Middle of the Night Post

I can't sleep. It's been a while since I've written anything about Guild Wars. Yes, I still play and try to check in daily. I've a farming system that's made to find consumables and virtual money. It involves a few minutes per day. I'll try to post a more detailed plan of attack if anyone is interested. Ahhh, if only my real world was as rich as the virtual world. Diligently fighting the current economic crisis and struggling to pay bills and money owed, I feel guilty about spending too much time in Guild Wars. But, it is the cheapest entertainment (besides reading - I am halfway through the second Game of Thrones book) around.

Guild Wars has no monthly fee. The complete game cycle of 4 chapters can be purchased for under 40 bucks today. Under 30 if you shop. You will need a substantial PC to play. Most any new PC class computer has high enough specifications. Sorry, Apple friends. Guild Wars, like many popular games, will run on only the PC platform. If you own an Apple and know how to WINE or run any of the other emulations then the problem is solved. WINE gives Apple users the capability to run Windows Operating Systems on their machines. It also works beautifully with Linux machines too.

Morgana & Zevon in the Kudzu Dragons Guild Hall

Guild Wars is an older multiple player online game that has been around for years. It is the second most popular game in this genre. World of Warcraft still reigns number one at this time. WoW is good game that has improved down through the years, but there is a substantial monthly fee. Start up, the initial purchase, is also rather expensive. For my money, Guild Wars is awesome. For years they had a goober named Izzy Cartwright that changed the skills around, but they've curbed that dog thank goodness. He is responsible for a large number of players leaving the game. The Kudzu Dragons Guild has had several players either leave or suspend play due to his shenanigans. As my friend Ashy always says, "Every village has an idiot." Izzy's main problem was catering to PvP (combat against other live players) and ignoring PvE (players solo or in groups against the ingame characters). Needless to say the PvE players are a vast majority in this virtual world.

Anyway, if you think you want to play let me know. I keep up with the best places to buy the game and am a member of a small, but active guild, the mighty Kudzu Dragons. We have several players, as mentioned above, that have suspended play and plan on returning as the advent of GW2 approaches, which may be soon. Several of our members have maxed out the game and still play. All our guild members are willing to help each other. Some clarification; we all will help if we have time. Sometimes we are just not online long enough to participate in long ventures. However, we have been known to plan ahead. Usually Tuesday and Thursday nights plus weekends are good. Let us know if you need a max group to aid and abet. We can plan a mission or quest.

Arcturus the Mesmer & direwolf "Big Bad"

One great advantage of being a Kudzu Dragon is that we own our own TeamSpeak server. We also have a great Server Admin. Ashy keeps this service running smoothly. It is in the throes of upgrade, but we expect no downtime due to this enhancement. This service provides Voice over Internet Protocol and is provided free to members. It's nice to use an inexpensive headset (20 bucks or less at the local Wal-Mart) and be able to talk to people halfway around the world. It's an easy install, setup and very user friendly. You'll think people are in the next room! It's a great tool for online gaming and sometimes gameplay is idle due to the hilarious conversations.

The K Dragons also have super LAN parties throughout the year. We usually convene on Saturday and play until whenever. This is a physical gathering that has a nice family atmosphere with great food and much laughter. We are children friendly so you can bring the younglings. Our foreign friends also check in online for gameplay and fun.

Contact me at cybersouth@gmail.com if interested. A good time will be had by all!

Transportation

I have friends in South Africa. Think I'll contact them and see if they will send me one of these for Christmas:



Thanks out to EdC for the great link!!

"Everything in life is somewhere else, and you get there in a car."
~White

Music Monday - Sara

Music from Daryl's House never ceases to amaze me. This is a classic with Mr. Hall playing in the band and Jimmy Wayne singing lead. So refreshing that real music is not forgotten. Take that, all trash mouth rap idiots!!



"Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought."
~Harburg

IMHO

Please check this article about Gun Control. I encourage everyone to vote in a united fashion to remove the current chief exec from office. I also encourage anyone that votes for him to seek help for your damaged brain problem. Anyone that disagrees is encouraged to leave here immediately and never return.

"Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God."
~Henry Kissinger

Thanksgiving: I Miss You Dad, Love Ya Mom!

The following is a comment that shook my soul:

my dad passed away in april this year.. and i swear i hear and see his echo in my 3 year old daughter.. every time i feel robbed and cheated at his passing i stand and just look at Piper..just for a minute, then i pick her up and cuddle her like it's my last cuddle, kiss her on the forehead and tell her i love her. and think of my dad. i just hope Piper loves me as much as i loved dad.. i love to hate this song..
Training1700

This is for someone. No, not my daughters. Not their children. Sometimes you have to let go. We shall all pass. Rejoice and be glad we cannot see any further. God made it that way. Rejoice and be glad we can love after death. God let it be that way. Rejoice and be glad there is truly a thing called peace. Κύριε, ἐλέησον.



Is a quote necessary today?

Fellow Weyr Members

Long live Pern. Anne McCaffrey passed from this life at the age of 85. She was a constant source of imagination, entertainment and enthralled me over and over with her books. Of course the Dragonrider books were my favorites and probably influenced my fascination with dragons as much as did Merlin, the Arthurian mage. Yes I do realize that dragons and probably Merlin too are mythological. Anne was not. She was prolific and always great fun to read. I think there is a movie in the making based upon her dragon books. Read more about this great science fiction writer and pioneer at Wikipedia.

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
~Mahatma Gandhi

Music Monday - Let Me Be What's Underneath

Sometimes the music of mind overwhelms our narrow look at the big picture. It's then that courage has a chance to inspire greatness. How many times we get back up...



Have I said lately how VEVO is base, crass, intrusive and needs to learn lessons from Google?



Take all my vicious words
And turn them into something good
Take all my preconceptions
And let the truth be understood
Take all my prized possessions
Leave only what I need
Take all my pieces of doubt
And let me be what's underneath
Courage is when you're afraid,
But you keep on moving anyway
Courage is when you're in pain,
But you keep on living anyway
We all have excuses why
Living in fear something in us dies
Like a bird with broken wings
It's not how high he flies,
But the song he sings
Courage is when you're afraid,
But you keep on moving anyway
Courage is when you're in pain,
But you keep on living anyway
It's not how many times you've been
knocked down
It's how many times you get back up
Courage is when you've lost your way,
But you find your strength anyway
Courage is when you're afraid
Courage is when it all seems grey
Courage is when you make a change,
And you keep on living anyway
You keep on moving anyway
You keep on giving anyway
You keep on loving anyway
~Orianthi

Music Monday - Lord Have Mercy

Anyone that knows me realizes I have two daughters that are gorgeous, extremely intelligent, full of life, embracers of things familial, awesome people in general and both seem to rejoice in that which is geekified or nerdistic. Sorry, it's just not possible to be humble when the subject matter comes to them. So I often visit beagle's site and review her favorites in music. She recently posted Broken Wings, another Mr. Mister music video. The video posted here today has poor visuals, but awesome audio. Inspirational, to say the least:



Lyrics:

The wind blows hard against this mountain side,
across the sea into my soul
It reaches into where I cannot hide,
setting my feet upon the road

My heart is old, it holds my memories,
my body burns a gemlike flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine,
is where I find myself again

Chorus:
Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel
Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night
Kyrie eleison, where I'm going will you follow
Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

When I was young I thought of growing old, o
of what my life would mean to me
Would I have followed down my chosen road,
or only wished what I could be

"Music is the shorthand of emotion."
~J.R.R. Tolkien

Whiny Boy Reporting In

Thinking about changing my name to Malady Mike. First of the week a slight back altercation, not major. I did slow down and not stress it too much in order to recover and complete work that has to be done. I get over it, start moving stuff and working around the beach house. Within 30 minutes I managed to step on a nail. It hurt then and still does now. In the center of the arch in my right foot. Just writing this makes it hurt. I am such a wimp. Also managed to catch a stomach bug going around. Should have seen me hopping on one foot towards the 'throne' room and barfing. Wait, no, glad you didn't see it. So now I am out a pair of shoes and may just throw the stinking clothes away.

Yes, whining abounds at the beach house. People keep offering to help me do stuff, but I have to accomplish recovery from the mess I've created. Besides, I know what needs to go and stay. Don't want anyone suggesting I be on TV for hoarding, lol. Anyway, a huge TY to everyone, but I'll ask when the time comes. Right now the inability to walk hinders me so I am going to put in some hours on a network we are changing. That should take my mind off the silly stuff.

Thing's are tough and being broke really really sucks. Yet I have faith that the Good Lord has some mission for me. Still grateful for my life, even the sad times. Hopefully I can recover from the stabbing foot pain and be granted a few decent days. I am praying!

"Many people pray to be kept out of unexpected problems.Some people pray to be able to confront and overcome them."
~Toba Beta

Short note

When we talk on cell phones, Teamspeak, Google Talk, etc., please hang up afterwards...

Wednesday Notes and a Great Funny

The asteroid is leaving our area of space. Makes me happy. So please don't panic when the sirens go off at 1:00pm CST today. FEMA and several organizations will try to sync the warning signals throughout the country for a few minutes. TV and radio will be interrupted in conjunction with the sirens.

Firefox 8 is now available for download. It seems quicker and there's been no problems so far. Good browser. If anyone knows of a lightweight browser that works well on older XP PCs and has good security please let me know. Have a friend that is searching for such an application.

Want a good laugh? A really really good laugh? Take a look at Want to Be a free thinker but still a nice person. This is a blog written by a Mississippi native that now lives in Great Britain. I am not too happy that she seems to be an atheist, but she may not be happy with my United Methodist Church affiliation. Anyway the letter from Target to Mrs. Harris about her husband's conduct is one of the funniest things I've ever read! Thanks out to Richi Jennings, one of my Google+ friends, for a great link!

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God's gift, that's why we call it the present."
~Joan Rivers

Music Monday - Thru the Grapevine

Classic treated properly.



"Music is the Voice that tells us that the human race is greater than it knows."
~Napoleon Bonaparte

About the Size of an American Aircraft Carrier - DON'T PANIC

YU-55 will pass between the moon and earth on Tuesday the 8th around 5:28pm CST. This particular asteroid has been tracked since 2005 and scientists say that it poses no danger. You will need a telescope with a diameter of 6" or greater to view it since our neighboring satellite will be in a gibbous moon phase. For those interested Leonid meteors will be visible at random times after midnight November 13th thru the 20th. Look towards the constellation of Leo for best viewing. This will be the shower's peak period.

"Keep looking up!"
~Jack Horkheimer

Repost

I deleted the original post. It was done in a fit of temper after watching pro Obama diatribe. While viewing, it suddenly dawned on me that Rachel Maddow is not on Fox News, but a regular among the halfwits that thrive over at the evil MSNBC. MSNBC is the worst channel on TV and I will delete it so I never have to feel that filthy again. Please excuse my rant and vulgar language. I really don't like liberals.

"I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts"
~Mark Twain

Fly

Thought this had been pushed up before now. God knows watching without the huge tears is not an option. Know what? NEVER ask me. Just pray for the families. I miss my brothers...those fallen in every way.

POSTED Thursday, September 11, 2008
I am alone. And very very sad. Out of all my Vietnam friends that stayed in touch down through the years Myles K. Magnus was the next to last to survive. Now there is one - me. Myles and I spent an afternoon together a month or so ago and he was in tremendous spirits. He was laughing and we talked about the future. He was looking forward to a retirement consisting of a very well planned life of leisure. He was a hard worker all his life. He had recently retired from FedEx and counted Fred Smith as a personal friend. His is survived by his wonderful wife, Deb. Let me say something my friends; if every wife could be like Deb the world would be a far far better place. She has the right stuff.

Myles stayed in touch ever since our return from the land of purple haze and agent orange. Our conversations were upbeat most of the time and there was a lot of laughing. He was so in love with Deb. This I admired so much. Two wonderful people traveling through life and being a real couple. True love. Gosh it was a joy and a privilege to see them together. It breaks my heart that I cannot be in West Texas to at least offer aid and support. She never complained about Myles habit of reading constantly. His level of intelligence was off the scale. I have been influenced by his massive knowledge and strength of character. He had no enemies. This can go on and on.

Must go finish the shedding of tears and experience the inevitable grief. He will be missed by so many people. Thank the Good Lord he passed away in his sleep. I know he was at peace. Prayers out for Deb and everyone whose life he has touched. I loved him like a brother. Still do.

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."
~Mark Twain

Music Monday - Mayer Hawthorne

This appearance was last Friday night. Very good video with great audio. Nice treatment musically. The horn section is part of Letterman's band conducted by Paul Shaffer. Nice easy uptempo tune!



"Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music."
~Ronald Reagan

Strokes Can Be Different

I've tried facebook twice now. Just not my thing. Everyone encouraged me to try it again. I did. Once again it was simply unsocial. Whether you admit it or not it seems we are all egocentric to some degree. Also, how would you feel if the only way you could communicate with me is coming here and interacting? Pause, pause, think, think, pause, pause. Just doesn't work does it? I wouldn't do it and certainly don't expect anyone else to adhere to such a silly policy either. Facebook made me feel that way. (EDIT: After further reflection, some folks may want to communicate with me this way!)

No doubt Cybersouth FTSBH can resemble a barnyard. Manure of male cattle has been slung here quite often. It's all in fun and for some goofy reason my fingers find time to put a post here occasionally. Some folks don't even read the posts. They scan to make sure there is not an obit involved then leave. That's fine. Some come here, skim every other word, then whine and complain. Even tell lies. That's fine too. If a comment really pisses me off I delete it. Actually, it has crossed my mind to do away with comments completely. Few rarely say anything and there's not any fear that bandwidth will be a problem because of massive hit counts.

Anyway, I am glad to be gone from facebook. It was very depressing to see people posting there on a regular basis that are supposed to be friends yet I haven't had phone calls from a lot of them in months. Well, I am adjusting. There's comfort in solitude. Permits more time for local fauna entertainment. Time to take meds, lol. Later.

"If I cannot understand my friend's silence, I will never get to understand his words."
~Powell

Music Monday - Take Time to Laugh

This video may hold the record for guest appearances by celebrities. See how many you can name and enjoy a good laugh. BTW, Toby is one of my favorite conservative Democrats. If he'd run against Nobama...



Okay, I tried but couldn't resist. This video could also be titled, "Brang me anuther beer, Momma." Toby makes me laugh.



"In order to be a true music lover, you have to appreciate all kinds of music."
~Leigh Bursey (apparently, and fortunately, Leigh never heard rap)

Enter Sid, the Vicious

Last night I heard noises. There was stuff being moved on the veranda. Then I heard the most blood chilling howl and got up. Being startled awake and in a drug induced stupor, legal pain meds for back, it all seemed surreal and then I became more concerned with deciding if I had awoken or was in dream state. The next scream proved I was awake.

As I peeped out the window to my surprise there was an overgrown marsupial flailing the devil out of Hateful, the neighborhood cat. Now Hateful is a pretty good cat, he's just constantly mad as hell. Can't blame the cat, he's been hit twice by cars. Not very smart either. Still, poor thing has to eat. So people around here feed him. There's even been an occasional visit to Pet Smart to buy him food.

When I opened the door it startled all fauna and Hateful made a blurry retreat up the huge Magnolia. The huge possum looked around somewhat bewildered. Then he did something that made me realize he was definitely a descendant of Arnold's. He made a middle finger gesture at me with his possum paw and then waddled off and scurried up the Oak tree. I saw his ancestor do this many times.

Knowing Arnold all those years and watching his antics was great fun. Hopefully, Sid will be the same. Yes, that's his name, Sid. Since he made a lewd gesture I decided to name him after Craig Ferguson's cussing rabbit on late night TV. Now we've got to see if he despises all the other neighborhood animals and loves bar-b-que grill tipping. If I hear of any old Ford Escort station wagons being turned over then it's for sure the genes of Arnold strongly survived.

You have to be cautious around Possums. They'll bite and scratch like crazy if provoked. They have been known to be rabies carriers. So don't mess with them in the wild. Occasionally people do raise them and they can be docile. Needless to say Sid won't ever be qualified to enter the ranks of a petting zoo.

Now I have to put the broom back on the veranda and reattach the water hose. Hey, simple tools of the trade when doing late night possum watching. Well...you need these things if you want the other animals to survive. Now it'll be fun to see if he has a "mom" tattoo on his arm like Arnold. Ahhhh nature, always full of surprises.

"The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."
~Arthur Schopenhauer

One Ringy Dingy Two Ringy Dingy

Recently my phone battery discharged. It was inactive for an unknown period of time. After recharging I turned it on to find two garbled messages. One was something about an Apple Macbook possibly and the other did not come through at all unless it happened to be about Teamspeak. There was an entry of "TS" at one point, but this may have been coincidence. Anyway, folks I've asked everyone time and time again to pick up the phone and call me. If you are concerned about an involved conversation, yes I can be longwinded, then tell me that you are making a 'text' phone call. You won't even have to say goodbye. I will be brief as possible. It takes longer to type the text than say the words. Depresses me that people apparently don't like my voice and avoid verbal conversation. I am sorry about missing the messages. This has been a recurrent issue since we had a block put on my phone not to receive photos. The block may in some weird way be the source of the problem. Who knows? Probably not. First guess is the strange cell tower network in Saltillo. Phone phreaky!

If you receive a bill increase of say 30 or 40 bucks per month because people constantly send you pictures (that you've nicely requested not be sent) then what else can you do but block them? I don't have a digital plan. Can't afford it. I don't receive pictures. Can't afford it. I look at that 30 or 40 dollars a month as gasoline or cheap unhealthy food, both in short supply. So please don't blatantly attempt to muck up this situation because you have more income or just don't care. Hmmm, okay those that have forgotten the spoken language keep texting. Better than nothing. Back to the subject at hand: I loathe not having money. Thanks to Nobama and this rotten economy many of us are living well below our normal comfort level. Still, at least I am not in some God forsaken place like North Korea or Iran. Oh yeah, if you don't like my negative take on the current administration or gathering places of foreign idiots and fools please get the hell off my page.

Recently the beach house was blessed with a gift. "What," you ask? New cell phone, a sorely needed device. It's a Samsung Strive which is super nice. Thanks MJR for coming to my aid once again. I like it in spite of the fact the keypad was designed for a person of sub-Hobbit stature. The keys are about .25" square. The tips of my fingers are barely small enough to manipulate most elevator buttons and certainly can't use these keys. This reduction in size is pretty much the norm in all cell phones. Aside from the small keypad input device, this little non data plan phone is awesome. Looks good, feels good, easy to read, stores a ton of music, has pleasant tones and an extremely long battery life. It suits me after 7-8 years of using Motorola Razr phones. And another bit of info: If possible ALL texting n such on this phone would be shut down. If I can ever afford a nice data plan and phone to match where the touch screen actually can be used by my clumsy fingers then it's almost a sure thing my opinion will change. So please please call me or send an email to cybersouth@gmail.com.

This, sadly, is a necessary post. Somehow this will mean to some folks that they need to stop communication with me. Here's the proverbial nutshell - Look, I'm no spring chicken. Death has its eye on me and I've managed to skirt around it a few times in this life. Time and "luck" are running out. Feel guilty here? Then good. You should. I am looking out for others and myself. Here's the deal: You'll kick yourself in the ass once they've mixed my ashes with mule manure and sprinkled it out of an airplane over the left wing liberal section of the Democratic Party National Headquarters. Certainly no offense meant to my intelligent, conservative Democratic friends. Yes, the ones that didn't vote for Nobama. Anyway, you might want to talk to me just so you won't have to say stupid stuff like "I wish I'd told him so n so' or 'damn, he's gone and I can't bitch at him about that' or 'sorry devil died to keep from paying me.' The voice of experience is speaking. BTW, the mule manure thangy came from some creative thinking to avoid being dug up and bitched at some more or having to do some work after death. Let's face it, there's a chance of a bad lingering odor but once I am dead, hopefully there will be peace smelly as it may be...

In closing, just remember those famous words of Elvis the Pelvis aka Hound Dawgy, "We can all use a helping hand once in a while...so could you pass me another helpin' of those mashed potatoes n gravy? Thank you. Thank you vuurry much!"