Two More Months Have Passed

Two more months have passed.

Julie and I finally bought our new wedding rings as a 10th anniversary celebration of sorts. Her ring is a double band that allows her original solitaire to fit snuggly in the middle (and it is soldered that way), and mine is a spiffy yellow/white gold twist with 3 small gems inlaid across the center. Julie's double band has a total of 22 little diamonds in it.. It's quite sparkly in the light! The only problem is, I don't know what to do with my $99 original band.. It doesn't really fit on any of my other fingers. It'll probably end up as something I can wear when I'm afraid to wear the new one.

Sarah turned 9 on St Patty's Day. She was ecstatic. This weekend is her official party. I still can't believe she's 9 already... and then there's the boy that will be 12! Ugh.. I am starting to feel old.. Especially when friends have kids that are just now learning how to walk and talk! Well, the good thing is, I'll be around to see them grow up and their kids and maybe even their kids...

We started, very briefly, to look at new houses again. We once again came to the conclusion that unless we want to move a good distance away, we're fairly content with our little home on the lake. Most of the houses we saw were quite beautiful, but sitting on a half acre of land, which really isn't our style. We want a decent sized piece of land (1 acre or better) and a medium sized home. No mansions, no shacks, something comfortable. Well, we can afford to be selective, so... Every so often we'll drive around to get ideas.

In geek news.. We spent 5+ excellent months with a fine crew of EQ players called Kabald. They are probably one of the oldest guilds around and one that carries a good deal of respect among older players. We left just last week, somewhat regretfully. With family life, work, school, etc.. it was becoming increasingly difficult to be online at the start of events and some nights, we couldn't be there at all. We felt, that after a pretty decent track record of high attendance, our spotty and unpredictable attendance wasn't in line with the focus of the guild. Days were starting to blur into weeks and go by too quickly. We're kinda solo for a while to enjoy time with old friends that have recently returned to the game (again! hehe) but may join up with another group of fine people where raiding isn't a strong requirement, so attendance isn't something that will hurt us, or the guild's progression. I wish KB the best of luck and was glad I could be a part of a legend, even if only for a short while. We made some new friends, learned new encounters and helped a lot of people get flagged for elemental planes, thus it was a positive thing for everyone.

As for the future.. There's a bunch of excellent MMORPGs coming out this year. One of them may spell damnation for EQ once and for all, although I'm not in a beta for any of them, so I can say too much about them. Ultima X looks decent, Lineage II is supposed to be excellent, and there's always EQ2 or WoW, both most likely surfacing in the summer.