I find out that our state capital doesn’t have one but there 3 around us all approximately 75+ miles away. Off to Augusta, GA I go and not in the best of moods. A little break here to say after my drive I was irritable but the service was impeccable at the Augusta, GA Apple store and I had a new phone within minutes.

On to my next rant about our fair city. Looking at the stock market lately I read that precious metals are at an all time high and getting higher. My thoughts are why not buy some silver, gold and/or platinum in small amounts each week or month. Mind you when I say small amounts I am talking a ounce or 10 of silver and some grams of gold every month. You know like some silver maple leafs or assay carded gold. These metals have stood the test of time already so I think they would be good long term investments.

I know there are a multitude of places online to buy but I want instant gratification and I wish to avoid shipping charges. Posts I have read mentioned visiting pawn shops so off I went. After walking into my second one and having the people look at me like I am an idiot for asking if they sell gold or silver I give up. They said they buy precious metals they don’t sell it. Are they hoarding or something?

So if you know of a good place drop me a line.

New Rainmeter users look forward to enjoying the many themes and skins available on sites such as mine. One of the issues that come up for these users is how to install themes and skins which are two different items. Instead of a long drawn out explanation from me, jsmorley one of the developers over at rainmeter.net explains it best. The picture above is one of his desktops.

Rainmeter stores “Skins” in folders in

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\My Documents\Rainmeter\Skins
Windows Vista & Win7: C:\Users\YourName\My Documents\Rainmeter\Skins

So if you have a “Skin” called MyWeatherSkin, it will be in \Skins\MyWeatherSkin and consists of one or more files. The most important of these files will be one or more .ini files (let’s say one for now to keep it simple) probably called MyWeatherSkin.ini. This is the meat and potatoes of a Rainmeter skin. It has all the measures and meters that Rainmeters uses to collect and display information.

Now there is another important file in the Rainmeter world. It is “Rainmeter.ini” and is normally located in:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\Application Data\Rainmeter
Windows Vista & Win7: C:\Users\YourName\Appdata\Roaming\Rainmeter

I hope this helps.

Happy New Year!

Lets start the new year by brightening up that drab dreary setup on your desk. You don’t have to be running Windows 7 exclusively to display these landscape backgrounds or even dual monitors. However I say that is what these 10 landscape backgrounds would look great on. Each background image consists of a 3200×1200 JPEG in 24-bit depth.

As usual I hope you enjoy these, the sample images are below. I have posted each as an individual download so you can pick & choose as you wish.

Download Landscape 1 Here	Download Landscape 2 Here	Download Landscape 3 Here
Download Landscape 4 Here	Download Landscape 5 Here	Download Landscape 6 Here
Download Landscape 7 Here	Download Landscape 8 Here	Download Landscape 9 Here
	Download Landscape 10 Here

This guide will show you in simple terms how to stat your items. No mysterious formulas to learn just follow along and you will be able to improve your gear. This guide takes for granted you know what an Arcane Transmutor is along with how to access your backpack & the auction house AKA (AH). Curse Addons can make your time easier for locating items off the Auction House but it is not necessary.

Basic Rundown

This is followed below by the process in a detailed visual guide with comments.

1. Acquire 3 exact matching fusion stones.
2. Find the item you wish to stat.
3. Find 3 “trash” items you want to acquire the stat from.
4. Make 3 mana stones using 1 fusion stone & 1 “trash” item in your transmutor.
5. Take all 3 mana stones and the item you want to put the stats on into your transmutor.
6. Enjoy your new stat’d item

Important tips

• Always watch the tier of your products & gear.
• Fusion stones MUST be exactly the same.
• (OD) AKA Over durability +101 is better than below 100.
• The higher the durability the better.
• Clean gear does not have any stats, be wary.
• ALWAYS look at the preview box to see what your result will be prior to combining.
• Rune slots on your clean gear is always nice.

Visual Guide

Acquire 3 matching fusion stones. The stats on the fusion stones must be exactly the same i.e. Mist I on all 3 not one with Mist II. The order of stats does not matter.

Find your item that you want to use as the base for your stats. Remember clean means no green or yellow stats. Pick an item with the highest durability and the highest level you can use.The higher the durability the better, anything over 101 will work. Items go up to 124 durability to my knowledge. Rune slots are an added bonus so look for an item with one or more unused rune slots.

Now you just need 3 “trash” items to strip a stat from that you want on your clean item. Each “trash” item should have just one stat as in the examples pictured above.

As only 6 stats can be transferred to your clean item remember to pick different levels of a stat you want on your equipment. As an example if you are a rogue looking for dexterity and stamina for all 3 stats you would look for a Stormstrike X, Dexterity XI and Physique X on your 3 “trash” items. Two of the same stat would cause one to be canceled out.

You will be adding each stat to a mana stone by combining 1 fusion stone with 1 “trash” item in the Arcane Transmutor. You will wind up with 3 mana stones when you are done combining your 3 fusion stones to your 3 “trash” items.

Take your 3 mana stones and your clean item and put them into the Arcane Transmutor. You can view the end result before combining in the preview box. If the item is what you want hit combine. You now know how to stat your items. Go ahead and upgrade everything it sure beats using the regular gear.

I appreciate any comments. updates or information you can provide to improve and update this guide.

I am on server Reni as Minadin so you can always shoot me a mail, ruby, diamond or whatever if you enjoyed the guide. Thanks again Darwec!