SL Fashion Police

Taking a virtual break from the RL tradeshow I attend, I quickly glanced at the blogs and to my huge delight my recent submission to the SL Fashion Police blog got finally published. So, which photo did I take? :-)

Shapeshifter

After my newbie days, I created my own shape. I wanted it to be a rather natural shape, because I found the gazillions of other males running around in Conan the Barbarian like shapes rather funny, sometimes even pathetic. Of course I idealized my shape a bit, but all in all it was quite OK, and I got the occasional compliment for it.

Lately, however, I saw more and more things where I did not like my shape anymore. Most notably my hands and my upper arms, who seemed oversized to me. Pondering this for a while, I finally asked my friend Seikatsu if she could help me adjust it.

It took us almost an hour to go through all the settings, tweak a little here, adjust a little there. Often a change of only 3 or 5 notches made a difference. I got granted a bit more hips and some love handles, and in turn had to give up some shoulder width. Each of the individual changes was subtle, so the end result is not drastically different from my old shape, but significantly more real than before.

Field trip with Ivanova

Last night I met with my friend Ivanova, with whom I am about to start the furniture business GREENE concept. We discussed a few designs and to-do's, but I somehow sensed that she was not wholeheartedly present. And since we had another business related meeting only the night before, I realized one can overdo with business. So I suggested to drop it for the night and go somewhere nice. After two other stops, we finally ended up at Rezzable's "Tunnel of Light" sim, and since we both had the Windlight viewer running, we went on a psychedelic trip and enjoyed swirling colors and glowing lines. Afterwards I took her to one of my favourite places in the Barcelona sim, and we danced for about an hour. Not only did Ivanova surprise me with the revelation that this was the first time ever she used a couple dance, but also with some strong emotions and feelings regarding some topics we discussed. Ivanova's own report on that evening is shorter than mine, but we agreed that it was a nice evening out, and a good change to purely work related meetings. Here's some more images on Flickr.

Getting to know Peter

My friends Cake Kidd and Ana Lutetia dropped a notecard on me with a nice new little meme. In fact I liked it that much, that I decided to answer in public:

1. What time did you get up this morning?
— 6:20 as usual :-(
2. Diamonds or pearls?
— Neither, in fact. As far as shiny things go, I prefer matte/charred silver or plantinum (which I can't afford though - oh wait, in SL I could!)
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
— The Simpsons Movie
4. Favorite TV show?
— Stargate - but I barely watch TV
5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
— Bread, cheese and tea
6. What is your middle name?
— Avatars don't have middle names.
7. What food do you dislike?
— Most seafoods and innards.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
— Homeland "We never got this far alone"
9. Favourite sandwich?
— A croissant with ham and blue cheese and maybe some kress
10. What characteristic do you despise?
— Superficiality, dishonesty
11. Favorite item of clothing?
— I have a thing for coats, varying between trenchcoat and military jacket
12. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would it be?
— Scotland. Or maybe Scotland. And I think Scotland would be nice. Maybe Ireland. But definitely Scotland.
13. What colour is your bathroom?
— Avatars don't have.... oh well.... ocean green.
14. Do you make friends easily?
— In SL way easier in RL, where I am rather shy. STOP LAUGHING!
15. Where would you retire?
— Mhmmm... Scotland?
16. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
— My first SL rezday, but it is a bad memory since none of my friends thought of it and none was available too.
17. Favourite sport to watch?
— Sport? Watch? Favourite?
18. How many towns have you lived in?
— In SL that would be 6 places I considered me home for a while.
19. How many people do you think will send this back?
— Always the sceptic I'd say 50%
20. What’s on your bedroom floor right now?
— Avatars don't have... well, in fact most actually HAVE... but oh well, I haven't.
21. Favorite saying?
— "Indeed" - or "/me smiles"
22. When is your birthday?
— October
23. Are you a morning person or a night person?
— Probably evening to night.
24. What is your shoe size?
— Size does not matter, and in SL everything fits.
25. Pets?
— Eppie gave me her cat before she left.
26. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
— Gina is back!
27. What did you want to be when you were little?
— Astronaut.
28. Which talent would you most like to have?
— Perseverance
29. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
— "Indeed" or "/me smiles"
30. What is your favorite flower?
— Sunflowers
31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
— The 19th of each month
32. What color are your eyes?
— Somehow I did end up with blue eyes.
33. What was your favorite toy as a child?
— A "Steiff" hare, later Lego's and my wood train.
34. Summer or winter?
— Very much an autumn person.
35. Hugs or kisses?
— Hugs. And kisses. And hugs. Lots of them. Get one now?
36. Chocolate or Vanilla
— Vanilla
37. Do you want your friends to send this back to you?
— Yes, please. Or answer on their blogs.
38. When was the last time you cried?
— This Sunday
39. What is under your bed?
— Avatar's don.... ok, probably dust, and hopefully no spiders. If there's a montser under it, could it please come out and we hit the Dublin sim for some dancing and beers?
40. Who is the friend you have had the longest in SL?
— From the ones I still have contact with, it's my SL sister Cheyenne Palisades
41. What did you do last night?
— Met with an RL friend, checked into SL then and talked with a friend.
42. Favorite smell?
— Citrus/lemon and calendula
43. What are you afraid of?
— Spiders. Snakes. And clumsily and unintentionally hurting people.
44. Plain, sweet, or salted Popcorn?
— Salted, but I'd rather go for icecream please.
45. How many keys on your key ring?
— Avatar's don't have keyrings.
46. How many years at your current job?
— Babel Translations was founded in June 2007.
47. Do you have any scars?
— I used to have a beaten up skin, but I think I deleted it.
48. Favorite day of the week?
— Friday
49. How many people will you be sending this to?
— About 5 to 10 - hardly more. And of course the blog...

Outstanding customer service

Two days ago I visited a new shop with my friend Ivanova, and we saw a dress that very much fitted her style. Since I was in the mood, I wanted to send it to her as a gift. I payed the vendor and I got the folder with the outfit a few moments later, and immediately sent it to my friend. However, despite the gown being no-copy/trans, Ivanova only received the folder with just a landmark in it. And in my inventory, there is also still the folder with just the landmark in it. Neither in my nor in her diretory did the full outfit appear again since then (we waited a bit due to the recent asset server issues).

I looked up the creator, and despite her having a non-refund notice in her profile, I wrote a polite notecard, described what happened and put in my transaction history.

"I am afraid that Linden Lab "ate" the outfit. I know that I am at a weak position here, so I would like to appeal at your customer service heart and ask if you see any option how you could help me. Sorry for bothering you, and I hope you are willing to be cooperative."

I could see she was online since the notecard got immediately accepted. A few minutes later, she dropped a folder with the outfit on me.

[2:06] Peter Stindberg: Thank you very much! That is most kind of you, and not very common among other designers. If you agree I will mention it on my blog.
[2:07] xxxx: *smiles* probably not the best idea :/ as *laughs* people WILL take advantage. But I operate under the idea that a happy customer is worth more than $1.75 *smiles*
[2:08] Peter Stindberg: Then please accept my thanks again.

Abiding to her wish I will neither name her nor her shop, still I'm impressed and want to point this out as an example of outstanding customer service!

4 weeks

Exactly to the hour 4 weeks ago, my partner Gina Glimmer revealed the shocking news to me that she had to leave SL due to RL issues. I am happy beyond belief to report that she is back. She worked very hard on her RL issues, and brought about a change for the better. Her time in SL will be drastically limited, and some other compromises need to be made as well. But she is back, she will start to create artwork again, that is worth every compromise.

Welcome back, Gina! Your friends and me missed you dearly, and we are happy you joined us again.

Plywood Man featured on Kitty Witchin

When Kitty O'Toole announced her review policy some days ago, I could not resist to drop her my Plywood Man (OnRez, SLX), knowing exactly it's not even remotely what she usually features on her blog.

She very openly and in her usual witt(ch)y style describes how she felt when she opened the folder, and how she felt being inside Plywood Man for a day.