Rested XP Gain In Progress

Since working two jobs is cutting into my gaming time, I’ve decided to park my warlock in an inn to gain some rested xp.  I was originaly going to level him straight through to 80 and put all other WoW action aside until then, including dailies and alts. 

Since I’m going to be resting Hadox for a few days to aid in leveling, I’ve taken the liberties of creating a Draenei shaman to tinker with in between leveling and resting.  Not that I’ll be able to play it any more than my ‘lock, but just to have something new to work on in the mean time.

Relaxing Work Day

This is my first day off from Lowes this week, and I was going to celebrate by sleeping in.  My body seems to be adjusting to my new time schedule, however, and I was up and at ‘em by 9 AM.  So I hopped up, went to pay the water bill, bought breakfast at McDonald’s and helped Jenn finish mowing the lawn.  Heck, if the dump wasn’t closed on Thursdays, I’d be hauling off some trash, too!  I guess you know you are getting old when you do more work on your day off than during the regular work week.

That aside, we’ve had a few new duties added on to us at Parthenon.  Our boss said it was to show our value to the company, that we can and are contributing to the plant as a whole, and to hopefully save our jobs.  They recently went through another “riff,” which is the ‘09 term being used for layoffs.  They even went as far as to eliminate about 90% of our second shift work force, moving the majority of them to days temporarily.  We’ll have another review in August to see what the “next step” will be.  I’ve got my fingers crossed that this is where the Lord will allow me to stay.

And, finally, back to my part time job at Lowes, I believe I have lost about 4 pounds since starting a little over a week ago.  I’ve gotten sunburnt and it is slowly starting to tan.  Mowing the lawn today, I grabbed an old shirt, cut the sleeves out and put on a pair of shorts.  I need that “almost” whole body tan, baby.  Gotta be ready to show off those new muscles I’ve discovered in the last few days :)

My Visit With Hadox

Thanks to my full-time job, which is on shaky ground with our unstable economy, and with additional thanks to my new part time job, World of Warcraft has finally taken a backseat to all other things in life.  Of course, my family comes first after all is said and done, but I was finally able to get in some game time this weekend.  And it was fun!  I guess you really need to get away, once in awhile, to really appreciate the finer aspects of any game you’ve played for a long time.

Since my playing time is limited, now, I decided to skip my attempt at dailies with my main and focus, instead, on leveling up my warlock.  As of this writing, near midnight on Sunday, I’ve almost achieved level 37.  There is still an issue of my not having completed several warlock class quests, mainly for a few demonic companions, but I’m about to set off to do those very soon.  The only reason they’ve been ignored is because once I get on a leveling streak, I hate to break it by starting something else.  Plus, I mainly use my Voidwalker for the majority of my questing anyways. 

So, right now, I’ve got in a /play of 2 day 10 hours and 15 minutes total time.  Not too shabby, I suppose, since I’ve been leveling on regular experience 99% of my play time.

Star Trek

Warning: Spoilers Below

 

My wife, son and I went to see Star Trek today.  I was hyped about this “reboot” since the first trailer was released.  I’ve talked constantly about how I wanted to go see this movie.  I practically drug my wife and son to see it with me.  What were the results?  Did it live up to the hype?  Do I think it is as “epic” as everyone else believes it to be?  Why?  Why not?  Well, let me tell you …

I guess I’ll start of with the bad.  As I said before, I was hyped about this movie.  My desktop had artwork on it, I was watching the trailers over and over, checking up on the previous works the actors had contributed to …  This movie was going to be A W E S O M E !

But, as with most thing you expect great things out of, I was let down a tad bit, this time.  Over all, the entire story seemed choppy.  There was little transition of time, the beginning scenes skipped around from Kirk’s birth, a point in his childhood when he stole his stepfather’s car, then to him getting his butt beat in a bar fight after hitting on Uhura.  The entire opening sequence of the U.S.S. Kelvan being attacked by Nero’s ship and George Kirk sacrificing himself to save the crew and his wife who is in labor w/ James T. Kirk, wasn’t really that exciting or dramatic.

This was my problem with the entire movie.  Not the special effects or the acting or even the choppy story.  It was the fact that none of it was exciting or breathtaking.  Yes, there were plot elements that sent the entire Star Trek Universe into an entirely new direction from what we all grew up with, but there were no jaw dropping moments.

I guess the lack of mystery and thrills is what I’m groping for in my complaint.  We all know that none of our beloved historic characters are in jeopardy, so when Kirk and Spock head over to  Nero’s ship, we know they’re going to make it back.  Scotty caught in the water flow tube after him and Kirk beam back to the Enterprise from the ice planet … so what, we know he’s not going to die, he’s the chief engineer of the Enterprise, for crying out loud!  Sulu and Kirk’s fight on the drilling platform … it could have been an intense fighting sequence, but what is intense about it when you know neither of them will lose?

There was also the issue of Spock “Prime,” as some folks are calling him on the interwebz, pointing out characters as if we wouldn’t have figured it out ourselves.  Such as when he and Kirk discover Scotty at the Federation Outpost on the ice planet.  “Fascinating.  You are Montgomery Scott.”  No, really?

The story was written by J.J. Abrams, creator of shows such as Lost, Alias, the movie Cloverfield, etc.  He is great at mystery and carrying on interesting storylines.  But action and storytelling in the Star Trek Universe … he left me wanting … something better.

Don’t get me wrong, there was a nice mix of drama and comedy, nothing over the top, but enough to keep folks entertained.  But the entire film was, from what I could tell, suppose to be an action adventure … and it lacked a bit in the action and the adventure.  Instead of an epic space battle, we get the Enterprise warping in and firing phasers and photo torpedoes for about 30 seconds, and that’s the extend of the really big fight scene. 

Okay, so my list of complaints may be a bit longer than I wanted, but really, it was a good movie, just not the “epic” adventure I’ve been reading about.  There were some bright spots, such as the interaction between Kirk and Bones, which was brief and not very fleshed out.  Spock was a bit of an ass, but you could kind of see where him and Kirk could flesh one another out should their relationship be allowed to bloom.  Scotty was given too little screen time and Simon Pegg was wasted, though I thought he did well with what he was given.  I couldn’t stand Uhura or Chekov, but Sulu had potential, too.  I think Karl Urban was the most true to his character, despite what I read on other sites.  He WAS Leonard “Bones” McCoy, but, alas, he was given very little screen time. 

All in all, this was most definitely an “origin” story, if I may call it that.  Should you go see it?  Definitely.  Evidently it appeals to a much wider audience than the other Trek films.  Where I was let down a bit, my wife, who didn’t want to go see it, actually enjoyed it more than she expected she would.  And let me tell you, she doesn’t like Star Trek and has made fun of me several times over wanting to see this movie. 

So J.J. Abrams may have done what he set out to do: attract a new audience to the series and genre.  My hats off to him.  I just hope, if there is a sequel, it’ll be a bit better than this one. 

If you want to see a great action adventure set in the Star Trek Universe, go rent or buy First Contact.  If you want a great story with suspense and intrigue, go rent or buy Star Trek Nemesis.  If you want just a near perfect Star Trek Story, then check out The Wrath of Khan or The Voyage Home.  But, if you want to see a summer blockbuster that makes things go boom with very little thought, then check out J.J. Abrams Star Trek.

My Two Favorite Cylons

Before or After?

I’m debating on whether or not I should purchase “Broken Steel,” the third dlc offered for Fallout 3, before or after I finish the main storyline.  I’ve seen video trailers and such, but I’m not completely sure how it will affect my character if I buy and install it after the fact.  Will I get a sort of rewind and a chance to replay that last bit? 

I’m debating now because I am at the point where we are about to activate Liberty Prime and storm the water facility.  The only other thing delaying me is that I believe I need some more tapes for the password.  I read on GameFaqs.com that you have to find 5 holotapes to discover the complete password for the water purifier.  If that’s so, I still have four more to go.

So goes it, I’ll make the right choice no matter what, I’m sure.  It’s just one of those little things I thought I’d blog about.

I Am The Coin Master!

 

After 3 days of insanity, I have finally completed the Dalaran coin achievements!  That’s right, the picture above is a screen clip of what I now have in my little achievement list.  Beautiful, ain’t it?  And as a reward for 3 days (2-3 hours a day) of fishing up coins out of the fountain …  I got a coin … a specially minted Titanium Seal of Dalaran … which I promptly put in the bank for safe keeping. 

These achievements were, of course, done on my hunter main.  This is the only toon I plan on going for achievements on.  Unlike a pal o’ mine who is doing the holidays on nearly all of his 80s … His weeks are booked during the holidays, carrying 3 80’s through all those achievement quests.  Ugh!

Anyways, for those that think I’m crazy, let me just say that you don’t know the half of it.  The following screen shot is what I’ve been looking at for the past couple of days, and I can’t say I’ll miss it …

 

Lowered Expectations / Disappointments

This is the third business day since I took my drug test for part time employment with Lowes.  Still no phone call.  I know I passed the drug test, but I’m not sure what the hold up is on the phone call.  My wife wants me to call them, and I figure I will, I’ll just wait until tomorrow, which will then be well passed the set time limit the lady gave us.  I’d really like to have that job, and I am not ashamed to say I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get it.

And secondly, I was thinking of the good and bad of social networking sites this morning.  Dunno why, really, but I was considering the implications of finding out more information about people you know, knew or thought you knew.  Basically, my post was:

Good things about social networking sites: finding old friends and classmates and long lost family members. (Possibly) Bad things about social networking sites: learning someone isn’t exactly the type of person you use to consider them to be :)

It’s one thing to have friends you’ve gone to school with, or worked with and hung out with on occasion, or family members you haven’t connected with in a long time.  But what happens when you get an up close, daily look into their lives via those social networking sites.  You begin to learn how they really think, act and behave.  Their opinions and beliefs that may have once been a veiled mystery are suddenly on display for you to see. 

Is it what you expected?  Does it surprise you?  How do you react when their beliefs or behaviour doesn’t live up to your own morales or expectations?  It would be awkward to de-friend them, if it came to that extreme.  After all, these are people you’ve known for … say … almost 14 years of your life in one form or another (friend, coworker, neighbor, family). 

Social Networking sites are overall a good idea, but sometimes it can bring out the Jekyll and Hyde of people.  Sometimes, I believe it’s best if we really don’t know just what is on other peoples minds … but, thanks to Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and all the others … that’s a thing of the past.

33rd Level & Other Main Events

This post is a combination of Alt and Main events. 

First, Hadox was finally able to reach 33 1/2 at the time I logged off last night.  I am now questing in Stranglethorn Vale (aka HELL) and despise it, but I’m dedicated to seeing this leveling guide add-on through to the end.

My next move led me to Stormwind half way through this level because, at 33, I find I really need to upgrade my gear.  So when I logged, Hadox was standing in front of the auctioneer in SW and prepared to go shopping at my next log in.

As for Shavelle, oh what a week it’s been!  Noblegarden.  Children’s Week.  Participating in Argent Tournament quests and dailies.  She finally made it to a representative of the Exodar and now a whole new set of dailies are open.  I also leveled her cooking to 350, achieved Grand Master cooking skill and began the cooking dailies.  AND … as if that weren’t enough, we are now trying to do the three coin achievements in Dalaran.  The goal is to fish up copper, silver and gold coins from the Dalaran fountain.  Get them all and you get an achievement for each type as well as a reward for getting all three lists complete.

These back to back holidays we are coming out of has really done alot to get me interested in the game again.  Sure, I’m leveling an alt to 80 right now, but Shavelle reaching 80 kind of ground my interest in that level to a halt.  Now I find there is some interesting things for me to participate in.  Heck, I may even have to run an instance or two! 

Things are just too fun, right now.

Love Me Some Fallout 3

The third Fallout 3 DLC pack, “Broken Steel,” comes out this Tuesday, May 5th.  With its release, Bethesda is “snipping” bits and pieces of the original F3 ending so that it doesn’t just … er … end.  Instead of a cut off point, the ending will instead allow you to continue playing in the D.C. Wastelands long after the main storyline is done.

To say I’m pleased (along with thousands of others, I’m sure) is putting it lightly.  Fallout 3 is a wonderful game.  It’s so good that I don’t even mind the fact that it is a first person perspective.  Well, okay, you can zoom your camera out, but the character animations are so bad that it’s best to play it from a FP view.  That aside, this is, so far, one of my favorite XBox 360 titles since the system originaly launched.

I have yet to even play the first two dlc packs, but I’d rather get the “last” first so I don’t have to even worry about coming to the end of my game.  And besides, I had such a fun time playing this weekend that it was hard to put the controller down.

At the moment, I’m level 14 and am on a quest that will help me reach Vault 108? I think it is.  There is a G.E.C.K that is needed for the main storyline.  But first, I have to rescue two enslaved children and bring them back to the little underground village run by kids I found that know the secret entrance to the Vault.

Fun, eh?  Oh yeah!

So this ends my brief update on my adventures in the Fallout 3 universe.  More to come as I work my way toward the “Broken Steel” content and move along the main story.