An Ingress Update

MCWTLG Stats 2

Now that I have reached R16 and no longer need to earn badges to level up, I have been pondering what my next course of action should be.  I had given some consideration to changing factions (joining the toads) since this can be quite a challenge (collecting 40 million AP again...ouch) and it forces you to work solo.  Few agents in your new faction will trust you since you have changed sides. 

However I have finally decided that I am going to work on badges next. I have gotten much better with Glyph Hacking lately but not as good as Bryan was when he was playing. I hope to earn my Platinum by end of October.

The guardian stat is not accurate because it only goes from your last active streak up to the point the streak ended, no matter how long ago it was and even then it is not accurate. The Onyx Guardian badge is uber hard to get around here.  Many players (both sides) use web site "scraping" scripts to find potential Guardians of their enemy and hunt them down.  I refuse to do that. I have had a couple of my previous candidates picked off at 90-100 days or so and the person who did it all but admitted they were hunting my Guardians.  People I know who have successfully earned this badge have done some pretty extreme things to do so.

All the rest of the badges/estimates look accurate however "Seer" is on hold from Niantic. Point of clarity, I did not start using Agent Stats until August 2016, two months after I started playing Ingress so the stats are a little skewed.

I also hope to get my Onyx in SpecOps (missions) eventually but with 241 more to complete I will need to travel a lot more. Sherman and Garland have several I have not done yet.  That is one place to start, as well as some of the portal farms in Dallas/Addison which have a lot as well.

I would love to have at least GOLD in every badge but some like "Recruiting" and "Mission Day".  Mission Days are MEGA events for Ingress. I don't have the time, funds, or desire to travel in order to do them.  Recruiting is harder for me since I am an introvert.  Oh well.

MCWTLG Stats 1

It appears that I will earn my Via Lux badge for exploring 300 or more new/unique (to me) portals in the 30 days of September (the contest ends tomorrow at midnight UTC).  This is part of the latest Anomaly going on world wide. I managed to get the portals I needed by driving South down the service road of the Dallas Tollway starting in McKinney, hitting portals just off the tollway and then turning around at IH-635 and doing the same thing on the way back North.  That was Sunday, Sept 25th since traffic would be lighter on the tollway service road.  

On Saturday (Sept 24th) I drove up to Anna, Melissa, Van Alstyne, Howe, Tom Bean, and Sherman on the back roads and explored 167 new/unique (new to me) portals.  I actually used less gas and explored more unique portals on Saturday than I did on Sunday.  I also managed to complete a couple of missions on Saturday but avoided them on Sunday since I had a quota of unique portals to fill.

MCWTLG Stats 3

While you don't earn badges for the stats on this graphic and therefore cannot be used to level up, they are still interesting to me none the less.  Most notably are the "Smuggler" and "Controller" stats for maintaining links and fields respectively.  This particular field was in Cumming, GA created in July 2016 shortly after I started playing Ingress in June 2016.  I did not keep any of the keys to the portals that comprised the field, but nonetheless the field and link(s) stayed up for almost a year without any help from me.  Someone (possibly my old high school friend whom I was visiting at the time) did me a solid. I did not own any of the portals that made up the field so no Guardian badge was earned from this.

The other noteworthy stat is the "Collector"  I drive around with my scanner running most the time and I try to use as much XM as I can to keep the XM tank less than full so it can collect more. "A full XM tank is a wasted XM tank".

The "Link Master" stat surprised me as well.  If I go by my longest link ever, that would mean it lasted almost a week and I am sure that the 74 km link only lasted a few hours.  Before that, the longest one was something like 30-40 km but I am sure it did not last very long either.

As you can tell from the "Country Master" stat, I don't work on large fields.  I have never made a BAF (Big Ass Field) or been part of an Op that has created one. That might change in the future but it is not a goal right now.  I have much more fun tearing down the ones the toad create...right before checkpoint, if possible.

If you were not aware,  the screen shots are from Agent Stats, an app for Android, maybe iOS as well.  It takes a screen capture of your phone and uploads it to the Agent Stats web site where OCR turns it into data to give you the charts.  It is great for helping you decide what medal to chase when you are leveling up.

Looks Like I Made it

I thought this moment would never get here. After approximately 14 months of learning the nuances of Ingress,  I was finally able to reach level 16 on the morning of September 17th, 2016. It was almost anti-climactic as I nudge my way up in AP until I crossed that 40 million AP threshold.  If you play Ingress you know that After you get to level 9 or so the requirements become more difficult to get to the next level.

I was actually doing pretty well up until Level 14 when I was having trouble getting my second Platinum badge. I had given myself a quota of AP to collect every day but thanks to health, weather, and unexpected Interruptions I fell a few weeks behind from my original target  of August. None the less after  readjusting my target date I was able to reach my goal a couple of weeks early.  One of my closer friends that I play Ingress with  who has not reached level 16 yet ask me what my next goal would be. I told him that I still had several Platinum badges I would like to obtain and a couple of Onyx badges that are within reach that should keep me busy for six months or so if I continue playing like I do now with the exception of concentrating on those criteria.

Level	AP Req	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Black
L9	2,400,000	4	1	0	0
L10	4,000,000	5	2	0	0
L11	6,000,000	6	4	0	0
L12	8,400,000	7	6	0	0
L13	12,000,000	n/a	7	1	0
L14	17,000,000	n/a	n/a	2	0
L15	24,000,000	n/a	n/a	3	0
L16	40,000,000	n/a	n/a	4	2

I am within two weeks of getting my Onyx Sojourner badge and A couple of months away from getting my Platinum  badge for Translator and Mind controller.  The rest of the Platinum badges I would not expect to get until 2017 and those are few. to be honest if my goal is to get Onix in all of these badges I could play this game for years. however I am not sure I have that kind of patience because some of those badges would be very difficult for me to obtain due to my less than social nature when It comes to playing games.

I would not have been able to get ahead of my readjusted target date if it had not been for a few of the enlightened agents in the area who  inadvertently helped me do so.  Oweep, Yraah , Pheridon, Txhockeyman, Roseswan, and Roedecker all took out weaker portals in the park nearby that were connected to stronger portals  that they left alone. by only taking out a weak portal They allowed me to go in and  liberate the portal they took down and relink it to the others, Allowing me to create multiple fields.  when they did this they allowed me to collect twice the AP they did. I am somewhat Limited in my playing area so their attack choices benefited me greatly. Maybe these agents didn't care or maybe they just were inexperienced making “rookie mistakes”.I don't know and it really is none of my business but I am sincerely thankful that they had a part in me reaching level 16 sooner than I had hoped.I am sure that in the upcoming months they will learn from  the other agents in the area on some of the nuances of the game play. I am sure I made those mistakes and many more while I was still learning. I am also not too proud to admit that I tend to learn new things each time I go out to play.

And to respond to a comment that was made to me,  I am not protective of any one area or portal. It was simply just too convenient to make points anytime those portals change hands. When my friend WayneA1  would get frustrated that the local portals were changing hands so frequently  I told him, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. It is very easy to become attached to a specific portal or area and want to see it stay under your faction's control for as long as possible. However in Ingress that rarely happens. When the park changed hands and the portals were heavily defended I took the opportunity to earn my Trekker miles and farm the portals for higher-level gear. Farming is not all that glamorous but it is a necessary part of the game play if you want to have adequate gear to attack and defend. I'm not sure a lot of Agents understand that. I try to do my best to make the most of any opportunity I am given.

Work/Health Update

Now that the fun stuff has been reported,  I can start talking about the other two issues that take up the majority of my time:   work and my health.

Work:   

I had posted a while back that my business unit (HPE ES)was going to be spun off and merged with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).Not too long after that announcement I was told I would have to move into a different building in preparation for that merger. I was not happy about it but I decided that I would try to make the best of it. instead of having a dedicated Cube,  I was going to be what is known as a “mobile office worker”  meaning that I would carry my laptop and whatever else I need it into the office every morning and search for an empty Hotel Cube to work from during the day. This did not sound too bad initially until I investigated the hotel cubes  and realized  most of them were very substandard  to work in. If they had a monitor it was small and very few of them had keyboards. None of them had mice. None the less I put together an adequate workstation and called it my home. other people that were forced to do the same thing became my new neighbors and we became friendly, having lunch together on occasions and chatting during our breaks.

The building I was moved to is an older building and has not been updated in many years.The network connectivity is not consistent and a few times over the last 3 months I have been unable to work from the cube that I called my own. The first time that it happened it was resolved the next day And my productivity was only minimally interrupted. the next time that it happened it affected multiple people for about 2 weeks. I cubed hopped  the first few days and then work from home the next few days. during the second week one of the gentlemen who sat near me told me he found a stable area across the hallway in the other Hotel Cube area  so I followed him and set up shop there. I contacted both the Real Estate Group as well as the facilities manager to let them know of the situation. explain to them that I needed a permanent or semi-permanent or Carrier and that you Poppin and carrying around everything that I need on a daily basis was not conducive for me to get any work done. I courtesy  copied my manager on this just so he would know it would not be surprised in case anybody asked any questions. The very next day I was visited by the facilities manager who told me to find a spot that I like that he would have that Cube assigned to me. whether or not that has been done I don't know but I am they'll happily sitting in a much better Cube That has a stable network connection.  sometime soon I plan on bringing in the rest of my office equipment that I had in my permanent Cube in the other building.   that will include a 24 inch monitor, a nice clean keyboard,  and a docking station to bring it all together.

To add to all of that, my 4-5 year old work laptop Failed to be upgraded to Windows 10 and had to be manually  rolled back to Windows 7 costing me two days work. while I will admit that a fresh reinstallation of Windows 7 has made my old machine see much better,  I was surprised on how long it took to get everything installed Kama configured, and encrypted. Normally a person would get a new laptop after 3-4 years  but in this economy and considering we are in the process of a spin merger,  I cannot get a new laptop and Windows 10 seems to fail too often on this model for them to attempt it again.

Health:

I have seen quite a bit of difference in my health since this time in 2014. 2 years ago I was running 5K and half marathon races. today I am lucky if I have the energy to walk 5K after a full day at work.  I certainly do not feel 51 years old. I feel about 10-15 years older.

In early of 2015,  I was officially diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. at that time it was in the very early stages and  its effects were very limited on me. because I appeared to be progressing very slowly, my neurologist decided to attempt another treatment to see if his diagnosis was possibly incorrect. all of the other tests ruled out every possible illness with the exception of multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN).   the most common treatment for that is IVIG therapy with Privigen. The treatment for that begins with a 3 day booster (4-6 hours each day for three straight days)  that will  make even the healthiest people feel horrible. The biggest side effect it had on me was massive headaches. By the time the third day rolled around I certainly did not want to be there and the nurse to administer get my third dose said I should be proud of myself for sticking through it. She said many people do not bother and give up. I figured that if I was going to have to pay for this then I was going to stick through with it.

After the initial booster I had to come back every 30 days for a maintenance load.   With the maintenance load I would sit in an infusion chair from 4-6 hours With an IV in my arm. I had to do this every 30 days until they knew for sure whether or not the treatment was working on me. I received three or four maintenance loads  but they were not having any effect. when I went to go see my neurologist for my quarterly visit back in August he agreed with me that I did not have multifocal motor neuropathy what he was saying was a slowly progressing Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS).

Needless to say this has been tough for me to deal with. When I was first diagnosed with ALS in the back of my mind I kept thinking that eventually someone would find out that I had something else and I would be treated for it and recover.  However now the reality has set in and I am becoming more despondent each week. I am having trouble getting comfortable at night sleeping due to the pain in my left shoulder. the normal positions that I am comfortable sleeping in are not possible due to the pain add my left shoulder. I am unable to extend my left arm out Like I am signaling for a left turn. My wife tells me that I look very miserable when I am first attempting to get comfortable in bed. I guess I can get some pain meds but I really hate using them because the potential for addiction can be quite great.

I am not sure how much longer I will want to continue working. I have not saved up enough money to live off of and there is always the possibility disability but it only pays 70% and I'm not sure that my doctor will be willing to sign off on it yet. He told me once before that he would but I'm not sure if he was just telling me that or he was being sincere. I think he looks at me as being healthy enough to work so he wants me to continue. working would be excellent for my mental health but due to all these stressful changes here in the office I'm not sure it is something is conducive  to a healthy lifestyle or not.

I have vacation scheduled at the end of the month. I am not going to join my wife at the beach like she wanted me to. I'm actually quite tired of going to the beach every year and she knows it. since I'm not going with her she has decided to take an extra weight and swing by and visit a friend of hers in Georgia. that means for 2 weeks I will be on my own without any assistance around the house which is not a major problem. generally I can do most things reasonably well on my own.

During the time she is gone we will be having some work done around the house. First we have a plumber coming over to replace all of the shut-off valves in the house. next we have a contractor coming over 2 power wash and Stain our fence.   while he is there he is going to replace the turbine vents on a roof that were damaged after the last hail storm. my wife has also told me that he will be doing some touch-up work under warranty go on a couple of places on the outside of the house.

I am hoping to be able to run around with my friend Alan Mabry at least 2 or 3 days during the time she is gone. he wants to make a geocaching run into Oklahoma  And I would love to join him as we have a lot of fun on our road trips.  That road trip to Oklahoma has not been confirmed yet but if he has free time we will be going.

Ingress Update

I know it has been a while since I have made an update.   I would like to say that I've been too busy but that simply would be a lie and it's difficult to get motivated to make blog entries when your typing takes so much effort due to illness. Therefore any thing that is typed that will be more than a sentence or two will be done courtesy of Google voice to text.n  Sorry for any errors.

If you have read any of my latest entries, you are aware that I am a fan of the augmented reality game from Niantic, known as Ingress.  Ingress has been overshadowed a bit by Pokemon go but the latter is becoming  less relevant as its popularity begins to wane. Actually Pokemon Go being released helped to me out with my Ingress playing because many Die Hard Ingress players moved over to Pokemon Go at least for a little while. That gave me time to build up my AP and badges.

I was motivated to write this entry today due to an interaction I had with another resistance agent. On my way to work I was hacking, linking, and Fielding Like I normally do at this time of the day. What I am not able to complete on  my way to work I will usually be able to complete on my way home from work. This morning while I was doing some linking I received a message on the Comms Channel from an agent I was not familiar with that consisted of only two words, “please stop”.   I wasn't sure what this meant but my guess was there was an operation running that I was not familiar with and my current linking was endangering it.   I responded with my own two-word response, “stop what?” but I don't receive an answer until after I made it into the office. Once in the office I received a Google Hangouts request from the agent who had reached out to me earlier on the comms Channel. She apologized for her abruptness and told me that she was working on a massive 16 layer field that my current Linking spree  had just ruined.  I felt sorry for her but I am not a mind reader. How was I to know that she was running an op? The last time that I almost interrupted and operation the agent involved reached out and told me what he was doing and I was able to stop before any damage was done.

I guess my point is, if you are going to run an operation and spend several hours doing so, it would help to reach out to the community that plays in that area and let them know so they can accommodate you. I also don't understand why people want to attempt to make a BAF that  involves a highly contested portal.  The portal in question is a at ost office along a heavily-traveled street. Several agent fight over control of this portal every day. I hack/link this portal every morning and if I can link it back to something that I normally maintain, I do. The problem is this agent did not know that, just like I did not know her plans for the BAF. I can tell you that had I known she was working on such a massive project, I would have held off on linking any portals this morning.

I apologize to the agent but I don't think my apology was truly accepted. She sounded very hurt many hours help her time with potentially wasted. now it is possible that she could go back and take down the portal that is causing the problems but that might not be possible for her.   besides comma there is no guarantee that another enemy agent won't come through and muck things up themselves.

I have to give credit to those agents who spend so much time planning projects like this. They are better agents than I am, certainly.   Maybe it's because I'm not really social with my gaming and prefer to play alone. However I would be happy to help somebody if they needed a little bit of assistance on an operation.  I have  knocked down a link or two that was in the way of a BAF for agents in the past.

One of the reasons why I had done so much linking this morning was the fact that I am less than 100,000 AP from reaching the R16 level. This is a big moment for me and I have been working towards it for over a year. I normally give myself a quota of points to make everyday and this week I have exceeded the daily quota and I'm about two weeks ahead of schedule to max out my levels. Of course that's no excuse when you block someone's operation but then you have to know about it you're just playing the game like you normally would.

I have being able to you get to this point in my Ingress playing Thanks to a couple of enemy agents who like to knock down and occasional portal or two at the park across from my house. every time they knocked down 1 portal it gives me the chance to make anywhere from 3 to 10 fields. The amount of points I get exceeds the points they get. it is easier to build than it is to destroy and that is more gratifying as well.