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So on December 14th, Hime reached Level 80. It only took me a month to grind the levels to the current level cap in WoW. W007!

There are a few things in life I am passionate about. As most of my friends can tell you, gaming is one of those passions. I game. I game hard core. If I like a series enough, I’ll even pre-order to make sure I get a copy of the game when it comes out. And in the worst case scenario, I will even go to a midnight launch party to be one of the first people to get my hands on a game.

So where am I heading with this? At midnight, Blizzard Entertainment Software is releasing their next expansion to their popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft. The new title is Wraith of the Lich King. It will add content to do battle with the Lich king and his minions on the frozen continent of Northrend.

I am super excited. WoW is one the few games I have ever had a long term commitment with. In fact I have been playing the game for 2.5 years, the exact same amount of time my marriage lasted…..Ok that is both awesome and sad at the same time.

So Hime turned level 70 tonight on WoW. While she is not my first character in the game, she is my favorite and first I have gotten to level 70. Interestingly or sadly enough, it took 19 days, 6 hours, 40 minutes, and 30 seconds to get her to that level. Thankfully that time as been spread over two and a half years. \/\/007!

I picked the new 4th Edition Rule Books for Dungeons and Dragons last week and have been reading through the Player’s Handbook. Currently I’m mixed on what I’ve read. You can’t multi class till 10th level. A lousy DM might allow a 30th level fighter and significant chance to succeed at picking a lock. A lot skills have been condensed (for good and bad). You can customize character class powers to a decently granular level.

I’ll reserve final judgment until I play, but at this point playing 3.5 Edition with decent house rules might be the better option.

Bless me father for I have lived. Its been a very long time since my last real blog session.

Obviously a lot has been going on in my life, which is why I haven’t been blogging. Like John, I’ve spent most of my free time doing some soul searching and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, and obviously I’m not just talking about my professional career here.

For about the past year, I was officially whoring myself out on the internet. I joined eHarmony and went on dates with more than just few women. They were either insane, flighty, or just plain had nothing in common with me (matched on 29 areas of compatibility my ass). I finally got so fed up with dating that I canceled the service. I’m not closed to the idea, but I’m not actively looking for it anymore.

I also made another realization. I’m fast approaching an age where I will probably not want to have kids due to being the old parent who can’t keep up and enjoy it. It really sucks too because I have always wanted to have kids of my own. And its not that as a man I am physically in capable of impregnating a woman till the day I die. The problem is that when I do remarry, I prefer it be someone close to my age. That currently means I’m looking for someone between 25 to 35, the tail end of a woman’s biological clock. I guess I really shouldn’t worry about it so much, it always turns out for the best in the end.

On to more fun news.

Misty got her wisdom teeth taken out, and I helped her out the day of the surgery. Surprisingly she didn’t come out with much in the way of side effects (like the dry socket I got). This is prompted me to tell her that, “I hate you”, and, “I’m going to start calling you Wolverine since you heal as fast as he does.”

I got my car back from the shop. They had it done just under two weeks, and I have to say I was quite impressed with the work.

Memorial Day Weekend saw the annual family tradition of selling Lemonade at the St Dominic’s festival. The weather was decent, so we were extremely busy. We sold 1517 glasses over the festival (I didn’t keep track of days this year since I was exhausted each night). The most memorable point for me, was Sunday when Anthony and Ayla showed up to play at the festival. They ended up working for about an hour, Ayla helping Shantel on the front end of the stand serving customers and Anthony helping out in back squeezing and mixing glasses. It looks like in a few more years they will be helping us as festival workers.

Katy was kind enough to lend me her SUV, so I could go buy my new TV. I picked up a Samsung 40″ LCD with Full 1080 at 60Hz. It has 3 HDMI ports, 3 RCA ports, 2 Component ports, one 15-pin VGA port, and a partridge in a pear tree. I also picked up a Panasonic Home Theater in a Box with a 5 Disc upscaling DVD player. The mot coveted edition, was the PS3 and a copy of Rockband. For the record, the drums are hard, even on easy.

After getting disgusted with myself in the mirror, I preordered a copy of Wii Fit. I was quite depressed at my first weigh in, but have been devoting anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour each day to exercise with it. While it does make exercising interesting and sometimes fun (depending on the activity), do not be fooled into thinking this is just a game. It really does make me sweat and leaves my muscles sore after a workout. I’ve been using the Fit for about 11 days and I’ve dropped 13 pounds. Here is hoping I can stick with it.

On a final note, a coworker lent me a copy of The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide. While the book is mainly a satire, it surprisingly pointed out some interesting strategies regarding the game. Its also showed me there is an actual World RPS Society.

Peace Out.

So I’m sitting in Port Columbus (CMH) waiting for my flight, and I decide to pull out my Mac. After checking to make sure nothing is on fire at work, I decide to hit Digg up. Here is one of the more amusing stories that is not safe for work. After blowing a half hour on digg, I decided to play WoW for a bit. After freaking out the people around me with the game noise, I decided to blog about it. And yes, I know I’m weird.

Well aside from being my birthday, today is also a special day. Today is the birthday of the late great Douglas Adams, writer of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series. In honor of his birthday, and mine, I like to drink Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters. I do make some modifications to the recipe like using Apple Pucker in the place of Gatorade to make it taste a little better. The fact is, no matter what you do, it is still going to taste horrible. Drink it shot wise being sure to swallow the shot whole without tasting it (an art form in itself). You might also want to have a chaser handy.

I also want to send a thanks out to Katy for drinking and playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl with me tonight. You rock!

So for those of you who don’t live in Ohio, we got nailed by about a foot of snow Friday afternoon to Saturday night. Needless to say, I didn’t leave my apartment till Sunday morning.

Now I know what you are thinking, why in the world I brave the road conditions if they were so bad. Easy, my preorder for Super Smash Brother Brawl came in.

So I made my way out to the garage and spotted what I thought to be a problem. The snow removal service for my complex had cleaned the roads for the complex, however they had failed to plow the section in front of the garages. This left about 4 feet of snow about a foot high butting up next to my garge door. I opened the door, got in the car and said fuck it. I floored it and plowed my car out on the first try. Woot!

So I’m driving down the street. Its mostly plowed but really just a lane of packed powder. Those rally racing skill I picked up playing Gran Turismo really paid off. Although I’m not sure you can get rally tires on a Mazda 3 4-door.

So I popped into Gamestop to pick up my game. Here is the conversation as I was checking out.

GS Employee: Hey Mario Kart is coming out in April would…

Me: (Cutting him off) Sure. What’s the minimum for pre-order

GS Employee: $5

Me: Do that.

I slide my way back home, and slip the game into the console. It was like an old friend coming home on a new console. So I pick up and Wii Mote and Nuchuck and wasted my entire afternoon. Well I wouldn’t call it a waste, but it was fun.

So about the game. The classic mode is everything that made the series great. All of the characters I care about are there. Some of the new ones are pretty cool too (Solid Snake, Sonic, and Zero Suit Samus to name a few). The story mode however does lack something, namely a cohertent story. I mean my nephew, who started middle school, could write a better fan fiction story than the thing they threw together. But let’s be honest, if you bought this game for the story you should be drug out in the street and shot.

So are you still wondering what a donkey kick. Its a kick that Zelda had in Melee, and presumably has in Brawl, that can knock you off the board for good at only 30% damage. Its what I like to refer to as her “I Win” button. Granted any decent player can avoid it, but it only takes one time lucky to feel the pain.

Speaking of the “I Win” button, I think I’ve mashed it so may times using different characters this afternoon that I have become numb to the carnage. God did I miss Smash Brothers.

Ernest Gary Gygax

June 27, 1938 to March 4, 2008 

Tributes by Penny-Arcade and Order of the Stick.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/29/worst-parents-in-the-world-punk-kid-into-thinking-he-got-an-xbox/