Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Work Interference

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On September 12, 2014

In General Cogitation

I am behind with my frequency of new posts. I was placed at a client where I was gone for nearly 10 hours each day and each day started at 7 in the morning. Needless to say I was feeling a little wiped out at the end of each day. I have completed my work and awaiting the next challenge; which means I am on the bench doing some training.

Some topics I have on tap (beyond the obvious MMO Times and TBT):

  • I think I am going to comment on SWTOR Strongholds (now that I have been playing it long enough to comment)
  • Perhaps my thoughts on the new Apple devices that were announced this week
  • I should find something in my field to talk about. I don’t do enough sharing about programming

I won’t comment on anything political. I will leave those comments for trolling Facebook and Google+. Is anyone out there in a beta and you are allowed to comment on your experiences?

TBT: Destiny Unbeknownst

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On September 4, 2014

In TBT

early-me-bethIt’s funny where you find your spouse. Some folks will marry their high school sweetheart, others may find their spouse using an online dating service or just by simply living their lives. I found mine while I was tailgating, but the interesting thing is, she had always been right in front of me.

This week’s TBT picture shows me and my wife, before we even started dating. We had been attending the same parties for years because we ran in the same circle of friends. We are sitting here at one of Hoody’s parties, playing some XBox. Clearly I am oblivious to her wonderful smile, damn video games. How could I miss the fact that there was this attractive girl that shares similar interests in gaming.

I have to admit that even to this day I can’t believe it took until both of us had finished school to find each other. However, had it not been for all the great friends I … err, we had at Purdue we probably wouldn’t have met. I have so many very fond memories of Purdue but I often wonder how different it would have been had we gotten together while we were both still students. Those are some of the fondest memories that I never had. I think the most interesting thing is that my friend Alan actually indirectly predicted that we would get together. He even suggested at the game that I should consider asking her out. I will never forget that prognostication.

I think it was only fitting that we married on campus, at St. Thomas Aquinas and held the reception at the Student Union. Both of us agree that there never could have been a better place for our wedding.

TBT: The Legendary Lodge Trifecta

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On August 28, 2014

In TBT

lodge-crewWhy do I call it a trifecta? Simply because it was definitely a three-way win for all of us. My final year at Purdue, while Alex and I were trying to find our final West Lafayette living quarters, we found Erin. Alex and known her previously but it was my first time meeting her. It almost might be strange for me to admit that it was also the first time I had a female roommate, but honestly that wasn’t really relevant. What became relevant is now we could split the rent and utilities three ways, and so we picked up the three bedroom apartment at The Lodge.

I already knew Alex was going to be a great roommate and I would soon to find out that Erin was also a great roommate. The only thing that wasn’t good about the arrangement, we only had Erin for the Fall semester. She graduated in December and would have to leave us. Erin gave me a huge appreciation for the Purdue Marching Band of which she was a member. Granted we would still have the benefit of splitting the rent three ways as the apartment complex management would arrange for another person to move in for the Spring semester, which is when we got Paula. The only thing I can say about Paula … she was … very peculiar; and she was definitely not Erin quality.

We had some killer parties and it was an extraordinary Fall semester. Alex went on to pursue his career in nuclear energy and Erin started her career in pet health. Hopefully I will get them see them again at a future Purdue football game (*hint hint*).

TBT is one of those crazy Facebook trends. It stands for “ThrowBack Thursday” and often times people post pictures. I know the old adage “A picture is worth 1,000 words” but most of the time the pictures I want to post have a great story behind them. In my traditional nerdy fashion, instead of just a picture I want to provide a blog post for my TBT moments to share those great stories. I will not share stories in which the context will embarrass or incriminate myself or my friends and family.

The MMO Times: Huolon Is Mine!

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On August 26, 2014

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

huolon_mountIssue 106: Sorry for the boastful title, as I was finishing up this post, I happened to kill Huolon and the mount dropped. I was quite excited.

Player housing seems to be the theme in this issue. I’m curious if any of you have checked out the strongholds in SWTOR. This issue does seem to contain more headlines about WoW again, I guess because there isn’t much else going on right now. After a summer of silence coming from Blizzard, since the announcement of the expansion release date, there seems to be more to talk about.

As summer wanes and the kiddies return to school (which means trade chat will be mildly more intelligent during the day), we get ready for the fall content releases, expansions and new titles. As I said, lots of WoW stuff, but there is also a couple of interesting articles too (including Blizzard’s response to the Robin Williams NPC). Actually you might be surprised that there are just as many interesting things to read as there are game announcements so I hope you enjoy the slight change in content. Enjoy!!

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TBT: Shots with the Doc

By

On August 21, 2014

In TBT

If my memory serves right, this picture was taken at Nathan’s college graduation party back in 2003. It is a picture of me and Dr. Doug Berg taking, what I’m certain is, a shot of Jägermeister, which was our liquor of choice back then. Actually I think there was rarely a party the included some or all of us that didn’t involve  Jägermeister. I can tell you today that I think its been years since I have taken a shot of jager and thinking about it almost makes me cringe. I guess my liver doesn’t have a taste for it anymore (though a martini sounds pretty damn good).

Despite drinking quite heavily that night, I do still recall that party. The party took place at Nathan’s first post-college house back in our hometown (South Bend). If I remember right, there was a moment that night when I sat down on a couch outside, leaned back but I kept going. I remember it was a very odd sensation in my drunken stupor because I couldn’t figure out what was going on. If you hadn’t figured it out, the back of the couch gave out just as I was leaning back. All I know is one moment I am facing my friends, and the next I am looking at the stars.

Most of us passed out on Nathan’s living room floor and I remember waking up when I heard his roommate come home (he didn’t partake in the festivities) and he had to carefully navigate around all of us to get to his room. I woke up again pretty early, about 7am I think, which was pretty typical of me after a night of drinking. I wasn’t incredibly hung over (which was also pretty typical back then). I remember another friend of mine, John, was also awake and we decided that we would slip out while everyone was still asleep and get some breakfast. McDonalds breakfast is great morning-after-drinking food.

It was a great time! While I still had one more year back at Purdue, Nathan started his career and Doug (who also graduated that year) started Med School in the fall.

TBT is one of those crazy Facebook trends. It stands for “ThrowBack Thursday” and often times people post pictures. I know the old adage “A picture is worth 1,000 words” but most of the time the pictures I want to post have a great story behind them. In my traditional nerdy fashion, instead of just a picture I want to provide a blog post for my TBT moments to share those great stories. I will not share stories in which the context will embarrass or incriminate myself or my friends and family.

WoW: Legendary Cloak Quest

By

On August 19, 2014

In Gaming, MMORPG, World of Warcraft

anth_cloakLast night I finally completed the legendary questline to receive my legendary cloak on Quentyn (formally known as Anthonius). It’s the first time I have ever completed a current legendary quest line (did someone say Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker??) It is a very long series of quests with a couple of obnoxious grinds (depending on your luck and the RNG).

The obvious grinds are all the sigils, secrets and runestones you have to collect. If you are not lucky when it comes to RNG drops, these will take you the longest. In fact I had to wait until the Gaze of the Black Prince buff before I finally received the rest of my Titan Runestones. The Sigils are probably the least awful of the raid boss grinds, they seem to drop pretty regularly. The only redeeming factor is that you can collect the items by running LFR, but you get a chance at the item dropping only once per week from each boss (in the applicable dungeon). Your chances do improve, I believe, if you run a normal raid (10/25). Honestly, the 12 Titan Runestones was the longest grind for me.

The other “grind” may not actually be a grind for some, depending on your luck (or faction). You have to win two PvP battleground matches: a Temple of Kotmogu match and a Silvershard Mines match. Your luck on this part of the quest is probably going to depend on your server and your faction. I play mostly Alliance so you can imagine that winning any PvP match is a grind. I was lucky with Silvershard Mines, I won on the third match; but I think I played about a dozen Temple of Kotmogu matches before I finally got the win I needed. I understand why PvP is part of the quests, Blizzard wants a legendary item to include all facets of the game, but for those of us that are not really into PvP (and play Alliance), its a pretty frustrating part.

I think if Blizzard hadn’t given us the Gaze of the Black Prince buff I probably never would have completed the quests and received my Qian-Ying, Fortitude of Niuzao during this expansion. I do kind of wish I had done it earlier instead of just 3 months prior to Warlords of Draenor but I guess its better than 3 weeks before it. Now I just have to finally finish Siege of Orgrimmar (I still haven’t seen the Garrosh fight).

(BTW, while I was originally thinking there is no way I am going to repeat this process on another toon … I do actually feel slightly inclined to try to do it one more time since the buff lasts 10 more days)

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