Tommy’s Blog

http://www.myspace.com/vsknoxville Great little place. Go there, and for whatever price, use some pretty nice systems and game a bit.

Went to the Blogfest at wild Wings…had a great time. Met a guy who recommended a few WoW blogs to me…namely, http://www.wowinsider.com/ and http://www.massively.com/. The food was good, as well. Fun!

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/05/program-addresses-environmental-ethics/

This article says how UT is having a discussion involving global warming, the rising gasoline prices, and increased energy use, among other things. This IS a rising problem. The fact that they are having actual talks about it IS an improvement, though.

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/apr/05/more-riders-katching-on/

This article says that more people are taking buses because of rising gas prices, for the most part. Some people, though, take the bus because they like to sit back and enjoy the ride. The buses are a LOT more green, and they are cheaper, as well. Although the buses are not an option for many people, they are a lot better for the environment.

They would be feasible, if there were more buses, more routes, and they were more friendly toward family life-aka, pets, young kids, etc.

I am a culprit of this one, myself. My parents suggest I should get a bus pass, but, in addition to the inconvenience of the buses, I feel it is a sense of pride to have my own driver’s license. That, and buses smell bad.

I was interested in what Kari said about plastic bags and found this article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/123038/page/1

This article says how various cities are considering bans on plastics, and that the plastics industry is fighting it, city by city. San Francisco has banned them, and other cities are trying. The plastic bags take roughly 1,000 years to decompose, and take a lot of oil to make. They choke birds and small animals. They can even kill a rhinoceros, by wrapping around its foot, cutting circulation, foot dies, rhino can’t move, and it starves. Paper bags kill trees. I feel that the only green choice is reusable fabric bags. Are we going to let the plastics lobby destroy our earth so they can have a bit more money? Our family uses fabric bags. What do YOU use and why?

Water Dispute

Basically, Georgia says that when the lines were drawn, they messed up 200 years ago. They want the lines redrawn to where Georgia would have on shore of the Tennessee river. Tennessee says no.

My feeling is this:The border may have been misplaced, but after this long, I believe the term “fait accompli” would be useful here. After the border has been in place for so long, it is useless to continue argument. The border is where it is. If it had changed, say 75 years ago, when there was not so much on the waterline, no problem. However, if the border moves now, then countless businesses and homes would have to re-register with Georgia.

I await opinions.

I just spent 5 days in a swamp.  It was great!  We went in, and spent the first night at an RV plugin campground with our tents.  Then, then next day, we canoed in and set up camp on the island.  The raccoons had to be chased away several times.  Later, We cooked dinner.  The mosquitoes were very bad…my arm has lots and lots of bites on it.  We went canoing the next day and saw several very large alligators.  Canoing against wind and current, I learned by experience, is very difficult.  We canoed a few miles upriver to Gary’s Island, and saw the Lee family graveyard, as in Robert E. Lee.  We mostly floated downriver form there.  We canoed daily, and had a great time.  On the way home, my Nintendo DS Lite ran out of battery, so i was a boring 14-hour ride home except when people were willing to listen to my iPod while I played their game boys.  It got better when I was able to move up front and watch the movie on the portable DVD player.  We had a great time.

I play Guild Wars.  It is another MMORPG, as is World of Warcraft.  Guild wars is in some ways the same idea as Warcraft.  It has several differences, though.  In warcraft, everything is openworld.  In Guild Wars, you only see other people if you are either in a group with them, or in a city.  World of Warcraft has instances, which are private copies of that area for each individual group.  Guild Wars, everything except cities are instances.  In Warcraft, if you cant find a group for something, tough luck.  In Guild Wars, you can have henchmen, which are just characters controlled by the computer, and are level appropriate for the area.  In Warcraft, you can have any size party any time.  In GW, you can only have 2 people at first, and gradually work up to 12.  In Warcraft, if you die, then you spawn at the nearest graveyard as a ghost, and find your body to respawn, and your armor is damage and you pay an NPC to fix it.  In Guild Wars, you can either have any healers in the party resurrect you, or if the whole party dies, you all respawn, but with your health and mana maximums down by 15% for each death, up to a maximum of -60%.  The death penalty goes away bit by bit as you gain experience.  In Warcraft, you can use any skill, any time, except that they have cooldowns on each ability.  In Guild Wars, you can have up to 8 abilities “equipped” or usable at any given time.
While Guild Wars and World of Warcraft are a lot alike, they also have many differences.  Both, however are excellent games.

I went to a Merit Badge College with Boy Scouts.  This is where we go for a day, learn about something we choose, and get a merit badge for it.  I went with Veterinary Technology.  We learned about what a veterinarian does, and went to see a vet’s office.  We also dissected a cat…right before lunch.  I smelled like formaldehyde for about half an hour.  We went to the vet’s office near the end.  They showed us an endoscope, which is a camera that they stick in the animal’s throat.  They also gave an ultrasound to a dog.  I had a lot of fun.

I got accepted into Lincoln Memorial University.  That makes me very, very happy.