Reinventing the Wheel

World of Warcraft is what's known as an MMORPG, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. The "role playing" part refers to the way you can create different characters with different abilities and play through the game multiple times; each time will be slightly different.

Since WoW is online, you're constantly surrounded by the hundreds of other players in your small corner of your server. You can chat with them, fight alongside them, fight against them, help them, harass them, or ignore them at your pleasure. A small population of the players, though, focuses on the role playing aspect of the game. They create intricately detailed characters and interact with other players as if they were their character, and not themselves. Blizzard has, in fact, reserved specific servers for role players to find and communicate with one another.

After reading about this online last week, I decided to give it a try. An unintended and welcome side effect of this has been that I'm doing some creative writing for the first time since college. To be honest, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. It's been like an old friend I haven't seen in more than a decade, and catching up has been a blast.

If you'd like to read what I've written so far, I've created a separate creative writing weblog to put it all in one place.

Posted by Dave at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Inside it's warm and cozy and I have a scotch and ginger ale to sip on. Outside it's snowing, the first time it's snowed in Atlanta in a few years. I dislike winter; I'd much rather be too hot than too cold. There's something about the cold that just penetrates down into me and makes me instantly miserable. All that said, I adore snow.

When it's snowing outside, I'm downright giddy. This is good snow we've got tonight, too. Big flakes that shatter into white dust when it hits a dry roadway and stand out on a black wool coat like spring's first dogwood blossoms. I'm not the only one, either. Big men the size of linebackers stare up at the flakes with a look of pure delight. I love that I live somewhere that snow is novel and special.

Of course, when a few flakes fall in Atlanta, the city grinds to a halt. Supermarkets sell out of milk and bread and eggs, because the only way to survive a snowstorm in Georgia is (apparently) to make french toast. The normally atrocious traffic doubles its wrath not because the roads are slick, but because we tend to keep our eyes on the flakes instead of the cars in front of us.

There's sleet and frozen rain on its way tonight, which could make things rather interesting. I remember the last freezing rainstorm we had back in 2000. The power went out in September's and my apartment overnight. We woke up listening to the eerie, hollow, echoing crack of trees breaking under the weight of the ice. The darkness outside was periodically and dazzlingly broken by the blue flash of an exploding power transformer. As it turns out, though, Matt and Stephen had power, so all of us packed up some clothes and our pets and had a campout and sleepover, complete with Sega Dreamcast and cards at the kitchen table. It's easily my favorite memory of their apartment.

Tonight is a good night to be home. I've got a lot of work on my plate and will enjoy taking some time off for World of Warcraft now and again. And every once in awhile I'll glance over at the window and smile.

Posted by Dave at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Dearest television,

We've had a good long run, haven't we? I remember many nights spent laughing at your antics. Occasionally you told me something that got me thinking. You've even managed to teach me a thing or two.

We've had our share of fights as well. I still remember the cold, dark winter of 2002 when we had our worst fight ever. I've still never really forgiven you for cancelling "Firefly" and "Boomtown," but to do them both in at the same time spoke volumes of your cruelty.

I have a confession to make, television: I've been talking about you behind your back. I've been telling my friends for some time now about my plan to scale you back. You cost too much and you don't really add a lot of value to my life. You've hung on this long due to some combination of patience and apathy. Tonight, however, was the last straw.

I've been that guy all weekend. You know, the guy who tries to bend all those around him to his will. You see, I trusted you with recording the SEC championship game on Saturday. I know it's longer than you're used to handling, but I felt comfortable in your abilities. I had to ask everybody in Chattanooga not to mention the score around me.

After my drive home, I settled down for a nice evening catching up on football. You teased me, that's for sure. You took me all the way to the first touchdown before you started in on your old tricks. Soon, I realized that the remainder of the recording was damaged beyond repair, cast to the winds. The worst thing, though, is that this isn't the first time you've done it. Oh, no, we've been through three of your crummy Comcast Motorola Peesacrap DVRs, and every one of them gave us the finger on the way out the same way you did. This is the very definition of an abusive relationship.

Well, no more, television. I'm making the call tomorrow and taking you down. How do the words "basic cable" sound to you, wiseguy? Oh, yeah, once you were "Silver Premium Digital" or some other code name for a hundred dollars a month of vapid agony. How's the view from the cheap seats, jerk? You'd just better hope that writer's strike works itself out soon, or you'll be staring at the inside of the armoire doors from now until the next Presidential adminstration.

I'm glad we've had this little chat.

Posted by Dave at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Overheard at last night's "Rock Band" release party at Battle and Brew:

Girl #1: "Who is 'Nirvana?'"
Girl #2: "Oh, I've been listening to them since I was in third grade."

Posted by Dave at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Mischelle and I spent the morning orienteering at Sweetwater Creek State Park today. The results are in, and we did very well!

On the yellow course (level two), we placed tenth out of 62 runners. Our time was forty minutes, while the winners ran the course in 26 minutes. The distance between the checkpoints was 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) as the crow flies; we actually covered 3.2 km running the course. Our goal is under twenty minutes per kilometer, and we averaged about seventeen and half today, so I'm very happy with our performance.

On the orange course (level three), we placed twelfth out of 45 runners. Our time was 1:08, while the winner ran the course in 46 minutes. The distance between the checkpoints was 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) as the crow flies; we actually covered 5.1 km running the course. We didn't quite meet our goal with an average of 21.25 minutes per kilometer, but it's the first orange course we've run this year. We (meaning me) made a couple of navigation errors that cost the extra time.

I don't think I was always a particularly competitive person. I don't remember being this way back in high school. I know I am now, though; I think it comes from being more confident in my abilities now than I've ever been in my life. I try not to be a jackass about my competitive side, and I think in general that I succeed (perhaps the comments will show otherwise).

My competitiveness can be a double-edged sword. In some instances, such as orienteering or road rally, I think that it spurs me to improve and to try harder when I play. In other instances, though, I think my competitive nature prevents me from getting better. I realize, for example, that I'm not willing to make the time to improve my running. This, in turn, makes me less apt to go out and run on a regular basis. After all, if I can't improve, why take part at all? Another similar example is quizbowl. In that vein, I really don't know how to become better, and that keeps me from wanting to play at all.

The next orienteering meet is two weeks away, on the Sunday after my next trip to Chattanooga. Mischelle's going to be in Boston, so it will be the first time I've gone out alone in quite a long time. I'm curious to see how it affects my time. On the one hand, I can generally run farther and faster than Mischelle in our orienteering gear (in running gear, she leaves me in the dust). On the other hand, it really helps having two pairs of eyes looking for checkpoints, and Mischelle's better at seeing them than I am.

Posted by Dave at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the United States. Even though it's at an altitude of over six thousand feet, it never freezes. Yes, I was at the first quizbowl tournament of the year in Chattanooga on Sunday.

I'm really enjoying Stardust. Stephen and I both ate lunch at Qdoba on Saturday, not realizing the other was there. I had my nose buried in the book; not sure what his excuse was.

The amount of alcohol needed to get me to sing karaoke is three and a half beers, plus one cider. I apologize again to anyone who was in earshot.

I know my way around downtown Atlanta much better than I thought. Our impromptu team won the first event planned by the new Atlanta Scavenger Hunters Meetup group.

A board game fest, a quizbowl tournament, a night of hard drinkin' and Playstation', an orienteering meet and a scavenger hunt can all be done on only eight hours of sleep. What it will do to my coding skillz tomorrow remains to be seen.

Posted by Dave at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's hot. I love summer, and I love living in Atlanta, and I even love summer in Atlanta, but it's hot. Unusually hot. When it's a hundred degrees during the day, you can count on it being in the high seventies at night. Of course that's fine by me; hot summer nights are my favorite time to go topless in my del Sol.

(The magnetic number on the side is from a road rally we did back in July. No Speed Racer illusions here.)

Last night I was driving back from a friend's house at about eleven at night. Dark country roads, half moon on a cloudy night, a warm breeze as I cruise my way home. It sounds cliche, but every time I take the top of that car it makes me smile. We've had Sunny for most of eight years now, and the novelty still hasn't worn off.

I always wanted a convertible, even when I was a kid. As it happens, I never got to ride in one until my first date with my wife. We've driven Sunny to Miami and back, to our hotel the night of our wedding, down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and on countless road trips through the Georgia mountains. She's eleven years old, has almost a hundred and sixty thousand miles, and is still going strong.

I auditioned to be a contestant on "Jeopardy!" a few months ago. A friend warned me that I'd be asked what I'd do with the money should I win. Of course, knowing me, I'll pay off debt and be responsible, but that's not a good interview answer. When the time came, I told the story of our del Sol, and that I'd like to use the money to repaint and reupholster and restore her. The interviewer asked why we wouldn't just buy a new car. It's obvious he's never been in love with an automobile.

I see del Sols fairly frequently around Atlanta. In fact, there's another one here in our apartment complex. It could just be that it's a distinct looking car, and therefore you tend to remember one when you spot one. I probably saw a hundred Celicas today; I don't remember any one of them. When the newest del Sols are now ten years old, however, seeing them so readily speaks to the loyalty they inspire. We get offers from people wanting to buy Sunny from us on the order of once a month. And while some people may think our average condition 1996 Honda del Sol is worth a couple of grand at best, in my heart Sunny's priceless.

Posted by Dave at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I live in the suburbs. I work in the suburbs. It's not unusual for weeks to go by that I don't go inside the perimeter. This weekend, though, I played hard, I did most of it in the city, and it was fantastic.

Friday night started with my college friend Matt's birthday party. We had dinner at Buca di Beppo, one of a chain of family style Italian restaurants. From there, we went to see Greg Proops at a comedy club. I was expecting him to be funny, but I wasn't expecting him to be hilarious. The style of his standup is much like Dennis Miller's: ranting diatribes full of pop culture references. In fact, we got tonight's Team Trivia name from his show: "Six Flags Over Stupid." Wish us luck.

Saturday Mischelle (another friend from college) and I walked four and a half miles and lifted weights at the YMCA. We then went down to Keith's (friend of a college friend, long ago absorbed into the clique) place and had fantastic fajitas at Chili's.

Quick aside: Chili's has jumped on board the miniature-desserts-in-shot-glasses bandwagon, to great success. Next time you're there, by all means indulge. We tried the chocolate and the apple cinnamon; both were surprisingly good.

From there, we took the train down to Piedmont Park and played frisbee on the lawn. Picture this: a beautiful sunny day, a band playing live music in the distance, a beautiful lawn, bare feet, friends and an Aerobie. It was heaven, and makes me wonder why we haven't already spent years doing it.

Once back at Keith's place, we jumped in the pool, cleaned up, then headed back into Midtown for dinner and another show. Dinner was at The Vortex, known for having some of the best burgers in Atlanta. The burger wasn't bad, but the sweet potato french fries were amazing. We killed some time by strolling down to an ice cream shop, then headed back to the Vortex's lounge to catch The Lucky Yates Show. Lucky has a monthly staged talk show and invites local celebrities to come chat. Saturday Alton Brown, the host of "Good Eats," was one of his guests. "GE" is one of my favorite television shows, and a lot of my cooking techniques are learned from him. The show was a blast, and we're already looking forward to next month's installment.

Sunday started with Mischelle and I running 5K in Decatur around the Dekalb Farmers Market. We stopped in to grab some produce, then I headed home to cook. I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, but made plenty of food for this week. I'm trying to get into the habit of making extra portions and taking them for lunch instead of eating out.

Sunday wrapped up in Stone Mountain at the Atlanta Rollergirls championship (Camille will be so pleased). One of my coworkers is a derby girl, and has been inviting us all year to come see her skate. The bout was really exciting, and was evenly matched all evening. Though college football is my favorite spectator sport, I'll watch a close game of just about anything.

Now I'm off to start my last week at my current job. I just landed a new position and am really eager to get started with them. Four more days of work and a long weekend to celebrate are in front of me.

Posted by Dave at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So there's this new rhythm game coming out for the Wii next week called "Boogie." I'm a sucker for Dance Dance Revolution and its cousins, so this sounds right up my alley. I hit the web to find some videos, trying to see how the game works. In the process, I found this trailer for the game:

(Don't play this unless you want to find yourself in my predicament)