New Year's coming did you bring your coat?

Taking a moment to look back on years past, as I usually do on the New Year and really, this last year has been a major upturn.

Yes, I'm still wasting an inordinate amount of time and work is not entirely fulfilling yet, but in the grand scheme of things, I've learned a whole new battery of skills this year and I've expanded my horizons beyond my petty ambitions in the past.

Some things that were important to me in the past no longer matter, and things that other people, RIGHT now think SHOULD matter to me do not. I think it could best be explained as a paradigm shift. I've got 3 years of goals ahead of me now, ones that I hadn't truly considered before

Regardless of what video games come out, regardless of how this job turns out, this coming year is going to be exciting.


So, happy new year everybody!

Phasing in World of Warcraft is a mechanic that needs work

I was tempted when creating this to simply title this article "Phasing Sucks", but that's not even close to accurate. Phasing is a great tool, with phasing they've been able to tell amazing stories such as a player participating in a campaign to conquer Silverpine Forest, Icecrown, or many of the other countless Quest Stories that World of Warcraft has to offer.

For those who wonder "WHAT IS PHASING?" it's simple: There are multiple versions of an area existing in the same game-space. This allows the quests you participate in to affect the world around you. So, you could build a fortress, see the area around you catch on fire and burn to the ground and more!

A long leap beyond the old quests of classic Pre-BC WoW... but still, there is a clear and present downside.

That is when running through a quest with a friend, or in this case my wife. My Blood Elf Paladin was level 85, experienced all of Catacylsm while her Troll Druid was level 83. What does this mean? Large chunks of our gaming experience had periods where her character would fade away and I'd be unable to assist her.

All I could do is sit in the area or go do something else, in other words, it sucks. The developers would be wise to add a side-kicking function where the group leader could pull group members into an earlier phase.

The fact the system wasn't designed this way to begin with in a mass MULTIPLAYER online RPG speaks volumes to the evolution of the game.

Without this feature you are left with these singleplayer chunks that aren't all that fun when you logged on for the sole purpose of playing with someone else.

Still got one more level before we can play through Panda-Land together on the horde side. That'll have to wait until next week.

Marry Christmas 2013!

With work taking far more of my life than ever before, I was dubious that this Christmas would be a good one, despite that, it was one of the best I've ever experienced. The wife and I spent the day hopping from house to house enjoying the day with various friends and relatives.

I received quite a bit of [Steam Cash] as usual, but what I enjoyed the most was this high-quality cold weather coat my wife had gotten on Black Friday. So, I've got a great alternative to my usual suit jacket when it gets cold.



 Our lunch was the best ever, bacon waffles with the sweetest sugar sauce. Some have suggested that you can get diabetes just from looking at them.


[Our friend P3N6U1N] received Penguin themed gifts including but not limited to a bottle of Vodka. I envy him, though, he's got the awesome MegaMan 25 year Artbook.

All in all, it's been an awesome Christmas, although I don't know what tomorrow holds, I've thoroughly enjoyed myself.

For those of you [Youtube Subscribers], I've already uploaded a new Skyrim video today, and I'll be working on more tommrow night (time permitting). It's likely that the videos will be a once every other week basis after this holiday is over.

For you perverts, I will be working on a tutorial for installing and setting up Sexlab, although my new Nord Brawler run will NOT involve sex mods.

Waiting in Denver... Technology can be silly sometimes.

While I'm stuck in Denver for a little bit I figured I'd show off a couple more pictures, my co-worker Machelle is habitually running off and sightseeing, leaving me with the luggage. It makes me thankful for the public power sockets they locate so close to the seating.

To say we are going to be late is an understatement. Not only did my flight get canned, and I was rescheduled, but the connecting flight was also delayed, by over an hour.

We knew we'd be waiting around for a while before the delay, but now it's just silly. So, trivia time; not a lot of people know this but, Did you ever wonder why people used to say "You can't use your cellphone on the plane?" well for the most part it stemmed from a misconception that somehow your cell phone was going to mess up the plane's instruments. This is and has always been false.

The shear amount of shielding and signal resolution involved in how a plane works makes it 100% immune from the petty interference a cell phone could produce.

So, why has the rule been in place for so long? It has nothing to do with the FAA. The only regulations against using a cell phone in the air come from the FCC, due to how cell towers work, connecting to them in a rappid succession, like how it is possible to do while flying, is to my knowledge, able to clog the network to some degree. No big deal if a few people did it, but if every person flying everywhere did it, we'd likely see some stress as a result. Or perhaps not! Either way, that's why the rule exists.

Aside from that of course, there's the simple courtesy issue, talking on the phone while next to other people is bad, duh.

Skyrim - Tommrow!

Last Day in NJ

Last night my co-worker Michelle and I went to explore the area around the hotel the company has had us staying in. There's an interesting Chinese restaurant I don't think we'll ever eat at. But hey, we got a neat photo of her at the statue in front.

Now, as for the hotel itself, strike three, it's out. I went ahead and posted a 2 star review on it about how the maid service has failed. 

Today is the final day of my stay in New Jersey. I cannot say that my stay here was positive nor productive. I'm not at liberty to discuss the business specifics of my trip, just that I'm going to be very, very glad to be home.

Some observations in general: 90% of the people I've encountered do not fall into the New Jersey cliche; that annoying accent is only held by a small fraction of population that I've encountered in the ares in which I've worked. Most people are courteous, sensible, and well-informed.

My conclusion is that there are assholes everywhere, regardless of where you are. 

Now then! Tomorrow I get on a plane; we'll be taking off at noon. More from the airport, tomorrow. More Skyrim soon.

Snow Sucks, news at 11

As a child I loved snow. It was amazing fun to play in it, even if it was freezing cold and wet. Nowadays as an adult, the whole concept of snow has been distilled down to: will this cause delays getting from point A to point B? Will it prohibit my travel? How do I feel about the increased risk of a traffic accident?

All in all it's pretty shitty. I took a break near the end of the day and saw the snow flying sideways. That was cute, but of course it had a bone-chilling wind accompanying it that made my coat feel like it was made of paper.

In general a whole nother host of issues come up with the snow, such as frozen windshield wipers and more. I never know when I step somewhere, am I going to step on ice, slip, and land in the snow?

Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to enjoy the snow like a child once again. No time for snow men, no opportunity for snowball fights. It's rare I miss aspects of my youth.

Over Three Thousand Subscribers? WTF Youtube?!

It's been over 4 months since my job got kicked into high gear and I've had little time for games, youtube, and my general online exploits. In that time however, my youtube subscriber count has EXPLODED to over 3,000.

It's just silly, and I know why. I posted The most offensive Skyrim run on youtube, a video showing how Skyrim can be modified with some of the worst mods of all time. People, hoping to see more of that animated sex subscribe. It's so fucking stupid I want to stab myself.

The view counts are just ridiculous and If I really to, I could rack up even more continuing the virtual sex adventures... but really, it's so fucking stupid. Is that what the masses want to see? Some virtual player character getting raped by bandits and vampires over and over?

I made the video expecting to get a thousand thumbs down and a flame war, instead, the masses love the virtual rape and comment about how horrible it is just prior to subscribing and throwing it a thumbs up.

Is this the kind of thing people should love? Should I be able to profit from this? I think the answer is no, but the reality is yes, yes, and yes.

So, after I post my Brawling Skyrim Run, that will feature NO VIRTUAL SEX, will the masses beg for another rape filled smutfest instead? I'm betting yes.

Humanity, I am disappoint.

Traveling to Newark, New Jersey

Heading to Newark NJ today for a two week business trip. For those of you who don't know me, I'm based out of the Antelope Valley, aka the High Desert of California. This means I had to travel an hour to get to the Van Nuys Flyaway bus, to ride that to LAX Airport.

So, I had to leave in the morning, to get here on time, to get through security and of course - deal with any problems as they arise. Taking off out of LAX, changing planes in Chicago and finally dropping off at Newark. I'll finally be there by 10pm if everything goes according to plan. This means I have enough time to reach the hotel and go to sleep - then it's work tomorrow.

Getting really sick of hearing "Your Safety is our Priority!" over the intercom.

In gaming news, I've got all the footage from my Brawler Skyrim run edited and ready to upload, but that'll have to wait until my trip is done. So, expect a new run up in about two weeks.