Montana Vacation - Day 5

Woke up again at our usual time of 8am, took a shower and then made some biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

I recently purchased Downton Abbey seasons 1 & 2 on blu-ray and wanted to introduce Chris to it. So we started with season 1 episode 1 and he enjoyed it, though he complained that he normally doesn't watch drama because it stirs up the emotions. We continued to watch the first four episodes of season one. While we watched we made some yummy fish and rice for lunch.

Took a break to go out to JoAnn's to pick up some replacement material from my stocking fiasco yesterday. When we left the apartment it was lightly snowing. At JoAnn's we pick up the geeky prints but they have so many awesome prints that Chris and I purchased 17 different prints at 1 yard each. We now have a ton of material and are thinking of making pillows and other easy to sew things.  Afterwards we went to Target to get Dexter season 1, since I'm sharing Downton Abbey with Chris he wants to share Dexter with me. So he purchased season 1 so we can watch it later. After Target we to went to Albertsons to pick up some ingredients for dinner tonight.

Believe it or not I tried egg nog for the first time and am now completely addicted. Gonna try some different flavors next. (actually did this yesterday but forgot to blog about it, hence different t-shirt)

When we got back home I popped some popcorn and Chris and I strung some out for our Christmas tree. I had more patience with this task then Chris.

After all the drama we watched today we wanted a change of pace and I got to see Anchorman for the first time. This is one of Chris' most quotable movies and he wanted to share it with me. I actually liked it. I thought it was going to be more slapstick then it was. It wasn't crude like most of these new comedies. Of course it was way over the top but that made it even funnier. I'd give this movie a B-

We wanted to finish Downton Abbey season one today so we watched episodes 5 through 7 and finished off the season. During this time Chris made some home made meat loaf which turned out great.

Once Downton Abbey was complete it was late and we watched regular TV for a half hour before calling it a night.

The snow had stopped so I didn't quite get the White Christmas that I was hoping for but it does look like it's going to snow tomorrow and Christmas eve.. so there is still hope.

I know I say this at the end of each blog post but it's very true.. I had another fantastic day hanging with my best bud and I can't wait to see what we do tomorrow.

Montana Vacation - Day 4

So today is the End of the World... well according to the Mayan calendar. And there are even folks out there who actually believed this but most saw it as a joke and we got to see lots of funny pictures and comments on Facebook and Twitter.

Chris and I woke up at our usual time 8am-ish, took showers and then ate breakfast and got ready to start our day.

We headed out to several people's houses that Chris was going to purchase stuff off Craigslist from. First up was Skis, Chris has been wanting to find some nice skis since he's been going snowboarding/skiing more and more. We got to the guys place,  he was very nice (you never know about Craigslist people). Chris checked out the skis and liked them so he purchased them. Afterwards we headed over to another guys place to check out a kayak. Again since Chris has been in Montana he has been taking up activities suited for living in Montana, like snowboarding, skiing and white water rafting. Again like with the skis Chris checked out the kayak, loved it and purchased it. I have to admit the kayak is pretty sweet. We strapped it to the top of his car and headed back to his place.

We dropped off the kayak in his garage and then headed to the theater to see The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey. Chris had not seen it yet so of course we had to go see it asap. This would be my fourth time seeing it in the theater. We saw it in 2D which would be my second time seeing it in 2D. Still loving it and I'm happy to say that Chris enjoyed it was well. He did take issue with one event that happened at the end but I informed him that that is how it happens in the book which seem to placate him.

After the movie we headed out to lunch, Chris wanted to try a new Chinese place, I'm not one for trying new Chinese places because you never know the level of vegetables used. Well I have to say that this was some of the best Chinese food that I have ever had. Both Chris and I really enjoyed this place. I told Chris I would want to come back to this place again before I leave but of course he said he has another place he wants to try.. so will see if we eat at this place again before I go.

Our next stop was Wal-Mart which I would never go to during Christmas time but Chris found out that I had never seen Anchorman and Chris being Chris had to get a copy so we could watch it. We picked up the blu-ray from Wal-Mart and headed home.

We spent the rest of the day working on making geeky stockings. We had purchased material from JoAnn's a few days prior. Sewing sounds easy enough but man it's not. We had construction paper and cut out our patterns. It was tough making a stocking shape even though I know exactly what they look like. Once the pattern was cut we laid out our material... I was doing a Star Wars one and Chris was doing a Star Trek one. We traced out the pattern and I cut the stocking shape out of the material. We had two different pieces so that front design and back design would be different. Well I cut my two sides out and realized my fatal mistake. I didn't flip the pattern when cutting out my second piece so I had two of the same sides which made my two pieces useless. So that was it for me, I didn't have enough material to cut another out so I had to set my aside (until I could get more) and we focused on Chris' as he didn't cut out his second side yet but even if he did he would have been fine as he did flip the pattern even though he didn't consciously think of it. So we both focused on getting his done and after an hour Chris' geeky Christmas stocking was done and it looked AWESOME.

Afterwards Chris had to go to work so I decided to catch up on some blogging but he wasn't at work for long so I didn't get much blogging done, instead we watch "This is 40" before calling it a night.

It was another awesome day here in Montana with my best bud.

Something I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog post. While walking back with our Christmas tree Chris gave me some sad/bad news. When he was transferred to Montana in April we thought he could put in for another transfer in 3 years (which is horrible already) but come to find out he can't even be considered for a transfer until he puts in a full 4 years here. :( so he can't even consider coming back to California until 2016. This news hurts my heart.

Montana Vacation - Day 3

Woke up early and made some breakfast for Chris and I. We had a long drive ahead of us today. We were going to the Lewis and Clark National Forrest so we could cut down our Christmas tree.

When Chris mentioned that we could cut down our own tree I was excited. I never done anything like that and figured it would be a once in a lifetime kind of thing. But I got to thinking about killing a live tree when there are already so many that are cut down and waiting to be purchased at tree lots. But it was only $5 for the tree permit and Christmas trees on lots go from $25 to a few hundreds and as I mentioned it's a very unique thing to be able to do.

The forrest is about a 50 minute drive east of Great Falls. It was a nice drive, Montana is very flat at times but then you drive into large mountainous areas. There were a bunch of very scenic landscapes along the way. As we entered the forrest we started looking for trees.. there are a ton of rules that go along with cutting down our own tree. We took this side road as one of the rules is that you can't cut any trees 100 feet from a main road. Well this side rode took us well out of the forrest and into the flat lands. We were literally in the middle of no where when we decided that it would be best to turn around and get back to the main road. About another mile down the road was another side road but this one looked more promising. The road was completely snowed over as we made our way deeper and deeper into the forrest. We got to a point where we couldn't drive anymore so we parked and continued on foot. We looked around the area that we parked but couldn't find a tree that we liked. So we decided to walk down a snow covered path. We were about a half mile from the car when Chris stopped and said.. "OMG we should bring the saw with us" then we joked about pulling a Griswald. Chris ran back and picked it up and we continued walking down the pathway. We walked for about 45 minutes before we finally found some decent trees. We really couldn't find any full trees so we started looking for nicely shaped trees instead and found two that we really liked.

We opted for one that was a bit taller then we wanted but we figured we'd just trim it down when we got it home. So we took turns cutting the tree down. It was actually pretty easy as the base of the tree was very small in diameter. Once it was down we trimmed down the stump to less then 10 inches (one of the rules) and then carried the tree back to the car. Chris went to pull out the tree permit which you have to attach to the tree but it wasn't in his pocket. Yeah it fell out somewhere along the way. He retraced our steps while I tied the tree to the top of Chris' car. Luckily Chris found the permit and attached it to the tree and we made our way back to the house.

We put the tree in Chris' garage and went out to lunch. Chris wanted to take me to this Mexican restaurant that he really likes. It's a build your own burrito, taco, etc kind of place and I have to say, though the food is super fattening it was some of the best Mexican food I've ever had.

Once back at Chris' we went to put up the tree. It was still about two feet to tall so we had to cut it down a bit. It took some effort but in the end we got it up and standing straight. Next was the decorations. We started with lights and then moved to bulbs. We then did some geeky ornaments and finally finished it off with candy canes. Both Chris and I are very pleased with the end results.

Chris had to go into work for his 3 1/2 hour shift and I watched some TV. We ended the night with watching TV and chatting.

It was another fantastic day in Montana. I'm actually liking the cool crisp weather, there isn't much snow at this moment but it's suppose to snow over the weekend. Got to do a very unique thing with my best bud.. yeah that's a great day in my book.

Check out pictures from today HERE

Montana Vacation - Day 2

Woke up in Montana.. yay. Chris wanted to take me out to breakfast to one of his favorite place called Tracy's. The breakfast was very tasty and I'm sure full of calories. Afterwards we headed to Albertson's to pick up some groceries. Chris has been super busy with work so he had nothing in the house. We also had to pick up a turkey and all the trimming for our Christmas dinner. Spent about $260 on food which hopefully will last my two weeks here.. but I doubt it.

After grocery shopping we headed next door to Target to pick up decorations for the Christmas Tree. Chris doesn't normally do a tree but since I was coming down to visit I insisted so we had to go pick up lights, bulbs, ornaments and all things associated with a Christmas tree.

We then headed over to Joann's to find some fabric to make our own stockings. This was an idea of Chris' and I love it. We are going to make some geeky stockings for ourselves. Joann's had a ton of very geeky fabric... lot's of Star Wars and Star Trek. It was extremely tough picking out just two prints, one for the front and one for the back. There were so many prints that I now want to make pillows and other cool geeky things with them. We may actually go back and buy more material to make more things while I'm on vacation here.

Afterwards we went to a sporting goods place called Scheels to get a Christmas tree permit so we could cut down our own Christmas tree. It only costs $5, which isn't bad for a tree.

We planned to go out and cut done our tree today but time got away from us and we had to drive at least an hour to get to where we could cut down trees.. so we opted to just come back home, unload everything and watch some screeners that I had brought. We watched Wreck it Ralph, which we both had seen in the theater but enjoyed it so much we wanted to see it again.

Once the movie was over Chris had to go into work for 3 1/2 hours and I hung out at his place catching up on my blog, doing dishes and watching some Friends and Big Bang Theory.

Chris got home around 11pm and we hung out for an hour or so chatting. Chris got a package from our friend Robert so he opened it before we called it a night.

Lot's of fun today.. one thing I love about hanging with Chris is that we can be apart for three months and it only takes a matter of an few minutes and it's as though we've never been apart. I haven't been here in Montana since April but being here now it doesn't feel like I ever left.  Looking forward to tomorrow... what do we have planned.. I have no idea.. but whatever it is I'll be doing it with Chris and I can't ask for anything better.

Montana Bound Vacation - Day 1

Woke up early today and immediately jumped on editing my next MASH 4077 Podcast. I had to get this episode done before I leave for vacation as it's due to be released on January 1st and I won't be in town for that. I recorded and edited for the next four hours until it was done and uploaded.

Jes was taking me to the airport (Burbank) but first I wanted to take her out to lunch to thank her. We had lunch at Chili's and then she dropped me off at the airport at 2:30pm. My flight was set for 4:30 so I was there two hours in advance. I had checked in online but I did have a bag to check so I had to stand in line for that. I stood there for about fifteen minutes before someone came to the counter and started checking in bags.

Once my bag was checked I had to get though security. I gave the guard my driver license and he looked at it for a few minutes, he asked if this was me. I said yes and he said.. well you've changed your hair, gained weight and are now wearing glasses. I told him that the picture is 20 years old but that I had my passport if he wanted to see that.. which of course he did. Lucky for me my passport picture looks more like me. I think it's time to update my DL picture.

The rest of security was a piece of cake and in no time I was waiting to board.  This flight was from Burbank to Salt Lake City.. The hour pasted by in no time but we were still not on the plane and we were to take off in a few minutes. They never mentioned a delay but it looked as if our plane hadn't arrived yet. So we waited another ten minutes and finally the plane arrived.

I was worried because my layover in Salt Lake City was only 45 minutes and if I was going to be any later I might miss my connection flight. Once on the plane loading took a while and there seem to be even more issues which delayed us even more.  We were finally off and it seemed like we were in Utah in no time. When we landed I had about 15 minutes before my next flight and lucky for me the gate I needed to be at was extremely close so I got there in a few minutes.

The next flight was from Salt Lake City to Great Falls, Montana and there wasn't a single issue.. got on the plan and this time didn't have anyone next to me. The flight was actually ahead of schedule and we got to Great Falls about 20 minutes early. This flight was so short.. I mean you climb for 30 minutes and then fly at 30,000 feet for 15 minutes and then start descending for the remaining 30 minutes and it's over.

I texted Chris as we were taxiing to the gate and he said he was on his way. By the time I got off the plane and was going down the escalator to the baggage claim area Chris came walking through the front doors with a big smile on his face. I gave him a quick hug as I was getting off the escalator and walked over to the baggage claim area. There I gave him a much bigger hug and then proceeded to rattle off a bunch of our friends names who asked me to give him a hug as well.

It was so great seeing him, it's been 3 months but it's felt like forever. Chris and I talk almost everyday but there is nothing better then being face to face.

It was cold in Montana.. about 15 degrees.

We picked up some Taco Bell and went back to his place and ate, chatted and watched TV for a few hours. I gave him the gifts from Jes and Olivia.. then Chris had to go into work for an hour or so. I watched some TV and finally went to bed around 1:45am and Chris got home about the same time.. said good night and made some plans for tomorrow.

So excited that I'm here and I can't wait to spend the next two weeks with my best bud Chris.

Christmas with the Family

So my friend Jes is staying with me for the week while she looks for apartment to move into early next year. Also my bestie Josh crashed last night as it was very late when the Hobbit ended and he lives a few hours away. Jes was already out looking at apartment so Josh and I hung out for a bit before he headed home.

I had to get to CVS to pick up some medicines that I'm going to need while on vacation. I can't believe how busy CVS was midday on a Monday.. was in line for almost a half hour before finally getting out of the store.

My big plans for the day was to spend Christmas with my family since I'll be out of town starting tomorrow and will not be here for the Holidays... so today I am going to my Mom's and then Brothers (Dad). 

If you read my previous tweets you would know that I am having Jeep problems. But before I left I checked my oil and it looked to be perfect but I was still having issues with my oil pressure gauge. Traffic was horrible and it took me 2 and a half hours (normally an hour and a half) to get to my moms. I watched the oil gauge the entire time and it was all over the place. There were times when my oil pressure got so low that my check engine light would come on. I was on pins and needles the entire time and even considered turning around and going home. But I wanted to see my family for for Christmas so I took a chance.

Got to my mom's and my step dad wasn't feeling well and was sleeping so my Mom and I went out to Denny's for some lunch. Had a great visit, we chatted about everything. That's one of many things I love about my mom is we can talk about anything.. and most of the time we do.

We got back to her place and exchanged gifts, she loved the pictures of Kenobi (grandson) & Molly (granddaughter) that I gave her. We visited for another hour or so before I had to leave. I left her place a little after 4 and made my way over to my brothers. Once again my jeep was okay but I was worried the entire time. Took some toll roads to avoid some of the traffic. Got to my brothers around 5:30pm. Brother, sister-in-law, nephew, niece and dad were there as well as Lora's sister. I had asked dad if he could make us some Christmas dinner (Turkey). He was glad to so by the time I got there dinner was almost ready. We ate and it was excellent, we then exchanged gifts.

The best part of the gift exchange was watching my nephew and niece open their gifts. I got both of them clothes (at the request of their mom) but I did get Molly a birthday gift (toy purse) and a doll which she liked. Kenobi was super excited to open gifts and to my surprise he was actually happy with the clothes. One piece of clothing that he really liked was his Superman footie PJ's with a cape. He had to put them on immediately and run around the house for the next hour pretending to fly.. it was pretty awesome.

Played with both my niece and nephew for another hour before calling it a night and heading home. Once again I stressed out about the drive home but I made it home safely. This will be the last time I drive the jeep.. it will now just sit there for the two weeks while I'm on vacation and when I get back I'll be looking for a new car.

Not a traditional family Christmas but it was good to see everyone. I'll miss them this year as I spent the last 41 Christmas' with them.. this will be the first year that I'm not with them. But I'm going to be spending my Holidays with one of my favorite people in the world.. so it's all good. :)

Christmas Movie Marathon - Day 2

Guest remaining, Jes, Dallas, Aaron, Anthony, Michele, Josh, Anne and Brett. We started the day with some biscuits and gravy for breakfast. We then continued the Christmas Movie Marathon with one of my new modern classic favorites.. "Elf". Dallas had not seen this one so it was fun introducing this movie to him.

We then moved on to another modern classic Christmas movie that I got a screener for this year "Rise of the Guardians"  I love this movie and I've seen it I think 5 times over the past month and it never gets old. Only a few folks have seen it so it was cool to be able to share this great movie with everyone.

During Rise of the Guardians Jen joined the party bringing our number to 10. After the movie we headed out to lunch and went to Islands. This group hasn't been to Islands in a while because the group was getting just to big, but since it was smaller this time we were able to return to our old stomping ground.

When we got back home, Anne and Dallas packed up and left while Anthony and Michele took a nap. The rest of us diverted from the Christmas movies and started watching more of my screeners. First up was Cloud Atlas, I've seen this a few times and it gets better with every with viewing and I'm happy to say that everyone enjoyed it.

After the movie, Anthony, Michele and Aaron left for the evening. Leaving Jes, Brett, Josh, Jen and myself to end the Christmas Movie Marathon with my new screener of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

It was a great way to end what was truly a wonderful Christmas celebration with friends. It goes to show that having fewer people does indeed make for a more enjoyable party (at least for me). We also didn't drink hard alcohol, only beer and wine and very little of that as well. It was a great weekend of board games, cards, movies, food and friends.

Thanks everyone who joined me this weekend; Josh, Will, Jen, Jes, Dallas, Anthony, Michele, Luis, Teresa, Aaron, Jennifer, Brett and Anne.

And Merry Christmas to you all...

Christmas Movie Marathon - Day 1

Was up late last night visiting with friends but I knew I had to be up fairly early to get the turkey in the oven. So I got up around 8:30am and went out to the kitchen to start breakfast. Anthony joined me and continued with the breakfast (pancakes) and Brett and I went on to prep the turkey for cooking.

Anthony, Michele, Dallas, Brett, and I played some Yahtzee and then a game of Cards Against Humanity. Josh slept in.

At noon we started with our first Christmas movie Home Alone. Jes arrived around 1ish and we paused the movie to make some mash potatoes and finish prepping the rest of the side dishes. Aaron & Anne arrived just as we were about to eat Christmas dinner which was around 2pm.. I bit earlier then I had planned but we were all hungry and the food was ready.

After we ate we exchanged gifts and I got some pretty nice things including a framed poster of Middle Earth which is pretty awesome.

After four hours we finally finished watching Home Alone. More guests arrived, Teresa, Will, Luis and Jennifer and we moved on to Love Actually and then our final movie of the night While You Were Sleeping (which isn't really a Christmas movie but it's my all time favorite romantic comedy).

It was a great day hanging with friends, playing games and watching some good movies.

And the Christmas movie marathon continues tomorrow.

Hobbitses & Friends

The Hobbit Gang

Today is all about The Hobbit.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens today. Though I had seen it twice already this was the big day that I had purchased tickets for back in November. But before going to the movies I got another screener and its the one I was looking forward to getting this movie season.. yep you guessed it.. I got The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I was super excited to have gotten this as I plan to watch it over and over again.

For opening night I had planned to dress up in my Hobbit cosplay but because of all the stress of editing podcasts, prepping for this upcoming party, getting ready for Montana and the fact that we weren't really waiting in line for the movie I didn't see all the effort that goes into getting into costume was worth it. I kind of regret it as I enjoy dressing up and there weren't anyone else there dressed up so I would have stood out.

The time came for me to leave the house so I got in the jeep, started it up and noticed that my oil pressure gauge was going crazy. It's normally in the middle on 40 and moves very little. But as soon as I turned on the jeep it went directly up to 80.. I don't know what it means but it can't be good. I turned back around and went home to check the engine. I noticed oil on the engine block but I had to get going. I was the one with all the tickets so I took a chance and drove about 30 miles to the theater.

I got there with no major issues.. the oil pressure gauge was all over the place but everything seemed okay. I got there a bit earlier then I had planned so I went to the theater to get individual tickets printed out so I could give each person their own ticket and we don't have to wait for everyone to be there to sit down.

Slowly but surely one by one my friends showed up. We got some concessions and then headed into the theater. Everyone seemed to be very happy with their seats, which made me happy. I was still waiting on two people, Josh & Justin. I waited outside for as long as I could before finally leaving the tickets with the ticket taker and going in and taking seat.

So this is my third time watching The Hobbit.. this time like my first time I watched the movie in 3D HFR (48 fps) and I have to say that I enjoyed it much more this time around then I did my first time. I don't know if I was just use to it or the fact that it was my third time watching the movie. The crispness didn't bother me as much. There were still a few scenes where the CG looked like CG. But I still loved it and all of the folks I watched it with enjoyed it.

It also had this new audio configuration.. Dolby Atmos. there are like 40+ speakers in the walls completely surrounding the seating and then 18 overhead in the ceiling.. the sound is amazing!!!

Afterwards I found out that Josh, who did arrived 25 minutes late, was not allowed in.. this theater won't allow people into the theater after the movie has started. He wound up watching a later showing. Justin was MIA. But later found out that he just couldn't make it.

It was a lot of fun and I'm happy to say that even with this large group of people, everything worked out great (with exception to Josh).

I did manage to make it home safely, I think it's time to get a new car. I won't put anymore money into my Jeep... will need to resolve this when I get back from Montana.

Since I'm having my mini Christmas movie marathon tomorrow several folks who were at the Hobbit opening night decided to crash at my place.. so joining me tonight was Josh, Dallas, Brett, Anthony and Michele.

Shopping, Cleaning & KOTG

Spent half of my day finishing up my Christmas shopping and making my Christmas gifts. And the other half cleaning the house up and getting ready for this weekend for my mini Christmas movie marathon. Today is really my last day to get these things done. I really wanted to get a new Confessions of a Fanboy edited but just couldn't find the time or motivation to get it done.

So though I did get things done today.. I didn't do as much as I would like.

I also released the Knights of the Guild podcast that I finished edited late last night. This episode is the final installment of the "I'm The One That's Cool" music video interviews.. for this episode I interview Jeff Lewis, Amy Okuda, Vince Caso, Various Crew Members and the one and only Felicia Day.

Screeners, Podcasts and Buffy

Today is 12/12/12.. how cool is that.

I got several screeners today. Silver Lining Playback, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln. Never heard of Sliver Lining Playback and barely know what Zero Dark Thirty is.. but the one I really wanted to see and was super excited to get a screener of was Lincoln. I'm a huge Sally Fields fan so I'm really looking forward to seeing her.

I worked on the next Knights of the Guild podcast. I gotta get these done before I head off to Montana for the end of December. Should have to done and ready to be released by tomorrow.

During the evening I headed to my buddy Robert's place for Dinner and Buffy. Still working through season 3 and watched Helpless, The Zeppo and Bad Girls.  Helpless was a really good episode, it was cool to see Buffy have to be Buffy without her powers. I did think that she forgave Giles a little to quickly but I was a good relationship builder between the two of them.

The Zeppo was an interesting episode. The main story revolved around Zander and his shenanigans and the background story was the hell mouth opening up again and the team (except Xander) saving the world. It was kind of funny yet very odd that this big event happened and we did not follow it as the main action.  I'm not a huge fan of Xander but I didn't mind him so much in this episode.

Bad Girls is the beginning of the downward spiral that Faith takes in season 3. We get introduced Wesley as Buffy's new watcher and we get to see a different side of Buffy. Big changes are coming to Buffy and this is just the beginning..

So today was a good day.. got some screeners, got a podcast done and spent the ending watching Buffy with one of my favorite people.

Disneyland With My Buddies

Today I went to Disneyland with my buddies Brett and Troy. This all started with Brett tweeting that he needed to go to Disneyland soon. I responded with "when". So we planned it out and I put it out there on Twitter that I was going and my friend Troy said he wanted to join us.

So I got to the park at 10am and made my way to Downtown Disney where Brett was waiting for me. My annual pass expired in August and I have been waiting for renew it until I went back.. so today is the day. I renewed my premium annual pass for another year.

We headed to Disneyland first and our first ride was Star Tours as the wait was only 5 minutes, we then went over to Space Mountain to get a fast pass but it was only a 10 minute wait so we rode that next. We did stop by Star Tours and grabbed a fast pass for that to ride later in the day. We were hungry and it's kind of a tradition for me when I go to Disneyland to get a Corn Dog or two from the Little Red Wagon. It's been a while since Brett had a corn dog and was up for it so we headed over and grabbed some lunch. While we were eating my buddy Troy called and said he was on his way. So we waited for him before heading back out into the park.

I'm not going to go ride by ride.. but we walked around both Disneyland and Disney California Adventures for the next 10 hours. Some highlights were walking pass The Indiana Jones ride which I was told was going to be closed down until the new year, I was bummed as it's one of my favorite rides... but when we walked by there was a line, so we grabbed a fast pass and later in the evening, we rode it. Another cool things was that I never knew about the Winnie the Pooh ride until my friend Troy asked if I had ever ridden it... so we rode that. The park was not busy at all.. I think the longest line we stood in was 20 minutes.  It was awesome seeing both parks all decked out for Christmas. And seeing Car's Land all Christmas-fied for the first time was pretty cool. And for our final ride of the evening we did Radiator Spring Racers. I've only done them one other time and when we did it we didn't race anyone, which was a bummer. But this time we did race and it was so much fun... we won btw.

It was a fun filled day spent at one of the happiest places on Earth with two good friends.. couldn't ask for anything more.

Podcasts and Hobbits

Started my day off by trying to get the new episode of Alien Nation posted. Podbean is changes servers and they are suppose to be down for the day.. guess this podcast will be delayed a day.

I spend the next few hours edited my next My Gimpy Life podcast #9, it's not due to be released until Jan 2nd but since I'll be in Montana I have to get these podcasts done and uploaded so they can be released on time.

Went out shopping for supplies for my "hand made" Christmas gifts but atlas couldn't find what I needed.

The big thing that happened today is that I went out to see another advance screening of The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey for a 2nd time. This time I was going with my buddy Robert. I was also seeing it in 2D instead of 3D HFR which I was looking forward to that since I really didn't like the HFR.

The screening was happening in Hollywood at the Harmony Gold Theater. Robert and I got there about an hour and a half early (can never predict traffic). We grabbed a bite to eat and then made our way to the theater. When we got there there were only a few people in there so we got some prime seats in the middle, middle. Sitting in front of us was this young man named Shane. We struck up a conversation and when it was over both Robert and I looked at each other and said, wow we feel very inadequate. This guy has done so much in his short time on Earth, the biggest having walked from the tip of Scotland to the southern part of Italy. It took him over 4 months but man did he have some fantastic stories. You could tell he was a writer.  Wish I would have gotten his info as I would have loved to stay in contact with him, but it was kind of odd since I literally just met him.

Anyways the movie started and I have to say I actually enjoyed the movie so much more in 2D. Not once did one of the effect take me out of that world. I also think I enjoyed the movie the second time more because I knew what to expect. I mean I knew where they made changes, where the movie ended and what to expect. I could just sit back and enjoy it this time and I did.. very much.

Robert enjoyed it as well and I'm glad I was able to see it with him as we just experience LOTR EE marathon a few days prior.

All in all it was a great experience and lots of fun. You can read my 1st review of The Hobbit to get more details and my thoughts about the movie. You can check it out here http://geekyfanboy.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-hobbit-unexpected-journey-my-review.html

Editing and Releasing Podcasts

Today I worked on the next episode of My Gimpy Life. It's not due to be released until Jan 2nd 2013 but since I'll be gone the last two week of December and unable to edit podcasts I'm trying to get everything done that is due to be released during that time.

Took me about two hours but I got it done, uploaded and ready to go. Still have a KOTR, Confessions and MASH podcast to do before I leave next Tuesday.

I did manage to release a new episode of my Alien Nation The Newcomers Podcast Ep 12.

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen/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 12 - The Red Room

Directed by Chuck Bowman
Written by Steven Long Mitchell & Craig Van Sickle
Original air date December 18, 1989

Plot Summary: George and Sikes investigate a series of murders, but are removed from the case when the FBI becomes involved and claims jurisdiction. "Project Dart" is discussed and the words have a powerful impact on George, who is haunted by the dim recollections of something horrible. Through hypnosis, he reveals that while in quarantine after the Newcomers landed on Earth, he and a group of fellow Tenctonese were brainwashed by the United States government to be made into perfect killing machines. The "programming" didn't work on George, who had an ethical imprint they couldn't not penetrate, but one of those machines has decided now to fight back against the people pulling the strings, exterminating them one by one.

While all this is going on, Sikes tries to avoid a mandatory psychological examination because he doesn't want to allow anyone to get that close to him (which is actually part of his problem in relating to Cathy). George, on the other hand, looks forward to the exam, though he's disappointed by the resulting conclusion; he's a control freak

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

Sunday with my BFF

After the awesome day we had yesterday we didn't want it to end so my buddy Robert crashed at my place last night so we could hang all day today.

I had planned to record some MASH 4077 podcasts this morning but one of my co-hosts had to cancel (so it kind of worked out for the better for us).

We got up, I made us some breakfast and then we jumped into our Holiday movie marathon. Robert watches these three movies every year and since he can't make it to my Christmas party (boo) we decided to celebrate "our" Christmas today. So our first movie of the day was A Christmas Story. This is a classic and one I normally watch on TV since it airs all the time during the holidays. For those who live under a rock and have never seen A Christmas Story here is a brief synopsis. Ralphie, a young boy growing up in the '40's, dreams of owning a Red Rider BB gun. He sets out to convince the world this is the perfect gift. But along the way, he runs into opposition from his parents, his teacher, and even good 'ol Santa Claus himself.

I wouldn't put this in my top 5 Christmas movie list but it's defiantly in the top 10 and a must see every year.  It's funny and ridiculous, it's heartfelt and over the top but it's such a good time. I give this movie a solid B +

After that we watched Christmas Vacation. I was happy to see that this was one of the movies Robert wanted to watch as I had never seen it before (I know how is that possible), but none the less it's true. I enjoyed Vacation and European Vacation so I was looking forward to this. Here's a brief synopsis. It's Christmas time and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.

I really enjoyed this movie. I felt bad for Clark as he tries so hard to make this the perfect Christmas but things just never go his way. It was fun to see the very young Johnny Galecki who I know from Rosanne and currently as Leonard from The Big Bang Theory. This movie is the perfect Chevy Chase movie, lot's of slapstick but with heart. It does end on a happy note but this is a Christmas the Griswolds will not soon forget. I give this movie a solid B +

After Christmas Vacation we headed out to grab some lunch at Chili's and then stop by Walmart so I could pick up some pictures I had developed.

Once back home I asked Robert if he could help me cut my hair, and when I say cut my hair I mean save my head with the hair clippers. I can normally do it by myself but it's always hard to get the back hair trimmed. It's one thing I miss about having a partner. Anyways he did it and I now have a new do.

After that we watched our final Christmas movie for the day Die Hard. This is one of my all time favorite action movies but I wouldn't say it's a movie that I need to watch every Christmas. Here's brief synopsis if for some reason you don't know the movie. New York City Detective John McClane has just arrived in Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his wife. Unfortunately, it is not going to be a Merry Christmas for everyone. A group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber is holding everyone in the Nakatomi Plaza building hostage. With no way of anyone getting in or out, it's up to McClane to stop them all. All 12!

As I said this is one of my favorite all time action movies. It's funny, action packed and tense. Not my typical Christmas movie but I love seeing it anytime of the year and it was a nice way to end our mini Christmas marathon. A perfect A for this movie.

I made some spaghetti for dinner and for dessert I broke into one of my boxes of Twinkies, as Robert hasn't had one in a while and each Twinkie is like gold and I'm only eating them and giving them to those worthy of it.. and Robert is so worthy of one of my Twinkies.

Next up Robert wanted to show me this new game he has been playing called XCom. So we fired up the Xbox and I watched and participate as we played for an hour. It's a fun game.

We went back to movie watching and decided to watch one of my screeners. We selected two Skyfall and This is 40 and ultimately decided to go with the comedy This is 40. Here's a synopsis of the movie. Debbie and Pete—a couple first seen in Knocked Up—continue to fight their way through their marriage. The growing financial troubles from Pete's new record label adds to the pressure.

I enjoyed this movie, it's a comedy/drama but from the commercials you'd never guess it's more drama then comedy. It's a look at two people kind of going through some midlife crisis at the same time. All the "usual" players are in it from the previous comedies like Knocked Up and I Love You Man. It's defiantly an adult movie. There is some crass humor which I normally don't enjoy but can take it here and there. I'm a huge fan of Paul Rudd and really enjoyed his performance even though I may not have agreed with some of his actions (Robert and I disagree on what he did). Over all an enjoyable movie for what it is. I'd give it a B-

After the movie Robert packed up his stuff and headed home. What a fantastic weekend, not only because of the things I did but because I got to spend it with one of my most favorite people in the world... love you buddy.

Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Marathon

I was excited for this day. A few weeks back when the tickets for The Hobbit went on sale they announced that they were going do have a one day marathon where they would screen all three Lord of the Rings Extended Edition movies back to back to back. Well being the huge fan that I am I jumped at the opportunity to get tickets. I put a call out there in the social network world asking if anyone wanted to join me. I mean I would have gone alone if needed. No one responded and I wanted to get the tickets quickly to get good seats. So I purchased two and figured I'd find someone in the next few weeks to join me.

I asked my bestie Josh who is more of a Tolkien fan them me (I know it's hard to believe). But he had work and was already requesting time off the following week so he didn't think he could get the time off. I then asked another bestie of mine Robert and after a few minutes to consider what he was agreeing to, he said yes.

So today Robert and I met up at The Arclight Sherman Oaks at 9:30am. When we got there we found a table where employees explained to us what was about to happen. We had 20 minute breaks between each movie. We would get popcorn and soda free all day and they had box lunches that we could order if we wanted to. We immediately took advantage of the free popcorn and soda. Got into the theater and found our perfect seats.. We sat there and chatted at what we were able to do watching other folks come in with pillows, sheets and such to get comfy. At 10am an employee came in and once again went over what was to happen, the run time of each movie (which everyone laughed) and when each movie would be starting. The lights dimmed and the The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition began.

228 minutes later ( 3 hour 48 minutes) Fellowship was over and we were 1/3 through our day. We got up and headed to concession, which was a madhouse. We waited in line our entire 20 minute break. We got the the front with only a few minutes to spare and planned on getting some hot dogs for lunch but they were out (very poor planning). So instead we got some apple smoked sausage baguettes things which were just like hot dogs only spicier. Of course we refilled out popcorn and soda and headed back into the theater. Since it was such a mess outside they extended the break another 10 minutes before starting the next installment The Two Towers.

235 minutes later ( 3 hours 55 minutes) Two Towers was complete and we were now 2/3's of the way through our marathon. My right knee was starting to act up so I walked around a bit. The concessions weren't as bad this time around but we had misunderstood about the box lunches, you had to order them before the intermission so they were ready at the intermission, so our dinner plans fell through and we resorted to more popcorn and some candy for dinner. Headed back into the theater for our final installment of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. This one was special as it had a Hobbit preview as well as an introduction by Peter Jackson. I think this is the print they used when the Return of the King played in the theater for a day to promote the Blu ray release.

263 minutes later ( 4 hours 23 minutes) Return of the King was finished thus concluding our Lord of the Rings Extended Edition movie marathon.

I had done this marathon in a theater before when Return of the King was first released, they did Fellowship EE and Two Towers EE and then premiered Return of the King. This was at the Cinerama Dome and the seats were horrible uncomfortable. The Arclight has much better seats. But this was my first time seeing the Extended Edition of Return of the Ring in the theater.

The audience was perfect, they cheered, boo'd and clapped during the movies. It was a room full of Lord of the Rings diehard fans and it couldn't get any better then that. These people payed $30 a ticket to sit in a dark room for over 11 hours and watch one of the best movie trilogies of all time.

Robert was amazed at what he actually just did. I'm glad I got to experience this with one of my best friends. It truly is a rare occasion (this actually being the first time ever) where you can watch all three Extended Edition movies back to back to back on the big screen. I'm so happy I did it.


Afterwards we headed back to Robert's place, picked up some much needed food from Taco Bell and crashed at his place for a half hour or so before heading back to my place as we had planned to spend the entire day tomorrow watching Holiday movies and hanging out.

Making Christmas Gifts

Well today I spent the majority of the day catching up on some recorded TV shows but I wanted to feel productive so I sat down in front of the TV with all my materials in front of me and started making my Christmas gifts for friends this year. I actually went out yesterday to get supplies but I needed more so I headed back out for a few hours but couldn't find what I needed. I'll have to go back out on Monday and look as my weekend is booked full.

It was fun spending the day creating various Christmas gifts. I don't want to post any pictures because several of you who read my blog will be getting one, two or three of my Christmas gifts. These gifts aren't anything expensive but they are made from the heart and I think those are the best kinds of gifts.