A Healthier Me - Day 77

Yep.. worked out on a Saturday, to make up for not working out last night (Friday). Had a long day at MTV and when I got home I just couldn't motivate myself to get out there and work out.. And even though I'm not feeling the best today I did manage a pretty good work out.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Had my Forcecast Podcast keeping me company, they were discussing the latest Clone Wars episode.. so much goodness in one podcast.

Another Day at MTV

Today my next gig ask me to come in and work on the post schedule again. Of course I knew on Wednesday that the schedule I worked on all day would be useless and I'd have to do it again. And once again they had no shoot schedule and if they don't know when they are going to shoot I can't schedule when the shows will go into edit, as I need footage to edit with. So I got some possible shot days and worked on schedule after schedule trying to make it work and each time coming up short... 10 hours later I was still unable to get the schedule to work and finally told them it was impossible. And truthfully it doesn't matter because when they finally do get a shoot schedule the post schedule will change again. 

I also found out that I may be starting early December instead of last November, which I don't mind. I mean I've been off for over six going on seven months but not having a job and looking for work is very stressful and you're not really able to enjoy the time off.. Now I have the entire month of November off and can enjoy the time off because I know I have a job in December.

Knights of the Guild Ep 21 pt2

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Show Notes:

Here it is Episode 21 part 2 of Knights of the Guild. We hope you enjoy it.

Today’s show features:

* First up we have a Classic Vorkism

* We are recording this weeks podcast live in studio

* We discuss Behind the Scenes of Season 3 Episode 9 Wit's End

* We have another great fan interview with Troy Butcher

* Guild Something with Sean Becker
* We thank our donors.
* Then Business Time (We continue to use contest submissions, Thanks Megan, Jennifer, James, Donica, Jerod, and David)
* Then our Good byes

Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans.

Kenny & Jenni

Other Important Links

• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com/
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/

A Healthier Me - Day 75

Today was my cardio workout day and I normally do a half hour to an hour of cardio but I'm having some major tooth aches and I did do a hour long hike earlier today with my friend Jeff and figure I did my cardio then.

Hanging with Jeff Valdez

Today I spent the day with my buddy Jeff Valdez, who's here from Philly. He came out for Blizzcon and has been hanging out since. I first gave him a tour of our property, then took him to Vasquez Rocks to go hiking. After that we came back home and picked up Harry and headed out to lunch. Wanted to take him somewhere they don't have alot of on the east coast so we went to El Torito and had a nice lunch.


After lunch we headed back home and hung out for a bit, we then did a fan interview for my Knights of the Guild podcast and chatted a bit more before saying our goodbyes.

It was a great visit and appreciate Jeff taking time out of his busy schedule to come visit me.

A Healthier Me - Day 74

A very late late late workout.. because I went into work and didn't get home until after 8 then had dinner, I didn't get to work out until 11pm.

I did something to my hip tonight, not sure what it was.. but I suddenly had this sharp pain in my left hip. Think I may have twisted the wrong way. But I still got out there and and worked out... though I only did 15 minutes on cardio as my hip was hurting to much to do the full 30.

Today's Workout:

15 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

My MTV Job

Yesterday I got a call from my next employer asking I could come in today and help them with the post production schedule, I of course said yes. It's at MTV down in Santa Monica which is about an hour drive from my house with no traffic and if you know LA there is "never" no traffic so I expected an hour and a half to two hour drive. I got up early and left my house at 8:45am, and as expected traffic was horrible and I did my best on getting off the freeway and taking side streets but in the end it took my about one and a half hours to get there.

Once there I found out the person who got my the job and the one I was suppose to go the post schedule with was out sick. They really didn't have anything planned so I had to start from scratch and build a calender in excel which I've used on previous shows and really liked how it worked out. That took me until after lunch about 1pm to finish building a nine months calender. Once that was done I got some info but not all the info I needed to make a proper calendar so I started to build a calender which I know I'll have to change completely but at least it's something. Around four the production coordinator came by and took me to get my pass so  I can get in the buildings and parking lot. I finished around 6:30pm and left at 7pm. They wanted me to come in tomorrow but I have plans so instead I'm going in on Friday to finish it up, hopefully they will have all the info this time.

Other then the long drive the office and people are great and I'm really looking forward to getting started full time at the end of Nov.

A Healthier Me - Day 73

Today's Workout:

1/2 hour of cardio

Only got a half hour of cardio done today, not really feeling it tonight and struggled to get a half hour done but I'm glad I got at least that much done.

Have my good days and my bad days.

Harry Potter Film Wizardry Book

A Healthier Me - Day 72

Almost forgot to workout tonight.. around 10:30pm it hit me.. crap today is Monday and I need to work out.. so I got out there and had a great workout.

It's Weight in Monday and my current weight is 207 which is the lowest it's been since I started working out. 7 more pounds to lose before the end of the year to reach my first goal.

Today's Workout:

45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Increased Property Taxes

Got our property taxes yesterday and realized they were due at the end of the month.. not sure what I was suppose to do as our property taxes are part of our mortgage that I pay every month. So I called Bank of America to ask. Good thing is they were aware of them and planned on paying for them by Nov. 1st. Bad thing was when she told me the amount $1139.25 twice a year, which was last years amounts it wasn't the same amount on this new statement. It is now $1895.94 twice a year. .that's about $1500 more a year in property taxes. And because of the increase our monthly mortgage is going to have to go up to cover the taxes. Now I have to wait for BofA to get back to me and let me know how much it's going to go up.. I'm expecting at least $125 extra a month, which is going to hurt us. I plan on calling the Assessor's to find out why the taxes went up to much from last year but in the end there really isn't anything I can do, I mean we have to pay property taxes, whatever amount they are.. Thank goodness I have a new job on the way.

Hanging with Will

After spending some hours with my friend Anne I went over to my best bud Will's place. It's funny we've known each other for over two years but I have never been to his apartment. I went over to not only visit him but to also help him upload Avid to his home computer. We accomplished that in a few minutes, he also transferred a bunch of TV and movie files from my hard drive.

A day before his Xbox gave him the ring of death so when I got to his place he was in the middle of trying to fix it. He asked for my help and I say sure.. I pretty much held the flash light as he did the work.. but I held that light pretty good. :) We got to a certain part and found out that we had the wrong washers so we headed to Lowes and Home Depot looking for the correct ones... though I wasn't able to hang out longer I had a great time spending a few hours with one of my best friends in this world.

Anne, Hollywood & Potter.. oh my

Today my friend Anne from New York and I got together for the first time. Anne's a friend from the internet and she is in town for Blizzcon (Gaming Con). She had never been to Hollywood so I decided to play tour guide. We walked around Hollywood Blvd, checking out the stars and the hand prints at Mann's Chinese Theater. We then went to Hard Rock Cafe, which wasn't there when I visited Hollywood the last time. After Hard Rock we went to Hollywood and Highland and concluded out tour with hitting he a few souviner shops.


Anne is also a Harry Potter fan so of course I couldn't pass up taking her to Whimsic Alley (Harry Potter Store) in Los Angeles. So we spent an hour or so walking around Whimsic Alley checking out all the cool Potter goodies. She purchased a wand and book of spells for her mom (who's a huge HP fan) and once again I came out empty handed which I have to say was very difficult.

It was a great 3+ hour visit, she is as sweet and funny as I expected and I can't wait to visit New York so she can be my tour guide.

Hanging with my Padawan

After the Fanboy Funhouse shoot I went to have dinner with my Padawan Troy. I texted him when we got out and asked if he knew of any places that he wanted to try. He said he heard of this place called Philipps, he said he had sandwiches. I'm not one for trying new places but I figured hey what can it hurt. I sent me the address and it's in downtown, downtown LA. I get there around 5pm and luckily they have parking in back so I park and wait. Troy arrives around 5:30 and we head into this place and it's PACKED!!! We get in line and the only food they have are french dips (come to find out that it's the birthplace of french dips). So we order a sandwich and coffee cake and sit down. We ate our sandwiches which wasn't that great and enjoyed the coffee cake, both agreed that we wouldn't come back. We sat there for about 2 hours chatting about everything.. it's was awesome. We then went to my car and sat in my car until 10pm talking. The restaurant closed then and we moved our cars out onto the street and continued to enjoy ones company until 1:30am at which time, I'm sure we could have stayed there all night chatting, but I had to get up early the next day (or I guess later that day) to hangout with my friend Anne who is in from New York. So we said our goodbyes and made plans to hang again soon.

It was a great end to a fun day. Never thought I would sit in a car for seven hours talking. We talked about anything you could think of. I got to know my Padawan a little better as well as he go to know me a little better. That's one great thing I love about Troy and my relationship is our ability to just be in each other's company and not really have to force a conversation, it's just flows naturally. He also had fun drawing on my fogged up windows. --->

I chose wisely when I selected my Padawan!!!!

Fanboy Funhouse

Today I went out to Culver City to shoot an episode of Fanboy Funhouse, hosted by Nar Williams .I'm a huge fan of Nar Williams and was very excited that I was going to be a guest on his show. How this happened; Jenni and I were talking one day while recording our podcast and I mentioned that I thought Nar was pretty cool. She then said "hmm maybe I can get Knights of the Guild on the show". I thought it was a cool idea but didn't think it would happen.. well a few days later she emailed me and said Nar said yes, he loves the idea of interviewing us as "fans" and creating this podcast about the Guild, I was so excited!!!! He asked if we could get a Guild cast member to join us, to get their reaction to having fans like use on set doing a podcast. Since the cast are our friends we figured we could get one of them to join us.

Well I get there about 20 minutes early (though my GPS took me to a Home Depot parking lot).  A few minutes later the special cast member showed up (gonna keep that a secret as long as we can) followed by Jenni. Producer Roth then came down to take us to the studio. Once there we meet everyone, it was a very small but warm group of people. They took us into make up and then we went over what we were going to talk about. We started the interview and it went great. I was extremely nervous as I work behind the camera and mic not in front of it, but I felt very comfortable while being interviewed and talked quite a bit (which was unexpected).

After the interview we did the outtro for the show and then we shot our entrance for the show. If you've never seen Fanboy Funhouse guests enter down a slide. Now when I got there Nar jokily said can't wait to see how you come down the slide as many folks have done various things and try to one up each other.. so I of course felt the pressure. So our special Guild guest did it, then Jenni and then it was my turn. I decide to do it head first on my back, so sliding backwards. They were all shocked that I was going to do it that way as I was the first and Nar said this may be the best way any guest had entered. Well I slide down the slide and landed hard on my back (kind of knocked the wind out of me) I didn't realized that the couch you fall onto was about a foot from the end of the slide, but the cameras were rolling so I quickly sat up and bounced next to Jenni with a smile on my face until they said cut...

All in all it was a FANTASTIC shoot, great crew, great host and lots of fun. Can't wait to see the edited episode. Should be out in November I think.. I of course will let you know via my twitter, facebook and this blog.


http://fanboyfunhouse.craveonline.com/

A Healthier Me - Day 68

A nice workout and a great way to end my workout week.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Vlog for Thursday - Interviews, KOTG, Working Out

A Healthier Me - Day 67

Love listen to The Forcecast when doing my cardio it really does make the time fly. Did a full hour of cardio with on problem.

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio

A Healthier Me - Day 66

Great workout today.. felt great.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Vlog - My New Webcam & Harry Potter

Check it out.. got a new Webcam today and it came with this great program that makes it so easy to do these video blogs.. here's the first one about my new Harry Potter Ultimate Edition Blu-Ray DVD's. Let me know what you think... should I do more Vlogs?

Lunch with Brad & Renee.. well Brad

Today I went to BJ's out in Burbank to have lunch with some old friends.. I mean long time friend from back in my Dating Game and Newlywed Game days. Renee use to be a roommate as well and is the first person I ever came out too. We've haven't seen each other in over two years. Brad is a great guy and we haven't seen each other in almost 4 years so I was really looking forward to this lunch.

Got here a little before 1 and Brad was waiting there with a huge smile on his face. It was great seeing him and we sat there waiting for Renee and chatted about the past few years. About 1:20 still no Renee and neither Brad nor I had her number so we decided to at least get a table and drinks. So we waited until 1:35 and Renee was still not there to we went on to have a great lunch talking about everything from projects he is working on to my podcasting. It was great catching up with him.. he seems to be in a really happy place and that makes me happy.

We vowed not to let years pass before we see each other again.

And BTW I did get a message from Renee on Facebook.. she thought it was Tuesday today.

A Healthier Me - Day 65

Today was just an cardio day... only did a half hour.  :(

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio

Lunch with Will

If you've read my blog you know I have been really missing my friends and so I've started making plans to have lunch with them before I start my new job at the end of Nov. I hung out with Brian on Friday, Will today, my friends Renee and Brad on Wednesday and Christopher on Thursday. I'm really trying to make a conscious effort to see my friends more.. even if it's just for an hour during lunch.

So today I had lunch with one of my best friends Will. We haven't seen each other for a few weeks and before that it was over 3 months. Like Brian, Will would often join us for lunch or he and I would go out to lunch at least 3 to 4 times a week while I worked on Deadliest Catch. We also hung out alot at work and had some of the best talks. You really get use to seeing these people everyday and when they are suddenly no longer there it leaves a hole in your life.  I very rarely make connections with work people that will last longer then the work gig. Being in freelance you get use to making friends with your co-workers and then moving on to your next set of co-worker but sometimes there are one or two people that you truly become friends with and want to keep in touch and hang out even though you no longer work together... like Brian, Will is one of those people.

So we got hang out for almost two hours.. had some yummy lunch at Chevys and then went over to Ikea to look at dining tables with him. We had a really good time but it also is hard because you have to say goodbye and with our track record and us being so busy we won't see each other for a few months. But I'm going to do my best to make sure that doesn't happen.

A Healthier Me - Day 64

Start of another week!!!

Monday Weight in: 209

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

So no lose this week.. but also no gain so not all bad. :)

Working on my new Computer

Today I spent the majority of my time uploading and downloading programs to my new computer. Spent almost three hours trying to get my webcam to work. Kept searching for drivers for both of my webcams but it looks like both cams are too old and they didn't bother to make drivers for Windows 7.  Just means I have to get a new web cam. Also had a few other programs that didn't work with Windows 7, but I did expect to have issues since I was working with stuff from the XP operating system and over six years old. But I have to say that I've been fairly lucky and things are going pretty smoothly. My big concern was Audacity and Avid since both of those programs I use for editing my podcasts and are important to me. Audacity hasn't released a version for Windows 7 but said to download their beta version and that they have had some success with that working on Windows 7. So I did that and so far it seems to be working. And with my Avid I couldn't find my original discs that I used on my old computer so I have to obtain a newer version Avid Media Composer 5.0.0 and hope it would work with Windows 7 and I have to say things went perfectly. I opened project from the old avid and they opened just fine. 

So I only have a few more things to upload, I have my photoshop CD but can't find the serial key to activate it. Can't find my Filemaker Pro CD and even though I have six more months on my Norton it's not allowing me to activate it on this new computer. So all in all it's been a really good day and I'm extremely happy with how this new computer is working out. Still haven't tried the Blu-ray player, DVD burner or TV tuner but I'll give them a go tomorrow and let you know what I think.

My New Computer

Today I went to Fry's and picked up my new computer. I've had my last computer for over six years and it was a great computer it was time to retire it and buy a new one. I did some research the past few days and decided on an HP Pavilion Elite HPE-440f PC. Details:

• Intel i5 760 processor
• 8GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM memory
• 1 TB of hard drive space
• Wireless LAN
• Blu-ray Player/SuperMulti DVD Burner
• Built in TV Tuner, HP Media Center Remote Control
• ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card with 1GB DDR5 dedicated graphics memory, HDMI, dual-link DVI, display port, and VGA capabilities, and support for Blu-ray and Microsoft DirectX 11
• High Definition Audio with up to 7.1 surround sound capabilities
• Front panel 15-in-1 memory card reader:
• 6 USB 2.0 ports (Back); 3 USB 2.0 ports (Front); 1 FireWire (IEEE 1394) port (Back)
• Headphone; Microphone; Audio left/right-in; S-video-in; Composite video-in (Front); Optical Audio Out; LAN; Microphone/Line-in/Line-out; Rear speaker-out; Side speaker out; Center (subwoofer)
• Windows 7

This system is so much better then my old one. I was looking to get a Intel i7 but it was a few hundred more for that one which I was willing to do except it didn't have the built in TV Tuner and I really wanted that.

So far it's great I'm trying to get use to Windows 7 as my last computer had Windows XP. Only downside I can find at the moment is there are discs with this system. The recovery/backup is actually partition on the hard drive. Which kind of makes no sense. What if the hard drive crashes there would be no way to recover the computer's main operating system. Gonna see if I bump this stuff over to an external hard drive just in case. Other than that I'm very happy with it.. of course I've only been on it for a few hours but so far good.

Going to be spending the next several days uploading and downloading some 32 + programs that I use. Along with figuring out all my passwords and bookmarks.

Missing Friends

This has been on my mind lately so I figured I'd blog about it. I think because I had such an AWESOME time with my padawan Troy last weekend it got me asking myself why I don't do that more often. Meaning just hang out with friends, no agenda just enjoy ones company.

I have some of the best friends in the world and I consider a few of them my closest friends (you know who you are). But as I get older I see them less and less. I know as our lives get busier and busier free time tends to be dwindling but I miss the good ol' days when we would just hangout, watch some TV, go to lunch, do a movies, play some video games or just sit in the living room for hours talking.

Yeah we still see each other at birthdays, or plan a lunch or dinner meet up once a month but it's different then just hanging out with no agenda and deciding on what you want to do together. It's like we have to slot each other into a schedule to make sure we spend time together and I don't know why or when this started to be the norm.

Maybe the good ol' days are gone, maybe we have to many responsibilities now, but does that mean we can't just hang out at least once a month and not really plan anything just spend time together and see where it goes? I hope so because I really miss my friends.

A Healthier Me - Day 61

Did a full workout today.. since I'm devoting my Tuesday and Thursdays to an extra long cardio workout I started doing my weights on Mon, Wed, and Friday.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Happy for the weekend, no workout.. might try and do some cardio over the weekend.. but will see.

Lunch with Brian

Today I went out to lunch with my buddy Brian, we I worked on Deadliest Catch and actually even before that when I worked on America's Toughest Jobs I would go to lunch with Brian. We'd go out 2 or 3 times a week and I really got to know him. Towards to end of my stay on Deadliest we did lunch more often and it just became part of our routine. I enjoyed our talks as Brian is a very quiet guy but once you get to know him you find out he's a sweetheart (which is will admittedly deny). Anyways since I left Deadliest we've only been able to get together once so it was nice to finally get to sit down with him and enjoy his company once again. Hope we don't have to wait another six months to do lunch.

Knights of the Guild Ep 21 pt1

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/KotGCast or Direct Download / Listen http://knightsoftheguild.com

Show Notes

Here it is Episode 21 part 1 of Knights of the Guild… Enjoy!!!

Today’s show features:

* First up a classic Vorkism
* We are recording this weeks podcast live in our studios and Jenni is back.. yay!!!!
* Guild News
* We have a Fantastic Crew Interview with the wonderful George Ruiz (Felicia Day & Kim Evey’s Agent)
* We find out what the cast and crew are up too
* We have some Listener Feedback
* We also announce winners of our end of month contest for September and our winner for our itunes Review contest as well as talk about continuing contests
* Then Business Time (I continue to use our contest entries as they are so good)
* Then our Good byes

Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans.

Kenny & Jenni

Other Important Links

• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/

A Healthier Me - Day 60

Whoo hooo.. today I finally did a full hour of cardio and it wasn't that bad. Did 40 minutes of it while listening to The Forcecast and then needed a boost for the last 20 so I listened to my "workout" music and that did the trick. Stopped at an hours.. think I could have gone on for at last another half hour.. felt really good.

Today's Workout:

60 minutes of cardio

So are online friends "real" friend??

I've heard "experts" say that they aren't, that people need to get off the computers and get out in the real world and make real friends. I think that's a bunch of BS, with social media networks like facebook and twitter, they have made the world a much smaller place. I have friends all over the world because of twitter and facebook and other online forums.

So what defines someone as a friend; someone who is there to listen, to chat with, to hangout with and keep you company, someone who can give you advice, make you laugh and brighten your day. It's true you may not have physical contact with this person but you do have emotional contact with this person.

Some people who live in smaller town don't have the luxury of finding like minded people and turn to the internet and social media groups for that. I couldn't imagine being gay and a geek and living in a small town.

It's funny as some people distinguish between "real" life friends and online friends, I do not. To me they are all "just" my friends. I have close friends who live near me and I have close friends who live 1000's of miles away and never met in person. I don't love them any differently, they are there for me when I need them most.

Now I would by lying if I said I didn't wish that some of them lived near me so we could physically hang out but just because they don't it doesn't mean I love them any less. It is funny though.. because the only way for us to communicate is over the internet and I tend to talk with my online friends more then my friends that live near by me. I don't know why that is, we're all super busy in our real lives and we do get to see each other once in a while but those friends who live near by we just don't talk that much over the net.

Online friends and social media groups can make you feel amazing. Several things happened to me recently, I started working out and blogging about my progress, the support I have gotten from those who comment on my blog has been amazing and it continue to inspire me. I turned 40 last month and I got over 150 facebook Happy Birthdays and over 200 Happy Birthday tweets from all my tweeter friends. Talk about feeling loved and appreciated. And again with National "coming out" day last week, I got so many encouraging tweets and facebook comments it was awesome. Then recently with getting my new job.. the barrage of support from my twitter and facebook friends was truly amazing. I've never felt so much love and support from people who I have never actually met in person but we have bonded over one thing or another online.

I have actually gotten to meet some of my online friends at comic con or visiting them on vacation and it's amazing how you instantly just click with that person. There is no awkward "getting to know that person" period, as you have been friends online and have chatted over time. It's like you've known each other all your lives.

The past few years have been some of the best of my life and it's because of all the fantastic online friends that I have made. So when people say that online friendships are not "real" friends, tell them to go f**k off as I have some of the best "online" friends in the world.

A Healthier Me - Day 59

Not much to report.. got my workout done.. actually got 45 minutes in for my cardio. Going to try and do an hour from here on out. I think I need more cardio to help lose the weight faster. 

Today's Workout

45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of ten on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of ten working on my back (75 lbs)

A Healthier Me - Day 58

Whooo a late workout tonight.. but luckily it was only cardio.. decided to do weights & cardio on Mon, Wed, and Friday  and cardio only on Tuesday and Thursdays and possible weekends.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical

I was hoping to do at least an hour tonight but I am just too tired.. I struggled to get to 30 minutes.

I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!

After six months of being out of work I got a call today and accepted a new job with MTV. A former boss mentioned the job a month or so ago but wasn't sure when it was going to start. I sent her my resume and she turned it over to the line producer who called me today and we worked out the details. I'll be the shows Post Production Supervisor (the job I've done the past six years). It sounds great and had a really good post schedule set up already. Lots of time to get these episodes done. The money was right and I look forward to working with my previous boss Robyn.

It starts Nov 22nd for two days then Thanksgiving time off, then I start the following Monday and it runs through July. It's eight months of work. I can't say much about the show other then it's an MTV show which means I'll be working in Santa Monica at their offices. It's 12 half hour episodes and it's a docu/reality show. I'll have four editors and 3 assistant editors. I'm really looking forward to this job. Should be a great experience.

Now I can enjoy this next month off and not have to stress about finding a job.. whoo hooo.

My New Podcast - Epic Geek Out

Today while taking to my friend Jen I mentioned how I've always wanted to do another podcast, one who's topic wasn't restricted like it is with Knights of the Guild. To my surprise she asked if she could be my co-host. She and I co-hosted our very first podcasts a few years back for the Treks in Sci Fi forums RPG game called The Ready Room and we had a great time. I was surprised that she asked as she just had a new baby and is extremely busy. But when she asked I of course said yes and suddenly we were planning our next podcast. I mean I wanted to do one but didn't have any plans on starting one so quickly.

A few hours later:

• we an idea of what kind of podcast - 30 minute roundtable discussion about 1 geeky topic per episode. There are alot of geeky podcasts out there talking about all kinds of geeky things. I wanted it to be different so I came up with the idea of having two permanent host (Jen and I) and then having 2 to 3 other hosts that will revolve from podcast to podcast depending on the topic of discussion.
• Jen and I worked on a name and finally settled on - Epic Geek Out or EGO for short.
• Getting a URL is always fun, but we wound up with http://TheEGOshow.com
• I knew I wanted to use podbean as that is what I use for my Knights of the Guild podcast and for the most part it's a fairly good and reliable system. So our podbean website is http://EpicGeekOut.podbean.com, 
• We then had to set up a Gmail and had to go with EpicGeekMail@gmail.com as the other ones were already taken.. but we're very happy with that one.
• Last we set up a Twitter account  and since Epic Geek Out was taking we went with @EpicGeekOutShow. 

Jen is currently working on a Logo for our show, our buddy Rick Moyer is working on some music and I'm working on our topics of discussions and the podcast will be formatted and who are guests will be for our first few episodes.

It's pretty amazing how something that I was just thinking about turns into something real in a matter of a few hours. I guess that's what happens when you get two very excited people ready to make some magic.

More details to come.. hope to have our first episode out next month.

A Healthier Me - Day 57

Well it's the start of another week. I ate really poorly during the weekend as I had a good friend staying with me. But we did go hiking on Sunday.. but I wasn't looking forward to my weight in this morning.

Monday weight in: 209

Today's Workout

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of ten on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the free weight (110 lbs)
3 sets of ten working on my back (75 lbs)

So I was extremely happy with my weight.. my lowest so far was 208.5 so I'm only .5 lbs above it and by my next weight in I will have hopefully lost a few more pounds. All in all is was a good workout, continue to listen to podcasts, this time The Anomaly podcast.

Still have 9 lbs to lose before the end of the year.. that was my first goal.. to get below 200 by years end and I'm well on my way.

National Coming Out Day

National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an internationally observed civil awareness day for coming out and discussion about gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. It is observed by members of the LGBT communities and their supporters (often referred to as "allies") on October 11 every year, or October 12 in the United Kingdom.

With 11 teen suicides in the past few months due to gay bullying and sexuality confusion, with all the hate that is being spewed by this new Tea Party group and all this anti-gay marriage crap it's more important then ever to come together as a community and show our support for all those still in the closet to afraid to open that door.

I was one of those people, as it took many, many years for me to open that door. I knew I was gay from the age of 12 but didn't accept it until I was 27. I lived through some very lonely and confusing years before I realized that this is who I am and I'm not ashamed of it. You can read more about my coming out HERE

More Time with My Padawan

Got up at 8am this morning, Troy got up about 10 minutes later. I made us breakfast and once again we chatted. After breakfast we went out to Vasquez Rocks as it was still early and fairly cool. Since he didn't plan to stay the night we didn't have the right shoes and after a few attempts to go up a steep incline and him almost falling down the hillside we opted for the other side and less steep rock. We had a great time hiking around Vasquez. After Vasquez we headed back to my place and started to play some Wii.. for the next few hours we played various Wii Resort Games and had a blast. Harry got up and I made some spaghetti and garlic bread for lunch. We ate and then I wanted to interview Troy for a "fan" interview for my Knights of the Guild podcast. After we recorded we just hung out in my office and chatted. 3pm came around and Harry and I had to leave for a friends daughter's birthday and Troy had to head back home as he was attending a pumpkin carving party this evening.

So we said our good byes and what was suppose to be a few hours visit on Saturday turned into a really fun and memorable weekend. We made plans to hang out again soon and I look forward to it.

Whimsic Alley with My Padawan

Today my Padawan Troy drove up from Los Alamitos to have lunch me and visit Whimsic Alley.. Okay let me back up a bit..  First, why I call him my Padawan (jedi in training). Troy was at my 40th Birthday party last month and I found out that he's a geek but really just finding his true geekiness. Me being a Geek Master I told him and would teach him in the ways of Geek.. and being a geek I started calling him my Padawan and he in turn started calling me his Master.. hence he is my Geek Padawan and I am his Geek Master.

How did I meet Troy? I met Troy while he was in line for the Guild comic back in March of 2010, I interviewed him for my podcast. I instantly had a connection with him, I'm not sure what it was about him but it's like we had been friends forever but just never met. Unfortunately we didn't hang out then and I didn't really get to know him until May 2010 while on set of The Guild season 4 as he was an extra for two days. Unforeseen forces kept putting us together.. it was destine for us to be friends. We got to know each other a little better on set and I continued to feel this instant connection with him, but again we didn't spend as much time as I would have liked. We did become friends on facebook and twitter and would chat here and there but it wasn't until four months later he joined me for my 40th Birthday and I got to spend a few hours hanging out with him, when he left we exchanged phone numbers and vowed to hang out more. Well a few days ago he texted me and said we should hang, he also said he wanted to go to Whimsic Alley (Harry Potter store in LA). I was so excited as I've been wanting to go there the past few months since they relocated but never had anyone to go with. So I asked him to join me for lunch and then we could visit the store.

 So he arrived at my house at 12:30pm, we headed to Encino to Islands to grab some lunch. We had a FANTASTIC time. I really got to know him, as I said before it was as if we had been friends all our lives. The more I got to know him, the more I realized how AWESOME he was. He reminded me of me. After Islands we went to Whimsic Alley out in Los Angeles and walked around for an hour or so. Took some pictures and had such a fun time. After Whimsic Alley we headed back to my place and we were having such a great time I asked if he had plans afterwards and he said no so I invited him to hang out with Harry and I and watch a movie. Since he was my Padawan and I was teaching him the way of being a geek I found out that he had never seen Superman so we watch the original Superman. By the time it was over we were all hungry and Troy and I went to our local pizza place and picked up a pizza for dinner. We watched a bit of TV and around 10pm I asked if he wanted to stay the night, as he lives 2 hours away and we have the guest room. He of course said sure and we continued his teaching in all things Geeky and we watched Legend with Tom Cruise. By the the movie was over it was midnight and we were ready for bed.

So what was suppose to be a few hours visit turned into a Wonderful day with one of the nicest and coolest guys I will ever have the pleasure of meeting. As you can tell I'm very excited as there are so few people in your life that you just know you were meant to be friends. From the moment I met Troy seven months ago I felt that connection and fate kept getting us together to make sure we connected. I can't explain it and I don't think I need too. Troy and I will be close friends for the rest of our lives.

A Healthier Me - Day 54

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical

Only did cardio today, going to try and increase my cardio to lose weight faster. I still plan on working with weights 3 to 4 times a week but my focus really needs to be cardio and losing weight.

My Tattoo - Two Weeks Later

Well it's been two weeks since I got my first tattoo. From what I have read online I am doing really good. Didn't have any bleeding afterwards, no scabs, and very little peeling though it did itch pretty bad for a few days. I think the healing process is coming to an end, my tattoo hasn't really itched in the last day or so. I continue to put ointment on it just to make sure but it looks as good as it did the day I got it.

I'm extremely happy with the entire process. On to my second one :)

A Healthier Me - Day 53

Workout was great today.. no issue.. got right out there worked out listening to The Forcecast podcast and it was over.. loved it.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on squats (110 lbs)

7 New Harry Potter Posters

Today WB released 7 new Harry Potter posters.. these one are alot darker and more gritter then previous ones... I love them especially Voldermort.

 

A Healthier Me - Day 52

Wasn't feeling to hot but still manage to get my butt out there. Wasn't half bad once I got going. Found out if I listen to podcasts it helps really pass the time. Before I was doing music and audio books, which were okay but podcast seems to take my mind off working out.

Today's Workout

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of ten on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the free weight (110 lbs)
3 sets of ten working on my back (75 lbs)

KOTG CompanionCast S4E12

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Show Notes:

It’s time for our FINAL CompanionCast for Season 4 of The Guild. First of all be sure you watched Episode 12 (Season Finale) of season 4 “Guild Hall”. If you haven’t seen it yet watch it HERE

In this Final CompanionCast I interview Felicia Day, Sean Becker, Kim Evey, Vince Caso, Viji Nathan, Sandeep Parikh, Robin Thornsen, Amy Okuda, Jeff Lewis, Brett Sheridan, Simon Helberg and Greg Aronowitz

I hope you enjoy a look behind the scenes of Season 4 Episode 12 “Guild Hall”
Kenny

Other Important Links

• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/ 
• The Guild http://watchtheguild.com

Fixing Our Well

A Healthier Me - Day 51

Today's workout was much easier to do then yesterday.. 

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on squats (110 lbs)

A Healthier Me - Day 50

Only did four days of workout last week, wasn't feeling so great and couldn't motivate myself to get out there on Friday. Even today I have a tough time motivating myself but manage to drag myself out there. Not sure if it's the stress of not having a job, funds running low, the expense/stress of fixing our well or a combination of all these things but I haven't been in the greatest of spirits. 

Today is Monday, weight in day..  210

Today's Workout

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
3 sets of ten on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
3 sets of ten on the free weight (110 lbs)
3 sets of ten working on my back (75 lbs)

Yeah I gained weight last week.. One and a half pounds. Kind of knew I was going to gain weight, since my birthday party I haven't been keeping to my better eating... kind of disappointed in myself but what's done is done.. going to have to work harder to lose weight next week.

Podcast and Plushies

Well I recorded a video for this but unfortunately I'm still having a few issues to work out. So it's a good ol' written blog for this one.

Today was pretty much a Knights of the Guild Podcast day, I spent he morning prepping for it and at 1pm Jenni came by and we recorded for the next 3 1/2 hours. As always it was a lot of fun. This was episode 21 parts 1 & 2 which will be out on Oct. 15th and Oct. 29th respectively.

It's been a few months since I saw Jenni as she's been extremely busy but I was very excited to see her because a few months back I commissioned for something to be made for her and I was finally able to give it to her.

Back in April The Guild released a very cute April Fools Joke called Lil' Guildies. It was the opening sequence of a Muppet Babies type cartoon about The Guild characters as babies. It was AWESOME.

One of the Guild fans (Jes Reaves) created these plushies from the characters and I saw them and fell in love. I commissioned her to make some Lil' Guildie Plushies out of Jenni and my Avatars from our KOTG Logo which she did. She also sent me all of the Guild plushies along with Greg Aronowitz (creator of Lil' Guildies) to give to them which I plan on doing. So far I've given Jenni and Greg theirs and I hope to do the cast in the coming weeks.

Anyways watch mine, greg and jenni's reaction on getting our Lil' Guildies Plushies.

Also you can check out more pictures here on our Flickr account.

 

If you want to be turned into a plushy or have one made for you go to Plushifyme.com