5 Random Things

I really like the way the Keeley modified DS-1 sounds in comparison to the stock pedal, which is what I have. There is an option on Robert Keeley’s website to mail your pedal in to get it modded, but that costs $75, not including shipping (stock pedal costs around $35 retail). The exact instructions are posted online though. So, as I can find a place to buy specific capacitors/resistors, it in theory, shouldn’t be that hard assuming that I remember how to solder without setting my hand or other objects on fire.

5 ass-random things that have occurred or I have thought about within the past couple of days:

  1. Hah, I knew it. Blizzard is going to release a pre-expansion patch. I wonder if they are doing this to make the expansion release smoother, to cocktease, and/or because they are planning on delaying it. In any case, woot!

  2. I had a dream about yellow sticky notes the other night. In the dream, when I came into work one morning, someone had left a mountain of sticky notes on my desk. That was it, nothing else.

  3. I have an urge to play Neverwinter Nights again. By again, I mean past the first chapter. I bought it for dirt cheap a year or two ago, started the single player campaign, got distracted (*cough* WoW) and permanently set it down. I am really fickle about what I am in the mood to play. Is it wrong to torrent a game that you own because the CD’s are most likely stuffed in a box somewhere?

  4. Large fan related forums of any sort solely dedicated to any one group or thing are bad for you. Large being defined as having an active poster base smaller than the low hundreds. Good lord and I thought that I needed to get off the interwebs more…

  5. My favorite around-the-house lounging shorts have bleach stains on them. They are all fingertip sized, located on the right leg and right buttcheek.

Labor Day is approaching. Yay, three day weekend!

Cable Management

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The Signum cable management rack from Ikea is the best thing ever. I finally got around to installing it and rerouting most of the wiring around my desk. No more dangly cables everywhere, huzzah! I need to do a better job of sorting out cables and tying off slack.

It would be nice to route some of the power cables near the wall socket around my desk leg so that they remain hidden. Unfortunately though, a few are short. I might try to prop and tie the power strip to the rack. Not sure if the giganormous power bricks will fit though. I Also bought a drawer unit to store all of my stupid USB cables, device chargers, guitar cables, PlayStation controllers, adapters, etc and any miscellaneous junk laying on the floor.

Happy June

Happy umm June! I had five or so half-completed entries milling on Google Docs for two months. By the time I got around to editing and reviewing them, all were out of date/irrelevant; Meh. Gaming stuff:

  • I updated the guild site/forums. Note to self: Update the homepage recruitment, kills, etc.
  • Bought a Playstation 3, GTA IV, and HDMI/DVI adapter the other week and have spent every free moment fawning over it.
  • Speaking of PS3 games, Metal Gear Solid 4 comes out soon. I should really wait until I beat GTA IV before buying it, but we’ll see how temptation goes. My gaming life follows this pattern: Buy a game, half-complete it, buy another game, ignore game one. Consequently, I have a stack of unfinished games. Though, most of them are left unfinished because they sucked or were a giant waste of time (*cough FFXII*).

Workspace obsession
My living space is becoming a dump. I’m on a small quest again to organize it but I cannot find office furniture that fits my exact needs dimension wise. Everything is either too wide, too tall, or does not match. I want a relatively narrow drawer/filing unit. No wider than 12″ & no taller than 27″.

This one from the wonderful world of Ikea might work. I very badly need more storage space to organize guitar cables, charging cables, USB cables…Everything at the moment is on the floor.

Other things/WoW

  • I am bent on learning how to play every single tune from Mega Man II on the guitar. I tabbed around half of the Wily Castle theme, but got lazy and just googled the rest.
  • A guild member pointed out this site. Handy quick gear check/reference /App vetting tool.
  • I have a growing stack of badges and nothing to buy for my tanking set. I should just blow them all on Emp Saph’s and epic gem out the rest of my slots. There’s not a whole lot of gear that I’m going to be upgrading any time soon (until Hyjal).

Update 2/25/2008

Gruul is on farm (took a 2-month 25-man raid break during December and January), working on SSC and soon TK (flu hit key raid members this weekend, boo). We’ve been holding off-raid night Karazhan farming runs for alts and people who need badges. Badges, need more badges.

Gear: Swapped the Chess Event tanking sword for the Amani Punisher from the eagle boss in ZA. Also replaced my shoulders, boots, belt, and cape (think I already posted about that). I almost blew all of my badges on the Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian a day before the new 2.4 rewards were announced. Need: The 2.4 tanking chest, the 2.4 tanking ring, Jan’Alai’s shield, and Malacrass’ Helm. I need to replace my gloves at some point, but I haven’t researched a suitable replacement. It’s a little odd but, I’m having a little trouble staying above 490 defense on my want list. I keep swapping it for other tanking stats because many of the pieces that I “need” don’t have any def.

Other Stuff
Gasp, I have a new hobby that doesn’t involve the computer or any other nerd paraphernalia! I bought an electric guitar/amp/etc in January and have been learning to play it. I devote around 1 to 1.5 hours a day to practicing and learning music theory (less on Friday and Saturdays, ie raid nights). It’s fun!

  • Call of Duty 4: I know I’m kind of late jumping on this game seeing that it has been out for several months (queue of games to play, no time). Excellent single player campaign, easily one of the best this year. I’m not really a huge fan of the military shooter genre (don’t really need any more WWII simulators. FFS move on to a different subject, we get it), but the pacing and storyline are exceptional.
  • Audiosurf: A puzzle/rhythm game hybrid. You select a song from your personal music collection and the game will generate a level based on the tempo, etc. Oh, it also comes with the Orange Box Soundtrack integrated into the game.
  • Sins of a Solar Empire: I don’t have this yet, but I am considering buying it. From what I understand, it’s a hybrid strategy game somewhere between Civilization and Homeworld; Pulling the elements that I really loved from each of the two game genres but without the tedious micromanagement. Only interested though, if it runs gracefully in Windowed mode on my secondary monitor.

I will try to update more!

October Geekology: Mixed Bag O’ Media

I have some WoW pics from brewfest, tips and other such musings for another post either tonight or tomorrow. I haven’t done a general interest/review post in a while.

Oh, so November is NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), for those who haven’t heard of it, is a creative writing project that challenges participants to write a 50,000 word (175 page) during the month of November. I have always wanted to participate in it, but could never find the inspiration or time to write that much every day for a straight month. I might actually attempt to this year or at the very least: NaBloPoMo. I imagine an undertaking of this magnitude requiring vast amounts of alcohol (home) and caffeine (work).

Television
Normally, other than a few old standbys, I don’t bother watching many if any new television shows unless it features a spaceship or men in armor :P. I actually bothered watching a few of the new shows this season.

Bionic Woman: It’s a re-imagined version of the original series done by the same person who did Battlestar Galactica. I was somewhat disappointed with the pilot because I semi-expected something with the depth of BSG. I don’t really like the protagonist, the special effects where cheesy, and the show/plot was pretty average overall. It is though, difficult and unfair to judge series based off of the first show, so I will continue watching it (given that I don’t blow it off for WoW). Oh, it has Starbuck in it.

Reaper: Two thumbs up for being funny and interesting. The pilot was after all, directed by Kevin Smith. Continuing from last season: Stargate Atlantis, Heroes, Lost (February lol), Battlestar Galactica (4th and last season, I think it starts in November?).

Music
The new Foo Fighter’s album “Echo, Silence, Patience, & Grace” was released late last month. I was to be honest, a little disappointed at first. But as I listen to it I am enjoying ESP&G more and more. It’s just one of those albums that you appreciate over time. I am really digging it at the moment. ESP&G is a good listen, offering a fairly wide range of genres and sounds that flows easily from one track to another. It’s not a black and white, “quiet side and loud side” album ala In Your Honor. Favorite Tracks: The Pretender, Let it Die, Come Alive, Strange Things Have Happened.

The new Radiohead album, In Rainbows is slated for release on the 10th of this month. The preorders are currently available online in two forms: A “discbox” (CD, bonus CD, booklet, and extra stuff) and a digital download where customers are able to name their price. How cool is that? If it’s good, I am really tempted to purchase the boxed set to support purchasing models like this. 

Gaming
The Orange Box pre-load is available for Steam orders now (or is it out? I’ve been busy this week). I really want to purchase it but I don’t see myself obsessing over yet another new game at this point. I am devoting most of my extra gaming time to levelling dear ignored Doombeard to 70 <3.

So speaking of games, I am interested in purchasing a new game console either this year or early 2008. ONE game console, I don’t have enough time or interest for two. I am almost completely sold on purchasing a Wii for Zelda, SSBB, Metroid, Mario, etc. But, if the PS3 price drop speculation is true, I would be tempted to go Sony. Hmmm…

Random Bits

Meh, busy lately. Oh, Heroes is back! If you haven’t seen it, all of the episodes are available online at the official NBC site. A few other things that I have been up to when I’m not in the office or on WoW:

  • Watching: Stargate: Atlantis, & Ergo Proxy. Ergo Proxy is an anime series that I’ve started recently. Sylistically, it’s very similar to Witch Hunter Robin (not surprising, same director). Contextually, it reminds me of GITS + Blade Runner + maybe a smattering of Matrix? I wouldn’t say that Ergo Proxy is an instant classic, but it’s interesting…worth a watch.
  • Reading: Finished Into a Dark Realm by Raymond E. Feist (favorite fantasy author). I have to wait an entire year to read the next one 🙁 This book is actually the latest installment in a fairly long line of books; The Riftwar Saga being the first trilogy (Magician, the first book, was broken up into Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master in some releases).
  • Playing: WoW, Peggle, and Kingdom Hearts II. I have a stack of unfinished games that I set down for the Burning Crusade. I would like to finish some of them before I lose my place and have to start over.

Paladin PTR Changes
Several paladin changes were made in a recent PTR patch. Well, it’s a start but I’m not going to start cheering until Illumination is at 75% :P. I actually haven’t had a chance to take a gander into the test realms. Perhaps I will this weekend, I want to see exactly what changes were made to the talent trees (paladin = poor, I don’t want to respec).

  • Illumination now returns 60% of base mana cost, up from 50%.
  • 1h weapon spec is now working, and is causing 5% more damage to spells like consecrate and holy shield while a 1 handed weapon is equipped.

Tanking Notes

  • Your heroic tanking gear goals should be roughly similar to your raid tanking goals. Technically, if you are talking absolute bare minimum: since heroic bosses only go up to level 72, you can do with 485 defense. Also remember that mob only deal Crushing Blows when they are 3 levels higher.
  • I rescind my comment regarding never running out of mana. The more geared you are, the less mana you get back because you aren’t getting nearly as many heals (as of 2.1 over healing doesn’t return mana). Hasn’t been that much of a problem in heroics/raids yet (still have to budget mana during certain fights though).
  • If you are seriously considering being a raid or heroic tank, collecting Arcane Resistance gear is a worthwhile endeavor (Tempest Keep, Curator). The Enchanted Adamantium set gives 140 total with all 4 pieces, 30 from the JC neck, 30 from each of the JC rings, there is a shield that drops in heroic Ramparts for 20 (I think). Aim for 200…don’t be like me, who spent a crapload of gold rush buying at the last moment.
  • Rep: Tanks will want to get revered Keepers of Time (best pre-epic tanking legs, 1-handed spell damage sword, the head enchant) and exalted Sha’tar (epic slotted shield and epic healing mace) for the goodies. Make sure to complete the Keepers of Time quest line, the last part (Black Morass) gives 8,000 rep.

To-do: Site
Though honestly, the only time I really work on stuff like this is when I am procrastinating or have had too much coffee.

  • A short guide to pre-raid tanking gear.
  • Cheat sheet for Kharazan (for my own sake, I swear wowwiki goes down whenever I am looking shit up mid-raid).
  • A tanking “cheat sheet” that is, a reference for stat formulas and what not without the 10 pages of babble.

To-do: WoW

  • Farm mats for the Bracers of the Green Fortress
  • Get +40 spell power chanted on my tanking sword (lol been using the exalted HH one just because it was epic…though the revered KoT blue sword has more stam :P). I am a bit below where I want to be spell damage wise. I put +30 int on all of my weapons for the sake of skilling Enchanting.
  • Farm Primal Mana for more Arcane Resist items.
  • Get exalted CE…2.5k off. Close to exalted for KoT as well.