Syndicate mission goals.

This is the achievement list for Syndicate. These achievements are the same for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. They are all mostly story related, weapon related, involve co-op or require the player to collect collectables.

Click read more to see the achievement list.

There are 50 achievements with a total of 1000 Gamerscore.

• Syndicated (20 G):
  Complete the game on any difficulty.
• Business Is War (50 G):
  Complete all chapters which track difficulty, on hard difficulty.
• All Aboard (20 G):
  Complete chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 on normal or hard difficulty.
• Campaign: EuroCorp (20 G):
  Complete chapters 7 and 8 on normal or hard difficulty.
• Campaign: La Ballena (20 G):
  Complete chapters 10 and 11 on normal or hard difficulty.
• Campaign: Downzone (20 G):
  Complete chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15 on normal or hard difficulty.
• Welcome to EuroCorp (5 G):
  Complete Wakeup Call.
• See No Evil (30 G):
  Defeat Kris without making him visible using EMP or DART Overlay, on normal or hard difficulty.
• Revival Meeting (30 G):
  Defeat the final boss without allowing any agent to be revived, on normal or hard difficulty.
• Missile Command (30 G):
  Breach an entire barrage of five missiles in the Ramon boss fight, on normal or hard difficulty.
• Top Marks (15 G):
  Achieve a perfect result in all the Tutorial challenges.
• Golden Handshake (5 G):
  Achieve CEO ranking on any level.
• Little Black Book (30 G):
  Find all business cards (unlock all the business card infobank entries).
• Wetware Integrity Policy (20 G):
  Don’t kill any EuroCorp civilians with the minigun in chapter 8.
• Gaggle of Guidance (5 G):
  Use the Swarm’s multi-target lock-on firing mode to kill 3 UAV drones with one volley.
• Augmented Reality (15 G):
  Kill 3 specters in chapter 14 without using EMP effects on them, on normal or hard difficulty.
• Cover Lover (10 G):
  Make it past the conveyor belt without taking any damage from the turret.
• Make Them Watch (30 G):
  Kill Agent Crane before you kill his two sidekicks, on normal or hard difficulty.
• Ambassador of Peace (15 G):
  Kill enemy soldiers of two different syndicates fast enough to receive a rampage energy bonus.
• Mastermind (5 G):
  Unlock the Datacore in the minimum number of breaches.
• Linked In (5 G):
  Obtain a health bonus from network connection links from your upgrade choices (single player only).
• With Friends Like These (15 G):
  Kill an enemy from the explosion of a reactive armor unit.
• Deny Everything (30 G):
  Find all propaganda tags (unlock all propaganda tag infobank entries).
• Every Bullet Counts (30 G):
  Defeat Tatsuo without restocking your ammunition from the UAVs, on normal or hard difficulty.
• Shocking (10 G):
  Kill 3 or more enemies from the electricity discharge of a dying electro armor unit.
• Greed is Good (35 G):
  Achieve CEO ranking on all chapters which track difficulty, on hard difficulty.
• Shield Breaker (10 G):
  Successfully sprint tackle 25 riot shield units.
• Initiation Complete (10 G):
  Complete all Co-Op maps on any difficulty.
• High Value Asset (25 G):
  Complete all Co-Op maps on expert difficulty.
• Initial Public Offering (10 G):
  Be a member of a Syndicate consisting of at least 4 people.
• Hostile Takeover (10 G):
  Defeat an enemy agent squad.
• Mace Ace (5 G):
  Save a team member that is stunned by an electron mace.
• Super Soldier (10 G):
  Complete a mission without going down.
• Highly Adaptable (10 G):
  Kill 4 enemies in 4 different ways within 1 minute.
• Field Surgeon (10 G):
  Heal 3 team members for at least 50% of their health within 1 minute.
• Oh no you don’t! (10 G):
  Complete 10 Contracts against members of your syndicate.
• High Flyer (15 G):
  Score a 2,000 points combo.
• Employee of the month (10 G):
  Complete a mission after earning a team savior score.
• In the name of Science (5 G):
  Finish your first research.
• Application Manager (20 G):
  Do 10,000 points of damage and heal or block 10,000 points of damage using applications.
• Middle Management (50 G):
  50% completion (level, research and challenges).
• CEO (100 G):
  100% completion (level, research and challenges).
• The Professional (20 G):
  Kill 50 enemies with all the weapons in the game.
• Hurt Locker (30 G):
  Breach 873 grenades.
• Warpath (5 G):
  Get the rampage bonus up to 5 sequential kills.
• Make It Snappy (10 G):
  Kill 50 enemies with melee executions.
• Nowhere To Hide (30 G):
  Use a penetration weapon to kill 500 enemies through cover, while in DART Overlay.
• Half-Millionaire (30 G):
  Collect 500,000 energy.
• Hacker (30 G):
  Use breach abilities 300 times.
• Rampageous (15 G):
  Do 250 rampage kills/kill streaks.

My other Syndicate posts:

• Syndicate Co-op Demo is Coming Soon.
• Syndicate Guides.
• Syndicate Co-op Demo is Available.

ps: you should apply too! Find out more about the festival and how you can apply here.

–

Stephanie is currently a senior student at Simon Fraser University, majoring in Interactive Arts and Technology. She is also currently working full-time at HootSuite Media Inc. and actively involved in the Banner Bags program presented by SIFE Simon Fraser and the JCI Vancouver network as the Project Lead for Nothing but Nets 2012. Since Fall of 2010, Stephanie and three others have been working on a project called Point Locus, which is a tactile GPS system for the visually impaired. The project has been featured in blogs like Trend Hunter, Fashioning Tech, and a few others. It has also brought a lot of attention at the Maker Faire 2011 in San Mateo and at the Mini Maker Faire in Vancouver. The team will also be attending the upcoming TEI Conference in Kingston, Ontario.

Point Locus is a game changing wearable technology that puts the power of GPS to work for the people most in need. Its tactile feedback on the tricep area gives the familiar comforting feeling of a guiding hand helping you follow a path. Its practicality complements their natural adaptations to their disability and extends their limitations in hope of making them much more independent when traveling.

Unlike other GPS systems, Point Locus is non-obstructive. All the components are built into one wearable piece to liberate the users’ hands as they might already sport a white cane or a guide dog. Plus, there is an interface barrier, since most GPS devices rely on flat, visual screen-based interactions to operate them. Simple tactile signals break this barrier down.

I am interested in attending Utopia to meet fellow hackers, programmers, and artists who might be interested in helping out the project and just to expand my network. I’m always up for working collaboratively with other people on a hands-on type of projects. 

As mentioned in the mandate, Utopia is conceived to address the gender imbalance in technology creation production and utilization. This has been proven again and again, and it’s true for Point Locus. The team currently is comprised of three men and one woman (me). Although it is great to work with them, I am always intrigued by what other women are doing in the industry. In fact, I’m currently mentored by Lynne Bruning, an award winning wearable and eTextile innovator. 

I believe that it’s time to move past taking our senses for granted, and move forward with a solution that works for everyone, especially those without sight. Time to stop ignoring a woefully underused sense by discovering the potential in the wearable tactile interface.

For more on Point Locus, please visit: www.pointlocus.com

For some insane reason, I decided last night would be the night to just do random achievements. More specifically, general random achievements.

So.. last night I gained:
Pest Control
To All the Squirrels I’ve Loved Before
To All the Squirrels Who Shared My Life
To All the Squirrels Who Cared For Me

Tonight, I have 2 assignments and Algebra homework due, so afterwards, I may try to attempt Well Read

This week was no expection as I recieved two blog awards from the lovely  Bianca over at Glittertheair:

The awards didn’t come with any rules so I thought I’d take this moment to just say a big thank you to everyone who’s stopped by this blog recently and shown me the love.

I’d like to pass these awards on to my top 5 recent commenters. I’m so grateful that you guys respond to my ramblings!

Nancy at Spirit lights the way

Angelia at Living, Laughing, Loving

Juliette at Juliette Burke

Bonnie at Life of Bon

Lenore  at Lenore Diane

Hugs and kisses to you all

Victoria

xoxo

I’ll just link my newest achievements and let you guess what I’ve been working on!

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun – all I can say is that I got 3 achievements at once. This one, Elders of the Dungeons, and To Honor One’s Elders at the same time. It took a minute to realize what this achievement was. I’m exalted with my guild. Hooray?

Elders of the Dungeons
To Honor One’s Elders
Elders of the Alliance
Elune’s Blessing
Elders of Northrend
Elders of Cataclysm
Elders of Eastern Kingdoms
50 Coins of Ancestry
Illustrious Grand Master in Archaeology
Tragedy in Three Acts

I got a lovely Festival Latern ‘pet’ and would like to get the Lunar Latern, which is sold specifically to Alliance. I think I may need to dig out my worgen priest and send her on a hunt for Elders to get Coins of Ancestry to get it.

In similar news.. I was working on the Elders of Northrend (the last thing I needed to complete for the title / achievement), and got stuck on Elder Chogan’gada, who is in Utgarde Pinnacle after Skadi the Ruthless. The Nexus, Utgarde Keep, Drak’Tharon Keep, Azjol-Nerub, Gundrak, and Halls of Stone later, I had finished every elder in Northrend dungeons except Utgarde Pinnacle. I was not a happy mage. It was especially not good when I was reading an account on a frost mage with an iLvl gear lower than mine went through it easy as pie.

I am an arcane mage. I love arcane magic. Fire is okay, but I haven’t played frost since … before WotLK. There were no constant elemental pets, or ice barriers that froze people when shattered. So I took my little dual spec, respecced the fire tree into frost and went after Skadi for the … 4th time. Time Warp + Ice Barrier + Elemental + Mirror Image. He was dead in less than 30 seconds and I was on my way to the elder. /sigh

I will be writing about what just happened in the last 24 hours tonight, but I just want to share my happiness and excitement for this new year with all of you. If you think you’ve been having a crappy year, come on, you still have 353 days to change things around!  

#blessed

Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to three wonderful bloggers who passed me the Versatile blogger award recently - August McLaughlin , Danielle aka AHappyPeach and Mommy needs a Pinot.

August is a new blogging friend and a great writer, I can’t wait to read more amazing posts from her. Mommy needs a pinot is hilarious and I’m sure she only likes me as I’m British Danielle has been a long time blogging buddy and has given me tons of suppport. I almost cried when I read her sweet note along with the award:

“Victoria/Vicky/Vix is just such a fabulous person. She was one of the first people who I met through blogging. She’s a great gal and aspiring writer. And I am so proud of her, she’s taken her first step into personal branding, she’s got her own domain name. There will come a day when I can say I knew her when.”

In fact, I consider myself a really lucky blogger in the community I’ve built up here. I’ve had such amazing support from you guys! In honour of that, I have added the awards I’ve had to the bottom of the right side bar so they can displayed in all their glory Thanks to everyone who has passed me an award, I really appreciate it!

As an aspiring author, I’ve also been touched by how much support I’ve had from other writers. There really is a great online community out there for us, which helps as it’s such a tough industry to break into. I’ve had some great advice and encouragement from both unpublished and publsihed writers and it helps to feel part of a team.

How has the blogging / writing community helped you?

Victoria

xoxo

I know it has only been 2 days and 2 hours since you started, but you’ve been quite awesome. 

- Jillian Walker put me in her list of favourite people of 2011. I’ve never imagined that I would be in anyone’s favourite list, but I made it to hers! Jililan is a brilliant networker and I know she has made so many friends all over Vancouver, Canada, and around the globe! I felt honoured and super grateful to have made it to that list. I honestly still have no idea how I’m influencing my peers, but I hope I’m influencing them in a good way… Jill, let’s chat about this.

- Alexander Sugianto also mentioned me on his first (ever!) blog post as someone who inspired him to make a blog. How did I inspire him to make a blog, I have no idea. I ramble in my posts and never really posted anything particularly interesting or helpful or inspirational. So I’m honoured to even be mentioned in the post.

- Trixie and I planned and executed a 15-person bridal shower for our other sister, Michella! The event was beautifully captured by Amme Photographie and held at Seasons in the Park (Queen E) on the first day of the year. Trixie, mom, and I have been planning the event for about a month and we have prepared quite a few craftsy things to decorate the room with, to take pictures with, and to give away. The bride-to-be was gleaming with happiness to see her friends and to receive some “exciting” and fun gifts.

- Point Locus’ proposal to the annual TEI Conference got accepted! This year, TEI celebrate its sixth anniversary of the international conference on tangible embedded and embodied interaction. This year, the conference will be held at Kingston, Ontario, and I’m really hoping that I would be able to attend. Fingers all crossed!

- I am not a big music person but I do have some musicians/bands that I enjoy listening to. So, on Feb 9th, I will be watching David Choi with Meda and on Feb 11th, I’m going for Simple Plan’s concert with Marianas Trench, All Time Low, and These Kids Wear Crowns! All my favourite bands in one concert! Amazing. Ed has bought the tix last October and so this would be his Valentine’s gift. Heehee. Thank you <3 So excited!

- My infographic for HootSuite has been sent out internally to showcase what the marketing bunker has done in 2011 and the reach. DaveO dubbed me as the “adorable Indonesian wunderkind”.

- I met and hung out with a cousin that I haven’t seen for 10+ years! Being a food person that I am, I took her and her boyfriend for a culinary journey around Vancouver: breakfast at DeDutch, lunch at Sushi Town, then to freshen up, we went to get some Qoola before Phnom Penh and Belgian Fries after. We ended the day with a shared pint of chocolate beer at St. Augustine. 

- I will be starting my job as one of the Community Wranglers at HootSuite this week, working directly with Dave Olson, Daniel Robles, and Thiago Leite. I have always had a huge passion for building communities, marketing, and design and this new role pretty much have all of those elements. Can’t wait to learn from these amazing people and continue to grow both as a marketer, designer, and as a person. 

So, 2012, bring it on! Fill up my days with challenges and excitement please. Let’s work on to make this my best yet. 

With lotsa love,
Stephanie 

You have been an amazing year. So many firsts, so many once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and so much love. 2012, I challenge you to beat all the awesome experiences 2011 has brought me:

JANUARY

- Started the year with a trip to Agassiz w/ 25 other SIFErs for a team retreat.                              
- As a tradition, I went out for two DineOuts with both JASS and the indo ladies.
- Became Third Degree Theatre’s Marketing, Brand, and Media Coordinator.
- Celebrated 1.5 years (dating) anniv, Ed and I went to Whistler to snowmobile. 

FEBRUARY

- First time go-karting! 
- Entered a photo contest. Got 148 votes in 4 days. <3
- Took a cooking class at the Dirty Apron. 
- Art work got featured in the printed version of Translink’s Buzzer and online. 
- Showcased the sleeping bag project at SIAT Annual Showcase. 
- First time MC-ing. In front of 350+ people. My heart stopped beating many, many times.
- Planned and executed a design portfolio workshop with the co-founders of ION Design. 

MARCH

- Starred in a short film called Dick’s Dirty Deeds.
- Joined in a microcredit challenge, raised $102 in
a week. Don’t ask how.
- Went for an interview with Habanero. 
- Took part in the Professional You user study session.
- First concert EVER. It was David Choi. Stood on the front row & CDs got signed. 
- Went to SMA’s Annual Boat Cruise. One fun evening with my ladies.
- Referred by Diana to work part time at the Port Moody Arts Centre as the Graphic Designer.

APRIL

- Conducted 2 user testings for Point Locus with the Canadian National Institute of the Blind.
- Planned, coordinated and executed a 300+ people Easter event.
- Planned a surprise dinner for mommy.
- Shared 140 wings with 5 other people. 
- Got my iPhone4 after being super frustrated with my 3GS for a few months.
- Point Locus got so much attention: got graded 98%, hit 1364 views in just 1 week, and reviewed by 4 big sites: TrendHunter, FashioningTech, Design Launches, Dvice. 

MAY

- ACE Exposition: 4 super fun days in Toronto with 30 others. The most memorable trip.
- Aldrich left to Loo
- Invited by the amazing Lynne Bruning to fly out to San Francisco to exhibit Point Locus at the world’s biggest DIY fair, Maker Faire San Mateo. Met people from Facebook, Google, Samsung, John Deere. Nike, etc. Such an eye opening experience and it was our first time down in SF too! This trip was a huge highlight in my life.
- Showcased Point Locus at SFU Surrey Open House.
- Om Anton passed away.
- Got a shout out on the Elevated HR facebook page. 
- My sister got engaged! 

JUNE

- Went to Bruno Mars concert. It was ok. Nothing too amazing.
- Got ticketed for the very first time while on my way to surprise a good friend at midnight. 
- Horseback riding on Ed’s birthday. My first time riding a horse without a guide.
- Watched HairSpray, courtesy of Ed
- Small dinner reunion with junior school friends.
- Exhibited Point Locus at Mini Maker Faire Vancouver.

JULY

- Went for an
interview with EA Sports Online. Beautiful campus!
- Went for an interview with FoodTree. Love their passion for food and its growers!
- Volunteered at the Indonesian booth at the Surrey Fusion Festival. Coordinated 30 volunteers and in the end, we got more than $3700 in revenue in 18 hours. Amazing.
- Stuck in Seattle for 2 extra days. Bummed around with my clothes in a bag because all the hotels were all fully booked. No fun.
- Went camping at Sunshine Coast for the 3rd year in a row.
- Dug out and boiled 150+ clams from the beach near campground.

AUGUST

- First time flying a trike! Super fun. I highly recommend it! I find it more thrilling than skydiving.
- Went for an interview with HootSuite. <3
- Met with 5 professional web developers and realized how important it is to make your bullsh*t sounds belieavable by backing it up with your work and experiences.
- Went to the Blues Festival and watched KD Lang live!
- Withdrew 7k+ Euro from 5 banks in downtown, just hours before I flew to Europe.
- Went on a 14-days Mediterannean cruise with family and visited: Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Florence, Rome, Naples, Mykonos, Istanbul, Ephesus, Athens, and Venice. My two favourite cities: Mykonos and Ephesus.
  
 

SEPTEMBER

- The start of my internship with HootSuite.
- Gokart + Waterpark + Banzai Sushi + DragonBall BBT + Board Game + Harold & Kumar, all in one day.
- Finally got my N after failing the exam 5 times. Haha.
- Officially became a part of Banner Bags as the Web and Media Coordinator.
- Had 2 chicken wings, 2 butter beefs, 1 fried rice, 5 choc cheesecake with my 4 ladies.
- Watched Lion King 3D in theatre! It’s better than I remembered it to be.  
- Designed 2 owls (Indonesian & UK) for HootSuite and they got reproduced 1000x. BAM.

OCTOBER

- First time I forgot to bring a camera to my own birthday dinner. #lesigh
- Attended a full convocation ceremony for the very first time! Don’t you feel special, Janey?
- Got an Epiphanie camera bag! The quality wasn’t as good as I’ve imagined it to be, so I filed a complaint and they sent a second bag for free! #doublewin
- Developed and launched the Banner Bags website.
- Opa passed away
- Planned and executed two events in Jakarta and Bandung.
- Presented in front of 85+ social media lovers and ad agencies re: HootSuite.

NOVEMBER

- The signing ceremony to mark the collaboration of Ristia group with Starwood.
- Whistler getaway. Gotta love the fresh snow landing on my head while on the jacuzzi.
- Disney on Ice: Toys Story 3. #disappointed 
- Discussed the future of social media for ICBC w/ the head of the Knowledge Management.
- Attended SFU Student Entrepreneur of the Year‘s final round as the official photographer.
- Point Locus is mentioned in Forbes magazine. Thanks to Lynne Bruning!
- Honoured to be one of the 100 TEDxSFU‘s inaugural event.

DECEMBER

- HootSuite Christmas Party at Harrison Hot Spring. The best Christmas party I’ve ever been to. Hands down.
- Went for interview with 3 nation-wide companies. I learnt to appreciate my background in design and my passion in marketing more. I consider them my super power now.
- Aldrich came back from Waterloo!
- Only bought 3 christmas presents this year for 3 secret recipients.
- Spent Christmas my most-loved ones. 

OVERALL

I couldn’t believe that over 1,000 people visited my site in a year. I know it’s not high, but to me it is. I’m quite amazed that there’s at least one person that visit my portfolio every day and in average, there are 2.7 visits per day of the year. I guess it’s time to revisit what I put there and update it

Also, I have made 158 new friends on Facebook this year and I’m not too sure how many followers I have on Twitter earlier this year, but I now have 804 which is 142 more from October. In 2012, I am looking forward to maintaining my relationships and keeping in touch with my friends and family members whom I have been neglecting and/or taking for granted this year. 

–

I must say, 2011 is my most amazing year yet. I have accomplished so much in 2011 that looking back, I don’t know how I did it all. Despite the successes though, there were still a lot of rough times. There were many times that I felt like a failure and wanted to give up. Yet, the continuous support from my family, Ed, and friends have never ceased to push me to keep going and to be better and better. I owe so much to everyone and one of my goals for 2012 is to return the favours many of you have given and be even more grateful and humbled by my experiences. 

Now, on to making goals for 2012… 

Over the past 12 months, I’ve grown to really enjoy blogging and I’ve become part of an amazingly supportive and encouraging community. I’ve been touched by comments and emails and been shocked that people have read and actually enjoyed my ramblings. I’ve gone from 0 views to over 70,000. I’ve gone from 0 subscribers to 138.

Most importantly though, I’ve gone from being scared to admit I love to write to fully embracing it. This blog has gone from being anonymous to having my real photo and name on it! It has really helped me realise that my dream is to write and no matter what happens on my book publishing journey, I get to write everyday on here.

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me over the past year, I’m so grateful. Wow, this feels like an acceptance speech but hey maybe it is I’m looking forward to the next year!

For those interested, here’s some stats:

My top 5 most read posts:
Butterflies
Kinda loving the Kardashians
Personal space
Breathe
Chasing destiny

The posts that generated the most debate:
Americans vs. Brits
Inked
This is me
Sweet
My best friend is a screen

Hugs and kisses everyone

xx

Liebster is German and translates to the English word dearest. I really touched to be awarded this as it’s meant for up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers so thank ladies for passing it on to me! I hope we all get over 200 soon and can play with the big guns

Here are the award rules:

1. Thank the donor and link back to their blog
2. Publicize your top five picks for the award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Encourage the people who receive it to list their five favorites.

Okay. I’ve just updated my blogroll with my favourite reads but as above I have to choose ones with less than 200 followers so here are my 5, I hope they will accept the award!

1. Lisa Wields Words – Lisa is my blogging sister, we have lots in common and her support has meant so much to me since I joined the blogging world! She’s so talented but doesn’t know it

2. Wordshaker magazine – this was set up by Jules who is always on hand with an encoruaging comment for me and is an online magazine for women. I recently did a guest post for them and I wish them lots of success!

3. Life of bon – Bonnie is so supportive of my blog and she writes really honest posts that need to be read so I hope people hop over and have a read.

4. Out of the kitchen – Eileen is a glam queen who shares great stories about her family and life in Bath and I want her to get lots of hits.

5. Angela over at Living, Lauging, Loving is an amazing photographer, her photos fit the award name of dearest as they are usually of her cute family! She may well be over 200 followers as I think I found her through Freshly Pressed but her blog is well worth a read.

So I hope everyone enjoys reading these blogs and please forgive those I missed out but without the number of subscribers on hand it was tricky and I had to guess who would fit the rules!

Vix

xx

The first presentation I watched was by Quyn Le, who was blind ever since she was a toddler and went through an unimaginable escape journey from Vietnam to Vancouver. She spoke very gently but her words resonated well throughout the afternoon and even until now. Though she was once an immigrant, she didn’t let herself to be the victim of her life. She said we have to make our own path and destiny. She has done so by living authentically and be grateful for every single thing. She can’t see the eyes, which are known for the windows to the soul, but she understands the mind which is the gate to every heart and soul. It is truly amazing what she has done with her capabilities. Every day she pushes the boundary and tries to make a difference in the world. I was humbled by her humility and reflected on the things I have taken for granted. At the end of her presentation, she said “there is no path, leave trails for others to follow” and that certainly is in parallel with my dandelion theory so I shall adapt that and keep leaving trails for others.

The morning then continued with Adora Svitak, a presenter at TED Conference. We watched her enthusiasm and maturity as a child through the video streamed in the big screen. She challenged adults to be like kids who dream about perfection, utopia almost. To make something to bea reality, you have to dream it first. It’s true. Children know no limitation. My nephew drew trees out of cotton candies, colouring it with all his crayons. Everything is possible for them, but not for us. We have lost our sense of imagination and creativity that can push innovation. Instead, we grew tired and unmotivated. We listened to our own lies, but we don’t listen to others. To show you care, you listen. This reminds me of Catherine Blyth‘s theory that we have two ears and one mouth. Use them accordingly she said.

Up next was Duane Elverum. To be quite honest, I didn’t write much about him nor Martin Laba. However, I like the first question Duane asked, “When was your most engaged and memorable experience?” I thought hard on this question and still couldn’t find an answer. It’s really hard to think of one, really. I shall get back to this question in the near future. As for Martin, he came up after Trisha, and the only few advices I got from his were: be rigorous in your research, communicate with honesty, and the essence of communication is telling a story.

Okay, so before Martin, there was Trisha Baptie. When she first went down to the stage, I really did not know what to expect. I did not know who this woman was and have never heard of her. When she started telling her background story, of how she used to be a prostitute, it captivated me. She had friends who ended up in Pickton’s pig farm and she was hurt many times while she was on the “job”. After 20 years, she said enough is enough and got into rehabilitation program. She invited the whole audience to imagine what life would be like if prostitution was illegal. She told us a story told by her friend’s grandma’s grandma, about women bathing in the river when suddenly a stream of babies just flowing down. They took all the babies out of the river as fast as they could and dry them up. One woman then stood up and walked up the river. Her friend called out and said “where are you going? Come back and help us get these babies out of the river.” That woman said “No. I’m going up to the mouth of the river and find out where these babies coming from so I can stop them.” This story was a great wakeup call for me. There are so many agencies giving aids abundantly to the homeless, drug users, hungry, poor, etc. But there are very few of them actually went up the river to solve the actual issue even before it happens. Amazing.

Nick Black shared some tips about trusts and here are the 6 drivers of trust according to him: stability (family, background), innovation (what are you doing today), relationships and practical value (have to deliver value), vision and competence. I agree with all of these six drivers of trust and will be looking forward to introduce myself in such manner to establish some sort of credentials and trust. 

After lunch, the show went on with Ajay Puri. He open sourced his dad, how cool is that. Ha! He planned and executed an event with 10,000+ attendees by asking each community what they want to do, instead of telling them what to do. I think there’s a great lesson to be learn there. So many times, we are so abusive of our powers that we assign people to do what we think they are supposed to do, instead of really listen to what they want to do. He used what happened in his garden as a piece of thought “we can’t control seeds, but we can nurture them” and “think beyond 5-10 year goals; think what impacts would these tiny seeds would have in 500 years.” I definitely love his humour and metaphor! 

He was followed by Colleen Hardwick and then Richard Loat. Richard talked about creating an experience and emotion because a cause is just a cause until you put an emotion to it. I’m really amazed at what he has done of how he found a way to marry his passion. He has traveled across Canada with such a great cause and a huge passion in what he does. He reminded us to find that child-like optimism in us once again and to never take no as answer. 

Sam Thiara, as expected, got a loud cheer when he came in to the room. He talked about how extraordinary is a matter of perspective and if it matters to us, then it must be extraordinary. It relates back to what Richard Loat just talked about. Be persistent and you can accomplish it. I find it quite difficult actually to be persistent because there are so many new things are introduced in such a rapidly growing world today, but I know I have to reflect upon myself and figure out what I really care about and
be persistent about it. It’s not enough to make a good first impression, but what really matters is if we can make a lasting foot print and we can do so by sharing our vision, understanding out choices and limitations, and once again, persistence. We, too, need to find the door stopper or wooden wedges in our life that can open doors for us. While we do so though, we have to stay curious, be appreciative, reflect often, have diffferent perspectives, and gain experience. He ended his presentation with his famous quote, “Your life is an autobiography, make yours worth reading.“

The two most anticipated presenters for me for this event were Jim Chu and John Furlong. I have read so much about them, yet never heard them speak about anything other than their job before. Unfortunately, Jim Chu sticked to what he understood best and talked about Vancouver riot 2011. He did make it very relevant to the young generation by emphasizing the importance of social media during the riot and post-riot and how the police is handling it. It was interesting to hear about the riot from the police perspective, but I was hoping to hearing more about his leadership style and how he got to where he is now. John Furlong, on the other hand, was so humble and genuine that if I didn’t know from before, wouldn’t have believed he was the CEO of Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. He encouraged each one of us to have a vision to wake us up excitedly in the morning and drive us to be the person we want to be. Like Sam Thiara, he told us to live out our life as if our whole story will be read at our funeral. He gave some tips on how to live a meaningful life, which includes being humble and being a good person. He strongly encouraged us, the leaders of tomorrow, to always lead with dignity and demonstrate to people that you deserve to be followed. He was very humble and authentic. He didn’t seem bureaucratic or distant at all. He spoke to us like a grandfather almost, telling the stories of his exciting life and giving us tips on how to survive on this world of chaos.

Dr. Julio Montaner, the director of BC Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS is definitely one of the most celebrated and popular Canadian today. To hear him speak and to be just few metres away from him was such an honour. He presentes us with the HIV data and proudly showed the decreasing rate of HIV in the past few years. A whole lot can change with just a single test. Speaking about test, they actually did a live demo of the HIV test on stage. It was a quick process. Check out their website to learn more about how HIV is different now.

Takaiya Blaney is young enough to be John’s grand daughter and I wouldn’t really be surprised if they were actually family. She was really bright and thoughtful at the age of 10. She even sang a song for us that still resonated in my mind until today. She wrote and beautifully sang ”stop waiting for tomorrow. Stop living yesterday, because there won’t be tomorrow if we don’t change today.” She was right. We drink more gas than we drink water today, and we need to change that by using our voice to speak up and make a difference. If a 10-years old kid is making a difference, why can’t we?

My boss, Ryan Holmes, spoke last at the event. He spoke about the revolution in technology. It took phones 91 years, TV 21 years, cellphones 17 years to reach 10 million users. In contrast, i tonly took social media 4 years and Google+ only sixteen days! Holy! Social media is definitely an interesting new terrain that everybody is still exploring on, including myself. There are so many different things, both for personal and professional use, that we can do with it and it is really up to us what we want to do with it.

All 7.5 hours of presentation after presentation, certainly did not feel too long. It almost felt like it’s not enough! I wanted more awesomeness and more positive energy, but I left the room feeling empowered. I look forward to next year’s TEDxSFU and other TEDx around GRVD. We need more of this! Props to the organizers of TEDxSFU and for all the attendees for making the day so well worth my time and money (it was only $25!). Thank you to all the speakers for sharing your experiences and things you picked up along the way. You were all such an inspiration. 

I’ve been frustrated this past few weeks because the scale is NOT moving. I mean really, I work my butt off, but no movement. Then this weekend happened. My husband and I were visiting our families and we were discussing something about the gym and it turned into a conversation about clothes. As you can tell, I really don’t remember much of the conversation. BUT I remember one part of the conversation where he said, “Ya probably, since you’ve been getting skinnier.”

1. You think I’d say what, you called me skinnier?

2. You’d think I’d say, Thanks.

Nope what came out of my mouth was, “Really, I haven’t lost a SINGLE pound in the past 3 weeks.” That’s when it happened…

The husband gave a blank stare and had to pick his mouth up off the floor. I wanted to say, “Hey, I think you dropped something”, but I refrained. He was so stunned that I really hadn’t lost a pound. His only response was, well you know they say muscle weighs more than fat. That’s all he had to say.

For me this was an achievement, I mean really, anytime you can get your significant other to notice you, that’s great, right?

So with that, remember those little achievements can be just as important as the big ones.

–K

After many months of gearing up ourselves and countless other people who would join for a bit, only to disappear soon after, we finally had a team of people in full gear, ready to destroy Algalon. Since in those days you only had an hour per week to put in attempts on Algalon, it took us quite a few weeks…. and I was very lucky, I managed to get the achievement just a short while before the shattering.

Still obtainable

Later on during Cataclysm I learned that the “Herald of the Titans”-achievement would still be obtainable, even in Cataclysm. As long as all the participating characters were level 80. After finding this out I decided to try to make a new team for it and get it again, since it was so awesome the first time.

And sure enough, after about 2 months of setting up a team and gearing it up, we had a full team of 11 people and with that team we went into Ulduar and smacked Algalon in the face! (We also went back the week after and did it again for that last 11th person of course)

Requirements

To achieve Herald of the Titans, you need to:

Defeat Algalon the Observer in 10-player mode at level 80* without anyone in the raid wearing any equipment with an item level higher than is available in 10-player Ulduar.

* This means ALL the participants in the raid need to be level 80

Clarification on item levels:

• Armor items must have item level 226 or lower (this includes relics, sigils etc.)
• Weapons must have item level 232 or lower (main hand, off-hand, shields, wands, ranged weapons)
• The gear doesn’t have to drop in Ulduar, it can come from anywhere as long as it meets the item level requirements. This includes PvP gear and even BoA gear.

Gear enhancement:

• Cataclysm enchants and gems require higher item levels than what you can use in Ulduar so you’ll need to use Wrath of the Lich King enchants and gems. Crafting professions self-enchants (such as Tailoring’s cloak enchant) do not require high item levels and will work just fine.
• All types (epic, blue) of Wrath of the Lich King gems and enchants work.
• Reforging is allowed and recommended. Most classes will want to reforge into Mastery since it scales so ridiculously well at level 80.

Consumables:

• Both Cataclysm flasks and food works just fine and is strongly recommended since it’ll provide all of you with huge stat increases (+390 useful stat, +90 stamina).
• Bring some seafood magnifique and a cauldron. If none of the level 80s can make them, you can have someone else put down the feast/cauldron just outside the raid for all of you. Just make sure that the person is in the raid when he or she puts down the feast/cauldron.

Tips

General:

• First of all, don’t forget to lock your character’s XP once it has reached level 80. You don’t want to accidentally level up and get to level 81…
• I highly recommend getting the Ulduar part for DBM or BigWigs, whatever boss mod you use.
• You no longer need a key to enter Algalon’s room.
• Algalon doesn’t disappear after an hour of the first attempt on him anymore, so no need to rush it.

Gearing:

• Gearing up can be fast or slow, whatever you and your group likes. If you want to take it slow then all you need to do is to run Ulduar continously for a while. You should be able to get all the gear you need from there. But if you like to speed it up a bit, and if you like to get your hands on some better items then it is highly recommended to grind for some Justice Point gear and to do the Icecrown Citadel dungeons and Trial of the Champion, often.
• The fastest way of grinding Justice Points is by doing the level 80 Cataclysm normal dungeons.
• The ilvl 200 Darkmoon Card: Greatness trinket is best in slot for all dpsers and healers due to the way stat values changed with Cataclysm.

Where the loot comes from:

• Justice Points
• WotlK dungeon tier: ilvl 200
• Naxx tier: ilvl 213
• Ulduar tier: ilvl 226
• Trial of the Champion
• Normal mode: ilvl 200
• Heroic mode: ilvl 219
• Icecrown Citadel dungeons (Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron & Halls of Reflection)
• Normal mode: ilvl 219
• Heroic mode: ilvl 232
  (only weapons linked since they are the only interesting items here)

And lastly, don’t forget that this is a time-commitment for at least a few weeks up to a few months. Make sure you have people you can rely on to show up to raids in your team or you’ll be cursed to deal with replacements over and over and over again…

Cheers,
Gav

Kill something and get rewarded.

This is the achievement list for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These achievements are the same for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The PC version doesn’t have any achievements so you will have to pretend to get them. They are all mostly story related or faction related and will be acquired as you play normally such as “Unbound” (10 G) and “With Friends Like These…” (10 G). However some are more optional like getting “Married” (10 G). I like when games have achievements that are story related and fit how you might play the game naturally, similar to the Oblivion achievements.

Click read more to see the achievement list.

There are 50 achievements with a total of 1000 Gamerscore.

• Unbound: (10 G)
  Complete “Unbound”
• Bleak Falls Barrow: (10 G)
  Complete “Bleak Falls Barrow”
• The Way of the Voice: (20 G)
  Complete “The Way of the Voice”
• Diplomatic Immunity: (20 G)
  Complete “Diplomatic Immunity”
• Alduin’s Wall: (20 G)
  Complete “Alduin’s Wall”
• Elder Knowledge: (20 G)
  Complete “Elder Knowledge”
• The Fallen: (20 G)
  Complete “The Fallen”
• Dragonslayer: (50 G)
  Complete “Dragonslayer”
• Take Up Arms: (10 G)
  Join the Companions
• Blood Oath: (10 G)
  Become a member of the Circle
• Glory of the Dead (30 G)
  Complete “Glory of the Dead”
• Gatekeeper: (10 G)
  Join the College of Winterhold
• Revealing the Unseen: (10 G)
  Complete “Revealing the Unseen”
• The Eye of Magnus: (30 G)
  Complete “The Eye of Magnus”
• Taking Care of Business: (10 G)
  Join the Thieves Guild
• Darkness Returns: (10 G)
  Complete “Darkness Returns”
• One with the Shadows: (30 G)
  Returned the Thieves Guild to its former glory
• With Friends Like These…: (10 G)
  Join the Dark Brotherhood
• Bound Until Death: (10 G)
  Complete “Bound Until Death”
• Hail Sithis!: (30 G)
  Complete “Hail Sithis!”
• Taking Sides: (10 G)
  Join the Stormcloaks or the Imperial Army
• War Hero: (10 G)
  Capture Fort Sungard or Fort Greenwall
• Hero of Skyrim: (30 G)
  Capture Solitude or Windhelm
• Sideways: (20 G)
  Complete 10 side quests
• Hero of the People: (30 G)
  Complete 50 Misc Objectives
• Hard Worker: (10 G)
  Chop wood, mine ore, and cook food
• Thief: (30 G)
  Pick 50 locks and 50 pockets
• Snake Tongue: (10 G)
  Successfully persuade, bribe, and intimidate
• Blessed: (10 G)
  Select a Standing Stone blessing
• Standing Stones: (30 G)
  Find 13 Standing Stones
• Citizen: (10 G)
  Buy a house
• Wanted: (10 G)
  Escape from jail
• Married: (10 G)
  Get married
• Artificer: (10 G)
  Make a smithed item, an enchanted item, and a potion
• Master Criminal: (20 G)
  Bounty of 1000 gold in all nine holds
• Golden Touch: (30 G)
  Have 100,000 gold
• Delver: (40 G)
  Clear 50 dungeons
• Skill Master: (40 G)
  Get a skill to 100
• Explorer: (40 G)
  Discover 100 Locations
• Reader: (20 G)
  Read 50 Skill Books
• Daedric Influence: (10 G)
  Acquire a Daedric Artifact
• Oblivion Walker: (30 G)
  Collect 15 Daedric Artifacts
• Dragon Soul: (10 G)
  Absorb a dragon soul
• Dragon Hunter: (20 G)
  Absorb 20 dragon souls
• Words of Power: (10 G)
  Learn all three words of a shout
• Thu’um Master: (40 G)
  Learn 20 shouts
• Apprentice: (5 G)
  Reach Level 5
• Adept: (10 G)
  Reach Level 10
• Expert: (25 G)
  Reach Level 25
• Master: (50 G)
  Reach Level 50

What an exciting week! =) I just got back from my super short trip to Jakarta. Yes, it was only 1 week trip for like a 16-hours flight one way. It’s totally worth the trip though.

So, I actually planned this trip sometime early September and was planning to go for my family’s business event. However, at that time, I’ve just started working for HootSuite for 2-3 weeks and I didn’t feel it was right to ask for 1 week off right away. Instead, I asked them if I can work abroad for that week. It makes sense given my job is to promote HootSuite to the Indonesian users and I promised them to do 2 HootUps while I’m there. They approved it and I worked hard to find a venue, speaker, and most importantly, people to attend! 

At first, I was shooting for 20 people to attend the HootUp in Jakarta and 10 in Bandung. Then, that number grew to 30 and 15, and finally when I sent the invite out and posted the event on MeetUp, something crazy happened. I posted both events at 6pm Vancouver time and when I woke up the next morning at 7am, there were 75 RSVP’d for the Jakarta one. I couldn’t believe what I saw and scrambled to find a bigger venue. I talked to some of the bloggers whom I’ve been in contact and engaged with for the past few weeks, and they said the ones that have RSVP’d so 

far are pretty influential people. My heart skipped a beat. I thought this would be a great opportunity to really present what HootSuite can do. So the next day I pulled up a chair beside Andy and asked him to tell me everything about the new acquisitions and also talked to Ian to help me put some content in my presentation.

A few hours after that, I was on the plane, on my way back to Indonesia. The last few weeks have went by so quickly and I could barely sleep while I was on the plane. My heart was already racing fast and I was so excited to do the presentation.

65 people attended the HootUp in Jakarta and 11 in Bandung. Yes, many of them were quite influential social media users who manage more than one account. I delivered a 15-minute presentation and then sat down with each one of them, took pictures and left them with some swags. Their energy really pumped me up throughout the night. When I left the venue, I felt relieved and fulfilled. It’s that mission accomplished type-of feeling. I felt like I’ve done everything I could.

To add to my super happiness that night, the