Kail, Dagny, and Lincoln

World of Warcraft offers adults the opportunity to act like children among like-minded individuals. This theory was proven on a recent weekend as my guild - a user-created group within World of Warcraft - held an event.

The Red Shirts (Scarlet Crusade server) is a casual gaming guild whose mottos include, "Boldly going where we really shouldn't" and "Die with styIe!" While this is a guild of casual players, the people that comprise the membership have many maximum-level characters and play frequently. Still, they are accessible and as happy to explain game basics as they are complicated strategies for end-game bosses. They are also profoundly silly, and the events reflected that silliness.

First Event: Mount Racing at Shimmering Flats
The first event of the three-hour (give or take) meeting was held at the Shimmering Flats, a region of Azeroth (the World of Warcraft world) inspired by the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. There is a race track there where non-player goblins and gnomes compete in rocket car races. That night, however, there would be guild races, one for regular mounts and another for "Epic" mounts, which are faster.

Standard Mount Race

Epic Mount Race

Second Event: Death Train
After the races everyone took a portal into Stormwind, the capital city of the human race and the Alliance itself. From there the guild leaders organized a train where everyone followed one another using system commands, and marched through the region "tooting" whenever we passed other users (the /Train command in-game). For those that know World of Warcraft, we ran from Stormwind to the Twilight Grove in Darkshire. The new Guild members sacrificed themselves (pointlessly) to Emeriss, the Green Dragon guardian of a portal to the Emerald Dream, and alternate dimension of Azeroth. After we were all killed, we had our guild member status promoted. This is the way of the Red Shirts.

Marching to Our Doom

Sacrifice to the Dragon

Third Event: The Great Nekkid Race
Guild members still awake ran to nearby Stranglethorn Vale to participate in a footrace that ran from the Alliance Camp in the North to the Gurubashi Arena mid-region. Member were allowed to take any path, but were allowed no armor of any kind or speed enhancements. Unfortunately for the author, his character was at a level where nearby enemies would find him strangely attractive, putting him at a handicap.

Streaking in Stranglethorn

Final Event: Drunken Boxing
Late at night in the real world and lower level than his fellow members, Boz did not participate in drunken boxing, though he did enjoy watching as guild members leaped into the arena butt-nekkid to fight while under the (virtual) influence. A good time was had by all, though he missed out on taking any pictures by that time.

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These pictures and more available here

Step 1 - Select Career

Choosing a career is as much about life philosophy as it is about preparation. If you believe...

...life is about family and friends you are more apt to prioritize a job that allows you to have more free time and fairly standard working hours. You balance lower pay with more personal time.
...you have a responsibility to provide for your family and children you are more apt to look for professional careers that require sacrifice for a higher payout, desk jobs with often intense hours or travel. You will sacrifice personal time for a higher payout.
...you deserve a job that you love you are more willing to sacrifice income to live the life you want. You will take low pay for maximum free time. Think about professional artists that live in loft-styIe apartments and writers that live like hermits in a small cabin in the woods, talking to themselves and growing long beards, and throwing their feces at any trespassers that through their property wander.

There was a time when the author might have said, "Do what makes you happiest," when asked about choosing a career. A few years of experience and Boz now believes this is a pipe-dream for most people, like becoming President or American Idol: possible but highly unlikely. Instead, the author believes most people are best off doing something that they are better at than others. There is an immense satisfaction that comes from working well as much as doing work you love.

If you're good at something, it should do for a promising career. Take to math like a fish to water? Consider a career in engineering or science. Are you an excellent reader and writer? Consider a career in government or law, where writing skills are in high demand. Personable and attractive? Welcome to public relations and marketing, but you'd better be damn good, because marketing is an intensely competitive environment.

Which brings us to the final point of selecting a career: seek what is in demand. It is a fact that you will have an easier time finding an engineering or pharmaceutical position relative to landing a gig for your band or getting your paintings sold, and the payout is exponentially higher. Do what you're good at in a field where there is high demand for employees, and you're more likely to have high career satisfaction (not to mention financial stability).

Step 2 - Career Selected

Education
If you want a desk job, like a corporate career, you need to go to college and get at least a Bachelor's degree. If you want a skilled labor job, like welding or engine repair, you will benefit significantly from trade school. In fact, school is fast becoming a requirement for skilled labor as the technology behind the work on cars and farming becomes increasingly complex. Advanced degrees such as a Master's, however, are not necessarily going to help you in your career path. Generally people will be better off with a specialized degree, just as a medical doctor needs a PhD and a tax adviser needs a CPA (Certified Public Accountant), once decided on their career.

Where do you go to (my lovely)?
People select schools for all kinds of reasons; location, cost, particular programs, and any number of other factors. There is one criteria that never fails to land the best jobs, however: Name. Anyone with Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford on their resume is virtually guaranteed to win a position over someone of equal standing and presentation from an average state or community school. Like it or not, human resources loves to say they have a Harvard graduate working for them, and the name recognition opens doors. If you are going to school to get a great job, name recognition is - sadly - key.

Step 3 - Seal the deal (with an interview)

The heart of a great interview: Have a fantastic and boring resume (insert qualification, delete your breakdancing background), be on-time, wear a plain, dark suit (pantsuit for ladies), shake hands firmly, sit up straight, maintain eye contact, ask questions about the job, do not mention salary, do not give an expected salary, and send a thank you card to each individual you meet. Call back in two weeks even if they tell you not to, and if they reject you, ask why you were rejected and how you could have improved the interview. Rinse and repeat until you have a job in the next three months. If you are still without a job, take a bridge job waiting tables or pumping gas until you find a career position.

When another user asks you if you've really had triplets, it's time for an update. All of the kids are doing well, maturing, and should be home in the next few weeks. It's an amazing experience, and as worrisome and overwhelming as it might be at times, they're completely worth it already. Below are pictures and brief videos of the kiddies, still in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). After all, I don't want to be one of those parents that bores relatives and acquaintences with stories about their kids!

I also wanted to give a special thanks to Reetesh, who surprised me with a special change of avatar for my wife!

Dr. Boz's old avatar and the new one provided by Reetesh

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Baby Time!

Happy Easter from Anna, Kail, and Lincoln!

One minute of each baby!

A five-man hot tub came with the house when Mr. and Dr. Boz signed the deed almost two years ago. We used the hot tub extensively during the first year for quiet evenings or splashing around with family members, but drained it during the pregnancy of the missus (health reasons). Now that Dr. Boz is nearly recovered from her delivery the question has arisen: Do we reactivate it?

For me, a hot tub should be more than just a romantic getaway for a couple or place to relax after a long day, even if those are its primary purposes. It should also be a whirlpool of sin and an invitation to debauchery and gratutitous nudity for (hot) non-relations. (Hot) friends and (hot) strangers alike should shed their clothing and leap in for cheap trills and adult merriment while splashing champagne over the edges and giggling in child-like glee, trying to hide their naughty bits below the bubbles.

You think the sign was too much?

Sadly - but perhaps not surprisingly - this has been lacking. There has been nary a bare female or male teat since its acquisition, excluding the owners. Some of this is my own fault. It is difficult for someone who is obsessively clean and paranoid to host a party, let alone a drunken bash that might end with anything approaching depravity. When your mind is focused on preventing guests from spilling wine on the carpets and watching the attending kleptomaniac like a hawk to protect your DVD collection, it can be tough to cut loose and enjoy yourself. That, and being in bed by ten o'clock kind of kills the evenings, and definitely makes the likelihood of two (hot) topless women making out in the frothing pool a practical impossibility.

You would expect at least some gratuitious nudity in the hot tub of a Phi Sigma Kappa brother, and a former social chair to boot, but there it is: he has become a homeowner and a father, and therefore kinda lame. Will he be doomed forever to a life of stories from his college years? Or are there still a few wild nights of joyous regrets and swinging for the fences ahead? Only time will tell, but he can think of three reasons anything other than a quiet night is unlikely to happen in his hot tub.

Even if this does not apply to you today, it may someday, so bear the following in mind as very real and practical information you may need to make decisions in the future. I wrote this because nobody has ever done so before, that I have found, and it is very important.

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Consider carefully before signing up for benefits at a reduced cost when they are offered by and through your employer (e.g. working for Metlife and buying Metlife insurance).

You may be taking on more risk than your realize through your workplace. If you do not already, at some point you will have a job. The first day of work is typically spent filling out paperwork for human resources. This involves selecting a healthcare provider, dental, vision, life insurance, your 401(k), optional coverage, and any other benefits they might have thought up that allows the employer to pay you less cash (remember to ask how much time you have to decide on your benefit elections so that you can seek advice from friends or family if necessary, typically thirty days).

General advice aside, your employer may offer you benefits through affiliates, particularly if you happen to work for a major corporation or financial firm. Often this can translate into reduced prices on company stock, insurance, investment options, or even medical benefits if you happen to work in insurance. In addition to the costs of these benefits, there is a hidden risk.

Not that kind of Risk, let's try to stay on topic here, people!

If something happens to your employer, the financial stress of your termination will be compounded if you have a stake in financial options offered through the firm:

-The most common issue is stock purchases at a reduced price. If the company tanks, it can destroy a retirement portfolio. Bear Stearns (this just happened) and Enron employees know this risk all too well. The moral: emphasize mutual funds in your 401(k) to diversify individual stock risk.
-If you have health benefits through your employer, which also happens to be the insurer, you may have to switch providers during unemployment, possibly to an inferior government plan. For example, working for MetLife and having a MetLife policy, having Metlife liquidate, and being forced to find a new insurer. Unlikely, given their size and affiliated businesses, but possible.
-If your 401(k) is filled with mutual funds that are managed by your employer, you may not be getting the best investment selection or lowest cost. For example, being employed by GE and owning GE Asset Management funds.
-If you work for a bank, having a bank account with the firm. Despite FDIC insurance, it may be risky if the bank goes under and you are terminated.

The list continues. The thrust is that certain benefits equate to putting multiple eggs in one basket, and you should weigh carefully the potential downsides of something happening to their provider particularly if the provider is also your employer. You may pay more for third-party asset management, for example, but the consequences of becoming unemployed and the asset manager losing your assets are at least independent of one another.