Parks, Farmer's Market and Family

Woke up this morning around 8:30am which was a surprise as I went to bed five hours earlier at 3:30am... but for only having 5 hours sleep and being a big drunk I felt pretty good. I actually got out of bed around 9am and started unpacking boxes. Now that I have a pantry I can start loading it up with food that has been in boxes for weeks. While I was unpacking my buddy Will texted me and asked if I wanted to go for a walk around the park with him. I, of course said yes. But before I could go for the hike I had to unload from car from yesterday as I never unloaded the final load of things. Well ten minutes later not only was Will at my front door but also Jen and Dallas. We had everything up in my apartment in now time.

We started walking around the park but then Will mentioned that there was a small farmer's market just down the street. I guess it happens every Saturday, so we headed over. It as very small but the best part was the live music. We grabbed a bite to eat and sat and watched this "older" group of people preform. They were all pretty good.. afterwards we stayed around and chatted with them for a bit. I plan to go back to the farmer's market in the near future. After the market we finished walking around the park.. it was a good time. 

After the park I headed down to my brother's to exchange cars. Since I no longer was doing storage runs I was able to give back Lora's car and pick up my little Fiesta. I hung out with the family for about four hours before heading home.

I was tired and it was hitting me hard, while driving down to my brother's I felt myself getting very sleepy. So on the drive home I gave Erik a call and he kept me company (and awake) while I drove home... thanks Erik.

Once home my sleepiness was gone and I continued to get ready for tomorrows big move. I had to move things around so we could get the big pieces of furniture into my new apartment. I'm dreading but also super excited for tomorrows move.

It's All About #Bulzt

Photo courtesy of new friend Mauricio

~#BULZT~

An addendum to my last blog post... my buddy Erik pointed out that I didn't mention anything about #bulzt. For those who had the privilege of seeing all the tweets tonight about that here is the story.

I was drunk and I tweeted "So I'm drunk...bulzt having a great time!!!" of course bulzt was suppose to be but and I even asked my friend Jen to look at the tweet before I sent it and she said it looked fine. So I tweeted and my buddy Sean saw it and thought it was a funniest thing in the world and he turned it into thing. Soon many of party goers from Grant Imahara 

• @grantimahara Jan 11 "@ShannAwesome: “@hxcofficemonkey "@JesReaves: "@seanbecker: #bulzt" #bulzt" #bulzt" #bulzt" #bulzt"  

... to the birthday boy himself Jason Charles Miller

• @jasoncmiller Jan 11 #bulzt killer party authority @Geekyfanboy is making a #bulztnation

 ... where hash tagging their tweets with #bulzt.

They also started tweeting # versions of bulzt like #bulztnation, #battleofthebulzt, #thunderbulzt & #canihazbulzt

I love that my little mistake turned into a few hours of "awesome" on twitter. Thanks Sean for making it so.

Pantries, Parties and Pals

Spent my morning building the two bookshelves I purchased from IKEA a few days ago. These bookshelves are to become my new food pantry. One set will have doors and the other will have pull out boxes.

Took me a few hours but I got both done and I think they turned out pretty good. Unfortunately the boxes I had gotten were to big for the bookshelves. At first I was going to return them and try and get smaller ones but a friend on Facebook (Scarlett) mentioned that I should try and adjust the shelves to see if they can fit that way. I had thought about it but never tired it.. so I did and it worked. I can't use the nine boxes as planned but I did manage to get four of them in and then I put two more on top and I'll be putting two more of the boxes on top of the fridge when I get that in.

Overall I'm very happy with the final product.

I did my final run to the storage unit.. yay!!! I picked up the final load of small furniture things that I could fit in my car. I am soooooooo happy that this part of my move is over. Never again will I move over a weeks time.

I still have the "big" move this weekend but once that is over I will be done with the move and I can try and bring some sort of order to my chaotic life.

During the evening I was invited to my friend Jason Charles Millers birthday party. He's an amazing musical and voice over artist. Now that I'm living in North Hollywood I was able to actually walk to where he was having the party. So I first picked up my friend Jen and we walked to our friends Jes and Dallas' place and joining us at their place was our friend Leslie. We then walked over to the party together. It was a ton a fun. I actually had a few shots of some Coldcock whiskey and then a few glasses of vodka and cranberry, I was feeling pretty good. We left the party around 3am and started to make our way home. Joining us for our walk home was Sean. We dropped off Dallas, Jes

and Leslie and the three of us continued to my place. Jen and Sean walked me all the way to my apartment to make sure I made it home safely.. thanks guys. They left and I crashed.

Update on the Erik and Kenny adventure.. Besides texting back and forth throughout the day, I did talk with Erik for a few minutes while I waited for Leslie to arrive at Dallas and Jes' place. We discussed our expectations of this budding friendship/relationship. He wanted to make sure we were on the same page (honesty is the best policy). I know I like Erik more then I should for the amount of time we've have known each other but we are both very realistic guys.. he lives in Oregon and I live in California, it's not ideal for starting a relationship so for now we are still getting to know each other and our friendship will continue to grow, if nothing else comes of it I have this new incredible friend that I will know for the rest of my life and that makes me very happy. Is this the end of our adventure.. no way.. not by far. I may not be blogging updates everyday like I have the past week but will continue to text and talk.. and who knows maybe he'll pop back up here or there in a future blog post.

Alien Nation Podcast 2nd Anniversary

Today is Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast 2nd anniversary. I released the first episode two years ago today. I stated this podcast because I wanted to work with my brother. We both loved Alien Nation and there wasn't another podcast like it.

It's not my most popular podcast by far. We get a few hundred downloads/listeners a month but what is great about this podcast is I get to do it with my brother. We have blast when we record together and our chemistry is undeniable.

Unfortunately December and January's podcasts have been postponed because of my move, but we should have a brand new one for the February 10th release date.

Thanks to all who have listened and continue to support this little podcast.

"Get Fit" Week 23

I'm still in the middle of all this moving crazies so I haven't been eating properly or working out on a regular bases. So I don't really have anything new to report. Last week I weighed in at 198 and today when I weighed myself I came in at 196. That's 2 pounds lighter then last week but I take it all with a grain of salt. I hope once I get everything moved into my new place and life gets back to normal.. well as normal as normal can be for me I will start back up on my eating and work out regime.

Moving In - Day 7, Internet & PGA

So this morning it hit me that I have been using alot of minutes talking to Erik everyday but even worse I have been using my data up on my phone because I don't have internet. So I checked both. I have only gone 9 days into this new billing cycle and I have already used 440 of my 550 minutes and I have used half of my 2gigs of data already. It will be interesting to see if I can make it another 21 days without going over.

And speaking of internet... I HAVE INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So that should help with my data plan. And now that I have internet I can use skype to save on minutes for my phone.

Continued my storage runs. I did three today and I'm happy to say that I finished bringing all my boxes. I even started bringing small pieces of furniture. So all I have left are the big pieces of furniture and a ton of toy bins.

Today I walked to dinner. I love that I can just walk out my front door and walk to several food places. I also found out that the red line (subway) is about a 20 minute walk for me. I plan on taking advantage of that as much as possible.

When I got back to my apartment there was a document taped to our front door with the results of our recent building inspection we had a few days ago. Lot's of little minor things like toilet leaking or closet doors off it's hinges. And I'm happy to say that my apartment didn't have any issues... and that could be because they fixed everything to rent it out and the other apartment, those tenant have been there for years.

In geeky news.. I voted for the PGA (Producer's Guild of America) Awards. The ceremony will be held in January and I can attend thought it's fairly expensive for a ticket and I'd have to rent a tux.

Speaking of PGA I got another screener which is very unusual as I rarely get screeners in January as I mentioned above we vote towards the end of December and beginning of January. But I'm happy I got this movie. .. The Wolf of Wall Street.

I'm having blog issues today. I don't know what is going on but my main website page isn't showing my posts. It might just be a cookie issue with my computer as I asked friends out there to check it out and it seems to be working just fine for all of them... I'll be keeping an eye on it.

Now for an update on the Erik and Kenny "get to know you" adventure. We continue to text on and off all day long. But we did upgrade our phone conversations to a video skype call. We get to see each other now as we chat. It was a blast, we talked for about and hour and a half. Such a different experience video chatting compared to just audio chatting. Hopefully we can continue our video skype chats.

Moving In - Day 6, TWC, IKEA & Meatballs

I got up around 8ish this morning and jumped in the shower only to find out that there was no hot water. I guess I have to take my showers earlier if I want to enjoy the hot water. So needless to say it was a very cool and quick shower.

I headed over to the NoHo Diner. I really like their breakfast and today felt like a big full breakfast kind of day.

I did my first run at 10am and got back to my place around 11am. I didn't unload anything as I wanted to take a break.. I was particularly tired today. I was talking to my buddy Doug and he mentioned that if I ordered the cable and internet that it might already be active (the internet). So I figured I'd hook up everything and see what the deal was. Needless to say that I didn't expect to be dealing with this for the next seven hours.

I'm not going to give you a blow by blow detail account of the seven hours as I really don't want to have to relive it again. I'll just give you the highlights.

So I called to see if I could get my internet activated and give them the details of my new cable modem but they couldn't find my order that I submitted two days ago, even though I had gotten a conformation email. After a few hours and talking to four different people no one could really explain what happen to my order so I had to re-order the cable and internet again, and of course it was slightly more money then my original deal. This time instead of having a tech person come to me I was going to go do a local TWC center and pick up everything that I needed.

So I headed over and it was packed and I was there for about an hour. I got all the equipment that was required and headed back to my place. I hooked it all up as directed and still nothing. 3 more TWC people and several hours later still nothing until the final person said.. oh your service has been cut from the building (though several of the other people said that it was still active). She said a tech person will be out within 48 hours... so know I have to wait once again.

I was so drained after dealing with these people but I still had a car full of stuff that needed to be brought up so I once again unloaded the car (for the final time).

It's now about 8pm and I headed to IKEA to pick up the pieces for my pantry. I got the first piece but when I went to the second piece it wasn't what I thought it was.. it was actually attached to the top piece (I had thought they were two pieces). So I had to go with plan B and get two of the same bottom piece and one I would get a set of doors for and the other I would get folding boxes for to use as drawers.

While at IKEA I grabbed dinner and for the first time had their famous Swedish meatballs, which included some mash potatoes. I have to admit those were pretty amazing. I can't believe I've been coming to IKEA for years and had never tried them. I can see me going to IKEA just for dinner now.

Once home I was to tired to bring the boxes/pantry stuff up so I left it down in the car and came up to the apartment to relax.

Update on the Erik and Kenny adventure.. we continued to text during the day and once again chatted on the phone in the evening. We've talked everyday since we "officially" met four days ago. We continue to get to know each other better and our friendship continue to grow. He makes me smile.

Moving In - Day 5 & IKEA

So I was up super early today and started day five of traveling from storage to my new apartment. I'm tired of moving, I don't know why I thought it would be more leisurely if I moved over a week instead of a day or two. I won't make that mistake again.

But on this fifth day I can actually say that I'm making a dent in my storage rentals. Both of them are looking more and more sparse.. which is good.

I only managed to do two runs today before calling it quits for the day. Some days I can get three in but some days I can only manage two, like today.

After the move I went to IKEA to look for some sort of pantry. My kitchen is extremely small and have very little cabinet space. I barely fit all my kitchen stuff in to them but that left absolutely no place to put food. I walked around IKEA for about an hour and they didn't have quite what I wanted but I think I could combine two different items and make them work. I didn't purchase anything today but I have a good idea of what I want.

Day three of no internet... I'm getting the shakes. No blogging, no podcasting.. nothing. I'm kind of joking about getting the shakes but it's tough not having any TV or internet. I've been watching Frozen over and over again as I have it on in the background while I unpack things. But this no TV/Internet is killing me.

The Erik and Kenny adventure continues to move forward. We text on and off all day long. We also talked once again on the phone for a couple of hours during the evening. It still amazes me how much we are alike. I'm enjoying his company very much.

Moving In - Day 4, Tivo, Frozen & Siri

Today I got up and was excited as I was going to get some help today with moving. My buddy Brett was going to come over and help and then crash at my place tonight and help again tomorrow. Unforutnatly my luck with helpers is not good. And he too, like Jen yesterday was sick and had to cancel.. hopefully he'll feel better tomorrow.

So I am going solo once again. I did three trips back and fourth moving more of my stuff from storage to my new apartment. After the third run I was exhausted and called it a night.

I did take a break while moving and had brunch with my buddy Doug at this breakfast place that he has been telling me about for as long as I have known him. It was actually some very tasty breakfast. Afterwards we went to Best Buy as I needed to buy a Tivo and cable modem and Doug is really good at the techy stuff. I spent a few hundred dollars but I got the stuff I needed. Now I just need to set up my cable and internet but from all the horror stories I have heard about Time Warner Cable (and I have also experienced them in the past), I was not hopeful that this was going to be a piece of cake.

Later in the evening I headed down the block to Jen's to use her computer so I could sign up for cable and internet. Jen was still sick so I didn't stay long but I did order my stuff and a TWC tech person is going to come out on either Friday or Saturday.. so I will have to wait a week before I can get either of these things :(

So this is day two of no internet. I'm thankful for my phone but it's still not the same as my computer. I miss my internet.

On the Geeky side of things.. while out with Doug he told me about how if you ask Siri about "Her" she'll actually have four or five different responses. So if you have a iPhone, ask Siri if she is Her and see what she says... then ask again and see if  you get a different response... it's pretty awesome.

And Frozen is the number one movie in North America once again. It's extremely rare for a movie to be number one and then drop down the list and then regain the number one spot again. Honestly I'm not surprised as Frozen is really the only family friendly movie out there and it's pretty AMAZING on top of that!!! I've watched it over and over and over again.. but I still want to go see it on the big screen.. at least once.

As for the Erik and Kenny adventure, we are continuing our daily texting. We text throughout the day and tonight we chatted on the phone for over 3 hours... good times.

Moving In - Day 3

Got up early, had a much better sleep since I now have my air mattress once again. I am helping my friend Tamar move today but I wanted to try and get at least one trip in before then. So I headed up to storage (btw it's in Santa Claria, so it's a 30 minute drive). I loaded up everything and made my way back to my apartment. It took me a bit longer then I had planned to unload the stuff but I was only about 15 minutes late to Tamar's place. Robert and Tamar had already taken a load over to his new place so I met up with them there. I helped unload and we did a few more trips before Tamar was done with his move.

Afterwards Tamar took us out for lunch as a thank you. We grabbed Smashburger. I've only had Smashburger once when I was on a layover in Utah, but it's a very good burger place. I said my goodbyes and headed straight up to storage and loaded up more boxes.

When I got back home I gave my friend Jen a call as she mentioned that she might be able to help me unload (which really is the worst part of the move). She came over and we started to unload. Oh I should mention that Jen wasn't feeling that great earlier in the day but said she was doing better. Well after about five runs up and down the stairs she turned white and next thing I knew she was adding the inside content of her stomach to one of the recycle bins down in the garage. Needless to say she went home to crash. It took me about an hour to to finish and was spent.

I went over to 7-11 and picked up a pizza.. yes 7-11 now sells full size pizzas. I watched Frozen on my computer and ate pizza on the floor of my office before calling it a night.

The Erik and Kenny "getting to know each other adventure" continues...  Eric and I texted all day long. Just little things from time to time. We also went from texting to talking on the phone. We chatted for 2 1/2 hours straight... it was pretty amazing.

Also this is day one of no internet or TV.. so far so good... will see how long that lasts :)

An Unexpected Surprise

When I got to Jen and Will's I had gotten a direct message on twitter from a follower of mine asking if it was cool if he friended me on Facebook. He started following me a few months back and we chatted here and there so I started following him back. I checked out his profile on twitter and thought to myself he's cute and has these beautiful blue eyes.

I responded to his request with "of course.. if we were local friends we'd be hanging out all the time" as he's a geek just like me. So as soon as he friended me I accepted and we started chatting via twitter DM. I checked out his profile on Facebook and noticed a few things that lead me to believe that he was gay. I had no idea before this time as he never really mentions much in his twitter feed.

About an hour into our conversation and three mistaken tweets I gave him my phone number and he gave me his and we started texting. We texted back and forth the entire D&D run and when I went home at 11pm we continued to text until around 12:30am. We texted for a total of 7 1/2 hours... it was pretty awesome.

His name is Erik and he lives in Portland Oregon. I don't know where this is going, as of right now we are getting to know each other better and from the sound of it we are very much alike in our geekiness. All I know is that he makes me happy and I look forward to seeing where this adventure takes us.

Lunch with a Friend & D&D&D

Got up early today.. have to drive back to my brothers and finish getting the rest of my stuff. No moving today. Once I packed up the car I headed to LA to meet up with a buddy of mine who was visiting from Chicago. He's a Neurologist looking for residency and was applying to places here in LA.

We meet on the set of The Guild's Game On music video and became fast friends and that friendship has grown because of Facebook. We hadn't actually seen each other in almost four years.

So I picked him up and we headed to The Grove for lunch. He wanted to try out this fancy burger place called Umami Burgers. I had never had them before but they were very good. Some of the best beef I have eaten in a hamburger.

After lunch we wandered around The Grove, walked through stores, talking about our lives and I learned alot about the medical system. It was great spending some time with him. I don't know when I'll see him again as he's residency will be starting in July and the next four years of his life will be nothing but that. Thanks Andrew for taking some time out of your busy schedule to hang out with me. Good luck with your residency and I can't wait to hang out again when you're back in town.

Once I dropped off Andrew I headed home just for a few minutes before walking over to Will and Jen's for this years first D&D game. We are starting a new campaign and this one is a bit different because we are drinking as well. We even added a drinking game so when certain characters do certain things we all drink.

There was a lot of exposition in the first few hours and not a lot of action going on.. and also not a lot of drinking. But man as soon as we started to fight the chaos began. I was extremely tipsy as were many fellow players. Towards the end of the night it was crazy. Dallas our DM had quite a bit to drink and everyone was becoming louder and louder. Finally at 11pm I called it a night thought they played on for another few hours.

Moving In - Day 2

Got up early and packed up everything at my brother's house. I was borrowing my sister-in-laws Ford Flex as it's about three times bigger then my little Fiesta so I figured I'd be able to make fewer trips. I left my computer and bed at my brothers as I intended to go back for one last night.

I put a call out to my friends for help and like before my buddy Doug volunteered to give me a hand. So I picked him up and we were off to my storage. We loaded up the Flex with nothing but boxes. We filled every corner of that car. We got back to my place and my landlord was in my apartment fixing my toilets (I guess they were leaking).

So Doug and I went up and down and up and down those stairs many many times. We headed back for another load. Once we were done bringing that load in I thought we were both going to keel over. We were exhausted. I knew then this wasn't going to be an easy move.

Doug was done, he couldn't continue but after an hour break I went back solo for one more load and by the end I was wiped. I don't recall being that tired in a long time.

Doug texted me later that day and said that his step counter that he had on him while we moved said that he did 24 flights of stairs.. and since I did one more trip,  I'm thinking I climbed about 36 flights of stairs today.

For the evening I got to hang out with my buddy Will. We walked to Pitfire Grill to grab some dinner. Afterwards we went back to his place were he offered me a beer. In the past I have declined as I will never drink and drive.. not even just a sip. But then it him me.. I can drink all I want as I only live a block away and can stumble home if needed. So we enjoyed a beer while playing Injustice.

Afterwards Will loaned me a pad and sleeping bag as I decided that I was not going to drive back to my brothers tonight and instead just go tomorrow and picked up my computer and air mattress. I wish I would have just brought everything this morning like I planned but oh well..

I crashed on the floor of my master bedroom with nothing but a thin pad, some pillows and a sleeping bag.. a perfect 1st night in my new apartment :)

Happy Birthday Mr. Tolkien

I want to acknowledge J.R.R. Tolkien's Birthday today. He was born 122 years ago on January 3rd 1892 and would go on to create one of the most amazing fantasy worlds I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. I read the Hobbit with I was in school and instantly fell in love with Middle Earth. I saw the cartoons when I was younger and even attempted to read Lord of the Rings.

Not until the movies did my love expand, not only did I love what Peter Jackson did with the story but I also got the audio books for The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion and have listened to them to many times to count. I am now exploring other parts of Middle Earth with the Histories of Middle Earth, Unfinished Tales and anything else I can get my hands on. 

My love of science fiction came from Star Wars but my love of fantasy came from this man, who wrote about this little people called Hobbits, who live in hole in the ground.

Thank you Mr Tolkien for ever changing my life with your masterful works. Happy Birthday Professor.

"Get Fit" Week 22

I knew this wasn't going to be a good week. Being at my brothers and in the middle of looking for an apartment and such I haven't eaten that great or worked out at all. And the scale doesn't lie. If you remember I was at 196.5 lbs.. been that weight for quite a few weeks but today I jumped on the scale and was up to 198, yeah I gained a pound and a half.

It wasn't a shock and I can't really get upset as my life has kind of been topsy tuvy for some time. I'm hoping once I'm all moved in and can get back into my routine I can start losing weight again. I mean I have a park right across the street from me.. no excuses this time.

Moving In - Day 1

Well not really a full move in day but I got started...

After signing the lease I headed to my storage unit and made my first of what I'm sure will be many trips from storage to my new apartment. My little Fiesta is alot bigger on the inside and I managed to bring in a bunch of stuff on my first trip.

After the one load I headed back to my brothers for the night. Tomorrow the real moving begins

Signing the Lease & Moving In

So I signed my one year lease for my new apartment today. Got up early and headed to Bank of America to get a cashier's check and then drove to my new apartment. I got there a bit early so I walked around and tried to figure out where I would park a moving truck. The manager soon arrived and five minutes later I had signed the lease, gave him the check and he showed me my mail box and my two parking spaces (tandem). The manager was actually funny. He's an older gentleman but he said if I have any problems and they are emergencies he'll take care of them right away but if they are not emergencies then he'll probably procrastinate on getting it done... at least he's honest.

He left the place and I walked around and took photos as well as a video that I posted on Facebook but you can watch here.

I then went up to my storage unit which is about 25 miles away and loaded up my little Ford Fiesta as much as I could and took the a load back to my place. I'm extremely happy that my apartment is on the second floor in the back of the building but that doesn't bode well for moving things in. That one "light" load of stuff I moved almost killed me. My apartment  might be on the second floor but it's actually the third as the parking is under the apartment and really the first floor... so lots of stairs.

Moving stuff into this place is going to be rough but I have decided to just take my time. Yes I want everything done sooner then later but I have my storage units paid until February 10th so there really is no rush to get everything out.

Can't wait until it's done and everything is unpacked and up. I'll post another video when my place is all set up and looking great.

Got The Apartment and Rose Bowl Party

So I was going to do a year end review for 2013 but it hasn't been the best of year for me. I'd rather just put all that behind me and start fresh and new for 2014.

And what a great way to start 2014... While I was blogging this morning I got a call from the manager of the apartment that I looked at yesterday and he had fantastic news.. my credit check, checked out and I got the apartment... woohoo. I was going to sign the lease today, but like last time I am still out of checks and my storage place is closed today so I can't get to my other checks. And like last time I was going to get a cashiers check but the banks are closed as well today. So we made an appointment tomorrow at noon to sign the lease and officially get my new apartment.

You can read more details about the place in my previous blog post HERE

Today I headed over to my friend Adam and Katie's place. They were having a Rose Bowl football party. Now I'm a fan of football but I've never liked collage ball, but I was going more to see and hang with a bunch of friends.

Adam is a Stanford alum so his place was decked out in Stanford stuff... they even had this great shrine devoted to Stanford and the Rose Bowl.

I got to meet a few new people, which is always fun as well as hanging with some of my best buddies. The game was fun to watch with a group of people, as well as Adam who was on the edge of his seat most of the time. Unfortunately Stanford lost but it was a really good and close game.

I got to enjoy some home made pretzels from my friend Andrew as well as some tasty bacon bowls (which are bowls literally made out of bacon).

Got back to my brothers in the evening and hung out before calling it night.. tomorrow I go and sign my lease to my new apartment.. can't wait.

New Year's Eve

After checking out the apartment my friend Jes texted me and asked if I wanted to have lunch and hang out. I went over to her place and we walked to a place called EAT. I had never been there before but it was a nice place. She then took me to the local comic book store (which will be my comic book store if I get this apartment). The place was nice and the store owner seemed to be cool. Afterwards we went back to her place and we talked about Frozen and watched the scene were Elsa sings Let it Go. We watched it a few times :) This got me thinking about the sound track so I went online to itunes and saw that it was on sale for only $6.99.. I had to buy it.

I said goodbye to Jes around 3:30pm and headed over to Roberts to celebrate New Year's Eve. I got to his place around 4pm to find that Tamar already arrived. The three of us planned to watch some movies, play some games and bring in the New Year together.

We sat around chatting for a bit before we decided to go grab a bit to eat at the local Taco Bell.

Once we got back we were going to watch one of my screeners and of course it was Frozen. This would be my third time watching it, Tamar's second and the main reason we were watching it, it was Robert's first time. Robert loved it as I knew he would, our taste in movies are pretty similar.

After the movie we played a new board game that I had gotten Robert for Christmas "Ticket to Ride". If you haven't played this game it's a ton of fun. This was Robert and Tamar's first time playing it.

We were all a bit peckish so we walked to a local Yum Yum Donuts for a snack. When we got back to Roberts place we jumped onto a Google Hangout with a bunch of friends. We chatted until about 11:45pm before getting offline and turning on the TV to watch the ball drop. We counted down from 10, said Happy New Years and then called it a night. Tamar headed home and I crashed at Robert's.

It was a pretty awesome way to end 2013. Saw an apartment that I love and hopefully will get, got to spend some time with some amazing friends and had a nice simply New Years Eve celebration.. just what I was hoping for.

Possible Apartment

Had an appointment to see an apartment today at noon. This one looks perfect on paper but will see what it actually looks like inside.

I left my house at 10:45am and managed to get to the apartment at 11:57am. When I got to the front door the manager was there, greeted me and took me up to the apartment. First plus is that it is an upper unit and it's also in the back of the building. It's a small complex, there are only 7 units. What's great about the apartment is that there is only one joined wall and it's in the guest bedroom. Of course there is someone below me but that's it.. it's very secluded in the corner of the building.

I walked in and noticed that the living/dining room was fairly large and there was a fireplace as well. The kitchen was small but usable. The appliances are old but as long as they work I don't really care what they look like. There is a dishwasher, which is also a plus.

Both bedrooms were very large. The master bedroom has an en suite bathroom and a walk in closet. The guest bedroom is also just as large as the master with a wall closet that runs the width of the room. The second bathroom is just outside the guest bedroom and is in good shape.

It has central air, lots of light and is across the street from a park. So many pluses and honestly there were no negative. I mean it has carpet and I would have preferred hardwood or faux wood but I understand why it's carpet as it's reduces sound for the downstairs neighbor. And it's a bit of an older place.. but again it looks good.

I mentioned that the price is $1495 and the manager said.. well it's actually $1550 but since you saw the ad at the lower price the owners are going to honor that price... woohoo.

Oh and this place as two parking spaces for this apartment and they are included in the rental price :)

I had seen enough.. I wanted it. I started to fill out an application when another couple came in. They looked around and asked questions that I never thought to ask. After they were done they asked if there was another apartment in this building available since there seemed to be someone filling out an app (me). He said no but she jokenly said.. well I'll take an app just in case things don't work out. I looked up from the app and said.. yeah that's not gonna happen. Everyone laughed and they left the apartment. I finished the app, paid the $30 for the credit check and said I would be able to move in tomorrow (Jan 1st). He said he would expedite the application and let me know as soon as possible.. so now I wait.

I don't want to get my hopes up but I really want this place.. it's in the neighborhood that I want and it's better then the first place that I got a few weeks ago

Uncle Handy, Josh, Ringers & Frozen Again

Today I got up and noticed that CVS twitter account was following me. They also tweeted me that "@Geekyfanboy We take these matters seriously. Please DM us your contact information so that the customer relations team can get in touch." So I DM'd them my email address.. will see what happens next.

This morning I went back into super handy uncle mood and built Kenobi his glider and Molly her tricycle. Both were no where near as hard as the trampoline but it's fun seeing their faces when they woke up and saw their new "toys".

Didn't do any apartment searching today.. instead decided to take a break and head out to Rancho to hang out with my buddy Josh.

When I got to Josh's he had a Christmas gift waiting for me. He got me a really cool Harry Potter cookbook as well as a Lord of the Rings documentary that I have wanted for a few years now called Ringers: Lord of the Fans

Of course we had to watch Ringers. Here's a quick synopsis: 'Ringers: Lord of the Fans' is a feature-length documentary that explores how "The Lord of the Rings" has influenced Western popular culture over the past 50 years.

I enjoyed this immensely but then again I knew I would. This documentary was made for fans just like me. I thought it was informative and it even taught me a few things I didn't know about Tolkien and the films.

Afterwards Josh showed me all the various Tolkien book he had. Lots of versions of Lord of the Rings and few none Middle Earth books from Tolkien... awesome stuff.

We then headed out to lunch and went to Islands to enjoy some burgers and cheddar fries.

When we got back Josh, Justin (Josh's brother) and I chatted for a bit and then Josh and I watched my screener of Frozen. This is my second time and Josh's second time as well which surprised me as he knew every word to the songs. And I have to admit something... I commented in my blog that I didn't think the music was as memorable as Tangled.. how wrong I was.  I don't know what I was thinking with my first viewing. This time around I found the music so moving, enchanting and very catchy. Once again I was drawn to my animated boyfriend Krisoff. I can watch this movie over and over and never get bored.

After the movie we went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant before calling it a night and I headed back to my brother's place. Thanks for a great day Josh.

CVS Scare, Apartment Hunt & Lunch with a Friend

Woke up at my friend Robert's place today. I crashed here last night as I'm continuing my apartment search and he's lives a bit closer to North Hollywood then my brother.

So I got up and Robert had made some tasty breakfast. Afterwards we played some Injustice for a few hours before I had to head out.

Before I started the apartment search I had to deal with an issue with CVS. A few weeks ago I got a prescription filled and a few days ago I went to take a pill and noticed that the pills looked different. This isn't unusual as the pharmacy has changed manufacturers in the past but when they had they would tell me, it would also be written on the prescription slip and the description on the pill bottle would reflect that. Well none of that was true in this case. The description was what my old pills looked like so I didn't take any of them and had to return to the CVS that filled the prescription, so that meant driving back up to Santa Clarita.

I got to CVS and took the pills in and explained that I wanted to double check before taking them. The assistant took them over to the pharmacist and she looked at the pills, looked at the bottle, looked at the pills and then proceeded to go to every assistant in the office. She then went over to the counter and poured out the pills and replaced them with other pills. She walked over to me and in a kind of panic asked if I had taken any of the pills. I assured her that I did not. I looked at the pills and they were the previous pills I had taken. I asked if the other ones were wrong and she mumbled something and handed me the bottle and sent me on my way. No explanation of what they were, if they were harmful to me or an apology for the potentially deadly mistake.

I was surprised by the abruptness and tweeted about the experience using the official CVS twitter account.. let's see if that get's their attention

Afterwards and since I was out in the area I went to my storage unit to drop off a few Christmas presents and to make sure all was well.

I then drove south back to North Hollywood and once again drove around looking for apartments. There was one that I called and left a message with yesterday but the person never called me back so I called once again and this time the person picked up and I found out that this person is out of town for the holidays and will be back on Tuesday so I made an appointment to see the apartment on Tuesday at noon.

It was now lunch time so I texted my buddy Greg to see if he wanted to get lunch. Surprising he responded within a few minutes and was up for lunch. I haven't seen Greg since SDCC as he's an extremely busy guy. Greg is the guy who made my Hobbit feet (if you didn't know). He is also designing my next Tattoo (Star Trek themed).

So I stopped by his place and picked him up, we went to a local Mexican restaurant that he wanted to try. It actually turned out to be very tasty. We hung out and chatted for almost two hours. Because we don't hang out as often as I would like I do cherish the time we do get to spend together.

After I dropped off Greg I drove around a few more neighborhoods but didn't find anything that looked like it would work for me. I'm hoping the apartment I'm looking at on Tuesday works out as it sound perfect on paper.

Went back to my brothers and blogged a bit. I also went to Amazon.com and purchased 14 movies that were on my wishlist. Previously in the day when I was at CVS I cashed in my loose change from the past year.. I wound up with about $180 dollars and I opted to put that into an Amazon gift card. So it was fun getting all these movies that I have wanted and in a way it didn't cost me anything since this was all loose change I had.. at least that's how I will justify it. :)

More Babylon 5 Goodness

So we continued our B5 first time viewing between games of Injustice. First up was S3 Ep 11 "Ceremonies of Light and Dark" After severing ties with Earth, the command staff must deal with some unexpected issues. Delenn suggests they go through a Minbari rebirth ceremony. Secrets are revealed, and hidden dangers are revealed as a group loyal to Clark takes Delenn hostage.

After the last episode things have gone upside down on B5. I like that Nightwatch has been rounded up and kicked off the station. Of course there are still a few lingering around and that is what this story is about. We also find out that there are still spies among the B5 staff.. that I'm sure will be played out in future episodes. I liked all of the crew confessions. Some were obvious but some took me by surprise. I like the new uniforms that Delenn made of the main crew. And the fact that Delenn sacrificed herself to save Sheridan, of course she didn't die but still that is going to play a major role in Sheridan's and Delenn's budding relationship.

Then came S3 Ep 12 "Sic Transit Vic" Vir returns to Babylon 5, and meets his fiancée'. As he and his bride to be get to know each other, a Narn attacks, and takes a blood oath to kill them. The command staff must figure out why someone would want to kill Vir.

This episode was all about Vir and that made it awesome. I've always liked Vir, I found him to be Londo's conscious. When they made him the Centari representative to Mimbar I figured they were scaling down his role so it was nice to see an entire episode about him. I also liked the b-story of Sheridan and Delenn finally going on an official date and Sheridan confessing his feelings for her.

Back to Vir I loved his reaction to having a "wife", and when he finally comes to grip that this could be a good thing, you find out how vial she is to Narn's. Of course you can't really blame her as she was raised this way and doesn't know any better. But with what Vir was doing (a kind of underground railroad for Narn citizens) I'm sure things are going to get heated between those two. I also did not like that we didn't see the conclusion of the scene with the unconscious Narn, did Vir kill him??  That really bothered me.

Third up was S3 Ep 13 "A Late Delivery From Avalon" An impressive man in medieval armor arrives on the station, claiming to be King Arthur. Is he the genuine hero, sent by the Vorlons? If not, who is he and what are his secrets?

This was an interesting episode. I figured that they guy was not the "real" King Arthur but to find out that he was the gunner who essentially started the Earth/Mimbari War...wow. I liked his friendship with G'Kar. It was fun to see G'Kar's adventurous side. Overall a entertaining episode.

We then watched S3 Ep 14 "Ship of Tears" Bester arrives in a starfury. He wants their help in tracking down weapons, which turns out to be telepaths captured by the Shadows. They discover why the Shadows wanted telepaths for their war.

We have the return of Bester, they have really done some character development with him. I started out hating him and after a few episodes featuring him I'm starting to warm up to him. I'm not saying I would trust him but I like that he is not a black and white character and that he actually has a heart. We find out why the Narn's telepaths were wiped out. We also find out that telepaths are a threat to the Shadow.. I'm sure this will be played out in future episodes.

And finally our last episode of the evening was S3 Ep 15 "Interludes and Examinations" Garibaldi tries to get Franklin to face up to his stim usage. Londo waits anxiously for Adira to return. Morden returns first, and manipulates the situation to his advantage. The alliance asks Sheridan to prove he has forces equal to the Shadows before they will commit. Sheridan calls on Kosh for assistance, but Kosh is resistant at first, Kosh finally agrees to help Sheridan, and later pays the price for his involvement.

Wow what an episode to end on. The stuff with Garibaldi and Franklin was great. Not sure what's going to happen to Franklin, is he gone from B5 or will he seek help and return. I actually felt bad for Londo that Morden killed his love Adira, but then again it's karma.. Londo doesn't deserve to be happy and it was unfortunate for Adira to be caught in the middle of that mess.

The big shocker was the death of Kosh. I enjoyed the confrontation between Sheridan and Kosh and then Kosh coming to Sheridan in a dream to tell him he was wrong and say goodbye... so heart breaking.

This series continues to impress and entertain. I can't wait to continue our adventure through Babylon 5.