So. More guild drama in WoW over the last few weeks. Miscommunication leading to distrust and speculation, guilt trips, childish tantrums, accusations. So much bullshit. I finally had enough. Made a HUGE post in the officers section of the shared forum that our guild community uses, and vented my spleen all over the place.

Despite some inital concerns that said post was going to get us kicked out of that community, the response was on the whole positive. In fact, most of the people who replied there (or contacted me outside the forums) told me that I had said what most of them were feeling but hadn’t spoken up about.

Somebody has to do it, I suppose.

I understand now why there was a very serious article in Wired magazine about how some companies have actually had their hiring decisions influenced after finding out that a potential candidate was a guild leader in an MMORPG. This shit is a serious pain in the ass sometimes. I want to have fun just like everyone else, but a lot of my time in game (and outside of it) is tied up dealing with the management end.

I am very, very thankful to have the officers that I do in my guild. I don’t know that I could be as effective as I (hopefully) am without them.

On the positive side, we have another potential alliance in the works with a larger raiding guild that will get us back into the 40 man raid instances. I know that my endgamers want to see this content, and I’m really glad that it looks like we have a chance to offer it to them again. Until the expansion comes out, it’s pretty much all that there is left to do for some of them, and I worry about them burning out. Hell, Krystalle is suffering from some serious burnout, and with her impending sememster o’ doom ahead of her she is going to have even less time to play. I’m hoping that on those rare occasions when she does she’ll have something enjoyable to do.

In non-game related news…

Got a LOT of cleaning done around here this weekend. All told between Saturday and Sunday I probably spent between 8 to 10 hours scrubbing and organizing. It felt really good. The house had really slipped in the last few months, and while it wasn’t disgusting it definitely wasn’t “clean.” Now I can look around and not see proof everywhere that I’m slacking in the house keeping department. Gonna do some more this weekend, but it shouldn’t be quite the extravaganza that it was a few days ago.

zayna stopped by today to drop off a nifty shirt she had purchased for her beau that was a tad bit too snug in the chest area for him. It’s pretty damned cool, and will make for great Papa Tiki’s Undead Luau wear.

If I ever go, that is.

Got a truly nifty little addition to my home office working today. A few months ago, my company converted over to a VOIP phone system, and they just gave me one that I could bring home. All I have to do is sign in to the phone and instantly my extension works in my house just like it would if I was at my desk.

Technology rocks.

I was going to go to Orlando for a week in September for some MySQL training, but right as we were getting ready to start paying for things I realized that it was the same week my boss was going to be out of the country on vacation with his family. Oops. I’m his right hand man, basically, and I need to be there in his absence to cover any emergencies that might crop up. So, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it is going to happen.

Heh. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get to go to one in Vegas again instead.

Glee!

Helped xany_hellion get his computer fixed on Friday, and spent a day or so reformatting my Mother’s computer as well. She had let the grandkids use it, and they proceeded to get her box loaded down with viruses and spyware. I’ve got it running smooth again, and this time I completely removed the icons for Internet Explorer and Outlook Express. I figure if she sticks to Firefox and Thunderbird she’s got less of a chance to get plagued with that stuff.

I have to admit to being incredibly proud of my Mother for her level of tech capability. She gets all frustrated when her machine is messed up because she can’t check email or listen to her internet radio stations, and when she was talking to me about this the other day she said “I’ll just have to break down and send this snail mail.”

HA!

She said snail mail.

My Mom rocks.

Speaking of which, it looks like my “needing a new car” woes have been solved by her. She’s got two vehicles she owns free and clear, and she doesn’t need them both. Once my nephew leaves for the Army (sometime next week, I believe) I’m going to take ownership of her Mercury Villager. It has about the same gas mileage as my current vehicle, but it won’t require me to fill it with Super Unleaded.

Yeah, it’s a mini-van.

Bite me, ok?

I’m gonna pimp it out with a bunch of geek stickers and shit.

I’ll end up paying her for it, but she seemed pretty relaxed about how much she wants from me every month.

Ranney is stopping by on Friday night to work on some stuff for his web site. Will be good to see him again. Also going to be putting together a web site for my brother-in-law’s electrical business.

No, I don’t have the balls to charge my sister for it, either. If I do she’s probably gonna whip out some huge “back daycare” bill on me and slap me around with it. Better to leave that one alone, ya know?

Maybe I can barter some free electrical work out of her husband some time if he likes it.

Not much else really to report, so I’m gonna go eat dinner and get ready for the Wednesday night raid.