The Teachings of Steve...

My PayPal account currently contains a small amount of money paid by a sponsor to Inside Azeroth (which is my podcast, for those of you just tuning in). It's not enough, but with this sponsorship deal we'll be able to cover our hosting costs and the WoW monthly fees for both David and myself with a bit left over.

In short, I'm being paid to do something I love, and something that I'm normally happy to pay to do. It's not like I can quit my job or anything...yet, but it's a big step. Maybe someday we'll indeed be living the dream.

Just found out that my uncle Andy is not expected to live throughout the night. I know very little about his ailment, only that he's been very ill for quite some time, and Thursday night his body began shutting down.

Andy was a good uncle. I was never as close to him as I am my uncle Tim or Ridge, but he was always kind and thoughtful. My most vivid memories of the man are at the card table. Even though he was a dreadful bridge player and we savaged him brutally at the table, he played with a smile, just happy to play and enjoy the company of his family.

I'll miss his upbeat manner and his ready laugh, even if we really only saw one another once a year.

Redouble.

I saw this little meme over on cowboy_r's LJ and had to give it a whirl. I apparently need to post more or my life needs to get more interesting. Or both.

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Yes, I know it's been six weeks and I'm only resurfacing to be miserable.

Today I woke up to find numerous Facebook comments, text messages, tweets and e-mails saying my characters on World of Warcraft were behaving erratically. Logging on and off, not responding to tells, etc.

I woke up this morning unable to log onto WoW, and the Armory is showing I have numerous characters that have been deleted. Whoever it was that violated my account also completely assraped the guild bank I'm in charge of...yes, that would be the podcast guild. The work and generous donations of 150 characters gone in sixty seconds.

Armory is at least showing my main still exists and his equipment is intact - for now. I have no idea how long that will last, or even if that's still the case. Have I mentioned that Blizzard's customer support line is closed on weekends? Yes...the best I can do is send in an e-mail and be pissed off.

I think I can say, without fear of contradiction, motherfucker.

3. Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the D&D Game by Shelly Mazzanoble

I'll confess I actually got this book for my wife. I don't think she's ever quite gotten my fascination with RPGs, which is okay - I've never quite gotten her fascination with cashmere. It feels so weird! She started reading it, which is to say I think she looked at the cover and the table of contents.

I really enjoyed reading about Shelly's descent into D&D, the birth of Astrid (her elven sorceress) and her early adventures with her group at WotC. I think it'd be neat if she did a 4th edition version sometime - I'd read it.

On another note, thank you nicodemos for the kind belated Christmas gift! It's perfect! The right level range and everything. Looking forward to DM'ing that one in the near future.

I guess I better get started.

1) Straight Silver by Dan Abnett

2) Sabaat Martyr by Dan Abnett

I've been on a Warhammer 40k kick lately. I've never played the miniatures game, but I've spent many hours playing the PC real-time strategy game Dawn of War. It's really quite a rich environment for fiction, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that while these are books about a very grisly series of military campaigns, there's a lot more going on than death and las-blasts.

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I put together my new office chair last night with a little help from my lovely wife. While it's a little higher than I'm used to, it's still a hell of a lot more comfortable than the folding chair I was using.

(That should be read wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! Like the noise one would make sledding down a huge hill...you know, like if we had snow in Tucson.)

Our big family gift this year was a Nintendo Wii. So far, the only game we have is Wii Sports, and I'm telling you that the doubles team of myself and darth_riley is formidable indeed. I really want to get Mario Kart (oh my mistress...how I have missed you so...), but I'd like to get something else as well. Maybe Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? Anyone else have any suggestions?

Speaking of which, I have to get it off my chest. I love the animated series The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. I can't help it. I dig the animation, I like the stories, and the characters built around the ones we know are all interesting and wonderfully Star Wars-y. I may have been disappointed in the prequel trilogy, but The Clone Wars really has reignited my passion for the Lucasverse. Oooh! Anyone play the Lego Star Wars game for Wii? That would be fun.

Dinner with the extended family tonight. It's a little sad that I'd rather stay home, play some Wii or WoW (heh...that sounds funny) or watch the rest of the second season of How I Met Your Mother, but the spawn knows presents await her at my folks' place, and she will not be denied.

Wow, been a while since I've had much to say, so I'll hit the high notes:

darth_riley finished her first semester of 1st grade. Like most kids, she doesn't care for school and would rather play Barbies, kick around the soccer ball, ride bikes or collect vanity pets on her fire mage.

I'm fortunate enough to have a wonderful wife and family, and while we still have some unpacking and settling in to do, the house we moved into really feels like home.

sundaygames is deep in a 4th edition D&D game. There was a time just four months ago when I would've sworn this would never come to pass; I'm glad I was wrong. My friends at that gaming group are good folks, and I look forward to seeing them every week. DragonBorn P0rn, LLC 4 Life!

My Friday night gaming group remains the most challenging (and occasionally frustrating) game I've played. It requires high-level thinking, good role-playing, and the ability to make snap combat decisions on your feet. I really enjoy it, and I'm blessed with a good group...if only I could get them to play 4th edition!

My podcast just recorded it's 31st episode. We're planning to start our own guild (parallel guilds - one EU and one US) soon. I always thought we'd do a good show, but I never imagined we'd draw such a fantastic community. I got 'recognized' while playing two nights ago - that's both gratifying and terrifying. :) Speaking of which, I'm lucky to have friends both near and far with whom to enjoy my addiction favorite pastime. From just across town to across the world in England and Australia, it's nice to know I have people to show me around when I go on my world tour...someday.

Left 4 Dead is downright awesome. I need more friends to play it with online.

Happy New Year, everyone!

If you're reading this before about noon MST (2pm on the East Coast, 11am on the West), PLEASE shoot off a short e-mail to thegrindpodcast@gmail.com.

In the body of the e-mail say something like:


Luke,

Go get your epic flying mount! N00b!



Or some variation of the above...as long as it calls for him to get his epic flying mount it's good. If you're a WoW player, maybe include your character details and server name?

Only 90 minutes to go!

ETA: We did it! A total of 55 e-mails and now Luke has to drop everything and go get his epic flier. Woohoo! Thanks for helping out.

I finished Gears of War 2 yesterday, and while I have long maintained that the game is truly legendary, I'm a little let down by the ending battle. The last fight against RAAM in Gears of War was epic. You had to employ a lot of strategy, know when to just suppress him and know when to pour on the DPS. Sometimes you had to run, sometimes you had to dodge by him, and sometimes you had to have the intestinal fortitude to stand your ground. It was challenging and blissfully rewarding.

Without revealing any spoilers, this battle was just kind of meh. The enemy was something completely new and freaky, but the tactics required were very straightforward and the battle was quite short. Visually amazing, but still not entirely fulfilling.

Still, Gears of War 2 is a truly legendary game, well deserving of the 9s and 9.5s it earned, and I'll be playing through the campaign mode again both on a higher difficulty and in co-op with lysander_cat (I call Marcus!). I'm also really looking forward to playing Horde mode online...four players square off against wave after wave of increasingly difficult groups of locust troops. I've heard the first wave is about a half-dozen wretches and a handful of troops, whereas the higher waves consist of brumaks, the new monk-type guys and dozens of other soldiers. Sounds delicious to me.

26th episode of our show is in the can and should be released sometime today. Woohoo!