Mood: Pretty good!
Music: Don't Go, Yaz
Game: World of Warcraft, Puzzle Pirates, Hopefully COD2 this week....
Book: Special Forces, Tom Clancy.
Muffin: Nope....
OK...I'm getting back into writing...so thanks for bearing with me during my brief hiatus.
On Saturday, I went out to dinner with Colin and Mei, two of their friends, Adam and Shana, Adam's new girlfriend(?). Dinner was great, and Shana was really cool. I'm pretty sure what I think of his girlfriend is probably not high on his list of importance, but I liked her, and I liked Adam with her. He just seemed really happy, and that was really cool, too.
Saturday Night late, I ended up running UBRS with Thorn and Smitty, then running it again without them. Thorn is getting to the point in his WoW career where gear really is starting to make a difference to his effectiveness, and he hasn't been getting the drops he needs, nor has he really been snatching gear he "sorta" needs. I think it has to do with his personality...largely, he is the team leader sort, and would rather see his team get the gear they need than take it himself. The downside to this is that very very few people feel the same way as him. As long as he keeps saying things like "No, you need it more than I do" he's going to end up with very little gear...which is happening, and it's frustrating him. I went through the exact same problem with Baine...and then I decided that every time I said "No, it's cool, you take it" I was going to say "I really need that." It's worked out very well for me. If I seem a bit grabby sometimes, it's a function of the fact that I've probably said "you take it" to a bunch of gear I really kinda wanted. It all balances out...and I certainly don't take gear I don't really consider an upgrade. Anyway...I'll been running with Thorn more, and making sure he takes his fair share and then some. Given the amount of support he's given all of us, and the skill at which he supports us in dungeons, it just makes sense to get him the gear he needs.
Yesterday, I ran BRD with Smitty and a few folks from the Syndicate. I have to admit that it didn't go the way I had hoped. I put together the run to do a mess of quests, and get them out of my quest log...but we ended up spending 3 hours doing a quest that I didn't really want to do. At the end, just before I had to go, we plowed through like 3 quests in short order...which annoyed me, because if we had kept that pace doing what I'd wanted to do, we'd have accomplished everything I had intended. Whatever.
I did end up having dinner with my cousin Marisa last night with her boyfriend (fiancee?) Jake, and Jake's friend Aaron. Marisa and Jake cooked, with Marisa making an awesome pork roast (why don't I make those?) and throwing together some potatoes and root vegetables.
I ended up helping a bit, but mainly because I love cooking.
Marisa has an awesome apartment in Williamsburg, steps away from Peter Luger's. In fact, I was kind of surprised to find a new building in the neighborhood. But it really is very nice.
As far as hockey goes, I'm not really paying attention that much...but I did notice that Eric Lindros is having a career year with the Maple Leafs. This is completely expected. It merely reinforces what I've been saying for years...the management and coaching in New York has been horrific since Keenan left. Keenan was no prize, I assure you...but the GM/Coach combinations for the last 10 years have been nothing less than stupid.
Great players came to New York and all of a sudden sucked. Players left New York and became stars. Rangers jinx? Or just lousy fucking coaching?
Larry Brooks from the NY Post mentioned that the year before the strike, he'd gone to a few practices, and Sather was having the players run 2 and 3 man drills...with no opposition. Basically running plays and routes with no contact, no defense, no drilling. The players ran them lackadaisically, as if doing simple half-speed drills. And people wondered why they sucked when they played for real? Brooks mentioned it in comparison to the practice he went to a few weeks ago, where players were running 2 on 2s and 3 on 3s with real hitting and a few fights broke out. That's the way you practice hockey. You practice for real with people in your face, ready to make you pay when you slack off. As a result, the Rangers are on top of the Eastern Conference at the moment.
As added comedy, Tom Poti's been benched twice this season so far for sucking. And for good reason...he SUCKS. He's ALWAYS sucked! I have no idea why you keep Poti and trade Leetch...but they did...and now they've got a several million dollar defenseman who SUCKS. Fabulous. Trade him. Give him away.
Anyway, I'm actually very happy for Lindros. He's always wanted to play in Toronto, his home town, and I think the years in New York have given him a maturity and ability to deal with the media and pressure. He's handling it all fabulously, and Toronto has welcomed him the way that New York never really did. I always liked Lindros...I didn't think he was everything people originally said he was...but he played hard, which I always appreciate...and now and again, he'd astound you with some strong move, or vicious check, or the time he knocked out Joe Thornton with one punch, breaking Thornton's cheekbone. Lindros was no one's fool, for sure. Anyway, I'm glad he's playing well...and he's probably the happiest guy on earth right now.
This weekend, I'd had enough, and broke down and bought a new video card. The ATI card I have right now (the replacement card, I should say, after my first card exploded...) has been crashing and choking when I play World of Warcraft, occasionally flat out resetting while I'm playing. It was also doing weird polygon things when I played the COD2 demo...and that I WON'T have. I must have crunchy tasty first person shooter goodness when I get COD2 this week, as it gets released tomorrow.
I debated buying a new machine...for about 2 seconds. I can't afford to drop $3500 on a computer right now...especially not before moving. So I decided to buy a relatively cheap nVidia 6600. I think I'm paying $110 for it...which seemed like a good price.
It's funny how I'll buy an nVidia card, use it for a few years, get pissed at nVidia, then buy an ATI...and now the pendulum is swinging back. I just can't STAND the ATI drivers. I feel reasonably sure that in a few years, I'll go back the other way. But for now....?
And, of course, I should have CoD2 by Wednesday night...which I will undoubtedly stay up all night playing.
Now, I really need to get back to work...I've slacked enough for the last week to annoy even myself.
More tomorrow.
Posted by Glenn at October 24, 2005 11:56 AM