my blog sucks

I keep finding blogs that are way cooler than mine. Sure most of them don't really blog about the creator, mostly they just link to funny pics, videos, articles etc, but still, way cooler.
Any suggestions on how I could make my blog cooler?
either way, check out these 2 awesome blogs
http://www.mypointless.com/
http://blameitonthevoices.blogspot.com/

*warning, the following rant contains Role playing gaming terms, a glossary might be available on the bottom of this post. If not, too bad, look it up on wikipedia.*

I think I've mentioned it before, but I am a geek who plays D&D with my friends. We had a session yesterday, I was running the game, and it seems that we might have some issues. One of the guys who plays with us might be bailing on our weekly sessions due to World of Warcraft (aka WoW) Commitments. Seriously?! He is going to bail on us because of a friggin video game? He already plays at least 20-30 hours a week for crying out loud!!!
One of our other players is also having his D&D gaming time with the group affected by WoW. He has been playing it into the night, not getting his sleep, and then showing up tired and grumpy. When this particular player shows up tired and grumpy, it doesn't take much to have him snapping at you in regards to the rules during combat. Too much arguing and (I've seen this actually happen) can go from playing to quiting the session and threatening to quit the campaign in 20 seconds flat!

The funny thing is that we all aren't the best roleplayers and I am certainly not the best GM. We metagame (although this is getting better), we min/max our characters, and we could probably be called munchkins without us being offended. It's not entirely our fault however.
I still mostly blame the RPG system called Rifts for our poor roleplaying skills. It introduced us to min/maxing, and exploiting game rules.
We also tend to put an emphasis on killing and damage as being the most important thing our characters can do, so then we get super competitive when making characters.
This takes away from any chance that a character with real personality flaws, quarks, or realism might be used when creating characters. Those things don't help in combat, so why bother :)
Also it can give way to the players being bored if combat isn't occurring which means that actual roleplaying between characters and NPCs doesn't occur as often.

Setting the scene or giving descriptions to flesh out the world and make it trigger the imagination might not matter as much, and the players might bypass entire campaign ideas or scenarios just to get back to fighting sooner.

You might think that "isn't being the best in combat is a good thing", or "isn't fighting what these games is all about?". Well combat is a big part of most RPGs, there is a great deal to do with story lines, plot, setting the mood, suspending disbelief etc. It is a game of the imagination, so if it just becomes a numbers game with no substance or interaction with the PCs and the game world other that killing, then why don't we all just multiplayer Halo?
RPGs offer you the freedom to create almost any type of character and have them do whatever you want. Video games tend to be limited by the game itself.

I think I should cultivate some new players, but I have played with these guys for so long, that it would be scary to open the table up to unknown players who could be uber RPG nerds with no social skills, personal hygiene, and are still virgins at age 30.
That is the worst stereotype, but it could happen.

****** glossary of terms ******
RPG - Role playing game. typically played with pencils, graph paper, and funny sided dice. Typically played with 4-5 people. One person being the DM or GM. The other people creating characters to play in the game. We have been incorporating software with our mapping and combat by using Maptools from http://rptools.net/

D&D - Dungeons and Dragons. A RPG that is set in a fantasy/adventure genre that deals with weapons, armor, magic, monsters etc. i.e. Lord of the Rings was the inspiration for the original game back in the 1970s, so read the books by Tolkien, and or watch the movies and you will get the gist of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_&_Dragons info about
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/ game site

DM/GM - Dungeon Master/Game Master. Typically the referee and architect of the adventure. Typically D&D refers to him as a DM, most other game systems use GM. By habit, I tend to refer to it as GM regardless of the system I am playing.

PC - Player character. The in-game character that the players get to control. They usually have to follow some creation rules, but the character's actions are determined by the player.

NPCs - Non player character. Characters in the game world that is created to assist, give information, fight the player's Characters. Usually the DM/GM plays these characters.

Metagaming - When the player's character acts on information that he/she wouldn't know, but the player knows. ie. if the character has no prior knowledge of Trolls, but then purposely attacks them with acid or fire which the player knows trolls are vulnerable too.

Min/Max - minimizing some stats that aren't considered combat important in order to boost (sometimes ridiculously high) the combat relevant stats. i.e. lowering social stats to boost stat that apply more damage in combat.

Munchkin - a player who min/maxes as well as uses rules/items or anything in the game (sometimes borderline game illegal) to make their character ridiculously powerful, regardless of how impossible or absurd the combination might be. This usually frustrates the DM/GM due to the fact that the DM/GM cannot adequate challenge the players when they can easily overcome any challenge with hardly any effort what-so ever. It can also wreck game balance if one player is a munchkin, and the other one makes a character based on concept.

zombies and friendship

So I am going to talk about zombies in WoW, but first I have to write about my friend Agent EE.
She has had an extremely rough couple of days, but things will always get better :)

I came up with the top ten reason Agent EE is super awesome!
Not that any proof is required, but I just needed to get it off my chest.

#1 Super cute!
#2 Super sense of funky fashion!
#3 Her Love of Cephalopods!
#4 Her passion about everything!!
#5 Best ideas of fun things to do!
#6 Creative in so many ways!
#7 Has experienced life in ways that a lot of people would never even think to try!
#8 Inspires others to seek out passion and fun in life!
#9 Gives hope to those who had very little!
#10 She is the most giving, honest, life filled person that I have ever met! No matter what happens in my life, she will have always profoundly affected me!

Ok, now that that mush is over..... I swear I am turning into a girl :P

So, I have 3+ friends who play the evil and addicting World of Warcraft. I guess for an upcoming expansion that they are releasing, and probably also because Halloween is almost here, they had started introducing Zombies to the game.
I guess there are tainted boxes and cockroaches in the game, if you click on them you get infected. At first the infection would take 10 mins to kill you, and then you become a zombie.
After that, you gain Zombie powers and lose health over time. To gain health you must.... take a guess, attack other players and computer controlled characters in the game. Doing so causes them to become infected, and eventually turns them into zombies. Eventually you can create a small army of zombies who then can roam the land spreading their unique style of culture :)
My friends who first encountered it said it was just like being in a zombie movie. Before they were killed and turned, they said that there were so many zombies coming from all over, that they were frantic and scared.
Now, days later, it only takes 2 mins or less to become infected. So it makes playing the actual game really hard as there are so many zombies running around raiding the towns and quest areas.
I wish I was still playing the game, and could have experienced the initial invasion, it would have been awesome!

Just in case the infection spreads to the real world, some required reading would be "World War Z" and "The Zombie Survival Guide" both full of stories and tips to help you survive in a zombie filled world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Survival_Guide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z
Oh, and he does have one about robots, but robots aren't that scary are they?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Survive_a_Robot_Uprising

And yes, I google, or Wikipedia everything! It's like a joke I heard, there is no more wondering about stuff anymore like when you were a kid, just google it!

Oh, and I have to give props to my buddy to told me that all she blogs about are top ten lists. Thanks, jodiisallaboutjodi

nothing to see here, move along

I haven't wrote anything in while. I noticed I had 8 unique visitors one day, and some might have been from the US. I don't know anybody from there, so hopefully it was just a random person, and not some US stalker.

I watched the new Indiana Jones movie, and I was kind of disappointed. It was watchable, however it doesn't come close to equaling the awesomeness of the old ones. Harrison Ford is what? 66 years old? I don't really buy him jumping and running and swinging and fighting. I think if a 66 year old fell or was punched in the face, they would break multiple bones. Also I don't like the direction the went with the plot. I wont ruin it for you, but lets just say that it fails to suspend my disbelief, and this coming from a guy who watches zombies movies and plays D&D.

Speaking of D&D, we got together and played for 10 hours on Saturday. It was a pretty intense and awesome session, except when we got to the final boss, and our party got wiped out. It was just one of those chain reaction/domino effect type things. One bad decision (not by me thank god), and then things just spiralled out of control from there.

I went to Hot Yoga (aka Bikram Yoga) last night for the first time in a couple of months. It was pretty brutal, buy it was good. I strongly suggest that everybody try it a couple of times. The first time you will feel like your going to throw up. Especially if you eat too soon. I suggest hydrating all day, and having a very light light supper 3 hours before you go. One time I had pizza 3 hours before, and I almost lost it.
As far as the benefits of Hot Yoga, and what it is all about, it is like regular Yoga, but they put you in a room that is heated and humid. Sometimes up to 35 degrees.
It's pretty relaxing and good for cleansing and self reflection. I've been told that the stretching accomplished during doesn't really transfer to outside of the heated room because when your muscles are cold, they don't tend to stretch as easily. So don't try to be a super ninja after a few hot yoga sessions or you might pull something.

I bought an awesome new shirt for work, so be on the look out :P

Fallout 3 is out, I might pick that up for the PC, it's supposed to be awesome.
Oh, and I will do a separate blog out the World of Warcraft (WoW) zombie infestation later when I have time. I don't play WoW but a lot of my friends are trapped playing the evil and addicting game, and told me all about it. It sounds wild, but not enough to make me tempted to play the evil WoW game again. I have to go home now, I was blogging at work again :)

blog hog

Was in a work sponsored course today. I don't have to pay, I still get payed my wage for the day. I got a free lunch and coffee and cookies and muffins. Plus, the course is two days..... so I get to do the same thing tomorrow!!!! :) pretty sweet.

Oooo there might be a recession soon, which means I might be able to buy a super cheap house if everybody who barely got into got in there overpriced 40 year mortgages walk out of them.
If it happens I will feel sorry for all those people who desperately needed a house, and are barely getting by now paying for it.

Also, I might be starting a group that will protest (in a friendly comical way) againt the online MMORPG, World of Warcraft or aka WOW.
I will call the group, People Against World of Warcraft, or PAWOW!
The amount of lives, relationships and even death that have occurred because of this game is pretty astounding..... I don't have any actual statistics, but I'm sure I will find some on Google.

Also I have been told that WOW takes has 10 million suscribers, which they charge the users approx. $15 a month to play. So that means they rake in 150 million a month, or 1.8 billion dollars a year! Also, they occasionally release an expansion pack every year or so, which retails around $50 each, so thats another 500 million every year! WTF its a video game people!!!!
2.3 billion dollars are being spent on a video game! No wonder were still trying to cure cancer, or Aids, or poverty.