2.5 Months into WotLK

11/11 Get a copy of WotLK early at a 7-11 where the store salesman doesn't know any better. Email Mike to tell him to do the same. He tries 4 stores in Pasadena before he finds one, and gets the last copy there.

11/12 Opening night. I have it installed and patched up, ready to go. Servers open at midnight EST, 9PM PST. I plan to play from 9-2AM. But first I go to Fry's to interview people standing in line. At 7PM there are about 50 people. I interview people for an hour. When I leave at 8, there are over 200 people there.

11/15 Took a few days off leveling to hit realm-first grandmaster enchanter (450). If I ever do that again, I'll more carefully research all the crafting interdependencies. Enchanting needed a rod made by a blacksmith, which needed titanium transmuted by an alchemist...

11/27 Thanksgiving -- hit 80. All the focused playtime has aggravated my sinuses, giving me a perpetually stuffy nose which lasts into mid-January. :( Play less over the next month, as we try living in SF during December.

12/3 Ghostcrawler from Blizzard posts on the official WoW forums: "If you're 80 already, you are a relatively hardcore player. Most WoW players are not 80 yet."

12/21 Escapism begins raiding Naxx-10.

1/8 Beat the Arachnid Quarter.
1/15 Beat the Military Quarter.
1/22 Beat the Plague Quarter.
1/29 Beat the Construct Quarter. Escapism begins plans for Naxx-25.