Update

Hello everyone out there in the interwebs.  It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here so I hope everyone is well. 

Okay let’s see.  Well first off I have retired from World of Warcraft.  Seeing as I’ve been an active (very active) player for the entire time the game has been out I figured it was time to walk away.  This was both good and bad I think.  Good because it gets me away from the computer more and I’ve been more active physically which is good for my health.  And let’s face it with the way the economy is today who couldn’t use the extra $15.00 bucks in there pocket right. 

The bad part is I miss the people.  Over the years playing I’ve made friends with some really great people and hopefully we remain great friends and keep in touch (and yes I’ve actually met some of them in real life so keep your internet nerd comments to yourself ).  I also miss the team work.  That coming together of people putting all their ideas together and working to get to that goal.  It was fun.  But in the end after 5 + years I needed to walk away.  Friends and fun aside the guild drama, egos, and sense of entitlement finally got to me.  I’m a much happier person and enjoying life a lot more now that I’m not running my life according to a video game raiding schedule. 

Let’s see what else.  Well I picked up a new little pet.  A friend of mine had bought a guinea pig for his daughter but she was terrified of the thing.  So because the store was only going to give him a store credit for it he was going to just let it go into the near by woods.  Well after seeing the cute little guy (and being the animal lover I am) I couldn’t let him just be dumped off to die, so I took him in.  And of course I named him Waffles (that’s Mr. Waffles to you lol ).  So one of my new hobbies to taking care of him.  He’s actually pretty funny to watch run around the cage jumping up and down.  He’s all black in color with just a little brown on his back and face.  All in all I’m glad I saved the little guy. 

Another big thing is I got back on with my workout schedule.  Trying to shed those WOW pounds and get back into playing shape.  I’d like to get back into playing hockey and paintball again.  Hopefully by next summer I’ll be blazing down the paintball field again with my beloved Custom 98 by my side. 

Well that’s probably enough rambling for now.  Till next time kids!

/paw print

Wake the Hell Up Mass Law Makers

When the hell will the state of Massachusetts wake the hell up and start getting tough on crime.  Their inability to even enforce punishment handed out in court has cost this state another one of its heroes.  On December 26th 2010 Woburn Police Officer John “Jack” Maguire gave his life to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts while stopping an armed robbery at a Kohl’s store.  The loss of a police officer in the line of duty is always tragic.  But when that loss of life is due to the inability of the state to keep these career violent criminals behind bars sends me into overdrive.  The man responsible for Officer Maguire’s death was supposed to be serving 3 consecutive life sentences for armed robberies, armed assault with intent to commit murder, assault & battery with a dangerous weapon, and unlawful possession of a fire arm.  With all these charges and 3 life sentences our “great” state’s appeals court decides that this guy deserves another chance and makes him eligible for parole.  Are you kidding me?!? As far as I’m concerned the State is just as responsible for Officer Maguire’s death as the man who pulled the trigger.

Officer Maguire may you rest in peace.  May the suffering of your family soon fade.  Thank you for your many years of faithful service to the community that you protected.  You are a hero to the people of Massachusetts and your sacrifice will not be forgotten.

I pray our state law makers will take a good hard look at the system and fix it before we lose another of our great heroes.

Highs and Lows

Hello people out there in internet land.

So last time your old pal had a hard decision to make.  Leave my friends whom I love dearly to accomplish a goal or stay.  Well it was not easy but in the end I left my beloved guild and server transferred.  How did it work out you ask.  Well here’s how.

Last night one of my goals was met.  The lich king’s cold, dead corpse was laying at my feet.  The goal of a 25 man kill was realized.  I gave a hearty woohoo.  Than realization and heart ache set in.  My close friends weren’t here with me to share it.  Sadly the dream of us all celebrating together was dead.  That made me feel sad.

At the end of the night I was happy and sad.  Happy to have accomplished two of my goals (25 LK kill and getting my 4 piece sanctified armor) were completed.  Sad because even though these goals I had been working towards since ICC was released I was sad because I missed my friends (and their many many jokes at my expense).

So I’m left asking still did I make the right choice?  I still don’t know.  Some will say it’s just a game that you pay to play so you should do what you need to do to get as far as you can.  Others will say its better to just enjoy the game with good friends and to hell with progression.  God I wish I could have my cake and eat it too.

Till next time

/pawprint

Inner Turmoil

Ever have to make one of those decisions that just twisted your guts into a ball?  Well my friends I am currently faced with one of those right now.  Here’s my problem.

I love my current guild.  I made some really great friends there.  So much so that recently I went on a trip to not just visit a few of my current guild members but they invited me to their wedding.  I had a great time!  The friends I have made here mean a lot to me and I am a better person for having these friendships in my life.

So you are sitting there saying what’s the problem?  Here it is.  Recently our membership in the guild has fallen way off.  Forming raids is a struggle every night.  I still have so much I want to get accomplished before the new expansion is released and currently with my guild I don’t feel I will be able to meet those goals.  Enter the problem!  A friend I work with has offered me an invite to his guild that would allow me to accomplish those goals.  But it means changing servers.

Now I know some of you are saying what is the problem here?  It is a video game you play with a bunch of people whom you have never met face to face.  Well it’s not that simple.  Yes it is a game and yes typically most of the people you play with you don’t meet face to face.  But none the less you still form bonds of friendship that extend past the game.  You begin to care for people’s lives outside the game.  Even when you have a hell of a day at work you look forward to getting home and enjoy spending some time with these people.  Is that not friendship?

There is also my sense of loyalty.  For those that know me I am an extremely loyal person.  Its not something I give lightly.  By leaving and switching servers I have this gut wrenching feeling that I’m turning my back on my friends when they needed me most to further my own goals.  Is this a greedy thing to do?  I don’t know.

I know whatever I decide to do their will be a part of me that isn’t happy with the decision.  If I leave to further my own goals I will miss my very good friends.  If I stay I will always be looking back at what could have been and shattered goals.  I guess I need to think about what’s important to me as a person and live with the decision and not dwell on it.  It’s not an easy thing.

Back in the Saddle Again

That’s right baby.  I fellow off the wagon for a bit there but I’m back.

I have renewed vigor and passion to reach my fitness goals.  So yesterday I started back on the golden path.  I worked my arms, chest, and core yesterday with crunches, military presses, chest flies, curls, and swimmers presses.  My arms and chest hurt like hell today but man did I finally sleep!  I have not had a good nights sleep in weeks and last night was great.  I think I solved the problem my doctors have been struggling with.  Anyway despite the pain I felt great.

I’ve also recommitted to eating healthier.  Yesterday I had a meal replacement shake for lunch and chicken salad for dinner.  No worries I made it home made.  I used skinless chicken and used the mayo made with olive oil so the fat impact was kept low.  It turned out nice and really hit the spot.

But its a marathon not a sprint right?  So day 2 is starting out great.  I had a tasty organic granola bar for breakfast and some Bare Naked granola for a mid morning snack.  Lunch was a fresh garden salad with balsamic dressing (it was homemade dressing and man was it awesome!).  For my 2:30 PM snack I’m planning on having some sunflower seeds. I’m not sure yet but dinner looks like it’ll be a spinach roll up (whole grain wheat roll up of course) and some fat free feta.

Now the biggie is what about the workout.  Well tonight is my favorite cardiovascular workout – Kempo baby!  A nice 45 minute kempo workout should really get the blood flowing and burn some calories.

Till next time!

/paw print

To the Fallen – To Our Men & Women in Blue

Its another sad day for the country.  Two more of our brave police lost their lives in the line of duty.

Officer Jeff Kocab and Officer David Curtis of the Tampa Bay Police Department were killed in the line of duty during a traffic stop.

Officer Jeff Kocab leaves behind a wife who is 9 months pregnant.

Officer David Curtis leaves behind a wife and four sons ranging in age from 8 months to 9 years old.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of both officers.  May you soon find peace and may the anguish you must be feeling soon subside.  And may the souls of these two brave men find peace and rest.  You served and protected the public and citizens of Tampa Bay, Florida and gave your lives to safe guard those people.  Rest in peace and watch over you families for they will need your guidance from above.

From the son of a police officer this hits close to home for me.  I am saddened by the loss of these brave heroes.  Rest in peace.

*Salute*

It’s Been Awhile

So it’s been awhile since I posted here.  So long in fact I forgot my log in info LOL.  I hope you are all well and had a great and happy Easter holiday.

So this weekend I got my paladin alt into ICC 10 man.  When I was told I’d be the off healer when needed I was a bit nervous to be honest.  The last raid boss I actually healed was the Prince in Kara so yeah it had been awhile.  So I got my big chance on the very first boss.  Good ole Lord Marrowgar.  So your asking yourself how did it go?  It went AWESOME!!  No one died because of me so I was happy.  It did however give me a new appreciation for raid healers and what they have to deal with.  For my part it wasn’t all that bad being a paladin.  Beacon the main tank, heal the off tank, and the splash heals from my glyph hit the melee folks.  I did have a scare moment when I let my beacon fall off and the tank got cracked pretty good but managed to make a nice recovery (thanks to our pug priest).  All in all it was pretty fun.

The rest of the raid I got to play my main spec (ret).  Its fun to do encounters from different perspectives.  As my main is a hunter I’m used to being in the back going pew pew pew.  Ret pally I’m all up in peoples’ faces face rolling my keyboard.  It was different and pretty fun.  I still prefer ranged but it was nice doing a raid I’ve done before just in a different roll.

Thanks to Alla for putting the run together.  I don’t often get to raid on the pally and I had a great time.  Also thanks to my good buddy Bald for letting my have the 2 handed axe.  And thank you to all who came and played.  It was fun times.  Not to mention you all spoiled the hell out of me

Till next time

/pawprint

To Armor Pen or Not to Armor Pen? That is the Question

A big hot topic of debate for many marksman spec hunters is weather to gem for armor penetration or agility?  The answer is that it’s entirely up to you.  In my honest opinion no.  Going full blown armor pen can give you a boost to your DPS but it also makes you a 1 trick pony.  To be truly effective with an armor pen build you need to remain static (no movement).  This means your ability to AoE (area of effect) or fight on the move will be severely gimped.  On static tank and spank fights you do awesome but let’s face it,  the static tank and spank fights are few and far between these days.  By going with an agility build this will give you more flexibility in a fight.  Also going agility will give you more attack power and critical strike.  Are armor pen builds useless?  Not at all.  Are they limiting in today’s heavy movement encounters?  You bet they are.

In the end it all comes down to your play style.  If it feels comfortable and correct for you I say do it.  If you have mixed feeling about it or are unsure than I would stick with an agility based build.

Till next time

/paw print

Congrats Team Canada……I guess

So let me open by saying two things.

1. 1. I’m a huge hockey fan.  I love the sport and I’m very passionate about it.
2. I love my country.  I live in the greatest country in the world.  I lost very close friends in the defense of this nation I call home.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way let me say Are you kidding me?  Canada the gold medal?  Someone tell me who came up with this tournament setup?  Team USA beats Canada 5 – 3 in regulation.  They go into last nights final game unbeaten.  Canada lost to the US and barely squeaked by two other teams.  So they end up getting a gold?  Same record as the US and they get the freaking gold!?  Why is there not a tie breaker game.  And if the stupid Olympics are too short to allow for that than why doesn’t it come down to tie breaker stats like every other professional sports league?  Head to head they were 1 – 1 against each other.  But lets look at all the other stuff.  Canada needed a shoot out to win a game.  All of Team USA’s game were won in regulation.  Want to tell me how the hell they deserve to walk out with gold?

Oh Sidney Crosby please shut the f*** up!  You did jack throughout the whole tourney and got lucky by throwing the puck at the net.  Stop talking you no talent hack.  You all were supposed to blow every other team out of the water and failed to do so.  You got lucky plain and simple.  I seriously hope when you get back to the NHL you get destroyed in the corner and can never play again.  That way you can sit at home and stare at the medal you don’t deserve.

Team USA hold your heads high boys.  Everyone said you all wouldn’t even make it to a medal round and you crushed all the way to the finale game being the only undefeated team.  You all represented us well and everyone back home to proud of you all.  In the end you got hosed by the most screwed up tourney rules on earth.

Oh and all you Canadian fans who booed during the US national anthem drop dead you classless pricks.  That’s why us US hockey fans HATE you.  You all are without a doubt the most classless fans on earth.  Funny how even after you pulled that crap I didn’t hear one fan from another country boo your anthem.  Take some notes on class A holes.

Now I know some of you are saying “Hey bud aren’t you being a poor sport here?”  Yes I am but its my blog so deal with it

In the end Canada has the gold.  Congrats.  But really get down on your hands and knees all you Canadian hockey players and say thank you United States for having an NHL so we all have jobs so our most challenging thing in life isn’t mastering the phrase “Do you want french fries and gravy with that eh?”

Till next rant

/paw print

10 Minute Trainer Baby

Hello everyone in inter web land.  I figured I’d add a new category to blog about and why not my second favorite interest…fitness.

So back in October of 2009 I finally decided I had enough of being so unhealthy.  I quit smoking, stopped pounding back sodas, started eating better, and working out.  To date I still don’t smoke (although I do still enjoy an occasional cigar), haven’t touched a soda, and I’m still working out.

So anyway back to the topic.  I recently added Tony Horton’s 10 Minute Trainer to my library of fitness programs (I also use Power 90, P90X, and Practical Yoga for Everyday People).  So this morning I got up bright and early and popped in the first DVD.  It was great!  These workouts combine resistance training (using resistance bands) and cardio all into one 10 minute workout.  It was a blast.  When I first woke up and started I was still sluggish and tired (went to bed at midnight).  By the time I was done with the workout I felt great.  I had the energy to run a marathon.  It was a great way to start the day and get my system going.   Now I can go home tonight after work and do my normal workout.  For people who use the excuse that they don’t have time to workout I would highly recommend getting this product.  And for people looking to sneak in a quick workout before work I’d say check out 10 Minute Trainer.

Till next time!

/paw print