The Pixel Bean

We all have our Favorite spots in Secondlife, a Place we have to call home, or our second home,  Back in October me and Aeonix ( @darianKnight ) went there for a Halloween party,   it was a good time, Great music and Lots of people with great attitudes, I was new, But it still felt like a reunion of sorts, and I met my Virtual Cousin Harlow Heslop.  She is one of the owners of the Pixel Bean Coffee House Sim in secondlife along with Arkansas Sorbet

The Sim is Filled with treasures to look at, places to Dance and Sit and friendly people you will not soon forget, at midnight setting it is a moonlit paradise.

During the day it is Fields of Beautiful Flowers, Quant  trails to walk, Places to fish and so many serene areas to explore.

Inside the  homey cabin like Coffee shop, they have expanded and laced the walls with Writings, Cushions on the floor Nice comfy chairs to chill out in, Some nights may be a Poetry night others Trivia  or maybe even the truthball.  From the Coffee bar you can get a Mocha and some sweets to snack on (No need to as for skim milk here)  and just chat away to the many people that call the Pixel Bean their home away from home. My Saturdays are usually spent there Kicking out  the “Beans”  requests, and depending on the time I am Likely to stay till I am off to bed for the night.  The Pixel Bean is Defiantly  a place to Visit.

 

Virtual Beginnings and free Gifts

We all start somewhere, I can remember Back in 2007 finding what I thought was The BEST place ever, It was Wally World Kinda like the Walmart of Secondlife, Cheap Prices, Freebies and in all honestly looking back... All Kinda crappy, BUT then I had no clue and not alot of Lindens. I Worked as a Club manager at Neversedge a 80s Dance place Owned and Operated by my adopted dad in Secondlife Tanoosh, he paid me 250 Lindens a week Plus tips (Good L back then) I went Crazy there, My First Avatar (Dylana Whitfield) has a 56,000 Item Inventory half of which is freebies I am sure. Usually if your Dedicated to SL you find out the Full Perm, 1L and 10L  stores are total Rip Offs Quickly, but until I did, I was a Shopping fool.  Here is a good start for your shopping Pleasure, Some even great if your an Old timer. None of these are Freebies stores, They are all Reputable  Designers;s that have been kind enough to offer these items for Nothing or Next to nothing.

Lapointe & Bastchild
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Evocative/128/128/28

Gothic Clothes, Skins, Boots, Shoes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Very old Fashions, But great for those into the goth look and Just starting.
TP to the Main LM, Wait for the Main TP sign to Rez, Select Free Design

Gizza Creations

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Thunder%20Dome/41/193/22

Female and Male Group Gifts.. Straight into store  on the right side, Join Group, Get all Gifts for free, Aprox 9-12 Gifts at a time

Adored Clothing
http://http://slurl.com/secondlife//101/192/25
Female Clothes - Costumes -  Go toward the store to the left of the entrance  is a sign that says "Touch to teleport to free store"

Glam Affair

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Beauty%20Avatar%20couture/169/134/24
10 L and Up male and Female, 2nd floor Store, Hard to find

Savior Hair
http://slurl.com/secondlife//118/42/27
Free Hair, Discontinued by Designers, Or  Just never  sold, Male and Female

Phoenix Rising
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ashoka/182/86/28</a>
Great Designer all Items are 25L, Premium at a Inexpensive Price,  I think I own Just about Everything at this store.. ALot Bought Before Prices were dropped... Of Course

Beautiful  Designer Clothes - 25 L a piece - Ladies and  Gentlemen

Beautiful Dirty Rich
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Beautiful%20Dirty%20Rich/131/200/22
Has a Free Gift usually every 2 weeks, Right at the TP Point,  This is One of my Fav  Stores Neko, Sexy, Hair Freebies also

 

Sharkies

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Liberty%20Coast/204/240/22
I Only purchased the one outfit from the store, But there was Many to choose from, Nice looking store

Barerose

Barerose had been around a LONG time, Very cool Theme clothes and a Huge variety most 200L or less, the link is to their Free Store

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bare%20Rose/244/208/34

A Piece Of Candy
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Oamaru%20Bay/203/28/31

Have You Found any Treasures? any Great Places to get someone started, Post It here!  I'll be happy to swing by

An Idiots thoughts on the Second life Development Viewer

We will start slow, I dislike it. Ok that is out there now. It has it's perks, It does, the 42 groups, the Web based Profiles (Which are actually a bit confusing since pay, teleport, IM Etc are still in the sidebar). Also the option to type instead of having your avatar look all excited at the stroke of a key, That is all cool stuff. The linking no copy items! fantastic, it like getting away with shoplifting the same item over and over again in your own inventory that is a great feature for outfits, But... The downfalls... I crashed alot, for no apparent reason, Just eh, Left, While DJing at a new club of course which made it more frustrating. After some research i Found out my personal profile information and picture Disappeared and notes disappeared of other avatars, you know that useful note area where you can put Psycho chick or Owns so and so store, May need Medication or "tigger287tigerliggy says they lie alot"... How do I know you again???? and Last the Multiple attachment points.. HOORAY! I can wear Nails, and a Ring and hold a Lolipop at the same time, not that i have ever done this, But knowing it is possible is fantastic... But also a curse, Read below.

What I Need for my viewer is
Radar, What a fantastic Idea I can see who is close who is coming closer and who I need to say Hi to... Wow, Thank you emergence for setting that pace and Phoenix for keeping it up.
Worn Items - Not in one HUGE linked folder, I may not want to take off everything, I may want to quick change and just take off whats left from the old outfit... You cluster Puck it into a huge folder, I am back to typing worn into inventory... Hello 2006 I'm Back! If I attempt to Add to outfit that great feature for multiple attachment points to attach, Become an elephant in the room by wearing 2 outfits (I Have been know to be wearing up to 4 at one time, Granted only select pieces which made it even more priceless)
Events titles - Not a short book, I do not want to see the first paragraph of every event, I am more than capable of reading what they are and clicking if it sounds interesting, The screen is to small to have all that excess crap on there.. My Monitor is 23 Inches and still TMI.
Inventory Window - Okay... I want my inventory in a window not a side bar, Yes I know you can click the arrow to toss it in the window, I get sidtracked, Lose the Lil window and then have to reopen and reattach it.. Waste of my time... Dont try to fix what was not broken, Fix stuff that is! Usually in a fit of rage I lose the Inventory when unattached and need someone to remind me to look at the Other side.
Search you want an event with music, it was so easy you just clicked search-Events, Music and nightlife, now it is this tiny lil search option, what if you do not koow what you want to do, hmm ill look up dance just to get the stupid window to load, then start to investigate, thru small books of each event of course.
Media and audio I liked the lil bar at the bottom, Nothing wrong with it, Now i get a Tiny speaker at the top BUT it only brings up volume, you have to Ninja the viewer to find the sun looking icon to grab your settings for gestures, Voice, Media, Audio Etc, and the auto play option, I may turn it off, and Bam i log in and my ears are bleeding, the music is Full throttle and I am usually in voice with my headset in my hands talking in the mic saying "One moment, I cannot hear you" fiddling with the controls and Ctrl+P trying to kill the violation my ears just experienced and dig up tissues to catch the blood.

I am sure there are more items on my list, these are the ones that are irritating me right now, I would add Stupid People who have low tolerance for others that may be different, People that grief for no apparent reason, and People that have made Lying a supreme sport in the virtual world, But I Honestly do not blame Linden Labs for everything I dislike. I think all in all they are coming together quit well, and I hope 2011 will be a new promising year for them.

While I Am blogging about Linden Labs, Welcome to the team Rod Humble (@rodvik), as I tell every new person I meet, Secondlife is what you make of it, So make it Wonderful!