Mood: Good.
Music: Play the Game, Queen
Game: World of Warcraft, COD2, Dungeons and Dragons Online (Khyber Server), GR:Advanced Warfighter, Oblivion
Book: Learning PHP 5, Sklar/O'Reilly, King of the Vagabonds, Stephenson
Weather: 60, partly cloudy.
Jobs applied to today: 0. (Weekend listings generally suck.)
Been a few days since my last entry. Have a lot to cover, so pay attention. There may be a quiz.
My lunch meeting was pretty cool. Met with my brother's wife's brother-in-law for lunch. You get that? My brother's wife has a sister who's married to this guy, and they live in Seattle. So I met him for lunch at this Cajun/Creole restaurant, which was pretty tasty. We discussed my job search, and stuff in general. He's a pretty nice guy, and had some decent feedback on my resume, and suggested some directions I could look.
After that, I wandered to World Spice. It's like making a pilgrimage to Mecca, I tell you. For anyone who cooks, and has a spice fetish like I do, the place is simply brilliant. Jars full of fresh spices...order what you need in plastic bags, or in glass jars. Watch 'em measure and weigh it out...and at this visit, they ran out of the curry blend I wanted...so they made it fresh in front of me while I waited. While it took a couple of minutes, I definitely didn't mind. I walked out of there with a fabulous Kashmiri Curry, a refill of my Japanese Sea Salt that I like so much, and of course, some more flaked Chipotle Morita. I also walked out of there with a new spice blender...since I gave my old one away when I left New York. I like this one a lot better, as the stainless steel bowl is removable and is dishwasher safe. It's really a coffee grinder, but who has to know?
Speaking of that Curry, my lamb curry came out fabulously. Really yummy. I'll share the recipe just as soon as I remember what I did. Basically chopped two onions, two fresh chiles, and 3 cloves of garlic, sauteed in some olive oil, browned 2 pounds of lamb separately, put them all together with about 2 pounds of diced potatoes, added 3 tablespoons of the Kashmiri Curry powder that I ground freshly in my new spice blender, tossed in about 3 cups of chicken stock to cover the whole mixture, added two handfuls of chopped spinach, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 3 hours. It had a nice low heat level that built fabulously. Threw in a handful of fresh chopped coriander when I served, put a couple of pieces of sliced naan next to it, and I'm a happy camper. It also, as if it needs to be said, was even better the day after.
My phone screen on Wednesday was pretty good. I think I was a bit talky, but I'm pretty sure I asked some decent questions. I guess I did something right, because on Friday afternoon, I got a call to schedule a phone interview for this Monday, tomorrow. I'm pretty excited. I think I'd really like this job...and I think I've been unemployed long enough for now. No doubt I'll be regretting that last statement in a year or two, but for now? If I were independently wealthy, it'd be a different story, no doubt. But I'm not. Might as well do something I want to do.
I wonder if other people spend as much time as I do forwarding past songs on my iPod/iTunes? I mean, presumably, the stuff is in my music collection...so I wanted it at some point. So why do I find myself jumping past 2 or 3 songs for every song I listen to?
Elder Scrolls IV:Oblivion...now THAT'S fun. While it's not exactly completely bug-free, it's largely playable, unlike Morrowind. I did notice that the forums are pretty much full of exploits and get-rich-quick bugs. But I avoid that style of play entirely. I'm not trying to "beat" the game. I'm trying to have fun exploring the world. The quests are varied and fun, the rewards pretty cool, the monsters largely varied, and the world? Huge and involved. I'm spending hours at a clip playing...sometimes to 2-3am. I did have two hiccups that required me to load a previous save in order to complete a quest or to avoid an event that ended up being bugged...but overall, I've had great fun.
The best part about it is talking to all my friends in my buddy list, and seeing how they're playing their characters. Some are pure mages, some are thieves, some are a mix, some are learning how to play, some are experts, some are finding very cool things along the way, and relating stories. But NO ONE has the same story. It's VERY cool. We're all playing the same game...but none are playing the same way...and that's the sign of a great game. There's no "right" way to play...just whatever fits your style. I like that a lot.
WoW has been picking up a bit for me. I'm finding more enjoyment in playing these days, because I rarely force myself to play. When I don't feel like playing, I don't. I go play Oblivion or DDO until I feel like playing again. In the last few weeks, I finished my Epic quest for my Priest staff, which rocks. Smitty lent me the money I needed for the component to get it finished, which was really cool of him,...as I just can't farm an area for hours on end looking for a rare drop. I just can't.
I did get my third piece of Tier 2 epic gear when we killed Razorgore on Friday night, so that was pretty cool.
Now, I need to finish the laundry, clean the house, and so on.
Wish me luck tomorrow. I really want that job.
Posted by Glenn at March 26, 2006 10:50 AM