My Meat

For those of you that have been following my epic birthday journey, the final installment.

As a recap my wife gave me a 'little piece' on Sunday. On my birthday which was this past Tuesday, she gave me a 'rack'.

Well to thank her for the aforementioned gifts, I decided to give her 'my meat' last night. Yes my meat (as pictured to the left). Not quite sure why it's hooking to the left, but it was still good.

When she got home from work there I was with my meat out on the counter. I trimmed the silver skin, seasoned it with fresh ground sea salt, crack peppercorn, and coriander. I then braided it with bacon. Everything is better with bacon, trust me.

I tied it up with cooking twine because wrapping it in latex would stick to the pan (sorry latex fetish guys) and browned it in a skillet for about 10 minutes a side.

I then popped my meat into her oven for about 30 minutes at 350 Celsius. When done I sliced it into 1 inch thick pieces and served it with Cajun spiced roast potatoes and peaches and cream corn. For desert we had apples sauteed in brown sugar and dusted with cinnamon.

After all that I was spent, and since I don't smoke, I went for a nap.

That's it, that was my epic birthday journey. I hope I didn't cause anyone to soil their keyboards.

Back to the regularly scheduled WOW related blog next week

No penis' were injured in the writing of this blog.

The Big Piece

Well, since yesterday there has been a ground swell of interest in what my wife could possibly give me for my birthday that would better the "little piece" she gave me last Sunday.

Many have guessed - A pound of butter. Although it would totally go with my new butter dish that is not it.

After having my fill of tacos, my wife smiled and presented me with...


PAUSE... (for dramatic effect)



A "RACK"


It was gorgeous , the proportions were perfect, symmetrical if you will.


I can't wait to sprinkle their contents on my meat. It would make it very tasty. As a matter of fact, the SPICE RACK is just what I needed for my kitchen, after having it remodelled last week.


So there you have it, for my birthday I got a butter dish and a big 'spice' rack.


mmmmm

What a Week

What a week. Off the top of my head I can’t remember if I have written on this topic before. Actually, I think all my blogs have something to do with the, “What a week” topic.

A number of things have happened to me, they include:

• Inventorying chemicals at high schools because the chemistry teachers can’t handle it.
• My computer explodes from a rootkit virus I got from the CBS website resulting in a full format/re-install to Windows 7.
• My birthday is tomorrow and my wife gave me a “little piece” a bit early, this past Sunday.
• And finally - My Wife's BELL MOBILITY bill
  

Chemical Inventory

My main source of income is working at an Environmental Management company specializing in Hazardous Chemicals where I am the Health & Safety/Compliance Manager. We were contracted by a local school board a few months ago to do a Health & Safety Audit. This audit would include the chemistry classes in all of their high schools.

Needless to say the results were less than stellar. In one classroom the first aid kit was full of mold, in another the water to the eyewash/shower was turned off because it was dripping and annoying the teacher. In other schools it was as simple as incompatible chemicals being stored next to each other, where you could visibly see that there were reactions starting to happen.

Now I have been asked to go back and inventory (WHMIS requirement), which when I ask why the teacher isn't doing this, I am told, "We can't expect the teachers to take on this responsibility." When inventorying, I am also required to colour code all the bottles so they can properly store the chemicals. Which I am at a loss to understand how this is going to help. They didn't know how to store the chemicals by reading the labels, not sure how looking at the colour coding is going to make it better.

Computer Explosion

Last Thursday, I was leisurely tabbing through the news and came to an article on the CBS website. Following the headline link, I started to read the story and got to a link to watch a CBS video. I clicked the link and was asked to download a "viewer". I downloaded the file, ran a McAfee scan on the file and proceeded to install the "viewer". My video didn't open. Hmmm. I was concerned. I ran a Malwarebytes scan and all the virus scanners alarms started going off. The CBS Video Viewer file was full of rootkits and other associated viruses. Thanks CBS.

Well I decided that I was going to try Windows 7. Yes I know, Windows 7. Well so far I have been extremely happy with the install and with no issues. It's even a legit copy, imagine that. So "Installing I must go." - I begin adding all my software. I got everything in and started installing World of Warcraft. The original and the two expansions, then the 4.3gig upgrade to 4.0.0. This I started at about 1:00am, by 1:00pm that afternoon only 500M had downloaded. WTF is that, I have a business account, I am suppose be on a 1M/sec account. I noticed that when the download was happening, that Internet was not available to the other computers in my house. Something is wrong here, so I decided to get a new router. WOW - freaking awesome. I am now connected at the 1M/sec. The rest of the download happened in about 15 minutes and the next download of about 3gig to go to 4.0.1 happened in minutes as well. Happy days, I was killing things in no time. I do notice a huge difference in my gaming, no more lag and my frame rates are really good.

A "little piece" For My Birthday

It's my birthday tomorrow, and over the past weekend my mother came over Saturday to give me my canister of peanut butter cookies, my Reese's Peanut Butter cups and my $20 bill. Huzzah, WOW snacks. On Sunday my wife goes out to "shop", I find out from the kid that it is for my birthday gift. My wife gets home and asks if I want my gift today (as in Sunday and as in early). I tell her I don't care, on the day is fine. Fast forward to Sunday dinner time.

I did a grilled steak, red peppers and onion stir fry that we placed on panini's and these triangular fancy buns. After, dinner my wife takes the plates to the kitchen and comes back and asks, "DO YOU WANT A LITTLE PIECE?"

I am thinking, "Now we're talking, we should probably take it up stairs so we don't damage the kids."

My wife looking at me sensing the wave of "Barry White" music, quickly states, "No a little piece of your gift, you will get the bigger part on Tuesday." She then hands me a box.

She got me a 'Butter Dish'. Now we need a butter dish, but after getting my hopes up, it was a rather flaccid moment. Can't wait to see what the second half of my gift is. A pound of 'butter' to go into the dish? I am sure I will love it none the less.

Bell Mobility Bill

I get home from work today and there is a brown envelope waiting for me saying, 'personal and confidential'. I open it up and it is a letter from a collection agency saying I owe them $245.00. I call to find out what is going on and they refer me to Bell Mobility because oddly enough they have no idea why I am in collections. They have no documentation regarding the case.

I call Bell Mobility and find out that the charge is for my wife breaking her cell contract on July 29, 2010, when her expiry date on the contract is supposedly July 29, 2011. Hmmm funny. Prior to that date she called several times to find out her contract date because she was interested in a hardware upgrade. The most recent was in June 2010 when we got our daughter a cell phone for her graduation from grade 6. We researched cell packages for a twelve year old and found that a Virgin Mobile package to be the best. When we picked up the phone my wife inquired about a cell package for herself, saw something she liked and to verify her contract date, the Virgin Mobile lady called Bell Mobility to again verify the contract date - July 29, 2010. YES July 29, 2010. So my wife said in her best Schwarzenegger voice, "I'll be back". I remember the day very well, we had tea and everything from the tea place in the mall. She even sent me an appointment in Outlook regarding her trip to the Virgin Mobile kiosk July 29, 2010.

July 29, 2010 - she got her phone. She was happy. Now this collection letter. Calling Bell Mobility was the usual, "we mailed you on three occasions, we called you on your cell, as well as, your back up land line, we emailed". Funny, we never received any correspondence from Bell Mobility until this collection letter from the collections agency. Bell Mobility on the phone even went so far as to say that the Virgin Mobile lady lied to get us to switch. So I guess they are also saying my wife is suffering from a mental issue when on three occasions she called and Bell Mobility told her the same thing - her contract was up July 29, 2010. It all ended up with Bell Mobility saying that it is an issue we need to take up with Virgin Mobile.

We called Virgin Mobile told them the story, they sympathized with us, and stated that unfortunately they couldn't really help us. But to take some of the sting, they would credit my wife's account $50.00 just for being a valued customer.

Well we decided we are going to pay the collection notice - I don't have it in me to fight it. The "case of the dog-faced hooker" (that is another blog) sapped all my legal battle fighting power.

To Bell Mobility we say - F U

Patch Day + 3

Well it has been almost 3 days since the patch that rocked my world (no pun intended). We have had earthquakes starting in all the major cities. I even experienced one on the Death Knight mothership. How is that possible? It is hovering in the air. Sure you may hear something going on down below, but would it actually move our hovering homeland?

How about those glyph and gem prices? Through the roof on your server? They are on both of the realms I have toons on. A glyph I couldn't give away for 2G is now sitting at 399G on the AH. Although it didn't last long, I am sure a few people bought them at the inflated price. Even gems that were in the middle of a price war of about 70G each are now close to 200G. Crazy.

We have had the Wow Insider folks helping us out by publishing a guide to what to do before and after the patch. It was pretty helpful. Lets just say, I am glad on one of the realms I play on, I have the whole ball team (10 toons). Everyone does a profession or two as needed. I spent almost nothing on re-gemming and glyphing. I think I may have spent a couple thousand gold to get everyone updated and that was because I was too lazy to wait out my transmuting cooldowns. Compare that to another realm where I have 3 Alliance toons and 1 Horde toon, and they don't cover all of the profession choices, I believe I spent closer to 5000G re-gemming and glyphing just the 4 of them. That's crazy as well.

What is more crazy is what I saw on the way home from the chiropractor today. Apparently with Cataclysm coming out, the Blizzard folk have decided to remove the portals from Dalaran. I guess it makes sense since the focus is now on the 'new' old world and Dalaran will be a veritable ghost town like Shattrath is now. Anyway, hopefully this is not a distant memory for you, the well in Dalaran. On your realms do you have the guy or guys (and they are usually the toon/toons that everyone knows on the realm - usually the trade chat trolls) that hover their fancy mounts over the well, immune to the dismounting for some reason. The one that I remember on my realm was the guy that would hover in the Mimiron's head, I always pictured him as the middle aged looser from the basement. Well photos apparently surfaced of him, and I guess he is a teen aged looser from the basement. Anyway, what I saw on the way home from the chiropractor was a teenager in a Saturn Astra, windows rolled down (it's about 10 Celsius here), with his smoke (not cool any more - you are not the freaking Marlboro man), with his seat set all the way to the back with his arms perfectly straight and he is now looking through the steering wheel. I swear to God that I thought the car was empty when he was driving behind me. All I could think of was the guy in the head. Buddy you are not cool. Same as with the guy in the head. You had 24 others that carried your ass through Ulduar to get it. You had 24 others that failed the roll and you got it. God, felt sorry for you because you live in a basement. I had a nice vehicle, then I realized that I don't need to pay $600/month to get from point A to B, so I got a small cheap car. In a year I filled up the car about 15 times with fuel. So to tie this back to WOW - I won't be forking out 5000G to get the upgrade from 280% flying to 310%, once was bad enough. There isn't anywhere I really need to get to that fast.

Next can I talk about mods? Thank you to all the writers out there that are working diligently to update my life's blood in game. You don't know how much you miss something until you are staring at a standard Blizzard UI.

That's it. I had a couple more things I wanted to talk about. Unfortunately I had a bout of Alzheimer's kick in and those thoughts left me. I don't actually have Alzheimer's, I guess I am just old.

Just One More Hit

Hey, did you know that you can't use a "Scroll of Resurrection" on an account that has been upgraded to Wrath of the Lich King? I sure didn't and I'm willing to bet Alts didn't know either.

I finally had everything all patched up and I was twitching at roll a new character last night. I accepted the invitation to use the "Scroll" and behold yet another error message. "This account does not meet the requirements to use the Scroll of Resurrection." 

I'm starting to think that this is a sign. A sign from above warning me not to put the Warcrack back in my veins. 

I Suck

So I reinstalled the game and patched everything up nice, nice last night. However when I went to start the application I received the same error message as before. For some reason my system is refusing to connect to the game server. This is most perplexing indeed. 

Everything used to work fine and now I can't connect, time to troubleshoot this bad boy. Let's see, what has changed on my system in the past eight months?

...Oh...I Suck....

Here's a tip to anyone that cares to listen. If you install a program on your system to prevent unwanted connections to other networks (ie Peerblock) it will block the connection to other networks! That's what it is supposed to do, that's why it's not called "Peer-allow" or "Connection-encourager". So I turned off my connection blocker and hey, what do ya know I can connect to Bliazzard again. (IDIOT).

So once again my computer sits at home updating to the current patch. Hopefully when I get home today I will finally be able to reenter the World of Warcrack. 

Insert WELCOME BACK KOTTER theme here

Like a phoenix I have been resurrected from the ashes.

A friendly soul has cast a scroll of resurrection on Uncle Nebz and in doing has unknowingly unleashed a hell upon the land of Azeroth like none have ever witnessed before! That is assuming that I can get the game to load. You test my allegiance once again Blizzard.

I successfully installed the patch yet when I attempt to start the game I receive an error message telling me that it can not initiate the streaming installer? "Streaming Installer, what the hell is that?

Now the old Nebz would not have accepted this fate. He would have punched a hole in his screen, drank a bottle of whiskey and then proceed to write a crap- filled blog article on how Blizzard is F'N SCREWING WITH ME! But I stand before you a much gentler and kinder Uncle Nebz and I reacted with a meager "meh" and then proceeded to attempt a "repair" on the WOW folder. After 10 minutes of the game scanning itself and trying to fix the holes in my game code I received a lovely little note saying, "Unable to repair, please reinstall."

Hmm, reinstall? Really? Ok then, let's do that. So I break out my DVDs and start reinstalling the now bloated 16.5 GB game. After a half hour of physical installation the game is finally on my hard drive and ready for… play? In the immortal words of Consuela the Spanish housekeeper from Family Guy, "No"

It's update time. So my computer now sits in a perpetual state of updating. It seems that it has been downloading patches now for five hours. But that's fine and I'm okay with the wait. I am in my happy place, the sky is blue and the ocean is calm.

Good for you Blizzard, you have tested me and I am the better person for it. I'm looking forward to reentering the World of Warcraft. I will update again with my progress and of course my thoughts on the present state of the world. Everything is finally rainbows and puppy dogs.

Patch Day 4.0.1

Well it's patch day, 4.0.1 is being applied in an extended server maintenance. At the time of my writing this, the server maintenance has been extended a couple more times and we are supposed to be able to "play" at 5:00pm PDT. I use the term "play", when in fact it will most likely be the picking up of the pieces of our shattered virtual lives.

Anyway, as you know I am on vacation this week. As I mentioned yesterday I think I nailed the weather component, so if I feel like sitting out on my patio in my pajamas and drink coffee infused with Baileys Irish Cream I can. But today the focus was on getting a couple of chores done during the maintenance down time.

My chores were:

1. Assemble my daughters new dresser.
2. Create talent trees for 15 level 80's some of which have a duel spec.
3. Correct an Income Tax Remittance issue for my home business - this after I called and was told by the help guy that the Gov't of Canada screws this up all the time.
4. Search for updated Mods
   

So I had to plan my day. I figured I would start with the Income Tax Remittance issue.

Income Tax Remittance Issue

Back in June 2010 I received a letter stating that my T4-Summary was messed up. It appeared I may have remitted too much and I was tasked by Revenue Canada to prove that I in fact paid too much before they would give it back. Well I successfully proved that I had overpaid by about $670. I was instructed to short/not pay my monthly remittances until I had used up the entire credit.

Come September, I got a form from Revenue Canada stating rather humorously that they haven't received any payments from me lately and that they missed my money. I was suppose to complete the form to let them know where the errant money had gone, or if I had closed my business. If that was the case, they wanted me to know that "They were saddened by their loss." Yes I phrased that right.

Well I called the help number and explained to him that I had a letter saying not to pay until my credit had been used up. I stated I sent in my remittance forms each month with a yellow sticky note saying this is what I was suppose to pay, but I wanted to apply it to my credit. "That is the problem", he stated. "Government pink slips are actually yellow and opening my letter and seeing the yellow piece of paper probably set the guy off" - he asked that I don't use yellow anymore. He then proceeded to state that the 'left hand doesn't usually know what the right hand is doing' and that he would make some notes on my file, but that I should fill out the form and send it back just to be safe. So that is what I did today - I decided to wait until the credit was completely used so I would only have to explain once.

Talent Trees

I must thank the Wowhead Talent Calculator guys for their wonderful utility. It made my life easier even though I ended up making 23 different builds to cover all my alts and their dual specs. Enough said about that - I am sure there are a large number of you rocking back and forth in your basements as we speak.

Assembling the Dresser

When the hell did Ikea change the rules. I open the boxes expecting an Allen Wrench to fall out into my hand - it didn't. Instead I open the instructions to reveal that I had to use a Phillips screwdriver, a slot screwdriver and a hammer. Wow, real tools, I almost felt like a master carpenter except that I was assembling "wood" made of wood dust and liquefied horse ass.

This task took 3 freaking hours, you would think that those Swedes were a little smarter. Apparently, one of them can't count up to 6. I love getting down to the bottom of my part bag only to find out that the guy can't count and their quality assurance guy didn't catch it.

Luckily I had the part I needed from one of my past furniture endeavors.

Updating Mods

They will come - my son is under the delusion that he will be raiding tonight. Good luck with that.

Side Note

Did you see the size of the list of known patch issues. There must be a pile of programmers at Blizzard running around like Chicken Little. They must be stressed - sort of like the Enron accountants on audit day.

Anyway, see you in Azeroth sometime this evening. I have a few toons to talent up.

Thanksgiving

I am on vacation this week, so I am going to try and write a few articles this week to make up for being lazy the last couple of weeks. Since it is Thanksgiving in Canada today, I figured I would write about the things I am thankful for.

For one, I think I picked a good week for a vacation. The weather looks as if it is going to co-operate the whole week. Eighteen Celsius and mostly sunny all week. So I am thankful to North American Indians for coining the term "Indian Summer", or was it those oppressive pilgrims because I think this is it.

Since we are thanking our ancient peoples, I would like to thank all of the ancient civilizations that thought the fermenting of grains, vegetables and fruits was a good thing. I would have to concur. Cheers.

I would also like to thank Blizzard for developing a game that I can truly enjoy (although there is the occasional rant about the stupidest mod on the planet - GearScore - wait it isn't the mod that is the problem it is how people use it.)

I am thankful for my wife's patience when it comes to my playing of WOW.

I am thankful for having a couple of great kids. Especially the one that does all my pvp'ing for me.

I am also thankful for my parents, because if they didn't do the nasty I wouldn't be here. It burns the inside of my head every time I think of that.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article and I included an honorable mention of my ancient neighbour from across the street. Her photo is shown above, as she picks up leaves in her driveway by hand. I am thankful that her mind isn't so far gone that she is doing her leaf collection naked. The nightgown is bad enough.

That's it. I have got to go and put my daughter's birthday present together. While I am doing that I have to think of a serious WOW article since the 4.0.1 patch is rapidly approaching. Oh, I am thankful for the development of the Allen Key.

Have a great day everyone - Happy Thanksgiving.