Video Game Adventures - Diablo III Beta Weekend

So, Blizzard allowed us Diablo fans to have a sneak peek of Diablo 3 this past weekend, which was pretty neat. The only downside? My computer sucks. I mean, it's only 3 years old, and it's a pretty nice laptop, but it's specs just are not up to par with what is needed to have a proper Diablo 3 gaming experience... which totally blows. But besides that, I'm pretty please with the game itself.

I chose to play a barbarian on single player, and because of my laptop's issues, I only played until he reached level 3. But in that short time, I did develop some likes/dislikes about the game.


LIKES: 

1. The amount of options there are for game view modes, especially that there is an option for windowed mode. So much easier that having to create that option manually, like we had to with D2.
2. The music in-game is pretty good, at least in New Tristram. I've always like the Tristram music in Diablo 1 and 2, so it's nice seeing that Blizzard kept it around.
3. The fact that you can choose a male or female version of each character class. It's a little detail, but still a neat one.
    
4. The character classes themselves. I actually can't wait to play as a monk!... but I will have to wait until we buy the game.
5. The inventory is better organized. I also like that when you mouse over an item in your inventory, like weapons or armor, it automatically opens up another little box showing what stats your equipped weapon/armor has. Very convenient!

There are a bunch of other aspects I liked too, but I'm not sure you want to be here forever reading this, lol.

DISLIKES:

Well, there is really only one. The game's start menu music could have been a little better... it's not horrible or anything, but it's just not really grabbing my attention that much. Any other issues have been caused by my own computer's inadequacies.

So in addition to all of the screencaps I threw into this post, I am also giving you a little gameplay video I recorded on my very own computer! Sorry it's a bit laggy... it's not the video, or the game, it's my slow processor. But enjoy anyway! :-)

D3 GAMEPLAY VIDEO:

So yeah, like I said, the game was VERY laggy on my computer. More so here because I was recording my desktop. But it's still pretty cool. Hopefully I have time to save up for a new PC before Blizzard releases the game!

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Geek NOMs: Homemade Mocha Coolatta!

So like any good geek, I love (and NEED) my caffeine, which for me is usually coffee. And when I want coffee, I would rather not have to run to a coffee shop and leave my computering/gaming behind just to get my fix. My solution? Make my my own!

Sure, a pot of coffee is easy enough to make on your own. But when the weather gets warmer, I lean more towards coffee Coolattas from Dunkin Donuts... but that is inconvenient and can get expensive. So when I got my new blender for Christmas, I decided that I needed to solve this problem!
And after much trial and error, I think I finally have this recipe down. So go ahead and try it out, and see if I'm right!

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Homemade Mocha Coolatta

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups of crushed ice

• 1/2 water

• 3/4 milk (I used soy milk for mine)

• Sugar, however much you would usually put in your coffee

• 1 tablespoon instant coffee

• 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder (optional… for awesome mocha!)

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a blender, and… blend, lmao.

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Yes, it sounds simple... but that is because it is, haha. Not to mention convenient, because it's made from stuff I always have in my kitchen. And this recipe makes enough to fill my ginormous mug! Awesome, right? Now off to drink my coffee...

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Did you try the recipe? Let me know how it came out! Found some ways to make it better? Then send those ideas my way! (Please?)

And as always...

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Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness!

As part of Autism Speaks "Light It Up Blue" campaign, we will be changing out our regular front porch bulb for a blue one to promote Autism Awareness. I am hoping that some of my readers, new and old, will do the same. Want to learn more? Visit the Light It Up Blue website at http://www.lightitupblue.org !

I am also hoping to help raise at least $100 by the end of the month for Autism Speaks. Visit my campaign page (http://www.lightitupblue.org/Markslist/campaign/display/profile.do?campaignId=24003) or go to the link below if you would like to help out:

Donate $10 or more to Autism Speaks.

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Has Autism touched your life? I would love to see your stories in the comments!


Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to Light It Up Blue!

Mad Men Season 5 Premiere House Party!

So I have to say, the party was a LOT of fun! I spent a lot of my time making food and taking photos, but for me, that is part of the fun with my parties. My Dad had fun playing with the masks, and insisted on my taking photos of him with each of the male character masks, lol.

I had seen that AMC was supposed to be playing a Season 4 marathon of Mad Men in the hours before the party... and was kind of disappointed to find that it didn't happen. Luckily, Netflix saved the day with that part of the festivities.

I think one of my favorite parts of the whole party was dressing up in 60s garb... although my hair was being a pain in the you-know-what and didn't want to curl (FAIL). But I still ended up looking presentable, lol. As for everyone else, if there had been a contest, I'm pretty sure my friend Heather would have won it. She look awesome!

As for food, I was able to make the chicken a la king and the virgin pina coladas without a hitch, and everyone seemed to enjoy everything. I wish I had gotten the chance to make the Butter Cake a la Mode... it sounded fraking delicious! I'm just going to have to create another event just to make it for everyone, haha,

Everyone loved the neat stuff in the the "House Party" Party Pack that I received from HouseParty.com, the mask being the biggest hit. A couple guests even took door hangers home with them! So glad I got the opportunity to receive such a neat party pack. (^_^)


The best part of the party? The premiere of course! The highlights for me:

• Pete running into the wall and giving himself a bloody nose. It was hilarious, and I'm not a fan of Pete... so it was somewhat satisfying, lol.
• Lane's dancing reenactment for Joan of the events at Don's birthday party. Both because it was highly amusing to see his character like that, and because of the slight creepiness of this moment when thinking of this actor's character on Fringe. (Watch Fringe and you will understand... or just go watch Fringe because I tell you so...)
• Megan singing Zou Bisou Bisou to Don at his "surprise" birthday party. Mostly because the song had everyone at my party laughing and saying, "WTF is happening right now?", haha.

I probably missed a whole bunch more because I was having fun chatting with everyone and tweeting about the party and show on Twitter, but the episode is already online, so I definitely plan on re-watching it!

Anywho, here are some photos from the party, along with a video tour of the Ad Room we set up!

 The Decor

The bar top in the living room :-)

The music!

The Ad Room bar.

The entertainment center.

The Ad Room

The party favors.

More of the Ad Room

The living room bar.

 The Food

Chicken a la King, rice, and Utz chips & dip.

Deviled eggs.

Utz potato chips and pina coladas.

The Guests Having Fun, lol.

Me, as Joan

Heather :-)

Me!

My Dad as Roger

My Dad as Pete

Dan and I <3

My Dad as Don Draper!

Heather!

Everyone watching the premiere! Yay!

  

Draping!

Me!

Heather

Heather photo-bombing my Dad's #draping photo, lol.

My Dad

My Mom

Dan

Even the cat got in on it, haha!

 A Video Tour of the Ad Room! :-)

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Men Men Pre-Premiere Party Post!

I'm throwing a Season 5 Premiere party for the show Mad Men (On AMC) tomorrow, and I am SUPER psyched! I was lucky enough to win a VERY cool party pack from House Party, which is going to make the party all the more fun. Not to mention that my parents were awesome enough to offer to have the party in their home, use their cable connection to watch the premiere, and decorate their house with a bunch of their neat 60's memorabilia and collectables.

Of course, there is also the premiere itself to be excited for! And since I am the only person in my group of friends and family that watches Mad Men, I am also using this as an opportunity to introduce everyone to the show. Thankfully, AMC will be having a Mad Men marathon all day before the premiere at 9pm, so I won't even have to queue it up on Netflix. Talk about convenient, haha!

That about all I have to say about the event until tomorrow. Expect to see a lot of excitement, photos, and video after tomorrow. And most likely a lot of squeeing on Twitter (Follow me! @shantellevye)

Until then. (^_^)

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