All posts by Duf

Whew. It’s official I have NEVER been as into a game as much as I am World of Warcraft. I do not want to make an attempt to add up the hours I spent playing the game this weekend, but let’s just say I spent so much time in that chair that the bottom of my thighs are sore at the point they rest on the chair edge.

Friday night was rough. For whatever reason I decided I wanted to get good and drunk and play as long as I could. After 8 Zimas and 1:30 in the morning, ready to pass out, I stumbled to bed. Of course Nicki had no sympathy and still woke me up at 6:45 am. I did manage to work some normal things into the weekend like working on NIcki’s area, watering the landscaping, pressure washing the shed, house chores and fun stuff like that. But the 2 days were all about playing, getting as much into it as I could. I am now up to level 32, more than halfway to the games ceiling of level 60 (currently at least) It really is hard to describe what makes the game so addictive to those on the outside.

Let me give a scenario. I woke up Saturday morning and I was thinking about how I was going to attack my day in the game. Let’s see, I am running low on tasty omelets, so I will first fly out to the Wetlands and kill a bunch of raptors to get the eggs I need. While I am there I am getting some but not as many as I want. SO I send out a request on general chat asking if anyone had extras and my offer to buy them. Soon I get 3 offers. I foolishly overpay for the first 10, giving the guy 20 silver for them. I then make better deals on my final 2 transactions, getting 30 of them from a guy for 25 silver. I cook up all the eggs and wind up with over 60 omelets that can be eaten to give me a 15 minute “well fed” bonus resulting in a HP, stamina and spirit boost. Makes no sense? Of course not, but get into the game and it will. 🙂

Ali flies home tonight so the marathoning will have to be cut back a bit but at level 40 I can get a horse to ride so that carrot will be driving me hard for the next week or two.

The weather here this weekend was spectacular. Yesterday was sunny, 75 and no humidity. Had the windows wide open.

Sometimes I wonder if I like the gym more for exercising or more for observing human behavior. In the past I have mentioned how rude and annoying it is for people to be talking on cell phones at the gym. Well new chapters were written in the anals of dumb gym cell phone behavior this past week.

As I am working out there is a regular gym cell phone user walking around doing what else but talking on his cell phone. As I am doing a set, he disappears around a pole and I see him doing something out of the corner of my eye. As I got up and went to the pole to grab the cleaner and towel I see what he did. He was running low on juice so he plugged his cell phone into the outlet. So he is standing there, on the phone with it plugged into the wall, gabbing away. Get a clue dude.

Case number 2 was a fat haitain woman. She was on a leg machine with weight loaded on that a 5 year old could do. She is talking on her phone while she did about 100 reps (moving maybe 6 inches per rep) I did 2 or 3 different machines and would periodically check on her, yep, still talking, still doing meaningless rep after rep. She was wearing jeans, a normal top and a dress watch. Go away.

Ali wrote a letter to the editor regarding the traffic horror in our area.

Ali is up in PA this weekend so I have the weekend to myself. I plan to attach the fence to Nicki’s area and play a “little” bit of WoW. 🙂 Level 29

Despite our sour experience at the county fair last year, we decided to go again anyway. After paying 5 dollars to park and 16 dollars admission, we walked into the event down 21 bucks already. We soon realized the money could have been much better spent. Each year it seems the entertainment at the fair has gotten more and more sparse, replaced with more and more vendor stands selling junk food, worthless trinkets and other shit. The stuff I enjoyed like the wrestling, the high wire stunt show, the english singing acts are all gone. The only thing we enjoy anymore is seeing the animal and plant displays. To see all of that took all of a half hour. I was still feeling sick in my stomach so I had no interest in rides. Plus, attendance for the fair was very light last night so as you walk down the aisles you were like a piece of fresh meat to coyotes(fair people) that haven’t eaten in days. I hate being solicited. So after Ali and I grabbed a snack, we left. I think the entire experience took less than an hour. Next year there is a good chance we will skip it all together.

On SB sunday I had to run to the local convenience store to pick up some stuff. As I get out, a woman comes up to me and says “Excuse me, what cologne are you wearing?” I didn’t know why she would ask me that so my first reaction was to think she smelled something on me. “Nothing” I said, “Maybe you smell the soap I use” She laughed and said no, she was selling discount cologne. Hahahaha. I politely told her, no thanks. Her and another shady looking dude took off in their car shortly there after.

My commute took 90 minutes AGAIN today. Ali and I discussed the idea of buying a townhouse closer in and keeping our house as an investment. Talking about it is easy, financing such plans would be very daunting.

Jevon Kearse – was his name called all day?
Brian Dawkins – no big plays
Dorsey Levens – 1 carry, 1 yard
Freddie Mitchell – 0 catches, 0 yards

I heard some interesting gossip that the flu was running rampant throughout the Eagles and Donovan had a severe case of it that resulted in his inability to run a hurry up offense down the stretch. He looked like he was out of gas, maybe he actually was. It puts an interesting slant on things, if it’s true.

I have been lazy in taking pics of stuff or maybe there are less things going on that are pic worthy, who knows? Anyway, here are some pics of the progress on Nicki’s play area, a snake and some pet related SB pics.

I went home sick yesterday. Although I was sick from the Eagles loss, this was more of a stomach ailment. Late in the morning I had one of the episodes in the bathroom where you pray that noone else comes in. Thankfully, noone did. Afterwards I felt weak, had the chills and just overall felt terrible. So I went home and slept for almost 4 hours. After my nap my stomach still felt unsettled but I was able to function. Today I feel pretty much back to normal.

I took all sorts of abuse for the Eagles loss yesterday in my abbreviated stint at work. I have some vocal Patriot supporters here that loved turning the knife. I took it like I should and continued on my miserable way.

The commute to work today took 90 minutes. It is a bit unsettling knowing that my ability to continue to tolerate the ever worsening traffic situation out here is coming to an end. Sooner or later I’ll just snap and say “To hell with it, we are selling and moving” It really affects your quality of life.

Wow it was tough. It was very ugly at times, yet they still had a shot in the end which they misfired horribly on. I don’t think there was any doubt that the Patriots were a better team. Even when they were behind they looked to be in control. Brady was calm, Donovan looked nervous. Brady threw no picks, Donovan threw 3 ( more except for some lucky penalties against the Pats) So who is there to blame? Well before I get to that lets talk about the good stuff.

TO TO TO, I think it is amazing that he not only started but made plays, big plays all game long. He was the Eagles best receiver even on one and a half legs. If God healed him, he did a hell of a job doing it. It really made me respect TO for his work ethic. I always knew he was a good player but an obnoxious showboat. However this year showed me also he cares about winning, cares about the team and he gave everything he had in the tank. It was nothing short of amazing.

The Eagles D did a good job for the majority of the game. They didn’t allow Dillon to run wild but they didn’t get the sort of pressure on Brady that was necessary to throw him off his game.

The Eagles receivers (minus Freddie Mitchell) made some fantastic grabs. McNabb’s passes were all over the place for most of the game and the diving, stretching catches by the receivers kept the Birds in the game. Lord knows they couldn’t run the ball.

Dirk Johnson hammered a few punts.

Ok now the bad stuff. Westbrook made a few plays but not nearly enough to have the impact that was necessary on the game. The drop he had late in the game was very costly.

The clock management in the 4th quarter was ATROCIUS. The worst I’ve ever seen in a big game. The Eagles are down 10 with 5 minutes to go in the game and they aren’t running hurry up???? I was screaming at the tv “What are you doing???!!!! Hurry the hell up!!!!” It was inexcusable. They were strolling up to the line of scrimmage like it was the 1st quarter. By the time they got the ball back at the end of the game they had less than a minute to go with no timeouts. Instead of throwing sideline routes, the first play is a dump in the middle of the field that gained 1 yard and ran at least 25 of those seconds off the clock. It was a joke.

However I hate to place the ultimate blame in the most obvious spot, but Donovan let us down. It was the most deceptive 3 touchdown, 350 yard passing performance I ever saw. He was extremely erratic. He was throwing very ugly balls that fluttered high, low and behind receivers. The receivers saved him multiple times by making incredible catches on poorly thrown balls. I heard that in the Super Bowl they rotate in brand new balls almost every play, so they are slick. Maybe that had something to do with it. He looked nervous and jumpy. His 3 picks were back breakers and I can not believe he did not scramble for yardage once in the game. His stubborness to not be a “running” QB seems to make him not want to do it at all. We needed him to run the ball to keep the Patriots off balance. I was really disappointed in his play.

Oh well there is always next year. So now to other details. We had a few people over for the bowl. I did one of those grid betting boards where you bet on stuff ranging from the coin toss to the final score. That was a big hit as it kept people interested in the game. We had piles of food and enough beer to fill a bar. I drank at least 8 or 9 so I was feeling jolly at first, a bit drowsy later. To battle the drowsiness I pounded a Red Bull, followed by 2 cups of coffee in the 2nd half. I had the pool heater cranked up, thinking it may see some use but it didn’t. Everyone had a good time. By the time everyone left, we cleaned up and got to bed it was close to midnight. As I lay there in bed, exhausted I can’t fall to sleep. My mind was racing, replaying keys spots in the game, thinking of how miserable it would be crawling into work the next day. I assume the Red Bull and coffee had something to do with it. Even once I fell asleep I was awake off and on throughout the entire night. I woke up today feeling like death. It isn’t a bright and cheery day.

More stuff. The commercials were good. Some were funny as hell. Some of my favorites were the Mustang convertible, frozen guy one, the monkey ass kissing one and I think my most favorite was the one where the guy was making the nice dinner for the girlfriend and winds up holding a tomato sauce covered cat and a knife as the girlfriend walks in. I laughed hard at that one. The halftime show was a complete 180 from last year. Instead of the being over the top edgy, this was under the bottom mundane for me. I like McCartney and thought he did a fine job but it was a bit boring for me by Super Bowl standards. Normally Super Bowls will put various entertainers together that you wouldn’t normally see and that is interesting for me. Nothing but Paul left me a little disappointed.

The portion of the weekend prior to Sunday was a grunt fest for me. On Saturday while Ali was working I dug out holes for the fence posts for Nicki’s area, about 15 of them. It was a dirty, strenuous job but it could have been worse. I took some pics of the progress that I’ll post later. Now the fence has to be installed, sod has to be laid, a small deck has to be built and some trees need to be planted. Yay.

There was more in my mind to blog but I’m too tired to think of them. Sigh…..

Can the Eagles do it? I think they can. I remember 24 years ago when the Eagles were in the Bowl. I believe they were favorites but they came out and totally laid an egg and were never really in the game. This year they are underdogs and I like that role. Few expect them to win so they have little to lose. I hope this will result in them letting it all hang out. The TO news has been nothing but positive, so if he can actual make a contribution, I like the Birds chances even more.

We are having a few people over to watch the game, one of which is a hardcore Patriots fan so it will be a good rivalry. I am wearing my Eagles jersey today, check it out here. Come Monday, I will either be elated beyond description or depressed beyond consolation. I don’t want to wait another 24 years for another shot.

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EAGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I left the gym, out in the parking lot I saw a real health “nut”. He was nuts if he thought he was healthy. The gym lot is shared by many things, including a McDonalds. So as I am walking to my car I do a double take when I see an obese man sitting in his car, with a half eaten ice cream cone in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. WTF? Take a drag, lick of ice cream, another drag…… unreal. America, the home of the lard ass.

In traffic today I was behind a red 90 something Chevy full size pickup. It was the poster vehicle for rednecks everywhere. On the back there were several bumper stickers such as: “IF YOU LISTEN YOU CAN HEAR THE SOUND OF FORDS RUSTING IN THE DISTANCE” , “SPEED KILLS, DRIVE A FORD AND LIVE FOREVER” “KEEP IT FLYING (with pic of confederate flag)”, a GATOR Country 101.9 sticker along with a big Bass on the back window and a SOUTHERN COWBOYS windshield sticker. Oh and it also had a Chevy emblem tow hitch insert. It goes without saying that the driver had a cowboy hat on. Yeehaaaaaa.

The weekend was busy but fun. On Saturday we cleaned the inside of the house in the morning and then the afternoon was slated to be working on Nicki’s play area. We had the dirt dumped and then had another guy spread it with a front end loader. However a loader doesn’t do a good job of smoothing and leveling the dirt. The guy was supposed to come back with a tractor with a box blade, but after more than a month filled with various excuses, we gave up on him and decided to go it alone. The dirt had all sorts of high and low spots and ruts from the tires of the front end loader. The month of being out in the elements had hardened the surface so it wasn’t as simple as just taking a rake to it. My plan was a 2 phased attack. I was going to use the rototiller my neighbors gave to me to break the hard dirt up. Then use the tractor with the lawn aerator attached to drive back and forth over the area to smooth it. My plan worked, it just took forever. My tiller only was about 12 inches wide and I had an area that was about 25′ X 65′ to turn over. Running the tiller was a noisy, high vibration filled event. I had to hold on for dear life as when the machine would encounter a rock, it would hop up in the air like a rabbit. By the time I was done my hands were numb. Ali was on tractor duty as she did pass after bumpy pass on the freshly turned over dirt. I was pleased with the outcome, it was far from level but was about as good as you could expect with the tools we had available. I wanted to get a couple of the posts in so I tackled the 2 biggest ones, the ones that hold the gate. I had to go over 40 inches deep to bury it. Luckily in Florida sand, digging deep holes isn’t nearly the chore it would be in root infested, rocky, PA clay soil. We got the 2 in and called it a day.

Ali had asked if we could go to some waterside shopping center that evening. It isn’t something I would normally suggest but had no problem doing it since she lets me do most of what I want. When we pulled in we noticed it looked like the one store was closed, we wrote it off as maybe the store was out of business. We ate at a restaurant that was in the shopping area where we had some of the worst service ever since we lived in Florida. Evidently our waitress was on her first week of the job and it showed. She would disappear for extended periods of time and when we were done with our meal and ready for the check, she was nowhere to be found for 25 minutes. She sucked. Finally we flagged down another waiter and asked him to get our check. He apologized and brought the check. The same guy had stepped in various times throughout the meal and helped us when we couldn’t find our waitress so we gave him the tip. We think he gave it to the girl anyway but she certainly didn’t deserve it.

So ok, we were ready to go look at the shops. As we turned back into the shopping area we noticed not just that one store, but all of them are dark! WTF, it’s 7:45 at night and it’s all closed? Damn it. We found someone to ask and they said the stores close at 6pm. Argh the old people curse, a lot of the stores in the area have bank hours because they figure they make enough money on the rich old people that are in bed by 8. Oh well, it was better than eating a frozen meal at home and watching ER on Tivo, maybe.

Sunday was our big trip to Clewiston to pick up the trees that my Dad bought for me for xmas. When I punched in mapquest the location for directions, it had me going up 75 and then cutting across the state. When I looked at the map I could see that I could go inland first and then head up route 29 which was much shorter. The drive was much shorter than the 100 miles than I thought and the tree place was actually west of Clewiston. It was so close that we actually got to the road leading to it too early and we decided to go to Lake Okochobee first. It was probably and extra 15-20 miles till we actually got to Clewiston.

On the way in, we drove through a Burger King. Ali is trying to transform into a vegetarian so our meal decisions have gotten more complicated. Burger King has the BK Veggie burger so we figured it would be a good place to stop. I went to the drive thru and started my order, the veggie burger, chicken tenders, blah blah blah. The order taker comes over the speaker and says “BK what?” BK VEGGIE I say back in a louder voice. Silence. I wait for a few seconds. “Did you get that?” A few seconds pass, “What was that again, BK What??” This time I am even louder and making sure to enunciate clearly. “BK VEGGIE BURGER” Few seconds, “I can’t find it, I’m looking for it” comes out of the speaker. Ok, I am officially annoyed and I wait for another 10-15 seconds. Nothing is coming from the speaker so I have no idea what is going on. They have one of those video screens that is supposed to confirm your order, but there is nothing listed on it. So in an annoyed bordering on angry voice I say “DID YOU FIND IT YET????” Few seconds, “oh ok, anything else?” I was pissed and relayed the rest oy order in a loud, slow manner like I was talking to a 5 year old. Ali got pissed at me and said I was being rude. “She deserved it!” I snapped back “The girl is a moron” Ali said that probably Veggie burgers are rarely ordered so she was confused. I dismissed that as absurb and no excuse for being a dumb ass. As we pulled around I got to meet the order taker, a 300 pounder that looked as incompetent as she sounded. After seeing the visual, I shot Ali a look that said “See? I told you she was a moron” and Ali just gave me more contempt. If you can’t communicate, don’t work the drive thru register.

So after that mini-fiasco, we were on our way to Clewiston. We followed signs for the lake and wound up parking in a boat launch area. There was a big hill surrounding the lake so we couldn’t see the water. As Nicki pulled me up the hill I was a bit surprised at what we saw. I expected a huge area of open water but instead, just off the water line is a marshy area with trees and vegetation. Far off in the distance you can see open water. So we headed down to the water edge and checked stuff out. The entire edge of the lake is surrounded by a barrier of stones, kept in place by a wire mesh. When one of the hurricanes struck over the summer, there was talk of the lake overrunning it’s banks. Considering the water was at least 30 feet below the land level, the idea of this was pretty incredible. So we spent maybe a half hour there, walking back and forth with Nicki pulling me here and there while she tried to smell every blade of grass. We headed back and noticed on the way out the no dogs sign. Oh well.

All that was left was the grand finale, the picking up of the trees. The owner of this “business” told me that mapquest didn’t work for her location. I soon found out why. The road leading to her place was literally a sand road, filled with huge ruts and bumps. I felt like I was in a paint mixer. Plus the road was loooong. I bet we traveled this for over 2 miles. As we slowly traversed the road I stopped and looked at a trashed, gutted, rusted Yugo that was disposed at the side of the road like an old soda can. I had Ali take a pic of it. She resisted at first but then took it. She didn’t appreciate the oddity of it all. Finally we spotted this woman’s place. Wow sometimes I think I live far out but it is nothing compared to how remote this ladies place was. She owns 18 acres and she uses it as an animal rescue / tree farm. The area is huge with goats, dogs, cats, pigs and other farm animals. It was sort of a loosely organized mess. The woman was very nice and we picked out or trees. We got a Jakfruit, which produces the largest fruit in the world, a Noni tree, that has a medicinal fruit along with a fruiting tangerine tree. The woman even threw in 2 small dragon fruit trees as a bonus. If they take hold and grow, the trees should be an awesome addition to our landscape. However getting certain things to grow in our area can be a challenge. We tied down the trees and made the bumpy journey back out to the main road. Macadam never felt so good.

On the drive out and back we went through Immokalee which is a small town near our house that is populated by mostly Mexicans and Haitians. I was amazed at the activity on the streets. Tons of people walking around, riding their bikes or just simply sitting around watching the people go by and shooting the shit. They just seemed like very social people. As someone that has been labeled as anti-social more than once, I found the behavior interesting and admirable.

Our trip back in total might have taken an hour. It was pretty much the adventure we thought it may be. We got 5 trees, got to see the largest lake in the southeast and had some funny memories to boot. Thanks Dad.

Oh I’m almost up to lev 25 in WoW, just in case you are keeping track.