Friends in Low Places

Blame it all on my roots.

Nearly 4 years ago, I started playing World of Warcraft at the suggestion of a couple of buddies from college who had moved away from the Fargo-Moorhead area. It was great. I was able to interact AND play video games with these people on a daily basis, like we were still in school. Like they had never left.

I also met some new people through the game. Some were douchebags (I think we all know who they are...), but others were really awesome. Or, should I say, ARE awesome. People whom I can call and talk shit about for an hour. On a regular basis. AND they'll call me. Or we'll talk over IM. Shoot e-mails back and forth. About anything and everything. Make jokes, tell stories, open up to.

It still seems a little weird to me, though. These people are essentially complete strangers, whom I've never met in person (or only just once), but I feel like I can talk to them about things I couldn't with my other friends (no offense). They won't judge me. They totally accept me for who I am, which makes me feel great.

Friends like Chris, Clint, Cynthia, Duane, Kara (lots of love to all of you). Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for letting me into your lives. Thank you for being a part of mine. I don't know what I'd do without you. I hope nothing ever changes between us, because I don't want to lose you.

(My apologies to anyone I may have forgotten from Azeroth. And my apologies to my other friends as well. Please don't take this to mean that I don't love you, 'cuz you're just as special to me.)

Drummin' it up

It's been one week. One freakin' week, since I got my drum pads back from EA. And they're already fallin' apart. ONE WEEK!!

The red pad is bubbling up, just like it did before I opened my RMA with EA. One week of playing on Medium "accomplished" the same thing that 5-6 weeks of Easy did.

You certaintly do get what you pay for...

This time, I'll let it come completely off, then reglue it myself. Until then, I'll continue to improve my skills, kill my right wrist and elbow, and have a good time.

This is even worse than I thought...

If you read my blog on a regular basis, you know the issues I've had after I got my Rock Band 2 set for my Wii. I knew it would be coming as soon as I got that game. What it would have led to, I did not expect. I couldn't have prepared for it. I was doomed to fall so far, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I wish it would have been something simple, like getting addicted to Heroin Hero. This is way worse. Here's how it all went down...

On July 9th, I posted this after I got my first full clear (100% Flawless performance) playing drums in RB2. Yes, it was on Easy difficulty. "So what? Big deal." At the time, I was pretty impressed with myself. Pleased with my performance. Thinking I would be moving onto bigger and better things (read: higher difficulties). Over the next month, I did it at least 10 more times (that I can prove with photographic evidence, some additional ones were done during multi-song sets, so I could not confirm it like you can at the end of set).

In early August, I was starting to get concerns that my drum set was falling apart. My red drum pad was starting to bubble, becoming unglued from the apparatus. Concerned it might affect my performance and cheat me out of further full clears, I did a bit of research to find out how I could fix it, but considering it would require disassembly, thereby voiding my warranty, I decided against it.

About this same time, I was starting to move up to Medium difficulty. I was using the Drum Trainer, in addition to playing songs, to get used to the increased hand and foot coordination required to play at that level. The first song I played at Medium was "Today" by The Smashing Pumpkins. At the time, it was my favorite song of the moment (FSotM). I did pretty well. I scored 97% for a tier-2 drum song. I was happy.

A day later, my drum pedal broke. Suck. "Well, since my pedal is broken, I might as well get the whole thing repaired/replaced." I called EA. Although I never bought my Rock Band gear, the support rep. I spoke to on the phone was kind enough to speak to his supervisor and create a couple of RMA's to resolve my issues (Lots of love to you, Alan, if you're out there reading this). One for the pedal, one for the pads. A week to get two empty boxes to send them in, another to get replacements back from EA. "I can live without my drum set for two weeks. I can sing or play guitar while I wait."

I could not play guitar (and I doubt I ever will with any proficiency). I could sing. Singing in Rock Band, in your living room, by yourself, is BORING!! Tried it for a day or two and stopped. Even after I redeemed some instant wins for downloadable content (additional songs) from Pepsi/Yahoo!/Rock Band's promotion. "Great. Well, it's only a couple of weeks, I can wait. I'll find other things to do."

Wrong again. A few days later, I lifted my self-imposed ban on Tuesday night hockey due to my back problems. But a week later, they came back. To help ensure I would be in good enough shape to play in the upcoming winter and the Novice Hockey League in Fargo, I would stop playing for the summer. I got in some rounds of golf, but golfing by yourself isn't very fulfilling (for me, golf has always been a social engagement first, and a fun game second). I tried calling friends to hang with, but I was having issues with that too. Greg and his wife just had a kid. Jason and his wife were expecting twins. Paul didn't have any energy to do anything after working at his own fencing business at the end of day. Casey is busy with his dental practice, his new gas station, and hanging out at his lake place. Jeff moved to Iowa in May. And I'm not really friends with anyone at work (sorry if you work with me, but I can't get on beyond the customer-support tech relationship with you). I worked on my website a bit, but since I was doing menial, tedious tasks, and not development, I got bored very quickly. Worked on my PC's a bit, compiling complete lists of all my hardware. I completed that project.

With each day that passed, spending time at work, prepping for our IT audit (and then actually going through it), I was growing more and more anxious to have my drums back. I wanted that to be my release at the end of the day.

After two weeks and no drum pads, I called EA, looking for an update. The second support rep. told me to wait another week, then call again if I hadn't received them. Running additional salt into the wound, I got a new pedal a week after I opened RMA's with Electronic Arts. A drum pedal with no pads; real useful...

I started hunting for more outlets for my drumlessness. Music-related stuff. Ordered some more CD's, some containing my favorite RB2 songs. Also redeemed some My Coke Reward points for Rhapsody credit, which became even more songs to listen too. After I got all that music, I researched more songs and albums to purchase. Rebuilt my shopping lists.

Then, it happened. This past weekend (8/28-8/30), I just could not take it anymore. I needed a stronger RB2 fix. I searched for full drum clears in RB2 on YouTube. I found one that I just got hooked on, and it spiraled out of control from there...

"New Kid in School" by The Donnas.

The same song I had "performed" for my first drum clear in RB2. I spent the rest of that weekend entranced by those four sirens. Singer Brett Anderson. Drummer Torry Castellano. Bassist Maya Ford. Guitarist Allison Robertson.

Before we continue, let's get one thing straight. This is NOT (and I repeat, NOT) just because they are attractive young women (despite what you may believe to be evidence to the contrary). It goes WAY beyond that.

Ever since that weekend, I can't stop listening to clips of their last four albums. I can't stop watching their music videos. I can't stop checking out their website, or their Facebook pages, or their YouTube channel. Google search after Google search for articles, interviews, fan sites, photos, both as a group and individually. Downloading videos from their "official" media site (look, that site may be violating IP laws, but if you're linking to it from your official MySpace page, you've given it your blessing and I can download as many videos as I want from it without repercussions). I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't stop thinking about them. I need to see them. I need to meet them. I want them to be my friends, and I want to be their friend too.

After that weekend, I still had no drum pads, so I called EA for the third time. They created a new RMA to send me pads, which I should have next week. It didn't fix my problem NOW. Although we just finished our IT audit on the 28th, before my weekend of descent into Donnaholism, I'm still struggling to get caught up at work, and each night this past week, the girls have been my comfort system after a stressful day. Spend an hour on the 'net with them, and I'm OK. Good enough to help me wind down for the evening, smile, and forget about work. Spend a few more obsessing over them, and I'm fucked...

What am I gonna do? I've tried to rationalize this. I've been down this road before. A little more than 5 years ago, Weezer released Video Capture Device, a DVD of their music videos and other rare footage of the band in the 90's and early 00's, and they became my favorite band FOR LIFE. But something about this feels a little different... And I can't put my finger on it... I don't know if it's because I'm older. Or if it's because Weezer are guys and The Donnas are girls. Or if it's much worse (I won't go into details because it scares me, and it would likely scare you too)...

I've spoke to a few friends about it. It's helped a little bit. To the point that we were making jokes about it last night at dinner. I'll have my drum pads back in a couple days, so I can continue drumming in RB2. Maybe after I get back into my old habits, this most recent obsession of mine will pass. I hope it can, because I don't know what to do next if it doesn't...

Damn you, Pandora...

Hooray for EA!!

If you're having issues with your Rock Band equipment, check out EA's official service site.

They were very helpful for me. I was missing my drum sticks, and they told me to check ALL the boxes! I never would've thought of that. Thank you, EA, you saved my game!!

Damn you, Kennedy...

You just HAD to get me hooked on Journey before you moved to Des Moines.

I liked them a little bit, but not enough to admit it. I was kinda ashamed of the fact that I liked a few of their songs. But you had to play their DVD at your New Year's Eve party this year and suckered me in. I bought their Greatest Hits for you, buddy.

So, I'm calling you out. The next time you're in Fargo, come over to my place and we'll throw down. "Any Way You Want It" on Rock Band 2. Me on drums. You on guitar (and possibly even singing). It'll be awesome when I smack you down with my dope beats.

Who's crying now? You. Don't stop believing, and accept it with open arms.

What was I thinking?

After two weeks of playing with the contents of Pandora's Box, I've realized something.

I should have played drums in band. No messing around with a trumpet or a clarinet.

I don't know what I was thinking...

Don't open that!!

In Greek mythology, Pandora opened a box and unleashed many evils into world.

On June 23, 2009, I received my copy of Rock Band 2 and proceeded to do the exact same thing.

Two weeks ago today, I had an 8 AM conference call at work. Before going to that meeting, I got a 20 oz. Pepsi out of one of the vending machines. It had a red cap on it, instead of the standard dark blue. That cap was part of a promotional contest that Pepsi, Yahoo!, and EA were running. It contained a 12-character alphanumeric code that could be entered on their website to enter drawings for Rock Band 2 Special Edition packages (for your choice of game system) and downloadable content, among other things.

Later that night, maybe around 10 or 11 PM, I entered my code onto the website. Since I didn't already own the game, I used it to enter the hourly drawing for a package for a Wii. One shot, one kill; I won.

The website stated it would take 6-8 weeks for delivery. Which was fine with me. I suck at Rock Band. My friends Casey and Jason have the game, and I had only played it a few times. I never played Guitar Hero, which was never released for a Nintendo console until GH3 came out on Wii in late 2007. Besides, I don't have the finger dexterity to be very good at it. But when the original Rock Band came out around the same time, I was intrigued. Drumming? Singing? Things that I suck less at? Sign me up!

Harmonix, the developers of Rock Band, announced the sequel in summer 2008 (about 4 months before I ever played it for the first time at Jason's place on Halloween), so I was going to wait for that release before getting it for myself. And even then, I wanted to wait until AFTER this summer was over. I had too much going on. Weddings, golf, vacations, hockey, etc. If I got Rock Band 2, I'd spend nearly every waking moment playing it. Not leaving the house. Not spending time with friends. Wasting hundreds of hours just trying to unlock all the content for all my friends to come over and play it with me (or more realistically, take it to their places). And we all know what happened with the last game I spent a kajillion hours on...

So anyway, I get home from work on Tuesday and there's a UPS delivery notice on the front door of my apartment building. I assume it's for my new check blanks, so I go to pick them up on my way to my hockey scrimmage that night. I get to UPS, give them the delivery notice, flash the badge (photo ID, but badge sounds sexier), and they give me this large box. My initial reaction? "What the hell?" I must have said it 2-3 times before I walk out with it to my car. I open the box. There's my Rock Band 2 Special Edition for Wii. The box was shorter (height-wise) and longer than I expected. And it arrived in 6-8 DAYS, not weeks. Hence, my initial confusion.

I go and play hockey, and after I'm done, I went home, ate, showered, then unpacked the equipment and assembled it. Drum kit, microphone, and guitar (only one guitar, but that's another story for another day). I don't play it, 'cuz it was getting close to 1 AM and I had to work in the morning. But Wednesday, at lunch, I went home and booted it up, created my band and character, and played a few songs. A little singing, but a lot of drumming.

It's only been 72 hours. My left hand hurts from drumming. Every time I close my eyes, I can picture the gameplay and the drumming portions. Many of the game's songs are stuck in my head. I needed to watch "High Fidelity" on DVD. Why? Because I named my band "Sonic Death Monkey" (Let 'em riot, we're Sonic-fuckin'-Death Monkey). I had to make an iTunes mix of all the songs in the Rock Band series (the games, track packs, and downloadable content). I have an overwhelming urge to purchase the MP3's I don't already own of the songs that appear in the game series. And another urge to buy additional game content (the original game, track packs, and songs).

Could I have avoided this? Maybe, but doubtful. A special edition of Rock Band 2 comes in at around $190, plus tax and/or shipping. An extra guitar to get a full set of instruments is around 50 to 75 bucks (depending on the manufacturer). The original game is $50, plus $5 for a code to let me import them into #2. Track packs are $30 for 20 additional songs. Individual songs for download are $2. I knew I was going to open this can of worms at some point; the question was when.

Pandora, you have my sympathies. I can't blame you for what you did, because I'm guilty myself. Nothing left to do but start a club and order some sweaters.

The Golden Age

Almost all the best role-playing games EVER were made for the Super Nintendo. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy II and III, Earthbound, Soul Blazer, Robotrek, Super Mario RPG, Zelda III, and Secret of Mana, just to name a few. Sure, the NES had the original Final Fantasy, the original Dragon Warrior, and Zelda 1 and 2. I was addicted to World of Warcraft for a while. And Super Paper Mario was fun to go all retro-style on the Wii. But it's the SNES RPG's that I keep finding myself going back to. The classics just never get old...

(UPDATE: I can't believe I forgot one of my favorites, Robotrek. What is wrong with me?)

Another golden opportunity lost...

I've always said that Major League Baseball lost a great marketing opportunity in 2003...

OK, I've never said that, but I've always thought it.

MVP Baseball 2003 from EA Sports was a good game, mostly because of the awesome soundtrack. MLB should have taken a handful of these songs to make video montages of live-game footage to promote the league and the sport.

Artist	Song Name	Montage Contents
The All-American Rejects	Swing, Swing	home runs
The Donnas	Who Invited You	close plays that throw out runners
Revis	Caught in the Rain	game-ending celebrations
Pacifier	Bullitproof	strikeout pitches
OK Go	Don't Ask Me	heated confrontations on the field
Shinedown	Fly From the Inside	great diving/leaping catches

Heck, you could make a montage with any song on the list and a number of clips and it'd come out great. It'd be free money for MLB.

What a waste, what a loss...

So, Nintendo wants me to buy a DS because it was able to teach Lisa Kudrow how to make kung-pow chicken... Yeah...

And who is that little girl is assisting her in the kitchen? Lisa has a son, not a daughter...

Oh, it's on!

Unfortunately, I don't get G4 on basic cable in Fargo. Such a disappointment, 'cuz I'm really missing out.

G4 has X-Play, featuring the lovely Morgan Webb. Queen of all the geeks... until now...

Olivia Munn has two things going for her where she's got Morgan beat.

1. Morgan is married. Olivia is single.
2. This!

There is only one way to settle this battle for supremacy. It involves one member of the Spirit Squad, a set of children's golf clubs, a Nerf football, Peter Pan chunky extra crispy peanut butter, and a Waffle House omelette. YOU figure that one out.

Does that count?

Does this whole Brett Farve drama thing qualify as a Madden curse victim?

My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...

I don't know what I'm looking forward to most the last week of April, moving in my new apartment or Mario Kart Wii...

Somewhere I Belong

You know, it's weird. I've been playing World of Warcraft off and on for the past two years now, and it seems like Azeroth is the only place where I've felt like I truly belonged.

My buddies Vern and Jared had talked me into joining them in Azeroth, and as soon as I had started, I was invited to The Wolves of Azeroth. No questions asked. Ard and Cith were glad to have me as a member. And as the months progressed, everyone in The Wolves were more than willing to help me out with anything and everything (except, of course, RUNNING the guild, but that's another story...).

It's still a little weird to be back with none of them around. But I found some people to latch onto and suck the life out of... I mean, um, hang out with... Lan and Sina are doing their darnest to twink me out so I can play with them on a daily basis. And it's always a ball to talk with them on Vent and listen to them bitch and moan and talk shit to each other. Most fun I've had in ages.

Dynasty will never be like The Wolves. But I think I'm finally somewhere I belong, once again...

No, wrong

Morgan Webb does not work with light brunette hair.

Go back to black!!

What's a night elf to do?

After a nearly nine month hiatus, I have returned to the World of Warcraft. Mostly to keep myself occupied during the upcoming North Dakota winter, but also to reconnect with some friends I made in-game.

Things have changed a lot since I left at the end of January. Most of my guildies recently took time off, and those few that are still around have pretty much moved on. I can't say that I blame them; it'd be silly to expect them all to put their virtual lives on hold while waiting on me.

After waiting a couple of days for an guild invite to Warcraftier that never came (most of my friends join them after we dissolved our guild), I hooked up with Dynasty, which has some of my friends from my Molten Core raid. And although I'm starting to feel comfortable and accepted by their members, I still feel like I'm on the outside looking in.

In the 10 months since The Burning Crusade came out, most of them have had ample opportunity to farm rep., learn the strategies, gear up, and go raiding. I was gone, so I'm nowhere near they're at, and I have no ida what to do about it.

I only reached level 70 a couple of weeks ago. I need to spend several more weeks getting my reputation up so I can purchase alchemy recipes. I need better equipment. I don't have an elite flying mount (I got about 600 of the 5000 golod necessary to purchase one). And I want to wrap up as many quests in the 5-man dungeons as I can.

There lies the problem. I'm a non-raider in a raiding guild. In fact, since I returned, I've had interest from 3-4 raiding guilds for my services (all of which has some of my former guildies (The Wolves of Azeroth) or MC raid members (Ayedtt's Raiders). I can't find guildies to run 5-mans with me, cuz they're all raiding or running heroic 5-mans (which I might be able to do, but they aren't doing the ones I need). The worst part is, I'm a hunter, so players like me are a nickel a dozen (that's right, a nickel, not a dime)

I've tried using the Looking For Group tool, and I've had some success. I've managed to find a few good groups and complete some runs. But most of the time, my groups fall apart before we even get started because we can't find a healer and/or a tank, so I have to re-queue. In addition, I've had some problems joining the LookingForGroup channel manually, so I can't monitor the chat and find a group for more than three locations at a time (a limitation of the LFG tool). Finally, I can't join a group for an instance outside of my level range using the LFG tool, so I won't auto-join groups going to Slave Pens, or even Lower Blackrock Spire (still got a couple of pre-BC quests in there I want to finish out). I spoke to a GM about this issue, but he wasn't much help. I ask my guildies in Dynasty for help, but my requests are usually met with silence (not that they're purposely ignoring me, they just aren't interested in running something they've done a couple dozen times before, or are busy... yup, you guessed it... raiding).

It's almost enough to make me quit. Again. But that won't solve anything. I'd just fall further behind. I could try to convince my former guildies to come back, but I've never been a very pursuasive person, and I doubt they'd want to invest the time and money needed to get me out of pre-raid limbo.

The next expansion, The Wrath of the Lich King, might solve some of these issues, since it somewhat puts everyone on equal footing again, so we all start at the same point to try to get into the raids. But that's at least a year off.

I'm going to talk to some people, get some advice, figure out what to do next. Until then, I guess I just have to continue my work to get ready for raiding. Maybe finish leveling up my pally (he's 64 right now). Maybe do a little PvP. Maybe get my reps up so I can finish my work in alchemy. And continue to wait for those groups to form up.

Now I know how all these pro athletes feel when they come out of retirement to play with the big boys again.

Rock and a hard place

Hypothetical situation...

You're the No. 3 Division I-A Football team in the nation (sorry, I will never accept the new NCAA Football Bowl and Championship Subdivision monikers). You went 11-0 and won your conference championship. The No. 1 and 2 teams also went 11-0 and won their conferences as well. It's bowl season. Here are your options:

-- Accept the traditional bowl invitation and play the No. 2 team.
-- Accept the invitation to another equally prestigious bowl to play the No. 1 team.

You can't play both. And either way, the highest you'd move is No. 2. What the hell do you do?

Freakin' NCAA.

They're pulling me back in!!

Ever since I decided to stop playing World of Warcraft, at the end of January 2007, some of my in-game friends have been constantly asking me when I'm coming back.

Well, here's your answer: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wrath/.

It'll be at least a year until it comes out. But I'll be ready. I owe that little whiny pussy, Arthas, a SERIOUS beating.

Gotta catch 'em all!!

In the world of Pokémon, do police forces use Pokémon to catch criminals? We've seen groups like Team Rocket use them for evil. And standard police forces use dogs for sniffing for bombs or drugs, tracking missing persons, or attacking targets. Why not use a Pikachu instead of a taser?

And how about firefighters using Water Pokémon to fight fires?

But I'm sure they draw the line at military forces. I don't see Jigglypuff having much success against anti-American forces in the Middle East...

X definitely is an unknown variable

So, after watching almost 2 straight hours of X-Play on G4, I'm still trying to figure this one out.

Are hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb too cool to be spending their time reviewing video games, or are they just nerdy geeks and no one has told them yet?