I have a new cell phone, and it ROCKS! It has all the features of my old phone (which I was plenty happy with): phone, contacts list, and voice dialing. But it also has features I don’t need, but now that I’ve used them, I love: music player, FM radio, camera, and, oh my God, Web browsing!

Probably the most useful part of all this, at least for this blog, is the built-in camera. I intend to use pictures from the camera to enhance this blog. For instance:

Total Bullgrit: writing in progress

I’ve had the phone for about three days, and I’ve spent nearly every free moment playing with it and learning what all it can do. I was giddy when I found that I could bring this Web site up on the phone’s display.

I know, I know; I’m way behind on the tech curve. I realize all these bells and whistles are nothing new to many of you. But for me, this stuff is new and cool. It’s been a very good month for me on the tech front: I got a wireless mouse and keyboard, and now I have a leading-tech cell phone. I feel like I’ve finally joined the 21st century — eight years into it. Now I just need a flying car.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I’ve started a new job recently. I don’t and won’t blog about my job for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I just don’t want to get into any kind of trouble with my employer for any reason. But there are some things I can talk about regarding a new job that don’t have to do with that job.

My previous job office was 15-17 minutes from my home. My new job office is 12-15 minutes from home. That’s good, but unfortunately, the new office is in the exact opposite direction from the area of town I’m used to. I’ve had the same general stomping grounds for several years, but now I’m off in a new area.

I’m having to learn what all is in my new turf, and that’s not easy to do. The only real time I have to explore is during lunch hour, because after work is family time. So for a couple days, now, I’ve driven around and looked and timed distances from the office to various locations.

Previously, I knew where all the restaurants and stores were around me, and I could drive to them with my eyes closed. Now, I’m lost. I only know well the road between home and work. There’s a lot of new construction going up in the area, but it’ll be a couple years or so before everything is complete. There’s a grocery store very near, but the closest department store (Target) is 20 minutes away. This same Target is just 10 minutes away, (and a Walmart is only 5 minutes away), from my old office.

I need a Target close by, a mall moderately near, a grocery store on the way home, and at least half a dozen restaurants (that I like) within a short drive. So far that I’ve discovered there’s a Target moderately near, and only two or three restaurants (that I like) within a short drive. I still have some exploring to do in the area, so I may discover a better arrangement in a direction I haven’t yet driven.

This whole area feels so foreign to me. But, it took a while to get used to the old area, several years ago. I’m sure I’ll come to think of this direction as homey, too, in a year or seven.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Cowgrit put her mother’s old microwave oven on craigslist for her. Her mom has recently remodeled her kitchen, so all her old appliances, though still good, had to go for replacements. (I mentioned in this blog replacing her dish washer, myself, a few weeks ago.) Her mother wasn’t going to be at home when someone asked to go by and see the item, so Cowgrit asked me to run over to the house and wait for the potential buyer.

The guy showed up, and I opened the garage door to show him the microwave. He had called Cowgrit just prior to showing up and talked with her a bit about it. He asked for a lower price and she gave in a little — just to get the item out of her mother’s way. When the guy was talking to me about it, he seemed a little uncomfortable about having haggled the price down. He was explaining to me why, but I really didn’t care.

“I’m probably not going to use it for very long,” he said. “We’re going to remodel soon, too, and we’ll probably just turn around and sell it, too.”

I just said, “Yeah.” Reasons and explanations weren’t necessary for me. I was just there to show it to him, and take his money if he decided to buy it.

But he continued talking in a continuous string of information. “So I wasn’t just trying to Jew you down on the price. . . .”

It took a couple moments for that statement to really register with me. I wasn’t offended, but then I’m not Jewish, and I don’t care if the guy about to give me money and haul away something so I don’t have to is a bigot.

But after he left, it made me wonder just what he was thinking. I mentioned the conversation and statement to Cowgrit when I got home.

“How could he know I’m not Jewish,” I asked.

Cowgrit shrugged her shoulders. “You have blue eyes?”

“Oh,” I said, “OK, maybe that gave me away.”

But even so, was there something about me that made him think I wouldn’t care about a racist comment? Or maybe he just always talks like that, and it didn’t matter who I was or might be. Hmm.

Should I have sent him away on principle? Should I have cared at all? Like I said, the statement itself didn’t offend me, but it just makes me wonder what he was thinking about me.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

I’ve still been working my way through Jame’s leveling guide, and my human priest is now level 53. I’ve been working with this guide since she was level 30, back in early October. That’s 23 levels in about three months; two levels per week. I only play once or twice a week, and my character is almost always getting rested xp for her kills. At this rate, she’ll be level 60, and going to Outland, in about four weeks. I might make level 70 in another five weeks. So top level is still over two months away.

This past Saturday night, I managed to gain two levels in four hours of play. One of my friends ran me through Zul Furrak with his level 70 dwarf hunter, and afterwards, I turned in over 54,000xp worth of quests. Bam! That was one hour of play, and then the next four hours I spent in Blasted lands questing and killing. I would love to manage that kind of level gain per hour played for the next 17 levels.

While in Blasted Lands, I took a peak at the Dark Portal, from afar. Couldn’t get too close because of all the higher-level demons patrolling the area. When I went through with my main character, my orc hunter, he was already 60th level, and I just rode him straight through the Blasted Lands and into the portal. I had not quested or hunted in BL with that character, so there was no feeling of building up in the area before being able to go right in.