Ready for Week-End

I have tomorrow off because of Twin’s department graduation. I’m looking forward to the event. I’m really happy for her. I’m happy that I could be stable enough to provide her the opportunity to finish her degree. She will finally be able to close the books on that chapter in her life and move forward without that hanging over her head. The lessons learned will last a lifetime.

We are looking at another house today. Tuesday night we looked at a different one that we had driven by a couple of times Friday and once Saturday. We really liked the lot it was on. It had a isolated feel, but was really central to freeways. There is an elementary school just around the corner and a nice vista of the Kent/Auburn valley just a bit further East. The interior is just totally dysfunctional. There’s the original part of the house that’s small, 2 bedrooms 1 full bathroom that hasn’t been updated since 1958. They enclosed a breezeway to make it a utility room. Then they added an additional room in the back of the house. We devised a plan that would make the space more functional with converting the garage into living space… but with that, to get a decent budget for the additions in a 203K loan we’d offer 20k or more less than listing price.

This one today, is more move in ready. The downside just seems to be a new development behind the house that’s up on a hill… so they look directly in your back yard (though it should be noted they don’t have much of a back yard, most of it being a slope). We both know the High School to be somewhat questionable due to some of our coworkers at Emerald Downs went to that school. We have always considered sending our kids to a Private school so they are more prepared for College, or at least have less distraction. If they are anything like us, they will be pretty smart, and picked-on social outcasts.

LG should be walking for his graduation Saturday. Then Sunday we are attending my sister’s ceremony. Its a busy weekend.

Then for those of you who play Skyrim, if you want to know my quick rundown of how to level up quickly:

1. Decide the race you want to be. Orc, Redguard, Nord are great for melee combat; High, Dark Elves and Bretons are great for magical combat; Then Argonians, Khajiit, and Wood Elves are great thieves. Imperials can be any of the 3. I figure by choosing a particular race you are choosing whether you want to focus on Warrior, Thief, or Mage skills.
2. Use the Guardian Stones! 20% boost in skill increases. NOTE: you have to have a loose plan about how you want to spend perk points. I advise focusing on Warrior skills such as block, one and two handed weapons, and either heavy or light armor until they are between 40-50. Perk points are well spent on boosting those skills early, up to around Level 15.
3. The Crafting Skills after Sleeping in a Bed. Enchanting and Smithing(Warrior only) can really help make skill-building easy. Enchanting more so because you can artificially boost skills to make them more effective. Smithing gives you access to great armor in the form of Dragon armor. It levels relatively quickly with the Guardian Stone and sleep bonuses. A Well-Rested Bonus of 10% makes skills 30% faster to learn with the Guardian Stone.
4. Buy your 5 skill increases every level if you can (sometimes you may level up too much clearing a large dungeon, or won’t have the money). Skills that are higher add up more quickly, but cost more.

– Sneaking is a reliable back-up for getting through a tough dungeon. The Muffle boots from the Dark Brotherhood really help with this and a set of Light Armor.
– Lots of Free-Roaming and random Dungeon Diving. Easy to gather pelts for leather/strips to make weapons/armor and gather Alchemy ingredients. If I do no missions and just wander the landscape, leveling up is pretty effortless. You will find random Ore Veins as well.
– http://www.uesp.net. Look up anything you need to know to achieve a goal. I used it a lot for finding locations for ores.
My Argonian is at Level 26 now. Thieving has become almost effortless. With perks and armor bonuses I’m getting 12x damage on backstab, and 3x with my bow. I have a bow that does 50 damage, with an arrow that does 10 (mostly pick-pocketed from guards) so 90×3=150 with a 20% bonus from wearing the Dark Brotherhood Hood points of damage. NPC’s go down in 1 shot most of the time, if not 2. Last night I earned the "Power Shot" perk so every other arrow they stagger.