Or something like that.   How many of you played Zork?  Probably more than one of us loved the feeling of playing a game that was based on US being in the game world.  No super powers, no special abilities that we did not build and discover.

In real life I work in technical support and have a wonderful Fiance, Deb.  I practice Northern Shaolin Boxing and game on my computer and with friends at a table with dice and paper.

In real life I am not the powerful little cartoon racing around Norrath or Camelot or any other place.  Im just this guy....

I hope to be able to meet some of the neat people I have met online in real life someday.  You all seem like pretty interesting peeps to get to know.

In real life I would not be able to kill that beetle in the newbie yard....it has too many hit points....

In real life I can make a difference.  I help friends and family and people I have never met as best I can, always trying to make that new friend.

Take a moment in the coming weeks to reach out to someone you may not even know, and be a hero in real life.  Donate blood, donate food, donate your time.

Be a hero for real.

Mowgley

I married Deborah Marie, who took my last name to become Mrs Baverstock.

Above is a picture of me, (left) my sister Brenda and my brother Brent.

I will see if I can get a picture of my Bride in there as well, this was all I could find in the mess of moving and getting married.

Thanks for taking a look!

Mowgley (aka Robert Douglas Baverstock, from Madison WI)

There is a subject that has been on my mind lately, that of communication and expectations.

There is a difference between asking and telling.   If I ASK for your help with something, inherent in a good faith request is the idea that you could refuse, and I would have to accept that. 

However, if I were to act like somehow you were killing my puppy by refusing, I was never asking was I?  I would be TELLING you what I expected and then allowing you to have a reaction. 

Either way, telling you to help me is rude.  Asking for help is polite and acceptable.

Lately in the games I play and in my work and home life, I have noticed an awful lot of people believing that somehow I was born just yesterday, fell off the turnip truck and wandered in like a newborn babe into Sodom.  As if my eyes and ears are not able to pick up the difference between a request and a demand disguised as a request to allow the person who made it feel more comfortable with the rude behavior.

I find that the worst thing of all.

When my boss "asks" me to wear a tie to work, but tells me its requied, he was never asking, was he?  Im a big boy, just tell me you need me to wear a tie, BAM! tie on.

I dont need the illusion anymore.  I would rather have the truth.

If my friends "ask" me to help them, and I say I am beat and have to sleep, they accept that.  Thats "asking".

If the wife "asks" me to take the garbage out....the garbage goes out.  And I am okay with her "asking" me.  Thats why she is my wife.  Anyone who is married will know that all that "asking" seems to lead to a lot of "telling".  But we talk that out and its good.

I just need to catch the dishes and garbage before they become "a most dire situation" as my wife likes to put it.  Then I dont have to be "asked"

*smile*

Mowgley