Doc finally got talked into getting a blog of his own. About time! 

http://doctorgascoigne.blogspot.com/ 

For anyone who doesn't know him, Doc is one of my most respected and admired friends in SL. Since I first met him (more than a year ago now!) I've known him to be informed, insightful, and the perfect mix of serious and silly. 

He's a mentor, to be sure, but he's also MY mentor. The one I go to when I have an ethical dilemma or a personal crisis. 

He's a fantastic SL Mentor - top notch. He can answer your questions, from the most simple to the most complex. He's great with referring you to specialists (no one can do everything!) - he always seems to know who you'd need to talk to for help.

His blog is full of great info, so go read up and get informed. :)

http://www.cracked.com/article_15657_world-warcraft-world-10-ways-online-gaming-will-change-future.html

Written in 2005. Amazing article. Funny, realistic, oh so true.

Is this what the rest of the world should expect for their future? I know I, for one, am already living it. 

Well, except for the "400lbs with a neatly trimmed beard and husband with 14 cats" part. :)

slprofiles.com is one of my favorite external SL related sites. I've been on it for about a year, and I've met some cool people through there. You can post blogs, add photos, add friends, advertise services and businesses, and they have all kinds of neat gadgets.

They even have a live chatroom, although it never really caught on from what I can tell.

slprofiles is somewhat unique for external social networking websites because it's exclusive to SL. You can post RL info in it too, if you like, but it's made for SL networking (unlike facebook, which we are just modifying for our avatars needs).

More about facebook later.

Find me on slprofiles:

http://www.slprofiles.com/slprofiles.asp?id=6668

For anyone who has not yet discovered it, flickr is awesome :) It's a photo-hosting site run by Yahoo Networks. I've been a "Pro" (paid) member since September. For $25 a year, you can post unlimited amounts of pictures. You can organize them into sets, collections etc, tag them, comment on other peoples pictures, save pictures as your favorites, etc. All the basics a photo-sharing site should have, without too much extra junk to clutter up your screen. You can also add contacts, send mail, make groups, etc.

Flickr links well from other sites as well. You can link to your own photo page, or any individual picture. When you link it on facebook, it puts a thumbnail slideshow of your pictures in the message!

Check my flickr site out here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarynlondon/

Lots of Second Life pictures! And a lot of SL people are on it. There's some incredible photo talent.

Last night, I teleported in to the SLVEC (Second Life Volunteer Education Center) sim. Doctor Gascoigne was there (one of my favoritest people in the whole wide grid - Doc G! - hugs) and as always he was just standing around in IM. I take pics of him when he's not paying attention and edit them (that's my "thing") so I decided to rez a white backdrop behind him. I didn't have one ready made, so I built one and textured one side white. Well, he saw it, and decided to sit on it. So I did too. Because we were right by the landing point for the sim, everyone saw us as they TP'ed over (SLVEC gets a lot of drop in traffic). Indego joined us, then Stormy, and more people.

Out of the... 'blue'... Blue (Linden) showed up in his awesome aviator avatar http://bluelinden.wordpress.com/about/ . He made a feeble, half-hearted attempt to get us back to work (something along the lines of "Break it up, you thugs!"), then joined us. Before long we had 25 people, sitting on the wall and floating around it. <Taryn quicktip: to see how many people are there at a busy event, go to map and hover over the green dots. It will tell you how many people are on the sim>.

Mentor party! Jezzie came (towards the beginning) and asked if we were protesting. I said we were. Not sure what. We decided to protest "Lack of walls to sit on", "Lack of pie", "Blue Linden for CEO!", and RL in general. People made signs. We gesture spammed each other. Colton and Socrates shows up. It took some coaxing to get them to come over. Who can blame them? We were quite the sight.

Mentors: you are crazy. I love you all.

I don't know how best to keep this blog organized; indeed, this is my very first blog site! I've blogged on third party sites before, but never on my own site.

I have a job that doesn't require much of me. This is awesome because it gives me a lot of time to do my own thing on the internet. Like this blog :D Yes, I'm at work right now, blogging. As a result, I find some pretty awesome websites. I want to use this blog, in part, to share some of them with you. Some are whimsical and fun, some are serious heavy reading, some are very informative, but most relate in some way to Second Life or technology (my two main areas of interest).

My link for the moment that I'm going to share is Kevin Kellys blog. This guy blows me away with his level of insight and understanding of technology. He speaks eloquently on a wide range of topics, some I'm not afraid to admit are way over my head. But he explains things in a way that they are easy to understand. I've had his blog site recommended to me by two separate people, so that's always a good sign :)

I started by reading his article "Better than free". I'd recommend starting there as well. All his articles are great. Take some time and check them out, I guarantee you'll learn something.

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/01/better_than_fre.php

Yesterday I took my son to get his first pair of glasses. He's been complaining of not being able to see signs etc. clearly for a little while, and a trip to the optomitrist confirmed it - he needs glasses. He's the same age as I was when I first got mine, so it wasn't entirely unexpected.

First, we went to Hakim Optical. Not because I'd heard they're good - I've actually only heard negative things about them - but because they were close by. Sure enough, all the kids glasses they had were hideous. I can't imagine any parent buying one of those pairs of glasses for their child. Garishly bright colours, huge lenses - just begging for torment by peers. So, we moved on.

Next we went to a small downtown independant store. Talk about the other end of the spectrum! The (very pleasant and well informed) gentleman working there said right from the start - "This is the place where people come when they want something special, when the store stock elsewhere just isn't meeting their needs". He wasn't kidding! Their kids glasses were incredible; very classy, light, and so abuse-proof! He put them on the counter, smashed his fist down on them, and showed me how to pop the arm back on - no tools needed. Unfortunately, they were $420 just for the frames. A little bit more than I wanted to spend.

We went back to the optomitrist office, as he also sells glasses. There, we found exactly what we were looking for. Simple, bronze-coloured frames, with the twist-flex design so they don't get all bent out of shape. We're both happy with them :)

I mentioned to the doctor that I've not been able to use my contacts for about a year, because whenever I wear them and try to look at a screen (television, computer) my eyes go blurry almost instantly. He told me that Acuvue Oasis brand should clear that up, and he gave me a trial pair! Yay! So, I am wearing them right now for the first time, and sure enough, I can see! I have been dealing with blurry vision for about a year, because the contacts drove me nuts and I don't much like my glasses (I'm the first to admit, I can be a bit vain).

I'll try them out for the week and see how things go. Hopefully I've found a solution!

Taryn

PS - I wanted to try Torley's discovery, about saving money on glasses, but it's my sons first pair and I didn't want to take any chances.

http://torley.com/dont-get-ripped-off-do-get-a-great-price-on-eyeglasses

I finally got my blog set up! Yay!  And by me, I mean Red. He set it up for me because of my lack of motivation and time. And my utter frustration. So *HUGE HUGS* to Red, you rule! You can visit Red on the www here: http://secondlife-tech.blogspot.com/ (That's his new blog! Check it out!)

My second thank you goes out to Torley Linden, who inspired me to get my act together and get a site and a blog. Torley, you have no idea of the impact you have on people. You're truly amazing, and Second Life would not be the same without you.  For those that have yet to check out his site, go here: http://torley.com/

 A little intro... I am Taryn London, resident of Second Life since November 2006. I can't imagine my life without it.  In SL, I own a club (Club Crobar) and am a volunteer with Linden Lab (Second Life Mentor).

I started working at Crobar in March of 2007, and ended up buying the club in June of '07. Bought out my business partner in August, and have had it for myself since then. I have awesome managers who do a fantastic job of running the show.

I am a Second Life Mentor. That is my true passion. In addition to being a mentor, I am also a Second Life Mentor Buddy, Mentor Linguist, and Mentor Orientation Coach. 

I attend quite a few Linden office hours, as it's a great way to get information and learn more about Second Life. Drop by some if you get a chance! You can find the listings here:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Office_Hours

Ok, it's late, I've had a long day. That's all for now.  

I was very honored to be asked to give Taryn a hand setting up her blog.  (Even though I know it was only because she got busy).

Welcome to the world of Taryn London!

 Red.