1. Pay all your bills online

You’ll save time and fuel paying online than standing in a queue for hours and later eating a fuel-guzzling meat patty on processed bread and trans fat-filled fries, then taking a fuel-guzzling cab or adding your weight to that piece of public transport home (costs less if you weren’t on it). Plus tell the billing company to stuff that monthly bill and send it to your email - save trees!

2. Watch your DVDs on your computer

Stuff that 50 inch widescreen HDTV. Well, who needs it anyway when you have your 21″ LCD computer monitor attached to your laptop, which combined, are so much more fuel-efficient. In addition to saving much money from NOT buying the TV, running an LCD monitor uses much less electricity than a CRT while using a laptop uses a LOT less electricity than a desktop (plus all those kickable parts - that’s how I broke my final and very last desktop - actually my chair did).

3. Book your air tickets online

They’re even cheaper online than offline. I swear! I haven’t called a travel agent in years. Then again I haven’t gone for a holiday in about that long so never mind. Not travelling. That’s green too.

4. Shop online

Aside from shipping that puny little thing you bought online and the 4 hours worth of electricity you’ve spent on browsing, you saved money and fuel utilised, from travelling to the mall, eating at the mall, travelling back from the mall with snacks you never intended to buy and the puny little thing you could have bought online.

5. Chat with your friends online

People actually spill more when typing to a pretty avatar. Didn’t you read MSNBC’s article on how bikinis turn men into boobs? It is hard enough to catch up with friends nowadays. Everyone is so busy with their lives. Plus chatting online relieves some workplace boredom and loneliness so it’s really good for morale. Tell your boss that the next time he catches you chatting to your friend who was also fortuitously online at the same time.

6. Turn off your screensaver

It saves your screen but no less electricity than when it is on. Turn off your monitor at the switch. That’s just as easy and you burn more calories doing so that if you just walked away. Seriously. Don’t believe me? Check out Mr Electricity’s authoritative website on saving electricity. He knows physics. He’s my new idol.

7. Turn it off when not using

The myth that it uses more electricity to start again than leave on has long been debunked. So turn it off and give that computer a rest already. Plus in case someone sits at your desk and tries to login to your computer, he or she will have that evil BIOS password to contend with. If you haven’t installed one already, what are you waiting for!

And for all the couch potatoing, let’s go take a walk round the block and stretch that achy back. It’ll save a fuel-guzzling trip to your masseuse.

Its green theme is easy on the eye. I enjoy the Treehugger blog and also how my faves are listed in a tab. The very smart sidebar, which integrates popular social networking tools like Facebook, Flickr, Digg, YouTube, and Twitter make it a super useful browser to have.

Try it out. I promise you won’t regret it.

While World of Warcraft boasts a vivid landscape, let’s face it: the graphics are blocky and past the starter levels, most of the regions look depressing and dark (save for Stranglethorn Vale and Feralas - which is simply gloomy really).

Alliance got most of the pretty characters but when I started out, I played Horde and could only fathom playing an Undead. For variety, I played a blue smurf for 5 minutes and went back to playing Undead (for the 5th time!). Finally I threw in the towel when hubby abandoned me for raids and joined the Alliance as a Night Elf and then Human.

But when I installed Guild Wars, the graphics totally blew me away.

First the characters are really stunning. They’re all human for now, but lots of care has been taken in the crafting of each character, from the facial features (multi-racial options) to hair. The options for customisation of your character’s look far exceeds that of WoW. See my Warrior on the left (and my Necro on the right bottom) and compare that with my Blood Elf on WoW.

The landscape in GW is simply beautiful, from leaves falling lazily to the ground to the minute details of trees, gravel, grass, are absolutely breathtaking to behold. I remember being awed the first time I flew over Durotar but even its most beautiful Eversong Woods cannot hold a candle to the lands of Ascalon.

2. Instant Travel

No more running forever to get from point A to B. No more zeppelins or boats. No more bats or griffins. Like Diablo II, once you reach a town (cf. waypoint), you can access it anytime (even better than Diablo II) by clicking your map. Think of it as a teleporter at your fingertips.

Also I noticed that the towns and outposts in GW are a lot smaller than those of WoW. Every game day I used to spend at least 15 minutes running from one location to another within a city to fix armor, auction items, train skills, etc. I breathe a sigh of relief I no longer need to do that.

3. Loading of Program and Updates

GW didn’t take a whole day and night to download like WoW does. I spent a whole day downloading Burning Crusade before I signed up for the trial. And then the updates… If you play WoW, you know the drill. Updates can take 5 minutes or 5 hours.

In GW, you download a new region when you access it, and it is fast! Maximum time I waited was 5 minutes and that was for the first area. When you’ve downloaded a region, it does not have to download again once you have it in your computer even if you use another character.

4. Free to Play Online Forever

GW was designed by the same people who brought you Diablo II and yes, they were from Blizzard. The first time I played GW, I thought, gosh they took all the complaints we had about WoW and made a better product in GW.

Hence, no monthly charges. When you buy an expansion, you get new content. No waiting time for downloading.

5. Content for Solo and Group Players

I spent a bit of time researching this one, because essentially, I am a solo player, by nature and by circumstance. I loved going on instances with hubby and friends but now I work 24/7 and have to run when my employer hollers so partying is not a possibility anymore.

In GW, I overcame this by being a Warrior/Ranger. I got my Rogue skills and fast DPS down and also have a pet to help out so it is kind of like a party of 2 questing together.

Sadly, past level 50, soloing becomes quite impossible. Most of my level 49 Rogue’s quests require a party and even the solo quests were rather difficult. I was very disappointed that Burning Crusade only had 4 new starter zones and the huge post-59 Outlands. Much more content is needed for the 30-55s. An alternative to Stranglethorn (and no, Duskwallow Marsh shouldn’t be it).

6. Quest and Map Assistance

In WoW, you can spend hours wandering and searching for a particular quest object or person. Of course, there is Thottbot, but it isn’t the same.

GW adopted the same strategy as Sacred. When you receive a quest, it describes who from where gave it to you, what you need to find, and on your map, it shows exactly where to find it.

You could argue this is hand-holding, but one of the most annoying things about any RPG is going around in circles trying to find something or someone. This way, you can spend more of your time killing monsters and examining your loot.

7. No More Spam and Rowdy Players

When I first started playing WoW way back when it first came out over 3 years ago, ganking and corpse camping were the most loathed things. Now in my last expedition in WoW, from the moment go, it was spam, asking me to buy WoW gold. There was no clear indication of where to report these annoying players, although I believe that has been fixed recently.

On the contrary, my time on GW has been harrassment-free.

8. Weapon Sets

It is almost 5am and I can’t recall if WoW has weapon sets.

GW, Sacred, and Diablo II all use weapon sets so you can switch weapons while fighting. Very important for a fun, flexible game play.

Last time I tried running it on Vista, the DVD wouldn’t run. Never mind. I couldn’t find it. Nor would the problem go away, as found on the Sacred and Gamespot forums.

Finally I tried downloading Guild Wars, which looked rather promising. The download was very speedy but the payment for an access code was a bloody nightmare.

First they want you to register. Fine. Then after verifying my email, it refused to let me login:

We were unable to verify your login. Either your login information was entered incorrectly, or the account system is currently unavailable. Please check the normal downtime schedule and announcements.

I tried again, in case I typed my password in wrongly:

Too many failed login attempts, login temporarily disabled. Please try again in a few minutes.

Sigh. Guess no one wants my money.

I’m going to stick to good old offline games for now. Sadly, Elder Scrolls sucked. What a waste of $60.

Time to reload my old Eye of the Beholder 2.

Since I am already half-blind, the Large Clock Screensaver is a real lifesaver. It shows you the time, date, and even a gigantic mailbox when you have an SMS.

After installing the app, go to:

Tools -> Settings -> General -> Personalisation -> Themes -> Power Saver -> and select Large Time

For more info, check out the developer Martin Storsjö’s website.

For some reason, the connection speed is lots faster than the e61i and it is far easier to hold and type, esp if you’re used to the dictionary function and this dictionary is definitely an improved smart version, remembering new and frequently used words. Love the crisp text too.

So while waiting for lunch to cook, I read email, Twittered, blogged in ten minutes.

I got a handy lanyard so I won’t lose this phone. It is certainly sturdier than the silly pouch I had for my now-gone 6280 - sigh, happy trails old friend.

Oops the pot boileth over. Brb.

I’ve finally got Twitter on both my main blogs, this one and Strange Machines. Although there are tons of Twitter plugins for Wordpress blogs (and having installed 2 that don’t seem to work), I found it easiest to cut and paste the custom HTML and Javascript Twitter code myself.

Here’s how:

1. First ensure your Twittering is set to public.

At Twitter, go to Settings -> unclick Protect my Updates -> Save.

2. Now, each theme is a bit tricky. This one actually doesn’t have any Sidebars defined (you’ll see when you click Widgets), so what I had to do was:

A. Head to Design -> Theme Editor -> Sidebar

and right after <div class=”sidebar”>

paste the HTML/Javascript code from the Twitter badge site. Click here to get yours.

Update File and you’re done.

B. If you do have your Sidebar Widgets enabled, go to Design -> Widgets

and add a Text widget.

Copy and paste the HTML/Javascript code from Twitter wholesale into the text area.

Save and you’re done!

Happy Twittering.

As you’ve probably noticed, I have added Twitter updates on the top right hand box there to humanise the blog a little. ->

The default setting in Stylesheet flushed it right against the margin which is ugly and awful design.

To fix it, simply open your Design -> Theme Editor -> Stylesheet.

Look for the line: .sidebar ul

and add: padding-right: 10px;

Tweak as needed till both left and right white spaces look equidistant.

The thrill died once I wandered into Ghostlands, which looks like another depressing and soulless (excuse the pun) Trisfal Glades, and began doing more cookie-cutter quests.

I get that Azeroth does not boast many cheerful locales, particularly at higher levels, but Ghostlands right after the uplifting Eversong Woods?

I feel ripped off buying The Burning Crusade Official Strategy Guide already. It is only useful if you’re going straight to Outland, which if you’re not level 58 already, is a bloody waste of time.

Last year I spent 3 months getting to level 49 and then got really bored. I can’t imagine playing for another 9 levels, much less bringing my level 18 Blood Elf to another 40 levels through terrain I have played over 5 times.

Three years ago when we first started playing, the husband was very keen on testing new realms and joining friends there hence we switched servers regularly, even at level 35 - I can run through Trisfal Glades with my eyes closed and one hand on keyboard and slay those dang blue Bloodscalp and Skullsplitter trolls after pickpocketing each one at Stranglethorn Vale.

So seriously, if you want to test it out, by all means. 10 days is more than enough to hit level 20 and visit 2 new starting zones with a new race and also, try out Jewelcrafting with Mining (very fun and financially rewarding, I must admit).

But of course if you have daylight hours free too, you can easily do both new races and all the 4 new zones. But that’s it really, for casual solo players like me who don’t party or raid. Outland will be inaccessible to you unless you upgrade (or if you have an existing character at 58 or higher).

Until WoW expands its offerings for its next expansion and offers its former hard-core players more new lower-level (and by this, I mean levels 20-40) regions to explore, I won’t be upgrading. Don’t get me wrong. I love WoW but I’ve done it all. For now.

By the way, if anyone wants to buy a gently leafed-through copy of The Burning Crusade Official Strategy Guide, drop me a note.

If it is straightforward HTML, it is quite easy. Remember, I’m a dinosaur. I use tables. Even on my Blogdrive blogs, I had handwritten my own code since they run from 3 files only. Now that I am on Wordpress, running on someone else’s CMS has forced me to adopt more CSS edits amidst a varied file structure with each theme which may contain numerous files.

Still it is a fun challenge. I’ve been fiddling with the pixel sizes in the padding, font sizes, margins, and letter-spacings. But ultimately, when all fails to nudge that text into alignment, the easiest solution is to reword the text. And so I have. Two windows open (stylesheet and header, in my case), click save twice, and press F5 to refresh the blog. Repeat till it looks right. (See “about” in top right header for final product.)

Deciphering a code written by another is almost like getting to know someone and learning to understand them. You click until you figure out the file structure, then you stare at the code till you get which tag represents which item.

Finally, when you’re ready, you move some lines around such that it makes more sense to you, neaten the code so that it is easier for you to edit, and finally tweak the code such that it represents what you had in mind. Hmm… that sounds like a relationship indeed.