An Argentine Oppressed in Valrico

So how did I end up with a cat one may ask? There was a time back in college that I would compare the chess piece of Bishop to cats. One may ask why is this? Well, I was never ever never afraid of giving up a Bishop in trade for just about anything, including a Pawn should i gain a tactical advantage by weakening my opponents defensive structure. That all being said...

Mom and Dad were down in Argentina in the early 90's. In perhaps one of the greatest examples of communication, Noche became adopted by them. Mom had expressed an interest in obtaining a white, long haired, blue eyed cat. So Dad, after heading home from the Cafe (where he worked o so hard drinking coffee, talking story, and no doubt hustling folk at golf) saw a kitten walking across a tennis court. This kitten was a black, short haired, green (or gold) eyed kitten. Of course seeing his opportunity to fulfill my Mother's desire at getting a pet kitten, scooped her up and brought her home.

Now, I was not privy to the exact conversation after he stepped in the door (no doubt it was similar to when my Father wanted a hunting dog, and mom adopted a poodle), but I am sure it went fairly well. Noche (or more correctly Esta Noche), was checked out and brought back to the states. Mom was doing a lot of travelling as a consultant at the time at flew the cat around with her everywhere. Dad, when he had time alone with the cat, taught her to fetch golf tees and return them to him.

All was good.

Then, when they decided to move back to Hawai'i, instead of having to quarantine the cat, they opted to leave her with me. Hmmm... Well, after an interesting start - I used to wear work boots and Noche would fetch the golf tees, but them toward the toe of the boot so when I put them on I would be reminded of her - we warmed up to each other. We are now good buds and even though she can be cranky in her advanced age, she still feels safe with me (around Pua may yet be a different story).

But be not worried for those who play me in Chess, you can still on occasion hear me mutter cats are like Bishops (albeit under my breath) should we be playing face to face.

Cover your eyes ... It's an Ellipsis ...

Well. Not quite. I have two favorite "punctuations" in writing. One as you no doubt have noticed is the ellipsis. The other is the "Enter" key or carriage return. Where this has its roots, I cannot say. Perhaps it is a throw back to my once dramatic style. Sure I have never been even close to being a thespian, but in speech (more so in writing), I prefer the dramatic pause. How effective I am at creating dramatic pauses anymore I cannot say. As a result, much of my writing, especially in email, ends up looking like it is in sonnet or haiku form. No real meat to this post, although I thought I would throw it out there. Maybe as a warning to some should you ever get the misfortune of receiving one of my verbose and oddly structured emails...

Recap of Mommy's Birthday Dinner

Off to Alan Wong's we go. I imagine that the menu for this establishment changes on a regular basis, because comparing what is offered on the site for dinner, differs from what M&D enjoyed. For an appetizer, a type of spring roll with lettuce wrap was enjoyed. Mom had Duck and Dad had a NY Strip (no big surprise there). Although details are sketchy beyond that, I am assured that a good time was had and that the experience certainly did not detract from the restaurant ranking #1 as far as Mom is concerned. Sounds o so ono Mom ... Hope to try it out soon.

Boy, I need a Drink

Obviously I cannot speak for everyone, but I do some of my best Internet Surfing while on the phone during support calls. And today I found a gem of a site that is in line with one of my true loves - Coffee. The site is Coffee Detective and I found it to be quite enjoyable. Has a lot of good information on it, making me wonder if there are others like it. Something I have not really ever explored (informational sites about coffee), but I will moving forward. Typically coffee is like cigarettes to me. Pick a brand/flavour and run with it. Heck, this may even spur on another list, going over the various coffee's and teas i have had. This will likely be a good opportunity for me since one of my frequent stops is to pick up tea at Teavana when I am brave enough to go to the mall. With all their variety of teas I can track them here. Beer too for that matter. And that is something I am craving right about now....

Hmmm...

One post and 3 more lists... (Coffee, Tea, or Milk ... I mean Beer)

Toon Update

And despite some of the current downfalls of the Shaman Class, we were able to accomplish some nifty little achievements over the last week. It is my hopes that with the upcoming changes that I become more of a actual in game contributor, rather than a cheerleader. Granted I am a cheerleader that casts bolts of lightning. =]

What is real nice is that many of the "boss" encounters, although difficult, are essentially set at real short timers, some of which are as short as 10 minutes.

308 FTW

Yes .. another WoW blogget (or would that be blogling - maybe I should just stick with "post"). Woe to those who care not for the subject and instead wait for it to roll off the front page. This one is on Shaman. No, players do not acquire the fabled car from the hit show Magnum PI. The 308 reference is actually to the next Build (or patch) level of the game, 3.0.8. With it some very exciting changes head the way of Elemental Shaman (my class of choice).

Until this point, Elemental Shamans (a ranged damage/support role in game) have had difficulty keeping up with the rest of the crowd in optimally fulfilling part of their duties (causing lots of damage, as you might expect). Their ability to support has really never been in dispute.

The upcoming changes (that I am very excited about) include the following:

• Fire Nova Totem: Now no longer generates threat.
• Healing Way: Now only one application is required to reach full benefit. No longer stacks.
• Improved Water Shield: Lesser Healing Wave now has a reduced chance to trigger this talent.
• Magma Totem: The damage and scaling has been increased and no longer generates threat.
• Mental Quickness: Reduced the mana cost of instant cast Shaman spells by 2/4/6% and increases spell power by an amount equal to 23/46/70% of your agility.
• Searing Totem (Rank 4) now does the proper damage for its rank.
• Tremor Totem's duration has been increased from 2 minutes to 5 minutes.
• Elemental Shields: This talent has been removed. It has now been merged with Elemental Warding.
• Elemental Warding: Now reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%. Changed from only reducing Nature, Fire and Frost by 4/7/10%.
• New Talent: Shamanism-Your Lightning Bolt spell gains an additional 2/4/6/8/10% and your Lava Burst gains an additional 4/8/12/16/20% of your bonus damage effects.
• Storm, Earth and Fire: This talent has been moved up in the tree, and its talent points have been reduced to 3 down from 5. Wind Shock is also included in the range increase (with Earth Shock). The damage bonus to Flame Shock has been increased, up from 10/20/30/40/50 to 20/40/60.
• Unrelenting Storm: point cost reduced to 3, down from 5. Now does 4/8/12%

And in addition:

• Elemental Oath: In addition to existing effects, now increases spell damage done by the Shaman by 5/10% while Elemental Focus Clearcasting is active.
• Elemental Mastery: Redesigned. Now increases the Shaman’s critical strike chance by 20% for 30 seconds. Cooldown remains at 3 minutes.
• Mental Quickness and Static Shock have switched positions in the talent tree.
• Mental Quickness: The change from attack power to agility has been reverted. Reduces the mana cost of instant cast Shaman spells by 2/4/6% and increases spell power by an amount equal to 10/20/30% of your attack power.

Although which changes in Mental Quickness will actually be applied I cannot say. Not that either should impact how I experience the game all that much. Most of the other stuff, particularly the bold entries interest me quite a bit. Anywhere between a 12-20% increase is what is forcasted.

Hau'oli La Hanau Mommy

Today is mom's birthday. Woo hoo. She turns 34 today (or at least so she says). =]

I know that she has planned to head out to Alan Wong's Restaurant and claims this to be her most favorite restaurant on Oahu. Although I have never been.... I wonder if there is a reason for this?

I am sure that she will have a good time and will get a bit of a recap when I have the opportunity to touch base with her.

We hates them my precious.....

If there thing that I hate more than anything regarding my job roles it is managing tape back ups. Ooooo I hates them....

Waste of Time: A Murder of Crows...

A murder of crows, a gaggle of geese, pack of wolves, yada yada ... how many more fun animal group names can you think of? Here is a site that gives a bunch of them, although I encourage you to try as many on your own before you click here. Which ones did you like?

Cheese of the Week - Morbier

I figured that I would start a little blurb or two on cheese, weekly or so is what I have in mind, we shall see what happens.

We are going to start with Morbier. I first had this cheese over Thanksgiving Holiday at a Wine Festival in Ft Walton. It is a very soft and creamy cheese (prolly somewhere in between Munster and Gouda in regards to consistency only). Overall I would say it has a mild taste but has a bit of a sour, somewhat nutty flavour afterwards. Nothing strong about the sour taste at all. One thing I will say is that the smell of this cheese when cut from the wheel is very pungent. I would not travel far in a small car after picking some up at the market.

The line separating down the center no longer has a practical purpose, but in the past its presence served a use. Morbier was made from leftovers as it were. The leftovers from making Gruyère de Comté (a nutty tasting cheese in its own right), were set in a mold and covered with vegetable ash overnight. The following day, additional leftovers from the morning yield of cheese would then be added. The ash prevented the rind of the cheese from forming and eased the addition of the newer left overs.

Although this cheese goes well with run of the mill beer it is better with a nice not-so-intense red.

Of course, I could not start this kind of thread without homage to this...

Christmas Tree Deconstruction

This weekend was sad. It was time to bring down the Christmas Tree. It was a very good tree this year (a Frazier Fir) and we had a lot of fun with it...maybe not as much fun as Noche, whom we could scarcely coax out from underneath its protective branches. She liked it so much that Pua thought it would be a good idea to plug Noche in ... so we did (click on the picture to see what I mean). =]

Waste of Time: Do Not Want...

One of my favorite Waste of Time sites which I still find funny enough is this site. It is an atrociously subtitled SW: Revenge of the Sith. Its value is marginal at best, easily making it a WoT candidate....

Hotter than Heck

Inferno is the first canticle of the collective work known as The Divine Comedy. In truth, Inferno is the only canticle that I have read but I like it very much. In fact, I will be adding it to my current reading list post haste and likely once I re-familiarize myself with it (it has been some time since my last read), maybe I'll do a very very brief Cliff Notes on it. =]

Etched in My Mind...

Watching the special of the 7 Deadly Sins brings me to an artist who has always captured my eye, Gustave Doré. His engravings I was first introduced to in the book Inferno back in the 8th grade. Even in the Age of Short Attention spans, (blamed mostly on Atari), I found his work to be breath taking. Still in my mind is the fact that his work is primarily engravings, and although such elicited only minor oohs and ahhs from my classmates, I was totally wow'd by that. The fact that everything presented had to be carved as a mirror image (not quite backwards, but you may get the point), was astounding to me. Aside from all that, to gaze with unabated awe at the beauty of his engravings was/is something I can continue to do.

I'd Rather Laugh with the Sinners than Cry with the Saints

Unless of course the Sins are Deadly...

Which brings me to the crux of the post. Lately I have been watching the History Channel's special on the 7 Deadly Sins. Of which I have been intrigued with even before the movie Seven. The special (which is a series - one sin per hour episode) is very well done. Each episode deals with a single Sin and is autonomous of the other shows in the series, with a brief intro into the Sins as a whole. From there additional historical background is provided into the specific Sin that will be discussed (e.g. Gregory the Great believed that Pride was the greatest sin and here is why..., etc) to then reference examples from the various Holy Books (not exclusively the Bible). A wide variety of knowledgeable religious individuals are interviewed each speaking to how their specific religion or denomination of Christianity views the Sin and where it fits in with their belief. Towards the end of the show, the Sin's evolution into how it is viewed today is then discussed. For example, the Robber Barons and the Stock Market are discussed for Greed. I cannot speak highly enough of the series.

What is really good about it is that the commercial breaks are very limited (the first break does not seem to occur until about 20 minutes in). =]

Less is More

Well, my new in game mantra is one toon one focus. Strange as it may sound, I am actually cutting back on my game time. One of the easiest ways of doing so is to cut back on some of the game’s offered diversity. Essentially I will be playing the single character of Munchausen here on in. My thinking (warped that it may be), is that if I feel like playing it will be with the Shaman. If I do not feel like playing the Shaman, then I just will not play. For the most part at least. =] I think by taking this stance, I will feel less inclined to play for playing sake. The multitude of options I currently have, can pull me into the game regardless of mood or role that I want to play.

Will this actually cut down on game time? Who knows when put into practice. It is a step that I am prepared to make though.

This is not to say that I did not have fun with the Death Knight, Balance Druid, or Warlock. I am thankful for the time and understanding gained from the play time with the other characters.

Death Does Us Part

Death Knight (pre 3.0.8)

Definitely one of the most fun classes I have ever had the opportunity to level. So far I am only 78 and will for the most part be focusing on my Shaman moving forward, but I wanted to capture some of my thoughts on DK's. For those who have not played the class at all, I would suggest running one, if for not other reason the opening quests (you start at level 55 and the quests take you to 58). I will also say it is one of the more cerebral classes in game.

The interesting thing about DK’s are their reliance on two newly introduced dynamics Runes and Runic Power. Runes (you have 6, 2 Blood, 2 Frost, 2 Unholy) are used to activate abilities and as a side effect, generate Runic Power (which activates other abilities). Runes have a 10 second cooldown (CD) when used and optimally, you want your rotation to use available runes seamlessly as possible without having to wait for any of them to regenerate. Waiting equals inefficiency, which in my mind equals bad.

I opted for the Unholy Tree build which maximizes the Area of Effect (AoE) damage that can be dealt by the player. Once you get to 60, I would recommend this build. From here I would adopt the following rotation:

1. Bone Shield (1 UH Rune) before pull, wait (at least) 5 seconds for Rune to start regenerating.

2. Send in Ghoul.

3. Icy Touch (1 FR Rune) to pull target at range (inflicts target with first disease).

4. Plague Strike (1 UH Rune) at melee range as you close with target (inflicts target with second disease).

**At this point, your initial UH Rune should be available as well as 2 BL Runes and 1 FR Rune**

**Your target now has both diseases and you are ready to share the diseases**

5. Pestilence (1 BL Rune) spreads diseases to all nearby targets.

6. Death and Decay (1 of each Rune)

7. Unholy Blight (Runic Power)

**At this point, everything is maximized regarding the bubbling, boiling circle of doom that surrounds you. This would complete what I consider your “set up phase”**

8. The Runes coming up first after this would be 1 FR and 1 UH. You should also have amassed a fair amount of Runic Power (the bulk came from DnD – the more Runes, the more Runic Power). At this point, things are more “free form”

a. If you are taking a LOT of damage: Iceborne Fortitude and/or Bone Shield – Keep in mind that IBF is Runic Power only, BS cost 1 UH Rune.

b. If you are taking a lot of damage: Death Strike (1 FR 1 UH) single target damage with a Healing Component (with Glyph and Runic Power more potent healing).

c. Damage taken is only a fair amount Scourge Strike (1 FR 1 UH) larger single target damage. Useful to speed up getting that first corpse for Corpse Explosion (1 UH).

d. Strangulate (Runic Power) or Mind Freeze Caster (1 FR)

e. AoE Pull, Blood Boil (1 BL) or when the talent becomes available, Blood Tap (turns small amount of Health and 1 BL immediately available. Then Blood Boil a couple of times.

f. Once your first mob is dead, Corpse Explosion (with Glyph can be a chain explosion).

g. If you are an Engineer, work in some grenades as you wait for Runes to regenerate.

h. Single big target (like elite), summon your Gargoyle.

**It is important to keep changing the target of your Ghoul from target to target. If you are not, that is a lot of damage you are missing out on.**

See, plenty of options. Really just a start and down and dirty on the DK in my eyes. A very good authority (IMO) and fun site to read is Skeleton Jacks site.

And by the way, for an 80 build I would recommend this....

What a Week or Two

Well ... I think that I am off to a pretty good start with this blog thing but I am just beat. I likely will take the next couple days off and get some good ole fashioned sleep. These weeks of working a couple days, off for a couple days just really disrupts any rhythm that I try to establish. I may try to come up with some good topics over the weekend and probably build up the Slideshow a bit more. More soon and have a good weekend...

"Dead or alive, we will all come home together..."

How could anyone not care for this film? For certain, this one is right up there with my favorite military films. And i have to say that anyone who is not moved by Hal Moore's speech prior to leaving for Vietnam simply has no pulse. This is one of those movies that I (of course) own on DVD but when it comes on broadcast TV, ends up being watched in its entirety. Well, for the most part. I understand the importance of the flashes back to the states and the inclusion of the trials that wives of the service men go through, but having seen the movie more than once, my attention tends to trail off at those parts. Instead it is the intense comradeship displayed by the men in the field and the grit and genuine portrayal of the characters that draws me back the the film time and time again. These aspects inspire me and provide a lofty target for me to live up to in a way. In all likelihood I will never be in harm's way or in a situation where my life is truly in the hands of another, so my level of identifying with the men who fought those 4 days in the Ia Drang Valley ends significantly short of what real soldiers experienced. It does provide though a model to work towards. As with many military films that I enjoy it is not so much the action that appeals to me, instead it is the mettle of the men who are involved as well as their reactions when under distress. More of a observation on the Human Condition if you will.

That all being said, it likely is the chemistry between the major characters in the film that truly add sparkle to the movie. Always a big fan of Sam Elliot, who for the first time in my memory is not sporting his trademark moustache, absolutely love his role as Sgt. Major Basil L. Plumley, who was about as gruff as they come. His fun little quips throughout the film alone make the film worth watching. Gibson does an admirable job playing Hal Moore, his eyes do an excellent job of showing compassion for his troopers and contrasts nicely with a hardened exterior. Watching the DVD extras and seeing how the real Hal Moore spoke so proudly of his troops (and was instrumental in "getting the story right") I thought the essence was captured very well. Greg Kinnear as Maj. Bruce Crandle and Barry Pepper as Joe Galloway also did very well, bringing in some of the quirkiness with Crandle's character and Galloway embodied a loss of innocence as the movie's plot progressed. There were some light hearted moments interspersed through the film with kept it from being too ominous and I cannot speak highly enough of the movie. Lost to some I am sure, but very much appreciated by me, was the effort spent in both discussing the ambiguity of "which side was right" and the showing significant footage into the North Vietnamese. It took the care of not making this movie a "good v. evil" Vietnam movie. The screen time of Don Duong as Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An allowed people to relate to the Vietnamese side of the battle and allowed us to see the movie almost as a chess match between masters in a way.

"Look around you. In the 7th Cavalry, we got a captain from the Ukraine, another from Puerto Rico. We got Japanese, Chinese, blacks, Hispanics, Cherokee Indians, Jews and Gentiles—all American. Now here in the States, some men in this unit may experience discrimination because of race or creed, but for you and me now, all that is gone. We're moving into the valley of the shadow of death, where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is or by what name he calls God. They say we're leaving Home. We're going to what home was always supposed to be. Let us understand the situation. We're going into battle against a tough and determined enemy. I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear, before you and before almighty God: that when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me God."

Waste of Time: Name Viewer

My waste of time post of the day is this site: Side View Generator. The site digitizes your name and puts the letters in 3 dimensions. The screen rotates and then a different word is displayed. Be sure to try upper and lower case letters. Todd Snow = Debt and Loan when viewed individually (Very Good when viewed together), do not know if there is a message here or not... =]

Ever Have One of Those Years?

You know...one of those years where you just should not have gotten out of bed? Well, going out to Pac Grill last night was not all fun and games. Some of it was spent consoling Lea (a very good friend of ours), whom has not had the best of luck with guys of late. The latest incident involved a friend of a friend of the Cafe crew whom after spending a promising December with Lea ended up being a big ole jerk. Sure he travels alot, but not to have the guts to actually break up with her in person, instead he opted for a very lame-o play. He called a mutual friend and asked her to talk to Lea and end the relationship. Boo. Not such a cool thing at all. All this is such a shame because Lea is such a fantastic person, just always seems to have rotten luck when guys are involved. Well, here's to hoping that we have much better luck finding you that special someone in 2009.

Folks ... It is a Trifecta

At the risk of over-doing it, we ended up visiting Pacific Grill for 3 of the 4 Holiday days. We ended up there Christmas Day eve, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day eve. All of which were a blast. Last night I did deviate from the norm and ordered non-sushi items. Lea, E and I all showed up there and believe it or not, there were no seats left at the bar. That being the case, we sat at a hightop just next to the bar and such provided a good venue for people watching. Not feeling comfortable about ordering sushi while not at the bar (it just did not seem "right"), the girls had a couple orders of tuna tataki in ponzu with mango as well as the sampler platter that is offered there. All this time i was mulling over what to order for myself. I decided on their Hot & Sour soup (which to me tasted very much like grandma's fish soup, minus the fish) and their "Hot Stone Bowl." Both of which were excellent, and I did manage not to order their Green Tea Ice Cream (though I wanted to very badly). We did have frozen Ice Cream Mochi though.