Dropping in to say hello!

Hi everyone!  It’s midterms, and I’m swamped again!  :- ) 

Thanks to everyone who’s stopped by this week!  BW, I’m sooooo glad you are doing better! I appreciated your comments so much!

A couple of quick followups: 

I actually SAW a coyote in the woods behind my house this morning.  It was surreal, to say the least.  It was standing over by the log cairns that I built over my huskies’ graves (sweet Nikki and Nina, who passed away about three years ago).  Let me tell you that seeing a sillhouette of a canid, with large prick ears and a bushy tail, standing curiously next to the graves of my dogs was nothing short of seeing a ghost.  Completely eerie.  I called out to it, and it looked up at me, and then quickly turned tail and ran off into the woods.

I’m assuming it was a coyote, because if it wasn’t, then it really might be the ghost of Nikki coming back to check on me.

Which frankly would be just fine with me.  We were the closest of companions in life. 

What do you think?  Do faithful hounds come and look after their people from beyond the grave?  Or should I invest in some humane coyote traps?

 In other news, women gamers made the news today at CNN.   I thought the article was interesting, but as usual, the comments from the readers was even more so!  In fact, I have commented on my recent experiences at the end of the story.  If you check, you should see it there.

And one final note:  grandpa and I started the seedlings for the spring!  Cabbages, brocolli, and peppers!  I have some pictures to post, but no time right now to do it.  Since next week is spring break (yay!)  I’ll be spending a lot of time with grandpa separating the seedlings and getting ready to break ground.  Look for fewer World of Warcraft posts soon, and more gardening posts!  ;- )

Gotta run and finish lunch so I can get back to the grindstone!  Thanks for being out there in the aether!

Read Full Post »

Real pals in virtual worlds

I’m sure I’ve said it here before, but one thing that is definitely true about doctoral programs is that they make it nearly impossible to keep up with your non-academically preoccupied friends.  New friendships form, forged in the fires of literature reviews and difficult classes, and as a result you see more of these coursework-comrades than you see of of the people who are near and dear to you.  It’s just the way it is.  And at least it’s temporary.

In the time since I’ve gone back to school, several of my friends have moved away, others have just moved on. 

But your friends never really leave you, and often you run into each other in unlikely virtual places.  With the new Web 2.0 application such as Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, and yes, blogging, it’s more likely than ever that  you run into your friends, no matter how distant, in the closesness of the ether.

Or maybe hanging around the Elwynn Forest, somewhere on the road between Goldshire and Westfall!

My good friend Wendy and her family moved last year to the Frozen North, also known as Buffalo, and while I’ve managed to keep up with Wendy through her blog and through other shared interests, I haven’t spoken to her husband in all that time.  Which is a real shame, because he is such a great guy.  Really, he’s one of that rare breed we refer to as “the good ones”.

Wendy had shared with him and their son James about my WoW assignment.  Apparently, they have been playing on another server for quite some time.  But, hearing about my assignment, they both created characters on the server my class is using and worked to level-up to a point where they could assist me in my Westfall quests.  [Yes, dayzofrain, I’m at Sentinal Hill…I think I will be for awhile…]

Did you get that?  Two real-world pals, a continent away, created characters in the virtual realm of Azeroth, to help me complete my real-world class assignment. 

I think it goes to prove a few things: first, that real people really are behind those fantastic avatars; second, that friends come to your aid in all kinds of unforseen circumstances; and third, that all the magic in the world is not confined to fictional realms of druids, mages, and paladins, but often bleeds over into our own world and our more earthly relationships.

Oh, and fourth: if you are going to attack the Defias Brotherhood at the Jangolode Mine, it helps to have both a powerful tank and a healer on your team.  Thanks guys!

Read Full Post »

Really, it was homework…

and it really was my lunchbreak.  Honest.

Today, during lunch I decided to do something unusual.  I decided to NOT work during my lunch break.  I sat at my desk and ate my soup…

and went up a level in World of Warcraft! 

Uh, uh-huh, yeah… I did install WoW on my computer at work.  But only for emergencies! I mean, what if I don’t make it to level 20 by the assignment due date!  I wouldn’t want to give my professor the impression that I didn’t take the assignment seriously, now would I? 

You cannot imagine the delight of the Japanese club staring through my office window watching me kill Goretusk bores and flying creepy monsters.  They actually cheered and clapped as I went up a level!  [To those who might care, I’m now level 14!] Some of them stuck their head in my office door to give me helpful hints.

I promise that I will not play WoW when I should be working. 

I promise that I will not play WoW when I should be working.

I promise that I will not play WoW when I should be working.

Because that would make me a WoW addict, wouldn’t it?

But really, it was homework, and it was my lunchbreak…

Read Full Post »

Valentine’s Day in Azeroth

I have often considered romantic getaways in exotic locales….tropical islands, Nordic chalets, Xanadu…the usuals.  Afterall, I love my husband, and I love travel, so what could be better?  But never in a million years did I consider the virtual realm of Azeroth to be the ideal Valentine’s Day excursion! 

Yes, true to old-married-people form, Tony and I spent the evening quietly at home…killing Kobold workers and members of the Defias Brotherhood.  And I finally got to see my man as every gal dreams of seeing her man….

Tall.  Strong.  Powerful.   With bulging muscles.  A gleaming suit of armor. 

And a bag full of money!

He rode up on a giant warsteed, whisked me off to distant lands, killed multitudes of creepy creatures that were threatening my life, gave me gifts of love and practicality (armor and bags for holding my loot). 

He sent me a love letter to the Red Lion Inn in Goldshire, gave me 15 gold pieces to spend however I like. 

He even made me a sexy dress using his own tailoring talents and his very own hands.

Well, not his hands precisely…..his character’s hands.

Which only leads me to ask…..Hey, Phred, you sexy level-70 Human Mage,  where have you been all my life?  Come here often?

I think I’m in love.  Don’t tell Tony…

Read Full Post »

Wow…I’m in WoW

So, my previous post is about how swamped I am with schoolwork, and it’s true.  I really am swamped.  I’m taking two classes, writing conference proposals, designing a pilot study for research, playing World of Warcraft, planning a conference, writing a grant proposal, and….

Did I mention I’m playing World of Warcraft? Yeah, well, no one is more surprised than I am…

Believe it or not, it’s one of my assignments for my eLearning Environments class.  Instead of a textbook, we were instructed to buy a copy of WoW.  In addition to our course readings and traditional assignments, we are to play WoW until we reach level 20 and keep a journal on our thoughts about virtual environments as learning platforms. 

Now, what you have to understand is that I have spent years, years, railing against online games and the power they have to suck the life and drive out of otherwise normal people.  In so many ways, healthy, normal human ambition and desire for accomplishment gets channeled into these games and, rather than finishing degrees or curing cancer or even walking the dog, people will spend countless hours leveling and farming a character.   And when I say that I have railed against them, you can be assured that I don’t mean a little hesitant disapproval.  If you need proof, you can ask my dear sweet Tony…..a consummate gamer from way-back-in-the-day (as my students like to say).

When Tony heard about my assignment, he laughed out loud. Yes, right in my face!  And then he ran to log into his game, and proceeded to tell all his buddies over the Ventrilo server that his wife was now required to play WoW.  

But here’s the kicker:  The larger part of my brain is screaming in frustration: “We don’t have time to play a game! Can’t we just read an article about game playing?  There’s too much to do!  Online games are just a brain-sink….”

But in the back of my brain, there’s the tiniest little voice that says, “Hey, if I finish this literature review, maybe I’ll have time to do a quest or two and bring my level up before bed…”

Big Voice:  “No, I don’t have time to cook dinner tonight! Can’t you see I’m up to my eyeballs in journal articles to get through?”

little voice:  “Okay, I’ve read so many journal articles they don’t make sense anymore.  Guess I should play some WoW…”

Big Voice: “Tony, you’ll never understand how hard I’m working! Please don’t ask me to do one more thing!”

little voice:  “Tony, would you come on this quest with me? I’m just a squishy little mage, and I sure could use a big strong paladin to be my tank on the Mulock Bounty Hunting quest…pleeeeze Sweetie?

Hello, my name is LarcMertel, and I’m a Murloc hunter…..

Read Full Post »