Chris' Going Away Weekend of Epicness Day 2 (Night)

We call ourselves "The Geek Mob"

After the awesome day at the park, several of us came back to my place to get ready for a local French Restaurant called Le Chene. We of course go all out because it's Chris' last adventure with us for a while. So we all suit up and go all fancy. It was some good times because all my favorite people were there, Chris, Robert, Jes, Jen, Rupert, Aaron, Scott, Will and Olivia. After we were all pretty I took a bunch of photos and in particular one that is by far one of my favorites of the weekend. (above)

After we got dressed we headed over to the restaurant. Now this restaurant is expensive... $30 to $50 a meal. So we figured folks would be dressed nice and we wouldn't stick out.. well we were wrong. Everyone in the restaurant were in jeans and shirts (guess I should expect that being in a rural area) and yes we were the only ones in suits and dress' and got many a stares as we walked through the place. Even though I had made reservations it took another 20 minutes to seat us. Dallas and Brian joined us at the restaurant.

Once seated everyone looked over the menu and discussed what they were going to have. Alot of us decided to get something different and then share some of it with others so we could taste a bit of everything. Chris is always an adventurous eater, it's one of many things I admire about him. He got escargot and believe it or not I had one. Never in my life did I think I would eat a snail but if you get pass the though of eating a slug it was quite tasty in it's butter and garlic sauce. For dinner I went with something safe, a chicken and paste dish, as I knew everyone around me was going crazy. During the night I got to try rabbit (very tasty), frog legs (which of course Chris got) they were okay, a bit of a fishy taste. I tried Buffalo ribeye and various veggies. The food was pretty amazing and well worth the price. The night was perfect and we closed down the place.

After dinner we all headed back to my place to continue the party. We started with gifts for Chris.Jes and I wanted to get Chris some going away presents from the group. So she got him these awesome Star Wars bookends while I got him a Boba Fett plushie, Boba Fett t-shirt and a Jedi Academy robe (this is what I got at Disneyland when I went shopping a few blogs back). But the gift I was looking forward to giving him the most was this collage of pictures and thoughts from the group. I contacted the core group of friends and asked if they wanted to hand write some thoughts about their friendship with Chris and over the next few weeks I got all these as well as printing out a ton of picture and created this crafty poster filled with good times, adventures and love from the past year. When Chris opened that and took a moment to read everyone's comments and look at the pictures it hit me that he was leaving us. He hugged the picture frame and I was doing everything in my power not to cry.. and even though Chris isn't a crier, I could tell he appreciated the though and effort that went into that gift.

After the gift opening we all got more drinks and started to play the card game Asshole. But I wasn't really in the mood. The gift giving was tough for me. It made Chris' leaving that much more real and I fell into a kind of depression and couldn't get myself out of. I was hoping the alcohol would bring out happy Kenny but it just made Kenny even more sad. I felt bad because everyone knew something was up and kept asking me if I was okay and I hated myself for ruining what was such a fantastic day. By 1am we were all tired and several folks had left, Scott, Jen and Rupert. That left Chris, Robert, Jes, Dallas, Brian, Aaron, Olivia and Will to find a place to crash and call it a night.

This day went from fun to fantastic to sadness for me. Let's hope I can pull myself out of this funk for Sunday.

You can see more pictures HERE

Chris' Going Away Weekend of Epicness Day 2 (Day)

I was up early as I normally am because I'm just to excited for the day to start. I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast for everyone to enjoy. After breakfast we packed up the car and made our way down to Griffith Park Old Zoo section to claim our spot. We got there around 11ish and the place was dead, which was great for us. We found a large open area with several tables. We unloaded the cars and began the fun. First thing we did was explore the Monkey enclosure. This was part of the LA Zoo many, many years ago (hence the name Old Zoo). We didn't spend alot of time but enough to take some fun pictures. After that we played some crazy frisbee. I had purchased six of them and they were all flying everywhere.. it was kind of chaotic yet fun. Once we were done with frisbee Chris pulled out his "washer" game and we had a go at that. The object of the game is to get these large washer into various size holes. It was tons of fun. Next to arrive was my best bud Josh and his girlfriend Nicole. I don't get to see Josh as much as I would like so it's always fantastic to get to hang with him whenever we can.

Next we got the grill going and it would take a while for the coals to get hot enough so Chris found a large stick and we decided to play some stick ball. At this time my buddy Scott arrived and I had to run down and fetch him. He joined in on the Stickball fun while I started grilling some hotdogs. Soon as the first round of hotdogs were done Anne, Megan and Nicki showed up and they had burgers so I started to grill some of those as well. Everyone had some yummy BBQ before starting a new game.. this time it was bocce ball. I didn't get to play much of that since I was fetching folks who were lost. Dallas, Jen, Luis, Kat and Joe arrived next and joined in the fun.

Folks were playing washers, catch and various other games. We did have to say goodbye to Josh and Nicole. Josh is in a local play and needed to get back for rehearsals. We also nicknamed Scott "Hollywood" since he was on his phone quite a bit.

We then got a game of Monkey in the middle with the Frisbee. That was loads of fun and another nick name was born. Robert was known as "the dropper" for obvious reasons :). Kevin and Doug Rusley were the final guests to arrive and they joined in on the next game which was Freeze Tag. I haven't played Freeze Tag in over 30 years and man did it take it's toll on me.. and not just me on several of us. Poor Robert went from "the dropper" to "the Fallen" and injured himself quite a bit.. as well as Will who twisted his knee. I didn't injure myself other then being over weight and out of breath. But even with all the injuries it was alot of fun and made us all feel like kids again.

Once that was over we played some more washers and when 4:30 came around we started cleaning up. I did want one more picture of the group by the Monkey caves so we headed over there one last time to take some awesome pictures. And that phase of Chris' going away party came to an end. But the night is far from over.. next up.. suiting up.

You can check out more pictures HERE

Chris' Going Away Weekend of Epicness Day 1

Today begins what I hope to be one fantastic weekend of awesome. My best bud Chris is being relocated to Montana for three + years (he's in the Air Force). Though it's breaking my heart to see him go I'm not going to let him leave without throwing him a party to end all parties. It starts tonight and my guests started arrived early. First up was my other best bud Robert, he got to my place around 3pm and we started the party early with a shot. A few hours later we were hungry and so I contacted Chris, who was driving down, and asked where he was. He said he was about 20 minutes away from Santa Clarita. So we made plans to meet up for a late lunch/early dinner at Islands. It was pretty AWESOME hanging with two of my most favorite people in the world. Once dinner was over we headed back to my place and started to watch some TV. Brian soon arrived, followed by Olivia and Will. Jes, Rupert and Aaron finished off the group for the night. We played "celebrity" and had a blast. We chatted and drank a bit before finally going to bed in the wee hours. It was a great start to a fantastic weekend.

You can check out more pictures HERE

Happy Birthday Robert

Today is one of my best buds birthdays, Robert. He had to work but I made plans to take him out to dinner and then a surprise afterwards.

I started by going to Party City to get a bunch of balloons as I wanted to surprise him. Got the 12 balloons and 1 mylar balloon that said Happy Birthday. Soon as I get in my jeep one of the balloon pops, I try and secure them better so they won't hit anything. This means not rolling down the window on a hot day as the breeze would move them around. I proceed down to Robert's place, he lives a little over an hour away from me. On my way down I hear one pop, another pop and several more pops. By the time I made it to his house there were only 3 left plus the Mylar balloon which was already losing air. I was not a happy camper. I wanted to make this birthday awesome so I drove around Robert's apartment area looking for a balloon or flower shop to buy more. Found a place close by his house and in the middle of rush hour traffic made my way there. Parked got out and went up to the storefront and noticed that it was closed and being remodeled. So I got back in my jeep and back into traffic to locate another shop. This time I found a flower shop and it looked to be open.. so I find parking (which was difficult) and walk a few blocks to this shop and when I get there it's about 6:10pm and guess what they closed at 6pm. I went back to my jeep and tried to find another Party City and there was one only a mile away. While a mile in rush hour traffic takes forever but I finally get to where my GPS was taking me and it was in the middle of century city business district... and guess what.. no Party City. By now I'm super frustrated, I'm hot, my arm is killing me because I'm trying to hold the remaining unpopped balloons. I try one more flower show when I get a message from Robert letting me know he was home (he was running late because of a meeting). At that moment I said screw it. I would rather spend more time with him on his birthday then drive around trying to find a place to buy more balloons. So I made it back to his place in about 15 minutes and went up to his door, knocked and entered with my birthday gifts and my now 1/3rd bouquet of balloons. He was still surprise and seeing his smile made all my stress go away.

We sat down for a minute and he opened the two gifts I got for him. One was a gift card to Amazon as I know he wanted to buy several things and the other one was a personal gift. I noticed when I visited his place last week that he had no personal pictures on the wall. So I printed out some pixs from our previous parties and made a birthday collage. He really liked that and immediately made some room on his wall to hang it.

After the gifts I took him to Bossa Nova in West Hollywood where we had a great time. Chatted about all sorts of things and eat some very yummy foods.

Now for the surprise. I drove him to an unknown location.. at least for him. When the GPS said we were almost there he looked up and noticed a sign and he yelled out loud.. "You're taking me BOWLING!!!"  Come to find out that he loves bowling, he even owns his own pair of shoes and bowling ball. I hit it out of the park with this plan. I was so happy that he was excited to go bowling. I was worried for a while as I felt like it was building up to this big thing and when he found out he would be disappointed.. but it was completely the opposite.

We went inside and found out there was league play until 9:30pm, we had about an hour wait so we head to the bar for a drink and to chat some more. I love chatting with Robert, I always learn new and interesting things about him. At 9:30 we went and grabbed a lane and started to bowl. We played a total of three games. I won the first but was slaughtered in the second and third games. Around 10:30pm we called it and I drove him home and dropped him off.

Had such a FANTASTIC time, we ate some yummy food, played some pretty good bowling and enjoyed each other company. I think you can say this was a successful Birthday celebration. May have started out a bit crazy (with the balloon) but ended on such a high note and that makes me happy.

Happy 28th Birthday Buddy!!!

Bromances

I posed this question on twitter and facebook the other day "Can a gay man and a straight man have a bromance?" Now the majority of those who responded were "of course" it's just a platonic close friendship between two guys, it doesn't matter what their sexual orientation might be. But I did get some who said absolutely not, that a bromance refers to two "straight" men who are close friends. I even had one of my friends say it's not called a bromance but unrequited love (though I think he was joking) I have to ask those who don't think it's possible, do you think that all gay men want to have sex with all their straight male friends? If you do you're an idiot... I can appreciate how adorable and cute some of my male straight friends are (I do have many) but I know that they are straight. And no matter how much I would like them to be gay.. they are not.

I have formed some very close bonds with four straight friends of mine. I love each and everyone one of them. I think they are all extremely adorable and would be the luckiest guy in the world to have any of them as my partner.. but guess what they are straight. This doesn't keep me from telling them I love them, it doesn't keep me from having some of the best times of my life with them.

I don't understand why people equate love with sex. I love some of my close girl friends but I don't want to have sex with them. I love my close male friends and once again I don't want to have sex with them. And I know this will be a shocker but I love some of my close gay male friends.. and guess what.. I don't want to have sex with them either.

I feel like I'm getting off topic here.. but to me a Bromance is a deep connection between two males. They love each other, they love spending time with each other, they confide in each other, and just love being in ones company... that to me is a Bromance... and I'm so thankful for the ones I have.

A Simply AWESOME Day

Today is a jam packed day. I first headed to Disneyland to pick up some fun Star Wars gifts for my best bud Chris who is being relocated to Montana in a few weeks for 3 years :( It was strange as I've never gone to Disneyland just to shop. I parked my car in the Mickey and Friends parking lot, took the tram to Downtown Disney and made my way into the park. But instead of going on rides I headed to the Star Trade. I did consider going on Star Tours but I was in a time crunch and it was an hour wait. So I just went shopping. I knew I wanted to get him a Jedi Academy robe, but I also found this pretty awesome Boba Fett t-shirt as well as a cute little stuffed Boba Fett plushy.

After Disneyland I headed across the street to the hotel we stayed at this past weekend for Wondercon. My buddy Robert left some pictures and autographs in the room and I was hoping they had found them. Unfortunately they did not. We don't know if they just took them, threw them away or the person who was renting the room the day after took them... needless to say they are gone and I felt bad for Robert.

After the hotel I headed to family. Was going to have lunch with my pops and then visit with the niece and nephew. On my way there I texted Josh to see if he had some free time to visit since he lives out in the same area as my family. After a few texts we made plans to meet up after he got off work at 5pm. So I got to spend around 3 hours with my family, which is always great.

At 4:15 I said goodbye to them and headed north to visit Josh. Got to his job at 5 and waited about 5 minutes before he came out, spotted me and greeted me with one of his best hugs yet. It's amazing how one hug from someone you love can just make everything better (he has those kinds of hugs). We headed back to his place and chatted for a bit before his girlfriend Nicole came over to visit. The three of us hung out in his room and just visited. It was nice to see him. I don't get to see him as much as I would like and even though we only had an hour and a half to share we made the most of it. Around 6:30pm I headed to North Hollywood as I was having dinner with Will. I was to meet him as his place at 8pm. I got there around 7:45 and waited in my jeep until around 8:15 when he arrived. We walked over to a local restaurant called Firepit Pizza and Grille. They have the best chicken meatballs, which of course I had to have. Will and I had a great conversation and really spent a few hours just enjoying ones company. After dinner I headed back to his place as he wanted to show me some changes he made to his apartment. We then just sat and chatted on the couch until around 11pm when I realized that I was tried and still had an hour drive home. I got home around midnight and called it a night.

Jammed pack day of awesome!!! Great time with family and friends.

Happy To Be Alive!!!

I was heading to Walmart to pick up some photos that I had printed out. While driving there I was almost in an accident. The car just a few feet in front of me was going through a green light and out of no where a large truck ran his red light and t-boned the car right in front of me. It all happened extremely fast yet felt it was moving on slow mo. I manage to slam on my breaks before hitting both of them. No other cars were around. I got out, called 911, police came the folks in the other two cars seemed to be okay.. shaken up of course but okay. I stayed until the ambulance came to pick up the driver who got hit. It was a very scary moment. If I was going a bit faster or the truck was going a bit slower he could have nailed my driver side and since he was going so fast it would have crushed me. It's scary to think that you could be here one moment and then another your not. Things like this make me appreciate what I have and the people I surround myself with. Be thankful for all you have, tell those you love how you feel everyday. Make sure everyone around you know how much they mean to you because one day sooner or later you will be gone.

Wondercon Day 3

Sunday was upon us and Jes and I didn't have a wink of sleep (but for different reasons). Rupert was up early and off to find his car. Kimi and Robert were up as Robert had to take Kimi home (she lived near by). Jes and I cleaned up the hotel room as it was a mess after last night's party. Robert returned about a half hour later and Jes, Chris, Robert and I headed over to IHop for some breakfast. Aaron and Luis also joined for breakfast. After breakfast Robert had to head over to Disneyland to meet up with a friend while Luis and Aaron headed over to the con and Jes, Chris and I headed back to the hotel room. I was the only one who dressed up in costume today. As I got ready Chris and Jes started to load up the car, as we had to check out of the hotel by noon. We actually got done around 11am and checked out. We then walked to the convention center one last time. We walked the floor for a bit and I took a few photos. Around 1:30pm we were all tired and called it a day at Wondercon.

We had a great 3 days of cosplaying, getting pictures taken of us and hanging with good friends.

On our way back home Chris, Jes and I  grabbed some lunch at Chevy's in Burbank. Then we got home around 4pm and both Jes and Chris headed back up north and the fun weekend was over.

Wondercon Day 2

Saturday started bright and early Jes, Chris and I were wearing the same costumes that we wore yesterday. Kimi was going as an Orion Starfleet Officer and we talked Robert, who was not going to dress up, into wearing Chris' Green Lantern outfit. That was fun because the bottom half of the costume are tights and Robert was worried about his "junk" we went back and forth on the idea of "packing" his junk or not. Well we tried several times but each time his "junk" looked a bit deformed. In the end I suggested that he wear two pairs on underwear (one being a pair of briefs). Since his "junk" already looks good the extra support gave it a good shape and we were all happy (this is why I love my friends, we can make "packing" our "junk" a fun adventure). After that Jes helped Kimi apply her green make up while Robert and Chris helped me with my ears. I decided to go with the pair that I wore at last years comic con. They are only tips and since I didn't have the right make up to blend them these compared to yesterday were more subtle.

We got to the con around 11am and like we did yesterday we roamed around the floor all day having our picture taken. Jes was the star yesterday but today it was all about Chris. Our group split up around 1pm. Kimi and Robert headed to the Geek and Sundry panel while Chris, Jes and I just continued to roam around the floor. I ran into a few friends of my brothers and also Felicia Day who was off to her panel (Geek and Sundry). Chris, Jes and I did not attend her panel as there was a line and we didn't want to wait around while in our cosplay outfits. When the panel was over we met back up with Kimi and Robert, but Kimi wanted to go find a few friends of her so she took off. The rest of us headed over to the Hilton to grab a bit to eat. After what felt like forever (about an hour or so), we got our food. After a late lunch my buddy Luis showed up and joined our group along with Dallas, Kevin and Aaron. We headed back to the floor to walk around for another hour. Around 6pm we decided to head back to our hotel, we said our good-byes to everyone as we were meeting back at our hotel room for a party later in the night. Chris, Jes, Kimi, Robert and I went back to our hotel room and removed our costumes  and just relaxed. About a half hour later I got a text from my friend Michele asking if she could come crash at our hotel for a few hours before heading back home to LA. I said of course and about 10 minutes later she was in our room. Half hour later she got a call from her friend Milynn who had a flat tire on the side of a freeway heading back to LA, only problem is they didn't have a spare. So Michele's visit was cut short as she headed out to rescue Milynn.

After Michele left we decided to split up in several groups to get ready for this Birthday, St. Paddy's Day, Wondercon room party. Jes and Chris were headed to Anne's hotel room to pick up some alcohol and on the way ran into Rupert. While Luis and I went to The Cheesecake Factory to get a cake for Robert's birthday and ran into Anthony while in route and Kimi and Robert stayed at the hotel just in case anyone showed up.

Cheesecake Factory was crazy.. but I did get the best looking chocolate cake I had ever seen. Yes it was $50 bucks and I could have gotten one from the local Ralphs for a quarter of the price, but convenience won out. I also got a $45 cheesecake. So I spent $95 on two cakes, might have spent a bit too much on these but they were yummy and everyone enjoyed them. And to be honest Robert is worth every penny :)

So we all got back to our hotel around 9ish and the party began. Guests of the party were Chris, Jes, Jen, Anne, Rachelle, Aaron, Dallas, Robert, Kimi, Rupert, Luis, Anthony, Jennifer C. and of course me. I won't go into great detail here as to what happens at these parties, it really should stay at these parties. But I can say that I got to kiss some boys and girls, and motorboat my way through a boob gauntlet. We all had a great time. We sung Happy Birthday to Robert and cut the cake with a sword. Then Chris and Robert had a special moment with said sword. We did shots and laughed and piled on beds... good times were being had by all. But then again I didn't expect anything else. With these kinds of friends you know it's going to be a fun geeky good time. The party ended around 2am, lucky most of the people had hotel rooms close by. Jen, Jes, Robert, Kimi, Chris, Rupert and I crashed at our place. I unfortunately got stuck with a air mattress that had a slow leak and found myself drowning in plastic. I wound up just sleeping on the floor. Wasn't the best night sleep.

Wondercon Day 1 (Night) - Suiting Up

We had planned a nice dinner with some of our friends who were also down at the con. So the three of us changed out of our costumes and played some rounds of Yahtzee on the iPad. While we were at the hotel my best bud Robert joined us. He was coming to Con on Saturday and decided to join us Friday night after he got off work. We picked a cocktail place to start the night off and then we were going to have dinner as McCormick & Schmick's Grille. We also decided that we would "suit up" for the night. If your not a How I Met Your Mother Fan (you should be) but there is a character named Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) who uses that phrase all the time. Just means put on a suit and hit the town. So Chris, Robert and I got ready and suited up while Jes hung back and relaxed.

We left our hotel and walked to The Garden Walk and tried to locate this "cocktail" place but after walking around for a bit we couldn't find it so instead we went to the bar section of McCormick & Schmick's and ordered some drinks. As Jes, Chris, Robert and I were waiting more friends showed up, Jen, Kevin, Anthony and Dallas. We were shown to our table and an hour later and Kimi, Adam, Jennifer and Holly joined the party. We had a fantastic dinner, yummy food and great company.

After dinner Jes, Chris and I headed back to the hotel. While Robert drove back to Kimi's place to drop off her car and he and her came back to our hotel as they were staying with us because they were going to join us for Wondercon the next day. Once they got to the hotel we picked our sleeping areas and went to bed.

You can check out more pictures HERE

Wondercon Day 1 (Day)

We got up early and Chris and I went out to Denny's for some breakfast. Jes actually had to jump on my computer and do a little work. We had a nice breakfast and what's funny Chris wore his Star Wars PJ bottoms to Denny's. When we got back Jes was done and she ate the breakfast we brought back. We had planned to leave the house around 10ish since the con didn't open until noon today. We loaded up the car and made our way down to Anaheim. Our hotel check in wasn't until 3pm but when we got there around noon we tried to check in and our suite was ready so we were able to unload the car and get into our room. We all planned to dress up aka cos-play for the day so we began the process. Jes was Harley Quinn from Batman, Chris was Altaïr from Assassins Creed and I was Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings. It took us about an hour but around 12:30pm we were ready to hit the con floor. For the next six hours the three of us walked around the floor checking out the con but more important stopping for photos. We meet up with several friends Kevin, Doug and Dallas along the way but it was pretty much the three of use walking around the entire time. When six o'clock came around we were exhausted and our feet were killing us (especially mine) so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.

Star Wars Pre-Wondercon Party

Saw a tweet earlier this week mentioning that Hero Complex was having a pre-Wondercon party at the Discovery Science Center, which just happens to be housing the Star Wars Where Science Meets Imagination exhibition. I saw this a few weeks ago but it sounded fun. So I chatted with my buddy Chris and we decided to go. I wasn't sure if he was getting tickets and by the time we communicated we had both gotten a tickets plus a guest. So we now had four tickets between us.

So for a week we both tweeted and facebooked that we had these tickets. BTW it took only a few hours before the RSVP's were gone. Jen mentioned that she was interested in going and on the day of the event she confirmed she wanted one of the tickets. But we still had one and no one had claimed it so as we were driving down there I tweeted one last time and our buddy Rupert (who happens to live close to there) said he wanted the tickets so he joined us for our fourth.

Chris got to my place around 4:30ish and we immediately headed down to the Center (with traffic it would take us a little over 2 hours to get there). As expected traffic was bad. The event started at 6pm to 9pm. Jen got there around 6:30 and said there was no line and that it looked dead. Chris and I arrived around 6:45 closely followed by Rupert. We meet up with Jen at the entrance and made our way in.

When we got inside there were a fair amount of people but nothing like I was expecting. They were serving free drink and very tasty hors d'oeuvres. The four of us walked around a bit having a drink and taking in the Discovery Center. Last time I was here I did nothing but the Star Wars Exhibit. The others (including Jen and Chris) did the entire center so there was plenty of stuff for me to see. When we finished our first drink we decided to head into the Star Wars exhibit. Now I took a ton of pictures and video just a few weeks prior so there was nothing new to see. We kind of walked through the place checking out all the cool Star Wars props. We took some pixs before heading upstairs. The Discovery Science Center is really for children and very interactive. So the four of us played around with all the cool things like a wind tunnel, laser string harp. Oh and I did lye on a bed of nails (interesting experience). We stayed for about an hour or so before we were to hungry to continue.

The four of us headed over to The Cheesecake Factory because I had a gift card and we enjoyed a great meal and chatted for bit. We all said our good-byes but would be seeing each other on the weekend for Wondercon. Chris and I headed back to my place and by the time we got home around 11:30pm Jes had arrived and we found her in my living room sipping on some wine watching TV.

This is going to be a crazy long weekend!!

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 28

Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or Direct download or listen bit.ly/eXCRxT

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 2, Episode #4 - For The Good Of The Outfit

28th Episode Overall

Directed by Jackie Cooper
Written by Jerry Mayer
Production code K404
Original air date October 6, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary:Hawkeye and Trapper want the army to admit responsibility for the accidental bombing of a local village. They fill out a report and Major Stoner arrives to investigate, and leaves with all the evidence. When the story is released it claims that the enemy bombed the village, and the army tries to gag the doctors. But, thinking there could be a medal in it for him, Frank has also put a report together, with copies of all the evidence, including shell fragments, so the army comes clean.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

Entering the RobZone

Tonight I headed down to Los Angeles to have dinner with my new best bud Robert. This was our first one on one get together. We've hung out in groups but never just the two of us. I wanted to get there around 6pm but with traffic I didn't get to his place until 6:30pm. Got to see his place before heading out to Islands for some yummy burgers and cheddar fries. We ate and talked for a few hours at Islands about his life, my life, dating and other very interesting topics. I love these one on one conversations I feel like I really get to know the person without all the distractions of a group. And with Robert we have some very personal talks and as I've said in previous blog posts he and I just clicked. I've only known him a few months but it's as though we've been friends forever and our intimate conversation reflect that. After dinner we decided to head back to his place and chill for another few hours. Before I knew it four hours had flown by and it was 10:30pm and he needed to get to bed for an early day at work tomorrow. So we said our good nights.. made plans to make these one on one get together as weekly as possible and I headed home. I had an AWESOME time in the RobZone!!!

Chris and Kenny's Excellent Adventures

Today we got up around 8am and made our traditional biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Chris wanted to head home about noon so we decided to go for a nice hike at Vasquez Rocks. When we got there the park was closed (well the parking was closed), they look to be repaving. But there were cars parked all out front so we joined them and then walked on foot into the park. It was kind of cool because whenever we go Vasquez we try and not hike the same area and once again because we had to walk in from the outside we were hiking in an area we never hiked before.

yeah don't ask!!

For the next few hour we roamed around the area and had a great time. We found some very cool and extremely beautiful settings. I found a very cool Gandalf staff but forgot it when I laid it down to grab a picture.

The hikes are great and good for my health but honestly the best part of these hikes is spending quality time with Chris. With our days growing fewer and fewer every minute I get to spend with him is precious.. speaking of precious.. check out this pix (to the left).. it's one of my favorites that I took today.

After Vasquez we got back to my place around 11:50am, perfect timing as he wanted to leave at Noon. But before he left he wanted to transfer some photos from his phone to my computer. Well that took a few hours to figure it out but we finally did and he went through and shared years of photo with me. It was pretty AWESOME. Got to see "little" Chris, pixs of his Dad and family and so many other special moments. Even though he wanted to leave at noon he didn't leave my place until around 3ish which we were both cool with since we got to spend more one on one time with each other And the best part of all is I get to see him again in three days when he comes back down Thursday in preparation for Wondercon.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep3

It's a few days late due to my movie marathon. I had it all edited and ready to go but forgot to post it on the 10th. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen, get direct download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

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

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 3 - Little Lost Lamb
Directed by Kevin Hooks
Written by Diane Frolov
Original air date September 25, 1989

Plot Summary: Sikes and George uncover a prostitution ring after a Newcomer prostitute, on the run from her pimp, is murdered in Sikes' apartment. Buck deals with his past with the help of Uncle Moodri.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny & Michael

Jurassic Park Movie Marathon Day Two

Since everyone went to bed fairly early last night folks were up at 7:30am starting breakfast. This time Olivia was making pancakes while Kim and I cut strawberries and bananas for some toppings. Ashphord was making some sausages, while Aaron was helping with the clean up from yesterday. (Thanks Aaron)

After breakfast we all got ready for our hike to Vasquez Rocks. Jen had to leave so she did not join us for the hike. For this hike we had a goal (location) in mind and we wanted to all stick together.  I'm happy to say we did both. This was one of the more enjoyable hikes. There were some tough spots but everyone got through them. There were also some crazy spot for the more adventurous and nice flat areas for those less crazy. This is the first time that team leader Chris took us to a 30 foot drop that we couldn't get down so we had to back track a bit before finding our way back to the cars. But as I mentioned we all had a fantastic time on this hike. After the hike Will and Ashphord had to leave so we said our goodbyes.

After our goodbyes we headed back to my place to freshen up. We had planned to go to Islands but time was running out as we also planned to go to the movies to see John Carter. So instead we went to Baja Fresh, (thanks Chris for buying me lunch) which we did on our last movie marathon as well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it last time and it's quick and easy. Once lunch was over we lost another person, Kim.

We then headed over to the movie theater. I had never been to this one but we found it fairly easy. We got tickets (thanks Dallas for getting mine and to Chris for my drink, I was well taken care of today). And a big thanks for the Rusley brother who had a giant bag of candy for everyone to enjoy.

We made our way into the movie theater and it was a decent size with stadium seating, which is great. I sat between my two favorite guys and the movie started. John Carter is based on a book written back in 1911. The movie itself was good, a little slow paced but had some cool action scenes and special effects. I think what saves this movie for me was the story. It was a nice, not too complicated story and they really left no plot holes. It wasn't as action packed as I thought it was going to be but still a very enjoyable movie.

After John Carter we said goodbyes to Jes and Olivia who had to drive back up north. While driving back to my place Chris asked where the closest Red Box was so we headed to Albertsons. For the past few weeks Chris has been wanting to show me the movie "In Time" but again, like last week, both of the Red Boxes were out of In Time. So typical Chris says let's go buy it and off to Best Buy we go. Once at Best Buy we looked and looked until finally Robert found it and Chris bought it. On our drive home I plugged in my iphone to Chris' radio and we rock out to some of my favorite songs until we reach the dirt road to my house and I put on Cee Lo Green's F*ck You. Chris rolled down the windows and blasted it as we all (Chris, Robert, Rupert and I) sang along. I have to say this was one of my favorite moments of the weekend.

We get back to my place and of course the other car was already here and as I went inside to find Anthony giving my kitchen a quick clean (Thanks Anthony). Robert was going to leave but was intrigued by In Time and stuck around to watch it with us.. yay!!

Time to watch In Time. I wanted to see this when it was out in the theaters but didn't have time so I was really looking forward to it. If you don't know what this movie is about it stars Justin Timberlake and it's like a modern day Logan's Run. Where humans only live to the age of 25 before their clocks start and then they have to start working, begging or stealing time to prolong their lives but they will always remaining looking like they are 25. It's a very cool concept and idea. I kept looking over at Robert and saying.. that's just creep, the entire society living that way is just weird. But it was a very enjoyable movie and I extremely happy that Chris persisted on me seeing it.

After the movie Aaron and Dallas left followed by my new best bud Robert, he really didn't want to go but he had a weeks worth of horrible sleep and really needed some good night sleep before he went back to work tomorrow. So we said our sad goodbye and I headed back in with the group.

We still had Chris, Rupert, Anthony, Jennifer C., Doug and Kevin. Once again Chris grilled some delicious steaks for dinner that everyone enjoyed. We then sat down to watch Once Upon A Time latest episode. Now I love Once Upon A Time (it's my favorite show on TV) but I have to say watching it was others makes it even more enjoyable. Love tonight's episode all about Red Riding Hood (And man what a twist to her story) After Once the Rusley brothers left followed shortly after by Anthony and Jennifer leaving just Chris and I. We watched the latest Family Guy before calling it a night. Chris was staying the night as he took Monday off so we could hang more. (love him)

Once again like the past two days, this was an extremely fun filled day from morning to night. From breakfast, to the hike, to John Carter, to In Time, to the steaks and finally Once Upon A Time I couldn't have asked for a better day. In fact this weekend was just EPIC, with a guest list about half the size of the last party I had so much more fun not having to worry about so many people.

I was really hoping to make this movie marathon extra special for Chris because it will be his last for a while but he along with others made this extra special for me. I don't know what I did to deserve such great friends but I couldn't ask for any better. And what is great is I still get to spend another day with my best buy Chris... Monday awaits!!

Check out more pictures HERE

Jurassic Park Movie Marathon Day One

The 11 folks who stayed the night last night got up fairly early 8am and began making our Jurassic breakfast. Olivia had brought some dinosaur cookie cutters so Chris made dino shaped biscuits for our biscuits and gravy.

After breakfast a group of us went out to play Extreme Bocce Ball (a weekend tradition). I played for about an hour before going inside to prep for the party. With some help we moved all my furniture around and got ready for the screening. I went to help Jes who was making these really cool looking hard boiled eggs, they looked dino eggs. I also brought out all the snacks and veggie platters. Speaking of veggie platter, Chris made me eat a piece of raw broccoli. I actually gagged a few time before chewing it and getting it down. It wasn't so much the taste as it we the texture.

Our first guests of the day arrived Kevin and Doug Rusley, but Doug just started working at Magic Mountain so he had to leave for a few hours. Robert didn't sleep so well the night before so he went into my room to take a nap. Jes was finishing up her lunch, this really yummy pulled beef sandwiches. Jen hooked up her Rock Band but only had a mic and drum set so we played with that for a while, Robert heard the music and couldn't help but join in on the fun.

One o'clock came and Kim arrived just in time for lunch and the beginning of our first movie Jurassic Park part 1. About a half hour into the movie Will arrived, then Jennifer and Matt.

There was a great moment when the young girl is eating Jello and sees a Velocaraptor  and starts shaking. Well Chris had this great idea and made a huge amount of green jello so we could re-enact it when it happened on screen and we did just that.. it was pretty EPIC!!!!

After the first movie we took a break. While on this break I went outside and Kim asked if my outdoor fireplace worked. I said yes but I had never used it in the 2 1/2 years that I've been here. She asked if we had wood and I did have several large trunk pieces but they needed to be cut down, but I told her it was hard and a workout but she said she was up for the challenge. Somehow poor Robert got pulled into trying to cut some wood as well. So Kim and Robert both tried to cut down these trunks and though they did manage to get some chucks off it was just too much effort so I told her we'd just go buy some wood when we went out to get dinner.

We headed back in as they had started Jurassic Park part 2. This time the chatter around the room was loud and you could barely hear the movie :( Once that was over we took another break and my new best bud Robert and I staged a play fight (which was later turned into a gif that can see here http://picasion.com/i/1xEhO ) I ordered some pizza for dinner so Chris, Aaron, Robert and I headed out to pick it up. While we were out we also got some firewood and Chris picked up some coconut rum. We got back with dinner and the drinks were flowing. Chris set up a round of coconut rum shots and I have so say it was very tasty. While we enjoyed our pizza dinner we started Jurassic Park III.

Once the movie was over Jennifer and Matt L had to call it a night and said their final goodbyes to Chris. The party then moved out back where Kim was starting a fire in my outdoor fireplace. She's a pro and had it going in no time. We then gathered around the fire and started a "In Never" drinking game. Learned loads of new things about my friends but like last time never remember it all (need to take notes next time :) Like yesterday with Chris and his wine glass there was an incident tonight. First let me explain that I haven't worked on my back deck since I bought the house and there is a set of stairs that were slowly falling apart. And tonight there was just one to many steps taking on those broken stairs and down went poor Dallas. He was alright but the stairs complete crumbled under him. I was so drunk and felt horrible.. just glad he didn't hurt himself.

Normally our parties go to about 3am but not this time.. around 1am folks were getting tired and Robert, Will and I called it a night and crashed in my room.. soon after everyone was sleeping.

This was a fun day... 3 enjoyable movies (though part 1 is my favorite followed by 3 then 2), learned some intimate details about my friends, got to spend some awesome time with my best bud Chris (who's leaving us soon :( ) and got to know my other best bud Robert a little bit better. Good times all around and this weekend is only half over.

Check out more pictures HERE