Do You Want To Build A Snowman

Spent my day making Christmas presents for my friends. I've been making these Snowman for over 12 years now.. I actually received one back in 2002 and loved it so much that I reversed engineered it to figure out how it was made. I improved upon it over the years so each years edition is slightly different. What I like is that no snowman is alike so my friends are getting something unique and one of a kind, plus it's hand made and from the heart.. so that's good too. Over the years I think I've made a few hundred of these snowmen and I'm sure I'll be make more of them in the future.

They are easy to make.. you just need a few supplies, White socks, rubber bands, orange felt (for the carrot nose), brown pipecleaners (for the arms, this is new to this edition, I use to use real twigs but they would break often). Googly eyes, Something for the smile (I used very tiny buttons and also black sequences that looked like coal). Various ribbon for the scarf and hate band and then fluff ball or something similar for the buttons down the front. And the most important part rice (uncooked). The only tool you really need is a hot glue gun and glue.

You start by filling up the sock with the uncooked rice. For a 9-11 size sock I use about 1 1/2 cups of rice and then you put a rubber band around and to tighten it off (that's the lower part of the body), then add another cup of rice and rubber band that off to create the center part of the body. Then add 2/3's cup of rice for the top part aka head of the snowman.

So now you have the three separate sections, you should have about four to five inches of sock still, that's for the top hat. Once you have your three sections you will hot glue them together. It's important that you make sure your snowman looks well shaped and proportionate before gluing.

Next you hot glue the eyes on, then cut carrot shaped noses from the orange felt and glue them on. Add three to four buttons for the mouth. Next you'll place three fluff ball down the front of the snowman. Then you'll wrap a piece of ribbon around the neck of the snowman and glue it into place. Take a pipe cleaner and cut it in half, form the hands of the snowman and then hot glue them under the ribbon scarf.

The final part of the snowman is to create his/her top hat. You do this by flipping the remaining part of the sock inside out and forming it into a hat shape. You flip the end of the sock up to create the brim. Once you have your hat created you glue it down. The final thing you have to do is measure a piece of ribbon around the brim of the hat, cut it and hot glue it down.

That's it.. you now can create a snowman of your very own... Merry Christmas

More Sceeners & Shannara Chronicles Opening

Got three more sceeners today, Brooklyn, Legend and Love & Mercy. Only one I really want to see from this bunch is Brooklyn. It looks like a really sweet love story.

MTV released the opening sequence to their new TV series The Shannara Chronicles. It doesn't give anything away. I'm really looking forward to this new series.

NerdStrong Gym - My Week

This week I worked out Saturday (CON), Sunday (TEAM), Tuesday (DEX), and Wednesday (CON).

Saturday's workout was taking on the 20-Something Big Boss Monster. 

We started with 2 laps around the parking lot while holding a weight of some sort. Then 2 rounds of 50x Goblet Squats, :60 second Plank, 45x Kettlebell Sit Up, :60 second Plank, 40x Explosive Push Ups, :60 second Plank, 35x Kettlebell Reverse Lunges, :60 second Plank, 30x Facepeelers, :60 second Plank, 25x Wall Balls and finally another two laps around the parking lot for a weighted run.

I didn't finish it but I got further then before and I think I'm ready to take on the big bad boss monster next week.

Sunday's Team workout was in honor of Thanksgiving and titled Tur-Duc-Kin. This was a fun "Team" workout. We worked in teams of three and while one person ran 460 meters around the parking lot (two laps) the other person would choose workouts from Group 1 and the other would choose workouts from group 2. The purpose of this workout is to create the heaviest Turduckin. My teammates were Jess and Ryan and we managed to created a 525 lbs Turduckin.. we kicked some ass.

Tuesday's DEX workout was titled Ms Marvel.. it has lots of Jump Roping, Active Hanging, Planking, Push Ups, Superman, Sit Ups and Farmer's Carry. It was a tough but fun workout.

Wednesday's CON workout was lots of running and rowing and to finish it off we did a 5 minute Plank.  I actually lasted 3 minutes which is the longest I've every planked at one time. I think my favorite part of the workout was the 140 Meter Team Run Relay. I really like doing team activities together and I'm not a bad runner to it was win win for me.

As always it was a pretty fantastic week for workouts at NerdStrong Gym. Thanks to coach Andrew and all of the amazing coaches there.

It's Christmas Time

After the hike I came home and started to unpack all my Christmas decorations. Now that Thanksgiving is over and it's officially Christmas time I am going to decorate my apartment and put up my Christmas Tree.

Christmas is my favorite time a year and I love decorating my place. I started by putting up the tree. I've done live trees my entire childhood so when I started buying trees on my own I did live trees. That was until about six years ago when I came across a really nice looking fake tree. I was tired of having to clean up all the pines of a live tree as well as the idea of killing a tree for decoration every year.

I've collected some great and very geeky tree decorations (harry potter, star wars & star trek) over the years. I think my favorite find was my light up Yoda topper for the top of the tree.. it's pretty fantastic. I think the tree turned out great. I then added garland and bulbs over books cases and tables. I usually have small colored lights in the corner where the wall meets the ceiling but I opted not to do it this year.

Overall I'm very happy with the tree and decorations.. now I can enjoy the Christmas Holidays.

Hiking Eaton Canyon Falls

Since we didn't have gym yesterday or today due to the Thanksgiving holiday, my buddy Adam put together hike up in the hills of Pasadena. Joining for the was Adam, of course, Pooja, Lauren, and Adam's friends Kip and Gleen, which I just happened to know as well from game night I use to attend many many years ago (small world). Our main hike was to Eaton Canyon Falls, which is a fairly easy hike. So to make things a bit more difficult we hike up the  hills on a trail less traveled. It was a difficult hike as the trail pretty much went straight up, but the views from the top were amazing. Once we got to the top we made our way down the trail that most people used, it's a slow and steady incline or in our case going down.. a decline.

Once back at the main trail we made our way to the water fall. It required walking through flowing water and over large boulders. This was actually my favorite part of the hike. It was a popular trail so there was loads of people on it. But at the end of it is the small waterfall.. but a waterfall none the less. We sat on the rocks and snacked for a bit enjoying the ambiance. Once done we made our way back to the cars.

It was a great hike, it was beautiful outside, and the temps were just right. The company was great and we had some fairly in-depth geeky conversations.

After the hike Lauren and I grabbed some lunch at Rally's, before I dropped her off at her place and headed home.  Thanks Adam for organizing this fun adventure.

Happy Thanksgiving

Spent Thanksgiving with my brother's family as I have done in past years. This year as the kids are getting older (4 & 6) they wanted to help in preparing the turkey so I explained how you had to take out the giblets and neck and how to prepare it for the oven, they got a kick out of it. After we put the turkey in we played game, watched movies and just hung out until dinner time. Unlike previous Thanksgiving it was only my brother's family, Dad and myself for dinner.

We ate around 3pm and everything was fantastic. Around 5 my brother and sister-in-law went out for Black Friday so I got to watch the kiddos for a few hours before Lora's sister Wendy got there to watch them the remainder of the night. The highlight of my night was my niece Molly asking me to brush and braid her hair, she's such a sweetie. Overall it was another great Thanksgiving for the Mittleiders.

Captain America Trailer, Dawson's Creek Rewatch & More Star Wars

They released the first Captain America: Civil War trailer and it looks amazing. It's going to be difficult to watch these people who were once friends fight each other. But with that said I will always be #TeamCaptain

Was flipping through the channels and came across the series finale of Dawson's Creek. Of course I had to watch the entire thing.

I was a HUGE Dawson's Creek fan and have been wanting to do a rewatch of the entire series for a few years now. After watching the finale it reminded me why I want to do the rewatch. I don't know when I'll find the time but I'm thinking I'll do an episode or two a week.. it will take me a year to watch all six seaons but it's such a great a series and worthy of a rewatch.. anyone want to join me in the rewatch?

They also released another TV spot for Star Wars The Force Awakens. This one is more Kylo focused at the beginning. There is even more additional unseen footage but as they have done with the other trailers and TV spots.. nothing has been spoilery.

Birthday Lunch with John

Got some more screeners today.. Bridge of Spies, Steve Jobs and Jurassic World. I've seen Jurassic World and enjoyed it and I've heard good things about Bridge of Spies (with Tom Hanks) and Steve Jobs so I look forward to watching those.

During lunch today I took my buddy John out for his birthday. He's a big pizza guy so he suggested that we go to Pieology (it's a create your own pizza place). Never been before and I really enjoyed it, it's cool that you can make a pizza anyway you like.

I always enjoy hanging out with John. We workout together from time to time but you really can't socialize so getting some one on one time is pretty awesome. John is one of those people that you meet and it feels like you've known each other for years. Our lives couldn't be more opposite but personality wise I think we're more alike and of course we are both super geeky (okay I may be a bit more). Anyways.. Happy Birthday Buddy.. hope you had a fantastic birthday.

C3PO Waze, River Song, Legends, Galavant & Carter Returns

Waze released a C3PO direction voice for it's app so of course I had to download it. It's pretty awesome but it is kind of awkward having him call you master all the time. Not sure how long they will have it available but for now C3PO and his counterpart R2D2 will direct me to my destinations.

Got some more screeners today.. they seems to be rolling in now. This round I got The Walk, Trumbo and Beasts of No Nation. None of them are must sees for me but I'll give him a go at some point.

BBC announced that River Song will be returning to Doctor Who for the 2015 Christmas Special. I love River and her story in Doctor Who so I'm really looking forward to this.

DC released a new trailer for Legends of Tomorrow. The more I see of this series the more excited I got. DC has made some amazing TV (Arrow, Flash, & Supergirl) so I'm expecting great things from this series.

Also ABC released a trailer for season two of Galavant. When I first watched S1 of this series I was in love. It's so different then anything else on TV these days. It was only eight episode and I'll admit that not all of them were winners but people loved it and I'm happy to say they are coming back with a brand new, even longer season... can't wait.

And I think this is the series I am looking forward to the most.. the return of Agent Carter. I LOVED season one and was beyond excited to hear that it was picked up for season two..

Death of a Companion

So I watched last nights Doctor Who episode tonight, S9 Ep 10 "Face the Raven". The Doctor and Clara are called back to earth when Rigsy discovers a strange tattoo on the back of his neck that appears to be counting down to zero. Their investigation leads them to a hidden street in the middle of London, the discovery that Rigsy has been issued a death sentence, and one of them facing the choice of having to make the ultimate sacrifice; to face the Raven!

I've been enjoying this past season of Doctor Who, much more then the previous one. I knew that Jenna Coleman was going to leave the show at the end of the year so when things went down the way they did I knew this was it. It's difficult to watch a companion leave the show but this one is heart breaking as she did this to herself. Clara got to comfortable with the status quo, the duo had been in so many scraps but always managed to escape but this time she went to far and had to pay the price.

When she walks out to the street saying under her breath.. "Let me be brave.. let me be brace" my heart broke and the tears rolled down my face. I wasn't a big fan of Clara when she was teamed up with Matt Smith's Doctor but I adore her as the companion of Peter Capaldi's Doctor, so this was very difficult to watch.

I still think Donna Nobles departure from the series was the worst but Clara dying the way she did was pretty close.

Other highlights from this episodes.. Clara's final speech to the Doctor was amazing and very touching. The Doctor's rage towards Me was bone chilling and the final scene of the TARDIS made into a tribute for Clara.

We still have a two more episodes before the series is over, I know Clara is still going to show up as I have seen photos of Jenna in a waitress outfit but I have no idea in what context those are from.. guess will have to wait and see.

 ~ R.I.P. Clara Oswald ~

Meeting Mrs Patmore

So I was watching Good Day LA yesterday morning and they had on Lesley Nicol who plays Mrs Patmore on Downton Abbey. She mentioned that she was going to be at the Farmer's Market Cost Plus World Market tomorrow for a food drive for the LA food bank, if you bring 5 can goods you can get an autographed picture. I immediately messaged my buddy Leo to see if she wanted to join me as she is a recent fan of Downton and she agreed to go with me. So this morning she and I went down to World Market about an hour and a half before she was to sign as we didn't know if it would be super crowded or not. When we got there, there was a table in front of the store where we left our can goods. They gave us our line numbers and said to be back a half hour before she was to sign. We were surprised that we got numbers #8 and #9.

We had an hour to kill so we headed over to the Farmers Market to grab some lunch. Once we were done we made our way back to the World Market and got in line which was on the outside of the store. As it got closer to the time the line grew and started to go around the corner. There were several press people taking pictures of us (the fans). Right on time Mrs Nicol arrived and made her way into the store. They took six people at a time and after about 20 minutes Leo and I made our way into the store and got into another line and waited. It looked like friends and employee friends got to jump in front of everyone to get pictures and such.. this would explain why it was taking longer then expect.

The set up was nice, Mrs Nicol stood up on a platform next to a table where she was signing pictures. She was allowing us to take pictures with her and she spent a good five minutes chatting with you. I went up before Leo. I was all giddy smiling from ear to ear as I shook her hand. She was very sweet and soft spoken. She mentioned my awesome T-shirt (I was wearing the Union Jack (British Flag). She asked where I got the shirt and mentioned that she needs to get a flag for her house and we discussed getting one on ebay. We talked a bit about Downton and how much I love her character and how I have already seen season six and was very happy with where they were taking her character. We did a bit more chit chat before taking several pictures and then getting a hug from her and saying goodbye.

After I walked down from the platform my friend Leo with the same giddy grin that I had went up. As I exited the area a guy pulled me aside and asked if I would do a quick interview about meeting her. I don't know who he was with (the store, LA Food Bank or the actress) but I said of course so he asked me a few questions and I answer them as excitingly as I could.

After Leo was done we fanboy/fangirled out a little bit and then went shopping. World Market had some very cool Downton Abbey merchandise as well other cool items. Once we were done talking we headed out and sat in the courtyard and talked about the experience of meeting her. Some how the conversation turned to Harry Potter and I asked if Leo had ever been to Whimsic Alley (a very cool Harry Potter store), she said no so of course I had to take her since it was only a few miles way.

We spent a half hour or so walking around Whimsic Alley checking everything out. Since their lawsuit with the WB they have changed their merchandise a bit and also added abit more British things to their inventory like Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downton Abbey.

It was a great day.. I'm so happy Leo agreed to go with me as I would not have gone alone and I would have missed out on this great experience... Thanks again Leo for joining me.

NerdStrong Gym - DEX, CON and STR Oh My!!

Combining my workout blog posts for the time being.. I worked out Tuesday (DEX), Wednesday (CON) and Thursday (STR)

Tuesday's DEX callas was a good one. The warm up was just as hard as the actual workouts.

This was a CON class through and through.. look at all those different workouts. This was a tough one but sometimes the tough ones are the most rewarding.

Strength is my least favorite workout days but today's barbell work was Bench Press which is my favorite of the barbell workouts. The Battles were tough and exhausting but over a good workout day.

LARPs The Series S2 Ep7 - My Thoughts

S2 Ep7 "Last Breath" It doesn't matter if you win or lose; it's how you play the game.

This is by far the best episode of LARPs The Series in my opinion. I loved every minute of it. Half of the episode is set in the LARPing world with some amazing fight sequences and the other half is moments after the LARPing session and the complete and total meltdown on the team.

Brittney was ready to sacrifice her character Corillia for the greater good, that was until Will's character Biff came to her rescue which didn't make her happy at all. Will and Brittney's argument escalates when Arthur is brought into it and the three just attack each other. Some brilliant acting was happening during that scene. It's always hard to watch characters that you like argue like that.

There was a very sweet scene between Kat and Evan when she asks him out. Evan's reaction is simply adorable.. that is of course until she slips up and kind of reveals Shane secret that she's been writing about the LARPing group behind everyone's back.

Then there is another amazing scene at the end when Shane confronts Evan and just let's him have it and he just drives away. Again like with the other argumentative scene some brilliant acting was happening. These guys have some acting chops.

The last six episodes have been leading up to this huge blow out and now we have only a few episodes left this season to rebuild this team and make them stronger then ever.. at least that's how I hope it turns out. Can't wait to see how the resolve this episode.

More Screeners & Promo for WWofHP Hollywood

Just when I said I wasn't getting enough screeners I got a ton of them today including Sicarro, 99 Homes, Inside Out and Cinderella.

Universal Studio Hollywood released a promo video for the upcoming Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood...

Huntsman Trailer, More Star Wars & New Log Books

I had heard they were making a prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman, which I enjoyed. That movie has one of the most beautiful and most realized fantasy worlds.. I loved it. This looks like a lot of fun.

Got another screener.. Black Mass. Sceeners seems to be coming in alot slower this year. Hopefully things will start coming in as the month progresses.

As I have mentioned here on my blog.. more and more Star Wars The Force Awakens footage has been released with trailers and commercials. Here's the 6th TV spot and it's focused on the character of Finn... again it doesn't spoil anything and it shows us a bit more of the movie... so excited.

During Pilates tonight at NerdStrong Gym I was able to pick up my new Log Book. They really outdid themselves with this Log Book. Like the gym it's very much fashioned after D&D with a ton of achievements to unlock and goals to hit. I can't wait to get started.

Living Building, RGQ, Gods of Egypt & Agent Carter S2 Trailers

I came across this architects rendering of this beautiful building covered in greenery. If you know me you know I'm a Hobbit and I love all things nature and greenery. If I couldn't live in a hole in the ground surrounded by grasses and forests I'd want to live in this building.

Here's some more details about the project.. Stefano Boeri, an Italian architect with an affinity for innovative green structures, is set to build a 117m-tall (384ft) apartment tower in Lausanne, Switzerland, that will be the first building in the world to be covered in evergreen trees.

The 36-story green tower, aptly named “La Tour des Cedres” (The Tower of Cedars), will be home to more than 100 trees, 6,000 shrubs and 18,000 plants spread over roughly 3,000 square meters of green space. The plants will protect the apartments inside from harsh winds, dust, and noise pollution, and will offer a more pleasant view of the city.

This tower will be the second project of its kind by Boeri. He previously designed two 112m towers in Milan as well.

So I asked a "Random Geek Question" on Facebook and Twitter. "Is there an age limit to cosplay?" I ask this because as a 45 year old man I feel like when it comes to cosplay I'm on a older side of things. Of course most of the responses were "Of course there is no age limit to cosplaying" which is what I expected. I really don't know why I even asked the question because honestly I don't care what people think of me. I'm not hurting anyone and I'm enjoying doing what I'm doing.

I hadn't heard of this movie before but here's a trailer for a new fantasy action movie called Gods of Egypt. It looks pretty good...

During tonight's amazing Agents of Shield episode (loving this series) they aired a new trailer for Season two of Agent Carter. I LOVED season one of Agent Carter so I'm super excited to see season two and from the trailer it looks to be another amazing season.. can't wait.

Oh and one last thing.. ONE MONTH FROM TONIGHT... STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS!!!!!

Universal Studios Hollywood Annual Pass Price Hike

Today as expected Universal Studios Hollywood has raised their annual pass price. A 2015 annual pass with no blackout dates had cost $139 online, or $159 when purchased at the park. A value pass with blackout dates ran $119. The new annual pass program with blackout dates, announced Monday, will cost California residents $139 for 182 days of access to the theme park, or $199 for 244 days. And there is a pass that can be used 312 days costs $299 and is available to all parkgoers.

Honestly I would pay anything for an annual pass so the price bump didn't bother me. As I said with the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in April everyone expected the price raise. I think what bothers me more is that there is no annual pass with no blackout dates. The "Gold" pass, which is highest you could get has 312 days which is great but alot of the weekends are blacked out, especially during the summer and Christmas Holidays. But I'm cool with that because the fact is I live about a 5 minute drive 20 minute walk to Universal and I plan to go during the week after work to grab dinner at the Three Broom Sticks or walk around Hogmeades sipping on some Butterbeer.

Oh the other change they made from their previous annual pass plans is the previous passes use to be good only for the year.. so regardless of when you purchased your ticket you only had to the end of the year to use it. These new passes are good for 12 months, so if you buy your pass in April (which I plan to) it will be good until the following April.

If you can't tell I"m super excited for this. Of course opening Day and weekend are blacked out for annual pass holder and honestly I'm happy to wait until the Monday after opening to attended The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood... who's gonna join me???

Falling Behind On My Daily Blog

So it's January 1st 2016 but you may have notice I post dated this to November 17th 2015 because I'm about a month and a half behind on blogging. Between the end of a job, working out, and life in general I fell further and further behind.

So in order to catch up before I start my new job on Monday I'm not going to blog about every NerdStrong gym day. Instead I'll do a combined week at NerdStrong Gym. I also will pick and choose what geeky things I will share from Nov/Dec. Hopefully I'll be back on schedule very soon and back to blogging daily.

Thanks to all my loyal readers.. I appreciate each and ever one of you.

Another Star Wars The Force Awakens Commercial

Wow.. nothing on Star Wars The Force Awakens for months and then suddenly.. WHAM!!! Trailers and commercials galore. And what is even better is that they keep releasing new footage with these new trailers but nothing is really a spoiler.. it only gets me even more excited for the movie. Just over a month away... woohoo!!!

Xmas Music, Equality for Ireland & More Star Wars Footage

Woohoo... local station KOST 103.5 has started playing Christmas music earlier then usual. I love Christmas music and could listen to it none stop through out the year but then again if I did I don't think it was be as special as it is during the Christmas holiday. Needless to say that my car radio station will be set on KOST from today until the end of the year.

Congratulations to all my LGBT Brothers and Sisters in The Republic of Ireland. They can now marry the ones they love. It's official, today marks the first day that same sex couple can marry in Ireland. It's a beautiful day but I can't wait for the day that this isn't headline news and just the norm.

Today Disney released more Star Wars The Force Awakens footage. Disney XD aired a behind the scenes promo for the upcoming movie.. check it out.

NerdStrong Gym - UberViking

For today's workout we were doing UBERVIKING. Now we've done the Viking workout in the past and it's a tough one but Uberviking is like nothing we've done before.

After a warm up of 9x Wall Squats, 140 Meter Run, 9x Sit Ups, 9x Lunges and 9x PVC Dislocates.

We then jumped into the main workout. We had to start in heats since we only have 5 Row Machines. I was part of the first heat as I really wanted to finish the entire thing so I figured the sooner I started the better chance I had at finishing before the class was over.

I started with a 1000 Meter Row, rowing is not one of my strong points and not a favorite of mine but I trudged though meter by meter. Next was a 460 Meter Run with Gear, this was either a Spear (Barbell), Shield (Weighted Plate), Boulder (Wallball) or Sling Bullets (Steel Bell). I chose a Boulder and I actually enjoy running so this part of the workout was okay for me. We had to run two time around the parking lot to do the full 460 Meters. Next was 100 Tire Strikes, this is fun, you take a Mace and pound a large tire. Once you get into a rhythm it's pretty easy. I then moved on to 100 Slam Balls. This is where it got hard.. doing slam balls isn't bad but doing 100 of them at one time is a killer.. but somehow I got through them and moved on to 100 Gravediggers. This was a new movement for us and we had to take a weighted plate and then squat down and kind of scoop the ground, 50 on each side. You then had to do another 460 Meter Run with Gear (Medicine Ball again) and then get back on the rower and row another 1000 Meters.

I don't know how I did it and as I type this all out I still don't know how I did it but I finished with plenty of time to spare (benefit of going in the first wave). This was one of the hardest workouts we've done.. starting with a 1000 meter row and ending with a 1000 meter row was a killer. 

New MASH 4077 Podcast

Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 116, covering S5 Ep 19 "Hanky Panky".

Lt. Carrie Donovan is having marital problems: she received a "Dear Jane" letter. But, she would rather discuss her problems with BJ than Hawkeye. Poor Margaret is very worried because she has not received a letter from Donald. When she learns her fiancé is in the hospital, she is manic, trying to find out what happened to him. BJ spends the night with Donovan and is so guilt ridden he wants to write home and confess his sins.

You can Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or listen and get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com

NerdStrong Gym - Mini Boss Battle

Today is Saturday so that means the Boss Fight. Today we take on the Mini-Boss.

We started with what they called a "Warm Up" but it was more of a mini-workout. 2 Rounds of 5x Pole Squats, 10x Air Squats, 10x Jump Squats 5x Hop Knee Touch then Banded Lunge with Overhead, Banded Pass Thrus, Banded Pull Aparts, Banded Good Mornings and finally Banded Tricep Stretches.

For the Quest we did a TABATA (:20 seconds of work, :10 seconds of rest) x8 Hi-Planking.

And after all that we finally get to our Mini-Boss battle. We started with a 230 Meter Run with Body (Sandbag), then 10 rounds of 10x Goblets Squats, 9x Kettlebell Sit Ups, 8x Explosive Push Ups, 7x Kettlebell Reverse Lunges, 6x Face Peelers, 5x Wall Balls. Then we did another 230 Meter Run with Body.

It was a tough workout and I know I didn't finish it but I can't recall how far I got (been over a month since I did this workout) but I did get pretty far. I have a few more Saturdays to build up to the Big Boss again at the end of the month. My goal is to be able to do the entire thing within the allotted time.

Thanks coaches for another amazing workout.

SW TFA 60 Sec. Trailer & Minion Screener

Another TV spot for Star Wars The Force Awakens and yes it has new footage.. this time it's a 60 second spot and seeing these spots just gets me even more excited for the movie.

They also announced that the new Star Wars movie will run 2 hours and 15 minutes. Honestly I would love to see an even longer version but I realize that Disney wants to get as many showings in per day which means more money.. it's sad but true.

I started a another group on Facebook for my gym NerdStrong. This one is called Be NerdStrong and it's for non-members who are interested in joining the gym and want to get more information. Here you can chat with coaches and ask as many questions as you like pertaining to fitness and the gym. Give us a follow on Facebook HERE.

One last thing I got a screener for the movie Minions. I'm a big fan of the Despicable Me franchise and I did go to a PGA screening last month and enjoyed the film. Not my favorite story but it did have Sandra Bullock as the main villain so that was fun.

LARPs The Series S2 Ep 6 - My Thoughts

S02E06 - Charisma "It's more fun when you play nicely with others."

Not a lot of LARPing in this episode but some great character building stuff. We see Kat and Brittney get mugged and Brittney go all Ninja on the dude and the after math of that fight. We see Kat and Evans' "relationship" escalate when Kat seduces the map away from Evan's character. That was fun to see. The scenes with Shane and her boss are always fun as well as Will and his boss, who's just plain crazy. We see the continued downward spiral of Arthur and his Bard character. And we see some of the Steampunk characters from last week show up, including the one that Arthur killed. 

This was a nice solid addition to season two, they are definitely building things up and things are going to hit the fan soon... can't wait!!!

Check out the episode below...

NerdStrong Gym - Bear Complex

Strength Day... We started with a nice warm up of 150 Meter Row, 10x Walk Quad, 10x Knee to Chest, Leg Swings F/B/S and then 10x Good Mornings.

For Proficiency we did 8x Heavy Goblet Squats, 10x Bulgarian Split Squat (off Bench), 10x Seated Spine Rotations (on bench). We've done goblet squats before but never heavy goblet squats. And the other two workouts were brand new.

The Quest is are main workout which consisted of a Bear (Barbell) Complex. I'm not a fan of the Bear Complex which is a Deadlift, into a Hang Clean into a Front Squat into a Push Press into a Back Squat, then a small push press to get the weight back over your head and to the ground. That is one rep and we had to do 3 reps at one time. We rested 2 to 3 minutes and then did it again and again for 15 to 20 minutes.

Next was the Battle which was 3 rounds of :30 seconds of Lying Toe Touch, :30 second of Leg Levers, :30 seconds of Scissor Kicks, :30 seconds of Armless Sit Ups and then :30 seconds of rest before doing it all over again.

And because we had some time left over we did some Planking.

It was a tough workout but then I wouldn't have expected anything else. I may be exhausted after the workout but it only takes a five to ten minutes to recoup, which is fantastic.

Veterans Day, Lunch with a Friend & Pilates

Happy Birthday Mom (I know you don't read my blog but I had to wish you a Happy Birthday. I love you very much).

I also want to Thank all the men and women who served and are still serving in our Military. I want to give an extra shout out to some of my friends who served or are currently serving, you guys rock!! Christopher Setts, Leonor Dutcher, Kody Lambert, Dallas Bloom, David Sharp, Andrew Avalos, Pete Foltz, & Ivy Hefler-Ochocki.

I had lunch with my buddy Kevin today, it's always fun getting to hang out with him outside the gym. Hopefully we can do it more often.

And after two weeks of not being able to go.. I finally got to attend another Pilates class at NerdStrong Gym. I'm really enjoying Pilates, for me it's a great way to release stress after a crazy day of work. It's also a great core workout and helps with your flexibility.  

NerdStrong Gym - Escape From Shelob

Today we did one of my favorite workouts.. not because of the actual workout but because of the theme.. Escape from Shelob.

We started with a 10 to 12 minute build which included 4x Perfect Stretch, 6x Lunge, 8x Sit Ups and 10x Ring Rows. We then moved outside for the Proficiency portion of the workout. We started with Agility Bear Crawl then Ran around the parking lot (230 Meters) then Plate Hop. First pass we did 1 foot at a time, second pass we did two feet at a time, third time was Stepping Backwards and then the fourth was Hop Over Each Plate) then 10x Air Squats and do it again and again and again (4 rounds).

We then moved on to the main workout. We had to do 5 rounds of 40x Jumping Jacks, 30x Bicycles, 20x Goblet Squats, 10x Push Ups, and 5x Burpees. In between these rounds we had to go outside and grab a sandbag (Frodo) and carry him to the next cone and then walk lunge back to the gym. If you made it to the final round you had to go get Frodo from the fifth cone and then lunge walk back with him. 

It was grueling workout but enjoyable. I always love being Sam and helping Mr. Frodo. And if you notice on the right side of the board you'll see a count of how to pronounce the word Shelob... Love my gym.

Finding Dory Trailer & Star Wars Rebels

Disney released a Finding Dory trailer. I really enjoyed Finding Nemo and Dory was one of my favorite characters so I'm really looking forward to Finding Dory.

Today I watched a fantastic episode of Star Wars Rebels, S2 Ep 6 "Brothers of the Broken Horn" Ezra receives a distress signal from Vizago's ship. Ezra and Chopper decides to see what has happened. When Ezra and Chopper arrives at the ship, they find out that the ship has been taken over by Hondo Ohnaka. They finds out that Vizago is captured inside the ship and Ezra helps him get it back.

We see the return of a loved character from The Clone Wars cartoon Hondo. I wasn't a huge fan of this character but as the series went on and his character grew he became much more compelling. If I remember correctly the last time we see him he is trying to kill a ship of Younglings so he's not the nicest of guys. But in this series he's older and crazier then ever and I just adored him. I loved his interaction with Ezra, they made a great duo. This entire episode was all about these two (and chopper) it was funny and had a bit of action in it. I really enjoyed this episode and I hope we see Hondo again in a future episode.

NerdStrong Gym - DEX Day!!

DEX workouts are always a good selection of various workouts to work the entire body. Today's workout was no exception.

We started with the Build, 230 Meter Run, Shoulder Rolls, Tricep Stretch and Calf/HamString Pole Stretch.

Next was the Proficiency part of the workout where we did Shin Box and Shin Box with Hip Extension work.

For the Quest we spent 15 minutes and had to do Half Turkish Get Ups (x5 on each side). I actually like doing Turkish Get Ups (at least the version we do at the gym).

The Battle was next and we had to do 4 minute rounds of :30 seconds of work  and :30 seconds of rest. Diamond Push Ups, Russian Twists, Jump Squats and Hollow Holds and for our :30 seconds of rest we had to do Superman (which really isn't a rest)

Luckily we got a minute between rounds to actually rest as these workouts got harder and harder as we did them.

For the finisher we got to choose between 3:00 minutes of Jump Rope or 140 Meter Relay Race. I voted for the Relay Race but the majority voted for Jumping Rope so we did 3 minutes of jump rope to finish off the workout.

Awesome Starbuck Drive Thur (ASL) & A New Flask

I came across this video and it brought tears to my eyes. I think every fast food place should have this type of drive thru. Kuddos to Starbucks to doing this for the deaf community.  

And I got a new flask today, not sure why I did as I'm not a big drinker but I like the idea of having a flask just in case I need a quick nip to brighten my mood. 

I filled it up with my favorite new spirit Fireball Whiskey. I don't know if I'll ever drink from it but it now has a new home in my bag and will travel with me where ever I might go.