virtual living magazine dec 2009 issue

December 2009

NEW XSTREET ALTERNATIVE, SLAPT.ME

SAY NO TO SL PROPOSED CHANGES

HIGHLAND MEADOW HOMES Exclusive

YUMMY HOLIDAY RECIPES

NEW VIDEO STREAMS BY NEO STREAMS

Holiday Edition

SAUR HOLT - GPD FASHION SHOW

Virtual LivingMAGAZINE PERSONNEL

Owner:

Editor In Chief

Marketing & Content Manager:

Graphic Designers:

Writers:

Virtual LivingMAGAZINE PERSONNEL

Charlenecc Charisma

Flynt Eberhardt

Synthetyc Summers

Synthetyc Summers

Synthetyc Summers

Charlenecc Charisma

Aren Darkfold

Jaeris Maven

Punkin Constantine

Letter from the Publisher Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to each and every one of

you that support and read VLM!

I can hardly believe another year has passed so quickly. It

seems like just yesterday that I logged into Second Life for the

first time, with no clue what to do, how to do anything, let

alone where to do it. With a lot of questions in mind and the SL

website as my guide, I ventured off to this new world that I had

discovered. I quickly found out that I needed a job that

brought in more linden than I spent. So Virtual Living

Magazine was born, with the now real life friend that I met

here, Synthetyc Summers.

Christmas means many different things to each of us, but let me

share my own thoughts for this Season:

I remember Christmases of my youth, trying very hard to stay

awake and wait for Santa to place those brightly wrapped gifts

under the tree. Waiting for mommy and daddy to wake up, and

that always seemed to be an eternity. We weren’t allowed to

get near the presents, let alone shake one to try and guess what

was inside. Then mama would get up and make us have break-

fast first, how dare her!! Next were the Christmas Carols, oh

my goodness! Are we ever going to open gifts?

Then, finally, the hour arrived. Much like coming into SL for

the first time, you have no idea what is inside, or on the next

sim. To hell with gently removing the wrapping paper that was

so lovingly placed around your gifts or even the beautiful bright

bows that mom saved every year! After, what seemed like only

minutes, I had shredded into every present with my name on it,

leaving tiny shreds of paper, all over the living room. The trail

of ribbon would follow me into my bedroom, as I placed all of

my new toys on my bed.

The scents of Christmas stay with me to this day, cinnamon,

nutmeg, vanilla and special Christmas dinner that mama had

cooking in the oven. She spent hours baking fresh pies, stuffing

the bird and drying out the bread for the stuffing. Now only if

we had smell-o-vision here in SL. There is an awesome idea!

Is anyone up for a challenge? Think of the possibilities! SL

restaurants, snack shops, or even convenience stores on every

sim, brewing coffee. Until then, we have unlimited possibilities

of creativity. Not just in SL but in real life as well.

As you travel to your homes and families, be safe and happy.

Remember the past when it comes to those days you were

happiest. To cozy fireplaces, puppy dogs with a bow on their

head, dolls that didn’t bend at the waist and smiles that lasted

throughout the year, but remember to make new memories for

you and yours to savor throughout the New Year and for years

to come.

The horror stories of the

wedding planner being a no

show is the biggest complaint

we hear.

Choose a reliable professional

source! Don‟t waste your hard

earned lindens on a wedding that

doesn't WOW you!

Contact Synthetyc Summers to

help you create the wedding of

your dreams. We cater to ALL wedding styles

Coming January 2010

2010 Consumer report EDITION

We asked the community of second life and our readers where they like to shop for various items and you wont believe

what the results are!

We covered tons of second life! This issue you will want read all year long!

Don’t miss the January Issue of VLM!

The horror stories of the

wedding planner being a no

show is the biggest complaint

we hear.

Choose a reliable professional

source! Don‟t waste your hard

earned lindens on a wedding that

doesn't WOW you!

Contact Synthetyc Summers to

help you create the wedding of

your dreams. We cater to ALL wedding styles

Live Tribute Concerts

Holiday Recipes

Holiday Recipes

A collection of delicious

recipes for any occasion.

Enjoy these user submitted

recipes as a gift from us to you

Hanukkah Honey Cookies

Celebrate Hanukkah with honey-flavored cookies cut into

traditional holiday shapes.

Makes: 3 1/2 dozen 2-inch cookies

Cookies

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

2 3/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Easy Almond Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 to 3 tablespoons water

Blue Decorator Frosting

1 cup powdered sugar

3 to 5 teaspoons water

Blue food coloring

1. Heat oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease cookie sheet. In large bowl,

mix 1/3 cup powdered sugar, the butter, honey, 1 teaspoon almond

extract and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt until well

blended.

2. On lightly floured, cloth-covered surface, roll dough 1/8 inch

thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Place about 1 inch apart on cookie

sheet.

3. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove

from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 min-

utes.

4. For almond glaze, in medium bowl, mix 2 cups powdered

sugar, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and 2 tablespoons water until

smooth. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon at a time,

until spreadable.

5. For blue frosting, in another medium bowl, mix 1 cup pow-

dered sugar and enough water to make frosting that can be easily

drizzled or used in a decorating bag yet hold its shape. Stir in 3 or

4 drops food color.

6. Spread almond glaze over cookies. Decorate with blue frosting.

Make these wonderful cookies a family tradition. You can cut

them freehand, but using cookie cutters makes the job much eas-

ier. Many cake decorating and arts and craft stores sell the cookie

cutters used to make these cookies.

Time Saver

Skip the glaze and frosting, and sprinkle with blue sugar before

baking.

Eggnog Surprise

Ingredients

1 oz. Kahlua®

4 oz. egg nog

Nutmeg

Directions: Mix Kahlua® with

eggnog in a wine glass and then

sprinkle nutmeg on top.

Chocolate Milk Whip Ingredients

4 oz. chocolate milk

2 oz. cold coffee

Whipped cream

Shaved chocolate

Optional

1 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream®

Directions

Fill a tall glass with ice. Add 4 oz. chocolate milk and 2 oz.

cold coffee. Top with whipped cream and garnish with shaved

chocolate.

For an individual adult cocktail, add 1 oz. of Bailey's.

Sweet Potato Surprise Ingredients

CASSEROLE

* 4 sweet potatoes, baked and mashed

* 1 cup sugar

* 1/3 cup margarine, melted

* 1/2 cup milk

* 2 eggs, beaten

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

TOPPING

* 1 cup grated unsweetened coconut, dried or fresh

* 1 cup pecans

* 1 cup brown sugar

* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

* 1/3 cup margarine

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the

sweet potatoes, sugar, margarine, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract

until well combined. Transfer the mixture into a 2 1/2-quart bak-

ing dish.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the topping ingredients with

a pastry cutter or your fingertips until crumbly. Distribute the

topping over the sweet potatoes. Then bake the casserole for 20

minutes or until lightly browned. Serves 6 to 8.

Chilled Pineapple Cream Cheese Dessert

1 cup of Sugar

2 cans of chunk pineapple

2 eggs

2 table spoon of Cornstarch

Mini marshmallows

2 blocks of Cream Cheese

In a saucepan for stove or bowl for microwave, put in the

juice from 2 cans of chunk pineapple, 2 beaten eggs 1 cup

of sugar and 2 tablespoon of Cornstarch.

Cook until thick. Beat out any lumps.

Then add your 2 blocks of cream cheese using a mixer

add your pineapple chunks and marshmallows to your

liking. Mix well.

Chill in the refrigerator and ENJOY and think of me with

this yummy dessert.

Pretzel Turtles

This is my quick-fix snack, Pretzel Turtles. In a matter of 10

minutes, I can satisfy my sweet tooth, and my salty tongue. Can

you imagine anything more heavenly than glorious chocolate

hugging a salty pretzel, topped with a crunchy toasted nut and

oozing with warm caramel?

All in one bite.

Ingredients

* 20 small mini pretzels

* 20 chocolate covered caramel candies

* 20 pecan halves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).

2. Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a parchment

lined cookie sheet. Place one chocolate covered caramel

candy on each pretzel.

3. Bake for 4 minutes. While the candy is warm, press a

pecan half onto each candy covered pretzel. Cool com-

pletely before storing in an airtight container.

IMPORTANT:

Eat as many as you can while they are still warm. Go ahead,

Herb-roasted Turkey

Ingredients

15- to 20-pound turkey

Salt

1/4 cup soft butter

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

6 to 8 chopped fresh sage leaves

(or 2 to 3 teaspoons dried crumbled sage)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

(or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 to 2 cups chicken broth

Instructions

1. Position the rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat

the oven to 325º. Remove the turkey neck, heart, and gizzard and

discard or reserve for another use. Rinse the bird well inside and

out and pat dry, then salt the cavity.

2. In a small mixing bowl, blend the butter, herbs, mustard,

lemon zest, and pepper. Starting at the tail end, gently slide your

hand under the skin of the turkey breast to loosen it. Using your

fingers, smear a generous tablespoon of the butter mixture on

each half of the breast. Smear half of the remaining herb butter on

the exposed flesh near the neck. Then smear the remaining herb

butter over the skin of the breast.

(If you are not stuffing the bird, pull up the excess skin at the neck

to seal, and secure it to the body of the bird with a small skewer or

toothpicks.)

3. Loosely fill the neck cavity with stuffing. Pull up the excess

skin at the neck to seal, and secure it to the body with a small skewer

or toothpicks. Loosely fill the main cavity with stuffing. Tie together

the legs with kitchen twine, or secure them with the plastic leg

clamps if the bird came with them. Tuck the wing tips under the bird

so they don't scorch.

4. Place the turkey directly in a large roasting pan or on a rack

inside the roasting pan. Roast for 1 hour without opening the oven.

After 1 hour, add 1 cup of chicken broth to the pan. Rotate the pan

180º. Continue to roast until the meat registers 180º, measured at the

thickest part of the inside thigh; do not let the thermometer touch

bone. At the center of the cavity, the stuffing should register 165º.

Add more broth to the pan, if necessary, to keep the pan juices from

burning. Total cooking time for a stuffed turkey should be 4 1/4 to 5

hours (for an unstuffed bird, subtract 30 minutes). Transfer the turkey

to a large platter. Cover and let stand for 20 to 30 minutes. Pour the

pan juices into a 2-cup measure and set aside for the gravy.

Makes 10 servings. Enjoy and think of us when you cook it!

From our family to yours.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Click info for Landmark

Region: Bau Tessle 205,251,24

A beautiful roman setting ready to fulfill

all your wildest desire.

Spend the holidays Aphrodite Style

Highland Meadows Homes

There are many prefabricated homebuilders in second life, each

one unique from the other. Sometimes the search results hinder

us from seeing some of the most innovative creations, as we tend

to gravitate toward businesses with top traffic numbers.

This month Virtual Living Magazine is proud to interview the

owners of Highland Meadow Homes. What an honor to meet two

creative inspiring people who have such a love for the second life

community.

You definitely owe it to yourself to spend some time touring these

realistic, innovative high detailed homes.

Each structure is meticulously built with its real world counter-

part in mind. It was as if I was walking into my mother's real life

summer home at Cape Cod! In each room of the homes you can

see the superior texturing that has been done by Kate Mclaglen.

Elliott Eldrich started a company called „Creative Excellence‟.

He sold over five thousand units in approximately 18 months. At

one point, he designed, built and sold furniture. He closed those

services down because he was not fully satisfied with the product.

Shortly thereafter he and Kate became partners, not only in

Second Life, in real life. Elliott was always impressed with

Kate's abilities in using different techniques to enhance various

textures. He was also conscious of her ardent sense of style.

After some time, the two creative minds thought of teaming up

to combine their efforts and create a whole new line of elegant

homes! Kate has been busy with her own businesses, some of

which are still currently up and running. Her other stores

are; Aesthetics Inc, Nautical Shoppe, Hat Heaven, Wicker

Shoppe, Cabinet Cove, Kate McLaglen Creation, Mermaid's

Pearl, Urban Misfit, and Kate McLaglen Enterprises Mall. Kate

definitely has a knack for consulting.

During the good old days,

back in late70‟s, Elliot had

been working with (CAD)

Computer Aided Design. He

started out by using 2D CAD

for an integrated circuit

layout. Over the next 23

years, his skills became more

diverse and detailed. While

using 2D CAD for many years, Elliot was dreaming „outside the

box‟ and of the possible concept of 3D CAD's.

He started dabbling with 3D

studios and found that he liked it

quite a bit more. The next

thought was to market all of

these beautiful designs, but to

whom? Elliot started looking on

the internet and came across SL.

Suddenly he realized that he

could finally do what he always

dreamed of doing, create 3D structures.


With SL being totally built by its players, and with its own virtual

economy, it was the perfect match! Kate's actual son is just like

Elliot. He worked on planning and design for the movie

Kate and Elliott design homes together. They may have their

creative differences at times, but no blood has been shed between

the two of them, yet. These partners are driven, and are

perfectionists in the strictest sense. Their opinions matter

significantly to each other. Even when being critical of the others

work. The most powerful part of their relationship is, they listen

to each other. Some people say that true romance is dead and that

two people being able to complete the other are equally obsolete.

Starting out in SL over 1year ago, the two were merely friends and

they spent most of their time to themselves.

The name „Highland Meadows‟ does have a personal meaning to

both Kate and Elliott. Kate's real life family has Celtic roots. She

loves the idea that their name could invoke a Celtic mood. Elliott

added that he has always had a fondness for Scotland and the

Highlands, specifically. He hopes that sometime in the near

future, that he and Kate will travel to actually see Scotland and its

picturesque Highlands!!

The meticulous details of these homes aren‟t found just anywhere

else in SL. Elliott and Kate have mastered building in the highest

quality. Anyone with building experience will unquestionably

appreciate the detail in each home!! Elliot added that he has

learned how to create his own sculpties that are optimized to

display properly for any environmental setting, for anyone using

the SL viewer. Kate's doesn‟t feel stressed when she has to re-do

the textures over and over to make the perfect blend of colors.

The essence of realistic homes has come to Second Life at last!!

Some textures holds approximately up to 150 layers of color.

If you are interested in purchasing the textures, you need to buy

the house. Kate's textures aren‟t for sale. They are exclusively

used for their homes and furniture.

They do not leave a single portion of any style home un-

touched. Each build, from conception to completion, takes

about 4-8 weeks. The newest creation is their „Cape Elizabeth‟

home. From the rich blue exterior, to its warm tones inside, you

feel the true sense of love and care that was taken in creating

this dream home on Cape Cod.

You can locate Highland Meadow Homes in world at

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Highland%20Meadow%

201/190/55/21. There is so much to look at and admire you

owe it to yourself to visit Highland Meadow Homes to see what

everyone I raving about! Tell them Virtual Living Magazine

sent you!

Visit them online at

http://highlandmeadowhomes.com

They absolutely live up to their motto,

To create the most detailed, highest quality

homes in Second Life (TM), and do it within a

reasonable prim budget.


Interview

nEo Stream Services

New Released Video Streams Written by: CharleneCC Charisma

Virtual Living Magazine would like to introduce you to Brad

Ohtobide and Chastity Saintlouis, the owners of „nEo Stream‟.

This real life married couple have taken a fledgling Second Life

business idea and developed it into to a budding, successful

company. I enjoy learning what brings people into SL, and the

motivation behind their businesses.

Brad came into Second Life to fulfill a personal goal of

obtaining enough money to purchase a LCD Monitor for his

computer; after 7 months of DJ‟ing 7 or 8 gigs a day, he had

satisfied that goal! During Brad‟s DJ days, he of course needed

a stream and thought, there has to be a way to offer cheaper

streams, with better customer service and more features than

simply paying 4000L/mo. Initially, Brad‟s wife Chastity and

about 10-15 of her friends had come into SL, Brad followed a

few months later, somewhat skeptical.

While talking with Brad and Chastity, it became clear that

customer service and cost effectiveness are the 2 main areas that

they considered needing improvement. Brad had made enough

linden for his new monitor, so he began nEo Stream. For those

that may not be knowledgeable about streaming audio,

including me, they explained what services they provide and

how their service is superior in many ways.

Without divulging any 'company' secrets, I asked them how the

stream processes work, for the curious minded or technically

challenged. Chastity told me that their customers in Second

Life use a third party broadcasting program to send the desired

music to our server. Then our server forwards that music to a

URL placed in the land page that the customer wishes to stream

on. The reason our servers are necessary is that most residential

internet connections do not have the bandwidth needed to

stream the music to more than 3 or 4 people. When streaming

music, the DJ software will maintain a steady stream at a con-

stant bit rate (CBR). The first day our business opened in SL,

we sold about 10 streams, after a month we had sold out our

first server!

Initially, there was some doubt in the SL community that we

would be able to provide stable service at the prices we were

asking, but there were quite a few that took the chance and for

that we are grateful! They currently have 21 stream servers and

8 other servers that are used for various other things such as re-

search and development, sequential back-ends, web hosting and

things like that. nEoStream currently has approximately 1500

regular customers and another 150 outside of SL for internet ra-

dio stations.

I asked if they had any plans for expansion or other projects

that they would like to share with the readers. Brad told me that

he and Chastity are actually working on various new products,

ranging from website hosting, blog hosting, sequential database

hosting for SAM users, VPS server hosting and more.

All of their employees are those they met after starting nEo.

What better sales people than actual customers! Chastity wanted

to make sure that the readers understand just how important

customer service and technical support are to their success. If

someone has a question or technical issue, they can IM a

customer service rep directly, and tell what the issue is and we

will walk them through the process of fixing it. The CSRs are :

Brad, Chastity, Denja, JustOneMore Loon, and Klownie Allen.

Brad informed me that if there is an issue to be resolved, neither

of them sleeps until the problem is resolved. When they have

implemented new updates or service, they have taken turns

sleeping in order to monitor all the servers. I could tell that both

Brad and Chastity have the right approach and attitude. I can see

why nEoStream has become so successful and continues to grow

in popularity.

Before leaving them I asked if there was anything either of

them wanted to leave with the SL Community. Chastity said,

“We try to give our customers as much instruction as possible in

how to fix anything that may go wrong, as well as tools to

diagnose it, such as the HUD and the Control Panel.” In fact,

Chastity is writing an instructional book that will cover

everything.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/nEo%20Streams/81/176/47

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/neostreamsvc

Twitter -- http://twitter.com/neostreamsvc

nEo Stream Services - Shoutcast and IceCast up to 192kbit!!

************* *********** ********** *********

* Listeners * * Monthly * * Weekly * * Daily *

************* *********** ********** *********

100 2000L 600L 200L

50 1500L 500L 175L

30 1000L 300L 100L

20 800L 200L 75L

10 500L 100L 50L 1500L

http://slurl.com/secondlife/nEo%20Streams/81/176/47

http://www.youtube.com/neostreamsvc

http://twitter.com/neostreamsvc

Automated Streams

==============

The automated stream is a stream that plays music that you upload

to our servers automatically, so that you can have the songs you

want playing on your land without using your personal computer's

resources to broadcast.

The automated stream can also be used as a normal stream, mean-

ing that you turn off the automated portion and it can be used by a

live DJ for an event!

Automated Price List

128kbit 128kbit 128kbit

100 listener 50 Listener 30 Listener

4Gb Storage 6000L 2Gb Storage 3500L 1Gb Storage 1750L

3Gb Storage 5000L 1.5Gb Storage 3000L 768MB Storage

Free nEo Stream HUD with every Shoutcast stream purchase!

Check out our new HeadFlips, available at our store for 250L each!

We also have display boards that allow you to designate DJs who

can display Information for your nEo Stream!!

Custom sized streams, prices based on specifics. Prompt and car-

ing

customer service. Customer parties with games and the chance to

win 600L off your next month's fee!!

Contact Brad Ohtobide for purchasing and support

or you may also contact Chastity Saintlouis

for customer service.

Click info for a landmark and more information

about nEo Stream Services.

Huge Holiday Sales!

Custom Create any item you want on site!

Christmas Trees, Lights & Decorations

We are your one stop shopping source

For the holidays and any time of year.

Lowest Christmas prices on the grid

Touch info for a landmark

Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' in Second Life. Enjoy London Anno 1843. Go ice skating, shopping and enjoy a hot tea in our cozy pub. Who knows .. maybe you meet Ebenezer

Scrooge?! ;) Stores: Label aDIVA & Witchcat Designs

Click Info for LANDMARK

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' in Second Life. Enjoy London Anno 1843. Go ice skating, shopping and enjoy a hot tea in our cozy pub. Who knows .. maybe you meet Ebenezer

Scrooge?! ;) Stores: Label aDIVA & Witchcat Designs

Click Info for LANDMARK

Christmas Hot Spot

Say no to FASHION without FREEBIES

Beginning in the near future, Linden Labs has decided to start

charging new rates for all items sold on Xstreet SL. Immediately

following the release of this information to the Second Life

community, a collection of dedicated women formed a group to

Save the Freebies! Keira Seerose, Sage Aeghin, and Americus

Lovenkraft are determined NOT to let freebies suffer!

The following is a breakdown of pricing directly from the second

life website that will soon go into effect. Listings for free items

will now be treated as a marketing/promotional tool and will cost

L$99 for the listing. Since freebies are being treated as a

marketing opportunity, this price could fluctuate depending on

demand for this advertisement opportunity.

Minimum Commission of L$3 on all items priced

L$1 or greater:

L$1-L$9 listings - Commission will go from L$0 to L$3



L$50+ listings - Commission will remain the same (5%)

Monthly Listing Fee of L$10 for all items L$1 or greater:

All non-freebie listings will now be charged L$10 per month to

remain listed in the Xstreet SL Marketplace

Currently, less than 20% of Xstreet SL listings make at least one

sale per month. This displays just how much clutter of unsold

items exists on Xstreet SL.

The L$10 per month listing fee will be an incentive for merchants

to pull items that are not selling.

Timeline:

We will provide at least 2 weeks notice

before releasing any of these changes.

We expect to enact these controls within

the time window of 30 - 90 days following

this roadmap announcement.

When Americus Lovenkraft, owner of

Ameri's Designs, received the notice regarding Xstreet‟s upcoming

changes, she knew this would greatly affect her business. Many

business owners offer free items on Xstreet to help newcomers to

Second Life, as well as to offer something from their business to

establish a new customer base from advertising and exposure. This

is essential if the traffic in world is not substantial, compared to

others that are ranked higher.

Several of us also use Xstreet as a „search‟ tool. We use the Xstreet

website search tool to locate an item, then once we find that item,

we have the ability to purchase it online or go directly to the in

world location. Many times, as we are searching, we come across

other items that catch our eye and we purchase that way also.

When a designer lists a free item on Xstreet, it gives the shopper

a way to see the quality of their work. If they like the item, they

are more likely to purchase something else from that designer

later. Examples of some free things are demo items, product

guides, magazine issues, kiosks and more that you can try for

free.

If Xstreet moves forward with the

proposed changes, this will greatly

affect the variety of selections that

merchants will be able to list. L$99

per listing is just too costly for some

merchants; especially those just s

tarting out, or for some of the lesser

known designers.

Many of us do not have the time to

teleport around the grid, or the

ability to teleport many times to go

shopping. Xstreet becomes vital for

this purpose. You also find skilled designers and creators that do

not have the high traffic to appear in search, so they use Xstreet

as a sales alternative. Many of us use the Featured Items section

as a shopping tool, this will be affected

greatly.

A petition against these changes has been

produced for you, the readers and players

in Second Life to let your voice be counted

at: http://www.fashionwithoutfreebies.com.

Fashion without freebies has mass events planned for players to

attend and participate in. Contact Keira Seerose, Sage Aeghin,

and Americus Lovenkraft for more information on how you can

become involved with this cause.

When asked what they hoped the end result of their efforts would

be, they all agreed, “We can only try to make a difference in the

community. Linden Labs already benefits from the thousands

with premium accounts, also when players cash their linden for

regular currency. Xstreet was a successful business venture and

now that Linden Labs bought it out, it‟s yet another opportunity

for them to cash in on other‟s hard work.”

Grand Opening Wednesday Dec. 2nd 2009

Night Club &Shopping

Everyone Welcome

NO LISTING FEES

MORE OPTIONS

The “New” Xstreet

Alternative

As Linden Lab makes changes to the Second Life com-

merce, you may find that you are looking for another way

to sell or purchase items online. After the blog post re-

garding freebies and commission rates, many second life

merchants have made the decision to pull out from Xstreet

SL. Where are they going you may ask? Well, I’ll tell

you; there is a new resource, and you’re going to want to

check them out.

Introducing, SLAPT, (http://slapt.me/) the new second life com-

merce alternative to Xstreet. With already 13,000+ items and

growing for you! I was intrigued with this new commerce site

and I had to learn more. Constanza Amsterdam was delighted

to meet with me to discuss the new SLAPT commerce site.

Currently SLAPT is created and operated by Constanza Amster-

dam, and her husband Lord Sullivan, Kosta Cela, and Bykoff

Sontse. They are an official registered company in The Nether-

lands. She and her husband have been second life contributors

since 2005. They all have worked together for a long time in

Second Life.

Soon after reading that Linden Lab purchased Xstreet and On-

rez they decided in April 2009 to start something themselves

and give the people back an independent e-commerce website.

The doors have been open to SLAPT since July 2009 to prepare

for the Linden Lab changes.

The growth of SLAPT has been quite rapid Constanza reported,

but the massive traffic has just begun with the famous blog

posting of Linden Lab. Currently they have over 1300+ verified

accounts and its growing daily.

Constanza wants users to understand that they are not Xstreet,

and want to be different. They listen to their members and do

their best to follow their wishes that is what sets us apart from

the rest.

SLAPT charges a low commission rate of 5%

with no listing fees! There are no increases in

commission rates for the future. In addition,

the enhancements are much more affordable

than others are. Along with low fees and user-

friendly interface, they also have in world ter-

minals that operate similar to Xstreet with chat commands for

use. Touching the terminal will give you a note card so you

can learn how to operate the terminals. For example: If you

want to know your Slapt balance, you go to the terminal and

type in local chat: slaptbal. They are working on new up-

grades to the terminals to operate by menu touch in the fu-

ture.

Constanza and her team have been dili-

gently working with the servers and mainte-

nance to make sure the site is strong, secure

and fast for everyone to register and list

items and shop.

Not only is SLAPT a fantastic alternative to

Xstreet they even have vendors that operate

with the website! Vendors are customizable,

free to purchase, 5% commission to support

the website, listing on website at the same

time and so much more! This is an awe-

some addition for merchants. Read more

about the SLAPT vendors here:

http://slapt.me/market/index.php?

act=market&id_item=7634

SLAPT will soon be implementing a banner advertising sys-

tem to the market, forum along with advertising on the ter-

minals. Additionally, SLAPT allows freebie postings at no

charge to the merchant. Coming very soon, merchant tem-

plates to make posting items faster and easier.

I have already started posting on SLAPT and I love the ease

of setup, and the multiple pictures you can post at no cost!

Five pictures, and with a popup, so you don‟t have a click

extra. I love that!

Constanza was delighted to say that they have some great

plans for 2010, and now is the best time to create your ac-

count. Spread the word that SLAPT is user created by the

community just like it suppose to be! If you want to learn

more about SLAPT, you can log on to slapt.me and read the

forums.

Now, Be Smart, Get Slapt! http://slapt.me/

http://slapt.me/

You can rent from ~Elite~Rentals with perfect confidence. In business over 2 years, which is an eternity in SL time.

The friendly sim owner is online12-18 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Together with his land manager, he assists all renters with any issues that arise.

All Sims, except mainland, are restarted twice a week or more

and are constantly monitored for high scripts that could cause lag.

Contact Chuckie Boozehound for additional information.

Get quality service and peace of mind knowing your landlord is working for YOU, not just your money.

Christ Was Love Christmas Story

This December, I vow to make Christmas a calm and peaceful

experience. I will have to cut back on nonessential obligations,

extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even

overspending. I do not want to find myself exhausted, unable

to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the

true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, is in kindergarten this year. It is an exciting

season for a six year old. For weeks, he has been memorizing

songs for his school’s “Winter Program.” I didn’t have the

heart to tell him I’d be working the night of his show. Unwill-

ing to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She

assured me there’d be a dress rehearsal the morning of the

presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were

welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy

with the compromise.

So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I arrived 10 minutes

early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around

the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to

their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room.

Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on

the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their

song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to

the holiday as “Christmas”. I didn’t expect anything other than

fun songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.

http://www.best-christmas-stories.com/2009/01/the-bracelet-promise-2/

http://www.best-christmas-stories.com/links/links.php?lid=2

So, when my son’s class rose to sing, Christmas Love”, I was

slightly taken back by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as

were all of his classmates, all adorned in fuzzy mittens, red

sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the

front row, center stage, held up large letters, one by one, to

spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing “C is for

Christmas”, a child would hold up the letter C. Then, “H is for

Happy”, and on and on, until each child holding up his portion

had presented the complete message, “Christmas Love”.

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we no-

ticed her, a small quiet girl in the front row holding the letter

“M” upside down, totally unaware her letter “M” appeared as

a “W”. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at

this little one’s mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing

at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her “W”. Although

many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter

continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it

together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to

widen.

In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why

we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the

chaos there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last

letter was held high,

the message read loud and clear:

“CHRIST WAS LOVE”.

And, I believe, He still is…….

Written by:Candy Chand

virtual living magazine dec 2009 issue

Documents

new year

new toys

new world

new memories

sl website

sl restaurants

christmas carols

scents of christmas