Blackbear's Cave

The Amateur Crafter

2012-02-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

A Man Without a Cause, a Shop Without a Worker, or Maybe a Worker Without a Shop

I am a machinist, a (former) vehicle mechanic, and a shop teacher. I’ve practically lived nearly my entire adult life in a shop of some sort. Academically, I’ve been attending school for some degree or certificate nearly every year either full-time or part-time since I left the U.S. Air Force in 1998. I’ve sacrificed several of the earliest adult years of my life to serving my country in parts of the world that I grew to hate (not anymore but I would be dishonest if I said that I never hated my time in Saudi Arabia – topic for another blog article I suppose). I’ve studied very hard going to school full-time while working full-time, at the risk of my own health, trying to complete a degree in order to hopefully have a better chance at success. And I’ve dutifully assisted people as students that I still feel to this day aren't worth the time and effort to work up a good spit on much less try to teach a set of trade skills to. It seems as if I’ve constantly been fulfilling my responsibilities to some unit, institution, or organization for a higher cause that I’ve always felt duty-bound to support.

Am I being a bit pissy? Yep. And I’m tired of doing so much for others and not enough for myself. Yeah, this is going to be about me. I’ll admit that this probably paints a very bad picture of me as being selfish. I’m not going to lie. I’m might be getting that way. Mama’s little boy right here is getting tired of the boiled squash and he’s ready for some pie. Don’t get me wrong. I like squash, when it’s properly battered and deep fat fried. Fuck boiled squash. I want something more. Something selfish. Something that screams, “This is entirely for me here. I fully intend to enjoy it!” And I gotta say, it’s about damn time.

Over the past several months I’ve been getting extremely restless. Hurried. Irritable. Kind of like dealing with a spell of diarrhea. Maybe it was my ongoing and seemingly never-ending studies in grad school. On that note, it could very well have been having to write yet another paper on yet another article, lecture, research topic or whatever, for yet another professor what’s-his-name and report yet again on how much I learned from doctor dood-da-ma-phloj-gee and his/her ongoing and vitally important research. Maybe it was some of the people where I teach that just don’t seem to get it. You know, those types that constantly whine about how bad they’ve got it and he/she doesn’t work half as much as some of the laziest students in class? Maybe it’s because I’m approaching that “middle age” bit in life where we’re all supposedly going to have some sort of mid-life crisis and I’ll want to overcompensate by purchasing a hot new really expensive sports car (That won’t happen). Or it could be a combination of several factors that just seemed to keep dragging me down physically and emotionally. Whatever the reasons, I came to a realization a few months back, that I’m just not being selfish enough! Hopefully I’m not sounding real bitter. But it’s high time I went well out of my way to do something just for me.

I suppose that nearly everyone has something that he/she wants to do before “it’s too late” or before “I pass away.” I’ve heard people talk about wanting to travel and see famous places. Yeah. Been there, done that, still doing it but it’s really starting to piss me off. Well, technically the airlines, TSA, and bad travelers are the ones pissing me off but still the whole traveling experience is getting on my nerves. I’ve heard people say that they wanted to learn a foreign language just to learn it. Or maybe some people just want to try out that one crazy thing that they would never do such as bungee cord jumping or skydiving. Well, for me, I just want to get back to my shop and craft something. One problem though, I don’t technically have a shop. And while I do have access to the shop at school where I teach, I’m usually too busy doing administration to go out and work in it. Let me just take this opportunity to restate what I’m usually doing – administration. Oh! What glorious fun that can be right? I miss being able to just make something in the shop, just because I wanted to. Just for the challenge of making it. I didn’t care if the project didn’t work as intended. It didn’t even matter if the project was completed or not. Just go out, tinker around, make a mistake or two (hopefully not at the cost of a digit) and learn something.

So, why don’t I just go back into the shop and have fun? Oh right, that whole don’t-really-have-a-shop thing. At some point I realized that I had the space for a small (very small) shop in the basement. I don’t know when I had this eureka moment but it was a revelation. There’s my shop! That’s where I can go and tinker around. It’s a bit small (12’ x 16’ – not excluding the space lost from the furnace and some of the plumbing) but I could make it work! But I had to be careful. I only have so much space to work with. I could only stock a certain amount of equipment in the shop. How can I equip it and be successful? Certainly, professional grade equipment was out of the question. I just don’t have the space for a decent metal turning lathe. And, anyone that’s purchased or been involved with the purchase of a professional machine knows that what you purchase is a machine. No tools. No tool holders. No fixtures. You get A MACHINE and that’s it. So whatever you spend on it, expect to spend a lot more for the extras. Initially, when I started to think about shop design and layout, I was unsure about the purpose of the shop. At first, when I began to research equipment for footprint, cost, and upkeep, I tried to think about its worth. I started to think about going cheap for machines and hopefully they’ll pay for themselves if I could make money off of them. But how could I make money that way if I’m just going to be a hobbyist? This was the wrong approach. I decided to rethink the purpose of the shop and its worth. How do I define its worth? Would worth be defined as the ability to make money from it as if it were a production shop? Would it be more of a service and repair type of shop where I would service some group of clients in perhaps an industrial environment? Would it be more in terms of assets that I could evaluate for the purposes of reselling? Ultimately, what did I want to get out of this shop?

That particular question right there, “What do I want to get out of this shop?” really stumped me. I was genuinely dumbfounded. What the hell do I want to get out of this shop? It had been so long since I invested myself into a project just for me that I had forgotten what it was like to think about what I wanted to get out of it. I actually had to stop and mull this over for a while before I decided (tentatively) on a purpose for the shop. And even though I had some ideas, I realized that eventually just like my blog, its purpose could change. And it did. I thought at first that I would make a shop with maybe small cabinet making, turning, or perhaps fretwork in mind and also a few metal working machines such as a milling machine and a lathe. Eventually though, I had to accept the fact that I didn’t have the space for all of that equipment. However, I did have enough space for pursuing one of my passions, knife making. I’m not a knife maker or even a serious knife collector. I don’t have a massive collection of unusual or highly sought after knives. I may know a bit more about knives than the average consumer. But I still wouldn’t call myself an amateur knife maker. I’ve always enjoyed learning about that process and I’ve always loved seeing the work of various professional custom knife makers. But I’ve never had the opportunity to pursue that as a hobby before. Usually, I never had enough space, or enough money to start a shop of my own. Even approaching it as a frugal hobbyist, one can spend a well over a few thousand dollars in tooling and equipment depending on how much one wants to accomplish within the shop. And to pursue it with greater productivity and easier construction in mind, the price tag for a well-equipped shop can be in the tens of thousands of dollars assuming of course that a facility already exists and is awaiting installation of equipment. If a building must be made, then the price goes up even higher.

I decided that the ultimate purpose of this shop was to allow me a chance at pursuing hobbies for life enrichment. I probably wouldn’t be able to pursue all of the hobbies that I wanted to, but I had enough space where I could pursue several. The reason I want this shop is so that I can learn to: make a knife, or turn a wooden bowl, or build a small wooden cabinet, just because I want to learn how to do these things. It doesn’t matter if I become hugely successful at whatever projects I take on. What matters is that I have the space and hopefully most of the equipment needed to make those projects. There’s no reason that the shop has to “pay for itself” as if this were going to become a business. It simply needs to be properly stocked and maintained. When I figured this out, I understood that I didn’t have to look for the cheapest machine/tools/etc. possible, I just had to find the best materials that will give me the best “bang for my buck.” This could be a low to mid-range consumer grade machine to a very high-end professional grade tool. Whatever the shop needed to fulfill its purpose, that’s what I should invest in. Understanding this opens up the possibilities for stocking good equipment for the shop, albeit at a slower, less financially stinging pace. I finally decided on keeping the purpose of the shop to just those things: knife making, woodturning, and small (very small) cabinetwork. It’s quite likely that I may not have enough space to do all of those but I am going to try and design the shop just for those three purposes. And it doesn’t have to be written in stone. I could very well change one of the purposes of the shop later down the road. So, as of this writing, another purpose behind this blog is to list my ongoing shop adventures. Also, I’ll most likely post some of this on my simple YouTube channel, probably in a lame Windows Movie Maker format. But I’d like to document where I’m starting out with this shop and where I’m going with my projects. I realize that this means I will probably come into conflict with some of the “purists” out there that see what I’m doing and exclaim, “You noob! You shouldn't (insert some description of what I’m doing on a project here) that way! You’re doing it wrong!” Well I’ve actually already encountered some of that on a couple of machine shop forums (despite the fact that I teach this) and just a bit of that on one knife making forum (despite the fact that I want to learn it). I’m sure most of us know someone like that. Everyone probably knows some uber snob with such huge amounts of experience in a particular field that he/she can’t be bothered to properly give constructive (a.k.a. helpful) feedback. But that’s okay. I’ll just write about what I learned from a particular project and move on to another. I’ll just keep writing about particular projects that I’m involved in and whether or not those projects were successful. And by successful, I mean, completed. Done and done. No time constraints. No client. Just a completed project that I wanted to do.

The Dream...

2011-08-13T09:14:00.001-07:00

It's late and it's dark outside. My arms are sore, I've got a headache, and my back is killing me again. I'm trying to get home, take a quick shower, then get my ass to bed. I'm too tired even to eat supper. If I can take a naproxin, and sit a bit on the chair with the back massager, I think to myself, maybe that'll help me get some sleep. Just the act of climbing out of the car seems to be a monumental effort. The former landlord's dog - Daisy, is waiting for me again by the steps of the back porch. She probably wouldn't hang around so much if I stopped feeding her scraps. But my former landlord just doesn't give her any attention. I don't rent from that person anymore, I'm now his neighbor with a house of my own. I spend a little bit of time outside rubbing Daisy's belly. She wags her tail and barks happily that someone's giving her a belly rub.

It's been a long day. One of our four CNC (computer-numerical-control) machines has crashed due to a student's over-confidence. The crash was so loud that it shook the floor above the shop. Students left the classroom above our machine lab and came down to our shop to see what had happened. When more begin to show up I get angry. It reminds me of "rubber-necking" on the interstate. I mull over the idea of stepping outside of the lab and saying, "Tickets, please. If you don't have a ticket then you'll be asked to leave. In other words, get-the-fuck-out!" Just to see if any of them get the idea. Fortunately, no one was injured from the machine crash. But I am starting to wonder just how costly the damage will be to the program.

In the shower, the water is only lukewarm and it barely manages to relieve some of the tension in my back. Odd, I don't remember coming inside and getting undressed. I have a routine that I follow. Did I do that? Usually I'll place a few items that go with me back and forth to work on the counter next to the back door. Then I'll go into the living room and check for messages, then go in my bedroom to undress. I've got a fan running in my bedroom 24/7 due to the tinnitus that I suffer from. I don't have to run it 24/7 but I do have to run it when I try to go to sleep. I usually remember feeling the cool breeze from the fan on me as I undress. Damn, I hope I remembered to set my cell phone on charge.

I'm drying myself off and getting out of the shower and I notice that I can barely see the bathroom from the steam. Great, I think, the damned bathroom vent fan must have gone out. One more thing I need to fix. Wait, when did I finish my shower? I don't remember that. Then it hits me, I can't see the bathroom at all. The steam is so think I literally can't see the walls, the sink, or anything else. I note that I can still see light coming through the steam. So I start to slowly make my way towards the sink, or at least towards the direction of the sink. I'm trying to sort of "feel" my way towards the sink so I'm reaching out to try to locate the walls of the bathroom. I don't feel any. I turn approx. 90 degrees and keep trying to place my hand on a wall that I know should be there. I don't feel anything. I try taking a few steps with my arms forward, thinking that I'll eventually feel a wall. Again, I don't feel anything. I try again, taking more steps, in the same direction and then several steps in another direction. Nothing.

This is really weird, I think to myself. My bathroom is no bigger than a small cell. Surely I would bump into a wall if I took several steps in any direction inside the bathroom. But I don't. Amused and a bit annoyed at the same time, I continue this exercise if only to see where this leads. Then I notice that the light that I can still see through the steam is directional. It has a distinct shine from one area, while darkness permeates everywhere else. The darkness isn't a pitch black void but rather a dark violet blue and turns lighter in hue closer towards the light source. I pause and notice that, despite what's happening, I'm relaxed and my heart rate is calm. The steam appears to clear up towards the darkness and I see figures moving around.

Several people are heading towards me. So far, I'm not scared or even nervous. As the figures approach I notice that some are lagging behind the closest figure. Some seem to have a slow, labored walk that an old person might have. The closest figure isn't too tall, a bit shorter than me. As the figure gets closer, the light begins to reveal features that help to identify the closest figure as a man. He's an older gentlemen, perhaps in his late 50s or early 60s, nearly completely bald, and clean-shaven. He has a fedora hat but he's not wearing it, he's holding it in his hands. He looks like he's wearing dress clothes from the 1950s. He stops several feet away as if to let me know that he's trying to appear nonthreatening. This generous act momentarily makes me angry because he's thinking that I would consider him a threat. And of course, my ego won't allow that. But that feeling quickly subsides and I notice that I'm being irrational.

More figures come into view. So far, all of the rest are older women, all well past retirement age, which might explain the way that they're walking. All of those stop a few feet further away than the man. I slowly pan from my right to left. There's an odd familiarity with the faces of these people. And then I realize, some of these people are relatives of mine. Some of these people have faces that I think I should recognize, but I don't. As hard as I'm trying, I really cannot place a name to a few of these faces. But I sure as Hell recognize others, particularly because they're dead!

There's my grand aunt Edna, a high school teacher that lived, and died in Bryson City, NC. She knew of the location of the original town of Almond, submerged somewhere in Fontana Lake, and there were plans for her to show me this at some point, but those were canceled due to illness. We never actually got the chance to follow up on those plans.

There was Pearl, another grand aunt, dietitian and Asst. Prof. of Home Economics at Carson-Newman College. I remembered her as an always happy person. And she was an amazing cook. Family visits to her involving holiday dinners or suppers were spectacular.

Then there was Lula and Ora. Ora was teacher and eventually became the Executive Director of the Diary Council. I don't remember much about her other than she was a nice lady. Lula taught as well but I don't remember what subject or even what level. I always remembered her as a stern person.

The rest of the people, except for the man, I couldn't remember their names or their relationship with me. Of the women I could remember, I noticed a pattern, aside from the fact that they're all deceased. They were all educators at some point. Whether a college instructor or a public school teacher, every one of them was either a professional educator or an administrator for some educational institution. But not the man. I now realized who the man was, it was my grandfather Forrest. But that didn't make any sense. He wasn't a teacher. He owned a flour and feed mill. And, all of the other figures were people that I knew, and that I grew up with. My grandfather Forrest died long before I was even born. I've often asked my mother, aunt, and uncle about him as they all remember him fondly. Usually they'll say that I would've gotten along great with him, that he was a very caring person, etc. Of course one would remember a deceased loved one like that. But I never had the opportunity to actually meet him. If this was going to be that opportunity, what would I say? What should anyone say to a person that supposed to be dead yet they're standing in front of you? How would I go about breaking in the "small talk" to get a conversation going with this person? What are some of the things he and I share in common? He's a World War II veteran of the U.S. Navy. I know the name of the ship he served on, the U.S.S. Finch. I know a lot about his history but not really too much about him personally. Would we be able to get along? Now, I quickly became nervous at the idea that we might not get along at all. Towards the last years of my grandmother's life, the relationship she and I had had become strained. Both of us were being just too stubborn to see each other's point of view. Finally, I suppose to avoid creating more conflict with each other, we settled in a barely comfortable truce, a cease-fire of hostilities, if only to allow ourselves to catch a breather from the incessant bickering we seemed to enjoy firing at each other. This is truly tragic but that's the way it worked out.

And my fears seem to be confirmed as he's regarding me as if he were processing what he's seeing, or perhaps, what he's thinking. He's not saying anything, but he appears to be studying me closely. I briefly imagine the mental notes he's putting to himself...okay, high school graduate - good, U.S. Air Force veteran - very good, A.A.S. in machining technology - that's real good, B.S. in teaching a technical trade - excellent, well, so far so good. For a moment, I become very self-conscious and I get a bit indignant that I should be analyzed like I was in an interview for a position.

Then, slowly, I begin to feel different. It's difficult to describe but I start to feel what I can only call approval. It's starts very small at first. But this feeling quickly becomes a welling of pride. It's quite overwhelming and a flurry of emotions explode inside my head all at once: pride, accomplishment, honor, a sense of victory. Victory over what? I don't know. But it seemed like I took a long time to recover from this and come to my senses. I realized that I was down on one knee, trying to compose myself and clear the "fog" that resulted in the eruption of those emotions, almost as if something had literally knocked me down.

Then I felt calm again. Assurance. Confidence. As if someone was telling me to "keep up the good work." There was no big, booming voice or no other-worldly communication going on. Just a concept. I was feeling a sense of achievement from everyone here. Again, I imagine what my grandfather Forest was thinking, that's right lad. Lad! I actually thought that he would use the term "lad." You keep at it there son. Always keep trying to better yourself. Always try to find ways to improve yourself. Keep teaching what needs to be learned, and keep learning what you need to teach. You've got folks that depend on that you know?

When I stood back up, I noticed that all of the people started to fade, each becoming more and more translucent. I noticed that as each woman faded away, a look of comfort showed on their faces, like each person had a peace of mind that they had just received. Soon, my grandfather was fading too. He put his hat back on and placed his hands inside his trouser pockets. I'm not sure but I think I even heard a jingling of loose change as many of my elder relatives tend to do. The people continued to fade into nothingness. It was as if this whole event was just a way of saying, "Well, we all just wanted to check up on you. See how you were doing. Take care, and make us all proud!" Still, no words are spoken. It's just all immediate, like a thought or a concept. It just appears suddenly.

I'm not normally the type to get all sentimental but I felt compelled to reply, even though nothing was said. But how do I do that? What do I say to my grandfather, a person I've never met? What should I call him? Should I just say "Grandpa" or some other term of endearment? I barely know the man. I don't feel as if I should call him that. I wanted to say, "I'll do that for you Grandpa!" But I wanted it to seem sincere. Saying "Grandpa" to someone that I've never called them that before seemed contrived to me.

Then, my grandfather briefly began to solidify, as if he was returning to tell me something. Once again, a thought appears suddenly, and I imagine him saying, No son. You'll do that for those that need it. Then, he faded away completely.

Why exactly are you here?

2011-08-11T19:28:00.001-07:00

As an instructor, and I'm sure some can relate to this, I will often join in with my colleagues whenever there is a discussion going on about students, teachers, policies, etc. which will then usually become a long-winded event. Whether it's the quality of the incoming students or lack thereof, or perhaps the questionable competence of a particular instructor, I can cluck with the best of hens in the coop. But sometimes, my fellow colleagues just piss me off.

Once in awhile, I'll use something to remind myself of why I love this profession and/or why there's always opportunities to improve it. Well, sometimes I find that my colleagues need a prodding reminder like this as well. I'm not sure if I do this consciously, but every now and then I'll turn a discussion around in a direction opposite from where it was heading particularly if I begin to see a bit of hypocrisy seeping into the discussion. This is not in an attempt at attacking a personal position of a colleague, rather at an attempt to remind them why they chose the field of education for a career. For example, last summer a student, nearing the end of his last semester in our program, was scraping up spare change for gas money, asking friends and classmates, so he could still come to school. This eventually made its way to me, his instructor and academic adviser. So, I decided to pull a little weight (and with my girth I've got quite a lot of that) and I sought out a position at a local manufacturing company that I thought he would be good at. I referred him to the HR director there and a week later, we was learning how to setup and operate machines and earning a good wage - complete with very nice benefits (especially for private sector employment.) This was a story I had used to derail a conversation about how so many of today's youths are privileged and that they're "living off of the government tit." He reckoned, none of them knew the meaning of hard work. My colleague began to talk like a sound bite from a television add for the GOP. I wasn't trying to disprove what that person was saying. To be fair, the student I'm referring to was a combat veteran (Army) with one term of enlistment completed. But the individual who started this discussion was known for making broad generalizations of large swaths of people; something I try hard to avoid, and sometimes still manage to fail at.

Now, I'm not trying to "toot my own horn" about this, far from it. In fact, this is where I throw a bit of self-doubt into this story, because recently, in a similar discussion as before, I used a similar story to reverse the direction of a conversation with a colleague. But then I started to think deeper on this issue and I realized just how often I see someone struggling in life. Not necessarily just in terms of finances, but a variety of aspects of just life in general. Actually "doubt" isn't the proper word here, anger may be more appropriate. I don't doubt that I try my best and that I'm good at what I do. I don't doubt myself so much to the point that I become indecisive. But whenever I'm alone and in a quiet place, I'll go deep into my thoughts and think back about decisions that I've made where I may have done better, not as a form of self-torture but rather as a mental note for the constantly updating self-guide to my life and profession in case I ever come across a similar situation like that one decision again.

Take, for example, the student with a traumatic brain injury that applied several semesters ago to our program - a machine shop program. By law, no one can deny that individual a chance at an education in the machine shop if he is able to meet the physical demands of the trade. But regardless of the law, I strongly believe that everyone should have a chance at improving their education. It's actually part of my educational philosophy. I saw no reason to make an exception with this person. Who cares that he has an educable disability? I welcomed this person into the program with open arms and fellow colleague's snickers behind my back, something I've not forgotten. I welcomed the challenge that this student will give us and looked forward to the experience. One semester later, he was almost in tears after we met with him and the special needs coordinator for the last time to tell him that he's out of the program. I was nearly too heartbroken to inform him that he is just too dangerous in this trade for his own good. Note: his injuries affected his retention and recall abilities and information he learned the day before simply would not stick in his mind, at least not with the limited amount of repetition he could get from our courses. He needed much more than our courses could provide. One thing this student had that I'll always admire him for, determination. If I could have given him an "A" just for his effort, I would have. If there was a grade higher than an "A" in a class based on effort, he would be at the top of his class. He just had it in his mind that he was going to earn a certificate as a regular student and not seek vocational rehabilitation. The same semester, the following year, that student was graduating a with a certificate in an automotive customer service program. He now works for a local dealership in their customer service department.

Being so eager to welcome that student in the program may or may not have been a bit of naivety on my part. But it's decisions/situations like those that I'll reflect back on - again, not as a form of self-torture, but to think to myself, did I do the right thing? What could have I done different? I have a habit of zeroing in on the bottom line, which can sometimes lead to difficult but necessary decisions that have to be made. Was that student truly dangerous to himself in the machine shop? Yes, he was. At some point, did it become obvious that were he allowed to continue that there is high risk of injury? Absolutely. Was the decision and act to inform him just a gut-retching experience that I never want to do again? Of course. Was it still the right thing to do to welcome that student into the program? You'd better believe it. I would be such a hypocrite and so dishonorable if I were to make a decision against my educational philosophy. I don't think I could live with any other decision. That very same colleague and I were in a discussion about the quality of the students currently entering our programs and how our school should take a hard line against this kind of "government legislative interfering" with our business; and that student's story was an example I used to demonstrate why I think that a position like that is wrong. I don't doubt that the public school system has a lot of room for improvement. But that doesn't mean that I get to tell graduating high school seniors, "Sorry, you're just too stupid to come into this program. Good luck elsewhere." That colleague, and note that I stated "colleague" and not friend, is quite brilliant and holds a PhD in an engineering degree, yet the only knowledge and skill I've seen him demonstrate as if it were a natural aptitude is his ability to whine constantly. Sometimes I just want to grab him by his shoulders and yell into his face, "Why exactly are you here?"

I'll admit, I complain about students too. Have you ever heard of a high school graduate that couldn't do fractions? We used to have one like that. Has anyone ever met a person so creative and so brilliant yet so astronomically lazy that they refused to put forth any effort beyond a grade of "D"? I've had a student like that as well. And I know that practically every instructor out there has had those students, year after year, semester after semester, with grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and/or other obscure yet truly loved distant relatives that has just died and he/she (the student) will need (insert special consideration, extra time, "give me a break", and/or some other lenient accommodation here). I've had more than my fair share of slackers, simpletons, scoundrels and shams, but they're certainly not the majority. The point to my rant is that it's all of the other students that I remind myself why I chose education as a profession. It's that Hispanic student with a severe accent that has never attended any post-secondary school (post high school) for an opportunity at higher education - and ultimately became a star for the machine shop program. It's that displaced worker just trying to find another trade to go into with the hope that he/she can find employment after graduating - and winds up getting a job better than the one he/she had before. It's that young lady that never really had a lot of self-confidence and never pushed herself harder to try and go further than she thought possible of herself - and now works as the team leader over a team of production machine operators. That's the reason why I keep teaching. Those are the reasons I use to remind myself why I love what I do. And those are the reasons why I take every semester and every new group of students in with open arms, and not grudging suspicion.

I'll stop ranting here and leave you with a short story (in the next post) that I wrote, didn't finish, wrote again, didn't finish, lost then found it, then forgot about it, and finally decided to complete it. I had originally intended to enter this story into the student/faculty/staff writing contest our school has every year. It's about a dream I had right around the time the student with the traumatic brain injury was applying for the machine shop program. Incidentally, this was also around the time the symptoms of my sleep apnea became noticeable, although I had not yet realized how the symptoms were becoming progressively more severe.

A Flash of Just a Bit of Creativity - and Inspiration?

2011-06-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

How Far Will I Go?

How far will I go? Will I eventually lose the ability to keep myself fed and clothed during these tough times? If so, will I have the mental capacity to adapt, change, and overcome the challenges? Will I ever get too skilled or too knowledgeable that I out-qualify any hiring requirements? Will my mind become so inflexible that I become obsolete? If so, will I know when that day comes?

How far will I go? Will I overcome the challenges in the future to educate myself, to keep myself marketable? Can I continue an education and work full-time professionally? Will I be able to handle those stresses in life? Am I able to continue to learn new things, fantastic things, things undreamt of no more than twenty years ago? I’m not so young that I’m inexperienced, nor am I so old that I can no longer learn. But will I ever be so old that I become inexperienced and not young enough to learn?

How far will I go? Will my health gradually deteriorate to the point where I need someone to take care of me? When will this happen? And when will it affect my work? Will my work that I dearly love, and sometimes, love to hate, no longer have any meaning? I consider myself a hard worker, but I’m tired. I feel just a bit more tired every day…every year. My hands, worn with a bit of age, a shop career, and a mechanical background, ache just a bit more every day…every year. Does this mean I’m simply working too hard, or simply getting old?

How far will I go?

I will always go as far as I can, just to see how far I can go. I will always be mindful of the future, but live for the day. There’s no need to worry over things that have not yet happened, or may never happen. I will always try to remind myself that I am human, I make mistakes, and I forget things. I will always try the best that I can at whatever I’m doing. That’s my nature. I don’t know how to do anything else. I don’t know how to get up in the morning and say, “Today, I’m going to do whatever I can to not learn anything at all.” Trying my best means I will always remain fascinated at the latest and greatest in knowledge, skill, and technology. Because I know, not more than twenty years ago, the world, my world, didn’t quite have the same level of skill, knowledge, and technology that it has today. And twenty years from now, who knows what the latest and greatest will bring? Who can possibly predict what marvels we'll see? Exciting times! Being the best that I can means adapting when I need, learning as I go, and knowing when to slow down, take a breather, and maybe have a good laugh every now and then. Doing the best that I can means taking care of myself, mentally as well as physically. Sure, I may not be as successful as others. I may not be as successful in one area or more successful in other areas. But I’ll always be as successful as I can be, just to see how far I can go.

I R teh Healz!

2011-06-09T10:33:00.000-07:00

Well how about that? A post! Kind reader…this is going to be a somewhat harsh rant on a variety of things in Wow. Please understand that I am venting and that, in no way, I am offering any sort of advice, ideas, solutions, etc. to the issues I will be addressing. There’s nothing important to see/read here, move along please.

This is a rant…

This is a rant of the emergency blogging rant system. This is only a rant. Had this been an actual, intelligent post it would have been awesome and would’ve most likely contained information relevant to the reader, as well as possible instructions on how to find sturdy desk, table, wall, etc. and to constantly slam one’s forehead into it for various reasons. This is only a rant.

Of Biscuits and noobsauce…

I think some people (students) must believe that I’m a psychic with an amazing ability to read minds. This is because of the fact that despite attempts to illicit questions from students that do not fully understand a lesson, and not receive any questions, I’m still surprised by the fact that a student will still fail a test.

Ok, first a bit of background. Yes, I’m an instructor. I teach machining technology or “machine shop” at a community college. Due to the technical nature of this trade and its impact in the classroom, the safety concerns of operating machinery, and a bit of mathematical skill needed in this field, I can honestly say that students are the reason why I’ve lost more hair on my head than from male-pattern baldness.

I know people don’t want to seem “dumb” or “slow” to their peers. But it just amazes me that students will hold back questions about material that they don’t understand, particularly with a post-secondary education, just because they might be too embarrassed to ask. Literally, I am dumbfounded when I realize a student has been doing this. It always shows through when an assessment comes and he/she not simply fails it but completely bombs it. This is always frustrating to me because, up until that point, I’ve usually not heard any questions about the material being taught. My job as an instructor is to provide training in a field, assess how well the student is progressing, and provide appropriate advisement if a student is not performing to a standard. To students, this might seem as if I’m saying “My job is to fail students who can’t make the cut.” But, that isn’t how I approach my job. I look at it as an opportunity to work closer with students that aren’t performing well, give them additional help or projects, and spend additional time with those students doing more projects in the shop, which, means more experience for the student, and therefore, more time to learn this trade. I don’t “fail students who can’t cut it” in the program. In reality, students fail themselves in my classes. It truly takes about as much work to fail my classes versus the amount of work it takes to pass them. I’ve set up the expectations, grading policy, and attendance policy in such a way, that, students who are failing do so because of no effort, or worse, try to bullshit their way through the semester by exerting as much effort as possible towards excuses, or by working diligently at not working. And despite repeating warnings to those students who do this, most are genuinely surprised to learn that they will fail!

I leveled my main character (warrior) as dps fury spec, back in the end days of BC content. At the time, the cap was 70. But doing this didn’t simply magically happen by itself. I learned by doing and sometimes I learned by failing. But, I also learned from others. I asked questions. I did the research, read the “qq-ing” on the forums, watched the tutorial videos on YouTube from folks like the Yogscast, TotalBiscuit, Tankspot (now ZAMOfficial), gamers like Swifty and of course, TheGreatMe (yes there is a warrior formally known by that name.) And, I learned. This is where I see people struggle the most, such as everyday, average “Joe Schmo” players like myself. I am sincerely trying my best not to seem elitist here. But I can’t understand why some players would rather not ask any questions concerning a boss fight, or, not ask any questions about how to progress through a particular instance.

When Cataclysm was announced, and the major changes to game play, end game content, class changes, etc., it was very clear that this expansion was going to alter fundamental attributes to the game. For example, instances where tanks were no longer the armored threat magnets that they use to be (with exception of course) that could simply stand in front of a boss or mob and spam an aoe ability to keep ahead on threat for the dps. Healers, no longer have infinite mana pools to draw from and must manage what type of healing spells are needed to keep a fight alive – often at the health expense of many dps. A healer couldn’t simply spam a particular spell and expect to keep everyone in a group at topped health. And of course, dps can no longer simply spam a couple of buttons and grind a foe down, even if he/she picked up aggro and the target began to attack the dps instead of the tank. Threat HAD to be managed and everyone HAD to be situationally aware. Any type of void zone, aoe spell effect, etc. HAD to be avoided if any group member wanted to survive the new instances. And then, of course, there were new fight mechanics players had to learn if they wanted to survive. Some fight mechanics can easily one-shot tanks despite the best healers available. But the bottom line is that it should be very obvious to all players, new and experienced, that Wow is no longer WotLK. It is now Cataclysm. Yet, for some reason, this revelation has not hit many players and continues to elude other, more experienced players despite their time in game. And in spite of the massive changes to Wow, and the increased time needed to complete the more challenging instances, people still want to try to burn through an instance (Halls of Origination for example) as if it were a quick, 20-minute-max, Violet Hold from WotLK.

So, how does psychic reading come into play here? Simple, so many pug runs I’ve been in seem to be populated by folks that just assume you know what they’re thinking. So many pug dps just assume that the tank will automatically hold threat and that they (dps) can remain blissfully unaware of their threat levels or where they’re standing (say for example, FIRE) and spam one or two buttons to their heart’s content. Never mind that the tank may very well be a newly leveled 85 fresh from completing the Twilight Highlands quests. So many pug tanks just assume that despite the massive changes in Wow, a party need not worry about CC (crowd control) and that the healer/casters should easily out heal/dps any benefit CC would bring. Never mind the fact that some mobs can silence, stun, hex, banish, etc. any group member (including the tank and healer) and completely throw off the group’s abilities to survive the fight. And so many pug healers…

Well now there’s a problem, isn’t there? Up until fairly recently, I didn’t come across too many of those. Unless you were a healer or tank, the time waiting in queue could easily get as high as 45 minutes.

I’m reminded of the new level 85 pally tank that kept running through recent heroic halls of origination run so fast that our healer literally oom’ed midway in the first boss fight, not because of high tank damage but because we didn’t stop to allow mana regeneration. Afterwards, the healer asked, “Why didn’t you wait for mana?” Response, “I just assumed that you knew what you were doing.” There is it folks, that “ass-you-me” thing. The irony here is that the tank obviously didn’t completely know what he was doing because if he did then he would’ve known that his healer needed to mana up before the boss fight. This is a healer/caster mechanic that I have a habit of paying close attention to whenever I tank. Of course, we wiped on a boss, the blame game started and the insults came, and the group fell apart. If you’re a healer and you’ve hit regulars and heroics in cata, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

The first time I healed a cata regular instance, one of the melee dps died at the first pull. Now, I’ll admit, that was probably my fault as I was still learning the changes to healing since the expansion hit. Well, that player decided that one death (keep in mind we didn’t wipe) was one too many and quit the party and the instance. I remember the player typing in party chat, “grate noob heals” before he left. And yes, that is the exact spelling he used. I would love to see how much drama a person like that creates in real life on the job. I imagine a scenario, “Smith, we’ll need you to stay about an extra 30 minutes today. The second shift fella’ called and he’s going to be late.” Smith, “Gah! L-2-manage this shit better nub! This is too much! I just can’t take this anymore!” /Storms-off. On the other hand, I suppose it’s a good thing that I don’t see that kind of drama in real life. I would probably have spent time in jail for smacking an individual that acts that way. To quote a dear relative, “I’d a reached all da way back last Wednesday and slapped da taste out yo mouth!” As a Wow player, I understand that we all have to start somewhere – including healers. But we improve, we learn, and we grow as a player (and hopefully as a person) as we continue to play the game. I just so wish that other players would realize this as well.

In my opinion, I think healers have the hardest time in new instances, because most healers can level as a dps first, and then switch to a heal spec after reaching the level cap or after dual spec comes available. This means that there is a tougher learning curve for a healer who’s just reached the cap and item level requirements for regular instances. Hitting an instance as a healer pug can quickly earn you friends or enemies. This is because as a new capped healer, you’ve got to learn your “rotation” very quickly, especially if you’ve leveled as dps. You need to have a very good understanding about talents, mana efficiency, and boss abilities. If you’re unclear about any of these, you could very well have some player deaths during instances. You could easily wipe the party on challenging trash pulls even in regular instances.

With queue times for instances now finally starting to come down to a reasonable length, I decided to address this issue as best as I could. Now, I realize that this will reach very few people, but it is my hope that it will reach at least a few people that really need the help. So, let me write down some things I’ve learned as a dps and sometimes tank, by playing a healer. I’ve decided to put it into a letter format. I hope it helps:

To the newly leveled 85 player,

Congratulations on your completion of the first assessment of your abilities to follow basic instructions. It is our (your fellow players) hope that you continue your journey into higher aspects of this great game we play. To start with, let me be among the first of your fellow players that you probably don’t know to welcome you to this “next level” of game play. It is an exciting time and can often be quite challenging. Well, in case you already didn’t know, there are three basic roles your character may be able to fulfill, tank, dps, and healer. Now, clearly not all classes can be one of each, but a lot do have the ability to choose more than one role. For example, warriors can be melee dps or tank. I would highly recommend viewing the options for the specs for your class or any other class on such fine websites such as Wowhead, World of Warcraft, Elitist Jerks, TankSpot or even simply viewing other classes to see their choices in specs. This “research” is vital to give yourself a better understanding of what your role could be. But I’ll do my best to give you a short break down.

If you’re a dps, then please understand – everyone that’s not a dps hates you. There. It had to be said. Now, your healer and tank don’t hate you because you might accidentally pull threat. That happens to all of us. Even experienced players sometimes let their guard down and pull aggro from the tank. No big deal. The reason why your healer and tank will hate you is because you seem to do this on a regular basis. And, with the Cataclysm changes in place, once you pull aggro your tank, your healer will not be able to keep you alive for very long, if at all. And that’s assuming if your healer wants keep you alive in the first place. Some of your future healers will reminisce about the “good ol’days” when it didn’t matter that the inexperienced dps could pull aggro and still survive a fight. The healer could just keep spamming that one good heal/shield/etc. button and that errant dps should be ok. But those days are long gone. You must learn very quickly that, if you wish to survive, don’t hit anything that the tank isn’t hitting. You will pull aggro, and you will get killed for it. So please, try to watch what you hit, how hard you’re hitting it, and if anything (including spells) is hitting you. While you’re at it, you may want to take some time and research your class. Many classes now have a very handy CC ability. Learn how it works and your healer and tank will appreciate you for it. And for fuck’s sake, please be aware of where you’re standing.

If you’re a tank, then please understand – everyone that’s not a tank hates you. There. It had to be said. Now, understand that everyone knows it’s your job to absorb the damage and keep threat up off of everyone in the party. But that doesn't mean that you are the epic and mighty so-and-so and that everyone should scrape and bow to your perceived greatness. The rest of your party got there the same way you did, through leveling up. Also, please realize particularly if you’re a tank without mana that all magic users, not just healers, but any caster, needs to regenerate mana between pulls. Yes, some casters have very mana efficient spells and some can even sacrifice health for mana. However, your healer, unless he/she is well-geared, needs that time to drink/eat mana regenerating items, not only to regenerate mana, but to keep his/her sanity. Just because you have to absorb damage doesn’t meant that you don’t have to be aware of your group members. And thanks to the changes in Wow with Cataclysm, so many classes have CC now. There’s no reason not to use it. By CC’ing a mob with a silence, stun, hex, banish, etc. you can ensure that your healer won’t have difficulty getting those heals out to you. You can ensure that dps can focus fire down a particularly challenging mob. It simply helps the party’s survivability. And for fuck’s sake, please be aware of where you’re standing.

And finally, if you’re a healer, then please understand, everyone that’s not a healer – hates you. There. It had to be said. Mainly because you’ve leveled all this way to the cap as a dps and now you're having to learn an entirely different rotation. You’ll have to spend some time and effort learning what works and what doesn’t work. And unfortunately, the learning curve for this is quite steep. You’ve got very little time in an instance to figure out which spells are more efficient and which spells are instant cast. Guess what will happen in group instances during this time? Players will die. Tanks will die. Groups will wipe. And, it’s going to suck. It wouldn’t hurt to develop a thick skin before starting your role as a healer in LFG. Do yourself a big favor, research your class, learn what the different spells do and which spells are best used in certain situations, learn tips and tricks to managing your mana. And for fuck’s sake, please be aware of where you’re standing.

Well I hope that this letter will be beneficial. If you happen to wipe (and I'm guessing you will), try to think what the other people in the party must be feeling. Just think of those poor dps’ers that have put so much effort into their “deeps” and not much else. How about that tank/healer that just can’t be bothered to run through an instance at a slow, steady pace because he/she has other things to do besides Wow? Just think of how insensitive you must look to those players.

So, if you are a newly capped player, please “L2(insert skill here)” or “L2notsuckpl0xkthnxbai” and pretty soon you’ll get along just fine.

Another attempt at some creative writing there. I'd like to add that, if you’re a healer, don’t give up. It got really tough for me. I’ll admit that I’m not the best healer. Sure I was able to make it through regulars for the most part without too much trouble, maybe just a bit at the beginning. But the heroics are challenging. I tried four attempts at a pug heroic stonecore and all were unsuccessful. The fifth attempt was a guild run with guildies willing to put up with my failness and swearing (and I’m good at that.) Understand that, the previous attempts were not attempts to complete stonecore specifically. Those attempts were just LFG queues and I had the bad luck of getting heroic stonecore every single time. The reason I stuck with it was because my healer has no current tier level equipment save for a profession crafted item. If he’s to advance at all, he has to complete LFGs for the valor points. Fortunately, we managed to kill the last boss without much trouble and my healer picked up a couple of heroic level blues. Of those previous attempts, I nearly swore off healing altogether. I’ve come close to doing that before due to puggery and asshattery. This time it seemed that I might actually do it. But I’m glad that I didn’t. I got to heal that same heroic (and complete it!) with some guildies on their alts and overall, I’d say that I had a pretty good time doing it. Kudos to my friends and fellow guild mates for that.

Just hang in there!

All Work and No Play...

2010-11-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

Update:

I apologize for taking so long to write anything at all. I’ve been dealing with a heavy course load at work as well as personal health issues. It seems that I am suffering from sleep apnea. This would explain a lot of symptoms I’ve been dealing with lately. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s when the body stops breathing for several seconds while sleeping. At least, that’s one of the types of sleep apnea one can suffer from. Typically it lasts for about 10 seconds but it can last as long as a minute. I’ve recently visited a sleep study clinic so that my sleep could be monitored and analyzed. It turns out that I’ve been averaging just over one instance of sleep apnea per minute of my sleep time. I’ve been fitted with a breathing machine called a CPAP (technically a BiPAP) and I’m adjusting nicely to it. It’s taken awhile to get some of my energy back, and I’m still not 100%, but hopefully, I’ll get back to my old self again. Anyways, I haven’t forgotten about the articles I want to write about. But, just to make sure folks don’t forget about the epic Blackbear, I decided to post a short article along with some epic screen shots. However, I will warn you, gracious reader; it does turn into a bit of a rant towards the end.

Wait, how come everybody's so much taller than me all of a sudden?

Oh crap! I forgot the keys! Someone's going to have to go all the way back out the front door and pick up the keys!

BB literally flying off into the sunset. Or, sunrise, I can't remember which.

Epic "high noon" shot. Kind of makes me think of a good Clint Eastwood western.

So, here it is...

4.0 is finally here. I’ve taken my main character, the one I enjoy playing nearly every aspect of the game with, and I’ve made it nearly to the literal end of the road. My main character, for those that didn’t know, Blackbear, is a warrior – currently, fury main spec and pve tank off spec. While it could be argued that I still have some gear from 25 man ICC or even 25 man ICC hard modes that could improve my character, I honestly think that it won’t make that much of a difference, certainly not much towards my dps. Ideally, I think it would be best to focus on pve tank gear, but the gear I have now is “leet” enough that I shouldn’t really need it. I’ve gemmed and chanted my fury gear to the point where there isn’t anything I can do, except get better gear, to improve my dps. And the only “better” gear I can really get that would be an improvement would be 25 man ICC hard modes. Indeed, there have been drops in the regular 25 man ICC that I’ve passed on. Not because I may or may not already have it, but because I already have level 264 gear with the epic Heroic description attached to the tooltip (/ego-flex.) I know and understand my character’s rotation, best application in various situations, and weaknesses. No amount of practice with my rotation will improve my game, at least not for dps. I’ll admit I could probably practice a bit with my pve tanking rotation which is definitely different than the pvp prot rotation. But, no new gaming gear (i.e. Razer Naga gaming mouse) will improve my dps and, by the way, I have the Razer Naga and it is awesome! And, I plan to show that in a future article. No new special instance/gear drop/gems/chants/etc. will make much of a real difference in my character or in how I play the game, although I really wouldn’t mind at all winning the ICC achievements for a really cool mount. In fact, there’s not much of anything I can do with Blackbear that would improve my game on that character.

So, where to now? Where do I go from here?

Well, some have already figured this out and are doing great with the solution. I’ll explain. For me, I first started playing Wow somewhere in the middle of the Burning Crusade expansion (I think.) And when I made my first character, which just happens to be Blackbear, I also made additional classes because I had no idea what those classes were like. I practically had one of every single class except for death knights, which didn’t exist yet. I have my hunter, originally a dwarf, appropriately named: Rugernine. I made a human priest and named him after a colleague at work. I made a mage, rogue, warlock, and a druid and later a shaman (I think at the time shaman weren’t available to alliance, but I may be wrong about that.) I’ve tried all classes at some point and learned whether or not I had any desire to continue playing. In fact, I learned from my druid that I’m really not at all interested in the “night elf” side of Wow.

Now before a particular friend of mine starts calling me a night elf/druid hater let me explain. At the time, leveling was so much more tedious and boring than it is now (oh yeah, that’s definitely possible.) So much has changed since then. For example, leveling at one point, didn’t involve a super-duper-uber-handy function called LFG (looking for group.) Leveling meant grinding away hours of one’s time to reach a particular goal before setting a new goal (either the next level or piece of gear, amount of gold needed, etc.) Now, once your character reaches a certain level, he/she can join others that aren’t even on the same server to hit an instance. Now you can go anywhere in Azeroth, Outlands, etc. yet instantly join in on a BG/instance to pwn or get pwned at your heart’s content. Most players in Wow are now more than familiar with these options and the advantages and disadvantages with this. But I’m getting off track. The point I was making was simply that I needed to remind myself why I rolled practically every class as soon as I created my main, which is, to enjoy as many aspects of the game that I can.

Turns out, I really am interested in playing a druid now and leveling that class. Mainly thanks to the many changes Blizzard implemented to help new players. Now, a lot of classes get helpful abilities at an earlier time than before. Warriors now get the ability Victory Rush at level 6; much, much sooner than previously available at level 62. Rage power leveling! Druids can now learn travel form at level 16. In fact, apprentice riding is available to everyone at level 20 with just a bit of gold. Thank goodness Blizzard did that. No more endless walking/running to the next zone/quest hub/town etc. Now, I’ve got so much that I want to do in Wow and not nearly enough time to accomplish a fraction of it. Because I no longer have to deal with such long, boring leveling grinds, I really do want to roll a druid and experience that class. I want a gnome mage with engineering and possibly jewel crafting so that I can be “leet” in raids as well as BGs (can’t give up one of my biggest laughs in game.) I want to level an undead warlock with tailoring and enchanting – if only to see the opposing faction content. I want to take an orc death knight and level/gear him for ICC content. And I can’t wait until Cataclysm comes out so that I can follow along with everyone else and make a worgen rogue or druid. I was thinking about maybe a troll shaman (available in Cata) to see the new troll starting area. And who isn’t curious about the new goblin race? And with the new rated battlegrounds soon to be implemented, I’m really interested in a possible “BG team” to learn that experience.

Speaking of opposing factions, I’ve noticed something lately in Wow (at least on my server) that I have to say I really dislike. Yes, here comes the obligatory rant. It concerns people and their attitudes and I’m not just talking about those annoying pug runs or the elitist jerk trade chat trolls, although I’ll admit, trade chat has provided me with some of the greatest guffaws within the game thus far. I’m talking about the dogma that exists within or between some people in the game towards opposing factions. I’ve noticed the occasional player say things like, “I hate all horde (or alliance)” and “If you play both factions then you’re a traitor.” While I freely admit, when I first started playing Wow, I was not immune to experiencing similar hostile feelings; but I quickly identified those feelings as irrational. And I’m not afraid to point out to people how unreasonable those same feelings are. I’ve had a few people I play Wow with try to convince me that their opinions towards an opposing faction are justified. And a few of these individuals are not the stereotypical “teen” player, these are adults. I try to explain to them that it’s just a game and that’s the current game mechanic – two opposing factions.

For example, if I’m in a BG and I’m guarding a particular capture point, I fully expect opposing players to attack me in an attempt to capture that point, even if I happen to know those players. Why not? I’ve done the exact same thing. I didn’t deliberately seek out that player and continually harass them (although some have done that to me) just because I could. But what do some players honestly think will happen if they come across someone that they know in a pvp situation from an opposing faction? It’s silly to think that I would expect that individual to treat me any different than any other player in my faction. I saw a recent YouTube video of a channel owner I subscribe to where he had attended the latest BlizzCon 2010. In the video, he was asking random people what their main character was. Some would reply their main such as warrior, paladin, mage, etc. Then others would specify which faction they play on first, then their main, as if the faction alone somehow made their character that much more "elite." Now I’ve no problem with some friendly ribbing between players, particularly those that know each other. And I have no problem with people that may identify with one faction more over the other. And most players I know aren’t dogmatic about playing an opposing faction. But there are some players that really just go too far with this mindset and have tried to convince me that playing both factions is somehow "selfish" or "mean-spirited." Which is ironic considering it's selfish that a person could think that others should play the way he/she wants them to rather than how they want to and mean-spirited to carry some useless dogma in game.

Everyone has their own playing style. In many ways, each player’s gaming style is similar to other player’s style. But due to experience, latency, computer performance, add-ons, etc. everyone has an adjusted playing style that can be called their own – and that’s the whole point. What one individual player has experienced in the game can be considered in some ways unique to them and no one else. So, what one player chooses to enjoy in game is that individual’s decision to make. I want to enjoy as many aspects of this game as I can. This is partially because, like all things, eventually, world of warcraft will come to an end, but mainly because, the game that I play is my game. I pay my subscription fee and I play my game as I want; not the way someone else wants. This means that if I choose to play a different character in an opposing faction, just to see the content, then so be it. If I decide to faction change that character because of “grind-y” leveling experiences, or perhaps because I want the character to benefit from a particular racial bonus, then I will do so. If I have been harassed by experienced players in pvp, I could choose to remember those experiences with bitterness and ignore that particular aspect of the game, or I could laugh my ass off at how petty some folks are and marvel at the lengths some individuals go in order to feel better about themselves. Personally, I think I’ll choose the latter and not the former. My experiences in game are my own and I’ll make them out (remember them) to be whatever I want them to be. As far as I’m concerned, I’m going to put forth my best effort to make those experiences as enjoyable as possible. I guess that this is just something that some players will find impossible to understand.

So, to all of the elitist snobs out there that can’t seem to understand why I want to play both horde and alliance, in both pve and pvp, in either full raids or 5-man heroics, and spend so much time and effort trying to convince me why I shouldn’t, I’ve really only got one thing I can think of to say…

Cool story bro.

The Echo Rate

2010-06-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

Nearly every trade I’m familiar with has some sort of “initiation” rites or procedures or activities associated with it. For example, an inexperienced carpenter may be asked by his lead technician to go fetch a nonexistent tool such as a 3 ft. meter stick, a board stretcher, or even a glass mallet. The two trades I’ve been involved in for most of my life: vehicle mechanic and machinist are no different. Well, to lighten the mood of my blog I decided to walk a reader through just a small handful of such activities as if he/she were just beginning their career in that trade. These activities I have participated in either as willing co-conspirator or as an unknowing victim.

So, as a new mechanic/machinist/technician/etc. you may be asked to start your day with a search for a can of P.E. psi fluid. This is highly valuable stuff and is normally refrigerated to keep its shelf life extended as much as possible (spell out P.E. psi with no periods and no capital letters). After you’ve been redirected from several shops and finally picked up the ice-cold fluid, it’s very important to return it immediately to your lead tech, who will then promptly open up the can and drink it.

Your next task will be to prepare the stall or work area for equipment, proper tools, or materials needed to complete the work. So, be sure to go to the supply section and order up several yards of flight line. This will allow you a solid working surface area to work on. Can’t have our creepers roll around underneath vehicles in mud now can we? It’s also crucial to make sure any fluids, materials, etc. are the proper weight for the current season. You’ll need to ensure that the air within a tire is proper winter-weight or summer-weight air depending on the season. Headlight fluid is also helpful to have handy should you need to make any adjustments to the lights; along with the more costly blinker fluid. Additionally, you may have to modify the job you are working on. Along with the normal tools expected to do a job, bring with you a standard bolt-stretcher because sometimes, you just may need a longer bolt when you don’t have one. Metric bolt-stretchers can be very hard to come by so you may have to sign a contract on penalty of death agreeing to return it to the tool room if you need it.

Now, let’s move onto “the meat” of the work. Being unfamiliar with the job may require flexibility. This can be helped with flexible tooling such as the ever-helpful metric adjustable wrench. Being able to work in both “standard” and “metric” can greatly increase one’s skill level. For the lefties out there, a little bit of searching will help you find the left-handed version of the metric adjustable wrench. Most shops do carry a line of left-handed hammers for the lefties in these trades. But do not expect to find a left-handed version of the any-sixteenths adjustable wrench. This is the U.S. we’re talking about and damn it we have standards that we adhere to.

For those really “tricky” jobs, specialized tooling is often necessary due to the complexity of the work. Having a sky hook can help with those really heavy duty jobs and can greatly lessen the stress on the back from heavy lifting. It can be so frustrating to drop a part or tool while focused on a particularly challenging operation of a job. Therefore, having a brass magnet will help the “clumsy” technician when he/she needs it. And for the highly intelligent beginner technicians, make sure you bring with you a cup of radon. To help ease on preventive maintenance, installing a tachometer filter will reduce the number of times you need to replace the RPMs, not to mention reducing the number of times the RPM oil will need servicing.

Replacing a component or reworking a component of a job can be tedious. Take the armored vehicle the M113; a principle armored troop carrier for the U.S. military. Replacing the armored valve stem for the wheels of this tracked vehicle can be extremely time-consuming. For this type of difficult job, it’s always beneficial to bring with you a box of pre-drilled holes for the valve stems.

A highly technical skill you may develop is the ability to check the echo rate. This is very complex and involves a great deal of coordination. First, remove the valve cover from the engine and crank it manually until the number 1 piston intake valve(s) is open. Next, lean in close to the engine head. Finally, yell your name into the open intake valve and very quickly run to the end of the vehicle and place your ear up to the tailpipe. If you can hear your name yelled back, then the echo rate is good. For vehicles with two tailpipes, you may need to perform this twice, once on each tailpipe, to determine the echo rate.

Well, by now your day will probably draw to a close. Keeping your work area clean will help you to do a good job tomorrow so go out behind your facility and gather up a full bucket of prop wash. But be sure to fill a bucket of dehydrated water to go with your prop wash. Never mix chemicals you’re not familiar with! You may also need to pick up some camouflage paint, just in case you needed to do any body work that you’ll have to touch up. Note: make certain the vehicle doesn’t require infra-red, camouflage paint. That would be disastrous! Also, this would be a good time to swing by the supply section and order the parts, materials, etc. needed to complete the unfinished jobs tomorrow. Things like muffler bearings, alternator hoses, and glove box filters should be ordered today so that they’ll be ready to install the next work day.

Usually about this time is when the customer comes around asking questions regarding the completion of the work. Now is the best time for you to brush up on your people skills. Be sure to let them know how difficult it was replacing the radiator filters. For the left-handed customer with a straight drive, let them know that you’ve placed an order through supply for a left-handed shifter handle and it won’t arrive until tomorrow. For customers wanting exhaust work, let them know that they could’ve sped up the time needed for service if only they had first collected an exhaust sample. This can be done by having the customer stand at the tailpipe with a trash bag and “gather” exhaust as the vehicle is running. Make sure the customer ties off the bag quickly. Don’t want to give the EPA or OSHA reason to perform a surprise inspection on the facility. If the customer simply wanted preventive maintenance, inform them that the windshield wiper lube hasn’t arrived yet and that you should be receiving it the next day. Never let a vehicle leave your care without all of its fluids topped off and ready to go! Make the customer feel like you’re working extra hard just for them by performing the 60,000 mile service to the cigarette lighter unit. Or that you’ve just replaced the snipe sensor for free and it needs to sit overnight in order for it to be properly calibrated. And if that doesn’t convince them, just tell them that you can’t complete the work because there is too much gas in the fuel lines.

Happy mechanic-ing!

A Random Post - OR IS IT???

2010-06-10T16:31:00.001-07:00

Wow. Has it really been that long since my last post? Hard to believe. But, the fact is, I've been working hard and playing hard. As an instructor, my work often keeps me late at school, although I try hard not to bring too much work home with me. And, as the dept. head and the only full-time faculty in my department, I often stay late just trying to catch up on paperwork. My time at school is thinned even more so as I am on our graduation committee. The great part about the graduation committee is that nearly all of the work we do is at the end of the school year. The bad part about the graduation committee is that nearly all of the work we do is at the end of the school year. And graduation is coming up in about another 5 weeks. And since we just happen to have started early registration for the upcoming fall semester, my time is stretched even further. This, naturally, has very strong effects on one's stress levels and in order to prevent myself from taking out that stress on student via hammer or some other blunt object, I direct it towards other things. As I said, I've been playing hard too, meaning our guild has completed 10-man ICC and we're starting heroic 10-man. Yay for hard modes! This means more wipes. This means more practice. And basically, more time needed to stay with the progression. But, I haven't forgotten about the great Blackbear's Cave. In fact, I intend to provide a (hopefully) decent article about warriors in the game. Am I an expert? Nope. Not by a long shot. But I can provide some ideas towards spec, gear, and professions for the leveling warrior. Also, I will either add or create another article about arms pvp spec. That article I simply intend to document my experiences with the spec and pvp. I don't intend for that particular article to be used as a guide for arms pvp as I will most likely include a number of expletives. I'll probably include the reasons why I decided to put tanking on hold for awhile. This means, be ready for more ranting. So, just bear with me (pun intended) and hopefully I'll get that underway soon. The end of the summer semester is approaching and I could really use some free time.

Now, onto the other reason I decided to post. A project I've really been wanting to complete for a long time. A simple video with a slide show of a set of photos I took while on my vacation last year in Alaska. Yes. It's finally time to post that up. I'll actually post it on 3 (hopefully) websites.

It's Been A Long Time Coming

It’s been a long time coming. Yes. It’s taken me a long time to finally complete this project. Some of my online friends will understand what that means. But, I simply could not post this video without the “perfect” accompaniment. While the music in this video is not technically Native Alaskan, primarily Native Americans perform it. I felt that this was important not only in principle, but also for aesthetic reasons. The music I was going to use with this video had to reflect the silent awe and the oddly, calming effect I felt seeing and photographing this great landscape for the first time.

Finding any music indigenous to Native Alaska is challenging enough. While I did manage to find some Alaskan singers/groups that were capable of performing very contemporary style of music, it did not carry the reverence I wanted to accompany this photo gallery. Sadly, a great deal of traditional Native Alaskan music has been lost to history via “modernization” of the Alaskan peoples. Some traditional music still exists. But, the meaning of some of that music is no longer understood. While this was a bit disappointing, I continued looking elsewhere for music I felt was appropriate. I also felt that, if contemporary music would better reflect the mood I wanted for the video, then so be it. The music I’ve chosen to accompany the photos seems to “fit” the mood I was trying to create. And, as I stated before, if I couldn’t find just the “right” music, then I wasn’t going to complete this project.

I’ve heard of the performers Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike. I’ve also heard of Robbie Roberston. However, my search for the best music to my video didn’t initially lead me to these performers. But I remembered hearing awhile back a song that I would later learn was called Peyote Healing and tried to track down its authors/performers. It wasn’t easy, as I had no idea, at the time, what the name of the song was or even the artists’ names. Finally, after a bit of online searching, and listening to A LOT of samples, I managed to come across the album: Contact from the Underworld of Red Boy by Robbie Roberston. The other album I drew from was: Dancing Into Silence. The first song in the video is: The Way Home from Dancing Into Silence by R. Carlos Nakai, the second song is Amazing Grace in Sioux from Walk in Beauty by Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike. Finally, the last song is: Peyote Healing from Robbie Robertson’s Contact from the Underworld of Redboy feat. Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike.

This small video only represents a small section of the best photos I took while in Alaska during my vacation in 2009. The few photos I’ve placed in this video are the ones that made the final cut so-to-speak. Some of the photos include: a small plane trip to the Chickamin Glacier, a Misty Fjords National Monument boat trip, as well as hiking photos around Revillagigedo Island, Ward Creek Trail and Lake Harriet Hunt. Overall, I took nearly 750 total photos. I had to trim a lot of photos out. This trip cost me a bit financially. But, the experience was well worth every penny. The trip has had such a profound impact on me that, I decided almost immediately upon returning home, I should go back again the following year. And, I am! Hopefully, by the time I return from that trip, I’ll be a little better at Windows Movie Maker. Yes, I am a WMM newb! Enjoy the pictures.

Blackbear (Bear5177)
Aka BB

I sure hope this works.

2010-04-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

The King is Dead! Long not-live the King! In fact, stay dead this time!

The following post was true yesterday when it was partially completed and now only partially true when it was completed today.

It started out like it normally would. I got on my main character: Blackbear, with the intention of doing a few dailies (daily quests) so I could earn a bit of spending money on flasks, potions, etc. I’m all about pushing my DPS as much as I possibly can so I use a few different flask-potion combinations. And seeing as I only have one other level 80 toon at the moment, I have to purchase my flasks. It adds up. All of the questing, putting items on the auction house, clearing items to vendors, it really adds up to a lot of gold. Unfortunately, with no other support from my alt toons (alchemy, enchanting, leatherworking, etc.) all of the items I need for pushing my DPS costs a lot of gold. Therefore, I do a lot of dailies. I prefer dailies that don’t take up a lot of time to get them done. It’s not unusual for me to max out my “completed daily” list to 25. Anyways, I hooked up early in the day to do a few dailies with my friends Mat and Hedwig, along with Mibs, another guildie. Maybe I had some sort of sense of foreboding. Or, perhaps I was getting edgy, knowing the headaches and aggravation that were coming soon. But, I started drinking a bit early that day. In fact, I started out with vodka, cranberry juice, and a healthy splash of pineapple juice. After I completed my dailies, I realized I had a bit of time to play around with one of my lower level alts: Wellborn. I even asked Hedwig a few questions regarding a possible instance leveling spec. But I knew, it was eventually coming. I knew, that sooner or later, I would be getting back on Blackbear to hit the Lich King again. We are at the 10% buff for the Lich King and we were just trying to work out our game. Yesterday went as expected. We wiped fairly consistently in phase 2 or 3, even managing a wipe at 16%. For those that don’t know, that would be a 6% wipe because the fight is essentially over at 10% (thank God!) But, I knew that we would be heading back inside today, even going so far as to cancel the 25-man raid. I sincerely hope that all who didn’t make it to raid today will forgive our sudden schedule change, but 6% away from a Lich King kill is just too close to pass up. Well, we finally made it! It was epic. In fact, I don’t know of any word that can accurately sum up the experience. Epic might not be good enough. As I am not a literary genius, I’m sometimes at a loss for a good description or phrase whenever I write. But, if there were a word in the English language, that can describe a higher level of “epic ness” than epic, I would use it. We were slowly getting the strategy down. Consistently getting to phase 2 and later to phase 3. The occasional “oopsies” make it difficult to see if we were wiping consistently to phase 3. Phase 3 is, in my opinion, the most challenging and the most chaotic. You have to stay away from each other at certain times to avoid leaving a defile spot on the ground that can grow to a massive size in seconds. Vile spirits spawn at regular intervals and must be off-tanked or destroyed away from the raid to avoid killing raid members as the spirits explode near their targets. And, to top it all off, one must deal with the soul harvesting of their character. I assume the player is teleported inside Frostmourne, although I admit, I’m not that familiar with the context of the fight, just the mechanics. But, wipe after wipe, it was beginning to look like maybe it wasn’t going to be our night. Time constraints were approaching on some raid members who couldn’t continue for much longer. We even experienced the fairly common Band of Misfits “1%” wipe. So…damn…frustrating. But, we finally made it! Blackbear the Kingslayer! I love it! So let me just give a shout-out to my fellow Kingslayers!

Matheo, bear druid and probably losing hair thanks to my threat levels. He’s an at-large (or is it a large?) forehead-tank that’s been wonderful enough to endure my swearing and my occasional aggro spike.

Randomski, the unusually named paladin well worth his weight in gold if you’re a threat generating fury spec warrior like myself. I’m so not going to attempt to earn ICC 25 level tank gear. I’ll leave the damage sponging to this guy and Matheo.

Shadowson, probably one of the best, if not the best, priests in the game. Now a Kingslayer, along with probably dozens of other titles he already has. His name seems that much more epic with the Kingslayer title.

Pumpken, shaman healer that looks kind of like Nerytiri from Avatar. I have to admit, when I first thought about it, I didn’t think that Pumpken the Kingslayer was all that good. But I really like it! However, I feel her name would be more epic if she were to change it to Pumpkenpie the Kingslayer! Sounds like some sort of cartoon character from a children’s show.

Lierthes, grumpy paladin healer (LOL, no not really.) I kind of think of him as a healer-in-plate. Lierthes the Kingslayer sounds like a ripped off name of a play someone wrote by plagiarizing Shakespeare. But it’s still epic! J

Glyndon the dwarf hunter! Always epic! Always with an epic beard, as no self-respecting dwarf would ever be without! Too bad pets don’t have titles. Fleabag, his pet, is deserving of the title Kingslayer.

Shocktotem, the shaman dps. Although I don’t know this person well, he’s still a great player. And I think this is another good name to go with the Kingslayer title. Shocktotem the Kingslayer just feels epic to me.

Chrondeath the arcane mage. This is the guy I intend to emulate when on my mage. Sometimes his dps is insane. Not real sure what his name implies but still becomes epic with the Kingslayer title.

And Kawdor the paladin that sometimes needs an adult to help him manage aggro. Of course, that’s probably because he’s now equipped with Shadow’s Edge and will hopefully get the epic Shadowmourne someday. Although I wonder what that will do to his threat generation.

So, there you have it, folks. Towards the end, which was probably going to be our last attempt, it was touch-and-go there for a bit. I believe we were down one dps at some point in phase 3 and we were just pushing as hard as we could. My fingers and the muscles in my hands were hurting by the time we made it to 10%. I wasn’t even really sure if we had actually made it to the final part because there is a pause where the Lich King will just stand there silently. I thought at first that maybe we didn’t get it and that he had glitched for a moment. But, then he started speaking in his distinctive belching voice. After a long bit of waiting through dialogue, you get treated to one of the best cinematic cut sequences ever! Plus, it turns out that we had an “audience.” Some of our guild mates decided to jump into vent and listen to our epic struggle. Although I’m pretty sure that I may have expanded their vocabulary with a few colorful expletives of my own. Hey, I’m ex-military, folks. I know my profanity!

This experience was great. The challenge was great and could be irritating at times, but all in all, it was well worth the effort. However, I feel I should point out something. Despite the headaches from this challenging raid, nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, is worse than beating the Lich King, and receiving two measly little 258 item level crossbows that practically no one uses. Seriously. I was hoping for at least the epic mace. Yay. Crossbows that no one really needs. Way to go there, Arthas. You dumbass!

/RAGE

Well, at least we now have an epic title! Enjoy the pics!

No fair! We should, at least, be allowed to pick it up and swing it around a few times!

Our mighty heroes, triumphant over evil!

The (Lich) King and I

2010-03-21T07:36:00.001-07:00

The Lich King

Based on the evidence provided, the following post is mostly true but not definite.

Well! Here we are at long last! Our group has finally made it to the Lich King in 10-man ICC. Yeah, I know there are some “epic” guilds out there that have finished the WotLK content – blah, blah, frickin’ blah. We tried for one night and had several wipes but that’s just the initial encounter. Wiping should be expected when dealing with progression raiding. Although I will admit, wiping constantly on a 10-man ICC progression raid, and then trying to do the same in a 25-man ICC raid, can get very old, very quickly. Hopefully, our 10-man will progress enough so that we can clear it and then focus on the 25. Near the end of the 25-man, I was very tired of ICC and I just didn’t want to see anymore. I hope I don’t burn out on it too much. But, since we made it all the way to the Lich King I felt that I needed to add to my online photo hobby collection. So, in keeping with tying my older hobbies with my newer hobbies, I took a few screenshots to show off. Enjoy. While you’re at it, head over to my friend Matheo’s blog and check out some of his.

When I am talking about the king and I, of course, I’m referring to the Lich King and I! With Yul Brynner as the oft – imitated, never duplicated, me! The great Blackbear! Ok well maybe there wasn’t exactly a “Blackbear” character in that film but no one can deny the similarities between our epic baldness!

With Deborah Kerr as Neytiri as the draenei shamman Pumpken! Took me awhile to figure out how to make that reference.

I love this one. The Lich King’s just sitting there all epic-like as if to say very coolly, “Hey guys. Sup. How ya doin? I’m just going to sit right here and be all epic while you have to endure one-minute dialogue over and over again every time you wipe. MUWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

No, I don’t have a close-up picture of the spread-eagled guy chained up with his crotch right over…tell ya what, go over to Matheo’s blog, you’ll see it.

The calm before the raging storm…

Anyways, Matheo was forehead-tanking the Lich King and we found out that he sure is a fidgety fella’. This guy can’t stand still for more than two seconds. Quite, irritating. But we seemed to at least get to the transition to 2nd phase. I have to say, if you get knocked off of the platform, and you should expect to, the fall alone is worth it. EPIC! Hopefully soon the great Blackbear will be known as Blackbear the Kingslayer! I have to admit, I feel that my character’s name, out of our entire raid group, except for maybe Shadow’s, would seem just so much more epic with that title than the other raiders’ names. I’m not saying that the other raiders wouldn’t be “epic” too! But I’ve often thought about what influences someone to choose a particular name. In our guild we have a priest named: Shadowson. Now, if he gets the title, he’ll be known as Shadowson the Kingslayer. That’s got a great tone to it, don’t you think? But, what about a name that’s supposed to be funny? Take for example, cowbell. Cowbell’s a tauren (how could one possibly guess?) that plays on a server in the same battlegroup as the Azuremyst server. Obviously, that name was chosen for comedic value. But what if the person playing that character decides to do some progression raiding? Cowbell, Conqueror of Ulduar just doesn’t seem at all epic to me anymore, not even for comedic value. Or how about the troll shaman named: Solobutt? Yes, you read that right. Take the word “solo” and capitalize it, then attach the word “butt” appropriately on the end. Then of course there’s the draenei mage named Pudmuffin. Seriously, could it get any funnier than Gotmilkmoo – a tauren warrior? I believe it can. So, I’ve decided that I’m going to start jotting down some of the more bizarre names I come across in this game. I might also post them periodically with a title that I think would be appropriate. Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of good ones to start out. Anyone that sees the article is more than welcome to participate and add their own experiences.

Who Likes Steak!

2010-02-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

The following post could be completely true.

Well, in response to Matheo’s article: The Best Thing I Ever Ate, I decided to go along but only after I pushed him to allow me to reference regional chain restaurants as well as national chain restaurants. But, to be fair, I’ll start with a national chain that I’m sure everyone is familiar with. Let’s talk about Outback Steakhouse! There are three locations near where I live all about a half-hour to forty-five minute drive. But I do have a particular favorite in Greensboro, near Battleground Ave. And, instead of naming a single dish, I’ll walk through an entire meal that’s typical for me whenever I wind up at Outback.

So, let’s start with the appetizers. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the Outback signature Bloomin’ Onion, supposedly hand-carved by what the menu describes as a “bloomologist” – LOL. But it’s deep-fried and comes with a spicy dipping sauce (tastes kind of like 1000 island dressing with some hot sauce.) But, instead of that, I would recommend the Aussie Cheese Fries. They come with melted Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese…mmmm, lovely. And, to top it off, have some chopped bacon bits for that extra bit of flavor and don’t forget the spicy ranch dip. The regular is a decent size so I would recommend the small if you’re not sure about your abdominal capacity.

For the main course, there are a variety of steaks available. Yes, I said steaks, not chicken. Chicken is available if desired but I see no point to it. I don’t go to KFC to order a bacon cheeseburger, therefore I see no reason to go to a steakhouse and order a meal that isn’t steak! Anyway, the two choices I’m most interested in are the rib eye and the NY strip. Both are 14 oz. and are about the same price. My preference is the NY strip. Now, I know all the steak connoisseurs out there are probably thinking, “But, but, but, the rib eye is better! Every steak-lover knows that!” Yeah, whatever. I like the NY strip over the rib eye because I think it has a better flavor. Also, if the butcher did his/her job properly, the NY strip is a leaner cut of beef than the rib eye. That’s not saying that one should eliminate fat from a steak. Good heavens no! The fat in the cut is an important part of the flavor of a steak. But, back to Outback. I believe that the steaks are flavored with spicy seasoned salt, and I think a bit of garlic, however, I’m not 100% positive on that. I use seasoned salt on my own steaks as well and it’s a personal favorite seasoning I use when I'm cooking. For sides, I like the garlic mashed potatoes and whatever happens to be the seasonal veggie. Ah, buttery mashed potatoes and a thick, hearty steak!

Are your arteries hardening yet?

If you think you can handle the extra food, how about dessert? I’m a big guy and I likes mah food! For dessert, I suggest the cheesecake with either raspberry or chocolate sauce. Yummy!

All of these items are delicious but I have another reason I like Outback, or rather, why I prefer a particular Outback nearby. I’m talking about the bar of course. Because I have a taste for rum, I enjoy Outback’s variety of daiquiris. My favorites are the strawberry or banana daiquiris, depending on my mood. And the reason I have a preference of one restaurant over another restaurant is that my favorite restaurant treats bartending as more of an art form rather than a regimented procedure. Yes, that’s right folks. At this particular restaurant, I can request a daiquiri that’s “heavy on the rum” and actually get it the way I want instead of having to put up with modern devices that strictly regulate a “shot” (peg, jigger, etc.) of liquor. Some places don’t allow “flexible” tastes and therefore, if you order a daiquiri, you’ll get a drink that is precise in all of its parts, and exact, every single time. Boring! I prefer a bartender that doesn’t mind giving me a just a bit extra in my drinks and asks for feedback on how I want that drink the next time. Oh, by the way, if you intend to enjoy the bar as well as the food, be sure to have someone with you to drive you home. :-)

The Chop House Grille

Now, onto the real reason I wanted to write this article. My current, absolute favorite steakhouse, EVAH! That would be the Chop House Grille. Please do not confuse this chain with a similar one called The Chop House. Those restaurants are a different chain and most are in Tennessee or Kentucky. I actually came across the Chop House Grille by mistake. I was taking someone out to dinner at a “fancy” restaurant. This was a different restaurant that I had heard a lot about and I was interested in trying it out. I called ahead of time to find out the restaurant hours and what would be the best time to arrive. I even asked if I would need a reservation for the day in particular and I was told that it wasn’t necessary. Well, it turns out, a reservation was unnecessary because there were no available tables on that day! I show up, at the restaurant, with my dinner guest and was told that the restaurant had already been booked solid and that no table would be available for at least another hour and a half! Good thing someone told me this when I called, huh?! I was furious! Anyways, we left and wandered around Greensboro a bit thinking of our next move and I happen to drive by the Chop House Grille. So, we decided to give it a shot.

Please understand, the Chop House Grille is expensive. I think they spelled Grille with an “e” to indicate “Extra.” Meaning, you’re going to pay extra money when you eat here. But, trust me, the food is unbelievable. And I have no problems paying extra for damned good food. So, I’ll just walk through what is my typical meal at a place like Chop House Grille.

The appetizers are quite varied. There’s chicken, crab, shrimp, even calamari. But, being the steak-lover that I am, I had to try out the tenderloin beef medallions. You get three, small (I think they’re 3 oz.) grilled beef tenderloins with their Grand Marnier Orange Sauce. Now, I’ve heard of several versions of this recipe. Some call for egg yolks, some may include heavy cream, but all of them included that particular brand of orange liqueur. These medallions were just amazing! And that tangy orange sauce was definitely a first for me. Now, I know you’re probably thinking, “Three ounces? That’s hardly enough for a couple of bites!” Well, actually for me it was just one bite each. One, tender, juicy, tangy bite of steak-lover goodness on a plate.

The Chop House Grille is a high-end restaurant, so I’m not sure why they would create a menu that would include sandwiches and burgers. Nevertheless, if you’re not into steaks (sacrilege!) there are several high-end sandwiches you can choose from. Of course, after that wonderful appetizer, I wasn’t about to turn down a chance to sample their best cuts of beef.

For the main course, I chose a NY strip (12 oz.) cooked medium rare, at least according to the restaurant’s description. Yes, I like my meat a bit bloody. They offer Bearnaise, bleu cheese, or more orange sauce, but I was asked if I wanted something different. I requested chopped onions and mushrooms grilled on the side with a bit of melted butter thrown in. Much to my surprise, they agreed. I’ve done similar sauces like that on my own steaks, using the remaining grease and drippings from the steak I just cooked. Often, I’ll add a small amount of chopped garlic in with my onions and mushrooms to give it a bit more kick. No more need for steak sauce! Believe it or not, I actually hate the taste of raw, or undercooked onions. It makes me sick to my stomach. But, oddly enough, I love the taste cooked onions bring to a dish. Go figure.

For the side (yes, one side) I chose Au gratin cheddar potatoes. What they brought back to my table is best described as heavenly. The steak was just as tender and juicy as the medallions were in the appetizer. In fact, the steak was so tender, I literally did not need a steak knife to cut it. A simple dinner knife pressed down onto the meat, stabbing my fork into a portion, and lightly pulling the two away from each other was all that I needed to pull a bite off of my steak. And, just as I requested, the steak had grilled chopped onions and mushrooms with a buttery taste to them added as a garnish. The Au gratin cheddar potatoes had just enough actual melted cheese in them to be “stringy” to pull a bite away from the plate. Exquisite!

(Drool)
(Drool)
(Drool)

Now, if you think your esophagus can handle it, and I’m not ashamed to point out that mine can, I strongly suggest that you try one of their luscious desserts. There are three, yes – three, absolutely scrumptious desserts for us chocolate lovers out there. Oh, did I say chocolate? I meant CHOCOLATE! Of course the restaurant has other desserts like the typical key lime pie (meh) or the vanilla ice cream sundae (yawn), but might I recommend the quite-aptly named: Five layer chocolate mousse cake (for two.) Yes, even I couldn’t handle eating this thing all by myself. It’s made of devil’s food chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and they even add some heated chocolate sauce with some sprinkles of shaved white chocolate.

(Dies)

I hate to disappoint anyone that is not capable of traveling, but this restaurant is currently only available in North Carolina. I haven’t seen it anywhere outside of NC, and believe me, I look every time I travel outside of the state. I think their website is currently undergoing some updating because it doesn’t list all of their locations. I know of at least two restaurant locations that are missing. Also, I did say that it was expensive. But, for a special occasion, or a once in awhile event, it is definitely worth every penny. No other restaurant I’ve been to (ever) has food that good. And, I honestly don’t think that I’m doing the food at Chop House Grille justice with my article.

ZOMFGWTF – Two Articles???

2010-02-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

The following post is exactly 95.6% true.

Yes. I’ve been especially creative with my time and can now probably produce no less than two articles per week. Ok, well not really. Actually, I’ve already managed to complete part of this article so adding another article wasn’t too difficult. I will probably still only just manage an article every week or every other week or whenever.

Hello from Ulduar!

I’m a bit of an amateur photographer. I enjoy nature photography and I’ve been working on a project for sometime to display some of my best photos from a vacation I took in Alaska. The project is taking much longer to complete than anticipated. So, I decided to apply my favorite hobby to my favorite other hobby, and follow in the footsteps of Matheo and start taking a few screenshots of my experiences in WoW. Yeah, I’ll admit, not very original but I still enjoy it. Recently, I filled in for someone on an Ulduar attempt to earn the Starcaller achievement.

Ulduar is special to me. Despite many “facepalm” memories of wipes, character deaths, and lost loot rolls, I’ve always loved going into Ulduar. The design of nearly every section of the raid appeals to me. Because I started well after Burning Crusade content had been out, I didn’t get to hit some of the raids like Karazhan or Zul’Aman or some of the bigger epic raids like Sunwell Plateau. By the time Wrath of the Lich King was released, I was a newbie level 70 and I skipped a lot of the BC content to go onto Northrend. Please understand that I have completed Naxxramas and I enjoyed it too. But I’ve never cared for the overall look of Naxxramas. An epic raid, I’ll admit, but I just don’t see it as aesthetically pleasing as Ulduar and I feel that the look and beauty of a raid is just as important as its challenge to players.

Nexus: Eye of Eternity? That’s a single room. Meh. Onyxia’s Lair? Yay, a dreary old cave. The Obsidian Sanctum? Too much damned orange/red (personal preference.) Vault of Archavon has a good look to it, but the scale of that raid is nothing compared to Ulduar. I’ll be the first to admit that Ulduar is a long drawn-out raid. It really could have been shortened to make progression through it a bit less painful. But, then again, it probably would not have been as epic, would it? Initially, I thought that the “machines” at the start of the raid were a bit silly. Isn’t this supposed to be a world of warriors, shamans, magi, paladins, hunters, and healers? Wasn’t this supposed to be a world of epic weapons, mighty armor, and wondrous spell craft items? Oh well. Progressing further into the raid opened up areas that still thrill me with their look. There’s the area for Ignis the Furnace Master with its large columns, massive fireplace and a lot of potential adds. The conservatory where Freya waits is a deceptively serene forest. Thorim’s lair is an epic arena/coliseum complete with an “audience” so-to-speak. The antechamber of Ulduar with large scale images of constellations is one of my particular favorites. This time, when I went into Ulduar, I had the opportunity to wander throughout the raid a bit and visit my favorite areas – add free. Still impressive. Still beautiful. Enjoy the pics.

Hi mom!

Our mighty heroes ready to challenge the great Algalon.

Oh the humanity! BB in a moment of prayer for his fallen comrades.

Another moment of quiet prayer.

This one in particular seems very profound to me for some reason.

One of the constellation images inside the antechamber of Ulduar and a personal favorite of mine.

Hmm...

Another Day – Another Failed Pug Run

2010-02-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

The following post is nearly 88% true.

Ugh. Last night was a particularly miserable run. I believe I’m actually starting to understand how some of the “less-informed” players of WoW think. The random heroic brought up the Pit of Saron instance. Ok, not too difficult. Of course, this is assuming that the people you are with know boss fights, know how threat works, know class mechanics, etc. Oh, how ignorance is pure bliss! Actually, ignorance is more like drinking just a bit too much alcohol – the initial effect is pleasing, but the aftereffects are just a really bad headache. I would have thought that, if very few in a group don’t understand a particular boss fight, or maybe they don’t understand the mechanics of some of the more challenging “trash” mobs, those individuals should, at the least, start to learn those things through trial and error. Hell, I’m even willing to sit and type out as best as I can a detailed explanation of the fight – no matter how long it would take. But, as was the case in the heroic Pit of Saron last night, it’s more like trial and keep-making-the-same errors will be the standard one should come to expect from bad pugs.

So, let me just point out that what I’ve learned has been though extensive field study. More research will be needed to confirm my findings, but I may be able to explain some of the more mysterious, bizarre behavior exhibited by pugs. What I’ve learned can be best described as a sequence. This process is a series of steps that many pugs experience when attempting a challenging instance. Starting with the first reaction, I’ll demonstrate the process that many pugs follow from first entering the LFG dungeon finder right up to the point when a pug leaves the party. First, whenever a well-geared tank leads a group through a challenging instance, pugs can become very insecure, particularly if that tank can match or outperform a pug’s dps. When faced with this performance, pugs will often lash out at anything they feel they can take one-on-one – which can be practically anything that happens to be hostile to the pug or to other party members. This is known as the “Dps E-peen effect” wherein a pug sees his/her dps lower than or matched by the tank, and thinks to himself/herself, “Oh noes! My deeps isn’t the highest in group! I must attack something else and unleash my rawr to raise it! I MUST!” This is a common trait among most anthropoids but it can lead to behavior that is harmful to the pug.

To address this, most team leaders will resort to marking targets to identify a specific “kill order” to help prevent pugs from pulling threat and possibly killing themselves. My studies have shown that this will do no good at all. The reasons for this aren’t too complex but a quick, simplified answer will be the immediate thought the pug will have once marks are introduced, “A skull! That means that it’s important! I must avoid hitting skull and probably ‘X’ so that I don’t get one-shotted and my deeps goes down! Therefore, I must hit anything that isn’t marked! I MUST!” The correct term for this is the “Unknown kill order” reaction. This is normal, and indeed, should be expected by group leaders.

A natural response by most group leaders would be to try to explain the concept of threat buildup and management. The intricacies of threat and dps will most likely be alien to the pug. One should expect statements from pugs such as, “Omen Threat Meter? Will that help my deeps?” This is known as the “Manage your threat” response and is indigenous to all competent group leaders. Despite their best efforts, even the best group leader or tank will often have difficulty helping pugs understand threat, and how not-managing it can lead to premature character death. Premature character death or PCD is a common problem among pugs. But there are resources available that can help. It’s at this point where the pug’s insecurities can become a real issue socially. This is usually the point that will make or break a pug. Pugs that are capable of learning will begin to demonstrate traits that show responsible behavior such as: keeping threat below the tank’s level, avoiding threat-building AoE abilities, and waiting patiently for a tank to generate enough threat before using hard-hitting abilities that can cause major threat buildup. Other, less-skilled pugs will continue down the process this article is describing.

The next step in that process is defined as the “Berate your teammates” action. This is where the uninformed, and un-teachable, pug lashes out again, only this time towards his/her teammates. Statements such as, “L2tank noob” and “Noob healer Y didnt U heal me” are so common during this action that one could argue that it’s deemed mandatory by the pug. Please note that the contraction in the latter statement may not be available to some pugs and the statement would be revised as, “Noob healer Y U not heal me.” It’s theorized that the pug may not even realize what he/she is saying at this point. Perhaps this is instinctual behavior. It is usually at this point that the pug will often quickly progress through the final phases in this overall process.

The “Acceptance” phase is the point where a team leader will realize and accept that the pug is beyond help. No amount of explanation, regardless of how simple the process was kept, will help the pug understand the problems he/she is facing. Additionally, it is at this point that the pug is more properly referred to as “fail pug.” This is a more accurate description of the individual’s abilities. The following “Separate” and “Search” phase can be described as two phases but in application can appear concurrently. It is the point in this process where separation occurs from either the pug(s) removing themselves from the group, or more commonly, the group removes the pug themselves, followed immediately by the searching phase. The searching can have a double meaning; one description for the pug and another description for the group. The group begins their search for a suitable replacement for the recently removed pug and the pug begins his/her search for another group, and starts this process over again.

The overall process is as follows:

Deeps e-peen effect
Unknown kill order reaction
Manage you threat response
Berate your teammates action
Acceptance of pug failure aftermath
Separate fail pug from group reflex
Search for new pug outcome

While this process is still being studied, it may ultimately lead to a better understanding of pug thought processes and behaviors. Again, more field study may be required and this process may become a “living” document. That is, the steps shown might not be absolute. Careful study could prove to show that each step is fluid and may lead to other steps not yet known. To help better understand this process, we can label it with an acronym that would best describe it to others. Let’s call the process – D.U.M.B.A.S.S. It is hoped that this article will be beneficial to all pugs interested in improvement as well as a benefit to all fledgling tanks or group leaders. Once one understands D.U.M.B.A.S.S. one will surely understand fail pugs. Hopefully, understanding D.U.M.B.A.S.S will give novice and maybe even experienced group leaders some ideas or techniques in handling fail pugs in future instances. Thank you.

Ok, yeah. I know I probably seem like some elitist. And I know all pugs are not that bad. This is just another attempt at some creative writing. Well, writing made to look a bit scientific. Hope you enjoyed. :-P

Desktop Screen Cleaning

2010-02-10T05:58:00.000-08:00

The following post is approx. 90% true.

Ok. I'm sure we've all came across a point in our lives, interfacing with our computer, adding more programs, additional folders of those "important things," which have forced ourselves to look at our "desktop" and say, "Maybe I need to clean this up a bit." As an instructor, this frequently happens to my computer. I'll sometimes have to bring my work home, create lesson plans, handouts, etc. Or, sometimes I need another folder to help generate new projects for the students to complete. Also, I often research (if one could call it that) information about WoW and a particular class. Currently, my focus is on hunters and I rarely, if at all, look up any information concerning my main - Blackbear. So in researching information about a class, I'll also add articles, screenshots of talent builds, etc. and add that to additional folders on my desktop. As one would expect, this can cause quite a lot of clutter on the desktop screen of my computer. Therefore, I decided to look around for anything - a program, a script, a "cleaning" technique, that would help me keep my desktop clean. And believe it or not, I found one! It wasn't easy, and depending on your net browser and how strong your firewall system is, it might not work that well - I usually right click on it and open in a new tab. But here goes...

I present to you - the best desktop screen cleanup tool EVAH!

http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf

XD

F.U.N!

2010-02-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

The following post is mostly true.

I was hoping it wouldn’t get here. I was really hoping I didn’t get to this point. The possibility of having to actually – GASP, write, something again so soon was just too much for me to bear. Well no, not really. I was just being a bit lazy, enjoying a minor lull in school activity thanks to some help from Mother Nature. Snow (approx. 6+ inches of it) mixed with sleet on top of that, has a tendency to stop things here in the southeast. And by that, I mean, everything, just, stops. Of course this follows the typical “spaz shopping” I see so often anytime a weather report even mentions snow, even if it’s just, at most, a slight dusting. People panic buy things that they think they’ll need. For example, MILK! Oh, good heavens! Let’s not forget to purchase at least two gallon containers of milk. Even though it’s entirely possible that we might not be capable of drinking that much milk before it spoils, we have to have two gallons of it. God forbid, we might actually have to drink water! Ah yes, let’s include another loaf of bread, along with some lunch meat. We simply must have additional bread for sandwiches. That’s probably all we’ll be able to make anyways. Never mind the fact that we may already have a loaf and probably can get by without having to purchase another one. No-no! More bread! And more lunch meat! NOW! Let’s all hop in the family car and go out to flood the grocery stores with panic shoppers and wipe out their stock of milk, bread, and lunch meat! Alright well that was me raging a bit. I guess that’s just one of life’s little ironies; living in the southeast, every time we get snow, despite the fact that it probably won’t hang around for very long (a few days – maybe?), people will spaz shop for nearly a month’s worth of groceries.

But, back to being lazy, I played a lot of wow during the break. Hit a few of my other, neglected toons to inch (more like millimeter) their leveling up a bit more. During that time, I had the opportunity to hit the random daily instances a lot. Also, during that time, I had the opportunity to hit my head against a brick wall a lot. Guess which one was more appealing? Ahh pugs. Can’t live with ‘em, and you want to kill ‘em. Ok, well maybe that’s not the best idiomatic phrase to represent my experiences with pugs, but it does express my frustration and sometimes just outright anger at having to deal with some of them. Not all pugs are bad, obviously. But the ones that are a real pain to deal with turn out to be really bad. And those pugs that clearly know what they’re doing and don’t have to be told to watch their threat level are usually really good. That’s it. There is no “in-between.” There’s no happy medium. Maybe it’s just me. With a tank as my secondary spec, I don’t have the irritating wait times that others have to deal with. Folks always need a tank and a healer. Dps, just have to stand in line and the amount of time waiting can be frustrating. But, pugs lately have been either very efficient or very excruciating.

Consider the arms spec warrior I recently met in a regular Utguarde Keep. His character was arms spec, and he was dual-wielding…two one-handed weapons…with a spec that has 5 talent points in axe specialization and 5 more talent points in mace specialization…and to top all of that, he wasn’t even using weapons that he had dumped a whopping 10 talent points into, he was using swords. Sometimes a pug isn’t necessarily bad due to inexperience with the game or just low skill, or to a lack of understanding with class/game mechanics. Sometimes, a pug is bad just because he/she is a total ass.

Another “gem” to consider is a recent pug I did with a buddy of mine – Nash. I believe we also had two others from our guild. We were hitting a random heroic and came upon Gun Drak. This particular instance can be challenging for under-geared groups. But it’s usually a quick and easy run with multiple opportunities for decent gear and a lot of emblems. We only had 4 so we pugged the last dps spot, which led us to a DK of epic fail. Let’s just refer to him as Dopey. So Dopey is helping us through the instance and it becomes immediately obvious, this person is either an adult high on something illegal, or this person is probably under 13 years old and really high on sugar and/or something illegal. Dopey’s comments were bizarre, to say the least, and they became more frequent as the instance rolled on – even during a boss fight. Now, I’m not too strict when it comes to party chat. But typing in party chat during a boss fight only means that the player isn’t performing during the fight. After repeated attempts to inform Dopey to focus or risk being kicked out of the group, he finally started to calm down. After the second boss he then decided to pull an elite, deliberately, and with no healer around. Brilliant. Of course, his character died, and my character nearly died with him. Dopey eventually started back up his rants (possibly looking to get kicked?), which led to the ultimate fail statements from immature players. Those, HILARIOUS (sarcasm) statements that start out with “your” and end in “mom.” Yeah. There’s a real mature player for you folks. The final straw came when he said something to the effect of raping someone’s mom. And if you think I just mistyped that last statement, let me assure you that you read it right. “That’s it! I’ve had enough!” I said out loud, and quickly typed “F*#k it. Kick ‘em!” in party chat. I clicked on the vote-to-kick option, and less than a split-second later, he was gone. I didn’t even have the chance to blink. We were going to continue on and 4-man the rest of the instance but, fortunately, a shaman decided to allow himself/herself to be saved to the instance and only collect loot and emblems from the final boss. Bless him/her whoever that person was.

Am I too demanding? Do I have expectations too high to meet? Am I irrational to expect others that I run instances with to, at the very least, try to act mature? Should I hire a nanny every time I go looking for pug instances? Is it unreasonable to expect my fellow evolved beings to be capable of doing more than simply breathing out carbon dioxide and spamming one, maybe two buttons? Or, for those individuals that truly have difficulty doing just that simple task, am I to be expected to remind them to breathe every few minutes? I’m just curious. If that’s true then I have no problem with that and I’ll eagerly accept my new responsibilities. I would just like to know ahead of time.

Also, do people play this game as if whatever they say won’t affect anything? It seems to me as if so many players (most are probably young and immature) behave this way and that those people view their actions as consequence-free. Maybe that’s true, but there are people that operate those other characters in the pug. People that the read party chat. People that can be offended just like anyone else at ridiculous comments. People that have used some of their own personal time to play a game with total strangers (pugs) and attempt to clear an instance with that team. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t take that too lightly. Someone else has decided to try to run an instance with me and is giving me a bit of their time, and I with them. Yeah, it’s only a video game. But a video game doesn’t make statements that could hurt someone’s feelings. Players do. Is that being overly sensitive? Could be. In any case, I feel that this game could really use more well-mannered people. Sometimes I feel like the only people worth playing with are my guildies. I realize that's a generalization and I sincerely hope that I don't appear to be an elitist. Fortunately, it's not all just one endless terrible experience. In another one of life’s little ironies, Dopey had to gall to whisper a message to me just after we kicked him from party and said, “That’s harsh man.” Maybe this game isn’t just a “say anything, do anything and expect no consequences” kind of game after all. Maybe there is just a wee bit of karma here. Just before I ignored him he tried to tell me that he was just having some fun. I resisted the urged to reply back, “There’s always an F – U in fun!”

Well…I might have said something like that back to him.

BB

See them phail?

2010-01-30T05:43:00.000-08:00

M. R. Pugs

A. R. Not

O. S. A. R. C. M. Phail?

L. I. B.

M. R. Pugs

Blackbear Who?

2010-01-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

So when did it all start out? What was the reason I started playing WoW (World of Warcraft)? Well, it actually started before WoW was even created. My very first mmorpg I ever played was called: U.O. (Ultima Online). I’ve enjoyed playing video games for a long time. Actually, my very first video game was Pong! Well, I guess I’ve given away a hint about my age. I’ve never actually enjoyed rpg’s (role-playing games) that much. Most that I tried out were always boring to me. And initially, I thought that U.O. was no different. I’ve tried earlier versions of Ultima prior to the U.O. game. In my opinion, big on content, not much on actual game play. But, oddly enough, the person that convinced me to try out U.O. was an older gentleman that I worked with in a good-sized machine shop. I seriously couldn’t believe it! Here was a guy; his youngest son was away at college. He was a grandfather. And he is an avid U.O. player! How ridiculous! But, as he explained to me, I started to realize that he’s not at all interested in the content, he likes to play against other players, also known as pvp (player-vs-player.) Not knowing much about online games in general, much less the jargon, I asked him how it worked. I became intrigued as he explained to me the mechanics behind the game and how he and his “guild” pvp. I’m not a big fan of rpg’s in general, but the team-play pvp aspect of this game caught my attention. So, I decided to give it a shot. I’m fairly certain that there was a ‘free-trial run’ for a limited amount of online time; otherwise I probably would not have bothered. But, as I began to play the game a little at a time a picture of this game started to form. I realized this game has an enormous “world” to explore. There’s quite a lot that I need to learn very quickly if I want to be successful at this game. And, online geeks are still geeks. I use that term (“geek”) with no meanness. In fact, it wouldn’t bother me at all if someone else considered me the same. But, back to geek-dom; one of the first encounters I had with my player and another online player was – awkward. I was learning how to operate my character, understanding just simple game mechanics such as movement, and I was approached by another player. Not knowing what to say I typed “Hi” in chat. The player responded, “Hail, friend! And well met!” I laughed and replied, “Male, phlegm! And Snackwells!” It did occur to me that the same type of individuals that: enjoy wearing rubber “Spock” ears, know all about the practical applications of in-game spell crafting, and can verify the “technical” data of most dragons in the world, would also play this game. But, I soon found out, that U.O. had a wide range of people that enjoy playing it. There was Thaddeus, the mage, a step-father, electrician, and maintenance supervisor and one of my earliest “online friends” in the game. Also, Morbus, the warrior, with his heavy “from-da-Bronx” accent, a retail salesman and leader of one of the guilds I eventually became a part of. And of course, my co-worker, Otheo, a treasure hunter and real-life fellow machinist.

It was another co-worker, several years after I quit playing U.O. that introduced me to the World of Warcraft game. I knew just a little about this game. When the first WoW game released, I decided against trying to participate. At the time, the computer I had was low-end and probably could only barely manage to operate the game. I was familiar with the Warcraft games and thought of the mmorpg version as a phony “knock-off” of the original. I said, “That game’s only there because Blizzard wants to make money off of a monthly membership subscription fee.” Indeed, from the massive member subscription base that Blizzard now boasts (11 million + subscribers,) it would be hard to argue against that point. Additionally, by the time I stopped playing U.O., I became fed-up with the mmorpg experience. It’s important to remember that U.O. had many unexpected side effects from “in-game” mechanics. Severe exploitive problems with “bots” that gather in-game resources or duplicate them and the subsequent problems with in-game economy caused by that, issues with in-game social interaction, an aging gaming platform, and a perceived standoff-ish approach by Origin towards dealing with these problems, all of these challenges with the game eventually drove my decision to angrily call it quits after about a year and a half of playing. Basically, I did not want to go through another U.O. experience. And despite the fact that I’ve been playing WoW for just over two years (I think,) I am still cautious about the game. I actively watch closely the game patch updates to be expected from the next game patch. Although now, I can honestly say that I’m eagerly awaiting the next expansion. After some persistent persuasion by my co-worker, I agreed to try out WoW through a trial account. I will admit, initially I was floored with the graphics, the sound, and even the music for the game. I also remember the ease of interacting with the game. I remember the first flying mount ride I took from Westfall to Stormwind. I couldn’t believe how smoothly the game operated between “realms.” Granted, Stormwind could be a bit laggy but that’s to be expected. The view of the landscape was amazing, especially when flying. I even realized that the “sun” sets and the nighttime darkness will settle in while you’re playing. I quickly learned a bit about the game mechanics and decided to continue. My very first character is the one I have listed on this page with a link to the wow armory character sheet. Blackbear is my main character and a human warrior. At the time, Burning Crusade content had been out for awhile and the level cap was at 70. I really didn’t understand much about the different “specs” so I started out with protection spec. I soon realized that a prot spec warrior was painfully slow to level so I switched my spec to fury – and never looked back. I now have fury as my primary spec and prot as my secondary spec. At one point, my secondary spec was arms, mostly for pvp. While I enjoyed it some, I soon realized that prot pvp is just too much fun to pass up. At the time of this writing it has not yet taken a soon-to-be-expected nerf from the warbringer talent, so, it’s still very fun. Recently I decided to adjust BB’s secondary spec to a pve prot (player-vs-environment) spec rather than pvp prot but I still pvp as often as I can. As a fury spec warrior, I usually don’t get a lot of epic loot from raids that are meant for tanks; unless all present tanks already have a particular gear piece that drops, then I can pick it up for an off-spec. But I am fairly well geared for a fury spec warrior. And, with pve prot I can easily get into pugs (pick-up-group) for random instances either regular or heroic. And with a more robust pve spec, I have a much easier time of tanking heroic instances for those OH-SO-ENDEARING pugs.

Note: Caps can sometimes = sarcasm.

The druid, the Vlad, and the grubby

2010-01-15T12:59:00.000-08:00

In far away Outlands, in a remote village somewhere in Nagrand, sits a pub of ill repute. Owned by a dwarf named Vlad, of such notoriety, that it is rumored that his own family shunned him and cast him out of his village where he was born and raised. The pub, known as The Wayward Frog, has a well-deserved reputation for a long history of violence. Many consider it to be the roughest place to get a drink, not only in Nagrand, but all of Outlands. Among its patrons, only the most nefarious ruffians, ne'er-do-wells, thieves, scoundrels, and murderers frequent this establishment; if a structurally unsound, filthy, wooden firetrap could ever be called an 'establishment.' To order a drink, much less actually find the opportunity to enjoy it without being challenged, attacked, or worse, in such a place is what many would call a death wish. But to the tough and rowdy familiar faces of "the frog," it is just a chance to prove one's worthiness, or even one's right, to become a 'regular.' Getting injured at the frog through one of the many various activities such as fighting, gambling, knife throwing, and others is simply seen as par for the course by its many customers. One typical day of violent drinking and chaos, an enormous, scruffy-haired bear came in through the front entrance. From the markings on the bear’s fur, and from the various anklets, earrings, and a well-worn bandanna around its neck, it was obvious to anyone that the bear was a druid. Noticeable to everyone in the frog was the fact that the bear was limping severely. The bear’s right front leg was nearly concealed due to the bear holding its leg and claws in so close to its chest. The bear’s entire leg seemed almost covered in dark blood that was dripping from its extended claws. Initially, the bear drew no attention from anyone. Injuries are frequent at the frog. Why should an injured bear be any different? It wasn’t until the bear roared out, bellowing its clear pain and discomfort at its injuries, that people immediately stopped their activities to notice. At first, the noise level simply lowered slightly while everyone turned to look at the poor bear. When the drinking resumed, the bear began to look very angry. Agitated, the bear stood up on its hind legs and let out a growl that overpowered every sound inside the frog. A deep, guttural, thunderous blast of anger and pain came forth, silencing every possible sound within the pub; the type of sound that could only come from a great, mythological beast. Finally, the mug clattering, the drinking, laughing, clanking weapons and armor, all stopped and looked in awe. All eyes were on the druid bear. Even the toughest among the rowdy crowd seemed to stop breathing, as if taking quiet, short, unnoticeable breaths would prevent the great bear from turning its attention towards them. Still on its hind legs, the druid in bear form stood nearly nine feet tall. It slowly uncurled its leg from its chest. The bear, attempting to conceal the pain of its injuries, made small, inconspicuous twitches. With the leg almost fully extended, the crowd realized why the bear was in pain. A clean, near-perfect hole had been made in the center of its right front foot. Despite the blood, one could see clearly through the hole as if a perfect sphere was cut into the druid’s hand. Vlad, fearing that this may have been the result of the activities of the frog taken too far, nervously addressed the bear. “We’re not lookin’ for any trouble druid,” he said in his typical heavy dwarven accent. “What do ye want?” The bear slowly turned his head and looked deeply into Vlad’s eyes. Now fearing for his life, Vlad uttered, “We don’t want any trouble druid! What do you want? Bandages? Ale? I can get that if you need! What do you want?” The bear stared intently at Vlad. Then slowly began to pan over the entire pub, subtly leveling its gaze at every member of the frog. After what seemed like an eternity, the bear finally replied, “I’m lookin’ for the man who shot my paw!”

Ok well maybe I "borrowed" an element or two from a famous joke. But still, another attempt at my lame creative writing. I still enjoyed writing it. I'm one of the very few among my classmates at school, and even among many of my colleagues, that actually enjoys writing. I sincerely wish I had more time to do it. Oh well. Hopefully, I'll get another opportunity in the future.

Life and death - whispers

2010-01-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

Finally. After all the headache, Lady Deathwhisper is done. I honestly wanted someone to start singing "Ding! Dong! The Witch is Dead!" Well, briefly.

It was epic. Isn't that how all good stories start out? I remember the first, completed attempt on 10 man. After some "ironing out" of our strategy for the first boss, we moved on with a bit more confidence to the second. Progression raids. They can be both intoxicating and frustrating, often at the same time. When we made it all the way through the 10 man with relative ease, we exuberantly marched onward to our genuine attempts at 25 man. Onward, fellows. Glory surely awaits us. Our "epicness" is apparent. As is our overinflated, collective ego. How could it not be? We just aced 10 man ICC (Icecrown Citadel.) We're now allocating that raid for farming. Foolishly thinking, "We got this. We've got the basic strategy down, we've got epic dps, our tanks are well-geared, and our healers are among the top on our server. What could possibly go wrong?"Oh, how humbling it can be to see your fellow players, those players that know their class better than anyone, those individuals you've learned from and admire their skills in their class: the mage or hunter with dps so high it could only be possible as a glitch with Recount, the over-the-top geared tanks that can shrug off inconceivable amounts of damage, the valiant healers that seem to be capable of keeping death itself from taking hold of even the most innocent or arrogant of top damage dealers that, by mistake or on purpose, accidentally pull aggro...all dead!

Oh! The humanity!

And the aggravation! Imagine the preparation...

Studying videos created by people who "know these things." Trying to grasp a better understanding of each fight. Multiple attempts from the previous (3?) weeks. Getting a good "feel" or "rhythm" for the fight. Quietly noting those things to avoid as they nearly "one-shot" your dps/threat/healing off the face of the world. Constantly trying to stay on top of your game. Making sure you have enough materials like flasks, potions, and Lord help you if you forget gold for repairs. Making sure your keybindings are furiously spammed in a desperate attempt to push your dps just that much more. Pushing your abilities past your previously thought limits. Watching the numbers display smaller, and smaller percentages with each frustrating attempt. Victory, so close it's palpable. You can practically touch the epic loot that will surely follow after your team wins. You can even see the image of that one, sweet item, that you know will make your character that much more epic. Then...a brief, eerie silence suddenly descends...someone calls out, "Burn hard!" Somehow, your keyboard manages to hold it's plastic pieces together despite the terrible punishment that it's taking. Someone yells, "Three percent!" Pause, "Two percent!" Longer pause, "One percent!" And then...a long, ominous silence that portends only two things: epic victory or overwhelming defeat. And then the statement no one wants to hear...that dreadful call over your headphones, "I'm down!" Followed by the "death" of every other team member, one at a time, as they heroically attempt to stave off the inevitable. Thinking that, somehow, someway, you'll be able to do it! Don't give up now! You can do it! You'll do just a bit more dps/threat/healing to make it through that last one percent. Finally, nothing. Reset.

/facepalm

/RAGE

Ok, well that was my amateur attempt at creative writing. Hope you like it! On to other important stuff. I am not a clicker. I love my keybindings and, yeah, I turn with my keyboard. This is because my free hand is over the number pad. It's the best way for me to push my dps, even though by the end of the Lady D fight my hands felt so sore that I seriously considered asking the raid leaders to look for a replacement. But, we did it. It..was..AWESOME!

Speaking of keybinds, my keybindings didn't magically fall exactly where I wanted them too. In fact, it took quite a few weeks, maybe even several weeks, before I memorized each binding and what ability was tied to that binding. This is because I had to learn which keybindings are the most important when I'm raiding. For a dps'er, those abilities that do the most sustained or burst damage are obviously the most important. As a fury warrior, this means two primary abilities: BT (Bloodthirst) and WW (Whirlwind.) Really, that's it. As long as your spec is good, you'll want deep wounds, which should naturally come with impale, and 2h weapon specialization, follow the 'standard' fury spec build in that tree, and you're good to go. Oh, and that darn rotation. Yeah. Well, it's pretty easy to understand, a bit of practice to get it down. I usually open with WW, however, due to multiple mobs or trash pulls, this is not always a good idea. But the standard rotation is to start with WW as the cooldown will allow you to perform two BT's if timed correctly. Of course, while this is going on, and if you have enough rage, hit either HS (Heroic Strike) or Cleave while waiting on cooldowns, depending on how many mobs are left. Wait for one GCD (Global Cooldown) and start with WW again. And only hit Slam for instant hits, IF - AND ONLY IF, both WW and BT are on cooldown. (Caps = important.) Giving Slam priority over WW or BT will lower your dps. I've often lost the instant Slam proc because the timer ran out. This is because WW and BT will always do more damage than Slam. True, you may crit a Slam to perform a large hit. But risking a possible crit over a solid single hit from BT or multiple hits from WW isn't going to help your dps. Eventually the WW and BT cooldowns will be nearly synchronized and you'll have to start the rotation again with WW. If you have difficulty getting the rotation down, go practice on the practice dummies in the major cities. Seriously. Sometimes I get ridiculed by other players who wonder what I'm doing at a practice dummy. You know, "a level 80! With your lvl of gear? Cmon, dude! Why u goofing around with dat dummy." You'll often find me there as well practicing my fury rotation, or my prot pvp keybindings. Practice makes permanent, not perfect. Cool quote huh? I've no idea where I read that. But basically, as I pointed out, it took me weeks to get my keybindings exactly how I needed them. I was constantly adjusting my keybinds to make it easier for me to press them when I needed. As a result, I had trouble memorizing the primary abilities I had tied to a specific keybind. So, I practiced and practiced until I finally got it down. Still working on my prot pvp keybindings though. But, I'm always improving.

And I will eventually own all in bg's...I will.

XD

Anyways, more to follow. I hope. :-)

First Blog EVAH!

2009-12-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Well this is definitely a first for me. I suppose that the purpose behind this blog is to create a journal of my world of warcraft experiences. I'm certain the whole point to this blog will change in the future. But for now, my main's name is Blackbear (who would've guessed.) He's a human warrior on the Azuremyst server and a member of the Band of Misfits. I'll probably post more later about my main character as well as my hunter and dk. More to follow.