Leaving Travian

I've made the decision to leave the Travian game. It was starting to consume me as much as many of the other online games had in the past. Sunday morning, while I was getting Cricket's food ready, I lost track of time and ended up boiling dry the pot that was warming her food. It must have been on the stove over an hour while I sat in front of the computer screen, oblivious to Cricket's constant cries of, "My food is burning!"

This isn't the first time I've been so engrossed in an online game that I've dropped everything else. It's an addiction that I have to live with, and not get stuck in. If there was an Online Gamers Anonymous group I would have joined it ages ago.

My first encounter was back at the UofM: Mankato where I became addicted to Mudding - the early text forefather to MMO's. Then it was Everquest. Mudding caused me to have to leave Mankato, but I was able to handle and then kick that habbit before it cost me my job.

1337 Culture!

My villages produce 1337 culture!

Travian

First of all, let me say that I am probably going to ditch the idea of trying to do regular daily blogs.

Next, it's been an interesting couple of days on Travian. I've just learned that the servers run a certain number of months before entering an end game mode. This time has come on Server 3 where my village, "Smoketown", has come under continuous assault by members of the "Pack" alliance. Most of my buildings and fields have been decimated by catapults, and what few defenders I had have been slaughtered.

I've also just learned that the same thing will be happening on the Speed Server. Luckily, my village there is far more advanced and the alliance I have joined is stronger and more well organized.


I'm not sure how my village on Server 4 will fair, but I'm almost ready to ditch that one as well and concentrate on the Speed Server.

Weekend Recap

Saturday: Spent the day at Mikes again. Played Rainbow Six: Vegas. We only have two more chapters to complete before we are finished with that and can move onto something else. I don't know what it is, but Mike doesn't seem all that enthused when it comes to choosing what to do and then seems to be rather reluctant to play whatever it is I do choose... Oh well, Josie and his brother are coming down next weekend for some more After the Bomb role playing.

Sunday: It's Easter, but since we celebrated with a family get together at my sister's place in conjunction with my nephew's birthday two weekends ago, I spent the day at home. That turned out to be just fine since I had a nagging headache most of the day. It finally receded in the early evening. I spent much of the day hopping on and off Travian. I was going to do a pot roast, but with the headache I decided to save that for later.

Today was nice and quiet in the office since Vincent didn't show up until around noon.

Catch-up

Three days without posts. Shame on me. Normally I would just back date some posts, but I'll let it slide this time and just do a recap.

Monday: I was going to go and see 10,000 BC, but I putzed to long and left to late. So, instead, I went to the grocery store to pick up some lunch food for work.

Tuesday: Picked up I Am Legend on DVD because it was released with the "alternate" original ending. I think I like the original ending better.

Wednesday: Wow, it was so nice out that I left the door open so Cricket could go out for a stretch. I also think I found out what has been creating all that racket I've been hearing. On the roof of the apartment I spotted one of those rotating pipe covers (turbine vent). I'll have to talk to Dan about it.

So that pretty much surmises the past few days. On Travian's Speed server I've finally joined an alliance, the Grand Republic of Edessa. I've also started to raid some of the villages nearby that seem to be inactive. Filly will grow!

Rochester

Drove to Rochester today. It started out a bit chilly, but by noon it was up in the 40s.

My main goals on the trip were to restock on cat food, and return a DVD that failed halfway through the movie.

Mission accomplished. I also picked up the Directors Cut of Commando and ate lunch at Fizolies.

I was quite impressed that I was able to get back home by 2:30. In some past trips to Rochester, I would wander around town and futz around until the evening.

Mike was already buzy so I ended up spending time with Cricket and playing some Travian.

Around 5 I decided to take a quick nap (Fizolies made me sleepy), but ended up falling asleep for three hours.

Independence

Played some more 1701 today with Mike. I was able to gain my people Independence! Huzaa!

Mike, on the other hand, was able to drive the last NPC off the map.

And thus we conquered the new world! :)

TGIF

It's Friday again. Better yet, it's PAYDAY Friday! Unfortunately, most of the money is going to have to go to repaying the money I moved into my checking account to cover my overdrafts. :(

I spent a few hours this morning covering the front desk while Bonnie was out. It's usually an easy assignment and gets me away from my desk for an hour or so.

After work last night I saw this huge dark cloud approaching town and decided to take a few pictures when I went to Target:

By the time I got out of the store it had started to rain. The rain had passed by the time I got home and left behind a nice sign of spring:
Soon after that, I head a bang come from the street outside:
Apparently, someone wasn't paying attention and ran the red light. The passenger in the car on the left had to be pulled out of the vehicle and placed on a stretcher. From what I heard on the scanner, she was only complaining of some neck pain and no mention of life threatening injuries were reported.

After all that I sat down for a night of LOST and Appleseed: Ex Machina (the DVD I picked up at Target).

What Were You Thinking?!

Working at a TV station I am not surprised that this happened. We tend to hire some people with questionable work ethics for several part-time positions that tend to have high turnover.

Overdrawn

Ouch! It's a good thing I went out to Lunch today. When I stopped at the ATM to recharge my wallet, I found that I didn't have enough in my account for a Quick $40. That shocked me. So I made a quick transfer, and found that it wasn't enough! I was feeling a little queezy at that point, so I made another transfer to put things right.

Back at work I went online and checked to see what the hell was up with my account. Well, it seems that I overestimated how much I would still have in my checking acct after my rent check was cashed. Luckily, not all my activity from the point I went below zero until now had gone through, but I was still hit with a few overdraft penalties by the bank.

With gas prices on the way up, I'm going to really keep an eye on what I spend my money on and not make any unnecessary trips to Rochester or the Cities. Then, as soon as it gets warm enough, I'll start riding my bike to work and back.

I also need to get Wendell to give me my review and, hopefully, a raise.

The Revolution Has Only Just Begun

Road Trip: Erik's Birthday

Oof-da! I was at Mike's place until after midnight playing 1701 AD. What surprised me was that I ended up with the high score. Well, I guess it was mostly due to Mike fighting one of the two computer players for their island. We saved the game before quiting, so maybe we can pick up where we left off next weekend.

Erik's birthday was a fun get-together. We decided to roll it with our Easter Holiday lunch, so we had a filling lunch with ham and potatoes, beans and birthday cake. After lunch the kids and I played Swipe! which Erik won. Then it was time for Erik to open his presents. I think he was a little overwhelmed.

I headed on home around 4pm as the kids has soccer practice to go to afterwards. I was hoping to get together with Mike for some more gaming, but he already had plans with his folks.

Weatherwise it was a nice day. There were some flurries that fell on-and-off, but it was still rather pleasant. Unfortunately, the wash I gave my car yesterday was rendered futile. All that salt and chemical on the roads has turned my car white again...

Everything Is Fine

I'll be heading to the cities tomorrow for my nephew's 6th birthday. I'm going to give him one of the Heroscape games I picked up at K-Mart. I'm pretty sure he won't get into playing the game and play with the figs.

First I need to get a haircut and wash the car.

The Front Fell Off

It's Not That I Hate Spiders

Another night with a vivid dream. I can't remember all the particulars, but there was one part of a dream last night that I can still vividly recall.

I was on my roof top deck and the place was caked in spiders webs and spiders. Big spiders. Not huge, but as big as a fist, and thick. I remember there was one spot in the webbing that was shaped like a bowl and that it was packed with a mass of these spiders. Luckily that part of the dream didn't last long as I escaped from the roof.

Now, I don't hate spiders. It's the webs that usually disturb me most. Especially the ones you don't see until you walk into or through them. Ick, ack, puuu... They give me the shivers. Plus you never know if you've just pissed off a spider or if it's now looking for some payback.

Other than that it's been a quiet day. Though I did find my roommate at work to be rather rude when he insisted on making a phone call while I was in the middle of a conference call. Vince isn't exactly quiet when he's on the phone, and I had to plug my off ear so I could hear the guy on the phone talk. Well, actually it was more like I had to cup my whole hand over my ear and press like a plunger.

Things are going well with my two villages in Travian. I've built a marketplace in Kyrdoza so I can trade goods when I get a surplus of stuff. I made my first trade (clay for wheat) and now have to wait several hours for both merchants to travel from their villages to the other and then return. He should be back by tomorrow.

Amber Waves of Grain

The process continues at Rooster Village. It seems that I have to grow my wheat fields much faster than my other resources. Even though I shouldn't need as much wheat as the others resources to upgrade the other resource production levels--shown by the fact that I have enough food to feed the population with extra (38/54)--I always seem to be needing more.

Maybe I'm just underestimating my needs. I have noticed that by upgrading to a field to Lvl 3 I am not gaining any populace. The Forests and Clay add one each, and the Mines add two. *shrug* My overall ranking on the server has actually dropped even though my population has grown slightly. I guess there's a lot of competition.

~I almost forgot to mention a dream I had last night. I died. Or, I was dead. I can't remember how I died, but that really wasn't what the dream was about. The dream started with me being in some sort of limbo or purgatory, until I came to some epiphany. I can't remember what the epiphany was anymore, but some guy came to me and congratulated me on coming to some great understanding, and that I was now ready to pass on to the next level. I think I remember staying in the same place, but now I was more of a ghost, but could force myself, for short periods, to interact with other people who were still alive or in limbo/purgatory.

A few of the things that I can sort of still remember include: the feeling that the dream took place in the classroom section of my old church in Blooming Prairie (seems fitting I suppose); I seem to recall some of the people I interacted with being old classmates from High School; I think Victor Garber (Jack Bristow from Alias) was in the dream and may have been the one who visited me when I ascended; and then there was an old lady who told me, "He doesn't think like the rest of us," or something very similar. To which I replied something to the fashion of, "Most of us don't think like the rest of us." The old lady seemed please at my response and smiled and then the dream moved on.

I think the verbal exchange with the old lady was my way of enforcing my belief that if there is a higher being at work in the universe, it's so far different from us that there's really no way anyone could possibly speak on their behalf. I find it pretty absurd whenever I hear people talk about happenings being part of "God's Plan". Bull Shit. Shit happens. Accept it and life becomes much more believable, blame it on some higher beings "plan" and that just leads to resentment.

Victor Garbers appearance may have been the avatar of a father figure. That and I think he's pretty cool. As for the setting of the church, that's pretty self explanatory, plus I really liked the layout of the one common room.

The funny thing, now that I think of it, was that the purgatory/limbo place was kinda like an office. Reminds me of how it was depicted in the movie, Beetlejuice.

Land Management

My Roman village in Travian (server 3) is continuing to grow. I've decided to concentrate on developing the resources around my town to Lvl 5 before doing any more infrastructure other than the Warehouse, Granary and Cranny. Though I did put up a wall this past weekend, just in case...

After work I drove to Albert Lea looking for a new pair of shoes and Metropolismania 2. I didn't find the game, but I did pick up a pair of $10 shoes.

Land Ho!

~Behold the power of Steam! Last night I feel like I must have cooked the bug out of me. Took a long hot shower and then kept a hot towel on my head while in bed. This morning I feel like I did on Thursday. Better, but not 100%. Good enough for me though.

I went over to Mikes this after noon. Ended up playing 1701. I'm a bit rusty, but I ended up figuring things out and remembering - sort of - how the previous games worked.

My stomach is starting to complain. Maybe I went out a little earlier than I should have...

The weather was much better today. Warm, but then it started to rain around 4pm. Later, it turned to flurries. I can feel the chill that's starting to return. That, or it's just me...

Nobunaga's Ambition

The weather is certainly trying to change for the better. The couple times I had to run out, I did notice the difference, just getting up into the 30's.

~I tossed in Nobunaga's Ambition for a little while today. I figured that a turn based strategy game might be something I could muddle my way through today with my head all muddy. Well, I don't know if it was me or the game, but I was stuck in the ass end of Japan around Osaka. I couldn't build any culture buildings, nor move beyond my borders. *sigh* I suppose today wasn't the best day to try and work on this game.

Mike says he got my copy of "1701 AD" this week, so when I'm feeling better we'll see if I'm any good with those games.