Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

The MMO Times: Time for Comic-Con!

kevin-doyle-walk-sdccIssue 121: The biggest Comic-Con of the year, SDCC, was at the Anaheim Convention Center July 9th-12th! I tell you, some day I have to go to this event just to say I was there. If I raise my kid(s) right way they will also want to go so perhaps they will be my way to get out there! Personally I’m not into cosplay, however if they wanted to dress up then I would certainly oblige. Speaking of cosplay, did you see the endearing story about the guy that walked 650 miles to Comic-Con dressed as a Stormtrooper in memory of his wife that had recently passed away from cancer? It is proof, once again, that geeks have some of the biggest hearts! There is more information on Eileen’s Little Angel’s Foundation on Kevin Doyle’s website.

So, were there any goodies to talk about? I’ll say there was! I think everyone might have been pretty excited about the status of the Warcraft movie, including the little teaser Legendary released (which, allegedly, looks better using their app) which might just give you goosebumps. Unlike the past couple of issues, this one is not dominated by World of Warcraft updates. In fact, other than the Warcraft movie, several of the interesting posts are about lesser known, or new, titles. For example, the updates coming for Dragon Age: Inquisition or the launch of new titles like Skyforge and sequel news for Mirror’s Edge. There is even some SWTOR, FFXIV and Baldur’s Gate news (yes, Baldur’s Gate; talk about a blast-from-the-past). I try to provide news as diversely as I can so hopefully you might find something new and interesting to read about in this issue. KCGO.

Did Fitbit Make America Healthier?

I talk about my Fitbit a lot because over the past 2+ years it has helped me to lose over 50 lbs and keep it off. In that time I know, literally, almost 100+ people that are using Fitbits to get into better shape. I know there are millions more out there just based on the premise that Fitbit is now trading stock publicly and you see Fitbit commercials during prime time television. Today I know it isn’t just Fitbit that is causing more Americans to become healthier; Nike, BodyFit, Apple’s HealthKit, even the Microsoft Band (for the 3 people that have one) are also contributors. So I don’t think Fitbit single-handedly made America healthier, but I think it was the catalyst. Seriously, if only Fitbit had stock I could have bought 2 years ago!

I had tried so many different fads, diets and programs to try to lose weight and get into shape, I was even offered monetary rewards one time; but nothing I tried seemed to work. I don’t know what it was about the Fitbit that turned it around for me, but I’m glad it worked. I wish I knew the statistics of obesity in America right now and I’m curious if they have gone down (since I’m not a professional blogger and I don’t write for the AP, I don’t feel like doing the research myself – I guess that qualifies me to work for CNN *rim-shot*).

These things do have a tendency to fade away as it will no longer be “trendy” to use a fitness tracker, but hopefully the numbers keep rising. I know I do what I can to encourage friends, family and co-workers to keep walking and working out to help them become healthier. I think its pretty hilarious though that all of Michelle Obama’s “efforts” to reduce obesity hasn’t had the same impact as a tiny, electronic device (especially since I still see King Size candy bars and I still drink 16+ ounces of pop every day). It just goes to show you that even a tiny device is much more influential than a tiny mind 😉

Keep Walking My Friends (in the voice of the Dos Equis guy)

4th of July Pork Shoulder

Photo Jun 16, 10 06 56 AMIf Memorial Day is the biggest grilling day of the year, then 4th of July has to be the second biggest grilling day of the year. I’d like to say that I did grill out, but technically I did not. I smoked a 7 lb pork shoulder instead. This was the first time I smoked a pork shoulder. I also made my rub again (with a minor tweak) and created a pork injection and BBQ sauce from scratch. The minor tweak to my rub was simply making my own brown sugar, which is insanely easy (its just sugar and molasses) but it made a huge difference in the flavor profile of the rub.

We tried to make two sauces actually. We followed the recipe in Myron Mixon‘s “Everyday Barbeque” book and it turned out to be more like a pizza sauce then a BBQ sauce. I looked up the reviews of the book online and discovered that everyone that tried the recipe thought the same thing. We were completely unable to salvage the sauce and ended up giving it to a friend who would use it as a pasta sauce/marinade for non-BBQ dishes. Despite the terrible BBQ sauce recipe, the book has been quite useful and definitely contributed to the success of this smoked pork shoulder. The other sauce we made turned out to be really good. We looked for a recipe that was suppose to be close to Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce but we decided to alter the recipe, of course, because I wanted to make it my own instead of somebody else’s recipe.

I smoked the pork for about 10 hours; although in hindsight I probably should have gone another hour or two as the meat didn’t pull apart as easily as I would have liked. After I took it off the grill I wrapped it in some foil with more fresh brown sugar, butter and agave. I then wrapped it again in a heavy wool blanket in a cooler and let it rest there for 45 minutes to an hour.

I took a few pictures to document the progress and end result …

Book Review: Clockwork Princess

Clockwork Princess (The Infernal Devices, #3)Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

My rating: [rating=3]
(See this review on Goodreads.)

I’m glad that I read this series, especially after having read all of The Mortal Instruments books. Honestly, the epilogue in this book is what really wraps the series up nicely. I think my biggest criticism about this book is there was a lot of the mushy romance, which isn’t really a theme that appeals to me.

I did enjoy discovering the source of Jace’s charming disposition and even the origin of Isabella’s necklace and Church the cat. Tessa’s use of her “gift” during the climatic standoff was pretty epic in-and-of-itself. It actually had me saying “wow” out loud; I love it when a book elicits an involuntary, audible reaction.

All-in-all I like the author’s integration of her “Shadowhunter” lore with the mythical lore of warewolves, vampires and fae. Again, as a guy reading these books, I didn’t find the sentimentality as appealing which I found was more what these books focused on. Needed more action, less romance.

View all my reviews

The MMO Times: ID4 Edition

imperial_center_rotjIssue 120: It’s already Independence Day, where has this year gone. The days are already growing shorter and we are already a third of the way through the summer. Gaming is definitely one way to spend those hot summer days. Granted going outside is good for the ole belly, but there’s nothing good about heat stroke. Plan your day-star activities carefully. 

Now that E3 is in the bag, I am trying to get back to news that is more specific to MMOs, though there are a couple of interesting non-MMO news. I also wanted to mention the fact that Steam’s impending console has already sold out of pre-orders for the October deliveries. It’s surprising that so many people blindly throw their money at a new gaming system without knowing how good it is. Don’t get me wrong I think Steam is great, but just look at the PC version of Arkham Knight which is still making headlines (and not in a good way).

There is news about the much anticipated new content for Heroes of the Storm, TSW’s anniversary event, the Rakghoul plague returns to infect the universe, unexpected news about Patch 6.2 and other things to check out. Make sure you get out there and enjoy our nation’s birthday (assuming you live in the States) and be safe out there.

WoW: Fury of Hellfire Patch

guldanSo I finally got around to logging into the game after the 6.2 patch launched this past Tuesday to check out the new content. So far I think the docks and naval missions are pretty well done. The UI elements and quest mechanics are pretty smooth and intuitive (though I do hope Master Plan makes an update to include naval missions – I don’t like to drag and drop). So far my biggest regret is not raiding as much. I have yet to do all of Blackrock Foundry and having spent even just a little time in Tanaan Jungle, I’m starting to feel a little excited to try Hellfire Citadel.

In short, I MISS MY RAID TEAM!!!

Anyway, with that out of my system. The other exciting thing is that I can buy a couple of mounts for a decent gold price (I’m glad I spent all of last patch going all Ebeneezer Scrooge on gold). I was disappointed to find out that I have much further to go than I thought to unlocking flying in Draenor so I guess I better get back out there and explore some more. You know, now might be the time to spend my evenings plowing through content now that most of the shows I watch are all on summer break. Granted there are several projects around the house that I have to do too, one that specifically impacts my entertainment and gaming comfort. Oh yea, and there’s our 14 month old daughter 😉

Perhaps this patch is what I need to try to get back on track with the story, though I do think I miss tanking. I can’t seem to produce very good numbers as a Ret Paladin. I guess I should pay a visit to Icy Veins to see if I can find out what I’m doing wrong because I feel like at my iLevel I should be producing higher numbers.

I know its barely been a week since the patch went live, but I’m curious what things other folks like, or don’t like, about the new content.

FOR THE ALLIANCE!

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