out 1/3 of your 40 person group. The key to avoiding the flame breath is to keep spaced out so as to not present a group target for her, and to bring her down to 40% health quickly, which is when she lands and goes berserk on everyone. That's when it gets tough. From what I understand, she goes even more loco at about 7% health. I hope we get to see that tomorrow night.
We picked up 3 pieces of epic gear, none of which was useful to me, but I hope to get something on our next run. I was Main Healer (MH) for this run, which means I am responsible for keeping the Main Tank (MT) alive throughout the fight. And I did a very good job, if I do say so myself. The MT is the one person designated to be the punching bag, and usually has the best armor. If the MT dies, we might as well sit down and let the big monster feast on us.
We had our first Onyxia run a week before last Sunday, and though we failed to bring her down, we did get to phase 3 without her taking a single deep breath. Tomorrow we will try again.
For those of you that don't play World Of Warcraft, Onyxia is a very powerful dragon. The Onyxia fight requires 40 people (traditionally), and has 3 stages. In stage 2 she takes to the air and has a particularly devastating flame attack that does a lot of damage over a very large area. You know that this attack is coming when the game tells you that Onyxia is taking a very deep breath. Her fire breath can wipe out 1/3 of your 40 person group. The key to avoiding the flame breath is to keep spaced out so as to not present a group target for her, and to bring her down to 40% health quickly, which is when she lands and goes berserk on everyone. That's when it gets tough. From what I understand, she goes even more loco at about 7% health. I hope we get to see that tomorrow night.
2006-02-28
Home on the range
I was approved for a home loan today! I could have something picked out this week.
But don't worry, this will NOT affect my adventures in World Of Warcraft for the worse.
But don't worry, this will NOT affect my adventures in World Of Warcraft for the worse.
2006-02-06
WoW - Part 10^35
Just a preface, I'm not commenting on any one person here. This is an observation that I've noticed over the past 12 months of playing World Of Warcraft.
Why is it that almost everyone (who doesn't play) listens to my fanaticism with more of a "golly, you're hardcore, and kinda nerdy"? It's as if people presume that it's ME, or my personality, that takes this to the extreme. Why does nearly everyone make judgments about it without even trying it? I rarely find people that approach this in a more logical way: "With so many people so addicted to the game, maybe the game is exceptional. Maybe it's even something that I'd like as well." I've met maybe 3 people that started with the presumption that I am normal and that it's the game that is worth this devotion. Sure, I proved that theory wrong in the end, but it was nice that they gave me the benefit of the doubt.
FYI, it was Blizzcon where I shed all concern over what people think about my WoW habits. So comment however you like. In the end, I really feel sorry for people that don't play. Most of you have no idea of what you are missing.
Why is it that almost everyone (who doesn't play) listens to my fanaticism with more of a "golly, you're hardcore, and kinda nerdy"? It's as if people presume that it's ME, or my personality, that takes this to the extreme. Why does nearly everyone make judgments about it without even trying it? I rarely find people that approach this in a more logical way: "With so many people so addicted to the game, maybe the game is exceptional. Maybe it's even something that I'd like as well." I've met maybe 3 people that started with the presumption that I am normal and that it's the game that is worth this devotion. Sure, I proved that theory wrong in the end, but it was nice that they gave me the benefit of the doubt.
FYI, it was Blizzcon where I shed all concern over what people think about my WoW habits. So comment however you like. In the end, I really feel sorry for people that don't play. Most of you have no idea of what you are missing.
2006-01-26
More bad driving
In the comments to my blog about how to drive part 1, a few of you mentioned how bad some drivers are. Claire said that South Western drivers are the worst. I've heard that Southern drivers in general are the worst. I can't say for sure because I've never spent much time in those areas, but I thought I'd blog about what I know.
The worst drivers that I've experienced were in Rhode Island. And the strange thing is, the driving goes back to normal the second you cross the state line. The bad driving doesn't leak over to Connecticut of Massachusets. I've never understood why this is.
Some of the more memorable RI maneuvers:
The Rhode Island Snake - When waiting in the left turn lane at an intersection without a turn arrow, gun it as soon as the light changes, and cut off the oncoming traffic as you make your left turn. They've got brakes, don't worry about it. But you alone do not make up the snake, it's the 3-7 cars behind you that follow in your wake that complete the "Rhode Island Snake". The snake can only be broken by a car with a CT or MA license plate.
The Rhode Island Crawl - Say you want to turn right onto a main road, but traffic doesn't have a gap large enough for you to merge into safely. What do you do? Slowly crawl your car out onto the main road to the point that traffic has to barely swerve to miss you. After a few cars, you will see someone slow down slightly because they are unaware of what you intend to do (or maybe they know and respect the Rhode Island Crawl). When you see them slow down, nudge out a bit more and watch them slow down more. After 2-4 nudges, you will have oncoming traffic slow enough that you can gun it to make it in. Of course by this time you are also blocking enough of the road that people will have to face oncoming traffic to get around you. And those cowards aren't gonna do that!
I often wanted to spend a day at an intersection with a camcorder. I'm convinced that in a 5 hour span you could record at least one accident, and 20+ near misses. As you drive around any major RI city, you are bound to see a few accidents each day. Such is the life of the Rhode Island motorist.
The worst drivers that I've experienced were in Rhode Island. And the strange thing is, the driving goes back to normal the second you cross the state line. The bad driving doesn't leak over to Connecticut of Massachusets. I've never understood why this is.
Some of the more memorable RI maneuvers:
The Rhode Island Snake - When waiting in the left turn lane at an intersection without a turn arrow, gun it as soon as the light changes, and cut off the oncoming traffic as you make your left turn. They've got brakes, don't worry about it. But you alone do not make up the snake, it's the 3-7 cars behind you that follow in your wake that complete the "Rhode Island Snake". The snake can only be broken by a car with a CT or MA license plate.
The Rhode Island Crawl - Say you want to turn right onto a main road, but traffic doesn't have a gap large enough for you to merge into safely. What do you do? Slowly crawl your car out onto the main road to the point that traffic has to barely swerve to miss you. After a few cars, you will see someone slow down slightly because they are unaware of what you intend to do (or maybe they know and respect the Rhode Island Crawl). When you see them slow down, nudge out a bit more and watch them slow down more. After 2-4 nudges, you will have oncoming traffic slow enough that you can gun it to make it in. Of course by this time you are also blocking enough of the road that people will have to face oncoming traffic to get around you. And those cowards aren't gonna do that!
I often wanted to spend a day at an intersection with a camcorder. I'm convinced that in a 5 hour span you could record at least one accident, and 20+ near misses. As you drive around any major RI city, you are bound to see a few accidents each day. Such is the life of the Rhode Island motorist.
2006-01-19
2005-12-16
How to drive: Part 1
Since nobody's blogging these last few days, I'll take a turn for now.
Everyday I drive 35 miles to work, most of that on northbound I-15. Pretty much everyday I see things that make me want to carry a firearm in the car, so I can murder those that don't drive the way I want them to. This seems reasonable to me, and it would cut down on traffic for everyone.
Luckily I resist the urge to mount high powered rifles to my car, and instead I fume internally, and think of the scathing blog I should write about these people. "That would teach them!" But what am I going to write about that hasn't been covered by nearly every stand-up comedian in existence? Failure to use turn signals has been overdone. Reckless merging has been overdone. And the idiot going too slow in the leftmost lane has been overdone.
So I'm going to talk about the idiot going too slow in the leftmost lane.
How do you know if you are going too slow in one of the left lanes? You can tell because other cars are consistently passing you on your right side. In this case you should change lanes to the right, until you notice that people are now passing you on the left. This is part of a more basic rule of driving that most people ignore: stay to the right, unless passing slower cars. Part of what makes the German Autobahns a success is that German drivers "drive right". This doesn't merely mean that they drive on the right side, they stay in the rightmost lane unless they have a need to use one of the left lanes. When they no longer need the left lane, they move back to the rightmost lane available.
Utah just installed carpool lanes on I-15, and it's a great relief to traffic during congested times. However, some people think that the carpool lane serves some other purpose. Some seem to think that the lane is like a big comfy couch, just for them to stretch out on, at whatever lazy speed they want to go. Others treat it like a "party lane", where all the cool cars hang out. What it actually is, is a lane that can be used by carpoolers, when the regular lanes are crowded. Sure you can use it anytime you want to, but if there's no real traffic in the normal lanes, there's really no reason to use the carpool lane. If you are in the carpool lane when the lanes to your right are not really crowded, then you are being a dork. You are also being somewhat unsafe. This goes back to the rule I mentioned earlier: stay right, unless passing slower cars.
Now I know everyone that reads this in now going to do their best to stay in the rightmost available lane when appropriate. Thank you for your time.
Everyday I drive 35 miles to work, most of that on northbound I-15. Pretty much everyday I see things that make me want to carry a firearm in the car, so I can murder those that don't drive the way I want them to. This seems reasonable to me, and it would cut down on traffic for everyone.
Luckily I resist the urge to mount high powered rifles to my car, and instead I fume internally, and think of the scathing blog I should write about these people. "That would teach them!" But what am I going to write about that hasn't been covered by nearly every stand-up comedian in existence? Failure to use turn signals has been overdone. Reckless merging has been overdone. And the idiot going too slow in the leftmost lane has been overdone.
So I'm going to talk about the idiot going too slow in the leftmost lane.
How do you know if you are going too slow in one of the left lanes? You can tell because other cars are consistently passing you on your right side. In this case you should change lanes to the right, until you notice that people are now passing you on the left. This is part of a more basic rule of driving that most people ignore: stay to the right, unless passing slower cars. Part of what makes the German Autobahns a success is that German drivers "drive right". This doesn't merely mean that they drive on the right side, they stay in the rightmost lane unless they have a need to use one of the left lanes. When they no longer need the left lane, they move back to the rightmost lane available.
Utah just installed carpool lanes on I-15, and it's a great relief to traffic during congested times. However, some people think that the carpool lane serves some other purpose. Some seem to think that the lane is like a big comfy couch, just for them to stretch out on, at whatever lazy speed they want to go. Others treat it like a "party lane", where all the cool cars hang out. What it actually is, is a lane that can be used by carpoolers, when the regular lanes are crowded. Sure you can use it anytime you want to, but if there's no real traffic in the normal lanes, there's really no reason to use the carpool lane. If you are in the carpool lane when the lanes to your right are not really crowded, then you are being a dork. You are also being somewhat unsafe. This goes back to the rule I mentioned earlier: stay right, unless passing slower cars.
Now I know everyone that reads this in now going to do their best to stay in the rightmost available lane when appropriate. Thank you for your time.
2005-12-13
2005-12-12
Happiness returns the the valley named after it
My nephew and his family are moving back to Utah! I'm so excited to see my little pimp grand-nephew! Oh yeah, Ryan and Ashley are great too. They were just going to surprise us all by visiting on Christmas when they had previously told us that they would be visiting Washington state instead. This is huge news for us as we now have all the kids and grandkids of my parents back within driving distance of each other.
2005-12-06
Repeatable Music
I used to be convinced that MTV caters to people of lesser intellect. Nobody with half a brain can listen to the same thing repeated as often as music on that channel repeats. I won't even get into the content, my niece has that covered more than well enough.
So now that I've established that only simpletons are able to listen to the same thing over and over, why is it that I can listen to Tegan And Sara, Pinback, Muse, or Ani DiFranco on eternal repeat? It gets to the point that I have to force myself to make a new selection in WinAmp or on my iPods. Am I just now getting to some point, musically, that these MTV kids are already at? Is their music actually good and I just don't have the ability to grasp that? Is most of my music of minimal quality? Are there multiple places where repeating music doesn't drive you crazy (crappy music with low intellect vs. incredible music with higher intellect)?
I have a lot of music, hundreds of CD's, I've been buying them since 1987. Out of my entire collection, I would say that there are only 50 or so that I could play on repeat more than twice. And probably only 10 that I could play on repeat more than 5 times.
So I guess my question is (please comment): Have I changed, or has music changed?
So now that I've established that only simpletons are able to listen to the same thing over and over, why is it that I can listen to Tegan And Sara, Pinback, Muse, or Ani DiFranco on eternal repeat? It gets to the point that I have to force myself to make a new selection in WinAmp or on my iPods. Am I just now getting to some point, musically, that these MTV kids are already at? Is their music actually good and I just don't have the ability to grasp that? Is most of my music of minimal quality? Are there multiple places where repeating music doesn't drive you crazy (crappy music with low intellect vs. incredible music with higher intellect)?
I have a lot of music, hundreds of CD's, I've been buying them since 1987. Out of my entire collection, I would say that there are only 50 or so that I could play on repeat more than twice. And probably only 10 that I could play on repeat more than 5 times.
So I guess my question is (please comment): Have I changed, or has music changed?
2005-12-01
What WoW race and class are you?
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Actually, I'm a Troll Priest, but an undead mage is just about as cool.
2005-11-30
iPwn
One of my World Of Warcraft guildmates made this video of the various WoW characters dancing, iPod style:
iPwn
It's only a minute, and it's very well done.
FYI, "pwn" is an intentional misspelling of "own". It's gamer lingo commonly used to describe that you weren't just "owned", you were freaking "pwned"! (pronunciation varies, I pronounce it like "own" with a "p" in front of it)
iPwn
It's only a minute, and it's very well done.
FYI, "pwn" is an intentional misspelling of "own". It's gamer lingo commonly used to describe that you weren't just "owned", you were freaking "pwned"! (pronunciation varies, I pronounce it like "own" with a "p" in front of it)
2005-11-28
A poem about Instant Messenger (IM)
[17:59:48] KaRyn: can't you make IM into a poem instead?
[18:00:02] Adam - WCGS: ode to IM, a poem by Adam
[18:00:22] Adam - WCGS: IM stole my time, but time was fleeting
[18:00:48] Adam - WCGS: I try to think of a rhyme, but am no suceeding
[18:00:55] Adam - WCGS: am not
[18:01:20] Adam - WCGS: Customers want attention, it happens everyday
[18:01:40] Adam - WCGS: they think IM gives them that, but AFK takes it away
[18:01:47] Adam - WCGS: Oh man, that was good
[18:01:51] KaRyn: you are brilliant.
[18:01:53] Adam - WCGS: I'm blogging that
[18:00:02] Adam - WCGS: ode to IM, a poem by Adam
[18:00:22] Adam - WCGS: IM stole my time, but time was fleeting
[18:00:48] Adam - WCGS: I try to think of a rhyme, but am no suceeding
[18:00:55] Adam - WCGS: am not
[18:01:20] Adam - WCGS: Customers want attention, it happens everyday
[18:01:40] Adam - WCGS: they think IM gives them that, but AFK takes it away
[18:01:47] Adam - WCGS: Oh man, that was good
[18:01:51] KaRyn: you are brilliant.
[18:01:53] Adam - WCGS: I'm blogging that
Tycho's a dad
Tycho's son was born on the X-Box 360 US launch day, kinda appropriate. The write-up he did was well done. You forget how eloquent Tycho can be, but when he stops dropping f-bombs for a few minutes it really shows.
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