Weekend Posting!

Alright, I gotta write this quick, since I don't know if I'll be back near my computer before it's Sunday.

Gitaroo Man is awesome. We played it with some friends of ours last night after our standard Friday Night Anime, because we needed to stay awake so we could go get the parents-in-law and take them to the airport around 4 in the morning.
Now, after a few hours of sleep, we're getting ready to head into the city to catch lunch and a play. That's going to be the bulk of our day, followed by checking on the in-law's pets (puppies! kitties! and a bird and fish I guess!)... and then we head over to play Burning Wheel (in theory - we'll see how that turns out).

Ha! I almost signed this like an e-mail. Then you would've known who I am. Oh noes.

Woo! Friday!

I'm having a hard enough time focusing on work and all the stuff that we're doing this weekend that I can't come up with a single thing to talk about.

So I'll talk about multiple things! Solution!

• Reading about the science of science fiction is heady stuff. I submit to you: Atomic Rockets. Be warned - this site covers much physics and sciences.
• I'm looking forward to Rock Band but I'm torn... we have a 360 and it is shiny. Plus - achievements are awesome (someday I'll link my Gamertag, but not yet). However, we also already own two guitars and a couple of microphones for the PS2, since we are fans of Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution. Ah well. We won't be getting it until we don't have to deal with the bundle anyways (I'm not super-excited about the drum-kit).
• I need to find a good site for tips on grammar. I tend to want to write little asides when I'm blogging, and I also would love a reference guide for apostrophes and other punctuation.
• Secret of Mana is fun with three people. It's what we're playing during lunch these days.
• I want to draw a bunch of stuff, but my sketchbooks are all at home since I stopped bringing my briefcase to work. I need to draw superheroes and spacemen. Seriously.
• Also, I could fill several posts with things I want to talk about that I'm doing at work. But then I'd be in trouble, and that's not good. I should write down drafts for when I am allowed to say stuff. Or I could just wing it when the opportunity arises. I'm a fan of winging it.
• And finally - I'm a little sad that the bits of plate mail I have for Strael are light gray or dark blue-greenish. He was looking pretty bad-ass in black and red. Our tabard doesn't go with anything either.
  

Looking forward to 2.3

So, as we're all aware, patch 2.3 is supposed to hit next week and be totally sweet.

And since I love making lists and planning on stuff to do (even if I only intend on using said plans as guidelines)... have at ye, blackguard!

The Alts:
This patch is totally alt-city. I mean... improved experience? New mid-level content? Hooray!

• Chimmery -- Clocking in at the low 30s, this tiny marvel of magic gets to blink hisself around with his brother Tremmery and check out the new sights and old swampiness of the Dustwallow Marsh area. Should be fantastic.
  
• Ashcraft -- I admit it: I want to play my 'lock again after watching my wife run around and DoT everything to hell and back. Plus, having just gotten my shiny pony with my paladin, and I think having a horse on fire sounds like fun times.
  
• Djellin -- We're still working towards our toys, so we'll probably throw down with the shaman/warrior combo meal and get there faster. After we've gnomed it up though.
  
• Vandren -- Go go lower hunter! You're the lowest of the top listed for choice of play though.
  
• And the Rest: While I'd like to play my rogues a little bit I just don't care enough to change them from being bank alts. And my super-tiny druid will wait until the wife has interest.
  

The Mains:
2.3 means some changes that'll affect all 3 of my main characters... let's go over them.

• Laheth -- No deadzone! Yay! Now if only I had stuff to do other than farm. I guess there are instances and gearing towards raids, but there is no way I'm that social. It'll wait until some of our friends hit 70 as well. However, he will need to upgrade his quiver and leatherworking stuff (24 slot bag! Want!). I do want a flying mount, but farming for cash is not my thing.
  
• Starrlia -- She's still in the range of experience bonus, so we'll probably group and try to hit 60. Plus we'll need to see if the changes I'm just about to talk about for Strael benefit our group.
  
• Strael -- My blood elf pally is retribution spec. So... he's going to need a respec and then I'm going to have to see how that is. Also: we're having a lot of fun playing with our Horde group (we added a warrior friend last night) so we'll probably keep doing that.
  

And Finally, Our Guild:

• Our friends-only Alliance guild will need to figure out what we're doing with the new guild bank. I hope to offload some of the materials I have, but the wife and I (she's the leader and I'm co-leader) will need to come up with a plan of action.

There. I used the WoW prompt of the day. Happy now, TJ?

Oh noes!

Silly me, I spent the day working. Um... C# is sort of neat? Naw, that would be a boring topic for most of ya'll.

Ooh! I know! I'll say how we did last night! That'll fill some space :)

Last Night In Azeroth:
We were joined in our Stranglethorniness by my East Coast Time Zone Raiding Friend (henceforth known as whatever the heck I feel like calling him moment to moment) who joined us with his level 70 holy paladin. Man. Things died super quick. That was entertainment.

Our little group is much closer to each other quest-wise now. Especially since we're a trio of 32 (Warlock!), 36 (Hunter!), and 39 (Paladin!). And I know at least myself and the wife are pretty darn close to levelling (3-6 bubbles left).

So, I'm going to finish my wonderful Ikea Meatballs in Ikea Gravy over White Rice and then get me some experience.

How the hell are my characters?

Let's take a look at my mains on the Alliance and Horde, shall we?
And some of their skills at random, when I feel like it.

Laheth - Sittin' Pretty at 70
* Leatherworking - 350. AKA Primals for skillups.
* Skinning - Maxed at 375, just like it has been for the last... 8 levels?
* Cooking - Abyssmal. Although he can make Gingerbread Cookies.
* Fishing - Worse than Cooking.
Plan:
Since I don't group with folks I don't know unless the wife wants to, he's pretty much on hold until I can muster the strength to go grind for cash and mats. Neither sounds fun right now, so he's a landbound goofy-looking fellow. With a chainmail eyepatch that has a skull on it. Gyar.

Strael - 39! That's Like 40, Only Not Quite
* Engineering - a little behind because I don't know what to make, since I value the materials more than the product. Woops.
* Mining - I can mine mithril! EXCITING AND SHINY.
* Cooking - He can cook pretty much everything he kills.
* Fishing - 1. Seriously. Why do I even have that fishing pole in my inventory? I'm gonna sell it.
Plan:
He's gonna run around with the wifelock and my hunter friend in Stranglethorn tonight, visiting stolen-holy vengeance upon dinosaurs trolls and cats. And monkeys. Heh.

Weekend Happenings in Azeroth

This weekend was super awesome in WoW. My wife and I decided, on a whim, to play as some of our neglected Blood Elves. So Strael (the paladin) and his lovely cohort Contrae (the warlock) ran around Hillsbrad, joined fortuitously by our friend's troll hunter.

That was great - they were both self sufficient enough that I didn't have to do much tankery or healery with my retribution-spec, and when the need did arise my extra seven-to-ten levels certainly came in handy :)

We actually made a whole weekend out of that little group, and we all got set up with the in-game voice-chat stuff and ran just the three of us through Shadowfang Keep and Blackfathom Deeps. Not much (read: no) experience for me except for a couple quests I hadn't done in BFD, but it was still a lot of fun to go through them.


Now I'm home after a slow day of work; I'm fed with pizza and pie; and it's just about time for me to play some video games.

Talk at ya more tomorrow!

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

It could be a fun game... but it just doesn't like my wife's computer. I don't know why - her machine is superior to mine in almost every aspect, but she was experiencing constant lag to the point where it looked like she was freezing half the time. Oh well - at least we weren't paying money for it, right?

So! We made two pirates, named James and Kate Shorebane (zero relationship to our actual names, so no tricky thinking by you crazy internet folk), and we ran around as part of the same crew. We also named our ships Crimson Defender (mine!) and Shadow Dancer (hers!)... although we tended to use her ship for most of our travels, and just swapped who was driving every once in a while, since you gain experience by doing things (cannons, piloting, guns, swords - use 'em to gain new skills). The free trial didn't let us do any non-main-storyline-thing-quests, so yeah, but the story stuff has the actual actors performing their roles in a weird storyline that has no place in the actual canon. You start off in jail with Jack Sparrow, and he busts you out - then you head to Port Royal (after a run-in with Davy Jones, the Skull-Faced Pirate Who Has It In For Jack Oh It's Funny You Should Think He's Like the Squid-Faced Guy But He's Totally Not!) to get a sword from Will Turner, and then you go talk to Elizabeth Swan to get a boat (she's waiting for her dad - when could this have possibly taken place?). Yeah, it's weird, but it's cute in it's fan-dream-ish-ness, and it's got a sort of nice interface. The graphics are a little lower-end, and all the males are shaped funny.

I have no idea where I'm going with this. It's not like I'm trying to review it or anything. I think I'll stick to talking about WoW.

Here's a picture of my pirate! Gyarr!!

Holiday Stuff!

Thanksgiving is not yet arrived, and already we're looking towards Christmas. There's a holiday bazaar going on at the high school a few blocks away, so we're going to hit that up and see what they got... right after we start the background downloader for WoW, start installing Pirates of the Caribbean Online on my wife's machine, and have the soup be all cookin' (which it is!).

Here's what we need (non-gift-wise) for Christmas:

• Something visible in our house from outside
• Maybe something for the wall on the stairwell
• To clean up some of our (read: my) junk that is cluttering the surfaces downstairs

And now, I'm going to pay some bills and put my socks'n'shoes on.


Perhaps I'll talk about Pirates tomorree. How's that sound?

Let's Go For a 30 Chain!

So, on a whim after reading this, I've decided to try my hand at updating this ol' blog everyday for the next month.

We'll see.

We played WoW!

In a surprising turn of events, my wife and I sat down and played some World of Warcraft for the first time since we left for vacation.

As a result, our draenei duo (Djellin and Wallase) have both gotten 1 level closer to their shiny toys (Ardent Custodian for me... and like a ring and something else for her. Seriously, I should be able to remember. Maybe a hat?) and all the associated coolness of being 40 (mounts! And we both have 70s who, despite very much needing all the cashes ever, badly, for their flying and then epic flying birds, will gladly donate whatever we need to run around on something at 40... gosh, it's too bad we've got so far to go before we can have anything other than those silly heffalumps).

Also! We both ended up with Pirate Costume wands for Hallow's Eve funness (funituity?). So we pirated it up for a bit. I have pictures! I will crop them and attach them! You'll see! Edit: See, I did!


...yup.