A Hunter's Story

Happy Labor Day!

Might tell you ’bout the fun we had w/ the nephew if I get a chance, because he was fun, but regardless, I hope you had a great day today!

Yep, that’s right, we’re moving. Lots of craziness at my current job. Lots of changes in the last year (9 people resigned – 5 in the last 5 weeks). And I’ve been looking to move up for a while but… yeah, craziness there…

So anyway, going to be here still through the end of October, but I have a lot to wrap up and hand off. Our “Super-Bowl” is in early OCT and I can’t really leave a number of the people before then. At least, not without making lots of extra work for my friends and coworkers. Plus it gives us time to pack and get ready to move since we’re also going halfway across the country. But considering I’m going from “Assistant Director” with about 45 direct reports that aren’t considered direct reports when it comes to title or pay, and going to be a Regional Manager for a group of companies in various states where I can actually be a manager? And be paid an appropriate salary? And be able to use my MBA? Yeah, pretty much a no-brainer. Plus we’ll be close to Lady X’s fam which will be nice. Of course, there are a few mixed feelings there… Closer to the in-laws could be… interesting. Except we actually get along with them, so I think it’ll be good. But anyway, here’s the cool part:

Yeup. Like 15 within 15 minutes of where we’ll be moving. And the nearest movie theater will be 45 minutes closer than it is here. Same with most things like Lowe’s and more! Granted, we’ll miss lots of things like foliage season, but it’ll be nice for a spell. Right now I’m just looking forward to getting away from the craziness going on in my office, moving somewhere fresh, moving up in the world, and opening doors for our future. And a decent ISP. Man it’ll be nice to have faster & more reliable internet…

So in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been a little afk. The above hopefully explains why. As well as why I’ll be a bit afk for the next few months as we prepare to move, move, get settled, and about that time Cataclysm should be out!

Here’s to great things happening, and to a bright looking future!

Short post – was in middle of ICC-25, went to close a window and yeah, owch. One of those old wooden frame, heavy windows slammed down on my finger. I finished the raid, but my DPS did drop (warned the group). lol. Probably because I had it on ice, even though it was one of my mouse fingers. Well, that and it was broken. So now I’m finding how fun it is to sit at a keyboard and try typing w/ a broken finger.. Joy of joys.

Yeup, I’m back. Well, back at work. Physically, not mentally though. Hope everyone enjoyed the 3-day weekend! We got a lot done around the house and all, but we also spent a lot of time on WoW. Been working on some rep, mostly. I’ll tell you… Insane in the Membrane is well named. Seriously going insane here. We’ve got Bloodsail, Booty Bay, Gadgetzan, Everlook, and Ratchet. Heck, Ravenholdt is 2/3 of the way through Revered, so we’re well on the way there. Darkmoon and Shen’dralar are taking forever though. Granted, we haven’t really farmed them up too terribly much yet. At least, not in comparison yet. May as well dispatch some tips though, in case anyone considers driving themselves insane too…….

First, don’t do any Steamwheedle Cartel quests prior to starting. Second, get your Bloodsail up to honored (or exalted if you’re super-insane). Then start in on the process.

But I’ve already told you that bit. Next helpful tip? Dualbox. Since Lady X and I both have two accounts, we’ve recently been leaving our mains @ Jazzrik. That way we continue to grind up our rep w/ Bloodsail, since we’re only 1/3 of the way to exalted (did I mention we’re insane?). 5 rep per kill per 7 minutes… Yeah, insane… Anyway, that means we both have rogues on our other accounts. One of us herbalizes for Darkmoon Faire, the other collects Junk Boxes. 1,400 boxes. For each of us. 2,800 total. Zomg, I have run so many circles in Tyr’s Hand it’s not funny. Speaking of which, that’s the perfect place to pick pocket them because you can literally just go in circles. By the time you’re done with the loop, the pick pocket timer is up on the mobs, so you can keep going. Add in a couple Sprints for speed and you’re good to go. But the other tip? Do it in batches of 60. Why? Divisible by both 5 and 12. 5 for the quest turn-in’s. 12 for mailing. In fact, we’ve gotten to the point of being able to do 180 boxes before Jeeves and Moll-E despawn. Which, by the way, they are the key. Postal helps, to collect the boxes from the mail easier, and (new fav addon) Reagent Restocker to expedite sales. You see, when you turn in the rep quest you receive a unique item. So basically to do these turn-in’s, you turn in 5 boxes, sell the dagger, turn in 5 boxes, etc. Then when you run out of boxes, you collect more boxes from the mail, clean, rinse, repeat. 180 at a time. 1,400 total. 2,800 for those doing it together.

You know, as much as I’d say to do it alone, because you’ll have less turn-ins and all, whether boxes or librams… Yeah, going insane is easier with someone else. In fact, we wound up with a pair of new friends. They were farming Jazzrik at the same time. We ended up doing a raid group so that whenever one of us logged on/off we’d be in the same group. That way we could all get the rep at the same time. Plus, whoever was quickest would kill him and get everyone the rep – even if you were at the fridge getting a drink. Except they had a little more dedication at the time, so they hit Exalted and we’re still working on it. Oh well. But anyway, ran into them in Tyr’s Hand. Had some fun discussing the Mason-Dixon Line, RC Cola, and Northern Comfort, lol. In short, if you divide the place in half, North & South, two people can farm pretty well. The half-loop respawns basically in time. Might have to wait a minute, but it’s doable. And anyway, it’s nice to know that even though you’re going insane, there are others as crazy as you.

And if going for this title isn’t driving me insane enough? They’re redoing the roof on my office building. And I live on the top floor. I was fine when it was just loud noises. Even doing ok when they were (literally) right above my head, because I have headphones and Pandora. But now that I can hear dust & pieces and things falling on the ceiling tiles? Getting nervous that at any minute I might have a ceiling guy fall through… Yeah, kinda going insane right now!

Ok, sidetracks over. Back on topic. Even though we killed all the pirates to get steamwheedle up (pirates south of Ratchet are the fastest), if you do it right you won’t have to do that. Seems it’s faster to just do the Gordok Key quest. Right now we dip our rep by killing Jazzrik, then go into Dire Maul. Hoping for librams, but it also gets rep back up by those turn-ins. Plus, we drag one of our lowbie alts and level them at the same time, lol.

I think, though, the most daunting part of the whole thing is going to be the Pristine Black Diamonds. So far we have like 6. Going to have to buy them probably, but they seriously don’t drop enough. Oh well, we’ll get there at some point and I’m sure I’ll come up with a tip or two at that point.

In any event, the biggest hint I can give, so you go insane, but not too insane, is multi-task. Doing it with multiple accounts makes it easier, but wherever possible try to do many things at once. Like getting rep with Steamwheedle and looking for Librams at the same time. It saves you time, and helps feel like you’re accomplishing more. I’ll tell you though – can’t wait for the day I get to post a screenie with my new title!

Vaca week. Should have more time starting next week. Final paper for MBA due this week, we’re starting our garden (now that the chance of frost or snow is finally nil) which means I spent like 4 hrs on a rototiller yesterday, and we’re doing like a million other things around the house. Whoever knew that vacation would be so tiring! And to think, I was hoping to have loads of time to work on the Insane! So anyway, maybe I’ll have more time next week and can get back into blogging more regularly. Or maybe I’ll take a break. I dunno. Stay tuned and find out? Hands too tired to type more cuz of the garden at this point…

Yeah, lots and lots of it… Finally!!! They say we officially got 17.5″ already and have another 6″ or so on the way, but I think it’s more accurate to say we got closer to 24″ with more coming soon. Except it’s all the wet heavy stuff, which makes power flicker, internet unstable (who would want a computer on with the power surges anyway?) which also means no WoW. Well, since I haven’t had time anyway with working from 0800 to 1900 or 2100, skipping lunches and dinners… Yeah, cannot wait until next week when I’m on vaca! Of course, that means it’s time to get everything else done that I haven’t had time for too. Ugh. Well, maybe I’ll be able to hop back on at some point!