Celebrating My New Job with Friends

Tonight a bunch of my friends got together to celebrate my new job. Yes it's such a rare occasion that I find a job (especially the past few years) so we like to celebrate it when it happens.

We gathered at our local "get together" spot Pitfire Pizza. This was a last minute thing but surprisingly we had a pretty good turn out. Which of course made me feel good. We had people coming in from San Diego and Irvine. We also had friends in from Denver. It was a good night until the rain came. Because Pitfire screwed up we didn't get reserved seating inside (as planned) so we were outside. Luckily the majority of us were done eating but Pitfire was great and moved our tables under the awning.

After Pitfire the majority of us went to Republic of Pies. That place was packed so we opted to get some pie and sit outside at some very wet tables. Luckily they had large umbrellas to prevent us from getting wet. We hung outside for about a half hour before folks started to part ways.

Since the Kuhns came from Irvine Dallas and I decided that we would hang out a bit longer with them. We found a couch inside that was empty so we quickly jumped on it. We spent the next few hours chatting it up. It was nice chatting with the Kuhns'. I don't get to hang out with Matt and Melissa to often so I appreciate every opportunity I get to getting to know them better. 

It was a fun night of food and friends. I want to thank Dallas for organizing this event as well as Jes, Andrew, Aaron, Doug, Kevin, Matt, Melissa, Tamar, Elie and Robert for showing up and celebrating with me.

Weigh in - 2/21 & 2/28

Somehow I skipped my weigh in last Saturday 2/21, but to recap I weighed in at 194.5. So I'm down a half a pound from my previous week. This morning I weigh myself and I am still 194.5, I have seemed to to hit a plateau. It could be a number of things.. I haven't been eating great so I'm managing to do just enough workout to keep the weight off but not enough to get rid of any additional weight. Or I'm losing weight but building muscle which of course weighs more. I know from looser fitting cloths that I'm losing the weight, maybe not as much as I would if I ate better but I am losing. So with that being said this will be my last weigh in. My buddy Andrew challenged me to not weigh myself for the month of March. He think I live to much by the scale.. and he's right. I judge my victories and failures by the scale numbers and not by the image I'm seeing in the mirror. So I have agreed and I will not weigh myself or post about my weight for the entire month of March.

But I'd like to point out that my goal for February was to get below 195 and since I'm at 194.5 I achieved my goal... woohoo!!!! Now for my March goal I'd like to lose that four and a half pounds and that would bring me to 190 lbs.  I know the scale isn't a measure of success but I'm still 30 lbs over weight so I can lose weight while gaining muscle.

Game Night at NerdStrong

Working out isn't he only thing we do at NerdStrong Gym. There are plenty of other geeky/nerdy events like movie nights, seminars, and game nights. Tonight I went to my first NerdStrong Gym game night.

It was a great turn out, we had about 16 people playing various games on three different tables. I got to meet a few new fellow gym members who I had not met yet and also friends of said members. There were snacks and even pizza. I played a few games that I had played before and played one that was new to me.

Our table of six people pretty much stayed together the entire time. We first started with a card game called Coup. I had never heard of it but here's a bit about it. Driven by their successes, the Resistance has gained popular support and entire regions are in open rebellion. In a desperate attempt to stay in control, some government leaders are publicly supporting the reforms demanded by the resistance. But allegiances are constantly shifting, and can be bought for the right price. The opportunity for intrigue and bluff has never been greater. The cost of failure couldn't be higher. Even with the reformation, only one can survive.

As mentioned in the description there is alot of bluffing going on with this game. It was easy to learn and after a few rounds you get the hang of bluffing and calling someones bluff. We played three rounds as some of the rounds lasted just a few minutes while others look a little longer. I didn't win any of the rounds. Guess I'm not much of a bluffer :)

The second game we played for the night was Cash and Guns, In an abandoned warehouse, a band of gangsters is splitting their latest haul, but they can't come to an agreement on the split. It's time to let the guns do the talking, and soon everyone is aiming at everyone. All you have to do is stay alive and have the most money at the end of the game.

I played this before and loved it so I was excited to play it again. There is something about holding a foam gun at one of your fellow players. I actually won this game and had the most money at the end.

The last game we played was the card game "We Didn't Playtest This at All". I have played this game before and it's always a fun game. We played many rounds of this as some games lasted all of a second. I don't think I won any of these games. Overall it was a great night of friends, food and fun. Hopefully they'll make this a twice monthly things instead of once a month. It was alot of fun and what is even better is that you don't have to be a member of NerdStrong to join in the fun.

False Alarm, Goodbye Mr Spock & SDCC Badges

It was a rough start to my day today, if you follow my blog you know I have been concerned about my kidneys. Three days ago I got a call from a nurse informing me that my doctor wants to discuss the issue. This was a huge red flag for me as I scheduled an appointment for April and she said she would call me earlier if there was a problem. So when I got the call I assumed they had bad news about my kidneys. So this morning I went to my doctors, checked in and waited for about 20 minutes before the nurse brought me in. They checked my vitals which I'm happy to say are very good. Then my doctor came in and the first thing she did was apologize. Come to find out that it wasn't my doctor who requested this meeting it was her boss (the lead doctor). He had seen my results and saw that my creatinine, serum was high. Creatinine, serum is a waste product that is produced by the metabolism of muscles. Creatinine is produced from creatine, a molecule that promotes energy production in muscles and is filtered from the blood by the kidneys. 

So when the doctor saw this he was concerned and figured I'd have to come in to talk about it, but what he didn't know was that I already discussed this with my primary doctor. We are aware of this situation and monitoring it. The high levels in my blood is not ideal, but with the amount of muscle I have my doctor told me that my current levels don't worry her. They didn't find any of the protein in my urine (which is excellent). So will continue to monitor and watch my levels. Thou this visit was a unnecessary, I did get a bit more info about the issue. 

While at the doctors my phone went off and I saw the terrible news about Leonard Nimoy, my heart sank.  I had heard that he wasn't doing well and went to the hospital a few days prior and I remember thinking to myself.. oh man if he passes away that's going to be tough. I watched social media as the news spread and witnessed the all the love and support this man was given. We have celebrities die all the time, it's part of life but I haven't seen this kind of outpouring of love and support since Robin Williams died last year. Leonard Nimoy wasn't only an icon on TV but a film director, poet, singer, and photographer. I had never had the pleasure of meeting this man at any conventions but what I have read and heard about him is that he was an outstanding human being. He loved his fans and embraced his alter-ego persona Mr. Spock.  He was a class act and will be deeply missed.

This unnecessary doctors visit also prevented me from participating in the "Pro" badge sale for San Diego Comic Con.  I needed to get a badge for my brother so I asked my sister-in-law Lora if she could sign in for me and try to get Michael a badge since she was off work today. I talked to her several times while at the doctors explaining what had to be done. Unfortunately she never got out of the waiting room. Luckily I put a request out there to my friend Lydia who is also a professional and asked if she wasn't using her "guest" pass if I could get it for my brother and she was sweet enough to agree and she actually got a complementary guest pass (which were gone in 10 minutes). So my brother was covered and when I got into work I tried to sign in and get my pass but because I had purchased a Thursday/Sunday badge (for my brother, just in case) during open regsistation and because of that it locked me out of the system and won't allow me to get my badge. 

I have several emails that said we could try to get a guest badge during open registration and still get our badge when pro registration opened.. well that didn't work. So now I have no Comic Con badge, I have an email out to SDCC Pro and hopefully we can resolve this quickly. I'll keep you all posted.

After all the crazy in the morning the rest of my day at work was fine and my night was full of board games and fun.

NerdStrong Gym - Presses, Burpees & Jumps Oh My!!!

This morning when I was getting ready for work I pulled out a pair of jeans from my pile of jeans and slipped them on. They looked newer then the rest and then I realized that I had just put on a pair of jeans that I haven't wore in a few years because I couldn't button them. It was a pretty amazing feeling knowing that all my hard work (jogging/Nerdstrong gym) is paying off. I mean I've lost about 25 pounds but to be honest I don't see it when I look in the mirror. I see the same me but clothes don't lie, my t-shirt are a bit baggier on me and now I'm slipping on jeans that I haven't been able to wear in a while. 

Speaking of NerdStrong Gym... tonight was my finale "evening" class. With my new job I can't guarantee that I will be able to make it to the final evening class at 7pm. So I have moved my workouts to the mornings. Since I don't go into work until 10am I plan to do the 7am class. I also added an additional class. I was working out Tuesday, Thursday and Sundays. I added Wednesday starting in March. So now I'll be going four times a week.

For today's workout we started with a pretty thorough warm up. We did Neck, Shoulders, Chest, Arms, Hips, Wrist and Triceps. We did movement prep with Squat Walkabouts.. that was tough being in a Squat position and then having to take steps forward and backwards. We also did PVC Hip Punches and Rack Delivery.

Next was the Skill part of the workout. We did Barbell Clean to Front Squats, 3 rounds at a time for about 15 minutes. We then did our timed final Workout which included Dumbbell Shoulder Presses, Burpees and Box Jumps. We had sixteen minutes to do 20 of each on of those things and then 14 of each one of those and finally 10 of each. I almost completed the task within the 16 minute time limit but I had three more Box Jumps to complete after the time ran out, but I did them anyways so I would finish the workout.

It was another tough workout but my body is getting use to it as it takes me alot less time to recover these days. I'll be sweaty and tired for about ten minutes or so and then I feel great again. I'm also not waking up as sore as I did in the beginning.

If you can't tell I'm loving NerdStrong Gym, it's the best gift my friends could have given to me.

Agent Carter - Thoughts on Season One

Tonight I watched the season finale of Agent Carter S1 Ep 8 "Valediction" The S.S.R. discovers the gas cylinder in the cinema and realize that Ivchenko possibly plans to turn all of New York on itself. Stark returns and explains that he had developed the gas, named Midnight Oil, to give American soldiers extra stamina during war, but it caused psychosis and lead to them killing each other. During World War II, the American military stole Midnight Oil and used it on the Soviets at Finow. Stark believes that Ivchenko – real name Johann Fennhoff – blames Stark for the ensuing massacre, and allows the S.S.R. to use him as bait to draw Leviathan out. This plan goes awry when Underwood distracts the agents while Fennhoff kidnaps Stark, and uses hypnosis to convince him to drop the gas on Times Square. At Stark’s secret plane hangar, Sousa apprehends Fennhoff while Carter defeats Underwood (who escapes) and convinces Stark not to drop the gas on the city. Carter later dumps Rogers' blood in the East River, finally moving on with her life, while Fennhoff is imprisoned with the scheming Arnim Zola.

First I want to talk about how much I really enjoyed this final episode. In the back of my mind I knew Stark wasn't going to die but man I really did think Jarvis was going to shoot him down. And It was heart breaking watching Peggy go through this all over again, this is in reference to the scene with her talking to Stark over the radio as it felt very similar to her talk to Steve before he "died".  I liked the end scene with Peggy and Sousa, he finally gets the nerve to ask her out but she declines with a smile (like telling him to not give up on her). I wish there was more scenes with Jarvis and Peggy as I love those to together but what did get was pretty awesome. I also like Peggy and Angie moving into one of Starks homes and Angie's reaction to having a phone in every room... priceless. And the ending is heartbreaking as Peggy finally says goodbye to Steve and lets him go, literally and figuratively.

This series has become one of my all time favorites, it's only eight episodes but not a single one of them is a dud. I have all eight episodes still on my Tivo and I don't plan on getting rid of them anytime soon (or at least not until I can buy this on blu-ray).

I'm happy and bummed that this was only an eight episode season. I mean it was great because it kept the episodes moving full steam ahead. There was no time to rest from episode to episode. But it is bad in a sense that I'd love to see more of that world and it's amazing characters. The sets and costumes were fantastic, the attitudes of the men and women of the time were spot on (though hard to accept these days).

Chemistry was key for this series and the non-sexual chemistry between Peggy and Jarvis was undeniably the best part of the series (for me). I also thought the sexual chemistry between Peggy and Sousa was fantastic, you can't help but want them to get together.  The character of Peggy is so well written that you couldn't help but love her. She is strong, tough, independent, loyal, honest, hard working, loving, caring & vulnerable. All she wants in her job is to be seen as an equal, though she is far superior to all the men she works with.

I hope this isn't he end of the series, so far it was only meant to be a filler between midseason finale and the spring startup of Agents of SHIELD. And the ratings weren't stellar but I do hope they consider doing another eight episode season two in between S3 of Agents of SHIELD... so fingers crossed. If this is all we are going to get for Agent Carter then so be it, I'll just have to enjoy all eight episodes of season one over and over again.

 

New Job & New Arrow

I've been out of work since October of 2014, almost four months now so it's great to finally get back into the swing of thing. Today I start on a new five month gig that should take me through July. This job is actually a step down from what I usually do. Instead of being a Post Production Supervisor I'm going to be a Post Production Coordinator. The pay isn't as much but the stress isn't as much either.. so it's a nice trade. I'm actually working for a company in New York called Half Yard Productions but the post facilities that we are using are here in Encino at Five by Five. It's been a long while since I didn't have to take the congested freeways to get to work. It's about a 20 minute drive with no traffic and a half hour with.. so it's not bad.

The Five by Five Offices are pretty EPIC. This company produces King of the Nerds so there are a few items from previous seasons around the office. It's like Nerdvana around here. Everywhere you look it's decorated in geeky and nerd fashion.  I'm coming into this gig as the new guy. All of the post people have worked together on previous shows.  It's only been a day but they seem like a nice bunch. My boss is my friend Andrew who I haven't worked with in over 10 years but we've stayed in contacted.

I can't really talk about the series I'm working on since I don't really know much about it. I can say it's a reality competition show with a interesting twist... stay tuned!!

During the evening I watched the last episode of Agent Carter and another episode of Arrow. I'm going to do a separate blog post for Agent Carter since that is the end of the season (series?) but I'm going to talk a little bit about this weeks Arrow, S3 Ep15 "Nanda Parbat" Oliver and Thea continue their training with Merlyn. Thea struggles with the secret of Sara's death, and confesses the whole truth to Laurel who tells her she isn't responsible; Thea also makes a deal to turn her father over to the League. Laurel confronts Merlyn and is easily outmatched, but they are interrupted by Nyssa and the League, and Merlyn is captured. Oliver decides to go to Nanda Parbat to rescue Merlyn to prevent Thea from losing touch with her humanity when she realizes that she has sentenced her father to death. Oliver and Diggle infiltrate Nanda Parbat, but walk into a trap set by Ra's. Instead of killing Oliver, Ra's expresses his appreciation for Oliver's courage and strength, and asks Oliver to replace him as the head of the League. Meanwhile, Thea confesses the truth to Nyssa and offers her the chance at revenge, and Ray tests the flight capabilities of his completed A.T.O.M. exo-suit. In flashbacks, Oliver is debriefed by General Matthew Shrieve. Afterward, he is promised that he can return home if he pleases. On their way home, Oliver and the Yamashiros are ambushed. Overrun, Oliver flees for safety with the Yamashiros' son.

I enjoyed a few of the story lines in tonight's episode. Felicity and Ray finally hooking up made me smile. I love both of those characters and I think they are well suited for each other. Also I was super excited to see Ray try out the A.T.O.M. exo-suit. Can't wait to see more of that. I also enjoyed the Thea confessing to Laurel and Nyssa about the death of Sara. Of course I don't think Nyssa will kill Thea but it will be interesting to see where this story goes next. And I didn't mind the flashback, though I really, really dislike Amanda. She needs to die (which I know won't happen).. but still, I hate that bitch!!!

Now for the storyline I dislike and it's pretty much the main storyline. Oliver/Merlyn and Nanada Parbat. I'm so over this storyline. I think Oliver is making horrible choices and it's frustrating to watch. I was happy to see that he finally realizes that he's an idiot. The ending was ho hum to me as since we all know that Arrow is not going to be the next head of the League. I just wish this storyline would end and soon, but I'm sure it won't be resolved until the end of the season but I can wish.

NerdStrong Gym - Sandbags & Battleropes

Today Christy and Kimi were coaching but Andrew was also there helping out. Warm up was alot of stretching and then we moved on to our skill work. Today we learned how to properly work with Sandbags. We lined up into three rows and while one person from each row would be working with a coach the rest were planking and doing sit ups while we waited.

After warm up and skill work we started the workout. It was split into two different workouts. The first was using what we had just learned from our skill session. We did 2 minutes of Sandbag Shoulders (meaning we took a heavy sandbag and heaved it onto our should and back down) and then we did a 140m Run.

The second part of the workout was Battleropes. I have seen these done and they always looked like a good workout and kind of fun. We had a choice to go with easy, medium or hard ropes. I went with the medium. We were doing 30 seconds of Double Waves, then Alternating Waves and finally Stand to Squat Alternating Waves.

These were extremely tough and exhausting. And even though we only did them for 30 seconds at a time, it feels like forever when you're in the middle of them, especially towards the end when your arms are like rubber and you have the coaches (especially Andrew) "encouraging" you on.  But I have to say though they are tough they are still fun to do and a favorite of mine now.

Car Issues, Guests & Power Rangers

When it rains it pours.. besides the potential bad news about my kidneys I'm having car issues as well. What sucks is that my car is only 2 years old, my engine malfunction, service now light is coming on and my transmission is being funky. I got the extended bumper to bumper warranty so I have to take my car to the dealer that I purchased it from.  So I called to make an appointment and of course now that I have a job it was to be on a weekend. Well they can't see me until mid March for the engine light and not until mid April for the transmission. The lady informed me that if the service light starts to blink then stop driving and bring the car in immediately. As for the transmission, she said if it gets worse or isn't drivable then I could bring it in sooner then my April appointment. Luckily everything is covered under the warranty as none of this is "normal" wear and tear for a 2 year old car.

I have house guest this week, Kevin and Doug Rusley are here in town looking for work and an apartment. I offered them my guest room to stay in while they're here. It's funny how quickly they got settled. Within minutes of being at my place they were sitting on my couch with the TV on, their laptops out and cell phones on. They are like media magnets, they are watching a movie on TV, you tube on their laptops and surfing the web on their cell phones. Anyways they will be staying with me until Sunday.

So someone released a fan made, much gritter Power Rangers short film. it's pretty fantastic. It's definitely adult as it's very bloody. But this would be a Power Rangers movie that I'd love to see. Saban (the owner of Power Rangers) has complained about the fan film and is having it pulled from the internet but of course once it's out there you will be able to find it.. so it's up again on you tube so check it out before it's removed.. and if it is I strongly suggest you search for it so you can watch it.

Kidney Concerns

While checking out my previous blood tests the doctor and I noticed that my kidneys weren't working properly. They aren't getting all the toxins out of my blood like they are suppose to. So they took some blood and urine to do more tests.. I had planned to go back in a month to discuss the results but this morning I got a phone call from my doctors office. The nurse informed me that they got my test result back and there were some concerns, they wanted to see me sooner. The nurse asked me if I had any lower back pains or trouble urinating. Luckily I haven't had any issue like that. But her asking those questions started to worry me. She informed me that my doctor would like to see me in the next few days to discuss the results. The next available appointment was for Friday at 9:15, which is three days away.

Obviously something is up, and I have three days to worry and wonder what the issue is. From my own research online it's leading me to believe that my kidneys are not functioning properly which could mean they are starting to shut down. If this is the case there really isn't anything they can do medicine wise but it would mean I would need a transplant at some point in the near future. The other option is it's one of the medications that I'm currently taking for high blood pressure and cholesterol. But I've been taking my current medication for the past five years or so and my toxin levels didn't start going up until 2014 so I don't think it's medicine induced. But I'm not a doctor so all I can do is wait to see what she says and what my options are.

I'm trying not to freak out but it's difficult. I'm scared that it's going to be the worse case scenario and I'll have to replace my kidneys. I know this is a fairly routine procedure these days but I don't like the idea of going under the knife. Anyways like I said I'm trying to stay positive so if you can spare some good thoughts and well wishes please send them my way. And of course I'll keep everyone posted via Twitter, Facebook and this Blog.

Family, A New Gig & Geeky Stuff

Today I was being a good son and taking my dad to his doctors appointment. And since I had to be down there (they live about 60 miles south east of me) I visited my brother and his family as well. So dad and I went out and grabbed some lunch at Sizzler and then he had his doctors appointment and then I took him grocery shopping before heading back to my brothers. Back at my brothers I got to hang out with my brother, sister-in-law and the kiddos. It was a nice visit.

While I was waiting for my dad at the doctors office I got an email from my buddy Andrew asking if I could start my new job on Wednesday (as in two days). To back track a bit as I don't think I mentioned this anywhere, I have been working on securing this gig for the past few weeks. It's a step down from what I normally do, which of course means a pay cut but it also has less stress (which will be good). So instead of being a post production supervisor (my normal gig) I'll be a post production coordinator. I don't know the details of the show yet but I do know that it's suppose to run until July.

In geeky news... I'm super stoked for the return of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD next week. During the Oscars last night they premiered a new commercial focusing on Skye. When SHIELD started I wasn't a huge fan of Skye but man has her character come a long way.. I can't wait to see what's next for her. Check out the commercial below.

Tonight I watched last weeks episodes of The Flash and Arrow. I really enjoyed The Flash, I liked what they did with the character of Firestorm and I know this won't be the last we see of him. As for Arrow I didn't think I'd enjoy it as I really didn't like the stuff on the Island and here we are again but I actually liked this episode. Theo was a character that I just wish would die in season one but she didn't and I'm glad. I'm really liking what they are doing with her in this season. She now knows everything and the hate she has for her father is fantastic. It was great seeing the flashbacks with Tommy and the douche bag version of Detective Lance .. man he's come along ways since then. But overall both were enjoyable episodes. Looks like Flash is on a break until mid March but we do get a new Arrow this week.. can't wait as it looks like we are introduced to The Atom.

Oscars 2015

After my NerdStrong workout I came home and got to hang out with my buddy Brett for a few hours before he and I headed over to our friends Cait and Robert who were having an Oscar party.

We were the first to arrive at 4 and began to watch the pre-show/red carpet interviews. A few more people arrived and we filled out our Oscar ballets. The show started at 5:30 with a fantastic opening number by host Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Kendrick and Jack Black.

The overall show was good, Neil Patrick Harris was charming but some of his joke fell flat and I was kind of sad for him. He had a lot to live up to after Ellen's hosting of the Oscars last year. Some of his bits were hilarious but most were eh.

Some highlights of the night. Great acceptance speeches, quite of few of them were not just a list of names but statements about woman's rights, gay rights, loving your parents, and civil rights. I really enjoyed Commons and John Legends performance of their song Glory (which won best song). It had several people in the audience in tears.

Another great performance was Lady Gaga, now I'm a fan of hers and I enjoy her songs, but this was the most un-Lady Gaga I've ever seen. She sang a medley of songs from the Sound of Music to celebrate it's 50th anniversary.  She killed it, when you strip away all her crazy hair and outfits you have an amazing singer with a beautiful voice. Even Julie Andrews praised her.

As for the Oscar ballets I wasn't doing that great at the beginning but I came back at the end and got a total of 10 correct predictions to win the Oscar poll and take home the golden bunny. It was a fun night of friends, pizza and predictions. The Oscars ran over by a half hour but overall it was an entertaining show.

NerdStrong Gym - The Last Starfighter

Started my day with another fun themed workout. Today it was all about The Last Starfighter.

No coach Andrew today, instead we had new coaches Christy and Kimi leading the charge. They also had the help of couch David who set the atmosphere and made us feel like we were really training to become Starfighters.

There were lots of components to this workout. We first did an indian run for a warmup and then did a few stretches for our arms. Afterwards they showed up examples of each of the workouts we were going to do. We then started the training.
We had to do 3 minutes of a particular workout depending on which station you were in (I started at station 3). We then had :30 seconds to rest before doing a one minute team workout.

So this is how it went. As I mentioned I started at station 3 so I stared with 3 minutes of Medicine Ball Cleans, :30 second rest, then 1 minute of planking. I then moved to station 4 and did 3 minutes of Kettlebell Swings, :30 second rest, then 1 minute of right side planking (I don't recall the actual name). I then moved to station 1 and did three minutes of Slamball Burpees, :30 seconds of rest, then 1 minute of left side planking. And finally we moved on to the final station (for me that was station 2) and did 3 minutes of SlamBalls, :30 second rest and then 1 minute of our final team workout, which I don't know what's it's called but we laid on the floor and lifted our head, shoulders and feet up off the ground tightening out core.

Needless to say when we were done I was sweating like crazy. The slamball brupees were the worst. Three minutes doesn't sounds like a lot of time but when you are exerting so much energy it takes alot out of you. This was a fantastic workout, I didn't kill myself and after a few minutes of rest I felt great. I continue to enjoy doing this themed/teamed workouts. Can't wait to see what coach Andrew comes up with for next Sunday.

SDCC & Pathfinder (D&D)

Spent the morning trying to get a San Diego Comic Con Badge, today is open registration. As we have done in the past we have a small group of people band together to help each other get the days we want. I'm a professional so I'm guaranteed a 4 day pass with preview but I was hoping to get my brother a 4 day pass and anyone else.. unfortunately like the last time this "new" random sorting process never works out for me and I never made it out of the waiting room. My friend Aaron was able to get a badge for Thursday and Sunday for my brother but I know he really wants the full four days. I do have one more chance when Pro badges go up. As I mentioned I'm guaranteed a badge but I'm also eligible to get a second free badge (but those go quick) and I can also purchase a second badge (which is more likely). Just gotta wait for the time and date for when this will be happening.

Spent the rest of the day playing D&D / Pathfinder. It's been a month or so since the gang got together so alot of us have been really looking forward to it. I'm not going to go into great detail about the night but needless to say it was another fun adventure. We had two large battles, first with some cool Wight Kings and lackies and then we a ton of bloody skeletons. Both battles lasted a while but we were successful with each with little damage to our group. Well other then a few team members losing some levels due to contact with the Wight Kings.

Dallas, our DM, once again did a great job at navigating our large group thru the adventure. My only complaint about the session is the noise level. Because we are such a large group it can take 30 minutes for your turn to come back around and since we are all friends who only see each other during D&D we tend to get a bit chatty between plays. Sometimes with the music and the chatting it's difficult to hear what's going on with the game. This has been an issue since the first day we played and I'm sure it's not going to change anytime soon, this is what happens when you have such a large group of adventurers. But overall it was another fun adventure, can't wait for the next one.

LARPs New Episode & New Doctor

Episode 5 of LARP's The Series came out today. Another fun episode but man are they way to short. You barely have time to get into them and they are already ending. I do understand why they are short but as with The Guild I'm hoping with the second season (which is in production now) they double the length to a whopping 10 minutes. Check out episode 5 below.

So if you've been following my blog you know I have been having health insurance issues. My rate has doubled in the past two years and I'm currently paying $508 a month for health insurance. Well I should say that I was paying that amount. I no longer have Anthem Blue Cross, I've maxed out my credit cards trying to keep it but I finally had to let it go. Since I'm out of work and have made little money in 2014 I actually qualified for Medi-Cal.  And today is my first visit to meet my new doctor.

We all have these images in our head of "county" medical care and thought some of the stereotypes are true it wasn't a horrible process. I got to my appointment, found the window that I needed to check in at and waited about 20 minutes for my name to be called. Once inside the nurse got my weight, took my temperature and blood pressure. I then waited in a room for about another 20 minutes before a young lady came in, introduced herself and we started going over who I was, my lifestyle, family history and all the usual stuff you do when you visit a doctor for the first time. Come to find out that she was a medical student and would be taking all this info I gave her and would go and speak with my doctor. So this is a teaching clinic.

She was gone about 20 minutes but during that time my actual doctor came in and introduced herself to me. This will be the first time that I have had a female doctor. She left to find her student and a few minutes later the student showed back up and we went over some details. They are taking me off some meds that I had been taking, they feel that they are overkill and their goal is to get me off all my meds sooner then later (which I'm all for).

I had brought in my test results for the past few years to share with my new doctor. I noticed that my creatinine, serum was high in my 2014 test and again in my 2015 test. So I looked it up and found out that it measures the levels of toxins in your blood, toxins that the kidneys are suppose to get rid of. So if levels are high then something is up with the kidneys. The doctor looked it over and said we need to investigate further so they drew more blood and I made an appointment to see them in a month to go over the results.. of course if there are any red flags they will call me sooner. 

After the doctor I went down to the third floor to have my blood drawn and then to the first floor to turn in my new prescriptions for my meds.

So it took about 2 hours 15 minutes to for the whole process. The student doctor and doctor were really nice and I think will have a nice relationship. I'm a bit concerned about my kidneys but will cross that issue once we know more. Overall it was a good visit.

NerdStrong Gym - Free Weight & Form

Today was one of the hardest to learn and most frustrating workouts for me so far. It's wasn't tiring or taxing I was just disappointed as I couldn't get the correct form down.

After our warm up we learned the correct way to do a Power Clean and then Deadlift. Both of these require a bar bell and weights.

We started with Power Clean for 20 minutes. I was working with assistant coach Andrew Seely and after showing me how to do it properly over and over I still couldn't do it. I just couldn't get the rhythm down. It was hard for me as with my past workouts I picked up how to do it properly very quick but for whatever reason it wasn't happening this time.

Luckily when we moved on to Deadlifts I managed to grasp that concept alot better and by the end I was up to 255 lbs. So we established my Deadlift weight. Now when I do these again I need to try and improve that number.

By the time I was done I wasn't exhausted or tired like with other workouts but I knew I'd be feeling it the next day. Though I was disappointed in myself when it came to power clean I know that doing those properly is important and it takes time and experience to get it right.

TNG Pop Figures & First Look at Aquaman

If you're a regular reader of my blog you know I collect Pop! Vinyl figures. I remember when these first came out a few years ago and now there are hundreds of them. My friend Jes actually got me started in collecting them when she got me the first six Star Wars ones. The next year they came out with another six and I couldn't help but picking them up. Then they expanded with The Hobbit and I had to get those as well. I picked up a few odds and ends as well like Charlie from Supernatural, a few different Groots and E.T. If I had unlimited funds I'm sure I'd be buying a lot more of these. These are also the only figures I buy and actually open up to display.

A few months back Pop! announced that they are going to release Firefly Pop! figures and I knew that when they came out I'd be buying those... well they did it again. Pop! announced that they will be releasing Pop! figures for Star Trek The Next Generation and if you know me, you know I LOVE me some TNG so of course these are must haves. I'll probably end up buying them at Comic Con.

Zach Snyder who directed the latest Superman movie "Man of Steel" is now working on the sequel movie Batman Vs. Superman. We know that Wonder Woman will be making an appearance in this movie and we've seen a picture of her. Now Snyder has released a picture of Aquaman who was recently announced that he too will be part of the next movie.  I like the look. You can tell that Snyder is going dark, both Wonder Woman and Aquaman are in toned down colors. Of course it could just be the pictures themselves. Either way I'm super excited to see the next installment of this series.

Kingsman: The Secret Service - My Review

Tonight I went to a screening on the Fox Lot with my buddy Robert to see Kingsman: The Secret Service. Here's a brief synopsis: Based upon the acclaimed comic book, Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

From the first trailer I wanted to see this movie. It looked like a lot of action and fun. Then I started to hear that it was extremely violent and bloody. That surprised me as you couldn't tell that from the previews but it didn't deter me from wanting to see it.

It was everything I expected, fun, action packed and yes it was a bit graphic at times but I'd call it more hyper stylized violence, it's so over the top. I loved the throw back feel to a classic spy/bond type movie.

I'm a huge fan of Colin Firth so of course I enjoyed his performance, and I also liked the new guy (Taron Egerton) I don't think I've seen him in anything else, but I have heard rumors that he might play Han Solo in one of the solo Star Wars movies. Samuel L. Jackson was fantastic as the "bad" guy who couldn't stand the sight of blood. And another newcomer (at least to me) Sofia Boutella played the kickass assistant/lover to Samuel's character. She had this two blades for the bottom portion of her legs and could kick butt. 

The fight scenes were extremely well choreographed. I enjoyed the story and how it all played out. The cinematography was well done and the editing was fast paced and entertaining. Even the explosive ending which was kind of cheesy but still worked well within the context of the movie. 

Overall it was as I expected (with a bit more graphic violence) and I loved it. I'll definitely be buying this when it comes out on blu-ray. I give Kingsman: The Secret Service a solid A -

New Firefly Action Figures

As I was surfing the net today I came across these Firefly Legacy Collection Action Figures! I had never heard of them so of course I had to investigate further. Come to find out that these were announced at last weeks New York Toyfare. They are being produced by Funko who made the "retro" Firefly figures that I had purchased last year. Unlike the 3 3/4 inch figures these are a full 6 inches and have way more detail and articulation, they look amazing. For the first series they are only doing five of the main cast members, Mal, Jayne, Kayle, Zoe and Wash. I'm hoping that they are planning to release the second set soon after with Simon, River, Inara and Book. But for now I'll take what I can get.. here's a bit more details about what to expect.

The beloved Browncoat Mal Reynolds brings his crew into the Legacy Collection. He wears his signature brown coat, red shirt, and knee-high boots. His face is solemn, considering the best course of action for his crew. He comes with two weapon accessories. After all, a smuggler’s got to protect himself somehow.

Muscle man Jayne Cobb won’t be seen without a weapon in hand – not even as a Legacy Collection action figure! He wears his usual clothes but comes with a veritable arsenal, two guns, an extra clip, and even a dagger.

The Kaylee Legacy figure has Jewel Staite’s sweet smile as she wears the iconic green coveralls, complete with teddy bear patch. She also wears her pink flowery shirt and comes with a wrench so she can repair the engine at any given time.

Husband and wife team Hoban “Wash” and Zoe Washburne also join the Legacy line. Wash wears his green flight suit and floral print shirt. And, since this is a fertile land (or is it your grave? Mwahaha!), he comes with two dinosaur figures.

Zoe wears her classic leather vest with her curly hair cascading down. She comes with two weapons, ready for action as the captain’s right hand woman.

I'm so excited that this beloved series (though it's been off the air for 12 years) is still finding love. And I will be picking up all of these to add to my every growing Firefly collection.

Agent Carter Is the Best!!!

If you guys are fans of Felicia Day (as I am) then you really should be following her on SnapChat. For the past week or so she's been doing these awesome 10 second videos where she takes a popular song and changes it to incorporate her love of coffee... they are pretty EPIC!!

In other geeky news I watched the second to last episode of Mavel's Agent Carter, S1 Ep 7 "Snafu" As Carter is resisting interrogation at the S.S.R., Jarvis appears with a fake signed confession from Stark, promising surrender if Carter is released. Carter sees Ivchenko communicating in Morse code with Underwood, and reveals the truth about her own investigation to her colleagues to gain their trust. Ivchenko hypnotizes Dooley and has him steal one of Stark's weapons from the S.S.R.'s labs: a gas cylinder that Underwood and Ivchenko activate in a crowded cinema before leaving and locking the door behind them. The agents find Dooley wearing a Stark experimental vest given to him by Ivchenko, which Jarvis explains will explode with no way to deactivate it. Dooley jumps out a window moments before the device detonates, killing him but saving the others. The gas in the cinema makes many in the audience become maniacal and attack each other violently, and when an usher arrives soon after, the entire audience is dead.

Another amazing episode, I can't praise this series enough. Every episode has been so good that I can't delete them from my Tivo as I enjoy going back and rewatching them over and over. Agent Carter finally was able to tell her male chauvinistic co-workers what she really thought them and it was beautiful. Beautifully written, preformed and edited.

“To you (Dooley), I’m a stray kitten left on your doorstep to be protected. (to Thompson) The secretary turned damsel in distress. (to Sousa) The girl on the pedestal, transformed into some daft whore.”

“And I suppose the confession portrays me as what? A patsy? A doe-eyed idiot succumbed to the charms of America’s mustachioed Casanova?”

“I conducted my own investigation because no one listens to me. I got away with it because no one looks at me. Because unless I have your reports, your coffee, or your lunch, I am invisible.”

This had to be my favorite scene of the series and that's saying alot since I pretty much love every scene in this series.

As I have said in past reviews I love me some Jarvis and Peggy.. those two just work so well together, there chemistry is just amazing (and I love that it's not romantic at all).

Dooley's sacrifice brought tears to my eyes. I was never a fan of this man but when the time came he did what he had to do to save his people. I love that he turned to Carter and made her promise that she would find the bad guys.. he didn't ask all the men standing around her.. he asked her to do it.

So much awesome in this one episode and I can't believe that we have one more episode before it's over. I just hope it's not done for good. I hope we get another eight episode story arch next year.. let's make this a tradition.

NerdStrong Gym - Strong Core, Strong Body

Today's workout at NerdStrong Gym was tough. We started the session with a 250m run (which is one time around the parking lot), then came back in and did 10x situps, 5x pushups and then door stretches.

After the warm up we did our skills moves. This is where we do specific exercise moves and learn how to do them properly and correct. Today Andrew showed us plyometirc pushups. If you don't know what those are, they are regular pushups with a twist. You go down regularly but then you push up you go fast and move your hands to a different plain. For example we had weight plates next to our hands so we would go from the ground and then as we push up relocate our hands to the top of the weight. It was super tough, especially since I have come to find out that pushups are the bane of my existence. We then learned how to hang from a bar and bring our toes up and touch the bar, essentially bending your body in half. There are many stages to get to the point where you could actually touch your toes to the bar. I unfortunately was only able to get my knees to my elbows, which is saying alot since this was my first time and I have a belly in the way. The bending part isn't he worst.. it's your hands holding the bars.. that's the tough part.

After the skill part of the session we moved onto the workout. This was timed at 16 minutes and we had to do 4 rounds of 12x dumbbell z-press, 16x hi-lo planks, 25x mountain climbers, 12x russian twists and then a 140m run.

My first two rounds were great, was feeling good and making good time, by the third round I was struggling with the hi-lo planks as they are similar to push ups and were starting to hurt my elbows, surprisingly the most active part of the workout, the mountain climbers I excelled at but the russian twists were a killer and what's crazy is the run was the time you got to relax for a few minutes. The fourth set was tough, I was sweating profusely and my glasses kept falling off my face, but I pushed through the pain and managed to finish just over 16 minutes... Woot!!!

Another amazing workout, tonight's session was all about our core.. thank you Andrew for being such an amazing coach.. you make workout fun. And I also want to thank my buddy Andrew Seely who got me into NerdStrong and was also the assistant coach tonight. Can't wait for Thursday!!

Damaged Collectibles & the Latest Gotham

So I have been spring cleaning the past few weeks, I'm trying to widdle down my collections by a 1/3d and get ride of things that I just don't need anymore. Of the many things I collect, trading cards are one of them. I have about 20 binders full of various TV and Movie trading cards. Besides the binders I have a medium size box filled with all my duplicates and extras. While pulling that box out of storage I noticed some water damage on the box and sure enough when I examined the contents of the box I found that a bunch of the cards also had water damage. Some of these cards are over 30+ years old and it's upsetting to have lost so many pieces of my childhood. But on the upside, as I'm always looking for an upside, I won't have to struggle with the idea of keeping them or not.. they will be discarded with the rest of the trash.

In TV news I watched the latest Gotham tonight with my buddy Erik. S1 Ep 16 "The Blind Fortune Teller" Barbara Kean returns to Gotham to discover Ivy Pepper and Selina Kyle in her apartment. Elsewhere, Fish Mooney plans to save herself and the other prisoners when they discover that they were kidnapped so that their organs can be harvested. When a snake dancer at Haly's Circus named Lila Valeska is murdered, James Gordon and Leslie Tompkins investigate as the Flying Graysons and the Lloyds are suspects. Upon deducing that her son, Jerome, is the killer and Cicero is his father, Jerome has a psychotic breakdown and confesses to the murder claiming to have hated her for her insistent "nagging." Bruce holds a board meeting at Wayne Enterprises and voices concern to the executives that the company is involved with illegal activities.

I really enjoyed this episode tonight and for once I liked the character of Barbara, or at least the scene where she discovers Ivy and Selina in her apartment. I really liking the interaction between Gordan and Tompkins, they are making a fun duo. We get to meet the Graysons in this episode as well as the "future" Robin's parents (it's was kind of like a Romeo and Juliet story). They get engaged at the end of the episode. The Bruce stuff was good, he's definitely throwing down the gauntlet.

I've been liking the Phish Mooney storyline and man is she one conniving woman, but I give her credit, she gets results. As for the Penguin storyinline, I wasn't a huge fan of it. I feel like they told a lot of his story at the beginning of the series and now he's more of just a side character. And by far my favorite storyline and scene was the interrogation of Jerome (future Joker). I thought he acting was brilliant. I love when he goes from grieving son to malicious psycho in a matter of seconds and then looks up with a perfect "Joker" face, it sent chills down my spine... good stuff. Can't wait to see next weeks episode.