My New House in EverQuest

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Michel McDonald

3bedroomhouse My New House in EverQuest

Thanks to the 13th anniversary of EverQuest, Sony Online Entertainment has given me the three expansions I was missing so I was finally able to buy a house. At first I bought the 1 bedroom for 5k (forgot the exact amount) but then I noticed how tiny it was compared to the rest of the houses in the neighborhood and decided to go get a refund and buy a 3 room house instead for 10K.

I have been noticing from inspecting my items that some of them say they can be used in the front yard or in a house, so I figured why not grab all of those items from my bank and place them, and now I have quite a nice display of old armor that has been clogging up my bank for years.

wall of weapons My New House in EverQuest

I had to resize some of them so they were bigger on the wall because it didn’t look good that some of them were huge while others were tiny. Notice my wizard epic in there? That was my first epic, when I upgraded it to epic 1.5 I got to keep my epic 1 which has been collecting dust for years, so now it can collect dust on the wall.

It isn’t just old weapons that I could decorate it with, I was also able to add my trade skill trophies to a table which I bought for that purpose.

trophy cabinet My New House in EverQuest

The one on the left is my brewers trophy, the one in the middle is my tinkerers trophy and the one on the right is my baking trophy. My brewing and tinkering are both 287 so I just need to get them to 300 and they will look different on the table. I am only missing my trophy for fletching, jewelcraft, blacksmithing and tailoring, but maybe one day I will get there.

I had a little bit of fun with buying decorations. I bought a cute 4 poster bed and a dining room table for the other room with a slab of meat and a loaf of bread that I placed on the table which also has 4 chairs. Then there are 3 pictures on the walls and garden gnomes in the front yard. Yes, I know, a gnome who has garden gnomes in his front yard. Hilarious right? The problem was, they were too big, I was half the size of the garden gnomes so I had to shrink them down.

garden gnomes My New House in EverQuest

I hope you can see them. I don’t know why it looks bright and cheery in the game, but then when you leave the game all of the screen shots are really dark. I don’t know how to fix that. I let Picasa do an auto fix, but it still looks dark. Perhaps someone might tell me how to fix that.

Well, enough working on the house, I better get my moneys worth and start actually playing the game instead of focusing on a stupid house I will probably rarely ever go to. At least I was able to lighten my bank, and I have made all of my alts co-owners so I can lighten their banks too.

Oh and just in case I forget to mention, you can’t just buy a house and that’s it, you have to pay a daily or weekly upkeep fee. I am paid up for the next 8 weeks lol. In Lord of the Rings Online you can only pay for 5 weeks up front, at least in EverQuest I was able to do 8 weeks. I’m sure I can do more but I’m not positive how far in advance. And if I run out of money then I can always go back to my shaman character and make a buttload with alchemy to pay for more time.

Where there’s a will there’s a way

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Michel McDonald

Thanks to Wm Rowe

“There’s no hope for our economy” some may say. Or, “I was laid off; I’ll never find a job” others may whine. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Millions of Americans are actually regaining the American dream by starting their own companies. In fact, here in New York over 344,000 businesses have moved forward despite the odds. Agencies like NYS Small Business Development Center couple with the State University of New York to council with and train people to make their dreams a reality. Besides setting up your business and marketing plan, they help you “connect” to the world of e-commerce. In addition to these support systems, companies offer services designed specifically for the entrepreneur. Internet based providers offer banking, shipping, and data transmission solutions for any kind of business. All of this is further supported by Bronx T1 communication systems that allow each independent shop to work on its own network. We may have the naysayers out there who want us to believe there is no hope, but the fact is where there is a will, there is a way.

EverQuest on my HDTV

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Michel McDonald

My monitor stopped working so I had to start using my HDTV instead. I was so happy that I bought a new video card with an HDMI plug, but for some reason EverQuest won’t load at all when I have it plugged into the TV. I have been searching my heart out on the internet trying to find out why but nobody seems to have the answer.

I remembered that my friend Ruth told me a few years ago that she got a HDTV and she had her computer plugged into it and was using that as her monitor. I sent her a message on Facebook asking her how she did that but it took her awhile to respond. Today she responded to me to tell me she can help. I spoke with her a few hours ago and she revealed the answer. Stop using the HDMI and plug the computer into the TV using the VGA cable instead. OF COURSE! Why didn’t I think of that?

After I got off the phone with her I decided that I couldn’t wait to try it. My computer was off so I had to wait for it to come on and it immediately defaulted to loading on the HDMI since I had them plugged into both. When windows was finished loading I switched it over to VGA with the video driver software. It didn’t look good at all so I had to do some adjusting to it so it looked normal and then I loaded EverQuest and to my surprise it loaded.

So there you have it, if you are using a HDTV using your HDMI plug, you won’t be able to play EverQuest until you plug it in with your VGA cable.

No More Monitor, No More EverQuest :(

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Michel McDonald

I recently decided that I wanted to make my return to EverQuest after 5 long years, but then my monitor decided it doesn’t want to turn on anymore. My video card has an HDMI so I can plug my HDTV in so I can still use my computer, but now my issue is that EverQuest crashes before it can begin to load the game. So much for that idea.

My monitor is a 20.1-inch Sylvania SK2000w-b Widescreen LCD. What it is doing is when you turn the computer on, the screen doesn’t turn on and the power light turns green and starts blinking over and over. The screen never actually turns on, it used to turn on after a few minutes, but now it isn’t turning on at all.

I googled the model number and found out that it is fixable. I found out on the Fixya website that the problem could be that the capacitors have gone bad. My first thought was, what the heck is a capacitor and how do I fix it? So I looked at YouTube and they have a video that shows a guy who bought a monitor from a thrift store for only $2.98. It’s not a Sylvania, but he is showing what a capacitor is and shows you how to identify a bad one and how to remove the old and replace it with new.

(

It looks really complicated, but I’m sure that once you figure out how to remove the solder from the capacitor and are able to replace the first one, the rest are a cake walk. Hey, if it works then I get my monitor back and I can play EverQuest again, but if it doesn’t then I still have a 20.1-inch paperweight, so really, what is the worst that could happen? I mean sure I could buy a new monitor, but who has that kind of cash? I could pay someone to fix it for me but they would end up charging me half of what a new monitor would end up costing me. I can pick the parts up at Radio Shack and fix it myself.

I think that if I can build a computer, I can replace a capacitor, right? Yeah… easier said that done, but we’ll see how it works out.

My concern about EverQuest is that I will have to cancel it before they charge me for another month, but I haven’t really had that much time to play with it anyway and I don’t want to keep paying for something I’m probably not going to be able to play very often. I may as well cancel my account and go back to it when my monitor has been fixed. I waited 5 years, I’m sure I could wait a little bit longer until I can fix it. Who knows, I may be back in the game by the weekend. I think I can afford to spend up to $10 on capacitors rather than $200 for a new monitor.

My Return to EverQuest

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Michel McDonald

eq logo clear My Return to EverQuest

I stopped playing EverQuest in 2007 because something tragic happened in my life and I just couldn’t justify playing a video game while was hitting the fan, so I quit. I had paid for a whole year and I didn’t want to waste it so I forced myself to play out of principle, but I found that I had lost all of my enthusiasm for the game after playing for 6 years.

It has been 5 years since I’ve played and I’ve wanted to get back into it for so long, but I couldn’t really justify spending $15 a month to play a game when I could play Lord of the Rings Online for free. I have already started getting bored with LOTRO so I haven’t really been playing that anyway. I wanted to get back into EQ so I did.

A few days ago I started playing again and I got on my character named Xanapus and walked around for a bit to look at all of the places that I had missed all those years just to see if anything had changed, and it hadn’t.

I decided that I really didn’t know what the heck I was doing anymore. You would think it’s like riding a bike, you never really forget, but I have. I’m sure I will get the hang of it again, but it will take time to relearn my class and which spells are appropriate for which region and which mobs etc.

Instead of playing my main character that I missed so dearly, I thought I’d get on one of my newbie characters that I created but never really progressed. His name was Voldamort, but someone apparently took that name over the last 5 years so it had an X on the end. I logged into the account and it said I was eligible for a name change. What better time to add an “Evilxanapus” character lol. People joke that Xanapus is evil some days because I accidentally killed the mob that I wasn’t supposed to kill during someones EPIC quest. Oopsie! This level 12 necromancer is now my evil guy.

I managed to level him to 16 in just a few days of playing, which back in the day wouldn’t have been possible, but I guess it’s easier to do now. I swear, it took me at least 6 months to get Xanapus to level 16, so it is a bit frustrating that I got this necromancer from 12 to 16 in just days.

My old guild is still active, but nobody is ever online. There are maybe 2 or 3 active players, but they aren’t on everyday. I don’t think that I will leave my guild that I have been absent from for 5 years, but at the same time it’s lonely in there all by myself. I don’t really know if I will be playing the game full time or if this is just a 1 month thing. I want to play full time again, but I have too many things to do in my real life to focus on a game. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens. Being in an active guild with people who want to play with me and talk to me would justify me paying $15 a month that I would normally spend on something more useful, like oh I don’t know, a small bag of groceries.

EverQuest is fun and all, but their graphics don’t even compare to LOTRO’s. I forgot how much I hated “zoning” in EQ. There are only a few times in LOTRO when you have to actually “zone” so it was quite annoying having to zone every time I went from Crescent Reach to Blightfire Moors and to the Plane of Knowledge. Ah memories of time wasted zoning lol.

I am playing this game for two reasons, one because I missed it and wanted to play it again, and two for research for a book I want to write. I think it would be worth my time playing if I had some people to play with to give me ideas on a story or plot. Playing by myself isn’t going to give me any ideas for content. Although I already know what the book will be about, I just want to add more interesting stories and conversations that I actually have with people. Playing the game gives me inspiration, but playing it with people is where my story comes from. We will see how it goes.

“Kill every last gay person” – Ugandan Legislators

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Michel McDonald

There is an injustice happening in the world today. I won’t even try to explain it in my own words because I will probably screw it up, so read this email that Change.org sent me today.

Dear Michel,

Citibank and Barclays could save the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Uganda.

The Ugandan legislature could vote any day on a so-called “Kill the Gays” bill that could result in legalizing the death penalty for any LGBT person in the country. But Citibank and Barclays together have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in Uganda and wield significant influence in the country, just as banking lobbyists wield influence with Congress in the US. If Citibank and Barclays speak out against the “Kill the Gays” bill, Ugandan legislators will take notice in a hurry.

Collin Burton is a Citibank customer — he’s also gay. Collin started a petition on Change.org asking Citibank and Barclays to speak out against the “Kill the Gays” bill. Click here to sign Collin’s petition right now.

Citibank and Barclays are both big supporters of LGBT rights for their own employees, yet they invest money with a government that is threatening to execute LGBT people. “I expect Citibank and Barclays to live up to the values of equality and fairness, not just list them on their websites,” Collin says.

If Citibank and Barclays speak out against the “Kill the Gays” bill, Ugandan legislators will see that they are risking the business relationships that keep their government afloat.

Click here to sign Collin’s petition asking Citibank and Barclays to issue strong statements condemning Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill. The bill could come up for a vote any day, so swift action is essential.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Eden and the Change.org team

Does this not sound like a holocaust to you? They want to exterminate gays just as the Nazi’s exterminated the Jews, Gays, Blacks and anyone who wasn’t what they expected to be the perfect human being.

How can you help by clicking the link above and signing the petition asking Citibank and Barclays to condemn Uganda? If they threatened to cut ties with them, perhaps Uganda will change their mind. If they still won’t change their minds at least Citibank and Barclays won’t have blood on their hands by being associated with Uganda knowing they are in bed with the Nazi’s of today.

Please, sign the petition. You don’t even know how many lives you might save just by clicking a link and signing a petition. It could be in the thousands or millions even. If this is allowed to happen in Uganda then perhaps the hate might spread like wildfire and next thing you know other countries will be following suit.

It’s just a shame that Citibank and Barclays, being pro-gay businesses themselves, didn’t just take action on their own. Why has it come down to a petition on change.org for them to do something?

Out Singer-Songwriter Justin Utley Released 2nd Studio Album ‘Nothing This Real’ 11/11/11

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Michel McDonald

I believe that music touches the heart and soul. Music inspires creativity and broadens our minds so that we can be great people. Music derives from a Greek word “Mousike” which means “art of the muses” so it’s no wonder why it gives us inspiration. Music has always been a part of my life. When I was a teenager I listened to music all day long to drown out the real world, I guess that is where my creativity came from.

Every year before Spring begins, I seek out new music to add to my mp3 player so that I can listen to something that will get me through my 2 1/2 hour bike rides. Today I got to listen to an openly-gay country/folk singer named Justin Utley. He is a New York City based singer-songwriter and he released his first full-length studio album in 6 years entitled “Nothing This Real’ on November 11th. I really enjoyed listening to his album because I love his voice and his singing style. He isn’t bad to look at either.

I don’t know what it is about his music but it’s soothing to listen to. Every song tells a story and every song I listened to I was able to relate to in one way or another. I guess that is why I know I’m going to love listening to him. I believe that he has a true “It Gets Better” story. I found this information about him.

“An Ex-Mormon raised near Salt Lake City, Utah, Utley is perhaps the only openly gay performing artist to have survived ex-gay therapy, a practice that he vocally opposes. His experience coming to terms with his sexuality and religion have emerged as strong themes in his songwriting and on-stage storytelling.

“I’ve been asked if I could take any of it back, you know, what I’ve experienced. I wouldn’t,” says Utley. “Its part of me, my story, and its been a hell of a journey. And I’m here to share that.”

I was a member of the Mormon church when I was a baby and again when I was a teenager. I wasn’t as involved in the church as he was, but I believe that if we were more involved I probably would have been.

This is actually something that I have come to terms with in my life as well. I wouldn’t take any of it back because it is what made me who I am today. Intolerance towards me instilled my ability to be more tolerant towards others. I was taught hate, but it ended up teaching me the opposite. It seems like he has the same attitude. It made him a strong person and that is what I like about him. When you know an artists story, it makes you connect with them on a deeper level.

“Released in 2005, Utley’s first album Runaway received critical acclaim from audiences and critics in the LGBT community and created a dedicated online following.

“The lead single has been announced as Great Escape and was premiered by New York publication Next Magazine on their website on November 1st. It debuted on Sirius-XM’s OutQ radio channel following Utley’s interview with the Six Pack show on November 2nd. A music video for the single is scheduled for production in early 2012.”

It is too bad that I didn’t know about him back in 2005, but I’m glad to know him now. Better late than never eh?

His single “Stand for Something” won the 2011 award for Outstanding Country/Folk song of the year by the LGBT Academy of recording arts. That’s something to be proud of. He has also acted; he played the lead role of Tommy Dautry in the New York musical “Our Country” which I also didn’t know since I live in Bakersfield. He also won best actor at the Planet Connections theater festival in 2010. That is something to really be proud of.

His latest album was released on 11/11/11 and is available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon as well as his website and Facebook.

For more information including booking and interview requests, contact Dan Maierle – dmaierle@gmail.com.

Official Website: http://www.justinutley.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/justinutleymusic
Twitter: http://twitter.com/justinutley

Justin Utley is someone who I am going to be paying serious attention to. I will definitely be buying his music to add to my mp3 player.

‘Meet Justin Utley’ EPK Video:

Return to EverQuest

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Michel McDonald

xanapus eq Return to EverQuest

When I heard a couple of weeks ago that Sony Online Entertainment was going to make EverQuest free to play in March I got excited. I was acting as if I was going back home after my five-year absence, as if the game were my long-lost family.

Last night I installed the game from my old discs and ran the game so that it could start downloading updates so when March 11th came, I could just go ahead and login to the game without having to wait for a huge download. It took me about half an hour or longer to install all of the discs. When I finished installing, I clicked the link on the desktop and got a message saying this:

“Could not establish a connection. Please check your network connection or contact eqtech@soe.sony.com.”

Naturally I was peeved and immediately went to Facebook to find out what was wrong without going to the EverQuest website first. I couldn’t wait for a response so I decided to go to the website and found that they had a new launchpad. I downloaded and installed it and because it was a tiny file, it didn’t take more than a minute. Unfortunately since my EverQuest account wasn’t active I couldn’t download anything.

I was going through the website last night and I clicked where it said it was going to be free to play in March and saw what you get when you don’t pay and I didn’t like what I saw. You get free access to all of their expansions which was great news since I haven’t bought an expansion pack in more than 5 years. Unfortunately everything else is restricted.

You only get 4 races and 4 classes, you have to purchase the rest. Well, I have many races and classes with 8 characters which is the max you can have so I didn’t think I was going to make another one. That reminds me, I would only be able to play with 2 of my characters. They only give you 2 character slots. So what if I had 8 characters? Would they black them out or delete them? I’m sure they wouldn’t delete them, they would probably just make it so I can’t play with them. Well, Xanapus was at the bottom of the list, would I be stuck having to play with the top two on the list? I wouldn’t like that at all because those two characters are both newbie characters that I never leveled.

You only get 250 alternate abilities, I have over 350 which isn’t a very high amount but would I lose all of those last 100 that I had already earned?

They would take 6 of my bag slots away because they only allow you to use 4. Well, I have 10 bags and I would hate it if they took those items away from, or blacked them out so I couldn’t use them.

They have a platinum limitation of 100p per level. My character is level 74, so does that mean I would be allowed to keep 7400p? Well, I have over 100k in the bank, would I lose all of that? That would suck big time.

The last ones are minor. I wouldn’t be able to send in-game email, only receive it which isn’t a problem since I don’t know anyone anymore. I would be allowed a house but not a guild hall. Does that mean if I were in a guild I wouldn’t be allowed to go into the hall, or I wouldn’t be allowed to create one? Houses? What? They have houses now?

Ok so today I decided that I couldn’t wait until March 11th to play. I certainly wasn’t going to do the free account because I did not play all those years so I could lose it all. I decided I would just go ahead and pay for a subscription of $14.99 next month when I had some more money and go back to the game that I missed so much. After thinking about it I looked at my bank account and discovered that I have more than enough money for us to get by for the rest of the month. I could just go ahead and pay for it and start playing again today.

I went to log into the new launchpad and it started the download. More than 8GB of data had to be downloaded for me to play. I figured that with my cable internet it wouldn’t take too long, but just in case it did I would probably just log in tomorrow. It only took 3 hours to download/install all of the files.

It took longer than I thought to load the game, but I figured it was because it had to load all of the textures and whatnot. When it finally let me in, I was back to the world that I had missed for such a long time. The graphics were as horrible as I remembered them. I started thinking that the Lord of the Rings graphics are so much better, but I don’t care, this is where I want to be. Of course I’m not quitting LOTRO, I will play both.

The guy from Sony Online Entertainment told me on the phone that it is possible that some of my characters names might have a “1″ after them since it has been so long since I played. It is possible that someone over the years created a character with a name that I used. If my Xanapus had a 1 after it I was going to be one pissed off gnome, but it didn’t WHEW!

When the game loaded I was in the Plane of Knowledge. Nothing had changed at all. I clicked the Guild button and was shocked that I was still in my guild “Regnat Populus”, I thought for sure they had disbanded. I ran to the guild hall and it was just as I remembered it. I gated to Greater Faydark and ran to the Steamfont Mountains and then to Ak`anon. Steamfont was different, but they had upgraded it before I left so it was the same. Ak`anon on the other hand was the same as it was in 2002 when I first started playing the game. I was a little disappointed that they had upgraded all of the zones, but they left that one, at the same time I shed a tear for old times.

All of my friends were still in the friends list. I clicked the button to find out who was online and one of them was. His name is Mezmar. There was a time when I was forbidden to talk to him because he betrayed my guild, but that is all in the past, water under the bridge. It was a guild that I hadn’t been in for a very long time, I believe it was “Blades of Veeshan.” I sent him a /tell and he didn’t even remember me. I tried to jog his memory but he just couldn’t remember.

I ran around looking at things but I was alone. No friends, no guild members online, nobody to talk to so I just signed off. Tomorrow is a new day so I will get back in the game and start exploring again. I can’t wait to get back in the game and see what is new.

My main reason for wanting to go back to the game was that I wanted to play the game again because I missed it. My secondary reason was because I want to do research. I want to write a fiction novel based on my main character. It won’t be an EverQuest novel or fan fiction though. If I make a novel with the EverQuest trademarked name, zones, characters etc. and then try to sell the book they will sue me. Instead I will have to make up a whole new world of my own.

I don’t know if I will even get to write a book based on him, but wouldn’t it be fun if I did? My research will be a combination of the EverQuest and Lord of the Rings games, but with my own added imagination and storyline which I will obviously make up as I go along. I already have many ideas for a storyline, plot, characters etc., I just need to write them down. I think it will be fun, but we will see if it even happens. I hope it will.

“My secrets video – It Gets Better” by Savealifeful on YouTube

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Michel McDonald

Gay bashing/bullying is not a new fad, it has been happening for decades. It is a very sad thing and I feel sorry for every gay person who went through it. Ever since children started committing suicide because they couldn’t take the bullying anymore, people have been making “It Gets Better” videos and posting them on YouTube. I love to watch them because I love to see the positive message at the end. These videos are meant to help children change their minds about suicide, but it also helps us adults who after all those years are still contemplating it.

Take a look at this one. His YouTube channel is called savealifeful and he brought me to tears with his story. When he says that the bullies taped him to a pole and then taped his hair, tears flooded my eyes, actually I’m starting to tear up again just thinking about the torture he went through. Take a look at his story. Perhaps he will inspire many others out there who are depressed and wanting to make that final decision. Maybe his video can save a life.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L5pIreg-7c” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>

My Cromebook WiFi Works Again

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Michel McDonald

I believe it was in mid January when I started having connection issues with my Cromebook (CR48) and couldn’t fix it. I’m still not sure what happened but I was very frustrated that I couldn’t use it anymore. It became a paper weight on my desk. The 3G worked, but the WiFi kept disconnecting.

This is what happened. I would be typing (as I am doing now) and suddenly lost my connection. I noticed that my words weren’t coming out right, instead other words were being selected and deleted with every key I hit. I would look over at the WiFi icon next to the clock and it showed that it was trying to connect, then I’d see an X. The only way I was able to continue with my blog post, tweet, Facebook update or IM conversation was to turn 3G on. I’d have to save my work or put the person I was talking to on hold and reboot. At first rebooting helped, but it would disconnect again. I got to the point that I just stopped turning it on.

What happened today was I went to play with my PSP and wondered if there was an update available. I tried to log in to my network and it wouldn’t let me. I noticed that it said my network was not compatible. That didn’t make sense since Chips iPhone and my Nook haven’t had any issue logging into the network. I loaded the Linksys EasyLink Advisor program and went into the security settings and it gave me an error. I starting thinking that maybe that was the reason I was having issues, so I reinstalled the WPA security and viola, my Chromebook is online with no issues.

I have typed this entire post on my Chromebook without one disconnect. Before that would have been impossible since as soon as I started typing the WiFi would disconnect. The problem has been solved and I hope someone who is also having issues might see this and check their own network security settings. Good luck!

Xanapus` Lair

Diary of a Gay Nerd