The Legend of the Cursed Red Ring of Death

Yes, that is my XBox... Yes, those three lights are red. And yes, while you can't really tell from the still photo, they are blinking. It's the thing that every XBox 360 owner dreads seeing - the Red Ring of Death indicating a general (read: vague and indescript) hardware failure.

This nasty little demon was waiting for me when I turned on the machine after getting home today. The generation of machine I had purchased was supposedly more resistant to RRoD, but apparently not immune. I called XBox support right away. After a heated exchange with the automated menu system and a short hold, I was connected to some poor phone monkey in India. I must admit that their phone skills and accent suppression training seminars have gotten better as time has gone on - I could hardly tell what region in India he was from, only that he was from India. We ran some quick troubleshooting before he got the RMA process started. Apparently the warranty runs out on December 26th, so if it was going to go on the blink, it chose to do so in the knick of time. A box is on its way to ship this out, and I should have it back in 2-10 weeks. -.-; Just as I got a NICE entertainment setup...

What can I say? Stikes and gutters. After dinner, D and I gamed for a bit. We've been wanting to get out in game characters married to each other for some time. Unfortunately, as is the case with most of the real world, only characters of the opposite sex are allowed to marry in game. And since Keri and I are both female characters, that's something that's just not likely to happen. So we decided that we're going to try to get our main characters hitched to mules of nearly the exact same name. I finally said goodbye to Noyoudo and created a Hume MNK names "Shrades" and Keri created a Hume WAR named "Keriths." You only need to be level 20 to marry, so it shouldn't take long to get them up to snuff. Then, when one of our applications gets approved, the other will get a ring that says Shrades or Keriths. Close enough, right? >.>;

After leveling these new mules to Lv5, we hopped on our mains for more BST leveling. We both dinged 59 and ran through the leftover ring charge from last time and most of another one before we called it quits for the night. We're holding a pretty consistent chain 3 now against the ants, and the experience is rolling in. We should be able to work another level or two out of this camp before we will have to leave, as the pets/prey don't get any stronger, making it too easy to pull hate from them.

Each passing day, I'm more and more excited about the vacation. I have one more day of work, followed by a weekend, then two and a half days before a long five and a half day vacation. Weekend intelligence will likely consist of laundry, wrapping, packing and gaming, but something always seems to happen to keep life interesting. >.>; Sure hope I'm not jinxing myself...

Tech Support Bloopers

Anyone who's worked in service, particularly tech support, knows that people can say and do the strangest things. They weren't always funny at first, but they're pretty humorous looking back on them. Always makes for a quick, fun post about some of the stories that stand out from the rest. So, sit back for some adventures in troubleshooting:

• Recently, I was talking an end user through connecting to an Outlook Web Access site to check their email while they were out of the office. I asked him to type in "H-T-T-P-S, Colon, Slash Slash..." to which he replied "... Colon... Colon... Where is my colon? ... Where'd it go? Do you know where my colon is?"
• A semi-retired client living in Costa Rica called in at 5 'til 5pm (love those calls... -.-; ) and was trying to connect to his company's VPN. It was very hard to walk him through all the steps to troubleshoot because several things that I needed him to do he simply couldn't comprehend. After nearly half an hour of troubleshooting, I told him that, based on what information I had, that he had no internet connection. He told me that was silly, and we agreed to consult a coworker tomorrow who had gone home for the day. The next day, after another 30min troubleshooting session with said coworker, he came to the same conclusion. As it turned out, the gentleman had forgotten to pay the bill from his ISP.
• I received a call from a rather panicked general manager that the phone system, voicemail system, network and computers were all completely non-functional. He needed to call me on his cell phone. I started with the computer issue, asking him to power the machine all the way down and try to reboot it. To which he replied, "I can't do that, we don't have any power."

EDIT: For all you concerned readers, D is doing OK after her accident yesterday. She has some back and neck pain, but she's going to see a therapist tonight to get a claim started. Keep her in your prayers. ^^/

Avoiding the Wreckage: A Primer for Inclement Weather Driving

I love wintry weather.

I love the crisp, cold feeling of the air in my lungs. I love the feeling of the cold wind piercing through coat and clothing alike. I love the fact that, at least after Christmas, people stay inside and I can go out and enjoy places being considerably less crowded. Likewise, I love how the roads are generally less crowded. I love how it makes that special someone that much more inclined to be close to you. I might be a little crazy, but I love the wintry weather.

But I swear, if it merely threatens to look like there might be a chance of a possibility of potential unfavorable weather, everyone in South Texas freaks the hell out and starts running their cars into each other. It's as if the cold weather causes what precious little brain cells the people around here have to say "¡Híjole! Olvide este, jefe. Call when it's warmer; we'll be down in Puerto Vallarta if you need us." That forces them to use the brains they bought at the iPhone Apps Store... Talk about things that make you go 'Bruu...' Sometimes I wonder how people still have vehicles in this city...

D was in another car accident this morning. She was hit from behind in on a "slippery" patch of road. I say "slippery" only because the road was completely dry and clear on my 50ish mile commute, but had the sky decided to spit on that patch of road, it would have been frozen. She's OK thankfully. The Vue is, yet again, a little banged up, but drivable this time. On my way into work today, I must have passed by a dozen wrecks. Each one involving at least 3 cars, and they were all on the on ramp or off ramp of a major street or interchange. All but one wreck, which was cause by people rubbernecking in the fast lane and therefore was off on the left-hand side of the road, just behind the blind side of a curve. -.- I watched as one person slammed on their brakes and slammed into the growing pile. Instead of slamming on the breaks, I just coasted right around them, and saw another person in my rear-view mirror slam into them.

Let me reiterate that the roads I took were clear: no ice, no water, no patches of fog. It was cold and windy to be sure, but the physical road condition was A-OK. I have a hard time believing that every one of those people in the accidents this morning ate lead paint chips while being dropped repeatedly on their heads as children. Maybe a sizable majority, but not all of them, right? I just think they honestly have no clue how to drive in any weather but sunny and 80 degrees. So. for those readers that live and work in Texas or other warm climate, I'm writing this short primer on inclement weather. Listen carefully...

If you're afraid of winter weather, the worst thing you can do is slam on the breaks. Seriously. Plan ahead. Treat each pedal in the car as if there was an egg between your foot and the pedal. Apply no more pressure to that pedal than would break an eggshell. This is THE rule to remember when all other rules have been forgotten. If that means you need to back the hell off someone's bumper to have enough reaction time to slowly decelerate, then do it. It's not like you're gonna get there any sooner by riding someone's ass the whole way. The problem most people have is that they are entirely too close, going entirely too fast and when some dumbass in front of them lives up to their namesake, they have no room for the error. They are forced to slam on the brakes or over-correct their steering. Now who's the dumbass?

But when your car is not mating with the car in front of you, you should have plenty of room to make any maneuver you need without the risk of loosing of control of your vehicle. After you have that #1 rule down, add these to your skill set, and in this order:
-Because your front tires share their traction between braking and steering, coast to decelerate if at all possible. Letting gravity do the work gives your tires the most traction for steering.
-Try to avoid the lanes closest to the entrances and exits to the freeway, moving over about a mile or two from your destination exit. This keeps the lanes used for merging clear of clutter and reduces the chance that someone will merge into you.
-Don't rubberneck at other accidents: the safety distance in front of you is to make up for other people's stupidity, not your own.

As long as you're following the main rule about the eggshell on your pedals, the other guidelines should fall into place: you should have enough room to gently steer your vehicle or slow down without sliding into anyone. And the more people that follow this rule, the faster and safer the traffic can actually move.

Weekend Intelligence: Search and Seizure

Lots going on both at home and in game. This time of year is always kind of crazy, and our family just seems to have its own brand of insanity. So, in typical weekend intelligence fashion, here are the highlights!

House and Home:

Friday night was my company's Christmas party, and one of DeAnn's coworkers graciously offered to watch the kiddos while we went. The party was at a high-end French restaurant. They had wine and mixed drinks you could buy with drink tickets, and two buffet areas with appetizers like quail, crab cakes, spring rolls and a variety of cheeses and desserts. I introduced D to some of my coworkers and management, and we had a few drinks and chatted it up for a little over an hour or so before ducking out. Later found out the party ended shortly after we left. Overall, we had a really good time. When we picked up the kids, we found them settled down watching Finding Nemo. I guess Colin had won the game of Scrabble they brought out to play. LOL

There was just so much to be done on Saturday. Dishes and laundry and cleaning and more laundry. We ran our WalMart run and picked up Colin's meds all at the same time, while juggling several loads of laundry. It'll be a few more days until we have the laundry pile back to a manageable heap. At least we had Omaha Steaks from D's mom for Christmas, so the grocery bill was lower and we had good food to look forward to. If only the kids would cooperate long enough for me to cook a meal...

Maybe it's just the weather, but the kids seemed to be particularly off-the-wall lately. I don't know what it is about them, but they seem to know when its the worst possible time to act up, and decide to act up then. Colin will be completely oblivious to the destruction he's causing in the depths of his ADHD madness, and Clara will be only too happy to help. We try at least to keep her entertained with raisins for a snack and Veggietales, but she gets bored of the videos and just ends up feeding the raisins to the dog.

On that note, did you know that raisins can cause seizures in dogs? I sure didn't! But sure as could be, just as I was sitting down to take my first bite of the delicious steak I spent the last 45mins preparing, Suzie huddles right next to me, looses bladder control and starts to spasm. Poor girl! ; ; I tried to keep her calm until it was clear she was coming around, while Clara started to launch food and Colin watched, laughing at Clara one moment, visibly concerned for Suzie the next. D had already finished her meal and went to the computer to email the vet, leaving me to juggle the convulsing canine and both kids at the same time. -.-; My steak dinner was cold by the time I got to it.

Sunday was not quite so madcap. At least it didn't require us to leave the house. We still had a walking mountain of clothing to wash, illuminating the need for more hangers next time we go to the store. I think Clara is eating them. Between rounds of gaming, Colin and I picked up around the house while D cleaned the catbox. Nothing in there...

>.>
<.<
>.>

So... where is the cat... Um... o.O? We started looking around the house. Turned out that the cat had been using Colin's room as a toilet since Thanksgiving, and he was completely oblivious to it. I really try my best not to go in there, but I walked in there this time and retched. He plays in there. He reads in there. He hides from his baby sister in there. HE SLEEPS IN THERE! How can he NOT smell that? I thought I smelled something funky upstairs, but everytime I did, I found yet another diaper that Clara had hidden somewhere, and figured that must have been it.

I wonder how I can make the cat's disappearance look like an accident...

In Game:

While Soulfire was doing Medusa and tier 4 ZNMs this weekend, Keri and I decided to get some good sessions in on BST. Mainly, this was due to us not being home for Medusa and Keri isn't much into ZNM. Something about needing a ton of open inventory spots... We did a few rounds of Fields of Valor in Xarcabard to ding 58, and I level synced to her and helped her do a round without flagging one myself to get her caught up to me.

We decided to look for a different camp than Toraimarai Canal. While the experience there was really good, it simply wasn't worth the amount of work it takes to drag the charm-resistant slime through a nest of aggro-happy mobs. That place is really unforgiving of any mistakes, which abound when playing BST. I picked through some forums and found that there was a nice camp for a 60ish solo player in Quicksand Caves using the southwesternmost entrance. Same entrance you use to get to the Chamber of Oracles. The plan was to throw the lizards there at the ants. While the whole "60ish solo" part had me a little worried, I decided that we should go check it out.

Glad we did. The lizards didn't con any higher than T, even at that level. Easily zooed. And there were about 3 lizards for every 2 ants, so we had plenty of pets available for swaps. The only rough part tended to be the PLD ants down there, because they would perpetually cure themselves to be just beyond us being able to land a killing blow. I think we should be able to ride this camp out through 60 or 61, and then we have The Boyahda Tree to look forward to.

Quaide was missing for our normal Nyzul runs, and since we beat 100, the only reason we'd be going would be to farm floors for weapons and armor. We enlisted the help of some LS mates who needed floor 40 win and decided to make a farming/win run out of that. No armor or weapons that we needed dropped, but the WAR weapon that Quaide would have wanted dropped. >.>; The other two tags we spent getting Japolo caught up to us in Lebros Cavern assaults.

We were a bit rusty in our Dynamis - Xarcabard skills. For some reason, we just kept making sloppy mistakes. People took too long getting into the zone and got wiped out on the sac pull. One person got away from the main group of demons, but trained a smaller group of them from the sac pull and wiped more people. On the demon kings, people were chasing instead of staying put, aggroed a large group of demons and wiped us again. We started the line pulls too soon after a wipe, the sleepers weren't ready and we got wiped again. Somehow Keri got lost and made it behind the line, making it impossible to get to her without dying at least once. And lastly, it was decided that we only really needed 2WHMs for Dynamis Lord, which not only failed miserably, but took forever to recover from. Something about only having 2 WHMs to scrape people off the ice.

At least Monster Gloves dropped... O.O Yeah! That concludes my gear desires from Dynamis. I'm still looking forward to doing more Dynamis, but now I'm more or less just doing them for the points. :D Oh, I'll take the WHM belt if it should drop (it's a sexy piece), but that's the last piece that I really WANTED. I'm now 5/5 on MNK, WHM and BST, and I have the BST accessory piece. Now to get the 17 levels I need to wear the set...

Ended the night by catching the tail end of the officer's meeting for DeathByHairball. I missed the majority of the meeting while I was in Dynamis, but I was able to get the basic idea of the point system they want to implement. We're also looking to start doing more events after the holiday season is over to try to build group cohesion. This time of year stresses just about everyone out, and there's been a lot of arguments, hurt feelings and people are leaving over them. Hopefully things will settle down once the holiday stress is taken out of the picture and people can just enjoy their time again.

Hard to believe, but in less than two weeks we will be heading out to the great white north for Christmas at my folks house. I haven't been up north in 3 years, and haven't seen my parents in over a year. I'm really looking forward to getting the hell outta Texas for a couple of days.