RETIRED WARRANT

Moving UC to a new server

Today is kind of interesting since shortly they will be shutting down Unification Wars and moving to a new server. They will be down for approximately three hours.

Additionally someone has started the overmind project which pretty much messes up the game. It means that someone is trying to win the game, and it is up to everyone in the game to stop them. I don’t know how much truth tio everything there is but I have heard there are bugs in the game software that can be exploited as well as heard that this part of the game has not been completed yet.

Anyway I guess we will see because the guy that implemented the crisis has gone further than anyone else so far in the game.

We are all trying to get our moves in before they shut down to move the servers. Then we will go to the mall. I don’t feel like cooking today and would like some Chinese noodles so we will get some at SM Mall when we go this afternoon.

This morning we got up and we didn’t have any bread for toast so we went to 7-11 and got donuts instead for breakfast.

Well I guess that is about it for now. Until tomorrow have a great day.

Court Hearing Resets

Today Laila had to go to court and we were hoping that we would get this last case resolved, The birth records thing is supposed to be over and the one with the fake Saudi ex is over, but we still have the remaining case to get through and it should be over by now.

The first time Laila tried to go to court on this one, it was canceled due to a typhoon. The second time it was canceled because the judge was out of the country. today it was canceled because the judge was sick. This is three times the case has been moved back, she has had to pay all three times and now this crap is going to be stretched out until June.

I told her she needs to find out where she can register a complaint, because this is crap. This is going to continue dragging out everything for several more months and I am getting tired of waiting.

I guess that is it for now. I am too bummed to write anything else.

First Sunday of Lent

Yesterday after quite a busy day I went to bed kind of early. Laila and I tried to go out and reset our damage protection in the game, but others from the fed kept going out and I didn’t get a chance so I got up at 3 AM and went out then.

I collected quite a few planets and was going to stay out a little longer but was attacked by a member of another fed. What he didn’t realize was that at the time I was helping one of his fed members. He apologized and put me back into damage protection, and now I have a new friend in the game as I was very nice about things.

Anyway after that Laila and I got ready for church. We have a deal with the kids, sort ofg the same deal I have with mine. If you attend church you get to go out for breakfast, and if you don’t then you make your own breakfast.

Anyway Pearl and Denise went while Jun Jun and Tin Tin stayed home. We attended church across the street from the apartment and we got there right after the mass started. The mass was in Tagolag so Laila translated for me.

Today was the First Sunday of Lent and the first reading was from Deuteronomy 26:4-10. The second reading was Romans 10:8-13, and the gospel was Luke 4:1-13. With it being the first Sunday of Lent the priest wanted us to make sure we reconciled everything with God for the holy season.

He talked a little about Ash Wednesday which Laila and I missed. He also talked of charity and loving one another.

After church we went to McDonalds for breakfast and then we came back home to find Laila’s mother waiting for us out front. We gave her a sandwich we had left over and some corn flakes and then she watched television.

Since Laila and I had been up since 3 we took a nap. Anyway, we are up now but I am still a bit sleepy and the heat isn’t helping matters so I think I will take another nap. Have a great week folks.

Wow it is Saturday already

Time has been really flying by and I am again sorry for neglecting the blog. Laila and I have been pretty busy cooking and playing Unification Wars, as well as getting a little running around done out in town.

I find that when ever we are online in the game someone is needing us for something. Either our vassals need us for advise or help, our fed needs us to post outpost, or it is our time to go out of damage protection.

Anyway while Laila is continuing her conservative and level headed play of hitting the NPC’s and safe targets, I have been experimenting with my stacks and have been attacking aggressively. Sometimes it pays off while other times it has led to headaches.

Last night I hit a lower member of one of the top federations. His outpost eliminated most of my fleet and then some suiciders friendly to their federation attacked me endlessly.

Anyway, I guess that will teach me to be a little more careful next time. I do have a better system with more protection and as I perfect some better stacks I look forward to continuing to move up in the game.

This morning I thought it was Saturday. I don’t know how I lost a day, but I did. Laila’s mother should be over today and then tomorrow is church day. Time is flying by too rapidly and I am going to be sad to leave again as I always am when it comes time to go.

I am about ready to go to the store and buy some food for one of Laila’s neighbors. Everyday they have been cooking some really stinky fish and it really makes the entire apartment complex smell bad. I will buy them some real food and tell them to throw their fish out. I don’t think Laila would like that though.

I guess that is it for now. I will try and blog again tomorrow.

Time to blog

Sorry I haven’t kept this up to date and I really don’t have a valid excuse for not blogging other than pure laziness. Laila and I have been playing Unification Wars and just resting off and on, and I have had many opportunities, but have not blogged.

Monday after getting up and making breakfast Laila and I pretty much wasted the day by playing the game and me getting used to using this PC. It has a funny keyboard that I am not used to and also my Java is more up to date, which displays things differently. I also slipped in the shower that morning and in addition to hurting my foot, I twisted my back. Now I hurt and Laila has been trying to help ease the pain as much as possible.

Anyway we have been leveling up and fighting once a day. Mainly though we have been learning from the other federation members on how to fight and who to fight.

Tuesday was a repeat of Monday. We ate store bought Pizza that was not too good for dinner and again we played the game all day. Laila did find time to get the laundry done and I cooked breakfast, but it was another Lazy day.

Wednesday we actually got busy for a change. I got up and made breakfast and then we played the game for a while before going to go buy groceries. I am going to try a few different dishes this time like stir fry vegetables and pork chops. We will see how it goes.

I tried a couple of new things in the game yesterday. First I left a fleet above my dark planets when fighting so that when they tried to suicide the outpost they would find a full fleet. That worked out extremely well.

I also recruited 5 new players for vassals and will try and bring them along much in the manner Laila has been bringing hers along.

I hope we will find a couple worthy of joining the federation. Anyway, I guess that is about it for today. Time to get some things figured out in the game and decide what to make for dinner. I will try and be better about blogging the rest of the trip.

Fifth Manila visit

Well I am back in the Philippines for the fifth time to visit Laila and trying to adjust to the hours, slow Internet speeds and the noisy streets.

Anyway Sunday after getting home from the airport we tried to get caught up on some sleep. We work a nap for a while and then got up for a while, then another nap and so on.

We finally got up and went to church but missed the opening prayers and all because we were a little late. We were also up in the balcony and couldn’t see anything. Next week I will make sure we go to the morning mass and make sure we are not late.

Anyway Sunday was Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time. The first reading was 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23. The second reading was 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 and the gospel was Luke 6:27-38 and though the mass was inTagalog Laila translated some of it so that it was about a message saying love your enemy.

After the mass we went to dinner at a Chinese place called The Super Bowl of China. The food was OK but after walking all over the place and the lack of sleep I was very tired and only wanted to sleep.

We had a lot of leftovers and so we just brought them home and Laila and I went to bed early.

Getting ready to go

Yesterday I had a busy afternoon. At lunchtime we had a meeting and they laid out the new instructor evaluation program. It is not much different from the current one and I don’t worry too much about evaluations anyway. I feel since I have had good evaluations in the past and continue to teach the same way I always have I will have no problems.

I don’t ever even worry about what I am teaching when I get evaluated. Some folks have certain topics they like to get evaluated on and will time those topics for evaluation time. I don’t as I feel confident that I can teach any of my lessons with the same enthusiasm and confidence.

After work I finished up on a schematic I was working on and then went to the commissary on the way home to get groceries for the kids. The place had more cashiers and baggers than customers so I was in and out of there fast. I stopped by the post office on the way home and then Carlos and I unloaded and put away the groceries as soon as I got to the house.

After we put away everything I went over to the PC and it was locked up. I thought that was strange so I rebooted it and it came right up. I then got up on Trillian and Skype and right away Laila told me I had to post outpost for our federation leader. I had posted a bunch before leaving for work but it was all gone, so I quickly built some ships and then went to the kitchen to start dinner. When I came back to the PC it had rebooted. I thought it might have been due to a Java update I had downloaded so I logged back in and updated the outpost.

It then died again so I turned it off, opened it up and I discovered that one of my CPU cooling fans had died. I went ahead and installed another fan and waited for it to cool down. When I fired it back up it worked fine, but I will have to hit Circuit City or Best Buy to get the exact size. The one I installed is slightly bigger.

As soon as I got that fixed Laila wanted to go out of damage protection so I posted outpost for her. She stayed out for about an hour, and then started coming in. She was just about in with 1 token left and she rebuilt her fleet. At the same instant she got hit, so now instead of being back in damage protection, she was out again fully charged.

We then had another problem. When I joined the federation we looked at the minimum requirements, and we met almost all of them. I have the 500K planets and all my systems maxed out. I only missed on the infrastructure levels. The federation wanted people to be at a certain level and I was 10 levels below. I built it up very fast though, so I met the requirements before ever asking anyone to post for me.

We have a member in our group who has met none of those requirements, refuses to level upon explore for planets and is always out of damage protection. He uses up the entire outpost for the group, and most of the time since he stays out until broke, he does not supply any. Additionally he attacks anyone, including friends and allies, is rude and obnoxious, and refuses to give anyone else in the fed a chance to get anything done. Anyway, I finally got tired of waiting for him to come in so Laila and I abandoned posting outpost for him and she posted it for me. I got a few planets and came back in which reset my damage protection so I would not be asleep or at work.

Anyway there are several people in the federation who are annoyed with this guy, so I see him getting booted soon. It is nice to be aggressive and all but there are 20 people in the federation and he has to due what is good for the fed, not waste all our resources. After that I went to bed and slept well and was actually awake before the alarm went off. I chatted with Laila, got the kids up, Laila and I did our prayers, and I directed Laila to Judy’s blog where she posted something cool. Laila loved it and was going to try and post it on her blog but was having trouble with the links. It may have been a US only link or something, or perhaps she got it all fixed by now.

Today when I get off work I need to make a fast stop at the mini-mart, and then run to my bank to get some cash. Maybe I will wait on the cash until tomorrow. I deposited some stuff that they put a hold on and I want to check on that. I also have to get some traveling cash and pay any bills that will come up while I am gone.

I have to take cash with me or it will cost me a lot to use my ATM or credit card. It is a big pain in the butt, as the Philippine Government loves to take money from visitors. I didn’t really notice the amount until I looked at my hotel bill from the last trip back. They took a percentage for using a credit card, and another for the VAT tax. All in all I think it totaled a little over 25% in taxes which is ridiculous. So now I am going to watch this stuff a little more carefully.

Well I guess I had better get to doing what I get paid to do since it is almost time to start for the day. I will try and blog tomorrow, but it may be from the airport instead of here or at home. Also it may be a little late. Anyway, wish me a speedy and safe trip and pretty soon I will be posting from Laila’s home in Manila.

My DMV adventure

Yesterday I took an adventure and went to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I let the guys know that I was going there during my lunch hour and that I may be a little late. ET1 told me if I was going there don’t even bother coming back because I would spend my entire lunch hour just waiting in line, and that by the time I got done it would be too late. I told him that since it was a Tuesday maybe it would go pretty quick, but he didn’t think so.

Anyway at lunch time I jumped in the car and off I went. I got to the parking lot of the DMV and noticed the line to even get in was already lined up out in the parking lot and I couldn’t find a parking space.

Then I almost witnessed an accident as some knucklehead backed out of a parking spot without looking. In fact the lady he almost hit was parked right beside him. She pulled out and was getting ready to start forward and he almost backed into her. She hit her horn and the knucklehead then looked and saw her. That would have been embarrassing getting in a wreck at the DMV.

Anyway I took her spot and then went and got in line. While there I noticed that about 85% of the people were foreigners. Many were there with their entire families or friends. As I was going into the building after waiting outside I noticed all the no food or liquids and no cell phone signs posted everywhere. When I got inside I noticed that a lot of people blew off the no food, liquids, and cell phone signs.

I got to the counter and they gave me my number B282 and then I went to the waiting area where they were displaying the numbers. Since everyone brought their families, friends and all there was no seats left so I found an empty place to stand and then watched as they posted the next B number which was like B253 or close to there. It didn’t sound so bad and I figured it would go pretty quick.

Since everyone with a B number was there for change of Title or Registration the wait is a little longer than some of the other things like driver’s license and all. I finally got a seat near on of the registration desks and then watched as people had all kind of excuses for being late, trying to register without a smog check, not having the documentation and all kinds of other stuff. A lot of it was funny and some people are so dumb. If you are trying to shortcut or defraud the system these people are going to catch it. I mean that is all they do, is just this paperwork. Anyway I was watching people get turned away and watched while those with the proper paperwork spent very little time at the desk.

For a while it seemed like I was going to be seen right away as they started ticking through the B numbers really fast, but then they got stuck on the G and H numbers and for a while they didn’t even call B numbers.

Some big guy took the seat next to me and this guy was gross. He was big, fat, and he was snoring even though he was awake. He kept coughing and snorting and even belching. Every time they would call a non-B number he would complain. It got annoying and I was really glad when he moved. Then a Chinese guy sat next to me and I felt bad for him. He had a number in the B325 range and he was going to be there for a while, but he was pretty cool.

Right after he sat down up came B282, and I went off to window 15. I gave the lady the title which was all filled out and signed. She asked me the value and gave me a piece of paper to fill out. I told her that I was changing the name on the title due to the divorce and she said, good, that I didn’t have to pay taxes or get it smog checked.

She then gave me an amount to write the check for and sent me to a window to get new tags. I spent less than 5 minutes at her desk and when I got all done it was 1:30 PM so I was there for about 2 and a half hours, maybe a little less.

After that I dropped by the bank which is fairly close to the DMV and then headed for home. I stopped by the post office and got the mail. I think it is almost time to send my city councilman another e-mail as there are more and more panhandlers showing up in the neighborhood. I usually ignore them but some get a little abusive when you walk by. Anyway whenever the numbers of them start increasing I drop and e-mail to my councilman and they disappear for a while. They have been hanging out at the grocery store and post office lately and a few of them have been getting aggressive.

After that I went home, since it was too late to go back to work, and so I did some things for work on the laptop at home and waited for Laila to come on line. We were both very productive last night in gathering planets and Laila again got more than I did. Both of us made it out and back with little damage and then we posted for one of our fed mates.

When he went out, someone crushed him before he even got his fleet built so someone was sitting on him. I will keep that in mind next time I am building. I think the key is to switch fleets fast. I also have seen where some folks don’t attack my main but hit my other planets so I will have to think of a strategy for that.

Today is Valentine’s Day and Laila was happy to receive the flowers and chocolates I sent her. Also when I came in there was a note that we are having a meeting today so I will have to go there. I am going to stop off and get some food for the kids when I get off work today.

So I guess that is about it for today. Have a great week.

A waste of time

One thing I really hate is wasting my time and last night I wasted a lot. I will get to that in a moment though.

Yesterday as I was getting ready to leave work and head home I started feeling really ill. About three times during the drive home I pulled over because I thought I was going to throw up my lunch. I still managed to stop by the post office and get the mail and as soon as I got in the house I took some Pepto Bismol and Tums. After about 20 minutes I was fine.

Also as soon as I got in the house Laila was already on line and ready to go out of damage protection. I sent her DC’s c class stack on a spread sheet and she built up her fleet. Though somehow she still used the wrong spreadsheet and all she was very successful and when she came in a few others went out and came back in.

One of our members that has not been around for a while came on and had a desire to go out so even though I had to reset I let him go. He spent the next 2 hours wasting everyone’s time. First off as he was building his fleet he had to take a time out to talk to his wife. When I have a fleet out for people’s protection, it costs me anywhere from 1 to 2 Billion per turn. He is costing me that to talk to his wife instead of play the game.

Then the guy comes back and builds his fleet way up above the outpost that was covering him and we played catch up for the next while. He finally got up to 2 billion and then he didn’t attack any one. He sat there for like half an hour doing absolutely nothing and then asked a sister fed mate to put him into DP. So basically Laila, Omi, me, and a few others wasted 2 hours of playing time and upwards of 2T credits so this guy could go to 2 billion power rating and be tapped in. Yeah he gained about 50K planets over the two hours but Laila earned 100K in less time than that at a lower level.

After he finally came in I was able to go out, but I had to go to bed before coming in. I am so angry, I am thinking of pm’ing our fed leader and telling him to talk to these people who are wasting our time. I don’t mind posting, even if someone is getting beaten badly, as we can study the results and work with them, but to go that high and have everyone supporting you go that high, just to get tapped in is totally ridiculous.

This morning I woke up on time and I felt a lot better. Laila and I said our prayers a little early and I packed up a few things that I will try and take care of during my lunch hour. I have to get the car title put in my name and stop by my bank. I have been putting off the Department of Motor Vehicles visit because there are always lines and all. I hate waiting in lines. Anyway today is the day to take care of that.

This morning on the way in to work Tom Tancredo was on the Rick Roberts Show and they were talking about the border patrol agents that have been imprisoned and then Rick asked the congressman about some comments made by the President’s advisor Karl Rove. I guess at a luncheon Rove was asked about the president’s amnesty program and he said he didn’t want his son to have to pick tomatoes or make beds in Vegas. So in other words the Bush administration wants to create a servants class. I am furious, and as someone who started with a newspaper route, worked mowing lawns and in fast food places it makes me angry that my government would rather have illegals do this stuff rather than give our poor and our young adults chances to fill these positions.

This kind of crap happened back in the days of Rome. Have a servant class and then have them grow to a point where they take you over. Great thinking Republican Party, I guess you don’t follow history and you definitely don’t want my vote.

Then I heard on the news that Bank of America is offering credit cards to people that do not have social security numbers. I wonder who that will benefit, as if I didn’t know. So there is another company that will not get my business.

Then this morning on the way to work I got behind some guy that was having idle problems with his car. He kept stalling and when he did go it was very fast for a few feet and then stop. It was very annoying and it wound up taking me 20 minutes to travel a half mile. I could have passed him but that would have messed up the traffic and also would have been violating the law, so I just followed him in. I still made it on time, but it was annoying.

Ok enough whining, I have to say it will be great when Friday rolls around and I set off for Manila. I hope the guys in the game do not get too upset with us because we will be doing other things rather than playing PC games while I am there. Yeah we will still play, just not with the frequency or the lengthy sessions we play now.

I have been waiting for Spartacus and Evil Knight our fed and sister fed leaders to implement something they have been thinking about. They want to take the best members of each fed and combine them into one super fed made up of only the top players who are active. Right now both feds have players that are not supplying outpost for others or who are never around. It kind of wastes everyone’s time, so it would be better to move all the active and supportive players to a separate fed.

Well I guess that is about it for today. Time to get the work day started. Have a great day.

Sixth Sunday in Ordianary Time

This weekend has sure blown right by. Last night Laila and I watched a couple of movies “Terminator” and “Species II”. I went to bed a little late but got up early and the kids even got up early.

Laila went out of damage protection and played with a new stack of ships that I came up with. It was somewhat successful and with some fine tuning I think we can make it work. I will use something similar when I go out this evening.

I guess the only problem with it is the f class ship. Someone told me you had to have it in the 5th or 6th stack for the NPC’s but then they were getting killed off fast this morning. Later some of the other guys said they were not a good ship.

Anyway we are getting better every day and our federation leader is always posting our names on the fed board for all we have been contributing. It is nice to be recognized and valued.

This morning Laila was still out of damage protection when we had to leave for church and all the guys jumped in and helped her out.

David also went with us today for the first time and he was amazed by how many people were there. The place was packed and he knew some of the folks attending. He went to high school with them.

Today was the Sixth Sunday in Ordianary Time and also World Day of the Sick. The first reading was from Jeremiah 17:5-8. The second reading was 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20 and the Gospel was Luke 6:17, 20-26. The priest led off the mass by reading the proclamation Pope John Paul II made when he started the World Day of the Sick 15 years ago. He then got into the gospel where it was kind of about greed. If you live it up in life now than you will have a harder life in heaven, where if you have a poor life now you will be rewarded.

It does not mean that you have to be homeless, just thrifty and do not live extravagantly. Just live a modest life and help others. It was a nice message.

After church we went to the Chinese Restaurant because the kids wanted to go there instead of getting breakfast sandwiches. Then, Judy and David went to the commissary after we ate. It was great that the entire family went.

After eating I helped supply outpost to a few guys in the game and we talked about some ship types and stacking. One of our fed members, Omi, went out and someone hit him with several artifacts all at the same time. They took away turns, cash, and ore, all at the same time and he had to drop back into damage protection. He was lucky he didn’t lose any planets. As soon as he recovered from the lack of turns he went back out and did very well.

That is the first time I witnessed a barrage of artifacts and he was lucky that he got into damage protection before he got thumped good.

Well I guess that is about it for now. I have to get started on making something for dinner. Have a great week.