Friday, September 28, 2001

Yahoo! Personals Ad

Guess I should rework my personals ad on Yahoo! again (it expired a while ago). I still get the occasional Yahoo! Mail spam from my personals ad (I think darla1972@yahoo.com was the latest, it wasn't worth jotting down), but it's time to prime the pump again (so to speak).
Anyway, here's the current ad text:

I'm a quiet, dry-humored, intelligent guy who is just getting back into the dating scene after a long-term relationship has ended. I enjoy mountain biking, ice skating, hiking and camping in the mountains and would like to learn how to roller-blade or ski. One of the things I would like to do is take one of those vacations where you tour Holland or Belgium by bike. I like a broad, eclectic range of music (Dance, Techno, House, Electronic, Classical, Opera, Christin Contemporary, Pop, Alternative), action movies, animated movies, cartoons, anime, fiction & sci-fi & fantasy books (although I don't get as much time to read as I used to). I'm the head of web development for a company in another state (so I have to travel a few days per month), but I work from home most days. As a result, I have a lot of freedom in my schedule, but sometimes I have to work late, work a bit on the weekend or travel on short notice.

Most of this info is already on the right side of my blogger page (the thing you're reading now), but I'm debating on how I want to rework it, and what I do or don't want to mention. And I should probably get and updated picture up there, although I was told that the picture actually does look like me (could be good, could be bad). I also have a Yahoo! Profile.

Not gonna update it this week though, I need my mood to be on the upside with a upward tragectory to have the right state of mind.

Ya know, though, there is no better time like the present... (off to the edit screen! tally-ho!)

posted by Wuphon's at 7:40 PM

Evening Wander - Sep 28

Still suffering from this head cold (mainly stuffed up, with a drippy nose)... looks like another round of Nyquil tonight and trying to sleep in on Saturday (when I don't have a super-urgent, gotta be up by noon, project going on... yes, we made the deadline to go live with the survey... by one minute).

Started purging some stuff (e-mails) from the gal I haven't heard from in over two weeks. Guess it's the start of my "okay, I'm like pretty sure it's over" process. Printed 'em out, stuffed 'em in an envelope but haven't decided whether to keep or pitch the envelope yet. Probably stick it in a drawer and forget about it until a few months from now (if something changes I'll still be able to go back and look, if nothing changes I'll be ready to pitch it). I know, it's strange to keep the e-mails, but there were over 60, and I usually keep mementos when I enjoyed the conversation/relationship. I never go back and read them (at least not in a few years), but it's like a touchstone that brings back memories when I get really blue. Eh, I have mixed feelings on the subject still, but I put those in the envelope too and I'll be ready to move on in another week or three.

(BTW, bro, if you go into the blogger settings, you can order the posts within a day in chronological order, just like you prefer, without having to post them in reverse order. The days on the page will still be reverse-chronological order though, you're only affecting the post order within a day.)

It may sound strange, but I'm not really caring about the fact that I have no plans for this weekend. I've been sick all week, so I'll probably be comatose most of the weekend anyway, and I've got EverQuest to play which is at least somewhat social (I like sitting outside the city gates talking to the newbies like me).

posted by Wuphon's at 7:19 PM

EverQuest - High-Elf Mage Level 5

Yes, made it level 5, time to start traveling further afield. One of the things I must remember not to do is attack faeries or pixies (not worth the faction hit). Orcs already hate elves, so I really don't have a lot to lose (other than getting designated as "kill-on-sight" or "KoS"). Got a few platinum pieces (pp) in the bank, maybe I'll wander out to the city of Kelethin in the middle of Greater Faydark (home of the wood elves).

Been making heavy use of the maps at EQAtlas and the information at Caster's Realm. It's always a good idea to read up on those who have gone before you (I like some unknowns, but hate not knowing the overall picture of where I am in the world and where I stand on the road-kill continuum).

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 6:59 PM

Morning Update

Got my High Elf Magician up to level 4 last night. Didn't do too much else but get the spell for my water pet and play in the forests around the city gates of Felwithe (still trying to figure out some things). Starting to get easier, which means it's easier for me to stick my nose into some nastier stuff (and perhaps die a messy death, although I haven't bitten the dust yet). The area right outside of Felwithe got really crowded around 1am EDT.

Still suffering from a stuffed up head, mild fever, itchy eyes... (maybe allergies?)

On the fun side, introduced a friend of mine to the Tenchi series characters (we watched the 1st 6 episodes of the 13 episode series that you can get as a boxed set). We also setup his blog page (The Book Stud). I'm sure he'll post recommendations of his favorite blogs and why shortly... (hint, hint). He only has a few test posts right now, but check back in a week or so!

posted by Wuphon's at 9:14 AM

Thursday, September 27, 2001

EQ - High Elf Magician, Day 1

First day on the job and almost made it level 4 (came this close). As a lowly level 1 mage, it's definitely a good idea to stick within running distance of the gate guards for when you pick on something just a little too big (and everything is almost too big at the start). While you're sitting by the gate resting up your hit points, it's a good idea to talk with the other low level players who are also sitting and resting (in case you need help later on). I did mainly, kill some things, loot the corpses until my holding slots were full, then went back into town, cashed out, put my money in the bank and came back out to do it again. For a while, all you can take on are bats and the occasional giant wasp, but once you get close to level 4 you can kill orc pawns, multiple wasps, black wolfs, and decaying skeletons with dispatch (especially if you train in your Piercing skill).

So far the Morell-Thule server seems to have plenty of newbies and some higher level characters, but I haven't really ventured out into the wilds yet. If you see Scronan (a High Elf Wizard), give a yell from Vorish (we spent most of the evening keeping an eye on each other as we went through Level 2 and Level 3).

Level 4 and I get my pet! (not sure if I can have multiple pets or not, but at least I can make use of the spells)

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 3:31 AM

Tuesday, September 25, 2001

Word of the moment - peripatetic

peripatetic - Walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot. (I've seen it used to describe someone who won't stay standing in place.)

posted by Wuphon's at 6:45 PM (0 comments)

Bye Bye Free Time

(a.k.a. I bought the EverQuest Trilogy)

Guess what just arrived via the UPS guy? (NO, not that, try again...) I just got my copy of the EverQuest Trilogy. This should effectively zero out any free time that I planned on having for the next few months (as well as keeping me from having time to mope around the house). Ah the joy of installing fresh software in the afternoon! (Wonder what time I'll go to sleep tonight?)

I like the idea of buying the trilogy package because I don't have to sit and figure out if I just needed to buy the latest EverQuest installment, or if I needed to buy all three (make my life simple please). Don't be fooled by the "includes 2 figurines", they're just little pieces of metal like D&D figurines, maybe 2" tall. Noisy install splash screen though (they keep looping the same 30 second music clip over and over and over).

Now I'm working on downloading the various patches (note to sysadmins, EQ does not play nice with your firewall)... I'm hoping the bugs in the tutorial module aren't present in the main EQ module when I play online (I was unable to switch away from the application to do other things on my PC without the tutorial crashing through the floor).

Labels: EverQuest

posted by Wuphon's at 4:19 PM

Dating Funnies

Enjoy...

Oh, so that's how they decide!

Alternative method for deciding about future dates

Hmmm

Ha!

posted by Wuphon's at 11:19 AM

Getting started with blogging

I've gotten a couple of requests for this sort of information from friends who have said, "gee, that looks really neat, but I don't know anything about FTP accounts, HTML, or images". Well, it's gotten a lot simpler these past few years, and the blogger software makes it even easier to keep up with those posting urges. Once you get blogger up and running, it's very easy to create new posts and go back and fix old posts (basically you type your text in, and then use the "Post & Publish" button to put the stuff onto your web page).

Stuff you'll want to read first (this is all intro stuff):
- How to create a new blog
- How to use Blogger with a free web host
Now, don't worry if you didn't understand sections of what you just read, we'll walk through it mostly step by step...

First, you need to find a place to store your blog. I generally recommend setting up a Yahoo! GeoCities account since they give you 6Mb of space and nice web-based tools for working with the files (you won't have to learn how to use a FTP client). You'll need to create a My Yahoo! ID, e-mail address and then sign up for the free web site under "Account Info" (look for a link called "Create your free homepage" on the Account Info page). No need to get too hung up on the particulars of setting up the Yahoo! Geocities account and web site, just make sure you keep track of your user ID and password. For blogging, I recommend only using your first name, and nicknames or aliases are better (let people know who you are but don't give them the ability to find you). Don't consider it being paranoid, merely prudent. The other advantage of using My Yahoo! is that you can use the e-mail address that you just created on your blog pages without worrying about your main e-mail account getting spammed by people who read your blog.

Now it's time to sign up for your blogger account. It should take about 15 minutes to walk through the sign-up screens (again, keep track of user ID and passwords that you use), you might want to use the same aliases that you used for the Yahoo! Geocities account that you created earlier. No need to worry about any of the technical questions that get asked because we'll change all of the settings once you've got the account created. Once you're finished, go ahead and login to blogger (you should see a screen that allows you to create a new post by typing in the upper half of the page).

The first thing you'll want to change (if you haven't already) is your "Template" (see the template button up top? Then use the "choose a new template" link.). Once you get more familiar with HTML you can go back and change your template to whatever you want it to look like.

Now for the big fun, click on the Settings button. There will be a slew of settings here that need to be set "just so" in order for you to post your blog to your Yahoo! GeoCities web site. I'm only going to cover the settings that directly impact this process.

Publish - "via FTP"
Blog URL - "http://www.geocities.com/youraccountname/" (note that you have to change "youraccountname" to be whatever you signed up as with Yahoo! GeoCities)
FTP Server - "ftp.geocities.com"
FTP Path - "/"
Blog Filename - "index.html"
FTP Username - "yourusername" (this is your Yahoo! GeoCities user name)
FTP Password - "yourpassword" (this is your Yahoo! GeoCities password)
FTP Archive path - "/"
FTP Archive Filename "blogarchive.html"

Once those settings are done, use the "Save Settings" button at the bottom of the page and start testing your posting skills! (e-mail me if you run into trouble after this point)

A word to the wise, don't count on Yahoo! GeoCities or Blogger not losing your files. You should periodically save copies of your files to a floppy diskette or some place on your hard drive (especially your archived postings!), or print the stuff out. Inevitably, a glitch will happen, and it will happen in the worst possible way, and you will lose something. So be warned and guard against data loss by backing up your stuff.

posted by Wuphon's at 9:11 AM

Monday, September 24, 2001

Evening Wander (Moody)

Moody. Yup, that pretty much describes my mood now that the cold medicines are wearing off (I'm trying to see if I'm truly over the cold, or if it was just being surpressed by the cold meds). Plus, it's raining, they're calling for tornados and hail, and my pretty new car is sitting outside with nothing to hide it from the elements (actually, that doesn't concern me a whole lot because it's just a car and it's covered by insurance, but still). That, and I'm losing hope of ever hearing from the gal that I've been recently courting.

Sigh (doing a lot of that lately, aren't I?)

Sometimes I wonder if I have a masochistic streak or if I'm just drawn to other people's pain. Must be the empathy doing me in again. Back when I was younger, I was prone to suffering from the knight in shining armour syndrome (at least, in my dreams). Always wanted to be the one to ride to the damsels rescue, to take her away and treat her like a princess, sweeping her off of her feet and all that nonsense. Of course, I've never been blest with the smoothness to carry it off and it comes across as lost puppy-dog instead. Back in high school, especially during my senior year, it seemed like I was the confessor that everyone came and told their problems to in confidence (maybe it was because I knew how to keep my trap shut that won me so much trust). At times in my journals, I used to ask who confesses the confessor. All that is probably neither here nor there, just a random bit of memory drug up from the depths.

So I'm torn in this situation, because I have a strong desire to want to help this gal work through this crisis of confidence (if that is really what is going on), but I know that some friends of mine will look at the situation and say "guard yourself first". Meaning that I should leave repair work up to the professionals and not attempt any on my own. I realize the risks that I'm undertaking, the likelyhood that this pattern will not end anytime soon, that I will probably be doing more chasing in the future. The question is, and I can't answer it yet, is this just initial anxiety attacks over getting to know someone new, or will there be additional battles at every step of the process. Right now, I can't see past the initial hump to know if there is a huge mountain that needs to be climbed, or if it's just a set of little hills that give way to a broad plain.

As you might have guessed by now, I'm proceeding on the assumption that the silence of the past two weeks is part of her avoidance tactic that she uses to get away from things that she wishes she had the courage to sieze. (I see it as it's not that she doesn't want the relationship to grow, but it's like being scared of heights, the farther along you get the more painful the fall will be.) So when I offer her hope, she loses focus and looks instead at the sharp rocks below. In the past, this probably means that she's used this silence tactic to make prior suitors angry so that they break up with her (making it seem like she's the one who was dumped).

So is it fear of committment, or just the fear of hurting someone (or being hurt)? Are the two the same or seperable? Can they be combated, or just thwarted for a while?

My biggest advantage in this is what normally gets me in the most trouble. Persistence. (Also known as being stubborn, which my brother is also good at.) At this point, my only tactic left is to stand here with open hand and wait for her to respond, extending the invitation again and again. Oh yes, there is pain involved, everytime I extend the invitation and get back only silence, everytime the temptation grows stronger to give up in despair or anger, slamming shut the once open door of friendship. At this point, it's a personal challenge, as to how long I can keep this pose.

Still, I won't wait forever, and while I may not ever recind my invitation of friendship, circumstances may preclude being anything more than just a friend by the time she responds.

I went back and read my e-mail that I wrote at 2am this morning (one of the rare times that I've been awake in the past 40 hrs). I hesitate to call it a last-ditch effort at contact, because I'm sure that I would try yet a few more times over the coming weeks out of persistence, but it's the first e-mail that I've admitted to the pain and anger at being shutout like this. Still, even with the drugs flowing through my system, I think the forgiveness and open-hand aspect of it comes across stronger than the "you hurt me" portion of the letter. I cut large parts of the letter out last night before I sent it (it was a lot more negative, with a few more paragraphs focusing on the pain caused rather than the forgiveness that I wanted to convey). I had to tone it down because I've had letters like that come back to haunt me when the target of my words uses it over and over again to harm themselves. I was at least lucid enough to get my point across, perhaps eloquently, hopefully tugging on enough heart-strings to elicit a response. Was I trying to be manipulative? No, not really, it was an honest letter, but that's not to say that I wouldn't give a few tugs on those strings in order to pull her back. Hopefully it doesn't fall on deaf ears.

posted by Wuphon's at 6:51 PM

Zug Zug

What day is this? Oh yeah, it's Monday... no, I'm still zoned out from the cold medicine so I'm not exactly sure what century I'm in most of the time, let alone knowing what timezone I'm in. Weather forecast looks like rain today and tomorrow, which is okay, because my bike is in the shop and I'm still sick. Hopefully, both situations clear up for Tuesday (weather, bike, my cold).

Still staying patient on waiting to hear from her. Yes, I'm not too happy that I haven't heard from her, but I really don't gain anything by losing my temper over it. Just wish I knew the reasons behind it.

I must have really been zonked yesterday because I didn't even read my daily web comics!

posted by Wuphon's at 9:51 AM

Sunday, September 23, 2001

Nyquill Induced Dreamstate

Yes, I'm only semi-concious thanks to Nyquil. I tossed and turned last night until 2am before running out to Wal-Mart for the appropriate drugs to put me to sleep. I've been semi-concious since then and and still fighting the cold. Hopefully I feel better tomorrow.

posted by Wuphon's at 6:59 PM