Music Monday - JST, She's Hot

Yes, there is a fascinatiion around the beach house with women guitarists. It was inevitable they'd come into their own in a male dominated area of music. Women do a far better job of expressing emotions than men and the guitar is the epitome of musical instruments with which to deliver a wonderful mix of feelings and talent. Well, hold onto your socks! Joanne Shaw Taylor delivers.



This is not a very good video, but she manages to shine through the low tech effort. There are many offerings on YouTube. Here's another that was recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi:



Watch her carefully. She's gonna' hit the charts not with a bullet but a cannonball.

New music sharing site available; Jamendo. There are over 300,000 selections from around the world. You can download and stream. I did a search in the Blues category and was blown away. Check it out and let me know what you think!

"I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed."
~B. B. King

Spoiler for Tomorrow's Post and Edits Notification

Please bear with me. There is a new quest cycle open in Guild Wars and it's a big deal to players. There have been problems initially, but ArenaNet is striving to quickly correct the bugs. This is definitely not uncommon in any MMORPG.

In order to be brief let me reference this past Friday's Post, July 8, 2011, titled New Guild Wars Chapter. There are now 3 edits in this post that have information about bug fixes and changes in one of the 20 quests which has been a source of frustration. Fellow players may be interested. It concerns the Minister Cho's Estate quest. There is a link to guildwiki too. Friday's post has now doubled in size, LOL.

Got a great Music Monday tomorrow with a really cool link about a legal file sharing site that has over 300,000 downloadable tunes. Good stuff and it's artists from all over the world. Best new music site I've seen in years. Drop in and check it out.

Stay casual or become casual. Both work to brighten a stress filled existence. Later.

"Patience is the ability to count down before you blast off."
~Admiral Akbar

Saturday AM

One interesting thing about this site is that it always produces a different result every time it is used. Still fun in a weird way. Try it and see what you think.

I write like
Arthur Clarke

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

Comment moderation has been changed back to normal. We are going to try this with hopes that the 12 year old 'Anonymous' child will not return with his filthy mouth. Seems people everywhere dislike the vulgar and profane.

"It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style."
~Oscar Wilde

New Guild Wars Chapter

The Winds of Change campaign is now available in Cantha. This the second in a set of three adventures that link the games Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. Go to GuildWars.com and read more. It seems likely that this segment will involve following Miku again. There will be new clothing and a new line of weapons called Imperial. It'll be good to be back in Cantha. Seems the majority of players I know like this area less than the other two continents. What's your favorite area? Why? Cantha is the beach house favorite region.

There is a variety of scenery in the land of the Dragon Emperor. Tropical islands, snow covered alps, a sea made of pure jade, a vast city that reminds me of Hong Kong, plains where monsters and rewards are everywhere, a huge dark forest that contains the hardest mission in the game = Eternal Grove HM, all combine to make a mystical land which reflects the flavor of Cathay. You can obtain really neat elite armor, Canthan, Kurzick and Luxon. There is more Guild Wars info at GuildMag.

It will be good to discover new adventures and areas. Cantha is the smallest continent and seems very 'alive' to me. Tyria, sometimes called the First Continent, is huge with a variety of landscapes. Elona is very much a desert region with some tropical, forest regions. It's all great fun.

EDIT 1: Minister Cho's Estate quest: Be careful and take your time. This is NOT fun and the guildwiki reflects the same opinion. Remember to pull groups towards you so groups are separated. It takes a long time and the goofball peasants you are rescuing heal your enemies!!! The last one is the hardest. Beware the Assassin that quickly starts pounding her. You have to negate that 'Sin or your good efforts will be futile. All peasants must survive. I had hoped for fun quests that entailed new experience content, but all quests so far involve the same enemies with higher levels in the same old areas. Enemy aggro is horrible. I wanted to see new stuff and travel to unknown areas. BTW the game is real buggy right now and so far Miku is nowhere in sight.

EDIT 2: Minister Cho's Estate quest: This SUCKS!!!!! If someone has pointers please share. I haven't the time nor the capacity to continually bang and grind in an event where then fun has been bled out of it. Read all the wiki discussions and it still eludes me.

EDIT 3: K, the Minister Cho's Estate quest was updated at 2:00AM Sunday morning. It's still hard. You cannot "rush" this quest. I used a summoner's stone and a Spiritway team - one Aura MM, a Ghostly Might Communing Rit and SoS Channeling Rit. This is the core group most frequently used  throughout the game and the one used to attempt this quest initially.  The team of four was ramped up with buffs to +10. My Necro prime broke tradition and traded Soul Reaping mes mage garments for Curses armor. Invoked a Spiteful Spirit build that utilizes Cry of Pain (Sunspear Mesmer skill) and Web of Disruption (non attribute Mesmer skill). Very efficient since Arcane Echo is used in most SS builds hence the secondary being Mesmer. It was very cold and calculated unlike the initial offering.  The summoned NPC even survived.  Be sure and take out all foes surrounding the peasants and don't leave the area until the Canthan peasant is no longer in your party. Make sure the three peasants stay alive until they disappear from your team party list. They do not follow you. Return to KC and receive reward from Initiate Zei Ri. It is best not take the HM Bukdek Byway quest at this time. Immediately go to Seitung Harbor. See Initiate Tsuriai for the next quest. Go to guildwiki.com for further clarification. Click on the discussion tab at the top of th Minister Cho's Estate quest page to see other players opinions. It helps. During this quest patience and pulling are the keys to success.

Meanwhile, good luck in the game!

"Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."
~Leonardo da Vinci

Random Thursday - Hands On

"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three."
~Elayne Boosler

Ebooks and Tablets

Own a Kindle, iPad, or other tabletpc? Want to convert ebook files to work with your device? This program is free to use and will convert say a PC ebook file to an iPad file. Not using a PC or an iPad? Don't worry, be happy. This freeware app works with over 200 devices. Besides, any software company that has a sense of humor can't be too bad. This nice attitude is apparent on their site. Check it out at Hamstersoft.

Speaking of tabletpcs, here are several reviews of some top contenders. Tablets are becoming a necessary item in every geek's bag of tricks. Take a look at GizmoCrunch Tablets Review. Also, HP and Dell offer entries too. Visit any of their sites and there's sure to be an ad about their products that will gladly direct you to various reviews. Needless to say, these reviews will be positive with great prejudice, LOL.

My favorite so far is the 32 gig Toshiba Thrive. Still want to have one in my hands to be 100% sure that Thrive is the best bet. If Toshiba holds to their reputation of building superior products this tablet should see great success. My Toshiba Qosmio laptop is definitely the all time favorite device in the beach house geek bag. For now, the Toshiba Thrive only connects with wireless printers. Word out on the web indicates that several apps are in the making to correct this small problem. Besides, cloud printing is an alternative.

Stay casual.

"We've got to learn hard things in our lifetime, but it's love that gives you the strength. It's being nice to people and having a lot of fun and laughing harder than anything, hopefully every single day of your life."
~Drew Barrymore

Correcting Mistakes

People that spam comments are a sick bunch. There is now a heavy duty filter in place and I've been moderating comments. Doing my best to stay on top it, but it's hard to review posts every day. The filter should help quite a bit. Hopefully, we can return to unedited comments in a few days. Really hate to do it, but may ban folks that don't use a nickname. The 'powers that be' also said if I have another rash of people posting just to create turmoil and using profanity they will start tracking IP addys. That really sucks. Takes a lot of fun out of blogging. Moderation is bad enough. The recent harsh comments are under review. I am afraid we did a great dis-service to one Anonymous poster who just happened to get caught in the dust up. Sorry Anonymous person.

Nicknames are easy. Just make up something. Look around the room, call yourself an everyday item like Cellphone, Headset, your pet's name, Jalapeno, CDScratch, etc. No profanity or off colored names that slander someone's faith can be used. Blogger even gets ill about such usage. K, not much of a post today. Up all night and need rest. Stay casual. Later.

"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died."
~Erma Bombeck

Music Monday - 4th Funk!

Okay, I was a 'down with disco' 70s dude. But some music of the disco era was downright awesome. At the time it was all about Southern Rock surrounding me. Secretly I was a closet dancer. How can a person sit down while listening? Really liked this tune the first time I heard it and was absolutely flabbergasted when I saw them!



Rockers should not be quick to judge the music or the group. The dark haired fellow on the left that does the guitar intro is Bryan Bassett. After Wild Cherry, he went on to play guitar with Foghat, then Molly Hatchet, then Foghat again. He still performs with Foghat today.

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."
~Eric Hoffer

46 States & 4 Commonwealths = 50 States

Happy JULY 4TH Weekend!





Gotta like Joey!

"There, I guess King George will be able to read that."
~John Hancock

Dragons and Fireworks

It's Fourth of July weekend and a great time to celebrate with family, friends and Guildmates in Guild Wars. The annual Dragon Festival is in progress online. Just go to Cantha, find your way to the Shing Jea monastery and join the celebration. Great quests, trading, and fun exist for adventurers to enjoy. You must have the Factions Campaign which is on sale all over the net for low, low prices. Chances are this has been installed for years on PCs that see a lot of participation. Join us! Email me for Guild info and an invitation to our lavish Imperial Guild Hall.

Please everyone be careful as you travel. Watch the other drivers and make sure you obey the laws of the road. Rejoice in the fact that you can celebrate this great country and support our brothers and sisters in arms that are defending the freedom of the USA. Leave for your destinations with time to spare and enjoy the trip. That old nuisance of a disease, lackofundsitis, keeps me home and working all weekend. Still, I love the 4th of July. Even bologna sandwiches taste better!

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism."
~Erma Bombeck