All the talk awhile back of Azeroth got me thinking. I’ll admit it, I play WoW now and then (but very very rarely, much to my husband and son’s dismay). But how many people still play MUDs? (MUDs are the precursors to MMORPGS — they’re text-based. Yes, text-based.) I like them a lot, especially the one I’ve played for about the last 10 years. As you may have guessed from the screen grab, it’s called The Final Challenge. All you have to do to play it is fire up telnet (if it’s still on your computer) or use a program like zMUD and go to mud.finalchallenge.net port 4000. Did I mention TFC is based in Phoenix? No souped up system or fancy video card required :)

So I get a phone call the other night from the guy who married my favorite cousin. He asks me how popular Kelly Clarkson is in Phoenix. “Who?” I ask, “That American Idol chick?” “Yeah,” he says.

HowTF should I know is what I wanted to tell him, being the only one of my family who does not watch that show.

Apparently, he has been spending my nephew and nieces’ college fund on some ticket auction site. After making a killing on Madonna tickets, he wants to play around with Kelly Clarkson. So, Phoenix what do you think?

Me? I cannot see paying those prices for a concert. Maybe that Celine Dion/Margie Boule deathmatch thing in Portland…

Had a very nice chat with Carol from Arizona Animal Rescue and Sanctuary and I learned that a litter can have many fathers. We were looking at the litter above and she was explaining to me that the reason the puppies look different is that they probably had different fathers. Did you know this? Does this hold true for cats as well?

On Saturday evening, Officer Rob Targosz was struck by Tyler Gary Fahlman. Tyler was drunk, again, and speeding recklessly around town. According to witnesses, instead of slowing at the intersection he sped up, swerved around cars who were stopping for the light and slammed right into Rob. He hit Rob so hard that his bike became lodged in the truck’s front grill and was destroyed. Rob died the following morning from his injuries.

Tyler is free on bail. Tyler, although only twenty years old, has a long history of driving recklessly and driving while intoxicated. His dad, who owned the truck, turned in his son in hopes of teaching him a lesson. He should have taken away the truck instead.

Rob, although only 37, had a long history of successes. He had just married his best friend. He had completed his Masters Degree graduating Magna Cum Laude. He had implemented programs for our Town and had written grants that will save lives. And he had taken thousands of drunk drivers off the road.

In 1992, a guy named Dale M. slammed his big ass station wagon into our car. Presh and I were stopped on Coldwater Canyon Drive waiting to turn left into our driveway when he hit us going 55MPH. He was drunk. Our car was destroyed, but we were lucky and survived. There is a special hell for those who drink and drive. A special hell…

Visitation will be held tomorrow from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m. at Scottsdale Bible Chapel, 7901 E. Shea Blvd. Rob’s funeral will follow on Friday at 11 a.m. also at Scottsdale Bible Church. Internment will follow immediately at Paradise Valley Gardens, 9300 E. Shea Blvd.

There will also be a memorial service and procession on Monday, 8 May, at 9:45 a.m. The procession will begin at the East Valley Bible Church, 1820 West Elliot Road (approximately Elliot and McQueen Roads) and proceed eastbound on Elliot Road to Gilbert Road, then south on Gilbert Road to the Gilbert Police Department, 75 East Civic Center Drive. A memorial service will follow. Those wishing to show their support for Rob are invited to do so along the procession route.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made in Rob’s honour to the Gilbert DUI Task Force Equipment Fund, The ArchAngel Foundation, and The Arizona 100 Club’s Survivor’s Fund.

Our thoughts are with Brigitte, his widow, and Rob’s parents and family this evening.

Once a year Joe’s BBQ in Gilbert gives away a free lunch and dinner to everyone that shows up. Today was that day and folks lined up out the door and around the block and down the street and around the block again. I have eaten at Joe’s a few times and found their brisket and pulled pork to be good. Now, I am spoiled by Capital Q BBQ which has the best brisket anywhere, but Joe’s was okay. His ribs, however, are fantastic and so is his lemonade. Anyway, the lines were fantastic as hundreds lined up for free food and fixins. Ever heard of a restaurant doing a customer appreciation day by giving free lunches and dinners to all who show up? Me neither…

Regulators approved yet another APS rate hike, the damage this time? 7.6%. That brings the total rate hike to 13.2% in just the past year. Glad I’m an SRP customer. While I am always in favor of the little guy (average citizens in this case) we’re going to have to realize that energy costs are going up and may not come down. Do you really need a 3000 sqft house?. SUV sales are going down, wonder if we’ll see sales of big houses going down anytime soon. I’m curious how employers will handle cost of living raises this year.

Since the demise of the Infone service (loved it, miss it), and the reality that mobile phone providers charge way too much for 411 calls, my witch hunt for a 411 service has finally ended (at least temporarily). 4INFO.net provides a wealth of information for free via a text messaging interface, visit the site with your computer to learn more. Text [business name] [zipcode] to 4INFO for 411 listings. I’ve found it’s not entirely comprehensive but it is certainly still helpful. Try it out! For live music listings visit http://m.jambase.com on your phone. It allows you to enter your zip code and returns live music events happening in and around the zip code. Another useful, though a bit more cumbersome, wap site is http://wap.switchboard.com which has Yellow Pages, White Pages and Reverse Lookup services. And if you’re itching for a craigslist fix while waiting @ the MVD or some other horrendous place, I’ve found that even though it is not optimized for phone browsers, it displays quite nicely, albeit a bit slowly. Got a mobile service you find useful? Let me know, I’m always interested.

Got kids? I don’t, but I was a kid once and I remember summer vacations and the sometimes loved sometimes dreaded phrase “summer camp”. Fortunately my parents never felt a need to ship me off to summer camp to get rid of me so they could go on a vacation alone, but I did attend attend summer camp once and loved it. Why? Probably because my parents let me pick which one I wanted to go to. I remember my other friends however, dreading that week (or longer!) spent doing things they didn’t want to do. So if you have kids, whether they want to go to camp or not, let them at least choose a camp they might like. I found this Summer Camp Guide on AZ Central earlier today, pretty interesting stuff, but too many sports camps if you ask me. Let the kids be kids and have fun instead of trying to make them into future athletes.

You can’t beat a good burger, especially when you follow it up with some ice cream. My girlfriend & I hit up Scout’s on Guadalupe & Dobson last night. They recently opened and it was my first time there. As their name implies they specialize in burgers & custard. The burger was substantial in size and there is no standard dress, so you get it the way you want it. It was quite tasty, and not too greasy like some burgers. We ordered onion rings but after seeing a batch of fries I should have opted for those instead. The onion rings were good but the fries looked and smelled extremely tasty. To finish up, we had a scoop of chocolate custard that was absolutely incredible. We’d never had custard before, it’s like ice cream only creamier, softer, smoother, and bit less sweet. So for your next All American meal, skip the franchises and head over to Scout’s.