P.S.

(You didn’t hear this from me, but today is my 29th birthday.)

duh duh duh.

Ok, I’m functionally retarded.  I sometimes go through a spurt where I write 2-3 posts in a day, and save the extras for use later when I’m busy.  I have a way of marking them as posted.  Aparently, the aggro post forgot to get marked.  I’ll see if I have time this afternoon to get something together.

Guild Loot Drama

I have seen the terrors of loot issues.  I have helped run DKP, and tried coming up with rules for DKP, and rules for what loot can be gotten and by who…it is maddening. 

My guild is very small, on Kara nights it was not uncommon to see 11 people online, and 10 of them in Kara.  A few weeks ago we had a “loot issue”.  We run on very simple principles

1) On non-class specific items (i.e. it literally says the word hunter on it as a requirement) it is generally agreed upon what classes can roll for an item.  If a plate piece with INT on it drops, only the pallys can roll.  The nice thing about doing things this way is that if something drops that seems like one class’es item, another class can come up with a convincing argument and get that piece.  As a hunter this is good, because for a while I had a lot of leather due to the CRAPPY hunter itemization out there.  Everyone is more considerate to not only the good of the player, but the good of the raid, and the likleyhood that the particular item can be replaced.  i.e. I am a gun toting Dwarf.  A bow dropped that would have been a minor upgrade to my DPS.  A warrior (I think it was a warrior) mentioned that it was WAY better than his stat stick Bow, and he would like it.  It was a big upgrade to him, and I would be easily able to replace the bow with something better soon, so he got the bow. 

2) After it is agreed upon who CAN roll for an item, then the roll happens.  You are not required to roll if you capable. 

3) The rule is one epic per night, unless everyone who can roll for the piece already for one, then you can get a second piece.  You can always roll on a class specific piece.  A class specific piece counts as an epic.

4) If no one can use it then it is DE’ed and anyone can roll.  We are really pretty good about supplying the guild enchanter with mats and work so they are never shorthanded.  90% of the time the person that wins the roll ends up giving the shard to someone else that needs it, typically for a “ok, if you run my alt through (insert lower instance here).” 

My first night in Kara was about 2 months after the guild started running Kara.  The loot gods smiled on me.  I was the only hunter, and the only rouge was decked out already.  I got three epics my first night, and two my second night. 

Here is where the drama started.

One night a few weeks later a warlock that was a RL friend of someone in the guild filled in an empty spot in the raid.  The first epic to drop were cloth hands with ice damage on them.  It was a small upgrade to the mage, but she took them.  Then the tier 4 piece dropped and the mage and the lock roll.  The lock wins.  Then later on another cloth damage based epic drops.  Since the mage and lock have both now won an epic, they both get to roll.  The lock wins the roll.  Then ANOTHER cloth epic drops, but the mage already had it, so the lock got it. 

The mage screamed bloody murder because we let a non-guildie get not only an epic, but a set piece and TWO epics.  She stated that she should have gotten the second epic that dropped because the first one she took she only took because she was the only one that qualified for it, and so the second epic drop should have been hers because the lock just got his set piece. 

Now, a really small part of me says that we should have taken car of our own, and told the lock that they should be happy with the set piece and given the next epic to the mage.  An even bigger part of me says that without the lock we would not have been able to go, so we owed them EVERYTHING that dropped, or at least their fair share. 

The Mage threw a hissy fit.  She was told by the raid leader to drop it.  The loot was assigned and even if they wanted to do something about it, there is nothing that can be done.  The loot was distributed via the rules of the guild, and when something could have been done about it, nothing was said.  Now it is too late.  If you don’t like the rules, then discuss it with the guild leader before the next run.  It is too late to change the outcome of this run.  The Lock got 3 epics.  She kept throwing a hissy fit in guild chat and on TS. The officers told her to quiet down, and do discuss it with the guild leader.  She continued to throw a hissy fit.

She ended up quitting the guild.  She would not talk to the leader, she would not discuss it rationally, she would not point out which rules were flawed and how.  Basically, her loot rules were “I get everything, and everyone else can roll on what I don’t want. The saddest part is that the mage is fire specced and very well geared as it is.  90% of the time someone dies it is her because she pulled aggro.  She needs to un-equip some of her purples and throw on some green +sta gear and she would be much better off…but that is an entirely different conversation. 
Because we were short on DPS we cold not do Kara, and that lock was scared away by the hysteric mage.  After two weeks of not having Kara the MT decided it was time to retire, so we lost our tank.  Now we are missing two people, so Kara is a memory. 

All because of stupid loot.

I SWEAR TO GOD PEOPLE, LISTEN UP HERE.

It is LOOT.  It is ALWAYS there.  The next time that mob dies the loot will drop again.  I promise.  We will be in Kara for a while, you WILL get that piece.  So what if you have to wait another week to get it.  So what!  I will personally guarantee that if that piece of loot dropped once it will drop again.  I will personally guarantee that there is not a single piece of gear that is worth more than a good group of people to play with. 

New (to me) Car

For the last year I have been sharing a car with my roommate.  This was because he was working with a guy that would pick him up, so he didn’t need his car.  It was a good arrangement.  Then he decided to move out (stupid getting married), and I am left holding the bag (ala no car). 

We tried to finance a new car but due to certain economic mis-adventures I was not able. 

Crap.

My wife’s dad has a few beater cars sitting behind his house (he is kind of a pack rat).  They offered to let me have one to drive until I could save up for a new car. 

Cool.

Then I got the car.

Crap.

We have AAA insurance so we had it towed the 97 miles from their house to ours because it needed new tires, and a battery, and they did not trust it to make the drive back.  We bought a battery and gave it to him, he installed it, then we had it towed to Discount Tire up here and had 4 new tires put on it.  When we went to pick it up last night was the first time I saw it.  I am not exaggerating or anything when I say that my first thought as my wife pointed at it and said “That is it.” Was not “Wow, there is my new car.” but rather “I need a tetanus shot.”

After owning the car for just over 12 hours, here is the list of problems that I have spotted:

-The sides are rusted and dented. 
-The trunk is a different color. 
-The lining of the roof sags down and touches my head. 
-The display on the radio is broken so you don’t know what station you are on.
-The key is broken off in the ignition so you just have to turn the ignition to start the car.
-That was the only key, so there is no key for the doors or trunk.
I- was worried that I may accidentally lock the doors, but was re-assured when I discovered that not only do the power lock buttons do nothing, but pushing the lock button down manually does nothing.
-There is a trunk release switch inside the drivers door.  If you pull it the trunk pops open.  If you push the switch back down someone has to be putting weight on the trunk when you do so for the trunk to latch.
-The floorpan of the trunk is rusted out enough I could see parking lot through it.
-The passenger door does not open from the outside.
-The right windshield wiper does not move.
-The turn signals do not work.
-This morning on the highway it took me exactly 0.8 miles to get up to 65 with the pedal on the floor.
-I discovered this morning while clicking through the radio staions (without scan) that whenever you turn the tuning know by one click the headlights dim to off.
-The gas hits 1/4 tank and does not go any lower.  Shortly after it goes empty.
-If you touch the brakes on the highway the speedometer drops to zero.
-The seat belt retractor does not work, and the button to release the seat belt sticks.  If I ever crash into water I’m a gonner.
-The windows do not roll down.
-The heater takes a little over 15 minutes to get warm.
-The brakes are squishy enough I think I may invest in an anchor.

And, the crowning “feature”

-The antenna is bent, so I can’t get my favorite radio station. 

Anyone remember the car from the movie Uncle Buck with John Candy?  I would trade 8 of this car for one of those.

I told my wife last night after driving it home that she needs to be prepared to experience a new level of frugality the likes of which she has never experienced.  She asked how severe it was going to be.  I asked her if it was possible to rinse dinner plates through a colander to catch any leftovers to be eaten later before washing the dishes…and can we bottle the dish water for re-use later.  I said we will be living a lot more like the Amish.  At least, a Warcraft playing sect of the Amish.
Sacrifices are being made. I have even decided to switch from Miller Lite to an off brand. 

One of those days

I just know this is going to be one of those days.  Have you ever farted the remnants of the two day old Dominoes Pizza you ate for breakfast, and it was so bad that you printed an e-mail that you really didn’t need to just so you have a good excuse to leave your desk to air out?

Maximum wage.

There was a comment on the previous post: “What are your thoughts on a Maximum Wage?”

Ooohh…good topic.  I even more discourage this.

Here is why:  Lets say I own a company that makes blenders.  If I have an extra chunk of money lying around, then I have two choices.  I can give it to every employee, or I can give it to select employees.  If I give it to every employee they each are going to receive a very small amount of money.  It is not going to alter their purchasing plans.  They are not going to go do anything that they would have normally not done. Let’s say I give it to only the management staff.  Now it is a very substantial amount of money.  They are going to go do something with it.  Lets say they buy a car.  The car company gets paid for making the car, and all their employees get to keep their job.  The car salesman gets a commission check, he gets a little more money because I gave out a bonus.  He goes home with that bigger check and decides to go get a new TV.  He goes to Sears and buys a new TV.  The TV salesmen gets a commission check, so he goes home with more money.  The TV salesman takes his money and goes to the store and buys a new blender.  I get paid for the blender I sold to the TV guy, that he bought with the money from the car salesman, that he bought with the money from my manager that got the bonus, that got the money from me. 

Money is like energy, it is a system.  Money can not be destroyed, it can only change states.  The more money I can put into the hands of my employees the more money is going to move around the economy, the more money there is out there for me to make. 

You hear news about “consumer confidence” all the time.  The reason this is important is simple.  If people are scared about losing their job they don’t spend money.  If they don’t spend money then the company that they would have bought from stops making money.  If they stop making money then their employees get fired.  Then those employees stop spending money.  It is a domino effect.  The single most important factor in modern economics is confidence.  A panic about a problem is actually the cause of the problem itself. 

Think of it like two guys with guns pointed at each other.  Neither one wants to fire because then they both will fire and they both will die.  If one guy gets nervous and thinks that the other guy is going to fire then he will fire, which causes the other guy to fire.  The first guys fear about the second guy’s action is based on what the first guy himself does to cause the second guy to act. 

If someone makes money, then they are going to have a savings and a retirement fund.  If one person makes a TON of money then they are also going to SPEND a ton of money.  Remember from earlier, spending is the fuel and in the economy.  It makes things move.  The more people make, the more fuel.  The more fuel the hotter the fire.  The more one person makes the more it motivates someone to work. 

Look at communism.  To over simplify it, they want everyone to work, and everyone to make the same wage.  No one gets any advantage.  No one gets any more than anyone else.  The simple problem with that is What is your motivation?  What makes you work hard?  What makes you want to accomplish more?  What makes you want to succeed?  Heck, even What is Success?  There is no such thing as success.   There is no motivating factor.  There is no goal.  There is only work.

When I read about people in my field making $150K a year as a consultant I WANT that salary.  I will work until I can do what they do, so I can have what they have.  The bigger their salary, the more people will work to have what they have.  The harder everyone works, the better everyone’s standard of living. 

I can be a direct example of this concept.  I am an engineer.  I find more efficient ways of doing things.  If I can find a cheaper way of doing something then we can make more of them for a lower cost.  The more items that are out there, the lower the price.  The lower the price, the more people that can afford them.  Look at Fridges.  When they first came out they were VERY expensive.  Only a few people could afford them.  As engineers found cheaper ways to manufacture them the price fell.  As the price fell more people got to buy them.  As more people bought them there was a better economy of scale, so the price fell further.  So more people bought them.  So the price dropped further.  Now, everyone has a fridge, microwave, oven, toaster, blender, car and all the other things that make daily life easier.  The easier life is, the more we can accomplish.  The more we accomplish the better we make life.  It is a cycle that feeds itself.  100 years ago we didn’t have these things, and we did just fine.  100 years ago people had to work MUCH harder to accomplish what we do now.  Now, we don’t have to work as hard to accomplish what we did 100 years ago, but rather than taking that time off, we use it to make ourselves even Better at what we do, thereby refining the machine even more.

I do not support any kind of governmental wage control, except of its own employees.  Companies need to decide for themselves what any particular employee is worth. 

Well, back to work, so they don’t de-value me. 

Minimum Wage

Lets pay everyone a million dollars.

Congress raised minimum wage. 

Less than 5% of the people making minimum wage (or up to 10% more) are the primary wage earners in the house.  That means that the people making minimum wage are not trying to pay rent.  They are not trying to feed themselves.  They are the kids of people that pay the rent.  There is only one thing that determines what you make.  What you are worth to that company.  Granted, there are abuses to this like unions with mandatory promotions, but in general, your employer will not pay you more than you are worth to them in that position.  If a doctor that makes $300K a year quits his job and decides to work at a video store.  Do you think he is going to make $300K a year?  No.  He is going to make what he should make as a video clerk.  The fact that he is capable of doing more plays no part in his salary.  They are paying him for what he does.  There is a little skewing of that value based on where the job is located.  If the job is in an area with a lot of available workforce and a low cost of living then it will not pay as well.  If the job is in a very expensive place to live, and there is low un-employment then it will pay better. 

I want to tell a little story. 

I think that we should raise minimum wage.  People are poor, and being rich is better than being poor, so let’s make everyone rich.  Look at poor Tommy, the Mc Employee, gets a tank of gas, a new t-shirt, and a new CD and his entire paycheck is gone.  Let’s set a standard minimum wage of one million dollars per year.  I figure that if everyone makes a million dollars a year, then they will all be rich, and live happily ever after.  Except…now that McDonalds has to pay Tommy the 17 year old high school student a million dollars instead of $5.25, then they are not going to make any money, so they will have to raise their rates.  A double cheeseburger that used to be on the 99 cent menu is now going to cost $399.99.  And if cheeseburgers cost four hundred dollars, then all employees are going to want to make more money, so that they can afford four hundred dollar cheese burgers.  So, Dave the mechanic starts charging $20,000 for an oil change, Todd the butcher starts charging $8000 for a pound of hamburger, and Mary the barber starts charging $18,000 for a haircut.  Eventually everything balances out, and Tommy the Mc employee takes his paycheck, gets a tank of gas, a new t-shirt, and a CD and is broke again.

The problem that this little exercise fails to point out well is that everyone that used to make more than minimum wage but less than a million dollars, is now making minimum wage.  This means that people that used to be a little ahead of the game are now all making the same amount as poor Tommy.

I speak from personal experience.  When I was young I started working at my local grocery store (Meijer for those of you from this corner of the country).  I was making minimum wage.  Over time, with my hard work, I got a few raises.  Two years later I was making almost a dollar more than those that were just starting out.  I was experienced, I was worth more.  Then the government decided it was time to hike minimum wage (I know, this shoes my age).  The store had to give me a $0.10 raise to get me to the new minimum, and that is what they did.  In fact, everyone that had been there less than three years was now all making minimum wage.  As soon as this happened prices on all services went up.  Video rentals, and movie tickets got more expensive.  Fast food went up a little.  Gas, pop, and many other things got more expensive. 

I got a 10 cent raise, but my buying power went down.  I was making more dollars, but the value of those dollars dropped by more than what my increase was.  This meant that congress gave me a wage increase, but a standard of living decrease.  The same was true for everyone.  There are many jobs that are done that serve to create the behind the scenes work for everyday life, and many of those jobs are very unskilled jobs.  By raising the wages of the unskilled you are in effect lowering the wage of the skilled.  You are punishing the skilled and intelligent wage earners, and rewarding the unskilled earners.  If the people that are unskilled want to earn more then they should become skilled. 
I have a better idea, lets eliminate minimum wage. 

(I’m going to give a minute for that to sink in.)

Ok, I have to ask you a question.  Would you take a job shoveling manure for $1 a day?  NO.  No one would.  If someone had manure that needed shoveled and offered someone a dollar a day to do it, they would never find anyone to do it.  Would you take massages from porn stars for $100 and hour?  Yes you would.  If someone told you that you could get a massage from a porn star, you would probably pay for it, or at the least, do it for free…but if they are PAYING you!!?!?!  Hell ya.  Selecting a job is all about three things, do they pay enough, are you qualified, and do you like it.  If you are qualified, then it is a balance between pay and working conditions.  Personally, I would take a very low paying job that consisted of drinking beer and playing video games.  Personally, they would have to pay me pretty well to work in a hot barn shoveling crap.  Minimum wage is the governments way of saying “you are too stupid to not allow an employer to take advantage of you, so we are going to think for you.  We are going to force businesses to pay their a set wage.  We are going to make everyone equal.”  If minimum wage were eliminated, the Mc Donalds could pay whatever they could get people to work there for, and then…what do you know…prices drop.  True, they are dropping because some people are making less than others.  I don’t deny that.  However, if that person is either stupid enough, or lazy enough not to get a better paying job than that, then they are getting what they deserve.  There are ALWAYS better jobs out there.  There is ALWAYS someone willing to pay you more than you make now to do what you do, you just have to find it. 

So, my advice to congress is to Eliminate Minimum Wage, I want a 50 cent double cheeseburger, and that is only possible if little Tommy makes less.

The end of an era.

September 21, 2004.  That is the day I moved to this town for this job.  I moved in with a friend that had a room for rent.  She had another roommate, Brad, and that is the day I met Brad.  He pulled in the driveway after a long day at work and saw me pulling a tote out of my trunk.  The nod of affirmation after he asked if I was the new guy moving in was all the encouragement he needed to grab a box and follow me up the stairs. 

I got the job and had a week to relocate so I took what I could get.  The friend I moved in with had informed me that she was listing the house for sale, but I didn’t care, I only needed a few months to get on my feet so I could get a place on my own.  A month later the house sold and we found ourselves about to be kicked to the street.  Brad and I were both in a financial bind, we did not have enough money to get a place on our own, so we got an apartment together. 

We bonded over time and got to be very good friends.  I got him started in Warcraft, and showed him the finer points of guild correspondence.  He took to it like a fish to water.  He hit 60 in 3 months, and was raiding MC 2 weeks later.  Weeknights were dinner while playing, and weekends were drinking and Karaoke.  Life was simple.  Moving here I gave up all my family and friends.  Brad has been a good and loyal friend, and a faux family in this place. 

I got married in August, he was my best man.  I knew that our days together were numbered.  I helped him look for apartments around town.  He met a girl that lives on the direct opposite side of the country, and decided that he is going to go live out there.

October 31, 2007.  That is the day he is getting on a bus heading from Michigan to Washington after three years as my roommate and my best friend.

He will be missed.

Note to self

Self:
Do not take your wife shopping when she is angry.  Shopping makes her feel better, and the more she spends the better she feels.

WARNING

She will WTFPWN your bank account like a Fel Reaver in Goldshire.  She will rip thru your savings like a steamroller through lightbulbs. 

All kidding aside, I could actually HEAR my debit card screaming in terror.  I had no idea that cash registers even had a setting for Scientific Notation.  She will tear a bigger hole in your nest egg than Michael Jackson in a Kindergarten. 

From now on she gets cash.  Screw that, she gets Quarters.  She can only spend what she can carry.

Day of Reckoning

I have learned the secret.  I have unlocked the code.  I now have the ultimate God Mode cheat code.  Here it is:  

http://www.easternfloral.com/product.asp?id=168058

There is no force in the known universe more powerful at regaining rep with the woman faction than flowers.  Their petals are soft with the sweet things that make women tender.  Providing them with this replenishing source of softness gives reprieve for any past sin. 

For example, if you happen to tell your wife that sometimes you only love her because you round up…that is strike one.  If she tells you that you have to go to the store because she is having a work party and she wants to bring brownies, and you point out that her office is full of women her age, and they all are all complaining that they need to go on diets, and that contrary to what she may believe, brownies are not the cure for Secretary Butt….that is strike 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. 

Remembering that her favorite color is orange, and that she loves carnations, and buying her flowers in those colors not only removed any and all strikes against you, it also most defiantly leads to the exceptionally rare activity known as “post-marital copulation”. 

Flowers are to real life what the star is to Mario.  Immunity.