:: looks a lot like me ::

So, I, uh, I bought the World of Warcraft Battle Chest this past week, which comprises the original WoW and its "Burning Crusade" expansion.  I'm planning to roll a human paladin so that I can start playing with some friends of mine in their guild.  I'm super busy anymore these days, between my desk job, local social life, and a recent commitment to working out more often at the gym, so I'm going into this with the idea that this will be something I'll do either casually or not at all.  I've been assured that we'll probably only play as a group once or twice a week at best, which should work out okay for me.

As a newbie, I'd like to solicit from the veteran WoW players out there any advice you would care to offer me.  Thanks greatly in advance.  :)

From "Straight No Chaser", an a capella group from Indiana University, here's an offbeat take on the "12 Days of Christmas" song.

• Idea for a shirt to sell at the likes of Hot Topic: black, with distressed white lettering, "Falling through the cracks ... Just like you." -- After observing several disaffected-looking youths wandering aimlessly through various crowded scenarios (mall, church potluck) last weekend.
• Idea for a form of cryptography: My cell phone's adaptive text messaging ability suggests words that you might mean as you begin to build a word from its numeric keypad. Alternatively, you can hold the down arrow key and a larger list of possible words will pop up. Sometimes multiple words use the same keypresses ("of" and "me", and "if" and "he", are two pairs that trip me up a lot). Often, the first one or several suggested words will be nonsense, but will tend to stay in the menu anyway. So my cryptography idea is this: Compose a message using those nonsense words. To decode it, the recipient must have the same kind of phone, or at least the same adaptive text engine. They then type the nonsense word into their phone, and bring up the popup list of alternatives, scanning it for sensical entries.
• Using my last.fm journal for writing about music and documenting my album purchases.
• Straightening my hair and growing it out long ... just so I can post unexpected pics to the Men's Long Hair Hyperboard where my sister has enjoyed lurking for years. xD
• Securing a web domain, with my family surname, to act as a central place for an extended genealogy project; another project where we'd scan, tag and display all our years and years of family photo albums; provide surnamed e-mail addresses; maybe host blogs/a forum/a wiki/who knows what else?

If you had a CD or album coming out, who would you thank in the liner notes?

I believe I'd thank my God, my family, my friends, the folks involved in the production of my album, and my fans, in roughly that order, and of course those broad categories would be broken out into lots of specific mentions of people by name and the reasons why I appreciate them.  I might also like to give props to favorite restaurants and towns and web sites and other uncategorized influences, if I were given sufficient space.

A sample, for example, off the top of my head:

"B. Would Like To Thank:

My Savior and Lord, Jesus, lover of my soul, rock of truth and perfect peace. -- o -- My immediate and extended family, of whom I am not ashamed, but whose names shall not be mentioned here for the sake of our privacy. -- o -- Best friends over the years: Jason, whose simple gift at age 6 was enough to help keep my birthplace in my heart; Tony, I doubt a truer lifelong friend exists to be found in this world; Daniel, for whom for a time I was happily foil and sidekick; Billy, inspirational musician and geek extreme; Veronica, she of the fire, whose stones outweigh anybody's; Donna, beloved confidante and all-around Awesome Girl. -- o -- Danielle, Zoe, Tandi, Hallie, Megan, Maureen, Christy, Sandra, Becca, Kelli, Shay and Lisa, and everybody from Edna and The Wash. -- o -- Nicole, Ida, Clara, and Annie. -- o -- Band mates: [...] Producer and other staff: [...] -- o -- Carl's Jr./Hardee's, for great grub, and for keeping B. from starving.  Pages For All Ages and Powell's. -- o -- Special thanks to my piano teacher, Mrs. R., and to one elementary-school teacher who encouraged a young aspiring harmonica player more than he will perhaps ever know.

Thank you, especially, dear fan, for listening to our music and believing in this humble little project.  The band and I have loved being able to meet so many of you after our shows.  You're in our thoughts and prayers."

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.

Right; I'm guessing the goal of this is to make readers wonder which one's the ringer, so -- in no particular order:

1. I was once, briefly, married, but it was peaceably annulled.
2. I have met up with someone from my Vox neighborhood in real life.
3. My right pinky bears a distinctive birthmark.

Have at it! ;)

[Edit] -- (P.S. Heena... you don't get to play. ;D)

Quick snapshot of my life these past days:

1. My car's odometer rolled over as I was leaving work Monday afternoon.
2. My mother recently surprised the rest of us by totally redecorating the family bathroom -- new rugs and towels and wall art.  It looks good.
3. I've joined a gym.  :o
4. I'm way overdue for a physical, but my health insurance happily kicks in at the end of the month.
5. I bought some new computer hardware the other day.  *techgasm*
6. I'm planning to take a week of vacation next month for traveling.

1. What web browser do you use?
Like all hip netizens, I use chiefly Firefox, but I keep Internet Exploder around for those (increasingly uncommon) websites that don't work well with the 'fox yet.  I also have Opera and the Mozilla browser installed, but I rarely actually use those.

2. What email client do you use?
I have several web-based e-mail accounts.  I also run Thunderbird every couple of weeks or so, on my accounts that allow POP access, such as Gmail, in order to create an offline backup.

3. What type of Internet connection do you have at home?
Clearwire is a provider of wireless, portable broadband.  They give you an external modem, and from there, you don't have to have a land-based phone line or a cable connection.  Just plug it into your computer, an it establishes your Internet connection through cell phone towers, instantly, as long as you're -anywhere- within the service area.  So, I could unplug the modem that's sitting on my desk right now, take it halfway across town to someone else who has a computer, plug it in, and instantly access the net.  I think that's neat.

4. What kind of computer do you have?
An unbranded Intel PC, assembled at home from OEM parts and running Windows XP.

5. When did you first get 'online'?
While I was peripherally aware of the Internet during my time at university, I never had an account while I was a student there because I wasn't a Comp Sci major at the time.  My first hands-on experience with being online was sometime in the mid-'90s.  One evening shortly after my place of employment at the time had acquired a modem and a dialup account from a small local ISP, a co-worker showed me the computer that had been set up for connecting to the 'net.  Software on it included a script-based dialer, an IRC client, and an early version of some cool thing called "Navigator" by a company called "Netscape".  Ah, good times.

1. If you could suddenly speak one language fluently (that you don't currently speak) what would it be?
Well, from a purely aesthetic perspective, I'd love to know how to speak Portuguese with a native speaker's accent, because I think it sounds beautiful.
However, if we're talking about a language I'd most want to understand fluently, inside and out and sideways -- idiomatically, culturally, the whole nine yards -- then I would definitely pick Classical Hebrew, because I'd like to be able to investigate the relevance of the Old Testament to contemporary life with the greatest degree of accuracy.

2. If you were to suggest a foreign film, that you really enjoyed, what one would you suggest?
"The Gods Must Be Crazy" is the first one that comes straight to mind.

3. If you had to call another country home (other than the one you currently live in) what one would you choose?
Probably Canada (my brother lives there with his family), or, barring that, Australia (because many of my long-time 'net friends hail from there, whom I'd probably not likely otherwise be able to meet).

4. If you went out to buy an import music CD, what one would you buy?
Oh, how fortuitously timely this question is.  I happen to have bought an import music CD just recently: the "best of" compilation album for a Japanese idol group called "BaBe", ベスト, also called "BaBe Best".  Cheesy fun! =)

5. If you were to chose an ethnic dinner, what would it be?
Heh, "ethnic", eh?  How about a cheeseburger, fries and a cola? "American" is an ethnicity, after all, right? Sure it is.

Belatedly as usual.  >_> *ahem*

1. How are you feeling?
I'm doing okay.  A bit under the effects of sugar at the moment. *bounce*

2. When is the last time you went to the doctor?
I think that was a year or two ago when my dad and I had bronchitis.  Man, I need to get a a general checkup one of these days.  Waiting for my new job's health benefits to kick in.

3. Ever broken a bone?
I was a passenger in a car accident in 1997 that resulted in a spiral fracture in my upper left arm.

4. Ever had surgery?
Not that I can recall.  I've had stitches once, but that's all.

5. When is the last time you were in a hospital?
I visited my mother when she was in hospital for treatment of a brain tumor, a couple of years ago.  Aside from the time I was rushed by ambulance to an ER for the aforementioned car accident, I believe I've been fortunate to have not needed to be admitted to a hospital for any reason.

1. What's your favorite shade of green?
Who plays favorites? Green in general is okay by me.  Hooray, green!

2. Do you wear green on St. Patrick's Day, and if not, do you ever get pinched?
Always, and generally as understatedly as possible.  My reason for doing so is less about celebrating Irish heritage and more about warding off malicious pinchers.  Stupid school bullies, influencing my adult behavior - what the heck.

3. Do you do anything else to celebrate the holiday?
Not really.

4. Have you ever consumed a green beer (or any other alcoholic beverage dyed green)?
Naaah. *grimace* (I would consider trying a cocktail that is made green by way of Midori, someday, though.)

5. Do you have a good luck charm, and if so, what is it?
I haven't got one.  Yeah, okay, that's boring; I don't care. ;)

Belatedly, yet again...

1. At your next birthday celebration you can have any flavor, shape, size, and style of cake you want. What do you choose?
I choose to be surprised!  Although, yeah, okay, I would secretly hope for a well-made real* Black Forest cake.

2. For friends and loved ones: do you buy a birthday cake or bake one for them?
Considering that I don't really know how to bake birthday cakes all by myself, I've usually either just bought them, or enlisted the help of family members with baking skills.  (Particularly, I remember helping out in the making of Rainbow Poke Cakes when I was younger.)

3. Do you prefer sumptuous flavor or incredible decorations?
I prefer sumptuous flavor over incredible decoration, but, of course, the ideal cake would have both.  And ice cream.

4. What interesting cake, frosting, and filling combination would you most love to try?
(Wait, isn't this just a variation of question #1?)
I really couldn't say, offhand, simply because there are surely a lot of really interesting cakes out there that I haven't even heard of yet, but I'd sure like to try them.

5. Tell us about a school subject or hobby that is a "cakewalk" for you.
(Ha, ha, cute, going for a pun instead of another actually cake-related question.)
"Something very easy or effortless", eh? Well, I suppose my hobby of collecting neat pens might apply; I don't know. x)

What's kind of funny is that at work, on Friday, one of my co-workers celebrated his birthday.  A cake was brought in for him to share with everyone in the office; it was nearly unanimously agreed that the cake was made of awesome, for many reasons, not the least of which was its inner layer of rich caramel.  Many of us thought it was one of the best birthday cakes we'd ever tasted, and eagerly inquired as to where it was made, expecting to learn the name of a high-class bake shop but surprised to find that it came from Safeway.

1. What's your favorite game show to watch?
Lately, it's been Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, though in the past I've also very much enjoyed Family Feud, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune.

2. What game show would you like to be on?
Ehhh... not much desire to be on any show, but if I must pick one, then, perhaps the aforementioned Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

3. Do you know anyone who has been on a game show?
I've been on a game show. ;)  In high school, I appeared twice on a locally produced teen quiz bowl show called Challenge of the Minds.

4. What do you think the worst game show is?
No idea.  Could I just lump all the present-day "reality shows" into one generic answer?

5. Bob Barker, Howie Mandel or Alex Trebek?
Oh, they each play to their strengths.  Alex certainly comes across as the most erudite of the three, and Howie arguably the most animated, but when it comes down to it, you gotta give props to Bob for sheer staying power.  Dude's been hosting The Price Is Right longer than I've been alive, man.  When he retires this June, it'll be the end of an era.