Apartment Issues & Christmas with Mom

Here's the deal about the parking spot... she verbally told me that I had a parking spot with this apartment and that it was included in the $1500. But on the official contract which is a generic renter's contract, it says.. if you are assigned a parking spot please don't do repairs, paint.. blah blah blah in your spot. There is no mention of a parking number or that I actually had a spot. 

So with that I pretty much made up my mind about the apartment, I got alot of advice from my friends on Facebook. Some said "get out now", others said "fight her" as it was a verbal contract. If you know me, you know I'm so not a confrontational person, which doesn't mean I'm a push over (some my disagree) but this isn't worth fighting for. I don't want to be at odds with my land lady the very first day of my lease. It's easier to just move on, learn from the experience and find something even better.

I talked with the owner/land lady in the morning and said I will take the place if it's $1500 a month with a parking spot as we agreed upon. She refused to give me the spot so I terminated the contract. I will go down tomorrow to officially terminate it and get my deposits back. So that's it.. I am on the search for another apartment.

Today I was spending Christmas with my Mom and Step Dad. I joined Mike and his family and we drove down to Balboa Island. It was a nice time, we spent about six hours there. We exchanged gifts, watched a bit of the boat show, ate some Chipotle.. it was good times.

Got home and worked on catching up on my blog.. with all the craziness I'm about two weeks behind but slowly and surely I'm getting caught up.

You Win Some... You Lose Some!!!

I got the apartment... the owner called me and said that everything checked out and that the apartment is mine.. just have to come down and sign the lease. So I planned to meet up with her at 1pm out in North Hollywood. I had to bring a check for the deposits and first month rent so I went to my check book and there were no more checks (I rarely use checks). So I had to go with a cashiers check so I stopped by BofA before heading to her place.

I got to her place and once again like yesterday she talked to me for an hour, pretty much about the same stuff she told me the day before.. but I smiled and agreed like this was the first time I was hearing the info. I signed the lease, she explained where I could park and about the keys. We toasted the deal with a bit of wine and some german cookies.

Afterwards I headed over to my new apartment to check it out. I parked in back in my spot and then went through and checked the lights and such and made notes on what needed to be changed and/or fixed. I made a video of it and posted it on Facebook.

Pix from SDCC this year.

Once I was done there I decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping.. while at Target I ran into my friends America and Dove. We shopped together for a bit, it was fun. While I was shopping I got a call from the owner of the apartment that I just signed the lease for, she informed me that she had made a mistake and that parking did not come with this place and that she would have to charge me an additional $100 a month for a parking spot. I told her that I would have to sleep on it.

Talk about being disappointed. I'm was already pushing my monthly rent limit to $1500, now she is asking for an additional $100 for a total of $1600 a month. Yeah I can't do that. It's a tough call to make because it's a great apartment, big and has plenty of room for all my stuff. I wouldn't have to rent a storage unit and the more important thing is that about 20 of my friends live within walking distance of the place. But my home mortgage was to expensive and one of the reasons I wanted to move was to pay less money a month (my range $1000 - $1200). So I'm going to have to pull out of this lease.

After the phone call I was depressed and no longer in the Christmas shopping spirit.. so I head back to my brother's to crash.

"Get Fit" Week 20

So it's been a crazy week with the closing of my house, looking for a new apartment and such. Last week I manage to lose some weight and get down to 196.5lbs. At the beginning of the week I was down to 193lbs which is my lowest weight in five years. But unfortunately by the time I officially weighed myself today I was back up to 196.5. Good news is I didn't gain any more weight then last week, bad news I did gain weight from a really good low number at the beginning of this week. I'm still on track for my end of year goal of getting to or below 195 lbs.

Finding an Apartment!!

Woke up, took a shower, was in an earthquake (well a small one), left for the escrow place to pick up my escrow check. My escrow place is out in Van Nuys so after getting the check I headed to North Hollywood and had breakfast. I then started to drive around and look for vacant apartments. It was pouring down rain and after an hour and a half and finding nothing I was about to head home when I came across a sign for a 2 bedroom on a decent street in my friends neighborhood. So I gave the number a call and talked to a very sweet old lady. She said that the maintenance guy could be by to show me the place in ten minutes.

He arrived to show me the place. It had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, both bedrooms were really big. It had a fireplace, dishwasher and a parking space. The building was over 30 years old but didn't look too bad on the outside. There were only four units in the complex. The apartment was perfect.. only two things that concerned me.. the price at $1500 which is the top of my limit and it was on a semi main street so the traffic sound was pretty loud. But once inside the apartment the traffic sound wasn't so bad and getting such a big place for $1500 eased my mind on that so I called the old lady back and asked to fill out an application.

I headed to her place to fill out the app. She was a very sweet 88 year old Italian lady. You could tell she was lonely and she talked to me for an hour before we even got to the application process. She loved me (of course) but still wanted to check my credit so she said she would call me tomorrow and let me know if I got the place. Once I filled out the application she gave me a large bottle of brandy and some Italian bread (for Christmas) and sent me on my way.

I got to my brother's, where I will be staying while I look for a place and there were two screeners waiting for me. The first one I was super excited to see that I got but also expect it as well. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and the second movie is called Her and I've heard so many great things about this one and can't wait to watch it.

Spent the rest of the night helping my brother wrap "Santa" presents for the kids. It was fun as I don't see myself doing this in the near future for my own kids..

Let's hope I get the apartment tomorrow!!

More Babylon 5

It's Wednesday and that means TV night. Robert and I haven't done a TV night since mid November and we were both jonesing for some B5. And since I am now homeless I figured I'd crash at his place tonight.

We continued our Babylon 5 first time viewing starting with S3 Ep 6 "Dust to Dust" Bester returns to Babylon 5 to stop the flow of Dust, a powerful new drug which can temporarily unlock telepathic powers. But Captain Sheridan and the crew can't risk Bester reading their minds and uncovering their secret Shadow war preparations. G'Kar finds out the truth about Mollari but has his path is changed by a vision.

This was an enjoyable episode. They actually kind of made Bester likable. G'Kar was crazy in this episode but he finally found out the truth about Londo and Londo actually looked sorry for what he has done.. but still not a fan of Londo. G'Kar character changes big time with the vision that Kosh "helped" with.

We then watched S3 Ep 7 "Exogenesis" Marcus and Franklin investigate a series of deaths caused by a mysterious parasite.

This was a good episode, had a bit of humor with Marcus and Ivanova, some action scenes. I really liked Marcus and his bow.. with his long hair and bow he reminded me of Gambit from the X-Men. This was the first big episode that featured Marcus, he's a fun character.

Third episode we watched tonight was S3 Ep 8 "Messages From Earth" An archaeologist is brought to Babylon 5 with a grave message - a dormant Shadow ship has been found on Ganymede. It must be destroyed before it falls into the hands of President Clark.

Things are really starting to heat up, everyone finds out that Clark is much more evil person then they thought. He's trying to use a Shadow's ship. I like that Sheridan took control and took the Mimbari ship and destroy the Shadow's ship. 

We were on a role so we continued to watch B5.. next up was S3 Ep 9 "Point of No Return"

Nightwatch takes control of Babylon 5 security. The widow of the former Centauri Emperor visits Londo, and gives Londo and Vir news of their future. 

The beginning of the end has begun.. Nightwatch (meaning the Government) takes over Babylon 5. Marshal Law is happening on Earth. It was good to see Majel Barrett on Babylon 5. If you don't know who she is.. she was married to Gene Roddenberry and was in Star Trek TOS, TNG and DS9, and has done the computer voice for all incarnations of Star Trek. Anyways I was shocked to find out that Vir was destine to be Emperor and Londo's reaction to this news was priceless. It will be interesting to see if this effects Vir and Londo's relationship in the future.

And the final episode of the night was S3 Ep 10 "Severed Dreams" When President Clark escalates his brutal repression of the people of Earth Alliance, Captain Sheridan declares Babylon 5 independent.

Wow.. the shit has really hit the fan with this episode.. everything is about to change. Great episode, action packed, tense and lots of great battle scenes. Humans against humans... the civil war has begun.

It was tough stopping but we did five episodes tonight and that's quite a bit for us. Won't be able to watch next week as it's Christmas but hopefully will be able to pick back up the week after. 

My Last Day...

So my house sold... I have until 5pm tomorrow to be out. So today I was up at 5:30am packing what remained of my belongings. I shoved about eight bags of cans into my little car and drove them down to the recycling center and got a nice chunk of change for them.

With my brother's help I figured out where the main water shut off valve was and was able to fix the outside faucet leak and this time it worked. I did two more trips to my storage unit and took some paint to a recycling place.

My brother came to help me out and we packed up this big SUV with boxes and bags of stuff I was going to give to charity. I also gave a few more things to him as well.

Got another screener.. The Book Thief. I went to a PGA screening of this and really enjoyed it. I'm glad I got a screener so I can watch it again and share it with friends.

It was now around 4pm and I packed up my car with the last remaining things of my house. This stuff was going with me like two suitcases, my computer and various other things. I made a "goodbye" house video which I posted on Facebook and did one final walk through to make sure I had everything. At 4:30pm I walked out the door, left my house for the final time. It was very bitter sweet on one hand I know I needed to sell the place and that I couldn't afford to stay there much longer but on the other hand there are so many great memories associated with that house and I loved living away from neighbors.

I drove to the buyer's realtor and dropped off the house keys and then headed south. My first stop was the escrow place as my final check was ready to be picked up. They closed at 5:30pm and I didn't get there until 5:40pm so I missed it. I'll have to pick it up tomorrow instead.  I then drove to Robert's for TV night (blog to follow).

So that's it guys.. my house adventure has come to an end. I'm glad it's over, that's one long chapter of my life that I get to close and I get to start a brand new one.. can't wait to see what's next.

Escrow Closed & Amazing Christmas Gifts

ESCROW CLOSED!!!!! They signed the paperwork this morning and I officially sold my house.

Hmmm... Now what!!!

I forgot to mention this in my Sunday blog post but I got some amazing Christmas gifts when my buddeis come over to help me move.. First I got this really awesome Hufflepuff beanie cap from my buddy Dallas... he knows me so well.

I also got a very cool handmade gift from my friend Jes (but I can't say what it is or post a pix of it, at her request). 

And finally my buddy Aaron commissioned a UComic to be made for me. UComic's are done by Acclaimed artist Len Peralta (Geek a Week) and award winning writer Jessica Mills (Awkward Embraces).

For mine they went with a Hobbit/Potter themed comic. It's pretty amazing and I love it. You can check out their site and commission them to make one for you or for a friend like Aaron did. CLICK HERE.
 

Final Days, Screeners and Once Mid-Season Finale

One day to go until the escrow closes so the buyers did their final walk through. They were here to check if I did all the fixes they requested and to ask any final questions they might have. I went over everything with the husband and he seemed satisfied with the fixes. He did mention that he wish I would have replaced the roof tile where the satellite dishes were screwed in, instead of just sealing the hole but he accepted my fixes. The woman had all the questions, like how does the water system work, how much propane there is left in the tank and so on.

So I spent a good hour walking around the property explaining all the nuances of the place. The woman asked if I would remove some of the trash that has collected on the hillside (because of the winds), I agreed and then their still the leak on the outside faucet that I tried to fix but couldn't find the water shut off valve so my fix didn't hold.

But they were happy with everything and planned to sign the closing papers tomorrow.. so yay!!

I got three more screeners today, three independent movies that I've only vaguely heard about. August: Osage County, Fruitville Station and Philomena. These aren't high on my list to watch but if a friend wants to watch them I'd be open to watching with them.

During the evening I watched last nights mid season finale of Once Upon A Time. Wow.. what a game changer. They concluded the Peter Pan story in a very satisfying way if not shocking way by having Rumpelstiltskin stab Pan and himself and disappearing into a puff of smoke while everyone looked on frozen in fear (literally). Rumpelstiltskin finally found his courage and did what he had to do to save his loved ones. This character has come so far and has had so much growth it's pretty amazing. But this is the real end to Rumpelstiltskin?

But then they did the set up for the next half of the season and this is where things went crazy. Before Pan died he enacted the same curse that Regina did at he beginning of season one so that meant everyone would be stuck in time and not remember who they were. Regina was the only one who could destroy the original curse but would have to sacrifice her greatness love, being her adopted son Henry. Again like with Rumpelstiltskin, Regina has come a long way from being the evil queen. She's not "good" per se but she loves her kid. The other hitch to destroying the curse is that the town of Storybrooke would disappear and all the fairytale characters would be sent back the Enchanted Forrest. All those who were born there. And though Emma was born there she is the chosen one and once again will not be effected by the curse. So she and Henry have to leave Storybrooke but once the curse is broken both of them will lose their memories of Fairytale land and all the people.

It was heartbreaking to watch everyone say goodbye. But Regina destroys the curse and the town disappears in a purple haze. We then see one year later and Emma and Henry are in New York when there is a knock at the door and it's Hook saying that her family is in trouble and needs her help. Of course Emma has no idea what he's talking about, Hook kisses her (hoping to break the spell) but it doesn't work and she pushes him out the door and slams it on his face... the end.

Can't wait for the return of this show.. I wonder if everything is going to take place in Fairytale land since Storybrooke is gone and I wonder how Emma and Henry will get their memories back and what kind of trouble Emma's family is in.. guess I'll have to wait and see.

Frozen - My Review

After The Hobbit, Doug and I headed over to Jes and Dallas' place to watch my screener of Frozen.

Here's a quick synopsis: Fearless optimist Anna teams up with Kristoff in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna's sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom in eternal winter.

My review: I loved it but then again I'm a huge Disney fan and I think I've loved all their movies but this one was especially awesome. I liked the animation.. reminded me of Tangle, I also enjoyed that it was a musical but I have to admit that the songs weren't as memorable as Tangle.

Olaf the snowman was hilarious as well as Kristoff's reindeer Sven. I think my favorite part of the movie was that it wasn't the man (her true love) who saved the girl in the end.. but instead it was the true love of a sister's love that saved her.

And speaking of Kristoff. I never understood why or how people could be attracted to animated characters.. well that was until I saw Kristoff. The entire movie I am was so enamored by him. I think it was a combination of his looks and personality. I totally adored him, everytime he was on screen my heart would pitter patter.

The Big Move... Part 2 & The Hobbit Part 2

Started my day early.. I was up and off to Uhaul to pick up a truck. I was getting a large 24 foot truck so I could load everything at once. I got back to my place around 9:30am and started to load up some boxes that didn't make it on the first trip. I finished with the boxes just as my buddy Tamar showed up then Robert arrived 10 minutes after that and finally Doug, Dallas, Jes and Aaron. By 10am everyone was there and working in over drive and loaded up all my furniture.

Jes took control of organizing the stuff into the truck. She made sure in the truck and making sure that everything was secure as can be and that we were able to fit it all in one load. We killed it and what I thought would take us three hours only took us about two. You guys were awesome!!!

After we unloaded everything into storage I took the group out for a "Thank You" lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. Didn't have the best experience as it took about 45 minutes to be seated and then our order was wrong but we didn't have time to have them fix it so we ate what we were given.

After lunch we headed to Arclight Sherman Oaks to watch The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Along with Jes, Dallas, Doug, Robert and Aaron we were joined by Cait, Scott, Lan, Rupert & Luis. This was mine and Doug's second time but this was the first time for everyone else. I loved the movie the first time and enjoyed it even more the second time. I was actually anticipating scenes that were coming up.. made it even more exciting.

After The Hobbit, Doug and I headed over to Jes and Dallas' place to watch my screener of Frozen. My review will follow in my next blog post.

So overall it was a great day. Got about 98% of my stuff put into storage. I'm this much closer to getting out of this house and closing this chapter on my life. There was lots of work today but also lots of fun and play with friends. I love days like today.

Molly's 2nd Birthday Party

Up at 6:30am and cleaning up the garage and getting ready for the second part of the big move this Sunday. I also had to remove the two Satellite dishes from my roof and seal the holes.

I took a break from all this moving/packing stuff to celebrate my niece Molly's 2nd birthday. She was having a Yo Gabba Gabba party. There were a lot of people there and as always I played with most of the kids in the bouncy house. My niece is so different from my nephew, he's shy, quiet and timid. She's outgoing, crazy and a daredevil. It was a good time, I spent about five hours there before having to head home and jump back into packing up things for tomorrow.

Got home around 7pm and was up to about midnight packing up the garage. I think I'm ready for tomorrow.

Selling Things, Screeners & Potter

Started my day by going to my storage unit to find my pink slip for my Jeep. The guy buying it is stopping by today to pay me and I completely forgot that it was in my safe and packed that away into storage. Luckily for me I found it after searching six boxes and only had to remove a few boxes from storage.

Once at home I started to clean out the garage but then a woman who was interested in my armoire arrived with her husband and sister. As I was showing it to her the guy arrived to pay for the Jeep. I helped the woman's husband get the armoire into his truck while the Jeep guy moved the Jeep around in order for the tow truck to have a better angle to pick it up. The armoire lady also took one of my older TV's as I was just going to through it away as well. They left and then I got the money, signed the pink slip and my Jeep was good to go. He wasn't taking it today a tow truck guy was coming by tomorrow to pick it up.

I got another screener.. American Hustle. This movie doesn't look like something I would be interested in but it has a lot of big actors so I actually might check it out.

I took my second load of stuff to storage and while there I rented a second 10x20 storage unit. I'm moving all my big stuff on Sunday and I know I'm going to need it.

Here's a picture that I found very funny.. I call it Potter-ception. It's Harry Potter, reading Harry Potter on the set of Harry Potter

"Get Fit" Week 19

So last week with all the holiday and party eating I gained weight and was at 199lbs by weeks end.

Today I got on the scale and was surprised that I mange to get back down to 196.5. I think with all the packing and running around I am not eating as much. I hope this trend continues. I would still like to hit my end of year goal of 195lbs.

It will be nice when all this house/moving craziness is over and I can get back onto a semi regular schedule.

Last Minute Expenses

So I have one more week until I'm out of my house. I still have quite a bit of stuff to do and I can't wait until this is all over. Today I had to deal with the plumber, one of the things I had to fix for the buyers was the toilet in the guest bathroom. My brother and I took the toilet off but were not able to fix it as one of the stems that holds the toilet down was snapped off. So I had to hire a plumber.

When he got to my place it sounded like an easy fix but when he looked at it he said "I have never seen anything like this". My thought was.. oh crap this is going to cost me.

Well four hours, three plumbers and $600 dollars later it was fixed. It was more then 3 times the amount I expected to pay but it's done and I can mark it off my list of things to do.

Planning a Trip

So today while I was crashed on my recliner after moving all day I decided that I was going to start planning my trip to England/Ireland. I messaged all my UK buddies to see where they lived and to see if they had a couch or extra room for me to crash on. I looked up plane tickets, rail tickets & car rentals to get an idea of what I was going to have to spend.

My current plan is to fly into Ireland and visit that country (and my buddy Thomas) for about a week and then either fly or boat it over to the UK and visit England, Wales and Scotland for the next three to four weeks. I think I'm going to go for the month of April as the ticket prices were much cheaper then May. Nothing is really set in stone yet. I'm waiting until the whole house ordeal is over before purchasing my ticket which will then make this more real.

When I announced this on Facebook one of my friends asked how am I able to make this trip, especially since I haven't had work in a long time, which lead to me being broke. And she is right, I haven't worked since March of 2013 and my finances are dismal but with the sale of this house I will have a bit of money so I'm going to use it to go on my trip.

I know it's not the most responsible thing to do but I'm tried of always doing the right thing and being responsible. I've worked hard my entire life and deserve to live out one of my dreams.. and that's going to England/Ireland. When I graduated collage I was going to take a contiki tour of Europe (this is a planned trip where you do so many countries in so many days) as an reward for all the hard work I did in school. But when my internship ended with Fox they offered me a job as a PA on The Dating Game. I was naive at the time and figured that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to get my career going in the entertainment industry so I cancelled my trip and began working on The Dating Game.

Now I don't have any regrets as things happen for a reason but cancelling that trip always bothered me. I always felt like I missed my one opportunity to see Europe.. Now it's 20 years later and I have another opportunity to go and I'm going to take it. Right or wrong I won't make the same mistake twice.

The Big Move... Part 1

Woke up this morning and found out that Direct TV turned off my service four days too soon. I quickly got on the phone to ask why.. it looks like it was just a mistake and they quickly reactivated it. I mean I'm already going to have to live five days without TV but nine would kill me :)

Today is part one of my big move. Today I plan to take all my boxes to storage.. and there are alot of boxes. My buddy Rupert crashed at my place last night so he could help this morning (and avoid traffic). So he and I headed out to the Budget rental place to pick up a truck. I had reserved a 16 foot truck and planned to do two trip from my house to the storage unit. When I got to the truck place the truck I was suppose to use had it's gas syphon the night before so he upgraded me to a much larger truck, 24 foot. This thing was huge and it ran really rough. It was an interesting drive back to the house trying to get use to it.

Back at the house Rupert and I started to load up the boxes and about a half hour later my buddy Doug showed up to help as well. It took about 2 hours to load up all the boxes and some furniture into the truck. The upside of getting the larger truck is that I was able to get everything in one load.

Once everything was loaded we headed to Islands for some lunch as none of us had eaten and before we could unload we had to get something in our stomachs... so I treated the guys to lunch as a thank you for helping me out. After lunch Rupert had some family business to take care of so he headed home and Doug and I drove the truck to the storage unit to unload.

With just the two of us it took a bit longer to unload. As we were unloading I was realizing that there is no way I'm going to be able to get all my stuff into one unit. I'm going to have to rent a second unit.. just not sure how large. I'll know more once I have all my furniture and stuff in my great room.

I was hoping to be done by 3:50pm as the truck place closed at 4pm and I wanted to turn in the truck before they closed but we didn't get done until about 4:10pm and got back to the rental place to drop off the truck at 4:15pm. Luckily they had a late drop off box (for an addition $10 cost) but I didn't care I dropped off the key and drove Doug and I back to my place (I had left my car at the rental place when I picked up the truck).

We debated on watching a screener or two but both of us were wiped out. He jumped in his car and drove home. I crashed in my recliner for the rest of the night and vegged on some TV.

I want to thank Rupert and Doug for being awesome and helping me out with part one of my big move.

Dumpsters & Disney

On the moving front... my roll off dumpster arrived. I rented a 22x8x4 foot dumpster. I have accumulated so much stuff over the years but it's time to spring clean and get rid of anything that I haven't looked at, read, watched or used the past year. It was tough at first but once you start throwing things away it's kind of cathartic and it gets easier. By the end of the day I had 2/3'ds of that dumpster filled. Now I'm worried that I didn't get one big enough for my needs :)

On the Screener front... I got two movies that I have been wanting to see.. Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks. I think I actually squeed a bit when I opened the envelope and saw those two screeners inside.

I'm a huge Disney fanatic so I'm looking forward to Frozen, I've been hearing such great things about this movie. As for Saving Mr. Banks.. I mean it stars Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson and it about the creation of Mary Poppins.. it's win win all around. I can't wait to watch both of these movies.

Sherlock Series Two - My Review

After watching series one last night I couldn't wait for night to fall so I could watch series 2. Now if you read my last Sherlock blog you know I had to watch the beginning of episode 1 of series 2 to see the resolution to the cliffhanger from series 1.

Series 2 started with "A Scandal in Belgravia", which is loosely based on "A Scandal in Bohemia", the episode depicts Holmes's quest to retrieve compromising photos of a minor royal held on the camera phone of Irene Adler, a ruthless and brilliant dominatrix who also trades in classified information extracted from her rich and powerful clients.

First of all the conclusion to series one finale was okay.. kind of odd but of course I knew they weren't going to blow everyone up.. but now to the main story of episode 1... OMG!!! this has to be one of the best written/acted/produced episodes I've seen of any TV series. I loved, loved, loved this episode. I adored Irene Adler, I loved her, hated her and loved her again. She is the perfect foil for Sherlock and I loved that he recognized this as well. Still my favorite thing about this series is the chemistry of Freeman and Cumberbach or Watson and Holmes. Those two actors blow me away every time they are on screen together.

I actually stood for the second half of the movie as I was just way to pumped/excited to sit. At the end when they were about to behead Irene my heart broke.. I really thought this was the end but then you hear Sherlock's phone message as she texted him "Goodbye" and my heart leaped. What an amazing ending to an amazing episode.

The second episode of this season was "The Hounds of Baskerville", which investigates the strange activities at a military base. Aware that The Hound of the Baskervilles, first published in 1902, was one of the most famous of Conan Doyle's original stories, Gatiss felt a greater responsibility to include familiar elements of the story than he does when adapting the lesser-known stories. Henry Knight, a man whose father was ripped apart by a gigantic hound on Dartmoor twenty years earlier requests the help of Sherlock.

This was an enjoyable episode, but I mean after episode one nothing could compare. But I liked the story and of course the companionship of Holmes and Watson. I liked Sherlock's conflict between what his mind is telling him and what his eyes are seeing. It literally driving him crazy. His outburst at Watson and eventual apology was played so well.

The final episode of Sherlock series 2 was "The Reichenbach Fall". The episode follows Moriarty's plot to discredit and kill Sherlock Holmes, concluding with Holmes faking his suicide as Watson looked on. It was based upon Conan Doyle's story "The Final Problem", in which Sherlock and Moriarty are presumed to have fallen to their deaths from the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.

I love that they showed the outcome of Watson's blog with Sherlock becoming a "celebrity". It was great to see Moriarty back turning everyone against Sherlock, making it look like he is a fraud and everything was a set up. And then we have the ending with Moriarty killing himself leaving Sherlock with no way of saving his friends unless he kills himself as well. Moriarty is a whack job.

I mean I know Sherlock isn't going to die but I don't understand how he pulled off this supposed suicide. I know Molly had something to do with it but other then that I don't have a clue. And then at the very end with Watson at Sherlock's grave heart broken and Sherlock watching from behind a tree, I was in tears.

Again this was a great episode but they ruined all episodes for me after episode one of series 2. But over all three more fantastic episodes to add to this amazing TV series. Can't wait for next season (series).

And speaking of Series 3, since I'm watching these so late I didn't have to wait a year like everyone else as series 3 will be out in January and they released a trailer  which you can watch below. I'm not sure how I feel that it's 2 years later and everyone kind of moved on with their lives.. but either way I can't wait to see what's in store for Mister Sherlock Holmes and his best friend Watson.

After watching series 2 I watched all the behind the scenes for both series 1 & 2. There wasn't much.. both had a cool "special" about each series but series 1 DVD's had the unaired 60 minute pilot that sold BBC on the concept of a Sherlock series.

Of course BBC loved the pilot and ordered three 90 minute episodes. They couldn't just extend the pilot for 30 minutes so they reshot the entire thing. It's basically the same story, it just has more details. All the characters/actors are the same but some of the locations changed. They also changed the way we see into Sherlock's mind (one of my favorite parts of the show) It's interesting to see how they expanded the pilot to make the first episode.. a must see of all Sherlock fans.

So now I'm like everyone else.. I must wait before I can't get more of one of the best TV series I have seen in a long time... bring on series 3!!!

Storage Units, Screeners and Xmas Gifts

First thing I did today was go out and rent my storage unit. After my brother's storage unit was broken into and everything taken I looked for a storage unit that had indivual alarms on the units. I pay a bit more but peace of mind is well worth it.

I found a place out in Santa Claria so I booked a 10x20. After looking at it I am worried that all my stuff is not going to fit inside. But I'll wait until I move all my boxes in on Wednesday before deciding if I need another unit.


Once home I continued packing and cleaning up the house and garage. As soon as night fell I went inside and watched Sherlock. I'll post my thoughts on Series 2 of Sherlock in my next blog post.

I did get two more screeners today.. Captain Phillips and Inside Llewyn Davis. I have heard of Captain Phillips as it stars Tom Hanks but I was unaware of Inside Llewyn Davis, but friends have told me that it's good.. so I guess I'll see. I haven't had any time to watch any of my screeners because of this move but after next week I'm going to try and catch up and watch as many as I can before the award season.

I also got another Christmas gift.. this time from my bestie Chris. He mentioned that when it came he wanted me to wait until Christmas to open it.. so right now all I know is it is from the Noble Collection and fairly light. Those guys have so many awesome things it could pretty much be anything...guess I'll find out Christmas day.

Sherlock Series One - My Review

Since it was freezing outside I couldn't work in the garage any longer so I came in to get warm and watch a bit a TV. Recently my buddy Ken got me season 1 & 2 of the BBC series Sherlock. I've heard amazing things about this series and had planned to watch but not being a big Sherlock fan it was never a priority. Well now that I have the DVD's I figured I'd give a go and check it out.

So I started with Series 1 Episode 1 - "A Study in Pink", loosely based upon the first Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet. The story depicts the introduction of Holmes to Watson, and them entering a flatshare at Baker Street in London, and then their investigation into a series of deaths, initially believed to be suicides.

I loved the first meeting between Holmes and Watson.. it was fantastic (and later I was told that it was pretty close to how it was done in the book). I think Freeman and Cumberbatch have so much chemistry. The way they played off each other was priceless. I loved the on going joke that Watson and Holmes were lovers/partners. And then you had the story which was very enjoyable. It was fun watching Sherlock solve the mystery. And speaking of Sherlock I love how we see things through Sherlock's eyes.. brilliant. I loved all the text and information on screen. I can go on and on about how much I loved this first episode. I was hook in the first few minutes and I couldn't want to watch the next episode.

So I moved on to Series 1 Episode 2 - "The Blind Banker". Holmes is hired by an old friend to investigate a mysterious break-in at a bank in the City which leads to a game of puzzles, mobsters and intrigue.

This was a nice follow up to the first episode. I don't think it was a wow episode like the first but I enjoyed the story and of course the companionship of Holmes and Watson. I liked Watson's date and after what happens to her I would be surprised if they dated much longer. 

So now it's late and I'm tired but also so addicted and I knew that series 1 was only 3 (90 min) episodes.. so I moved onto Series 1 Episode 3 -  "The Great Game" The episode introduces the character of Jim Moriarty to the series, who sets Holmes deadlines to solve a series of apparently unrelated cases.

I had a rough time liking Sherlock in this episode. I know it's his character but man he makes it hard to like him some times. I loved that Watson called him out and got upset.. it was very well done. I enjoyed Moriarty.. I was surprised to find out that he was Molly's "boyfriend". He's kind of creepy and weird but a good addition to the cast. This episode ended on a HUGE cliffhanger and I am so glad I didn't have to wait a year for the conclusion like everyone else. I was also very thankful that my buddy got me both season 1 and 2.

It was almost midnight and I was exhausted but I couldn't go to sleep until I found out what happen, so I watched the first episode of series 2, well at least the first 5 minutes where they concluded the cliffhanger and moved on with the story.. but that's where I stopped for the night.

My over all thoughts on Sherlock Series one. WOW, WOW and more WOW. This series is everything that everyone has said. It meet and exceeded my expectations. I couldn't get over the chemistry of Freeman and Cumberbatch. I mean the written is great but what really draws me to this series is the unlikely friendship between Holmes and Watson.

I can't wait to watch series 2!!!

More House Stuff & Downton Abbey Xmas Trailer

On the house front:

I finally got rid of my spa. The second guy came through as planned and came this morning with two other guys and had it removed within a half hour. He also took my fire pit and patio table and chairs. He noticed my Jeep and asked if it was for sale. I told him that yes it is but someone already offered me money for it and I accepted it. He asked how much and I said I just wanted to get rid of it so I asked for $1000, well the guy said he'd give me $1500 in cash right now to take it. Of course me being the nice guy that I am, declined his offer as I already promised it to the first gentlemen. But it's nice to have a back up plan just in case the 1st guy falls through.

My brother arrived shortly after to pick up a few things and take to his place. But first he took me to Home Depot to pick up a replacement screen door for my master bedroom slider, that was one of the buyers requests. We attempted to try and fix the guest bathroom toilet as it's one of the buyer's request but it was beyond my brother's ability to fix so will have to deal with that at a later date.

We then pulled the trailer around and got ready to load up my Gauntlet II arcade game and home Gym. It was just the two of us and we got the arcade on the trailer with little difficulty but the 1000 pound Gym (okay I don't know if it was actually 1000 pounds but it felt like it.) took some figuring out. It took us a half hour to move it five feet and up onto the back of the trailer... I don't know how we did it.. but we did.

After Michael took off I started to work on cleaning up my garage. I knew it was going to be a big job but I had not idea it was going to be this big. I managed to put in five hours before it was just too cold for me and I had to go inside to thaw.

And on the Geeky front:

They released a new trailer for Downton Abbey's Christmas special 2013. I don't know what it is about this series but I love it and I can't get enough. They didn't show much, but it does look to be like a grand Christmas episode. Let's hope it doesn't end like it did last year. You can watch the trailer below. 

Since I was in for the night I decided to check out Sherlock Season 1, but I'm going to review each episode in the next blog post.. so check it out.