Archives January 2006

Our first weekend of party van ownership was up and down. Here are pictures of it BTW. On Friday evening I got home and scraped the for sale sign off the windshield and took it to the gas station to fill it, it was close to empty. 28 gallons and 70 some bucks later I pulled out with a full tank and light wallet. Oh well with a big tank it will give us better range I guess on road trips.

On Saturday I wanted to fire up the van to show our neighbors, I turn the key and get a click. I try again, then again, click, click click. It was odd because all of the electric devices in the van seemed to work fine, not slow like you would think if the battery was weak. I was perplexed but went as far as to swap batteries between the van and the Tacoma to see if it would start, same click. Hmm ok, well I guess the Tacoma battery which looked like it was on it’s last legs anyway, was too weak to turn the starter on the big motor. So I head down to the new Wal-mart supercenter, on a Saturday afternoon, during season, to grab 2 batteries, one for the van, one for the truck. Needless to say, it was a mob scene. I parked at the right end of the building, thinking that it would be like most Wal-marts and have the auto section there. I was wrong, it was on the opposite side, several hundred yards away. After my long walk up and back, I had my 2 batteries and was on my way home. I installed the Tacoma battery first which went fine. Then I hooked up the new battery in the van, I turned the key with much anticipation and got another , CLICK. I swore loudly and hit the steering wheel in anger. What the F. I turned the key multiple times in disbelief that I just bought a van that won’t start. After double and triple checking the battery connections I called the seller and described the problem, asking him if he saw this behavior. “Oh yea, I had that happen to me once. The key wasn’t in the ignition straight.” He told me the outer key ring is loose and doesn’t line up like it should and I just need to make sure it is straight. Oh ok, simple enough, I thanked him and hung up. I went back out and saw what he meant. The outer ring spun loosely, which it shouldn’t do, so I carefully made sure I lined it all up and tried again, click. SOB! I spent a half hour out there dicking with it, seeing if I could find the perfect alignment, which I couldn’t. I was really frustrated and called the seller back, asking if there were any other things he could suggest. He had none and I was a bit less cordial this time, I told him I was very frustrated to have this happen 2 days after buying the van and that I wished he told me about it ahead of time. He said he didn’t tell me because it only happened once. Yea, sure. I hung up in disgust. I was determined to fix this thing. Luckily it had a Haynes repair manual included so I looked through it. I flipped through it and eventually came up with the idea that the lock cylinder could be bad. I followed the manual and popped the lock cylinder out. I looked at it, blew on it and put it back in. I turn the key, VROOM! WTF, I don’t know why but that fixed it. I triumphantly beeped the horn and had Ali come out. She was excited to see I got it going and later we had her drive it for a bit to get her accustomed to it. I ordered a replacement lock cylinder as a precaution. The interior of the van needs some cleaning but it is basically sound. I pulled out the sheepskin covers from the front seat, checked out the tv and it’s options for installing a dvd player and generally just putzed around. I quickly got over the ignition problem and now am once again happy we have the party van.

Our neighbors had a short notice garage sale Saturday and asked us if we had anything to sell. Initially I figured I had 2 or 3 things to get rid of. But when I started digging through shit early Saturday morning, I soon had taken enough stuff over to their driveway to basically equal what they had out. We had a lot of junk. Until Ali got up, I worked the stand with my neighbor. We had some good early success and I threw in several items for free to my customers, which was irrestible to most yard sale types. We wound up making 60-70 bucks but more importantly unloaded a bunch of shit we no longer had use for. A win-win.

I worked off a list again this weekend. It really helps me prioritize stuff. The list had 5 or 6 items on it and I managed to wrap it up without much fuss. There really is something to be said about writing down your goals, whether they be long term or just for a day. That simple act of writing down the goal makes it real and commits me to accomplishing it.

This week’s silly WoW comments. My warrior is still my highest ranked character and I have been playing him more lately. Out of boredom I decided to change up his look. A warrior normally wears plate armor, which is the strongest armor in the game. However I was looking to make my warrior look unique. I searched through the auction house and bought him a leather eye patch. The leather item has much less armor value than a plate head piece but it looks funny as hell. Here is a pic of him. He sort of looks like a bad ass member of the village people.

Last night Ali and I did the first of our longer training runs, we did 4.08 miles, the longest Ali ever ran. I felt terrible through most of it, for the first half my lower back was killing me and throughout the entire run my hamstrings felt like rubber bands wound too tight. I actually felt like Ali was the pace setter for the first time. We did the distance in 40 minutes, a strong pace.

The party van is now in the driveway. The pickup and drive home went fine. Once we got it home we spent time checking out a bunch of the stuff inside. We put down the bed and Nicki immediately jumped up on it and claimed it as her own, it was funny. This weekend I will look through the manual and get a better handle on how all the stuff works. Ali is really excited about the PV. It is cavernous inside.

Last night after work, while Ali was at the gym, I stopped at Walgreens to pick up some peanut butter. As I approached the door, I saw through the windows what appeared to be a guy in a beekeeper outfit. As I walked in the door I instantly saw why. An angry bee dove at me and bounced off my forehead. As I looked up I saw a swarm of bees up by the lights. They were quite angry as the bee guy was spraying them with bee killer. The bees were flying everywhere, I was sort of surprised that they were letting customers in the store with a swarm of angry bees flying around. When I checked out, the cashier told me that evidently the bees made a nest in the AC system. I quickly exited without further attacks.

On the drive in to work Ali and I saw a conversion van sitting in front of someone’s house for sale. It appeared to be in nice shape from the road. For years, Ali and I have talked about getting a “party” van. We always thought how something like that would make long road trips much more enjoyable. The half a dozen times we have driven from Florida to PA and back it was done in our sub-compact cars which makes for a rather miserable time. We also thought having something like that would come in handy when we have company down so they wouldn’t have to have their knees jammed against the front seat of the Sentra. So anyway, I called the number on the van and got some details yesterday and then stopped last night on the way home to look at it further. It is a 93 with 114,000 on it. It reminded us of our friend Gary and Sue’s party van, it may be the exact same model as theirs actually. It has a little TV, a fold down rear seat that turns into a bed, a high roof, drink coolers and a bunch of other little gadgets. I drove it and it seemed to run fine for a 13 year old van although jumping into it after driving the Sentra is like night and day. We had a bit of an odd negotiation where we agreed on a price but he said he was going to leave the van out front until I showed up with money today. As usual, I feel hesitancy about the whole thing but it isn’t much money and it could really make long range travel a lot more enjoyable for us. We will see. Pictures of it to follow.

I only posted once early last week. I’ve been sick since then with what started as a sore throat/aches/tired/weak thing and has now transformed into more of a chronic runny nose thing. I stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday. It never turned into hardcore flu symptoms where I couldn’t get out of bed, it was just enough that I didn’t feel good enough to sit in my office all day. Instead, I spent most of the time sitting at my home office playing WoW.

We got a letter from FEMA, I anxiously opened it, hoping it would say that we qualified for at least a few bucks to help offset the uninsured portion of our hurricane damage. No such luck, the letter said we had insufficient damage. Damn it.

The weekend was very laid back. I still felt off so I didn’t have much inspiration to do very much. By the end of the weekend I felt like a bum. In the past year I have really laxed on the home projects. On Sunday night I had a million things running through my head , many of which were related to home maintenance things that could/should be done. I was feeling a bit mental. I know that a big part of the difference in the last year is because of the countless hours spent gaming on the computer. Instead of getting the house stuff done first and then using left over time to do my own thing, I often play first and once that happens it has a way of pushing other things by the wayside. I always heard that MMORPG games were like computer game crack, I often laughed at that notion before I became involved with them. I need to reestablish some priorities. Ignoring stuff that you know should be done feels good at first but soon after you just feel like a loser.

Well today is a new week and I hope to get back into my healthy routine. I missed the gym all last week because of illness so I am sure I will feel weak as a baby but I will work through it. Ali and I went for a run on Sunday. We both felt rotten and did less than we both expected. I chalked it up to a bad day. Ali wants to start increasing distance on our training runs from 3 to 4 miles and slowly increase from there to attain goals of running a 10k and hopefully a half marathon.

I watched 6 + hours of playoff football yesterday. Both games were rather lopsided. Of the teams that were left, I was pulling for Pittsburgh to win it all so I was happy they won. The Steelers were the very first NFL team I ever rooted for as a child. One of my childhood friends was a huge Cowboys fan so we had a bitter rivalry going. Sometime around 1980 I became a hard core Eagles fan and my Steelers allegiance waned. So with the Eagles season in the dumper, having the Steelers win would be a nice consoloation.

I went home from work sick yesterday and after a night of almost non-existent sleep, feel worse today. I plan on staying home and sacking out.

On Sunday I finally took the Christmas lights down. I don’t think I ever have had them up this long. It is ironic that with a holiday season that lacked much of the spirit for me, I felt inclined to leave the lights up so long. I think I just liked the way they looked. I was bummed out that night as I walked around outside the now dark house.

Randall and I were supposed to play volleyball in Fort Myers Saturday. The forecast for the day was not good, a high of 64 and windy. Wind and beach volleyball are never a good combination. It was very chilly. When we got to the beach I was glad I had sweatpants on. It was so chilly that Randall and I went to a local K-mart so he could pick up a pair of sweats. When we got back we saw a huge pack of people gathered around the tournament people. They were postponing the event due to wind. WTF, cancelled due to wind, that is a first. In retrospect it was a good idea, when I walked down to the beach it was a steady 25 mph plus, the sand was whipping me in the face, it would have been miserable. They were moving the event to Sunday, which I could not play because of the 5k. The tournament officials would not give full refunds to teams that could not play Sunday, instead theyonly would refund 20 of the 50 buck entry fee which was total bullshit. Their explanation was they already spent money in securing the event, buying prizes etc… so they could not refund all the money. Well that was ridiculous and enough to make me not want to play one of their events again.

The event was right near where the casino boat launched so I had the bright idea that maybe Randall and I could hop on the boat and spend the day gambling. I called,but was disappointed to hear they cancelled the boat today because of the wind. It was windy enough that when you looked out on the gulf you could swear you were looking at the Atlantic, on a stormy day. So we packed up and just went back to my place where Randall gave Ali and I some Texas Hold Em lessons. He deals cards part time and knows the game inside out. It’s funny how the game itself is simple but there are so many subtleties to it.

Sunday was race day, in a way I was glad I didn’t play vball Saturday because it meant I would be fresher for the run. The forecast was for it to be cold again, upper 40’s cold in the morning. Ali hates the cold and hates running in it even more. We bundled up and headed up to Cape Coral. Once we got out into the brisk air, Ali was pissed she forgot to wear gloves. Both of our hands were numb. We did our best to stay warm, jogging, stretching and moving constantly. Finally the race started. To make things worse, there was some wind on the course, making it feel even colder. We purposely started at the back so we could pass people. Ali’s pace was strong through the entire race. She was struggling with the conditions but she kept her pace steady and fast. We passed a bunch of people early on. With the GPS watch Ali could closely monitor our pace and I think it helped her. We finished the race officially in 28:45, according to the gps watch we actually did it in 28:30 something. Either way, Ali knocked more than another full minute off her time from the race on New Years day. We hoped her time was good enough to place her but she got 7th in her age group. Surprisingly, if she was in the 25-29 age group, she would have gotten 2nd. You never know how many people will show in your age range. It was a great performance by Ali, even with the nasty weather conditions.

On Monday there were supposed to be 2 things happening, our noisy, about ready to fall apart, pool pump was supposed to be replaced and our hurricane damaged water equipment was supposed to be replaced with a new upgraded system. My experience with the service industry since I moved to Florida has been overwhelmingly negative. Far more often than not, businesses over promise and under deliver here. Monday was a pleasant exception. By 11:30 am, both the pool pump and water equipment had been replaced! It was done early, correctly and efficiently. Damn that was cool. Now we can no longer hear the pool pump in our bedroom and the new water cleaning equipment is much lower maintenance, does a better job of cleaning the water and provides better water pressure inside the house. I’ll take some pics of the stuff sometime.

The water cleaner installer had a good line. Evidently he has had some back problems recently. My neighbor was over who just had shoulder surgery and they were comparing old age, body breaks down stories. The installer said , referring to how things go downhill quickly at a certain point “After 50, every year is like a dog year..”

We watched European Gigolo over the weekend, not as good as the first one, but tolerable. I played some more of the games that are on my Xbox, Gun, and Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. Gun is a FPS that I could totally get wrapped up in, it’s a bit different because it is a western type format but very cool. Mortal Kombat is simply awesome. The graphics are unreal and the violence you impart on the enemies is as graphic and brutal as you can imagine, damn is it fun. I need to take a break from WoW once in awhile to come up for air. I hardly realize there are other games out there.

I feel bad for the Colts, I really do, I was pulling for them to win but there was no way they deserved to be in that game in the end. The referee’s made some HORRIBLE calls against the Steelers, the most ridiculous being the int that was clearly an int but was then for some reason ruled an incomplete after review. I almost fell over dead when Bettis fumbled when the game was in hand. I had a feeling Vanderjagt would choke, he is still getting paid back for the moronic comments he made in the offseason a couple years ago.

This weekend will be another athletic doubleheader. On Saturday I am playing in a volleyball tourney in Fort Myers and then early Sunday, Ali and I are running another 5k in Cape Coral. Luckily I have off Monday to recuperate.

Yesterday Ali did a quick run on her own. She ran a mile and a half at an 8:40 something pace, extremely fast for her, much faster than she ever did before. She is really self motivated to improve her running. For some reason it has brought out the athlete in her, it’s great.

Today at the gym there were 2 or 3 guys that were wearing knit beanies, the type you wear in the winter time up north. Now I know I have seen pictures of serious bodybuilder types in muscle mags wearing these. I have never been able to comprehend the benefit. I could understand if it was 20 degrees outside and you wanted to try to warm up quickly. But hell, it’s 78 degrees outside, what’s with the beanie? I can only assume these individuals think it somehow enhances their appearance in the gym, maybe making them seem more hard core or intense. The one guy went as far as having his sunglasses on his head with the arms poked through the beanie. Silly.

We are now in the absolute worst time as far as “seasonal visitors” (snowbirds) goes. Traffic is a mess, even more so than normal and it is filled with blue hairs that are in the bottom percentile of driving ability. It is maddening driving the streets. I find myself more or less cursing at one individual after another, without even thinking about it. I would like to be able to calm down a bit. Why can’t these f’rs realize that some people on the road actually have places they have to be on a schedule…

The Stern Show has been great since he moved to Sirius this week. It’s brought tears of laughter to my eyes more than once.

My personal army of WoW characters is getting rather large. Here is the list of my current characters along with my thoughts on each. Those of you that could care less about WoW, move along. Fellow WoW addicts, read on.

My original and highest ranking character is Fragu. He is a a level 60 (highest level in the game currently) warrior. A warrior’s role in the game is to be in the front of most battles, taking damage and keeping the attention of enemies so other party members can attack without being attacked. Being my first character, I have a fond place in my heart for him, however I really don’t enjoy playing with him that much. Of all my characters, I have the hardest time playing well with him. In PvP (player vs player) fighting I usually lose badly. Part of this is because my armor is very poor in comparison to most so I can be hammered rather easily by other players sporting an arsenal from running endless high end instances. Fragu spends most of his time logged off, only being called upong to run lower level characters through instances from time to time.

Duf was my second character, he is a level 56 warlock. For my 2nd character I wanted to pick something as opposite from a warrior as possible. A warlock specializes in DOT spells (damage over time) He also has the ability to control a demon which acts like a hunters pet. The warlock has a huge array of spells, curses and abilities to choose from, almost too much. I can PvP much better with the warlock than the warrior because the warlocks spells have range that allows me more time to execute my attack. But like Fragu, he has seen little light of day recently.

Fatherduf is a level 50 priest. More specifically he is a shadow priest. A priest, although seemingly an innocent sounding class, can actaully be one of the deadliest because of their strong shadow magic and healing abilities. I like Fatherduf and being a priest automatically ensures lots of people needing you to run instances since you always need a healer. I am not bad PvPing with him, but again my lack of lighting quick button mashing ability holds me back from being great with him.

Darkduf is a 46 rogue. I made him in response to getting ganked endlessly by horde rogues while leveling my other characters. Rogues have the ability to be invisible to the enemy until they attack plus they have a bunch of stun moves that basically freezes his enemy in place, unable to respond till two thirds of his health is gone. I made DD because I wanted to inflict the same torment on the horde as they have done to me. I enjoy playing him probably the most of all my characters because most battles are on my terms. I sneak up on someone in a compromising situation and just wipe them out. If someone tries to jump me, I have a number of methods to escape their attack and simply /lol them. I spend a lot of time with him just roaming areas where horde reside, picking them off at will. I love the paranoia I can create in the enemy. Once they know a rogue is around they are constantly looking for him, knowing he is lurking. Rogues do big damage but also have light armor, so if my ambush fails, a good player can counter and take me down. I PvP with Darkduf better than any other character.

Finally I have my 24 druid, Rombler who is actually the account of a buddy at work who gave up on WoW. A druid is a jack of all trades. He can cast ranged magic, he can heal, he can turn into a bear form which emulates a warrior, turn into a cat that attacks like a rogue or even turn into a cheetah that allows him to run much faster than normal. The catch is while he can do all these things, he can’t do any single thing as well as a class that specializes in it. That being said, I really am enjoying playing with him. There is no getting bored with play style with a druid since he can do so many things. At higher levels, most druids are expected to specialize in healing and do little more than that. I will buck the trend and develop Rombler to be a solo powerhouse.

My WoW collection of characters is quite large, larger than I would have ever expected. Having multiple characters gives you the ability to cross-support each other by having different characters have different professions that support each other. There are 3 or 4 classes I do not have and if I went through those, I could start all over on the horde side and learn that side of things. However I have vowed never to play on the horde side out of principal. My point is if you explore all of the possibilites available to you within the game, it truly offers near endless variety.

Get the game.

Ali has set an ambitious goal for us to be able to run a half marathon by next year. As part of the plan to do this, we have been trying to get in 1 or 2 runs in during the week in addition to our weekend runs. So what this means is a few days a week I do weight work at the gym over lunch and then run a half hour after work. So far it has been working out ok although the fear of having something breakdown from such a schedule is always in a corner of my mind. I have NEVER run more than 5 and a half miles in my life and that was with 2 good knees.