Upgrade

So I foolishly left the pump off in my computer a few weeks ago and burned up my video card and motherboard. Not having a huge amount of cash (none) I just replaced the motherboard with an equivalent, but couldn't resist upgrading my video card some.

I now have a GTX285.

And I hate it.

Why?

This is why:

I wanted an ATI card in the first place, but the newest ATI cards weren't compatable with my swiftech MCW60 waterblock. And a new waterblock significantly adds to the cost of a video card. So I got an NVIDIA. But today I find out that ATI just announced a new card that is faster than anything out there, and can support SIX monitors all at once! Granted you can't buy one yet; but I could have gotten a _really_ cheap card and started saving. - Cause, well you know, SIX monitors!!!!

Gah! E-Mail is back.

But why did it have to leave in the first place! I store my e-mail on a USB stick, for compatibility reasons I left the filesystem fat32. This seems to now be a mistake. Somehow the filesystem got a bit corrupted; maybe I pulled the stick out in the middle of a write; but I doubt it. So compatibility be darned, I think I'm going to change it to ext3.

For those of you who didn't know; Gretchen, Kate, Dad, Austin and I went on a backpacking trip through the Grand Canyon. It went very well. Pictures to come soon.

Heh, Cardigan...

Do you respect Mr Rogers?

Customer "Service"

So last night there was shenanigans going on in the World of Warcraft:


A bunch of gold farmers had killed them selves in such a way as to spell out the name of their website - you know to advertise it. Being a good, if infrequent, player I reported the infraction; (Gold selling is not allowed in WOW) this is the response I got:

Greetings Josiah,

Thank you for taking the time to report this issue to us. At Blizzard Entertainment, we encourage and appreciate the role of the gaming community in keeping World of Warcraft a safe and enjoyable environment for all participants.

We will investigate your report and take all necessary and appropriate actions to address this matter. Due to privacy concerns, we will not be able to notify you of our findings, nor of the actions necessary for resolution of this issue.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at WoWGM@blizzard.com or via the in-game petition system.

Again, thank you for your time and effort to keep World of Warcraft enjoyable and abuse-free.



Regards,
Rilidax
Game Master
Blizzard Entertainment
www.worldofwarcraft.com

This morning I received a request to complete a survey regarding my satisfaction; I felt that my response should have been obvious, but replied anyway:

Greetings Blizzard,

Thank you for taking the time to survey you customers level of satisfaction.  I encourage and appreciate the role of the corporate community in keeping World of Warcraft a safe and enjoyable environment for all participants.

I will investigate my level of satisfaction and take all necessary and appropriate actions to address this matter. Due to privacy concerns, I will not be able to notify you of my findings, nor of the actions necessary for resolution of this issue.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at JosiahLuscher.com or via the in-game mail system.

Again, thank you for your time and effort to keep World of Warcraft enjoyable and satisfaction-free.

Regards,
Josiah Luscher
Customer
www.JosiahLuscher.com

New Phone Number!

I still hope to retroactivly post some more pictures from our trip to Germany, so stay tuned. But I'm getting ready for a tip trough the Grand Canyon, and starting school very soon also; so not sure when I'll be able to get those pictures up.

In the mean time, I have a new phone number. If you call my old number you will find out my new number. The short version is that if I want to switch to T-Mobile I have to get a new number. But I've had my current mobile number for at least 11 years! So you can guess I don't want to switch lightly. The solution presented itself just a day or so ago when I got a google voice invitation. My new Google Voice number can be directed to ring whatever phone number I'd like it to; so hopefully this new number will last for even longer than 11 years.

Sightseeing Commences

The sightseeing phase of our trip was supposed to begin in earnest on Monday. But due to insufficient planning (Cathedrals, and many museums are closed on Mondays) and some navigational difficulties we've gotten off to a slow start. So I had to squeeze some extra time out of my trip to plan the next few days; and unfortunately this means I'm way behind on blogging and I will be very tired tomorrow.

If I am very tired we will cut tomorrow short and try to have dinner with my cousins; and catch up on documenting the trip.

Today Gretchen and I went to a Roman-Irish bath. I thought of it as over a thousand years of leisure research and technology being focused into the art of rinsing off. Most German cities and towns are named in very unimaginative ways. So it's really no surprise then that the German city of Baden-Baden is a place of many hot springs. We went to Friedrichsbad, and for the low price of 31 euro, each, we took a bath. Today being Tuesday, the bathing was mixed, which was nice - we could stay together. The bath consisted of 15 stages:
Shower
Warm Dry Steam
Hot Dry Steam
Soap and Brush Scrub & Massage
Shower
Warm Wet Steam
Hot Wet Steam
Warm Bath
Warm Mineral Soak
Less Warm Mineral Bath
Warm Bath
Cold Water Plunge
Hot Towels
Cream/Lotion Application
Quiet Rest

We actually missed the quiet rest thing, we didn't see that stage untill the place was about to close, but that's not a big deal. We liked the steam and mineral baths so much that after our cold water plunge we jumped back to the warm wet steam and started over from there. All in all it was a two and a half hour bath! I highly recommend this if you are in Germany and aren't too squeamish about being naked around a bunch of bathers. For those of you who like to gamble I should mention that there is an amazing casino in Baden-Baden as well, along with tons of black forest hiking trails and such. I could easilly spend a few weeks just in Baden-Baden.

Friendly Duel

After a bit of confusion regarding train stations; Gretchen and I met my Mother and Step-Father at the hotel where we will stay for the wedding. It is a very nice little place, that is currently being remodeled. I liked the fact that there was no TV or phone in the room; but it did have wireless internet. It felt just like home. We had a balcony that I enjoyed greatly. Dan and I got our computers out and had a bit of a duel.
Gretchen and I took a walk through the lovely forest that Budenheim is known for; the hotel is right next to it! The forest has chunks of Roman road/wall in it, all covered in vines. For dinner we went out for Pizza at a little corner shop, and ice cream from the bakery next door.

It is so much fun to be in a European residential neighborhood. Everything is built, maybe, 40% closer together. It just makes the houses look so cute/cozy! Arrrgh, I love the windows! I must get some imported for my next house. They open in two different directions, even the balcony door! Unfortunately Gretchens camera doesn't take movies, and I plan on buying one while I'm here, so you will have to wait for a demonstration.