Getting out of the Box

The skybox, that is. *grin* Keeping with my resolution to get out and enjoy more of SL and spend time with friends, I have made a conscious effort to DO things.

The other day Bree plurked about Robert Sawyer speaking at the Univ of Texas at Dallas. He was speaking live on campus but would also be streaming to the UT Dallas campus in SL. Both Bree and Honour really enjoy Sawyer’s books. They were both so enthusiastic about the upcoming lecture that I made sure to clear my schedule to be there. Many other friends showed up as well, including folks I had only just met at SLCC 2010. Initially the acoustics were NOT good – a lot of static. But someone began streaming the picture/sound from in the audience and we were able to hear and see Sawyer. It WAS very interesting. And I’m going to try out one of his books. *grin*

I joined Honour for a tour of The Curious Prim in Fairypunk Kingdom. I was TRYING to do some work, but she was very insistent. It is indeed a lovely build. I hope she blogs about it to do it justice. I mostly followed her about, looked where she told me to look and tried to work. *grin* Finally we found a room that reminded me of Maxfield Parrish, one of my favorite artists. I changed into an outfit I thought was relatively suitable and cajoled Honour into taking my picture. There was some great furniture for sale, lovely castle build. When I go to places like this, I realize that building in Sl is very much as involved as building a site in the atomic world. You must plan the earth, the landscaping, the buildings. My husband is a structural engineer, I’ve looked at plans, drawings. I don’t see the world that way. I can’t even begin to imagine how I would take a new sim and make it into something beautiful. We take so much for granted in SL – fantastic, marvelous builds are all around us. Our world is filled with talent.

I caught another meeting inworld during my lunch hour. The Gronstedt Group holds weekly “Train for Success” sessions in Second Life. They were doing a presentation on Virtual Worlds in the Enterprise. As you know, this is a subject dear to my heart. I’m still trying to make that connection between my “real” day job and the virtual world project from this past year. The panelists were Doug Thompson (“Dusan Writer”), Ian Hughes (“ePredator Potato”), and Maria Korolov (“Marie Kolache”). Again, I ran into friends I met as a result of SLCC 2010. I listened to the speakers and was a bit reassured. I think the most interesting comment I heard was made by (I think) Dusan Writer. I keep hearing that VW aren’t going to be mainstream until they are accessed via a web browser, removing the need for all the high-powered gaming equipment. Dusan (if it was indeed he) said that he did not think that was the case. I don’t know enough to know if that is right or wrong. But I do remember my first days in SL, and how I never really knew what was going on and never saw what other people saw because my equipment couldn’t render the world adequately. It was the people, the social networking, that kept me going until the hardware came. Anyway, I suggest you check out the Gronstedt Group sessions – they seem to be interesting and informative.

But today is a busy day for me in my atomic life. Participated in a VERY cool virtual world test. I will have to find out when and if I can talk about it. In my mail today was a letter from the IRS, wanting to discuss 2008. Uh oh. I thought we’d closed that book. Ugh. So between work and cooking and cleaning, I was at the accountant’s saying “This is YOUR problem!” *grin* This means that I don’t have time to explore any more today. I’m chilling in the sky box!