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The long grind to pick up some more rare mounts continues. I’m taking a break from back-2-back Stratholme runs to work towards a mount that has a (more or less) reliable average time spent/drop rates; archaeology. For now, I’m focusing, as I noted in an earlier post, on a bug mount. I’ve only seen them a few times, which is good because it means that it’s still a sign of true perseverance in a game where instant gratification is winning a bit more often against luck over time.aquamarine-battle-tank

Example video of another player crafting the mount after many attempts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaTobctx2SY

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My most popular tweet:

Some context is in order:

Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba.

Yahoo CEO Bartz fired over the phone, rocky run ends

The search for a Yahoo! CEO was also the spark of many jokes. I liked Snoop’s offer to step in, so I commented, and Snoop retweeted it. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to have your phone going off every few minutes with retweet notifications, it is kind of exciting. That tweet had pretty good reach for being sent so quickly. I didn’t expect it would even be noticed due to the sheer number of replies to the original tweet.Has anybody else had a bit of good luck on one of their posts? I want to hear about it. Comment or post about it.


This post is also a part of the blogging challege over at the Desk Community.

5 Days to More Engaging Content – Day #3

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Somehow, I’ve become a bit of a collector of wallets made of paper. Here’s one of them.

Grey Wallet
My current choice. It’s not leather, believe it or not!

 

It’s called a Mighty Wallet, and is made by the folks over at Dynomighty.

At first, I was a bit skeptical of using folded paper as a wallet, but it both grows on one and has some practical use. In a way, it forces a more disciplined use of the wallet. I mean, everybody knows about the “old man” wallet, the one your dad (or other elder wallet user) has that is so massive that it closely resembles a small, leather-bound brick. I never liked having that feeling in any pocket. Since it’s paper and folded (not stitched), you’re less inclined to overfill it since that would push the seams apart. Since I do not carry a lot of cash or cards, this is great.

Also, dropping a bulging wallet can sometimes be quite embarrassing, especially when cards fall out.

A cool thing about the particular wallets I’ve collected is that they can also be pretty good conversation-starters (I have a Batman wallet, for example), but that’s not just due to the fact they’re made of paper, but more due to there being some pretty interesting designs available, of which I have a few.

This post is in response to  5 Days to More Engaging Content – Day #1

 

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I already mentioned that my current iPhone and I are nearly inseparable, but where did my attachment begin? It started, for me, with the iPhone 3GS.

The iPhone 3GS was my first smartphone, and basically began what seems to be a long-term relationship with highly connected technology. Before I had it, my phone was a pretty basic flip-phone from LG. That phone was OK, not great (call dropped too easily and often), so I was finally fed up by the time the third generations of iPhone was released.

I’d seen a few of the first and second generation phones among friends, but could not quite understand how the apps available could justify such a steep cost jump for a communication device. Then, I played with one in a local Apple store. That’s when, I think, I “got it”. There weren’t just the dumbed-down apps many “feature” phones had, but, instead, you could have a solid web browser, “visual” voicemail (much easier to work with than regular), and some apps that just didn’t really do much on “dumb” phones (twitter, for example was originally something designed for text-only).

I’m not sure if I’m saying this right, but the iPhone felt more like a flexible communication tool than just a phone you could carry in your pocket. I could quickly(!) search for information, and have the answers while others were waiting for 411 to even pick up sometimes. I remember checking movie showtimes using the (now defunct) 777-FILM number for Moviefone (miss that voice), but an app (actually, multiple apps) did the job better, and, faster.

Without that iPhone, I probably would have waited even longer or even dabbled in the Android cloud of devices. Even back then, before Android was released, I often heard friends lament they had to reboot their phones again and again. I really wondered how instability could be tolerated, but it really came down to cost, in most cases. Paying for quality is sometimes a good investment. It means you usually buy less often. Even now, I usually skip at least one generation before thinking about an upgrade. A new phone every year still doesn’t make sense to me.

When did you get your first smart phone? What was it and why did you choose that one? And how has your opinion and perspective around mobile devices changed since that eventful day?

via Daily Post – 1.18.2015 – Daily Writing – Desk Community.

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It was Super Bowl Sunday. I think I spent very little of it thinking about the game at all. I am not a football fan, although I do understand how the game itself works. Not having a local franchise, and having not 1, but 2 franchises leave the area during one’s lifetime has something to do with that. I have hope that the stadium under construction will change that, but it’ll be quite some time before any future team (returning or new) will be playing in my neck of the woods.

What did I do instead? It was not involving traditional television. I did a couple things, at the same time. I played WoW, working on one of the newest in-game professions: archaeology. The second, was I “tuned” into a live stream on Twitch, a bit for background, and also for something interesting during the somewhat tediuous grind of scanning dig sites.

A few streams I caught during the day:

  • http://www.twitch.tv/kylelandrypiano – musician and composer. Kyle plays piano, sometimes taking suggestions from viewers. Mostly game music being played, but some classical.
  • http://www.twitch.tv/gamej06 – Big Jon plays classic platform-style games and is pretty chill. Today he wrapped up his 18k follower celebration show
  • (as I type this) http://www.twitch.tv/monstercat – Monstercat is a music label that has stream-friendly music available for use on Twitch (since Twitch will mute the audio of recorded streams just like YouTube does when licensed music is played, this is a pretty popular label.) They’re streaming mostly EDM currently.

Back to the game, though. I have purpose in what I am doing in-game. I’m rather serious in working on adding to my account’s riding mount collection. Archaeology is actually one of the professions that has mounts available as some of its “projects”. There’s a random chance that the next one for specific types of artifacts will be for one of the mounts. My current target is a blue mount that’s a giant bug, which is summoned by an ancient scepter.

The choice of priority is not random. Years ago, I wanted a black version of this mount, but that one was time-limited, and only those able to play on a realm where the event that it is associated with not yet complete would have a chance to obtain it. Truly a legendary item.

This mount is surely a nod to those, like me, who had a fondness for Ahn Quiraj, but couldn’t be the Scarab Lord (the title awarded to those players) or level a character on a new realm that still had the event on it.

Also, I usually take my time going through the commercials since they’re usually available online for a while.

Super Bowl… blog about it. Are you watching? Ignoring? Just reviewing the cool advertisements? What are you doing today?

via Daily Post – 2.1.2015 – Daily Writing – Desk Community.