FFXI GOM - Goal Oriented Management

Yes, I play what many would be considered an aging MMO. Considering that fact that I have explored perhaps 15% of the entire game in the time that I have been playing, I'd say that it is aging rather gracefully. I only hope that I do the same.

That being said, I am also one of the less party-prone players in the game, and this has me at somewhat of a disadvantage. Beastmaster would be the job choice for most such as I, however, I do like the swiss-army knife of options that Red Mage brings to the table, and so, this is my high-level job. Weidling either dagger or sword give the Red Mage a number of options in the weapon skill department.

Recently, a fellow player was coerced into obtaining their Sapara of Trials, which once used enough, will earn you the right to fight a Notorius Monster. Once said NM is defeated, you can gather a special key item that will unlock a new and more powerful weapon skill. How the use builds up on the Sapara of Trials (and other trial methods) is simple. You get a point for using a weapon skill. If it closes a first-level skill-chain (follows a combining skill used by another player) you get two points. If you are the 3rd player to use a compatible skill in a chain, that adds another element, you get 3 points, and if you are the 4th player that adds yet another element, you can get 5 points for the effort.

Now, consider the fact that you can fire a weapon skill after amassing 100 or more Technique or Tactical Points, with a maximum of 300 TP. Yes, it takes three times as many strikes or damage taking opportunities to achieve 300TP as it does to achieve 100TP, so, if you were alone, you would want to fire a weapon skill every time >=100TP was available. If you have someone to open the skill chain, and they can generate TP faster than you can, then it makes sense to close skill chains rather than solo them, and it will take half the time. On the other hand, if you find yourself waiting till you have 200TP before your partner opens the skill chain, you're not much better than if you were solo.

When choosing a skill chain or a weapon skill to fire, it is advisable to use skills that are skill chain compatible. If you are tackling mobs that meet the minimum required Easy Prey, and you can handle them comfortably, then milking them for TP is well advised. Apply these rules to your battle as long as you can handle it.

• choose a low damage weapon skill or skill chain


• let your weapon do the damage


• avoid DOT spells (Dia, Bio, Poison, Choke, Rasp . . . )


• minimize casting to maximize weapon use


• letting the mob heal will make more skill activations per mob


• take damage now and again to get more TP

Using these techniques, I was able to break the latent effects on both the Sapara of Trials and the Dagger of Trials. While there is an arduous set of steps necessary to access the Sapara NM for unlocking the weapon skill, there is a NM that spawns in the zone that is highly sought after. These NM hunters were kind enough to offer assistance, and hence my success at acquiring Savage Blade.

Evisceration was acquired without ever firing a skill chain, leading to the discovery that only attacks that land on the opponent are counted. My record keeping recorded 317 weapon skill activations, which was 17 over the requisite 300. Missing 17 of 300 indicates and accuracy of 94.33%, so feel free to budget accordingly: forget to record one every 20 activations.

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In The Can!

Just a short post to chortle quickly. Post #365 is in the can on the daily.

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300 posts - a Blogger Milestone

I just finished writing the short post for the daily blog. I have grown accustomed to actually doing the updates on a daily basis, which I believe helps deliver a true 24-hour delay and spin from post to post. Somehow, I can tell the difference between writing 5 posts in one day and writing 1 post a day for 5 days. I wonder if the readers can. Time may tell.

As to the 300 post milestone, well, that's the maximum number of posts that the blogger interface will allow you to view in a single page on the "Edit Posts" tab, and today, the 300th post on the daily blog will appear at the predetermined time. Unlike human blogs, the daily will not be calling attention to this fact as has been observed elsewhere. The daily has it's own milestones.

Olla Podrida - 2nd Edition - 1788

At one time in my life, I had the opportunity to bid at auction for the contents of a storage unit. It was a massive 10'x20' unit, but only a quarter full. I had no trouble re-organizing the entire contents into my mainly vacant 10'x10' unit. Among the items I inherited in the transaction was this example of Gutenberg Pressmanship. The 443 pages of printing (111 sheaves) has held up rather well when compared to some wood-pulp publications that are far younger.





We can see that this book was part of a library collection at one time. These pages are the most frequented, as expected, but the later pages are very clean and clear. The fact that this is a second edition indicates that it is a work of some popularity. I've read a few of the "numbers" and am somewhat taken aback by the re-use of a "f" to mean an "s" but in most cases, the forward portion of the cross-bar on the "f" is clipped off. Perhaps this is due to the fact that this part of the lowercase "f" wore out? I have no idea.



It's is definitely interesting to have something that is older that the Constitution of the United States. At a published date of 1788, and a date of 1781 on the binding, it is a conversation piece. What is far more interesting is the language inside.


Perhaps this will, one day, become a Google Book. It has been rescued directly into my care.

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Short Siestia before the Road

The gooming kit is packed.

Car Parked, Cleared, and Fueled.

Trunk has what it needs to have in it.

And I prepare to say adiós to my little resort.


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When

I hated writing. I remember being given a piece of construction paper and being told to fold it in half and cut out a random shape. The teacher is at the front of the room with a big pair of very sharp scissors that have the ability to slice and dice and be precise. These things reminded me of the sewing shears that my mom kept in her sewing box. I can't ever admit to using them. No, not ever. I knew where they were, I knew exactly how they were stored, but no, not ever, could I ever cut paper with these fantastic scissors.

So here is my 3rd grade teacher, or a substitute, or was it an assistant? Yes, we had assistant teachers that would do things with the class when our regular teacher needed to grad tests, or make a test, or compute your grade at the end of the quarter. Yea, you had to respect the assistant, because if you didn't, well, a minor math error might keep you in the 3rd grade.

So I get a nice rectangular square of construction paper. Not the nice fine-grain, easy to fold artist brand paper that my mom kept around the house. Nope. This stuff was made from corn stalks, and practically had husks embedded in it. When I went to fold it, I cracked and split, and made an edge that was worse than a folded piece of plywood.

Then I get the scissors. Nothing like the shears that the assistant teacher has, I get a pair of blunted, dull, stamped 3" blade scissors. What's going on here, am I in an institution? I can't have a pointed object? I was bold. I walked up to the teacher. Not the assistant, I walked straight up to the teacher who was working on my grade, or someone else's, and said:

"Pardon me." and shut up. I waited for her shock to wear off and prepared to smile.

Up from her grade book she looks, and turns her head toward me, her eyes floating above the rims of her glasses. I began to ratchet up a smile and seeing her anxiety, I asked, "Do you have any sharp scissors? I really need something that has a good point on it."

"No. I can't let you have pointed scissors. You'll have to wait until the 4th grade for pointed scissors."

Here I was with a nice idea on my mind, and I needed something sharp and pointy to execute the design in my head. I figured that I could spend some time making a nice and intricate edge to give this thing a good look and I get handed a lump of rock to cut a delicate design. Confounded, I roughed out a fluffy cotton-ball shape that looked like a tree I saw in a book one time. It was with this space that I was then to write a story.

By now, I was just steamed. My mind had vapor locked and I decide that I was not going to do it. It was just not happening. I took the zero and just dealt with it. Had I been given a day or two to write a story within the given constraints, yea, sure. Give me the tools I need to excel at the initial task, and the inspiration will unlock me.

It's been a long time since the 3rd grade, and things have gotten quite a bit easier since then. I've apparently reached that age where I've got something to say and a way to say it. As is the case with any blog, you should consider a realistic post schedule. You might not want to communicate it to your readers, but you should communicate it to yourself. Make a commitment and keep it.

For this publication, I intend weekly frequency, with more frequent posts in the early days. I also schedule posts, since it is the case that I often have more material in a given time than is suitable to publish, either by rule or common sense. Writing keeps, and working ahead is the norm in the industry. Just ask any columnist.

The When of posting is very important when you consider the kind of interaction that you are aiming for. In the case of my daily blog, it supports comments, but not labels or reaction buttons. The reasons for these choices on a daily blog is fairly simple. Allowing comments gives the reader the opportunity to interact. It demonstrates openness. Labels can be added later, and I removed the reaction buttons after about post #35. I might re-enable them later.

All considered, I really don't expect comments, due to the fact that it is a fictional blog, or blogfic as the Web Fiction Guide classifies it. The goal of the blog is traffic, since it is an advertising supported site. I also track it using Google Analytics, and there is a feed available via FeedBurner as well. Everything a starved Science-Fiction addict could hope for.

If you are looking to spark conversation and get multiple points of view, advice from readers, or encourage the sharing of ideas, then a more infrequent posting schedule may suit you better. The general rule on the relationship to participation and post frequency is related to popularity. It may take some time for your blog to be discovered, but it is inevitable. The more viewers of your page, the higher the probability of comments, discussion and interaction in a shorter period of time.

Blogging allows for random, haphazard, and unusual publication as well. All of these methods work, but they work better with an established audience. Once you have an audience, then you can use tracking information to decide the freshness of each post, and this can determine when you choose to release the next post. Once you get into a situation where you are getting dozens of views a day, and comments start, the view rate will increase rapidly, but your user count will not experience a similar increase, since comments tend to generate return visits in addition to lower bounce rates.

In the process of getting listed on the fiction directories, the update frequency was one of the metrics that I was asked to supply. I noticed that my listing was put up fairly high for an initial listing, and perhaps the fact that it is a daily update helps too. I did notice that many of the blogs that make Blogs of Note have daily updates frequencies.

It still all comes down to You, and the commitment You make with Yourself. I'm not going to tell you it's going to be easy. I've pressed some deadlines lately, and I know all too well the panic that can ensue and constrict the creativity necessary to do a task well, and have it be enjoyable. However, I will tell you truthfully, that I like the feeling of accomplishment when I finish off the final proof and hit that Publish Post button.

Carpe Diem. If you're in the mood to write, just to it. Remember that you can always save it as a draft, and come back to it later. If you have three or four good ideas, make three or four drafts. Feel free to leave the title blank, and use the post list as an Idea file. You might find that working on two or three posts at one time is conducive to a particular task. Use the tool any way that works for you, but just do it.

Finally, you are in total control of When. Use the little Post Options link at the bottom of the text entry window when you are editing a post. This will let you see and change the date and time of publication. Note, that editing the post after publishing it will not change the date of posting or the sequence of the post in relation to other posts. If you change the date and time on an existing post, it will move, as you would expect it to.

If you're considering a blog that is suitable to be fed directly to a feed reader, or is something that lends itself to advertising by excerpt, it might be the case that edits to a post may cause a retransmission of an old post. I don't subscribe to my own blog feed, but perhaps I should, just to make sure that it is working as I expect it to. I'll keep you posted, and please do the same.

Welcome!

Not long ago, I knew nothing about blogging except that I had fun reading one particular blog and kept checking back when the author went on hiatus. I read the entire thing, from the first post to the current, and at times, laughed myself silly and had people wonder what I found so funny. Yes, I was in my cubicle, and yes, I was on my break time. It took several days to read all of the posts. I just left an extra browser window up for the several days that it took.

Over the years, I have flipped through various blogs that I have come across, and been intrigued with the depth and detail of the illustrations, storytelling and the myriad subjects that drive people to express themselves in the blogosphere. I gave thought to the idea of starting a blog, and after due consideration, I satisfied all of the criteria that I'd distilled from a few years of observation and a fair bit of research.

Considering that I was an HTML illiterate, and knew it, I counted on my strong background in Computer Science. I learn what I need to when I need to. So far, so good, but that lack of knowledge definitely influenced the concept and scope of my first blog. Things are going well, and there is enough material now that it qualifies as an online novel. I'll let you go find it.

When you are in control of when you post, if you are just starting out, there is a danger of burnout. It happens. Only discipline can overcome this danger, by preventing it in the first place. You have to know your limits, or set them in advance. This is not my first blog post, and I do maintain a blog with daily update frequency. There are some tricks to pulling off such an ambitious project. Even users of Twitter have discovered, micro-blogging is still writing, even with all those abbreviations that they use.

If you are anything like me, writing consists of pushing the correct buttons on a keyboard, and there is an optimal size for these buttons. If you're going to write a blog, it's probably going to involve typing, so get a good keyboard. If you're a keyboard slouch, a text oriented blog might not be for you. Writing by hand and scanning the posts might be an alternative, but that will still involve interacting with a computer, scanning the original, and then stuffing it into the same editor that you use if you were a written word blogger. I think typing is much more efficient, and it takes less equipment.

Perhaps a photo-blog is more your style. This works, and I do agree that a photo is worth 1,000 words or more, but there is one small problem — photos take space, and that means that they will take time to transfer across the various segments of the Internet. If you're on a cable modem, you've got great download speed, but the upload speed may not be to your liking. If you're an accomplished photographer, and size your images for the Internet, then go for the photo-blog approach.

Video blogging is yet another approach, and You Tube is a popular site for hosting your own videos in the format of a television channel. Pod-casters can produce their own audio programs and distribute them as well. Some blogs become multimedia archives, and that's one of the reasons that I've created this blog — to provide a vehicle for experimentation and then talking about how I do some of the things that I do.

Regardless of the main medium of your blog, you're going to be using a computer and that is a task that I've integrated into my world. I even studied computers in College and got a nifty certificate for doing that piece of work. I've written lots of code in several languages, and in all of the cases, the comments, like this, are more important than the code itself. Writing code is really a dual audience publication — for the compiler and for you, because you're not going to remember why you wrote the code the way you did — but I digress.

The central theme here is that Blogging is a creative activity that will require time. What you write on a blog, you intend for anyone and everyone in the world to read, and perhaps comment upon. While there is some degree of control being an blog author, you are still putting yourself out there to be judged, and even inviting it. Only time will tell if the risk is worth it for you.

I've managed to carve an interesting niche in the blogosphere, and I am enjoying watching it grow. I've had some of my friends tell me that they want to blog, and ask me how I do it. It is for these people, that I create this site. Call it my technical support self, I consider this blog a time saver. I've been asked often enough personally, that by writing this blog I will ultimately save time and help all those that ask. Therefore I share my experience, and I invite other bloggers to chime in and share theirs via comments. Feel free to plug your blog and advertise your wares.

If you're thinking of starting a blog, and you're interested in support help, just use the contact link on the right and send off a message. It'll just prove that you've learned your way around a keyboard.