Slip under my cloak of boringness.

Like many people, I am letting blogging slide. I usually am breaking my head to fill my 2 posts a week quota in my WoW blog that I forget to blog about life as it happens. As the past weekend was a break from the monotony of the normal life, I'll post a bit about our short vacation.

It started with a Thai cooking class that Cinna had given me for my birthday. In retrospect I wouldn't exactly call it Thai cooking but more Thai inspired. It was a class of 12 people in one of those fancy show kitchens. Everyone got to chop stuff, got instructions and time passed really quickly. The full meal was a nice soup based on coconut milk with chicken, followed by skewers of meat and veggies (chicken and pork filet) with a side of freshly made spring rolls. Main course was white fish with a green herb-chili crust, with pomegranate-couscous. Dessert was a cherry sorbet, plus mascarpone cream with fresh mint. The latter was unbelievably delicious. Nom nom nom.

The class started at 7 pm and we were all done with eating and drinking and espresso at 11:30 pm. A great evening, and we both definitely would like to do another class. They're having a pasta class soon, so maybe that'd be fun to do.

As soon as I get time, I'll post about our three day Berlin trip, which was also great.

We have been without Internet at home since Tuesday now. As net access at work has been restricted for both of us, this makes for sad times. Did you know that a computer is pretty boring when the window to the outside world is suddenly locked? I have been bored out of my mind.

Last year, I received mail from T-Com, informing me that my broadband plan was ending in April and that I need to choose a different plan until then. What they did not tell me was that they would actually cancel the Internet access a month prior to that. No one at T-Com seems concerned that this happened. So when the net stopped working on Tuesday, I changed the broadband plan, and they informed me that this would take 6-14 working days. No joke.

To make matters worse, on Saturday one of T-Com's telemarketers called to try and sell me the broadband plan I signed up for on Tuesday. When I told her that this must be a joke, she checked and voila, they had computer problems on Tuesday and my order had not actually gone through. I am so worked up over this, you have no idea.

Today, I will raise hell, seriously. I want net access this week, if T-Com can't offer that, I am going to cancel the order and will order cable access instead, from a company that actually manages to install such things very quickly.

Aaaargh.

On top of that, I have an infection in one of my teeth, have to take antibiotics before they can do a root canal in two weeks, and have been in pain since Thursday night. March sucks.

I like this meme, so I'll just join the me-me train for this one. My full name is Andrea Stadtfeld. I think it was in 8th grade that some guy from my class came up with short names for people based on the first couple letters of first and last name. In my case, this was Asta. None of the other names stuck around, but mine did and from that point on everyone but the teachers called me Asta, all through highschool. When I graduated from highschool and moved on in life, still everyone called me that name. My ex-husband only called me Asta. Tonight I am going to Dortmund to a birthday party of old friends, and I bet everyone there will call me Asta.

I shed the name like an old skin when I left my ex-husband. Bad memories, what have you. Maybe a process of growing up. Nowadays, I have other nicknames. Just Andrea, or Andie, or if I play WoW I am T, or Kadomi. astalavista was a play on 'Hasta la vista' and my nickname, and it was the name of my very first website in 1995, which mostly stored MU* logs and wedding pics. It's still my default username where it's not taken.

Yesterday was my birthday, and I got a lot of birthday wishes, both here and on Facebook (which I really never ever use. I don't get Facebook). Thanks everyone, appreciated. :)

I didn't really do much. I asked at work on Monday if I could leave early on Tuesday and they told me to stay home, which I happily embraced and ran with. It meant I got to stay up really really late on Moday (5:30 am, haha) and run instances with my guild in WoW. Good times. I don't know if it's retarded or funny that I turned 38 and still stay up late to play a computer game.

I slept in late, tidied up a bit, waited for our cleaner to come help us get the house spiffy for my birthday party on Sunday. Then I went to D'dorf to pick Cinna up from work, as she had promised me the most scrumptious Italian food ever.

Then it turned out this Italian place only offers lunch service, and one of my biggest personal flaws showed up. I am a bitch from hell when I look forward to something and it doesn't happen. I turn back into the four-year old who doesn't get the toy she wanted. We walked around the streets of D'dorf snapping at each other pissily, me doing most of the bitching while Cinna tried to cheer me up. Took about 30 minutes of me cheering up again. We finally went with the upscale Indian restaurant I had wanted to try for ages. They had a very quirky guy there who explained all the dishes on the menu and did the silliest smalltalk. Food was excellent. Good times.

Then we went home, watched the L-Word, cuddled and had a good time. I love Cinna, because she makes me laugh so much, and I think I make her laugh, and that's a good thing.

And that was my birthday. We have a bunch of things coming up on the weekends, which actually means I am pushing back raiding in WoW a couple weeks. Amazing stuff, that.

I visited my mom on Saturday. All my angsting that I would run into my brothers was for nothing, because Lothar is off skiing for a week, and Thomas is on some 3-day vacation. My mom was fine, looking roly-poly happy. She actually gained a -lot- of weight there, a ring around her hips, from the 3 meals a day plus cake and coffee. Just like the last visit I really got the impression she is so much happier about where is now than when she lived by herself. She was a bit sad though when we showed her pictures of Jenny.

Cinna took a couple pictures of us, and it was almost embarassing that we have the same crappy posture when sitting. Hee.

Our visit was a lot shorter than expected because the unthinkable happened. My mom actually ushered us out because she was late for her daily boardgame in the afternoon. Playing Pachisi > visiting family. It cracked me up.

We actually have been hit with a real winter this season. This is highly unusual, because we do not usually have any kind of temperatures below freezing. But now it's been really cold for about...two weeks, I would say. This morning, I forgot my scarf, and really regretted it. I had to pull my hood up, because my ears were freezing. Once I got to work I found out it's actually -17 C out there, which is about 1 F. Brrr. It just started snowing again. Yay for fresh layers of snow covering up the treacherous packed ice that makes me slip and slide on my way to work from the bus stop and vice versa.

I think I prefer snowy landscapes when I am just gazing out at them from the window. I'm still sick and just want to be in bed at home, with kitties curling up with me. Aaah. Six hours to go.

I've been a fan of webcomics for many many years, and reading comics via RSS is still one of the things that I do everyday. Darkgate Comic Slurper, how I love thee. But I haven't started reading any new comics recently, so it was quite lovely to read a great article in Smashing Magazine. There are some real gems there. I have been spending most of my downtime this morning reading the archives of Gunnerkrigg Court, which I had seen ayashi mention recently. It's really good.

There's only one German comic on the list (go figure) but it's the really funny Not Funny. If you enjoy bizarre humor.

I am such a spoilerwhore. Every year it's the same. Come November, I remember that TwoP exists, end up looking under every spoiler tagged entry, gawk and gape. And then I watch spoiler videos at work and want to go home and replay a million times. What the fuck will I do in March when L-Word is over forever?

Hot diggity damn, Tibette. When can I watch that video again?

Fandom, such a horrible thing.

This, dear people, has me laughing a lot. But I also cannot help staring at the picture as if hypnotized. Surely you want to assist with this noble cause. :D

Since I started seriously blogging (if you can call blogging about a game serious), I have been following lots of blog-related sites, including Lorelle on WordPress. She started doing an experiment using LoudTwitter on her blog. Today, she posted her verdict. I couldn't agree more. In the couple days I have been using Twitter, I've had very inspiring conversations, tons of great info, and have been up to date on blog posts. However, LoudTwitter still does not make sense to me in a blogging context because it's like reading an AIM conversation, with one party missing. It does not make sense in most cases.

So those of you who use it, why do you? Just trying to understand, not hating.

I am having an exceptionally quiet morning here at work, so I'll take the time to update.

( Snipped, for length )

My mom is getting better, and will likely leave hospital next week. This means that we have about a week to find a place in a senior's home for her. I'm still somewhat in a state of shock, because when we visited her on Sunday, she was a lot more lively, but also a lot more bitchy. She griped about everything, and really treated hospital staff rudely. I don't remember her like that at all, but according to my brother, that's how she has been for a while treating other people. Makes me sad. What's happened to my sweet and caring mother?

After hospital, we went to her apartment, cleaned up a bit and stowed Jenny away. It was good that my brother had sturdy gloves Cinna was able to use, to catch the poor cat. She had been home alone all through the hospital stay, and it's left its mark on her. She pooped in corners and such. The whole Dortmund stay took a lot longer than expected, so we raced back home (we were an hour late for our own WoW raid, haha). Since then Jenny has been staying in the bathroom, behind the sink cabinet. Yesterday she warmed up to us a bit, mostly Cinna, who patiently talked to her for a long time. She ate a bit, used the litter box, good stuff.

Today, she had to be moved to the kitchen, as we got a new washer delivered. She's been hiding behind the fridge, but when I come in, she comes out immediately. She actually was out exploring the last time I got to the kitchen. Our other kitties are confused by all the closed doors. Earlier, I gave her some tuna, which she apparently never had in her life. My mom got her as a kitten, she's 2 years tops, and my mom never left the house and only fed her Whiskas. Then I went to get the boys some tuna, and Merlin made a mad dash for the kitchen. Instead of freaking out about her, he immediately went for the tuna and completely ignored her. Jenny on the other hand got totally excited, mewed pitifully and tried to follow me and Merlin into the livingroom. I guess she is interested in other cats, who knew? We are planning a Merlin-Jenny official intro tonight. Not with Luigi though, he really doesn't like other cats and is way too jealous. He'll have to wait a bit longer.

Will post photos soon. I never really wanted more than two cats, but she is really very cute. Especially now that she stopped clawing and hissing at us.

Be warned, there's The Hoff behind the cut. This is just plain wrong.

( Fear, dread The Hoff )

I warned ya, didn't I?

I just found out that Cinna's cousin Andy is like obsessed with food. When he found out that I had never had BBQ Spare Ribs, he kept calling to figure out how he could get me to eat ribs. And other junk food, like White Castle.

So today we were supposed to go out for lunch with family friends, but that was cancelled, and Andy got his chance. He lives down the street, so off we went, and he and Cinna's brother were the BBQ chefs. A rack of ribs, with generous amounts of Kentucky Bourbon barbecue sauce on it. They also grilled delicious burgers, with bacon and cheese on top, and we had baked beans. I can't move. It was excellent stuff. Now all while they were grilling, Andy kept talking about other food, and what else he wants to make for me, and so apparently next time there will be barbecue chicken, and other stuff. It's dizzying.

While I am sitting bloated on the couch, we're actually heading out for dinner tonight with the family, for pizza. I will explode. We're also doing some last minute shopping, as tomorrow we'll be flying home, leaving from Cincinnati at 1:15 pm.

While on vacation, the Spore bug bit me, and I got really excited about it. However, after reading that both Spore and Mass Effect, the two games I wanted to pick up while in the US, use SecuROM 7 as DRM. SecuROM will install itself without warning, and even as admin you will not be able to uninstall it without the help of additional software. It installs itself deep in the registry, installs a service, etc.

Furthermore, you have to connect the game to the Internet every 10 days or the game stops working, and you can only activate three times. Gosh, what if my computer dies? Too bad, if I get it set up again, I will use up another activation.

This is extremely disappointing, I had been super excited about both games.

Let's see, what have I been up to since my emo post last week?

Saturday: big fight with Cinna, had us both bawling, and as usual after the big vacation fight, one feels better afterwards.

Monday: the big Labor Day family picnic, with grilled burgers and lots of other good food. Was fun, as Cinna's cousins from KY came over. Was surprised when people insisted I be part of the big family photo shoot.

Tuesday: went to a big store that does clearance sales, and we bought stuff for over 350 bucks. Yay for having lots of really nice Levis jeans now.

Wednesday: bloated from eating too much Mexican food, then played WoW while Cinna, her best friend and her brother played Carcassonne. Then played Thurn und Taxis with them (awesome German boardgame, for the boardgame geeks on my list). Got bloated from eating free food at the Riverview Buffet where Cinna's brother works, then went back to play more Thurn und Taxis.

Friday: got picked up by Cinna's friend Susannah, drove to Cincinnati to pick up our Greyhound tickets, then went to a 'Greek' restaurant that had the least Greek menu I have ever seen, aside from maybe 3 menu items. On the way to the Greyhound terminal, got rear-ended, but no damage was done (other than having a hurty neck). Took the bus to Columbus, met Joey in front of our hotel, called technocowboy who then joined us there. We had most delicious Indian food, then technocowboy took us to jenis, which has amazing ice cream, stuff like 'Salted Caramel' and 'Goat Cheese with Cherry'. Really good stuff. technocowboy drove us back to the hotel, and we headed to Wall Street, a lesbian club right behind our hotel. Was extremely loud there, zomg. Slept at 3:30 am or so. Had a fantastic time, it rocked seeing both Joey and Jeremy. Much <3

Today: got up, headed to Greyhound terminal, took the bus back to Cincinnati. Cinna's godmother picked us up at the terminal and drove us back to Rising Sun via normal highway, not using the Interstate. Beautiful route. Stopped at a place called Cabana on the River, and had delicious food and a daiquiri there. Just got back to the house, and here I am.

After an allnighter, Cinna and I left the house at 6:15 am to head to the airport. Our flight left at 9:40 am and just about 10 hours later we made it to Atlanta. Immigration and customs went smoothly. The only thing they asked me about was an explanation why I speak English well. Duh.

Customs didn't even want to look at our stuff, so we kinda managed to bring like...I dunno, at least 15 bottles of good German beer to the country. We had a 3 hour layouver in Atlanta and then left for Cincinnati at about 5:30 pm eastern time. Cinna's parents made it to the airport a bit late, and it was 9 pmish when I made it to their house. Cinna went horse-feeding with her mom and I was too exhausted for anything.

It's really hot here, coming from Germany, and I still feel crappish, headachy, but I just had some very lovely corn-on-the-cob. I admit to being a little bit scared about Labor Day which will be this huge family get-together, I think. It makes me feel very...foreign. But I guess Cinna has that everytime when I have a family-thing, so it's just fair.

We're heading to Columbus next Friday, I am looking forward to seeing Joey again, and meeting technocowboy for the first time! I wish there were more people in the area that I knew, why must this country be so big? Bah.

Anyone remember the deep-fried stuff I recently linked to? This is easily topped by this webpage, that offers the most disgusting school lunches. Holy crap, is some of that gross.

Yes, I randomly like to post links I get from one of my many blogs that I read. I will post something of substance soon, honestly.

I am doing my 'daily RSS surfing while American underwriters are on lunch break' (tm) and just stumbled across the latest Go Fug Yourself entry. This one, to be precise. Madonna's arms make baby Jesus weep. Woman, go eat a sammich and start dressing more like your age, it won't hurt you at all, and you'll still rock so hard.

Just before I started my own WoW blog, I had posted here, how I wanted to make the impossible happen and achieve the Champion of the Naaru title in WoW. To do this, you need to beat 3 of the hardest heroics, including a timed Shattered Halls run, kill Nightbane in Karazhan, Gruul the Dragonkiller and Magtheridon. The two latter mobs are both 25-man raid bosses.

I was pretty emo for a while about it, because we couldn't make 25-mans happen, but with the help of a guild alliance, we just managed to our first full DotH force 25-mans. I am so happy I could burst. When you can rally that many people around you, all to help you get that elusive title, and you pull it all off after a couple tries, that's just awesome.



And this really was my last WoW blabbering here, if you want to see anything else, why aren't you over at Tank like a Girl yet? I love company and comments. :)