v41.2: Happy Holidays

Howdy folks,

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Added a nice little snowing plugin to the site to get people in the festive mood.  Of course we're getting rain here right now and there doesn't sound to be much in the forecast to suggest we'll have a white Christmas this year.  Seems like only a few days ago since my last post but after checking, double checking and triple checking the post dates, I realize I've missed quite a few days of posting; this has been a crazy busy month.

Gaming wise I've been laying low.  I was able to get my Blood Elf Mage to 85 last weekend and then I just stopped playing.  WoW just doesn't seem to have that hold on me it once did.  Perhaps it is because most of my friends are not playing the same times I am or perhaps it is just because I don't have the time I used to have.  I watched a fun little video this morning from Oxhorn which I thought was fitting.  Forgive me if you're lost and have no idea what this is about:



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Nothing like a video about WoW and Christmas at the same time.  I love it when people make video game movies.

Well folks, I wanted to just drop by and say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I hope to get back and post again sometime before the end of the year, but I can't guarantee anything at this point.

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Cheers,

Al

v41.1: Cataclysm

Howdy folks,

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Yesterday Blizzard released their 3rd expansion to their award winning game, World of Warcraft.  The expansion is titled Cataclysm and it truly is a cataclysmic event which has taken hold of the gaming world.  Basically, the entire world as we have known it for the past 6 years has been forever changed.  Old borders have been redrawn and old enemies have been reborn.  Where there was once lush greenery there is now destruction and barren landscape; barren landscape has brought on new life.

Initially I wasn't going to pick up Cataclysm being so close to Christmas and all, but a friend who I have been gaming with for the past 5ish years wanted to buy it for me as an early Christmas present.  I'm most gracious that he did and I've been exploring all the new zones and experiencing the new races available in this expansion.  Tonight we decided to take a trip into one of the new instance to check it out.  For those who don't know what an "instance" is, it is basically a dungeon that you can go into that only contains you and your party.  Other groups can run the same instance at the same time, but they experience their own instance with their party.  Think of it as a mirror image of the same place for every group that wishes to enter it.

So far the new zones have been underwater.  I must admit I was a bit worried about underwater combat.  I used to play Dark Age of Camelot and their 3rd expansion was an underwater expansion which was done fairly nicely.  Blizzard has taken it a step above and has provided us a beautiful underwater realm to explore; I'm quite impressed.  I have only scratched the surface of this new area, but so far I'm really enjoying it.

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Work has been fairly slow this week, of which I'm very thankful.  Work from home has given me the flexibility and time I need to assist my wife with her recovery.  I've been making the meals, changing most of the diapers and ensuring the other kiddies are taken care of and keeping out of my wife's hair.  For the most part things are going well, but I can already feel the strain of taking all these things on in addition to my regular day-to-day job.  Thankfully work has been very accommodating and understanding.

Well folks, it is getting late and I have a few things I need to do tonight before going to bed.  Saturday is the annual Christmas tree cutting event, my youngest daughter's 2nd birthday party and poker night with my sisters and their significant others.  It's going to be a very long day, but should be fun and good times.  See you all tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v41.0: December 5

Howdy folks,

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It is Sunday, the Lord's day, the day of rest.  Why is it we tend to do more work on the day of rest than we do the rest of the week?

Today I was fortunate enough to get a visit from both of my sisters.  Normally my sisters never drop by but today I got a visit from both of them; thankfully not at the same time. :)  Of course I jest a little bit.  It was nice to see them again and spend a few moments conversing.  While my youngest sister was visiting, I may have inadvertantly got my future brother-in-law (Juggs) hooked back into Eve Online.  Sometimes I don't even think before I speak and I just start going on and on about a game.  Now he's all signed up and starting Eve again and even joined us in the Eve Poker room last night and hopefully made some ISK :)  I walked away from the table up about 25 million ISK, which made me feel good.

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Well folks, it's late and I'm very tired.  Hopefully I'll have some more for you tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v40.9: December 4

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

Let me start off by saying, Poker + Eve is a bad combination.

I'm a fan of Poker and I love playing Poker.  I miss our weekly Poker nights and and playing Poker with family and friends.  There are a lot of free online Poker sites out there but when they're free, you tend to not play the same when there is real money on the line.  Well, a certain Corporation in Eve has created an online Poker site where you buy chips with in-game Eve currency.  While in-game currency is still technically not real world money, it does have a certain value since it is required to buy things in-game.

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Basically, this site has a bunch of different tables you can play at.  They range from 20-40 chips to the thousands.  A single chip costs 100,000 ISK (Eve currency) so if you're looking to buy-in on the smallest table, you're looking at a minimum of 2,000,000 ISK for 20 chips.  Last night my friend Bim and I decided to check it out (we're both avid Poker fans) and  several hours later we were still sitting at a table playing the table, Rounders style.

I don't know how much I lost (or gained) but I think I ended the night down 20 chips (or 2 million ISK).  Not bad really, not as bad as Bim who ended the night (much later than I played) down over a 100 million ISK.  There was one game where I was up over 200 chips and then a bad run of cards saw me leaving the table with nothing.  It happens.

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We decorated our artificial Christmas tree last night.  It was a stressful, painful and annoying event (kids can find the oddest things to fight about), but we ended up finishing and the tree looks great, despite being fake.  I'm not a fan of the fake Christmas trees, but our apartment management doesn't allow for real ones so we had to fall back on our fake one.  Today we plan on finishing up the decorating and hopefully find a place for everything.  It didn't help that I slept until almost noon (gaming until after 3AM does that to you) and feel like I wasted half a day in bed.

Anyway folks, I hope everyone has a great Saturday and we'll see you again tomorrow.

Cheers,

Al

v40.8: December 3 - Eve Online

Howdy folks,

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It is finally Friday!  Despite the fact I've been working from home since my son was born back on November 23rd, I was still looking forward to this day.  Tonight we plan on decorating our fake Christmas tree.  Typically, my wife has our place all decorated and ready for Christmas as soon as December 1 hits, but this year she hasn't been able to get up and move around much as she recovers from the c-section.  That won't stop her from getting the tree up and decorated though.  Or I should say, it won't stop her making me get the tree up.

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Tonight I plan on playing some Eve Online with friends.  Eve has been reborn for me lately and I've really been enjoying myself.

What is Eve Online?

Basically, Eve Online is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (or MMORPG) where thousands of people play simultaneously in an ever changing world.  The concept of MMORPGs is not new but the folks who developed Eve have done it a little bit differently than most of the other games out there.  Here are a few key points that make this game interesting for me:

1. It is in space.  The background story is interesting and basically there are 4 races of humans who have been scattered all over the universe and fighting for their own piece of space.


2. The entire game takes place on a single server.  Where WoW has multiple servers (hundreds) which are just copies of the same world, Eve only has one server where everyone plays.  That means if you play Eve, you can contact me and we have the ability to meet up in-game.  WoW doesn't have this.  In fact, if you meet someone who plays WoW there is a very good chance they play on a different server/faction than you and therefore, you cannot communicate or connect with them unless one of you pays for a transfer or one of you recreates a character on that server/faction.


3. Player run economy.  Economy in games can be very tricky and Eve does this beautifully.  People can make ships, weapons, etc. and sell them on the market.  People can view this market and choose to buy items or set themselves "looking to buy" a particular item for a particular price.  Basically, the players decide how the economy works and a single player can drastically change things if they wish.


4. Space travel.  I'm a huge fan of sci-fi and space related shows (Battlestar, Star Trek, etc.) so this game just fits the bill all the way around.  Also, the ability to travel at warp speed, sub light and regular thrusters makes the game interesting.  Players have the ability to "jump" between solar systems and the size of this world is unmeasurable.  I've been playing this game for a few years (off and on) and I haven't seen 1% of the universe.


5. Strategy vs. Twitching.  Twitching is a term used to describe a type of play style.  For example, most people who play first person shooters would be considered twitchers since it is the person who can react the fastest and the most accurately who wins the fight.  People who are relatively slow at reacting will be quickly slaughtered in games like those.  Eve does have a certain bit of "twitch" to it, but the majority of the game is strategy based.  You need to carefully plan your fights ensuring you have the right kinds of ammo on you and the right devices turned online for particular fights.  Space flight isn't very "fast".  Yes there are some ships that are faster than others, but the overall fights are not very fast paced.  You need to target an enemy and then decide whether you want to fire all armaments at them or target multiple enemies and spread things out a bit.  I won't go into all the different scenarios but there are a lot.


6. Corporations.  Corporations could be likened to guilds in other games but at the same time they are nothing like guilds.  Corporations are exactly what you would expect from the name, they are companies.  Recently a few friends and I decided to start our own Corp. and they decided to make me the CEO (big mistake lol).  I've been going through all the different options available to a CEO and I must admit, it is a bit overwhelming.  You can set people as directors, sell shares and there have even been situations in other Corps where CEOs have been "dethroned" because enough people with shares have voted the CEO out.  What you do with your Corp depends on you.  People have setup corporations to do just about anything.  There is a corp out there that is dedicated to running a Lottery, people send them money for tickets and every week (or bi-weekly) they do a draw and the winner(s) get in-game currency.  Some of these corporations are quite huge and very well organized; more organized than most of the corporations out there in the real world today.

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Eve Online is also a beautifully artistic game.  The graphic artists have done a great job building all the various solar systems and regions.  I'm very impressed with the game graphically and if you look up any official videos for Eve they pride themselves in the fact their videos are all shot in-game and are not done in CGI.

Well folks, that is about all I have for today.  Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about tomorrow after gaming tonight.  Until next time.

Cheers,

Alan

v40.7: December 2

Howdy folks,

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I appreciate the company I work for.

I can hear the gasps already.  I've spent so much time bashing my job(s) that it feels strange to actually praise it.  There have been so many times over the past year that I've wanted to quit and find something else but every time I even being to entertain the thought, I'm brought back to compare what I have today versus what I'll have tomorrow.  My bosses are very understanding and very flexible.  They are truly good managers.  I have a lot of perks at my job that I just wouldn't get at another company:

• Being able to take comp time whenever I need to


• Ability to work from home in the event I need to and don't want to take a vacation/sick day


• Being flexible with my schedule so I can drop off and pick up the kids from school so my wife can rest


• etc.

There are so many things I've taken for granted and I highly doubt I could find another company in the city that would offer me these same benefits for the same money.  In fact, I would be very surprised if I could find a better job anywhere in the Maritimes.

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Not much is new on the gaming front right now.  I'm debating on whether I want to create a new character in WoW to help pass the time but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it.  If you're an active WoW player and have logged in recently, you'll know that "The Shattering" has taken place and the entire world as we knew it has been changed forever.  For those who don't play WoW, there was a cataclysmic event which took place in the game and the entire landscape that has existed since WoW was released in 2004 was severely altered.  Most of the capital cities have been changed and almost all of the landscape has been altered and changed.  New lines have been drawn and places that were once occupied by the Horde are now controlled  by the Alliance and vice versa.  Blizzard has done an amazing job with this expansion and I'm really looking forward to experiencing what they have in store for us next week.  Of course I won't be able to experience the expansion when it comes out, but you can bet I'll be there the weekend after and loving every minute of it.

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Well folks, that about all I have time for today.  Tomorrow is Friday and I plan on writing a bit about Eve Online since that is probably what I'll be playing most of the night tomorrow.  If you're interested in learning more about Eve, tune in tomorrow for an overview of the game.  Until then.

Cheers,

Al

v40.6: December 1

Howdy folks,

-slurp-

We are officially on the last month of 2010.  It's hard to believe another year is almost behind us, again.  A lot has been going on in our lives these past few months and while my mind has been on my musings, I haven't written anything.  That is about to change.

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This month I've decided to write every single day.  The musings will take on a little bit of a different flow than most of you are used to, but I will definitely do my best to offer quality content while keeping you up to date on what I'm doing.

As most of you already know, we have a new addition to the family.  On November 23rd my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  We have named him Mattius Graham and he weighed in at 7lbs 2oz.  This was probably the most difficult pregnancy my wife has gone through out of the 4 children and we are both very glad it is finally over.  The birth itself was an adventure.  Initially we took her to the hospital for other reasons and while she was in there we found out she was in labor.  The baby wasn't cooperating and we needed to have an emergency c-section.  I was home with the kids while this was happening and I got the call from my wife to let me know we were having this baby.  I contacted my youngest sister who came over to watch the kids so I could rush down to the hospital to be with my wife.  While on-route to the hospital I received a call from the nurse telling me that the baby was facing the wrong way and they were going to need to operate.  At first I didn't realize what she was talking about, but when I was half way to the hospital the reality of the situation finally hit me and I "quickened" my pace.

Baby and mom are fine and at home recovering now so everything went well.  Mattius got to meet his Auties, Nanny and Papa this past weekend and everyone is fine.

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Gaming has also been slow this past couple months.  I started a brand new Blood Elf Paladin in WoW (yes, I'm playing Horde now) on the Medivh server.  I leveled him from 1 to 80 in a couple weeks with a total play time of 4 days, 7 hours and 32 minutes (103.5 hrs).  Up until around level 70 I was averaging 1 level per hour played.  After it was all said and done I averaged 1 level for every 1.2hrs played so I'm pleased with my progress.  I didn't use a "Refer-a-Friend" account, but I did have heirlooms which provided me a +20% bonus to experience gained.  My goal was to get to level 80 before the baby came but because the baby was early, I missed it by 1 day; at least he's level 80 before the next expansion hits on December 7th.

Since I hit level 80 I've been taking it easy on the gaming front.  I've been spending most of my "free" time playing Eve Online which is a much "slower" game and doesn't require 100% of my attention while playing.  I started playing Eve a few years ago but never really got into it.  Now that I've started to get into it and spent some time reading up on all the various things in the game, I've developed a new love for the game and spend as much time as I can playing it.  Perhaps I'll post more on Eve in another musing for those who may be interesting in learning more about it.

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Well folks, it is time to bid you farewell for now.  Keep checking back every day this month for a new musing.  As stated earlier, I plan on posting every day this month leading us into the New Year.  Until next time.

Cheers,

Al