Fun fun fun

Oh, before I forget, I haven't had any time to play since Sunday night. I'm looking forward to playing some WoW with my friends tonight. I need the relaxation.. and a few beers.

The destroyer of worlds

I have intentionally left out the minutiae of my life on purpose. Yes, some of my posts include some petty little things that I thought others might enjoy. But, on the whole, I leave out the gory details of my personal life. I have a few reasons for doing this. The first is foremost reason is that my life, as a whole, is lacking in drama. I like it this way. But, if there were drama, I would only discuss my part of it and would still not be as forthcoming as other blogs that I read.

I like to look at other peoples blogs on occasion. I was looking at other peoples' profiles last night and came across one that struck me as decidedly strange. Not strange in a Marilyn Manson sort of way, but strange in that the blogger was baring her soul about an affair she wanted to have. This struck me just plain silly. This person live within a 15 miles radius of me. Scary. I'm not surprised really, though. My current residence is a little too "home town" for me. I'll get into that in another entry.

It could be that I'm more private than others, but baring your soul, with your real name and the fact that you were married and had children, about an affair is just plain stupid. What the hell? If I were in that position, I wouldn't chance that my spouse would stumble on my blog and find out. After reading some of the entries there, I can honestly see where the passive/aggressive part comes from.

Noone is perfect

Yeah, yeah.. I missed a day. Sue me. Work is kicking my ass right now. We are gearing up for a complete remodel of our office. This wouldn't be such a huge deal if I we weren't changing out our furniture in the process. To top it off, I, in my infinite wisdom, pitched a new VoIP phone switch to our management and got buyoff on it. To make it all happen, we have to re-cable the entire office for the new desk layout, upgrade or Cisco Catalyst 6509, and change over to the new phone switch in the next 90 days.

I think this is where the stress is coming from. I haven't been sleeping much either. Ah well. What can you do? That's what coffee is for and I can sleep when I'm dead. On the personal front, we are gearing up for the Holidays. We're hosting the family at our house. I'm sick and tired of moving stuff, but I think we're the home stretch. It will be good to relax over the vacation I'm taking before Christmas.

Sleep, Perchance to dream

Some days I really hate my job. Today is one of those days.

I am in the process of re-architecting some automation scripts that I built several years ago. The end goal is to make them all aware of holidays, or days where the business isn't open. I'm in the final stages of this rebuild. What does this mean? It means that the 2 most important processes are ready to test. I went to bed at 10:15pm last night and got up at 4:30am so that I could be in the office to support my end users. Do the math. That's not much sleep. Luckily, the problem this morning was minor and I was able to quickly troubleshoot and resolve it. I'm hoping to not have to be here as early tomorrow. I'm still going to get up, but I won't need to get up so damn early.

Today is going to be rather a long one, so coffee will be my friend for the time being. I've taken on a consulting gig for a friend's company. The extra cash will be nice, but I have this nagging "I don't want to work any more than I have to" attitude right now. Ah well.. such is life..

New template

I think that I like this new template. I hate those big, huge gutters at the sides. They add nothing to the visual appeal to the site and only really serve to hurt my eyes.

Where's my ice bag..

I spent the entire weekend moving things and getting the house ready for Christmas. Saturday was spent doing a little homework and a lot of lugging of boxes. I also took the kids to see Santa Claus at the fire station. The kids enjoyed themselves though.

We're in the final stages getting the house ready. I'm hoping that next weekend isn't more of the same. My back is sore...

The pitter patter of little feet

It's Saturday morning. I'm still in my flannel pajamas because it's cold. I'm lazy and I don't want to shower, yet. This is one of the last school-time Saturdays that I'll have. I'm not going to miss them. I have a small, 1-2 page paper to write for my team project and a weekly summary to post. I'm already feeling the nagging guilt about it. I'd rather spend time with my family and finish the honey-do's so I can relax. What to do?

Instead, I'm posting here and bitching about the fact that I feel like I have too much to do on a day that I should be taking it easy. That's how I really feel about weekends. I should be able to get up and watch a college football game without having to worry about writing papers, cleaning out the garage or haning lights. Actually, the cleaning out of the garage and lights aren't that big a deal. I'm going that when it thermometer rises above 36 degrees Fahrenheit. It's a good thing that I only have 2 actual weeks of school and 1 day of class left. I also have 3 weeks of vacation from that in between. I'm going to kick ass and get the assignments done for the latter weeks over Christmas so I can relax in the new year. Sounds like a plan to me.

Trade 27 Billion? Are you sure?

As someone who works for an investment company, I'm always aware of how costly a mistake can be. Luckily, I don't have to deal directly with trades. I saw this story on Slashdot.org. Scary as hell, if you asked me.

Spread 'em.

Is it wrong to not have any remorse for the man that was shot on the jetway in Miami? I don't think so, if the news reports are true. Sounds to me that he should have done what the martials told him to do and sorted out the rest after he was in custody.

WTF is "Elbow & Send?"

I know that I've mentioned that I read Wil Wheaton's blog. Well, he's got a couple of friends. Shane Nickerson, who's blog I don't read but might. Annie Sertich, however, is funny as hell. Give her blog a read.

Suckage

That would be about me. Not one day after I say that I'm going to do at least 1 post a day, I skip one. I have to give myself a bit of a break though. I'm fighting off some sort of cold and have felt like shit for the last couple of days.

I can handle the sore throat. It's the dizziness and fatigue that are getting me. I left work early, ran the errands that I had and then went home. After dinner, I took a nap before my daughter's 2nd grade music program. It was adorable if you're interested.

I have a secret to share. I'm a web-comic and machinima junkie. I found a couple of things to make me laugh last night and this morning. The first is from Penny Arcade. It's a blog post about Tycho's new baby. I don't want to spoil it, but click here and scroll down to the Tanooki Suit entry. Funny stuff. I have a son and know what he's talking about. It looks like safety procedures where skipped while the urine cannon was loaded.

The second funny was at GU Comics. I have a penchant for low-brow humor. Go figure.

The light in that tunnel isn't a train

For those that know me, you already know that I have been attending the University of Phoenix to finally get my bachelor's degree. I started in October 2003 and will be done in January 2006. This will happily mark the end of my undergraduate experience part deux. It's been a lot harder and a lot easier than I expected it to be. I'll get into the how's and why's in a moment. First, it's important to understand my experience with the educational system. It's shaped my views and outlook on my current situation.

School, until college that is, was never all that difficult for me. My background was such that I was very motivated to do well in the eyes of my teachers. I worked to get my assignments done and had good grades all through my elementary and middle school years. It was in high school that I realized that I didn't have to work as hard as others. It could be said that I coasted toward the end, but ended up graduating from high school with a 3.89 GPA. Not bad, considering that I didn't have to spend a lot of time doing homework and I completely blew off a large project my junior year and got my only C in any class. It was an F in the middle of the year, so I did pretty well.

When I hit college at the University of Washington, I soon found out quite a few things. Some I suspected. Others were new. The biggest shock was that I actually HAD to study. I thought I wanted to be an engineer of some kind. The competition was fierce. I ended up barely making it into the Mechanical Engineering Department when I realized that I didn't want to be an engineer. Luckiliy, events helped me on that path and my first attempt ended with me leaving the U.W. 32 credits short of my degree.

My decision to enter the University of Phoenix (UoP) was born out of a missed job opportunity and my wife's urging. I didn't want a repeat of my experience at the U.W. I also didn't want a degree that I wouldn't use. My decision to pursue a B.S in Information Technology was, in retrospect, the right choice. I mentioned that I would get into the why's and how's of my gauge of the difficulty. The most difficult part was time management. For the last 2 years, I've been going almost non-stop. Here's a brief synopsis of my typical weekday.

• 4:50AM - Get out of bed.
• 5:15AM - Sit down in front of computer to read previous nights posts (UoP uses news groups for online discussion).
• 5:45AM - Leave for work, a 40 mile drive from my home to the office in Seattle.
• 7:00AM - Get to work.
• 11:30AM to 12:30PM - Work on posts, readings and assignments when I could.
• 4:15PM - Leave for home.
• 6:00PM - Get home, have dinner, spend time with wife & kids
• 7:30PM - Get kids ready for bed, read stories, etc.
• 8:15PM - Finish up posts, work on homework, team projects, etc
• 10:30PM - Go to bed.

Rinse and repeat for most weekdays. Saturday nights were usually free and Sunday nights I was able to get more done. This schedule was DRAINING, with a capital D. Suprisingly, the easiest parts were the actual work. Yes, the papers and assignments could be tough, but as a whole, they weren't as difficult for me as for my classmates. The curriculum worked well with my chosen career and enhanced my skills.

I am now on the brink of being finished and actually having a 4-year degree. The only real regret that I've ever had will now be gone. I'm currently wrestling with what to do next. My wife and I have talked about a Masters or MBA. I'll do what I can to get that going. I am, however, going to enjoy not having the UoP cloud hanging over me.

If only it were that easy..

Yes, yes. I know it's been over a month since I've put an entry in here. Not a day goes by that I don't look at my Blogger dashboard and think to myself.."Self, you should put something up." As it painfully obvious, I don't often listen to myself. So.. I made a resolution. Let's see if I can stick with it. Here it is: I will post an average of once per day, starting with today. This post doesn't count.

I've found that the simple act of writing something down has a tremendous effect on my ability to retain information. In the same vein, I'm using this post to tell my wandering subconscious to put something up every day. It doesn't really matter what, but it does have to be at least a single, coherent thought. I've read too many blogs that simply ramble on about too many things. They invariably make me run screaming from the room. My blog will not do this.

We'll see how it goes from there. Without further ado, here goes...

The Who?

I found this the other day while looking at the "Sites of Note" or whatever it's called on the Blogger dashboard. The Boy Who Heard Music is Pete Townshend's, legendary guitarist for The Who, personal blog. I've always been marginal fan, but I'm intrigued by his blog and have started to poke around. Interesting stuff...

The end of an era...

My gaming life has been a long and enjoyable one. I started playing MMORPG's in 1998 during the Asheron's Call beta. At the time, I had a couple of friends that I wanted to get involved, so I turned them on to the open beta and we've been gaming together ever since.

In Asheron's Call, we created a guild called The Ometh Empire. The most industrious of us, and the one with the most disposable income, created and hosted a web site for the guild. After almost 2 years, we moved on. We met up again for Asheron's Call 2 and created The Ometh Dominion. Turbine and Microsoft ran AC2 into the ground, and we moved on again.

During our time in AC2, I took over the administration and ownership of our domain, ometh.com, an built a PostNuke site for the guild. I managed it until World of Warcraft came out and I turned the site back over to the original creator.

In World of Warcraft, he created the guild and things work going well until he decided to open up recruiting and expand the membership. All was relatively well until recently. At last look, the guild had near 240 accounts and 300 members (the difference being people with multiple characters in the guild). Now the drama begins. The "Old Guard", or the people who have been around since we started the game, are trying their best to keep the guild a family friendly place. No cursing in guild chat, no ninja-looting, etc. In reality though, people are acting without thinking and are way to quick to enforce the rule. Others aren't willing to enforce the rules as all. The guild isn't how I remember it being, nor is it what I recognize as familiar and enjoyable.

The drama deepens, however. I have some very close friends who weren't treated well when we were small. A couple of members were openly hostile and rude. Keep in mind that the friends that I'm talking about here could be trusted, by me, to care for my children if I died. In other words, they are close friends. I encouraged them to play this game so we could finally (they are Mac users) play together. They dropped the guild once over the first incident. Now, with the growth and the growing dissatisfaction with the guild leadership (of which I'm marginally a part), they left for good. I helped them create a new guild and all of my alts are there.

Here's my dilemna: I can't stand to log into my main right now because of the constant hassle. I don't want to stop playing him though. My partner in crime, when it comes to games, work and most other things, is in the same boat as I am. We're both fed up but don't want to drop our characters out of the guild for fear of the shake-up it would cause. The other 2 members of our inner circle are a bit flighty and have left or been absent before. We have held up the guild in the past during their absence. My fear is that our leaving will be the cause of the guilds collapse. I know it's irrational, but that's the problem. Do I leave and be able to play a character that I enjoy again, or do I leave it in and be annoyed when I log in with him?

Only time will tell.

( Oh, by the way, I'm considering the fact that I've just written a very long post about a game, while my previous post about my children and how to raise them wasn't long at all. I suppose that I know what the answer is to this small, gaming problem and I'm trying to rationalize it. It should be an easy decision. My kids and how to better raise them isn't as simple to me and I don't have a clear path to get there. More thought required there.... )

An exercise in frustration

As I sit here and type this entry, my wife, mother-in-law and kids are playing Trouble®. In particular, my son is having a rough time tonight. I'm sure he's tired and doesn't feel well. The fact that he's yelling at everything is driving me nuts. It's a good thing that my wife has the patience tonight. I think I lost mine at around 3pm today while we were shopping at IKEA.

How do I teach my children how to behave in public and not yell at them? I just dont' know some times. I often feel like raising my voice is the only way that they'll listen. I don't want to teach them that yelling is the answer, but how do I walk that fine line? It's always harder than you think it'll be, that's for sure.

Anyway, the beer that I just opened is cold and writing this is making me feel better. I guess the venting is what helps...

The One Fez

As I've mentioned before, I've been playing World of Warcraft. Some friends from my guild, The OmethDominion, have split. I'm playing up some alts and am helping them with their new guild, The One Fez. It's very tongue-in-cheek, but should be a good time.

WWdN: In Exile

It's been a while since I've posted an update. Suffice it to say that my first real foray into blogging hasn't gone so well. :-) Actually, I haven't really had time to say much. There have been times that I've wanted to say something, but actually pulling the trigger and hitting the "Blog This!" button hasn't worked.

I don't recall if I've posted this before, but I've really come to enjoy TV's Wil Wheaton. I started reading his site about 2 years ago and have been impressed with his writing style and passion. I may not always agree with him politically, but his passion and intelligence never cease to amaze me. If you haven't read his site, give it a look. (I should note that he completely hosed his original site and is temporarily using TypePad to host is "site in exile."

Take the "Labor" out of Labor Day

Well.. it's Monday morning. Another Labor Day has come and gone. Luckily, there wasn't much work to be done this year. We had initially planned on heading over to Ellensburg for Jason's semi-annual Labor Day BBQ. We didn't make it, of course. The Wife and kids were sick with some sort of nasty cold, and it made for a slow weekend.

On a brighter note, I did some fun stuff. With everyone else in the house tired and going to bed early, I got to play World of Warcraft for quite a while on Saturday and Sunday night. If you're into PC games and haven't played an MMO before, I'd recommend this one. My guild, OmethDominion, has been doing quite a few instance runs to get set pieces for member. Personally, I've been in Stratholme approximately 10 times. None of my pieces have dropped. NONE!! I have gotten some good drops though, so no complaints here. Here's hoping that the items start dropping soon so we can run The Scholomance just as many times.

I also test rode a Honda Shadow Spirit 750. It was a damn nice ride. When I was a kid, I rode motocross bikes competitively. I haven't been into it much since I stopped riding in 1990. I've wanted a ride bike (and buy one) for the last couple of years, but haven't been able to get one yet. That time is coming soon, though. That ride on Saturday sealed the deal.

Back from San Diego

Well.. I'm back from San Diego and VoiceCon 2005. San Diego is a beautiful city, but I didn't get ot see much of it. I stayed in a pretty nice hotel, but it was about a 15 minute walk to the conference location. The content was decent, but I wanted more detail. There was just too much to cover to really dig deeper. Of course, that's the goal of most of these conferences. You go there thinking you're going to learn everything, but you leave with more questions to answer on your own time.

I enjoyed it though. Despite the new questions, I'm more informed now than I was. That's what made it all worthwhile.