I have a not-so-secret double life.

By day, I'm a mild manned wage slave; but some nights I like to dress up in my robe and wizards hat and join a few million other players in Azeroth.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I play World of Warcraft.

But Neil, I hear you cry, 'what could someone like you possibly enjoy about such a geeky game?' Well apart from the obvious, I actually enjoy playing it. I get bored with the grinding, same as everyone else, but otherwise I really like the majority of the quest. The game displays a healthy sense of humor, doesn't take itself too seriously (unlike some MMO's I could mention) and best of all - theres a Mac native client so I don't need a Windows box to play. I'm also lucky in that a number of my 'real life' friends play as well, and between us we've got a pretty well balanced party.

Jeff is a Mage, Ed is a Warlock. Jim is a Rouge (what a shocker), and Glenn is a Warrior - our tank.

This is me, Altamiranna.

I play a Blood-Elf Priest, and its pretty much my job to keep the other guys alive. Well when I'm not out of mana that is! Of course, I can always do a bit of soloing as well.

So, I've been happly playing on and off for a few years now. Until tonight that is.

Oh bugger!

Double bugger!

It would appear that my account has been hijacked. I'm guessing that it happened this afternoon, as Jeff told me that he'd seen my online but not responding to any messages. Hmm, I wonder why that was.
Unfortunately, Blizzards customer support line only seems to operate between 08:00-17:00 - Monday to Friday ie, when everyone is work and not able to get to their gaming machines. I've had to report the problem via their web-form, which rather ominously states that it may take some time to resolve the issue.

Since I'm unable to even access my account management, I'm rather concerned that the little runt that has changed both my password and my e-mail address (so that I cannot re-set the password) now has access to my payment options and may be able to get my bank details. Whilst I'm not going to give Blizzard too much stick for only manning the phones during office hours. I do think the lack of weekend coverage when peoples bank details are exposed is an unacceptable risk.

So for the next few days, I'm going to blog the responses from Blizzard and document the damage that has been wrought on my account. I fully expect to log back in to find a naked blood-elf, penniless, weaponless and mountless.

If I'm lucky, Blizzard may be able to restore poor Altamiranna to her former glory.

Stay tuned for the next installment of 'looks like I've been hacked'.

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I bought myself a new watch yesterday. A Tissot PRC200, and I have to say I rather like it.

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It's not often I say this about a Sony product, but I really want this. - http://news.sel.sony.com/en/press_room/consumer/digital_imaging/camcorders/high_definition/release/34661.html

"

It sounds like it beats the hell out of my little Sanyo, but I get the feeling it will be rather more expensive as well. Still brushed aluminum would look good next to my macbook Air.

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We had a really warm day on Friday, so it was a bit of a shock when it started snowing this afternoon.

Snow in Guernsey is a pretty rare event, so of course I grabbed the camera to record the event.

What do I find in the garden? A big fat rat nibbling away at the seed we leave out for the birds. He didn't seem to mind the cold and the snow!

Mr Rat tucks into his grub.

This winters been very strange. We've just had the warmest day of the year, followed by the coldest a couple of days later.

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I haven't added any new video in a while, so heres a quick little video of Mac the Rabbit (known aliases: Macintosh, Macster, Macallister, Little Dude & stop clawing my carpet).

    So I'm giving Flock a try on my Macbook Air. First impressions are rather favourable. I like the tight integration with sites such as Flickr and Facebook. Definitely missing Omniwebs  image based tabs, not to mention my all time favourite feature - any link that leads to a new site opening in a new tab.     I love that feature and I really don't know why no other browser (that I am aware of) that has implemented it. I go insane without it on other computers, and it could be the decisive factor on whether I use Flock full time or not.     The media features seem very cool, but are they really going to be useful to me? I use the Flickr exporter plug-in for Lightroom, so anything I publish will be done through my photo editor. Youtube get published through iMovie, so don't need to go to the website to do that. The built in blog updater is cool (thats what I'm testing right now), but I also have the option of updating through Rapidweaver. Seeing as the only time I'm liable to update through Blogger is when I'm not at my own computer, it does again seem redundant.     What wil be interesting to see, is whether the convenience of receiving updates without having to visit the relevant site is a big enough incentive to keep it.     Mind you, I do think I know one man for whom this browser could be custom made.

So I've been on a right downer for the last couple of days. On Thursday I managed to completely bugger up my right shoulder, or separated it to be more exact. Luckily it isn't too serious and will sort itself out with time and rest, but for now in the first couple of days since doing it, it is nothing but annoying. I haven't slept comfortably in three days now. The first night I didn't sleep at all, and the next two haven't been a whole lot better. Strangely enough the shoulder hurts most when I'm lying down. If I'm not lying directly on my back then it is just agony, if I move or roll to either side, then thats agony to. A readjustment in the way I'm lying, yep - floods of pain. The worst is when I go to get back out of bed, as its like self-inflicted torture. As a consequence, this Bank Holiday weekend hasn't been the most relaxing. Ironically I've been out of bed earlier then usual as the second I wake, I'm out of bed. Thursday morning was the worst. The alarm woke me and I instinctively reached out to turn it off. To call the guttural noise that escaped my lips a howl would be a fair reflection. Since seeing the doctor, I've been on some painkillers that are pretty effective. A few days on and the shoulder does seem to be getting better. I don't have as many involuntary grunts of pain when I twinge it, but I'm not overly sure how much this progression is through healing, and how much is through the painkillers masking the problem. I was just so annoyed that I had to miss the fancy dress do on Thursday. I'd been really looking forward to it, and it was also a farewell party to someone that is now off around the world. You can't help but feel a bit of a wanker when your giving your goodbyes via e-mail, rather then in person. The week had started so promisingly as well, with the MBA arriving on Monday, the party on Thursday and of course it being the Easter weekend. Now its Saturday night, and I'm killing the hour before MOTD starts, having effectively wasted the two days off we've already had.

Why exactly do they call them the 'Civil Service'? In my experience they are neither civil, and they do anything but help you.

Disclaimer: As I am British, I am under contractual obligation to talk about the weather.

Well I suppose that you've heard the news about the big storm thats battering the UK? Well is here in the Channel Islands have also been hit pretty hard.

Most of the costal roads were closed today, and the Town seafront was flooded out.

This photo by Steve Sarre, featured in the Press gives a good indication of how bad things were. Incidentally, the building to right with green windows is my workplace.

This is what faced all the commuters going through Town this morning. The police closed the front, but unfortunately there were no signs telling drivers this, so we only found out once we got there. (Photo by Nigel Le Page)

What this meant was chaos on the roads. Personally my 15-20 minute commute through Town and up Les Banques instead took in a rather large detour and ended up taking 85 minutes.

The entire island seemed jammed this morning. I took the lanes as these are normally clear, even during heavy traffic, but everything was completely blocked in every direction. You can read the whole story in the local rag - http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/03/10/commuter-chaos-as-roads-flood/

How hard have we been hit.

Well from my own records taken with the wonderful Seasonality, we had a peak wind of 51mph and a peak gust of 71mph - and apparently there is more to come tonight

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