leik whoa

So I was thinking about something tonight during N-Weds that I really wanna do... it came whenever Greg and Barbara were talking about 'their' time each saturday morning; and I really wanna start doing this (new thing) with me and Jill... but it really has more to do with just me. 

Everyone who knows me... knows I love computer games. It's what I do. Period. I mean, I like to do them to relax... unwind... escape... a various plethora (25 pts!) of reasons. But... at the same time, its a big detractment from 'us' time, between me and Jill.  Sure, we play(ed) WAR together, and it was something fun for us to do... but, it's not quality time, or together time per'se. It's staring at monitors making fun of nubs whilst pwning. lol. 

So this semester, me and jill are gonna be pushed for 'us' time.. her schedule is crazy Monday / Weds / Friday... we've got Church and NWeds on sundays... Saturday Community Server with NMC on (duh) Saturdays.. so our time together for this semester is going to be very limited. very... limited. 

So, I'm giving up the PC on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Unless the CU is in some state of.. super-natural breakdown or something, I'm going to leave the PC turned off. I've got plenty of time Monday / Weds / Friday to get in all the playing that I want.. then there's whenever I can shove some time in on the weekends. But I really wanna dedicate Tuesday and Thursday to sharing with her... If we'd like to do something like... play Guitar Hero 3 on those nights; then thats fine. But, I'm not gonna recluse-upstairs in the office... I'm not gonna have a ton of time with her this semester because of school, work and life... so I want to maximize every little drop I can squeeze out of it. 

I'm also gonna try and get involved in some type of Men's Ministry.. I'm hoping for a  M / W / F class; I know the class I'd like to go to is @ 6:15 on Friday mornings.. but with my schedule I don't know if I can swing it. I'm going to see what I can do though. 

For those of you who may be interested in NMC or just knowing more of what it's about.. check it out:  http://northmetro.org/

Woe to WAR

So... I canceled our WAR Accounts today. 

After all the hype.. it just couldn't deliver. With so many problems facing the game, its not worth the time investment right now.  3 Months down the road, 6 months? I'll check back then... it took Funcom a year to keep AoC from dropping subs (they're on the uptake now); so hopefully WAR can deliver on promises after 15 months (from release). 

So.. DK here I come, perm.  It looks like we're gonna pick back up on some kind of Foursome again on WoW; rerolling to a PvP server probably... for the ability to gank lowbies at 80, plus PvPing in outland / northrend. It's sad, that a game touted as RvR - Centric and built around PvP actually has less PvP in it's end game content than a PvE-Centric game. 

We're probably going to be rolling something along the lines of... Prot Pally / Unholy DK / (Mage or Shaman) / (Druid or Shaman)... shooting for clearing non-heroics in Outland. Figure that 4man could clear Ramps / Hellfire in no time... Heroics, without a priest that could hurt... Mage / Druid would probably end up working out better, but Rest Sham + Rest Druid could probably heal thru about any heroic. We'll see tho.. 

Rolled a new Male DK on Archimonde.. debating there as being the new PvP Server; got a 70 Druid and Mage to cake-walk instances with; but I think the Population is just medium-ish... but that means smaller queues late night tho. 

We'll see... but after like, 3 years.. WAR just was, meh =(

One more thing!

Laid on the guest bed today after figuring what and where we were going to hang a bunch of pictures (new collage coming in the office that was my idea, what what!)... and had like, an hour+ long conversation about life with my wife. 

That was, by far,  the highlight of my week. Love is an amazing thing. 

More... Death Knight-y-ness?

So the DK I was playing the past two nights was a Blood Elf on the PvP server I've got a 70 Mage and Druid on... I decided, after thinking about some stuff and the posibility of transfers.. yadda yadda, to roll an Alliance DK.  Because of the "purge", +1% to hit, +1% to not be evaded/dodged, +10% Rep... went with a Human. They're the best alliance race from a PvP and PvE standpoint (tied PvE with Dranai.. but they're just, odd w/cloaks on). 

I decided to go with a different spec too.. with the Blood elf I was trying out the Beggings of *the* new PvP spec (0/32/39), which really was amazing... The biggies being full time pet, gargoyle and bonearmor; then dumping the rest in frost to increase IT and get the self-haste; eventually going DW and Killing Machine\Rime procs... 

This time I went more unholy, less frost.. I dropped gargoyle, picked up Ebone Plague (+13% Magic dmg, +3% Crit Chance vs. Diseased Targets), picked up the Mount speed tactic for faster questing times.. and grabbed the +2 ticks disease tallent. I wasn't able to out-of-the-gate go as deep into frost as I was, so my IT doesn't hit as hard (and I don't have the haste buff yet)... but the spec is amazing for dropping targets fast.... Once I get haste, I think I'm going to just go deeper Unholy for the 'extra hits' (Wandering Plague) chances. 

To augment this.. I picked up a couple of 'glyphs' from the AH (for those unfamiliar.. they're WoW's new response to tactics; they function the exact same). One is that Bloodstrike (60% of weapon damage + xtra per diease) hits 20% harder when the target is snared... the other is DeathStrike (60% Wpn Dmg + xtra per disease + Heals for a % of the hit per Disease on the target) hits and heals for 2% more per 5 Runic Power (up to 20% more at full RP).  That's all the Glyphs I could afford ( you can have... 3 Major Glyphs and 3 Minor Glyphs)... I also bought some Armor kits to increase Strength / Stamina and AP. 

The results.. breathtaking. The human DK drops targets fast. And by "fast" I mean @ lvl59 I'm dropping lvl61-62's in one runic rotation. Thats IT, Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Death Strike with White Damage (regular hits) inbetween and critting like a madman. Biggest hit has been a 2K Deathstrike (full RP) crit; healed me for like 2200 or something. 

I've ran some more instances too... ran Ramps about 4 times last night; easy, quick, good loot and fun. 5 DK's can do it without a healer... and the 1 run with a healer (Priest + 3 DK's, 1 Prot Pally) was only 4 total pulls... the prot pally pulled all the aggro while the DK's went AoE-Nuts.. entire run was done in about 12 minutes. 

I've had a couple of PvP fights on the Human DK... got dropped like a bad habit by an 80DK griefing Burning Crusade starter zone... took a 62 Rogue, dropped a 59 priest and made a stupid mistake and died to a 61 Pally (omg kicked myself over that one). 

It's certainly fun tho. 

(I'll edit this to include pics lata!)

Jackson & Me

This (Marley & Me)  is a must-see for all you 'pup-rents' out there.. who think that your dog is a part of the family. 

I mean me... My blog is named after the two most important people in my life; and notice I said

 people, one is just shorter and furrier than the other. 

Marley & Me is an amazing story that revolves around how special our companions are to us.. and that they're there with us.. thru thick and thin, and despite their quirks and misbehaviors.. they're one of the few things that love us with their whole heart, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It also describes the special bond that a man develops with his furry friend.. there's nothing that can really describe it; and its unlike

 anything else... if you're ever fortunate enough to have "the" pet, which I hope everyone is.. then you know what I'm talking about. You can tell what they're thinking, what they're feeling.. when they're sad, when they're in a great mood, and when they just wanna curl up and lay next to you... they feed off of your emotions; they can someh

ow tell when you've had a bad day and they try to comfort you in their own little special way... it's this special bond, between a man and his best friend.. that the movie goes over. 

Sadly, no matter how hard we want it to not happen... all good things must come to and end. One day, all things shall pass... and while sad, it just means that you should relish each and every moment you have with them; because like you, their time is limited, especially once this "epic" bond is formed... this doesn't come along every day, so you should harness it and squeeze every last drop of happiness out of it. 

I've just got a big soft spot in my heart for animals; but especially dogs. I've been fortunate to have very special dogs in my life... Lady, Joey, Sadie... Jack and Chance.  Jack and me are best buds tho; and we've formed this kind of bond I'm talking about. 

The movie Marley & Me just makes you realize how precious they are.. and how you can't over look the little things, and cherish every moment you have with them. They're not here forever. 

I balled my eyes out in the theatre... and have balled them out while writing this post. 

I Love my special furry family members. 

Semi-WAR Hiatus

So.. because of problems that are awaiting us in T3 / T4 in WAR.. (Fort crashes, keep swaping, Renown rewards not working, itemization, PvE Dungeon lockouts, CTD issues... to name a few).. I decided, that since WoW has 12 Million subs now.. and a new class I've never played... why not, I'll give it a shot... there's a 10 day free trial.. get to try out the new Death Knight, take the epic'd druid out for a spin in the lvl80 content... see what its all about. 

Holy Crap. 

1) Northrend is amazing, visually. I

t's still the WoW art style (cartoony).. but thats their thing. For a WoW zone(s) its very nice. It's got depth, a lot of different hubs... and a *lot* of players running around in it. 

2) It's all PvP Contested territory... all of the new content is. I got the crap ganked out of me on the druid by a couple of drive-by lvl80's... but I did manage a 7 minute fight vs. an even level pally and raped a level 68 Warlock... poor guy =(

3) Death Knight is.... 2 parts PWN, 1 Part OWN.  Man these things are amazing... I mean, they're BEGGING for the nerf bat tho (Blizzard isn't, typically, very heavy-handed with it tho). A Plate-wearing tank, with a pet, with AoE attacks, 2 passive DD procs, DoT's, Dual Weilding, Self Healing, Aura-wearing, Self buffing piece of ooey-gooey goodness. It's also a completely different mechanic than WoW has (rune system) and makes combat extremely fast. 

4) Leveling - they've increase again the speed of leveling for the 30-50 bracket, 60-70 and adjusted the 70-80 to be in line with the previous changes... so you can solo quest, or group instances and feel like you're actually accomplishing something  in just an hour or two (59-60 took me right at 1.5hrs). 

Differences between WAR and WoW... after playing both:

• WoW's art style... while I don't really care for it, they carry it throughout the entire game nicely. WAR's graphics still, to me, are 'nicer'.  
  
• WAR's humor... I think WAR pokes a little more fun @ the entire genre + grim Warhammer humor; WoW's taken a more.. poke fun @ the gamer culture aspect (jar of epic tears dropping off PVP kills = I lol'd). 
  
• Combat Pace - this was odd, but WoW's combat is much more fluid, responsive and fast. WAR's in comparison seems extremely slowed down and less responsive... almost like WAR's GCD doesn't work quite right
• Abilties - They're pretty close here; WoW has now added Knockbacks and 'pulls'.. which is funny. WoW's abilities have a little more utility and more group-synergy... WAR's seem more DPS straighforward. 
• Active / Responsive fights - Man, there's a lot of !@#$ going on in a WoW fight. It's hard to keep up with all the various debuffs, buffs, temp abilities and pops (reactionaries). This makes combat feel even faster
• XP for RvR - Really, after 4years you'd think WoW would've learned by now. 
• Dyes - Again...  4 years? Come on Blizzard, get with the program.

Something else WoW has changed.. is they're revamping (or have already) their talent trees so that each line isn't pidegeon holed into a specific role. While a Protection Paladin may be better prepared than a Retribution (DPS) pally to tank... that doesn't mean that the Prot Pally can't DPS (somewhat).. which is a big change from their previous Tallent system. 

All in all I actually had fun.... I've leveled my Death Knight from 55 to 61 in 'roughly' 2 days, but pretty much just 1... doing 57-61 tonight. I've gotta lot of experience playing WoW (I use to flip accounts for extra $$$$ for those that didn't know).. and really it was a lot of fun tonight. 

Have I *really* PvP'd, like running an arena (not 80!) or goofing off in AV or WSG? Not yet

Have I ran a 10-man or 25-man Heroic in Northrend? Nope

Have I ran a regular instance in Northrend? Nope

Have I ran a instance with my DK? lol yeah, 4 DK's and a Priest tore Hellfire ramps up, lmao. 

I mean, I haven't really done a lot of what Northrend has to offer, and the DK doesn't really take off until.. 65-70 (I've got a mob-TTK atm of about 4-5sec tho, lmao). But really... WotLK seems like it's kind of force to be Reckoned with. It hasn't sold 4.5million copies already for no reason I guess *shrug*

EDIT:  Think of that revenue stream that Blizzard has... $14month per account. 12 Million subs... then 4 Million WotLK Boxes in 3 months @ 40 a piece.  Thats..  168 Million per month in Subscriptions, with an additional 160 Million in box Sales... so since the November WotLK roll out... 2 months @ 168mil / month + 160Mil retail = $496 mil... take out operating costs, but still... man, what a revenue stream. 

Blessed

So looking back over 2008 and 2009, we've been very blessed... and it's really just amazing. 

2008 was a tumultous year, financially speaking, for the entire country. With all the layoffs, hard times, closings and especially bank failures, one should be very happy to simply have *a* job... let alone a well paying one. This past year we've been blessed  in that the Credit Union has really gorwn by leaps and bounds; which has been very rare by Financial Instituion standards... the 'typical' rate of membership growth across the country has been roughly 2.4% (if at all)... our Credit Union has experienced a phenominal 9% growth (as of December 1, 2008)... while other institutions have experienced marignal loan growth at best, we've seen dramatic increases in loan dollars (with deposit dollar increases to compensate(go go Onboarding! yeah!))... allowing us to achieve our Quarterly goals each quarter; which in turn grants each employee a bonus 2weeks worth of pay each quarter. This bonus has been a Godsend for everyone, and given the grim economic forecast, is very not-so-much the "norm" for 2008. It's been just such a blessing that we've had the finanical income given to us this past year. 

We were blessed by finding North Metro in 2008; which has been a pheonminal turning point. Its not everyday that you walk into a church, especially when typically your very skeptical of churches, and immediatly feel at home. It seems like every sunday, the topics are just specifically tailored toward whats going on in our lives... and how we should deal/cope with specific situations we're dealing with. North Metro has had such a dramatic impact on our lives.. daily... that becoming involved with it (IN it) has been one of the defining points of 2008.  N-Weds has also been one of the greatest things to happen in 2008.. we've built so many friendships from this experience, it's been amazing. 

I've been blessed with the greatest thing in life, a loving wife who genuinely wants to simply see me be happy... and who loves me with every ounce of her being. It's very awesome, to post-10/18/08, call her my wife. Each morning, in the shower (daily prayer-time + warm shower = awesome way to start every day) I thank God for her, and everything she's helped me with. She's played a huge role in getting re-involved in church, and is just everything I could ever ask for and want in a spouse. And on top of all that awesomeness... she's even a phenominal cook! I think everyone can look at my ever-expanding waisteline and determine that she's a very good cook =) Being married is the greatest thing in life, and I'm just so thankful for every minute I've gotten to spend with her, and look forward to what we've got in store for '09 (Italy, schweet!). 

Jack and Chance... despite their affinity for carpet-ruining and leaf-dragging in; they're two tiny blessings (one a little smaller than the other).  You can't really ask for a much better companion than Jackson; he's a wonderful dog... fun, always happy, eager to please, and cuddley... he's about as perfect as they come. Chance is also a great puppy... I mean, he's just 13wks old. He's getting on with house training... he's fun, quirky and always energetic. They're both just so happy they have each other (as evident from the N.C. christmas vacation)... and we're blessed to have both the little nuts... 

I could go on and on... family,  health, working cars, stable finances, school, 1st house, promotions.... there's not really enough room on the blog to detail every aspect that we've been blessed in. 

But here's to 2009... hoping that the economy and everything turns around, but the blessings continue to roll in.