some recent WDW stuff

Cindy's foot feels better since her Gout caused infection has gone down, so we got to the parks last Saturday and Sunday.

The summer tribute band series at Epcot has started, which means we will be going pretty much once a week for the next 2 months. Coming up are Bon Jovi, Abba, U2, and Tom Petty tributes. On Saturday we saw Hotel California (an Eagles tribute band) and I thought they were much better than when I saw them a couple years ago. Of course this might have been because our seats were 3rd row center, the weather was actually a little cooler than we have been having lately, and there was a nice breeze.

I had a pretzel and Cappuccino smoothie while waiting for the show, so it was only fair to get Cindy a Lime Marguarita after the show. We also stopped at Mouse Gears for some cooking stuff for Cindy and a new pink Tinkerbelle ("Not Every Morning Is So MAGICAL") nightshirt for me. Was so excited about getting rid of a lot of change to buy the shirt, I forgot the $75. Disney birthday gift card I had.

On Sunday Cindy and I took our friends Lisa and Marty to the Magic Kingdom for the DVC / AP exclusive preview of Hall of the Presidents with the new "RObama"! I really love the changes they have made to this show and want to see it again, even when I don't need a cool-down/nap.

However when we got there at around 4pm they had opened it to all guests. This really packed the lobby and made it very hard to see all the changes in there. Next time Disney decides to open up a previously announced exclusive preview I hope they let us know in advance, so we can stay at home and have a chance to see all the changes after the buzz wears off. VERY BAD SHOW DISNEY!!!!

What has happened lately

We spent yesterday farming. Bob took out the outdoor tomato plants (Sweet 100 performed amazingly well; but the end is the end.) We still have one tomato growing on the "Mr Stripey" so that is left. Then I asked him to help me replace the last of the "Salad Greens" from our original 7 pod Aerogarden.

I had already harvested the last of that lettuce (and a wonderful run we had for months with it!) So all that was left was to clean it out and replant with Cherry Tomatoes.

Ha Ha! Cleaning it out was a 3-4 hour job. Once Mr. OCD had cleaned the entire thing (note - use filtered water to water them, it cuts way down on lime build-up) the pump wasn't working properly.

Fortunately we had a new back-up pump courtesy of a shipping mistake on Aerogrow's part. Finally got it fitted in. Up and running with new plantings of cherry tomatoes. I later found the totally great instructions on the Aerogrow website about how to install a new pump or clean an old one.

Our other garden is planted with "Edible Flowers" (thanks again Ben and Angela!) We have budding and a new flower on the marigolds, yay!

Today we were bummed out and blindsided by the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Not to mention the rumors of other deaths that were totally bogus. Sometimes the Internet just makes me mad.

We will be going to see the Eagles tribute band at Epcot within the next couple of days. Looking forward to it.

As for reading, I am totally enthralled by the Vampire Finishing School series. Marked, Betrayed and Chosen so far (yes they put #3 on kindle) got the 4th today.

Still playing Wizards and I really am taken in by the new stuff on the Test Site. Crafting like mad; but it is getting time consuming and expensive.

My appointment with the rheumatologist is for Sept 15. My dental appt is for July 21. So guess the rehab of my body parts will go forward. Yay!

A new bakery is opening in our little Town Center. They were giving away samples of Lemon Squares yesterday at the Farmers Market. Really good, with a soft crust that even I could eat. Will check them out soon.

yes Gracie, more Guild Wars stuff

Some might call me OCD (I prefer COD - Crazy On Demand). If playing Guild Wars for over 500 hours in the last 5 months is evidence of that so be it. I just happen to love the no-monthly fee and the fact that this game takes me back to some of my earliest video game playing (Shining Force series on the Sega Genesis and Saturn).

In any case, after collecting the 22+ platinum and 8000 Balthazar faction points I updated my Warrior hero this morning to a very complete "great" PvXwiki "W-Earth Shaker" (hammer weapon) build. All that is needed to complete this build is a Fortitude weapon upgrade for the hammer. I have not used this build in the wild yet, but it worked excellently in the battle arena.
In the first training set I got 4 flawless battles with a 14-0 timed battle win. In the second training set the only non-flawless battle was the flag battle and I got 12-0 in timed. Will be interesting to see how the build does against different and sometimes bigger enemy gangs.

more Guild Wars and thoughts on Cindy's gout.

Luckily before I used Balthazar faction points to get any spells for my Guild Wars Warrior hero's PvXwiki "great" W-Quivering Blade sword build, it was delisted. It seems there are new and better sword builds, but they do not work well with the hero AI. So now I have built up points, found a weapon, and have started to collect money for runes/insignias toward a "great" W-Earth Shaker hammer build. I think I will like this better. The hammer is a little slower to use, but has the potential for much more base damage and also will do an AoE knockdown sometimes that works well as an energy drain and interrupt.

My Ranger/Monk player just needs some weapon upgrades and runes to complete a "great" R-Barrage build.

The heroes that I use most of the time (Warrior is in first paragraph) are at this point:
Ranger/Monk (not sure how he got monk) - needs weapon upgrades and 1 rune to complete a "great" R-Barrage build.
Monk - I just have to decide and get what weapons would best fit for a "great" M-Word of Healing build.

Other heroes I have decided to work on at some point:
Mesmer has a complete "good" M-Mantra of Recovery build. Like the Assassin there are no "great" builds I can get without a second profession.
Dervish, Elemantalist, and Paragon - I either have or can get for Balthazar points all of the spells I need for "great" builds. I was working on Dervish, but need an Ebon weapon upgrade to make the main spell in the D-Ebon Dust build work.
Necromancer and Ritualist - There are spells for these that I can not get for Balthazar points. Will try a similar spell for Necromancer and hope the Ritualist spells pop up when I get further into Factions.

I have now got all of the missions (with bonuses), quests, and exploring done on the islands in Nightfall. Just got to the mainland last night. Not as far in Factions, but have lots of quests to finish there. Really do not like the city in Factions and especially not all the levels to it. It will be interesting to continue with Prophecies and Eye of the North once I get my Warrior hero closer to done.
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I am extremely glad that Cindy finally got most of her medical problems diagnosed as Gout, since it is somewhat managable. Will be nice to make plans that involve walking and not have to cancel at the last moment because of an attack. I do not really mind pushing her in a wheelchair around places, but sometimes even the walk to the chair can be painful for her. Also will be glad once we get her dental work started. It might help some other medical problems she interrmittently has.

Diagnosed!

Yesterday morning, Bob took me to our local urgent care clinic with an infected toe. When the nurse was looking at my foot she asked "What is this?" about what I had been told several years ago was a bunion that would probably need surgery some day. Told her it was a bunion.

The doctor on duty that day was luckily an orthopedist. He came in, took one look at my foot and said, "That is not a bunion, it is gout." It turns out that what I had been thinking were bunions on my feet, my bad knees and lumpy fingers that I thought were arthritis are all gout! I am a very bad doctor.

He was very impressed with the gouty toe (the infected toe was another one - also gout) and asked if he could take X-rays (free!) so he could show them to the guys back at his regular practice (a Sports Medicine Institute.) I said sure.

While the X-rays were being taken, he printed out some info on my gout - Tophacesus Gout - and the names of some rheumatologists that I would need to see.

He showed me perfectly awful pics of other gout victims and said with glee - that I was worse! I felt so proud. Coming in first in the uglies feet in the World competition is quite something, apparently.

He prescribed antibiotics for the infection. Then said he would take my X-rays back to his people and maybe there would be something they could do surgically to "improve the quality of my life." We'll see.

Anyway, the upshot is that tomorrow I have to start calling Rheumatologists in the area (and surprisingly enough, for a place where the aged abound, there are very few rheumatologists. So I have to find one who A) is taking new patients B) accepts our health plan and C) works within an hour or two away. Wish me luck!

Back to Books and Stuff

I tried to order the next in the Vampire School series last night. One thing about Kindle is that they sort of leave out some books! Book two in the series is available and not three! Four and Five are available - sigh. I will soldier on!

I am saving up books for my dental nightmare. Rediscovered an author I used to love- Alex Kava. Total suspense! Ordered her stuff published since I moved here. I am saving up ordering the new Dean Koontz until just before the dentist stuff, since I think I will really need him!

We plan to go to Animal Kingdom on Bob's b-day next Tuesday. Groom the goats and shop a bit. Then on to Logan's for dinner. Should be a great day!

mostly about books

I pretty much have no idea what Bob was talking about with "Guild Wars", but I am sure I will be brought up to date soon - sigh.

I really need to get into this game since I have lost a couple of others.

I must say that the info packet that came with my new "Eye of the North" gives me a lot to read and learn from.

Both of us have eye appointments tomorrow. Yay, no pain involved.

Visit to SweetBay after to look for KerryGold cheese (thanks Kate, did not even know it existed)

Watched "Time Bandits" the other night and passed it along to Lisa and Marty. That was a very "unusual" movie. Glad I saw it though.

I just finished reading a series of Contemporary Amish Romances. It is really better than it sounds. Written by Cindy Woodsmall. They are amazingly engaging, they manage to combine the conflict between the Amish and the English.

Also just started a vampire series written by a mother and daughter team. They are sort of a Harry Potter with a vampire school instead of Hogwarts.

Yeah, I know, I thought it was stupid at first, but the first one is pretty good! It is the "House of Night" series. I am reading the first "Marked" authors are PC Cast and Kristen Cast.

I am saving up books on Kindle to have them read to me through earbuds while undergoing my upcoming dental work - Arg!

Thanks to Jill and Susan for your support and advice.

more Guild Wars

Just got and input the Guild Wars Eye of the North code on Cindy's account. Once we get her from Lion's Arch to there it will be open for a group explore at out next LAN party. I also could use all the Norn points I can get as one of my spells is based on my Norn level and I am close to the next level.

Also this weekend (from noon on Friday I think) is double Sunspear and Lightbringer experience points, so playing Nightfall may be advantageous.

Guild Wars & Free Realms

After a couple of days of spending quality time (watching tv) with my wonderful wife I decided to get back to Guild Wars and trying to get my character and hero builds up to the highest PvXwiki standards.

With quite a lot of gold and some Balthazar faction points finally got my Monk hero to a complete "great" Monk-Word of Healing build. Still have to do some weapon research to determine the best weapon combo for him though.

My Ranger/Monk character and Ranger hero are also very close a "great" Ranger-Barrage (slightly modified for each character) build. Got all the spells and insignias, but the final runes needed for this build will take a lot more gold and the weapon upgrades will have to be found.

My Warrior hero is waiting for 4000 (2 days) of Balthazar faction points to get her final 2 major spells toward her "great" Warrior-Quivering Sword build and then I will work on getting her 2 minor spells, insignias, runes, and weapon upgraded.

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Free Realms announced at E3 last week some of their upcoming updates:
- They will get Friends working.
- They will be adding stuff to do after you hit the job level cap at 20.
- They will be adding housing.
- They will be adding Guilds and Guild Halls.

Star and Guild Wars e!

Had a very nice time at Star Wars Weekend in WDW's Disney Hollywood Studios yesterday. Got there around 11:15 am and found a good handicapped spot for the Legends of the Force parade. The parade was very nice, but was sped up due to impending rain. Love the Jedi Mickey leading "float" in the shape of a X Wing Starfighter. There also was a very large contingent of the 501st Legion in the parade.

After the parade we headed to Wicket's Warehouse for the exclusive merchandise. Between the 2 of us we got 4 tshirts, 3 pins, and a couple other inexpensive things. The Big Figs this year just did not appeal to us at all. They best was Jedi Mickey (as Luke) carrying a great Yoda on his back. Glad we got the Jedi Mickey and Darth Donald (Maul) when they came out.


After shopping it was sprinkling as we headed to Stars of the Sega - Star Wars Celebrity Talk Show. This was a very enjoyable show with Jay Laga'aia (Captain Typho), Jeremy Bullock (adult Boba Fett), and David Prowse (Darth Vadar in the original trilogy).

The sprinkles had stopped after the show and we headed to the pin shop for the first, limited edition Annual Passholder Star Wars Weekend pin. This is the third weekend, so it was sold out. On the way out of the park we stopped at Mickey's of Hollywood, so I could get a replacement for my increasingly holy nightshirt and Cindy could get me a birthday gift (has pointy things, is small, and doesn't box well??).

My only disappointment was we did not take the time or have the occasion to see many of the walk-around Star Wars Characters. With the opening of Pixar Place there is no place in the park where a lot of them congregate anymore.
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On a very upbeat note - all but a couple of the spells I need to finish making "great" PvXwiki hero builds are now available from the Temple of Balthazar. Guess I will be spending some time in the training arenas there, getting gold for the runes & insignias needed, and trying to get the weapon drops needed.

just a reply to Cindy's last post

Koyaanisqatsi was pretty good with some absolutely amazing photography. Being mostly visual it was very relaxing to me and I did catch my eyes closing a few times.

Actually our next Netfilx movie will be "Time Bandits". I really liked it the few times I have seen it and Cindy does not remember seeing it before. Will be interesting to see how she likes it.

Rain would definitely put a damper (had to say that) on Star Wars Weekends. The characters walking around (Aurra Sing & Zam Wessel e!) and the parade would probably be cancelled. However there is some event exclusive merchandise I would like to see and a pin Cindy wants to buy. We also could see a couple of the indoor Q&A or panels.

Got the notice today that Cindy's Guild Wars Eye of the North expansion will be here on 6/12. Sounds like a good reason to have another LAN party soon thereafter.

NetFlix update

Bob and I watched "Koyaanisqatsi" tonight. I have seen it a few times over the years; but Bob never saw it before. Not quite sure he liked it; but he did not fall asleep or start playing Pogo, lol.

If you have never seen it, it is difficult to describe. Completely visual with Philip Glass music. Changing views of the world and sometimes relaxing or moving or just shocking.

Next up that old favorite "The Gods Must Be Crazy"

We went to the little local Farmers Market again yesterday, only a bit of rain. Got some more amazing veggies and I bought an orchid plant to replace one I had in Danville. The flowers smell like chocolate! Hope I don't kill this one. We split a watermelon with Marty and Lisa.

Hope we don't get rained out of Star Wars Weekend on Sat. Heck, we might just go and take ponchos.

New color scheme

We changed some of the colors for the backgrounds, text, and links today. Please leave a comment to this post if you are having any problems reading now. We also updated our profile a bit, so enjoy.

Thanks, Bob and Cindy

Our Guild Wars updates

I got the Factions and Nightfall campaigns last night, so I now have all of them. Will be able to help Brian out when I get up to that point in Factions.

I also ordered Eye of the North for Cindy this morning. That means we can do some gaming there during our next LAN party.

Will be trying to do some research tomorrow on best way to get more of my heroes a PvXWiki "great" build. Doesn't seem it will be as easy as I thought. Did however complete a "good" hero build for my Mesmer. The only way to get her a "great" build is to get her a Ritualist secondary in Nightfall. More on this later:

Bob

My Defense!

I do not just sit around watching soaps and reading my Kindle - well, I do that - but I also do lots of housework and take care of our outdoor "farm"

I also cook a lot, so that Bob no longer has to rely on microwave popcorn to survive. And he would be the first to say that he appreciates that.

We hope to be able to use this blog to keep up with our kids. (They have blogs as well, so it only seems fair)

Also hope to be able to keep up with our VMK families and friends.

I guess old dogs can really learn new tricks, at least I hope so.

Love you all!

Cindy

Just an introduction to us in our blog's first post.

We met in Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) online game in June 2005 right before it went live. Over the next 15 months we found we had some common interests (online gaming, Disney, Disboards.com, Star Wars, etc.) and were close in age. However I (Bob) lived in Florida and Cindy lived in California. In September 2007 I flew to California to meet Cindy, see her house, and visit Disneyland Resort with her. After this we flew to Florida, so she could see my apartment and visit Walt Disney World with me. We found out that we were very compatible! In January 2008 she flew to Florida to visit me again and to start things moving toward her moving in with me. In June of 2008 I flew to California to help her pack and drive her back to Florida. We found a bigger apartment in the same general area. Things continued to go well and in March 2008 we got married.

Since then I quit my job at 7-Eleven and we both are now free to do what we want. My usual routine is to get household chores done first, read EMails and forums most of the day, and then play online games at night. Cindy watches daytime soups and evening TV, while sometime reading on her Kindle or playing on the computer. We do get out shopping at least once a week, get to our local farmers market on Wednesday afternoon, and get to Walt Disney World whenever we want (seems to be about every other week).

We are more casual gamers than some, but have been gaming for a little while. Cindy started playing Pogo in 2001, played VMK from June 2005-May 2008, and played Pirates of the Caribbean Online (PotCO) for a while. She is still playing Pogo and also plays Wizard101 (W101), Free Realms, and Guild Wars (when we can talk her into it). I started gaming in 1995 with Sega Genesis and Saturn. For the Genesis I have all 3 Shining (Force) games, 2 Phantasy Stars, Beyond Oasis, and a couple others. For the Saturn have 3 Shining (Force) games, Legend of Oasis, Albert Odyssey, Magic Knight Rayearth, Mystaria (Blazing Heroes), Panzer Dragoon Saga, and a few others. These kept me busy till VMK came along in June 2005. Just before VMK closed in May 2008 I started playing PotCO and still dabble in it sometimes. Presently I am playing W101, Free Realms, and really enjoy Guild Wars (3/4 done with Prophecies, 1/2 done with Eye of the North, and just started Factions/Nightfall). I also dabble in Metaplace.

As a side note: Cindy's daughter used to be a gaming magazine editor and now works for a company that does public relations for gaming companies.