How long can you go on if you lost your job right now? If a storm rolls in and your have to go with out power for an extended time? What if there is a huge fuel spike and gas doubles?

Can you handle those things? I think I can some, but not all of them. But I am working on it.

I have talked some of the things my family is doing to be ready for some kind of emergency but I don’t think I have talked about how to get started.

Next time your at the store picking up your normal grocery list pick up some extra can goods that you normally eat. That is a fairly easy place to start. This weekend my wife and I went to the store to get some things because we got the grilling bug. While we were there we went down the can row. They had a ton of 10 for $10 items. So we picked up extra can goods, not a lot but some. And extra 2 of this and 2 of that, all in all maybe an extra 10$ we hadn’t planned to get on this trip. But now we have a few more days of canned goods ready to go.

In most of the US it is time to plant the winter veggies. I hit Lowes a few weeks ago and bought a few 5 gal buckets for 2$, a bag of potting soil, and a few veggie plants. I took a bucket and put a few holes in it put it in side a bucket with out any holes and planted my portable garden. I can move them any time, they can go out side on the back porch or inside under a window with the shades open. Easy. In a few weeks I can have a real garden fresh salad any time.

Do you have a grill? Do you have enough fuel to cook out tonight if your stove doesn’t work? I have a charcoal grill so I know I don’t having just cooked out last night. But I have have my turkey fryer stand ready to go with ample propane if my stove doesn’t work. And an extra bag of charcoal is on the list for the next big shopping trip.

Here is the deal. I just read an article were it claimed that there are about 46 million people at or below the poverty level. And if your reading this then odds are your not there. But it went on to interview some people and they talked about how quickly they went from normal people with real jobs to where their at now. It can be a fast slippery scope.

Take a little time and think about these things. And don’t say “If something happens I will just be screwed so I might as well enjoy myself now.” Take some baby steps to help yourself in advance.

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Last night Java was almost forced to level to 16. I was a little short but the number of level 14 quests were getting a worth while amount of xp from was getting a little light. So after burning the 13s on hard and some on elite and some of the 14s on hard too. I said that is it. I am on the last rank any way. Level time. So minor victory.

So now 15s are on the block, but there is new tasty xp bonuses. I am not sure they are super clear on how they work but I want to share my understand of how they work.

First of all it is all based on first time doing a given quest. If it is the first time for a quest then one of 2 counters goes up or they both get reset to 0. So you have two counters, one for hard and one for elite. The higher these counters the better your bonus is going to be. I don’t have the numbers in front of me but I think you can get an lot of extra xp. I looked them up you get a stacking bonus of 5% for hards and 10% for elites. And stacks up to 5 times. Not sure if that is additively or cumulatively.

If it not the first time going a given quest then you get changes to your hard/elite counters.

So if the first time you do quest A, and you do it on hard then your hard counter goes up one. If you do quest A again there is no change to your counter. Bravery bonuses are only given on the first time ever runs of a quest.

So move on to quest B and do hard, +1 hard counter, and a larger bravery bonus to xp. But then so go to C quest you haven’t done it this life and do normal, hard = 0 and elite=0.

Also there is a with in 2 char limit of the normal quest level. So if your doing a level 4 quest on hard making it level 5 and you want to work your bravery bonus you had better not be higher then level 6.

So my plan is to start making first time runs on hard making the quest at level. Then then go ahead and back down to normals and then hit an elite. By doing that I think I can keep a good bravery bonus going. It might even be worth it to do a bit of a loop and hit 5 on my counter and then hit a big xp quest on elite first time through for a huge bonus.

Encased you missed it the first time bonuses got changed also, elite is a whopping 80% now. So say a 10k quest on elite 80% with a 25% bravery bonus + 25% kill bonus + 10% vandal +10 for not dieing +10 for not reentering + 5% vom + 2% ship equals just huge. I did some what I think was bad math and got almost 300%, I think that is lower as some bonuses are to base xp and some are to total xp.

Anyway low level xp is going to get a lot better. Mid levels???? I am not sure about yet. But I can’t wait to see.
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Well no ddo for me last night. The router died and then my cell battery died. So there was no internets for me. Now I know some of you don’t play every day but for the most part I do. At least for a few minutes, even if all I do is log on and watch youtube videos and play wait and see if the channel brings me something to pull me away from youtube. Normally I am on some amount of time.

So I had a night off. What did I do? Read. Yep I walked the talk. What I mean by that is when someone says they can’t play I point them to a book. Normally a good book. So when presented with the same problem I took my own advice, and read.

So I finished the Harry Dresden book I was reading. I really enjoy these Dresden files books. I also really liked the short lived TV show. But they are totally different. They took names and very general ideas and that was about it. As most things the books are better. I might do a pod on them some time. Maybe one themed books that got made into TV shows.

Speaking of TV, my summer shows are wrapping up. If you missed Suits, Necessary Roughness or Against the Wall check them out.

I that is about it. Got in some extra puppy time, did a messed up parent teacher conference. The kid’s Science teacher is smoke’n hot. Hope I wasn’t drooling. Didn’t see a wedding ring, wonder how she might feel about joining the Samius Commune a little early. 🙂

Oh and before bed I knocked out a few chapters of Food from Water. I was thinking it was more of a aquapoincs book when I bought it. Turns out it is more a harvest and growing in a rural environment. Damn Amazon. But it has some good information in it regardless.

Well pray that the overnight delivery gods favor me and that the new router/modem come this afternoon and game can resume tonight.

If not, I guess it will be Shard of Axe time.

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Oh sorry that is the answer to a question. What question? How long do you have to grind to get the last piece of the litany sigil? And that is my answer, until my eyes bleed.

So last night after staying late at work, I got home and made ready for some down time. Watered the plants, removed my pants, mostly payed attention to the wife telling me all about her excursion to the furnisher stores. I got my PC fired up and ready to go, when I am told I am going to the store to look at the items she has narrowed the selection down to. Growl…

So I ask when and I am told now. Double growl. So we go to the first place, yes the first place, and I am told how she doesn’t like this one. Upon asking why I am here then I am told it is 100$ cheaper then the one she wants. And we wouldn’t have to order it, we could take this one.

I get in the car to head home and end up at another store….Growl. After a few tryouts she finds the couch she likes. A few no goes I found and ottoman I liked, but that was no matter. So we take a look at the couch and it is a couch. Long story short I am not sure why I was needed as we ordered the couch. Plus we end up getting that ottoman I liked. 🙂

So after shopping we pick up dinner and finely head home. I had some paperwork I was going to do before ddo but it was late and I was tired so I went straight to killing mobs.

I ran to Ghosts again and began the loop of doing the quest, getting the end reward and doing the quest again. Lets just say I did get my last part. But in the final chest I got the left frame, another bracer and the first ransack message. It was 9ish and I went to bed, with sore eyes and a total lack of will to go on.

Tonight however, I hope will be a different story. I am flagged for litany. I almost have to level up to 16, so lots of quests are at my finger tips.

I need to take a detailed look at the new xp thing. There might be a need for some hard and elite runs of these orchard quests while there is big xp to be had. And I need to do more then a few loot runs in the new content. It looks like good times, and unless there is an end fight that is way out of balance for the rest of the quests they seem fairly easy. But I have heard things about the raids that make me thing there is the real challenge. But what do I know?

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Screw this to be or not to be crap. I am, so stuff it. 🙂 But I am spending a lot of time lately trying to decide if I want to use normal soil razed bed gardening or if I want to step it up a notch and use aquaponic gardening… Oh yes this could be related to DDO. I might have to do some stretching but I can make it fit. I am not going to, but I want you to know I could.

For you that don’t know the idea behind aquaponic is you grow plants in water fertilized by fish waste where you use the plants to clean the fish waste out of the water keeping the fishes alive.

There are a new nice perks to aquaponic growing vs normal gardening. Growth rate is normally much greater so you can get more from you plants more often. Plants don’t have to be as far spread out since the roots don’t have to fight for nutrients, so you can plant more plants per foot. Depending on your needs available space you can make/get a system to fit almost any area. Oh and it grows what you want it to grow, weeding is super rare. Also you get more out of the system then just fruit and veggies but depending on the fish you use you can eat them. :p

There are some cons however, mostly in the from of energy. It takes a bit more of it to keep up a aquaponic garden. You have to feed the fish, you have to build or buy a system, systems need a pump. Or at least all the ones I have seen pump water up to grow beds. Stands need made to hold the grow beds so we can use as much gravity’s energy as possible when returning the water. You have to add lots of air to the water, both the plants and fist pull air out of the water. So you have to add in more then you think. Most people I have seen use both the return flow and an air stone/air pump.

Other then that it is a mostly closed system, so once it is up and running there is not a lot to do on a daily basis. The maintenance easily can become automated. With a timer for the pump and Bell Siphons in the grow beds.

Normal or dirt gardens have to be water at least once a day. But can be set up to auto water. They have to or mostly have to be out side. You could pot up and have plants in windows around the house. But for the most point take up some area. You could plan some vertical gardening but with that much work you could go aquaponic and do more with less.

So here is the deal. For me to plant my seedlings that are about a week or so away from going in the ground/water I have to get things ready. Be that do some tilling. Or build some tanks and turn my back porch in to a make shift green house.

So what do you think? Fishies or worms?

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She and I went out to the orchard, to farm up my bits to get into Litany. And there was fair loot to be had, you know with the Lady herself by one’s side how could you not?

But you know Lady Luck is a fickle Bi#^&, right? Thank you Jimmy the Hand, he was one of my favorite characters from the Rift War Saga. Jimmy had another saying about Lady Luck, normally right after asking for a favor. You didn’t have to say yes, but did you have to say no so hard?

That is kinda how I felt in the orchard over the weekend. I picked up the pieces 1-3 5-7 fairly early in the weekend. But ran and ran and never saw 4 or 8. I also hit the optional chest in inferno. It takes the least amount of work to get to and doesn’t require you open a locked door. And nothing of note in the chest, until…

Sunday, first run in Ghosts I get the bracers. Ghost touch (yeah) and +1 ac (sure why not…) I have been using a pair on Java to kill nasty ghosties. But another pair is never bad. When I got my pair back in the day they cost me a scale. I bet they are a red, maybe two scales now. Damn inflation.

Pick up my end reward and what do I see lvl 14 +4 force of PG wraps. Not bad at all. Most of the runs had some little perk, lady luck was teasing me.

Legionary Victories, Items with Med guild slots, Majors, even got the other named loot from ghosts the Something armor..Starts with an A, and has 30 fire res, too old to remember every things name.

But never one of the last 2 pieces. Oh well. Just have to keep at it. After all sometimes Lady Luck kicks you when your down. Sometimes you trip her and take her stuff.

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What do you do when your waiting for your group to get it act together? Check out the Ah, fill up on components, tab out and check your email?

I do all those things and sometimes more but then what do you do when there is still more waiting???

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

So last night I get in and Oncler talked me into a epic DQ preraid. Swap and get ready(ship buffed and whatnots). A few mins later I get more ready. Hit the Ah. Dance nude on Oncler’s boat. Claimed his boat in the name of my greatness. Re ship buffed, including killing the training dummy, I am on Samius who is currently a Sorc so killing the dummy not only takes a long time but is also mostly pointless.

And then what?

Well in my case I pulled out my PHONE! And read my book for a while. Thought I was going to say wang there didn’t you? You all make me sick, not really I ❤ you guys. 🙂

A few pages later, Oncler says I need to go afk, stepping inside. So I run out to the six man to not only a afk Oncler. But 2 other people also waiting…

I swear we need a mini game that we can pull up at any time and kill a little time. Like a for plat slot machine were we can win plat, Tp, items, xp… The possibilities are endless.

Not long after we finish up. A epic DQ raid forms up from Oncler, and I foolishly tag along. There was much more waiting. At least 15 mins. But is was a good run. Tobril got Firestorm Grieves, I got some Golden Grieves and there were 3-4 shards and at least one other named item.

And that was my night more or less. I took Java to 15, and did two Hard Gh walk ups. But other then that nothing. It was a slow night of waiting.

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I am doing what I can to keep Samius on timer for the Shroud. And we all know how nice and wonderful pug groups can be and how much I hate to tell you any story about how unpleasant a shroud can be. So I wont.

I joined a pug last night, and after about 15 secs later I regretted it. People were arguing and being jackasses. So I turned down the audio and resumed the podcast I was enjoying while soloing about. And had a simi nice run.

The last spot filled and after a moment dropped. I learned later that they were able to chase that person off with nasty language and telling the raid leader that they wanted more dps not another “healer”

I didn’t myddo any one but I watched everyone and I have to say we had 2 or 3 good people carrying the group. I want to say I was a good player but as I was not really playing with the team I can’t say I was being a good player.

I activated the portal to get to part 2, and was second to get in and get moving. I heard a lot of complaining over my podcast about better not die. And F^&*n zergers. Myself and another guy had mostly cleared the maze when people caught up with us. And the other guy ran off and pulled the bosses. I sent the leader a tell that I wouldn’t be getting the crystal. He replied he had it and that was that. I Dotted and chained lighting all the bosses. And when I wanted them to break I danced off the long way to the portal. And they trailed off and died. Very smoothly.

Part 2 was different. I only solved 2 puzzles and ran 3 water. So I guess there were a few other people helping out. And we jumped into part 4. Also super smooth. But I think a lot of the slower players were still in part 3…

I stood to fight in part 5. A lot of people moved to run. But there were enough that didn’t want to that most of the group stayed. I doted and bolted the bosses as I worked the pool. One by one they ran over to me and died. Except the devil. He ported all over and died later. I took the fire and doted it up. Again while working the pool and it died. *shrug

Again I saw just tons of green lights and faint yelling but it went fine. About 25 min run.

As we waited for people to leave I saw lots of comments like “most fun in a long time” and “your an ass”. And heard lots of calling people names. I don’t think any of that was directed at me, but it could have been??? For all I care I don’t need to play with 8-9 out of the 11 people ever again. There was a ton of BS going down. Never saw the leader’s light once once I zoned out and not at all before. Never had any commutation from him other then a “k” when I said I wasn’t getting the crystal.

I got my 17th completion this life, so win right?

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I got a phone call yesterday from Tobril. And he opened with “Hey, I got a question for you. I need a prise check on a +1 greater heart?”

And it got me thinking, how do you assign a value to a given item?

I think you have to start with what currency are you talking about. In this game there are a ton of different currencies. Plat, larges, epic scrolls, scales, other items.

Me I do most of my thinking in larges. Namely scales and stones. Although I am working in red scales mostly do to others valuing them higher then I do. Think strength of the scale(dollar) vs other(global) markets.

Before I move on I value 2-3 stones to a scale, a scale + stone to a red and 350K- 500k per scale. I have seen a bit over the last few days to say that a red might be worth 2 scales. But I am not there yet.

So now that we have our currency we need to think about setting a price. How do you do that? Well since there is no manufacturing or material costs we have to go with what would we pay for said item. Me I wouldn’t normally trade for a heart. Why? Because a few dollars on TP costs me less then the time I spent in game “earning” the item/s I am trading away. But I try to put myself into the mindset of a person that refuses to pay for a in game item.

Then I look on the forums and the AH (-30% at least on AH prices) and see if I am high or low.

Then I have to say what is the lowest I would take? Any thing below that point is a no go.. Somewhere in that number range I set a mental price. And of course have to add in a little for am I going to use this? Does a guildie/friend have a need? Because they get the “buddy” rate. Sometimes that rate is lower, others higher. It depends on how I felt trades with that person has gone in the past.

Tobril often thinks I make trades that are way in my favor. So he wont trade with me most of the time, he things I would gouge him. Other then one trade were I unknowingly way undercut current market value, I would say all of our trades have been fairly even.

So how did I answer his question at the start? A red and a scale, may be a red and 2 stones. And I would hope for 2 reds.

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I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend. Mine was good. Bought and planted a few things. Picked up a BB gun for the son/wife so they can learn some basics of shooting giving us something we can play around with that doesn’t required a range, vs a 90 min drive to my dad’s place. And it gives a me cheep way to do some (very) small game, birds and squirrels in a ShtF world. Saving real bullets for real game and looters. 🙂

But most of the weekend was filled with Xp grinding. I leveled to 14 early in the weekend, Friday night early. Now until 14 the xp is fast and levels come at a fair pace. 12 used to be a real hump, being mostly sands quests. But the Lordmarch quests helped that out a lot. And gives you something other then undead to fight.

Now at 14 the real work is just starting. 14 is my banking level. Here is were I start to hold the levels back until I have to take them. Before then xp is easy to come by, to much longer after that and you will run yourself in to shallow water. And find yourself taking massive xp hits or working explorer zones for max kills. Did that with Java’s last life, wont do it again.

The other nice thing about 14 is that is the level for Abbot loot comes on line. And I think until 18 and ToD rings it is the last big loot level. Some of you might say 16 for DT armor, but really I could do with out DT on many of my Alts.

Something I got for Java last life that I never used before is the staff from the Abbot raid.

Staff of the Petitioner – +5 Quarterstaff: Power Store (-10% sp cost), Greater Enchantment Focus, Greater Necromancy Focus, Concentration +5, Spell Penetration VIII

Power Store is amazing at this level. It allows me to almost run thru a quest casting BB when ever then swap to my sword and turn and mop up when ever I want to. Even with my poor DC. I was able to get Feast or Famine to 4 mins. That is faster then the 5 min runs I got on Samius’ sorc life. And Java is mostly melee.

I am also using the Fleshshaper’s Docent: +5, Negative Energy Absorption 20%, Fleshmaker, Disintegration Guard, Trace of Madness (Obsession), Power Drain. I am really liking it. I don’t know if the Disintegration Guard procs 3% or not but if feels very low. But I notice that Obsession procs a ton. And it rolls on my attack rolls. So a lot of my attacks are 100%+ hate gen. I like it enough that I am debating about making another suit Mania or Hysteria for the dance or curse guard for times I don’t need all that hate, but don’t want to be in the DoD in case it procs.

After running GH most of the weekend, some times with the wife, but mostly solo I am about ready to be forced to level. That will be good as I am tired GH quests. I want to bloody and then pillage Tor at 15 and try to get a few for xp reavers in for XP before u11.

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