The Geek In Me

My geeky soul has found something to sing about despite the fact that it is in mourning for the computer situation in our house...still no word about my laptop and issues with the kids' desktop. What could be fabulous enough to have my geeky soul singing despite the dire state of connectivity around here? Why, games, of course!

I have found 3 omy favorite things have free online MMORPGs (massively multi-player online role playing game for the uninitiated). There is a brand new Doctor Who MMO called Worlds in Time...

In this game, you get to enter the T.A.R.D.I.S., join the Doctor, fight his many enemies, and save the universe. I can NOT wait to play.

I think I might even be more excited for the upgraded, updated version of the Star Trek Online MMO.

You get to captain your own customizable starship and explore the Star Trek universe including classic locations from the show and new areas never before explored. And, when you create your character, you can even create your own race of beings and the back story that puts them in the Star Trek universe. When I was growing up and reading the innumerable Star Trek books I consumed, I use to dream about being able to join the crew on their adventures. This will be the next best thing.

Finally, I am and always have been a sucker for comic books and comic book heroes. Now, I can create and be one by playing DC Universe Online.

My oldest kids have already started playing this and it looks like a total blast. I don't know where I'll find the time to play these games but I intend to try.

Do you like to play role playing games? If so, what's your favorite or which one of these appeal to you the most?


This post is in no way sponsored or inspired by anyone or anything except my inner geek.

Happy Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

image found via

George Takei's facebook page

Random Shit from My Cootie Addled Brain

• I feel like I need to apologize. When I wrote my post for the healing salon, I inadvertently left out an entire segment of the ALI community - those who are living child free after infertility. I certainly didn't mean to leave anyone out and I'm truly sorry if it made anyone feel bad.
• Someone forgot to tell the powers that be that my family's turn for illness and physical bullshit was over. Seriously, I am so done with it. Gabe is still congested. I feel like crap (thanks for sharing your cold Gabe). Marty's head still isn't better. And, I'm at my wits end.
• Gabe is totally cracking me up lately. He has taken to telling me I am his dear heart. I have this crazy urge to giggle every time he says that.
• This week, I've been researching OCR software (optical character recognition) and hand held scanners for a project I'm working on. OCR software lets you take a scan of a document and turn it into an editable PDF. Does it make me a total geek that I know and care about these things?
• Our phone is messing up and it's pissing me off. We have a VOIP line and, for some God unknown reason, people have been getting a rapid busy signal type tone when they call in. We've rebooted the VOIP modem once but it started doing it again today. Thanks to that damned modem, I missed a call back from the neurologist.
• As much as I love technology, it's also been pissing me off. I was loading books onto my Nook this week and, with 2 books left, it tells me device is full. My first response was "Bullshit. I know I don't have enough books on there to match the capacity I see talked about." Well,  I found out that on a 2 Gig Nook Simple Touch, about 1 Gig is taken up by the operating system. I can hang with that. But, what ticked me off was that out of the remaining Gig of space, 3/4 of it is reserved for books or content loaded directly from Barnes and Noble and only 1/4 is available for books from other sources. The reason it pissed me off is that they don't tell you this up front. So, yeah, my Nook space really was full. Had to go order a micro SD card to take care of that issue.
• I need to make 4 dozen plus cookies tomorrow...4 dozen for a church thing and the plus part remains here at home. Whose going to come help me? 

What's going on with you?

All is right in my Whoniverse

Marty is still dealing with his migraine. Gabe shared his cold with me. My house is a disaster because of having sick kids. But, all is right in my Whoniverse. I indulged my geeky soul and my Nook now looks like this...

Now, the only thing that would make me happier is if they made this

in an adult size. It would be a hell of a lot of fun to go tooling through the neighborhood in this.

The Mail Has Been Very, Very Good To Me

I've had so many cool things come in the mail recently. Tax season retail therapy + Mel's Purim giveaway goodies have made me a very happy woman.

I'd love to show you pictures of the incredibly delicious goodies that came in Mel's famous Purim box (robot themed this year) but the vultures I fondly refer to as family devoured that box and left nothing in their wake. But let me tell y'all something, I think my husband would sell his soul for the recipe for Mel's Chocolate Salty Balls (otherwise known as Chocolate and sea salt nutella cups). So, Mel, a huge thanks for all the goodies. They were amazing.

And, let me tell you, have I ever indulged in retail therapy. I've indulged my inner geek, my shoe addiction, and my need for new bras. I got a new camera. I did restrain myself just a little bit. I desperately wanted a DSLR but I got the next best thing. I got a Nikon CoolPix L120. It's 14 megapixel, has an incredible zoom, and I freaking love it.

We also got a phenomenal new computer to replace the dinosaur of a desktop we've had for the past 5 years. Our new computer has 12 Gigs of RAM, a 2 terabyte hard drive, a 3 megahertz processor, and a 23 in flat screen monitor. I am in heaven. The only thing that comes close to matching the sheer geeky delight induced by the computer is our new 46 in LED tv. That's right, we have finally joined the modern era of tv viewing. My husband said he loves the picture on this new tv so much that, if money weren't an issue, he would go back and buy the 70 in tv we saw.

And, shoes, I gave in and fed my shoe habit. I bought a gorgeous pair of black wedges. I can honestly say I needed a pair of black heels (yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it). I was a bit bummed they were sold out of the red wedges and the taupe wedges but I assuaged my disappointment by browsing through all the other phenomenal shoes...aaah, shoe porn is my true weakness. I totally banished my disappointment by

adding a simply gorgeous pair of sparkly gold platform pumps. I don't know where I will wear them. Maybe I'll wear them in NYC for BlogHer '12 parties, then my legs will look as good as my boobs will look in my new bras. Y'all I am beyond excited. I have bras that fit...really fit. And, I have bras that are a multitude of colors...hot pink, pale yellow, chocolate brown, black, and I even have a white one. If you need bras, check out SimplyBe.com. They have bras all the way up to a 54 band and a P cup (in the UK it would be a K cup). I got 8 bras for only $150. That's not even $20 a bra...hellaciously better priced than the $80 a bra I use to pay for custom made bras. Wow, wow, wow, I have pretty bras and I'm loving it.

Have you bought anything fun recently? Do you have any plans for a post tax return shopping spree? Have you found any great places to shop? Spill it!

Why Computers Sometimes Crash!

I got this via email from my mom today. I don't know who wrote it originally. I don't know how long it's been circulating. All I do know is that this Dr. Seuss inspired parody makes my nerdy, geeky soul happy in the pants. I dare you to read it out loud without cracking a smile.

Why Computers Sometimes Crash!
the Dr. Seuss inspired version

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,

and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,

and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,

then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,

and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,

and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash,

then your situation's hopeless and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,

says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,

but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,

that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,

so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;

then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,

'cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk,

and the macro code instructions is causing unnecessary risk,

then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM,

and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!