F C A

New Game, same Name

2010-10-13T21:31:00.002-04:00

Hello faithful reader!

Since leaving behind the dwindling flame of Depardieu, I have done a lot of fun exciting things!

I hosted our annual 4th of july blowout!

I went to Lake Champlain again, by myself this time and camped for a week!

I helped my wife strip the wallpaper, paint, and redecorate our great room!

I paid off a bunch of crap and told my wife she could quit and stay home and eat bon bons and watch soap operas all day! (she doesnt of course, see wallpaper removal above)

I went fishing a bunch and caught a buncha nice fish. The boat is running like a champ!

I put a new biscuit in the oven, a little bizette this time!

I started reading all the dragonlance books, I'm totally sucked in lol!

And I started playing dungeons and dragons online on the Thelanis server. It's free to play, and non competitive (instanced, or party driven). I like it so far. It's just casul and fun. Not at all like a grind.

I'm on a couple chars:

Bizmarkie 9 (ranger/barbarian)
Tonlok 9 (someone ganked my spelling) (Wizard/fighter) - Pale Master/Death knight
Falsedawn - 6 Favored Soul/Paladin
Mashur - 5 Monk/Wizard
Halei - 4 Barbarian

Stop on in and say hi!

New Hobby and stuff

2010-03-28T16:01:00.003-04:00

This is a non lineage post.

I got a new camera! A Nikon D90 with a big fat telephoto for doing some outdoor wildlife shooting. I really enjoy it and havent been into it for a while. Since college really. This is my first D-SLR so I will have a learning curve. But it'll be awesome. I see some really cool things on the water when I'm fishing. Now I can capture them to share!

Here's my boy.

That's right, he has a camo hoodie made out of helicopters. F'n A right! The awesomeness is beyond measure. That's the 'scursion in the back. Dizzle. That's how we roll.

Keeping tabs

2010-03-28T15:53:00.004-04:00

Hello again, trusted reader. I don't update with drops since most drops have been made meaningless with the various events we've had. The last one, in honor of irish people drinking when they should be working, made everything green worthless. I have like 11 green ammies for the +2 dex set. But I DID get so many liz gloves that I blew em and made a +3 (its bone, safe 0).

The biggest news is that Prince Biz made 59! I've been in TOS a bunch, trying to get enough frags to make a key since I hear its cool up there. And I HATE there being places I cant go. I'm about 2/3 there, after buying a bunch. I added to str on biz this time around. I'm done with dex, might do some wiz in there with str. I noticed that I don't get stunned by the horsies as much now in TOS. Ive heard its level based, must be true.

Working on the DE for a little change of pace before starting the push to 6-0 and silvertown!

hasta...

Oh hell

2010-02-07T10:11:00.002-05:00

Well I just realized that, in my haste, I neglected to update when I last leveled. So careless! During the last level for me, there were a couple xp events which really helped. I think I got 30-40% in one of them, as I was *cough* sick *cough* and working from home a lot lol!

The other thing is that Bizmarkie is actually becoming somewhat effective at killing things! I get hit less now that I'm max dex and have a couple nice items to get that AC up. I won't tell you what it is, but my next AC point will cost over 100 million. He can get a decent chunk of xp in the watery grave per 225 c-ojs, which, if you buy them there is like 100k. You have to find one of the rich mops to make each trip worth it. But now I can stretch the hunts out thanks to the AC and ER and I'm doing better.

Prince is 58.xx now and I think I will make 60 my ultimate goal. It's just sitting there with nothing but time and boredom in between. Biz the knight is 49, maybe I'll try and make it a stunner before I'm done (that's 50 right?) As soon as the weather breaks and there's a little more sunlight, I'll be outside a bunch. So I've got to make hay now, to borrow a phrase.

Super Bowl is today and we're hosting a party. But the 26" of snow that we just got is keeping people home. I'll be happy if 5 people show up to eat all this food! Go Colts! (my reasoning is simple: we're all going to agree one day that Peyton is the best football player ever. I just want the debate to be short.)

57 levelup!

2009-11-28T20:24:00.001-05:00

Thanks to this fun double XP event, I just hit level 57. Took over two months, even with the event. Still, that's not bad for me. Still coaching and working hard. So two hours a night is about all I can muster. And that isn't all leveling. I still check bosses and whatnot.

So drop me a line, screenshots to come.

~Biz

Better late than never!

2009-09-19T22:26:00.003-04:00

Sorry it took me a couple of weeks to update. I've been way busy with the coaching. But the good news is my team is starting to gel and score some goals! We won today 7-2 yay!

Well Biz hit 56 shortly after the event! 2 more levels to max dex! But the ac is coming along real nice.

Now I'm focusing on getting the mage to DK! The event was so nice to her! Biz didnt get much.

Oh and the little knight is 46. So easy to lvl knight.

Blue Ammy drop!

2009-09-02T12:22:00.003-04:00

I, along with everyone else, got earrings of purification during the event. So I decided I'd do some hunting in Pirate dungeon to try and get a drop! What are the odds? BAM, got it!

Little mage now has 23int at level 51! With items of course. The -wis kinda balances the reaper mittens, so you have to rest without the earrings on to get the blue pot bonus. But wow TU is nice now!

Event item parlay!

2009-08-22T23:50:00.003-04:00

Well Ive been barterin and whatnot and I managed to turn the kurtz set plus the bapho into a dk set. I f igure DK set has much better long term value. So I leveled little biz up to 30 real quick with a rap and daid and zel'd stuff up. Now he's rockin the dkset, 7kurtz sword, and the ant wing lol. Pretty uber for a level 30 con knight!

Diggin through the rubble

2009-08-19T09:55:00.005-04:00

The aftermath of an event is always a dichotomy for me. On one hand, you've been pressing so hard that it's like the end of a war. You have that tired ecstasy of being done. On the other hand, you have more work to do to take advantage of the drops you got. You have to keep up on prices, swing trades, and set up shops 24/7. And I'm just not sure I have the energy for this phase II.

I did very well in the event. Hunting mostly by myself in the beginning, and then with Harmageddon and Raalik in the latter stages, I got a lot of good items.

85 bdai
51 bzel
100+nzel
100+ndai
Kurtz Sword
DK Sword
Lich Robe
Silver Wing
COI
Armor of Baphomet
Staff of Baphomet
Ori Dagger-2
Kurtz Boots-3
Kurtz Glove
Kurtz Armor
Demon Glove
Demon Helm
Paagrio Hatred-4
Maphyrs Retribution
PG-8
bIB-12
bRapier-10
bSOS-20+
bSOM-20+
Symbol of Dignity
Indiscriminate Arbalest
bBG
bYumi-14
bMB-12
bCutlass-7
bShamshir-5
RDS-15
BDS-15
GDS-15
WDS-9
Essence-1000
Wafer-500
Mgem-1000 (and used every one!)
Greater Blue-1000
sgem-1000
bring-1000
bCMOMR-30 (all dissolved)
Earrings of Whatever
bAncient Sword
bBClaw-7
bBEdo-8
bXB-20
Sword of Silence
Tsu-8
btsu-3

What's funny is that the last morning, monday, I went to work late. I stayed home till exactly 9am then left (it's a 5min drive). I hunted about 7:55-9 on Boss Island 1, mainly on the road SW of town. In the span of 10min I got Lich Robe and DK Sword. I was speechless. Awesome!

This is what I walked away with after sorting out who gets what. We had some big drops in group that went to others and arent listed here. Thanks to Harm and Raal for being cool about everything. I still owe harm half of that coi!

My goals for event were to get a COI for sieging and DE sandals for mage. I got the COI as drop but not the sandals. I swung a trade and got sandals the next day! So I'm ecstatic that I achieved my goals. These are long term items that will aid hunting every day. I also bought destroy early on for pretty cheap.

So I'm overloaded with knight gear. I didnt really get any daily hunting improvement for prince, except maybe the b-AS which I'll test on 24 and lasta. Mage got a huge boost with lich robe and sandals. She could also hunt with ori. DE got a boost since I traded raal for a 9sedo and the ant wing can be used by them. Elf got new weapons but none increase the dmg output.

Was neat to see new items dropping. The rotting voyager items especially have been a mystery. And a few stat modifying things dropped. Now I just need a blue ammy!

All in all good fun. If you see baby biz running around as a knight in kurtz, dont laugh and dont pk! I will be full law before he sees any of that gear!

Recruiting!

2009-08-02T13:50:00.002-04:00

Liberty and Tyranny

The two cannot coexist. If you stand on the side of Freedom and Individual Rights in the face of collectivism and big oligarchies, then stand with us!

The big pledges monopolize castle revenue, castle dungeons, the best hunting areas, many of the bosses. And they're about to bully us out of the boss island event (again).

What I have to offer: mature judgement, calm leadership, persistence (I've never stopped playing since 2000), a good sense of humor, a moderated chat

What I won't tolerate: global diarrhea (that means NONE), insulting pledgemates, cliques within pledge, keeping bosses to yourself, cruelty towards the weak

You don't have to be from the US.

Interested? Holla at a playa

A New Era

2009-08-02T12:57:00.010-04:00

I got this nagging feeling in the back of my mind a few months ago. I knew a change would be needed. But I was afraid to leave my good buds in Eden. There's a few superb individuals in that pledge that I really miss being associated with. But there's also a few that represented us very poorly. A few also fought big pledges, risking our neutrality by fighting POD and even XRated, much of whom are former pledgemates. So I had to make a move. Here's one guy I don't miss.

We were a neutral pledge. But a few people were actively involved in fighting different other big pledges. And the leaders didn't log in much. And I got tired of having to exclude pledge members. So I decided to go my own way again.

What have I been up to? Levelin a bit, but mainly explorin, tryin new things. I even leveled some newbs for quest items to blow up.

Here, Goldn shows me his sushi technique. He's a master!

Here I join Tanth, Elt, and Arch on the 50 quest. So fun! I'm hoping they'll join up, but they are so devoted to KoD and Elane. What's it been, 2 years? If Elane came back, many would rejoin, including me. I don't see that happening. So I'm back running a pledge. It will start as friend only, but I can see myself recruiting and getting political again soon. Could be fun and a new challenge!

All been washed in Black

2009-05-25T21:10:00.004-04:00

Little Eddie Vedder lingo there.

I know, I know - he's a punkass. But, how else could I introduce my levelup to 55!

The morph is awesome. Such a smooth, fast swing. And I rarely cast so who cares if it's slow! Speaking of casting... 8 extra AC thanks to my new Aura! I can now hunt TOS fairly effectively!

XP update

2009-05-03T14:25:00.002-04:00

Lag has been bad for about a month. I sent ping plots to NC and they asked for a whole rash of research so I said F them. I gave them the ping plots showing the bad node. They want to know what version of active X i'm using? W T F

So Ive been hunting safer areas and being cautious. Some nights its so bad I just go nuke with the healer. She's getting up there too.

Biz is 54.68 at this writing, which is amazing. That double xp event really catapulted and motivated me. I turned the corner hard and before I knew it, I was at 25% and cruisin!

Fishing season is here so I need to get a move on. I'll be outdoors a LOT this summer. Less time to level. I gotta get that new morph and ac spell!

Wow long time no post

2009-03-25T23:28:00.003-04:00

Acid told me he actually read this. So I better post. I told him I would when I had a SS to show. I been busy lately. Got a new truck. Switched departments at work. Already been fishin a few times this year hehe. Oh and I been coaching hockey and playing some hockey and tennis at night in leagues. So I'm keeping bizzy as uzual.

5-4 mofo! Added dex, got an AC point. Headed for new morph and big AC baby! Only got 10hp on the levelup, bleh.

Here's my new baby. She's a diesel. Im into alternative fuels ya know. Pristine. Pimped inside. You knew it. I drove it home from St Louis in a day lol. She'll tow a boat and haul the fam without breaking a sweat.

American Muscle. Bite me.

Lockhearts botting Giran 3F

2009-01-06T08:09:00.003-05:00

Little hunt update with pics!!

2008-12-28T01:50:00.003-05:00

Finally I have some pics to show you.

There's a Xmas event going on, with morphs and drops enhanced. It's pretty cool, I'm getting some leveling done. But the pledge has been doing some hunting in lasta4, which is exciting as hell!

First off, since it's one of those probability of rare drop increase events, I thought I'd hit DVC6 for blizzard. I didn't get it, but I DID get one of these finally. After years and years, it drops now that it's worthless lol. Still a thrill.

Then I thought I'd check grim on FD. Well all I did was manage to confirm that the 90s once again have one hitters lol. BOOM cold stones on face.

I also wanted one of these uber pets to accompany little Biz to hard places to hunt. They deal good dmg and level pretty fast. But I still can't take him to TOS. TOI sure, as long its not AOE mops. But TOS the mops change targets too fast.

Here's Eden pledge on a lastavard hunt. Kinda unorganized but we zerged them lol. Lotta levels crammed into two parties. We killed all the bosses twice and got enough DK letters to go...

TO THE LAIR OF GIRTAS!!! What a trippy place. Those little orka mops or whateve theyre called look like the little toothy fish that pop up in that old plastic fishing game. You know, they spin around the circle and a little tab pushes them up so their mouth opens. And you gotta drop a plastic fishin 'rod' into their mouth to catch em. Yea that's what they look like, all mouth.

New Pet!

2008-12-09T18:35:00.003-05:00

I want one! Apparantly it's a new evo. Need to win the pet match 10000 times or so to get the fruit lol.

Family Pics

2008-11-29T20:14:00.003-05:00

Tommy had his two year pictures, so we decided to make it a family outing. It was cold and wet, but the scenery was nice.

If youd like the name of our photographer, we'd be happy to recommend them.

Fall Festival event is pretty cool

2008-11-28T12:48:00.003-05:00

The event is a seed gathering event, which you trade for pumpkins and prizes. There's pots you get in the form of harvest foods, but they suck. The real bonus is A) the morphs and B) the items you can get. Many, many bzels and bdais are hitting the server out of gold pumpkins. This will lower bscroll price longterm (6 months or so).

The two items you can get are pumpkin sword and armor. Both are usable by all classes and have neat stats.

Sword is 10/10 +3 hit +1 dmg, safe to 6. It has a critical cast that drops a big pumpkin on your enemys head. It's neat, not uber but neat. I want an 8 or 9 to use on mage for levelin on 20s. Dmg is good, +hit is great, and the area spell is good on eggs.

Armor is 6 base safe to 6. So an 8 would be 14ac, same as ASM. It adds hp and mp, as well as medium hp and mp regen. It also adds hold resistance. Actual values to come. But it's hella better than ASM. I dont think it beats regen of ALA. And the AC loss hurts knights and regen loss hurts mages (but maybe good for SOM/psword levelin?)

You have to make the items +8 to keep them. They are only tradable after event ends.

Here's some shots.

Pledge has been killing this guy lately. He spawns in the Orc Polluted area and is hard to kill. He spawns these stumps that hurt healers and elves pretty good. Treat him like KV.

This is a neat poly you can get from the astrologer in gludio. There's many cool ones but few you can actually hunt in. Doppel boss is the most useful. I like this animation.

And then there's this. I refused to be in any pledge that Karmoth was in because I didn't like him and couldn't trust him. During the halloween island event, he left KOD and started PKing KOD people. Then he goes on global and says that FD bots. Well my integrity isn't something I take lightly so we got into it on global. I'm sure I said some pretty nasty things, and we've been enemies ever since.

So now I'm in Eden and he logs in after a long absence (I thought he went back to Fallen, that's why I went to Eden when I did). And he starts calling me to top drake to "die at his hand". In pledge chat. So we had words again. Merica and Requa weren't on, so I just left. Then, to my surprise, he whispers me wanting to talk it out. That was very big of him to take a first step, so I listened and we stated our positions. Without going into details, I was impressed with the way he handled himself and I readily buried the hatched. All is forgiven and forgotten as far as I am concerned. A very pleasent surprise outcome to this situation!

I still will never join Fallen because I hate the Philadelphia Eagles and can never have their emblem on my head.

Now if their emblem looked more like THIS, I could do it!

-Biz

The 1 horseman of the Bizopalypse

2008-11-10T20:13:00.000-05:00

Michael Crichton R.I.P.

2008-11-08T17:18:00.004-05:00

There's a lot of scientists in this world today. And some of them are actually doing science. Most are just paper pushers and professional researchers. One of the real great minds passed from this coil recently. Michael Crichton wasn't a scientist, but he surely could have been had he not attained writing success early in college. He would not have treated the scientific method or intellectual integrity as unfortunate speed bumps on the way towards a predetermined outcome like so many today. And that's what makes him remarkable to me. The world misses him, but we are tucked in each night by the terrific characters and fantasies he spun around us.

My favorite Crichton passage, the prologue to Jurassic Park. It tweaks the environmentalists to no end.

"You think man can destroy the planet? What intoxicating vanity. Let me tell you about our planet. Earth is four-and-a-half-billion-years-old. There's been life on it for nearly that long, 3.8 billion years. Bacteria first; later the first multicellular life, then the first complex creatures in the sea, on the land. Then finally the great sweeping ages of animals, the amphibians, the dinosaurs, at last the mammals, each one enduring millions on millions of years, great dynasties of creatures rising, flourishing, dying away -- all this against a background of continuous and violent upheaval. Mountain ranges thrust up, eroded away, cometary impacts, volcano eruptions, oceans rising and falling, whole continents moving, an endless, constant, violent change, colliding, buckling to make mountains over millions of years.

Earth has survived everything in its time. It will certainly survive us. If all the nuclear weapons in the world went off at once and all the plants, all the animals died and the earth was sizzling hot for a hundred thousand years, life would survive, somewhere: under the soil, frozen in Arctic ice. Sooner or later, when the planet was no longer inhospitable, life would spread again. The evolutionary process would begin again. It might take a few billion years for life to regain its present variety. Of course, it would be very different from what it is now, but the earth would survive our folly, only we would not. If the ozone layer gets thinner, ultraviolet radiation sears the earth, so what? Ultraviolet radiation is good for life. It's powerful energy. It promotes mutation, change. Many forms of life will thrive with more UV radiation. Many others will die out. Do you think this is the first time that's happened? Think about oxygen. Necessary for life now, but oxygen is actually a metabolic poison, a corrosive glass, like fluorine. When oxygen was first produced as a waste product by certain plant cells some three billion years ago, it created a crisis for all other life on earth. Those plants were polluting the environment, exhaling a lethal gas. Earth eventually had an atmosphere incompatible with life. Nevertheless, life on earth took care of itself.

In the thinking of the human being a hundred years is a long time. A hundred years ago we didn't have cars, airplanes, computers or vaccines. It was a whole different world, but to the earth, a hundred years is nothing. A million years is nothing. This planet lives and breathes on a much vaster scale. We can't imagine its slow and powerful rhythms, and we haven't got the humility to try. We've been residents here for the blink of an eye. If we're gone tomorrow, the earth will not miss us."

Too good not to share

2008-11-01T17:29:00.003-04:00

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died to give that right to me
And I'll gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
Cause there aint no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA!

Episode 6/U !!!

2008-10-23T23:41:00.003-04:00

Beotch! That's right!

So much has changed, it's like a new game. More quests, fishin, cookin, tons of new areas. I cant even scratch the surface. Some stuff got much harder, some a little easier. More to come as I figure it out.

These are the new orc lands, kinda a dungeon but kinda not. Cool graphics!

Bosses!

2008-10-05T23:36:00.002-04:00

Been a while right! My little bit of playing time has been devoted almost exclusively to levelin. Well, after runnin the 50 quest with the crew, we each started checkin. I quipped "want me to check lich?" Tanth said yea, then proceeded to logoff lol.

So with just me and Arch on, I called Cherry and he brought an elf and melee.

It died quick. I was sittin back healing or I would've stolen all the drops over babo CP! I gave the charm to Arch since he already had 81. Then we went right up to 91 so I could show him how to run Grim. Well, we hit a snag on 97 and the inevitable... He first then me goin to res him. Two big fires were stacked up. Even on Imm I was instant ugh.

If you read this and are in pledge, let me know what you think about Eden pledge and Requa. I don't know him too well and I'm curious how he runs things. Baja wants us to combine with them, but he took most of the Fallen. Which begs the question, if we didn't join fallen... well you know the rest. Holla at a playa!

5-3 and on to RV

2008-09-29T07:43:00.003-04:00

Hated RV, couldnt kill the fencer.

Dang long time no post

2008-09-27T01:12:00.003-04:00

Hi guys!

Sorry it's been forever and a day since I updated. They blocked blogspot at work so I have to take time from playing to post. And I dont get a whole lotta time as it is. But Biz is 52.96 -- Im hoping to make a levelup post soon!

Harm is back in Aden which is awesome! And we've been doing the 50 quest a bunch lately. I use the proceeds to bulk up the mages spell roster.

I scored a goal in hockey tonight, so Im jazzed up. We made it to the finals last season, but lost in a 3 game series 2-1. Refs screwed us. We had to kill 5 on 3 penalties in the last five minutes of EVERY game, winning or losing.

I havent had the boat out in the last 2 weekends. I'm building a garage for it. Ill post pics when its done. Fall pattern should be starting, waters getting cooler, should be good up the creeks. And I love the topwater fishing on fall mornings.

Anyway, youre up to date. Login and say HI!

Here's a picture of me and Tommy on the boat Labor Day weekend. Lake was filled with jagoffs.

My new baby!

2008-08-18T20:57:00.002-04:00

If you wonder why I'm levelin slowly...

Daddy likey!

2008-08-11T10:53:00.002-04:00

So royals get a speed morph that will only allow polearms? I gotta get a 9c-lance I guess.

&Selling asword lol!

YAY! Biz: 1 - ZL: 0

2008-08-06T22:44:00.002-04:00

He beat my SLS up pretty good (had to finish him off with the Diamond Sword), but I solo'd my first ZL today on little biz!

Drop bzel, zel, kat, cmomr, 2hs, 30k, junk pots

What a weekend!

2008-08-05T00:51:00.002-04:00

The one or two people that read this have been like: "W T F? Where's bizbo baggins? Did he don the magic ring and leave the shire?"

No no no silly! Ive been drinking, that's all.

It was my wife's birthday recently and every year I send her and her mom to the spa for the day. That was Friday, so I had Tommy all day and night. All the meals, poops, etc. When he finally went down at like 8, my buddy came down to drink beers and watch the baseball game.

Then on Saturday, we had tickets to a play -- Jungle Book at a local college. We took Tommy to see it and he loved it! It was done very child-friendly. On the way home, I got a phone call on the batphone. It was my buddy's birthday and there were beers in peril! So we swooped in to save the day and drink till the wee hours while playing wii tennis (doubles). I actually scored a bottle of 20/20 for his present lol.

Sunday was the big race at Pocono, for NASCAR. My brother and I got free tickets so we went up early and tailgated. We were still killin the last of the beers when the race ended 5 hours later. It was early to bed for me as soon as we got back.

And tonight, Mon, I had hockey at 10:30. I'm just winding down from the adrenaline now (with a beer).

See you in game soon.

Biz

Sorry I've been AWOL

2008-07-28T13:18:00.003-04:00

I've been up to my neck in ONE SICK KID.

Tommy had double ear infections, sore ears, a sore throat, and the hershey squirts to boot! Had to stay home two days to be with him last week. One day he just slept on me on the couch -- which was cute, but annoying since I didnt even have the remote control!

He's feeling better now, but now I'VE got an ear infection. Shoulda known...

Biz is up to 52.55% -- which is about right for not really trying. I've been doing more questing and pledge hunting. So half a level in 2 months doesn't totally suck.

The new changes that are being discussed for future episodes are RADICAL. As in BIG changes. If they go to fixed mp/hp per level/class, it will have made a lot of what everyone has done a waste of time. They may also change summons around. It *feels* like theyre making characters more specialized, sort of lining up with the lin2 classes and abilities. Nuker/summoner/buffer. Every char excels in some area.

Well I'm at work so I better go. OH I might buy a boat tomorrow! Cool eh!

Thoughtful issue

2008-07-13T11:39:00.005-04:00

Here's a little dialogue from the other day. A guy saw me walk by in town and asked me if I could help him get his lvl 50 item. He wasn't in my pledge, didn't ask to join my pledge, and was joining TheFallen, which he did while we were talking.

This presents an interesting conundrum. First off, I didn't have one, or I would've cut him a good deal. I told him I knew people that were selling and he basically said that buying it wasn't his goal.

But the guys I do the quest with, do it for profit. If any of the 4 of us were to start "helping" people who need the items to get them, the market for the items would disappear. Let's face it, there's not a lot of new players on Dep. If a mage hits 50, he's either a bot, or an alt to another -- probably higher level -- char, who's probably in a pledge.

So the player can afford the item in all likelihood. (talking hypotheically, not about the guy that chatted me). Now any one of us that does the quest is certainly able to give away our portion of the drops. But it will shrink the already small market for the item. Just something to think about.

My thoughts personally are, I'll do anything for a pledge member -- and by extension my KOD brethren because they were my brothers and stay out of loyalty to Elane who I also swore fealty to. If the guy had wanted to join my pledge and then leveled in the pledge, he'd have his eyeball free (or he'd be doing the quest himself). But he didn't even ask. All I was to him was an opportunity for an item, a conduit, a tool. So why grant the request? Those who know me well, know my strong feeling on this. I'm a big sports player, and my credo is team above self. It's one of the reasons I don't join some of the other big pledges.

When the next episode hits, the items will not be tradeable. So folks will have to do the quest themselves. And it can be a bit of a pain, so the dynamics will change. I used to wish that only in-pledge people can do the quest together, but then I realized that would just make the botters make princes. But if there's pofit to be made in the future off the quest items, then I'll have to make a new business model.

We'll have to take the customer along, I'm guessing mostly mages. Now mages do the bulk of the work on the quest, at least in the first two parts. So bringing a newb could mean death, or at least several attempts before we get him trained up on how to do it. Maybe I'll make an instructional video to send to any prospective clients. I don't know... I'll have to work the idea with my partners.

Congratulations GONNAS on the big 5-0

2008-07-09T07:51:00.002-04:00

Dreams do come true! At long last, ex-FCA knight Gonnas moved to goatville! Of course, he's taken much time off in his quest. But let this be a lesson to you kids. Determination pays off! And nobody is more determined than Gonnas! Congrats big guy!

Welcome HOYO

2008-07-03T12:57:00.002-04:00

No, I'm not celebrating the filling of my humidor with premium tobacco products... I'm celebrating the growth of the pledge! Hoyo, mage extraodinaire, and brother to Gonnas, has joined the ranks!

Hoyo is an old school player from the early days, and he brings just what we're looking for -- mature, fun hunting. I look forward to boss hunting and maybe someday sieging with him!

Welcome Hoyo! (Now somebody chloroform Stempy and drag him over!)

Progress and Bosses

2008-07-01T08:53:00.003-04:00

I've been trying to make my heal mage better so I've been partying her and got her to 48 finally (man they level slow even when the main is levelin fast!) She's got enough regen and MP to keep me alive in harder places (especially when I can't target and have to run off 10 heal pledges instead of targeting lol!)

We got AG again last night, drop bzel, ndai, and junks. Gonnas found it on his toi run and we smacked his ASS! Booya!

EDIT: I found ZL up tonight and had to get 2 random people to help kill it. It drop ndai and 2hs.

Welcome XTRADAMUS

2008-06-30T12:04:00.001-04:00

to Everlast...

Xtra comes to us after a long time in KOD. We're pleased to have him and look forward to many good hunts together.

To celebrate, we killed Phoenix and AG (just the two of us, no healers or nothing...OLD SCHOOL!)

Gone Fishin!

2008-06-21T21:06:00.002-04:00

Cya next Saturday!

I'm off to spend a week mastering the bass in Lake Champlain! Wish me luck!

Gonnas or Harm, if you see sysiphus on, give him my regrets that I didn't get him in before I left. I looked whenever I was on but didn't see him. =C

ttyl
Biz

Post Storm!

2008-06-15T23:07:00.003-04:00

Holy crap! Another post!

Real short. I saw tanthanas online on sunday and whispered him about doing the quest. Turns out that Arch and Elt were on too! What terrific luck!

So we jumped back in the saddle and mowed down this guy. The real one is up in the top right, getting beat on by Elt. I just didn't want him to die alone so I pretended to be his brother from out of town.

I miss those guys (And gals). I hope they'll consider moving over at some point. I've got the KOD emblem primed and ready to go if they want to keep it the same. Good people.

What's Biz up to?

2008-06-14T20:26:00.005-04:00

Since leveling up, Ive still been on a lot. I took some time to boss check on FD and level her a few %. Too easy, got bored again. 24int mage can top 1% per hour easy a lot of places and get rich doin it. Lame. So I thought I'd work on improving my healer. I had remade a char for the elixir event. conwis of course. She's 47 now and I'm leveling her partied with me till shes 48. She can steal xp and then once she has skel fighters I can take her places solo and money hunt with her (and level). I don't think she needs to be over level 48 anyway. As it is, she runs around with 705mp using scroll for shield. She could be 20 int but i think the max hp comes in more handy than the extra SP. I run wis pots anyway since she aint gettin no HW! That's for dam sure!

Since Biz hit 52 Ive been using berzerk. He kills so fast and gets hit a little less due to level. It's pretty smooth. I get some ac next level, due to dex add. I think I might be able to live on 40 soon! That'll be exciting since I can get boss then...

Here's how I hunt, with spells and whatnot. With SLS armed I hunt 24str, 19dex, 21con. Diamond adds 2dex for a little more ER. I don't normally have super MR, but with 7bcomr, 6homr and 10% rings on top of the aura, I can have over 100%.

Vacation coming: I go fishing soon for a week up to Lake Champlain. It'll be awesome! There's a lotta bass in that lake! I get to pre-fish it 3 days and then 2 days are the competition! 5 days on the water! I even rigged up a froggin stick! How cool is THAT?

Oh and Gonnas, who's leveling like a madman at the moment, found AG up late sat night! I honestly didn't know if we had the firepower, but we worked together to clear the area and isolate the big green troll and...

Bzel and Bdai! Gonnas got both to aid his levelin, and since it was his call!

Little Formatting Update

2008-06-10T11:05:00.001-04:00

Changed the colors a little bit to make it more readable. Added some stuff, removed some stuff.

Let me know what you think? Good change or put it back?

Life on the Other Side

2008-06-07T23:07:00.002-04:00

First hunt, trying to get "safe" so I won't lose my shiny new suit!

First hunt back on the mage, found ZQ up right at the stairs. Died so fast I'm thinking someone drug it, fought it and venz. Drop 6k blah.

Done

2008-06-07T02:31:00.002-04:00

Had some late nights this week and "worked from home" today. Wanted it out of the way so I could enjoy the weekend.

So awesome.

DK watch

2008-06-03T08:27:00.002-04:00

This helped motivate me before. So here it goes again. Got to 82% last night. My nighttime duties are pretty heavy these days so 2% a night is about all I can expect. I tried to recruit some newb elves, but it turned out they weren't so newb after all.

I also sent a letter to my friends at thefallen, inviting them to join once Anju quits. That'd be cool. We could do the 50 quest and boss hunt and be like a mini KOD.

Good weekend

2008-06-02T12:04:00.001-04:00

Really put my nose to the grindstone and got R dun!

80%

Wife has an outing tonight so once Tommy goes to bed I can play a bunch.

My normal times are 8-10:30 if youre looking for me.

Biz

Starting to feel it...

2008-05-31T22:08:00.003-04:00

75%

Would be higher but I d/c end when comcast went down for an hour in a rainstorm. I got lucky. Didn't level thurs because I had a bang-up party and got fershnizzled. Friday I got a few hours in. And today (sat) I got to level a lot. I woke up early and took Tommy till noon so my wife didn't have to get up early and could be lazy and read. She loved it. Then I went shopping and got her a paper and filled the tank on her car. I also got a grout saw so I could clean up and re-caulk the bath and shower. This was HARD! And I did a crappy job. It's sealed for water, but man I suck at finishing work. It's ugly.

So I got to play a bit after that, and krism logged in. Then I grilled up some dogs and cheeseburgers and she loved not having to cook. After that, I could do whatever I wanted the rest of the night! woohoo! Thats like 5 hours to level! Nice! I was planning a % a night avg, but this big day helps!

70%

2008-05-29T09:32:00.001-04:00

Not much to report other than that. Oh a skel fighter gave me bzel! Never got one of them off speedybones before!

Happy Memorial Day!

2008-05-25T12:50:00.004-04:00

Memorial Day is a time for remembering those who sacrificed so much for our country.

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

That's Billy Ray, now better known for siring Mylie.

So THANK YOU veterans and those in harm's way for our benefit! People like my Grandfather, and possibly yours, who answered history's call in WWII. He drove a boat to drop marines on beaches in the south pacific. Your sacrifices are appreciated and remembered every day. But especially on this day. You make me proud(er) to be an American.

Whoever you know that served, talk to them about it this weekend. Ask them stories. Try to remember what they say so you can tell your kids about it. I remember on a fishing trip, floating on the St Lawrence, Pap told me about these big drydock boats the navy had. He'd sail his little boat up into it to get worked on, out in the middle of the ocean -- since there wasn't a friendly port nearby. I thought this was the greatest thing I'd ever heard. I'll never forget it.

On to Lineage schtuff.

Hit62% late this week, before I borrowed my bros boat and put in 2 good days of back to back fishing. Coca Cola 600 is this afternoon so I might not get much done today. But I'll get there. Oh yes, it will be done. Finally found a seller of this little baby. Should help my levelin (no excuses now). Next goals are all AC based.

In honor of Memorial day, and remembering, I switched to an American Flag emblem. Not exactly the old FCA one, but close (better, cleaner, higher res). I like the little green guy, but at least for this weekend I want to represent for the bravest of the brave.

Krism logged and we had a good visit. He swears on the blood of his forefathers that he'll level by september! A 51 elf would be a nice addition! Let's hope he logs in and means it. GONNAS also started playing again. It's good to see him again and to get him all gussied up and lookin dapper.

Welcome back dude! Now I just gotta hope Baja and Eddie log in so I can woo them back to the dark side!

Be safe this weekend!

50% ! halfway to DK! woohoo!

2008-05-16T13:08:00.002-04:00

I made it to the halfway mark, slow rollin it. I haven't been really pressing because that gets annoying and my wife yells at me for playing too much. I've just been hunting up zels and dais and tryin to get a % whenever I get a chance to login.

Will I get psyched up by the downhill half? Maybe. But I have a lot of outdoor work to do on the property and my truck. And those fish won't catch themselves! So we'll see. Maybe I can make it by the end of June? That'd be nice.

Oh and I'm closing in on 50m in savings. My goals are:

7 sovereigns
7 pg
31 charm

I think I'd do PG last, since that price may fluctuate (and I still may go elemental glove). So if you see a 7sov or 31 charm, HOLLA AT A PLAYA!

40% GO GO GO

2008-05-06T13:15:00.003-04:00

Spent the last weekend working on my busted water pump in my truck. Busted a bolt. I'm so pissed. Still not fixed. Also fished on Sunday. Finished .12 lb out of the money, so I'm happy about a good day fishing and almost cashing a check.

My favorite driver is havin a hard time lately and needs some love.

GO MATT KENSETH!

GO 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion!!!

Go 17 team including Chip and Robbie!

Everlast

2008-04-24T00:25:00.003-04:00

Well I finally did it. Got tired of the dead pledge. Where people only log into alts to check stores and see if I'll do quest with them. Meanwhile my questers aren't ever on (or I would)!

I left KOD for probably the last time. Im loyal to Elane and the way she ran things. I'm happy to open my pledge up to former KOD that are looking for a similar scenario. It's a peace hunting pledge that won't take characters that bring baggage. I'll have officers that will help keep order and we'll determine pledge hunt drop rules ASAP.

If you're interested in a good clean hunting pledge with no aholes or hackers, let me know. If you are attacked by other pledges, don't bother asking. I'm too old for drama. If you want to join just to get rich off the generosity of others, don't bother asking. Everybody pulls their own weight. No whining or begging. If youre slumming on your alt while your high level is in a fighting pledge, I'm not intersted. We want players, not storage chars.

Emblem is in flux right now, trying a few things out. Not going to have a house so we can siege or help siege. I'm workin on 52, and then 55, and I'm happy to give out buffs. I intend for this pledge to live in and own

We're Everlast. Old players don't die, or fade away.

Bouncing around

2008-04-21T13:32:00.003-04:00

Ive been trying to find a place to level besides TOI 20s lately. So I started "rediscovering" aden lol.

I hit deep MLC and DVC. MLC was cake. KBBs just lay down. Hit a DK but didnt get drop. DVC is rough since I dont have MR gear and Id have to sacrifice Str and stuff to wear it.

I hit PI and e-grave, made my teleport crystal finally, and tried to get some gloves. Didn't last long in the grave, same problem - MR.

So then I went back to TOI but to different floors. I tried 14 and did ok, but 3 succ plus a dog or two can tele me out. I tried 31 and 33 solo and did well. But my pots ran out after maybe .6 or so. Not bad, but expensive to hunt there overall. It would take 2 zels to pay off the pots I take. The scrolls not a problem since I get them on the 20s.

I tried 42, to hit ghosts, but theres too many golems that kick my butt. I got lucky though. The first one I killed, ever, on this char. He dropped this.

I think I'll try IT8 since the diamond sword can eat the golems. But if I get surrounded it will hurt. Maybe Ill try it with a bow and fire archer morph?

I really think its hard to pot-level. But I'm tired of two boxing. Id like to keep a shop up or run itunes on the other box sometimes.

I'm up to almost 25% now. Just slow rolling it till I see 50% then I'll put a push on and take out the healmage I guess.

20%

2008-04-15T23:03:00.003-04:00

Finally! A lineage update! I've been really taking it easy since levelling. And I died a little.

But Ive been storing up some 31s for another XP blitz later in the level. And I've been leveling using pots, old school style lol. My hunts have been short because I've been on baby detail a lot and I get called away often. So I just use my charm and go 20s somewhere.

Got this the other night...

Charleton Heston, R.I.P.

2008-04-08T12:53:00.002-04:00

America has lost another hero. A man of such magnitude that he portrayed biblical hero Moses in such a way that it rendered the character his own. Charleton Heston passed away over the weekend. I'm no obit writer, but I'd like to say one small thing about this truly giant man. Heston was pilloried by Michael Moore in his movie "Bowling for Columbine." Unfortunately, that has formed many folks' opinions on the man. But Heston deserves vindication. Truth and Michael Moore have never met.

Heston is known for his advocacy for 2nd Amendment Rights, aka gun rights. He was the president of the National Rifle Association. He believed that the 2nd amendment exists as a check on the powers of the Federal Government. In societies where only one select group of people are allowed to keep arms, there are usually limited or no freedoms. Our founding fathers felt this issue was central to the concept of the consenting rights of the governed.

Whether you're for or against gun rights, I believe you are probably a level-headed person that believes every man should get a fair shake. Michael Moore engaged in character assassination on Heston in his movie on Columbine. Here's how. (I quote from David T Hardy generously here.) The crockumentary presents a scene as follows:

Weeping children outside Columbine;

Cut to Charlton Heston holding a musket and proclaiming "I have only five words for you: 'from my cold, dead, hands'";

Cut to billboard advertising the meeting, while Moore intones "Just ten days after the Columbine killings, despite the pleas of a community in mourning, Charlton Heston came to Denver and held a large pro-gun rally for the National Rifle Association;"

Cut to Heston (supposedly) continuing speech... "I have a message from the Mayor, Mr. Wellington Webb, the Mayor of Denver. He sent me this; it says 'don't come here. We don't want you here.' I say to the Mayor this is our country, as Americans we're free to travel wherever we want in our broad land. Don't come here? We're already here!"

They present Heston and the NRA as a bunch of nutjobs that rush to the scene of the tragedy to push their violent political agenda -- in total disregard for the families of the victims. By sampling pre-existing NRA commercials and print-ads and by misrepresenting an already-scheduled NRA meeting in Colorado, Moore Cut-and-Pasted in his especially evil way, to destroy the character of Charleton Heston. How's he do it? According to Harty, "Moore has actually taken audio of seven sentences, from five different parts of the speech, and a section given in a different speech entirely, and spliced them together. Each edit is cleverly covered by inserting a still or video footage for a few seconds." That's truly dispicable.

True the NRA had a meeting in Denver 11 days after the shootings. But it was their annual members meeting, which is a requirement for non profit organizations. As reported in the Rocky Mountain News, the NRA cancelled every single event they could out of respect for the families. But a law required them to hold their annual meeting. Said Heston at the time, "...the tragedy in Littleton last Tuesday calls upon us to take steps, along with dozens of other planned public events, to modify our schedule to show our profound sympathy and respect for the families and communities in the Denver area in their time of great loss."

The truth about Heston and the Columbine killings is plain. The man had great sympathy for the loss of life at the hands of these insane kids. Michael Moore harbors no such compassion in his heart. Moore deliberately lied in his movie, so that thousands of people would harbor unjustified anger in their hearts towards a kind and giving man.

The 2nd amendment isn't the only issue on which Heston spoke. He campaigned for JFK, picketed against segregation, fought for freedom of speech, opposed Vietnam, and marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King, Jr. He was brave and selfless, but also thoughtful and humble in his activism. (A rare combination these days). He resigned from his actors union over disagreement with a racist policy. Later he spoke against political correctness (a voluntary abridgement of the freedom of speech) and affirmative action, which he felt was a racist policy. Of PC and the thought police, he said "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."

Heston also served honorably in the US Air Force during WWII, as a radio operator and gunner.

He died of complications from Alzheimers, which he had been suffering for many years. Perhaps I feel drawn to this man because my grandmother suffered the same illness. I remember feeling similar feelings when Ronald Reagan died (on my wedding day in fact). My grandmother was in attendance, but had ceased being herself. I pray they are all restored to their glory now, with God in heaven, sharing another good laugh. Peace and blessings to the Heston family, in their time of sorrow and remembrance. R.I.P.

Next steps...

2008-04-03T12:46:00.002-04:00

I'm finally up to a nice, safe percent and am back hunting above ground. I tried hunting with harm in the XP-dispensor known as Lastavard. But I discovered the downside of my character. It gets hit way too much. Having the second lowest ER hurts. As does limited AC options. You pretty much gotta use the Sovereigns Majesty, PG, Mummy Crown (if you can afford), etc. A lot of these are stuck at +5 unless youre ungodly rich.

So I need to work on my defense. I'm adding Dex which will help both ER and AC. I'm also looking to upgrade by getting or making the following items.

+6PG (gain 1)
+7 Sovereigns Majesty (gain 2)
+5 Tarak Boots (Ill lose Ac on this one)

I'm thinking when I go to Tboots Ill switch to an elemental glove and add a point of str to compensate. Can get much more AC out of them, plus the regen.

I'll probably have to make the Sov Maj's since nobody sells. One sold 50m the other day to a dude that always overpays for everything (wonder how he has so much money AND monitors following him around...Hmmm) That means wasted hours making dummy princes. But if it's one thing I can do better than anyone, it's level low level princes (I've made 3 at least 48 so far -- Str/Dex; Con; Char) What's a couple more to 30?) If I'm feeling really stupid I'll take em to 45 and do Jose. Lol yea right.

If you see anybody sellin, and you wanna help a brutha out. Give them my card and my digits. b-i-z-m-a-r-k-i-e by bird or by whisper.

Oh Hell Yea!

2008-03-31T12:26:00.004-04:00

Dang that's a purdy sight! Sure does swing fast. The sound is annoying when you get hit. But still better than spartoi or succubus! I can work a 3 pack of skels in much less time now. I'm guessing it stun locks much less too.

Update with Pictures!!!

2008-03-23T20:34:00.003-04:00

Finally updating from my home computer, so I gotta make it fast so I can log back in!

Harm is promising to beat me to levelup by a good 20%. I gotta keep on his tail and get Kurtz!

I had a good weekend thanks to my wife having a lot of errands and visiting to do (you married guys know what that's worth). We went to the Flyers game Fri and my son stayed at my mother in laws. So Fri night and parts of sat were prime levelin time! I had to plumb some new water feeds to the sink in our bedroom but that went quick.

I'm currently at 75% and hoping to get 1.5% tonight, but we'll see. Harm says he'll level this week so I'm on the clock to get like 15% between now and then. 2% a day is rough for me!

Here's some photos.

First, I bought a 21 charm. I like being able to hunt up my own 31s -- since that's the best xp. And I can't find nor afford a 31 charm. Maybe someday. I've already scored 3 bzels since going up regularly so it'll pay itself off before long. And it's helpin the xp since I don't use a healer up there I just grab pots and go.

One night during the event we had 10 people on in KoD! It actually hit eleven. Two or three are healers so bah. But it was still exciting for us!

lol old familiar sight. I got a little bored so I decided to dress the mage and check some bosses. No iris. Arch checked cat. So I went up lich. Either I was laggy, or seers can shoot over the water now. x.x

69...excellent!

2008-03-21T14:43:00.002-04:00

Since I had late work wednesday, I took Thursday off. I had household chores and babysitting but I still managed to get some time up in TOI. At about a % a clip, managed to squeak out almost 4% -- a HUGE day by my standards. So I'm at 69% and looking to hit 70 over the weekend. Goin to see the flyers tonight so who knows if I can play after.

Muscial Selections

2008-03-20T20:59:00.002-04:00

You gotta listen to music while you level. I put my itunes on random while playin tonight and it came up on an old Johnny Cash song from this USA celebration CD. He was singing "Remember The Alamo". Man I like that song. Since it's been 5 years since the war in Iraq and much longer since 9/11 and our boys in blue, and red, and olive drab have kept us safe at home since then, I want to remember their brave and sacrificial spirit with this song. To the men who stand for something. Thank you all!

Remember the Alamo

A hundred and eighty were challenged by Travis to die
By the line that he drew with his sword when the battle was nigh.
Any man that would fight to the death cross over, But him that would live better fly
And over the line went a hundred and seventy nine

Hey Santa Anna we're killing your soldiers below,
That men where ever they go, will remember the Alamo

Bowie lay dyin', but his powder was ready and dry
Flat on his back Bowie killed him a few in reply
And young David Crockett was singin' and laughin',
With gallantry fierce in his eyes
For God and for freedom, a man more than willin' to die

Hey Santa Anna we're killing your soldiers below,
that men where ever they go, will remember the Alamo

And then they sent a young scout from the battlements bloody and loud,
With the words of farewell from a garrison valiant and proud
"Grieve not little darlin' my dyin', if Texas is sovereign and free,
We'll never surrender and ever with liberty be"

Hey Santa Anna we're killing your soldiers below,
that men where ever they go, will remember the Alamo

65%

2008-03-20T11:42:00.001-04:00

Made some headway, including buying a 21 charm. Overpaid a little, but I've been wanting to restock some 31s. I hate the time wasted searching GTV for things nobody advertises.

Also, I died today when my cable modem went dark or Id be higher!

Cracked 60

2008-03-17T10:39:00.003-04:00

There's an event for St Patty's day weekend, but I didn't alter my hunting areas for it. It's a drop event where all mops drop better. I noticed more paper off skels, which is nice. But the best benefit was that there were less hunters on my floors!

I had a paintball scenario game on Saturday and a St Pattys party at night so I didn't get much done. Sunday was my Dad's birthday so we all gathered at my brother's house for a party.

Despite all those distractions, I managed to squeak out a few %. I'm at 62% now.

I have enough saved up for a 21 charm for the prince. So if anybody sees one selling, holla at a playa!

50/50 !

2008-03-09T21:38:00.003-04:00

YAY halfway to a decent morph and a stat point! It's going a little faster than last time, but mainly because I didn't start racing Harm till late in the level. And I daudled on the mage a bunch last level. Gotta focus...kurtz or demon will be such a breath of fresh air. I'm actually usin spartoi because I hate succ so dam much!

Little progress on Mr Red

2008-03-05T10:07:00.002-05:00

Biz is up to 44% after a slow weekend of leveling. Should be 50% before next week, which will feel good. I've got a lot of activities this week, most of which involve beer. mmmmm

If your pledge is doing the level 50 quest, please whisper me or email me. We need to coordinate our activities to the benefit of everyone.

William F. Buckley, Jr., R.I.P.

2008-02-27T14:17:00.002-05:00

By the Editors of National Review

Our revered founder, William F. Buckley Jr., died in his study this morning.If ever an institution were the lengthened shadow of one man, this publication is his. So we hope it will not be thought immodest for us to say that Buckley has had more of an impact on the political life of this country — and a better one — than some of our presidents. He created modern conservatism as an intellectual and then a political movement. He kept it from drifting into the fever swamps. And he gave it a wit, style, and intelligence that earned the respect and friendship even of his adversaries. (To know Buckley was to be reminded that certain people have a talent for friendship.)

He inspired and incited three generations of conservatives, and counting. He retained his intellectual and literary vitality to the end; even in his final years he was capable of the arresting formulation, the unpredictable insight. He presided over NR even in his “retirement,” which was more active than most people’s careers. It has been said that great men are rarely good men. Even more rarely are they sweet and merry, as Buckley was.

When Buckley started National Review — in 1955, at the age of 29 — it was not at all obvious that anti-Communists, traditionalists, constitutionalists, and enthusiasts for free markets would all be able to take shelter under the same tent. Nor was it obvious that all of these groups, even gathered together, would be able to prevail over what seemed at the time to be an inexorable collectivist tide. When Buckley wrote that the magazine would “stand athwart history yelling, ‘Stop!’” his point was to challenge the idea that history, with a capital H, pointed left. Mounting that challenge was the first step toward changing history’s direction. Which would come in due course.

Before he was a conservative, Buckley was devoted to his family and his Church. He is survived by his son Christopher. Our sadness for him, and for us, at his passing is leavened by the hope that he is now with his beloved wife, Patricia, who died last year.

[I think of the great quote: "Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." WFB was not a great mind, he was a titanic mind. Colossal. The sphere of his comprehension knew no fixed radius. He was a man of culture and letters, a sportsman and musician, a socialite and a committed Catholic -- all while leading the conservative charge for 50+ years. I began subscribing to National Review almost ten years ago, attracted primarily by his wit and wisdom. His congenial relations with his fiercest of critics is the model we should all hope to attain. God Bless you WFB. Thanks for being the embodiment of the RIGHT way of living. -Biz]

Sensible SAW

2008-02-27T11:33:00.003-05:00

Upgrades:

Stock A-5

SpecOps A5-A2 foregrip and air through stock

APE Rampage magnetic trigger and E-Grip

X7 cyclone

JCS Jetclick Cyclone mod

Palmer QEV

Polished internals

450 round jumbo hopper

16" Tippmann barrell

14" Lapco browning shroud

Dyshka Muzzle Brake

Should do 20-25 BPS comfortably with nice accuracy and medium range.

Progress and Bosses and Quests

2008-02-26T10:05:00.003-05:00

Hi all. Biz is slowly beginning the climb to level 51. He's up to 50.30% at the moment. Harm is levelin his ass off, staying 10% ahead of me. But it's good, even when I dont want to level biz, I think of harm and try to keep up. We determined I get like .3 less per hour than him so I'll have to hope he goes AWOL here and there if I'm to have any chance! I doubt that will happen, he'd pretty motivated for the 55 morph. I'm motivated for Kurtz! But not as much as him...

I killed an Ice Queen the other day, with Acid helping. She doesnt hurt that bad. I used about 20 regular clears and she died. (Acid was healin too). She dropped ONE res scroll.

I've got some more volunteers lined up to join our 50 quest team. I've got 3 mages, 2 elves, 2 knights, and me. We've got to take it to the next level!

I'm building a new paintball marker, a SAW for suppression and support. I'll post up pics when it's done. Don't expect super fancy, just high rate of fire and decent accuracy. I don't like em heavy.

Quest complete!

2008-02-22T09:10:00.003-05:00

As some of you know, once I hit 50, I vowed to start doing two quests: the diamond sword quest and the 50 quest for the class-specific items. Getting 4 people together to do the quest has been difficult, but we finally pulled it off. Wit Arechemedes standing in for the departed Prevale, we knocked it out of the park!

The dream team:

Tanthanas

Arch

Elt

Biz

After running to middle on the first floor, the second floor is tricky. The mage has to be a superstar to tag and drag all the skirts while we clear the hallways. Arch in his Bapho was more than up to the challenge!

The prince and mage items are keyed off specific mops that are hard to find. We roamed the floor revealing all the mops and eventually found him! Thank goodness I only have to do this part once!

We killed this guy for the key. That was easy.

Then it was on the big guy. Knight with quest sword takes him solo while we heal. Nice job Elt! The bling falls to the floor and we're done!

Double D/C

2008-02-20T22:13:00.003-05:00

Wed night at 9pm the D/Cs started. A bunch of people on global confirmed it was widespread. A bunch of canada and torontos crashed. I'm on east coast. We got screwed. I died once and then stood in town. I wrote NC, we'll see what happens. I cant seem to stay above 16%!

Da Boss on Da Boss!

2008-02-18T19:49:00.003-05:00

EDIT: ran into phoenix AGAIN last night (tues) around 10. Only yodel was on but we were feelin randy so I thought what the hell. I tried draggin but only had OJs and no fire rings so I had to venz to get clears and rings (which I just realized I forgot to put on). We hit him a bunch and I venz again so yodel dragged him to beach. We called fallen and finally end it. We got a bzel and some junk. Yodel let me keep the zel since I croaked to the big bird. More pics to come tonight!

Silly 55+ knights, don't try to pull drop from the might b-i-z!

Hehe, QtigerQ was draggin phoe down to beach, I got a few hits in, then he turned and started with dire bears. It ended fast. Good thing, i only had oranges!

paintball season!

2008-02-15T22:42:00.004-05:00

I got good head... And sword goes BOOM

2008-02-14T00:45:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Harm for helping me farm up a bunch of Diamond Swords. We really got it down bro!

After one such farming session, Powered called Chaos up. We scooted on over and... well, I needed a smoke afterwards.

I was feelin so randy, I bought up a ton of Dais, and unpacked the 10 steward bags I had. Worst run ever! Of the 10 6's, only 2 went 7. I was so pissed I blew those 2 and then...

Well at least I'm not the only one having a bad day.

Quest progress and stuff

2008-02-12T11:42:00.000-05:00

Well I've been doing the Diamond Sword quest a bunch and am happy to report that I am now the proud owner of not ONE but TWO +9 d-swords! I'm going to make more and try for 10 and see how it goes. Its unbreakable and undroppable so it's a great thing to have. It adds dex too, which has some benefit.
x2

In other news, KOD is thinking about changing -- either going to Anju's pledge or creating a new one. I've been asked if I'd be the prince for the new one, if we went that route. I agreed. But I want to be clear that I'm fine with the way things are. I'd like more people logging in and more boss hunting, but I'm not itching to run a pledge again or to steal all the koddies. If we did it, I'd keep the rules the way elane had them, and police it as best I can. It would be restricted to former KOD and no-drama players.

Powered gave the history of an old sister pledge to KoD that never got fully developed. I think a sister pledge would be the right approach, with a similar but different emblem. KoD is Elane's pledge. It's nobody else's. And if she ever comes back, we'd just transfer back. The pledge is split on the idea, so no action is being taken atm. More to come?

Levelled the dog once in fv when I was testin bow.

Post to follow

2008-02-05T23:18:00.000-05:00

True to my word, we started doing to level 50 quest nearly the moment I leveled! With our seasoned guide, Tanthanas, taking point, Elt, Prevale, and I ventured into the fiery lair where the quest occurs. We hit a snag when I couldnt hit the mops I was suppsed to get my key from. But we figured that out later thanks to some vets on the boards.

The other night I got my first boss drop as a level 50 prince! I pulled some blingo chingo from this AG with Fant and Krackhoes I mean Kratos.

And lookie lookie what I found. A prefectly good elf just layin on the ground like somebody dun threw him away! It's eolie, bombed from a night of partying! Welcome back! (Dont duel Biz, I cheat!)

Till next time, or I find where my pictures went...

For Acid

2008-02-05T11:48:00.000-05:00

You f'n Nerd!!

For all you Star Wars dorks out there!

2008-02-01T20:49:00.001-05:00

ALIVE!!!

2008-01-29T10:37:00.000-05:00

Finally, the journey has come to an end! At 2:13AM last night, this happened.

It's been a helluva last 3 weeks. Acid and Harm were on to celebrate the event. Acid couldn't believe I finally got a prince to 50! It was my first goal in lineage, ever. Back when Tonloc held court at the WW kennels, this was my goal.

Thanks to Acid, Krism, and Baja for providing material support in one way or another (usually 31fl scrolls lol). Thanks to Fields, Firebug, Anju, Harm, and all the old FCA and Kodders that I chatted with while grinding. And thanks to my wife who let me be a bumb and campout at the computer for weeks on end lol!

I bought a bunch of BBS and made the spellbook for brave aura. Man, it rocks! I tested it on Acid in a doorway and the asword with it is actually competent! Add in some fire and LOOKOUT. Recruiting fire elves...

What's next? I want to get some diamond swords to overdai. So BUYING STEWARD SCROLLS. Also, I need to get the cash reserves back up. So I'll be boss running on the mage at night. Oh and I need to spend some time with my family so if you don't see me as much, chill, I'll be on.

Quite the weekend

2008-01-28T10:37:00.000-05:00

As fortune would have it, I got pretty dang sick on thursday night. I caught that stomach bug that's going around and felt like crap. On the plus side, I was contagious. Trying to keep the kid from getting it, I sequestered myself in the computer room with a sixer of gatorade and 3 packs of cough drops. (liquid works much better BTW).

And I got it on. Biz is now above 95% and ready to make the plunge to the big 5-0. After he levels, ill need a break. I got a lot of shit to attend to. House needs some work. And my truck needs a new water pump. And my wife needs some time off from baby duty.

I think I'll have to do some money hunting here and there to build back up. I been buying BBS to make the spellbook, as well as steward scrolls to do the diamond sword quest. And 31fl scrolls aint cheap. The paper I get pays for them though.

Last I checked, Harm was closin in on 92 and had that determined look in his eyes! I bet he didnt sleep till 94. By the time I log in next, I bet he's 97. I have work tonight. GO GO GO !!!

Keeping up with the Harmses

2008-01-24T11:33:00.001-05:00

I'm sure he's pulling away, but I got a good bit done last night. You really feel the push after 75% -- at least I always do.

Biz is at 81% now, rounding third, heading for home!

So Alive!

2008-01-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

Got a few hours last night to play. Had some lag so I had to hang on lower floors. But persistence will be rewarded! Got a few zels and almost 2%! I'm not keeping up with Harm, but I'll get there!

I was listening to some energetic music to keep my head going. I especially like POD for lineage because it's driving and has some rappy parts. I was dreaming that my prince is getting close to being "born" at level 50 while this song was playing.

Everyday is a new day
I’m thankful for every breath I take
I won’t take it for granted
So I learn from my mistakes
It’s beyond my control, sometimes it’s best to let go
Whatever happens in this lifetime
So I trust in love
You have given me peace of mind

I, I feel so alive for the very first time
I can’t deny you
I feel so aliveI,
I feel so alive for the very first time
And I think I can fly

Hopefully soon I'll be posting a screenshot with a big blue glow on it! When I do, then Biz will feel alive, for the very first time!

Monday Morning Update

2008-01-21T09:13:00.000-05:00

Update: Tuesday morning. Hit 75% last night, hunting fv mostly. Yee ha. Rollin, rollin, rollin

I hit 73.5 last night, playing amidst the sounds of conference championship games. Boo pats, Boo giants. An all asshole-fan superbowl! Yay! What could be worst than a bunch of north jersyites and boston wannabees being given more chance to brag about their stupid teams.

70.77

2008-01-20T00:14:00.001-05:00

Had a game to coach this morning, two plumbing jobs on the honey do list, and a coolant leak on my truck to troubleshoot, but I still got some XP today.

GO GO GO!!!

67% and cruisin

2008-01-17T12:38:00.000-05:00

Last night's hunt went much better. I took a healer, which is effective though clumsy. Hardest part was getting past 34 which was LOADED with mops at the stairs lol. I had to run like a little girl! Made almost 2% which is good for me (job/kids/responsibilities = bad at lineage).

I tried hooking up with Fant to buy some bundles of essence off her but she was hunting up on 75. I have to try out this bundling thing with my supplies. Now that the event is over, I am definitely overweight a lot.

Here's a picture of my boy, aka the Juggernaut, aka Big Pun. He's the BEST!

Update! A little progress

2008-01-15T09:51:00.000-05:00

In Aden news, somebody reported seeing a knight from FCA rampaging through FV. No concrete visual evidence exists, but while I was AFK I saw

Pledge member Acidtrance has entered the game

Hmmm, could it be? I thought he quit and gave all his stuff to Iamaelf. Who knows? More to come...

Biz is leveling slowly now. Mainly because I've had hockey a lot and I've been experimenting. I tried using bow on 30s, which worked eh ok I guess. You use way less pots, but youre doing 5+ less dmg per arrow than even a halfass elf. I think I'll stick sword for levelin, to take advantage of the damage bonuses. Anyway, right about 65%. I have practice tonight so it might not get much further until wed.

60% now! On a roll!

2008-01-10T08:36:00.000-05:00

I must be butta cuz I'm on a roll! Seriously it's going pretty well. The event was ahuge boost. I mean the swing speed on that morph was silly. I was choppin broccolli for a month. Now that I've come back to earth, I'm a pot hog once again. 250 c-ojs will get me about .7~.8 I'd reckon. Not super efficient, but it gets the job done. Krism has an O-belt I might borrow to see if hunting underweight for the first half hour of the hunt will make it last longer. Interesting idea.

I could go back to two boxing a healer, but then I burn twice as many toi scrolls and they cost as much as half the pots Id use on a hunt. Plus its annoying. And the mage always dies, etc. I got my game pad set up, maybe ill try it again on an easier floor.

I should definitely be 50 by Valentines Day, hopefully sooner. I can't pull 2% a day, I got a wife and kid yo. But I'll do my best. +5dmg and goatee here I come!

Boss drop

2008-01-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

well I went to my first real boss on the prince yesterday. Someone globalled Demon was up so I ran up. Totally newb, I forgot whets. lol. But I got a bunch of hits in with my wrecked sword and pulled an ndai. I was so psyched until I ID'd it. Other drops were 13k, pots, and a B-2HS.

I then checked IQ, doppel, and DK but no luck. I think I should check with the mage and kill on the prince. Mage runs so much faster and can tele and AB. Why waste time on prince?

Halfway Home!

2008-01-04T19:38:00.000-05:00

This event has been really good for melee leveling. Obviously the AC is all that, and the morphs pwn (compared to succubus lol). So I've been up in toi spending a small fortune in pots. But it's paying off! (make me a nice deal on a 21 or 31 charm and ill be your BFF)

50% Yay GO GO GO Me! lol its so slow, but I think I can do it. Acid just needs to make me a +7 SOV lol. I did buy this pig sticker a little while back. So Ive got small mops with the asword and large and undead with the sls. I'm set!

Sweetie Baj let me steal some xp from her while she wtfpwned ToS 1fl the other day. She's not so good with the ROPC.

She didn't know about KG either lol. Bad day to be Baj!

Now for the WORST OF THE WEEK. This idiot should be banned.

What an assholic thing to say. Fight in game, but if you can't handle your emotions, quit now.

Progress Update in both games

2007-12-27T09:41:00.000-05:00

Bizmarkie (Bartz) is up to 56.34 hunting mainly in Shuttgart on the mech golems there.
ButtBishop (Bartz) is up to 36. At 37 he can hunt with biz and leetch xp. His buffs and heals are already useful so it should go well. I'll start the 2nd class change quest tonight. You get 77k xp just for finishing that.

Bizmarkie (Dep) is 49.37 and rising slowly. With the morphs in the event, I've been soloing FV and living off the pots. FD hasn't excited me too much lately. Seeing all the bots with dire bears and shit is just depressing as hell. Maybe it'll catch fire again. Till then, I'll push the prince to 50 and start doing the quests for adena.

Romain through the Gloamin

2007-12-19T14:39:00.000-05:00

with 30,000 headmen!

(bonus points if you can name the reference without using Google. Don't cheat. I'll know!)

In Lin 2, I've got the Destro into the new clan now and it's going great! They siege fortresses and do raid bosses several nights a week. We're trying to continue our pole party dominance, but we need to level a bishop to handle the increased healing required.

In lin1, Biz is 49.33% and leveling firmly if not quickly. I jumped on the mage to test out 24int and DAM can I pop pop pop the elmores. Glad I bought that charm when it was half the price it is now! The elf is still my 31fl scroll slave. She just eats up eggs on 24, feeding Biz's undead habit.

I bought a +10sls, which is awesome! They go down fast under the smiting power of my blade!

My little man

2007-12-04T10:45:00.001-05:00

Big Pun turned 1 a month and a half ago. He's now sprinting all over the house. He still falls down and face-plants occasionally, but only when he's really running.

Little Progress in L2

2007-11-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

My little bishop, ButtBishop, got invited to some raid boss action last night.

He's 30 now.

Where YOU at Bizmarkie?

2007-11-02T21:23:00.000-04:00

If you own a TV and turn it on during sports, you're likely to see a BOOSTMobile advertisement that asks the question: Where YOU at Bizmarkie?!?!

Biz of course appears. Because no Biz likes to disappoint.

For those of you that need a little pick-me up, here's da man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iFYJYwtjpc

Possibly the greatest thing you'll watch today.

Biz Markie covering Elton John.

And the other Biz loves his STR elixir. He needed the Hero Earrings, so he couldn't get a TS of STR. Nice HP plus CON and STR. Can't wait for 5 more dmg! GO GO GO!

Here comes the Event to Make You Reactivate!

2007-10-24T19:50:00.000-04:00

Lol NC is genuis! They finally found a way to make people reactivate all those old accounts with long-unplayed characters. Free elixirs! And free items that are really good! And permanent! Genuis!

Biz is 49.20 and rising. I'm having fun on him, and I think he'll be better with the extra stat point lol!

Wow, A whole month without a post

2007-10-10T08:53:00.000-04:00

Pathetic! I can do better. And I shall.

So what's going on? Well I've been doing some fishing, and a lot of playing with my son. Oh and I fixed up a lawn mower (probably to sell). And I'm putting a hitch on my truck, which might require some metalwork. I'm underpaid but overlaid. So I got that going for me.

In lin1, I've been making slow and steady progress on Biz. The Fresh Prince of Bel Aden is 49.10 now and pretty well geared up (well he shares a lot of the top stuff with the mage). He's got:

+5 Mummy Helm
Str, Skel, and Orc ammys
2 Guardian rings or Zenith for toi1-10
+5PG
ASM
+7 TS
+7IB
+5 Sovereigns
+8 Shield of Faith (acid made by doin the quest 800 times)
9kat
9sls

So he's quietly capable, if not spectacular. He has a lot of HP at 49, so he can take a few hits. Which is good cuz I stink at healing. The healmage is 45, and got regen gear. I've been trying to hold my own on toi30s but there's a lot of people up there. I hate hunting near other people since it usually leads to conflict. But my options are scarce. I need to get to the 30s so this project feels "official". Then I need to get to the 50s so it becomes "downhill".

As for the mage, Elane is back! So I'm back in KoD, looking for bosses. We're going to hit Tarak one of these nights when we get enough on. That'll be cool. I narrowly missed getting in on Chaos fight, since I had to run up -- I didnt have ToS bookmark on the mage, duh newb.

In Lin2, ButtBishop is 25 and becoming a decent healer and undead slayer. Krism is a good melee, and we're about to head to a nice undead dungeon. We should pwn there till we can rule DV. Oh and we're joining a new clan! It looks like a good group of pure newbs. It should be fun, especially for the people that don't log during our 'normal' hours. Now they'll be people on!

Stop twisting my arm! Ill update it!

2007-08-30T09:45:00.000-04:00

Bimarkie hit 49 on dep and is levelin in the double xp event. Man the grind sucks when youre a halfass knight in red robes!

But the upside at 50 (+5dmg, morphs, diamond sword) is SO worth it, I have to keep focused on the prize!

In lin2, I cancelled my two accounts for funding reasons and am leveling a bishop for Doom. I call him ButtBishop. with the changes to pole parties and VR, realtime full healing will be a requirement in the upcoming chronicles. Thats where BB comes in!

Oh and congrats on my buddy making eagle scout, one of the youngest ever! Go Shadow! You rock!

Michael Sick(fvck)

2007-08-24T17:08:00.001-04:00

Funny...

Captain Obvious

2007-08-09T11:50:00.000-04:00

For my Friend

A Very Good time to be ME

2007-08-01T10:27:00.000-04:00

Heh, I'm not one to brag, but things are going well. Football season is gearing back up and my Phins are generating positive vibes. They've got a new offensive-minded coach, and several new weapons on offense: Trent Green, Ted Ginn Jr, Lorenzo Booker, Az Hakim, and The Samoan (our new center Samson Satele). On Defense, they acquired Joey Porter to join LB monsters Zach and Channing Crowder. Matt Roth will be full time on the line now, with father time (Kevin Carter) departing. And we have multiple CB's with NFL starting experience. On special teams, we have Ginn returning kicks and punts, and Jay Feeley taking the freebies. What's not to be excited about?

On top of that, my Celts might actually matter again. They just swung a deal for Kevin Garnett, saving him from obscurity in the Great White North. Of course, they brought him to the more populated Other Great White North - Boston. But teaming him with Allen and Pierce will make them a threat to break 100 every night. The supporting cast has to be crafted now, on a reduced budget. But hey, they might get on TV again!

My lawnmower project is going well. It actually starts with the key now! I found the wire that was missing and crafted the connectors well enough. It runs smooth and the tranny is strong and quiet -- love those hydro shaft drives! I should know if the PTO is up to the task of spinning blades tonight. work work work. But I love getting my hands dirty! And if it all works out, I'll have a 1-2 thousand dollar mower for a few hundred bucks! Yee Ha!

My boy is fantastic! He's 10 months now, chattering incoherently and pulling himself up to a standing position. He's been crawling a lot but he likes standing a lot more. He cries if you don't stand him up so he can balance. He's so stinkin cute, it should be a crime! He's eating just about anything we eat, with a few milk feedings mixed in. And he sleeps through the night and naps well. So we're very blessed and happy about that.

In lin, I'm motivated again. The pledge in Lin1 fell apart, but we knew it would. Elane was the glue and she's been gone a year. I'm suprised it's lasted this long. I picked up a few neat items for the Prince. I want a ASM before the XP events, so I can get some nice levelin in. I'm also going to push the elf up because I hear there's big things in store for fire elves in the next epi. (And I hate bows). The mage will be backseat, helping the other two.

In Lin2, Andei just hit B grade at 52! And Biz hit 54. Ton is still 52 but close to 53. I'm focusing on the Destroyer while we're all pole partying together. I think we'll join a big clan later. Then I'll split time depending on what the clan needs.

In Hockey, my team is winning. We'd be 4-1 but we had to forfeit a game retroactively due to a non-roster player violation. First game of the year we didn't have enough players so we grabbed somebody. (I couldn't skate because I had a real bad leg cramp). Oh well, I like the guys on the team a lot, and we're playing well together.

That's all for now. I hope things are going well for you too!

52!

2007-06-27T23:27:00.000-04:00

Biz is B grade... now to get Biz 52 in lin1... LOL

Little Update

2007-06-27T13:55:00.000-04:00

Brief update.

Bizmarkie-L2 got to 51.50 last night. He should be B grade tonight. Then its on and it's on like C-O-M-P-T-O-N and the city they call Long Beach. Puttin the shit down Lieutenant.

I figure I can pull pretty big trains with B grade AC and weap. Tonloc will also be making an appearance. Way I see it is Biz can level much easier than Ton. Might as well get Ton the Xp while its easy.

A Tale of Two Biz's

2007-06-26T10:54:00.000-04:00

Both Biz's leveled yesterday! That's certainly never happened before lol. In Lin2, we're doing pole parties down in the Garden of Eva and the Big Orc is anchoring the damage. He'll be 52 soon, maybe tonight if Ed isn't already 58 and onto bigger and better things!

My little Dark Elf healer is about to hit 48 too. That's another big milestone cuz she becomes a much more skilled healer at 48.

And the becloaked one, he of the raccoon skin hat, also hit 48 last night! What the hell am I doing leveling a prince you say? Simple. I like them. Acid hit DK so he's just F'ing around anyway. So he's making weapons and armor. Nothing special, just sls and engraved set. With the lack of people playing, I need something to keep me from getting bored. With a healer and prince crack, he can kill things on the 31s well enough. Of course, if he had pledgemates to hunt with, that'd be better! But I'm not going to recruit people out of any existing pledges. There's so few people logging into KOD these days, we dont need anyone leaving. And hopefully, Elane will comeback soon!

Take care. See ya when I'm 49!

Atta boy!

2007-06-25T00:12:00.001-04:00

Little man is sitting up, talking, and getting teeth! He has 5 chompers and his first words were
dadadadadadadadada (he mutters it till he runs out of breath then starts over)

Here he is! (as I told a friend the other day, "if you'd guarantee theyd all be just like him, Id have 13 of em")

His mom put the oil in his hair and did the mohawk. I'm far to serious an individual to condone that sort of chicanery!

Daddy, check out my robe! I got it from Heff...
Holy crap daddy! Did you see that! The mildly effeminate sponge just blew up like a balloon and shot all over the ocean floor!

Momma! Look what I did! I pulled my sock off! It's hilarious!

Here I go. Say goodbye to your sanity. I'm headed for those topheavy speakers and the AC outlet. Bye!

Go Blackhawks! But we love free clothes!

Look at me. I'm a little Ted Nugent! Camo bib and all!