Painting & New Batman Series

Not much happened today other then I finally finished painting the trim on my house and garage... woohoo.  Now I just have to paint he body of the house without screwing up the trim. I think I'm going to rent a paint sprayer to help with that. It's gonna take a lot of taping up trim and windows but I think in the long run it will be fast. I hope to start tomorrow but supposedly we have some wind advisory for the new few days.. so it might be to windy to do anything. Guess I'll have to wait and see.

Got to watch one of my most anticipaed new TV series tonight.. Marvel's Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D.  You can read my thoughts on this new series and others in my next blog post.

I also heard that Fox picked up a new straight to series series called Gotham, which is going to focus on Commissioner Gordon. It's unusual for a series to get picked up without a pilot first. The network must really like the script and concept. Fox doesn't have the best track record when it comes to genre type shows. But maybe this will be different. We don't know who will be playing Gordon, I'm sure it won't be Gary Oldman who played a great Gordon in the recent Bale Batman movies. I'm not a huge Batman fan but I am looking forward to this series. If done right it could be pretty amazing.

Healthy Eating... Well Drinking

Besides the awesome elliptical that my friends got for me for my Birthday...  my brother and sister-in-law got me something that will be a huge help when it comes to eating healthy. It's called a NutriBullet. They got one of these a few months ago and have done nothing but sing it's praise.

Now if you know me you know I don't do vegetables... well not the good healthy ones at least. I've tried over the years to force myself to eat them but I've never found a way that I could and still enjoy them... well that was until my brother made me a veggie/fruit smoothy with his NutriBullet. I was skeptical and swore I would be able to taste the veggies. He poured me this huge glass which I did not appreciate but one sip and the next thing I knew the glass was empty. It's amazing how a banana can mask flavors.

Cut to today, I made my very first veggie/fruit smoothy. I used spinach, broccoli, carrots, strawberries and a banana. It was pretty amazing, I drank it down in about ten minutes. I think if I make a bit more I can replace an entire meal with this. My normal breakfasts are about 600 calories and this drink is only 170. Of course my stomach was not happy with me as it's not use to getting healthy raw veggies but I know once my system gets use to it the stomach aches will subside.

Right now I plan on replacing breakfast with a large glass of veggie/fruit smoothy. I plan to mix it up a bit with the ingredients. I've had folks suggest Kale and pineapple. The only downside to this is that veggies and fruits are expensive and being on a very tight budget at the moment makes it hard to justify buying them. But I'm going to continue doing what I can as I know this healthy eating will benefit me greatly.  Thanks Mike and Lora for getting me this awesome machine.

I Turn 43 Today

The day was September 23rd, 1970, the time 9.22pm, the location Pioneer Hospital in Artesia California. This is where I took my first breath and began what would be a very interesting life.

Today I turn 43 years old, in the past (age 40 - 42) I have thrown big weekend parties but this time I decided that I wasn't going to do that. I felt like it's just 43, now when I turn 45 that's going to be a different story.

I have amazing friends and family... I got over 200 Facebook posts wishing me a Happy Birthday and about 50 or so tweets. Family called to wish me Happy Birthday as did a few close friends. And I got some text messages and a few birthday cards. I felt well loved today. Thank you all for those warm wishes.

I didn't do a single thing today, my plan was to just chill and watch TV but since I did that yesterday because I was sick I was actually bored today. I didn't want to "work", ie painting or podcasting. So it turned into a blah kind of day.

A highlight of my day was watching Downton Abbey Season 4. It started in the UK yesterday and I scoured the internets looking for a copy. I finally found a legit copy and downloaded it (slow internet). Unfortunately the file didn't work on my TV so I had to watch it via the computer (which I am not a fan of) but honestly it didn't matter. From the first minute of the show I realized how much I miss these people and their lives. I won't go into spoilery details as I don't think this will air until early next year here in the States. But I loved it, every minute of it. After the tragic accident at the end of season three I was wondering how they would start season four. I liked how they handled one of the main cast members leaving during the hiatus. I still love Mr. Banks and Anna, Daisy is adorable and my hatred for Thomas is still there. I can't wait to see where this season goes.

During the evening I made my Birthday cake, I've been wanting to try this recipe I found for a Butterscotch Cake. I love butterscotch and I've been dying to make this. Even though I didn't have real butter or a mixer I managed to get everything mixed well. I wasn't sure how it was going to taste but it smelled pretty good. When I make cakes I always make cupcakes as I like that they are bite size and easy to eat. So when my first batch of cup cakes were done I took one and ate half of it without the icing. And to my surprise it was very tasty. I can't say it tasted exactly like butterscotch but it was still very tasty. I then put icing on the other half and oh man that is where the butterscotch taste comes from. It was like a sweetness overload. I could have eaten a dozen of them but I was good and had only that one... for now :)

I can't say this was a great birthday, I felt very alone (and I know that's crazy with all the love and messages I was getting), but I do appreciated all the birthday wishes how every I got them. I want to thank all those who sent gifts over the past few weeks (they are definably not required) but they are very much appreciated. I think this taught me a lesson.. Birthday are best when spent with friends.. I won't make that mistake again.

A Friends Birthday & The Emmys

So with my plans for Hobbit Day no longer in play I was open to go hang out with my buddy Rupert and some friends as it's Rupert's birthday today (yay... Happy Birthday Rupert). I was excited to see Rupert, Robert and Luis.

Now I haven't been feeling 100% the past few days but it hasn't been anything big until this morning when I got up. My head was killing me, I was dizzy and didn't know why. I felt hot so I took my temperature and it was 102f. Well that ruined any plans of going out today. I'm glad I changed my mind about Hobbit day as I would have been very disappointed if I was going and couldn't. It was bad enough that I was going to miss Rupert's Birthday Lunch and Movie.

So instead I did nothing but try and relax on the couch and watch TV all day. As mentioned in my previous blog post I watched The Hobbit cartoon in celebration of Hobbit Day as well as wore my Hobbit feet around the house.  During the evening it was time for the 65th Emmy Awards. Neil Patrick Harris, who I adore, was the host. I wasn't really invested in any of the categories as only a few of my favorites were nominated. The show overall was okay, my favorites parts were of course Neil singing and dancing. There was this "middle of the show for no reason" dance and song with Neil and special guest Nathan Fillon and Sarah Silverman... that was pretty epic. A few of my favorites won but overall it was a ho-hum kind of show.

I was feeling better by the end of the day, my temperature was going down and the painful headaches were subsiding. Hopefully I won't be sick tomorrow for my birthday.

Random Geek Question: Horror Movies

Posted another random geek question on Facebook and Twitter... What is your favorite Horror/Supernatural movie/series?

Did realized until writing this blog post that it actually never posted to Facebook.. that would explain why I didn't get many responses.  But I did get a few on Twitter, Aaron said "The George A. Romero zombie movies. Night of the Living Dead & Dawn of the Dead". Erlend said "The Resident Evil films + The Shining". Steven said "Don't like Horror of any type really, as for supernatural series I'd say either Sanctuary or Lost Girl". Chris said "Favorite Horror: Either "The Thing" (1982 and 2011, both), or "Dawn of the Dead" (2006)", he also said " I suppose I like the show "Supernatural", as far as supernatural stuff goes. Also, big points for "Ghostbusters".  And Twitter friend Mark (eldiablito_72) says Poltergeist is one of his favorite Horror movies. 

I agree with Mark, my favorite "horror" movie would have to be Poltergeist. I remember being a kid (age 12) and watching it with my family at a drive in theater. It scared the living daylights out of me and to this day I still love watching all three of the movies. 

So what's your favorite Horror/Supernatural movie/series? Leave your answers in the comments below.

Happy Hobbit Day

Well today is Hobbit Day in celebration of Bilbo and Frodo's Birthdays. All around the world folks are celebrating with food, drink and merriment. Unless you live under a rock and have never read any of my blogs, tweets or Facebook posts you know that I love everything about Hobbits. One of these days I will live in a Hobbit hole.

I have missed recent celebrations of Hobbit Day here in Los Angeles as my birthday is the next day on the 23rd and the past few years I have had parties to celebrate that. But this year I decided on no parties and planned to attend the L.A. gathering of Middle Earth fans at Griffith Park sponsored by The One Ring dot Net. According to their Facebook invite there were going to be over 200 fans there but I only knew 2 of them and those were folks I have never met in person only through Facebook.

I'm not good in large crowds of people that I don't know. That's when my social awkwardness really shines. I planned to dress up in my Hobbit outfit, you know I never pass up any opportunity to dress up but my current feet have several tears and I am awaiting a new pair of feet and I really didn't feel like shaving my beard either. So I decided not to attend this event, thought I do regret it a bit, I think I wouldn't have had as much fun if I had gone with some friends. Maybe next year I can convince a few of my friends to go with me.

So instead I celebrated Hobbit Day by wearing my Hobbit feet and watching Rankin & Bass The Hobbit cartoon that I had never seen before. I thought I had but it must have been the Lord of the Rings animated movie that I'm remembering.

The Hobbit cartoon was extremely abridged. They left out a ton of information and characters. The character designs were so bizzare. I mean the Dwarfs looked okay and the goblins were fine but the wood elves were scary looking and Gollum looked like a humanoid toad creature... it was very distracting. Smaug looked like a cross between a Dragon and a cat. I liked the music and the animation was okay. I'm glad I watched it and own it on DVD as I'm sure I'll want to watch it again from time to time.

So I didn't exactly celebrate Hobbit Day as planned but it was still a good day and next year I'll do a lot more pre-planning. Maybe I'll have a Hobbit Day / Birthday celebration weekend.

Visiting Family!!

Today I am spending the majority of my time with my family. But first I did my 20 minutes cardio as I'm trying to get back into that routine. I then headed out to visit family, but I had to stop by my local post office to pick up a package that they couldn't leave at my mailbox. At first I thought it was another birthday gift as it was coming from Amazon, but instead it was a car seat that I had purchased a week ago for my nephew. He's at the age and weight where he no longer needs a baby seat and I figure I'll be taking him places so I should get him a "big boy's" seat.

My brother was having a small get together with his friends but I was also visiting my Dad as I haven't seen him in a few weeks. It took me a bit longer then expected.. just over two hours but when I walked in the front door I was greeted by my nephew and niece smiling faces.. they wanted to play.

I immediately started playing with them. They introduced me to their new fish named after them of course and then we started to play cars. About a half hour later Molly wanted to go back down stairs to mom so I took her down. And figured this would be a good time to say hi to Dad and see what he was up to. Dad asked if I wanted to go to lunch, but I said Mike was bbqing hot dogs and burger but Dad wanted to take me out for a birthday lunch and who am I to argue. So we went to P.F. Changs. We had a very tasty lunch and then we drove to Toy's R Us as my Dad wanted to do a bit of shopping for his grandkids.

After shopping we headed back to Mikes and the party was in full swing. I like most of Mikes friends so I sat around and talked with some of them for a few hours. Around 7pm I said my goodbyes and started my journey home. Luckily for me the traffic going home was alot lighter then coming and I was home by 8:30pm.

I jumped on LOTRO for an hour before calling it a night and watching some Simpsons before bed time.

iOS7, Painting & Birthday Gifts

Got up this morning and did my 20 minute cardio. I then continued to try and update my iPhone with IOS7 but again kept getting an error.. after an hour my buddy Robert suggested that I try updating it over wifi. I started to download the new IOS directly to my phone and it would take about three hours as my internet is crap, this meant I couldn't leave my place as I needed to get to Lowes to buy more trim paint as I ran out. Instead I did things around the house to kill time.

The download was finally done and I applied to to my phone and viola it worked. I now have IOS7 on my phone.. of course it's going to take me a while to figure where everything is.. this update is a major change to the IOS system but I like what I have seen so far.

I  did make it to Lowes and purchased more paint stripper for my deck and another gallon of trim paint. When I got home I painted more trim around my house and garage. I think I'm about 99% done. Gonna do one more pass but I think I'm ready for the main painting of the house... woo hoo.

I've set another due date for me and I really need to keep this one. I'm hoping to have all the painting, deck sanded and stained, inside of the house super cleaned and touch up on the walls all done by the end of October so I can finally put my house up for sale by November 1st. I think it's doable and I might even be able to get it done sooner.

I also got another birthday gift in the mail.. this one was from my buddy Josh. He got me the Rankin-Bass "The Hobbit" cartoon. Being a huge Middle Earth fan you would have thought I would have seen this but I'm not sure which of the cartoons I have seen so I'm looking forward to watching this. He also got me Dungeon and Dragons part 1 and 2 on blu-ray... these movies tend to get a lot of flack but I love them.  And he also got me a Star Wars book called Vader's Little Princess.. it's the second book in that series, the first one being Darth Vader and Son. I loved the first one so I can't wait to read the second one. Thanks Josh for the awesome birthday gifts.

"Get Fit" Week 7

This wasn't a great week, especially for working out but that changed on Wednesday (well Thursday really) when some of my friends grouped together and got me a new elliptical for my upcoming birthday. The elliptical was a huge part of my daily workout so it's so awesome to have it back again.

I continue to struggle with food, I can happily say that I only ate out once this week which is pretty big for me. I'm hoping to keeping the eating out/ fast food to once or twice a week. I'll soon have a "bullet" (high speed blender) that my brother is getting me for my birthday and I'll start eating more vegetables as I have found I can drink spinach, broccoli and other veggies much easier then eating them.

I did weight myself this morning like I do every Friday morning. Last week I was at 204lbs and today I am at 202lbs. So I lost two pounds this week... yay!!! I'm hoping with this new elliptical and working out again and pounds will come off a bit faster and I'll get below 200 by next Friday. Wish me luck!!!   

Handyman Kenny

First thing I did this morning was build my new elliptical. I'm fairly handy so I figured I'd get it done in an hour or so... well 2 1/2 hours later I finally finished assembling it. It was like a workout just putting it together but once it was done I jumped on and did my first 25 minute carido workout for the day.

This elliptical is a bit different then my last one but it still kicks my butt and gets my heart racing. I'm so excited to get back into my routine of doing two 20 to 30 minute cardio workouts a day.

Only other thing I did of significance today was continue painting the trim on my garage. This one required me to get on top of my roof and hang over the side. I tried this a month or so ago on my house when it was 100+ degrees outside and almost killed me. So today I waited until around 5pm when it started to cool and I have to say it's so much easier. In the few hours of daylight that I had, I got quite a bit of it done. Should be able to finish tomorrow or the next day and then I can move on to the main body of the house, but for that I'm renting a paint sprayer.

Oh I almost forgot.. I attempted to update my iPhone to IOS 7 but it failed.. I tried several times and got the same results.. it was too late to fight with it so I gave up and will try again tomorrow. It looks cool.. my buddy Robert updated his phone yesterday so I got to see some of the changes last night. Hopefully I can update mine tomorrow.

Surprise!!!

Well as I was leaving to go hang out with buddy Robert today I opened my front door and there was this huge box sitting there. I guess I was in the shower when they delivered it as I didn't hear them knock or ring the door bell.

Of course since it's so close to my birthday I figured it was another birthday gift. I went over to the box and noticed it was an Elliptical. Of course if you're following my blog you know my last elliptical broke and it's been a struggle to find another way for me to get a good cardio workout.

This was the perfect gift for me at the perfect time as I decided that I needed to get a new one and was looking at Goodwill for a used one. I checked out the packing slip to see who it was from and I recognized the name, it was my buddy Aaron. So I texted him and said I got the elliptical and he responded letting me know if was from "The Geek Mob". He said that my friends Robert, Becca, Kim, Anthony, Michelle, Olivia, Dallas, Nicki, Anne, Jes, Brett, Jen, Rupert, Scott and of course Aaron contributed to this group gift. They also had some left over funds so they gave me a "visa" gift card with the remaining balance.

How amazing are my friends, last year they pooled money together to get me a stand up arcade video game of Gauntlet II. And this year it's a much needed exercise machine.

I was heading out so I didn't get a chance to put it together or give it a spin, that will have to wait until tomorrow but I'm super excited to get my carido workouts back on.

Thanks to all who contributed to this gift. It's exactly what I wanted and needed. You all are so amazing and special, couldn't ask for anyone better.

My Review: Prisoners

It's Wednesday which normally means TV night with Robert but tonight instead of TV night we're going to a pre-screening of the new Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal mystery triller movie Prisoners at the Arclight Hollywood.

But before the movie we got to hang out for a few hours. We grabbed some dinner at Chipotle's. We then walked over to Amoeba Records and checked out some DVD's before passing a little resturant that had some yummy looking desserts, which Robert was in the mood for.

After Robert got his giant cookie we got in line for the screening. Since it's PGA (Producer's Guild of America) screening they over book them so you need to get there fairly early to get a seat and a recent one as well.  

I had saw previews of Prisoners and it's not normally my cup of tea but it does have two of my favorite actors and it's free and a pre-screening. Here's a short synopsis of Prisoners; How far would you go to protect your family? Keller Dover is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arrests its driver, Alex Jones, but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?  

So my review of the movie, I enjoyed it. It was truly a mystery thriller. There was some scenes that were extremely difficult to watch. Lot's of twists and turns. Some of them I saw ahead of time and some took me by complete surprise. The acting is amazing, especially Hugh Jackman as this isn't his typical role. This movie raises the question how would you react if someone you loved was kidnapped. I personally think Hugh's character went way beyond the point of any sane person.

This isn't a movie I could or would watch over and over again. I mean I would watch it from time to time but this isn't my kind of movie to purchase on blu-ray. I give Prisoners a solid B. It did exactly what I expected. Kept me glued to my seat and bouncing back and forth on who did it.

Random Geek Question: Favorite Vehicles

I posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter, Which is your favorite "vehicle" in Scifi & Fantasy and Why? Again it's funny which questions really resonates with the readers and which do not.. this one was a huge hit. I got over 30 responses. Some of the more popular choices were TARDIS, Delorean from BBTF, Serenity, Defiant from Deep Space Nine and Bat Mobile. Some of the more interesting ones, Echo 1 from Ghostbusters, Portal Gun from Portal, Moya from Farscape and Alpha fighters from Mospeda. 

As for my favorites I initially said Enterprise D or Speeder Bikes but after seeing what others have said I think my favorite of favorites would have to be Serenity. There is something about that ship that is just magical. But then again Moya is a living ship and I love that about her. There are just so many great vehicles in sci fi and fantasy.

Webseries & Wardrobe

Today was all about GE3K'S Company, started my day with a kink in our photo shoot next month. Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding/miscommunication with the photographer so I'm on the look out for another photographer to help us out. I have a few people in mind so hopefully I'll find someone soon.

I had lunch with Jes who is doing wardrobe as well as being one the three leads. We discussed the wardrobe of each cast member. I want each person to have their own look/style. Afterwards we went back to her place and spent a few hours going through the first four episode scripts and determined how many outfits each person is going to need per episode.

Unfortunately when I got home I realized that Celtx (the program we are using to write the scripts) didn't update on my ipad so we were using older scripts with missing scenes. So I'll need to go back through the scripts and add any addition wardrobe changes to each episode. Decided to only use Celtx online to make sure we are using the most up to date version of the script.

Still have to finish writing season one.. we've gotten 6 of the 10 episode written but we still have time before we start shooting so I'm in no rush. Chris and I know where we want the story to go just need to work on the dialogue. 

Pottermore & Toy Story

Today I decided to jump back on Pottermore as it's been a good six or so months since I was on it last. I did jump on last week for like five minutes during a google hangout and noticed some big changes so I wanted to go back and really check it out.

They really revamped the entire thing. I was one of the few "beta" testers back in the day when it first came out and I have to say they have come a long way. I think my favorite improvement was the "status" bar for each scene. Now you know if you have seen or collected everything in that scene. Before you would find a gold galleon or a chocolate frog but have no idea if you found everything. They added audio book clips to scenes and music and sound effect as well.

I actually started over again with chapter one of the first book to make sure I got everything and I have to say thank goodness I did. I missed so much during my first pass. I went through all three books (what's currently up there) in about four hours. It was alot of fun. I still have to go back and read all the exclusive "J.K. Rowling" added content. I read about half of it but there is so much more.. can't wait to go back and finish it. And I really can't wait until the fourth book comes out.

Pottermore may not be a site I visit everyday but it's fun to go back and check it out from time to time. If you want to add me as a friend please do so.. my user name is FireboltCrimson66

It wasn't all fun and games today.. I did continued my painting of the garage, sanding of the deck and yard work. I got a good amount of work done.... so yay me.

I'm a huge Toy Story fan and was shocked when I came across Toy Story Toons on my TV channel guide. I had never heard of this so I of course I had to recorded it. I also went online to find out more information about it and here is what I found;

Toy Story Toons is a short series based on the Toy Story franchise. The series of shorts take place after the events of Toy Story 3. The first episode, Hawaiian Vacation, was released with the theatrical release of Cars 2. A second episode titled Small Fry was shown with the theatrical release of The Muppets. The third episode, Partysaurus Rex, was released with the theatrical 3D release of Finding Nemo.

Two more shorts are in development, with one of them, called Mythic Rock, being released in 2013. All the episodes are planned to be aired on Disney Channel. Also, two television specials are planned for October 2013 and Spring 2014. The one being released in October 2013 will be a Halloween special and is called Toy Story of Terror.

I remember hearing about Hawaiian Vacation but I had no idea about the others and I love that they are releasing them on TV. So far I've only seen "Small Fry" and it was very cute. I love that they have all the characters original voices and that it's a continuation of the events after Toy Story 3. I can't wait for the rest as well as the Halloween special this year.

D&D and Oreos

Today was all about D&D. After our last session I was a bit hesitant to play. But during the two weeks between sessions we as a group hashed out quite a bit of stuff online. So we are hoping that last sessions heated debates and name calling wouldn't happen again this session.

And I have to say today's session was pretty fantastic... everyone had a great time, we fought skeletons and orcs, rather then with ourselves. We got a bit of money and lots of experience. We moved our story forward and are well on our way to our goal. Thanks everyone for a fun time.

Before D&D today I had to go to Target and pick up some Oreo's.. these aren't your typical yummy Oreo's these are Candy Corn Oreo's and since my friend Sean Becker posted a picture of them last week on Facebook I have wanted to try them.

So I got to D&D and Jen was the only one there, Robert joined us shortly after and I showed them the Oreo's. Robert had tried them earlier that week but Jen who is not a fan of candy corn, was hesitant to try. In the end they were very tasty and very sweet. They tasted like the white and pink frosted covered animal cookies and nothing like candy corn (which I love).

The rest of the gang tried them as well and they must have enjoyed them as I came home with only two cookies left.

Oh I also tried cotton candy grapes. Becca brought them to D&D and I had never heard of them, let alone try them. If you ate them slowly you could taste the cotton candy flavor. Otherwise they tasted like very sweet grapes.. they somehow remove all the sour from them.

So all in all a good night.. had a great time gaming and got to try some unusual foods. Thanks everyone!!!

My Next Tattoo

So my 43rd birthday is fast approaching and you know what that means.. time for another geeky tattoo. I started on my 40th birthday with my Hogwarts Crest then after my 41st birthday I got my R2D2 and then for my 42nd birthday I got the Lord of the Rings. So now I'm turning 43 and it's time to start planning my fourth tattoo.

I know it's going to be Star Trek as that's one of my top five all time loves and I have even had my friend Matt draw this awesome concept of what I am looking for and I was about to go with that when I got a chance to hang out with my friend Greg (Aronowitz) and he asked if he could take a crack at designing my next tattoo and of course I couldn't say no.. I mean I love all of Greg's work and to have an original Greg Aronowitz tattoo on my body would be amazing. So now I wait.. Greg is extremely busy and though my birthday is a week away I don't plan on getting it done in the near future... so I can wait for Greg's concept. If Greg just doesn't have the time then I'll go with Matt's as I love his concept and I think it will make a pretty kick ass tattoo. If that happens Greg can design my fifth tattoo for my 44th birthday :)

Fixing Up The House Continues...

So I continued the painting of the house, after taking a week or so off.. I'm really trying to get all the trim done so I can go out and rent a paint sprayer and do the main body of the house. Today I worked on the trim of the 3 car garage. It's still a slow process as I have to tape off everything, go up and down ladders and deal with the hot weather.. at least its only in the 90's and not the sweltering 100's like it has been the past few weeks.

When it did cool down a bit around 6pm I moved on to the back deck and tried to strip away more of the blue paint that was left over after the sanding. I'm thinking that I'll just go rent the large deck sander again and give it another pass and try and get rid of more of the paint as doing it be hand it going to take me forever.

I can no longer sit around and do nothing.. I have to get this house up on the market and sold. Life will be a bit easier once I have this house out from under me.

Awesome Commercials: Giving, Scarecrow & Star Wars

So I came across several videos "commercials" today through various articles and I had to share them with you.

First one had me in tears, it's a commercial for some Asian communication company and is only three minutes long but man does it tell a compelling story in those three minutes.When I first watched this it has only 50,000 views.. as I write this blog only a few days later it now has 7 million views.

The second one is a commercial that so beautifully shot with such a poignant message. You really don't have a clue what this is for until the very end and you find out it's an ad for Chipotle and it's new App Game called Scarecrow. The cow's sad eyes gets me every time.

The third video is a commercial for Star Wars The Old Republic which is a Star Wars MMO (massively multiplayer online game) that I hope to play one day. Star Wars commercials in general are always amazing but this one really struck a cord with me because it's set in modern day. As if the Jedi and Sith existed in our time, right now.. it felt so real and I loved it... hope you do to.

Random Geek Question: Time Travel

So I posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter... I asked, If you could time travel, would you go to the past, future or an alternate dimension? I got a few responses, one was "Past just to visit favorite parts of my childhood." Another friend said "Mesozoic Era... Gotta see me some live dinosaurs." I got several "Future, for various reasons" and I got one person who chose alternate dimension with the response "alternative time line. Probably at age 10 to see how an accident I had would have been if worse."

Some good answers and I thank the handful of friends who responded. It's funny with these questions I can get 30 to 40 responses and sometimes I only get 4 or 5. Not sure what makes a question more popular then others.. I guess it could be when I post it and when folks see it online. Oh well I think they are fun and I'll continue to post more Random Geek Questions.

If you would like to answer this one please leave your response in the comments below... Thanks.

Lord of the Rings Animated Spoof

Several of my friends America, Dove and Eric along with some of their friends made this awesome and very funny spoof video "The Ownership of the Ring".. it combines Lord of the Rings, The People's Court & The Ring. It's pretty awesome so check it out..

"Get Fit" Week 6

So the struggle continues, it's now my sixth week and I feel like I haven't accomplish anything. I think with the breaking of my elliptical it put me back to square one. I was determined to get in several good cardio workouts everyday and I was doing it.. I lost like 7 pounds in the first week alone, but after it broke I have struggled to not gain weight. I've tried various other "cardio" workouts but I don't stick with them as they hurt my knees and ankles. With the elliptical it was all low impact on my joints so I could do it for longer periods of time with no issues. Even though I can't afford it I'm thinking of buying a new elliptical that way I can get back on track to losing this weight.

Of course I know that working out is only part of the equation, eating right is the other part. And I'm doing better. I'm slowly... very slowly changing my eating habits. I knew it wasn't going to be over night. I knew it would take me months and months to change. This isn't some short term thing it's a life changing event and it's going to take time. 

I wasn't able to lose last weeks gain of two pounds but I did manage to lose one of them, I'm currently at 204 lbs

It's a struggle everyday and I want to thank all those who encourage me, with your guys support I'm sure I can lose these unwanted pounds and keep them off.

A Day At Disneyland

So I needed a break from the world today and since I already have a season pass I decided to head to Disneyland. Joining me was my buddy Brett. Since I crashed at Robert's last night it only took me about an hour to get there. I got to the park a little after nine and met up with Brett at the shuttle area. We had planned to go to DCA (Disney California Adventure) but it didn't open until 10am and it was 9:30 when we got through security. So instead we decided to go to Disneyland first and luckily we did as the park closed at 5pm because they are preparing to Halloween the place up as tomorrow is the first day of the Halloween season at Disneyland.

First up was of course Star Tours, no matter who I go to Disneyland with we always seems to agree to go on Star Tours first. After Star Tours we headed over to Space Mountain but as we expected it was closed (for the Halloween refit) so we headed over to Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters. After that we grabbed a Corn dog for a late breakfast. We then rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Ride, Tea Cups and Finding Nemo Submarines. While in line at the Nemo Subs one of the cast members saw me in my Mike Wazowski hat and as most folks do he made a comment, we banter back and forth for a minute and then he said I deserved this and handed me a button "Honorary Citizen of the Disneyland". Come to find out that they don't hand these out to often.. so that was cool. After the Subs we went over to Autotopia before getting on the train and heading to the front of the park.

It was time to head over to California Adventures. First ride we did was my favorite at that park Tower of Terror, then we rode Radiator Springs Racers. We did the single rider line but as luck would have it we got in the same car. After racers we did Toy Story Midway Mania, it's another favorite of mine and it's normally over an hour wait but I think we waited like 20 minutes or so. After Midway we had some Mexican food which was just okay and kind of made me not feel so well. We sat around the Pier area for a bit to let me stomach rest. An hour later I was ready to go but wanted to take it easy so we jumped on The Little Mermaid ride then did Goofy Sky School. Next was Symphony Swings, then the Ferris Wheel and by this time Screaming was open so we got in line for that. Again lines weren't to bad all day.

We then went on Soaring over California, this is not a ride I do that often so that was fun. We then did Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, which Brett had never done... it's actually a really fun ride. We then debated on doing Luigi's Flying Tires. This was the longest line we stood in the entire day and I haven't really enjoyed the ride since they removed the beach balls but with Brett's help we really got our tire moving and it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. And for our final ride of the day was Monster's Inc ride. Again the line was long for this one but we figured since Disneyland was now closed, everyone was coming over to DCA.

It was now 7pm and we were tired.. we rode 20 rides in a matter of 9 1/2 hours... not a bad day. It was great just hanging with Brett enjoying the magic that is Disney. 

I got home around 9pm and instead of picking up some fast food dinner (which was my plan) I actually made me a sandwich for dinner and went to bed around 10pm.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

In between episodes of Babylon 5 Robert asked me if I knew my Myers Briggs code. I had never heard of Myers Briggs up to a few weeks ago when my group of friends started talking about it. I told him I didn't know what this was so I looked it up HERE. Now before anyone goes all crazy on me I know that this isn't the really long test for Myers Briggs, this was just a quick shorten way of finding out what "code" you are. So I read everything and picked which one best represented me as I am today and my Myers Briggs code is INFJ (Introverted, iNtuition, Feeling, Judging). So I looked up what INFJ type indicator meant and read this.. and I have to say it's about 95% correct.

The Protector

As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it. Consequently, INFJs put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions. This is something of a conflict between the inner and outer worlds, and may result in the INFJ not being as organized as other Judging types tend to be. Or we may see some signs of disarray in an otherwise orderly tendency, such as a consistently messy desk.

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive.

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress.

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubborness and tendency to ignore other people's opinions. They believe that they're right. On the other hand, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential. INFJs are rarely at complete peace with themselves - there's always something else they should be doing to improve themselves and the world around them. They believe in constant growth, and don't often take time to revel in their accomplishments. They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. In deference to the Feeling aspect of their personalities, INFJs are in some ways gentle and easy going. Conversely, they have very high expectations of themselves, and frequently of their families. They don't believe in compromising their ideals.

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective. They make loving parents and usually have strong bonds with their offspring. They have high expectations of their children, and push them to be the best that they can be. This can sometimes manifest itself in the INFJ being hard-nosed and stubborn. But generally, children of an INFJ get devoted and sincere parental guidance, combined with deep caring.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition. INFJs can also be found in service-oriented professions. They are not good at dealing with minutia or very detailed tasks. The INFJ will either avoid such things, or else go to the other extreme and become enveloped in the details to the extent that they can no longer see the big picture. An INFJ who has gone the route of becoming meticulous about details may be highly critical of other individuals who are not.

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.

Presents & Babylon 5

Today is Wednesday so that meant I was going over to Roberts for TV night.. but before that I stopped by my mailbox to pick up mail and noticed that I had a rather large package from Amazon. Of course my first thought was "it must be my first birthday gift" as my birthday is coming up (Sept 23rd) and I always have an updated birthday wish list on Amazon.

So I opened the package in the car and was delighted to see Three's Company DVD season 1 staring back at me. I notice that the box was pretty big for just one DVD season so I pulled out another and another and another until I had all eight seasons of Three's Company. My buddy from Canada Ken Todd sent me all eight seasons of this fantastic classic TV series. I was so excited. I can't wait now to sit down and do a marathon of this series and laugh my ass off. Thanks Ken for the awesome birthday gift. 

I then headed to Roberts for TV night. We are continuing out Babylon 5 first time viewing. Tonight we started with S2 Ep3 "The Geometry of Shadows" Vir fixes Londo's hair as Londo and Refa scheme. Techno-Mages arrive on the station which is sign of foreboding. The command staff learns that the Green Drazi and Purple Drazi have a global brawl every 5 years to determine the Drazi leadership for the next 5 years. When Ivanova attempts to resolve the conflict, she learns that the distinction between the two colors of Drazi is totally random. Right before the brawl, the Drazi draw a colored sash out of a barrel and join that colored faction. One sash of each color has a leader pendant tied to it; whoever draws that pendant becomes the leader of that color of Drazi.

This was an enjoyable episode. Again as I have mentioned before I'm not really liking where Londo's character is going.. he's defiantly turning to the darkside.  The Drazi stuff was fun..kind of showed you how stupid people can be when they do or believe in something for no reason, just because they were were taught or grew up that way. These aliens grab a green or purple scarf from a barrel and then all of the sudden they are mortal enemies and fight until one group wins and then the do it again five years later. These is no reason for the fighting, there are no differences.. it's just what they do. Oh and by the way I really love the term Techno-Mages

Next was S2 Ep4 "A Distant Star" Capt. Maynard, an old war buddy of Captain Sheridan's. Maynard's arrival prompts Sheridan to realign his priorities --- and then disaster strikes. On other fronts, Delenn runs afoul of the Mumbari hierarchy, while Dr. Franklin tries to administer nutritional advice to some unwilling patients. The episode concludes with a desperate rescue mission, launched from hyperspace.

Again a story that as pretty much a filler episode like the one before.. there was a bit of story about the Shadow and the forthcoming war. We get to see a different side of Sheridan, and for some reason the doctor is going crazy with diets for the crew, if anything it leads to some very funny scenes.

Third episode of the night was S2 Ep5 "The Long Dark" A cryonic exploration vessel from a hundred years ago approaches Babylon 5, bringing with it a deadly creature and a human from the past. A lunatic named Amis (Dwight Schultz) begins making grand assertions of doom; when Garibaldi investigates his past, he discovers that Amis was a decorated combat veteran. Garibaldi takes an interest in Amis, and asks him to explain his story. Amis explains that when his unit was attacking a remote enemy base, they came across a ghostlike alien that began feeding on his men.

This was probably my least favorite of this crop of episodes... though I do enjoy a crazy Dwight Schultz. The relationship between the Doctor and the surviving woman of that ship was very forced. She literally found out that her husband had died an hour before making a play for the doctor. Of course later in the episode she justifies it as they're marriage was rocky to begin with.  Which really didn't make sense since he did go with her on this deep space mission. The episode was fine.. nothing great and no talk of the Shadow war.

And the final episode of the evening was S2 Ep 6 "A Spider in the Web" A friend of Talia comes to Babylon 5 to negotiate a deal to help Mars become more self-sufficient, when a man calling out "Free Mars!" electrocutes him. The mystery deepens as we find out more about this assassin.

This is what I was waiting for.. this was my favorite episode of the night and a great way to end the evening. There wasn't much talk of the Shadow war but it did delve deeper into the corruption of the government on Earth. Lot's of good stuff happened in this episode. Also the continuation of this "Free Mars" storyline that's been going on in my background for most of this series.

So over all not to many "OMG" that was amazing episodes tonight but still all were very entertaining and I can't wait to continue.  And of course the best part of the evening was spending time with my best bud Robert.. after the crappy morning I had it was nice to relax, watch some great TV with my best friend. I did wind up crashing at Robert's tonight as I'm heading over to Disneyland tomorrow and he's place is an hour closer then mine.

Rough Morning & R.G.Q.: Favorite Alien

Today didn't start off so great. Been having issues with my unemployment insurance lately. Besides getting close to running out, a few days ago I got a call saying I missed a mandatory meeting and to call them back to reschedule. Well I called back and the phone just rang and rang and rang.. this was on Friday. So I figured half day or something and I would call back on Monday. So on Monday I got up first thing and called them. The person who I needed to talk to must have been on the other line as I got her answering machine so I left all my info and waited all day for a return call.. it never happened. On Tuesday I got a letter informing me of my suspension of insurance. I now have to fill out this form and explain why I missed the meeting and if they deem my answer valid then they will reschedule the appointment and continue with my unemployment insurance until it runs out. The reason I missed the meeting was that I never received the letter informing me of this "important" mandatory meeting. I don't know if they deem that as acceptable or not. So I may no longer get my unemployment insurance.. which sucks. I sent in the form so now I just have to wait and see.

But this news and me checking my bank account balance and my ever growing credit card balance I started to have a panic attack. Not a little mini one that I have time to time.. this was a full blown mental breakdown freak out. I spent the next few hours pacing the house, racking my brain over what I can sell and what I can do next. I'm not finding any viable post supervisors or co-coordinator jobs out there. Do I say screw it and take a job at a movie house or department store? Would I make enough to cover all my debt.. no. I'm totally at a loss.

Luckily for me it only lasted about three hours as I was finally able to gathered my senses and take control of my surroundings and managed to pull out of the attack... still stressed out of my mind (and I think that's causing me to have an ulcer, that's another story) but I'm going to take this one day at a time.. it's all I can do.

After this morning the rest of the day was pretty good and the night was even better. I posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter: Who or What is your favorite Alien and Why. Folks liked this one I got about 30 or so responses. Lots of aliens from Star Trek, like Spoke, Q and Klingons. But I also got several of the alien from Farscape. Several folks said The Doctor from Doctor Who. And I even had one person say Alf and Mork (two of my favorites). It was a good mix of alien races and specific aliens. Thanks to everyone who participated and if you want to add your favorite alien to the list please leave that in the comment section below.

Alien Nation & My Gimpy Life Podcasts

I released two podcast episodes today.. one was for my Alien Nation The Newcomers Podcast and my second was for My Gimpy Life Podcast. Check out the info and links below.

Alien Nation The Newcomers Podcast Episode 20

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation Listen on Stitcher Radio http://app.stitcher.com/browse/feed/32281/episodes or Listen/ Get Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com 

Show Notes

Kenny and special co-host Doug review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 20 - Gimme, Gimme

Directed by David Carson
Written by Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider
Original air date April 9th 1990

Plot Summary: After George invests his money into a new revolutionary fabric, Nu-Knit, one of the creators is murdered. Matt and George investigate this crime and discover some disturbing information about the new company. George also discovers that the company has a connection with another member of his family. Matt sells Albert one of his scratch off lottery tickets and Albert wins the big prize. Albert shares his wealth with Matt and Matt learns sometimes it is better when your dreams do not come true.

My Gimpy Life Podcast Episode 12

I got to sit down with creator and star of My Gimpy Life Teal Sherer and discuss the upcoming season, returning cast members and over all story structure.

Download from itunes http://ow.ly/lFKrg Listen on Stitcher Radio http://ow.ly/lFKe8 or Listen/ Get Direct Download http://mygimpylifepodcast.com/