My Warcraft blog, Good Morning Azeroth, seems to be enjoying a small bit of popularity. That is to say I've had a few people read it and comment on it from the warcraft blogging community. I've been putting a little more effort into getting the layout to look nice and advertise through the Entrecard program and listing it on various collection of WoW blogs. I really enjoy posting, fiddling with pictures, posts, layouts and designs. It makes me wish I'd gotten my education in computers and continued with the web and flash design stuff I meddled with during college.
I suppose it's not too late to go back to that stuff, but right now it's Accounting that pays the bills. I would have to update myself on the latest tools and programs at work in the internet in order to have a chance at working in the field too, and that means making the time to take classes or train myself. I'm not saying it won't happen, but it will take some effort.
It the mean time I'll keep playing with the blog, and try to write on relevant topics about World of Warcraft. I also want to keep up with this blog, but I haven't really nailed down a focus for topics, other than just current events in my life. And maybe that's enough for the few people who read it, but it would be nice to have something consistent to write about. The last thing I want it to become is a place where I just write about things that bother me. A complaints journal if you will. I've done that on pen and paper before, and it wasn't happy.
For now, I'll keep writing whatever I feel like, and maybe I'll fall into a routine or subject matter that's both fun to write about, and fun to read.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Dog Dilemma
When we moved a year ago in June, part of what we required when looking for a new place was that they allowed pets, a dog specifically. We found that place and within a few weeks of moving in had found our new puppy, Hannah, a beagle mix who was adorable and about 6 months old. While we love our dog dearly, she has always been very demanding of attention and when she "thinks" she needs something. Lately, it has gotten worse. And I really just have no clue why.
We used to manage her by exercising her well. We'd go on a couple walks or out to the dog park, and then when we got home, she'd sleep for a few hours. By then it was usually later in the day and she was more mellow. She was almost always resting or sleeping by 8 o'clock. We'd taken her to obedience training, and she actually did pretty well. She responds mostly to treats, but if you ask her to sit or down, she most always will. She can also roll over, play dead, stay, come, the usual. We never taught her how to heel or walk very well, and I know that needs to be addressed, but the main problems now exist while at home.
In the last week, Hannah has been on super terror mode. She hasn't been resting after exercise, and she's been over the top demanding. If she barks and we try to ignore it so we don't reward her with attention, she'll start to bite at pillows, computer cords, the couch, us, and then we have to do something. We can't just let her tear our house apart. When we do get up to give her attention she starts to race around the house, barking, in a game of "catch me if you can." I tend to get really frustrated and angry with this, and it doesn't create a very happy home atmosphere when you have two frustrated adults and a dog that thinks it's a game.
I often exclaim about how this isn't the kind of dog I wanted. But then again, she may be acting like she is because of something I've done. I can't explain her behavior, but it's not like she has any other influences. Something that myself or my wife are doing is influencing her behavior, so we have to identify it and change it. I'm going to have to start searching for sources on curbing demanding dogs' behavior, and also making sure I keep my frustration in check. I don't want to get rid of Hannah, even if sometimes it seems like there's no hope, but I still believe we can train her to be better.
We used to manage her by exercising her well. We'd go on a couple walks or out to the dog park, and then when we got home, she'd sleep for a few hours. By then it was usually later in the day and she was more mellow. She was almost always resting or sleeping by 8 o'clock. We'd taken her to obedience training, and she actually did pretty well. She responds mostly to treats, but if you ask her to sit or down, she most always will. She can also roll over, play dead, stay, come, the usual. We never taught her how to heel or walk very well, and I know that needs to be addressed, but the main problems now exist while at home.
In the last week, Hannah has been on super terror mode. She hasn't been resting after exercise, and she's been over the top demanding. If she barks and we try to ignore it so we don't reward her with attention, she'll start to bite at pillows, computer cords, the couch, us, and then we have to do something. We can't just let her tear our house apart. When we do get up to give her attention she starts to race around the house, barking, in a game of "catch me if you can." I tend to get really frustrated and angry with this, and it doesn't create a very happy home atmosphere when you have two frustrated adults and a dog that thinks it's a game.
I often exclaim about how this isn't the kind of dog I wanted. But then again, she may be acting like she is because of something I've done. I can't explain her behavior, but it's not like she has any other influences. Something that myself or my wife are doing is influencing her behavior, so we have to identify it and change it. I'm going to have to start searching for sources on curbing demanding dogs' behavior, and also making sure I keep my frustration in check. I don't want to get rid of Hannah, even if sometimes it seems like there's no hope, but I still believe we can train her to be better.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Waking up is hard to do
I have a chronic problem of not being able to get out of bed in the mornings when I need to. Usually this results in me being late for work. I'm lucky in that the managers at my office are pretty lenient when it comes to arriving late. Especially in a town where the public transit system is less than reliable. But as much as I'd like to blame all of my arriving at work late woes on the T, the truth is I just can't get up on time.
For awhile I was able to trick myself in to getting up early by looking forward to doing something in the morning besides just go to work. Like play video games. When I was younger, I would often rent a video game for the weekend. My desire to play that game would out weigh my desire to sleep, and I would be able to wake up at 7 AM on a Saturday without any other device (such as an alarm clock) just because I knew that waking up meant I got to play. So I started to play World of Warcraft in the mornings from 6 to 7 before I got ready for work, and was able to get out the door in a much timelier fashion. Occasionally I would play longer than I should though and still get out late, but it was never so late that it was a problem.
Well, in more recent times, since my wife is also playing the game with me, we tend to stay up late playing, and this has made it harder to wake up to play. I guess there's a limit to how much sleep I can live on, even if there's something to look forward to waking up for in the morning. The solution is that I need to go to bed earlier, and you would think that was an easy thing to accomplish, but there's always something that needs to be done late at night that seems to keep me up past midnight. It's going to take a concentrated force of will to make this happen, but I need to do it for the bettering of myself, and to shake off the reputation for coming into work late.
It's not like I get a free pass to get into work late either, I have to make up the time I miss in the morning by staying late in the afternoons. I'd much rather get here on time and leave here on time, than have to stay until 5:40 and not get home until 7. Today was an especially bad day where I just didn't wake up at all. I had to call in and say I'd be working a half day as I didn't want to have to work until 9. Now some of you out there reading this, (three of you maybe?), might say, "Oh my goodness! Who is this slacker that can't even get to work on time?" I just want you to know that I agree with you. I don't like this habit I've developed, and I've recognized it's a problem, so don't worry. My boss is aware of it, and I'm aware of it, and I'm on a 12 step program to fix it. With the first 12 steps being go to bed earlier.
For awhile I was able to trick myself in to getting up early by looking forward to doing something in the morning besides just go to work. Like play video games. When I was younger, I would often rent a video game for the weekend. My desire to play that game would out weigh my desire to sleep, and I would be able to wake up at 7 AM on a Saturday without any other device (such as an alarm clock) just because I knew that waking up meant I got to play. So I started to play World of Warcraft in the mornings from 6 to 7 before I got ready for work, and was able to get out the door in a much timelier fashion. Occasionally I would play longer than I should though and still get out late, but it was never so late that it was a problem.
Well, in more recent times, since my wife is also playing the game with me, we tend to stay up late playing, and this has made it harder to wake up to play. I guess there's a limit to how much sleep I can live on, even if there's something to look forward to waking up for in the morning. The solution is that I need to go to bed earlier, and you would think that was an easy thing to accomplish, but there's always something that needs to be done late at night that seems to keep me up past midnight. It's going to take a concentrated force of will to make this happen, but I need to do it for the bettering of myself, and to shake off the reputation for coming into work late.
It's not like I get a free pass to get into work late either, I have to make up the time I miss in the morning by staying late in the afternoons. I'd much rather get here on time and leave here on time, than have to stay until 5:40 and not get home until 7. Today was an especially bad day where I just didn't wake up at all. I had to call in and say I'd be working a half day as I didn't want to have to work until 9. Now some of you out there reading this, (three of you maybe?), might say, "Oh my goodness! Who is this slacker that can't even get to work on time?" I just want you to know that I agree with you. I don't like this habit I've developed, and I've recognized it's a problem, so don't worry. My boss is aware of it, and I'm aware of it, and I'm on a 12 step program to fix it. With the first 12 steps being go to bed earlier.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Three Years
A couple of days ago, on the 25th, my wife and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! We didn't do a whole lot for it. I took half a day at work and helped her walk her dogs (and ours) and then we went to the farmer's market, hung out at home, and went to a nice dinner at Outback. Good times.
It seems like three years have gone by quickly, though I suppose this last one was a little less stressful than the previous two, mostly due to her being out of school and not stressing about papers and tests. I still remember all night writing sessions where I would try to stay up and support her, and usually ended up falling asleep on the hardwood floor. I don't really miss that.
I still think we're crazy for moving to Boston right after getting married, but I don't know what other way we would have done it. She had the opportunity to study at Harvard. Who's going to pass that up? Not me. And in the end, I do think I enjoy living near a big city. There's always things to do, even if we can't motivate ourselves to do them all, we do some.
Church softball starts up this Saturday. It will be my third year pitching for the High Rock Angels. It's slow pitch softball, so while the pitches are designed for the batter to hit them, I'm working on a couple things to keep the pitches varied and on the ground. Our church had enough people to field two teams this year, the other is called the Apostles, and we play each other in a few weeks, which should be fun.
I'll be celebrating my 3rd year at my company this Summer, which seems like a big deal. I haven't really moved around a lot in my industry, so three years in one position feel liks a lot for someone who's only been an accountant for four years. It also makes me wonder if I'll ever be able to do any accounting besides my real estate accounting niche that I'm in. I would't mind breaking out into accounting systems and information, but that might require more school. Speaking of which, I would love to some day get a masters in information systems and accounting or some other combination. I am consistently seeing that I enjoy working with computers and software more than I do spreadsheets and numbers.
Maybe I can become a Mac genius.
It seems like three years have gone by quickly, though I suppose this last one was a little less stressful than the previous two, mostly due to her being out of school and not stressing about papers and tests. I still remember all night writing sessions where I would try to stay up and support her, and usually ended up falling asleep on the hardwood floor. I don't really miss that.
I still think we're crazy for moving to Boston right after getting married, but I don't know what other way we would have done it. She had the opportunity to study at Harvard. Who's going to pass that up? Not me. And in the end, I do think I enjoy living near a big city. There's always things to do, even if we can't motivate ourselves to do them all, we do some.
Church softball starts up this Saturday. It will be my third year pitching for the High Rock Angels. It's slow pitch softball, so while the pitches are designed for the batter to hit them, I'm working on a couple things to keep the pitches varied and on the ground. Our church had enough people to field two teams this year, the other is called the Apostles, and we play each other in a few weeks, which should be fun.
I'll be celebrating my 3rd year at my company this Summer, which seems like a big deal. I haven't really moved around a lot in my industry, so three years in one position feel liks a lot for someone who's only been an accountant for four years. It also makes me wonder if I'll ever be able to do any accounting besides my real estate accounting niche that I'm in. I would't mind breaking out into accounting systems and information, but that might require more school. Speaking of which, I would love to some day get a masters in information systems and accounting or some other combination. I am consistently seeing that I enjoy working with computers and software more than I do spreadsheets and numbers.
Maybe I can become a Mac genius.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Fanfare and hoop-la
Today is the first day of summer. It's a mild 75 degrees out, but that's fine by me. Looking out the window from my cubicle (yes, my cubicle is by a window, one of the most distinguishing features about it) I can see both the new John Hancock tower, the tallest one made of all mirror glass, and the old Hancock tower, which is shorter, and not nearly as pretty. But at the top of the old tower is a flag. It's white, bordered in green, and says Boston Celtics, 2008 World Champions.
For those that don't follow basketball, the Celtics took the NBA finals title earlier this week when they beat the L.A. Lakers in game 6. I personally don't enjoy basketball as much as other sports, but it's hard not to get caught up in some of the fanfare when the city you live in is quite ecstatic about all of its sports teams. The Celtics are a particularly noted for winning more titles than any other basketball franchise, this being their 17th and the first one in 22 years. I like come from behind stories, and I like to hear when a team has overcome a lot of odds. From worst to first is a phrase used liberally for the Celtics in the local papers.
As I said, I'm not really a huge fan of basketball, but the reason I write about the Celtics is because I had the unique experience to go down to Boylston street yesterday, Thursday, and watch their victory parade. Thousands of screaming Bostonians wearing Celtics jerseys and other assorted green items yelled and screamed as the players, owners, managers and extended family, all drove by on the Duck boats. I went down on my lunch break with a few co-workers and we stood on the side and cheered and enjoyed the event as much as anyone. I wasn't wearing green, but no one seemed to care.
I didn't get a chance to go down during the Red Sox parade, which I would have really loved to do, but even so, it gave me a good feeling being a part of it. I tend to be a home-body in that when I am at work, I am at my desk, and when I am home, I don't feel like going out. So to actually get out of the office and be at a parade with thousands of people was a lot of fun, and a change from my day to day monotony that is accounting.
For those that don't follow basketball, the Celtics took the NBA finals title earlier this week when they beat the L.A. Lakers in game 6. I personally don't enjoy basketball as much as other sports, but it's hard not to get caught up in some of the fanfare when the city you live in is quite ecstatic about all of its sports teams. The Celtics are a particularly noted for winning more titles than any other basketball franchise, this being their 17th and the first one in 22 years. I like come from behind stories, and I like to hear when a team has overcome a lot of odds. From worst to first is a phrase used liberally for the Celtics in the local papers.
As I said, I'm not really a huge fan of basketball, but the reason I write about the Celtics is because I had the unique experience to go down to Boylston street yesterday, Thursday, and watch their victory parade. Thousands of screaming Bostonians wearing Celtics jerseys and other assorted green items yelled and screamed as the players, owners, managers and extended family, all drove by on the Duck boats. I went down on my lunch break with a few co-workers and we stood on the side and cheered and enjoyed the event as much as anyone. I wasn't wearing green, but no one seemed to care.
I didn't get a chance to go down during the Red Sox parade, which I would have really loved to do, but even so, it gave me a good feeling being a part of it. I tend to be a home-body in that when I am at work, I am at my desk, and when I am home, I don't feel like going out. So to actually get out of the office and be at a parade with thousands of people was a lot of fun, and a change from my day to day monotony that is accounting.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Back in Boston
After a long trip and a horrible plane ride home, I made it back to the loving arms of my wife, and the slobbering mouth of my dog, both of whom were overjoyed to have me back again. I'm glad to be back too.
Of course, when I decide to come home is when my Powerbook decides to conk out me. Due to what I believe is a malfunctioning fan on the graphics card, the computer will easily over heat when running graphics intensive programs...like World of Warcraft, which I tend to play a lot. I took my Mac to the store at the Mall and they informed me it could be fixed andI had it shipped off. The good news is that it's under the Apple care plan, so it's free for the fix. The bad news is that I've been without a computer of my own for five days now. I'm still waiting for the call that I can come pick it up.
It's not really all that bad. I recently started playing my Nintendo Wii again which was cool since I had forgotten how much fun it could be. I rented Mario Kart and I finally progressed past the forest Temple in Zelda. My wife and I have also been catching up on Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes that we stopped watching once we started playing WoW together...which I think was the first week of April. We even watched a movie! So it's good to do something else besides the game in the evenings. I'm hoping we don't immediately go back into it when I get my computer back. Some variety is nice.
Of course, when I decide to come home is when my Powerbook decides to conk out me. Due to what I believe is a malfunctioning fan on the graphics card, the computer will easily over heat when running graphics intensive programs...like World of Warcraft, which I tend to play a lot. I took my Mac to the store at the Mall and they informed me it could be fixed andI had it shipped off. The good news is that it's under the Apple care plan, so it's free for the fix. The bad news is that I've been without a computer of my own for five days now. I'm still waiting for the call that I can come pick it up.
It's not really all that bad. I recently started playing my Nintendo Wii again which was cool since I had forgotten how much fun it could be. I rented Mario Kart and I finally progressed past the forest Temple in Zelda. My wife and I have also been catching up on Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes that we stopped watching once we started playing WoW together...which I think was the first week of April. We even watched a movie! So it's good to do something else besides the game in the evenings. I'm hoping we don't immediately go back into it when I get my computer back. Some variety is nice.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
A week in West Virginia
As stated earlier, I have gone to West Virginia for my company. We basically came along with the auditors to put together a work paper package so that we can close the books on a couple of our properties here in Wheeling for 2007. If that doesn't make much sense to you, don't sweat it, I don't understand it all either.
The good news is that we are almost done here, and we should actually be heading home earlier than expected, hoping to get a standby flight Friday morning as opposed to catching our scheduled evening flight. That will be nice. On our off time we find fun places to eat and we even went to a casino where they lost money, and I did not because I didn't play any slots. The table games, blackjack, poker and roulette and such looked like fun. But not at a $10 minimum bet. I just don't have that kind of money.
One of the highlights of the trip has been a guy named Harry. He's a consultant for the property management that they brought in to help with the auditing process. Somehow in conversation it came up that I had attended Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Harry seemed very interested in that and I told him a bit about the school. Then it came out that his grandson, an infant, was named Lee. So the next thing I find out is that Harry had gone to the Lee University web site and bought a baby sweatshirt that said Lee University on it for his grandson. I guess he thought it very cool that his name would be on it.
I basically made my old college bookstore about $40.
It's been an interesting trip, and sources point to it not having to happen again very soon, and if it has to happen again next year, it shouldn't take a whole week. Maybe just a couple days. I'm crossing my fingers.
The good news is that we are almost done here, and we should actually be heading home earlier than expected, hoping to get a standby flight Friday morning as opposed to catching our scheduled evening flight. That will be nice. On our off time we find fun places to eat and we even went to a casino where they lost money, and I did not because I didn't play any slots. The table games, blackjack, poker and roulette and such looked like fun. But not at a $10 minimum bet. I just don't have that kind of money.
One of the highlights of the trip has been a guy named Harry. He's a consultant for the property management that they brought in to help with the auditing process. Somehow in conversation it came up that I had attended Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. Harry seemed very interested in that and I told him a bit about the school. Then it came out that his grandson, an infant, was named Lee. So the next thing I find out is that Harry had gone to the Lee University web site and bought a baby sweatshirt that said Lee University on it for his grandson. I guess he thought it very cool that his name would be on it.
I basically made my old college bookstore about $40.
It's been an interesting trip, and sources point to it not having to happen again very soon, and if it has to happen again next year, it shouldn't take a whole week. Maybe just a couple days. I'm crossing my fingers.
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