Travel Points, Selling My Couch & Buying A New Fridge

Started my day by redeeming some travel points that I have accumulated over the past year. I have a BofA Visa Travel card and get travel points on every purchase. Well I had 33,436 points which translated into $334.36 credit which I removed from my current plane ticket to Ireland. So instead of $864.36 for the plane ticket I only paid..  $530.51. How awesome is that!!!

I met up with a cute couple at my storage unit this morning, they were interested in buying my couch. Found out they had are newly engaged and just moved into their very first apartment. Both of them are EMT's and the girl is going to collage. They checked out the couch from top to bottom. I was originally asked $100 on Craigslist and got zero responses. So I lowered it to $50 this time and got about 20 responses.. and to be honest the guy was so cute with his crooked smile I would have given to him for free. But luckily he offered me $40 and I accepted. I helped them load it up into their truck and they were on their way. It was tough seeing this couch go, it was a favorite of mine but I just don't have the room at my new apartment and it had to go.

Afterwards I went to Lowes to buy my new refrigerator. As I was checking out I tried to use my travel Visa as this would have been some good points but the card was declined. So I had to use my debt card. As I was leaving Lowes I got a call from my credit card company, it was an automated system informing me of suspicious activity on my card and if I could review and approve the latest three purchases. First was a purchase from 7-11, which I had done earlier in the day. The second was from San Diego Comic Con for a 2014 badge and the third was the Lowes purchase that I just tried to do. I guess because two of the purchases were of rather large amounts and in two different cities they thought someone got control of my card.

I mean I appreciate that they are looking out for me but it sucks that it was declined and I wasn't able to get the $400+ purchase added to my travel Visa for points. But the good news is I got me a new refrigerator... it will be delivered tomorrow.

Had a rare moment today.. was in my guest bathroom and just happen to see myself in the mirror and I don't know what it was.. the angle or lighting but I actually thought to myself.. "I look pretty good today" Now if you know me you know I don't think I'm a nice looking guy. I think in a certain light I am cute but as I have gained weight over the years I see it less and less. But that little moment made my day and I was in a very happy mood the rest of the day.

Final Episodes of Babylon 5 S3

It's Wednesday so that means TV night at my buddy Robert's place. Tonight we continued out first time viewing of Babylon 5

First up was S3 Ep 19 "Grey 17 is Missing" Garibaldi investigates a missing person in the mysterious Grey Sector. Delenn becomes the leader of the Rangers.

This was just an okay episode.. after all the crazy awesome stuff that we saw the past few episodes this one was kind of a let down. It wasn't bad but it wasn't an OMG episode but then again I guess not all episodes can be OMG. It did have Robert Eugland, who I will already remember as Willie from V.

Next was S3 Ep 20 "And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place" Some religious acquaintances of Brother Theo's come to the station. Meanwhile, Londo is instructed to end his feud with Lord Refa even as he conspires to get rid of G'Kar.

This episode just increased my dislike of Londo. I mean I'm glad he set up Lord Refa and made him the fall guy for all the things Londo had done but Refa was not a good guy. Loved the interaction between Sheridan and Delenn and we finally get what we've been waiting for all season.. the kiss. 

Third episode of the night S3 Ep 21 "Shadow Dancing" Sheridan and Delenn assemble a fleet composed of a myriad different alien races and confront the Shadows. Franklin, still on walkabout, finally finds what he's looking for, though it's not what he expected.

Lot's of action in this episode with the huge battle betweeen Sheridan and Delenn's army against the Shadows. I liked the bit of humor with Ivonnava and the Mimbari beds. Was not a fan of the Doctor's walk about storyline so I was happy to see it come to an end.

And the final episode of the night as well as the final episode of Season three, S3 Ep 22 "Z'Ha'Dum" Third season finale. A face from Sheridan's past takes him on a dangerous mission to meet his Shadow counterpart. Londo receives important news about his political future. The Shadows mass a fleet against Babylon 5

Just when Sheridan and Delenn's relationship looks like it's going to the next level, Sheridan's "dead" wife arrives on Babylon 5 and throws a wrench into everything. Just when you think it's the end of their relationship Sheridan hatches a plan and what a plan. He sacrifices himself and blows up the home base of the Shadow creatures. It's heartbreaking as Delenn get's a goodbye message from him and he confesses his love for her.

Season 3 was an amazing season. They started giving us answers to things that we were introduced to in season 1. I know Sheridan isn't dead and it looks like Garibaldi is off to rescue him. Is the war over? Are the Shadows gone? Still have to deal with the corrupt Earth government. Can't wait to see where season 4 goes.

Serenity Comic, SDCC Tickets & Shorty Awards

The new Serenity/Firefly comic book mini series comes out today. It's going to be a six issue mini series hopefully it does well so they do another one. This takes place after the movie. I think they are releasing six different variant covers to issue #1. I need to makes sure I get to a comic shop soon and pick this one up. I have really enjoyed the previous Firefly comic books and I see no reason why I won't love this one as well.

Today at 10am SDCC 2014 tickets went on sale for "professionals". I was at my computer at 9:45 and clicking on the link just in case they opened early. Well at 10am on the dot I clicked the link and got in. I filled out everything and managed to get my free badge, a free guest badge (last year these were gone within a few minutes) and I purchased one other badge. I filled in all my credit card information and pressed the button.. I got a "processing" window but after a minute an error page popped up. I wasn't sure if it all went through or if I had to start over again. By this time five minutes had passed and when I went to select tickets again they were out of the "free" guest badges. But when I signed in to try and order tickets again I noticed that the information that I had put in earlier was still there.. it looked like my order went through before the site crashed.

So I waited a few minutes to see if I would get a confirmation email or something but nothing came. My friend Doug tweeted that his confirmation came instantly. That was disheartening so I figured I got screwed and would have to try and get "regular" badges when they go on sale next month. I fiddled around with the site and somehow managed to get a confirmation page to pop up for my order. I took a screen grab of it just in case they said I didn't have tickets.. but luckily a few minutes later I got an actual confirmation email with my barcode for all my tickets.. so I did get the maximum amount of tickets that I could get at this time, one free one for me, one free guest one for my brother and one paid one for my bestie Chris.

I was a bit stressed out when I didn't think my order went through but in the end I'm just glad I got my tickets for SDCC this year... now we need to get a hotel... the fun never ends.

Shorty Awards are still happening.. I'm currently in 18th place with 40 votes. It's a far cry from where I need to be to get into the top 4 but what can you do. I still don't understand why friends and followers aren't throwing me a vote since it's so easy.. but I guess they have their reasons. If you would like to nominated me for a Shorty Award you can just follow this LINK.. it only takes a few seconds... thanks.

Spent the evening at my buddy Robert's place eating pizza and wings and watching Babylon 5. Will do a separate blog post on my thoughts on tonight's episodes.

HIMYM, DMV, Storage, Mail and Great Friends

Started my day by watching last nights How I Met Your Mother and I have to say that was one of my favorite episodes of the series. It was titled How Your Mother Met Me and was all about the kids Mom. I love the actress they got to play "the Mom" and it was great watching how her storyline interwove with Ted and his friends storyline. I don't know if the writers planned all that but it was some very nice writing and storytelling. Of course they didn't meet yet and I know they are waiting until the final episode for these two characters to finally meet and I'm hoping the last line of the series will be.. "And that's how I met your mother"... End of Series.

I had a very productive day, first was a trip to the DMV. My registration for my car was due, I had to change my address on my license as well as my car registration and I've been wanting to get an updated photo for my license as I'm tired of folks not believing that the picture on there now is me  ---> . I made an appointment a few weeks back so when I got there I got in the appointment line which had only one person in front of me. A few minutes passed and a guy gave me a form to fill out and then a few minutes after that a number for one of the customer service people. I waited about ten minutes for my number to be called and I walked up to the window and explained all that I wanted to do. When we got to my picture on my license the woman looked at the picture and then gave me a smile. I said.. yeah I know it's long overdue for an updated picture.

I changed my address on my car registration and license and also got my 2015 tags for my car. I had to go to a different person to get my picture taken. Again the woman taking the picture looked at my old picture and asked when I took it. I told her it had been 20 years, 40 lbs lighter and a head full of hair. She kind of laughed and took my picture. I have to wait 10 or so days before I get my new license in the mail. And I have to say an appointment is the way to go. I got out of there in about 30 minutes total.

After DMV I headed up north to my storage unit in Santa Clarita to put my refrigerator back together and clean it up as well as my green couch as I need to get them up on Craigslist and sold asap. The fridge took some time to put back together and after cleaning it up I realized that we didn't do as much damage to it during the move as I thought. There is a rather large scratch on the front and a few minor ones on the sides and handles but overall it's not that bad.

I got an email informing me that the folks who purchased my house left some mail at their realtor's office which was about 30 minutes further north in Acton so I headed up there to pick it up. I am very thankful that the owners of my former house saved the mail for me as there were a few tax related forms as well as several refund checks adding up to about $1400.  I don't understand why the post office is not forwarding all my mail as I am getting some mail at my brothers house which is where I forwarded my mail to.

Talked with my buddy Erik via skype. We've been talking either by skype or phone since the day we officially met Jan. 4th (25 days ago)... he's pretty awesome!!

My friend Jen called me while she was driving home and asked if I wanted to walk around the park with her when she got home. I said of course, so around 8pm she stopped by my place and we headed across the street. We walked around the park five times ( probably 4 or so miles). We had a blast because when Jen and I get together we always have some very "interesting" conversations :)

After the walk we said our goodbyes and I came home to find my buddy Chris (who is currently abroad) asking if I wanted to do a skype chat with him. I haven't visually talked to Chris since new years and that was with a group. We haven't had any one on one time for quite some time so I was excited to be able to chat with him. It was only for a half hour but it was great seeing his face. I miss talking to him daily. It was a great way to end my night.

Maleficent Trailer, Shorty Awards and Sherlock S3

Disney released a second trailer for the new movie Maleficent with Angelina Jolie. I thought the first was was awesome.. this one is AMAZING!!!! The music is very ominous and chilling. I hope this is the tone of the movie. I can't wait to see this.

 

My friend Doug nominated me for a Shorty Award for Best Podcaster and I have been promoting it the past few days as you need to be in the top 4 to make it to the finals to be considered for the award. The current leader has 159 votes and I figured with 2500+ Twitter followers and over 800 friends on Facebook I'd be able to beat him easily.  Well it's not as easy as I thought. So far I've gotten around 24 votes and I appreciate each one of them. I just thought with so many followers I would be able to get a few more by now. I don't know why folks aren't voting for me.. maybe they don't feel that I am the best Podcaster and that's cool. I was just hoping for a better turn out and it's not happening. I'm not giving up I'm still tweeting and Facebooking about it and I will continue until the nomination part of this process is over on February 18th. I want to thank my buddy Dallas for promoting me on his Facebook and Twitter.. I really appreciate it. If you have a twitter account and would like to vote for me just follow this LINK... thanks

So you may have seen this tweet earlier today.. "My buddy @truebrixon just suggested that I get whored out for corndogs. Since he was whored out by his friends for cheese." Many of you asked what this was about and I told Erik @truebrixon that I would have to explain this in a blog post so here is it. I was talking to Erik tonight and he told me that there is this cheese truck parking in the hotel parking lot where he is staying and his friends "jokenly" said he needs to break in and get them some cheese.. he protests to they said he needed to woo the driver and he replied with... "So you want me to whore myself out for cheese" and his friend said yes. I then asked what could I whore myself for and earlier in the conversation we were talking about Disneyland corndogs so he said "why don't you whore yourself out for corndogs" and thus the tweet was born.

During the evening my friends Jes and Dallas come over to my place to watch the first two episodes of the new season of Sherlock. I had seen the first episode last week but the other two had not seen it yet. First up was S3 Ep1 "The Empty Hearse" Two years after the devastating effects of The Reichenbach Fall, Dr John Watson has got on with his life. New horizons, romance and a comforting domestic future beckon. But, with London under threat of a huge terrorist attack, Sherlock Holmes is about to rise from the grave with all the theatricality that comes so naturally to him. It's what his best friend wanted more than anything, but for John Watson it might well be a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. If Sherlock thinks everything will be just as he left it though, he's in for a very big surprise. 

So after the shocker that was the finale of series 2 I couldn't wait to see how they were going to explain how Sherlock faked his own death. I liked the opening scene when we see of "possible" explanation on how he survived. And later we get a "Slash" version of it and then again at the end, from Sherlock himself, but we are lead to believe he wasn't telling the truth.. so it's left to the views imagination as to how he did it. 

I have to say I love Mary, I think she's a perfect addition to the duo, now trio. She can stand her own against Sherlock. Jes informed me that the actress who plays Mary is actually Martin Freedman's partner of many years. That explains their great chemistry. 

Sherlock's surprising Watson and Watson's reaction was brilliant. I don't blame Watson one bit for beating Sherlock to pulp. Loved Detective Lestrade reaction to Sherlock surprising him. I liked that Sherlock teamed up with Molly to investigate some mysteries. And the end when Watson forgives Sherlock when he thought they were going to die. And during that scene I kept saying.. I hope Sherlock isn't playing with Watson but of course I should have known better. I can go on an on about how much I loved every aspect of this episode.

Oh and I loved the conversation between Mrs Hudson and Watson about him finding someone new and she asks what's his name and Watson goes on the defensive about not being gay. That's an on going joke from the very first episode and I love that they continue with it here.

All in all a great start to series three.

Next we watched S3 Ep2 "The Sign of Three" As Lestrade fumes over his constant inability to convict the Waters gang of bank robbers Holmes prepares for his role as best man at Mary and Watson's wedding. His speech, initially bizarre, turns out to be a moving tribute to his friend whilst he also contributes two anecdotes of recent cases, both unsolved. The first concerns a young guardsman whose life Watson saved after he was the victim of a 'locked room' attempted murder. The second involves a man who uses the identities of the recently deceased to date different women. As he looks around the wedding party Holmes suddenly realizes their connected solutions, which also involve Watson's former commanding officer, disfigured war hero Major Sholto. 

This was by far one of the funniest episodes of Sherlock. Sherlock's best man speech was awkward then sweet and once again awkward. Drunk Sherlock and Watson was the best. We got to see an entirely different side to Sherlock in this episode. I loved that these two different stories blended together into the third and main story of the wedding of John and Mary. I loved Sherlock's interaction with the bridesmaid. I got to see my favorite "bad girl" Irene Adler, even for just a minute.. it made me smile. It was a very touching episode, made me tear up several times but more often I was laughing out loud. The ending was very melancholy with Sherlock not sticking around and leaving the wedding reception alone.

I can't wait for the final episode of series three.... and then we have to wait once again for series four next year (hopefully) but I hear we might be getting a special Christmas episode.. here's hoping.

Booking My Trip To Ireland & The U.K.

I don't think I have mentioned it much on this blog but since my house sold I have been planning my ultimate trip to Ireland and The United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). These are destinations that I have been wanting to visiting for almost 20 years. 

So tonight I jumped online and booked my trip. It was tough hitting that final confirmation button. As this is a life long dream, but I am currently out of work and have been for almost a year. The responsible part of me almost won out and I struggled with this for the past two weeks... but you know what, you only live once. I'm 43 years old and have never left the United States..  I have a bit of extra money (from the house sale) and I know if I don't go this time I'll regret it.. so I clicked the confirmation button... there is no truing back now.

The fun/stressful part begins... the planning stage. I'll be flying out on March 15th and retuning home on April 17th. Yes that's 32 days for this vacation. It's going to be EPIC!!!! And what makes this even more special is that my best friend Robert will be joining me for the first part of the leg. He also booked a trip to Ireland/England a few months back and at the time I wasn't sure of what dates I was going to go so we didn't plan anything together. But now that I moved my trip up our schedules aligned and we are now going to do Ireland together. I even managed to get on the same flights as him so we can travel together as well.. woohoo.

We fly into Dublin, Ireland on March 16th and we drive/train up to just outside Belfast were our friend Thomas lives. There are no set plans as of yet but Robert and I, and possibly Thomas will explore all of Ireland. We plan to rent a car and drive the entire coastline. We're going to to take a week to do this. After the week Robert is heading to London for a week and I'll be staying in Ireland a few more days to hang with Thomas before making my own trip to the Scotland,Wales and England. Not sure if I'm going to start at the top in Scotland or at the very bottom in England but I will be taking the next 3 weeks and exploring every part of that beautiful country.

And as you all know me, if you read my blog.. I'll be documenting the entire thing.. pictures and video blogs. I'm also thinking about doing some sort of podcast or something similar. I'm still in the very early planning stages for all this. All I know is this is going to be a trip of a lifetime and I can't wait for it to begin.

Podcasting, In-n-Out & Goodbyes

Today started in a panic. I am recording some MASH 4077 Podcasts today at 11am but I'm still not able to find my podcasting equipment, which is packed away in one of my hundred boxes. I looked a bit yesterday with no luck so this morning I was up early and as soon as Thomas got up I started looking again. I went through almost every box/bin and of course at fate would have it, I found the equipment in the very last box in the very back of the guest closet.

After my morning ordeal Thomas and I went out for breakfast once again to the NoHo Diner. On our way back we walked around the park. Once home I started preparing for the podcast while Thomas watched some more TNG.

Today my co-hosts and I were recording 7 episodes of our MASH 4077 Podcast. It's been a while since all three of us were together for a podcast as the last batch was missing Al. Two fun hours later we had seven podcast recorded. We had a blast recording these. I think the episodes are not only going to be informative but a lot of fun to listen to as all three of us just clicked. Now I have the fun part of editing these podcasts together before releasing them every two weeks. We're currently recording season 4 of MASH, we have many more seasons to cover and years left to record.

After podcasting I took Thomas to In-n-Out, I was surprised to hear he had never tried them. In all his visits to LA I figured he had to try them at least once.. but that wasn't the case. So we drove out to the one in Burbank as it was the closest to Airport and he was going to be leaving right after lunch.

He went for the full experience and got a Double Double. From the way he ate it (with in a few minutes) I'd say he liked it. But he had the same opinion as me.. There food is good but it's not the best ever hamburger by far. But at least he can now mark that off his list of things to do while in California.

After the late lunch I drove him to the Burbank airport and his mini birthday weekend with friends has come to an end. What is so great is that I will hopefully be seeing him in March sometimes if my travel plans pan out.. here's hoping.

It was great getting to hang out with Thomas the past few days. He needed a friend and a shoulder to lean on and I'm glad I was the one he came to for the support. I hope he had a fun weekend and was able to take his mind off things.

After I dropped of Thomas at the airport I came home and had my daily 2 hour Skype conversation with my buddy Erik, as always it's a highlight of my day/night getting to talk with him... good times are always had.

The only other HUGE thing to happen tonight is that I booked of my Ireland/England trip but I'm going to do an separate post about that.. so look for that soon.

Hiking, Frozen and Dinner with Friends

Today Thomas and I got up and headed to the NoHo Diner for some breakfast. After breakfast we went to Griffith Park to go on a hike. When we started it was around 65 degrees but 3 hours later the temperature was around 81 degrees. Neither of us really prepared well for this hike. Thomas forgot to bring shorts and hiking shoes and I managed to put on hiking boots but forgot to bring a hat and I really should have worn shorts... it was hot!!

It was a 2 hour hike up to the highest point in Griffith Park and an hour to get back down. It was a struggle at times but I forced myself to do it. I knew I had it in me but there were times I wanted to give up, turn around and head back down.

After the hike we headed over to The Habit (a hamburger joint) for lunch and we ran into Jes who was picking up food for herself and Dallas. I told her that once we were done eating we were going to watch Frozen as Thomas had not seen it and I wanted to share this awesome movie with him. She said she would be up for watching again so when we got back to my place she and Dallas joined us for the screening. Both Jes and I really resisted singing along with the songs.. it was tough and I think we both hummed and sung under our breaths but we managed not to ruin the experience for Thomas.

After Frozen I headed out to my friends John and Moises place for their annual 12 Days of Christmas Dinner. We use to have to closer to the 12th day of Christmas but with all our schedules it gets pushed further and further back each year. I have been coming to these dinners for years. Joining John and Moises were the regulars.. Tom, Ervin, Bruce and Martin. I've known these guys for years but I don't get to see that often.. I'm hoping now that I'm out of the boondocks that, that will change... I miss these guys.

It was a fantastic dinner, Moises is an amazing cook. We caught up on each others lives and it was a fun time. I had originally planned to stay only 2 hours because Thomas was back at my place alone watching TV but I was having such a great time 2 hours turned into 4 hours. But luckily for me Thomas had a great time watching TNG and other shows on Netflix.

Once I was back Thomas and I hung out a few more hours and watched TV before calling it a night.

Living Room and Birthday Boy Thomas

Today I finished setting up my living room. Other then the missing/broken plate everything is in it's place and I think it turned out fantastic. It has a very warm and inviting feeling. I love walking through the front door and being greeted by all this geekiness. Now it's time to move on to the other rooms.. one room at a time.

Got the first five volumes of Histories of Middle Earth in paperback. I got them off of Ebay as I want to delve deeper into the world of Middle Earth. I've read The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion and loved each and everyone one of those stories. I can't wait until I have some free time to jump into a world that I just adore.

Picked up my buddy Thomas from the Burbank airport today. He was flying in from Utah where he is working for a month stateside, he's original from Ireland. It's his birthday today and he wanted to spend it here in SoCal with me and our friends... yay!!!

I picked him up a little after noon and we came back to my place, where he was crashing. We watched the first two Felicia Day episodes of Supernatural as he had not seen them yet. After that we watched some TNG which it's been years since he had seen. We walked over to Chipotle for some lunch.

For dinner I made plans to celebrate his birthday with some friends at a local Pitfire Pizza. Joining us for this part of the birthday party was Robert, Jes, Dallas, Scott, Rupert, Doug and of course Thomas and myself for a total of 8 people. We had a blast, ate some good food and chatted for a few hours. After dinner we went down the street where another friend of ours was celebrating some good news. So we hung out with Adam, Andrew and Katie for about ten minutes before saying goodbye and heading back to my place. But before we got back to my place we stopped by Will to see if he wanted to join us as well. So he and Becca joined the party back at my place. Also Robert's girlfriend Cait arrived shortly after.

Since Thomas doesn't drink Jes suggested that we all do Birthday cake shots so after singing Happy Birthday and Thomas blowing out the candles I cut the cake into cubes and we all grabbed a piece by hand and shoved the entire thing into our mouth.. it was alot of fun.

I managed to cram 11 people in my living room and we all sat around my coffee table playing some Cards Against Humanity, which Thomas had never played. We played until around 12:30am when we called it a night and everyone headed home.

I was extremely happy that so many people were able to celebrate Thomas' birthday. It was a great night and I hope Thomas enjoyed himself... Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

3 Years...

Wow.. I just realized that it's been 3 year since Harry and I broke up.. the date just flew by... January 12th.

I can't believe it's been three years.. part of me thinks it feels like yesterday and the other part feels like it's been forever. Of course this break up was hard on me. We spent almost 8 years together. This was my one and only long term relationship. This was the guy I was going to grow old with. When you're with someone for that long you grow accustom to seeing them everyday, spending time with them 24/7 and then suddenly they're gone. It's as though a part of you has been removed. It takes time to adjust and learn to live without that part but in time you stop missing it and life moves on.

Since the break up I have only gone on one lunch date and that lead no where. I have had two sexual encounters (via craigslist) and they were more like heavy petting but I'm not that type of person to just sleep with someone just to sleep with them. There has to be meaning behind it. And these two experiences proved that to me.

I really don't miss the sex that much, but what I do miss is the companionship. Yes I have friends and some of them are extremely close to me but it's not the same. There is this intimacy that you have with your partner that you don't have with anyone else. A love you share that goes beyond friendship or family.

One big thing I miss about having a partner is cuddling, I'm a very tactile kind of person. I hug when I greet hello and say goodbye to friends. You can tell alot from a hug, I have some friends, when they hug, you can feel the love in their embrace and then there are others who feel as though they are just hugging out of courtesy... and I don't think any less of them as some people don't like to hug. But for me human touch is extremely important and I'm not talking about it in a sexual way. I'm talking about two people connecting with touch, there's an energy there that flows between them. I think I miss that the most.

Will I find my mister right, the man who will sweep me off my feet and spend our remaining years together.. I hope so. If you'd have asked me that question a month ago I would have said it's doubtful but recently a spark has reignited what I had thought was gone forever.... HOPE!!!

"Get Fit" Weeks 24 & 25

So I missed blogging about last weeks "Get Fit" so I decided to double up on this one. Nothing has really changed since my last blog post. I'm still in the middle of all this crazy moving stuff. I still don't have a refrigerator and that is making it very difficult to eat properly. I have done a bit of walking and running around the park, but no where near what I want to be doing.

If you recall I gained and then lost a few pounds during week 23 bringing me in at 196lbs. Well for week 24 I was gained a pound coming in at 197lbs and then lost that pound  during week 25. I am currently 196lbs again. I know these numbers don't really matter. I actually think I look thinner and have been building some muscle with all this moving the past month.

I'm hoping with things settling down here at my new apartment I can get back into some sort of routine. First and foremost I need to buy a refrigerator stat!!

Please Nominate Me For A Shorty Award

Nominations for the 6th Annual Shorty Awards are underway. If you don't  know what the Shorty Awards are... The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media, recognizing the people and organizations producing real-time short form content across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, Vine, and the rest of the social Web. I'm trying to win "Best Podcaster"

Do you have that favorite podcast that you watch or listen to throughout the day? What takes an average podcast and moves itself higher than all the rest? Communication; some of the top podcasts today are taking to the little blue bird, facebook, and YouTube to talk to their fans, get feedback, and gather shoutouts. Nominate your favorite #Podcaster who has the best presence on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube

I tried several years ago to get my podcasts and myself nominated with no luck and I didn't intend to try this year but my buddy Doug nominated me and got the ball rolling. I notice that they actually have an official "Podcaster" category (use to be a write in only). When I checked it out and saw that the top person nominated in the "Podcaster" category only had 132 votes. I figured.. hey that should be easy to beat, I mean I have over 800 "friends" on Facebook and over 2500 twitter followers.. surely I can get the votes to be in the top 4 which then gets me to the final vote.

So far it's not going as planned, It only takes a few second to nominate me. First of all you need to have a twitter account. Then click on this link http://shortyawards.com/Geekyfanboy and I have made it super easy as all you have to do is finish this sentence "I nominate @Geekyfanboy for a Shorty Award in #podcaster because..." and hit tweet.. it's that simple.

I'd appreciate all the nominations I can get. Nominations for the Shorty Awards end on February 18th, 2014!

My Latest Babylon 5 Viewing

TV night finally continues after almost a month hiatus due to all this moving craziness. Tonight Robert and I continued with our Babylon 5 first time viewing. Tonight we watched Season three episodes 16, 17 & 18.

First up is S3 Ep16 "A War Without End" part 1: Ivanova gets a distress call from herself pleading for help as the Shadows destroy Babylon 5. It is dated eight days into the future. At the same time, on Minbar, Sinclair is given a nine-hundred-year-old letter from Valen, telling him that a drastic action must be taken to prevent that future. 

And then the second part, S3 Ep17 "A War Without End" part 2: While Sheridan is unstuck in time, seeing a glimpse of a future Centauri Prime in ruins, the others continue with their plan to take Babylon 4 back in time.

This is was one of the best two parters on B5 so far. So many amazing call backs to a season 1 episode. It was great seeing Sinclair again and what a twist with him turning himself from human to Mimbar and becoming Valen. And it explains why Delenn changed from Mimbar to human to balance out what he did. So much history about B4 and where it actually went. I can go on and on about these two episodes. Robert and I just kept looking at each other in amazement. I can't wait to go back and watch the episode from season one that involved B4.

This is one of the main reason why I love that this series had one main writer J. Michael Straczynski. He had this story planned out and you can tell through is storytelling. It was great seeing future Londo and G'Kar and watching Londo's vision play out and Vir taking the throne as predicted. I like that we find out that Delenn and Sheridan get together and actually have a son. As I said.. so much awesome in these episodes.

And the final episode of the night, S3 Ep18 "Walkabout": The new Vorlon Ambassador arrives, Sheridan decides it's time to test just how effective telepaths are against the Shadow ships, and Franklin is on walkabout in Downbelow and falls in love with a singer.

After the last two episodes this one had a lot to live up to and if I would have watched this by itself I would have said it was pretty good, but compared to the previous episodes it was just okay. I liked the doctor story, but it wasn't great, I even said to Robert before we started this.. I wonder where the doctor is and then we had him in this story. I actually liked the Shadow/telepaths storyline better and found that much more interesting. They are defiantly setting the board.. can't wait to see what happens next.

Netflix, Broken Plate and Frozen

I got an email from Netflix today requesting me to return and offering me a month of free service. Now that I have a fast internet speed I was happy to sign back up. I perused what they had and man am I screwed. So many TV series that I would love to see. I'm going to have to make a list and just start somewhere and make sure I don't spend days on end watching nothing but Netflix. 

I started putting pictures and collector plates up on my walls in my living room. I didn't want to use nails so I got those command damage free sticker things. They work for me about 50% of the time but this was not one of them. As I came back from lunch I opened the door and a few seconds later one of my Star Trek Hamilton Collection plates dropped to the floor and shattered.

I immediately went to each plate and put an actual nail in the wall to make sure this didn't happen again. This is the third of my collection plates that have been broken over the years. I quickly went to ebay and see if I could get a replacement plate and luckily I found one that was just under $20 with shipping. So I picked it out.

In Frozen news... I came across this awesome video that Disney did with the song "Let it Go" from Frozen. It's the scene but made up of 25 different languages. The song in English is beautiful but hearing it in 25 different languages is amazing. Check it out below:

Refrigerators, Siri and Getting Hit By A Car

Start my day with driving around to various stores checking out prices for a new refrigerator. I checked fridges out at Fry's, Home Depot, Lowes and Best Buy. I had forgotten how expensive refrigerators can be. Prices for a 14 to 16 cubic feet fridge range from $400 to $600. What makes this worse is that I have a large fridge that cost me over $1500 that is working perfectly fine but because I can't get it up to the apartment means I can't use it and must get rid of it.

I didn't purchase a fridge today as I had gotten several texts from friends who either have extra fridges or are thinking of swapping with me. So I'm currently on hold when it comes to buying a fridge.

While I was at Fry's I saw this automatic key making machine. I had never seen anything like this but it's crazy cool and fast. All you do is slip your key in the slot and the machine does the rest. And for $1.99 you have a brand new key. I got two sets made of my apartment keys, one for Lydia (my international roommate) and the other for my buddy Robert (just in case I die in my apartment).

After my refrigerator search I headed back home and continued my unpacking.

Just a side note.. I never knew you could change Siri's voice from female to male. So I changed mine to male. I also heard you can add an accent.. will have to look into that.

After my skype chat with Erik, I went for a walk to pick up some dinner. It's one thing I really love about living in this new apartment, that I'm able to walk to pretty much anywhere. While I was heading back home and about a block away I was hit by a car. What happen is I was crossing a street and I saw the VW bug coming down the street in the opposite direction. I got about 2/3's of the way into the street when all of sudden this guy decides to turn right... directly in front of me. He didn't slow down or anything. I looked directly into his face as he was about to hit me head on but he swerved and kind of fish tailed a little bit and the back end of his car smack into me knocking me to the ground.

It all happen so fast you really don't have time to think about anything. All I remember is that I was lying on the asphalt and thinking to myself.. I was just hit by a car. Of course the guy didn't stop and just continued down the road. I got to my feet and got out of the middle of the road before checking to see if I had any broken bones or scrapes of anything like that. I'm happy to report that there was nothing... I was lucky. If he would have hit me head on I don't think I would still be here as he was moving pretty fast when he took the corner. I'm lucky that he actually saw me at the last minute and swerved to avoid me and only got nicked by the back end of his car.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Goodness

Nothing really new to blog about today.. I continue to unpack and organize my new apartment, it's a slow process but at least it's moving forward.

I had planned to start running around the park today but just wasn't feeling motivated. I know I need to get back into some sort of workout routine. And having this park right outside my front door I don't have an excuse not to get out there and at least walk around it.

I think the frustration of unpacking has really put me into a blah kind of mood lately. My only bright spots are my long talks with Erik everynight.

I did watch the latest two episodes of Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  I had fallen behind because of the move and no cable. This series continue to impress, I know alot of people including some friends dislike this series and I honestly don't get it. I have loved every episode and the characters continue to grow on me. May and Coulson are still my favorites but I'm loving Simmons and Fitts and even warming up to Ward and Skye. And after this latest episode with the origin of Skye (well some of it), it really pushed her character up on my list of getting to know better. Can't wait to find out more about who and what she is. And of course we got some answers with the whole Coulson brought back to life thing. Not sure I 100% understand it or they gave us everything but I'm glad we're getting answers with new questions.

This series continues to be my favorite of the new TV season and I can't wait each week to see where it goes next.

Guest Room & Fantasy Animals

After breakfast I headed home and continued to work on unpacking boxes. My buddy Thomas is coming to stay with me this weekend so my priority was to get my guest bed built. Again like my master bed this should have been put together by two people but I struggled by myself and managed to only bust off one bolt but it's together and ready for guests.

While I was unpacking a large stack of my toy bins decided to rebel and fell on top of me. I was knocked to ground but other then a sore shoulder I was pretty much unscathed.

I came across a Facebook post about this adorable and realistic looking "fantasy" animals that this Russian woman is making and selling online. You can check out all of her animals HERE. Some of them are extremely cute and others not so much. The picture I posted here is one of my favorites. I'd love to order one but I heard they are extremely expensive and she is working on a huge amount of back orders already. Who know maybe someone will buy her out and start mass producing them and in turn lower the price and I can pick one up... here's hoping she "sells out". :)

Bad At Flirting

I went out to breakfast today to my local diner (Noho Diner). While I was there, there was this guy at the counter eating. I sat down at a small table to his right. I noticed him looking over at me and smiling several times. Was he flirting with me or just being nice since we both looked up at the same time and our eyes met. Of course I didn't smile back and instead sheepishly looked away like I didn't see him. This happens more often then not and It got me thinking.. I'm really bad a flirting or recognizing if I'm being flirted with.

But I think that it's difficult to flirt when you are gay. The majority of gay men aren't obvious, it's not like we have a symbol or a certain look that would signify that we are homosexuals, so you really don't know which guys are gay and which are straight. If I think a guy is flirting with me I ask myself are they flirting with me or just being nice "straight" guys, and the last thing you want to do is make a straight guy uncomfortable or a fool out of yourself or even worse yet get the crap beaten out of you for assuming.

This is probably why I don't really "pick up" anyone and tend to lean more towards online dating (when I dated). But I have been assured recently that I actually do know how to flirt, which made me happy to hear but I think that's mainly because I know the guy I'm flirting with is gay. But strangers that's a complete different story.