Chronicles of the Uber-Dork

Just heard that TV pitchman Billy Mays has died.  I had the privledge of meeting him about a year ago when I was working at Livemercial.  We did a short video shoot there, and he was a lot of fun to work with, and could not have been nicer to be around and interact with.  My condolences to his family and friends.

Me, My Daughter, and Billy Mays

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A little prayer time before we made our Emalon attempt the other night.  We wiped 6 times (maybe more!) but a good time was have by all

I’m big into WoW at the moment, really enjoying raiding and such.  Really enjoy my guild mates.  I’m in a Christian guild called “Narrow Path” (based on Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter though it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only few find it.”), which raids, helps other guildies, and has generally good conversation in game.

However, last night was the first night I spent on a program called “Ventrilo” (”vent” for short).  What it is is a program for voice chatting over the internet. WoW players typically use the for coordinating raids and other events where typing instructions would be too much of a hassle, or just want to chat with their friends while raiding.  Our guild also uses it to hold a Bible study on Monday nights.  That was what got me hooked.  I hadn’t used it before simply b/c I wasn’t that into raiding, plus I didn’t really know anyone that well yet.  But my desire to have some Bible study time after my daughter went to bed sealed the deal for me.  Downloaded the program, and after a few minutes of playing with the settings, I was on listening to one of my guildmates talk about God’s provision for us, how Satan attacks us, etc.  And I’ve gotta say, I really got a lot out of it.  Not just from listening to the lesson, but from hearing others share about things going on in their lives and the struggles that they have.  I didn’t have my microphone connected, but I wish I had. Next time I probably will.  But I’m really intrigued over this method of holding a Bible study.  I would have never thought something like this would do so well, but it did, and I’m glad.  More on this later

Redbeered made Level 80!

Not sure what this doe to my “Nerd Ranking”, but I think I move up at least 2-3 spots.   It was a fun run to level 80, and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to do it again.  I have a level 65 mage, but the grind from 65-70 isn’t too appealling, at least right now.  I think doing dailies and 10-man raids will be fun, so that’s what I’m going to do, as well as some serious PvP

Took out Sarth 0D last night, as well as the Stone Watcher guy.  The 25 man raid isn’t for me, at least not on this Laptop.  I DC’ed at least 4 times during the fight.  Yuck!  Everything else went fine, only died once due to the flame waves on Sarth, and came in 4th in DPS.  So that was fun

This is a Warcraft Post.  You’ve been warned.

I’ve been reading a lot lately the lastest WoW content patch on the PTR, and I’m excited for a few things for my hunter.  Dual specs seem really cool, and I like the idea of being able to switch between BM and SV.  I’ve been wanting to go back to BM for awhile, but I’m also really enjoying the playstyle of SV.  I like running around, trapping, explosive shot & aimed shot.  Good stuff.  But my pet is almost an after thought. I’m running with a Vargal Blighthound (the wolf pet w/ flaming feet.  look him up on petopia, very cool pet) just for the damage increase, and I’m very happy with him.  Since I use frost trap as my primary trap, then rely on procs of LnL from the trap and from Serpent Sting to get some Explosive Shots.  Good stuff, fun stuff.  I’m having no problems taking down 4-5 mobs at once, sometimes more if I’m really feeling brave   So, the changes to LnL have me worried about my spec a little bit.  The removal of SS from the mechanics of LnL will probably force me to use the “Resourcefulness” talent to decrease the amount of time between traps.  More frost traps = more LnL = more fun.  The only thing I’ll lose is the extra procs from SS, which isn’t too big of a loss. I’m not sure about this black arrow.  It looks nifty, but the proc rate for LnL seems a little low, and I won’t be able to use it with traps (shares a cooldown with them).  I may not even take this, at least not with my first build.  Chain trapping seems to be a better choice for me at least.

The biggest change I’m looking forward to for BM isn’t even for myself, but it’s for my pet.  Since they’re giving “Thunderstomp” to all Tenacity pets, I think I can really do some damage AoE grinding/farming with a worm, crocolisk, or maybe a turtle.  I’ve seen some screen caps of other hunters using these pets and it really looks interesting.  (By the way, I hate doing my own research!  What a bore!  Here’s my strategy:  Let others do it for you, try it out, then make your own judgement.  I could never spend all that time on a target dummy, respeccing and doing it all over again just to test a build.  Leave it to BRK or Elitist Jerks )

More thoughts later.

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Good days seem to sneak up on me lately!  A lot of good things happened today, and I’m excited about all of them!  Let’s see, I’ll put them in ascending order (least important first )

1.)  So, I’m moderating a friend’s blog today who is a missionary in Peru, along with his wife (www.thechadwickchronicles.com), and I think to myself, “I wonder how much traffic this site is getting.”  Log into Google Analytics, and they’re getting about 20-40 visitors a day.  Pretty good!  But then I notice my own traffic is up over 700%!!!  What the cause, you may ask? Well, I look at the source, and it’s from my favorite World of Warcraft Hunter blog, BigRedKitty.net!  At first I thought it was from a comment I posted there, and since BRK gets a lot of traffic, I’m just getting a little bit off of that.  But no!  BRK put a link to my little ol’ site on his site!  Rock!  (Note to self:  Post more about your hunter!)  So, if your interested, here’s my current hunter, of which I enjoy so much: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Thunderhorn&n=Redbeered I’ll be posting some of my thoughts about character builds and the new patch notes in the next couple days.  UPDATE!!! I just found out shortly after posting this that the missionary family in Peru that I wrote about in this post just had a daughter!  What a great day!

2.)  (Remember, ascending order, this is more important.  Stay with me )  A good friend of mine and his wife had a baby today!  A reason for rejoicing on any occaision, but this is pretty miraculous, IMO.  When this couple first got married, the wife was diagnosed soon after with non-hodgkins lymphoma, and soon after went into chemotherapy.  After a lot of prayer nights, sickness, and all that is involved with being on chemo, she was finally declared cancer free!  So, thinking that the cancer had ruined their chances of getting pregnant, they decided to adopt, which worked out really well for them (didn’t have to wait too long).  This was probably a year and a half ago.  So, imagine their amazement when the doc told her she was pregnant 9 months ago!  Truly a miracle, and I couldn’t be happier for them!

3.)  Last but not least, and most important.  I’ll give you some backstory on this as well, otherwise this will make less sense than I’m already not making.   About 3-4 months ago, my wife and I stepped down from a ministry leadership position at our church.  We had been at it for about two years, and the 4-5 months before we stepped down had really worn us down for a multitude of reasons.

So today, I’m sitting at my desk, and my wife gives me a call.  Very excited, she tells me that one of the members from our previous small group decided to get baptized and dedicated his life to the Lord!  I was shocked!  At the time, I didn’t know what to say really!  But the more I thought about it, the more I really thought that God was at work in our small group, even while my wife and I were being lead to other opportunities.  To me, this was a real testament to the power of God, b/c at the time I really felt I wasn’t doing a good job of leading our small group in prayer, Bible study, etc.  So I know it wasn’t me that had any impact, but rather that God did it all!

So, all in all, an exciting day.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!

I haven’t posted in awhile, and that’s not right.  A lot has been going on, so it’s time to share!

My job at AT&T is going well.  It’s a lot different than what I was expecting.  Going from a small business to a large business has definitely been an eye-opening experience.  Working with a large team on a single project has really been awesome, and has helped me learn a lot about coding methods and review.  I was so used to kind of doing everything on my own!  Kind of a system shock!

Working in the city has also been an exciting experience.  I wasn’t really looking forward to it. A long drive in, along with cold weather (which I hate), made me really dread having to take the train in.  I’m really glad a good friend of mine, who lives two blocks away, works right next door!  We’ve been driving in each day, which really helps our expenses.  What a blessing!

I’ve also been playing some World of Warcraft in my spare time.  I really enjoy it!  I’ve found a Christian guild to play along with, and they’re a really great bunch of people (”Narrow Path” on Thunderhorn server, if you’re interested )  I have a lvl 63 mage named “Mustachio” (because of his extraordinary mustache), and it’s really a fun time.  Ok, here’s where I’ll get really nerdy   He’s a frost mage, specced especially for AoE grinding, which is a blast.   It’s awesome to take down 12 or more monsters in the time it takes the lesser classes (lol) to take down one.  Couldn’t enjoy it more I don’t think!  Here’s the spec tree I’m going for, of which I’ve filled out the entire frost side so far, and am working my way down the fire side:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/mage/talents.html?tal=00000000000000000000000000000023012303100230010000000000003033033313233100032120231050

I’m thinking of not taking “Chilled to the Bone” and taking more fire talents, but we will see.  I think it will be a great AoE spec.

Anyhow, that’s what I’m up to!  Enjoy!

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Gotta love this!  Glad to see the parade committee had a good sense of humor!  Enjoy!

Image via Wikipedia

My unexpected job search is over!  I’ve landed at AT&T in Chicago, and I couldn’t be happier!  I’ll be doing PHP, Javascript, AJAX, HTML and the likes there, along with a few other things, and then learning a few more tricks! I can’t wait!  I hope to be starting between December 1 and December 8, I have to pass a drug test and a background check (no problems there).  I’m really happy with how things turned out.  Although I was sad to not have a job for 3 weeks, I was glad to move on.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, well-wishing, and encouragement!  It really helped the wife and me through this rough time!

This isn’t me attempting these, but these guys give it an awesome attempt! Enjoy! ROCK!