Paravel Communications is Up.

Well, after several months of trying to get bearing after resigning at First Baptist I have begun to take to heart the comments my friends have been telling me for years.  I have been developing web sites for guilds, churches, personal use for a long time.  Every time I finish a job someone would comment how they liked it, or how cool something was on it.  Soon the conversation would turn to "You should do this for a living."

Well, it is now time to see if they are right.  My deepest desire is to help others use the internet to reach out to the masses.  Weather it is a church or ministry, a local company, or someones private blog, they deserve to have a great web presence.

All I ask of my readers and friends is you pray for us as we try to get the company off the ground.  If you know of someone or you are in need of a custom site, give me a call.  *smile*

http://paravelcomm.com

Frost Build

Been toying with the WotLK talent calc on wowhead.  Here is what im looking at for my mage.

http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=oZZiAcIsfz0ddgcst

Ding 30!

Bethany and I have been playing with the Refer a Friend program.  We set up an account just for Bethany, err, rather she purchased her own account.  We are getting 3 times the XP.  So far we have flown through levels. Only issue is we out level a zone and have to figure out where to go.  

I'm going to do a write up on the pros and cons later. But for now, some Screen Shots.

 

 

 

 More to come!

Cool Weighted WoWHead Filters

Ok, so last night I'm mulling over in my head gear for Wunderkind.  I discovered the weighted filter search on wowhead a while ago but never really dove into it until now.

I have taken the preset filter for Holy/Disp priests and modified it some.  Right now my weights look like this.

• Stamina: 75


• Int: 75


• Healing Done By Spells: 50


• Spirit: 50


• Spell Critical Strike Rating: 20

My thinking for these figures goes as such.  Stam is important when in PvP.  The more health you have the longer you can stay alive.  So I put that weight at 75.  For a caster class a large mana pool, plus the crit chance from Int is important.  This is why I put Int at the same weight as Stam.

Being a healer I wanted to mana regen and healing to be somewhat equal.  I will probably revisit this thought as in a BG mana regen is often done after you die.  But, if one tries to stay alive as long as possible then running out of mana could be a quick trip to the Spirit Healer.

Link to Filter: http://www.wowhead.com/?items=4.1&filter=sl=10;minrl=10;maxrl=19;ub=5;wt=22:23:24:50:49;wtv=75:75:50:50:20

To use the filter on other items simply chose from the Menu up top from Hands to another item. I'm going to me playing with the settings to see if Wunderkind has the best gear I can get for her, on cheap.

If you have any suggestions on the weight for the list, or would like to post your own weighted list please feel free to drop it in the comments section.

Twinking a Priest

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="227" caption="Twinked Healz"][/caption]

Well, its pre expansion time.  And I'm experiencing the same thing I did before BC came out.  Bored stiff.  I know their are lots of things one can do, but I have chosen to work on twinking out a clothie.  Introducing, Wunderkind.  Wunder here is a priest that for the time being I will concentrate on having so much plus heal that she will be nearly unstoppable.

What is a twink you might ask?  According to wowwiki.com;

Twinks are player characters who exploit the gearing system by equipping themselves with many gears and high-end enchantments that are not feasibly obtainable at their level.

So starting with some research online I have started to put together a list of armor, and enchants that I want for Wunder to have here.  The biggest issue with doing this is it helps to have a high level toon, preferably on another account so you can run your lower level toon through instances.  This is where Paravel comes in, but more about that later.  For now Wunder is level 14.  I have my list made which you can see here.

Wunderkind of Misha, Chardev.org


Full list after the break

I am Becoming a Beliver

If you would have asked me a year ago about all the hub bub over social networking I would have more than likely told you it was hype, or a fad, or just a flash in the pan.  I absolutely HATE Myspace, and this facebook thing was new and cumbersome.  Not to mention all the "what am I doing now" apps and services.

But then. . .I tried a couple.  First twitter, then Jaiku, then Pownce then. . . well you get the picture.  I started to use them for a short time but then as with most things I think are fads. . they sort of left the back of my mind. . Sort of like that Franklin Daily Planner I used to think was cool. . .for a week.

BUT. . .here I sit out of work. No longer pastor at FBLO.  I know I have gifts and talents.  I know I can do some cool things.  After all, I would not try if it where not cool. . But I have never found a way to get someone, at the right time, who was willing to pay me to do these cool things.  Podcasts, web sites, custom graphics, network design and installations, you name it. . .  But then something strange happen, after a very long and hard, and ill be the first to admit it, a rather depress filled two weeks.  My buddy Scott Bridwell sends me a Gtalk message at midnight the other night saying.

"Hey Mike, guess what?

What?

I lost my job yesterday."

Heart sank to my stomach for Scott and Becky.  I know the hard road he has had to walk.  We started talking about a lot of things.  Not to put you to sleep Ill get to the point. .He asked me if I was LinkedIN. I'm like, am I what?  I had heard in passing about the site but payed no attention to it.  We talked over an hour about social networks.  So that night after he logged I went to LinkedIN and set up a profile.  Sent invites to all the people in my Google address book and crawled into bed at 2 AM depressed and not sure what the morning would offer.

Today however, after filling in the information, after brushing off my twitter and posting to it the sample mundane parts of my day, and after getting "plugged" back into the tech world I am already seeing results.  Friends I made a year ago and friends from high school have contacted me.  It has really shocked me in a way, but a good way.

So tonight, as I go to bed, as I think about tomorrow, I can say that I'm feeling pretty good.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm sure its not a train. *smile*

Drupal and You

I have just started a new project for the California Southern Baptist Convention's Student Ministries Department. Shhhhew, to many words. I am creating a new site that will allow them to keep in touch with those around the state that need information about the Healthy Church, and specifically, student ministries. In the past they have used flash driven web sites. Flash, although snazzy and sometimes awesome looking, can also be riddles with navigation and just. . plain old problems. What they really want is a way to post things in a timely fashion and yet keep things fluid.

Enter a content management system. I have offered to tune a Drupal install for them and help them tailor it for there needs. With all features that a Drupal install has to offer it will be a very flexible system. It will allow them to post news about upcoming events, post vital information about ministries and offerings. Offer a place to display some of what is happening in the churches around the state as well as attempt to create a social network using forums or other systems to help key students and leaders into place.

Keep watching this particular topic in the next week as the site comes together.