# Please Help Paladin and Paladinwife...Award winners listed!



## Paladinwife (Jan 17, 2004)

As some of you may already know, Paladin and I have been struggling financially for almost two years since Paladin was laid off from MCI WorldCom (after their little $11 billion “accounting error”). We have been unable to find work since then and have been making ends meet with the proceeds from The Gamer’s Bag as best we can. We have four children and don’t have anywhere else to take a family this size if we lose our home. However, we are now about to lose our home and The Gamer’s Bag along with it, if we cannot raise some funds by the end of this month. 

We know how everyone here rallies together when one of our own is in trouble, and we are absolutely *desperate*. Morrus said we could run this donation drive on this site so we would appreciate any help you can offer. We have a large amount of stock bags right now and are willing to give them away with any donation of $5.00 or more. We have all sizes and fabrics and will be sending them randomly. We also have a number of kids bags (Dragon Tales, Sponge Bob, Mickey Mouse, etc), if you'd like one of these instead let me know. 

If you would like to help us, and get a high quality dice bag for your help, please send donations through PayPal to account name dommer@prodigy.net. Include your shipping address on the PayPal site. If you’d like to donate through other means, just contact us at the same e-mail. 

Thank you for your support, any help is greatly appreciated.
Paladinwife


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## Krug (Jan 17, 2004)

Have sent something. Do take care.


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 17, 2004)

Sent twenty zipping your way.  Wish I could do more.  Best of luck!


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## bloodymage (Jan 17, 2004)

Oh my. I wish I could do something more. I'm absolutely strapped myself. I'm still pimping, though. I've recently put links up to The Gamer's Bag everywhere I could, including my own sites (I couldn't maintain them for the longest time). You guys have my e-mail. If there's anything else I can do besides broadcast your product and pray for your family, please, let me know.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 17, 2004)

I'm sending all my positive thoughts (and some of my cash) your way.  Good luck!



			
				bloodymage said:
			
		

> Oh my. I wish I could do something more. I'm absolutely strapped myself. I'm still pimping, though. I've recently put links up to The Gamer's Bag everywhere I could, including my own sites (I couldn't maintain them for the longest time). You guys have my e-mail. If there's anything else I can do besides broadcast your product and pray for your family, please, let me know.



Got you covered, bloodymage.  I sent something in both our names.


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## CanadienneBacon (Jan 17, 2004)

We do on one salary (enlisted Navy) and have three children, so in lieu of money, I put a link to your site over at Mortality, as well as a bit down in their shoutcast forum about your bags.  Hopefully Adlon (the guy who runs the site) will mention your bags in Mortality's next radio program.  I'm sorry I couldn't send actual money because I know that's what you need.


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## howandwhy99 (Jan 17, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> Thank you for your support, any help is greatly appreciated.
> Paladinwife



Keep us in the loop.

I hope everything will work out for the best.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 17, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> If you would like to help us, and get a high quality dice bag for your help, please send donations through PayPal to account name dommer@prodigy.net. Include your shipping address on the PayPal site. If you’d like to donate through other means, just contact us at the same e-mail.



Here's an odd question (but then, I'm an odd guy).... I assume your store is still open for business?  I'd like to place an order, but if you're temporarily *not* taking orders, I'd certainly understand.


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## Mark (Jan 17, 2004)

Paladin and Paladinwife - Please keep track of the *Name*, *Screenname* and *Email address* of each person that helps you, buys something, or donates as of the time you began this thread.  I'm not sure how much it will help but Creative Mountain Games will offer as a "Thank You" to each person a choice of a complimentary copy of either the Lexus - Unlimited Titles generator or the Lexus - Dwellings generator.  Haven't had a fulltime gig since November 2001, myself, so I can empathize (though I don't have immediate family as a concern).

Hope that helps...


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## Aristotle (Jan 17, 2004)

Money is a might tight here as well, but I found $15 in a winter coat the other day... so now you have $15 more. 

Good luck, and my prayers are with you.


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## Paladin (Jan 17, 2004)

Everyone is being so great! To answer a few questions, yes we are still accepting business right now*, we would love prayers as well, and a big thanks to Creative Mountain Games and Morrus as well as all of our friends here at EN World. I know you all can't see it, but I am crying right now...Paladinwife.

*To those of you who have orders in already, we are still diligently working on them and our monogrammer is still a little behind from the holidays.


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## Ghostwind (Jan 17, 2004)

Being on a single income myself and financially strapped, I did all I could at the moment by putting your plea on the front page of my site so those who visit there will maybe help out also. Good luck guys, I hope you're able to make it through these tough times...


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## alsih2o (Jan 17, 2004)

well, i sent a buck for every enworlder who has purchased a pot.  i am not a rich man, but the folks here keep sending me money so i am in a position to share 

  hang on kids, we have your back


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## Guillaume (Jan 17, 2004)

Well Paladin, like many around here, I do not have a lot of money available being a student.  However, I know you guys have rallied around this community more than once in the past, so I sent you a little something via Paypal.  Hope it helps.

Good luck to you and your family,

Guillaume


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## alsih2o (Jan 17, 2004)

you know, mark sets a good example (damn him) keep track paladin and paladin wife-

 pick a winner from anyone who sent at least $5 between now and next saturday, i will send them a hand-made salt-fired piggy bank for the effort.

 jg and suzi have pics f them, i will see if they can post


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## Gospog (Jan 17, 2004)

*Well, we sent what we could.*

Hey, Fluffaderm and I just sent $30.

Not a mint, but we hope it helps. 

By the way, when is the deadline for this?  Some people's decisions to give may be predicated by the day they get paid from thier job(s).

Good luck to you and your family.

-Gospog and Fluffaderm


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## Ed Cha (Jan 17, 2004)

I'm sorry to hear about your recent difficulties. It seems like your booth was doing REALLY well at Gen Con, but I guess that's only a few days of business in the year. 

I'll put a link to your Web site on Open World Press' home page. And of course, I'll also buy a couple of your awesome bags! These should make neat gifts. 

Cheer up because things will only get better! Good luck to you!


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## Doc_Klueless (Jan 17, 2004)

Sent some cash. Well, electronic cash, anyway. Hope it helps out. Don't sweat the dice bag. Send one if ya want. Don't send one. Doesn't matter. What matters is that you have friends (even friends you haven't ever met) who are happy and willing to help you through these tough times. Hope things turn around for you soon.


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## orchid blossom (Jan 17, 2004)

I don't have a paypal account, but I think AO does.  When he gets home later today I'll see if we can send a little something through there.


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## Nightchilde-2 (Jan 17, 2004)

I'll be hand-delivering  a little somethin' next paycheck.    Unfortunately, no OT this time around and by the time I found out about your plea, I'd already spent my $ (except , of course, for the DM screen $)..


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## herald (Jan 17, 2004)

Another twenty on it's way to you right now. 

Best of luck to you. 

I used to work for Worldcom myself, Thankfuly I got out from under just in time. I've stayed in Waxa from time to time and I think know how hard it can be to find a job their that pays as much as the Worldcom job would have paid. I'm sending some good thoughts your way.


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## Krieg (Jan 17, 2004)

I'm assuming that Paladin was in the IT field. If that is the case, send me a copy of his resume & I'll put it into the system here at GE. I can always forward it to friends of mine at other IT companies (SAIC, Lexis-Nexis, Siemens etc etc). 

If he has a security clearance I'll forward it some of my former co-workers in the intel field. Anyone who doesn't have to go through an SBI is on the fast track right now...


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## devita (Jan 17, 2004)

Sadly, I know all too well what it is to work off of one income (now that I am disabled). I'm affraid that we have nothing to spare - even for some of our bills!

Since I can not send cash, I am seeing what we can do for you by at least posting a link at Silven Crossroads.

 - Nash J. DeVita


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## whtknt (Jan 17, 2004)

Hi! We've never met, and I don't know you, but I saw the link on d20 Zines and came here to read about your plight. I've sent my $5 donation. It isn't much, but I hope that it helps! Best of luck to you!

John Grigsby
Staff Reviewer at d20 Zines (Critic's Corner)


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## Altamont Ravenard (Jan 17, 2004)

alsih2o said:
			
		

> pick a winner from anyone who sent at least $5 between now and next saturday, *i will send them a hand-made salt-fired piggy* bank for the effort.




Hmmm if only the sentenced had ended there... Tasty...

I'm looking at the bags right now and I'll order a couple for myself and friends. Hope it helps!

AR


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 17, 2004)

I'm also going to alert my gaming group as to your plight, and perhaps I can get a few more bag orders headed your way.


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## jgbrowning (Jan 17, 2004)

alsih2o said:
			
		

> you know, mark sets a good example (damn him) keep track paladin and paladin wife-
> 
> pick a winner from anyone who sent at least $5 between now and next saturday, i will send them a hand-made salt-fired piggy bank for the effort.
> 
> jg and suzi have pics f them, i will see if they can post




Here's the piggy banks, they're cool.

joe b.


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## Mark (Jan 17, 2004)

alsih2o said:
			
		

> you know, mark sets a good example (damn him)...




_It's the Mark way...


...but you already know that from personal experience...  _


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 17, 2004)

That piggy bank is so CUTE!


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## mythago (Jan 17, 2004)

Oooh, I want to buy a piggy bank.

  But for now I will just send money to Clan Paladin.

 Also, tips that you may or may not have already relied upon:

 1) Temp work. 
 2) Social service agencies in your county--when you are really down at the bottom you may have access to a food bank, medical care, dental care, etc.
 3) governmentjobs.com is the job engine used by an awful lot of counties, cities and municipalities.


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## Zander (Jan 17, 2004)

I'm not a rich guy, but I happen to know that Paladin and Paladinwife are two of the nicest people on the planet, so I have Paypalled (sp?) US$100. 

I hope it helps.


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## fett527 (Jan 17, 2004)

Donation made!!  As I said in my note, my wife and I are expecting our first in May so four children is a scary prospect indeed!  Good luck.


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## Paladin (Jan 17, 2004)

Thanks to everyone, it is really humbling to see this kind of support. If you can't donate we certainly appreciate prayers, they're as good as gold.  

I'm a Project Manager (used to be?) in telecom. The technology sector in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is totally flooded with applicants, for practically every job, due to the massive layoffs the metroplex has incurred. It's definitely an employer's market now, and there's a lot of folks with more experience than me. 
Not to mention that PMs are the ones who drive new enterprises for companies and with the current state of the economy, the companies aren't exactly throwing money around as much as they used to two years ago.

MCI WorldCom laid off at least 1,500 from our complex alone, and 5,100 in one day. More came after that. If anyone in the DFW area knows of a PM job opening (not just telecom, PMing isn't narrowed into one field, that's just where my experience is), please contact me at dommer@prodigy.net, I'll be happy to work anywhere in DFW, so distance is not a problem.


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## thatdarncat (Jan 17, 2004)

I've added this thread to the topic in the chatroom. Unfortunately I can't afford to buy a bag at the moment, as much as I want to


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## Cthulhu's Librarian (Jan 18, 2004)

I sent you an email a little while ago, I'm sending $10 by mail (I don't use Paypal). I'll keep you and your family in my thoughts. You guys are good people, and everyone needs a little help now and then. I've always believed that what comes around goes around, so I try to help out when and where I can. I wish you the best of luck. 

 -Rich


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## baradtgnome (Jan 18, 2004)

*good luck*

sent mine.  Sucks when bad stuff happens to good folk.  Hopefully all will work itself out soon.  I will never forget the stress of being out of work for an extended time, don't forget to breathe.  Perhaps the economy is really turning and opportunities will present themselves.


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## Ycore Rixle (Jan 18, 2004)

I just put in my order for a Royal Deluxe. Hope it helps. Also, I'm not sure as to the payment protocol, because after I clicked submit to submit the order, no request for credit card info or anything like that came up. I sent you email about it; I'm sure you'll explain it for me. Good luck with everything.


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## Teflon Billy (Jan 18, 2004)

OK, I'm going to sound retarded here, but how do you give money using paypal? I've never used it before, but the Paladins seemed like nice folks at Gen Con, and I would like to buy one of their bags.


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## Altamont Ravenard (Jan 18, 2004)

Teflon Billy said:
			
		

> OK, I'm going to sound retarded here, but how do you give money using paypal? I've never used it before, but the Paladins seemed like nice folks at Gen Con, and I would like to buy one of their bags.




If I'm not mistaken, you need to open a free account at Paypal in order to send money.

If you want to buy a bag, you probably should head for their site and order one. I think you can pay via a credit card if you don't have a Paypal account.

Of course, if someone could confirm this I'd be happier.

AR


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## orbitalfreak (Jan 18, 2004)

Just sent some your way!  My little sister would love a Dragon Tales bag if they have any left .

Also, a message to anyone falling on hard times financially.  Don't forget about McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Chevron stations, and the like.  These places may not pay much, it may seem demeaning to some, and feel like menial labor, but it is a job.  At the least, it can help to stop the money flowing out as fast from the wallet.  Don't neglect these options while searching for other jobs.

My thoughts and prayers are with y'all.  Good Luck.


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## Paladin (Jan 18, 2004)

Teflon Billy - Altamont Ravenard has it right, you go to www.paypal.com and sign up for a free account, it's easy. Some folks have said they had problems with PayPal a while back, but we've used them as a payment system for about 2 years and have never had a problem. Once you have an account, you can use a credit card through PayPal then. 

FYI on our ordering procedures: to order simply go to our order form, pick your options then submit your order. After it is submitted, we review the order (since every bag is unique having a system generate a receipt would be nigh impossible). After review we send you an order confirmation to confirm your order and send payment instructions. We currently accept payments through PayPal, and will accept personal checks, cashier's checks, and money orders.

**If you ordered this evening, we just had some company drop by so I'll be answering e-mails and orders in the morning (maybe later tonight) - but I thought I'd drop in and say thanks again. You all are really, really helping us.***


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## Alzrius (Jan 18, 2004)

I had thought I had financial troubles until I read Paladinwife's impassioned plea in this thread. It's times like this that put our own troubles into perspective.

Paladin, do you guys have a method of accepting donations over the internet that don't involve PayPal? I really want to donate to help you guys out, but using PayPal is not something I want to do. I've lost money using online accounts to move finances before, and I'm not in a position where I can even chance something like that would happen again.

If there's another way to send you guys funds over the internet, just let me know. Until then, my best wishes go with you.

EDIT: I feel odd asking, but what is the target amount you guys need to reach by the end of the month? Understand I'm not trying to be invasive, but for some reason people seem quicker to donate when they know exactly what the goal to reach is (and, I suppose, how close the raised amount is).


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## Paladin (Jan 18, 2004)

Paladinwife here...We are attempting to raise $3,000. I really should have wrote this in the first post. (Duh!) Anyway, this is what we need to take care of our current situation with our home and hold on a little longer. I know that's a lot of money, so if we get anywhere close we'll be happy. We have raised *$608.55* of this already! 

We have looked for work on government websites, Wal-mart, everything, but with so many people in one area out of work we have been hard pressed and we cannot receive government assistance. We do not qualify since Paladin gets a small disability compensation from the Army (a whopping $324 a month). This is another problem trying to find a job for Paladin, both his knees and a wrist were injured pretty badly when he served (so any job where standing is required is not going to happen.) I am simply being turned away for having been a stay-at-home mom and self-employed for too long. (I have been actually told this by numerous potential employers and temp agencies). I am "no longer current in my field."  

We've been trying extremely hard to find an investor for The Gamer's Bag so we can go in to mass production and put our bags in FLGS' all over the world, but no luck so far. (Having not worked for so long has killed our credit, so loans are not happening).

Thank you everyone for all your support, and if you don't want to send money via PayPal, I'm sure there's another way to do so - but I don't know what it would be. *Does anyone know out there?* Some people have said they are just going to mail it. If you are going to do this, let us know so we can get you in these drawings right away and keep a count of where our total is. 

Bless you all! Paladinwife.


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## Cedric (Jan 18, 2004)

Things are tight here, but not so tight that I couldn't send a little something your way. And I'll make sure my friends get the message about you guys!

Cedric


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## Shadowdancer (Jan 18, 2004)

I get paid on Tuesday, and I've been meaning to order one of your cool bags for some time now. So I'll order one just as soon as I get paid.

I have a friend who lives in Austin who is in a similar situation. He hasn't worked in over a year, has used up all of his savings and retirement, and is now living off his credit cards. He also has a disability that prevents him from taking any job that requires lifting or standing for any length of time. I guess he is fortunate that he is single, and doesn't have a family to worry about, just himself.

It is very sad that bad things happen to good people. I will keep the Paladin family in my prayers.


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## RangerWickett (Jan 18, 2004)

Does your bank charge a processing fee for foreign cheques?  A friend of mine here at my college wants me to ask on his behalf.

I only briefly talked with you folks at GenCon, but you are living the American dream ( . . . I tried to find a less nationalized term, but I couldn't think of one).  I'll help as soon as I get my next paycheck, because you're paladins, so we know you're the good guys.  I intend to see you guys at GenCon this year.  Don't disappoint me, okay?


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## Paladin (Jan 18, 2004)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> Does your bank charge a processing fee for foreign cheques?  A friend of mine here at my college wants me to ask on his behalf.



That is a very good question (we've never had a foreign check before), I will call my bank tomorrow and ask.

We really, really, really want to be able to get a booth at GenCon again this year. We're going to do everything possible to be there, somehow. We just got our packet in this past week too. Right now, of course, we're trying to avoid being homeless, but GenCon is definitely on our minds. We had such great support from everyone last year, we're hoping to do make it two in row. *crosses fingers*


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## Ed Cha (Jan 18, 2004)

I just sent $30 to your Paypal account and I put a link to your Web site on OWP's homepage.

I wasn't sure how your pricing for bags work, but have you thought about putting a few of the most popular items on the main order page? There's too much choice! 

Also, you might want to post this message on your home page so  your regular customers and visitors to your site know what's going on. People will want to know how they can help.    

Anyhow, just hang in there and I'm sure things will turn around quickly! Please let us know how things go.


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## MEG Hal (Jan 18, 2004)

Hey guys--good luck on the rally!

As always lets make the pot sweeter (taking a nod from Mark), lets give away* 3--$100 prize packages * from us at the end of this process, just pick 3 (US addresses) at random as a thank you and we will see what happens   .  E-mail the winners and us at info@mysticeyegames.com and we will get the goods to the people as soon as we can.

Good luck all and yes all they are _very good people_.


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## Alaric_Prympax (Jan 18, 2004)

I just placed an order through the web site for a Kippah and a bag.  I hope that helps guys.


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## Paladin (Jan 18, 2004)

MEG Hal said:
			
		

> Good luck all and yes all they are _very good people_.




You're so sweet, Hal, and we hope you and your babies are doing well, too. Thanks bunches, sweetie...Paladinwife


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## Goobermunch (Jan 18, 2004)

Paladin & Paladin wife--

Do you have a mortgage or do you rent?

--G


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## Paladin (Jan 18, 2004)

Goobermunch said:
			
		

> Paladin & Paladin wife--
> 
> Do you have a mortgage or do you rent?
> 
> --G



We have a mortgage.


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## Nifft (Jan 18, 2004)

Mark said:
			
		

> Lexus - Dwellings generator.




Ooo, neat! I sent in $20 as a combination of "unemployment commiseration" and "nice penguin" sentiments. I don't want anyone to waste postage on a bag since I have a nice dice bowl already, but I really wouldn't mind that Dwellings thing.

 -- N


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## Goobermunch (Jan 18, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> We have a mortgage.




You should find out what your state's homestead exemption is.  If things get to the point where you might lose the house, talk to an attorney about the possibility of bankruptcy.

In some states, the homestead exemption is large enough that you'll keep the house even after a bankruptcy.

Only an attorney licensed in your state will be able to tell you what your exemption would be.

I wish I could donate more than advice, but I had to buy a new furnace this week.

--G


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## Vaxalon (Jan 18, 2004)

We recently went through a bankruptcy.  It's not fun, but it can help you keep your house.

Money, especially the money this community could put together, isn't going to change the situation, it's just going to delay it.


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## MEG Hal (Jan 18, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> You're so sweet, Hal, and we hope you and your babies are doing well, too. Thanks bunches, sweetie...Paladinwife





Doing fine down here, not great,  not horrible, steady as she goes   .

Wish someone in TX wanted to move to Florida but that is a whole other ball game   .

Good luck!


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## Paladin (Jan 18, 2004)

Goobermunch said:
			
		

> You should find out what your state's homestead exemption is.  If things get to the point where you might lose the house, talk to an attorney about the possibility of bankruptcy.
> 
> In some states, the homestead exemption is large enough that you'll keep the house even after a bankruptcy.
> 
> ...



We will talk to our attorney tomorrow about it.


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## BrooklynKnight (Jan 19, 2004)

Donated 20. You guys Rock. I feel like we're all bilge pumpers trying to keep one sweet ship from sinking!

ARR ladies! Steady as she goes, keep pumping!


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## orchid blossom (Jan 19, 2004)

I just sent $15.00 via AO's paypal account.  Hope everything goes well and you can find some employment soon.


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## Goddess FallenAngel (Jan 19, 2004)

I sent a small donation - I can't afford much, as I am a part-time college student, but I hope this helps... good luck to you!


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## Paladin (Jan 19, 2004)

Thanks to all EN Worlders, we have raised $1004.95 so far and are 1/3 of the way to our goal! Everyone is being so great helping us out. I only hope we can help all of you out one day! Thank you...Paladinwife


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## Renshai (Jan 19, 2004)

As soon as I get my paycheck deposited tomorrow I'm going to send some to you guys. I hope everything works out for you. 

Todd


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## Paladin (Jan 19, 2004)

Renshai said:
			
		

> As soon as I get my paycheck deposited tomorrow I'm going to send some to you guys. I hope everything works out for you.
> 
> Todd



Thank you so much, it is much appreciated!


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## guedo79 (Jan 19, 2004)

I've tossed in what I could. Good Luck guys.


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## Uzumaki (Jan 19, 2004)

I'd be happy to donate some condoms.


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## LiVeWiRe (Jan 19, 2004)

Paladin/wife: Please email me your address.  I would like to send you something but prefer not to do so via Paypal.

Best wishes,

LW


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## BrooklynKnight (Jan 19, 2004)

LiVeWiRe said:
			
		

> I don't want to get anything started here, but was that *really* necessary???
> 
> Paladin/wife: Please email me your address. I would like to send you something but prefer not to do so via Paypal.
> 
> ...



its the same email as the one in the first post.


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## Seule (Jan 19, 2004)

In contrast to those who have posted that they are temporarily out of money, I just received a cash influx, so I've ordered 2 dice bags, one for the wife and one on behalf of the housemate.  
We know what it's like to have a mortgage, although no kids, so we are happy to help out as much as possible.  I'll be tacking on another $10 to the order too, just because.

Good luck, I hope something works out.

  --Seule


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## LiVeWiRe (Jan 19, 2004)

ArthurQ said:
			
		

> its the same email as the one in the first post.




Thanks, but should have said mailing / street address.

LW


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## BrooklynKnight (Jan 19, 2004)

LiVeWiRe said:
			
		

> Thanks, but should have said mailing / street address.
> 
> LW





that i belive is somewhere on their site www.thegamersbag.com


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## BSF (Jan 19, 2004)

I sent a little in for you folks too.  I also emailed a few folks working with other telecom companies to see if they know of any openings in that area.  Yeah, I know you don't need to be in a telecom, but your existing experience helps.  I'll check some of my other possible contacts at work tomorrow.


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## BrooklynKnight (Jan 19, 2004)

from their site:

*The Gamer’s Bag ™ 
**983** Big Sky Dr.**Waxahachie, TX 75167*
*Phone # 469-867-2840
*


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## Paladinwife (Jan 19, 2004)

Uzumaki said:
			
		

> I'd be happy to donate some condoms.



Where would you be if someone had donated condoms to your parents? 
Karma has a bad way of coming back on you.


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## Paladinwife (Jan 19, 2004)

Arthur Q, thanks for answering those address questions, we are a little slow tonight.


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## Paladin (Jan 19, 2004)

Attention Please!

*Matthew Camara*

If you happen to be on the boards here, you ordered a dice bag but didn't give us your e-mail address! Please contact us so we can send you a confirmation e-mail. E-mail us here: sales@thegamersbag.com. I really don't have any other way to contact you...


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## William Ronald (Jan 19, 2004)

Paladin and Paladinwife,

The IT field is slow right now, but I have an idea.  In Illinois, a person who has a bachelor's degree and passes the appropriate background checks can work as a substitute teacher.  The work is not always steady, but it is another option.


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## Nifft (Jan 19, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> Where would you be if someone had donated condoms to your parents?
> Karma has a bad way of coming back on you.




Not if you make karma wear a -- Ow! Hey! Stop throwing stuff, I -- Ow! -- I donated! I donated!

 -- N


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## Paladinwife (Jan 19, 2004)

Nifft said:
			
		

> Not if you make karma wear a -- Ow! Hey! Stop throwing stuff, I -- Ow! -- I donated! I donated!
> 
> -- N



Be nice, my penguin has a higher AC than yours and he's dressed for battle!!!


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## bloodymage (Jan 19, 2004)

I would order a bag from you guys, but I still haven't figured out the logo for my, as yet non-existent, gaming store, The Reliquary. I'm usually pretty good at concepts like that (terrible in execution, I'm no artist!), but this has had me stumped since I conceived of it, two, three years ago.


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## Dougal DeKree (Jan 19, 2004)

Hey! <edit: i thought i sent you something, paypal didn't - i have to check that this evening>

Dougal

P.S.:  I can't count how often i have been to your site and then couldn't decide just which combination of skins and colours etc. to take. Now i trust to the goddess of randomness...


----------



## Corinthi (Jan 19, 2004)

Just ordered a bag and included my donation with the order. I still use the last bag you folks made me, and I'm sure my wife will be pleased by this new creation when we receive it. 

I hate it when bad times fall upon good people and wish the two of you all the peace and happiness you deserve. God bless.


----------



## Dr Awkward (Jan 19, 2004)

I've sent a meager little something your way, along with my thoughts.  I've been where you are now, and I pulled through.  You'll probably do better than I did.  Remember that.

Also, I'm linking to this thread in RPGnet Tangency and some other gaming forums, to give your plight a little more coverage.  I know it will help.

Be strong.

- DocAwk


----------



## GMVictory (Jan 19, 2004)

I just put in my order for a new bag and will add a little more to it when I get the confirmation email.

Just adding my shoulder to push that rock over the hill.


----------



## Dr Awkward (Jan 19, 2004)

Wuh-hooooo!  $500 order coming your way from RPGShop!  They heard about your story through my post in the GIN forum.

Now I'm off to buy some dice from them to put in my kids' dice bags, just as a thank you...

- DocAwk


----------



## The Sigil (Jan 19, 2004)

To my chagrin, don't have the spare fundage to send to you right this second, but I will try to shoot a little something your way come Friday (payday).  

Also, to throw in as compatriots-at-arms with Mark at CMG, we (i.e., me) here at S.T. Cooley Publishing will offer prizes: a complete set of our e-books (including all future publications) to one lucky randomly selected donator as a "grand prize" and choice of any one of our current e-books (or their choice of our TBA-next release) to five other randomly selected donators.  E-mail me with any questions or details, P-Wife, and I'll get it worked out with ya.

--The Sigil


----------



## rpghost (Jan 19, 2004)

We run the EN World store here and we just placed a large reorder for the bags. Hope that helps you out!

James


----------



## Nifft (Jan 19, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> Be nice, my penguin has a higher AC than yours and he's dressed for battle!!!




Oh yeah?!? Well, uh, my penguin is a Sorcerer! Yeah!

 -- N


----------



## Paladin (Jan 19, 2004)

rpghost said:
			
		

> We run the EN World store here and we just placed a large reorder for the bags. Hope that helps you out!
> 
> James



Thank you James, we always love seeing orders from you...glad they're selling so well...Paladinwife


----------



## Paladin (Jan 19, 2004)

Nifft said:
			
		

> Oh yeah?!? Well, uh, my penguin is a Sorcerer! Yeah!
> 
> -- N



Yea, like first level...good luck!  By the way, I have the most perfect material for a bag for you...I have to make it, but I don't mind. It's flannel and it has penquins all over it (not kiddie ones though...you could have a beautiful, soft bag for your dice instead of a bowl!  You want to take me up on that offer? Paladinwife


----------



## ForceUser (Jan 19, 2004)

Hjorimir gave me a monogrammed bag for Christmas and I love it! Happy to help out, and good luck!


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> Arthur Q, thanks for answering those address questions, we are a little slow tonight.



feh, no problem.

I also made a post over at Sean K Reynolds board about this, so poke your heads in there.

(and a suggestion, make your address easier to find on the site, as is i had to go the win a free dice bag section.)


----------



## talinthas (Jan 20, 2004)

you have my $15.  good luck, and god bless =)


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

ArthurQ said:
			
		

> feh, no problem.
> 
> I also made a post over at Sean K Reynolds board about this, so poke your heads in there.
> 
> (and a suggestion, make your address easier to find on the site, as is i had to go the win a free dice bag section.)



I poked my head in.  Actually, we thought it was easy to find under the *Contact Us* button.


----------



## Nifft (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> By the way, I have the most perfect material for a bag for you...I have to make it, but I don't mind. It's flannel and it has penquins all over it




Ooo, penguins on the bag... okay! 

 -- N


----------



## Zaruthustran (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Thank you everyone for all your support, and if you don't want to send money via PayPal, I'm sure there's another way to do so - but I don't know what it would be. *Does anyone know out there?* Some people have said they are just going to mail it. If you are going to do this, let us know so we can get you in these drawings right away and keep a count of where our total is.
> 
> Bless you all! Paladinwife.





If you're looking for a web-based solution (easiest for givers) then consider Amazon Honor System. It's Amazon, so it won't lose anyone's dough, and most folks already have an account. To the giver it works just like a simple credit card charge, just like how it works if the giver went to Amazon and bought a CD. Or a book. Or a game. Or a software download. Or a toy. Or new Nikes. Or a diamond necklace. Or beef jerky. Or a power drill. Or a fishing pole. Or whatever.

Anyway.

Here's the URL: http://www.amazon.com/honorsystem. Note that Paladin has to first set up an honor system account before we can start giving money.

Also note that it's not free, of course. The fee is $.19 plus 5%: about a quarter per dollar you give.

A mailed check for a dollar would give the whole dollar to Paladin but cost you a quarter for the stamp; an Honor Systemed dollar would give Paladin 75 cents and cost you (or him, depending on how you view things) a quarter. It's a wash for low amounts, but becomes more significant if you're going to send $20 or $100 bucks. I'm not sure how this compares to what Paypal charges the receiver.

Hope this info helps.

-z


----------



## Jim Butler (Jan 20, 2004)

Bastion Press will offer the same kind of deal we did when ENWorld was strapped for cash:

25% of all sales at our online store from now through Friday, January 23rd, will go to benefit Paladin and the family.

So, if you missed any Bastion Products or want to get some cool gaming books and feel good about helping out, just visit our online store:

http://www.bastionpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?


----------



## Capellan (Jan 20, 2004)

What's the international postage on those stock bags?  I'm sure I can drum up a few orders out here, but I think we'd need to chip in a little extra to get the bags out here, or we wouldn't be helping you at all


----------



## Piratecat (Jan 20, 2004)

I've started a "silent auction" type contest over in my story hour to see if I can further help. Some folks read that who don't check out the rest of the boards, so I may draw a bit more attention to this. 

By the way, Jim Butler, rpghost? You guys are great, and so is everyone else who is helping!


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 20, 2004)

Its a good thing you guys dont have to tithe 10 or 15% percent of this to a church


----------



## simmo (Jan 20, 2004)

Have sent something, wish I could help more. I hope that your fortunes change for the better soon.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Jim Butler said:
			
		

> Bastion Press will offer the same kind of deal we did when ENWorld was strapped for cash:
> 
> 25% of all sales at our online store from now through Friday, January 23rd, will go to benefit Paladin and the family.
> 
> ...



Jim!...You are so sweet, how can we ever thank everyone for helping? We can't believe how many friends we have and how sweet you all are to us. And, for those of you who would like to know, we are at $1410.08 in just monitary donations, not including our generous give aways from our counterparts on these boards and the collection going on by Bastion adn of course we are getting a lot of orders in, including at least two or three new FLGS!!! Thanks to everyone! Getting the word out about our product to FLGS is what will keep us in business for a long time, and we appreciate it...Paladinwife

P.S. Nifft, I'll be working on that bag soon...how many dice do you own?


----------



## Goobermunch (Jan 20, 2004)

Sorry, mouth engaged before brain.  Withdrawn.

--G


----------



## Piratecat (Jan 20, 2004)

Goobermunch said:
			
		

> I don't know that that's relevant ArthurQ.  I do know that it's inappropriate.  Backhanded slams at religion are biggoted, even if it's just religion.




I think he meant it in a "D&D cleric tithe" sense, not a real world one. Let's not hijack the thread please, okay?


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> I've started a "silent auction" type contest over in my story hour to see if I can further help. Some folks read that who don't check out the rest of the boards, so I may draw a bit more attention to this.
> 
> By the way, Jim Butler, rpghost? You guys are great, and so is everyone else who is helping!



Piratecat, we were wondering when you were going to show your furry face around this thread!  Thank you for your help, also...and we do love seeing your bag! Paladinwife


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

BTW, Attn Hal...Your Texas lady says..."it's not because I don't want to move, it's just that I can't move..." and if it doesn't work out, she'll have nothing there for her...maybe you guys can mull it over a little more and come up with a different plan, like an annual rendevous?


----------



## Nifft (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> P.S. Nifft, I'll be working on that bag soon...how many dice do you own?




Uh... _(starts counting, runs out of fingers)_

4.5 inches by 4.5 inches by 2 inches deep in a box.

Thanks! -- N


----------



## Steverooo (Jan 20, 2004)

PaladinWife said:
			
		

> Thank you everyone for all your support, and if you don't want to send money via PayPal, I'm sure there's another way to do so - but I don't know what it would be. *Does anyone know out there?* Some people have said they are just going to mail it. If you are going to do this, let us know so we can get you in these drawings right away and keep a count of where our total is.




Take $30 of the money that you've raised, so far, and get a Post Office Box.  Post the address.  Anyone who wants to send checks can send it there...  Also, should you lose the home, this will give you an address to forward your mail to...


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Nifft said:
			
		

> Uh... _(starts counting, runs out of fingers)_
> 
> 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches by 2 inches deep in a box.
> 
> Thanks! -- N



No prob...i'll work on it as soon as i can...

Take $30 of the money that you've raised, so far, and get a Post Office Box. Post the address. Anyone who wants to send checks can send it there... Also, should you lose the home, this will give you an address to forward your mail to...

It's an idea...i'll run it by Paladin...thanks! P-wife


----------



## Steverooo (Jan 20, 2004)

*Address for checks:*



			
				ArthurQ said:
			
		

> that i belive is somewhere on their site www.thegamersbag.com




983 Big Sky Drive,
Waxahachie, TX 75167


----------



## Steverooo (Jan 20, 2004)

*Ride of the Snail Brigade!*

Okay, thanks to Ryan (RangerWicket) Nock, I earned $30, this year, so I am dispatching our fastest snail with the $27 remaining (yes, that's after tithe, ArthurQ)!  The snail is still rather slow, though, so it will be a while before he arrives.................


----------



## diaglo (Jan 20, 2004)

doing our part to keep the nice bags coming.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Steverooo said:
			
		

> Okay, thanks to Ryan (RangerWicket) Nock, I earned $30, this year, so I am dispatching our fastest snail with the $27 remaining (yes, that's after tithe, ArthurQ)!  The snail is still rather slow, though, so it will be a while before he arrives.................



Have you tried camel mail?


----------



## diaglo (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Have you tried camel mail?




i prefer my mail filtered.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

diaglo said:
			
		

> i prefer my mail filtered.



menthol!  and thanks for the help...e-mail me and tell me about your pillowcase bag, k!


----------



## Steverooo (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Have you tried camel mail?






			
				diaglo said:
			
		

> i prefer my mail filtered.




Well, if you _must_ know, being crippled, I refuse to walk a mile for a camel...  Also, the camels keep smoking, despite our best efforts, and while we have _tried_ filtering them, they keep choking and gagging on the filters...

So, overall, the snails are still faster!  Why, I bet "speedy" makes it to the PO by tommorrow!


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Steverooo said:
			
		

> Well, if you _must_ know, being crippled, I refuse to walk a mile for a camel...  Also, the camels keep smoking, despite our best efforts, and while we have _tried_ filtering them, they keep choking and gagging on the filters...
> 
> So, overall, the snails are still faster!  Why, I bet "speedy" makes it to the PO by tommorrow!



We'd better stop...i'm hijacking my own post!


----------



## BSF (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladin,
Just a quick interjection to make sure you received the email I sent yesterday.  I'm not sure it is useful, but I wanted to be sure it didn't get filtered somewhere along the way.


----------



## CanadienneBacon (Jan 20, 2004)

I was able to convince my husband that now is an OK time to buy a Bastion Press product that he has long wanted.  I just ordered Torn Asunder and he's pleased that he has a new book, while I'm pleased that I was able to help the Paladin family.  

BTW, the two threads I started at Mortality.net did not reference Paladinwife's plea for help.  One of the threads was a plug in Mortality's shoutcast forum for the Jan. 29th radio show, the other thread garnered some attention and a small discussion regarding dice bags ensued.  I didn't want to reference the plea for help because I feel the bags are a good stand-alone product and they sell themselves.  The thread can be viewed here:

Mortality Gamer's Bag thread


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

BardStephenFox said:
			
		

> Paladin,
> Just a quick interjection to make sure you received the email I sent yesterday.  I'm not sure it is useful, but I wanted to be sure it didn't get filtered somewhere along the way.



Yes, I sure did and I e-mailed Craig. I thought I had cc'd you on there, but I just looked and I didn't. Sorry! Thanks a lot, hopefully I'll hear something soon.


----------



## BSF (Jan 20, 2004)

Hey, no problem!  Maybe it will pan out, maybe it won't.  But, I wanted to make sure you received the email. I'll send happy thoughts your way that you find something soon.


----------



## Bloodsparrow (Jan 20, 2004)

1. If we use paypal, should we earmark it as "goods" or "quazi-cash"?



			
				alsih2o said:
			
		

> well, i sent a buck for every enworlder who has purchased a pot.  i am not a rich man, but the folks here keep sending me money so i am in a position to share




2.  Where do you sell you pots alsih2o?


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Bloodsparrow said:
			
		

> 1. If we use paypal, should we earmark it as "goods" or "quazi-cash"?



It doesn't matter really, but I guess "goods" since we'll be sending out bags.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

*Amazon Honor System*

We now have an Amazon Honor System account. If I read things right, it works like PayPal, in that you send funds to an e-mail address. Ours is: dommer@prodigy.net. Hopefully, I did everything right.


----------



## Aaron L (Jan 20, 2004)

Where is the link you your paypage for the Amazon thingy?  As soon as I can find it I'll send $20.  I live on disability and know what it's like to be strapped all the time.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Aaron L said:
			
		

> Where is the link you your paypage for the Amazon thingy?  As soon as I can find it I'll send $20.  I live on disability and know what it's like to be strapped all the time.



Thank you.  Here is what you need right here. The link now works.

Edit: Fixed link.


----------



## Aaron L (Jan 20, 2004)

I don't think that's the right page   That looks like a signup page for creating an account to recieve money.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Aaron L said:
			
		

> I don't think that's the right page   That looks like a signup page for creating an account to recieve money.



I editted the link above, it *should* work now.


----------



## Aaron L (Jan 20, 2004)

It's working, money sent


----------



## Blue_Kryptonite (Jan 20, 2004)

I'm doing the "Buy a new bag + a little more" route, but I have to finish hunting for a particular embroidery design. If I can't find it soon, I'll email about custom embroidery.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 20, 2004)

Aaron L said:
			
		

> It's working, money sent



Got it, thanks again. 

I'm still trying to figure out the AHS. It's a lot different from PayPal. PP sends an e-mail instantly notifying you of payment and who made it, their address - everything. I can't find any other information than the dollar amount sent with AHS and I had to go to my PayPage. Does anyone out there that has more experience with AHS than me (everyone) know if these type functions exist on AHS? I've looked around quite a bit, but their interface isn't very user-friendly. Any advice/help would be appreciated. I'd like to thank folks personally for donating, but I can't if I don't know who they are!


----------



## Salthorae (Jan 20, 2004)

*Honor System*

Wow...that was a very quick and easy way to send money. So anyway my donation is sent out to y'all, along with my prayers! Keep us all updated


----------



## dogoftheunderworld (Jan 20, 2004)

Done & Done.


----------



## babomb (Jan 20, 2004)

I hung some flyers around my campus (Tulane University). I put a few about your kippahs too, since there's a fairly large Jewish community here. With any luck, that'll be a few more orders for you.


----------



## Gilwen (Jan 20, 2004)

Just paypaled you and  will likely visit Bastion Press later. Let us know how things are turning out. 

Bryan


----------



## Gilwen (Jan 20, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Got it, thanks again.
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out the AHS. It's a lot different from PayPal. PP sends an e-mail instantly notifying you of payment and who made it, their address - everything. I can't find any other information than the dollar amount sent with AHS and I had to go to my PayPage. Does anyone out there that has more experience with AHS than me (everyone) know if these type functions exist on AHS? I've looked around quite a bit, but their interface isn't very user-friendly. Any advice/help would be appreciated. I'd like to thank folks personally for donating, but I can't if I don't know who they are!



I have had experience with AHS (sending money) and it says that it doesn't send the address, email, credit card info, etc to the reciever.

Bryan


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 20, 2004)

Just want to clarify. My comment was in refrence to 2nd edition where Pladins had to tith 10% of all their treasure to their patron church.

I cant belive ya missed that joke, o.0 its a classic.
PC  got it. 

I now unhijack this thread to its original programming.

Paladin, can we can an update on where ya are?


----------



## MrFilthyIke (Jan 21, 2004)

ArthurQ said:
			
		

> Paladin, can we can an update on where ya are?




Yeah, how's the tally? I just came across the thread, and don't have much to offer, but wouldn't mind.


----------



## Kesho (Jan 21, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Got it, thanks again.
> 
> I'm still trying to figure out the AHS. It's a lot different from PayPal. PP sends an e-mail instantly notifying you of payment and who made it, their address - everything. I can't find any other information than the dollar amount sent with AHS and I had to go to my PayPage. Does anyone out there that has more experience with AHS than me (everyone) know if these type functions exist on AHS? I've looked around quite a bit, but their interface isn't very user-friendly. Any advice/help would be appreciated. I'd like to thank folks personally for donating, but I can't if I don't know who they are!




I found this buried in the description of AHS - "...by clicking the Send info button on the thank-you page, you may request that we provide your name and e-mail address to a Web site you paid. Please note that we will not provide your credit card number or information or your address to the site you paid..."

People who use AHS can be identified, but it doesn't seem easy to find this feature...

I hope everything works out!  In addition to a recent order, I'll keep you in prayers...


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

MrFilthyIke said:
			
		

> Yeah, how's the tally? I just came across the thread, and don't have much to offer, but wouldn't mind.



As of right now, we are at $1592.64! More than halfway! We also have had a few people who said they were sending checks, but we don't know how much these will be.   Thanks to everyone so far for working so hard to come to our aid! Paladinwife


----------



## KB9JMQ (Jan 21, 2004)

Just ordered a Bag of Dice Holding. Hope all is going well.


----------



## Heretic Apostate (Jan 21, 2004)

So what's your website?  And do you take special requests?  I have a thing for Imperial Chinese Dragons & Phoenixes, for instance.


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 21, 2004)

www.thegamersbag.com
As far as i know they can monogram anything thats not copywrited. It just costs extra.


----------



## Al'Kelhar (Jan 21, 2004)

Paladin a Paladinwife, just donated via the PayPal thingy on Amazon.com - but _don't_ send me a dice bag; I don't want my donation expended in postage to the antipodes (besides, I doubt whether my other half would appreciate me swapping the dice bag she gave me for yours...).

Cheers, Al'Kelhar


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

Al'Kelhar, you could give the one we send you to your wife... 
Heretic Apostate, we are at the link you see in our sig below and we happen to have a black chinese dragon material and a blue chinese dragon in fire material available. They would both make awesome bags of holding! And of course we have several pheonix monograms to choose from!


----------



## William Ronald (Jan 21, 2004)

Paladin,

In addition to my donation, I also e-mailed a friend who runs a comic and hobby store about your site.  (A good small store, but not the equal of the internationally renowned Games Plus -- which is the best game store I have seen.) I will see him Thursday and try to drum up some business for you. Perhaps we can encourage everyone to send their favorite local gaming store an e-mail about your site and see about lending you a hand.  

Hang in there.  It is Tuesday and you are already half way there.


----------



## CanadienneBacon (Jan 21, 2004)

Indeed, there are four gaming stores on Oahu, Hawaii that I frequent.  Would you like me to make inquires on behalf of your product at those stores?


----------



## Heretic Apostate (Jan 21, 2004)

Well, I like the Dragon embroidery.  But I keep getting Runtime errors, so I can't see past page 1 of the World Cultures embroidery stuff.  Same thing happens with the search.


----------



## Goobermunch (Jan 21, 2004)

ArthurQ said:
			
		

> Just want to clarify. My comment was in refrence to 2nd edition where Pladins had to tith 10% of all their treasure to their patron church.
> 
> I cant belive ya missed that joke, o.0 its a classic.
> PC  got it.
> ...




Point taken, but given your lengthy rant on Sean's site, you can see where the joke lost its funny.

Paladin, in the spirit of everyone else who's been hitting their local gaming stores, I'll call the three I frequent here in the Denver Metro Area.

--G


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

CanadienneBacon said:
			
		

> Indeed, there are four gaming stores on Oahu, Hawaii that I frequent.  Would you like me to make inquires on behalf of your product at those stores?



Yes please.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

Heretic Apostate said:
			
		

> Well, I like the Dragon embroidery.  But I keep getting Runtime errors, so I can't see past page 1 of the World Cultures embroidery stuff.  Same thing happens with the search.



If you're having trouble with the Dakota Collectibles search, you should enable cookies. Apparently there's something wrong on their end that their webmaster refuses to fix (my webmaster says it would take him 2 minutes) and it causes problems for some folks. If enabling cookies for the site doesn't work, let me know and I'll talk to my webmaster.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

Goobermunch said:
			
		

> Paladin, in the spirit of everyone else who's been hitting their local gaming stores, I'll call the three I frequent here in the Denver Metro Area.--G



Thank you!  You know, we're going to be making a LOT of bags!


----------



## Heretic Apostate (Jan 21, 2004)

I got it to work by enabling cookies, and by allowing cookies through my ad-blocker software.

They really don't have a Chinese Phoenix, do they? 

Well, I'll look and see if I can find something that fits...


----------



## Protean (Jan 21, 2004)

I should have around $40-60 to send your way next week, Paladin Folk.


----------



## Kirowan (Jan 21, 2004)

Paladin,

If I send you a picture of Lorenzo Lamas from his Renegade days, can you slap that on a dice bag?  

Nick


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

Protean said:
			
		

> I should have around $40-60 to send your way next week, Paladin Folk.



Thank you!!


----------



## Paladin (Jan 21, 2004)

Kirowan said:
			
		

> Paladin,
> 
> If I send you a picture of Lorenzo Lamas from his Renegade days, can you slap that on a dice bag?
> 
> Nick



Actually, yes - assuming the photo is *not copyrighted*. We can do copyrighted stuff if you secure permission of the copyright holder. An e-mail from them will suffice.


----------



## Macbeth (Jan 21, 2004)

Could I get an update to the situation? I don't have time to read through all 7 pages of the thread, but I would like to know if help is still needed. Things are a little tight for me right now, but if help is still needed, I can always find money somewhere.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Macbeth said:
			
		

> Could I get an update to the situation? I don't have time to read through all 7 pages of the thread, but I would like to know if help is still needed. Things are a little tight for me right now, but if help is still needed, I can always find money somewhere.



Since you're short on time: Yes.  We'll post an update on the tally later tonight.


----------



## Macbeth (Jan 22, 2004)

Great. I'll try to get my PayPal working so I can chip in. Are contributions over $5 still getting dice bags?


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Macbeth said:
			
		

> Great. I'll try to get my PayPal working so I can chip in. Are contributions over $5 still getting dice bags?



Absolutely.


----------



## Sharraunna (Jan 22, 2004)

I wish we had the money to help out.  



			
				Heretic Apostate said:
			
		

> They really don't have a Chinese Phoenix, do they?
> 
> Well, I'll look and see if I can find something that fits...





Hrm, I see three kinds of Phoenix under the "World Cultures" category of the embroidery section...  Perhaps not what you're looking for, though. 

~~Sharraunna


----------



## Kirowan (Jan 22, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Actually, yes - assuming the photo is *not copyrighted*. We can do copyrighted stuff if you secure permission of the copyright holder. An e-mail from them will suffice.




The picture is a screen capture from the show.  Lorenzo has an official website.  I'll email them and see if they mind.  

Man, this will be too awesome.  My players will soon know the true face of terror.  

Btw, I sent $10 your way.  Don't send me a bag though.  I'll let you know about this custom job in the coming days.  

Nick


----------



## ProfAnime (Jan 22, 2004)

Well, knowing how it is to be out of work for a lengthy period of time with a child, I have sent $100 your way.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

1eDM said:
			
		

> Well, knowing how it is to be out of work for a lengthy period of time with a child, I have sent $100 your way.



Thank you  ...I'll be posting a new total soon.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Here's our new daily total folks! We are at $1970.90! We are almost 2/3 of the way there! Paladin and I are very excited. So many of our customers have donated with words of hope and many new customers are placing orders and so many more are just donating to help us fight the good fight. We'll have a few stories to relay to everyone at the end of this drive and some extra special thank you's!  Bless you all...Paladinwife


----------



## Heretic Apostate (Jan 22, 2004)

Sharraunna said:
			
		

> Hrm, I see three kinds of Phoenix under the "World Cultures" category of the embroidery section... Perhaps not what you're looking for, though.
> 
> ~~Sharraunna



The trouble is, none of them are Chinese.

The dragon and the phoenix, in Chinese history, represented the Emperor and the Empress, respectively.  They also represented the yin and the yang (don't know which was which).  They're a matched set.

So I may have to give up on a Chinese dragon, and just pick one that looks cool.   Then I can match it with a cool looking phoenix, and voila!  Good 'nuf!

Here's an example:
http://www.luckywonders.com/DragonPhoenixFan.htm


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 22, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Here's our new daily total folks! We are at $1970.90! We are almost 2/3 of the way there! Paladin and I are very excited. So many of our customers have donated with words of hope and many new customers are placing orders and so many more are just donating to help us fight the good fight. We'll have a few stories to relay to everyone at the end of this drive and some extra special thank you's!  Bless you all...Paladinwife



Well, we know you're high enough level paladins to cast  bless! :-D

Can i get a lay on hands? :-D

Ok ok, i digress from the crunchy humor.

. o O (i wonder if i can get permission from columbia/tristar for a ghostbusters bag)
heheh


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Heretic Apostate said:
			
		

> The trouble is, none of them are Chinese.
> 
> The dragon and the phoenix, in Chinese history, represented the Emperor and the Empress, respectively.  They also represented the yin and the yang (don't know which was which).  They're a matched set.
> 
> So I may have to give up on a Chinese dragon, and just pick one that looks cool.



I found a Chinese dragon:


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 22, 2004)

is that a dragon or a pretzel?
hehe sorry i couldnt resist.


----------



## Heretic Apostate (Jan 22, 2004)

Right, Paladin, there are Chinese dragons.  But no Chinese _phoenixes_.  The ones I've seen are the Western versions.

So it looks like I'll be dropping the Chinese part, and just match a cool looking dragon to a cool looking phoenix.

How does one go about ordering?


----------



## Goobermunch (Jan 22, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Thank you!  You know, we're going to be making a LOT of bags!




Unfortunately, it was a long day at work, so I didn't get ahold of any of my gaming stores.  I did, however, discover that my neighbor works two offices down from the organizer of one of Colorado's largest conventions.  I'm going to see if they've picked out the con gift for this year, and if not, suggest your web site as a place to start . . .

 . . . that is, of course, if that's okay with you?

I suspect that they'll be looking at a fairly large order with some embroidery (along the lines of "BenCon 2004," or some such).

--G


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Heretic Apostate said:
			
		

> Right, Paladin, there are Chinese dragons.  But no Chinese _phoenixes_.  The ones I've seen are the Western versions.
> 
> So it looks like I'll be dropping the Chinese part, and just match a cool looking dragon to a cool looking phoenix.
> 
> How does one go about ordering?



If you can find an image of a Chinese phoenix we can digitize it and put it on a bag. If you do find one just send it to us in JPG, BMP or GIF format.  If you'd like to order now just go to our site here.


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## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Goobermunch said:
			
		

> Unfortunately, it was a long day at work, so I didn't get ahold of any of my gaming stores.  I did, however, discover that my neighbor works two offices down from the organizer of one of Colorado's largest conventions.  I'm going to see if they've picked out the con gift for this year, and if not, suggest your web site as a place to start . . .
> 
> . . . that is, of course, if that's okay with you?
> 
> ...



That sounds good to us!  We can handle large orders as long as we have enough lead time. If they'd like to e-mail us directly they can reach us at sales@thegamersbag.com.


----------



## Heretic Apostate (Jan 22, 2004)

Okay, here's what I ordered:

Small bag
Blue/purple sparkles outside.
Navy drawstring with silver grommets.
Grey inside.
MI1957 Lg. Phoenix
MI1359 Dragon

Hope it gets through correctly.


----------



## Altamont Ravenard (Jan 22, 2004)

Friendly *bumb*

AR


----------



## DrSpunj (Jan 22, 2004)

I've been looking at getting a dice bag from you guys ever since I saw the rave reviews they received at GenCon this past summer, and now seems like a good time to follow through with that.

I have a question about the Bag of (Dice) Holding though:

Do the 8 pockets manage to keep anything in them from tumbling out when the bag is securely closed? Despite the abuse a typical dice bag gets being thrown around in a backpack or backseat of the car and whatnot? It's hard for me to tell from the pictures and the 8 small pouches don't seem to have "lids" of any kind, though I'm guessing/hoping when the purse string is drawn the pouches are effectively closed.

Sorry if I'm being too dense here  but if I take the time to sort some of my dice into those 8 pouches, I'd _really_ appreciate them being where I put them every time I open the bag thereafter! 

For me, the point of buying the Bag of (Dice) Holding would be to separate several sets of dice, some glass stones and other random things I currently keep in several smaller bags. If things are constantly slipping out of the 8 inner pouches into the middle and vice versa I'll probably go with a Royal bag instead (which is big enough to hold many of my smaller pouches).

Either way, I'll be putting in an order as soon as I receive a reply to the question...and figure out all the customization options you guys have. Wow!

Thanks.

DrSpunj


----------



## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 22, 2004)

I own a Dice Bag of Holding, and keep my various sets of dice separate in the pockets.  Despite my abuse of the bag (it gets throw in a backpack and around my messy room), I rarely get dice mixing.  Virtually never with a 7-dice set, occasionally with the one overstuffed pocket with some 20 d6s in it.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

DrSpunj said:
			
		

> I've been looking at getting a dice bag from you guys ever since I saw the rave reviews they received at GenCon this past summer, and now seems like a good time to follow through with that.
> 
> I have a question about the Bag of (Dice) Holding though:
> 
> ...



Dr.S, The bags natural curvature when closed and drawstring tied, keep your belongings effectively in their pockets. Also, if you don't know already, the BoDH holds as many dice as the royal, so you could also throw some matching tiny bags in their if you still need a little more seperation. We are currently working out how to get more internel pockets in that bag for more seperation. When it's just holding jewelry, then belonging are thin enough to just add slightly shorter rows of pockets, but dice and miniatures are quite filling, so we are working on that. Maybe by GenCon we will have worked that out (if we can go). Paladinwife


----------



## Aaron L (Jan 22, 2004)

Bagological scientists, Paladin and Paladinwife.


----------



## robberbaron (Jan 22, 2004)

Hi,
just submitted my order (medium bag, Dark Chaos outside with Black cord and grommets) only the "inside" dropdown said "None".
Do you only get inner colour choices on larger bags or did the page malfunction?

No problem either way, but if I can choose then can I have a black inside please?

Cheers and good luck


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

robberbaron said:
			
		

> Hi,
> just submitted my order (medium bag, Dark Chaos outside with Black cord and grommets) only the "inside" dropdown said "None".
> Do you only get inner colour choices on larger bags or did the page malfunction?
> 
> ...



Hello! The "inside" selection is specific to Bags of Dice Holding. You can, however, have the inside of your bag lined in any fabric you want for a nominal charge. Hope this helps...just e-mail me any changes you need. Thanks...Paladinwife


----------



## Aristotle (Jan 22, 2004)

I may be a heretic... I don't use dice bags. I've had all shapes and sizes, but I pretty much gave up on them as a kid. They just never seemed to last for me. So I've spent the past 7 or so years using other kinds of bags. I currently use one of those square plastic bags that bed linnens come in! (although my collection admittedly only takes up a 3rd of that bag.)

But... I keep seeing references to the "bag of (dice) holding", and I think I'm about to break down and buy one. The only thing holding me up is the fabric selection. I just can't decide!

I like the elemental fabrics, so I am thinking of going with "dark chaos" for the inside. I can't seem to decide between "Scales, Large Green Dragon" or "Skins, Textured Snake Skin". I just can't decide which one would look better...

Anyway. I already donated a little something earlier, but I may place an order for one of these bags in the near future.


----------



## Treebore (Jan 22, 2004)

Aristotle said:
			
		

> I may be a heretic... I don't use dice bags. I've had all shapes and sizes, but I pretty much gave up on them as a kid. They just never seemed to last for me. So I've spent the past 7 or so years using other kinds of bags. I currently use one of those square plastic bags that bed linnens come in! (although my collection admittedly only takes up a 3rd of that bag.)
> 
> But... I keep seeing references to the "bag of (dice) holding", and I think I'm about to break down and buy one. The only thing holding me up is the fabric selection. I just can't decide!
> 
> ...





Why decide? Buy all the versions. Bags are like dice, you really can't have to many, and they always make a good gift to a gamer.


----------



## Wee Jas (Jan 22, 2004)

$5 from me en route.

Soon as I can think of a good theme .. Ill order one...

Hmmn.. Harm Touch in a bag?  no...  Knights of the Silver Quill? Maybe if Doc Midnight gets back to dm'ning... hmmnnn.  I'll mull it over!


----------



## herald (Jan 22, 2004)

Aaron L said:
			
		

> Bagological scientists, Paladin and Paladinwife.





I like to think of them as Non-Euclidean Engineers.


----------



## WayneLigon (Jan 22, 2004)

Donation from me as well. Hope this helps.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Treebore said:
			
		

> Why decide? Buy all the versions. Bags are like dice, you really can't have to many, and they always make a good gift to a gamer.



This is the best advice I've ever heard.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Wee Jas said:
			
		

> $5 from me en route.
> 
> Soon as I can think of a good theme .. Ill order one...
> 
> Hmmn.. Harm Touch in a bag?  no...  Knights of the Silver Quill? Maybe if Doc Midnight gets back to dm'ning... hmmnnn.  I'll mull it over!



Thank you. 

I've been kicking around the idea of *Spell Bags*(TM). A Tiny (since it'll hold up to 15 dice) bag with an appropriately designated fabric such as Orange Flames and embroidered "Fireball" on it - or a Green & Blue Lightning bag with "Lightning Bolt" embroidered on it - or White Sparkle with "Cone of Cold". Maybe a Small (since it'll hold up to 65 dice) Green Smoke bag with "Disintegrate" or Grey Smoke with "Horrid Wilting" on it. You get the idea. That way spellcasters could have their damage dice separated until needed and wouldn't have to line up 15d6 or more on the table. Would anyone be interested in something like this?


----------



## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 22, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Thank you.
> 
> I've been kicking around the idea of *Spell Bags*(TM). A Tiny (since it'll hold up to 15 dice) bag with an appropriately designated fabric such as Orange Flames and embroidered "Fireball" on it - or a Green & Blue Lightning bag with "Lightning Bolt" embroidered on it - or White Sparkle with "Cone of Cold". Maybe a Small (since it'll hold up to 65 dice) Green Smoke bag with "Disintegrate" or Grey Smoke with "Horrid Wilting" on it. You get the idea. That way spellcasters could have their damage dice separated until needed and wouldn't have to line up 15d6 or more on the table. Would anyone be interested in something like this?



Don't forget a black rubber bag for *Evard's Black Tentacles*!  Any PC who gets caught in them can just be tossed in the black bag.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Aristotle said:
			
		

> I may be a heretic... I don't use dice bags. I've had all shapes and sizes, but I pretty much gave up on them as a kid. They just never seemed to last for me. So I've spent the past 7 or so years using other kinds of bags. I currently use one of those square plastic bags that bed linnens come in! (although my collection admittedly only takes up a 3rd of that bag.)
> 
> But... I keep seeing references to the "bag of (dice) holding", and I think I'm about to break down and buy one. The only thing holding me up is the fabric selection. I just can't decide!
> 
> ...



Green Dragon Scale is the way to go on this one...maybe with olive green smoke inside for that Chlorine gas effect.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 22, 2004)

Double post.


----------



## Aristotle (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> I've been kicking around the idea of *Spell Bags*(TM).



I think it sounds kinda neat. I could definately see some players I've known in the past who love spellcasters picking up one of your custom large bags and then a series of specific spell bags to put inside of it. What self respecting spellcaster wouldn't want a "component pouch" filled with bags of pre-separated spell dice?


----------



## Kafen (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin, you have five dollars from me.

Normally, I lurk in the shoadows, but..


----------



## Mark (Jan 23, 2004)

If people are interested in getting a dice bag for their GM for GM's day, there a large version of the image in this thread here -

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74734

- that can be used.  Dice bags make excellent gifts for GM's.  It's a great way to support the Paladins and celebrate the holiday!

March Fo(u)rth for GM's Day!


----------



## Tsyr (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Thank you.
> 
> I've been kicking around the idea of *Spell Bags*(TM). A Tiny (since it'll hold up to 15 dice) bag with an appropriately designated fabric such as Orange Flames and embroidered "Fireball" on it - or a Green & Blue Lightning bag with "Lightning Bolt" embroidered on it - or White Sparkle with "Cone of Cold". Maybe a Small (since it'll hold up to 65 dice) Green Smoke bag with "Disintegrate" or Grey Smoke with "Horrid Wilting" on it. You get the idea. That way spellcasters could have their damage dice separated until needed and wouldn't have to line up 15d6 or more on the table. Would anyone be interested in something like this?




I would...


----------



## Ferox4 (Jan 23, 2004)

bump


----------



## Kyramus (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin and Paladinwife,

I don't normally order dice bags, but I figure to help someone out, I'll do so.
I've just sent an order in for several dice bags. 3 small leathers, and 1 royal leather deluxe(i don't remember if I specified the grommets but if not, could you make them silver?  thank you).  I've also included a small donation after the cost of the bags.  
I hope this helps your cause.  

Kyramus


----------



## DrSpunj (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Dr.S, The bags natural curvature when closed and drawstring tied, keep your belongings effectively in their pockets.



Thanks for the quick reply yesterday!

I put together a pdf containing the image I'm interested in having on my Bag of (Dice) Holding, along with all the other info I think you need for the order.

Let me know if I missed something or the total I need to PayPal you.

Thanks!


----------



## Paladin (Jan 23, 2004)

Kyramus & DrSpunj - check your e-mail.


----------



## A2Z (Jan 23, 2004)

Well, I've just placed an order for three bags. I've been meaning to since you guys first started doing this but to be honest the ordering process left me stymied. Anyway, I made the effort this time and I look forward to using my new dice bags.


----------



## Quickbeam (Jan 23, 2004)

Instead of sending money right this instant, I'm going to sit down with my entire gaming group this weekend to see what we can collectively contribute through donations and/or dice bag purchases.

My wife and I have both been through brief (thankfully) periods of joblessness in the last year.  And like others herein, we understand all too well the overwhelming burdens a family endures as a result of any decrease in monthly income.  May your prayers be answered swiftly Paladin and Paladinwife...and watch for our assistance over the next day or two.


----------



## cdsaint (Jan 23, 2004)

Just placed another order, a small bag to match the royal and tiny set I ordered in December. I love the idea of customized dice bags, I'm just incredibly impatient. I considered just donating, but I'm picky. besides, when I start showing up for games with a cool set of matched custom embroidered bags, I'll probably be able to drum up some more orders.

Chris


----------



## Zander (Jan 23, 2004)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> Don't forget a black rubber bag for *Evard's Black Tentacles*!  Any PC who gets caught in them can just be tossed in the black bag.



I hope you mean their miniature, not the player! Tell me if I'm a sick puppy, but the phrase "tossed in the black [rubber] bag" conjures images that Eric's grandma would not approve of.

Perhaps that's a purely British slang meaning of "toss" - I don't know??


----------



## Macbeth (Jan 23, 2004)

Well, I had held of donating in the hopes of getting a job I interviewed for, and since I just got word that I got the job (part time stuff during college, so not much $, but it means I can afford more then $5), so I'm going to head around to order a custom bag sometime in the next few days. Always happy to help a fellow ENWorlder.


----------



## Lady Mer (Jan 23, 2004)

Well, I've sent some money along. Don't worry about sending a dice bag. This is a gift. We will order more customized dice bags shortly.

Allan, the Shadowsmith, via Lady Mer's account.


----------



## Maerdwyn (Jan 23, 2004)

Sent a little help and a lot of good wishes. Good luck with everything 

Ian


----------



## Paladin (Jan 23, 2004)

Thanks everyone, we're getting closer and closer to our goal. We'll post an update later tonight. 

By the way: Thank You to all the folks who've donated via Amazon Honor System, everyone except for one person didn't send their information along - so I couldn't e-mail thanks.


----------



## Protean (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Thanks everyone, we're getting closer and closer to our goal. We'll post an update later tonight.
> 
> By the way: Thank You to all the folks who've donated via Amazon Honor System, everyone except for one person didn't send their information along - so I couldn't e-mail thanks.




I'm sorry about the delay, Paladin Folk, but I've run into a few recent snags trying to move around my money. By all accounts,my donation should be sent this week.


----------



## kobold (Jan 23, 2004)

I've done what I can, it ain't much but the funds are on the way. Good Luck.


----------



## DaveStebbins (Jan 23, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> By the way: Thank You to all the folks who've donated via Amazon Honor System, everyone except for one person didn't send their information along - so I couldn't e-mail thanks.



Hmmm...

I thought I sent my info, but I didn't see the button until after the transaction was through, so it probably didn't work. Anyway, I wanted to send my help and best wishes. It doesn't matter if you got my info, as long as you got the $50.

Good luck and God bless.
-Dave


----------



## herald (Jan 24, 2004)

I got a bag from Paladin and Paladinwife and I love it. I might just have to get one for my wife and some for my kids too! 

Thanks Folks.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 24, 2004)

DaveStebbins said:
			
		

> Hmmm...
> 
> I thought I sent my info, but I didn't see the button until after the transaction was through, so it probably didn't work. Anyway, I wanted to send my help and best wishes. It doesn't matter if you got my info, as long as you got the $50.
> 
> ...



You're the one who did send the information!  I sent you a thank you note to your hotmail account at 11:20am today. It _looked_ like it went through to you...


----------



## Paladin (Jan 24, 2004)

Hello!...Sorry that I couldn't post an update sooner, but I've had some sick children to attend to and our son was in a Boy Scout Derby tonight where he took home a first place medal! Our new total as of a few minutes ago is $2347.43!  
My calculations say we are only $652.57 away from our goal! I can't believe how truely generous everyone is. We are also grateful for all the kind words, prayers and assistance from everyone. Thank you, *again*...Paladinwife.


----------



## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 24, 2004)

And I'll also help out by giving this thread a bump.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 24, 2004)

Isida Kep'Tukari said:
			
		

> And I'll also help out by giving this thread a bump.



Thank you, Isida!


----------



## Jim Butler (Jan 24, 2004)

Sales at the Bastion Press webstore were quite low this week, unfortunately. I guess every little bit helps, though.

25% of the sales nets Paladin $13.21 and I'll chip in some extra to make it an even $25. Just email me offlist as to where I should send the check to...


----------



## dogoftheunderworld (Jan 24, 2004)

*every little bit...*

I passed on your information to a local comic book store chain.  They carry a decent selection of gaming supplies and are more widespread than any local "game store".  Hope it helps.

Peace,

Brian
<><


----------



## Kyramus (Jan 25, 2004)

badumpump

bump


----------



## orchid blossom (Jan 25, 2004)

AO tells me that my dice-bag has already arrived.  (At his parents house, the address for shipping)  I can't wait to see it, I'm sure it'll be great.


----------



## William Ronald (Jan 25, 2004)

Paladin,

I passed on your web address to my friend who owns a comic shop and e-mailed someone I know who might be interested in a kippah.  (An ex-Texan.)  So, can you give us an update?


----------



## Paladin (Jan 25, 2004)

William Ronald said:
			
		

> Paladin,
> 
> I passed on your web address to my friend who owns a comic shop and e-mailed someone I know who might be interested in a kippah.  (An ex-Texan.)  So, can you give us an update?



Thank you for passing our info along. We now have a total of $2371.15 in donations. We were vey low on donations yesterday due to gaming I'm sure  So we are still striving for that last $628.85! I know it won't be long. Thank you for your support!


----------



## William Ronald (Jan 25, 2004)

Paladin,

Thanks for the update.  I will bump the thread and check back later. I think we can push the total to the top.  

At the risk of sounding sentimental, I would like to say that I am happy to see how EN Worlders come together in a time of crisis.  We are an interesting community in that many of us have not met face-to-face but still manage to look after one another.  So, here is a chance for each of us to make a small step to help one of our own.  Let's hope that better days are ahead for Paladin, Paladinwife, and us all.


----------



## fett527 (Jan 25, 2004)

William Ronald said:
			
		

> Paladin,
> 
> Thanks for the update.  I will bump the thread and check back later. I think we can push the total to the top.
> 
> At the risk of sounding sentimental, I would like to say that I am happy to see how EN Worlders come together in a time of crisis.  We are an interesting community in that many of us have not met face-to-face but still manage to look after one another.  So, here is a chance for each of us to make a small step to help one of our own.  Let's hope that better days are ahead for Paladin, Paladinwife, and us all.




I second the sentiment!!


----------



## bloodymage (Jan 26, 2004)

Cha-cha-cha-BUMP!


----------



## Barendd Nobeard (Jan 26, 2004)

Zander said:
			
		

> I hope you mean their miniature, not the player! Tell me if I'm a sick puppy, but the phrase "tossed in the black [rubber] bag" conjures images that Eric's grandma would not approve of.
> 
> Perhaps that's a purely British slang meaning of "toss" - I don't know??



Yes, I meant the mini, not the player.  No British slang here.  Now I've gotta leave for some bangers and mash!


----------



## William Ronald (Jan 26, 2004)

Let's hope that Paladin received some more contributions and purchases Sunday and that everything will go well for him and his family.

Remember, a little bit of help from many people can make a big difference in the lives of others.


----------



## shawnsse (Jan 26, 2004)

*dragon and pheonix*



			
				Heretic Apostate said:
			
		

> Okay, here's what I ordered:
> 
> Small bag
> Blue/purple sparkles outside.
> ...




Heretic Apostate

I don't know whether this is too late. here are the pictures of dragon and pheonix.

Hope it helps.

















Shawn


----------



## Cergorach (Jan 26, 2004)

Donated, it isn't much ($6), but it's all thats left in my paypal account for this month. No bag required.
Good luck!


----------



## Zimri (Jan 26, 2004)

I would be interested in an update and also to know about how you ship to Canadian adresses and what canadian funds (plus additional postage of course) would equal 5$ US. I have a few friends on other messages boards that I think head to gencon usually going to inform them of your situation. I can talk to the two gaming stores we have in town. We usually buy between one and 3 sets of dice every couple weeks in our group. (The paladin seems to have a new dice fetish the only sets she hasn't expressed intrest in are the ones selling for  60 to 100$ canadian made from things like jade and amethyst .. but I digress)


----------



## Zimri (Jan 26, 2004)

Been mentioning you to fellow gamers on a non game related board think I got you a few donations and umm BUMP


----------



## Paladin (Jan 26, 2004)

If you donated via Amazon Honor Systen and you want a bag for your donation, please e-mail us at sales@thegamersbag.com and let me know your name and address and how much you donated...there are about 5 or 6 of you. As we said before on this thread, Amazon gives us no info on our customers. Thanks...Paladinwife


----------



## Paladin (Jan 26, 2004)

BTW, for those of you who are waiting with baited breath for us to reach our total, we are now at $2524.86. That makes us $475.14 away from reaching our goal! We are soooo close!  
Paladinwife


----------



## Paladin (Jan 26, 2004)

*Stories*

Now that we are nearing the end of our drive, I'd like to share a story with you. 

One of our very own EN Worlders, who shall remain nameless for now, did something pretty amazing, as did so many others, however this was above and beyond the call. 

We got a donation several days ago for $100.00. He told us that he 'hoped our fortunes changed soon'. He did not, however give us an address to send him a bag. I e-mailed him to see if he wanted a bag. He said that the shipping would be too expensive and wanted us just to keep the bag. Then he said the most amazing thing which I have taken directly from his e-mail:

"Thanks for the offer to send me a dice bag, but since I live in the (deleted), the shipping is going to be quite high. I hope that you reach the target soon and make it through this rough patch. Things will get better, I'll pray for you tonight. 
I'm considering going to GenCon during the summer as I went last year and had a lot of fun. However, it's quite expensive to fly over and I'm still debating whether to go or not. If you are still having difficulties closer to GenCon and can't get the funds together to attend, then please let me know and I'll send you my air fare (although getting a kippah and some photos from the Con would be nice . All the best."

We told him we could not accept this generous offer as no one should be denied the pleasure of going to "The best four days in gaming", and that we would find our own way to GenCon and we would see him there.

This person just sent me another $100.00 today and said that some very special things had happened for him this weekend and that he was "so overjoyed with the news that he felt the need to share the blessing and enrich someone else's life." Again he wished us the best. 

This is just one of the acts of extreme kindness we have had bestowed upon us as of late. May all of you be as truely blessed as we have been by being a part of this board. I hope the man upstairs (whatever the name you call him) blesses you as he has blessed us. Thanks again...Paladinwife


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 26, 2004)

Sounds like he's gettin married. Thats the only thing that would push me to give out hundred dollar bills! :-D

w00t way to go.


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Jan 26, 2004)

Sounds like he's gettin married. Thats the only thing that would push me to give out hundred dollar bills! :-D

w00t way to go.


----------



## Kyramus (Jan 26, 2004)

-kicks a ball down the stairs- 
bump
       bump
              bump
                     bump


----------



## Krug (Jan 26, 2004)

Almost there..


----------



## Quickbeam (Jan 27, 2004)

I spoke briefly today with the lovely and talented Paladinwife, who was kind enough to answer all of my dice bag related queries.  And I'm happy to announce that tomorrow afternoon I will be placing an order for six custom bags with embroidery on behalf of my gaming group.  Hopefully our purchase (and small accompanying donation) will nudge you a bit closer to your goal.

You have our prayers and best wishes.


----------



## Piratecat (Jan 27, 2004)

I'll be mailing a check in the next few days.


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## Aristotle (Jan 27, 2004)

I got a dice bag today!

Now, I would have donated without the promise of a bag ... but I thought it was a nice gesture on the part of the Paladins. So, I just got home from work and I found the bag in my mail. It is quite pretty. 

I'd have to say that both in appearance and quality it beats out 95% of the bags that the local stores have in stock. You've made a customer out of me ... I'll be ordering a bag of (dice) holding in about a month. I'll use that for the dice I use to run games and the nifty bag I just got for the dice I use when I play a character. I'll definitely be passing on word of these excellent bags to my players and friends!


----------



## Paladin (Jan 27, 2004)

Aristotle said:
			
		

> I got a dice bag today!
> 
> Now, I would have donated without the promise of a bag ... but I thought it was a nice gesture on the part of the Paladins. So, I just got home from work and I found the bag in my mail. It is quite pretty.
> 
> I'd have to say that both in appearance and quality it beats out 95% of the bags that the local stores have in stock. You've made a customer out of me ... I'll be ordering a bag of (dice) holding in about a month. I'll use that for the dice I use to run games and the nifty bag I just got for the dice I use when I play a character. I'll definitely be passing on word of these excellent bags to my players and friends!



Only 95%?!    If you can find a bag better than the ones I hand make individually for each and every gamer we have as a customer, I'll eat it!  Paladinwife


----------



## Aristotle (Jan 27, 2004)

Heh... I tend to use "95%" as a catch all statistic, for when I don't actually have statistics.

I truly do appreciate the bag, and you have converted someone who never thought dice bags were worth the cash into someone who plans to have several. Quite an acomplishment.


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## Paladin (Jan 27, 2004)

Thought ya'll would like to know that we are at $2731.21! That is only $268.79 away from our goal!   We have sent out about half the bag donations and are currently getting in some prior to the donation drive bag orders back from the monogrammer. So those of you who have been waiting a little while should be getting your custom bags soon also! Thanks for all your hard work EN Worlders! 
Paladinwife


----------



## Paladin (Jan 27, 2004)

Aristotle said:
			
		

> Heh... I tend to use "95%" as a catch all statistic, for when I don't actually have statistics.
> 
> I truly do appreciate the bag, and you have converted someone who never thought dice bags were worth the cash into someone who plans to have several. Quite an acomplishment.



Thank you! We hope to someday replace all the ziplock bags, tupperware and generic "I'm held together with one loose thread and a pony bead" dice bags with high quality dice bags made by a customer service oriented mom and pop business. We hope some day we'll find an investor to help us get our bags in all the game stores! (Of course we will still be doing custom work!)


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## JoeBlank (Jan 27, 2004)

Got my bags yesterday. Very high quality. My sons love the Spongebob bags. They are a little too young to putting dice in them yet, especially with my 20-month-old son running around to eat any stray dice they might drop. But they are filling them with matchbox cars and other trinkets. I promised to pass along their words of thanks, so here goes:

"Thank you for the bags. We really like them. We are going to use them for our toys." -Joseph, age 5

"Thank you for the Spongebob bag." -Jacob, age 3

And I'll be ordering a custom bag myself soon. It's hard to decide what I want, with so many options!

Glad we were able to help you guys out, and we really appreciate the bags.


----------



## Zimri (Jan 27, 2004)

Still curious about the Paladins' stance on Canadian donations and if they want me to talk to our local stores.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 27, 2004)

Zimri said:
			
		

> Still curious about the Paladins' stance on Canadian donations and if they want me to talk to our local stores.



Doh! We got the information, then forgot to post it. Our bank doesn't accept foreign checks. You could, however, send a Canadian postal money order. We had someone do that and got it cashed, no problem. I don't know about non-postal ones... 

Sure, we'd love for you to let your FLGS know about us.


----------



## Zimri (Jan 27, 2004)

Cool thanks for the info. Hehe even international gamers stick together 8)


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## Luddite (Jan 27, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Only 95%?!    If you can find a bag better than the ones I hand make individually for each and every gamer we have as a customer, I'll eat it!  Paladinwife




Well, I have yet to see one of your bags up close, but the pictures look nice.

Even if it is "the best bag ever," I would still have to give a nod to my current dice bag.  Made by my wife out of the same fabric as the vest I wore for our wedding.  

-The Luddite


----------



## Protean (Jan 27, 2004)

It may have taken me awhile, but I sent what I could your way Paladin Folk. I hope I wasn't too late to help.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 28, 2004)

Protean said:
			
		

> It may have taken me awhile, but I sent what I could your way Paladin Folk. I hope I wasn't too late to help.



Thank you! and no, it wasn't too late. In fact our total right now is..........(drum roll please)..............*$3012.32!!!!* Hooray, we did it! Thanks to our family here at EN World getting the word out and donating like crazy. I'll be working out the figures of how many donators and such a little later. If anyone wants to keep donating, we still have a *lot* of stock bags left and of course this would only serve to help us even more. You can also just order a custom bag...we are still making them to order folks!  

Paladin and I will be drawing names and such for the donated prizes to be given away a little later also! Right now we need to pay a few bills. I know there are some of you who said you would be getting your donations in this week and we will wait until this weekend to do the drawings. A few questions though: #1-Do we want to do the drawings live? Maybe everone get online at 7:00pm Sunday. We can e-mail everyone who donated a number and then do a live online drawing. Or we could just draw and let the winners know who they are. #2-We don't want any donators to miss out on the drawings because we don't have their money yet due to mail time, etc. What should we do about these people?

Let us know your thoughts. You will never know how overjoyed we are to have gotten the kind of response we received and the help that we have gotten. I would have never believed that my small pray and plea to you all would have been answered in such a huge way! Paladin and I are flabbergasted. We have had many blessings bestowed upon us these last several days, but the best one is the knowledge that we have more friends out there than we could ever count! We think you are all truely great!!!  Paladinwife


----------



## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 28, 2004)

Hi Paladins!  I'm really glad you have enough to help cover everything.  I'd suggest just doing the drawing and telling who won, because getting so many people together would be an exercise in patience.  And the boards might overload or something.  

My other question is (and pardon if I'm being too forward, please ignore if I overstep my bounds) how are you fixed for the future?  Were there any job possibilities in the offing?  I think everyone here wants to make sure you guys are not only doing well now but will continue to do so for the forseeable future.  Because we all care about your family.


----------



## bloodymage (Jan 28, 2004)

Hiya guys! There were a lot more prayers for you than just your own, dear. And sometimes God listens to the little ones best, eh?
I'm _so_ glad. Now I won't lose _my_ job!   

Actually, I'm posting to let you know that I'm hoping you hear from Brad of Gamer's Keepe. I kind o' prodded him on putting in an order.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 28, 2004)

Isida Kep'Tukari said:
			
		

> Hi Paladins!  I'm really glad you have enough to help cover everything.  I'd suggest just doing the drawing and telling who won, because getting so many people together would be an exercise in patience.  And the boards might overload or something.



Good thinking. 



> My other question is (and pardon if I'm being too forward, please ignore if I overstep my bounds) how are you fixed for the future?  Were there any job possibilities in the offing?  I think everyone here wants to make sure you guys are not only doing well now but will continue to do so for the forseeable future.  Because we all care about your family.



I did get one job lead, no Project Management potential right now, but I've been scouring the company's job postings for something else I might be able to do. A lot of folks are checking around their companies for openings, and passing my resume around. Hopefully something will happen in that arena. In the mean time I'm still looking, of course, on my own and hoping that this economy will really start taking off again. The really bad part has been that there are so many people applying for the same jobs I am with a LOT more experience. Talk about an employer's market! Some job postings down here are calling for 10-15 years experience and a Bachelor's degree, I've only got 5 years and I spent my "college years" jumping out of airplanes for Uncle Sam. I've got valuable experience from MCI WorldCom handling tens of millions of dollars of projects, but sometimes employer's don't take that into account, they just look for the little paper diploma on the wall.


----------



## William Ronald (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladin and Paladinwife,

First, CONGRATULATIONS!!! You were in my thoughts and in my prayers this weekend.  I am glad that you have reached and surpassed your goal.

I received my bag and was very pleased with it.  I plan to show it to my friend who owns a local comic/gaming shop.  

Good luck in the job hunt!


----------



## Bloodroot (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> Where would you be if someone had donated condoms to your parents?
> Karma has a bad way of coming back on you.




I'm a few days late in reply.  I got to this thread via the link on Sean's board.  I already sent my donation, because I love-love-love the bag you guys made for me.

That having been said, I would simply like to note that that my parents did have birth control and I exist because they wanted me.  I am an only child mostly by their choice(my mother did become pregnant a second time, but miscarried and decided against trying again).  Given the incomes of my parents and their subsequent divorce and assorted financial hardships I think I can say things would have been much worse with more expenses from more children.

So, in short, if someone had donated condoms to my parents I'd be where I am today.  If someone had donated anti-condoms, however, my life might have been a lot worse.

Now, THAT having been said I would like the call the original poster an ass.  Even if you hated Paladin and Paladinswife and wanted to do them ill, it would still be inappropriate to say those sort things now.


----------



## Shade1 (Jan 28, 2004)

Congrats on meeting your goal!. I meant to get this to ya earlier, alas I still hope it helps some.

I also posted your story last week on PLanetADnD.com and MassPBem. I also have a few gaming stored around here that Ill mention your store too. 

I hope everything gets better and its wonderful to see the gaming community pulling together. Our prayers are with you.

Shade


----------



## Paladin (Jan 28, 2004)

Shade1 said:
			
		

> Congrats on meeting your goal!. I meant to get this to ya earlier, alas I still hope it helps some.
> 
> I also posted your story last week on PLanetADnD.com and MassPBem. I also have a few gaming stored around here that Ill mention your store too.
> 
> ...



Thanks for that Shade1, we really appreciate it! 
And, Bloodroot, thanks for that response. 2 of our children were unplanned, 1 while using birth control, the other after they told us we couldn't have anymore at all without medical intervention. I think God put in his two cents on these two and I'd never give any of them back even if I could. And up until this job layoff, we were able to support them all just fine. We may be struggling, but the children are not at fault here. They've helped to make us who we are and they keep us grounded, besides someone has to create the next generations of gamers, and we'll have at least three generations covered!


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## Mark (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Thank you! and no, it wasn't too late. In fact our total right now is..........(drum roll please)..............*$3012.32!!!!* Hooray, we did it!




   HUZZAH!!!    



(Please put together a list of the contributors - Email, Screenname, legal name) so that I can send them their prize.)


----------



## Paladin (Jan 28, 2004)

Mark said:
			
		

> HUZZAH!!!
> 
> 
> 
> (Please put together a list of the contributors - Email, Screenname, legal name) so that I can send them their prize.)



No problem, I am still waiting however for a few more donations that were promised and/ or mailed to us, is this okay? Also, I still need anyone who donated in any way other than paypal to get me their e-mail addresses please. E-mail me at sales@thegamersbag.com. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on the drawings and give-aways!   P-wife


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## Kafen (Jan 28, 2004)

Shade1 is a sweet lass.    Yes, Shade1 had my own lass (wife) post the message on one forum in fact!   


Paladin and Paladinwife, I am glad to see you meet your goal. My prayers are with you.   Though, I am picking through the MASSIVE selection on your site in search of a pixie dice bag.


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## Mark (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> No problem, I am still waiting however for a few more donations that were promised and/ or mailed to us, is this okay?




No problem.  Although if you could send whatever you have by this weekend, then send along the rest as you get them, it will save me from having to go through all at once.  (Lightens the load when they're spread out a bit.  )


----------



## Paladin (Jan 28, 2004)

Mark said:
			
		

> No problem.  Although if you could send whatever you have by this weekend, then send along the rest as you get them, it will save me from having to go through all at once.  (Lightens the load when they're spread out a bit.  )



That's no fun at all!


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## BSF (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladin,
Please keep us a little updated on your employment situation.  If I come across anything in that market, I would like to send the info your way.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 28, 2004)

BardStephenFox said:
			
		

> Paladin,
> Please keep us a little updated on your employment situation.  If I come across anything in that market, I would like to send the info your way.



Don't worry, when I do finally get it a job, I'll definitely let y'all know. You'll probably hear me yelling.


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## Paladinwife (Jan 28, 2004)

Kafen said:
			
		

> Shade1 is a sweet lass.    Yes, Shade1 had my own lass (wife) post the message on one forum in fact!
> 
> 
> Paladin and Paladinwife, I am glad to see you meet your goal. My prayers are with you.   Though, I am picking through the MASSIVE selection on your site in search of a pixie dice bag.



It just so happens that I was in a store the other day that had material with pixies/fairies all over it...is that what you want?


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## Altamont Ravenard (Jan 28, 2004)

Zimri said:
			
		

> Still curious about the Paladins' stance on Canadian donations and if they want me to talk to our local stores.




I live in Canada and ordered a bag (5 in fact) from the Paladins. Canada posts makes U$ money orders for a minimal charge. The Paladins have wrote me back telling me that they had received the money order. I believe that I'm the one they're talking about 

AR


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## Fenris (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Don't worry, when I do finally get it a job, I'll definitely let y'all know. You'll probably hear me yelling.




Hey Paladin,
I have been keeping up with your plight. Congratulation. I know you want to stay in the D/FW area, but have you considerd overseas. My father-in-law worked as a PM in Kuwait for years. Made a very good living at it. He worked for Bechtel at that time but also for Fluor and Parsons at stretches. Mostly petroleum but did some Telecom PM work towards the end. Might not be optimal for you, but being in the work force might allow you to move to a domestic location. Especially with all the reconstruction contracts going out right now, those kinds of companies might be worth a look. (I'd hook you up with my father-in-law but he has lost most of his contacts with the companies-long story).
Congratulations and good luck.
Fenris


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## dsfriii (Jan 28, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Good thinking.
> 
> I've got valuable experience from MCI WorldCom handling tens of millions of dollars of projects, but sometimes employer's don't take that into account, they just look for the little paper diploma on the wall.




Yeah, but so do those other 100 or so people have the same amount of experience, plus diploma.  So how about going back to school.  There is a lot of money for people in our age bracket.


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## Salad Shooter (Jan 28, 2004)

Didn't see this until today, but I just sent 5 dollars your way. Congrats on reaching your goal!


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## Kafen (Jan 29, 2004)

Paladinwife said:
			
		

> It just so happens that I was in a store the other day that had material with pixies/fairies all over it...is that what you want?




Yes..  I would love the pixie one. No avoiding that truth.. I added a 10 dollar donation to my total for good measure on this fine day.


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## Salad Shooter (Jan 29, 2004)

I know they already reached their goal, but this is a worthy cause, so...bump


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## Kyramus (Jan 29, 2004)

*off topic*

If Jesus saves, wouldn't he be considered to have evasion?
hehehehehe


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## Paladin (Jan 29, 2004)

*multi-person response here!*

Ferris, we won't consider moving from the area because of family and such (paladin's mom had a heartattack and two strokes about 6 months ago and my mom is all alone). But it's a good idea, if we can't hold on anymore.

I'll go get the fairy material, Kafen.  

Yes, Altamont, you are the only money order we have gotten.  

Dsfriii, I've been trying to get back to school for years and I can't afford it. The Gamer's Bag and Paladins diabilty check (a whole $300.00 a month) put us over the amount of allowable income for assistance for both school and government. But we are still looking in to this...we even have a scholarship guide we're looking through.

Thanks for the comment and ideas, keep them coming, we're definately not giving up!


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## dsfriii (Jan 29, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Dsfriii, I've been trying to get back to school for years and I can't afford it. The Gamer's Bag and Paladins diabilty check (a whole $300.00 a month) put us over the amount of allowable income for assistance for both school and government. But we are still looking in to this...we even have a scholarship guide we're looking through.





Is there any Veteran Benefits he could get, especially disabled ones. To babd this was not Grad school it is alot easier to get money.  But of course they tend to come in loans...


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## Michelle Lyons (Jan 29, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Dsfriii, I've been trying to get back to school for years and I can't afford it. The Gamer's Bag and Paladins diabilty check (a whole $300.00 a month) put us over the amount of allowable income for assistance for both school and government. But we are still looking in to this...we even have a scholarship guide we're looking through.




As of this weekend, we're probably going to order a couple. I've got two boys I was considering getting kid bags for anyway. 

As to school (I take it this was Paladinwife posting under the wrong alias), may I suggest the following options:

1) A community college. They are typically a good deal cheaper, and a good way to get back into school if you had GPA isues or just want to take it slow for a while. If you were very far into your degree or already had the core requirements covered, this may not be useful to you, but it never hurts to check.

2) The local JCC. The Dallas JCC (there's probably one in Fort Worth too, I didn't check) will have information on scholarships and grants. While most of them are probably for kids out of high school, I'll be highly surprised if they don't have some for Jewish adults who wish to continue their education (especially women).

3) With 4 kids, you actually have to make quite a bit of money to not qualify for any need-based loans. I would go ahead and fill out a FAFSA for this year, just in case. The worst they'll say is no, but if you want grants you have to apply now. You can always turn down any offered loans if you don't want them. This is especially a good idea of late, as the government is really encouraging adults to return to school. Don't forget the HOPE education credit and the Lifetime Learning tax credit -- basically, all your tuition, ect., comes straight off the tax you owe. Oh, and a number of scholarships at public institutions require that you have that form completed and on record.

4) Go down and talk to the school -- admissions and financial aid, specifically. You may have to be admitted before they'll talk to you about it, but that's typically only a $50 fee at most -- assuming they aren't picky about admissions. Public universities aren't normally so bad about it, though some can be. Places like UT-Dallas I would imagine are pretty reasonable. Also, if they won't admit you due to GPA issues or something, you need to know. They may have special scholarships for women returning to school, grants, or other arrangements they can make but you have to go talk to them personally to find out. Also, you can be admitted without being enrolled for the semester, in which case you don't have to pay anything beyond that amount. Texas Women's University in Denton (or University of North Texas, there) might also be good options for you if you're on the north side of the metroplex (or if one of the trains goes out that far). The latter two options also both have a lot of online offerings, which might work out better for you with your busy schedule. 

My husband graduates this semester after having been out for 10 years (and with a lousy GPA, too). When he graduates this semester, he'll have been on the President's list for 4 straight semesters, all 4.0. I hope to go back and finish mine next year. We have two kids, have cut all expenses we could, and I've paid his way through as a freelancer in the RPG industry. If we can do it, you can too. 

I really can't recommend doing this enough. I'll be thinking good thoughts for you all. 

Michelle


----------



## Paladin (Jan 29, 2004)

Michelle,
Wow you have been working on this...I have a degree, but it is totally worthless...I've been trying to go back to school for years. I'm most especially interested in court reporting and accounting. I think I'll look into it again, but the biggest problem in the past has been the $1200.00 a month in child care we'd have to pay for me to go to school if Steven does get a job, and once I start school I'd hate to have to drop out. Do you know of any grants that cover that...Oh, and btw, I'm not Jewish, I just have friends who are, that's why we make the kippahs (assuming that's where you got the impression that I was).  -Paladinwife


----------



## Isida Kep'Tukari (Jan 29, 2004)

Ya know, this might be a really silly question, but what about web-courses or correspondence courses?  I know my own university (Iowa State) offers many entirely web-based courses, so I'm sure some in Texas do.  I don't know how that would work for trying to get a degree, but maybe one of the universities down there could answer some better questions about that.

At least that way you wouldn't have to pay for child care.  Just a thought.


----------



## Macbeth (Jan 29, 2004)

Isida Kep'Tukari said:
			
		

> Ya know, this might be a really silly question, but what about web-courses or correspondence courses?



I could get you in touch with the distance education department here at New Mexico Tech (which I just started working in today), I don't think we have exactly what your interested in, but if your interested, just let me know.


----------



## Luddite (Jan 29, 2004)

Since we are just full of advice (and other things  )

I would recomend one of the "non-traditional" colleges that do one class at a time and you meet only one time a week, (usualy in the evening.)  These programs are geared around the working adult so are a lot easier to schedule.  The up side, is that you would most likely need less child-care support.  On the down side, most of these programs are though Private colleges and thus more expensive.

-The Luddite  (always full of it)


----------



## Paladin (Jan 29, 2004)

Isida Kep'Tukari said:
			
		

> Ya know, this might be a really silly question, but what about web-courses or correspondence courses?  I know my own university (Iowa State) offers many entirely web-based courses, so I'm sure some in Texas do.  I don't know how that would work for trying to get a degree, but maybe one of the universities down there could answer some better questions about that.
> 
> At least that way you wouldn't have to pay for child care.  Just a thought.



Paladinwife has looked into the web-based classes before, but for court reporting (which is what she really wants to do) she couldn't find any that was solely web-based. If anyone knows of one, she'd love to hear about it.


----------



## Maerdwyn (Jan 30, 2004)

I don't know much about either of these, but at least they're out there:


http://www.courtreportingonline.com/index.html



http://www.educationdirect.com/reporter/index.html


----------



## Michelle Lyons (Jan 30, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Michelle,
> Wow you have been working on this...I have a degree, but it is totally worthless...I've been trying to go back to school for years. I'm most especially interested in court reporting and accounting. I think I'll look into it again, but the biggest problem in the past has been the $1200.00 a month in child care we'd have to pay for me to go to school if Steven does get a job, and once I start school I'd hate to have to drop out. Do you know of any grants that cover that...Oh, and btw, I'm not Jewish, I just have friends who are, that's why we make the kippahs (assuming that's where you got the impression that I was).  -Paladinwife




The kippahs was indeed where I got the idea.  Thank you for setting me straight on that. 

I'll check into a couple of things and see what sorts of grants I can come up with. I know there are some state subsidies for that sort of thing, at least in Oklahoma. I can't imagine that Texas would be that different about it.

EDIT: Oh, and I assume you've spoken with these people: http://courtreportingofinstituteofdallas.msileads.com/index.php

You might also be able to find someone who can share childcare costs or take turns watching each other's kids during classes or something from among fellow students. It's worth asking about, at any rate.


----------



## Paladin (Jan 30, 2004)

Maerdwyn said:
			
		

> I don't know much about either of these, but at least they're out there:
> 
> 
> http://www.courtreportingonline.com/index.html
> ...



Thanks...I just got online and had them send me an info packet in the mail!  
We looked all over the web several months ago and contacted a few schools and they didn't know of any online programs. We appreciate that web address! Paladinwife


----------



## Ransom (Jan 30, 2004)

Good luck! 
Sent some money for you!

~Ryan Langner


----------



## Kyramus (Feb 1, 2004)

Just because this thread shows how much all of us pool together to help.

I kinda like the idea that people are still donating/buying bags so that it MIGHT help them next month. 

So with that....
BUMP


----------



## William Ronald (Feb 1, 2004)

Paladinwife,

In Illinois, anyone with a bachelor's degree can work as a substitute teacher.  I don't know about the laws in Texas, or the demand for substitute teachers but it is an option.

Also, there are organizations that offer free career counselling.  Sometimes, it helps to get a fresh pespective.


----------



## Kyramus (Feb 2, 2004)

bump


----------



## cnath.rm (Feb 2, 2004)

*Bag arrived, thanks,*

The bag arrived on Friday and it's SWEET!!!!!!

Thank you so much, know that it's going to be
going with me so that others will hopefully want
to pick up ones of thier own,

Nathan <cnath.rm>


----------



## Kyramus (Feb 5, 2004)

you slip, you slide, you hit the BUMP and take a dive....


----------



## Quickbeam (Feb 5, 2004)

I got the order confirmation today for our group's bags, and the descriptions sound fantastic!!  Now I face the difficult task of patiently awaiting their arrival.  Thanks for making such a fine product with custom options available to the general public.


----------



## BrooklynKnight (Feb 5, 2004)

Id offer to babysit, but we live in diffrent states ^_^.


----------



## cdsaint (Feb 5, 2004)

*Got mine!*

And here they are....

cdsaint's bag 

Drat! How do you get pics to show on your post?

Chris

Edit: link fixed


----------



## Paladin (Feb 5, 2004)

William Ronald said:
			
		

> Paladinwife,
> 
> In Illinois, anyone with a bachelor's degree can work as a substitute teacher.  I don't know about the laws in Texas, or the demand for substitute teachers but it is an option.
> 
> Also, there are organizations that offer free career counselling.  Sometimes, it helps to get a fresh pespective.



Actually, in Texas, you don't need a degree, and herin lies our problem...that business is swamped currently. My girlfriend tried to do that for the last year. She had about 3 jobs...ouch! But good thinking for other states. Thanks.


----------



## Barendd Nobeard (Feb 5, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> My girlfriend...



I'm just going to assume that Paladinwife was using Paladin's account to post that.  Or that men in Waxahachie use the term in platonic sense.  Otherwise, the sparks may fly!


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## Barendd Nobeard (Feb 5, 2004)

cdsaint said:
			
		

> Drat! How do you get pics to show on your post?



I think they have to be on site that allows remote linking, or you can upload an attachment and let people download it.


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## Paladin (Feb 5, 2004)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> I'm just going to assume that Paladinwife was using Paladin's account to post that.  Or that men in Waxahachie use the term in platonic sense.  Otherwise, the sparks may fly!



Oops...yeah, it is P-wife...and by the way, Barendd, you won in this threads drawing, and since we are both up before the sun, do you want $100.00 gift package from Mystic Eye or a Hand fired piggy bank? You choose.


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## Barendd Nobeard (Feb 5, 2004)

Paladin said:
			
		

> Oops...yeah, it is P-wife...and by the way, Barendd, you won in this threads drawing, and since we are both up before the sun, do you want $100.00 gift package from Mystic Eye or a Hand fired piggy bank? You choose.



I can't decide!  That's two great choices.  ARGH!!!!!!!

OK, I'll go with Mystic Eye package.  My wife may kill me for filling up more shelf space, but I'll take that risk.  Thanks!


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## Paladin (Feb 5, 2004)

Update...I know everyone is curious just how we are doing after this drive. Well, all bills paid and we are on course. We think we can pull things off for a while so pray hard, we still need those. Also, Paladin's parents have given us the generous gift of paying for our GenCon booth!   We'll figure out the how to get there's later. We are so excited and will be taking pre-con orders again this year. Without all of your help, we wouldn't be in our house right now. We will never forget your generousity and prayers. We will be discussing a GenCon-EN World discount for sure!


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## Paladin (Feb 5, 2004)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> I can't decide!  That's two great choices.  ARGH!!!!!!!
> 
> OK, I'll go with Mystic Eye package.  My wife may kill me for filling up more shelf space, but I'll take that risk.  Thanks!



You got it! So here are the finals then:
For Mystic Eye Games $100.00 Package: (drum roll, please............)
Barendd Nobeard
Protean
Simmo

And for the lovely piggy bank from Alsi2o.........
Isida Kep'Tukari 

    
Did we miss anything? Everyone who donated will be hearing from creative mountain games about free PDF's and such...so you are all winners!  
Call me corney, but I feel the love! P-wife (better sign for this one!  )


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## Kyramus (Feb 5, 2004)

Congratulations to the winners.

-anxiously awaiting paladin's email to let him know when his own order is ready, sweaty palms rubbing against each other in anticipation-


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## Gibbling666 (Feb 5, 2004)

Hey i just recently put an order in for a BoDH.  I am glad you reached your goal and im sorry i didnt get a chance to donate due to the fact you reached your goal before before i found this forum.  Ima see if my local gaming store would like to stock some of your bags since they currently dont carry any dice bags at all.


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Feb 5, 2004)

Cool, I get a cute little piggy bank!  Yay!


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## alsih2o (Feb 6, 2004)

Barendd Nobeard said:
			
		

> I can't decide!  That's two great choices.  ARGH!!!!!!!
> 
> OK, I'll go with Mystic Eye package.  My wife may kill me for filling up more shelf space, but I'll take that risk.  Thanks!




  if oyu had taken the piggy bank you would have been mocked and derided for years 

 congrats to Isida Kep'Tukari, i have been kinda busy woith out of town company so i missed this, she emailed me and we are working on color and such.

 big kudos ot everyone who donated prayed or encouraged. i'm proud to be a part of this..


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## Barendd Nobeard (Feb 6, 2004)

alsih2o said:
			
		

> if oyu had taken the piggy bank you would have been mocked and derided for years



Hey, I'm already mocked & derided everywhere I go!


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## Wee Jas (Feb 9, 2004)

Got my bag.  Thanks!


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Feb 9, 2004)

I also got my bag (it got forwarded from my permanent address to my college one), and it's really pretty!  Blue and purple sparkles with a purple drawsting and silver beads and grommets.  And to top it off the ends of the strings smell like pecan pie (or maple syrup, depending on your point of view)!

(Check out the ends of your strings guys, Paladin and Paladinwife dip the ends in scented candlewax to seal them and they smell nice!)


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## Bloodsparrow (Feb 9, 2004)

The bag I got was pink with gold hearts and sparkles!

At first I though... "Hmmm, this is kinda girly...", but then I thought, "Hey!  I'm a girl!"

I'm now fiercely proud of my dice bag.  I never would have picked something like it out for my self, but I love it!

The rest of my group (all guys, at least one of whom also has one of your bags) seem amused by my new dice bag, but they're not going to give me a hard time.  (Probably because I'm the only one who can heal currently.  )


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## Paladin (Feb 9, 2004)

Greatfully, Paladin and I are currently swamped with orders. We haven't had this many ever except for GenCon! If you are waiting on pdf's or Mystic eye game packages, we haven't gotten the lists to Creative mountain and mystic Eye yet. They need screen names and such, so it's taking a while to compile due to the large amount of donations. If you are waiting on us, give us a few weeks to catch up on everyone (plus our mongrammer has been truely swamped, we might have to look for back-up!)...be patient, it's all coming!  Paladinwife


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## Steve Jung (Feb 10, 2004)

Isida Kep'Tukari said:
			
		

> I also got my bag (it got forwarded from my permanent address to my college one), and it's really pretty!  Blue and purple sparkles with a purple drawsting and silver beads and grommets.  And to top it off the ends of the strings smell like pecan pie (or maple syrup, depending on your point of view)!
> 
> (Check out the ends of your strings guys, Paladin and Paladinwife dip the ends in scented candlewax to seal them and they smell nice!)



Aha! So that's what that was. I thought I was going nuts wondering why my bag smelled like pancakes.  I got mine several days ago. It's got a black and blue diamond checkerboard pattern. Each diamond contains a mounted knight in profile. It's really big, so I'm going to need more dice. They also included a tiny bag that looks like it holds 1 set of dice. Thank you, Paladin & Paladinwife.


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## Beale Knight (Feb 10, 2004)

My bag showed up last week and I finally got a chance to put it real use Saturday. I don't know how you two picked what bag went to what person, but the black bag with silver spiderwebs was fully perfect for a Nightmare Before Christmas and general Halloween freak as myself. 

My red velvet bag that I've used for twenty-two years is now relegated to the back up dice. 

Thanks and I'm glad things are looking up. 

Wes


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## Paladin (Feb 10, 2004)

Beale Knight said:
			
		

> My bag showed up last week and I finally got a chance to put it real use Saturday. I don't know how you two picked what bag went to what person, but the black bag with silver spiderwebs was fully perfect for a Nightmare Before Christmas and general Halloween freak as myself.




We rolled a d20, of course...  



			
				Beale Knight said:
			
		

> My red velvet bag that I've used for twenty-two years is now relegated to the back up dice.




As it should be...  



> Thanks and I'm glad things are looking up.




Thank you for your caring!


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## Paladin (Feb 16, 2004)

*Update*

Well, many of you have inquired about how we are doing as of late, so here's the update...Things are going well here at the moment. We have a ton of orders to keep us more than busy and more coming in everyday! We are going to GenCon via a gift from Paladin's parents who know how good that would be for us. Our bills are caught up and we are still ahead at the moment. So, all in all, I'd say we are the best we've been in a while! I can actually face the checkbook in the morning!  
Our monogrammer is still so slow! I guess our next step is a monogram machine. It'll take weeks off of order turn-arounds and give us 1/3 of our pfofits back.

Sorry...I'm daydreaming again...I guess that dream will have to wait (since it's a $15000 dream!  )
Anyway, all of your prayers and blessings have been the key to our recent turnaround, so keep us in those prayers and, as always, tell a friend about us!


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## fett527 (Feb 16, 2004)

That's wonderful!!  Thanks for the update!


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## Seule (Apr 2, 2004)

Just bumping this back to the top, to remind people about it.  
Plus, I'm curious how the backlog is going.  Will bags ordered in the huge rush be going out any time soon?

  --Seule


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## KB9JMQ (Apr 2, 2004)

Well I just got my Beautiful Bag of Dice Holding that I ordered during the rush.
It is just great.
I am using it as the centerpiece in gaming table to hold all kinds of extra dice for anyone to use.

Darrin


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## Isida Kep'Tukari (Apr 2, 2004)

I actually ended up giving my blue and purple sparkly bag I received a few weeks ago to one of my players, who recently became a DM (he goes by the screen name Emperor Valarian for those that read his story hour).  He bought himself a pound of dice and a huge stack of books, but he was still carting his dice around in the plastic bag.

That simply wouldn't do.

I own a Dice Bag of Holding that I got from the Paladins last Gen Con (red dragon scales outside, flames inside, with a Malhavoc Press logo), so while I liked the blue and purple bag, I really didn't need it.  So I gave it to Emperor Valarian.  He really likes it and now he looks like a real gamer...


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## Paladin (Apr 2, 2004)

Hey everybody! Sorry for not updating the thread in a while, we've been working like rented mules to get these bags done.  Seriously, the donation drive generated over 600 bags to be done, 500+ to two game stores alone. Also, when you count the 100+ custom bags and the 30 orders (about 100 bags) we already had in our queue and you can see why we're behind. Our monogrammer is still abysmally behind and unfortunately there's no relief in sight for her. She's busy enough that she & her husband are working 16-18 hours a day, but they can't afford to hire any help since they just started 6 months ago! 
To top everything else off, we've been further slowed by our chainmail guy being behind as well because, like us, he's been dealing with life stuff and that's taken away from his time to make the chainmail. Then, of course, we had to have some more of the smaller silver grommets we use - we ordered them and they were out of stock. So, we spent two weeks waiting for them to come in - just got them a couple of days ago. *whew!*

On the job front: I still have been unable to find something, although I must've put out my resumé 500+ times by now. 

On the snatching-victory-from-the-jaws of defeat front: my company that I'm a partner in that as of two weeks ago had made zero money, in fact was $40,000 in debt, in just over a year of existence - has now, no one pass out, made money. Granted, it goes to cover the -$40,000, but suddenly (we can only assume the economy is finally improving) we're actually getting business thrown our way! Our problem this whole time has been that folks would approach us and say that they really would like us to do X, Y, and Z for them - but they didn't have any money in their budget! Now, knock on wood, that seems to be turning around. Hopefully the economy will actually keep turning around and we'll be able to survive (maybe even pay the rent this month!) Another thing that has helped us recently is that we decided to expand our services to include security cameras (CCTV) and that has been extremely popular. Sooooo, everyone keep thinking good thoughts toward this business growing, and for the Gamer's Bag to keep going too. 

Right now we're still balanced on the edge of a knife, but we're praying that we'll be out of this financial hell-hole soon. Thanks again to everyone for all of your help, support and continued patience for those still waiting on bags. We are shipping out a LOT of bags today, by the way. I'll be e-mailing those folks today and letting them know their stuff is coming!  In the mean time, if anyone would like to order, we've just finished a lot of bags and should be getting closer to our usual 4-6 weeks timeframe on getting orders out.


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## Krug (Apr 28, 2004)

Prayers to you Paladin. May your company continue it's profitable streak.


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## Altamont Ravenard (Apr 28, 2004)

I forgot to post that I had received the 5 bags I had ordered. They were great, and the people I gave them too were very happy.

The bags even smelled great!



Good luck to you guys!

AR


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## Paladin (May 7, 2004)

Just to let everyone know, we are now working on orders we got in march and april, there are only a few of those left. We are very glad that we know such kind folk as all of you who read our thread and keep up with how we are. Amazingly, the money we raised in January has kept us going 'til now and we are grateful. Paladin's new business is on the verge of making some money and we are waiting with bated breath for that to happen, so please continue to pray for us. And, as usual, new orders are greatly appreciated. We are starting to climb back down from our 12 week turn around. It was great!!! We haven't had that many orders at one time ever!! You all came through for us. Thank you!  If you are looking to pick up bags at Gen Con this year, the orders are already coming in and it is a very good idea to let us know about those right away. God Bless all of you!...Paladinwife


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## Wrath of the Swarm (May 7, 2004)

Glad to hear it, ma'am.

(Note:  it's 'bated' breath, not 'baited', unless you've been munching on nightcrawlers lately.)


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## Darmanicus (May 7, 2004)

You can count me in. Sorry to hear you're havin' a rough time of it.

Oops, seemed to have jumped in without reading entire thread, (it's quite long though). So without reading entire thread are you guys ok?


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## JoeBlank (May 7, 2004)

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear your family is back on its feet. Best of luck to you.


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## Paladin (May 7, 2004)

Darmanicus said:
			
		

> You can count me in. Sorry to hear you're havin' a rough time of it.
> 
> Oops, seemed to have jumped in without reading entire thread, (it's quite long though). So without reading entire thread are you guys ok?



Yeah, it is very long.  We'll be okay if my company can actually get paid. We've been waiting on this big customer to pay us, but it hasn't happened yet. We know it should be within the next 30 days, but not when. That's what's killing us right now. So, basically if we get paid soon we'll be okay - if not, we're going to be in very dangerous territory, again. It is unbelievably nerve-wracking, as you can imagine. The weird (in a good way) thing that is holding up payment, and the start of the project, is that they keep adding to what they want to do. Which, of course, means more money - but it means a lot more engineering time now and getting stuff approved, etc. So once again time is our enemy. At the end of all this we'll both have gone up a level though...


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