Chris and I had crappy luck with raids this weekend. I did UBRS three times, but on two of them we didn’t even make it to General - the only failed UBRS runs I’ve ever been on, and I’ve done that place more often than I care to think about. On one of them, most of the raid had never been there before - including the main tank, the main tank’s priest, the main assist, and one of the other healers and the raid leader. I offered to be MA or at least puller, but the raid leader decided it was better to use someone clueless than a dirty, dirty hunter.

On the second one, another first-timer thought we were kidding about not stepping on the eggs in the Rookery. I’m serious. We nearly wiped there, and then actually wiped on the mobs before Rend - he backed up so far that he aggroed a whole other room. The event was ruined, and so was the raid. I was so disgusted that I logged out and played my shaman for a while instead, even though I got another UBRS invite as soon as I got back to Ironforge.

As for Chris, he was did a Baron run that lasted over three hours. The best time I have for Baron is just over an hour, but I don’t think it’s ever taken more than two, and an average time is about an hour and a half. But at least they made it through the whole instance, unlike my groups.

You’ll notice that I’ve replaced my internal Elsewhere list with a link to my del.icio.us page, and likewise my Listening thing is now just my Audioscrobbler profile. I plan on bringing functionality from both services back into my own site in the next version, but since I don’t have any idea when I’ll have the time or inclination to finish it I thought I’d at least point to things that are updated frequently (unlike their internal equivalents). Now to find a solution for my booklist.

Re my “cl” del.icio.us tag - it stands for “caoine links” and is used to distinguish stuff I would normally put in my sidebar on this site from other things, like references (”ref”, “daily”) or links I’m collecting for a different project (”pp”).

I continue to enjoy this weather. I can hardly believe that it’s almost the end of May and we’re still getting highs in the 60s and a frequent drizzle that reminds me of fall. I hear it’s supposed to get warmer around the end of this week, but I don’t care. At this point, every day that I can still comfortably wear a coat or hoodie is just a bonus. I remember last spring when I suffered through Commencement in 90-degree heat (or something near it), and that was the middle of May - not the end of it.

I decided to take a touch typing test this morning for the first time in years, just to see if I’ve gotten better or worse. But my typing speed is exactly the same as it was three or four years ago - 100-110 WPM if I’m trying to type quickly, and 85-95 WPM if I’m typing normally. I guess I owe it all to my sixth grade keyboarding class, where we played with PAWS the touch-typing cat and had table napkins over our hands to keep us from peeking. I’m aware that this is all fascinating.

Chris and I have been meaning for a while to set up the iSight again and just leave it pointed at the Manhattan view from our living room - the cat likes to sit on that windowsill and stalk the pigeons perched on our balcony, so you’d probably see plenty of him, too. But I keep forgetting to pick up a longer Firewire cable. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Ugh. I’m feeling so crappy that I can’t muster the energy for anything except going to work (a challenge) and collapsing on the couch or in bed when I get home. My throat is a mess, my sinuses are killing me, and I can’t really breathe. I’ve been sleepy since I got up this morning, despite the fact that I went to be at 9pm last night.

I ought to be working or playing Warcraft right now, but Chris has already given up and gone to bed and I think I might do likewise. I don’t know whether it’s the pollution or the pollen or whether we both have bad colds, but it sucks. Make it stop.

Pretty quiet weekend. Chris and I are both suffering from allergies worse than we’ve had in previous years, and we think it might be the fact that our building is surrounded by a courtyard and a small park. There’s greenery everywhere, which is great for everything except my sinuses. I also managed to do something horrible to the inside of my mouth - I bit my cheek very hard and now it’s all swollen, so I keep biting it again whenever I eat anything, and it hurts like hell. I spent an improbable amount of time on Saturday curled up on the couch feeling crappy and watching movies on cable.

Obligatory Warcraft stuff: I am done with PVP, at least until the Battlegrounds come along. Whenever I can’t find a pickup PVE raid, I’ve been heading over to Orgrimmar to slaughter the Horde, but it’s just gotten really, really dull. It’s always the same couple dozen people fighting, and we always do exactly the same thing. People stand around unflagged until the numbers are roughly equal on each side, or until someone goes insane with boredom and flags. Then everyone else flags, and there’s a brief flurry of death and emoting until it goes quiet again while we all run from the graveyard and wait for our flags to drop. If there are sizable groups of Alliance and Horde, we don’t wait for our flags to drop and things will go on for an hour or two at a time, one group pushing the other into or out of the city. But it’s always the same, and I’m tired of it.

Sure, we’re all moving up in the PVP ranks, but who cares? The ranks themselves are essentially meaningless (because the only people who aren’t highly ranked are the people who don’t care in the least) and the reward gear isn’t as good as the stuff you can get from instances. So now if I’m unable to find a PVE raid I’m interested in going on, I either log out or play my Horde alt. Chris has been doing pretty much the same thing, and as a result he’s got two alts that are both coming along nicely.

Went out for dinner and drinks with my coworkers last night, and I’m definitely feeling it today - not really hungover, just very tired. Also, Chris and I are either both suffering from pretty severe allergies (which would be unusual for me) or we’re coming down with something nasty and throat-related. Oh boy!

The weather remains surprisingly nice for this late in May. It was cool and gray and drizzly today, and I just had a cup of coffee outside with the canine team at the checkpoint in front of my building (across the street from the Stock Exchange). I like to make friends with the bomb sniffing dogs - my favorite is a German wirehaired pointer named Gus. I miss having a dog, but I don’t want to get one as long as I’m in the city. It seems cruel to keep them cooped up in an apartment, and I don’t really need more to add to my schedule.

It’s been a while - here’s the latest batch of awesome queries from my referrer logs. You people are depraved.

1. savage rape + members pass + crack
2. it is five in the morning should i go back to bed and wake husband for something to do
3. deodorant dangers
4. swallowing pills blog
5. my first time drunk
6. nipple island blondes women
7. train your purse puppy
8. corpse photos
9. peter unger vegan
10. vacuum hard erections

A couple of people asked me for more dirt on the NIN show last night, so here it is, in all its fangirl glory. First, the setlist:

1. Pinion
2. You Know What You Are?
3. Sin
4. March of the Pigs
5. The Line Begins to Blur
6. Piggy
7. Terrible Lie
8. Burn
9. Closer (with a hint of The Only Time)
10. The Big Come Down
11. With Teeth
12. The Day The World Went Away
13. Even Deeper
14. No, You Don’t
15. Suck
16. Gave Up
17. Hurt
18. The Hand That Feeds
19. Wish
20. Head Like a Hole

It was strange seeing NIN again after five years. Everyone looked older (Trent’s 40 today, and has morphed into some kind of weird Henry Rollins hybrid with his huge neck) except for the perpetual influx of teenagers. There were plenty of them there. Most of them apparently waited in line for a very long time, but after the first few songs, many fled the pit despite having waited so long for those spots. I just stayed out of the pit altogether.

I had friends at the show but didn’t run into them as I showed up pretty late. So I ended up in a clump of older fans, and we talked about the last tour and the ones before it that I never got to see. One of them was an investment banker who works just down the street from me and showed up to the event still dressed up for work - I would hate to have seen the state of his (expensive) clothes at the end of the night.

Because I showed up after door and had people to talk to, it didn’t seem like a very long time before NIN went on. I couldn’t see during the opener thanks to a dude of truly incredible height right in front of me, but I had faith that things would shift around. Sure enough, as soon as the house lights went out, there was a huge surge toward the stage and I had an unobstructed view. There was one guy who kept picking up his girlfriend and lifting her over his head so she could take pictures, and those of us behind him really weren’t having any of that. The first time, we let it pass. The second time, we just tugged on his shirt to let him know he was being a dick. The third time, I slapped him in the back of his head. It didn’t happen a fourth time.

A couple songs into the NIN set, I realized that I was in fact having a great time. I’ve come to dread concerts as being associated with assholes and discomfort, but there really wasn’t any of that going on. The songs played very well, especially the older stuff, and I was just swept up in nostalgia for high school and the first year or so of college. Sure, Trent looked older and goofier with his newfound hugeness, but whatever - the music is still great.

On my way out, I shouldered my way over to the merch booth and picked up a lithograph and a tour shirt, then made for the street and hopped a cab home. I’m a little short on sleep today, but really pleased with last night.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: David Bowie was there. We could see him hanging out in the balcony, looking like he was having a good time. Go Bowie!

I was away this weekend, but I got back to the city just in time to change and go see NIN at Hammerstein. I didn’t manage to leave the apartment till about 6 and door was at 6:30, but I still scored a place near the front on the left side. I couldn’t believe how young the crowd seemed to be (I wonder if I looked that young at 16 or 18 or however old these people were) but I ended up in a group of fans my age or older, and we traded concert war stories while we waited for and through the unremarkable opener.

I admit that I’d actually gotten a little tired of the new NIN album in the past week or so, but the show changed that (the new songs sound much better live, without exception) and reminded me why I like the band so much in the first place. Highlights include the reworked version of Closer, You Know What You Are, Burn, Suck, and The Big Comedown. Not sure if there were any real weak points - I didn’t look at my watch once - but I do still feel that the middle bit in With Teeth is too long.

Thanks to the spot I grabbed and held onto, I was able to see perfectly, with none of the crap that comes with being in the pit. Along with a couple Red Bulls and some preventative foot care (extra socks and lots of bandaids where I’ve gotten blisters in the past), it made for one of the best show experiences I’ve had. Good sound, good view, no aching feet and no assholes - amazing!

You people sure do have strong feelings about Dunkin’ Donuts. I think I’ve gotten more mail about that post than about anything else I’ve posted in the past month, and it’s been up for less than a day. And it’s about Dunkin’ Donuts, fer chrissakes. Those of you from New England seem to share my generally positive view of the place, perhaps tempered by the fact that they have a Starbucks-like tendency to swallow up non-chain places in their quest for cheap coffee domination.

One of you (who identified himself as a non-New Englander) referred to Dunkin’ Donuts beverages as “swill.” I won’t comment on that one, except to say that you can go eat a dick. I mean it - I strongly urge you to find and consume a penis. You think I’m kidding!