Loose Ends

I called the radio station on my way to work to get in touch with the phone screener gal. Turns out I won a pair of Spurs Tickets for my pumpkin story. I think I might take Colin, have a little father/son time whooping and hollering at a sporty thing. I’m not a big sports fan, but Colin likes them and I like having fun with the kiddo. I’ll stop by the radio station on Friday and pick them up.

Work today was a bit of a grind. It just seemed to be one angry call after another of people wondering why the issue they reported earlier in the week. It needed to be Friday three days ago.

When I finally made it home, DeAnn called me to say she was leaving early and would be home soon. ^_^ I tossed dinner in the oven and it was ready shortly after she got home and settled down. We played with Clara a little bit. She was having fun getting bonked on the head with her ball, running and picking the ball up and handing it to one of us. We tried to get her to simply roll the ball, but I don’t think she got that concept. She’s also been saying more words lately. She learned “book” and “cracker” recently, and very plainly tells us when she wants a drink (“cuppy” or “poppy” – haven’t figured out the difference yet), banana (“nana”), cookie (“cooky”), when she wants to be picked up (“P” or “picky”) and when she has already dropped a #2 (“poo-poo…”). Getting ready for the vocabulary explosion.

I started my game night by getting the rest of the recall scrolls and ate them on WHM. Yay! I also came up with a way to catch up to everyone in party tonight. First I did a few campaign ops to get the calculation right, then I popped the last charge on my empress band and threw it away. I bought an emperor band before heading out to Whitegate and logged out to conserve time on the charge. Once I knew everyone was online and gathered, I logged back in and we went to our camp. There were already 2 BLM there killing rats. -.-

Ya know, its sad that the game has come to this. Everyone wants lots of BLM for their endgame stuff, but not a single party will invite them anymore. Even with the update to increase magic burst damage and accuracy, people would rather TP burn with a party full of melees and a BRD than invite BLM. So what are BLMs to do now but solo? The problem is that there are only so many places a BLM can solo or manaburn, so the competition gets pretty cutthroat for camps. I’ve dealt with this before: rude JP players ordering us in /say or spamming me with /tells in autotranslate to “Leave,” asshats crashing your camp to skill up – the list goes on and on. And it’s caused by the nonexistence of BLM party invites and utter lack of places to solo or manaburn.

At any rate, one of the two BLMs left almost immediately when out party arrived. The other one hung around, brought a WHM pet out and tried to claim mobs before we could get to them. Ame tried to pull from the other side of the tunnels in an attempt to keep the exp flowing, but the rats over there like to run off and get reinforcements, and drag us through chiggoe-infested areas. She died a few times when she was just too far away to help. She also pulled a Lv83 NM that pops over there. That wasn’t pretty either… Eventually we established camp where we normally do, more or less on top of the other BLM and drove them out to the far end camp where Ame was pulling from. They eventually found out why we didn’t want to be over there and warped out. I feel bad, but a group of 5 people leveling is greater than one person leveling. We nearly ground out the entire level, and we’ll all ding next party.

Tomorrow is Friday, and not a moment too soon. I’ve been so tired all week from the time change. I’m like a zombie for the first three hours of the day. Hopefully I can get my clock properly set this weekend and next week will be a little easier on me.

Total Recall

The morning was absolutely insane at work. No major issues, but it seemed everyone was having a small problem all at once and deciding to call about it at the same time. I was on the phone for nearly 3 hours straight, and the queue was so backed up that I had to call for help to our manager to get the line down. Later that day there was a fire drill. We were expecting one this week for our building, and all the contractors were designated to stay behind and man the phones. x.X; How will I know what to do in case of a real fire? LOL At least it was somewhat calmed down by the afternoon hours.

No call back from the radio station. I had left a message with the phone screener from the morning show yesterday when I got home from work. I’ll call them tomorrow morning during the show and see if I can get a hold of her. Curious to see what I won. :P

The day was absolutely gorgeous. I set up the sprinkler today after spreading out some fertilizer on the lawn and in the bushes. Clara saw the sprinkler and immediately decided to go run in it. Completely adorable. By the time she was done, she was soaked and squealing happily. The sprinkler has a pretty good range on it – it gets pretty much the whole front yard without getting the neighbors, house or street too much. DeAnn likes to poke fun at me “watering the house,” but I’m just trying to help it grow.

After a dinner of grilled burgers, I sat down at got to work on the next chapter of my CCNA book. I feel confident in my grasp of the last chapter: I scored a 98% on the post test for it. The next chapter is a little more in-depth, but still more or less a concepts chapter. All about the history of TCP/IP and the network model developed by the Department of Defense, and how that model relates to the OSI model. I got about halfway through the chapter. Not as far as I’d have liked, but I’m already ahead of schedule, and it was a good stopping point. I can’t help but think that the time I’m buying now by going through this conceptual stuff will be helpful when I’m slogging through all the hands-on stuff.

When I was done, I heard that they needed a WHM at Dynamis, but I really was not in the mood to do that after over 2 hours of intense mental effort. I decided instead to get the quests for the new WHM spells complete (or at least all the running around complete). The quests take you all over the past to check certain spots or talk to certain NPCs and get key items. I switched over to BLM to do these quests since I have the nifty new spell to whisk me back to my home country in the past, which allows me to teleport out to anywhere using my Allied Notes. My only death involved me aggroing every single Ignis Djinn around the tower for the Recall-Pashh scroll. At least I got the key item. I was able to claim my Recall-Meriph scroll before logging for the night.

Congratulations are in order: after many, many months of trying, Dynamis – Beaucedine finally gave up the goods and Jevot got her Attestation of Harmony. Hooray for going back to one Beaucedine run per schedule cycle.

Tomorrow is static night, and since I’m pretty far ahead of schedule in my studies, I think I can manage. I've accumulated more deaths on my BLM and I was already the furthest behind – now I've fallen even further behind everyone. I’m going to have to figure out some way of catching up before we level up again...

You Win!

On my way to work this morning, the rock station was having its usual “Topic Tuesday.” The topic this week: The Big Win. They were looking for people who won big, like thousands of dollars, or won completely off the wall things. I decided to call in with the pumpkin I won. Backing up… When I was 8 or so, there was a contest at the local mall to guess the weight of this gigantic pumpkin. If you got the weight right, you won the pumpkin (and a $50 mall gift certificate). Well, I came within a quarter of a pound on a guess and won the enormous gourd. Turns out they like my call so much, they left a message on my answering machine telling me they want to send me a prize. ^_^ I won again!

Another day flew by at work. I decided to use the downtime I have in between calls to study my CCNA materials. I was able to finish Chapter 1 and take several of the chapter labs and post tests. I did pretty well on them, so I think I’m getting the hang of this stuff… I wish I had enough room (and privacy) at my desk to brink my notebook so I could take notes too, but that just wouldn’t fly. I’m eager to move briskly, but not eager enough to lose my job over it.

I did some yard work when I got home. I pulled up all the weeds from around the dying bush next to the door and tilled all the ground around it with the cultivator I bought this weekend. It’s amazing how much trash there was not even an inch under the ground. When our house was built, KB went through so many contractors that I guess the lot was never cleaned up between build crews. The whole “Not my mess, not my job” mentality… And instead of cleaning up like they should have, the landscapers just planted on top of the trash. The result: wire sheathing, nails, bits of insulation, chunks of rotten drywall, wooden stakes and all manner of construction debris have choked the bushes and portions of lawn to death. The utter lack of rainfall didn’t help, but some of these sections were never healthy to begin with. I’ll have to till up the rest of the ground around the bushes and see what else was left behind.

I’m nearly half a week ahead of my study plan for the CCNA, so I decided I could afford to static tonight. I logged in, we assembled in Whitegate and went back out to the rat camp. Amelisa has come down with a bad cold, though, so we didn’t party long before she needed to go lay down. We popped our exp rings, though, so we all dinged 60 before disbanding. I put on my hat and wizard’s robe… -.^

I decided to round out the evening getting the new warp spell for BLM. It teleports you to your home nation in the past – really handy for hitting up campaign battles. The quest requires one game day to pass, so I spent that time getting all the new gate crystals for the new teleport (called “Recall”) spells for the past. I’ll get the recall scrolls next time I have goof off time online.

Tomorrow is another study night. I’m finishing up on Chapter 1, taking all the rest of the tests and making sure I get this foundation before moving on. I’ll probably do some reading at work, but I don’t want to skip out on taking notes, so I’ll need to limit how much of my studying I do there.

Broad Daylight Robbery

I’d just like to go on the record saying that I hate Daylight Savings. Its one of the worst ideas ever conceived. If not the worst: at least in the top five, right along side the one legged bar stool and tight-rolling jeans. Google it sometime, when you have nothing better to do. It costs more money in energy costs, results in hundreds of billions of dollars in opportunity costs with domino effect of late workers and congested highways. Even the act of spending 10 minutes twice a year of setting your clocks back and forth costs America over $1.8 billion.

The pinch was felt this morning. I just couldn’t get out of bed or move fast enough once I had. Colin missed the bus. On top of it all, it was raining. Great for the lawn, but it just added to that dragging feeling. At least the day seemed to fly by. The rain let up about an hour before I hit the road – just enough time to dry up and make for smooth sailing home.

I played with Colin and Clara for about a half hour before DeAnn came home. When she got home, I made up some fish sticks and shrimp with French fries and carrots, and sat down for an evening in the CCNA book. I sat down and took notes for about two and a half hours. I almost got through the entire explanation of the OSI Reference Model: I got half way through the Data Link layer and I couldn’t remember what I had just read 10 minutes prior.

After my studying, I hung out with D for the rest of the evening watching her play FFX and helping her unlock the Magus Sisters and Yuna’s Nirvana. It was nice to just hang out and be close. I mean, I love FFXI, but it doesn’t offer the same closeness with D as sitting on the same couch, looking at the same screen and having my arm around her.

Static is tomorrow. I had a talk with D and I think I will continue to static, provided I can meet my study goals. I want to read one chapter a week in my study guide. There are 14 chapters and I have video, hands-on and written labs to go with them. If I can get in 3 good sessions during the week and finish up with my work before the weekend, I can work on the house and goof off in my weekend spare time. I’ll admit, studying is not as easy as it used to be. Maybe I’m getting old, or at least not in the study mind frame. I’m hoping it’s like riding a bike, ‘cause I used to be an awesome student.

Weekend Intelligence: Divine Might

The weekend absolutely flew by. It would have gone fast enough without Daylight Savings – that just made things seem that much faster. Despite the fleet-footed free time, we still got a few things accomplished, and I had an eye-opener on Sunday. Because of the way my weekend unfolded, I’m going to write about in-game stuff first this time. So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights!

In-game:

Divine Might was the order of the night for Friday. I went to sky and went AFK to take care of some house items and take a nap. When I got back, half of the alliance was in sky, and most of the other half was on their way. Half an hour later everyone that signed up was there, and even some people that weren’t showed up as alternates. Our first run was an epic success: we beat the Ark Angels and handily and I finally got the earring that I meant to get the first time through. ^_^/ We had several members and their friends show up who needed the win as well. I was a bit skeptical we could win a second time, but followed we the strategy I outlined and handed it to them a second time! Earrings all around!

I spend Saturday afternoon and evening with Keri and Talon farming scrolls in Castle Zvahl Baileys. Keri needed a scroll of Flare, and we all needed a scroll of Fire IV and Firaga III. Keri got her Flare, I got a Fire IV and Talon got a Firaga III, and we all got about 50k in loose gil and NPC’d drops. We got a lot of things that are best sold on the AH, and if everything sells like I hope it will, we could be looking at another 30k each.

I spent almost no time in game on Sunday but to say "-Good bye.- -Linkshell- -Taking a break.- -Long time.-" Moving along...

House and Home:

So DeAnn was asked by one of her bosses if we would like a new dog. It’s a big part Golden Retriever part German Shepard mix, and she asked me if we could consider it. I have such a soft spot for big dogs, so I told her we’d need to talk about it. After picking Clara up on Friday afternoon, I spent a little time picking up the front room and getting my character for that night’s event. I was so tired from the week that I couldn’t help but take a nap. When I woke up, D said that she got a call that that the boss’ wife (and another boss as it’s a couple-owned business) had promised another couple first dibs at the dog. So we’ll see – if they don’t want it we’ll have a look and see if we have room for the gentle giant. <3

Saturday was a blur of random chores and errands. D didn’t have much of a weekend last weekend, so I didn’t mind getting the majority of the housework done and left her to chill and goof off. I pushed through two loads of laundry and picked up the loft a little. Eventually, I wanted to go out and get some shopping done at Barnes and Noble for a CCNA training book. Colin had knocked over his dresser and broke at leastone of the drawers, so D wanted to look for a used one at Goodwill. We couldn’t find one there, but we had a good bit of reminiscing at all the old 80’s toys and had an awesome conversation about the direction of modern rock music. I <3 my wife. We stopped by the Goodwill Computer Store looking for CCNA materials, but found nothing. Our last stop was at the Barnes and Noble close by our neighborhood. I found an excellent (albeit expensive) study guide. It includes comprehensive a study plan, post-tests, a test engine for practicing the CCNA, flash cards, virtual labs and videos and the whole book in PDF so I can take it with me on my phone. We stopped by the Starbucks for DeAnn’s 9-word coffee and I resolved at the time to start Monday, but lots of plans changed Sunday.

Daylight Savings robbed me of an hour of sleep and day. I didn’t get up and about until nearly a quarter after noon. After getting baby ready for the day, and breakfasts taken care of, we went out to WalMart to get the necessary supplies for the week. I also picked up a few things we’ll need to help the lawn make a comeback: some fertilizer, a hand powered fertilizer and seed spreader, a cultivator and a new sprinkler. When we got back, expecting to just gear up for Dynamis, DeAnn got a message on her cell from one of her bosses. Apparently, some of the equipment was not cleaned properly, and it had reached mission critical before anyone knew it.

I regret, I had to get a little rough with DeAnn to get her to go into work on a Sunday. It sickened me that I had to advise her to do that. I never intended to make her work indefinitely – I want her as a stay at home mom and only work if she wants to. I was reminded then of a conversation we had as we were coming home from Barnes and Noble. I was trying to decide when I wanted to do my studying, and couldn’t decide how to best fit it into my game schedule. Here I am, looking a better life in the face, and I can’t decide how to fit it around my game? While my wife works on a weekend? Meanwhile, I’m gaming at home, my house is a mess, my yard is a wreck and I spurn my kids from me for interrupting my leisure.

I felt guilty at first, but I thank God that he turned it from guilt to conviction. My priorities are upside down. I told the LS I was taking a hiatus for the most part. I might log on for the major required events that happen once in a great while (Kirin, gods, JoL), and for static. The rest of the time, I’m determined to study my book, to clean up house, fix my yard and love my kids; and I’m not going to engage in my game any more than that until I feel my priorities are straight again.

So my blog may start looking a little different. A lot less playtime reporting and more real life. I pray for strength of resolve and protection while I’m endeavoring to get my house in order.