Wednesday, January 23, 2008

WoW AddOns - The Truth behind the insanity

I love playing World of Warcraft.

It's a fun game with loads to do. And it has a thriving 3rd party scene that create AddOns for the game that either make the game easier to manage or give you information about the game.

For the most part, AddOns are easy to use. Download the AddOn, install it into the Interface\AddOns directory, start WoW and off you go.

I have 2 AddOns that work extremely well - TitanBar (which is a useful tool that tells you all about how much gold you are making, how much XP you need to get, etc.) and Auctioneer (which helps price items going on the Auction House). They work flawlessly and are easy to use.

Now Cartographer on the other hand is a different story.

What Cartographer does is allow you to add notes to the map and reflect Points of Interest. Great for someone who is just starting out and has no Idea where anything is. Just Shift-Right click on the map where you want the note to be, type a description, and POOF! Instant Map note.

But the downside of Cartographer is that if you decide to download extra Modules for it, you may need an AceLibrary in order for them to run. BUT, nowhere in any documentation of any of these extra Modules does it say that you need AceLibrary!

So you go through the frustration of trying to figure out why Cartographer_Mailboxes (a Module that shows where Mailboxes are on the Zone Maps and the Mini-Map) doesn't work at all when it was recently updated.

So after 2 hours of searching websites, checking forums, and even going as far as logging onto a IRC channel to find ANY help, I finally figure out on my own what exactly needed to be done to get Cartographer working again.

A night wasted (I could have hit Level 59 by now), and a few lessons learned. Oh well, Live and learn, Right?

Monday, January 14, 2008

ARRRGH!

Yet again, my glasses have broken!

Cleaning my glasses this morning at work, and POP! The frame breaks. In the same place that my LAST pair broke about 2 years ago.

So I called my optometrist to get my prescription in case I need to get new lenses. The receptionist tells me that my prescription has expired, and I'd need to get my eyes re-examined in order to release the information!

Wait... WHAT?!?!?

It's MY prescription, and my eyesight is good with my current specs. I have NO NEED to get my eyes re-examined. Yet in order to get my lenses replaced, I'd have to go in and spend $$$ to get my eyes checked again.

But I found 2 loopholes.

Loophole #1 - I called ProVision center in the Auburn Mall (where I got my last pair), and THEY have my current prescription on file. So if I needed to get new lenses, they have my script.

Loophole #2 - Mike (my friend since grade school), was able to track down a duplicate of my current frames. So therefore, all he has to do is pop my old lenses into the new frames. VIOLA! New glasses without all the expense.

It just irks me that I can't get my own eye prescription from the doctor.

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Not Menacing Enough

Yahoo was smart to put the first episode of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" up for everyone to watch yesterday.

I liked it. Lots of action, and the threat of T-1000's showing up was done very well. I won't spoil the opening plot for anyone, but I will say this.

The guy that plays the Terminator isn't menacing enough. I mean he looks the part (makeup helps in this case), but compared to Arnie's 3 performances and the Liquid Terminator's in T2, it wasn't quite up to snuff. Hopefully something that we will see change over the season.