This little piggy has the flu

I've had a lot of people ask me about the swine flu. What is it? What does it do? Hopefully some of those people will read this so I don't have to keep repeating it.

Swine flu is a strain of flu that pigs managed to pick up, it has since mutated (as all viruses do) and transferred to humans. Is it more dangerous than regular flu? Not really. Flu is generally dangerous to the young, old and immune-system impaired.

So why the big hullabaloo? Who knows. I really think that the media has nothing else to report on. There was a similar outbreak in 1976 that was also sensationalized by the media. This led to mass hysteria and a huge push by the government to give out vaccines to everyone. Well, it turns out these vaccines caused more deaths and permanent side-effects than the swine flu.

Regular flu killed 36,000 Americans last year. Swine flu has about 120 confirmed cases in the US and 1 death, who was actually a boy from Mexico that was "visiting" the U.S. So in a country with a population of 300 million people, you have about a .0000004% chance of coming into contact with a carrier. Let's round it up and say .000001% which would be a couple thousand carriers instead of a couple hundred.

The media will run with this and the government will probably throw a couple billion tax-payer dollars at it, but all-in-all it probably won't amount to anything. I predict that the deaths caused by this flu will be substantially lower than regular flu.

If your still worried, just use good hygiene. Wash your hands. Don't eat food off the side-walk. You know the drill.

Internet shopping

Need a new bike? Shop online. Need a camera? Cell phone? World War 2 era radio? Shop online. The internet has filled the need that every human has.... the need to buy completely worthless junk and hold onto it until the end of time. The only problem with it is that you can find almost any worthless piece of junk every produced. So if you're looking for something, be prepared to wade through the torrents of completely useless listings that have nothing to do with you search in the first place!

Can you tell I have been shopping online? You type in Men's Mountain Bike and I literally had 500 pages worth of stores, bikes, prices etc. 500! I wanted to shop not read a novel. It's just too much.. too much.. the room.. is it smaller?...

Ok back. Yeah. Shopping online sucks. Unless you need that hard to find item that can't be found locally, shop locally. Help out your community and avoid the spam/advertised hell of internet shopping.

Feeling fit

Nothing feels sexier than taking of your shirt in front of the mirror. Immediately I notice the stray hair pattern that seems to be a constant feature in my life. No manly tuft of hair growing in the right places, but a sporadic smattering of hair that has no rhyme or reason. My ancestor cave-men must've been the laughing stock of the cave community.

After that I tend to notice what isn't as it once was. For example, I used to take of my shirt with confidence, knowing that what was underneath that shirt was decent enough for humans to see. Now I take off my shirt and birds fly into the window their so appalled with my 'fluffiness' My fondness for late night snacks and refreshing Coca-Cola has finally outpaced my metabolism. (Probably should note that I spend too much time in front of this screen as well... hence my venture into blogdom)

Well, I finally decided that the time to act is now. I figure if I don't turn things around I'll soon be unable to recognize the pot-bellied reflection staring at me in the mirror. So I talked to my wife and she is going to let me get a bike. I decided that commuting to work is worthless since it's close enough that a bike-ride won't be too taxing. Plus I get to help with that environment stuff people complain about so much.

Monday I'm going bike shopping. Wish me luck.

Family Photo

This is Snaggletooth and myself. You can see how he got his name. Shortly after taming him he would act just like a puppy. During these bouts of frolicking he would often get his over-sized, not that I'm jealous, canines caught in my gear and armor. Yes, I'm flexing. I realize I'm awfully short next to this flea-bitten brute so I had to do something to look bigger. Ladies, I'm really much larger in RL.

Luckedout

Those who know me know I game. Yes I'm a gamer. No I'm not in the basement of my parents house wearing a t-shirt with Cheeto crumbs on it. I'm not morbidly obese, wear glasses or have to wear a brace for carpal tunnel. I bath daily and I'm happily married to Mrs. Luckedout.

I belong to the new generation of gamers. We don't hide away at special meetings to play D&D or fight each other in the park with foam swords. We're your everyday average Joe. We have jobs. We like to socialize. We are both men and women, young and old. Gaming is becoming more of a norm and you would be surprised to find out who sits behind the keyboard or control pad of today's games.

My gaming name is Luckedout. I used to play exclusively in FPS games and became quite proficient. My feats would amaze the average 12 year old as I blasted him with lead and tea-bagged his corpse. I would often be asked how it was possible or what hacks I was using. I would usually respond, "I lucked out." After a while I decided to change my name to Luckedout so I wouldn't have to bother typing it in chat. Usually the other, now quite dead and bullet riddled, player would say, "You really lucked out, Luckedout." (Yes, I've heard this well over a million times, don't expect me to respond if you say this.)

FYI my previous gaming name was Fuzbud... I refuse to delve into those dark days.

My emphasis in gaming has changed, much to my chagrin. I left the bullets, blood and bombs for the swords, magic and dungeons. World of Warcraft has sucked me in with all it's splendor, beauty and EPIC gear.

I now roam all of Azeroth as a gruff old hunter dwarf known as Luckedout. He wears that name proudly knowing that to get where he has been, Luck has definetely been on his side. He is usually accompanied by his faithful pets. Unfortunately life in Azeroth can be so deadly and terrifying that many of these pets have either been killed or mercifully left to live out their days in greener pastures. My current companion is a fierce grey wolf who was tamed in the Crystalsong Forest of the frozen continent of Northrend. He goes by Snaggletooth and he has braved the dungeons of Naxxramas, Malygos and Sartharion with bravery rarely seen in an animal.

This blog is an outlet. I will not only focus on gaming but life in general. I think it's easy to get caught up in the fantasy world of gaming, but there is a real world out there that is not going away just because our guild is raiding the new dungeon Ulduar that we've been anxiously awaiting. So if I meander through life, politics, religon, ancient Roman history, delicious and refreshing Coca-Cola, Heroes, business, man I really need to get some gold so when.. wait... ok, I meandered a little too far there. Just stick with me, ok?