Oh...HAI!

Sorry for the lack of content the last couple of days; I've been at home taking care of my wife.

I had to pick her up from work on Monday because she didn't think she could make it home due to extreme dizziness. Then on Tuesday, she seemed to feel better, so I went to work. But we ended up in the ER on Wed morning, and I've been home ever since.

The doc seemed to think that she has a case of labyrnthitis or some inner ear type thing. She's pretty unsteady on her feet and had nausea and vomiting on Monday.

So, anyways, keep her in your prayers (and me as well as I try to be a good nurse to her....now where did I put my tape?)

What have I been up to?

I've been questing with Daxie recently. Mostly, it's due to her needing Valiance Expedition rep for the discount to epic flying, but also, it's a fairly good source of money.

So, while I have more than enough to buy the goal right now (4250 gold), I find that I'm so cheap that I'll put off training Artesian flying until I get the full discount. I'm about 2k rep short of Exalted, so two or three days of questing should finish it off.

That starts me thinking, what's next? I'm thinking that Vanco might get the call to continue leveling. Of course, I'll continue to do the JC daily and the Sons of Hodir quests on Daxie, but I think I'll put more effort into playing Vanco with a specific emphasis on tanking.

I still want to get my enchanter (Nitrodax) up to full level so she can get geared up and run Heroics and be a good source of DE material. I also would like to solo some of the BC instances with her. I don't know why, I just would.

And poor Daxynn, my level 39 pally, is begging me to level her so we can see Azeroth before the great sundering. Still don't know if that is going to happen...

Speaking of sundering, I have also been thinking about what I want to do when Catacalysm comes out (if I'm still playing).

I definitely will roll a Worgen; I mean, come on! I gotta!

I may roll a Goblin over on Suramar; we'll just have to see.

I personally like the fact that Oldlands will be redone and brought up to the same graphics level as Outlands and Coldlands. I also like the fact that some old instances will have Heroic versions. I like the new class/race combos. I like what has been hinted at regarding skill points in professions. And I like the simpler itemization stats.

I'm not sure what to think about the hunter changes, but I'm sure I'll adjust and deal with it.

I guess I'm not in the "They're ruining the game" group; in fact, I tend to accept whatever Blizzard decides to do with the game - roll with the punches. I mean, I can either whine and fret and crab about a game I enjoy playing or I can just learn the new way and continue to enjoy playing it.

I don't care that the lore is "all screwed up."
I don't care that my favorite spec is nerfed all to hell.
I don't care that all of the old stuff is remade and recycled.
I don't care that the "noobs" have it so easy these days.
I don't care that the raids have been retuned for the Morons & Slackers.
I don't care that new level cap toons don't have to "work" for their epics.
/shrug

I do care that I am able to enjoy the game.
I do care that I am still able to have fun in the game.
I do care that I am able to see the cool, new stuff that Blizzard is making for the game.

The day I stop having fun and enjoying the game (April 1st of this year) I'll quit. Maybe for a while, like this last time, or maybe for good (we'll see how SWtOR pans out..../grin).

Personally, I think it's ridiculous to be all up in arms about class/race combos, about recycling the Oldlands continents, new allies to the Horde and Alliance, new itemization, new blah blah blah, twisted lore, and the sad death of our lost youth. Whaa whaa whaa. Get over it already.

Things change, either we change to match the new reality, or we pine away in the corner wishfully longing for the "good" ole days. Let me tell ya, they weren't all that.....

/scratches head

Ok, so I posted yesterday about how I broke the 194 lb mark....and last night, I weighed in at 192.8 lbs.

And this morning....191.8 lbs!

I didn't think I was doing that much to lose weight....maybe...just maybe, I've been full of crap.

And, well, you can figure out the rest....

The Melting continues

Over the weekend, I dropped below the 194 lb mark.

Now, of course, my weight fluctuates by a couple of pounds within a day and from day to day, but I'm pretty encouraged by seeing the low point of the swing moving down.

So, what have I been doing to drop this tonnage?

1. Walking. I try to get in 4-5 walks/week if not more. The walks are mainly for my wife and I to spend a little time together and to run some energy out of Denali, but they also serve to run some fat out of me!

2. Portion control. I like to eat good food, and I can make some gooooooood food. I haven't really changed what I eat; I just try to eat a little less of it.

3. Eating better. I just said that I haven't really changed what I eat, but I have changed a little - more salads and cut out soda. I also can't remember the last time I had a beer.

4. Embracing hunger. Like most people, I don't like being hungry. But guess what, I'm not going to die from being hungry. Yes, I'll be uncomfortable. Yes, it hurts a bit. Yes, I'm tempted to gorge. But, I keep reminding myself why I'm feeling the hunger and the benefits of guttin' it out.

5. Stopping snacking. Along with #4, I have stopped the between meals snacking, with the exception of my mid morning snack around 9:30 (I have breakfast at 4:30 am and lunch at 11 am so the time in between is a bit long). I used to eat whenever I got hungry. No more!

6. Cutting out dessert. I love desserts. Cheesecake, torts, tiramisu, pie, you name it, I love it. I've allowed the occasional dessert, recently, but I've tried to cut back on my main meal if I'm planning on having dessert. For the most part, I've just been skipping dessert.

That's about it. My changes have been more of the lifestyle changes, and I hope that I'm able to continue them after I've reached my target weight (175 or so lbs).

BTW, I would like to be below 190 when I leave for Hawaii on Sep. 16th; wish me luck!

Star Wars - The Old Republic

Teurion is a huge Star Wars fan; when SWTOR comes out, he'll be on it like a chicken on a junebug. Like white on rice. Like a politician on your tax dollars.

So, we naturally started talking about the game and what we'd like to see in it. I came up with the following ideas (so, George, I know you're reading....listen up!):

1. The universe...must....be.....HUGE. We're talking on the order of EVE Online and bigger. So big that you just can't physically explore all of it...ever....no matter how much time you have. Yeah, that big.

2. Ship piloting (and combat) needs to be more like Freelancer and not like EVE Online. Let me pew pew pew while manually controlling the ship just like a real fighter pilot! If multiple characters can be on the ship, then let one drive and the others pew pew or fix stuff or whatever, but don't make the piloting something mundane like set an orbit, commence firing type deal. I want to fly around and shoot stuff up!!

3. Make travel between systems instant (hyperdrive) and travel within systems potentially fast. Freelancer implemented this with Jump Gates between systems, and trade lanes + the cruise engine inside systems. I love those ideas. On an aside, it would be really nice if WoW flight was instant now also, kinda like an option you could turn on and off at will.

4. Worlds need to be fully explorable. They don't have to be survivable, just explorable. If you decide to strike out on your own, don't be surprised if you wind up as some yeti's meal. Also, a big warning sign needs to be posted: Warning - Gravity works here. If you get caught in some planet's gravitational pull and your ship isn't meant for planetary flying...oops, you're goin' down. Yeah, that means no straffing the whomp rats with your Tie Fighter.

5. PvP NEEDS to be optional. One of my chief complaints about EVE Online is that PvP is not optional; sure, you can stay in the high security zones, but if some nub wants to sacrifice his ship to the cops, he can blow you away and there's nothing you can do about it. I prefer the WoW model of Normal/PvP servers where you can pick and choose to PvP if you want.

6. The tank/healer/dps model needs to stay in WoW. I would prefer that cooperative stuff (raids, for lack of a better term) focus on coordinating different attack teams or players, with everyone managing their own health and resources, but at the same time, taking care to coordinate with the team. I like the idea of five people doing something in a ship in cooperative fashion that might look something like the t/h/d model - a ship's pilot, a couple of gunners, a repair team - generic roles that any class could fulfill.

7. Progression is just as viable for solo play as it is for group play. Or...there is no end game because the universe is SO FREAKIN' HUGE. I could see solo players and group players grouping up in fighter squadrons, battleships, planetary battles, vehicular combat...kind of like the idea of solo play in a group; individuals would have to coordinate with each other but would be responsible for their own self. See #6.

8. No loot drops. WHAT??? HAVE YOU GONE MAD???? no, I haven't. I would volunteer that taking random loot drops off boss mobs out of the game would foster more pure game play - ie, people would do what they enjoyed instead of what they don't really enjoy and therefore, have more contentment with the game and stay longer. Progression doesn't have to be vertical; it could just as easily be horizonal in that in this system, X weapons are the bomb, but in that system, they don't do squat and vise versa. So, you'd have to gear yourself to the system where you'll be spending your time.

9. (got this one from another blog) Everything you do should matter in the long run. This is an old complaint from many long time MMOers. Farmer Bill has you take care of his wolf problem, but mysteriously, he has the same problem when you bring your 10,000 alts through the area. And what did you accomplish in your ultimate quest by solving his problem? A little rep? A little XP? A little loot that will be replaced in a day or two? uh, no. Phasing solves some of this issue, but in the end, quests that don't advance the main story (or even a side one for cryin' out loud) are just fodder for leveling and money.

I'm sure there are more ideas coming down the pipe, but I'm out of time. Hopefully no one has come here looking for actual information on SWtOR, cause I don't have any. (read the title of the blog.....).

Two Raids, One Day

Mon-Thu, I cook dinner. I get off work at 2:30 pm and am usually home by three; since my wife doesn't get home until 5:30 or so, (and since I'm a pretty good cook), I have the responsibility of making dinner those nights.

Of course, I cook on the weekends as well.

One of the things that I like to do (but don't do it very often) is to make crockpot stuff. Throw it together in the morning (both my wife and I take part in this at different times) and eat it in the evening. No afternoon prep time involved.

So, why all of that? Well, last night was a crockpot night, and after work, I got to go to Naxx25 for the Military quarter, Saph, and KT on Daxie. It was a pure PuG that had its share of wipes, but, all in all, it was pretty good (mostly due to Teurion's tanking). I picked up a wand and something else, I forgot what...

Then, at 8:30, our guild leader asked me if I could raid Ulduar. I told him I had an hour and a half, which he said was enough. So, Daxie went off to Ulduar25.

We two..three?..shot Flame Leviathan and one shot Razorscale, Ignis, and XT. Daxie picked up some gloves and something else (yeah, forgot that too - maybe a dps chest).

There were two things that I was reminded of during the, what turned out to be, two hours in the instance:

1. When you tell people that you have 20 minutes left before you have to go, someone will D/C or go AFK and the raid leader will insist on waiting....and waiting....and waiting for them. My goal was to leave at 10:10 at the latest, and I finally got out of there at 10:30. Not so bad if you get up at 5 or 6 am, but I get up at 4 am. Yeah....the suck.

2. Speaking of suck, I get sucked into the computer for the entire raid. I don't look up. I don't respond to questions. I totally ignore everything going on IRL. I focus 100% on that computer screen. And I don't really like that. Not for two hours anyway.

So, while I will still occasionally raid, I will make sure to let everyone know when I need to leave (and stick with it), and I will make sure that I don't raid all that often so I still interact with the real world while playing WoW.

500th Post

This is more of an accomplishment for me rather than for my readers; although there are some of you who have slogged through all of those posts, and you have my sympathy and admiration. You also may want to get back on your meds....

Some stats for you:
There have been over 16,000 visits to the Nut House from nearly 9,000 unique visitors. So, almost 9K people have been influenced by my ramblings, so my zombie army should be pretty stout if I can get them all collected up in one place.

After my home page, the most viewed posts are:
My Healing Addons
Heroic Hunter drops for WotLK
Heroic Priest drops for WotLK

As a side note, my Aggro is Mine (The Tank Song) has over 100,000 views on YouTube.

But, enough about me! What do you think about me? You may now help me break my arm patting myself on the back....