Green Hornet's Car

Showing off The Green Hornet car at Comic Con 2010.
The picture I took...

The picture Husband took...

Two different views of the same car because I cut off the back bumper...*cough*

San Diego Comic Con Recap

We geeks of heart and soul have debating in our blood. We argue about everything from Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Red vs. Blue, game console vs. computer, etc. And most of the time we argue with people we like.

I saw this article about what happens when someone outside geek culture tries to … protest.

I had delusions of grandeur this Comic Con. I was planning to go around getting sound clips for podcast bumpers… yea that didn’t happen. Actually after preview night I didn’t spend any time on the floor. Being seven months pregnant made it impossible for me to spend a lot of time standing and walking around all day. I will say that ladies that can work on their feet till the baby pops out are goddesses.

Wednesday was fun. A friend of mine was working the Con. I realized he has a Press pass. I knew … but didn’t look into the personal use of his pass. I informed him I shall be stealing his pass in the future. At least to get into a panel or two. So let’s hope next year if The Guild has a panel and it is not when my friend works.

I finally found a good use for Twitter… to complain about the lines. It entertained me.

I tried to get into Hall 20 on Friday. I was there just after 10 am and still didn’t get into the hall at 12:30 pm. After all that I abandoned the line when Husband messaged me. He said he had a seat at the Batman panel for me. I abandoned my space with no regret.

I was talking to a pair of sisters in line and a mom and daughter about why the line was going so slow. Apparently there was a True Blood panel in the afternoon so no one was leaving. This is why the big halls fail.

Note to self: the big rooms are a waste of time.

For the last 20 years of Comic Con, Husband and I would make a plan for the day and then split up. We would occasionally meet up for a panel or two so I could hand him snacks… or more money.

But this year I was regulated to one of THOSE wives. The ones that sit at the end of a row at a food court table waiting and reading. It was a very odd experience for me. The one big benefit of sitting there for a while was all the people watching I was able to do.

Sitting there I was able to listen to a gal chat about her WoW guild drama. Apparently they made their first Shadowmourne and then that guildie transferred server the next week. I think they are justifiably pissed.

Husband and I picked up Droid phones a few months back. They worked great. We have done everything in the past like meeting times, meeting areas, walkie-talkies, and cell phones to keep in touch while separated. He was able to update me which isle he was in so I could join him if I was interested with a simple IM.

One of the last things we did before leaving was register for next year. We always do this, since it is the cheapest way to get tickets. Comic Con 2011 tickets at the 2010 convention were $105 each. *sigh* (mumbles about the old days when the convention was smaller and was even at the same time as a quilting convention.)

Chat Borked

When you get your setup all comfortable things the interrupt it can completely mess you up. It has taken me countless years and raids to tweek my UI to how I like it. But then something goes wrong... and it throws everything for a loop.

First thing to happen is ourAV receiver died. The receiver (RIP) had my surround sound connected to my computer to the TV monitor. I played with games sounds and music going though it and only have vent in my headphones. If it didn’t happen at raid time … I think I would have cried.

It was a good piece of equipment, lasted us around 18 years. I don’t know where to start to even buy a new one. It took me six months to pick out my last digital camera.

The weekend after Husband connected direct sound into the TV. I want my surround sound back TYVM.

I have only been online on raid nights…

We were noticing that the raid composition from when we started ICC in December is completely different then it is now. We use to have a full party of hunters, a full party of Rogues, enough druids to make up a party of their own, and then the others.

Now we have a shammie for every group and sometimes extras, all the rogues but two have vanished, there is finally warriors in our raids, and we actually had four Mages in raid *shocked* the other week.

… we still cannot find a regular healy pally that doesn’t lag or disappear.

I am also having a lot of trouble with my chat window. Hydra’s chat was borked. Any link showing up (loot, quest, etc.) in any chant was not clickable. This made me manually have to click on boss loot to see what dropped. I also had to manually right click on people to whisper them.

Things I tried
1. Checked other character other then Hydra. They work.
2. Checking other characters off server. They work.
3. Clearing out my chat WTF. Nope.
4. Turning off my chat addon. Nope.
5. Turning off all my addons. Nope.
6. Clearing out my entire WTF. Nope.
7. Turning off all my addons and have empty WTF. Nope.

Still got nothing.

Husband then logged into Hydrargyrum from his system and it STILL didn’t work. Something was set up directly with Blizzard that made this not work.

After diligently sifting through the Blizzard Customer Service Forums I had hope that this fix would work.

So yea... aparently with RaidID when I was messing with chat window updates and updating my Chatter addon... I clicked on some useless menu item. Who would ever need to turn a window noninteractive. Sillyness. 

San Diego Comic Con Bound

Last week I have been distracted by family and friends in town. We have also started a bunch of baby classes. I get a whole slew of free classes and Husband and I are taking advantage of all we can get.

Husband has been going through his comics these last few months. They are right now all behind our tiny couch. They will be moved to where some bookcases are in our living room. Next step is to clear out the bookcases so they can be moved to where the comic boxes use to be. It is musical books in our house right now.

[Husband] Guess how many boxes I have?

[Me] *thinks without looking* 110?

[Husband] You counted!!

[Me] Do not underestimate the power of STARING at them for over 20 years.

While integrating three years of comics with his main collection he did cull out 20 short boxes to sell off. Most of which are things he has duplicates in a trade paper back or hardcover. It is a start and I am actually really happy with all he has done.

I did get on him for having three copies of random issues of the Marvel Star Wars. He has his original torn up kid read copies which he is not allowed to get rid of. But then there would be two or three other copies. *eye roll*

With all the issues we have I am amazed he only found three TPBs that seemed to have gone missing. I think they somehow got misplaced in one of our 14 bookcases… but with Comic Con this week … he is replacing them. Something random to look for which should be fun.

Our attendance has really changed.

We use to go all four days. Renting a room and attending late night events. Now? Not so much since they started preview night. Additionally, we are just a few Amtrak stops away from Downtown San Diego.

This year being in my seventh month of pregnancy there is no way I will be attending all days of the Comic Con this year. It is not much of a loss since we avoid Saturday like the plague. There is no way to get anything productive done on Saturday. So we have been skipping it for the last decade.

Sundays have been hit or miss for us since a lot of the distributors have not been putting there book at deep discount to clear them out before leaving. A decade ago we would be able to go around and pick up books for 50-90% off because they didn’t want to return home with them. Husband may still go with my someday (maybe) brother-in-law.

Wednesday we are picking up our tickets. Before we do that we are meeting up with a couple of guildies for lunch! I am excited. They are guys that raided with us prior to our current guild and then followed us. We are meeting up at Phil’s BBQ.

The Guild panel is on Saturday so I am going to completely miss it. But it looks like they will have the Season 3 DVD with them so I am sure I will get that signed.

My goal this year is to enjoy not having to push a stroller around yet. I will also have to keep Husband calm. He seems to keep mumbling about “This is a COMIC convention, not a MOVIE convention.” This is why I will not let him go on Saturdays. When we found out that Angelina Jolie was going to be there for the new Salt movie. All I can hope is that it will be on Saturday.

I am hoping that Fimlys will give me a list of people to get bumpers for Twisted Nether Blogcast. That will keep me entertained. There is nothing I love more then talking hired security guys in circles to get what I want. I am waiting for a chance to use being pregnant as leverage.

Don't Ask Next Time

*Husband opens Hydra’s car trunk to put bags in.”
[Husband] Why are there surgical gloves in your trunk?
[Me] In case I decide to kill someone, I have them.
[Husband] They look used.
[Me] *wicked grin*
[Husband] …
[Husband] You know that is not really funny.
[Me] It is hysterical. ‘Cause you had to actually think if I was serious or not.

Another Blizzard RealID Post

I have not commented about RealID here on my blog. I was of the opinion if you are worried about it… don’t use it. Someone who doesn’t know your real name and/or you have issues giving your email account to them should not be a RealID friend.

The only people who have my RealID are family and an EXTREMELY short list of friends off realm. The friends were only added because they were off realm. I hope this will make it easier for me to go off leveling on other realms.

If I knew this was coming down the line when I joined battle.net I would have made an email account only for Blizzards use. Oh well… not that big of deal.

While testing the system with Husband I was surprised at how much information RealID gives out. Not only that he was online but it provided full first name, full last name, realm logged into, character Logged into, character level, and zone. I know I like to disappear onto other realms or characters to not be bothered so this was a huge red flag. It confirmed my decision to limit the number of people who I made RealID.

As a blogger other peoples real names displayed is a concern. When I take screenshots for posts now … I have to watch for ACTUAL NAMES. These are not just any names but the people I love and adore in my real life. “Sister-in-law has gone offline” Annoying… but something I can live with because I love them enough to protect their real names and keep them out of my silly WoW blog.

This was my opinion as RealID implemented in-game... I would have liked to have more flexibility (like Nickname, friend access levels, hide characters from friend levels, etc) so it would actually be more useful. But nothing I couldn’t ignore if I wanted too.

Now to the Forum RealID issue…

MMO-Champion.com has link to the blue post and restates it. You can read what Blizzard is doing with the upcoming forums.

Here are my immediate concerns:

1. Minors

I think back to when there was hard core twinking in my battlegroup. Because we use vent I knew that some of the guys we ran with were 13-15 year old boys. The only place for them to rant or rave about a great game was on the Battlegroup forum.

Yes, some got out of hand. I will tell you that there is not one person I talk to today that doesn’t look back at those times and not remember how much fun posting on the forums and arguing with each other. … Ok… that maybe an exaggeration, but the times were still good.

Kids are mean. There have been lawsuits about High School students stalking, bullying, and just being nasty to each other on phones and on the internet. It happens. It is here. It is reality.

As officers we encouraged people to NOT post on the Battlegroup forum because we knew you cannot win with trolls. But they were teenage boys and had to learn for themselves.

The idea that those same minors would have their full first and last names out there are criminal.

These same boys are now applying to colleges and out there getting jobs. If they had a juvenile record it would be sealed and would start off fresh as an adult… like all aspects of the internet … forum post would be out there to stay.

Any comments about Blizzard not retroactively posting names are irrelevant. The point is minors will post under the proposed system because they did post.

As for turning forum post off for minors, what about the customer service? It is just not as easy a solution as switching off. 

2. My Real Name

I am Hydra of Almost Evil. That is the alias I go by. Some people know my real name around the blogisphere. If there is a legitimate reason for someone to know my real name, it is not an issue. I just don’t post under it.

As everyone should once in a while, when I google my real name it get another woman in the LPGA, a few of my professional engineering projects, my qualifications when I was a state regulator, some marketing projects I was associated with, and a few organizational memberships.

No where in there would it tell you that I have a blog that has been running about an MMO for over three years.

Anyone with any intuition at all will connect seeing a name posted even on the Blizzard customer service forum to someone that plays Warcraft. As a professional, someone in their mid thirties and looking for regular work and projects I am not happy with my name available in that capacity.

I don’t want a potential employer to see I am having trouble downloading the latest patch, logging in, or having a graphical issue. And as the primary place that Blizzard wants us to communicate issues with them… I don’t see how displaying our real names will encourage that in the future.

3. Other Professionals

In this game over the years I have met professional engineers, teachers, military personnel, doctors, pharmacists, county prosecutors, defense attorneys, fire fighters, chefs, building managers, bank personnel, and so many more. In my guild alone I know more then half have advanced degrees. They are professionals in real life, people like Gnomeaggedon (I will miss you!)

Relevance to RealID on forum? Just don’t post?

The idea that only those who are trolls and flame other people post on the forums are narrow minded.

Well that is nice and all… but what about guild recruitment. Your guild leader will have to post to keep you raiding, bring in new blood, and filling those slots.

I think of my own guild and … it would be unfair for anyone to ask any of the officers to put themselves out there. This is a game and you never know how “playing a game” will affect your career.

We live in a world where we use labels to define those around us. Good or bad that is how it is.

For internal Blizzard use and even in-game use I can work with or without RealID. But to make it so minors and professionals names are readily associated with a game and have no choice in the matter is not a good choice by Blizzard.

Loremaster AKA Hydra is not doing it but happy to push others into it

I know people in this time of pre-expansion summer are doing Loremaster. For this expansion we know that the world is changing and many want to experience to the fullest.

My friend Ratters has been running around questing and killing. He is completing Loremaster prior to Cataclysm using wowhead.com.

We were talking about how he was doing it. He is using wowhead.com to keep track of your progress. I really liked the idea of being able to access what quests you have left outside of the game. If you have a 15 min break at work, waiting for something or you are not at your wow computer it lets you plan ahead for the 45 minutes you may get to run tonight.

I also really liked the idea of being able to click though on wowhead.com site for the quest mobs to kill, availability of quest comments, and ease of sorting and searching quests using a browser.

If I actually was inclined to quest … I am sure I could flush out my thoughts on the use of wowhead.com for Loremaster.

Yes, I bugged Ratters for weeks to post something so I could link it to you. Hope it helps and maybe gives you an additional option.

Sluggles Epic Adventure

Gnomes rule ... the rest of you look and smell funny.

I have a half a dozen warlock alts on different servers. This almost makes me what to go level one.

Lock Raid Utility in ICC

I think they can go suck on … a Ring Pop.

I don’t want to hear it.

Nope.

Demonology … raid buffage… blah blah blah


…WHATever.

I am happy for you if you disagree with me… but I don’t care.

WE NOW HAVE A 25% RAID BUFF IN ICC. In a few weeks it will be 30% and finally 35%!!!

Any … I mean ANY… raid that says a lock MUST be a spec to benefit an ICC raid is just stupid. (You can tell them I said so too.) There is no way that the change to Demonology would be the only thing between the raid winning or not.

Personally I have spent years learning Destruction and Affliction specs. I have not only PvE in both specs, I know them as PvP specs too.

… but Demonology. Nope. I have never even learned the top tier abilities.

Hydra has NEVER learned the change to ugly Illidan purple shadow form. I have never even been tempted. Personally I think it is horrible looking and never have I been enticed to the talent tree for any reason.

I am not saying if you run as Demonology you are stupid. So quit your whining. That is a mental… personal issue. I am only talking about a “spec this way cause some nub that doesn’t know locks and is better off sitting on their thumb and bouncing” issue.

And… No… my raid leads would not be silly enough to demand I provided the Demo buffage. Mostly because I think they are smart enough to avoid the resulting verbal tirade. But I would not put it past them to poke fun of me now that I put this statement out there.

Lock utility is bringing the dps and surviving.