Merry Christmas

My Christmas gift to you: Kindle screensavers. Click to view the full-size image, optimized for Kindle 3.

Need to know how to put screensavers on your Kindle? Read this article.

You're welcome. :)

New Workstation

So...Here it is.

I decided to rearrange stuff in my house for the purpose of decluttering and generally improve my self esteem. My current project is to set up a second workstation in my computer room dedicated to audio work. I had originally thought about moving my guitar, amp, and related equipment.into the the computer room but that now seems a little tight. My current idea idea is to move my keyboard into my computer room and move "storage" type items (comic books) into my old, tiny music room (child's bedroom).

 For now, I'm using my old Alienware (big, green thing, lower left) computer for audio work. Oh, the case is pretty awesome but the sound of all those fans is distracting.

On the shelf above the computer desk is a pair of M-Audio monitors. I have not tried them out yet. This is very much a work-in-progress.

Oh, and the kittens are checking things out to see whothis benefits them.]

WoW - Crazy Days

So, the big Pandaria patch 5.04 came out for World of Warcraft. Good times!

Apparently there are a few flies in the ointment. This evening my Warlock got frozen into a "shooting" stance. I tried a bunch of things to shake her loose, but she was flat stuck.

I read a forum post that indicated that the only way to get unstuck was to die.

Turns out it's not that easy to commit suicide in WoW... at least not in a low-level region. I tried letting a beast attack me but every strike was a dodge or a miss. I tried climbing up a zeppelin tower and jumping off. The jump cost me about half my health, but by the time I'd climbed the tower to jump a second time I'd pretty much healed myself.

So here's what worked. I walked into a lake and waited to suffocate. This took a long time, but it did work. And it unfroze my "shooting stance" animation.

Upgrades is tough.

GOP Mascot

This is what people will always remember about the 2012 Republican Convention: the Clint Monster chewing up the scenery. So, all you re-pubs... say hello to your new mascot. You built it. You own it.

WoW: Where I'm At

Frappé : Level 75 Warrior 

This guy was originally created as a "mule" to carry stuff that my other characters didn't have room for. Once all my other characters had achieved level 85 I had to go somewhere. Jump over to Dragon Age 2? Nope. Pick up with my mule and start advancing him.

BTW I did try to name him "Mule" or "TheMule" but those names had been taken. Obviously there are WoW players who are fans of Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy.

It's kind of fun playing a warrior. Just run up and hit stuff... the faster the better. He's not so great at stand-off attacks but he doesn't really need to be.

I've started using an add-in called "ActionSwap". This lets you swap out action bar configs. This is helpful if you'd like to have one set of action bars for PvE and another set for PvP. I like it! If nothing else it lets me back up my action bar configs in case I screw something up.

On the money scene my scribe continues to dominate by ROI. Being able to submit for auction a glyph at 100 gold for only 1 silver is so much more attractive that offering a 75 gold sword for 1 gold or more. Still, working the Auction House takes up a lot of time and it's not that much fun. No wonder China has slaves doing this stuff. However, when you've got a toon who needs 4000g for flight training it's nice to have the gold on hand.

I still have not joined a guild. When I'm spammed by guild invites I've taken to just ignoring them rather than declining. I hope that annoys the spammers as much as I'm annoyed by their invites.

I know I'm flogging this game for all it's worth or more but Mists of Pandaria is going to be released sometime "soon".

Yay! A new flavor of heroin!

Modem Woes

The Sunday before last I noticed that my Kindle was not connecting to the internet via my WAP. I investigated and YIKES! My modem was dead!

I called AT&T tech support and arranged to have a new modem overnighted to me. Since I suspected the modem's power supply might be the failing component, I ordered a new one from Amazon. In the meantime I hooked up an old DSL modem I had in my closet. It worked like a champ. I'm still using it for now actually.

When the power supply arrived I tested my modem with and, yes, my modem was alive.

So... now I have 3 functional DSL modems and am out $100+ for the new modem.

But you know... whatever it takes to be online. Am I right?

Grasshoppers Pickup Number 29

This week's basket contained:

• 1 bunch kale
• 9 small beets
• 1 head leafy lettuce
• Peas in the shell
• 1 head garlic
• 1 head Chinese cabbage
• 5 smallish potatoes
• 1 large white onion
• 1 whole chicken, cut up

I'm making borscht tonight with the beets, potatoes and onion.

The kale will be cooked as a greens meal along with a turnip and served with cornbread. The lettuce will go into a simple salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, and celery. The peas will be a side dish to accompany some wild caught (!) salmon I picked up at the grocery this afternoon. I can use the garlic in any number of dishes.

I'm thinking the cabbage will go into a dish like Chinese-Style Cabbage. It could serve as another side for the salmon (which is enough to make 3 meals for me).

The chicken will stay in the freezer for a while. I am so behind on meat consumption. There are so many ways to use a cut-up chicken. I'm tempted to make fried chicken, although this is something I only make once or twice a year.