Monthly Archives: October 2008

Gaming

Warhammer Online: Keep Patrol

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My husband has been trying to convince me that the best way to get experience and reknown points in Warhammer Online is to capture flags and take keeps. So I went on a patrolling adventure with him last night. He found a nearly full warband with ~20-members. I was the 23/24 possible members. We captured some flags in the elf campaign and, full of ourselves, we tried to take one of the keeps in the dwarf vs. greenskins campaign. We took out the door guards, then took the keep door down with a battering ram, followed by clearing the 1st floor and then moved onto the second floor. To take a keep, the opposite faction must kill the keepmaster. The keepmaster is a high level hero — HEARTY as a roach!

Taking out the keepmaster and his guards was about all our warband could take. Problems happened when players from Destruction joined to defend the keep. We attempted 4 times and at least four times I found my “tank” character alone on the second floor surrounding by the Destruction crew. Ouch! No exp and no renown points — 2-hours of my time wasted that we could have been doing quests and playing in scenarios. So we went back to taking flags. The warband’s numbers had decreased significantly due to demoralization. We felt that we needed more tanks and healers to actually take a keep. So we decided to take the Unicorn flag with our smaller warband. But alas, the hero bug still existed and when we had done significant damage to the hero, he would retreat and regain all of his hit points. Soooo irritating …

Anyhow, I went along with my husband for a night of keep patrol and I didn’t like it. I think the most irritating things for me were the heros retreating and the lack of coordination of the warband. I don’t blame it on the players, though, because we were trying our hardest. I guess what I would like is for the leader of the warband to be able to decide the composition of the warband and for people to join that fit what is needed — sorta like hiring mercenaries. I think that is sorta what a guild is supposed to be like. So far neither of the guilds I have joined have created a full warband patrol. Perhaps that is something I can suggest … hmmm …

Gadgets

Apple Unveils Updated Laptops

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Here’s a nice video from the AP:  Link

I’ve always liked the look and ruggedness of aluminum, so I’m eager to see what Apple has done.  Otherwise, I don’t see anything radical about these laptops in terms of styling.  I do like, though, how Apple has continued to push on weight and thiness instead of overall size.  For my previous thoughts on mini-notes, here’s a link.

On a side note about the video, Steve Jobs does look alarmingly thin.  I hope he’s ok for the sake of his family and his employees.

Advertising, Food

Pepsi Plans to Grow by Laying Off Thousands

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Where have we heard this strategy before?  How did corporations manage to warp “growth” to mean workforce shrinkage?  The world is truly full of mysteries.  They really should liken this kind of approach to pruning a plant.  Anyhow, Pepsi is planning to revamp its image and marketing along with lay-offs and closing 6 plants.  My favorite tactic is changing “Mountain Dew” to “Mtn Dew.”  That’s brilliant!  Now that I don’t have to read the entire word, I’ll definitely go out and buy some … Haha, I’m actually glad to hear that their CEO Indra Nooyi recognizes in an economic downturn that soft drink and juice’s primary competition is tap water — though, the last time I checked my utility bills tap water was wasn’t free …  Now if only they would address those pesky health issues like obesity, tooth decay, and kidney and bladder stones (ouch!  All reasons why there is no soda allowed in my house).  It does seem that it is on her mind from the last paragraph:

Ms. Nooyi went on to say that in order for the soft-drink category to grow, sugar must be addressed. “Once we have a breakthrough on a natural low-calorie sweetener that can be used in colas, we have a reason to talk about this category growing again.”

Well, she isn’t one of my favorite CEO’s to follow through the news for nothing :).  Umm … how about putting less sugar in.  I like bottled teas drinks from outside of the US because they use cane sugar and less of it.  This makes the beverage taste light and refreshing.  Another thing I have noticed about beverages in the US is that favoring is added for tartness.  When combined with the high sugar content, beverages taste way too “heavy” and leave a sticky acidic taste in my mouth and fuzz on my teeth.  Yuck!  Even the unsweetened versions have tartness added — yuck!

Anyhow, here’s a link to the article for more details on Pepsi’s plans.  I can’t wait to see the new labeling.

(By the way, it appears that Jack-in-the-Box has changed the logo on some of its restaurants.  Some restaurants have a more low key low logo that doesn’t bring the clown to mind.  I haven’t been inside any of these restaurants to see if they are differentiated from the other restaurants.)

Gaming

Obama Ads in Burnout Paradise Video Game

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That’s funny!  I wonder will McCain start doing the same thing.  I wonder what the game players’ reaction to the ads are.  I wonder is they can even see the ad while zipping around the city.   I wonder if those were McCain ads would gamers try to destroy the objects by crashing into them.  ;p   Haha!  Well, if the audience isn’t watching TV, then get them where their eyes really are.  I think it would have been fun if the campaign had put out a gamer centric message, like Obama’s stance on Net Neutrality and decency in entertainment.

Food

Toasted Barley Tea

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All the taste of coffee without the burn 🙂  I finally found some good barley tea at Mitsuwa in Kearny Mesa.  One pouch makes a whole pitcher of iced tea.  I drink it unsweetened and I find it so freshing cold and very comforting hot.  I highly recommend it.