Not Much Going On....

Not much happening in the World of Warcraft today, it seems, except the latest patch notes. They continue to change in preparation for the patch, which will probably happen next Tuesday. Mark your calendars!

'Bout Freaking Time

They finally changed the mechanics of mining. It's only 1 hit per node to get all the goodies.

Anthropologist Uses WoW Primates as Research

Using WoW for a research paper? Why not? Everyone seems to be doing it these days.

Missing Play Time

Servers are having horrid issues staying up. Beware.

Just in Case Your Cave Doesn't Have Cable....

This video is nothing but awesome-ness. By Percula. Flip over there for the HD version.


The Craft of War: BLIND from percula on Vimeo.

Death Knight - ado

I hope everyone is having fun playing the new Borg....erm, I mean Death Knights.

Now don't rag on me. I've got one (or two) myself. I know how much fun they are, but they are also sort of annoying. I mean, while leveling in Outland, it's always "4 DK group LF healer" or some such. Also, while playing your Death Knight, it's a pain to get a group yourself. No one trusts them to tank much yet, and even then, they're annoyed that there are so many around and don't want you in their group.

Well, if you haven't figured out all the wrinkles of your favorite new bad guy yet, there's a nice write up over at Squidoo on them. Lots of info, including talent builds (some of which are featured on Elitist Jerks) and gear guides. Good info for those who want it.

Playing the Blues

I'm at lunch, playing with, I mean "by", myself again.

My lunch-buddy has sworn off WoW again, so I'm pretty much left to myself in our small, family guild. This happens every-so-often. We get a group of 10 or so steady players, all real-life friends, who like to play together. But as time goes by, the participation drops, then the playing time, and finally, they stop playing altogether. This seems to happen every 3 months or so. After about 3 months away, they'll come back for a few months and the process repeats.

I like playing with these folks. I enjoy spending my online time with my RL friends and family. But what do you do when they abandon you for half of each year? I could soldier on solo, but I really enjoy the social aspects of the game. I enjoy instancing, chatting, or just general bs'ing around. That's one of the reasons I used to enjoy our old server so much. It was a RP server, and if no one else was around, I could always find someone to strike up a conversation, even if it was an RP one.

This server we moved to at the start of 2008, at my friends' instigation, is a 'normal' server. Therefore, RP is a bad word here. I could join a new guild, but I guarantee as soon as I do that, and start to go up through their ranks, my RL friends will start playing again and I'll feel that I have to go back to them and will likely abandon my new guild. Get the feeling I've done this before? Yeah, it sucks.

I'll figure something out. I always do.

Monday Morning Blues

Well, my blissful 2 weeks of vacation came to a sudden halt early this-morning with the blaring of the alarm clock and the missus shoving me out of bed. C'est la vie.

During those 2 weeks, I did manage to level a spanking new Shaman to 46, when of course, I could get on. Did I work on any other character? Nope, no sir, not a bit. Yeah, I probably could have used that time more constructively to get my Death Knight, or my Paladin, or my Priest, or my Hunter to 80. I'm just lazy in a weird sort of way, I guess.

Waiting in Line

Things to do while waiting in queue to log in to your server:

1. Watch House
   That damn show's always on.
2. Read some Bill Shakespeare plays. There's tons to choose from.
3. Read Big Red Kitty, because he's always funny.
4. Do homework... Nah!
5. Pick on the missus as she also waits in the queue (always fun).
6. Review your spec build for the 400th time (Yep, still the same).
7. Channel surf to avoid telemarketing commercials. I'm liable to order something. Yeah, I'm looking at you, ShamWow.
8. Check work e-mail. Yeah, right!
9. Read Elitist Jerks for Enhancement Shammy tips.
10. Surf YouTube for the latest Disney videos for my kids.
    

Oh, look, only 20 minutes to go now. Joy.


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

The Voice of Pikachu

Like all good Barrens chat channels, we rarely talk about Warcraft, and spend a lot more time analyzing what I did to your mom last night or the merits of Chuck Norris.

Here's a good one. Ever wonder what the person who did the voice of Pikachu looked like? Neither did I, but someone sent me this link and it's pretty funny watching a that sound come out of a grown woman. Enjoy!


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat

One Might Think....

With so much happening in the World of Warcraft, one might think I'd be tempted to just stay there and ignore the outside world...

...and you might be right.

Let's take a moment to review what's going on, shall we?

First, there seems to be a pretty big election coming up next week. I don't even want to start with what side of the fence everyone comes down on and why. All I can say is that everyone needs to stop drinking the cool-aid.

Second, the world is completely filled with idiots. Maybe this is bigger than my first point or even directly related to it, I don't know. It's probably common knowledge. I awoke to it recently, not because of any deep-seated revelation, but rather a sudden dawning. Guess I'm getting more cynical in my old age. I used to think that 90% of the people in the world were just "asleep at the wheel". Now I think that they're just complete morons. I'd go into my reasoning for this, but it would take too long and 90% of you wouldn't get it anyway.

Third, it's Halloween (Happy Halloween, btw). This means I'll be spending my evening trudging up and down neighborhoods with my kids while tons of soccer moms dressed like she-devils gallivant, trying to keep my eyes from bulging out and getting smacked by my wife. It's a trying time for any married male.

Fourth, there is nothing good on TV. I mean it. I'm so disappointed in the fall line-ups that I've taken to watching old reruns of House and NCIS (Abbey is hot). Even Heroes sucks. How disappointing is that?

Fifth, we're gearing up for Christmas here. Yep, that means I'll either spend the next 2 months watching the kids while the wife goes shopping, or I'll be along for the ride watching the kids while we go shopping with the wife. Joy.

Sixth, work is heating up. When other groups tend to be slowing down at the end of the year, my department is always busier. Why? Probably because everyone else is slow and has nothing better to do than to dump work on us.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.... My cynic seems to be either lightening up or slowing down.

At any rate, have a Happy Halloween and a safe one!


Camp Taurajo, just a little south of Barrens chat