Nerd-vana

Sorry I've been away for a while. I guess I've been riding a wave of elation after we finally won. Not to mention the fact that since the 13th, I've been neck-deep in the greatest videogame event since Asteroids hit the Atari 2600--the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King. Yes, I am that big of a nerd. I am completely and happily addicted to this fantastic game, and after a long wait, we've got a ton of new quests to complete, levels to gain and areas to explore. Sadly, it's going a lot quicker than I'd expected, but the beauty and genius of this game is that there's an almost infinite amount of things to do.

See, that's my main character (unsurprisingly named Jarviswabi) with one of my pets. I play a Hunter as my main class, which may seem counter-intuitive at first given my love of animals, but what it means is that I tame wild beasts to be my companions and gain my greatest powers from training those animals. Aside from the usual videogame mechanics, the best part of the game is the social aspect. I play online with thousands of other people from around the world (actually millions if you want to get technical), and the people in my guild (the one I play with most frequently) are a great bunch of people. What we do involves a whole level of organization and teamwork beyond your typical gaming experience and has been an extremely challenging and rewarding venture for me.

So that's why I haven't been blogging much lately, I've been indulging my nerdiest impulses (with the gracious blessing and indulgence of my wife). I'm sure there will be plenty to piss me off in the days ahead and I'll be back to ranting like a maniac again soon.

WOOT!!!!!

I am very happy today. I could be happier--Al Franken is still down about 600 votes in Minnesota's Senate race and will probably go to a recount, and it was looking last night like Prop 8 was actually going to pass in California and ban gay marriage, which is absolutely ridiculous. So there is still work to do, but at least now we will have the right person in charge to start snapping the rest of America out of its ignorance.

I'm very pleased that Indiana went blue this year--I'm proud of you hicks out there. I'm happy that the electoral map looks a lot more mixed than it did in 2004. It's nice to see some blue intruding into those big Western states, and that swath of blue spanning from Maine to Minnesota is very nice.

I was very inspired and moved by Barack's speech last night, and can only imagine what it must be like for black people to see him there in that position. I think this moves our country forward in a quantum leap. It by no means fixes our past ills, and will probably expose some ugliness that has lain dormant for a while, but it certainly moves us closer to walking our talk.

Now on to an issue near and dear to my heart... Barack said that Sasha and Malia would be getting a puppy last night. I really really really hope that he and Michelle are smart enough to recognize that they need to adopt a dog from a shelter or rescue group and set an example for America that people need to stop paying for dogs and cats and start adopting the millions of pets in need of a home. If they do that, I will be overjoyed and officially in love with Barack.