World of Warcraft: Ninja vs Clepto

Yes, yes... it's time for another World of Warcraft post! Above is a photo of Borgthor, my human warrior in armour and with weapons that he made himself using his professions: mining and blacksmithing. Since then I've been upgrading and I've even got myself a helm.

The main reason for the post is just to publicly document a proposal from our guild to the WoW universe that I'm very enthusiastic about. Change the common usage of the word ninja to clepto. Let me explain [after a good 5 minutes of reading the avid debates about what constitutes a ninja]. Calling someone a ninja in WoW implies that they have stolen something that you've earned, or have robbed a group of a valuable item they don't actually need.

I need more explanation and an example. This is going to be hard going for those of you that don't care. In WoW, you can team up with other players, go adventuring and get loot! You are supposed to share that loot. The game mechanics allow for a random distribution of valuable items, with an option for a player to nominate that they NEEDS a specific item. If you elect need, and you don't actually need it... you are a ninja.

Another example. If you allow Borgthor to kill every last Ogre, while he's specifically on his way to the iron deposit [which he needs to increase his skill in mining [so he can learnt to smelt steel]] and then sneak in behind him and mine the iron... and then after being told that I was after that iron vein and one around the corner too, let Borgthor get attacked by another Ogre so you could go get that as well... you are a ninja.

Anyway... so make a long story... end... Ninjas are cool. They shouldn't have their names tarnished by being used in vain. So the term should now be Clepto, as suggested by Wraithenei of guild The Ancients on the Dath'Remar server. At the time of suggestion, each of the guild members online told general chat about the change... My responses ranged from 'k' to 'Now you have to do that in every zone, on every server and you might have a chance... and then tell everyone that is currently offline later'. I remain optimistic. We only have to convince about 8.5 million other subscribers...

In other news... Jodie has a night elf druid character, and has taken to the game as much as I have. Jondayla's professions are helbalism and alchemy, which is nice, since Borgthor gets potions in the mail. I've also created a second character that is a night elf rogue, who's into tailoring and plans on engineering.

Birthday Food

Above are the spicy lamb shanks [yes, that's plural] that Jodie made me for my Birthday feast. You can't see the mountain of mashed potato that is propping them up, but that was yummy too. Jodie didn't seem to grasp that picking each one up and extracting every delicious morsel with fingers and teeth was a compliment for the chef. It even made sure that there was some left overs for the next day!

Below is the last stage of the blini cooking process. five hour investment [courtesy of a Roux brother's recipe] from first introducing the yeast to the base ingredients, to the cooking you see here.

Here are the blinis dressed with creme fraiche and salmon roe. They disappeared fast, washed down with a Watervale reisling.

The menu was completely my design, after Jodie offered to make 'anything I wanted'. Giving me choice isn't always a good idea, as I then proceeded to painfully extract suggestions from her day after day...

Yesterday was our first night without guests in a while, so we got to enjoy a sleep in today. Back to reality now, and we'd better go and get the bread on for the morning.

My Birthday, my b-b-b-Birthday

Today is my birthday. I have had a wonderful day.

Firstly, after no days off this month, I got a sleep in! Jodie took care of the guests, brought me coffee in bed, and then a full cooked breakfast. That means, poached eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomato, sausage... and there was no room on the plate for baked beans.

Then I got to lie in bed with the laptop, and get some birthday wished online... and play some more World of Warcraft... Of course, more coffee was delivered. Yum.

A quick interlude with some room cleaning, done in record time so we could get out to Spikey beach for a picnic. As you can see from the picture above, it was a perfect day, and very relaxing on the beach in the middle of a work day. We could have stayed there the whole day, but alas... duty called. Jodie even organised some dive bombing birds to perform, of a different species than usual [so I'm not sure if she actually taught them the trick]. Now that's attention to detail!

I had a fantastic dinner [maybe photos later]. Jodie made blinis with creme fraiche [Jodie will help with spelling later] and salmon roe. To follow, we had spicy lamb shanks, with mashed potato and green beans. After completely over indulging, we feasted on Robyn's clinkers, and turkish delights, which arrived in the mail today!

For our evening entertainment, we watched The Illusionist. I loved the movie, and as always, Edward Norton is superb!

Thanks to everyone who rang, text messaged, emailed [had a chat online], or sent a card. A special thanks to Jodie for completely spoiling me and finding me the perfect present[s]. I've had a fantastic day, and it's reality will colour my glasses even more rose coloured for weeks and months to come.

Miscellany

Check out this awesome photo that Jodie took of some kind of insect. We really don't know what it is, but the angle of the photo, and the legs resting on the glass makes for a great effect.

Some quick miscellany from our first six months at Schouten House:

• Our latest check in: 2300 [they let us know in advance, so it was just more computer time]
  
• Our earliest check in: 1100 [please note, we prefer between 1400 - 2100]
• Our earliest breakfast: 0630 [very keen cyclists]
• We've had more than one lot of guests MISS breakfast altogether...
• Our longest run, fully booked: 18 days
• Our longest run without a day off: I think it's currently running at 21 days
• Most full cooked breakfasts cooked in a morning: 11 [Jodie holds this record]
• Fastest cooked breakfast service: not sure... I'm just trying to come up with something so I can get a record in the kitchen...
  

Well, that will do for now... if anyone else would like to ask about other metrics, please let me know... If Jodie gives in to my obessive compulsive disorder, I'm sure there are lots of other things we could start recording...

Cressy Beach

On Sunday, after cleaning the rooms, Jodie and I took a quick trip to Cressy beach to check out the beach and the surf. The beach looked stunning, and much to my surprise, the waves really picked up while we were down there.

The water was a fantastic crystal clear green, and the surf started to get rougher as we waded out from the sand. Jodie really felt the difference in power between Cressy and Schouten beaches, and ended up getting bowled over by some of the more severe waves. I was very excited, because I caught my first 'real' waves since being in Tassie, after getting excited over some little 'pretend' ones I caught a couple of feet from the shore at Schouten beach. Even a couple of boogie borders in wetsuits came in to catch some waves.

In the picture below, you just might make out my head in the wave in front of Schouten Island. I don't think I've had that much fun body surfing since I was at Dee Why beach in Sydney. So after going for a 'quick trip', we ended up getting back a little later than planned to begin preparations for curry nite(tm).

Six Months at Schouten House

On Thursday last week [15/03/2007], Jodie and I celebrated our first six months at Schouten House. The photo above is of a timely gift of freshly caught Bream that another neighbour gave us. Fresh local seafood made the occasion all the more special. Tonight we had some flathead that was caught this morning [along with home grown tomatoes [and our very own rocket]]. We are getting spoilt!

It's been six months of sun, sea, breath taking scenery, fantastic food, great neighbours, new friends and lots of hard work. We've loved every minute of it, and are looking forward to the next six months. We've met some wonderful people and learned something new about the business [and the business of being in business] every day. If only we could have a sleep in...

Ordinarily, I would furnish the blog with lots of lists, statistics and interesting [at least I find them interesting] facts accumulated over the last six months. However, we haven't had a day off so far in March, so I would do the task justice. I'll have a think though, and put some down in future posts.

There's got to be a downside, Fatty

Just a quick rant about one of my incorrect assumptions about the consequences of embarking on a new small business adventure. I'm not talking about the obvious misconceptions, like that running a small business is more work that you imagined [regardless of what your expectations were]. I'm not talking about the things that you don't like so much, but knew exactly what you were getting into... like cleaning toilets. After my short stint as a cleaner, if there is anything a guest can do over a couple of days that comes even close to a couple of those clients - I'll think it's divine intervention directing me away the service industry.

I'm talking about my weight. I thought that with a more physical job, I'd easily be able to manage my weight, and get to enjoy lots of treats too. It turns out that testing everything we've ever served to guests, doing some serious quality assurance and having lots of things to celebrate over the last six months, has kept my weight in 3 digits - yes... more than 100kg.

Now, I know some people will say... but Cameron, you aren't fat. Well, that's very kind of you, but you are wrong. If not aesthetically, then medically.

My BMI (body mass index) is over 27. The healthy range is 18.5 - 25. After explaining that... I've heard: 'but Cameron, you are so tall'. To which a swift kick in the keister would have been my justifiable response. The only other variable in the BMI formula is height. Some of you might read the wikipedia page on BMI and lament about it's limitations. Yes, BMI doesn't tell you how much fat you have... It's still a useful measure since my knees agree that 100kg is too much to carry around.

If you still aren't convinced, then that's where body fat scales come in. Using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis [running a electrical current through the body] it can tell me my body fat percentage. So that's too high as well, despite the being just inside 'acceptable' range according to the American Council on Exercise [the Australian government still uses BMI to define obesity]. I also miss having William's newer model Tanita scales, which always gave me a lower result.

So hopefully we are all on the same page, and you are urging me to loose some weight. That's again... very nice of you. Well, I am well on my way. For the first time in about two years, I'm below that 100kg mark, and observing the simple, simple weight loss rule... energy spent > energy consumed = loose weight. I'm also enjoying not being 'fatty fat fat fat, fat fat, fat fat'.

Great Tasmanian Bike Ride and JAG Club

On Saint Valentine's Day, Swansea was host to the Great Tasmanian Bike Ride, and we had four rooms full of cyclists, and had the other rooms taken as well. I think it was our most dynamic and delightful groups of guests we have had yet. We had a full house, so it was lots of work, but when you experience people enjoying their time in Tassy so much, it's rewarding. One of our guests, fearing that I'd be much too busy to concentrated on Valentine's Day, gave me a rose, to give to Jodie!

For the bike ride, there were about 1200 riders, and a self contained city that made their way down the East Coast of Tasmania. I was impressed with the exercise in logistics, and that the site was completely packed away except for a rubbish pick up [LOTS of wheelie bins] by the time we got to poke our heads outside after breakfast service. The ride had it's own radio station, newspaper, cinema and pizza oven [and other hot meals]. Different entertainment was organised each night, including speed dating in Swansea on Valentine's day.

We had the JAG club a few days later, on their tour through Tasmania. It was certainly the best looking car park we've had since we've been here [which normally sees more than it's fair share of rental cars].

Australasian Ganets

On 15th February, after I thought they might not come back, Jodie and I were treated to a feeding display, by a bird that's almost knocked the Albatross from the top spot on my favourite birds list. The Australasian Ganet is a fantastic fisher that dive bombs the ocean for fish, as seen below!

Approaching...

Entering the water...

and splash!

and then off to get the next one...


... to the next school of fish!

Tasmanian Devil Park

20070209 Devil Park

When France and Catriona were visiting, we took a trip down to Port Arthur, and on the way home, stopped off at the Tasmanian Devil Park. We arrived in time to catch the tail end of the 'Kings of the Air - Birds of Prey' display, and unfortunately missed the Wedgetail and larger predators. It was still riveting.

All of the animals at the park have been rescued and rehabilitated although many cannot be returned to the wild. The exception is the devils, which are bred in the park and are to date healthy and disease free - an important population that just might help save the Tasmanian Devil for the future.

We were fortunate to see three generations of Tasmanian Devils and have to say they spend a great deal of time enjoying the sun. We were surprised to learn that the life span of a devil is no more than 6 years, but impressed with the massive strength of their jaws.

Make sure you check out the web album for all the photos.