RETIRED WARRANT

I finally got that done

Well it is Saturday and I have had a slow start to the day after staying up too late last night and sleeping in this morning.

I did finally get started on the laundry and I have to break out the checkbook and get some bills paid. I also have to make a store run because we are out of laundry soap again, but I finally got moving.

Last night I finally got the pictures I took on the last trip downloaded from the camera and on the desktop. I also posted them on Flickr where Laila has access to my account and can download them on her blog if she wants.

I will download and post two of them here and then I will have Laila go ahead and post the descriptions later since I want to make sure of the names and all. I am so bad with names.

This one is Laila, Joel (Honorbound) and their families and of course me, that we took during one of our meetings.

This one here is of Laila’s best friends from her old neighborhood, Vera and Sherwin.

So now that I have that done, I will go ahead and get back to the chores. You all have a great weekend.

A little perturbed

Well today has been really busy and so I haven’t had much time to do anything. On the news front I guess the guys that bag groceries at some of your local grocery stores will be going out on strike. I guess they want a wage increase to $11.03 an hour. That is ridiculous, as I heard it put bagging groceries is not a head of household job.

Also Paris Hilton is trying to get a pardon from her jail term. Lets see, drunk driving on a revoked license, she didn’t show up for her alcohol safety class, and then she was late for court. I am surprised she only got 45 days in jail. She had better not get pardoned. Perhaps a little of the hard life will wake her up to the fact that just because you are rich and popular doesn’t mean you are exempt from the law.

I am a bit ticked off today, though I have calmed down a bit since last night and this morning. It was a good thing I got to teach today because it takes my mind off the everyday life stuff and always puts me in a better mood.

In Unification Wars you are better off belonging to a federation because you get protection and you have access to advice and help. Since I have taken the initiative to work on my empire and build it to be self sufficient I don’t really need credits or food or anything from others, though I always have excess and help others both in our federation and outside of it.

The federation also supplies you with your outpost which is your reinforcements when your empire is out of damage protection. Each day before I leave for work I check what empires will be out next and I post. If I come home for lunch I post before going back to work. At night when I am home I post for the people going out.

I don’t ask much in return other than to have live posters to refresh the outpost when some of it is used just as I do for them. I also ask that each night I get a chance to reset my damage protection. I always look to see how many people are going to be out. If it is going to be a busy night I will dp some folks and gain enough planets so that when I am dp’ed I at least break even. I can get out and get back making room for others in about 20 minutes to an hour. That did not happen last night and I am still angry about it.

People are not looking at how much time the other members have left and when they go out they stay out. If you are part of a group you have to make sure what you do does not hurt others, and this is not being done by some players. I know we have a two hour limit in the federation, but if we have five or six people that are coming out during that time get out get in and go later.

I have over 4.3 Million planets now and I have to come out at higher PR’s to better protect what I have. That takes a lot of op from the posters and it takes a lot of turns for them to get it posted. During the evening when players go out, I as a LT make sure that everyone has at least 4 stacks, many times they have 6 or 8. Last night when I first went out I had 2, and though a few people posted static op before logging off they still were not live posting.

I hate to be a complainer, but I have on many occasions sacrificed sleep, turns, and credits posting for people who went out late at night and when there was a shortage of op posters. I don’t complain, I just do it out of a sense of responsibility. I don’t feel I get that in return.

We have several people who are posting for their lords, but not for their fed mates which is a practice that must be eliminated. If you need to post for your lord go join his fed. Do not use our assets and then not give us assets to use in return. Far too many people are having their empires coming out unattended. That is a burden on all as an unattended empire is a yummy target and hard to post for.

People are being accepted into the fed that do not have communications with other members. Communications is a must, because you have to know if it is safe to come out or if someone else is preparing to come out.

Someone even had the gall to complain about DP’ing allies and freiends. How do you think we get you empire in when it is out unattended? I didn’t get to my current planet count by being stupid, greedy, and attacking everything that moves. I got there by playing smart. I collect retals against those that hit my main and then use them. I gain planets everyday by Dp’ing others and hitting NPC’s. I make arrangements to get back in when I am out. Yeah, I will take a shot at someone I don’t know if a really yummy opportunity presents itself, but I also realize that I am not the only one in the fed and try to make sure everyone is covered and gets a chance.

If things don’t change I might just take someone up on one of the offers I have been getting to move to another fed, or I might just have to start my own. I didn’t work this hard and put in this many hours in the game to watch it get taken away because the team mates I have helped are not there for me when I need it, and that is exactly how both Laila and I feel right now. This is not directed at everyone, just the few, and they know who they are.

Anyway, enough said, I have to get ready to teach this other class now, since at work I am also part of a team and willing to pitch in when I can for the good of that team.

You never know

I am a jeans and tee shirt man so I love the weekends because I get a chance to wear comfortable clothing.

My job has a dress code so I have to wear slacks and a nice shirt with dress shoes. On the weekend I can break out the jeans and a tee shirt and I am set.

It does have it’s disadvantages sometimes. Today I went shopping for a few items at target. I wanted to get some low voltage low current Christmas lights so we can decorate Laila’s apartment for the holidays, and I also wanted to get a better computer bag for my laptop. While there I also did some snooping for a Christmas present for Laila.

I had an idea of what I wanted but when I went to Target jewelry department they did not have much of a selection and it was all cheap stuff so I went to the mall.

One of the neat things that wearing jeans and a tee shirt when you are my age is that it makes it appear as if you are a bum I guess, and that means when you go to a jewelry counter you do not get waited upon.

My first stop was Macy’s Department Store, over at Plaza Bonita. I knew what I wanted and finally after standing around for a while as the folks behind the counter talked to one another and waited on other folks that had gotten there after me so I decided they didn’t want my money so I left and went to J C Penney.

When I got there there was a lady behind the counter and she kept waiting on everyone but me, many of whom didn’t buy anything. I waited and waited and was just about ready to leave when another salesperson, who had been working at another counter came over and asked if he could help me.

I told him what I was looking for and he mentioned that the item was quite expensive. I told him that did not matter and to box it up for me.

He rang it up and I paid for it and Ms. Ignore me saw the sale and gave me this strange little smile, as if saying I am sorry I screwed up.

After that it was off to the barbershop to get my hair cut and then home before Laila wakes up.

Anyway, it was great and just goes to show you can’t judge a person by how they dress. Must really be hurting her since all of those salespeople work on commission. Anyway now I have to e-mail my daughter Randine for an address. Her job has her currently working in Colorado for a while and I need to find out where to send her present.

Have a great weekend everyone.

At the grocery

Today, I had to do a little grocery shopping on the way home from the post office, and one of those annoying things happened that kind of ruined my good mood for a few minutes, though after joking around with the clerk I got my spirits back up.

I was on my way to the checkout and like everyone else I try and pick the shortest line. There was a line with two ladies in it and they seemed to be together, so that was going to be the fast line, nope. It seemed like they wanted to know the price of several of their items and then putting things back. They also had their items split up in three different purchases. Four people went through the next line over while these two were getting checked out. I held back saying anything, but I was really tempted.

Anyway after they left I told the cashier “oops I didn’t want to get that, or that or that” and after she looked at me in horror she figured out I was joking and we had a good laugh. Sometimes I just don’t understand people. The prices are posted, and everything has a description on it. If they are worried about running out of funds they can always carry a calculator.

Anyway that was today’s experience, and at least they didn’t have coupons or WIC vouchers which makes the line go even slower.