Daily Ramblings – Gaming Saturday – Diablo Immortal

Tags

Assembly, Clans, Contracts, Diablo Immortal, Gaming, iPad, Lottery, Path of Blood, Shadow War, Shadows, Vault

This weekend, I’m going to talk about becoming a Shadow and the things I wish I’d known prior to going through this process. There are two groups in the Diablo Immortal landscape. The Immortals and the Shadows. To become Immortals, the Shadows have to overthrow them. To remain Immortals, they have to fend off the Shadows.

The Shadows are composed of clans. You join the Shadows by doing what is called the Shadow Lottery. If you want to become a Shadow, keep doing this until you are picked up. Once you are picked up, you’ll start out at the Apprentice rank. Then you begin progressing your character through the Shadow ranks by doing Shadow-specific tasks. These are listed out, but the most important actions are: Contracts, Assembly, Vault, Path of Blood, Battleground and Shadow War.

To participate in the Shadow war, you have to join a clan. Getting into a clan is not hard, but you want to contribute when you become part of one. That means doing your contracts, showing up for Shadow wars, and all the other things listed above. If members of your clan each do what they have to do each day to knock out their daily tasks, your clan will gain rank, and get some special bonuses which will really help you in the Shadow War competition that happens on Thursday nights and Saturday nights. There are some other things, but these are the key activities that will get you the rank you need. Each rank you progress, your skills increase. The same goes for Assembly, which gives you character bumps, experience, and Aspirant Keys, which are also really terrific. We’ll talk about those later.

The interface for the Shadows is easy to interact with. It has its own section in the user interface. One other thing. If you can afford it, get yourself an iPad. For me it is critical. Now that I am almost 60, my eyes aren’t what they used to be, and playing on a phone is impossible. I have to use an iPad because it is big enough for me to see. If a phone is all you have, no worries. Diablo Immortal is also available on PC. I’m assuming it will also move to console (PS, Xbox) at some point, to capture those players. We’ll see.

Well, that’s it for this week, folks! Have a great Saturday!

Happy Gaming!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday – Charlie Berens

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Charlie Berens, Chuckle, Funny Friday, Giggle, Laugh, Midwest Voice Translator, TikTok, Wisconsin Comic, YouTube

I ran across this guy on TikTok and his clips are hilarious. I found his channel on YouTube, and boy, what a collection of funny clips. You’ll see this guy again. My favorite is the YouTube video above. By the way, if you’d like to follow this guy, he has 1.2 Million followers. His channel is Charlie Berens.

I hope you find this as funny as I did!

If you’re a fellow gamer, don’t forget to hit my blog tomorrow. It’s my fledgling weekly post about Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal.

Well, that’s it for now.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Dark Time, The First American, MS Excel, and The West Wing

Tags

Amazon Prime, Dark Time, George Washington, MS Excel, Star Carrier Series, The Revolutionary War, The West Wing, Udemy

Dark Time has the Star Carrier America closing with an alien ship and getting ready to board her with a contingent of marines. This is after the alien ship “swallowed” a USNA ship that got too close. It’ll be interesting to learn what happens next!

All, I just finished the Civil War series I’ve been watching. Now, I’m learning about George Washington, in “The First American” on Amazon Prime. It’s one long movie, so I watch about 10 minutes a day. So far, they are describing the difficulty with writing about a man like this, who was very quiet and did not say too much, compared to the others like Franklin, Jefferson, and Madison.

I learned about auditing an Excel worksheet. It’s pretty cool. You can see all the formulas, you can see which cells are impacted, and you can even use what is called a watch window to validate that a formula is actually working the way you want. Good stuff!

I am purchasing the West Wing season by season. In August, I’ll be watching season 4. I finished season 3 this month. My sister’s arrangement for work changed, so she is not living with us during the week. She started a new role at her company and this move required her to work onsite. I’m not sure if she’ll be fully remote like she was, but at some point, she may be back here during the week. Who knows? Anyway, I’m watching the series myself, and I just love the story. Season 4 will continue with the President’s reelection bid, and the fall out from assassinating the defense minister of another country who attacked America.

That’s it this week, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Anne Frank

Tags

Anne Frank, Anne Frank House, BrainyQuote, Holocaust, Nazis, Netherlands, Wednesday, wisdom, WWII

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

Anne Frank

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.

Anne Frank

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Anne Frank

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.

Anne Frank

No one has ever become poor by giving.

Anne Frank

For those of you who do not know who Anne Frank is, she is a young girl who wrote a diary that was later published. She was a Jewish girl during WWII who was ultimately captured by the Nazis, who then put her in a camp. It is a hard book to read. The Diary of Anne Frank is well known and in every country in the world. Here’s a Wikipedia link for you to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank

If you’d like to get the book for yourself, I’m sure your public library has a copy or your can purchase it. Here’s a link to the electronic version: https://amzn.to/3Bj1VJi

One of my sister’s friends is from the Netherlands and their is a museum there. It is the house Anne Frank was hidden. Here’s a YouTube video that gives a short tour of the place. I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talks – Steelpan and Teflon

Tags

cooking, Google, Music, Steelpan, TedEd, Teflon, Tuesday

I was prompted to look for steel pans on Ted Ed today, because of the video short Google put up on their browser today, celebrating Steelpan.

After watching this video, I thought about Teflon. Here’s what TedEd has to say about Teflon. I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s a Wikipedia article on Steelpan. I think you’ll enjoy it. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelpan

Have a great Tuesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – The Right Tools and Delegation

Tags

delegation, job, Monday, motivation, Productivity, Responsibility, tasks, Tools

Ever try to do something with the wrong tool? It’s frustrating isn’t it? Not only does it anger you while you are doing the task, you either avoid or dread having to do that task again. Having the right tool for the job is critical to motivation.

When I was working, I loved my job, but also loved the tools I used to do my job. I love a good tablet, phone, computer, and office gear. There’s nothing like digging into your work with a favorite tune playing on your phone with earbuds in, of course. There’s nothing like having a second screen with great apps on your tablet.

Regardless of what you do, there are tools available to complete the job. If you have the right ones–tools you really look forward to using–the job is even easier and actually kind of fun. It’s even more important when you are doing a new job or task. Investigate the tools others use to do a job. You’ll find that they use specific types of tools that make the job super easy. This combination of both fun and easy make the jobs or tasks ahead an absolute breeze.

Obviously, there are some jobs you just dread doing. They are boring, tedious, and do not take a lot of mental effort to complete. If you have staff working for you, delegate some of these tasks so that they can learn some of your job. It is your job as a leader to train your replacement, right? So, lighten your burden and pass off those tasks that others can do just as well as you can. This frees you up to focus on what you love to do, and gets the other jobs completed. Just remember: Delegation does not give up responsibility.

Recently, I had to put together some posters with QR codes for an event in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My organization was running a booth at their annual Art Fair. I did not have the tool to separate the first page of an e-book (PDF), but my sister did. She needs it for her job as a loan officer. She knocked out 7 PDFs in about 2 minutes. A last-minute request required me to do one more poster. Only this time, my sister was too busy to get it done in the time I had to get it done. Did I throw my sister under the bus and drop the ball? No. I found the tools I needed, and got the job done. I was responsible for getting this done for the event, not my sister. You see? I needed the right tool, and although I delegated the task to my sister, I was ultimately responsible for getting this done.

Well, that’s it for today, folks.

Have a great Monday!!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Gaming Saturday – YouTube

Tags

CODM, Console Gaming, Diablo Immortal, Enjoyment, Fun, Improving, Mobile gaming, video gaming

If you are serious about gaming, this suggestion is a no-brainer. Watch YouTube. Regardless of the gaming genre or the game you like to play, there is always someone who is producing content for that game. So today, I’ll give you highlight some streamers I watch to improve my game play.

The two mobile games I’m playing are Call of Duty Mobile (CODM) and Diablo Immortal. I haven’t found a favorite streamer yet, but these are a few that passed on some great tips. One huge tip I learned yesterday watching some streams was the importance of focus and patience. Focus means you are building one aspect of your Diablo character, particularly the gems. When you are all over the place you won’t have the strongest character you need, when you begin progressing to higher levels of game play.

In Diablo, for example, there are different levels of game play that allow you to fight higher-level enemies and get better loot. These levels are normal, Hell I, Hell II, and so on. If you get to Hell III, like I am currently, but do not have gems and other gear built up, you’ll get crushed when it comes to running around the world. The creatures are going to be too tough and it’ll be frustrating.

On to the videos. This first one will be a streamer for CODM. He passes along strategies that will preserve your ammo, keep you alive longer, and hopefully become a better player.

YouTube Streamer Kith

Here’s one for Diablo Immortal. It’s a great video to watch if you’re just starting out.

Provided by YouTube streamer Ryhkker

So that’s it for today. YouTube is a great resource for gamers and you’ll always find one or more streamers who you’ll enjoy watching. Once you’ve learned something, apply it. Get into your game, try out the strategy that is suggested and see if it works for you.

Happy Gaming!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday – Lewis Black on Voting

Tags

Chuckle, Friday, Funny, Giggle, Laugh, Lewis Black, Right to Vote, Smile, Snicker, Voter ID, Voting

If you’ve never seen Lewis Black, you’re in for a treat. He’s another one of my favorite comedians. His rants, which there are many, are his signature. This one is on voting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This is 18+ material. He drops a lot of F-bombs, so if you’re not into that, don’t watch.

Happy Friday, all. I hope each of you has some adventures planned for the weekend.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, Learning – Dark Time, The West Wing, and The Civil War

Tags

CJ Cregg, Dark Time, Ian Douglas, Josh Lyman, Josia Bartlett, Leo McGarry, Sam Seaborn, Star Carrier Series, The Civil War, The West Wing, Toby Ziegler

I’m still reading Dark Time, Book 6 of the Star Carrier series. Wow, what a ride. Currently, America, the central ship in the series is pursuing an alien ship that has just left earth, to try and figure out what this ship is and how it got to earth without being picked up by any of the security satellites and other protocols used to prevent this type of thing.

West Wing Season 3 has President Bartlett working on getting reelected. Leo McGarry just testified in front of congress, Donna got involved with the wrong Republican, and Josh is starting to get involved with Amy Gardner a woman’s advocate who is a big political player in Washington.

The Civil War series is talking through Grant and Sherman’s actions to get the victory Lincoln needs to get reelected. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” is highlighted, along with some other battles that occurred during 1864-1865.

I hope some of you find these to be good recommendations. I’m a huge war buff, so you’ll see plenty of documentaries about war, history, and sprinkled with some science. West Wing is my favorite show ever. I could watch and re-watch this series over and over again. I enjoy reading scifi and also action-adventure books. Every once and a while I’ll read a mystery novel or thriller, but typically stick with scifi.

Well, that’s it for now. Have a great Thursday, folks.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Charlotte Whitton

Tags

Canada, Charlotte Whitton, failure, Feminism, Feminist, Mayor, Ottawa, Politics, Success

Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.

Charlotte Whitton

When one must, one can.

Charlotte Whitton

It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.

Charlotte Whitton

Big words seldom accompany good deeds.

Charlotte Whitton

Man cannot live by incompetence alone.

Charlotte Whitton

If you would like to learn more about Charlotte Whitton, check out her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Whitton

Have a great Wednesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave