World of WarCute Avatars: Now on Sale!

Interested in having your very own customized World of WarCute avatar? (aka, a cute-ification of your character? Or pretty much anything else, for that matter?)

You know, somethin’ like this:

Well, here’s the deal. For those not in the know, I recently moved out of state due to a long and convoluted series of events that was mostly out of my hands. I had to (reluctantly) give up my job, and I have had no luck finding a new one thus far.

Aaaaand I’m super broke.

SO!

I am now offering World of WarCute avatars for $6 USD a piece, which is cheaper than their previous price of $10. You may ask why I’m lowering the price– well, I’m hoping that potentially being able to lure in more customers this way (or get orders for multiple avatars) will ultimately be more profitable. Who knows though, I’m not a finance major. (Actually I majored in filmmaking. Hence why I’m broke. Woo!)

If (and notice the italics) you are feeling kind then you are welcome to toss in a tip with your $6 order. But I’m not gonna be like those Trade Chat people who say “tips optional” and then demand a tip. I promise.

HOW TO ORDER!:

Short answer: you’ll e-mail PikestaffArt [at] gmail with screenshots and instructions on how your want your character to appear, background, any pets you want included, etc. Then when I finish your avatar, I inform you, you toss me the money via PayPal, and the avatar is yours!

Long answer: Detailed instructions are located on this page— definitely worth a read through!

To All: Thank you as always for being readers here. It never ceases to amaze me that for some reason people like to listen to me ramble about crap. It further amazes me that I still had readers after hiatus’ing rather abruptly a while back. Thank you all for your continued support! <3

Hey, hey guys, question.

Paleo, juice cleanses, detox diets, calorie counting, low-carb and six-pack abs. Your clients ask a lot. Here’s how to answer their top 10 nutrition questions and concerns.

As a personal trainer, strength coach, or nutrition coach, we bet you get a lot of questions about nutrition. And we’re sure they’re varied: from young athletes curious about the best supplements, to middle-aged men and women who want to get off blood pressure meds, try out natural supplements just as biofit probiotic.

Truth is, it’s hard work answering them all. There are different schools of thought, lots of conflicting advice, and so many trendy panaceas promising to solve every problem. It’s tough coming up with definitive advice.

Of course, when you do come up with a single answer, you have to be sure it takes into account the context and nuance of each particular client. Because there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. A helpful response for a college linebacker could be detrimental for a 30-year-old mom. Read more about meticore and how does it work.

That’s why we put together this handy ‘cheat sheet.’

In this article, we’ve compiled the most common, and most vexing, questions that clients ask. And we provide answers with context and nuance. This way you’ll know which strategies to apply, how to apply them and when (and with whom) to use them.

Question #1

“I’m new to this whole nutrition thing. Where do I start?”

If your client is new to eating better, or has been stuck in a long-time rut and is ready for change, where do you start?

At Precision Nutrition, the first step is to identify and remove deficiencies.

Clients don’t need a major overhaul on day one. They don’t need to “go Paleo” or “eliminate sugar”. They just need to fix their major nutrient or vitamin deficiencies. Because, until these are fixed, their bodies simply won’t function correctly.

This means that, for most of your clients, making sure they get a bit more protein, enough vitamins and minerals, added healthy fats, and more water will get their bodies working better in no time.

Of course, you don’t have to tackle all that at once. Heck, you probably shouldn’t. Instead, you should pick the biggest limiting factor they’re experiencing and start there. Add new practices one at a time as necessary and as clients feel capable of dealing with them. Take a look to the best revitaa pro reviews.

Then, once nutritional deficiencies are addressed, you can start to focus on things like food quality (i.e. eat whole, minimally processed foods) and food amount (i.e. portions, calories, etc). But go slow. And be systematic.

Remember: one thing at a time.

For a more in-depth treatment of this topic, including exactly how to do it, check out: How to fix a broken diet article and infographic.

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Question #2

“What’s the best diet to follow?”

While it seems counterintuitive, you shouldn’t have an answer for this.

The best coaches maintain a neutral position. If you can, strive to be a nutritional agnostic: someone who doesn’t subscribe to any one dietary philosophy.

All dietary protocols have their pros and cons. Your job is to help each client find the approach that works best for them, whether it be Paleo or vegan, high carb or low carb, tight budget or unlimited funds.

The truth is, the human body is amazingly adaptable to a vast array of diets. And the best diet is the one that both matches the client’s unique physiology and is something they enjoy enough to follow consistently.

Indeed, you can make people lean, strong, and healthy on a plant-based or a meat-based diet. You can help improve their health with organic, free-range foods and with conventional foods. They can lose weight on a low food budget or an unlimited one.

It just takes a little know-how and a system for using the best practices across all diets.

For more on each of the various diets, and the best practices of each, check out: Paleo, vegan, intermittent fastingHere’s how to choose the best diet for you.

Question #3

“Do I need to count calories?”

This may be the most common question we’re asked. And, in some ways, it’s the most difficult to answer.

After all, weight management is a pretty simple equation. Eat more calories than you burn, and you gain weight. These are the most accurate flat belly tonic reviews.

Except counting calories isn’t that simple. And human brains aren’t food calculation machines.

For one thing, calorie counting is imprecise. Calorie counts on food labels and within food databases are often as much as 25% off. So “calories in” is hard to get right. Also, calorie expenditure estimates using tables and cardio equipment readouts are also as much as 25% off. So “calories out” is hard to measure accurately.

Beyond that, counting calories is an external system (outside of your body). In essence, you’re outsourcing hunger and appetite awareness to the calorie counting gods. Which trains you to ignore your own interoception (internal signals).

A Survival Is Fine Too

…terrible and geeky title references aside, I spec’d my Horde hunter Survival because, well… currently she’s Survival due to RP reasons. (You know, as “RP Reason” as I can get away with for somebody who never actually roleplays.)

So I was dinking around with Survival and originally I wasn’t actually impressed. In fact, I bought dual spec (cheap now!) and went Beast Mastery, haha.

But then I figured “Dude, Pike, your main character is Beast Mastery, just give Survival a shot on your secondary character. Gosh already.”

So I started to practice with Survival. I reforged up to some Mastery and then the hunter hotfix came through the other day making things even yummier.

The Verdict:

Survival is currently hilarious.

Reason #1 Why Survival is Currently Hilarious:

This is my casual character who has never raided and is in a bunch of like… Triumph badge gear and the super old Nesingwary gun.. And yet when I pop trinkets and Lock and Load procs my DPS goes through the roof. Like, 8k. It’s freaking hilarious. Of course, then it dips down to a number that is lower but still very respectable.

Reason #2 Why Survival is Currently Hilarious:

Improved Serpent Sting + Serpent Spread.

Improved Serpent Sting makes your Serpent Sting do instant damage on first hit, like a normal shot. Serpent Spread makes your Multi-Shot put Serpent Sting on everything. Take these two talents and go Multishot into a giant group of mobs. I promise you will clap your hands and start giggling.

…I was going to have a Reason #3 but right now those are actually the only two reasons I can think of. The extremely high focus cost of Explosive Shot negates some of the fun, I think. That said, I really enjoy the spec. Almost as much as Beast Mastery.

Next up: Marksmanship!

Beast Mastery Stuff 4.0

Okay I’ve played around with Beast Mastery a bit in heroics and stuff and I have some tips for it. Note that this is not a comprehensive guide and I haven’t done any rooting around EJ or any real math or anything.

OVERVIEW:

Beast Mastery is now providing a very different playstyle than it has in the past. See, we used to be all about burst. Now, we’re all about ramping up. Your AoE damage is gonna suck now that we’ve lost Volley and MultiShot is expensive, focus-wise. Your DPS is probably gonna suck if your group is full of warlocks doing 10k on bosses (did I mention that I’m back to leveling my warlock? >.>) and thus the bosses die within ten seconds. Where your DPS is going to shine is on longer fights that allow you to use Focus Fire, get some of those tasty Kill Command crit procs (can’t think of the name right now), and take advantage of the new Glyph of Kill Shot which is ridiculous and awesome.

In addition we have a lot of fun procs and a lot of fun buttons to press and while I still dislike the mechanic of Focus (until I get used to it anyway) I’m liking all the new stuff-to-do. I’ve spent some quality time with all three specs and I can honestly say that I find the new Beast Mastery to be the most fun– and I’d like to think that I’m not being biased when I say that, seeing that I really fell in love with Survival a couple months back.

ROTATION:

Basically on a single-boss fight you are spamming Arcane and using Kill Command when it’s up. Use Bestial Wrath when it’s up. View Steady Shot as a “Mini-Viper” of sorts (that made the transition to using Focus easier for me). I.E., when your gas tank is starting to run dry, pop a couple of Steadies to get it back up to speed. Use Focus Fire when you see the icon light up. I had a comment ask if they had to be watching their pet’s Frenzy stacks now– no, you don’t, as far as I’m aware, because Blizzard is nice and made it so you get a big shiny glowy effect on your Focus Fire button when you can use it. (Note: you also get the big shiny glowy effect when your Kill Command “Killing Streak” thing procs.)

Just like I view Steady Shot as a new Mini-Viper, I also view Fervor as a Mini-Readiness of sorts, because it restores Focus to you and gives you a few extra seconds of Fun Stuff To Do. That is, I’ll pop it a few moments into a Boss Fight, as follows:

TYPICAL BEAST MASTER BOSS FIGHT:

The Beast Within ->
Rapid Fire/Any Trinkets ->
Serpent Sting ->
Spam Arcane and use Kill Command when it’s up ->
Once Beast Within fades, pop Fervor… this will give you a little more juice now that you’re not getting the Focus cost reduction from TBW anymore. ->
Right around here Focus Fire is gonna light up, so use that. ->
Go back to Arcane/Kill Command and Steady as necessary. Serpent Sting again if you’ve got a ways to go on the boss. ->
Optional: Check Recount and feel special.

SPEC:
Pretty straightforward; scoop up the talents that give you DPS increases. Really the only choice you’ll be making is Spirit Bond vs. Improved Mend Pet. As usual I’m addicted to the latter but I imagine most people will pick the former, or perhaps put one point in each.

I had five non-Beast Master points left over, which I dumped into Go for the Throat and Efficiency.

GLYPHS:
Right now for Prime Glyphs I’m using Kill Shot, Steady Shot, and Arcane Shot. They’re sexy.

OVERALL SPEC/GLYPH SETUP:
I’m using this. Use at your own risk because I sort of just made it up as I went along.

PETS:
Corehounds are the current New Hotness because they get Bloodlust/Heroism. A lot of pets get a lot of great stuff though, check out this chart for details (I didn’t make it):

…of course, really the chart should have a line that says something to the effect of “Are you Pike -> Yes -> Use Whichever Pet is Prettiest” because you guys have to remember that I’m that person who refused to use a wolf throughout the entire duration of WotLK because I thought dinosaurs were much more awesome, so…

…yeah. *coughs*

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:
I’m not sure if it’s bugged or what but Kill Command sure likes to tell me I’m “out of range” and the like when I try to use it. DISREGARD THAT, just wait to use Kill Command until your pet is actually attacking something.

Also my pets seem to be dying a lot.

Dunno, I’ll get back to you on those.

Okay, I think that’s about it. Questions/comments/rants/raves/rambles? Lemme know! *points to commenting link*

So I did a heroic on my hunter.

Oh hey look, my AoE DPS sucks. Just like Burning Crusade.

But I do pretty good on bosses. Just like Burning Crusade.

I actually have to wait for the tank to get aggro. Just like Burning Crusade.

…we’re wiping. Just like Burning Crusade.

This heroic is taking forever. Just like Burning Crusade.

…okay, you know what, I liked Burning Crusade and all, but when I did a heroic in BC it meant the following:

a.) Waiting for people/guildies I trusted to all be on at the same time (was a rare occurance, considering our respective schedules– so heroics didn’t happen every day)
b.) Getting on Ventrilo
c.) Generally setting aside at least an hour for the whole thing.

And now I’m trying to PuG this via the Random Dungeon Finder.

Ye Olde Obligatory First Impressions Post

1. Huh, so now that I avoided it the first night let’s log in and see the damage. Druid first.

2. Wow, not a big fan of new resto. Instant Cast Regrowth with Tree is nifty but eeeeeeeehhhh. Let’s try Boomkin.

3. …

4. …

5. …omg…

6. …omg BOOMKIN IS SO FUN

7. OMG

8. OMG WHEN DID BOOMKIN GET THIS AWESOME

9. OMG LET’S SPEND 15 MINUTES RUNNING AROUND CRYSTALSONG KILLING STUFF. OMG SUNFIRE. OMG SOLARBEAM. I FEEL LIKE A POKEMON.

10. OMG PVP. OMG ALTERAC VALLEY. OMG WE’RE LOSING BUT I DON’T CARE EAT MY STARSURGE.

11. OMG THIS IS MY NEW MAIN

12. *takes a break and takes some deep breaths*

13. Okay, let’s try hunter out.

14. *spends about an hour messing with all three hunter specs and figuring things out*

15. Okay, I’m doing roughly equal DPS on all three hunter specs. Slightly more with Beast Mastery. I’m probably doing something wrong.

16. OH HEY LOOK I FIGURED OUT THE GLYPH SYSTEM. NO WONDER MY DPS SUCKS. LOL. *glyphs up*

17. …slight across the board DPS increase. Not as drastic as I was expecting.

18. AHAHAHA having to hit Kill Command in time when the buff procs is giving me Burning Crusade flashbacks.

19. So Beast Mastery suddenly has a ton of buttons to press. I like it but it will take some getting used to.

20. I SO WANT TO TAME MORE PETS. …but I don’t know what I want to tame… eh… guess I’ll wait on that.

21. …

22. …

23. …so uh, I want to play my moonkin.

24. *logs off, runs to job interview*

Top Five Characters I Should Have Kept Playing, But Didn’t

Hello! I’m all settled into my new place, albeit jobless (though if worse comes to worse there’s always K-Mart… u_u ) so I’m back to pester you all! Exciting, no?

Let’s get down to business. 4.0 is coming out today. Don’t come to me for any guides or anything, at least for a bit. I’m no good at explaining things if I haven’t actually sat down and done said things (I’m a “learning by doing” person, 100%), and since I never got into the Beta and I’m not really a PTR kinda girl I have no idea how the new gameplay is going to be. Nor am I overly concerned. I’ll figure it out as it comes. *shrug*

So instead, have a list of awesome characters I started but then abandoned.

Tanfarr the Level 27 Draenei Paladin
I had a great RP for Tanfarr. The idea was that he was a very devout and just Paladin who was horrible at speaking Common. Thus, everything he attempted to say would come out very very wrong. (“The hand of the light touches you in a very special way!”) The joke is that poor Tanfarr would never dream of saying this stuff in his native tongue but has no idea how racy it all is.

So I was really excited about this character and paladin’ing was actually pretty fun for a while. Then I just, I dunno, got bored. I guess I got tired about only having like two attacks. It’s been about a year and a half since I logged into him, I think (not counting the time I stripped him of his BoAs to send them to other characters). Sorry ol’ buddy. I keep him around just in case.

Skybinder: aka Goggles Bear: Level 29 Feral Druid
Hey remember when I quit WoW? Yeah, I was actually gone for a good few months. Then I decided to come back, but for a while, I still didn’t want anything to do with my 80s or endgame and I didn’t want to be tempted by them, either. So I activated a second account and spent a really fun month and a half playing from scratch as a feral druid engineer. I had no BoA items and no help from any level 80s and it was honestly a really good time. I successfully tanked a couple instances (my first attempt at doing so) but then a bad SFK run turned me off of it for a while and I opted to kitty my way through dozens of Arathi Basins instead. Good times. Really good times.

So what happened? Well, long story short I finally decided to reactivate my original account. Then I wanted to save money by not having two accounts running at once, so Skybinder has been stuck on an inactive account since then.

Goggles Bear lives on, though; recently rerolled as a tauren druid who I’m excited about. Engineer, of course.

I drew it :3

Any Death Knight I’ve Ever Rolled
I dunno about you guys but I really do think the DK starter quests are a tour de force. It’s always an experience when I go through them, and I always come out of them really excited about my Death Knight. The first time I did it I remember I’d see other DKs running around afterward and feel an odd kinship with them… they know what I’ve been through. Props to Blizzard for making an emotional connection like that.

Of course then you’re kicked out into Hellfire Peninsula (a zone that I hate) with no idea how to play your class.

No Death Knight I’ve ever played has gotten beyond level 58. I try. And I fail. I always get really close to 59, but it just never happens.

RIP, Pike’s Death Knights.

Any Mage I’ve Ever Rolled
I have this really bad habit of rolling mages, getting them up to the mid-10s or early-20s, and then getting distracted.

I don’t know what it is. I like mages. I just… I dunno.

The highest level mage I have is… huh, can’t check at the moment. I wanna say level 27. I turned her into one of my bank alts some time during Burning Crusade. Oh well.

McDuff, the Level 13/14(?) Undead Mage
He falls into the above “Any Mage I’ve Ever Rolled” category as well, but I wanna give him his own section. I had a really fun backstory for this guy. Geeky sciency farmkid who goes to Lordaeron to study geeky sciencey things and gets undead-ified by the Scourge. Bad timing and all that. Of course, that doesn’t faze our hero, who just wants to blow things up.

I had a lot of fun thinking about this backstory and playing this character but I guess he was never just very high on my priorities list. Too bad, because last year I spent days farming Brewfest tokens for him so he could have a purple hat. Hey, you gotta have a geeky hat for a geeky character. True facts.

I have tons of others I could ramble about but I’d rather not crit you with the text. What are some characters that you were excited about that you wound up abandoning?

AFK. No, I mean, REALLY AFK

There are rumors on the internets that I’m returning to Aspect of the Hare full-time.

And you know what, I’d love to do that.

It’ll be different. At the moment I lack both the time and interest to raid or really play “hardcore” or provide hunter guides. However, I had a lot of fun writing, say, the food post and I’d like to do more “fun” stuff like that, a few times a week, if possible.

Unfortunately this is going to have to wait a bit. See, due to a REALLY long and convoluted series of events I am moving to the west coast (Western Washington to be specific.) I am doing so, uh… *checks watch*… in under twenty-four hours. I also had to quit my job. And I haven’t been able to find a new one yet. (Which has me absolutely terrified, by the way.) So these next few weeks will involve the following: throwing things into a truck, driving 600 miles west, unpacking, and frantically job-hunting because I have bills and crap due in a few weeks.

I’m telling you all of this primarily because I feel bad about repeatedly getting everyone’s hopes up about the return of the Prodigal Pike which is inevitably followed by me not really delivering. But this is what’s going on, so now you know.

TLDR: I’d love to come back but gimme some time to make sure I can actually afford food and stuff.

Much <3 to my most dedicated readers.

I Was Told I Could Farm at a Reasonable Pace From Nine to Eleven

I was really casual about it. Did the easy quests when I remembered and didn’t stress if I skipped a day or two. (Or three, or four.)

But it turned out to be a really enjoyable little grind. I would not have wished doing it at 70 upon anyone, though. I mean, all those elites running around and everything, yipes.

But yeah, logged on every morning (I’ve been working evenings), did a few quests, and here we are less than a month later.

Shiny!

Top Fourteen Foods in WoW That Make Me Hungry

1. Bountiful Feast: Guys look at the icon on that tooltip. If you aren’t hungry now, I think something might be wrong with you.

2. Chocolate Cake Slice: Delicious cake, as I’m fan of sweets, like the best cookies to ship as a gift which are delicious too.

3. Chocolate Square: What would YOU do for a Klondike Bar?

4. Conjured Croissant: I love croissants. Especially the ones that come in bulk from Costco. BONUS: Go to the WoWHead page for this item. Observe the screenshot. LOL.

5. Conjured Mana Pie: I seriously can’t look at this without having to repress the urge to go get a pie.

6. Golden Fish Sticks: I’m a huge junk food person and I’m a huge seafood person and fish sticks are divine. Also: Check the “screenshot” on this one, too.

7. Poached Emperor Salmon: I was born on an island in the Pacific Northwest, mere miles from the ocean. I blame this for the fact that the disease known as A Lust For Salmon At All Times runs rampant in my bloodstream.

8. Pumpkin Pie: See #5.

9. Rock-Salted Pretzel: You know those giant soft pretzels that you get at the fair? (or the Target food court?) Yeah. This. Yum.

10. Slow Roasted Turkey: I do apologize to all vegetarians that read my blog but OMG THIS MAKES ME HUNGRY.

11. Smoked Salmon: Guys I wasn’t kidding about the salmon thing I mentioned before. It’s basically the food of the gods.

12. Tasty Cupcake: More screenshot gold. And yeah cupcakes make me happy out of game as well <3 13. Versicolor Treat: This has got to be the yummiest-looking candy in the game. Mmmmm.

14. Wild Ricecake: It looks like something I could get from IHOP. Thus, I want one.

15. Male Blood Elves WAIT WAIT I DIDN’T SAY THAT