Weekend (2 Jun) - The Grand Plan

Weekend (2 Jun) - The Grand Plan

This is Hammer and Nails, Part Two. First of all, Judi was very happy with her newly organized room. I also made sure Judi's computer and Internet connection was functioning. That was accomplishment #1. For my office, I got my new computer rack in place, and got both of my computers up and running. In the process I cleaned up a lot snarled cabling. I also wound up with four cables I couldn't find a use for anymore. Hmm. Kind of like working on the car and having parts left over. Well, it's all working, so it's all good.

For the next phase I hit the Ikea store again. I put up a second rack just like the first to replace the section of shelving that went to Judi's room. I sent another cabinet to Judi and replaced it with IVAR shelving to hold more books and supplies. That was as far as I intended to take this makeover, until ...

... on Saturday morning, a vision came to me. I realized that my idea of turning my office room into a library, where I could display my favorite books, wasn't grand enough. All of the above work still fell short of what I "could" do. If I worked it right I might be able to build bookshelves along one entire wall of the room. I would have to convince a likely skeptical missus, though. Also, there is one more critical vote I need to get. One of our elder cats, Ellie (who is 13 years old), lives mostly in my office. She has her own litter box and not just one, but two beds to choose from, and her own cat tree. She is somewhat frail and suffers from neuropathy that has sadly weakened her legs, but she doesn't care a wit about any of that. She owns the room and any other cat fool enough to come near "her" stuff is in for trouble. Ellie's needs would have to clearly be the top priority in turning my grand plan into reality.

Well, I figured out a way to make it all work. I think. Then I pitched the idea. Ellie gave a thumbs up to her proposed new digs, pending her inspection once I'm done. I had to sweeten the deal with the missus by promising that ALL of my boxes of books would be removed from the walk-in closet, even if I couldn't get them all into bookshelves. I've culled a lot of books from that closet over the years, but I really have no idea how many are still in there. They'll either fit or they'll be donated.

Once that is done, Judi's plan to convert the closet into an office supplies closet and Avon holding area should be realized. I'm still holding out for one corner to keep my miscellaneous electronic stuff, but a lot of that will probably have to go as well.

I've been taking pictures as I go. Once it's all done, I'll do a picture blog of the before and after.  

New Subject: The Auction House is Closed

What? How could that be? In all the time Happy has been plying the AH, it has never been "closed." Happy got a little popup window that said, "The Auction is closed at the moment. Please try again later." I had time to wonder how the AH could be down while the rest of the world was still working. A few minutes later the servers went down. All of them. Hard crash. On a Saturday. This could take a long time to fix. Actually, they got everything back up and running in under an hour. Nice job. Except that Blizzard has a warning up that there are "connection issues" that are affecting some customers that they are still trying to resolve. So far it hasn't affected our server.

We didn't go to the baseball game on Friday night, although we had planned to. I was too exhausted from my project (hey, don't laugh, wait 'till you see the pictures of the mess I had to deal with; ok, the mess I created). This morning I learned that the game went 17 innings and well past midnight. I never, never leave a game before it's over. It would have been a grueling and boring night since neither team scored a run from the sixth inning until the bottom of the seventeenth. The Padres beat the Blue Jays 4-3. The Padres won, 4-3, again on Saturday. We'll be at the game today, Sunday. Wouldn't it be cool if we won that game, 4-3, as well?

Thursday (30 May) - Wow, Baseball and Book Updates

Thursday (30 May) - Wow, Baseball and Book Updates

My lone level 90 player, the monk Fist, sometimes gets to pining for more activity than her daily work on her farm. She got it in her head recently to see if she could upgrade the four pieces of gear that she still wears with despicable ilevels of i429. All of her other gear is at least i440. She could significantly raise her overall gear score of i450 if she could improve on those other four. Happy has kept watch on the Auction House and had some early success, but for many weeks now there has been nothing better available. The four pieces of gear are: cape, belt, boots, and trinket.

Fist plans to buy the i476 Darkmoon Tiger trinket once she has all of the pieces. Fist has six of the eight cards, and Happy is watching for a good deal on the Ace and Four cards which she still needs.

The other three pieces of gear present a challenge. Based on Wowhead, there are no Bind on Equip (BOE) gear that Happy could buy that is better than the i429 gear she already has. That means there isn't any better gear that Happy can buy for her.

If Fist was really desperate, she could check the Black Market Auction House each week to see if [Stalker's Cord of Eternal Autumn] shows up, but the i496 bracers would cost Fist at least 10k gold to bid on it, and the price would likely go much higher. I can find no other way to buy gear better than i429 for bracers, belt, or boots. Fist is "considering" looking at other avenues to get that improved gear.

There is also a bit of interest in, perhaps, leveling the three 85s (JB, Philly, and Wild) to level 90. I still plan to let my subscription expire in August. However, should the next expansion peak my interest, I would rather have my high level characters all at level 90 instead of having to go from 85-95 in the new expansion. I've mentioned before that leveling from 85-90 has been shortened by 30%. Don't hold your breath, though.

In the world of Major League Baseball, we are past the one-third mark for the season and the Padres still can't get above .500 and are barely staying out of the National League West basement - thanks to the over paid and under performing Dodgers.

Here's the prior status as of 15 May.

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Comparison	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Padres 2012	76 86 18.0	.247	651	4.01
Reality Autoplay	84 78 10.0	.243	667	3.69
Promise Autoplay	80 82 10.0	.249	688	3.81
2013 Season	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Actual Results	18 21 4.5	.244	154	4.13
Reality Results	21 18 3.0	.245	157	3.67
Promise Results	17 22 7.5	.239	166	3.75

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Here's the latest status as of 30 May.

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Comparison	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Padres 2012	76 86 18.0	.247	651	4.01
Reality Autoplay	84 78 10.0	.243	667	3.69
Promise Autoplay	80 82 10.0	.249	688	3.81
2013 Season	W  L  GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Actual Results	24 29 6.0	.246	212	4.30
Reality Results	28 25 3.5	.237	217	3.75
Promise Results	28 25 7.5	.240	227	3.46

> 

The San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners squared off in a two and two series with two games each in Seattle and San Diego this week. The two teams went 1-1 in both cities. All I can say is that we are two peas in the pod.

In regard to the simulation results, the offensive numbers remain static, which, in a word, sucks, but at least it's pretty consistent with what the Padres are really doing. On the pitching side, the real Padres have been stinking up the mound big time, and that is what is really killing them. The simulations show the pitching being a whole lot better than they are, and because of that both the Reality and Promise leagues have the Padres with a winning record.

The real flesh and blood team added catcher Yasmani Grandal to the roster on Tuesday, Grandal having finished a 50 game suspension for using "performance enhancing substances." He should be better than slumping catcher Nick Hundley, but he'd better keep his nose clean. Cameron Maybin will also be back with the team in a few days. The "injuries" that sidelined him had more to do with poor play than real medical issues. His return will likely send a player I really like, Kyle Blanks, back to the minor leagues which, in a word, well, you know what.

I have a small bit of news on The Song of Chord. I've laid out the landscape for the main continent and am working on the names of the regions and the people that populate them. I'll be drawing the map soon, so you should already have a map when I release the first chapter. That should work better than with the first book. I think I was several chapters in before ya'll got a map of the Wilderness Continent. By the way, the land mass in Chord is called "Land of the Aquivira." It will be divided into five regions.

Wednesday (29 May) - Hammer and Nails Stuff

Wednesday (29 May) - Hammer and Nails Stuff

When we upgraded our family room with a flat screen TV (and all of the associated extras that come with that) we had to do a lot of moving, relocating, and/or getting rid of stuff. Then, after we finished the new enclosed patio (which we call the "catio") there was more moving around to do.

All of that went well and we've reached the point where we are satisfied with how things are arranged. However, getting to that point meant making some other areas of the house worse. Specifically, I'm talking about our home offices, where I do almost all of my writing and where my better half handles most of the home paperwork, bills, and many other activities. Our offices are our personal sanctuarys. They are both in something of a mess, due to the migration of "stuff" into our offices related to the other changes.

We finally reached a point where neither one of us could stand the clutter anymore. We've begun a major reorganization of our two office rooms.

In my office I have a free standing shelving system that covers one entire wall from floor to ceiling. The brand is IVAR, and it's sold almost exclusively by Ikea. I like it because it can be constructed easily and in very versatile ways. It's also pretty cheap, using straight grained, unpainted pine and simple hardware. In a nutshell, the plan is to move the IVAR bookshelf from my room into Judi's room, where a lot of reorganizing has already been done. The IVAR shelving will open up a lot of floor space and give the room a more organized look.

For my room I looked at a lot of possible options, but in the end I decided to stay with my favorite shelving company, IVAR. They had expanded their system since I bought the first one and I liked the new dimensions available to me. The rack of IVAR shelves holding all of my electronic equipment (other than the monitors) is six feet high, nineteen inches long, and twelve inches wide. I am going to replace that with a similar rack that is designed a bit differently and is sixteen inches wide versus twelve inches. That doesn't sound like much, but it gives me a lot more flexibility in arranging and organizing the equipment. Most important, it will give me easier access to the computers when I need to make changes.

Since the new rack is going into the same space as the old rack, the biggest challenge is unplugging/disconnecting all of the miles of cables and cords and then reconnecting everything correctly. The actual moving is pretty simple, and I've already assembled the new rack (that took about fifteen minutes, it's really easy). Well, on second thought, the actual move of the shelving is a little bit more complicated, since I have to partially disassemble the old shelving before I can switch out the racks.

Once the new rack is in place, everything is reconnected, and all the blinking lights are working properly I can start moving the old shelving into the other room. I'm expecting that to go pretty smoothly. I may need to do a little saw work to fit the top tier of the shelving into place properly (something I had meant to do when I first bought it, but never got around to). I can get away with a little "good enough for me" work, but I want to get it right for Judi.

I'll have the house to myself during the day on Friday. I want to have everything in place and back to normal by dinner time.

That won't be quite the end, though. Once I can see how much space I reclaimed in my office, I will be building up my IVAR system to hold my favorite books. Real books, not the Kindle kind. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kindle and prefer to read books on it. Yes, even over real paper books. The convenience is just too overwhelming, from being able to carry around as many books as I want to being able to read them on whatever device I'm currently using, from PC to laptop to smart phone. Anyway, don't let me digress. I've always wanted to have a library room. We have a walk in closet that is filled by at least half with boxes of books. When I'm finished my office will double as my library as well. A lot of books will exit that walk-in closet (which is in Judi's office, by the way) and that closet will become our office supplies room, which right now we have scattered all over the place.

So, that's the method to this new madness. If you don't hear from me for awhile it's because somewhere in those miles of cord and cabling I've gooned something up.

Weekend (20 May) - Book Two, The Song of Chord

Weekend (20 May) - Book Two, The Song of Chord

Yes, I've started writing the second book in the trilogy. But don't panic! It'll be awhile before I start posting anything, so writing buddies are off the hook for now. I should also be getting additional help from a more formalized writing group by then. The second book will start in the same timeframe that the first book ended. That decision was actually a tough one to make. The worlds of Spark and Chord were once twins to each other, but the devastation done to Spark by the Wizard Wars and the loss of Song utterly changed that world. Chord takes center stage in book two, and the difference between the two worlds will be dramatic. Dice's Troupe remains the center of the story, and their challenges will mount.

Patch 5.3 goes live today, 21 May. The biggest news (which probably only I didn't know about) is that the world of PvP is eliminating the stat called resilience from nearly all gear. Wow. Instead, everyone (pvp or not) get a base 65% resilience. On top of that, pvp gear now has a cap at ilevel 496. The stat Pvp Power is becoming the key stat over resilience.

The reason for all this is to make pvp more accessible to non-pvpers. A well geared player in pve gear can now compete in pvp given he gets 65% resilience and can acquire ilevel pve gear that beats the cap on pvp gear. Overall, pvp gear (weapons, mostly, I think) have more pvp power, which is supposed be to the difference maker. Additionally, it appears that some effort went into making pvp healers stronger by increasing the healing effect of pvp power. You pvpers out there will have to let me know how this works out and what you think about the changes.

On the pve side of things, Blizz has even enticed the Wild family. Leveling from 85-90 got a little easier by reducing the required experience needed by 33%. None of the level 85s (Wild, Philly, JB) have volunteered to try it yet, however.

On the baseball front the Padres have won three straight at home. They are looking suspiciously like a real team. Hard to fathom. They still sport a losing record, though, at 21-23, but hey, two more wins and . . .  let's not get ahead of ourselves. We were at the games on Saturday and Sunday and will be in the stands for the Tuesday/Wednesday games against the Cardinals. My uncle is a rabid Cardinals fan. We'll have some fun taunting each other about our teams. The Cardinals lead their division with a 28-16 record. But we beat'em last night, 4-2, against their super hot rookie pitcher.

Wednesday - A Happy Moment and Catch Up Baseball

PS –Check Judi’s blog for news about the new addition to our little cat colony.

http://tazzydbell.blogspot.com/

This is a catch up of the status of the Padres and the two simulation leagues. A Padres mini resurgence (13-6 in the last 19 games) has placed them about where they are predicted to be. The simulated pitching is better than what the Padres are currently putting on the mound, but the blame for that comes mostly from Clayton Richard, who is 0-4 with a truly awful 8.54 ERA (that's almost a run every inning!) while his simulations come closer to what he was predicted to be doing: (2-6, 4.72 ERA, Promise), (3-2, 2.51 ERA, Reality). 

I'm getting predictable performances from the offense. The bottom line is that the 2013 version of the Padres looks a bit depressingly like the 2012 Padres. The good news is that the Padres nemesis, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are playing even worse. The Padres recently passed them in the standings. The Padres are paying around $74 million for their players. The Dodgers are paying over $200 million. 

The status as of 28 Apr (in case you all forgot :P ).

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Comparison	W L GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Padres 2012	76 86 18.0	.247	651	4.01
Reality Autoplay	84 78 10.0	.243	667	3.69
Promise Autoplay	80 82 10.0	.249	688	3.81
2013 Season	W L GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Actual Results	9 15 5.5	.244	85	4.39
Reality Results	11 13 4.5	.255	94	4.08
Promise Results	11 13 3.5	.233	101	3.65

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The status as of 15 May.

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Comparison	W L GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Padres 2012	76 86 18.0	.247	651	4.01
Reality Autoplay	84 78 10.0	.243	667	3.69
Promise Autoplay	80 82 10.0	.249	688	3.81
2013 Season	W L GB	BA	Runs	ERA
Actual Results	18 21 4.5	.244	154	4.13
Reality Results	21 18 3.0	.245	157	3.67
Promise Results	17 22 7.5	.239	166	3.75

>

Happy is feeling a little bad about an incident at the Auction House. Happy was engrossed in getting his daily work done when a another player named Sung whispered him. I have a bad cold and some of that misery likely spread to Happy. Almond was in game as well, although I'm not sure how coherent Happy was in talking about the exchange with Sung.

Happy doesn't get whispered to very much, but he likes to chat about his work ... endlessly, so most of those who do talk to Happy suddenly decide to log off for some reason. Sung opened the conversation saying that Happy was making him rich. Well, that's a line I hadn't heard before. The long and short of it was that Happy was selling a mat (greater planar essence, if you must know) at 10g and Sung was disenchanting it into three lesser planars that he was selling for 10g each, a 20g profit. Sung claimed to have made 500g off of Happy. That's 25 planars, which would normally take three days to sell. Happy made 250g from that little rush of business, while Sung made his 500g. Good for him. Everybody happy.

Of course, once he told me that, Happy checked on the lesser planars that Sung was selling and underbid him. Happy doesn't usually deal in lesser planars, because there isn't much demand, but hey, if there is profit to be made, he's in, for as long as this little mini-demand lasted. As for Sung, if he'd just kept quiet he'd still be able to sell the lessers for 10g each. He can't sell them for 5g now, and I predict the price will keep dropping. What he did for Happy was drive up the prices of greater planars and Happy did quite well selling 10g planars for as much as 17g and further eroding Sung's profits. The bottom line is that Happy made more than 500g off of Sung and other buyers caught in the price war. 

I wonder if Sung learned the lesson. Don't give your secrets to a competitor. Sung stopped talking and logged off ... for some reason.