Mainly because of my job, I decided to become more familiar with MMOs. To accomplish this great feat, I figured I should play some of them. To do that for any reasonable amount of time, I gotta buy and or pay a monthly fee. I let all my subscriptions expire last year, and new stuff came out recently.. so I bit the bullet and took the hit.

WoW: Burning Crusade. I made a blood elf warlock. Red hair, (a free) Nightmare mount, and a Succubus pet. What else could I ask for? I subscribed for 3 months. This should make Violet very happy. Playing WoW with her counts as a date night! If you have WoW but not burning crusade and want it, let me know. I'll email you a free 10 day trial code and if you subscribe to it, I get a free 30 days. hurray!

LOTRO: Would people please start calling this RO (Rings Online). The Lord of the Rings Online is too long a name. And an acronym. Its quite the "bargain" to sign up for lifetime membership for 199 (or pay 9.99 a month, or even less a month if paying for more than 1 month at a time). This is the "founders" fee which is anyone who pre-ordered the game. Nice deal, and some cool loot in game. Unlike WoW, Violet and I are sharing the one copy.

CoX: I'd like to reestablish my City of Heroes / Villains account. I really would. And play it. But with costs and time so limited, I can't justify it.

GW: I have Guild Wars (not the expansion though). I really like this game and should play it more. Especially since there's no monthly fee. I've been saying this for well over a year.

Warhammer Online: This highly anticipated MMO was just announced as being postponed. Awwww. Early 2008 now I guess. That's OK.. I can wait :)

Being addicted to Craigslist, I thought it would be a good idea to buy a trailer so I can haul stuff like free pool tables and shelves and crap. So I bought a nice 5x8 utility trailer from Lowe's. Note the link isn't the trailer I bought.. it just looks like that one. Lowe's has a link on their website that allows you to get an emailed coupon for 10% off. So I saved about 70 bucks. But umm, anyway, I had some problems:

The ball and extension I bought from UHaul to tow the rental trailer I rented during the move a month or two ago, I thought, was 1 and 7/8". Which is standard size for the class 2 trailer I rented. I think. Anyway...

The trailer I bought is 1 7/8" so no problems. Except the ball was 2", not 1 7/8". So I went back in and bought a 1 7/8" ball. But then the lowe's employee and I couldn't get the ball off the extension.. there was a HUGE nut on it and it was loc-tite'd. Lowe's couldn't even get the ball off the extension. They didn't have an extension that was the same shank width as the 1 7/8" ball I bought, so I ended up having to buy a combo extension with 3 balls on it (1 7/8", 2", and 2 1/8")
This took well over an hour, during which time Violet sat, very unhappily, in the car. And cost about as much as I had saved with the coupon.

The trailer is pretty nice, wasn't too expensive, and Lowes gave me the title to take to the DMV.
It now sits in my garage, waiting for use. and a license plate...

DMV Trip #1. Oh yes, I have to number these...
I went to a DMV "Select" location, which is a DMV with fewer services than a regular dmv. They needed the bill of sale, which I didn't have with me.

DMV trip #2: I went back the next day with the receipt. They couldn't help me because I didn't have a VA license (and selects don't do new licenses) nor a proof of residency. I had to goto a different DMV in the mall down the road from work.

DMV Trip #3: I goto the DMV at the mall again with a utility receipt as proof of residency. They can't help me because Lowe's didn't sign the title.

Lowes Trip #3 (I had already went there twice to look at trailers, and then a 2nd time to purchase one.. I didnt care for the trailers avail via Craigslist). They didn't know what I was talking about regarding signing a title for a trailer... they've never had to do that before. I said the dmv said they should be doing it, and showed them the pen park that the DMV wrote on the form. A manager eventually came out and signed it.

DMV trip# 4: I show up with all the paperwork, signed, sealed, etc. They charge me 97 bucks (Lowes doesn't charge sales tax for trailers, the DMV does that.. + 20 bucks for a permanent license plate). 30 mins after entering I leave.

I never waited too long at the DMV, since I sacrificed my lunch hour (or half hour) each time.. but that's a lotta wasted lunch times.

Well I heard that this movie wasn't so great, but that's never stopped me before.
It showed up in the mail via Netflix a few days ago and having just watched it last night, I liked it. so there. There were a few parts that were kinda.. well, done "wrong" IMO, and a few parts seemed to carry the cinematic camera vistas into boringville, but by and large I enjoyed the movie, most of the actors, and the dragon herself was great. Besides, I always enjoy a Joss Stone cameo. And who would have guessed that Sienna Guilory is the same Sienna Guillory that starred as Jill Valentine in Resident Evil:Apocalypse? Not me.

I'd give it a 75%

(Warning.. contains explicit language.. well.. for me.. )

So here's the deal: I have a credit card with Citibank. I stopped receiving paper statements and so didn't pay the bill for 2 months in a row. This is not good for my credit rating. They jacked the account interest to 35-sumthin % and flagged it for no more authorized charges. This is also not good for my credit rating. After some negotiating I was able to have them credit my late fee charges for non-payment, but they refused to honor my initial interest rate. So I paid the card off. I used Bill Pay so the amount was paid electronically online direct from my bank. No worry, no fuss.

Except the payment was "too high" and so Citibank didn't honor it! WTF?!?!?! They want me to give them my bank account number and routing information "for verification". Hell No!! The bank paid it electronically! There's a authorization number! Frickin accept the payment and be done! Noooo they want to talk to my bank directly, even though my citibank account has already been credited with the payment! WTF?!?!?! So while I'm busy at work Citibank wants me to call them and conference in my bank so the three of us can "verify" whatever. Its crap. My balance is ZERO. I paid off the credit card because I want to close the account. Screw Citibank. Too bad suckers! The payment's been made. Deal with it. Move on. I ain't giving out my account info to you, or anyone else that asks. Not even my own bank. Forget it. I'm sorry you can't handle "large payments" (we're talking like, 4k, not exactly a really HUGE amount...). Citibank Procedure can bite my ass. Verify THIS!

Not much to post lately. I've been working a lot. I can't talk to much about it, I'm afraid.

I'm also in negotiations with several people to start up a role playing game. Several people from work have indicated interest in my Evil Rises campaign. I can't decide if I want to start the campaign from scratch and have the players go through the same things my last players did (Act I: Finding the first Shadow Gem) or start at a higher level and continue the campaign from where the last game left off (begin Act II: Finding the 2nd Shadow Gem). There's pros and cons to both.

Also, gas is too expensive.

I don't talk about my job much. Most of the stuff I do is protected by an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) anyway, so there isn't too much I can say about work. I also like to try and stay a little more anonymous to the general internet world.

Friday my team (which is large) did so well with our last milestone that the company took us all out bowling Friday afternoon(We reserved the entire building). Free bowling for 3 hours plus free food and drink. (The pizza was pretty damn good). We also each got a cool T-shirt. With my right hand I bowled 138. With my left hand I bowled 98. I got lucky the first time. These scores reflect my typical range of bowling scores.

Add the fact that the entire company gets free doughnuts every Wed, and you would be safe to assume that I'm liking my fairly new (Ive been there 4 weeks now) job a lot.

Hydrogen Peroxide? Really? And no by-products... it runs on steam? How safe is that thing?
Sign me up!! I want a jet pack too!

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=A49E6E18-0101-4EEA-A7C6-53D1D137F9F5&t=c156&f=06/64&p=hotvideo_viralvideos&fg=&GT1=9246

I setup a blog for the baby. I've backtracked it to conception but I hope to add more posts to catch up to the present. Well worth the read, IMO.

http://whowillibecome.blogspot.com/

Today is no normal day. Today Violet and I celebrate our 5th year wedding anniversary.

The traditional gift for the 5th anniversary is something crafted from wood. The modern gift is silver, especially silverware. I find the material used for the different specially numbered anniversaries interesting, from cotton to diamond.

Back near our first anniversary, I promised her a 3 gemstone ring by our 5th. This was a perfectly reasonable request. After all, our wedding bands and the engagement rings were inexpensive, and Violet has spent nearly nothing jewelry related since then. I'm lucky her preferred gifts are $13.00 CDs and $10.00 books instead of pieces of jewelry costing hundreds of dollars. But even so, due to financial issues these past several years (losing my job twice, moving 3 times, going back to school for 18 months, huge credit card bills, and being unable to sell our houses quickly enough) we just can't do it. Also, being pregnant, the ring won't fit on her finger in a few months anyway. So once again I will have to delay the delivering of my promises. They may be late, but I'll make good on them as soon as we are able. At least 2 of my promises have been fulfilled: A good home and a baby (which is on the way). And those are more important anyway. One day I hope to buy her everything she wants. But today is not that day. I got her a card. From Wal-mart. Happy Anniversary Violet Twilight. These have been the best 5 years of my life.

We've been in this house for about 3 weeks now so there's a nice layer of black fur all over the carpet. So we just picked up the Dyson DC-07 vacuum. It works really well, even on all the pet fur. The model line up is a little confusing at first but basically there's the base model, and then as you ADD attachments that come with it the model# and price go up. And the color of the plastic changes. Funky. They're horribly expensive, but thanks to Craigslist (I've been addicted to this for the last month or two) I got a used one (about a year old or so, with manual and all accessories, excellent condition, for only $160. I saw another one for 120 but that was sold so fast I didn't have time to respond to it. Anyway, these things retail for $399.00 new so 160 is still a great bargain, and only slightly higher than a mid-grade vacuum. The "wand" (Hand held hose tool attachment) is a little awkward to wield sometimes, but pushing and operating the Dyson is very easy otherwise. If you can find it cheap, I highly recommend it, having only used the thing once. I believe mine came with a 2 yr warranty but the newer, higher end models come with a 5-year warranty. Of course, they also cost 499+ and come with crazy attachments and cleaning solutions. Happy cleaning!

OR IS IT???!?!?!

CNet (via TiVo) referred me to Windows X's Shrine. There I downloaded and installed the Windows Vista Transformation Pack. Beware though, that this package includes system changes and UI enhancements to make your Windows XP appear to look like Vista. It's all free. I encountered a common problem with Firefox that caused the window to jump up and down, but its a flaw in Firefox, not the GUI, and its an easy fix. I kinda like the updated graphical overhaul. I especially like the new widgets, which Violet has had for a while now on her XP machine but I never got around to it. Its nice to have it integrated into my control panel though. Fairly useful stuff like calendar, Weather, Clock, Picture viewer, Multimedia Center, et al. I only use the calendar and weather widgets though. I have no intention of buying Vista. Well, not until I 'have" to.

...the need for speed !!!

Just a quick note that even though I had a few problems with Comcast during installation, I cannot complain about the speed. My tested speed via CNet's Bandwidth Meter is

28.8 Kbps Dial-up 28.8k
33.6 Kbps Dial-up 33.6k
53.3 Kbps Dial-up 56k
384.0 Kbps DSL/Cable 384k
768.0 Kbps DSL/Cable 768k
1500.0 Kbps Cable/DSL 1.5Mbps
1544.0 Kbps Full T1 1.544Mbps
3000.0 Kbps N x T1 3.0Mbps
3578.9 Kbps - You 3578.9 kbps
6000.0 Kbps T3 6.0Mbps
15000.0 Kbps T3 15Mbps
30000.0 Kbps T3 30Mbps

So uh yeah. pretty damn fast. Of course I can only go as fast as the server lets me, and I've never actually SEEN a throughput of 3500+k/sec, but on a decent connection I'll get 500k-700k / sec with bursts just topping 1000. Pretty frickin fast. I am pleased with it.

Oh, and only $33.00/month for 12 months. I am quite pleased.

We went and saw Ghost Rider last night. Not just because I wanted to see it (it was only like # 3 on Violet's top 2 list), but mainly due because its start time was 725pm, and that allowed me to leave work at 6, arrive home around 635, leave the house with Violet around 640/645, goto dinner (fast food, no time for a good sit down dinner, which is ok since we had just went to Bob Evans (first time we've ever been to a Bob Evans) the previous night, and we really liked the restaraunt. It's like a good IHop I guess.), and drive to the theatre arriving around 710ish.

At least, that was the plan.

Unlike most good stories, there was no drama. We had a decent dinner at Wendys, arrived early at the theatre, there were very few people around and we had our choice of seats.

I really liked the movie. Violet thought it was too hokey. I really liked the fire effects and the way things played out. I didn't realize Eva Mendez could fill out a dress so well. Jeez. A few parts were kinda glossed over and pointless/useless, so that was a let down cuz they coulda made something outta those parts. Anyway, I liked it a lot, and reccommend it. BTW, I know nothing about the comic or character really so I have no idea how much the movie deviates from anything. A lot, I suspect.

Well I had hoped to play Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) all weekend since its FREE and has a +50% bonus XP along with other goodies. But well, there weren't very many people online. Yesterday I found a group and we all died several times due to lack of party cooperation. Eventually we got our act together and completed the quest, which was good once we got going. The game is real good with a good party, and suck otherwise. I logged back in this evening with various characters and just didn't seem all that motivated to play it. I'm more tempted to reinstate my COH/V account and play that instead. At least I know what I'm doing and where to go in that game.

I unpacked some more stuff, put together the futon, and spent about 90 mins putting empty boxes in the garage's attic. There's a lot of space up there. It could almost be its own room. Tomorrow I plan to swap out the landlord's Washer+Dryer for ours, cuz theirs sucks.

I saw a free pool table (legal sized, but need felt replacement) on craigslist that I wanted, but without the means to take it apart and transport it, I couldn't go get it. (sigh)

While I unpacked I rocked out (Kelly Clarkson and then Josie & The Pussycats, if you're curious) using my pair of Sharper Image Wireless Headphones. They worked really well. I was pleased. I got them like, well over a year ago from a gift certificate I was given. I've used them occasionally and they've worked pretty well. Sometime I get some static if I'm far away or near a bunch of heavy metal objects.
I also like them because I can just set them on the recharging station instead of replacing the batteries every so often.

Well I suppose that's enough rambling for now. Time for another doughnut. That's a lot of typing.

When the pregnant wife wants something, she usually gets it. Especially if its food. The fact that Krispy Kreme doughnuts is nearly 30 miles away (which equates to about 55 mins of drive time here in Northern Virginia) is irrelevant. Oh sure, the grocery store down the street has 'em, but apparently they're not fresh enough. So we drove to KK and then came home and she ate two and is saving her other 4 for tomorrow and the next day. Mmmmmm. I find that odd. So far I've eaten 5 of my 6 doughnuts. I doubt they'll last until morning but I'm trying to hold out.

to the east side...
We finally got a piece of the pie

(or whatever the lyrics actually are)

My computer is now assembled, mostly. I'm missing the keyboard pull out tray supports so until I find those, my KB is ergonomically unsound for me. I've been using the wireless laptop for email and stuff around the new house, and its working pretty well. But all my bookmarks, like this blog, are on my main system so I haven't updated my blog since the move. It's nice to be computing from home though and not have to drive to the local Panera Bread for free WiFi.

So anyway we're settling in. Violet's office is mostly setup, she just has to organize her books. The kitchen stuff is put away, and the living room has its furniture in place. There's a lot of paper and bags all over the floor though to help with the dirty puppy paws from their back yard frolicking endeavors. We also have a front room, which I'm using for my office and the gaming + multimedia room. It's large enough to accommodate my needs. Theres even enough room left over for a pool table. Mmmmm pool table. Too bad I don't have one. Yet. The garage has a bunch of crap and empty boxes, so I cant park the car in it yet, but since it isn't snowing anymore I may not bother trying to squeeze in there anyway.

The wife and animals seem very pleased with the house and its location so that's all good. I really hate my commute though. 13 miles which is about 35 mins. Dayaaaammm.

Virginia that is...
Swimming pools... movie stars.
No wait, that's someone else. We're moving to Virgina. Had a much better with the movers from Mayflower than the other movers thus far. I rented a seperate 5'x8' trailer to haul the futon matress, fragile stuff, and other things we'll need to live on for the few days until the movers arrive. The rendevouz will hold all 4 animals, Violet and I, and probably my 22" computer monitor. The rest goes in the trailer. That way we'll all be fairly comfortable and not cramped during the drive down there. I hope.

More breaking news as we arrive.

I just drove back from Manassas, Virginia. 9 hours. 460+ miles. I'm too tired to really tally the exact distance, time, or toll charges... but all three things were a lot. I drove down to Manassas from Tewksbury, MA. on Sunday evening and arrived late Monday morning. I spent all day Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wed exploring around, driving by houses, and calling people to request a look see. I finally narrowed it down to one very nice house, and even though its a little more expensive than I wanted (1800/month rental) and perhaps a little farther from work than I wanted (13 miles ~21 mins) its a nice house with a large fenced backyard for the dogs. Most houses that met my specs were in the 1800-2000 range anyway, so its not too terrible. This whole thing is for the stupid dogs. Otherwise we coulda got a cheap townhouse or condo 5 mins from work for like 1400 or less.

Yes I realize Manassas is a terrible name for a city, especially if you put a space between man and asses... but if that wasnt enough, the city just north of it is Manassas Park. Silly Virginians.

Check out the new videos, previews, and such for Wahammer Online. Will it overthrow World of Warcraft? HAHAHHAHAHA probably not. But you never know. I'm definately looking forward to checking it out. And I mean that literally.

I've been pretty bored lately. I've done a lot of work packing and preparing and yesterday the mover guy and I went through the house for an estimate. But overall I just keep having to wait on other people. I won't hear back from Mayflower until Monday. Mayflower is what my company recommended so that's who I'm using. They seem to be a good moving company and have several safeguards in place to ease all the issues I had with our previous moving companies. But they're probably a lot more expensive. But its only like 450 miles so hopefully it'll be within my relocation budget.

Speaking of relocation budget, my new company is paying for my move, but only a set amount. So I have to be careful not to go over that amount. It should be enough though. We'll see. We have about 12,000 lbs worth of crap, 4 animals, and 2 SUVs. Of course, we'll be taking the computers, work stuff, animals, and 1 SUV with us. I'm considering renting and pulling a small trailer to carry the things we'll need the first week after the move, before the movers arrive.. like our mattress to sleep on, some folding chairs, etc. I think that'll be covered too.

The relocation budget is very strict, and does not cover temporary housing. Thus I have to pay for my own hotel when I go down there to look for a place to live. I'll probably be leaving tonight and looking Monday through Thursday. 3 or 4 days should be long enough. I hope. I've been trying to find a way to avoid hotel room costs (40-70 bucks a day) but so far no luck. It's kinda cold to sleep in the car and apparently all the rest stops in the area have a 2 hour limit.

I've been looking online and rent.com and move.com and all those places suck for finding a single family detached home for rent. I've found craigslist very useful though and I have about 20 rental homes to look at once I go down there.

I can't say I'm overly enthusiastic about this move. Maybe its because we just moved back in July, or perhaps I'm not looking forward to the area. The company is great and the project is outstanding. I just wish they were located near San Diego. With the baby coming it would be nice to be around friends and family. I also miss everyone and everything. Especially gaming with friends and eating at familiar restaurants. Besides, we're gonna need free baby sitters later this year. I'm sure we'll make new friends and find new places. But going through all that again is getting tiresome.

Ah well. Violet commented that I hadn't posted anything in a while so I figured I should ramble something off before driving down to Fairfax, VA. I think I've accomplished that.