Noobs

As some of you may have guessed, I haven't been on in awhile because...

My daughter Scout Amelie Bauman was born on April 27th at 8:08 AM. She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and has regained most of that weight now (they lose a bit after birth), and she measured 20 inches (she's probably already a bit taller now). She's an amazing little person, and Hunter is being a terrific big brother. I'll post a pic soon.

And yes, my wife and I are fans of To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee). The middle name is there in case our daughter wants a 'girlier' name when she gets older. Hunter's name was inspired by an awesome little actor in the film Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders).

In FFXI news I met a couple of bonafide noobs a couple of days ago while I was perusing the Bastok AH. They were green enough to not completely understand the UI (couldn't reply to my tells at first), nor had they sold anything on the AH yet, or bought any maps to Gustaberg... yes, that new. I befriended them, gave the Warrior an Axe (the other guy is a BLM for now), gave them tips on how to get started, and answered lots and lots and LOTS of questions. It's been a bit overwhelming, so I try to only tell them as much as they need to know & focus them on their immediate goals, but it's a fine balance between helping them out and hand-holding them. I expect another round of questions tonight... so far they haven't begged for anything, which is a good sign.

My sessions -- for obvioius reasons -- have been pretty limited, so I've been focusing on earning Guild Points in order to purchase the Concoction key item (20,000 GP). This will open up another crafting option for me: Hi-Potion Drops. They sell for around 60k per stack of 12, a market that is a bit less crowded than the flood of 5k Hi-Potions. It's not a fabulous option, but the more products available to me, the better. I'm not sure whether I want to pursue Iatrochemistry yet, at least not until the Puppetmaster market stabilizes a bit. I'm working on diversifying my sales because, once again, the Silent Oil market bubble has burst, and stacks are back down to 30k. Yes, the Alchemy party's over.

Since I'm on a 4-week paternity leave, I've been signing on at random hours and buying up tons of Cobalt Jellyfish in Bibiki Bay. I'm swimming in Mercury now (hmmm, that can't be healthy huh?). I'll probably keep 2-3 stacks for personal use and sell the rest as Poison Potion (40k/stack). Next on the list will be Firesand, and eventually Hi-Po drops.

During one of my random afternoon sessions (while Hunter and Scout were sleeping), some LS members formed a skillup party in Boyhada Tree and I joined up for a short while ... long enough to cap out my Great Axe at 203. What a relief!