Monday, April 30, 2007
A Work of Art
This weekend was a work weekend. The dentist's office Mary works in was being repainted (read, we were painting). Friday night was just getting ready for the job, Saturday was the bulk of the painting, and Sunday was putting stuff back and rearranging.
It looks really nice now. I think we did a good job.
|
Welcome Home
Wasn't sure how to embed the video, so I just hosted it myself.
Video (4mb)
Thought some of you might enjoy this, if not shed a tear.
|
Giladen the Explorer (WoW)
Didn't get a whole lot of play time in this weekend, but enough. Giladen has gained another level is now poised at about 75% through level 22. Liz got her computer so NOW we can all play at the same time. Though we are still having issues with TeamSpeak. I'm not really sure what the aversion is to utilizing the Ventrilo server we've been offered, at least for WoW, is. I continually have problems with TeamSpeak. Period. I have had ZERO problems with Ventrilo.
(Enough.)
We are all moving southward from Darkshore into Ashenvale. Personally, though, I've already picked up quests that run Giladen to the four corners of Azeroth. Already completed one and picked up the flight path to Stonetalon Peak.
Kurathan SHOULD have an instance run tonight. We should be going through Zul'Farrak. That's the instance we were supposed to run last Wednesday, but weren't able to. I was hoping to have another level tacked on to Kurathan, but it doesn't look like I'll have time for that.
|
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Upgrade Drama
I was tracking the shipments of Mary's computer parts this morning when I ran into an anomaly.
One package is fine, but the other package had a note that said 'Incorrcet Address.' This worried me.
I called FedEx to see just what was up. The girl had me verify my address. She then told me the local (Kansas City) facility 'corrected' the ZIP code. Here's where it gets fun. My ZIP code is 64156. The 'corrected' ZIP code was 75703. (Click here to see just where those are.)
WTF!?
That isn't even CLOSE.
Anyways, it has now been re-corrected and should be out for delivery tomorrow.
|
Questing, Questing, Tra-la-la (WoW)
There was no instance run. A couple guys couldn't make it for the run. So, Cleos (Arcticfreeze, guild leader), Darthtroll, and I went on some quests in Feralas.
We did enough questing in Feralas to more than push Kurathan into level 45. Picked up two pieces of armor that blew away what Kurathan was wearing. After the questing, Cleos had to log off. Darthtroll stayed on for a bit and ran Kurathan to the Badlands to complete a quest there and to pick up the flight path that connects the north part of the continent and the south part of the continent for the Horde.
After that, Darthtroll logged off, too. I logged off for a bit, but logged back on a little later. I took Kurathan from the Undercity into the Swamp of Sorrows to complete the quest given to me by completing the quest in the Badlands. Did a little repairing and selling then logged for the night.
This morning, I took Kurathan east towards the sunken temple to start picking up Atal'ai Artifacts to complete a quest. I got about 7 of them before I had to get ready for work.
|
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Desert Temple Preparation (WoW)
Kurathan is going for an instance run tonight, Zul'Farrak. And I just know it's going to be a killer. World of War says it's rated as a 44-54. Kurathan is level 44 right now. I mean, the lowest quest available for this instance is level 45.
Last night, Kurathan got some play time after taking a break Monday. I took him to complete a couple quests in the Hillsbrad Foothills, then sent him back to the Undercity. A little playing around there. It finally hit me that I hadn't taken Kurathan through the First Aid quest. On the way there to the Arathi Highlands, I asked if anyone had some Elemental Water as I wanted to up my tailoring by making a Robe of Power. I thought I'd throw it on the auction house, since it seemed like it had good bonuses.
After finishing the First Aid quest, I picked up the water and headed back to the Undercity. I made the robe and almost posted to the trade channel that it was up for sale, but I thought I'd just see how much I WOULD have sold it for on the AH. It's freaking bind on pick up! The only one that can wear the armor is the one that made it. Useless. Forty silver. I spent nearly three gold getting the materials to make it.
After that frustration, Kurathan upped his First Aid by making some bandages. I flew him BACK to the Arathi Highlands to pick up the next First Aid pattern.
I then ran Kurathan around to finish a series of quests concerning the trapped princess. First, kill some kobolds, get 12 motes, and activate a stone in their cave. Levels 35-38. A breeze. Then, get a key each from the Circles of West, East, and Outer Binding. Take that key to the Circle of Inner Binding and activate the stone there. Third, find and kill the stone giant, take his rod, place it in the stone at the Circle of Inner Binding. This brings out another giant to kill. Finally, return to Hammerfall to complete the series.
Kurathan was on the first giant. The giant is a 42 elite, which I knew he couldn't take. Picked up a great little PUG and completed that series. We stuck together and completed a couple more quests that took them into Stormgarde Keep. After that, I called it a night.
Kurathan ended the night at about 75% of 44 with a connecting flight from Hammerfall to the Undercity to Orgrimmar to Gadgetzan and eight gold richer.
|
Monday, April 23, 2007
Good Timing
It was actually a good thing I waited until Friday to order Mary's parts. On Thursday, the memory was $120, but on FRIDAY, it was $110. Today, when I checked, it had gone up to $130! So, I ordered at the perfect time.
Had a little snafu with my order, though. First time I've ever had problems with Newegg. I placed my order Friday night and used my PayPal debit card. A little later, I received an email stating that my card had failed authorization. I knew I had backup funding set up and I knew I had enough in my bank account to cover the backup funding.
The email had a link to update the account information, so I followed it and updated with my bank's debit card information. Saturday morning, I received a phone call. It was from PayPal to verify that the attempted charge was mine. I said that it was, but that I'd already used a different card to cover the charge. I didn't say it, but I was thinking, 'Thank God I didn't need a tow and the PayPal card was my only card!'
That's not the end of it though. All weekend, I received about 10 email messages telling me that my card failed authorization; my PayPal card... So, this morning, I called Newegg customer service. On hold for about 15 minutes. Finally spoke with someone who did not tell me if it showed that I had tried to update my card information. She took my bank card information and submitted the order again.
I finally received an email confirming that the charge had been processed and my order was on it's way to getting shipped.
Since Newegg is mainly a reseller, the parts will be coming from two directions. The mobo from California. The processor and memory from Tennessee.
(Links provided for reference only.)
|
The Night Elf Joy (WoW)
Kurathan did little of nothing since Thursday. A couple of little quests here and there. Worked on making some money. Worked on professions.
Giladen, however, had an action packed weekend. Played her Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I was able to hook up with my Okie group and we played for quite a while together. We got a few quests completed and I pushed Giladen's profession skills quite a bit. I picked up some more skills for her bear, but something is not working correctly. I don't seem to be able to train the bear.
I did not allow this problem to hinder Giladen's progress. I pushed her up to level 20 and she is well on the way to 21. I was able to up her enchanting profession skill pretty high and pick up quite a few new recipes. I don't remember exactly, but I think the skill is up to around 118. Tailoring is around the same level, too. I stopped upping the tailoring because the group is not in an area to pick up silk cloth (the next cloth level) yet.
We are all, however, working on a specific goal; Ashenvale. Adeienna's player may be getting her own computer very soon, so I think we will ALL be able to finish her quests up, catch her up to our level, then move on into Ashenvale.
Strangely, I am the senior player in our group. I felt weird passing on party pointers to the group. It was nice, though, to set down some rules that, I hope, will stick when we get started in some instances. I think we may try to head to the other continent and head into Westfall to do Dead Mines first. Even though Black Fathom Deeps is right around the corner from Auberdine.
Since it's Monday, though, Giladen will have to wait a few more days before she figures out her instance fate.
|
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Mary and I watched a movie we've had for quite a while, but never watched; The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
We had been almost afraid to watch it, knowing it was going to be weird. We were not fully prepared for the weirdness that ensued.
This movie has a whole slew of stars in it. Bill Murray, Kate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Owen Wilson, Willem Defoe, Jeff Goldblum... They all play characters that don't fit what they normally play. Although, Bill Murray played a kind of similar character in Lost in Translation.
It's a Moby Dick type story. Bill Murray plays an oceanographer that loses a friend to a rare shark. He is on a mission to locate and destroy the shark. The problem is that he is not a successful oceanographer and does not have much money, and, therefore, has shoddy equipment. His nemesis, Allistair Hennessey played by Jeff Goldblum, is very successful, has tons of money and the most sophisticated equipment. Add to the plot that a man shows up claiming to be his son from 30 years ago.
It is not a film for everyone. The humor is so dry it's ridiculous. I give it an 'I loved it.'
|
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Upgrade Update
I found another deal on memory, so it looks like I'll be spending about $40 more to get double the memory. Plus, the memory is dual channel. That should increase performance even MORE.
I set my limit at $325. This upgrade, with standard FedEx shipping, puts me at $325.77.
I've found that I'm getting very excited about upgrading her computer. I'm getting nervous and giddy just thinking about making the purchase. I'm already anticipating the arrival of the parts. And I can't wait to get my hands into the guts of that computer!
|
The Next Level (WoW)
Kurathan has left the 43!
I had him pick up a couple quests in Camp Mojache to kill some Grimtotems to the west after completing a quest to get some wings off darts in the area. Ran him over there and easily slaughtered Grimtotems. They were levels 41-45. No real problem there.
After completing that, there were some quests that kept him flying back and forth between Orgrimmar and Camp Mojache.
Finally, there was a quest that took him into Azshara. Untouched territory for him until last night. It will remain untouched for a couple more levels. All the mobs there were 46-48, that I saw. Kurathan ran past most of them to complete the quest which pushed his XP just over the threshold. Ding!
I decided to see if my friends in Oklahoma wanted to actually SEE my precious Kurathan. We didn't get a chance to do that, so I ran him around Darkshore exploring. Completed the map for Darkshore, placed Kurathan just outside Auberdine, and logged off.
The next marker for Kurathan will be 45. There are a few weapons that open up on 45.
Azeroth Crusaders is planning on updating their website banner with a screenshot. I'd love have Kurthan in it, but I haven't heard anything since the initial forum post about it.
|
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Time to Upgrade
I'm finally going to be able to upgrade Mary's computer. She's been needing it for some time, and I'll be able to order the parts on Thursday.
Her current system is a lame motherboard, 2.0GHz AMD Sempron, 768Mb DDR 400 RAM, 80Gb UDMA 133 7200 HDD.
She'll be moving up to new parts from NewEgg.com, including a brand new Foxconn mobo, 2.5GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+, 1Gb DDR2 800 PC6400 RAM, 160Gb 3Gb/s SATA HDD. We already had the HDD, that's what got the lame moniker on her old mobo. It has a SATA connector, but physically does NOT support SATA. (Compaq bitches...)
She's going to be blown away by the speed change.
I think at the end of the summer, we'll have enough to upgrade her monitor to a widescreen LCD. Then, I'll take her old monitor, because mine is just about shot. The blue gun isn't all that great and the green gun doesn't work when it's cold.
After that, I'll look into getting some new parts for MY computer. Next year, maybe.
|
Location, Location... OGRES! (WoW)
Kurathan ran a couple quests last night. Not till late, though.
I logged on after I got home from work to take care of a couple loose ends. Arcticfreeze messaged me as his alt, Cleos, to see if I wanted to quest. I didn't have time then, as Mary and I were getting ready to head out for dinner.
After dinner, it was pretty late, and I was pretty sure Arctic would not be on. He was not, so I started exploring with Kurathan. Feralas is a dark place.
As I was running around, there was a message on the general channel asking if anyone was up for killing ogres. I had seen the quest available in Camp Mojache, but did not pick it up.
Kurathan met up with the two casters and picked up the shared quest. These two guys were cleaning house. I wasn't sure what Kurathan's place was in this group, so I said as much. "I don't know what I'm doing here. You guys are creaming these ogres." Reply: "I could solo this. Just helping people with the quest."
We completed two quests involving the ogres last night. It didn't push Kurathan into level 44, but he is definitely much closer.
A little rant about learning recipes from profession trainers. Why doesn't Blizzard include the reagents on all the trainable recipes? Maybe I don't want to spend 2g to learn this pattern if the reagents are too difficult to obtain. I don't think it would be that difficult to list the reagents along with the requirements at the bottom of the dialog screen.
|
Monday, April 16, 2007
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
This weekend was very interesting.
Saturday night, we were supposed to meet a couple to have something like a 'family' game night. Board games, card games...
We are in Liberty and had to drive to Mission. Not a big deal, about 30-40 minutes. We get down there and drive around for way too long. We cannot find this place. We finally gave up and drove back home. Only to find out, we had the wrong address.
Sunday held a photo shoot for Mary. It was a co-worker's 4-year-old son. Lots of energy, camera shy. It still turned out okay, and I think Mary got a bunch of good shots.
I think I'm going to get to see Mary for lunch today. It's a rare occasion. We work almost half an hour from each other, so we don't get to do this often.
In future news, it looks like our Chicago trip will be wonderful. For the first time, we will have all the cash on hand to take this trip. No more debit card declined. It will all be cash. :-)
The primary hotel is already paid for, so no worries there. We'll have to pay for the secondary hotel (2 nights), gas, food, and souvenirs. We'll actually be there relaxing this time. The last time we were there, we had specific tasks and three days to complete them. This time, we will be there for 7 days! With only two days with any other activities, we'll be poring over a AAA tour book to see what attractions we want to visit.
|
Need More Space (WoW)
Fairly uneventful weekend.
Only gained one level for Giladen, and none for Kurathan. Mostly worked on profession skills.
Giladen was taken for a few quests, which is what ultimately pushed her to level 18.
I have GOT to get some larger bags for her, though. Being an enchanter, she keeps a lot of reagents in her bags. Having two 8-slot bags, a 6-slot bag, and a quiver, that doesn't leave much space for her. Plus, having a pet, she has to carry food around. And tailoring supplies... AAARRRGGGHHH!!!
|
Friday, April 13, 2007
Razor Fen Downs Goin' DOWN! (WoW)
Complete run through RFD last night. It was great. Arcticfreeze, guild leader, ran his alt Cleos through. Along with Darthtroll, Irahowo, and Deadfear, we waltzed through with only three or four deaths. Cleos is a shaman and had resurrect, so no corpse runs (that run is simply WAY too long).
Instead of taking that first right and going for the lich, we took the left and trudged forward to 'the Gong.' Past the crypt fiends simply dropped us off at the bottom of the spiral that leads up to the lich.
I broke the instance rules, though. I saw everyone pass on a blue BoP piece of plate armor that I wanted, so I took it. The rule is, if it's BoP, everyone passes then we talk about who gets it. Oops! I felt like a heel, but Arctic kept telling me not to worry about it.
The loot from the lich I'd already had, so I flat out passed on both. I felt it was the right thing to do.
All in all, Kurathan walked away with quite a bit of coin. The repair bill was not very big, but I spent a LOT of his money on cloth. I got his tailoring skill up to 175 so he can do bolt of mageweave now. The next step is to get him up to 225, so he can make the mageweave bag, 12 slot.
Tonight, I think I will take a break. I'll just log on to put stuff in the auction house, then log off. I just have NOT been spending enough time with my wife.
|
Thursday, April 12, 2007
I'm rich, I tell you! (WoW)
The night worked out much better than planned.
After I logged on with Kurathan, I was planning on running some lower level areas to pick up some more cloth in an attempt to up his tailoring skill further. I have GOT to get up to bigger bags.
I received a private message almost immediately inviting me to a run of Razor Fen Downs. I joined and ran Kurathan through the lich branch of RFD with the group. It was a little rocky start. Right after we started the branch, I think one of the lower level members got too close to the next batch of mobs. We had about 9 mobs swarming us. I just set Kurathan on auto-pilot (attack everything) and watched as one group member after the next was reduced to 0 HP.
Thankfully, that was the only death we had. We immediately reorganized and formulated an attack plan. The rest of the run was pretty simple.
After that run, I was surprised to see that Kurathan had only horded about 2g! Everything in the auction house sold, too, though. So that took him up to 6g.
I decided that it was time to pick up a small chain of quests to push Kurathan over to level 43 land. The quest chain I chose was Test of Faith, Test of Endurance, Test of Strength, Test of Lore (x6). One of the steps in this chain is to pick up a book in the Scarlet Monastery, so I ran Kurathan over to the SM meeting stone, then Alt-Tabbed to Firefox to check up on the exact location of the book.
When I Alt-Tabbed back over, I was met with a pleasant surprise. Psychotik was running around Kurathan! I asked him what he was doing there. He said he was trying to beat his best time. At this point, he is a 69 Frost Mage. Another friend, Tanu, was also there so we grouped together. Being a 69, Psychotik had no real use for the miniscule (for his level) money and items, so he had the loot set to free-for-all.
We ran through two branches of SM, and Kurathan picked up the book he needed for the quest. With Psychotik running around freezing everything, enough XP was earned to get Kurathan to level 43 (+8%). The best part was not the level, though. Kurathan ended up hording 12g! Nice.
Before I logged off, I ran him around to finish the chain quest. I ended the night with him having 18% XP into level 43.
AND, I think the guild will still be having the RFD instance run tonight.
|
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Speaking (WoW)
I tried out my new headset with a free TeamSpeak server. I couldn't get the mic to work. I'll just have to see if there was something else I need to do on the server. I say that because when I wasn't connected to the server, the test mode worked like a charm. After connecting to the server, even test mode didn't work.
Ventrilo, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem at all.
I am currently looking into getting a Ventrilo host for the Okie party. I looked at the server Azeroth Crusaders uses, and I think I may use them as well. I'll just have to see how the group takes to Ventrilo.
|
The Quest for More Silk (WoW)
As far as Giladen goes, I was not able to group with the guys last night. I knew I would not have a large chunk of time to devote, just a few small chunks, so I didn't use her.
I ran Kurathan all over Stranglethorn Vale to complete the map. He's got everything except for Zul'Gurub. As I got closer, the guardians were level ?? elites.
Kurathan massacred all kinds of creatures in Stranglethorn in an attempt to complete a couple quests and to gather lots of fabric. Killing humanoids is also a good way to get some coin.
After upping his purse by about 3g, I took him back to the Undercity and bought a ton of silk cloth and bolts of silk cloth. That cloth still did not push his skill high enough to do bolt of mageweave. He's getting close, though.
I've been thinking about simply running Kurathan around Stranglethorn, killing trolls, humans, and goblins. Just to up his purse over and again. I have a feeling he'll be buying most of his materials from now until he can make the largest bags. It will be an expensive endeavor, but once I get him there, I hope it will pay off.
Tomorrow night, I will be running an instance with the guild. Most likely Scarlet Monastery. Not sure which branch(es), but I know it will be fun.
|
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sew, A Needle Pulling Thread (WoW)
Forgot about some previously made plans last night, so Kurathan did NOT get to make an instance run.
After we got back home, though, I ran him around.
I first took him to Tarren Mill and headed north into the Alterac Mountains. Lots of Ogres and a little Syndicate town called Strahnbrad.
He ended up killing almost everything and making the rounds again. All the mobs here are humanoids, so he was able to get a lot of coin and cloth.
I took him back to the Undercity to start upping his tailoring. I still had to buy him extra cloth from the auction house, but I finally got his skill up to 150, enough to learn how to make the Silk Bag (10 slot). Mageweave is next.
|
Monday, April 09, 2007
Busy/Not Busy
I did not sleep well at all last night, by any means. We slept in quite a bit Sunday morning. I got up around 9:30. We got to bed last night around 1:45. I know I tossed there for at least an hour or so. I woke up at 4:45 needing to use the restroom, so I got up. After I finished, I knew I wasn't going back to sleep, so I stayed up the next hour to my normal 'get up' time.
Well, Friday was the busy day, with Saturday and Sunday being the laid back ones this weekend. Friday, I had a doctor's appointment in the morning. It's right around the corner from where Mary works, so I went on over there after the appointment. She still had some time before she could leave, so I got her a newspaper, deposited our Missouri state income tax return, and filled up my car with the cauldron brew we commonly call gasoline. It must be hand crafted since it costs so much.
After I dropped off the paper for her, I went over to Best Buy and looked at their selection of gaming headsets. Finally picked one up. A $30 Logitech number that seems to be doing its job. I haven't tested it on Ventrilo yet, but that will come tonight. It works for Yahoo! voice chat quite well.
I know, you're asking, a newspaper? Is this a regular occurance? No, it is not. Mary took out a classified ad in the Kansas City Star for photography. She hopes there will be a good turnout from the ad. As do I.
Sunday, we took the time to wish each other Happy Easter and did a little bit of cleaning up in the apartment. In the evening, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items, then Mary baked some brownies as we sat and watched a couple movies.
We were supposed to go see Reign Over Me on Saturday, but we were just too tired. Sunday we were just too lazy to go out, and tonight I have the guild instance run in World of Warcraft. I'm looking at Tuesday night for the movies.
|
Split Time (WoW)
I split time with Kurathan and Giladen this weekend, though I know I shouldn't have. I know I should have devoted the weekend to Giladen.
Nothing particularly exciting. Thursday night and Friday were devoted to Kurathan's slow progression. Trolltrooper (Darthtroll?) helped him out on a couple quests. I was supposed to help Troll out, but Mary and I had to leave.
I felt bad about leaving him hanging like that. I thought I might see him online on Friday since neither of us had to work, but I did not see him. Though, I didn't really play much till the evening. Had a doctor's appointment in the morning. After the appointment... (next post)
Saturday, I logged on with Giladen and my Okie friends were on. We worked together on a few of the lower level quests they still had to finish, but mainly, we swapped raw materials and made things for each other.
Sunday is when I faltered. I logged on as Kurathan and worked him through a few things. Finished a couple quests and began some exploring. Actually nearly completed Duskwood and started exploring West into Westfall. After seeing just exactly where I was, I ran across the Deadmines, which I had never seen before.
Kurathan didn't really have any trouble soloing Deadmines. Though he did die once. But that was only because I started an attack before I noticed two stealthed guardians right next to me. That put five mobs on me. One of which had stun (Tauren with stomp). He was able to take out the four guardians, and was mere miliseconds away from surviving the attack of the leader. Kurathan had 66 HP left when he was stunned for 8 seconds. The leader mob walked over to a chest and retreived some new weapons. Just as the timer on the stun let up, I was going to hit the healing potion, but he got a strike in just before I could click the button.
After I took the 15 minutes it took to run Kurathan back to the Deadmines, then the next 5 minutes to run back to where he was, the rest was a breeze.
Kurathan picked up a ton of greens which sold well to vendors. Everything was pretty low level, too low to AH as my lower limit is 15. If it isn't at least a level 15 item, it goes straight to a vendor.
After selling everything, I took Kurathan over to the AH to pick up raw mats for tailoring. Upped his tailoring to pick up Bolt of Silk Cloth. I had already stashed about 60 silk cloth in preparation in the bank. This wasn't nearly enough to push him to make the silk pack (10 slot) at 150, so I had him pick up one of the highest level patterns he could produce. That helps.
The guild will be running Kurathan through an instance tonight. I think it will be the Scarlet Monastery.
|
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Questioning My Ability (WoW)
Last night was the planned guild instance run. But I should have planned for myself a little better. Well, now I know.
Unfortunately for Kurathan, the instance run was already planned for Black Rock Depths. A little too high level for him. I went ahead and logged on to the guild Ventrilo server so I could listen in and interject on the guild chat channel every now and then.
From the sound of the discussion that was going on, it sounds like they will be planning on running through a series of instances that are all linked, so I'll just have to try and catch a much later instance run in a few weeks.
The non-instance time allowed Kurathan to progress with quests, however, and the XP from the quests pushed him into level 41. A couple of the quests led him into some of the lower level instances like Razor Fen Downs.
In doing so, I have begun to realize that I think I need training. Not like going to an in-game trainer and buying skills. Like me, Kerry, needing training in handling the solo aspect of the warrior class along with training in handling the tank aspect of the warrior class. I just feel like Kurathan is not consistently strong in combat.
I'm pretty sure it's just something I'm doing incorrectly or not at all.
The last instance run I had him in, Scarlet Monastery, I noticed that Kurathan was missing a large percentage of his swings. Almost immediately the comment about 'Dual Wieldiing' was raised. It really struck something in me. Am I making a mistake leading Kurathan into dual wielding? I've already wiped his talent tree once before.
I'll be talking with some of the more senior guild members about it.
|
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Where's the beef?
Yesterday started out bad, but turned out quite nice.
I was really worried about paying the rent this time. Paying it on time would leave me with about -$15. Not good for keeping groceries in the house.
I had resigned myself to getting a dreaded payday loan. Since I'd already been a regular customer of their's right after we moved to KC, I knew the things required for Check N' Go to grant me a loan. I needed a recent bank statement (printed online), my last pay stub (printed online), a recent utility bill with my current address (printed online), and a blank check (in my planner).
When I left the apartment yesterday morning on the way to work, I could not find my planner in the apartment anywhere. I checked my car before Steve and I left for work (I carpool with my programming partner in crime), but it was not in my car. I hoped I had left it at work, though I was pretty sure I hadn't.
I got to work, and, what do you know? Not there. I had to find it that day. By 5pm yesterday, the rent would have officially been late. Time to back-track.
The last time I remembered having it was coming out of the grocery store on Sunday. Hoping beyond hope, I called the store. They had it. Great.
Unfortunately, I would not be able to get to the store and back to Check N' Go and to my bank to deposit the check and to the apartment office before everything closed.
I called the apartment office and explained that I would not get paid till Thursday and just wanted to know how much extra my rent check would need to be. She put me on hold while she pulled up my account.
When she came back on the line, she said that I had never been late before and her manager told her to waive the late fees.
So, last night, we celebrated. Mary got a pedicure and we went to Applebee's to have a nice, albeit late, dinner. Mmmm... I love raspberry tea. :-P
|
De Skeletal Horse, Boss! De Skeletal Horse! (WoW)
The mount is in Kurathan's inventory o' goodies.
Last night, when I logged on, I had planned on Kurathan simply turning in that clandestine quest at Ghost Walker Post, then moving on to kill more satyr in the northeast corner to get more cash.
Almost as soon as I logged on, I got an invite from the Troll (guild officer). He asked if I had my mount yet. I told him (again) that I did not, but that I was on the way. He asked me how close I was; 18g.
After a bit of conversation, during which I complemented him on his inclusion of the instance schedule on the main page of the website, and he complemented me on my blog, the new mail icon showed up. He had sent me the final 18g push to get my mount. Hm, if I were a greedy man, I could have said I was 35g away... Nevermind. "I'm just thinking out loud... or... whatever." (Stan Tucci as Dave Kingman from America's Sweethearts)
Kurathan turned in the quest at Ghost Walker Post and hearthed back to the Crossroads to pick up a flight to Orgrimmar so he could catch a Zeppelin to the Undercity to hook over to Brill. Again, this is the only place I know of to get the horse, since I never really bothered to research it.
So, a horsing he will go. Hi-ho the deadly-o, a horsing he will go.
I started Kurathan on some old quests he still had in the Dustwallow Marsh. Before I knew it, it was freakin' 2:15 in the morning! Logged, went to bed, and didn't play this morning.
The important thing is....
GOT THE MOUNT!!!!!!
|
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Quest Runaround (WoW)
Spent very little time with Kurathan last night. He was in Orgrimmar, so I flew him to Shadowprey Village in Desolace. Had his lowest level quest in Desolace.
This quest had him killing 28 satyr, on the other end of Desolace. I took him across the center of Desolace and massacred some satyr. The money drop wasn't bad and he picked up quite a good chunk o' greens.
After killing the satyr, I trudged him across the flat again back to Shadowprey Village. By this time, it was 11:30 and about time to turn in. I kept watching the mini-map for the yellow dot, but none appeared, so I opened the quest log.
Now, the quest is already kind of screwed up anyways, because it falls under the heading Orgrimmar. Though, you neither get it from Orgrimmar, nor turn it in at Orgrimmar. The start and end are at Ghost Walker Post. Which Kurathan passed on the way back to Shadowprey Village. DOH!
It was too late to run half way back across Desolace to turn the quest in, so I just put Kurathan in the inn at Shadowprey and called it a night.
|
Monday, April 02, 2007
The Weekender (WoW)
Kurathan still does not have the money for a mount. It's sad, I know. He's still about 20g short.
This weekend was mostly about Giladen (the male hunter is gone, by the way). My friends called me up on Saturday and I logged on that evening. Then Sunday we grouped together again. Lots of just little stuff, since we are all still under level 20. No instances for us yet.
Yesterday evening, I did a little solo action with Giladen. Sent her all over Darkshore, picking up quests, completing them. I finally got a pet for her, too. At level 14, she finally has a bear. It was a ... um... bear to get, too. The thistle bears in Darkshore have some kind of swipe ability that knocks the player down and stuns for a second. It's enough to break the tame ability.
Normally, she could only attempt the tame ability once on any bear, since the ability drops armor by 100% and lasts 20 seconds. Thankfully, a happy druid came by and helped me out with healing. She was able to attempt tame a second time. No swipe = pet bear.
Right after she got the bear, I realized... I have no food. *eyeroll*
So, with the bear totally ticked at me, I had to fly back to Teldrasil to learn fishing, buy a fishing pole, buy a fishing bauble, and fish for ... fish. I decided then that fishing was a skill I needed her to have in order to keep the pet fed and happy. I, therefore, spent about 30 minutes upping her fishing skill. Up to 75, then learned the next proficiency level.
I will be working on Kurathan tonight and throughout the week. The weekends, however, will be reserved for team play.
|