Hacked!

I have bad news.  My EQII account got hijacked last night.  I have no idea who or how since I've got a fairly secure password and it's not written down or in an email or anything like that.  I don't really know or care about how.  I just want it fixed.
What stinks the most isn't that my account got jacked or that my stuff got stolen, but that the jerk who did this deleted one of my favorite characters.  Whispe, as of now, is no longer amongst us.  She was a very wonderful little fae monk who was well on her way to being level 90 if I spent any more time with her.  She's been with me almost since the beginning of Faedwar.
Anyhow, this was just to vent a little and to let anyone who comes by here who knows me from EQII know that if you see me online, it's not me until I post something here.  I haven't been able to reset my password because it doesn't like my answer to the "Secret Question"  (that's the first or second thing I'd change if I ever hacked an account, the account password being the other!) and Sony hasn't responded to my request for help yet.  Gak's trying to work on it with support, but they don't open until 10 am PST and we're east coast.
*sigh*
For what it's worth, I'll insert the standard Change Your Passwords!!!  Don't Give Them Out!! warnings...

Peace to all and may your accounts be safe and sound.

Long Week

It's been one of those weeks.  One where you think it'll never end.

Even though it was a short one and I had off on Monday.

We're winding down in reporting month and I don't feel like I've gotten ahead any.  I've got reports that need finishing, more work orders than any one person knows what to do with and a big training session to coordinate in Phoenix at the beginning of the month.

Oh, and I'll probably have to cancel the sessions we're holding that week in my office because I have one person signed up.  And that's with marketing.

That's just the work end of things.  Although, I must admit, my boss has almost spoiled me.  Since we only have one vehicle and it's been so bitter cold or icy several days the last few weeks, he's let me work from home in the morning and come in when I drop Boo and Gak off ad daycare and work.

Can I tell you how much I'm enjoying that?  Even though I spend all morning (usually) being way more productive at home than at the office and not playing with Boo.  I can enjoy listening to the boys play.  I can take a few minute break around 9 and get his breakfast ready.  I can get some random hugs and talk to both my guys if I want.  It's been wonderful, I just have to try hard not to abuse the privilege he's let me take and only use it when the weather really does warrant it.  I'll miss that excuse come spring.  (Although, I've been toying with the idea of getting him to let me make it official one or two days a week, like Tuesday and Thursday...)

Other than that, we haven't been doing a whole lot around here.  I have spent a bit of time flittering around in EQII.  On that front, good news from my perspective.  Gak has decided to come back to EQII instead of Warhammer.  Mostly because everyone he was playing with has left.  I guess he just hasn't made any other friends on there that he didn't already know.  He still enjoys the game and it's well done, but since I have no real interest in playing there and the others have left, he's put it on hold.  He probably will go back at some point when he gets bored with EQII again.  That's fine, I have no issues with that.  I've always said he can play what he wants.

Boo is doing well.  He's eating up a storm and growing like a weed.  Just like he's supposed to.  He's really enjoying his time playing on the floor, or in the playpen, with or without others, at daycare.  I do worry he's not getting enough milk though.  He's really decreased the amount he drinks in a day.  I still nurse him first thing in the morning and right before bed.  Instead of four 4 oz. bottles a day, he may get a total of 3.  Of course, 4 to 6 oz or so is used to mix up his cereal.  Like I said, he's growing well and is as long and lean as ever.  There really isn't much baby fat on this boy.  So, at least I know I'm not over feeding him.  We shall see.  The last two afternoons at daycare he hasn't taken his 4:30 bottle at all.  Therefore, even though I wouldn't always be giving him cereal at dinner, I mix some up with about half that bottle and then he gets a bit more with his bedtime nurse.  (Although, I'm sure that's mostly just comfort nursing at this point...)

I do have things to say about the inauguration, but they just don't seem to fit in this post.  I was able to watch most of it from home, as I worked from home that morning.  (Actually, that was one of my few non-productive mornings at home...)  I was impressed.  I was impressed by the number of people, the speakers the speeches and the ceremony.  As always, it was amazing to watch the peaceful transfer of power we take for granted every four (or 8) years that so many people literally would and do die to have in their own countries.  I think we're off to a good start but everyone of us has a long, hard road ahead to get back out of this mess.  Some of it's been a long time coming, some of it has been mistakes made in more recent history.  A good part of it has been laziness on all of our parts.  Hey, I admit, if I don't have to do it, why should I?

I'm just rambling now and not even attempting to connect my thoughts.  I'm off to shower so I can get to work and get this week done.  I'll try and be more interesting next week.  There are new pictures up at any rate, and more on the camera too.

Peace to all and may your thoughts be coherent and there be a bit of hope in your life.

Confusing

The last day has had a couple of odd realizations.  And I don't think they're connected really, other than the fact that I made them and all within about 24 hours.  I'm now not even sure which one happened first, so the order will be by random number generator (i.e. however my brain spits the words out through my fingers...).

Realization A:  I have no idea how my parents slept when I was little.  Or even when I was not so little and would come down with one of those horrible hacking, wheezing nasty coughs that made me afraid to go to sleep.  (Honestly, there were a couple of colds I remember having where I couldn't breathe much at all and was afraid to go to sleep because I might not wake up and drown in my own goo... not a pleasant thought at all...)

I came to this realization last night while listening to Boo hack and cough and sputter off and on throughout the night.  I kept fighting between getting up and checking on him after every bad cough and trying to get back to sleep because "he's fine...."  This, of course, is coming from the girl who's parents knew exactly when she woke up because there would be a bout of loud, hacking, barking coughing followed by a loud, obnoxious nose blowing.  How mom managed not to run to my bedside every time I coughed funny in my sleep, I'll never know.  Or maybe I'll figure it out in a few years time when this whole being a momma thing isn't quite so new.  (Boo is sleeping much more quietly so far this evening.  We'll see what 2am brings though...)

Realization B: I do have the energy to continue to play EQII and my friends there actually do miss me.  This really came in two phases.  The first was yesterday noon-time when Gak had logged in using my account to see if anyone we knew was around to say hi.  (He let his account go dormant back when Warhammer came out...)  Well, our three closest friends were indeed on.  I got to catch up with them for a few and realized how much I really did miss playing around in that world and talking to these people.  I most especially miss talking with Syn.  He may be a dirty old man at times, but he's harmless and very nice and a good friend.  I miss Charitee and Chris as well, but differently.  

The realization that I will actually continue to play came tonight.  Boo went to bed, or at least wanted to lay in his dark room in his crib, fairly early.  This means I was able to keep my promise to myself to log back in today or tomorrow.  Sure enough, Syn was on.  Actually, he was the only one of my friends who was on.  I took out my little level 46 monk and he brought out his 47 fury, and we kicked minotaur butt for a while.  It was good.  It was nice to just hang out.  I needed it.

I'd been avoiding logging in for a couple of months now.  It seemed like a chore.  I think that's because I just don't want to face Despair with Addey.  I really don't have anything for her to do by herself.  I don't really know anyone in that guild any more.  Syn doesn't usually play his "big kids" much these days, so she doesn't have anyone to hang out with.  That and I was sure that no one would really want to talk to me, that they'd all moved on.  Well, that's not true.  Syn, Charitee and Chris all miss having me around.  I think I'm going to make it a point to be around more.  Probably not every night.  Maybe only 2 or 3 a week, but still... a couple of hours a week hanging out with people will do me a world of good.  My world had shrunk to work, boy, sleep repeat.  As much as I love my boy and as much as I need sleep and have to go to work, I need to be social a bit too.

Anyhow, I think I've rambled on a bit on that for now.  I'm getting tired (it's now past my bed time) and should really be asleep now.  Oh, the picture at the top of the post is from last night.  Boo was having a good, calm, time in his bath and I just couldn't help but get some pictures.  (For more, check out the Flickr as always!)

Peace to all and may your brain not confuse you too much.

Done!

Wow! Another post already! This one I've been working on since Sunday.

The title says it all. Actually, I was hoping to add a few more things to the "done" list, but I'm actually quite impressed.

On a non-craft note, Gak and I got Addey up to level 80 Tuesday night instead of having the bed moved. We'd tried to do this on Sunday, but just couldn't quite get there with some of the groups we ended up in. I'm not sure weather to be happy or sad about that event. I mean, sure, it's neat to "finish"... but... I liked the challenge of getting there. Don't worry, there is still tons of stuff to keep me occupied. I'm just done accumulating levels for the moment, not having fun.

On to the craft side. Saturday was quite productive for me really. I finished up the sweater I'd been working on for Boo. I know, he's a late spring baby, but I have the time (and the stash) now, so I made this sweater in the 12 month size. The pattern wasn't too bad, again if you have a clue of how things should look. It's a beginner pattern, if they'd clean up a few cloudy instructions in a few places. It was a freebie download from Lion Brand. I will tell you this... as nice as the microspun feels and looks, I may or may not use it again. It is so soft it just kinda falls apart.

The real tragedy was Sunday. I was trying to finish up the project that mom and I started. I was almost done too, only one more seam. Then disaster struck.

See.

This is the pin that cause the problem.

I mean, how many times do you run over pins while sewing and nothing happens? Oh well... I'll get it fixed after I get back from Minnesota.

Well, Ed just got here to take me to the airport, guess I'd better finish this up and get moving.

Peace to all and have a good week.

Total Randomness

This is just totally random. I've got several things bumping around in my head.
First off, I want to say a HUGE Thank You!!! to Gak's boss and wife. Monday Gak brought home a grocery bag stuffed with 0-6 month (mostly 3-6 month) clothes. Some of it will be a little heavy for a spring/summer baby, but that's OK. There were about a dozen onsies, including some very cute firetruck themed ones. There were also about as many one-piece sleepers in varying weights, mostly lightweight. There were a few other pieces in there as well. All cute! I still could use some "plain" solid or just stripped onsies. I could also use some "short sets" or at least "shorts" to go with the onsies. I probably could also use some "sun hats" as it will be summer. I don't need to worry too much about warmth, but definately sunburn if Boo has skin anything remotely like his father's. (I think Gak turns red at the mere thought of spending the day outside in the summer...)
I also was just poking around on this "expectant mother's" board. I registered at http://babycenter.com back when I found out I was expecting Boo. They send me weekly emails about what's going on and the site has tons and tons of information. One thing they do is host "due date clubs", which are message boards for women expecting in the same calendar month. Like I said, I was just poking around on there. I've looked a few other times as well. I realize that I have almost no connection to these other women. I'm sure some of them are as old as I am. (No, I'm not old to become a momma, but I'm not 23 either...) I know a lot of them work. For many on the board, this isn't their first child. Maybe it's just me. I mean, yes, I have fears and worries, but they're mostly about me being able to be patient, and understanding and a good momma. I mean, I have very few worries about the pregnancy itself, especially now that we've had our second ultrasound and I feel Boo squirming and kicking quite a bit these days. I truly guess my biggest fear or worry about the pregnancy is delivery. The looming question of if I'll have to have a C or not... and if I really want, or will be able to go through, "natural" childbirth. (Drugs are your friend... there's no reason to have that much pain...) I guess I'm too laid-back about everything. Sometimes it's good, but sometimes it's not to have this "we'll cross that bridge when we get there" attitude. I mean, I can't change anything, this is one of those things totally out of my control, or at least almost. I just don't get it. Women have been having babies for mellenia and for most of the time with much, much less information and medical attention than we get these days. I just don't get it....
(OK, so I lied... maybe I do wonder why I feel no connection to these other people... I'm hoping it's just my total independant streak and refusal to "follow the crowd"...)
Anyhow, enough rambling about that.

Work's been OK this week. There's been this huge meeting going on downstairs for the last three days. I'm not sure how usefull it'll all be, but hey, that's corporate life for you. We had the "quarterly business update" today as well. Vaugley interesting. Still, it was mostly just hot air and didn't really have any substance.
Monday we had something interesting happen to the Internet. It's a good thing I didn't have to get anything done within our own network for the last hour or so of the day. I was trying to get to a few internal links, and this is the kind of screen I kept getting. (Yes, I blanked out the company name as best I could. I mean, everything I complain about could happen at any large company and you really don't need to know who I work for unless you actually already know me...)
**Blogger isn't uploading pictures again for me... I may try and post it later. It's probably the fact that I'm at work.***
Doesn't it just crak you up that the reson the site was blocked was because it was "business"? It certinally had me laughing. Luckilly, it was resolved shortly and I was able to check my travel plans for next week and take the employee oppinion survey. I'm sure they really didn't want my oppinion this year, but they asked, so they got it. They actually left it open a few days longer because people weren't responding. That should tell them something right there, now shouldn't it. I mean, it's almost like people were saying "Why bother? Nothing will change anyohow...".
I still have no answers about my job situation. I try not to worry about it most of the time, but it still sits there and nags me in the back of my mind. I mean, I then get emails saying "I'd love to come to your seminar, but just can't make the March one, do you have any others this year?" What in the world am I supposed to say to that one? Do I commit to September and December and hope that someone will do them? Are we even going to have a "training department" as such after March or May? What do I do about the new projects that are going out and want to get on the schedule? I don't have answers for them and I hate that. I mean, I can deal with not having answers right when I'm asked, but even when I try and find out the answers, there aren't any. No one is being any help at all. I'm so fed up and frustrated by it, because I want to be able to do my job and do it well. I hate how this makes me look like a total incompetant. There are enough people like that in the world, and I'm not one of them.

Another rapid subject change for ya... I finally got Addey up to 78 last night. Gak and I were just hanging out, doing a few quests when Trak, one of the guildies asks if we want company. Of course! Well, after a bit we end up going through the same dungeon as we did Saturday. It went much more smoothly, even if in some ways it was tougher because of the types of people we had along. We only wiped out once. Both Gak and I got some neat things from there and had an enjoyable evening over all. It's evenings like this that I'd been missing with Wings. I mean, hanging out with Charitee, Chris and Syn were fun, but we didn't have enough people to do anything. At least nothing big and tough with good rewards. I'm really enjoying Despair. They may be huge, but the people I've gotten to know there are all friendly and fun and extreemly helpful when you need them.

Well, I've been poking and prodding at this entry long enough. It's time for me to get back to the emails and pretend to get some "real" work done. Bah. Oh well. At least tomorrow's Thursday and Friday is a pay day!
Peace to all and may you have friends and answers.

Baby Crafts

Warning.... crafty Momma ramble ahead...

Well, Like I said yesterday, I finished up Boo's blankie. Last night and this morning, in a vain attempt to use up the rest of the leftover yarn, I created a vest and diaper cover. I still have an almost full skein of yellow and about a half skein of green! I'm sure some project will use them up... I hope....

I acutaly spent from about 8am until almost noon working on finishing up the last little bit of the vest (edging... yet again...) and creating the diaper cover. I found both patterns for free online. I'm not as happy with the vest. It's pretty cute and all, but it's just not my favorite. The pattern wasn't very clear in a few places, luckilly I know what a vest should look like and how to count. The one really nice thing about it is that you only had to stitch the shoulder seams, no side seams to try and line up. But let me tell you, changing colors every two rows stinks when you have to weave in ends. Normally I just work over them, but the open-ness of this pattern didn't make that look so hot. Oh well. I'm just hoping the crotch part of the diaper cover is long enough. We'll find out in a handfull of months now, won't we? I'm also thinking it may be a little wide, but that's easy to fix with a small piece of elastic threaded thorugh the waist. Now I really can't wait for Boo to get here, I need to see if what I made fits him!

Ok, enough crafty baby-ness for one post. I swear, I really do have thoughts other than about yarn and Boo... or Boo and yarn... or just Boo... or just yarn...

For example, Gak and I had a great time running through a pretty cool dungeon in EQII yesterday morning. We went with a handful of guildies. (Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, I pulled Addey from Wings of Fate and joined up with Despair... great group!) We also had a necro from another guild who was pathetic. And they accidentally bid on, and won, a no-trade item that Gak really, really, really could have used. Oh well. They appologized at any rate. Still a bit cranky about it, but that just means we don't need to group with them again. Anyhow, it was very nice to just be able to go out and have an adventure with a group for a bit.

Well, I've got to go start supper. Gak should be home from work in a bit. Peace to all, and may you have fun adventures and things that make you smile.

Lazy Sunday

Today has been a good day. I'll get to it in a minute though. I want to talk about Friday first.
I meant to post this Friday night or yesterday, obviously it didn't happen.
I dislike my HR chicky. She's not helpful. She's a bit snotty. And well, she just wasn't very nice. The meeting was a lot of hot air like I suspected. The first thing you need to know is that there is no HR person in the building. Sure, Melissa does the time sheets and tracks vacation and the like, but she's not HR. We haven't had an HR person in the building (officially) since Adrianne passed away in 2001 or 2002. This person is based out of Illinois. She doesn't know me from anyone and doesn't give a rat's behind about anything other than making sure that she enforces the "neutral headcount" that we've got. (Corporate speak for hiring freeze.) Basically her attitude is that if I won't travel, I have to resign. I knew I'd have to resign the job, but she was about as helpful as taking a drill to my head to figure out what to do to keep me. She doesn't care. Actually, if I leave, that means she'll be ahead in her headcount, which would be good. My boss, on the other hand, wants me to stay and is going to try and work the system so I can. I hope it works. At least in the short term. I want to make it through to August and then we'll go from there. If anyone has any brilliant ideas for a job for me that will keep me local and challenge me and keep me earning at least as much as I am now, I'm all ears.
Ok. This is way more stressful than today has been.
Today Gak had off. We were supposed to try and get some stuff done around the house. We were going to take down the Christmas tree and some other things like that. We were going to go see National Treasure this afternoon.
That didn't happen.
Instead, we spent the entire day, and I do mean entire, in Norrath. We logged in by about 9 and we just logged off at 6. That's a full day. We ended up in a really cool group with his guild Despair and got a lot don in Kunzar Jungle. We had a lot of fun. They're good people and good players. We then tagged along on a raid. I got a cool earring out of it. Yes, it was back to Labs, but I hadn't been there in almost 6 months and 6 levels. It went pretty smoothly and we only wiped twice. Not bad for only having one plate tank with us. That would be Gak. He's not usually the main tank for these kinds of things, but he did just fine.
So, I'm off to finally put some real clothes on (I've been in my PJs all day) and go out to the diner. I was going to make a cheeseburger calazone for dinner, but they didn't have any prepared pizza dough at the store yesterday and I didn't stop and put any into the bread maker earlier. Therefore, it would be at least 8:00 before we would get dinner. Not all that helpful when we haven't eaten much today, at least no real meal. I should feel bad about not getting anything done, but I don't. (The New Year's letters are sitting here staring at me reproachfully...) I know that my Sundays like this are numbered. As in less than 20. I'm going to enjoy a few now and again while I can. Then I'll be working my tail off trying to be the best momma I can be.
I'm both nervous and excited about tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have lots to post.
Peace to all and may you have a few lazy days now and again.
Like I said, today has been a good day.

Blarg

Well, this week started off well on the work front. I actually got quite a few things accomplished, but have been steadily running out of steam since. Today was almost useless in many respects. I did get a few odds and ends cleaned up, but none of the major things I needed to tackle got touched. Although, I can't really get too far on one without the input from one of my programmers. I'm doing a special seminar of sorts for the sales guys and this programmer owes me information. I asked for it by tomorrow, but I get the feeling I'll be lucky if I see it by Wednesday. I have to complete it by the end of next week because I'll be gone the week after and then the sales guys will be here. I've got to be able to get it printed while I'm away. No fun.
Last night Gak and I went over to Scott's. He and the guys were playing Warhammer and Kat and I were talking Girl Scout stuff. It looks like Kat's got a lot of neat activities lined up and our girls will earn several Try-It's without even trying too hard. I'm not sure when the first meeting will be, but it should be in a week or two. I know, a bit of a late start to the year, but this is a new troop. Zoe's school has never had any scout troop of any description, so convincing the school to let us is a little more challenging than at some. I'm sure we'll have a blast though. Hopefully by the end of the year we'll attract a few more girls so we can do even more fun stuff. I'm so excited about this.
Tonight I had signed up to go on a raid with Despair. Gak's in this guild. I haven't moved into it yet, I don't want to abandon Wings. I mean, I've got Whispe there still as well as a few others, but I feel like I'd be abandoning Syn and Charitee by moving Addey over. Oh well. But since I'm not actually a member of Despair, I am an alternate for raids. Unfortunately they managed to have a full roster of healers from within the guild. So no merc money or XP or loot for me tonight.
It actually worked out for the best though. I fiddled around on the Internet for a bit and was just about to start playing Paper Mario when Abi called. It was great to talk with her. Her parents are going up to RI this weekend so she was cleaning up a bit and figured she'd see what I was up to. We had a great chat. She was away last weekend in Phoenix with a bunch of people from a game she plays. She really had a great time, which is good. We all need good vacations. We still have tons in common and similar outlooks on a lot of things. Amazing because we came at them from such opposite directions at times. I'm sure I'll be getting at least one email this weekend telling me she's about ready to shoot her parents. (They mean well.... mostly....)
My weekend is looking fun. Michelle is coming up tomorrow night and will be here all weekend. We'll be going to the Ren Faire Sunday. Mom is probably going to join us. (I have to call her and double check.) Gak actually has both days this weekend off. It's been ages since he's had two days in a row off from work. It'll be nice. I almost wish one of those days was just going to be the two of us, but it's OK, we will be with friends we both enjoy.
I found out when my cousin's son's Bris will be. It'll be on Tuesday. It also happens to be both Gak's birthday as well as Halo 3 release day. Gak has to work the midnight release party as well as open on Tuesday. I knew I wasn't going to see him on his birthday much. At least this time it wasn't my fault to begin with! (Stupid, useless sales call last year because the person who was supposed to go got hurt at the picnic that Friday.) I will be heading down to Baltimore for the event. I can't wait to meet the little guy and finally learn his name. I think it's both cruel and cool that Ben and Jenny are keeping his name secret until the Bris. I know for a fact it's driving the grandparents up a wall. Luckily the day is almost here.

Well, that's about it for my life the past few days. I honestly think the highlight was either last night's Girl Scout talks or tonight's call from Abi. What a life huh?
Peace to all and may there be some bright spots in your life.

Fourth Fun

Well, I intended for yesterday to be a nice, calm lazy day. Well, it mostly was.
After talking with the lady who's car the suicidal air conditioner landed up against, we came to an agreement. She was amiable to getting payed in two payments, so that made us breathe a whole lot easier. I can afford an extra $400.00 this month even though it means raiding the savings. Next month we'll be able to send her the rest. This also means I got to keep my promise to Gak that most of this paycheck he could spend on a new computer. We'd been talking about updating his computer for a year now, since I got mine. He worked his tail off this past week open to close because his boss was on vacation. I didn't want something as stupid as a suicidal AC unit to keep him from his well-earned new computer. This just means that other than seeing Transformers and Harry, we're really not going to be able to do much for the next month or two, but I can live with that. (Yes, I know, this means no more yarn for me for a couple of months. That's OK, I need to use up some of what I've got anyhow...)
So, yesterday morning Gak was shopping around online. We then decide to drive down to Microcenter because they often have refurbished units at great prices and are good as new. (My refurbished printer I got several years ago lasted me a very long time until the power supply went and it was cheaper to buy a new one that I killed in 2 years...) We head down there about 11:30 or so. (I told you, we were trying to have a lazy day.) After looking at both some new and refurbished ones Gak finally makes a decision after talking with a sales guy. The biggest difference between the refurb he got and the new machine: his is running XP still and the new one has Vista. The cost difference: $50. Therefore, for $50 less, he got the operating system he wanted and a good unit to boot. The only problem is we had to upgrade the video right away, and that was $80. No biggie. We were going to use the card he already had, but it was PCI, and the new computer is PCI Express. Good thing the sales guy mentioned this before we headed to the checkout fat, dumb and happy.
He got it set up in almost no time. We didn't have to buy anything extra other than the video card because his monitor is 7 months old and his speakers are great and about 2 years old. The hardest part was patching for EQII. It took several hours. I'm just glad it wasn't over dial up, or we'd still be waiting for the next week.
The biggest part of the adventure is when we went to go to lunch after getting the computer. We decided to head over to Suburban Square in Ardmore because there's a Ruby's Diner there and they've got great shakes and fab burgers, all of which you can get as a turkey burger or chicken breast or veggie burger. (Much better than some places where you can't sub a turkey patty at all... I'm not big on regular burgers but like turkey...) Well, we make it down 30 to the place and turn to get to the parking area. We get to about the train station and stop. Cars aren't moving. People are wandering around with cell phones. There's apparently been an accident and there's a lady lying on the ground. The cops show up about a minute or so after we're there and starts directing traffic. I couldn't remember or figure out how to get to the parking at the other end, so we decide to go over to the mall instead. There's a Ruby's at the mall, but I figured Suburban Square would be closer and easier to get too. Guess not. Well, after making pigs of ourselves at lunch, we wander down to the comic store so Gak could pick up a comic that he was missing. (He skipped an issue and was really confused until he realized what happened.) After that we head home.
I crocheted a bit and putzed around on the computer a bit yesterday. Overall it was a nice quiet day. Mom called me while we were having lunch. It looks like Gram will be in the hospital about 5 days in total. Mom had a great visit with Michelle. They had talked about putting in a movie and the next thing they knew, it was midnight and they hadn't put one in. Yesterday morning they went out to breakfast and then Mom went to visit Gram. She got there as they were bringing Gram some food. Gram was glad because her stomach had just started to grumble and growl and she was actually hungry. This made the doctor very happy. This means she's healing and all her systems are functioning. You know how it is, when you're really sick you just don't feel like eating, but when you start getting better, you're suddenly ravenous. Well, same applies for surgery. I don't remember if Mom was coming home today or tomorrow. Bob and Linda are planning on going down there to transport Gram from Baltimore back to her place out near Fredrick. It's not that far, but far enough to be annoying.
Well, I'd better wrap this up. I've got things I should be doing, including getting ready for next week's trip.
Peace to all and may you have some fun and good times.

Happy Days

Happy 4th of July!
I hate to say it, but mostly I'm just glad I get a day off... I'm really feeling burned out.
I meant to update you last night about my Gram, but I got side-tracked. She and my mom got to the hospital really early. The doctor decided to take his other patient first, so Gram waited. She went into surgery around 10:00 or so. Mom called me at 10:30 to let me know and then again at about 11:30. At 11:30 she told me that the doctor didn't find any cancer on the bladder, so they were going ahead as scheduled and it should be about another 4 hours or so. This was the most anxious part of the day. (Luckily I spent most of the day training a new engineer, so I had something to focus on instead of worrying all the time...) Well, she calls me about 4:30 and I nearly jump out of my seat for joy and with relief. The operation went well, and Gram was in recovery waking up. It was a load off my mind. She should be in the hospital about a week we're thinking after what the doctor said. I'm impressed really, she is 84 after all. She went through the surgery just fine and now just needs to heal. I honestly think the hardest part is behind us.
PHEW!

I had a very fun reason for not posting last night. I was having a blast in-game. Gak's been running with a guild called Despair lately. I've still got everyone in Wings of Fate and I am probably going to keep it that way. Well, Gak and I were goofing off when he was asked if he wanted to go on a raid. He said OK and asked if there was room for me... and I'm a healer. Well, of course they snapped me right up. (I'm noticing that high level druid types seem pretty rare...) We went to an area Gak and I never got to see with Oops. This group was a lot of fun and we did very well until the last critter. He was a big meanie and we just kinda fell apart. It's OK though, even though it would have been great to clear the zone. We had a lot of fun. I think the leader is trying to recruit me into the guild, but I think I'll prefer to be a guest on raids for now. I mean, Wings is my guild and I don't want to take Addey out, since everyone else I play is just an alt.

Well, I hope everyone has a good 4th. It's funny, we've had beautiful weather all week, and today it's gray and rainy. Go figure. Enjoy the day and enjoy your games! Peace to all and may your family be healthy and happy.

Monday Again????

Today has been yet another Monday this week. I know I just posted yesterday and I don't usually post two days in a row, but I'm cranky and need to growl at the world a bit.
I am home for two weeks, two hole glorious weeks. This was supposed to be a break from the hectic schedule I'd been keeping on the road.
Whoever told me that lied.
This week at work it has been a conglomeration of 'hurry up and wait' and a million little forest fires that need attention. This morning I finally get numbers from my trip in two weeks and confirmation on what I'm teaching. OK, I have to modify one training manual to chop about half of it out and steal, errr... actually use, a manual from someone else on something that I'm only half familiar with. (One of those things I've been trying to get to for, oh, 4 years now.) I confirm with my printer about the new books and get the first one sent off no problem. I then open up the other manual and gasp in horror. Well, maybe not gasp, but groan silently to myself. The formatting is a horror. I go along fixing the font and other little details and suddenly notice that on a majority of the 120 slides there are anywhere from 1 to 7 'invisible' text boxes or line boxes. I have to fix this too. And it's lunch time by now. So, I go warm up my lunch and growl at the computer for the next hour or two as I fix all this crapola up. I get it to the printer and it goes on it's way.
Then I get a call from Gak.
There's a problem.
What??
The air conditioner that was in the back bedroom fell out and hit a car.
What??
Was??
How bad??
Yes, Yes, and I don't know.
Crap. We can't afford this. We're just keeping ahead of the bills as is. (Yes, there are several things we could do to make bill paying easier, but we all have a few vices...) What's worse is I never got renters insurance and I never bugged Gak into taking care of it either. So, whatever the end result is, it'll be out of our own pockets.
So, to make a long, unhappy story a bit shorter, Our landlady pulled the other two air conditioners from our apartment and the ones from the upstairs apartment. She was going on about the fact that you're supposed to screw them into the window frame when Gak was talking with her. I don't know about you, but I'm not about to put screw holes into my landlady's brand new aluminum windows. She's got something in the works and we'll eventually get our AC back. It's supposed to be hot tomorrow; I'm not looking forward to that.
The day only gets better, I assure you. I almost completely botch dinner. I all but killed the pasta dish thing I was microwaving and I heat up the grill for the pork chops without the grill plates. (They're still sitting in the sink.) I manage to make something edible, but just.

I'm also worrying about my Gram. Her appointment was today. Mom hasn't called me, so I'm hoping it's just because they were running around like crazy and not because of bad news. I really don't need any more Monday-ness today.
Well, I think I'm going to go log into the game and create me a lowly little newbie and smack the bits out of poor hapless little things. The only question is, what class? Do I want to get up-close and personal or zap them from a safe distance? Ah, who am I kidding, I'll probably just log my 25-ish monk in and pound things with her.

Peace to all and may your weeks not be filled with Mondays.

Lazy Weekend

This weekend has been just what I've needed. What Gak and I have needed.
Yesterday I was a lazy bum. I slept in a little later than usual. I also didn't go to the gym or do laundry. (I have to tomorrow....) I played on the game for several hours, watched some TV and played some more. On Tuesday a new set of areas were added as well as a new evil Fae race. Everyone else had already started ones, but I was quick to catch up with the time I spent yesterday.
Last night Gak and I actually had a date for the first time in months. We went out to dinner and then went to see the new Pirates movie. Wow! What a romp it was. We both enjoyed it very much. It was a very full movie (and I don't just mean the theater). There was a lot to laugh at and a lot to be on the edge of your seat for. I'm sure I'll see it again, there was just so much to it. If you go, remember to sit all the way through the extremely long credits to watch the extra bit afterwords.
Today was another lazy day. I didn't even get dressed until Gak and I decided to go out for dinner and then the grocery store. We spent most of the day off and on playing our evil Fae. We grouped up with some of our friends this morning for a bit of a frustrating adventure. We had fun overall though.
Right now Gak is watching Serenity; I'm half watching. Tomorrow I have no idea what's going on. I haven't heard from Kat, and I haven't made any plans myself. We'll see. We'll probably just take a walk through the park and see what's going on and maybe have some people over for supper, or not.
Friday wasn't a very eventful day, other than the bit of a delay I had for my first flight and then my second flight. I still got in only an hour late. Not bad for having to go through Chicago. Atlanta can be pretty bad, but for some reason I can handle it better, because it isn't every single time, just most.
Well, I guess I should pay attention to the movie. It is pretty good. I hope everyone has a good memorial day and remembers why it is we have a day off from work. Keep those who have protected us, both in the military and fire/police/EMT careers in your heart and minds. Peace to all.

So Much For Posting...

Well, it looks like I haven't done too well with my promise from Friday to post more this week. Here it is, Wednesday already, and this is the first post of the week. Oh well. I have an excuse.

I was going to post Monday from my hotel. That didn't happen because I'm still mad at my deskside support guy. The only Internet connection I could get was wireless, and well, my wireless card is present and working, but the drivers to set up connections with it, aren't. I asked point-blank about that when he reloaded my laptop and he said they were there. He lied.

Monday wasn't bad of a travel day, just really early. I did come out ahead of the game though. I got to the airport and they offered me $300 in ticket vouchers to switch travel plans and get in about 2 hours later. Oh, darn. I did, but it ended up being almost 3 hours later due to a maintenance issue.

I then had a 1.5 hour drive from Louisville, KY to my site in IN. It was quite a nice drive really. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought I was driving through central PA or MD. It was pretty and nice because I wasn't in a hurry. Just hungry. Unfortunately, I was on a back highway and didn't find anything edible until I was almost to my hotel.

I also felt like I was stuck in another West Wing episode. (The first time being with the landing gear issue at the beginning of the year...). I had just seen the scene over the weekend where Josh, Toby and Donna get left behind and mess up the whole time zone thing in Indiana. I had to keep double checking to make sure my cell phone was giving me the correct time. It was. I actually managed to stay in Eastern time zone all this week!

Yesterday was a good day. Again, it started early. I had to be onsite by about 7:15 to start training at 7:30. This meant I wrapped up by 3 or 3:30 though. That was nice. The people at this plant were really nice and friendly. They also each had their own area that they needed info on, so I wasn't boring the whole group at any one point. I enjoyed the day really, even if I was pretty tired.

Yesterday afternoon I drove back from IN to KY. One of my guild-mates from EQII lives in Louisville. (This was a deciding factor when I found out that where I was going was almost right in the middle between Indianapolis and Louisville...) I finally got to meet Charity and her honey Chris. I'd met Chris a few times online before, but he doesn't play all that often. We had a very enjoyable dinner and then went back to their place and I confused the heck out of Gak when I called him to see if he was logging in. Charitee and I decided we should have had her call, it would have confused him even more! We had an enjoyable time and then I had to head back to the hotel. Thank you so much Charitee for spending a little time with me, it was great to finally meet you in person!!

I was originally supposed to leave Louisville late this evening. (I figured a day in Louisville could be nice.) I decided against staying yesterday afternoon. I was able to change to a flight at the crack of dawn this morning for $25 and get home just about 12 hours earlier. I had called yesterday evening and if I wanted to change my flight it looked like $400 or more. The lady said there were plenty of open seats and that I could probably get on standby. Well, after a little bit of confusion (I had booked through Continental, but it was a Northwest flight...) I managed to get on a flight this morning for all of $25. I can handle that. That's less than what I would have spent between lunch and dinner out there.

I also lucked out because on the first leg of the flight Sam and I had an entire row of three seats to ourselves. As you can see above, he made use of the fact and sat in the window almost the entire flight. He's a very happy bear when he gets the chance to just look out the window as we go places. He (and I) love just watching the scenery. The second leg wasn't as nice. We weren't in a middle seat, but that's because it was a small enough plane not to have middle seats. That was OK. What wasn't so nice, was the fact that we were traveling through the weather which just showed up here. Actually, we were above it, but it made for a bit of a choppy ride and a very choppy landing. Ugh. I don't mind turbulence, except when it's most of the flight and especially during landing. My tummy was NOT happy.

Gak and I had lunch at the Red Robbin right near the airport. We've come to eat there frequently when he picks me up from the airport. They've got great food and reasonable prices. (Not to mention all the fries you want with your sandwich... a great point when it's noon and you've only had a tea and that was at 6am.) I took a nap when I got back home and Gak went to work.

We're arguing with Verizon at the moment. We're not getting a dial tone and not getting incoming calls.

We thought it was the phone, so we bought a new cordless phone.

Nope.

We have DSL. It sounded like the filter wasn't working (it wasn't a dead line sound) and our DSL is working fine (hence why I'm able to write this...).

We changed the filter.

Nope.

Finally Gak gets around to calling Verizon today. After going through stupid menu options and finally talking to someone, they won't come do anything until we test the line by plugging in a non-cordless phone.

We don't own one.

I thought we should pick one up a while ago, if only so we'd have phone if the power went out. (We get cell reception here, so I'm not overly worried about that...) But to be forced to pick one up by the phone company just because they won't send someone out. AARGH. Oh well, we'll take care of that and go from there. I seriously doubt that it's the phone, unless a brand-new just out of the box phone is crapola, then Gak will be getting his money back. (If he has the receipt that is....)

I'm still worried about my Gram. I wish I had time to go visit with her. Mom's going to her Dr. appointments on Monday morning. It's just scary and hurts a lot to think about my Gram's health and her not getting better (or worse...). I keep ignoring it like it'll just magically go away, but I know it won't. Please, send good thoughts or prayers her way. It'll mean a lot to me.

On a positive side, Michelle is coming up this weekend. It'll be fun. This is the first she's been able to escape since we saw her the first of the year (literally). We don't have a whole lot planned. On Sunday my friend Ed's little boy (6-months old now!) is being Christened and there's some kind of gathering afterwords. Michelle will be going with us since she knows Ed, and the more the merrier. My mom (Gramma Sue) is coming up for this as well and then heading down to MD. This weekend should be good.

Well, I've rambled on for way too long. Peace to all and may the rest of your weeks be easy.

Wonderful Weekend

First off, Happy Birthday Mom! Mom's birthday was yesterday. She spent the day going down to my grandmother's and back. I hope she had a good day.
This weekend was a good weekend. I spent a good bit of time being crafty on Saturday. You can see the finished objects of my effort currently on my Flickr bar. The rolled up thingy is a hook case for traveling. I can actually hold most of my hooks in it and it still rolls up pretty small. I made several other things, including finishing Sally's yellow and white sweater and the fuzzy vest. The vest is actually going to my niece for her birthday. Sam just looks a little like a thug.
I also got material to make some shirts with for me. I have a couple of patterns floating around my mom's that I need to retrieve and get to work on. I need new clothes. I can't find any that I like and are acceptable for work wear and can travel. I hate shopping. I did manage to find a few fabrics I liked though. It should be fun to get sewing again.
I didn't do a lot on Saturday. I played with yarn and fabric for a bit, and played online for a bit too. I spent a bit of time hunting with a couple of friends and then later with Gak. It was nice since we went up to the Kingdom of Sky, where I hadn't been much since Echoes of Feydwar came out back in November. I enjoyed being back up there.
Yesterday was a fun day too. I knew Kat, Zoe and Scott were coming over at some point. I put on some stew in the crockpot and a loaf of bread. We all ended up going out for lunch at Don Poblo's up in Allentown and to the hobby shop. Lunch was OK. I'd been there before, but for some reason it wasn't as good as last time. There just wasn't as much flavor. It was still better than the really lousy Mexican we had in Oklahoma last time we were there. (I'm still surprised by that.) We also stopped at a few other places. I finally have a booster seat for Zoe in the car instead of her car seat. She was just about too tall for it. It is now much easier to move if I have big people in the back too, nothing to unbuckle.
When we got back to the house we hung out, Zoe watched Danger Mouse (I think it was a mistake to ever introduce her to that cartoon...) and almost took a nap. She needed it. She's still fighting off a bit of a cold and you could tell she was just tooooo tired to think. Meanwhile, we played Killer Bunnies. Gak finally got the two sets he'd gotten off ebay back at the beginning of the month. Not happy about how long that one took. We only added the one set, the green ones. Man have they made life even more complicated! It turned into a very long game because none of us could get bunnies out or pick up the carrots. After the game we ate. We also watched the Disney Vacation video uncle Jerry sent home with me the other week. I am joining the rest of the family on vacation at the end of April. Gak can't come as he doesn't have the time. I wish he could though. It would be fun. Kat and I are leaving Saturday the 21st to go down and join the rest of the family that will already be there. It should be a lot of fun. After watching most of the video, it was time to get Zoe home and in bed for school today.
It was a good day. We had a lot of fun hanging out and just being together. It seems that just about every Sunday we all get together now. I like that. It's a nice way to end the weekend or start the week. It also gives me something to look forward to. This week however, we will be going down to my mom and dad's for Sunday. My Aunt and Uncle are coming in from California. It will be great to see them. I can't believe Sunday is April already!
Well, I've still got to sort out the travel and PO situation for my trip to Canada next week. This should be fun. Peace to all and may your week be easy.

Friday blahs

Well, I didn't get around to posting anything else this week. It was an odd week. I was never quite sure what day it was.
Yesterday I had to come in early for a meeting. Nothing bad, just something that corporate says everyone has to attend. It was about an hour of corporate stuff and then on to my day. I was actually productive this time. I got a couple of quotes out the door and some other stuff updated.
Last night as I was driving home, on my way to the gym, I get a call from Kat. Where are you? Uh... about halfway home.
To make a long story short, she'd been having a bit of a rough day and was trying to deal with two customers at once and needed me to pick up Zoe. No problem! (*Sigh* I really was trying to get to the gym three times this week...) I tell Kat that we're having Boston Market for dinner because I hadn't taken anything out of the freezer and had already discussed this with Gak. Well, we have dinner and Zoe watches a little TV while we hang out for a little bit in the kitchen. Zoe never did find Jane this time, she hid well. It was a nice evening.
On Wednesday night we had a bit of fun ingame. They did a live update that day and added an are called the Estate of Unrest. Well, Charitee, Ulli, Gak and myself spent about an hour or two poking around in there. We had a lot of fun. The area looks amazing and is nice and challenging, without being impossible, for level 70 people. It would have been even more fun if the Rats had been along, but they're not playing much these days. Then we would have had the whole old crew and would have really been able to kick some zombie butt. As is, we had a lot of fun and got a chance to just hang out together. It was another enjoyable evening.
This weekend looks like it should be a good one as well. We've got another Werewolf session scheduled for Sunday. I'm making soup (and probably a loaf of bread too) again. It is supposed to be warm, but wet. Soup is good for either wet and/or cold days. I think I'm trying a tortilla soup recipe I got from Michelle last time I was down. I get to put it in the crockpot and forget about it. I like those kinds of recipes.
Next weekend Steve will be home from Iraq. Actually, I got an email from him overnight and he's on his way to Florida right now. I can't wait to see him. We're going out Saturday for something in Philadelphia at the Art Museum. Something about a 'murder in the museum' mystery party and then dinner. I just feel bad that Gak won't be able to come because he has to work. Wednesday Steve is hosting a dinner at one of the local pizza places and we'll both be there for that. He's only home on a mid-tour leave, but it will still be good to see him. I may not write him anywhere near enough, but I do worry and think about him. The army is lucky to have someone like him on their team.
Well, I've got Friday type things to be doing here at work. I just thought I should post a bit on the happenings (and procrastinate a bit). Peace to all and please, remember to tell your friends and family how much you care as often as you can.
Oh, I almost forgot. My Gram had a procedure done on Monday for her kidney, the one with the bladder cancer. Everything went well, the doctor is very happy with the results. She'll have to go back again in a couple of months to check everything out again to see if the cancer has come back or not, but that's OK. Having to go to the doctor every few months to get a kidney checkup isn't as bad as some of the alternatives. Mom was down there to play chauffeur and cheerleader.

Week in Review

It is Friday. I'm glad that it is Friday. This means I have a weekend ahead of me. I like weekends.
This week really wasn't all that bad. Work wasn't as productive as it could have or should have been, but I'm OK with that. They did feed me lunch today. This week was corporate's Engineers Week. Oh boy, we get to celebrate for an entire week all things engineering! It wasn't all that bad really. I was involved in none of it really. Corporate did recognize our products for an award this year, which means that we're finally being noticed outside of our group. I'm not sure this is a good or bad thing, but hey, whatever. All I know is one of the guys who got recognized really deserved it for all the work he's done. The others on the team did a lot of work, but this one guy has done the work of about 7 I think. Today was a lunch to celebrate. The guy from Virginia who's now running our engineering groups (SW and project) decided it would be much nicer (and a better PR move) to feed everyone instead of just taking the engineers out to lunch. I think he was right. I mean, a little thank you or appreciation that a lunch or even a cake or something can make a crummy week/month/year not so bad. It means that someone actually was paying attention, at least for a little bit. He seems to be a nice enough guy, this guy from Virginia. I just hope he can understand our product enough and our existing process enough to make it even better. I know there is a lot of room for improvement, but I just don't want to see it get ruined in the process of making it better, if that makes any sense.
Home has been nicely uneventful. I've been playing on the computer a bit, but not so much. I miss having Gak in game with me. I mean, for the longest time, we could never play at the same time, but there was always 'someday'. Since June we've been able to play together. Now we don't. I still get to see my friends and hang with them, but it's different now. I didn't think I'd really miss him in game or even notice really. Maybe it's just because I've been home the last few weeks. I guess part of it is now I don't have much drive to level Zeri because Ahri is already 2 levels behind and we were growing them together. Who knows. I still enjoy the game and my friends, but something is missing now.
Speaking of games I realize I never did give an update on how Sunday went. Well, despite fighting off a headache, Kat seemed to have fun. We all went out to dinner (well, not Stu) last night and she said she enjoyed herself. I didn't kill Stu. I didn't kill anyone. I went from 'being the one with the most invested so the one who made the final decision' to a passenger. Just like RL I guess. I don't mind, at least not much. We did have fun and it will be fun to see where things go. I am a bit worried though. Gak went in early Wednesday to work and spent the time creating more plot outlines. We're in trouble! But it will be so much fun!!
You may have noticed, but there is a Flickr stream on the sidebar now. I had a photobucket account, but couldn't link it to the blog. I can with Flicr. So now, instead of just getting one or maybe two pictures in an entry, you'll get to see the most recent 5 photos I've uploaded. You can even follow the link to see everything I've posted to Flickr. I hope to get a replacement for my digital soon, so I should hopefully be posting more pictures.
Well, I guess I should wrap up the wrap up. Peace to all and may you have a good weekend.

Snow!

We finally got our first real storm of the season. Well, maybe not a storm by some definitions but a couple of inches of snow over night followed by sleet today counts as a storm in my book. I'm working from home today because I've got the rental and don't feel like sliding down the highway. I've actually been almost productive.

I was pretty productive last night. As you can see, Scout begged me to make her a hat like mine. So, I spent a bit of time playing with the pattern for my hat and she's very happy with it. I used some leftover yarn from my poncho. I love it. I even managed to get the ear holes spaced right! I think this hat makes her even cuter than usual. Gak thinks it's cute too. I'd made him a hat earlier in the week, just like the one I made my brother but bigger. I didn't get pictures of either so guess I can't share.

In game life has been quite interesting in a way. Gak has decided to almost 100% leave EQII and go hang with some buddies over on WoW. This doesn't mean much for me really, since I convinced him to stay and play with me on EQII on weekends. Since I'm not home much during the week, his move doesn't affect me much. Some of our other friends are not very happy. They were much happier when I told them I'd convinced him to spend at least a little time with us. For myself on the other hand, I've completely left Oops. They're heading into a he4avy raiding direction and I judt don't get much enjoyment out of it. That's part of why I was never playing much. I didn't feel like being guilted into going on a raid. It's not that bad. I left under friendly terms and still have friends there. Also Gak, Syn, Charitee and myself had started a guild for our Fey alts. Well, it's now home to most of our toons. Charitee still has a few in Oops, and that's more than fine by me. I don't want others to leave Oops just because I did. I've never wanted that and I'm sorry it happened with the Knighthood. I still hear from a few of them now and again and they're doing well.

Well, I guess I should get back to work. Just took a break to grab some food. Gak still has to go in at 2, so I'll have to get dressed soon to take him. Peace to all and may you have a warm place to be and someone to snuggle with.

Snow! (and a hat)

It finally snowed here overnight. Not much mind you, it is only a little more than a coating on the cars and roads. It had been cold enough the last few days that the roads were cold enough for it to stick. Just enough to make everything look pretty for a few hours and then a bit mushy and messy the rest of the day.

Last night I finally found a hat pattern I wanted to make for myself that I thought would work. I used a chenille yarn instead of what it called for, so my first try was way too big. I fixed the problem this morning and you can see the result. It was some yarn I had lying around from a scarf that never happened. It matches my winter jacket perfectly! Now I know what I'm taking to ND the week after next.

I realize I haven't posted about the game in quite some time. That's because I'm in a bit of limbo. I haven't been out and about much as Addey. While in OK we found out that some friends are on a different server. Gak's been spending time with them. I've been spending time with my Fae. She's pretty cool and leveling nicely. Neither one of us has spent much time with Oops, our guild. Both of us are thinking about leaving the guild. No one real reason though, several little things that makes it feel like Oops just doesn't fit right. I'll keep ya posted. I truly miss being Addey. I mean, that's who I am right? I enjoy her skills and abilities and she's a fun little rat to be around.

Well, I've got to get my act together and get to work. Peace to all and may you only have the pretty kind of snow.

Story Time

Training today went well, in a semi-chaotic way. It was a very free form kind of class, but I think it went well. There were several good questions and discussions of why things were done and how things affected this plant.
I also finally got to meet one of my long time customers. She's a riot and a trip and a true Northern Jersey native. I like her much more in person that I do dealing with her over the phone.

Anyhow, I think last night I promised you a story. A story of daring ratling adventure with her wonderful troll and other friends.
Well, here it is.

Sunday morning I get up and procrastinate doing anything about leaving. So what do I do, but log in to the computer. Our friend Syn is online and so is Rodentia. The four of us decide that we were going to explore Mistmore Catacombs. As we were gathering, who would happen to log in but our friend Kasias, who is another healer. I'm always game to have another healer along. Sure enough, he was up for the adventure of the morning as well. While waiting for him to show up, our friend Charitee shows up in her wizzy disguise of Omim, the gnome. Cool. now we have a full group of 6, including two big time damage dealers and a troll of a tank.
We finally get out act together and head out to the catacombs. For some reason we can't seem to follow the direction of 'stay close' that morning so kept breaking the sneaking cloak that Rodentia has over us. That's ok, we survived.
We make it to the catacombs and a few people pick up the various quests at the entrance way. We then sneak around a bit and explore the lower level. Rat-man has been here before and says that the zone's not really all that big and we were safe using sneak on the first level, but the guys up top could see through.
Mind you, we were on Vent as well as in the game so it was much easier to have conversations.
We explore a bit, tackle a couple of large groups of mobs (remember that problem with staying close....). Then the Rat-man finds a named critter on tracking, so up the walls we go. We decide that the bad guy commander must go. And go he did. And he had some nice things in his possession. They promptly became ours.
Well, Rodentia decided to log because he wanted to take his lady mouse out to breakfast. (Hey, living in Key West, I would too....) That's when he tells us that the zone's not really that big. We looked at the map and saw that sure enough, it looks like we'd been most places.
We pick up another healer. I call him Phred, but his name is really Phaedrus or something like that. Phred works better. Kas was our climbable wall finder that day. Boy are we glad he found this wall.
After climbing this wall, we found some new areas on the map and kept going up. Eventually we end up in what appears to be the sub-basements of Mistmore Castle. The area is huge!
To make a long story shorter, there was much mayhem (including about a half minute or so where Gak and I lost power completely to the apartment) and much loot to be had. We actually ended up with better loot and much more of it in about 2 hours that morning than we had found as a full raid in about 4 hours the night before.
We had fun, but we ended up in a fight we probably wouldn't win, so I pulled the plug and evacuated us to the front. We decided that this would be a good time to take a break.

I have found that adventuring with a group of friends, both in the game world and especially in real life is lots of fun. There's nothing quite like getting lost, or walking or driving for hours with friends talking and enjoying life and whatever happens. Maybe that's why I love orienteering so much. I haven't done anywhere near as much this year as I have the last two. I blame most of this on my travel schedule. Not directly really, since I'm usually home on a Sunday, but indirectly. Because of how much time I've spent away in recent months, the last thing I want to do on a Sunday is get moving early. I'm usually awake early, but not really in the mood for moving. I'm also so mentally exhausted, that I can't think my way through the courses. I feel really bad about it, since I have several friends I only see on the O-trails. Maybe come spring I'll feel more mentally alive for it. I've been so exhausted that I've stopped doing a lot of things. This seems very strange in some ways since I've been working out more and getting in somewhat better shape. I guess this travel is taking more out of me than I thought.

Ok, I didn't intend for this post to be this long. I guess I'm done rambling for tonight. (I really intended that last paragraph to be my sign off paragraph...)
Peace to all and my you have many happy adventures with many good friends in your life.

This is vacation?

Ok. I'm supposed to be on vacation. Why in the world am I worrying about work and feeling like there are 7 million things for me to do.
Oh, wait... there are....
But I can't do any of them.
The (fill in the blank as you wish) person at the training center in Phoenix never did get me that quote, even though when I finally talked to him on Thursday, he said he'd get right on it. (6 months after we first asked....) He said I had the room reserved, so I plan on holding him to it. No quote, no payment though. I need to get out email confirmations and info to everyone. But I left all that info at work.
I want to scream.
This is why I needed Deb and Andrea in the KC office helping me.
Corporate felt otherwise and eliminated their positions. So therefore, not just myself, but anyone doing a seminar is up a creek without a paddle, or a prayer.
I've been out of the office almost every day the last 4 or 5 weeks.
I don't have the time or, in reality, the resources, to do this. (Ok, so I also get overwhelmed easily by projects like this and can't seem to figure out where to start....) I don't have some of the needed skills for this. I also don't have the attention span. I mean, I'm never in the office long enough to pay enough attention to the project to even get it started, let alone set up!

I'm supposed to be on vacation and relaxing.
I'm not supposed to be working at all.
I did get some fun in. I spent more time online with friends, but I'm probably not going to log in much tomorrow. I need a break from it. I need to just do something non computer. But, with everything not going on at work, I'll probably end up at least checking the email if not trying to get ahold of my boss again. Oh, wait, no I won't... he's on vacation the rest of the week and out of town. Never mind. Guess I'll just have lots of unhappy people, including myself.

Ok. enough rantage and raving. I did come across something extremely funny (from my point of view) last night.
Meera, my level 35 ranger, was exploring the new Gnomish homelands, Steamfont. The gnomes are tinkerers. But, the also have the department of Gnomeland Security.
Wait, it gets better.
I find one of the guys and he sends me on a quest. This is the first quest he sent me on. Apparently the local bad guys were capturing local animals and training them to hurt people. I was asked to remove said animals (who were innocent bystanders) because by taking them out would hurt the bad guys.
Yes, you can read as much political commentary into this quest as you like. The actual wording was much funnier, but I can't remember it. I think I giggled about SOE and their sideways comments for a good 5 minutes.
The next quest involved taking out a bunch of the baddies and 'capturing' some of the brew from the two different camps. Yes, read what you will into this, I know I did.

Well, I'm just rambling now and still a bit grumpy about work (and a new in-game thing that is really pointless and could have been so much better). And the sooner I stop writing about it, the sooner I can focus on something happy... like my bed and sleep.
Peace to all and when you take a vacation or come home from work, please, leave work at work. It's so much better for both you and your family!! (Yes, it's hard, but please try......)