Voight's blog

I'm sitting here in a hotel by the riverwalk, listening to Audra talk to her friend Anna about needing hard liquor and fast.  In the last 6 hours we've travelled at speeds of up to 567 miles an hour, experienced delicious rain in 89 degree weather, and seen wild dogs running in packs through the streets of San Antonio.  How did all this excitement start?

Last Monday, Audra heard through a long family grapevine that her Gran was sick in the hospital and things were not looking good.  In a panic, we booked tickets for Saturday, and Audra spent the entire week worrying that her Grans would pass at any moment.  The day arrives, (today), and we hop on the plane headed for Texas.  Once we get our rental car and are winding our way through a google maps fueled lostfest, Audra gives her cousin a call to let them know we are in town, and to ask the visiting hours for Gran's hospital.

Turns out, Grans has been out of the hospital and back home since last Sunday (yes the day before we booked the flight and heard the news).  Needless to say her family communication system needs some serious fucking work. We're going to go visit her Grans in the nursing home tomorrow before we bounce back home to Cali.

So now we sit, waiting for Anna to arrive so we can drink hard liquor and celebrate the launching of a new idea we hatched during the trip so far:  Once a month or so, depending on finances, we will be jetting out to different locations for 1 or 2 nights maximum.  Places we've never been before that we can get to from within 1-6 hours of plane travel.  Next trip, we're debating Savannah, GA, Chicago, IL, or Montreal.

Woo.

We will be flying briefly out to San Antonio so Audra can visit her Grans in the hospital.  I'm going to catch up on a little DS gameplaying, Kindle reading, and try and enjoy the traveling, but really whenever I think of hopping on a plane instead of sitting at home with my wife and dogs on the weekend, I get a panic attack.  Kinda weird.

Anyways, just wanted to pop another update today, since I'm trying to stick to my resolution to write in the journal on the regular again.

  Yesterday at work I spent almost the entire day in a panic over a stupid technical problem that I solved in 3 minutes today.  I need to make a point of stepping away, smoking my pipe, and thinking about other things when I start to feel myself slipping into those anti-productive patterns.  I set up a lunch meeting with my boss to talk about what I need to do goalwise to nail my next promotion, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Hitting the goals, not the meeting :)

In other news, in the search for some quality Whiskey, at the suggestion of Audra I picked up some bottle of something that ended up tasting like a sugar bomb exploded in the bottle.  Seriously this is the kind of disgusting shit you would create if you were trying to market to children.  Disgusting.  Made up for it today by picking up a small batch made Kentucky whiskey that I immediately loved.  Now I have a decanter full of garbage, however.  What ever should I do with it?

Oooh, one last thought-- i'm trying to decide what to do with our home theater system.  A few months ago I picked up a bargain bin Samsung all in one system that has already started to shit the bed.  I wonder if I should just pick up a decent HDMI switching receiver.  The problem with that is, if I do, will these speakers that came with the samsung work for the time being with the receiver?  I really don't want to dump a ton of money so soon into a whole new speaker set....

Anywho...off to bed.

PS Cross posting to Livejournal is still a pain in my dick.  If I accidentally didnt check "post this to livejournal", I cant fucking edit my post to post it.  I had to delete this post and recreate it.  Also, if I edit my post after Ive posted to LJ, LJ doesnt get my edited version.  Very slick. Way to Player Hate. :(

Hello Everybody--

Back posting after a long break, thought i'd give the blogosphere an update as to what's going on in duder's life nowadays:

Since last update, Audra and I have moved down the road to Orange, CA--It's so much nicer than Irvine.  Audra's Co-workers was putting their house up for rent, and we jumped at the opportunity to become tenants.  It has plenty of room for us and the dogs, and we even got a guest room/gym, and my own office as well.  Duder got himself a full 2 car garage, but I'm lacking the requisite bikes to tinker around in there with.  Someday I hope. 

When we first moved in, our landlord's mastiff had completely destroyed the backyard.  Acutally, I believe he literally ate the entirety of the yard.  It all went into his stomach.  We got grass planted, and when life started returning to the empty pit back there we also planted a garden:  Eggplants, Basil, Green Bell Peppers, regular peppers, rosemary, and a bunch of other stuff. 

The house serves as a really great little sanctuary now, and we practically rarely leave the place on the weekends or evenings.  When we feel like some outdoor chilling, we just head out onto the back patio and grill some burgers, or if we just want to kick it indoors style, we just hang out in either our lovely living room, or my sweet little Study.

In other news, I'm still working away at the Marvelous Blizzard Entertainment making World of Warcraft.  We shipped Lich King, and it was an exciting and challenging expansion, then we jumped directly into the thick of it with our newest expansion, Cataclysm!  Right now, I'm working on building some sweet dungeons.  Dungeon work is so amazingly rewarding-- basically it's an entire self contained level that you get to build, light, decorate, and have a solid hand in designing.  I far prefer it to the exterior architectural work I did on Wrath, although I really enjoyed that as well.

There really is nothing like working on a game that literally millions of people will play every single day.  During the Wrath midnight release, our team went to the Frys in Anaheim and we were signing copies from midnight until 5AM.  It really hit home how amazingly awesome and life changing this game has been to so many people.  I wished I could have signed copies until every fan in the universe had one, but alas the Frys finally told us to wrap it up.

So much stuff to post about... I'll blast out some quick synopsiseees:

As for current events, I just started playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, and I am very much enjoying it.  The fighting mechanics are so quick and brutal feeling that I really could just play that aspect all day, but the greatness doesnt end there-- the architecture, atmosphere and environment suck you right into it from the moment you start the game.  I look forward to playing some more.
 
After a month's rest, ive jumped back into running again, and as of today I joined my co workers in the gym to do some serious weightlifting.  It's awesome to work out with people who really push you to do your best form, and who know not to ever overmachoize things.

I've decided to sell the Miata and pick up an S2000.  The Miata handles really beautifully, but unfortunately it just isnt quick enough for me.  The S2000 easily solves that problem, and handles very similarly to the miata.  It also has a much more liveable interior.  Audra also gave it her solid approval.  I got the opportunity to drive a co-workers for a little bit and initially wasn't all that impressed with regards to it's quickness, but when a friend came over with his and let me drive it for an extended period, I have to admit I fell in love with the rush you feel when the engine switches into VTEC at 6k rpms.  Very exhilirating.

The Audi, while it is a solid feeling and beautiful car, is most likely being sold next year.  Our new car warranty is running out, and we just do not like the amount of times we've had to take it into the shop for repairs.  The most recent one came after I had noticed that the car felt a little sluggish over the previous few weeks.  I timed the 0-60 just for fun and it turned out to be around 9 seconds, which wasn't quite right for the car.  I thought nothing of it for a while, until the check engine light came on.  I took her in for her 45k service, and they discovered yet again that a fuel sensor, and turbo valve issue had cropped up.  These were not the same issues, however, just more of them.  After they fixed her all up and gave her back to me, it was like driving a totally new car.  0-60 went up to 7 seconds, and the power difference was just absolutely insane in all speed ranges.  Since we got the car, nothing "leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere" serious has happened, but a large number of little issues make us worry about the longevity of the car, and more importantly the cost of those repairs once the warranty is gone.  We have our eyes on an Infinity FX45.  Watch this space next year, I guess.

Anyways, lots of stuff.  Lots of stuff im forgetting and/or leaving out, but i'll try and be more regular about posting from now on.

Fuck yes.  Track for the day ya'll.

Since southern California is a hopelessly car-dependent place, I figured I'd do my duty by buying two of them.  We started with just the Audi, hoping that Audra could rely on public transportation to get to downtown Irvine where she works.  WRONG.  Public transportation is a gigantic joke in Orange County.  No transfers, stupidly long interval times, and completely retarded dropoff locations.  We carpooled for a while, but our schedules at work are so different, we finally decided it was time to pick up a second vehicle.

I thought about a Motorcycle or Maxi scooter, but people in this area drive blind spot laden gigantic guzzling SUVs, and they also drive like flipping bloody moronic idiots, and I knew I'd be pulp within short order.  I gave Audra the tough as nails, heavily protected All-Wheel-Drive Audi Tank, and I really wanted to pick up a light, topless, balanced RWD roadster.  I knew it had to be the Miata.  I didnt like the look of the first generation, or the newest generation, so I knew it had to be a NB. 

After researching all of the options, I decided I either wanted a 03 Shinsen edition, 03 special edition, or 1999 Anniversary Edition.  The Anniversary edition didn't have the aggressive, butchy bodykit options that I felt the roadster needed, so I kept my eyes peeled for the 03 special models.  After a visit to Tustin Mazda, they located one for me in Huntington Beach Mazda.  I promptly setup a time the next day for a test drive, but when I made it to our appointment, the dealer hadn't gone and gotten the car from the other dealer, and said he'd leave in a little bit to get it. 
Leaving in the middle of the day to drive from Tustin to Huntington beach?  Uh, douche, did you want to make a sale, or not?  Annoyed, we just told him to screw himself and left. 

A couple weeks later, I was looking at the Huntington Beach Mazda site and saw an 03 LS in British Racing Green that had a very, very attractive price.  I contacted the dealers there and we started talking, but I kept eyeing the 03 Special edition they had on their lot.  After a friend of mine that kinda...collects miatas and s2000s took a hard look at the LS, he told me to pass, because the previous owner looked like he had really just totally fucked up the suspension setup.  I told the dealer I'd pass on the LS, but I really wanted the 03 Special.  I went out and test drove it, and fell in love. 

The lady that owned it before me only put 26000 miles on it in the 5 years she owned it.  Not only that, but she kept EVERY single scrap of service history on it, and she also left the box of special edition swag that came along with it unopened.  I snapped that shit up ASAP with a new-car warranty for a damn good price.

It's the ultimate japanese british roadster.  Slow, balanced, and incredibly nimble.  I'm planning on picking up some black/silver Sportmax 002 16 inch wheels, Stance Coilovers (not going to lower it TOOO much, but i'm noticing some annoying bodyroll when I take it to the canyons), A roll bar (you never know when it may go FLIPPING INTO THE AIR and LAND UPSIDEDOWN), and I'm going to replace the stereo system.  The Bose setup sounds great, but the multi disc player isnt Mp3 compatible, and I fucking hate CDs.

Anyways, I fucking love this thing.  I've been taking it out to the canyons, and out on the coast every weekend.  Decent gas mileage too.  (better than the Audi)

Thanks Audra for helping me get it!  I love you!

Here's some picturreees!

Two New Editions to the family!

happy new years chaps.  things are going well here.  Dude is married now, working at Blizzard, and living in an apartment 2x the size of the one in SF, and 30x as dope.

yep.  things are going mighty good for the dude. 

check ya' later.

Hey everyone, I thought I would post here to say that today is my last day at DF, and that I have accepted a position at Blizzard Entertainment. 

We'll be moving the middle of this month, and we have an apartment lined up in North Irvine.  We are having a moving crazy sale.  My gigantor TV, Computer Desk, Pro-style excersize bike, Pista Concept, and Honda Motorcycle are available at a crazy discount.  I'm Crazy!

I'll update more later.  Woo!

My 360 is now doing this, which means Microsoft will fix it for free.