Author: Andy Scheffler

The microwave just stopped working last night — after all it is 15 years old. Unfortunately, it’s part of a stove/oven combo, so getting it repaired is probably a better (i.e. cheaper) option than buying a whole new unit. So I was planning on calling GE Appliance Service today, and I just did a few minutes ago. Their posted hours on the website are 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET, and it was 2 p.m. PT. I got dumped by a message saying they were closed… a message which repeated the posted hours. Hello?! It’s not 6 p.m. for 45 more minutes! Argh! I suppose I’ll have to call tomorrow.

Of course, the reason why I didn’t call until 2 p.m.?

More Final Fantasy XI pictures

Must. Attend. Concert.

After marvelling at the relative ease at how quickly I was able to pick up a package at the FedEx facility last night, just by them scanning the bar code on the door tag they left, I marvelled at how easy computers have made the shipping business.

Today, I found out that UPS had accidentally shipped my thinkgeek.com order to Sunnyvale, TEXAS. The order has my address correct, this was UPS’s mistake. Now I have to wait even longer for my cube toys. Technology is a two-edged sword.

On a related, but completely tangential note, I forgot to mention that the Albertson’s grocery nearest our house where I do all my shopping has gotten the self-checkout installed. It’s true… the robots are one step closer to taking over the world.

Heh heh heh.

As my previous entry alluded to, I was at ‘s house last night, having driven up primarily to stay over the night, as I had to be up early and in Oakland on Saturday. Lots of CAA-related people ended up coming over, 33 at one point, all crammed into Luke’s house. I took a picture of all the shoes at the door, as I often do. If my laptop were on right now, I’d actually bother downloading the picture. At midnight, the party moved elsewhere, and I went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up rather early and BARTed to Grand Prix Oakland, where I was one of 15 or so judges presiding over the nearly 500-person event. It was my first judging experience in a while, and the first one of that magnitude. I was doing fine, except for not noticing an error at the end of the day. I got home at about 12:30am, and Luke was out at RHPS, so I had to move my car to the street and go to sleep without anyone else there… and I couldn’t figure out how to turn the damn light off in the living room.

I woke up at 6am, packed up and drove this time, picking up a fellow judge on the way. Day two wasn’t as long, but was more tiring, my feet already hurt when the day had barely begun. I made it through the day without making any more mistakes, until the very last match I judged. Thankfully, the reporter left out the error I made– it was brought to light after the match had finished. (I answered a hypothetical question incorrectly, by overthinking or underthinking the problem, depending on how you look at it. I could explain it, but as soon as I start saying things like “State Based Effect” and “Triggered Ability” most of your eyes would glaze over.) I was tired, and should have conferred with the head judge. But now that’s all behind me. After that match, I drove home and took a nice warm bath, then went to sleep at 9pm and didn’t wake up until 9:30 am.

Ironically, both incidents involved the same damn card. That damn thing has too many abilities and makes me cry.

On a completely different note, I think my Palm Pilot’s batteries are dying, it refuses to hold a charge any more. Also, I finally got my badge at work functional again… I have been having to beg to get through the gates so often that I just got waved through the security booth this morning, I’m glad that’s over for now.

I’m at bigdumbthing‘s…. there’s about 35 people here all crammed into his house, and his roommate isn’t too happy about it.

Oh? A real post? Maybe later.

So, I realized that playing without a subjob in FFXI was putting me at a significant disadvantage, so I finally got the Magicked Skull I needed to finish the subjob quest (with the help of a very high level Japanese player, as is often the case with the Skulls, I hear) and started over as a Red Mage, with my White Mage subbed.

Let me just say that doing this has made the game so much more enjoyable. Because the Red Mage can use swords and better armor, I can actually defeat monsters that are of comparable level to myself. This means I’m not dependent on a party, which is hard to find for the first 10-15 levels, and that I can kill things and take all the loot and sell it. I’ve made more money, died less, and levelled quicker up to level 12 with RDM/WHM than I ever did with just WHM. And I have never died to a rabbit. And now, I’ll finally be able to advance my story rank. My real dilemma is what my real goal is in regards to my class. I want to get Summoner eventually, but that requires level 30 in another class, the question is whether I get 30 in Red or White Mage… well, I’ll see how it plays out.

More Pictures!

After conferring with my mom, I think I’ve got it… although her memory was almost as bad as mine.
map meme… finally

I started to fill my copy of this new “what states you’ve been to” meme out, but then I realized, I don’t actually know exactly what states I’ve been to, because I did a lot of traveling when I was a small child (my parents have actually been to every state, except Alaska), I live in CA, I’ve taken trips to IL, FL, NV, IN, NY, WA and the four corners (UT, NM, CO, AZ) and was in a car trip to IN, which went through NE and MO as well (I-70). But then, I might have been to MA, which may have involved driving through CT and RI, and I may have been to KY when I was in Evansville, IN once. I also may have been to WI and MI when I was nearby. I also seem to remember a trip to TX, although that may have been before I was born.

I think I need to ask my mom now.

… just not posting much. Went to Magic prerelease over the weekend with bigdumbthing, Danny, Albert and Dom. Cleaned my bathroom yesterday, finally disposing of a bunch of leftover toiletries left behind by kken and gyoza (and possibly bigdumbthing). Last week, I got an order of a bunch of CDs from Japan, in the process of listening to and rating them. (Including Morning Musume Best! Morning Musume One… yes, lionboogy, this one’s for you!)