Disneyland & Medieval Times

Though I didn't go to bed until 3am this morning and was so drunk, I had made plans to join my buddy Bryan at Disneyland, who was visiting from Michigan. So I got up at 7am and actually felt pretty good. I was tired and had a bit of a hangover but for the amount of alcohol I drank and the little sleep I got I think I was doing pretty good. Luckily I stayed in Long Beach so getting to Disneyland didn't take me too long. I got there around 9am and made plans to hook up with my buddy in the front of the park. Bryan and I are online friends, we've been chatting for a few years and really get along online so I was very excited to finally actual meet him face to face.

You know it's always funny when you first meet a person that you only know for online. Bryan and I have only communicated over facebook chat, we've never verbally talked or did video chats. I knew what he looked like from his pictures so when I walked into the park I saw him walking over to me. Now I'm a hugger, always have been but some people don't like to be touched so I opted for the one are "straight" guy hug and said hello. Come to find out he's okay with actual hugs :)

Our bond was instant, there are some people that you meet and they are nice and you'll call them a friend but then there are those who from the moment you meet it's as though you've been friends all your life. That's what it was like meeting Bryan face to face.

First thing he wanted to do was show me a "birthday" gift that he wanted to get for me so we walked over to Tomorrow Land and to the Star Wars store area. There is a place where they take your picture and place it in a Star Wars scene. He wanted to buy one of those for me for my birthday. I've always liked those but never had gotten one. I was excited and of course I wanted him to be part of the picture so I looked for a two person picture and found the perfect one... and it turned out GREAT!!!  ----->

Next we rode a few rides and chatted about life. He and I talk TV or movies most of the time online so it was nice to actually talk about our personal lives and get to know each other better. We headed over to California Adventures to go to the Aladdin live stage play. I love Aladdin so I was super excited to see this and it didn't disappoint.. That play will be a must watch every time I go to Disney.

We grabbed some lunch and watched the Star Wars Jedi Training, and continued to enjoy ones company. I talked Bryan into doing Autopia as he can't drive due to a medical condition and I figured it would be fun as you kind of drive those cars though they are on a track. I was behind him and got to watch him attempt to drive.. it was pretty funny.

Around 4:30pm we headed over to Medieval Times for dinner and show. This is something that I have been wanting to do since I was young but never did. Bryan is huge into Medieval Times and was excited to share this experience with me. He went all out and got lots of extras, like a picture of us in costume fighting the dragons.. that was fun. We got prime seating and some flags. It was everything I expected and more and I'm so happy that I got to share the experience with him. Good food, great company and a fantastic show. Can't wait to do it again one day.

After Medieval Times we headed back to Disneyland and spend a few more hours there before they closed. We did a few rides and I was excited to be able to take Bryan to ElecTronica as he's a Tron fan and we thought we weren't going to be able to make it, but we got the California Adventures 10 minutes before they closed.

At 11pm both parks were closed and Bryan was kind enough to offer for me to crash at his hotel room as I was so tired after all the excitement of Saturday and now a fun filled day on Sunday. So I said yes. Not sure what time we both went to bed but we spent a few more hours chatting.. it was great.

I had such a FANTASTIC time hanging with Bryan, I have to admit I'm a bit smitten with him but as with most of the great guys I know.. he's straight as well. Oh well, he's going to make some woman very happy some day. Can't wait to hang out with you again Bryan.. hope it's soon. Thanks for everything.

Long Beach Comic & Horror Convention

Today I went to the Long Beach Convention Center where they were holding the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con. The Guild was going to attend on Saturday of the two day event so me and a bunch of Guildies decided to make it a group activity.

The day started off with Brian, Greg and Sean giving a location tour of Season 5, since alot of it was shot at the Long Beach Convention Center. After the tour we had a viewing of Season 5 (cut down to 45 minutes). It was fun watching the season all strung together though there were some huge gaps and scenes completely taken out for time.. but all in all it was a fun watch.

A handful of us went down to the show floor where all the dealers are. We walked around the floor looking at different folks in costumes and checking out the dealers that were there. We found our friends Team Unicorn and their booth and decided to hang out there and chat for bit.

At 1pm The Guild cast (Vince, Amy, Robin and Felicia, along with crew Greg, Sean and Kim) did a panel. It was a 45 minute Q&A session and after a slow started it really got moving. The cast and crew were funny as always. Once that was over a few of us agreed to meet back here at 2:30 to go to lunch. So I headed out with Chris to his hotel room and then we hit the floor again.

At 2:30 about 17 of us gathered at our meeting place for lunch. We headed across the street to Islands and Chris used is charm to get us a table in about 10 minutes which wasn't bad since we had 17 people. They placed us at 3 tables all within the same area. Lunch was a riot.. I got a strawberry margarita and I'm a light weight so I was feeling pretty good.. even had one of my infamous giggle feast.

After lunch we went over to the Jones Soda truck. We were told they were giving out The Guild Jones soda bottles. When I got there several of my friend told Will about my experiences with my previous Jones Soda orders and he gave me a full set (6 sodas) all in perfect condition for free. Jones Soda is a pretty amazing company and have one of the best customer services I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

We then headed back to the con to meet up with the other Guildie Extras at 5pm. The gathering started off slow but soon folks were mingling and when Amy, Robin, Sean, Brian and Greg showed up folks got really excited. This lasted to about 8pm and then the party moved to a local bar where we had some dinner and a few more drink. We then went to an bowling alley/ arcade and played a few games before heading back to Chris' hotel for an after party.

Now this is were the real fun began. Since the room was so small we only could invite a few folks to join us. I was drunk but not so much so that I wouldn't remember the night. I was having a blast and I didn't want to forget everything. The party last until about 3am where I and several others crashed were we could in Chris' room.

This day started off fun and just got better and better as it went. Thanks to Chris, Luis, Jes, Jen, Anne, Scott, Rupert, Aaron, Anthony, Ashphord and new friends Nikki and Megan for making this an AWESOME time.

Dinner with Friends

Tonight I had dinner with some friends. This was the couple I was suppose to have dinner with last week but totally forgot about it. John and Moises are some great guys and I love hanging out with them. We got to spend about 3 hours eating delicious food (Moises is a great cook) and having some fun conversation (mostly movie and tv related) since we're all geeks.  I use to do TV night every week when I lived closer and these guys always showed up... I miss tv nights.  It was great seeing them and hopefully it won't be months before I see them again.

Podcasting Rut!!

Well I've been trying to motive myself to getting some podcasts done that are due very soon but nothing really seems to be working. I don't know what it is but editing podcasts hasn't been that fun lately and I need to figure out why. I have a MASH 4077 due as well as a revamped Knights of the Guild but I haven't even started those yet. I have 30+ people on my Confessions of a Fanboy waiting list to be interviewed and I have four that have already been interviewed and all I need to do edit them and get them out. I'm also still in the middle of prepping notes for my new Alien Nation podcast. 

I need to get the KOTG and MASH ones done by Nov 1st and I'm hoping to kick myself in the butt and get moving on the other in early November. I need to get out of this podcasting rut.

Disneyland Again

Yep.. went to Disneyland to joined friends Al and Joyce and once again today I will be doing the same. I  enjoy Disneyland but I just want to hang out with Al and Joyce who live in Arizona and I don't get to see them very often. Good thing is they are huge Disney fanatics so why not hang out with two awesome people in one of the happiest places on Earth.

It was another fun filled day walking around the parks enjoying ones company and the rides. I actually talked Al into riding Mickey's Fun Wheel (Ferris Wheel) and to ride in the moving cabs. We were paired with 2 young and very tiny girls so with Al and I weighting substantial more we were a bit lopsided and every time we swung our way we would turn the cab sideways and the girls would scream and grab the siding so they wouldn't fall towards us.  It was a lot of fun but  I kind of feel bad asking Al to do the ride because afterwards he needed a few hours to recover.

We hung out until 6pm then I was meeting up with another friend from Arizona who just happen to be visiting SoCal and the parks at the same time. So I met up with my buddy Aaron who I meet on the set of The Guild. Yeah he actually drove out from Arizona for season four and five to be an extra. Anyways we had a nice dinner at The Rain Forest Cafe, then walked around Downtown Disney for a bit before meeting back up with Al and Joyce where I said my goodbyes to all of them and then headed home.

I haven't been home in three days so I was happy to get back to my own bed... but I had a fantastic 3 days, two of them at Disneyland and one with my Mom. Was very happy that I was able to spend two days with Al and Joyce and at least have dinner with Aaron.

I love having my annual pass, you experience the parks in an entirely different way.

Hanging with Mom

Since I was down at Disneyland yesterday and going back tomorrow I figured instead of going home (hour and a half drive) I would stay at my mom's (20 minute drive) and then spend the day with her. I haven't hung out like that with my mom for as long as I can remember.

Got up at 8am and of course my mom and chuck (step dad) were already up and waiting for me to go to breakfast. The three of use did breakfast and then headed back to the house. While chatting mom asked me if I wanted to get a manicure and pedicure as she needed to get her nails filled in. I have always wanted to get a mani & pedi but never have so of course I said "yes!!". We headed over to her local nail place (where she has been going for over 10 years). The ladies were all very nice and got to work on me straight away. One did my finger nails while another worked on my feet. The poor pedicure woman really has to work extra hard as my feet have 40 years of wear and tear on them. But about an hour later they were done and my finger nails looked fantastic and my feet never felt so good. They end the session with  a 15 minute neck and shoulder massage. It was a pretty great experience and I can see me getting those every once in a while.

After the mani and pedi my mom and I headed out for lunch and do to a bit of shopping. I needed to get a hoodie as I was cold at Disneyland last night and I knew I would be cold again tomorrow night and I wasn't willing to pay $60 - $75 for a hoodie (at Disney). I did manage to get a pretty cool orange hoodie from Target for only $10.

After that we headed back to my moms where we hung out and I taught her a few things about her new iPad 2. She wanted to get one so she could talk to my nephew, her grandson. So we got that up and running but my mom is not computer savvy at all so will see how long she remembers.

Then the three of us (Chuck, Mom and I) went out to dinner. Once dinner was over we chatted for a bit until about 9pm then I went up stairs to my room to watch a bit of TV. I have to get up early tomorrow to get to Disneyland so I called it an evening around 10:30pm

It was a fun day filled with new experiences.

Disneyland

My friends Al and Joyce are down from Arizona celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary and of course they are celebrating at their favorite place on Earth, Disneyland. They invited me to join them so I went down today. Had a rough start to the day as I was running late, then fighting the woodpecker, then when I left my house I noticed that I had a flat tire. I fixed it and was on my way and right before I got to the freeway I realized I left my medicine at home (which I needed as I didn't plan on come home for three days). So finally an hour behind my original schedule I made my way down to Disneyland.

Luckily there was very little traffic and I got to Disney in an hour and 15 minutes. I hooked up with Al and Joyce and spent a magical day at Disneyland. We focused on mostly Disneyland, but headed over to California Adventures to have dinner at Ariel's Grotto. Joyce had made reservations for us. It's a nice restaurant and had some great food but is fairly expensive.

Part of our dinner reservations were tickets for preferred "area" to the "World of Color". That's one of the water shows at the park. I had never seen it so I was really looking forward to it. After some crazy times trying to find a decent area to watch we settled into a good area and the show began. WOW!!! this show did not disappoint and it brought me to tears. If you don't know what it is, they project video on huge walls of water that kind of dance to the music being played. That was a great way to end my Disney adventure. If you get a chance to watch the show.. take it. I can't wait to see it again.

After Disney I headed to my Mom's who lives in Newport Beach as I was going to spend the day with her tomorrow and then return to Disneyland the following day.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time is a new TV series on ABC that I have been looking forward to for months since I read the description of this series.
 
~ On the wedding day of Snow White and Prince Charming, the Evil Queen arrives and delivers an ominous threat about a powerful curse she intends to release upon them. Some time later, a pregnant Snow White is worried about the curse and visits Rumplestiltskin who issues a prophecy that the Queen's curse will take them all someplace terrible where there will be no happy endings, except for her. He also reveals that Snow White's unborn daughter, Emma, will return when she is 28 years old to rescue them, thus beginning the final battle with the Queen. On advice from the Blue Fairy, Geppetto and Pinocchio fashion a wardrobe from a magical tree which will allow one person to escape the Queen's curse. On the day Snow White gives birth to her daughter, the Queen's curse strikes. Prince Charming places their daughter in the magic wardrobe, but is mortally wounded battling the Queen's henchmen. The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming as the curse takes them to "someplace horrible".

In present day Boston, Emma Swan lives a lonely existence working as a bail bondsperson and bounty hunter. After blowing out a candle on a cupcake for her 28th birthday, Emma is approached by a ten year old boy, Henry, who identifies himself as her son, whom she had given up for adoption as a teenager. Not wanting a relationship with him, Emma agrees to drive him back to his home in not-so-quaint Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales he has, insisting that all of the stories in it are real. When they arrive in Storybrooke, Henry informs her that everyone in town is in reality a fairy tale character, exiled by the curse and with no memory of their real identities. This includes his therapist, who is really Jiminy Cricket, and his teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, who is really Snow White. He claims that time is frozen in Storybrooke (shown to be 8:15 on the Towns Clock) and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma. A skeptical Emma returns Henry to his adopted mother, the town Mayor, who is really the Evil Queen. When Henry soon runs away again, Emma finds him and decides to stay in Storybrooke temporarily. This decision causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen, to begin moving again.
First of all it's a fantasy and there aren't many fantasies on TV these days. Second it deals with Fairy Tales which I love so I have been super excited for this forever. Then we started to see trailers and previews and my excitement grew. ~

Well tonight it premiered and I fell head over heels in love with it. I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the mix of fantasy and real world. I loved, loved, loved the costumes in the Fairytale world. The special effects were pretty good and I liked the story. The scenery was beautiful (fairytale land) and it made me cry several times. I mean it's only the first episode but they set up the story pretty good all within the first episode. I immediately watched it again, which I hadn't done with a TV series in a long time. And on my second viewing I loved it even more and I know I'll be watching it a few more times before episode 2 on Sunday.

This is must see TV for me and I'm hoping it does well in the ratings so we see there this adventure goes. If you love fantasy, whimsical, great characters and a fun story then check out Once Upon A Time on ABC, Sundays at 8pm

Alphas

So I finally sat down and actually took the day off of doing podcasts or anything and just watched TV. I have several series that airs last summer that are just sitting on my DVR waiting to be watched. I was going to start with The Walking Dead, but really wasn't in the mood for Zombies so instead I opted to watch Alphas. It's a new Syfy show that aired over the summer and I have all 12 episodes on my DVR just waiting.

Alphas it about five extraordinary humans with powers, I wouldn't call them super powers to me they seem more like they are humans higher up the evolution ladder.

Here's a description from Wiki "The series follows five people with superhuman abilities, known as "Alphas", led by noted neurologist and psychologist Dr. Lee Rosen as they investigate criminal cases involving other suspected Alphas. Rosen and his team of Alphas operate under the auspices of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the criminal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Defense. While investigating these crimes it doesn't take the team too long to discover that a group known as "Red Flag", who were thought defeated and eliminated long ago, are using other Alphas to commit crimes."

From the very first episode I was in love with this series. And many folks have said that the first few episodes were weak and it just gets better. So I'm already loving it (only seen the first 3 episodes so far) so I'm bound to really enjoy this series. Looking forward to seeing where the story goes.

Blizzcon & The Guild

Today I helped out The Guild booth at Blizzcon. If you don't know what Blizzcon is, it's a "Gaming" convention ran by one of the largest MMO company Blizzard. The Guild has a booth and some of the cast were signing. So I offered to help the two days. I got to the con at 11:30am and found the booth around noon. My schedule times were 1pm - 3pm & 6pm - 8pm but as soon as I got to the booth I was put to work and it didn't end until 9pm. Of course the busiest times are when the cast are signing autographs 11am - 1pm & 3pm - 6pm. The other times I would manage the booth by myself and chat with passer bys about the Guild and what it is and when the cast would be back.

I did get to see some of my friends who would stop by the booth and say hi and visit for a while. I also got a lunch break and my buddy Gabe went to the food area and grabbed a bite to eat.

After the convention was over I headed over to the Hilton for the Curse party. I was added to the VIP list but when I got there my name wasn't on the list but they let me in (just not a VIP). I texted my buddies Scott and Chris and they said they were waiting in line for drinks by the dance floor. Well the room I was in had no dance floor and come to find out I was at the wrong party. So I left and went next door to the actual Curse party and my name was on the VIP list and I got my special bracelet.

The party was loud, Chris, Scott and I went up into the VIP area and about ten minutes later the cast and some crew showed up. It was really too loud to have conversations. I tried chatting for a bit and then a group of us went down to the dance floor and danced for about 15 minutes. It was now 11:30pm and I was tired. I didn't have to working tomorrow (they wanted to give my badge to someone else), so I had an hour and a half drive ahead of me so I said my good nights and headed home.

Luckily I left when I did as I barely made it home and towards the end of my drive I struggled to stay awake.

All in all it was a fun day, love working the booth and interacting with The Guild fans. Bummed I didn't get to work both days.. but I guess one day is better then none.

My New Niece

Today my sister-in-law sent me a picture of my new niece Molly Skye or Molly LeeAnn or Skye Walker, they haven't decided on a name yet. She is due on December 24th but if she's anything like my nephew will be seeing her really soon. She looks just like her brother and I can't wait to meet her in person. I'm gonna be an uncle for the second and probably last time.

Project: Clean Garage Day Two

So day I started bright and early. I also took precaution this time and geared up with a face mask and rubber gloves. I had nothing planned and really wanted to get a bulk of the work done and that's what I did. I would work for about a half hour to an hour and then take a break for a half hour and do that over and over and by 7pm I was exhausted and dirty but my garage was looking so much better. I still have at least a half day of cleaning and about a day of going through boxes to see if I still want to keep the stuff in them. I also want to re-box some of my toy boxes. Some of the plastic bins haven't held up to the weight of other bins on top of them and have started to crack. I have a about 10% of my toys in cardboard boxes and really want to get them into plastic bins as well. So it's far from over but man does it look a 1000 times better.

House Under Attack

I know I live in a rural area and there are critters all over the place but lately I feel like my house has been under attack more then usual. I have mice in my kitchen and garage damaging valuable stuff , woodpeckers damaging the side of my house and a murder of crows playing soccer on top of the roof. There are rabbits and prairie dogs digging up the grounds and when they decide to die they always seem to pick under the house so I get to deal with the smell of a decaying animal for a week.  This is part of living in the middle of no where and I've dealt with it for two years but the past few months it seems to be getting worse. I don't want to kill things but I have to protect the house and at this point I'll do anything.

Lunch with Jeff

Late last night I got an twitter direct message from my buddy Jeff asking if I wanted to have lunch tomorrow as he is flying in from Philly for this weekends Blizzcon. I of course said yes and we made plans for him to drive out to my place and we'd grab some lunch.

So I got up today  and started working on the next Knights of the Guild podcast. I was going to try and get back out to clean the garage but since I only had a few hours before Jeff was showing up I opted to do some podcasting work.  I really wanted to get a start on my KOTG podcast and get another Confessions of a Fanboy done but in the end I only did a bit of uploading of some interviews for my next KOTG.

Around 12:30 Jeff showed up and we headed out to Panda Express. It was a really nice visit and I think it's the first time when it was just Jeff and I. Normally we hang out at comic con with others or when he did visit my place we had company when we went out to lunch. This time it was just to two of us and we had some good conversations about life. I learned a little bit more Jeff, which is always nice. After lunch we headed back to my place and just hung out and chatted until 4:30 when he headed to Studio City to see some of his other friends. It was a nice visit and I hope to see him again this weekend at Blizzcon.

Around 10pm I checked my phone and for some reason it was on silent and I noticed that I had a message from my friend John and then it hit me.. I was suppose to have dinner with him and his partner and I totally forgot. If you read my blog previously I lost all my calendar info yesterday and I thought I remembered everything that was lost.. well I didn't. I felt like crap as I know they made a special dinner for me and really wanted to catch up. Wasn't the best way to end my night.

Lunch and a Movie

As expected I slept horribly last night worried that I contracted the Hantavirus (see last post). But you know what... I can't worry about it. The possibility is very slim and if I did I'll deal with it when and if the symptoms show themselves.

Anyways today I was meeting up with my buddies Scott and Andrew. We were going to grab some lunch and then do a movie.

We meet up at Fudruckers at 1:30pm, Well Andrew and I did. Scott was running a bit late. So Andrew and I went in and ordered some food. Andrew really enjoyed the fact that he could get a beer as part of his combo meal. Andrew and I had our food for about fifteen minutes when Scott showed up, ordered his food and about ten minutes later was eating with us.

These guys are AWESOME and all conversations are very geeky. We talk tech, movies, TV, entertainment industry and personal lives. I could spend all day just hanging and chatting. After lunch we headed over to Yogurtland. They didn't have any soy type dessert so I had to opt out but the guys both got some yummy yogurt as I watched and wished I wasn't lactose intolerant. While there we talked about the new OS5 for our iPhones. They were talking about the iCloud which I didn't activate when I upgraded but I really wanted to be able to share my calendar between my iPhone and iPad and Andrew mentioned that I could upload it to my iCloud and then both of my devices would pull it from there. So I activated my iCloud.

After yogurt we headed to the movie theater and picked up tickets for the 3:30 screening of Real Steel. While we waited for Scott (who had to move his car) I noticed that my calendar was blank.. all my notices were gone. Andrew tried to reset them but with no luck. Scott showed up and we went into the theater.


Real Steel was a pretty AWESOME movie. I'm a HUGE Hugh Jackman fan and I loved Evangeline Lilly from Lost so I was looking forward to seeing this movie. I'm not into boxing movies but this was more of a father/son story and it involved boxers who happen to be robots. The SFX were fantastic, the acting was great. Story was simple and cool, my friend Andrew said they could have gone into a little bit more background but I think they gave us enough to enjoy the movie. First half moves along a little slow but once you hit a certain point it's none stop awesome!! It's defiantly one of those feel good movies. And everyone did a great job on taking this main character (Hugh Jackman) who you hate at the beginning of the film and by the end totally fall in love with. The kid actor (who reminded Scott and I of Jake Lloyd (Annie from Star Wars Ep1) ) but his acting was better. This is a good family film for all. It was will a must buy on blu-ray when it comes out.

After the movie the three of us said our goodbyes and I headed home. On my way home I stopped by Lowes to pick up some rubber gloves and breathing masks for when I continue to clean the garage tomorrow. I also picked up a plastic owl and plan to place it on top of the roof so ward off crows and wookpeckers (at least I hope it does). I also tried to recover my missing calendar data but it's gone and there is no form of back up of it. Oh well guess I'll have to try and remember my plans/events for the next few months.

Anyways, a good lunch, great friends and fantastic movie makes a pretty AWESOME day.

Cleaning the Garage

Today I wanted to get started on cleaning up my garage. When we moved in we had everything really organized but now two years later it looks like a tornado hit the place. I have three car garage but one of them is sectioned off and I use that as my home Gym. That was fairly clean and only took me an hour or so to get everything looking good. Once that was over I went to lunch at El Pollo Loco and while I was eating I noticed a dollar bill under the tape but it turned out to be a ten dollar bill. I actually thought about taking it up to one of the employees but then realized that they would probably just keep it themselves so I pocketed it.

After lunch I headed back home and started on my other side and much large part of the garage. About and hour in I bent down and heard a loud rip and noticed that I tore the entire front of my shorts. As I was moving boxes I noticed a ton of mouse droppings and knew there must be a ton of mice hiding out in here.

About 90% of my things are in large plastic containers but there is still stuff in cardboard boxes. So as I was moving things around I would everything to see if anything was damaged and when I got to the box with my childhood stuff animals I found where the mice had nested. All of my stuff animals smelled or urine and had mouse droppings all over the place. I was so bummed as some of those were animals were very special to me so I threw away a third and opted to try and wash the other two-thirds.  I didn't find any mice in that box but when I went to move a few moving blankets one of them had two mice tucked in and the other had one. I managed to contain them and move them outside where I let them run away.

About five hours in I called it a night, it was super dark and I was getting tired. As I checked my emails and such I got a tweet from my buddy Chris saying "@Jedisaber: @Geekyfanboy don't try to save them. Hantavirus is no joke. Say goodbye and protect better next time." This stopped me in my track and I had to look up the Hantavirus as I had heard of it but really didn't know anything about it. Come to find out that it's this horrible virus that attacked your lungs and is carried in the urine and droppings of deer mice. They advise to not disturb nests or push the dust around. Well I just spent the last five hours digging through urine and dropping laced boxes and stuff animals. I also took a air blowers and blew all the dust (and other things into the air) so much so that I was sneezing because I was inhaling so much of it. I used no protecting not knowing that what I was doing could be fatal. This virus has no cure and if caught early had a 50/50 survival rate.

Now the odds of the mice that are in my garage having this virus and then passing it along in their urine/droppings and me inhaling the infected dust is slim to none but you never know. So I spent the rest of the night worried and trying to research as much as I can. I know I'm not going to sleep tonight!! And I'll be worried for the next six weeks as it can take up to six weeks to show any signs of the infection.

Planning My 3rd Tattoo

So I'm planning on getting my 3rd tattoo in the coming weeks. It will be Lord of the Rings "One Ring to Rule Them All..." saying in Elvish script.

My original plan was to wrap that saying around my upper right arm but I have an issue with that now..  it's a pretty long saying and to wrap it around my arm on a single line would mean the lettering would have to be super small. I could do double line (like it's picture above) and the letter would be bigger but I'm not sure I like that since it's just one single line wrapped inside of a ring.

Also since I dressed up as a Hobbit for SDCC and Hobbits being my favorite characters from the books I wanted to get a set of Hobbit feet tattooed below the Elvish script and I'm not sure how cool that would look to the a double line of script wrapped around my arm with these floating Hobbit feet under it.

But I came across this cool picture of the Elvish script in a circle, single line that I really like and I thought maybe I could put a set of Hobbit feet in the middle.

 
I'm actually leaning more towards that design now.. just need to find the right drawing of Hobbit feet.

What do you guys think? Which version of the tattoo do you like better?

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 18

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/direct download http://MASH4077Podcast.com

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcasts, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast and our special guest Harry Dauz discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 1, Episode #18 - Dear Dad... Again
Directed by Jackie Cooper
Written by Larry Gelbart & Sheldon Keller
Production code J317
Original air date February 4, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Hawkeye writes to his father again about several crazy events that take place at the 4077th, including the discovery of an Demara-esque fraud masquerading as a doctor, Frank becoming drunk, and Margaret’s attempt to sing “My Blue Heaven” at the camp “No-Talent Show.”

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds, Al & Harry

Need my Mojo Back

Once again I got up today with a ton of motivation to get stuff done. I have a MASH podcast that is due to be released tomorrow and I haven't even started editing it. I need to completely remove everything from my garage and re-pack and organize it. Need to clean the cars and get Harry's truck listing up online so we can sell it. And there is a ton of yard work to be done.

But as with the past few days about an hour into my day my motivation disappeared and I struggled to do a few things around the house. I don't know what it is but ever since I got back from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter I've had a hard time motivating myself to do anything other then catch up on my TV programs.

Maybe I'm just in a rut because I'm no longer living in the "Harry Potter" world or after the long hard year of work, my mind/body is saying no more.. just relax for a bit. Whatever it is I need to snap out of it. I might not be working but I still have responsibilities. During this work downtime I'm hoping to accomplish so much and now it being halfway through the month already I feel like I have done nothing and I hate that feeling.

So starting tomorrow.. I'm going to dig down deep and find my mojo once again and get things done. I did manage to finished the next MASH 4077 Podcast by midnight.. so that's a start.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

Moving Abroad??

Now that I'm single, in my early 40's and currently trying to re-focus my life (job wise) I am seriously thinking about moving abroad. I was born and raised in Southern California. I've never lived anywhere else. And ever since I met Harry we always said if things didn't work out here in the US for him we could move to Europe and I always said if we did that I would want to live in England because they speak English and I just love the whole British culture. Of course things between Harry and I didn't work out but the thought of living in England has never left me.

Living in England has been at the forefront of my mind these days. I need a change, a big change and moving to England might be it. I've never been aboard and I know it's not exactly like it appears in movies and TV but I am planning a trip to England/Ireland in May of 2012 so I'll get to see what it's like over there. I can't really think about moving until the house is sold here and I can't put it on the market until September 2012 so this move wouldn't happen for at least a year. But with that said I have a ton of toys/collectibles that I would need to sell along with furniture and other household things.

I don't know where in England I would want to live. I would definitely need to do my research, look into getting a work visa, housing, jobs.. lots of pre-planning. And who knows a year is a long ways off and so many things could happen between now and then. It's just something that was on my mind that I wanted to share it with my blog readers... stay tuned!!

Doctor's Appointment

This morning I had my yearly Doctor's appointment. Now I was seeing my main doctors assistant but I like him as well so I didn't mind. It was a full on physical exam. He poke and prodded every part of my body. They took plenty of blood to do all kinds of tests.

I did my yearly HIV test and I am negative. For me I always expect to be negative but there is always that voice in the back of your mind saying.. what if.

He mentioned several things that I already knew.. I'm over weight and need to lose at least 30 to 40 pounds and that I have dangerously high blood pressure. And that it's been high for several years so it's time to put me on medication to try and control it. So besides my cholesterol medicine and my testosterone supplement I now have to take blood pressure medicine.

Getting old sucks!!!

KOTG CompanionCast S5E12

Download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast or listen, get direct download at http://bit.ly/2CrYxk 

 

Show Notes:

 

This is the final CompanionCast for The Guild Season Five. First of all be sure you watched Episode 12 of season 5 . If you haven’t seen it yet watch it HERE

Our Season 4 CompanionCasts were a huge hit so we thought we would do them again for Season 5.

So what is a CompanionCast?? It’s a behind the scene look at the current episode of The Guild.
I was on set everyday while they shot Season 5. As actors and crew were finished with scenes I would try and speak to them. Get some inside info about the scene they just shot. I also interviewed Felicia Day and Kim Evey about the storyline and Sean Becker about the directing. Each one of these CompanionCasts will be episode specific and will vary in length depending on how much guildie goodness I am able to gather.

In this CompanionCast I interview Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Vince Caso, Greg Aronowitz, Robin Thorsen, Doug Jones, Leslie Crystal, Felicia Day and many more.

I hope you enjoy a look behind the scenes of Season 5 Episode 12
Kenny

Podcasting Overload!!

I woke up this morning super energized and ready to take on the day. I had plans to edit 1 Knights of the Guild podcast CompanionCast, 1 MASH 4077 Podcast, 1 Confessions of a Fanboy and maybe even work on my new revamped Knights of the Guild podcast. But when I finally sat down to get started on editing I had no motivation. I struggled all day with editing my final KOTG CompanionCast for episode 12 and that had to get done as it's was being released at noon the next day, but even knowing that it took some effort to finish it.

I don't know why the past few days I have had no motivation to do anything. There are tons of things I need to do around the house. I mean It's only been a week since I finished my job and got back from my mini vacation but there is so much to do and now is the time to do it.

I love podcasting but maybe I just need a break from it all. I need to find that spark again. I did get excited when I started to do some research for my new Alien Nation Podcast, but the idea of editing them just isn't that appealing to me. Obviously I need to snap out of this as I have several podcasts due this week. But I think some of the burnout is due to the fact that KOTG CompanionCasts have come out every week for the past 12 weeks and they take so much time and energy, which was very limited because of the stress and busyness of the last few months of my job. And that 's on top of my MASH 4077 and Confessions of a Fanboy podcasts. Luckily those only come out twice a month.

But now that my KOTG CompanionCasts are done for season five and I'm currently jobless and enjoying it. I think I'll get back my podcasting passion...

My New Wand Display

Today I got my new Wand display that I got off of Ebay. I recently purchased seven new wands after my one was stolen at comic con and I found this really great display case. I have three additional wands for a total of 10 and this display case hold 10 exactly so it was meant to be.

Also in this picture is my Bludger Bat and Ball that I picked up at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to join the Quaffle Ball I got for Christmas last year.

Lunch, Potter and More

Today my buddy Scott and I planned to go to lunch and then stop by the Harry Potter themed store Whimsic Alley. Scott just moved here from New Jersey and is a huge Harry Potter fan like me and he just happened to live a few blocks from this store and hadn't been yet. So we walked to this great burger joint called The Counter and had a nice lunch. While we were chatting during lunch he mentioned going to the Grove after Harry Potter and since I didn't have plans and enjoy Scott's company, it was a no brainier. So we finished lunch and then headed over to the Potter store, but we found out that the store is closed on Mondays and Tuesday. I was extremely bummed because I love showing the store to new folks especially Potter fans. So we had to postpone seeing Whimsic Alley and we headed to The Grove. We spent the next few hours chatting and checking out all the stores at The Grove. While taking a break we started talking about new TV and both mentioned how we enjoy the new series Terra Nova and it just so happens that the third episode airs tonight, so we made plans to watch it together. We still had about 2 1/2 hours before it was to start so we went to the movie theater but unfortunately the movies we wanted to see weren't playing at the right time so we just headed back to his place. Once at Scott's we watched the premiere episode of season two of Happy Endings, which I had never seen but wanted to... funny stuff. We ordered some pizza and around 8:30 started to watch Terra Nova. Another fun but predictable episode. Both Scott and I agreed it's much more enjoyable watching TV with someone then it is by ourselves. We're going to try and make this a semi-regular thing (schedules permitting).

So what was suppose to be a hour lunch visit turned into an eight hour day of AWESOME. I've said it before and I'll continue to say it.. I have some GREAT friends and I'm so happy to call Scott one of them. Thanks for a FANTASTIC day buddy!!!

Lazy Weekend

Other then my continued battle with my nemesis woodpecker it has been a fairly lazy weekend. Though I had a ton of podcasting that I should have done I just didn't feel motivated to do any of it. Instead I watched a lot of backed logged TV that I had recorded during my vacation. It was kind of nice not doing anything but then again it only makes it worse because I still have to get these podcasts done in a timely manner.

I did manage to motivate myself a but today and do about five hours of research for my new Alien Nation Podcast that I'll be recording with my brother next month. But doing that research made me want to re-watch the series because I love it so much. I'm extremely excited to get started on this new podcast.

But like I said I did watch quite a bit of TV. Extreme Makeover - Home Edition, Modern Family, Raising Hope, House Hunters International, Property Ladder, Little Couple, Little People Big World and a few others. Sometimes you just have to relax and do nothing.

Kenny vs The Woodpecker - Round III

I heard a familiar tapping on the bedroom wall at 6:30 in the morning. I immediately knew what it was... my old nemesis was back.. the dreaded woodpecker. I had already gone two rounds with this bird and it's been a few months so I thought all was well.. nope. Round three is about to begin.

I've tried animal/bird repellent, I've tired hanging shiny things from there but it keeps coming back. I now have placed a large broom just outside my bedroom sliding doors and as soon I hear that little pecker I slowly get up and sneak out side in hopes of whacking it. Well my first attempt was pathetic, not even getting close to the bird as it flies off mocking (no it literally squawks at me as it flies away). My second attempt was a little better and I think I nicked it as it didn't sound happy as it flew away.

Normally when I spray the bird repellent that will keep it away for a day but now it only keeps it away for a half hour or so and then it's back pecking away making a huge hole in the side of my house. Going to go to Lowes and see if there is anything stronger I can use to get rid of it.. or I'm going to get a lucky shot and whack that thing to the ground.

I don't want to hurt it... but mister nice guy can only take so many holes in the side of my house before mister killer is released.

Harry Potter Vacation - Day Five

Well today is my final day on my Orlando Florida Vacation. It's been a FANTASTIC trip. Of course when I was booking everything it never dawned on my that I would need to be out of my hotel by 11am but my plane flight wasn't until 7pm. So I checked out of my hotel, left my luggage there and walked to Universal City Walk. figured I'd just walk around there and check out the shops. Well about fifteen minutes into my walk the skies opened up and the rain came down. I ran to a near by tree and was okay for a short time. I figured these rain falls only last ten or so minutes but then the wind picked up and the rain was going sideways and my dry spot was no longer dry and I got drenched. The rain would fall hard, then light and hard again. I knew if I stayed there I would be completely soaked and since I didn't have a hotel room wouldn't be able to do much about it. So I opted to run to the valet parking for Universal. They had a roof and it was only a few yards away. So the rain let up a bit and to booked it. Mind you my legs were already hurting from the walk but I didn't care. I ran as fast I as I could to reach shelter.

City walk in Florida is much like City Walk here in LA. It's open aired space so a few hundred of us stood under an awning waiting for the rain to let up. But as I said it lasted about 15 minutes and then it was over and the mob made it's way to it's destination. It was lunch time so I headed to the food court and made it inside just as it started to downpour again. I felt bad for those visiting the park as it is suppose to rain for the next seven days.

Talk about timing I couldn't have picked a better time to visit. I had rain for about 10 minutes yesterday but before that it was beautiful skies my entire vacation. The weather gods were kind of me on this trip. But now I'm in the food court having some lunch and watching people run from building to building as the rain would stop, then start again and stop once again. Lucky for me Burger King (which was in the food court) had free wifi.. really good and strong wifi so I was able to pull out my ipad and catch up on facebook and twitter. After the lunch the rain let up once again and I ventured out and walked around City Walk. Was going to try and catch a movie but all the timings didn't work as I need to head back to my hotel at 4pm as my shuttle was picking me up at 4:45 to take me back to the airport.

So I just walked around and ran into buildings as rain would start. That lasted about a half hour and then I went back to the food court and free wifi and pretty much sat there the rest of the day. And at 4pm I left. I wasn't sure if I was going to walk or take a taxi as the skies have been on and off all day but I took a chance and it paid off. I didn't get rained on and at 4:45 the shuttle picked me up and I was off to the airport.

Once again Virgin America was fantastic, checked in, checked my bag and it took two minutes. Only downside is you have to pay $25 per bag, but other then that I will use them whenever I can. Went through security with no real issues and was seated and waiting for my flight with an hour and a half wait. I meet a few other Harry Potter fans while I waited, they were actually on the same plane I was on when we flew in on Monday. Angel was the one really into Harry Potter and we chatted for an hour about the park and various other Potter things. Henry (husband/boyfriend) was a fan but not as much as Angel was so he didn't participate to much in the conversation. But it was a nice way to pass the time.

Got on the plan around 6:55 and we took off about 7:10. The flight home was alot more turbulence then the flight was coming to FL. And I did have a spell of claustrophobia towards the end and I'm not sure why but I really had to focus on my breathing and keep calm. We managed to land, I found my shuttle to the parking structure, got my jeep and drove home.. I'm extremely tired but glad to be home. I'll blog again about my whole experience tomorrow... night all.

KOTG CompanionCast S5E11

Download from itunes - http://bit.ly/KotGCast or listen, get direct download at http://bit.ly/2CrYxk

Show Notes:

It’s time once again for the next CompanionCast for The Guild Season Five. First of all be sure you watched Episode 11 of season 5.

Our Season 4 CompanionCasts were a huge hit so we thought we would do them again for Season 5. So what is a CompanionCast?? It’s a behind the scene look at the current episode of The Guild.

I was on set everyday while they shot Season 5. As actors and crew were finished with scenes I would try and speak to them. Get some inside info about the scene they just shot. I also interviewed Felicia Day and Kim Evey about the storyline and Sean Becker about the directing. Each one of these CompanionCasts will be episode specific and will vary in length depending on how much guildie goodness I am able to gather.

In this CompanionCast I interview Sandeep Parikh, Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Vince Caso, Greg Aronowitz, Robin Thorsen, Doug Jones, Leslie Crystal, Felicia Day and many more. I also sit down Maurissa Tancharoen and discuss the status of her Lupus and how she is doing these days.

I hope you enjoy a look behind the scenes of Season 5 Episode 11
Kenny

Harry Potter Vacation - Day Four

Got up at 7am again. This is my last day at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I want to be there from opening to close. Also today as part of my vacation package I get one free breakfast at The Three Broomsticks. I wish I would have known that the breakfast was so good I would have gone every morning.

After breakfast I started my new challenge of getting a pictures of me standing in front of every shop, by asking a stranger/employee to take it for me. Well I got about 2/3rds of them done so I'm not completely disappointed in myself.

I did breakfast, lunch and dinner at The Three Broomsticks. Dinner was kind of like a farewell dinner. I got to sit in one of the very few but very cool booths and I gave a farewell toast to WWofHP (you'll see the pic when I post them up on Facebook). Also I stuck with my quota of 3 ButterBeers per day.

About 5pm it rained for about 15 minutes... At first it was light and folks continued to enjoy the park then it down poured and folks scattered for cover.. It was pretty funny.

I also rode Fight of the Hippogrift and The Dragon Challenge one last time and did Ollivanders one last time as well. What I love about Ollivanders is I did it 3 times and each time I got a different wizard, with the last being my favorite. He really interacted with people, and got many laughs.

Did my daily walk around Islands of Adventures and this time The Spiderman ride was open so I got in line. It was a fun ride, 3d animation and practical effects combined to make a really enjoyable ride. And of course I did my 20 minutes viewing of folks getting drenched on that rafting ride.

Oh forgot to mention that I did ride The Forbidden Journey six times today (it was also the last ride I did before my farewell dinner). I really like the "single" rider line. Didn't wait more then 15 minutes to get that ride each time. I also bought more goodies.. Got a really cool Potter hat, a quill pin, and a bludger bat and ball to go along with my quaffle I have at home. Had to resist buying so many more things. I also bought some Honeydukes chocolate and caramel swirl fudge.

I sent out many WWofHP postcards to those who responded to my tweet/Facebook. I even purchased a few more that I plan to send out in the next few days.

Before my dinner I did one more walk through the park and kind of just took it all in. Stood there for like ten minutes and didn't move. I just stared out all the Potter goodness and drank it in. I said my goodbyes and then went to dinner. I got done with dinner around 6:58, which meant I was able to go around one last time and take pictures of the shops and this time they had their lights on as it was starting to get dark. This got me thinking, I wonder what this place looks like at night. Got a little taste tonight, but it was still way to light outside to get the full effect. Next time I visit it will need to be during their night hours.

Anyways... It was another FANTASTIC day hanging out at Hogwarts & Hogsmeade. I was sad to say goodbye but I know it's more of a see you later as I know 100% that I'll be back soon.

Tomorrow I plan to hang out at Citywalk until my ride for the airport arrives at 4:45pm for my flight at 7pm and I'll be back in LA by 9pm.

Pictures Below:

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Happiest Place on Earth!! http://ow.ly/6RChs

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Various Other Hogsmeade Stores http://ow.ly/6RBW7

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Owlery & Owl Post http://ow.ly/6RBIQ

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Performers http://ow.ly/6RBvD

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Flight of the Hippogrift http://ow.ly/6RA5E

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Dervish and Banges http://ow.ly/6RzYB

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Dragon Challenge http://ow.ly/6RzKL

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Three Broomsticks & Hogs Head http://ow.ly/6RztE

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Zonkos Joke Shop http://ow.ly/6Rzfn

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Honeydukes http://ow.ly/6RzbY

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ollivanders http://ow.ly/6RyU5

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Express http://ow.ly/6RyKJ

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Castle http://ow.ly/6RyFm

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade http://ow.ly/6RyDc

Harry Potter Vacation - Day Three

Today I left the hotel at 7:30am and took a taxi into Universal as I wanted to get there early as I have early entrance. So I got into Islands of Adventures right at 8am. I wanted to get video of the place. And since there were very little people this was the perfect time. So I started at the beginning with the Hogwarts Express and made my way to the end at Hogwarts. Took about 20 minutes but I covered everything. I then took my video cam with me inside Hogwarts while I was in line for Forbidden Journey. Unfortunately it's super dark and my flip cam doesn't have a light so I didn't really get that much usable footage. After that ride I did Flight of the Hippogrift.

For the next few hours I took more pictures and video. I found little things that I didn't notice yesterday.

I tried to wait but couldn't manage it and got my 1st ButterBeer of the day at 9am. I also went on The Dragon Challenge, this time I did the blue car. Slightly different then the red but this time I took my glasses off and focused on the ride and had a fun time.

Once again at around noon I went to The Three Broomsticks to have lunch. Got the same thing I got yesterday, Fish and Chips, but this time I didn't get Pumpkin juice instead I got, yep you guessed it, another frozen ButterBeer.

After lunch the WWofHP was getting busy so I decided to walk around the rest of the Islands of Adventure. There are six sections, Seuss Landing, The Lost Continent, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Marvel Super Hero Island and of course The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

During my travels I watched people get soaked from a waterfall on some sort of rafting ride. Don't know what it is but I was there for a half hour laughing. My second favorite section is the Marvel section. Was going to do the Spiderman ride as I heard it was alot of fun but it was closed, I hope to ride it tomorrow. I did however ride The Hulk roller coaster... That was a blast.

Got back to WWofHP around 3 and just kind of hung out in that world... So much fun. One thing I forgot to mention in my blog yesterday that everywhere in WWofHP they play Harry Potter music and it's AWESOME.

I did the Forbidden Journey one last time and then went shopping. I knew this was going to be bad.. But one of the upsides of being single and childless I have a bit of expendable cash. Though I am jobless and don't have any prospects, I didn't care... It's Harry Potter :). Well I got two Harry Potter T-shirts, two key chains, a beanie cap, and Hogwarts house socks for $150. Then I went to Honeydukes and picked up some Bertie Botts every flavor beans, acid pops, Honeydukes dark chocolate bars, chocolate frog, lemon drops in a Honeydukes glass jar, death eater suckers and some pumpkin juice. That total was $75. And I still might pick up a few more things tomorrow.

After my shopping spree I went to dinner at The Three Broomsticks and had my third frozen ButterBeer for the day. After that I made my way back to the shuttle and the hotel.

Another fun day, but I do wish I had someone to share the experience with. beside seeing and experiencing all these cool things, I can't share my enthusiasm or excitement with anyone.

One thing I did learn about myself on this trip is how shy I still am. I've come a long way but still have the hardest time starting a conversation with a stranger. Evidence is how difficult it is for me to ask someone to take a picture of me. Sometimes I get the nerve and ask an employee if they don't look busy. Or someone will see me trying to take a picture of myself and offer to help. I know it's just a picture and most folks would help out but I just hate interrupting people while they are on their vacation. My big goal for tomorrow is get a picture of me in front of every shop. It's going to be tough but I'm determined to overcome my fear.

Tomorrow is my last day at Wizarding World so I'm going to make the most of it.

Pictures Below:

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Happiest Place on Earth!! http://ow.ly/6RChs

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Various Other Hogsmeade Stores http://ow.ly/6RBW7

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Owlery & Owl Post http://ow.ly/6RBIQ

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Performers http://ow.ly/6RBvD

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Flight of the Hippogrift http://ow.ly/6RA5E

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Dervish and Banges http://ow.ly/6RzYB

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Dragon Challenge http://ow.ly/6RzKL

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Three Broomsticks & Hogs Head http://ow.ly/6RztE

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Zonkos Joke Shop http://ow.ly/6Rzfn

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Honeydukes http://ow.ly/6RzbY

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ollivanders http://ow.ly/6RyU5

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Express http://ow.ly/6RyKJ

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Castle http://ow.ly/6RyFm

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade http://ow.ly/6RyDc

Harry Potter Vacation - Day Two

This is the day I have been waiting for since July of 2010. Today I stepped foot into The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. WWofHP is located at Universal Studios Islands of Adventures and is at the very back of the park. With my vacation package I had early admittance, which means I can get in at 8am before the public gets in at 9am. But my shuttle didn't leave my hotel until 8:20 and by the time I got to the park it was about 8:45, but when I got in the park wasn't that busy. Of course as I got in I followed the crowds to the back corner where WWofHP is located. I was walking so fast that my calves started to burn. But I made it.. I made it to Hogsmead.

As I entered there was just so much to see I felt a bit overwhelmed. I started taking pictures and was making my way through the park. When I realized that the park was fairly empty and I should try and go on the rides while the lines are short. So I headed to their "big" ride Forbidden Journey, only took 5 mintues to get through the line, which was good and bad. See while your in line for this ride there is so much to see as you walk through Hogwarts castle. But when there is no line you kind of walk by everything very quickly. But for me I knew I would be here for three days and have plenty of time to see everything and I really wanted to get on the ride.

Forbidden Journey is one of the most unique rides I have ever been on. It's part practical ride and part simulator and it goes back and forth. They blow air, water and heat in your face to give you that 4D experience. It's such a crazy cool ride.

Next I did Flight of the Hippogrift, this is a fun but very short roller coaster. I don't want to call it a kiddies roller coaster but that is really what it is.

After the two rides I had to try my very first ButterBeer. Now there are two opitions cold or frozen, so I chose frozen, which means it's like a slushy. Took my first slip and it was incredible. It tasted a bit like cream soda (which I very much dislike) with a touch of butterscotch (which I very much love). I finished it in no time and was ready for another one :)but really needed to wait. While drinking my ButterBeer I walked around Hogsmead and took a bunch of pictures.

After a half hour I needed a rest so I went to the Owlery, which is really cool. There are benches and ceiling fans among the owls in the rafters.

Next up was The Dragon Challange. It's a dueling roller coaster that hangs from the tracks. Again no waiting in line. While your making your way to the coaster everything is set up like the Tri-Wizard Tournament. You also get to see Hagrids Hut and the Wesley's car. You then walk through these dark winding tunnels until you reach the loading area... It's pretty crazy. The ride itself is pretty wild. Lots of twists and turns. I spent most of the time trying to keep my glasses on so I didn't really enjoy it. Had planned to ride again, but a few minutes after my first ride I started feeling some pain in my back.. Not sure what I did but it's not good.

So it's now 11am and I didn't eat breakfast so I opted to grab some lunch before the crowds showed up. I went to The Three Broomsticks and got there special of Fish and Chips. I also tried Pumpkin Juice for the first time. Food was great and the pumpkin juice tasted like pumpkin pie and was super sweet. The best part of lunch was eating in The Three Broomstick... That was pretty amazing.

After lunch I went over to Ollavander Wand Shop. By this time this section of the park was packed and there was a half hour wait (which isn't bad). Once in there the wand maker picks someone from the audience (he picked a woman right next to me). He then proceeds to pick wands until the third one when, just like in the movie, there's a light and wind and he announces the wand chooses the Wizard. It's pretty cool.

After Ollavander's I broke down and got another ButterBeer, I had planned to get a "cold" one but it was hot and the "frozen" one sounded so much better. Once again I drank it way to fast that I got ButterBeer brain freeze. Oh forgot to mention that when you go to the bathroom you hear Moaning Myrtle talking, crying and laughing. It's kind of cool yet makes it difficult to complete your business.

Anyways after I finished my second ButterBeer I opted to walk around the rest of the park looking for an outlet to charge my iPhone (didn't have any luck), but I did get to see the rest of the park.

When I got back to WWofHP I rode Forbidden Journey again and Flight of the Hippogrift. Took more pictures and watch the Hogwarts choir with singing frogs. Did Ollavander's again, walked through Honeydukes sweet shop and Zonkos joke shop. Then did Forbidden Journey for a third time... Such an awesome ride. It was now 6pm and the park closes at 7 and I had planned to eat dinner at Citywalk but The Three Broomsticks was calling to me so I went and had this yummy roasted chicken and potatoes dinner. I also had my third ButterBeer, and this time I went with "cold" and honestly I couldn't tell you which one I liked more... They are both incredible and I can't wait to drink more the next few days. I also found out that both ButterBeers are cheaper in The Three Broomsticks then at the ButterBeer kiosks... Good to know.

One last thing.. There is so much AWESOME merchandise that I want and was about to spend hundreds of dollars when I decided to wait and make sure I really "want" these things. Still doesn't mean I won't spend hundreds :) and I plan on buying my stuff tomorrow.

It was an EPIC day full of awesome and I can't wait to do it all again tomorrow. And for tomorrow it will be my video day.. Took hundreds of pictures today but I plan to take hours of video tomorrow.

Also will be uploading both pictures and video when I get back home on Friday. Until then you'll have to just enjoy my blog.

Pictures Below:

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Happiest Place on Earth!! http://ow.ly/6RChs

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Various Other Hogsmeade Stores http://ow.ly/6RBW7

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Owlery & Owl Post http://ow.ly/6RBIQ

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Performers http://ow.ly/6RBvD

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Flight of the Hippogrift http://ow.ly/6RA5E

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Dervish and Banges http://ow.ly/6RzYB

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Dragon Challenge http://ow.ly/6RzKL

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Three Broomsticks & Hogs Head http://ow.ly/6RztE

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Zonkos Joke Shop http://ow.ly/6Rzfn

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Honeydukes http://ow.ly/6RzbY

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ollivanders http://ow.ly/6RyU5

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Express http://ow.ly/6RyKJ

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogwarts Castle http://ow.ly/6RyFm

Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade http://ow.ly/6RyDc

Harry Potter Vacation - Day One

Well this day started at 3:30am.. Got up and took a shower and was out the door. Stopped by the ATM to grab some fun money and then headed off to LAX. Got to the parking structure that my friends Teal and Ali told me about. You can park your car there for $9 a day.. Which is a pretty good deal. So I left my car and then took a shuttle to the airport. Once there I checked in and I have to say Virgin America is a pretty good airliner. Only thing I didn't know about was the $25 per checked bag. I had planned to only take a carry on but wanted to bring something bigger because I know me and I'm going to a Harry Potter theme park and I'm bound to buy things that will need to come back home with me.

So I checked in and then headed to security. This is the first time I have been flying since all the extra security. So had to remove everything from my pockets and my shoes. Then had to do a full body scan before grabbing your stuff and moving forward. By this time it was 5:30am and my flight wasn't until 8am...so I waited. Boarding was delayed by 30 minutes as our plane had a hard time reaching us. But eventually it arrived and we boarded. I was towards the front of the plane which meant I was one of the last to board. Security was actually testing people's hands for explosives as we were boarding, luckily I wasn't selected.

The flight it's self was uneventful.. Again Virin America has some very nice planes and the crew was great. Got to Orlando, Florida only 10 minutes late. Once there I made my way to the badge claim and picked up my one checked bag.

Now to find Quick Transportation, I pre-ordered this with my vacation package but when I got out to all the shuttles I couldn't find them. I tried calling the only number I had, which was for the vacation package place, but figured they could help me. After 20 minutes on hold I finally got a hold a woman who said she would direct me to the proper person and the next thing I know I'm back at the beginning. Frustration takes hold and I hang up and do another walk pass looking for Quick Transportation. I ask a few of the other shuttle people but no one heard of the service I was using. Now my phone is dying and I had no choice but to call again and again after 20 minutes of waiting I finally get a hold of a guy who, once I explained everything and what had happen to my last attempt, actully kept me online and helped me out. Come to find out that when I booked this package I was suppose to get an email and contact them seven days prior to set up a time for a driver to come pick me up. Well it took another 20 minutes but a van finally came for me an hour and a half after I had arrived I was on my way to my hotel.

Got to the hotel around 6pm and checked in. I have a huge room.. It's pretty nice. I hadn't eaten all day so I went next door to TGI Friday and grabbed some food. After dinner I came back to the hotel room and am now checking my email and blogging.

Got my shuttle ticket for 8:20am to take me to Universal Studio tomorrow morning... I'm so excited.

Can't add pictures with this blog via my iPad :( but will upload pics tomorrow to my Facebook.

Baby Shower

Today I went to my sister-in-law's baby shower. They still haven't decided on a name.. I'm still pushing for Molly LeeAnne. I got to my brother's house a bit earlier so I was able help set up. The day was lots of fun. We played a bunch of shower games, had some good food and got to play with my nephew Kenobi. I stayed later then expected as it takes me an hour and half to get home and I have to get up at 3am the next day.

But when I got home I had to pack and that took me about an hour and finally went to bed around 10pm.

Can't wait for tomorrow...vacation Harry Potter will began.