Daily LoWdown for Wednesday 10/11/2006

[Yuglooc]

EQ2: Zyzzyva went to the Enchanted Lands and killed lots of evil eyes and evil faeries, hoping to finish off those Lore & Legend quests. After maybe 45 minutes without any luck, he moved to the Pillars of Flame, where he killed many goblins to finish a quest he got in January.

I don't have to go to work Thursday night, so I'll be up for some adventuring (Claymore line, helping others with dragon language, Bonemire writs - whatever) then.

[deepfred]

great adventures in norrath!

we did the impossible in BSV and got a couple of greater lightstones, ozeki updated all kinds of silly yet amusing things with his sandalwood pick (0-110 mining in 1.5 hrs flat, with a charmed highest lvl giant in TS killing gnolls & skellies for various green quests) and updating a whle bunch of stuff in evil, nasty, filthy, qeynos, ZOLDAN DINGED 70!!!, Mos got 52 & much love in the armor & weapons department, cregan FD'd like a master thru SoS, Nitz dinged 58!!!, Xuthia dinged 49!!!, kaien & taas got ools access & teh dragon language runes there, Fis got some ubar thingie i forget the name of, and kalmaris was introduced to Living Tombs by being keyed to Silent City on his first visit with what has to be the best pick-up group in LT i've ever seen - and... wait for it... ZOLDAN DINGED 70!!!

might report on BSV tomorrow mornin when i got time to type it out.

was simply a blast. too much goodness to report on, prolly got half of it wrong, and forgot the other half. on top of that we spent loads of time talking in vent about how much we can't wait for EoF and all the goodness contained within.

/breath

[Draknor]

Winter has arrived. Why do I live in this state again?:roll:

[Charinida]

/me wonders where the thermals, gloves and jackets are... Does a leather jacket work well for winter?

A lil' messy here at work, as well as other parts due to the weather conditions (low vis, fog, light rain, et al) ... Air traffic at LGA (or was it JFK?) was temporarily halted 'cos of the accident.

Finished Corrigan's Cross. Debating whether to start on Dance of the Gods, or read the Guild Wars prima guide (which has errors I hear?).

Played GW, got Tomoe up to L7 ... Not sure what quests I'm missing... Still need to explore more. Need to figure out where I need to concentrate my points. Thinking Marksmanship, Beast, Fire/Air and maybe Expertise? She's still in Pre-Searing, haven't crossed over yet...

I haven't turned the heat on yet... Woke up to a nippy 58 room... Not to mention how the feet felt on the wooden floors...

[leng]

Played some WoW. Got the druid to 8 and visited Darnassus to find out how it connects to the mainland. Found the hippogriff nests.

Logged on the Warlock. Visited the other end of the Darnassus hippogriff run only to discover you only get the thing enabled if you visit the Darnassus end. Decided to swim but died of fatigue half way. Ran out to recover corpse and discovered even ghosts get fatigued over water. Managed to recover corpse and get far enough so that the next res was in Darnassus. Registered at hg nests so that I can go back if I want to without all the polava. Trained alchemy to artisan level and found out where to buy the book to do the same for cookery.

There has to be a better way of getting to Darnassus the first time.

[RJO]

Slow night in Norrath for me. We got a late start to the night as Tammy was late getting home from work. We did however manage to get the very important Words of Pure Magic quest done for Kiir, Evan, Tammy and myself which was awesome. Otherwise I just ran around trying to figure out what to do and then just realized I was exhausted and went to bed :)

Work was not bad yesterday, fairly uneventful. Two more days to go, love short weeks :)

[Charinida]

There has to be a better way of getting to Darnassus the first time.

There's a boat, I believe... Linking Auberdine/Dark Shore with the lil' village...

Either that, or get a portal...

[Serani]

Finished Corrigan's Cross. Debating whether to start on Dance of the Gods, or read the Guild Wars prima guide (which has errors I hear?). I decided not to start on any of them until the last one is out the end of the month. Then I don't have to wait. :lowrazz:

Worked late last night to make up for an appointment earlier in the day. Played a bit of the Yahoo! game Avalanche then watched some more season 7 of SG1. Not quite half way through, but it'll be a bit before I can get season 8, so I'm taking it slow.

Tonight is Ryan's open house. It's got me ticked because they scheduled the Open House during their book fair. So, if I don't go (because we can't go to the book fair), then they treat you like a terrible, uninterested parent. If I DO go, then I have to spend the whole night telling Ryan we can't buy books. :( *sigh*

[Caranthir]

Took Kaerik to WSG three times during the course of the night. Alliance went 2 for 3, and Kaerik racked up a ton of kills. Watched Jericho, Lost, and the Nine before calling it an early night.

Realized the night before last that I've become something I really couldn't say I've been for probably a couple of years at least: happy. My life's undergone a lot of improvements in the last month or so, and things just seem to keep getting better.

[Greebo]

There has to be a better way of getting to Darnassus the first time.
*snicker*
*snort*
*guffaw*

Dude, thats just funny... :)

FYI when you are on beaches, on your mini map you can see a line where the water turns darker. That is deep water, and will kill you of fatigue long before you can get anywhere but back to the shallows.

*snort* Swim to darnassus... :rofl:

[Greebo]

DNP: Had dinner then went to see Brother in law to work on picture collection from Wales - we're putting together a slide show dvd for the wales group at the reunion at the end of the month.

[attriel]

another long day at work

got home and made pizza. k was still run down from tuesday camp, so i ran the dishes, ran the laundry and played a bunch of CoH

got ~75k xp. just another 150 to level :o

--attriel

[Zyzzyx]

I was tired when I got home yesterday. Something about this durn thing called 'work'. ;)

Well, more likely it was the 530am wakeup time. The 9 hour days are gonna take some getting used to as well. (work 9 hours/day, get every other Friday off). Next week my time shifts back 30 minutes, that'll help a bit, do 7:30-5.

But overall, was a very busy day. Introductions to way too many folks on the IS&T team. Interesting to learn that this IT group is the best in Bechtel, and very well respected by others in the world as well. And me? I'll be a Call Analyst. Basically tier 1 helpdesk support. Don't have to solve everything, just know who can and route it there. I'm gonna double check on the numbers today, but overall the IT group is 50 folks, supporting about 2200. And there's two of us on the phones. :) Yeah, it'll be busy.

[Lycos]

There has to be a better way of getting to Darnassus the first time.

:lowlol: :lowlol: :lowlol:

I have to admit, if I didn't have a night elf at one time, I might have done the same thing. There's a boat at Auberdine.

Played some WoW last night. Got on to get Charity to Ratchet to finish a quest then went to Tanaris to finish a quest. I need help with that one. Spent some time looking for someone who might be interested in finishing the same quest, no luck. Played Daelorn a bit. Tried Stromgarde solo, died quickly. Went to South Shore and got a couple of new quests. Went up and killed Ogres for some xp and finish a quest. Had a nice hunter try and ks me a couple of times. He failed both attempts and got fed up after I thanked him for his assistance. :D Went to bed shortly after that.

[Raveneye]

My life's undergone a lot of improvements in the last month or so, and things just seem to keep getting better.

Very good to hear Caranthir. Here's hoping it keeps getting even better. :pint:


DNP once again last night (becoming a theme anymore). I took the boy to his cub scouts den meeting, which is run by parents. Imagine for a moment the absolute worst raid you've ever been on, 20 people all ill-prepared, all talking at once, nobody agrees on anything, then everyone just sort of jumps in and does their own thing, and within 5 minutes everyone is dead and angry. Well cub scouts is a lot like that. I was OOM and needed a rez 10 minutes into the 2 hour ordeal. :lowlol:

Got home to some infuriating news. My wife went to the annual community association meeting (since I was busy being aggroed by 20 level 6 tiger scouts) where she and many others were going to complain about the board (which consists of one homeowner and two developers, so we always get outvoted) raising the annual dues from $200 to $325 and tacking on a special $100 one-time assessment in addition to that. The assessment makes no sense considering it's for landscaping an area that is still under construction by the developers and anything we put there will get torn up again when they resume work. Long story short, the board decided to send a big F-U to all the homeowners and simply raise the annual fees to $425 (more than double) apparently out of pure spite. Then we learn that the association is broke, despite having run in the black for the past three years. The developers claim it was increased expenses this year that did it, but I'm beginning to suspect mismanagement or worse (like misappropriation of funds). In any event, the entire thing was handled very poorly, right from the start the board proclaimed they would slap a lien on the home of anyone who didn't pay by the due date or dared to challenge the increase. They seemed to think they were doing us a favor, saying that they easily could raise the bill to $500 or more per house. Insane.

Watched LOST and read more Temeraire in an attempt to calm down. Finally fell asleep around 12:30am. Ugh.

[leng]

Realized the night before last that I've become something I really couldn't say I've been for probably a couple of years at least: happy. My life's undergone a lot of improvements in the last month or so, and things just seem to keep getting better.

I'm really glad to hear that.

[Lycos]

Got home to some infuriating news. My wife went to the annual community association meeting (since I was busy being aggroed by 20 level 6 tiger scouts) where she and many others were going to complain about the board (which consists of one homeowner and two developers, so we always get outvoted) raising the annual dues from $200 to $325 and tacking on a special $100 one-time assessment in addition to that. The assessment makes no sense considering it's for landscaping an area that is still under construction by the developers and anything we put there will get torn up again when they resume work. Long story short, the board decided to send a big F-U to all the homeowners and simply raise the annual fees to $425 (more than double) apparently out of pure spite. Then we learn that the association is broke, despite having run in the black for the past three years. The developers claim it was increased expenses this year that did it, but I'm beginning to suspect mismanagement or worse (like misappropriation of funds). In any event, the entire thing was handled very poorly, right from the start the board proclaimed they would slap a lien on the home of anyone who didn't pay by the due date or dared to challenge the increase. They seemed to think they were doing us a favor, saying that they easily could raise the bill to $500 or more per house. Insane.

Another reason Home Owner Associations are just something to stay away from. What course of redress do you have? What accountability is there to your money? It's completely resting on the benevolence of the organization. Sorry to hear that Raveneye.

But the raid analogy is too funny! :lowlol:

And I too am glad that things are looking up for you Caranthir.

[GravenStone]

Got home to some infuriating news. My wife went to the annual community association meeting (since I was busy being aggroed by 20 level 6 tiger scouts) where she and many others were going to complain about the board (which consists of one homeowner and two developers, so we always get outvoted) raising the annual dues from $200 to $325 and tacking on a special $100 one-time assessment in addition to that. The assessment makes no sense considering it's for landscaping an area that is still under construction by the developers and anything we put there will get torn up again when they resume work. Long story short, the board decided to send a big F-U to all the homeowners and simply raise the annual fees to $425 (more than double) apparently out of pure spite. Then we learn that the association is broke, despite having run in the black for the past three years. The developers claim it was increased expenses this year that did it, but I'm beginning to suspect mismanagement or worse (like misappropriation of funds). In any event, the entire thing was handled very poorly, right from the start the board proclaimed they would slap a lien on the home of anyone who didn't pay by the due date or dared to challenge the increase. They seemed to think they were doing us a favor, saying that they easily could raise the bill to $500 or more per house. Insane.

Sounds like time to "casually" mention this to some of the lawyers where you work - do any specialize in Real Estate by chance? Also, I would strongly consider forcing an audit of the books for the community association. If they're suddenly running in the red after consistently being solvent, then something is seriously wrong - or they're corrupt Republicans :tongue: (and you being in Ohio, that's sort of a given at the moment)

[EricStratton]

Sounds like time to "casually" mention this to some of the lawyers where you work
I'm not sure I'd be casual about it at all. That sounds like total BS and I'd talk to other homeowners about getting a 3rd party to look into it.

[EricStratton]

Played some Civ4 until Joy got home. Then we played a bunch of Guitar Hero. Then watched Jericho and Lost.

[Andrea]

I'm not sure I'd be casual about it at all. That sounds like total BS and I'd talk to other homeowners about getting a 3rd party to look into it.

I agree. Sounds like total BS to me ( I can recognize BS easily since I hang out with Greebo in forum chat :lowrazz: ).

[Raveneye]

Thanks for the suggestions gang, but I'm staying clear of it all for the most part. Problem is, we've got 200 home owners, and none of them seem to agree on much of anything. We've got good, solid folks who don't mind paying the extra if they know it'll go to a good use and not be wasted or worse, then we've got people who firmly believe that the original $200 was too much and that we shouldn't have an association to begin with. (So how do we pay for snow removal, common area care and street lamps then?) We've also got maniacs who do insane stuff like ripping down the no parking signs that are there to protect our kids because they think it's their God-given right to park on the street in front of their house. The signs then have to be replaced by the association, costing even more money.

Personally, I'm fine with an increase to $300 or even $350. I think $425 is excessive and vindictive, and my real problem with the board is the gross mismangement both of funds and of power. Every letter they send to the community reads like an edict, and they threaten liens for any perceived offense. We booted the previous homeowner from the board last night, and elected someone more in tune with our interests, but he still gets outvoted 2-1 on everything because the other members are developers. We need to get the board dissolved and reinstated with all homeowners, but apparently that requires a lot of legal wrangling and that means more money, something I'm not about to hand over on a wing and a prayer.

Basically I'm screwed.

[EricStratton]

Personally, I'm fine with an increase to $300 or even $350. I think $425 is excessive and vindictive, and my real problem with the board is the gross mismangement both of funds and of power. Every letter they send to the community reads like an edict, and they threaten liens for any perceived offense. We booted the previous homeowner from the board last night, and elected someone more in tune with our interests, but he still gets outvoted 2-1 on everything because the other members are developers. We need to get the board dissolved and reinstated with all homeowners, but apparently that requires a lot of legal wrangling and that means more money, something I'm not about to hand over on a wing and a prayer.
There was a clause in our HOA legal docs that said once 75% of the homes were sold we (the homeowners) would remove the developers from the board. That happened over the summer and we did take over the board. Now, the only reason I knew about this is b/c one of the homeowners (my neighbor actually) is suuuuper involved in all of the HOA stuff and he kept everyone informed. He got the community management company to start the process, he got the company to send out all the voting ballets, etc etc. W/o him we may still be in your situation.

Do you know if there's any clause like that for your HOA?

[Asharad]

Presenting, me and my niece (aka, the cutest baby in the universe):

[Lycos]

Presenting, me and my niece (aka, the cutest baby in the universe):

Dude, comb your hair! :lowlol:

With the exception of my own kids, she is the cutest baby in the world! ;)

[Asharad]

I actually don't own a comb!

And I will allow dispensations for all of you who think your own children are cuter. it is wrong, but understandable.

[Caranthir]

Bah, I direct you to the gallery, where I recently posted a picture of the cutest 5-year-old bundle of pure evil on the face of the planet. I don't know what it is, but there's something about red hair that amps up that cuteness factor five-fold. And that holds true well into adulthood. ;)

[Andrea]

Presenting, me and my niece (aka, the cutest baby in the universe):

Well, its a good thing you said baby cause I would have to disagree. I dont consider my kids "babies" anymore (although they may act like it from time to time). So there! :lowrazz:

[Kiir]

Played a bunch of EQ2 did some running around on Mos mainly. Started the Carpet Quest. We are in the middle of the second step now. Took a break for a bit then came back and ran about trying to get discovery and collection experience. Didn't quite make it, but Xuthia got on so we duoed the start of the carpet quest for her and then kept killing things till both of us dinged. I then took another break for awhile. Got back to go to the Drusiac language quest runs. Got that and went to buy my new armour and some new weapons thanks to Boosie :). After that I was tired so I logged, surfed the boards some and headed to bed.

Where I couldn't sleep, so I read a bit, made a toasted cheese sandwich because I was hungry and finaly got to sleep around 4am.

[Raveneye]

And I will allow dispensations for all of you who think your own children are cuter. it is wrong, but understandable.

My kids may not be the cutest in the world, but they are the sneakiest, smartest and most manipulative beings ever to pass for human. They would pwn that cute baby in a New York minute. :D

Too cute. Isn't that the same expression pretty much all women get when they come within 5 feet of you?

[Raveneye]

Do you know if there's any clause like that for your HOA?

The only thing like that in ours seems to be a time limitation. Something like after 2010 or something we can unseat the developers and place our own people in their place. By that time, we'll be paying $1000 a year in fees at this rate.

I suspect some of the problem may be the developers themselves dragging their feet on gettign things done that would accelerate the changeover and benefit the community. They still have not dedicated any streets but the main one, which means we pay for snow removal on all others. They still haven't finished some projects the county mandated that they complete before turning things over to us, and they are most likely not very agggressive in pursuing fair contracts for the landscaping and other services.

[EricStratton]

Too cute. Isn't that the same expression pretty much all women get when they come within 5 feet of you?
Man, you are so smitten. It's actually getting kind of awkward for the rest of us. :lowrazz:

[Raveneye]

Man, you are so smitten. It's actually getting kind of awkward for the rest of us. :lowrazz:

Ash is my Sawyer. :*

[Sylvene]

Tonight is Ryan's open house. It's got me ticked because they scheduled the Open House during their book fair. So, if I don't go (because we can't go to the book fair), then they treat you like a terrible, uninterested parent. If I DO go, then I have to spend the whole night telling Ryan we can't buy books. :( *sigh*

That's when you write a letter expressing your concern and displeasre that they would schedule it that way, explaining that scheduling a open house at the same time as a non-kiddie exploitation event such as a concert or seminar was fine, but to schedule that at the same time as a retail event was being inconsiderate of parents and children.

[Sylvene]

Presenting, me and my niece (aka, the cutest baby in the universe):

Aww... what a cutie!

Ash... get a haircut, dude! Wait... you don't own a comb.. so those are "artfully arranged locks of hair" for the... umm... "sexy, tousled look" held in place by a can of ozone destroying hair-spray per "artfully arranged" lock?

How many hair brushes DO you own?? Can you help me with my hair? I can't do a thing with it this morning.

[Sylvene]

They still haven't finished some projects the county mandated that they complete before turning things over to us,

Ahh... should you choose to do something about it... there's your basis right thee.

[Asharad]

Ash is my Sawyer. :*

I really like you too, Cupcake.

Aww... what a cutie!

Ash... get a haircut, dude! Wait... you don't own a comb.. so those are "artfully arranged locks of hair" for the... umm... "sexy, tousled look" held in place by a can of ozone destroying hair-spray per "artfully arranged" lock?

Yeah, my hair is actually not all that great, so I go for the "artfully messed up look." It's actually pretty short, too. No hair spray, but solid water type gel stuff!


How many hair brushes DO you own?? Can you help me with my hair? I can't do a thing with it this morning.

I don't own any brushes either. I use my hands and my total morning hair routine (post shower) takes 15 seconds.

[Sylvene]

Yeah, my hair is actually not all that great, so I go for the "artfully messed up look." It's actually pretty short, too. No hair spray, but solid water type gel stuff!

I don't own any brushes either. I use my hands and my total morning hair routine (post shower) takes 15 seconds.

:rotflmao: I was teasing you sweetcakes. I'm in a pretty good mood this morning.

The sis-in-law has a fear of the kids catching some ungodly... unimaginable disease from play-school and has had me keep them out until my bro persuaded her that they were returning soon... it wasn't gonna hurt... so I have 2 hours to myself and I'm actually getting some work done and can make calls without interruption or with a background of kids screaming.

La...la...laaa

*puts the kettle on for a pot of tea and turns on the stereo system*

[Caranthir]

So, sweetcakes, how old is your niece? :lowrazz:

[Asharad]

So, sweetcakes, how old is your niece? :lowrazz:

8 months.

And I actually make all kinds of fun of my hair, so no need to worry about my feelings Sylvene. It DID used to be a lot longer, Sera thinks I am stupid for cutting it (well, amoungst other reasons!).

[Lycos]

The sis-in-law has a fear of the kids catching some ungodly... unimaginable disease from play-school

From Pre-school? That's where most of our kids got their immunity systems built up! Small doses of diseases are good for your body.

If she's worrying about them getting the sniffles, you better get her drugs when they can drive! :lowlol:

[Caranthir]

8 months.

And I actually make all kinds of fun of my hair, so no need to worry about my feelings Sylvene. It DID used to be a lot longer, Sera thinks I am stupid for cutting it (well, amoungst other reasons!).

At least you don't have this <censored> cowlick. I get it cut too short, I look like friggin' Alfalfa.

[Andrea]

At least you don't have this <censored> cowlick. I get it cut too short, I look like friggin' Alfalfa.

Hehe, Jack has TWO of those on the crown of his head (he gets them from me). I made the mistake one summer to buzz all his hair off. His hair stuck up in the back for months til it grew out.

[EricStratton]

At least you don't have this <censored> cowlick. I get it cut too short, I look like friggin' Alfalfa.
When I was in highschool I went to my regular barber one weekend and he says "Damn, son, that's a hell of a cowlick. God must hate you." Then, after the haircut he kicked me in the gibblets. (ok, not really about the gibblet kicking)

[attriel]

I don't own any brushes either. I use my hands and my total morning hair routine (post shower) takes 15 seconds.

damn. i take over a minute to dredge a brush through my hair. and that's if i just used conditioner and it's all smooth and not knotty. most days it's more like 5 minutes before i just give up :o

...

[Shiz]

As deepfred mentioned it was a good night in EQ2 for LoWers. Nitz moved to KoS and got some help from Gaelrond in starting and finishing some of the intor quests. Nitz picked up a bunch of collections while in KoS, found some others in the guild bank, then spent about 90g buying pieces for some incomplete sets. The eight collection hand-ins netted 60% of an AA and took Nitz from 80% into 57 to 7% into 58. The various rewards from the collections sold back for about 40g so Nitz was only out of pocket 50g for a big exp move. 58 is a key level for zerkers because of Open Wounds, for which I had an adept3 waiting in my inventory.

[Xuthia]

Finally got back to Xuthia and got her to 49. Was fun getting reacquainted with healer type, and gonna try to play her a little more. Trouble is I'm having a blast with Kril and I want to explore KoS more . . . maybe if I skip work . . .

Took a break and logged back on, but had to cut it short as a strong storm rolled in.

[Sylvene]

Sera thinks I am stupid for cutting it (well, amoungst other reasons!).

Serani? What are the other reasons? Spill!

[Serani]

Serani? What are the other reasons? Spill!
Yes, it was me. And I did think he was nuts! He was damn sexy with the hair (though this is] Ash, so he's still damn sexy).

[Sylvene]

Yes, it was me. And I did think he was nuts! He was damn sexy with the hair (though this is] Ash, so he's still damn sexy).

He's pretty cute and taking a picture with his niece helped increase the cute quotient. He sounds like he'd make a fine boytoy since he's not too emo and can take a jab or two. :wink:

Sexy will come with more years on him. *nods*

(Yah... yah... I'm an old woman and have old woman tastes.)

[Caranthir]

Question: WTH is "emo"?

[Sylvene]

Question: WTH is "emo"?

Kiddy speak. "Emotional" more like... "drama queen" if you ask me. :mrgreen:

/hip old auntie gamer

[Asharad]

Sexy will come with more years on him. *nods*

(Yah... yah... I'm an old woman and have old woman tastes.)

I'll be 32 at the end of the month. It's just all this clean living that keeps me looking like a youngster.

(also, a strict drug regimine and I bath weekly in the blood of virgins (which is getting more and more difficult to acquire))

[Sylvene]

I'll be 32 at the end of the month.

Spring Chicken!

*pinches cheek*

About perfect boytoy age though.

*pinches other cheek*

[Raveneye]

This is where I'd say "sometimes you people frighten me", but we're way past that...
:wink:

[Caranthir]

I'll be 32 at the end of the month. It's just all this clean living that keeps me looking like a youngster.

Bah, young whippersnapper!

/em turns 32 on Monday

[Biaxin]

Hey,

I'm 46, Syl, how does that work for ya?

Okay... not so much a boytoy, but as I've said to a number of women - those young guys may have more bullets in the gun, but they're awfully fast on the trigger. Can you dig it? ;)

Yes, desperation flows off of me in tangible waves. :roll:

[Sylvene]

Yes, desperation flows off of me in tangible waves. :roll:

Then do something about it! A man of your age that isn't looking for a 30-something little chica? :yumyum:

From what I've seen on the various dating sites that has been posted here... You'll be inundated. :tongue:

If you have a goal... and that goal can well be defined as meeting a good woman and cherishing each other for the rest of your natural lifes... then work towards it.

You've already put your life back together... time to think about moving forward. :wink:


...


Mmmm... Biaxin in a nurse costume for Halloween?? Ooo... :yumyum: