Visiting Hogsmeade With Friends!!!

Thanks for the collage Leo

After working out I headed once again to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood. Like last weekend they were having another soft opening (technical rehearsal). Joining me for this adventure were friends and fellow NerdStronger Lauren and Leo, this would be both of their first time. Lauren and I arrived first and Leo joined us a short time later.

We started at the beginning and went through everything, all the shops, both rides, Olivanders and enjoyed some tasty vittles at The Three Broomsticks. I love experiencing anything with a first timers. I remember the first time I stepped foot in the Florida Wizarding World and it was so magical.. but I was alone so I didn't get to share the experience with anyone. So I was so happy to be there with these ladies and experience Hogsmeade for the first time through their eyes. Both are huge Potter fans so we had a blast.

Both Leo and Lauren purchased interactive wands and then went around and worked their magic with the interactive windows. That was pretty fun. I still have to pick up an interactive wand on a future visit. I mean I have like nine or ten wands at home but none of them are interactive and when I visited Wizarding World in Florida they didn't have these interactive windows and wands.

We ended our day with the ladies trying Butterbeer for the first time. Lauren with the frozen (which is my favorite) and Leo went with cold (which is also very tasty).

The Real O'Neals

Tonight I watched the first two episode of the a new comedy called The Real O'Neils, if you've never heard of it.. here's a quick synopsis: The close-knit, Chicago-based O'Neals seem to be the perfect Catholic family, but when surprising truths come to light, some lives take an unexpected turn. Eileen, Pat, Kenny, Jimmy, Shannon and Jodi decide to let the honesty ring in a new, less tidy chapter of their story, where they all drop their carefully honed facades and discover the unexpected freedom that accompanies just acting real. Instead of being torn apart, the O'Neals find that their newfound way of life actually brings them closer together.

I enjoyed the commercials so I figured I'd give this show a shot and I'm glad I did. Yes there are some stereotypical "gay" troupes in it,  but what I really liked about these first two episodes is how funny they were. I actually liked episode two better then one. There were several laugh out loud moments but it also had so much heart. I like that the main actor who plays Kenny (great name btw) is actually gay in real life. I'm loving the older brother and his relationship with Kenny.

I don't watch many sitcoms these days but I'm glad I added this one to my weekly viewing. Aside from some lame stereotypical jokes this series has potential of becoming something very special. 

NerdStrong Gym - The Past Week

I got a full week of workout in this week, Saturday CON, Sunday TEAM, Tuesday DEX, Wednesday CON and Thursday STG.

For Saturdays class we continued our Night of the Zombie King DnD campaign. I missed chapter three last week (see blog) so I was looking forward to chapter four and I have to say it didn't disappoint. We did 5 rounds of 25x Air Squats, 20x 1-Arm Club Swing to Guard, 20x Push Ups and then 460 Meter Run with Club (that's two times around the parking lot).

Every five minutes Darkmoon (Resurrected Dragon) would attack, if her tail hit us (rolled 1-6) we had to do 20x Glute Bridge, if we were racked by her claw (7-12) we had to do 40 Bicycles. If she bite us (13-18) we did 30 Mountain Climbers and if she used her Necrotic Breath (19-20) we had to do 10 Burpees.

When we finished the five rounds you then had to attack Darkmoon, we knew our weapons were useless so we had to do shield bashers (weighted lunge) and crush her bones. As a group we had to do 360 of these to defeat her. It was a tough workout but in the end we defeated her and move on to our final battle (which will happen next week).

For Sunday's TEAM workout Ultron was resurrected, this has to be the toughest workout that the coaches have ever come up with.. if it's not the toughest its the longest one so that nobody will ever be able to complete it in the time allotted.

It starts off easy.. 10x High Knees and then a mandatory :30 second break.. piece of cake.. Ultron Prime is defeated.  Next was version 1, 15x High Knees and 5x Squats. Again not to bad, feeling good and defeated version 1 and moved on to version 2, 20x High Knees, 10x Squats and 5x Lunges. Version 2 went down pretty easily and I'm thinking.... this isn't so bad I should be able to get to version 14. Well version 3 attacked with 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges and 5x Push Ups. Okay I'm starting to feel it but still going strong and move on to version 4. Version 4 is a bit worse with 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups and 5x Sit Ups. Still feeling good so I move on to version 5 ready for the fight.. version 5 had 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups and a :10 second Plank. Yeah now I'm defiantly feeling it, I struggle a bit but still defeat version 5. Next up version 6, 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups, :20 second Plank and 10x Bicycles.

It's tough but I manage to defeat version 6 and move on to version 7, 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 15x Bicycles and a 70 meter run. The run was actually nice as it was cool outside and felt great on my face. Once back from the run version 8 attacked with 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 20x Bicycles, a 140 meter run and 5x Dumbbell Presses. At this point you're on auto pilot hoping not to crash.. so I moved on to version 9, which was 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 30x Bicycles, a 140 meter run, 10x Dumbbell Presses and 5x Pull Ups. Once I defeated version 9 and moved on to battle version 10, 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 30x Bicycles, a 140 meter run, 15x Dumbbell Presses and 10x Pull Ups and 5x Kettlebell High Pulls. I then moved on to version 11 which was 20x High Knees, 15x Squats, 10x Lunges, 10x Push Ups, 10x Sit Ups, :30 second Plank, 30x Bicycles, a 140 meter run, 15x Dumbbell Presses and 10x Pull Ups, 10x Kettlebell High Pulls and 5x Slamballs.

I only got through half of version 11 before time ran out on me.. but I am happy to say this is the furthest I've gotten on this workout.. so I'm very happy with my performance today. As you can see this is a very tough workout.. it's what they call a chipper.. you just keep going until time runs out or you die.. which ever one comes first.

For Tuesday DEX day it started off with the Agility Ladder, now I like this ladder though some of the movement make me few very uncoordinated. After that we moved on to 5 rounds of 10x Cossack Squat and 14x Kettlebell Deadlift. We then did 5 rounds of Team Sprint Relays, were we had to sprint 140 meters and back over and over again. The first few I sprinted hard but the last few I just ran. We finished the workout with a 12 minute AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) 10x Sprawl, 10x Jump Squats and 10x Diamond Push Ups. It was a tough workout but fun.

Wednesday's CON day started with a nice warm up before moving onto a team workout. We groups up into teams of 2 and 3, we had to do 15 rounds of a 20 second Row at 100 meters per second, then 15x Kettlebell Swings, 10 Strict Push Ups, and finally 10x Split Lunge with Sandbell before doing it all over again. So person one would start with the row while the others waited, once the first rower was done they moved on to the kettlebell swings and the 2nd person rowed and so on until we just kept rotating trying to get the 15 rounds done. It was a good workout, though I hate rowing. I feel like I have such a disadvantage in rowing since I don't have long legs so I have to pull harder and faster to met my goals.

Thursday's Strength day started with alot of hip stretching. We then moved on to Dual Kettlebell Clean and Press. We had to do a 10 EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute) within in that minute we had to do 2x KB Clean and Press. Most of use were partnered up so you'd go on the minute while your partner would go on the :30 mark. It doesn't look like much before doing this every minute for 10 minutes straight can be tough.

Next we did 10x10 Front Squats, we had to pick a weight that we could do 10 times in a row for 10 reps. I don't recall my weight but it wasn't to heavy, probably 50% of my one rep max.

We ended this workout with a new floor stretch work on our legs and hips.

It was a nice work of workouts, now if I could only eat as well as I workout.. I'd be golden.

Drunk Tweeting!!!

So I woke up this morning with a slight headache.. luckily for me I don't get bad hangovers after a night of spirits... I then checked my twitter and facebook as I do after waking up and sure enough I had many people responding to my tweets and facebook posts last night. I remember tweeting (which are also posted to my Facebook) and I also remember asking people to spell check them to make sure they looked good. Well this is what was tweeted...

As you can see they lied when they said the tweets looked good :) I didn't care as everyone got a good laugh out of trying to decipher my gibberish.  I can actually read most of them. Regardless what I learned from last nights shenanigans is to never trust my friends to proofread my tweets ;)

Ghostbuster Trailer, SHIELD Renewed & A Friends Birthday

Today they released the first trailer for the new Ghostbuster movie. I'm not sure if this is a sequel or a reboot or what and after watching the trailer (which I enjoyed) I still don't have a clue.

Woohooo!!! Just got word that ABC has picked up Agents of SHIELD for a 4th season. I'm so excited for this news. I'm loving SHIELD and can't wait for it's return after it's midseason break. You can read more about he renewal HERE.

In the evening after work I went out to celebrate my friend Liz's birthday. She was having friends gather at a local bar called Idle Hour. Lucky for me it's close to my apartment so I was able to drink.. and you can say I got a bit smashed. I had a fantastic time and by the end of the night my friend Jes had to drive me home, though I believe I could have walked they wanted to make sure I got home safely... Thanks guys

Star Wars The Force Awakens Blu-Ray Release Date

Today they announced the release dates and details of Star Wars The Force Awakens DVD and Blu-Ray. It will be released on April 5th.

I can't wait for this.. there looks to be some nice extras.

- Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey – For the first time, discover the complete story behind the making of The Force Awakens, revealed through in-depth footage and exclusive interviews with the actors and filmmakers in this feature documentary

- The Story Awakens: The Table Read – Cast members familiar and new reflect on the memorable day they all first came together to read the movie’s script.

- Building BB-8 – See how the filmmakers brought the newest droid to the screen, creating an instant fan favorite in the Star Wars universe.

- Crafting Creatures – Watch movie magic as the filmmakers bring a cast of new creatures to life.

- Blueprint of a Battle: The Snow Fight – Go deeper into the epic, climactic lightsaber battle between Rey and Kylo Ren.

- John Williams: The Seventh Symphony – The legendary composer shares personal insights of his work on Star Wars and The Force Awakens.

- ILM: The Visual Magic of The Force – An insider’s look into the remarkable digital artistry of the movie’s visual effects.

- Force For Change – Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. See how the Star Wars: Force for Change initiative has united Star Wars fans all over the globe to help others.

- Plus Deleted Scenes

They are also released a few store exclusives,

TARGET – The Target Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray Combo Pack comes with exclusive packaging and an added 20 minutes of bonus content, including never-before-seen interviews with Daisy Ridley and John Boyega and a deeper look at the movie’s costumes and weaponry.

WALMART – The Walmart Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray Combo Pack comes with exclusive BB-8 packaging and an exclusive Star Wars Galactic Connexions trading disc.

BEST BUY – The Best Buy Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray Combo Pack features exclusive SteelBook Packaging.

DISNEY STORE – The Disney Store Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray Combo Pack comes with an exclusive lithograph set while supplies last.

So many awesome exclusives but for me I'm huge into all the behind the scenes stuff so I'm going to get the Target exclusive with the extra 20 minutes of behind the scenes. 

Finding Dory Trailer & A New IPhone

I can't wait for this movie..

Today I got my new iPhone 6s Plus. It's been over three years since I had a new phone and my last phone was an iPhone 5. The past six or so month it's been acting up and with the new updated IOS systems I had to stop downloading them as it made my phone very sluggish. So it was time to bit the bullet and get a new phone.

ATT no longer has their two year contacts and are instead letting you make payments on your phone over the coarse of 24 to 36 months. I hate this idea and rather do a two year contract and get a discount or free iphone (though a few models behind). But with this new systems I opted to get the best of the best iphone. The difference between the phone I got 6s Plus and the regular 6 is only a few dollars a month and the 6s has a camera that is leaps and bound over the regular 6 camera. I knew that I wanted a plus as I do alot on my phone and I like the look of the larger screen. I also went with the largest amount of space 128gb. My old 5 had 16gb and I was constantly having to download pictures and remove apps every week to ensure that it ran properly. So I went the largest.. again the price difference between this one and a step down was only a few dollars a week. I haven't really done much with it so far as I'm charging it up but I hope to get a more indepth checking out tomorrow when I head to work.

New MASH Podcast & Finishing Agent Carter

Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 123/124, covering Season 6, Episode 1 & 2 - Fade Out, Fade In

While Margaret is away on her honeymoon, Frank Burns is sent on R&R where he shows signs of having a nervous breakdown. Colonel Potter puts in a request for a replacement surgeon from Tokyo where they are sent a stuffy cutter named Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester. His first day at the 4077th rubs Hawkeye the wrong way as he is pushed aside for the new guy.

You can Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or listen and get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com

Tonight I watched the final three episodes of Agent Carter. I was killing me having to wait but sometime life/work gets in the way. First up was S2 Ep 8 "The Edge of Mystery", then S2 Ep 9 "A Little Song and Dance" and then finally S2 Ep 10 "Hollywood Ending"

Let's start with "The Edge of Mystery", Frost tells Wilkes that if he accepts the power of the Zero Matter within him then he will be able to control it. Carter and Sousa meet with Frost, giving her fake uranium in exchange for Wilkes. Frost soon realizes the ruse, and pursues them. Wilkes, learning to control his abilities and change between corporeal and non-corporeal states, turns on Carter, demanding that Sousa reveal the location of the real uranium. Sousa directs him to a vault at the SSR. Ana survives surgery, but loses the ability to have children. Thompson overhears Frost telling Masters to retrieve the uranium, but is incapacitated by Masters. Carter and Sousa join Thompson, and, along with Jarvis and a new gamma cannon courtesy of Stark, travel to the Isodyne atomic testing area. Wilkes is sucked into a rift created by the now armed atomic bomb, but the cannon closes the rift and returns Wilkes, now full of Zero Matter. A revenge-seeking Jarvis shoots Frost, but she survives due to her Zero Matter. Jarvis and Carter are taken hostage by Manfredi's men.

The story is really starting to ramp up.. Ana survives the gun shot but can no longer have children. This shows us a side of Jarvis that we've never seen. He's out for pure revenge. He doesn't care what Peggy says he want's to kill Frost. And when the time comes he doesn't hesitate, pulls out a guy and shots her. Of course she's not human anymore so the bullets don't effect her. You can tell Peggy is in shock and so disappointed in him. Another shocker was Dr. Wilkes turning against Peggy and Sousa, I have to admit that this kind of made me happy since I want Carter to wind up with Sousa and then pretty much sealed the deal.

Then I watched "A Little Song and Dance" Carter and Jarvis escape capture while Thompson and Sousa return to the SSR. Manfredi sets up a new lab for Frost in an abandoned facility, where she begins trying to take all of Wilkes' Zero Matter for herself. Thompson convinces Masters to use the gamma cannon against Frost, then visits Frost, warning her of Masters' treachery and offering to turn on him in exchange for a seat on the Council. Thompson then turns on Carter and Sousa, delaying them, as he actually intends to remote detonate the cannon to kill Frost, Masters, and Wilkes. Thompson turns Masters over to Frost, but the SSR manage to jam his detonator signal before he can detonate the cannon. Carter tries to get Wilkes out of the building, but he refuses to leave knowing what he has become. Thompson holds the others at gunpoint until his signal is un-jammed, though Carter is still unwilling for Wilkes to die. As Frost begins killing Masters, he notices that the cannon is being activated. However, Wilkes finds them then, and unleashes all the Zero Matter from within himself.

This episode had one of the greatest openings of any episode of Carter. It started with a musical number and everyone including Angie from season one was in it. Of course it's revealed to be a dream of Peggy's but it was still pretty awesome. There is this amazing scene between Peggy Carter and Jarvis and you know their friendship is over. She is so upset that he "tried" to kill Whitney. But then he reveals to Peggy that Ana can't have children and Peggy soften, Jarvis explains how he is a coward because he hasn't told his wife that she can't have children yet. The acting is amazing and I say this with ever Agent Carter review.. these two have amazing chemistry. Then we have Thompson who seemed to be going down a dark path but looked to be turning away from it but then does another 180 and looks like he's the bad guy again. And of course we have the end with Wolkes blowing up.. so happy I don't have to wait a week for the finale.

And finally I watched the season finale live "Hollywood Ending" Frost absorbs the Zero Matter released from Wilkes, who is rescued by Carter, as Stark returns and aids in their escape. Thompson finds in Masters' possession a supposedly incriminating file on Carter and a secret Council key. Manfredi becomes concerned with Frost's behavior, and her new obsession with opening another rift, this time with a machine of her own design. He meets with Stark—an old friend of his—and the others, and agrees to distract Frost while Carter and Sousa photograph the blueprints for Frost's machine, which Stark and Wilkes build themselves. They open a new rift, and Frost is drawn to it. They use the gamma cannon to knock the Zero Matter from her, into the other dimension; Frost is left insane from her time controlled by the Zero Matter, and is placed in a mental asylum. Thompson gives the secret key to Carter, who is convinced to stay in Los Angeles to be with Sousa. Thompson prepares to return to New York, but is shot in his hotel room; the shooter takes the file on Carter.

We find out that Thompson isn't such a bad guy after all. He gives Carter the "secret Hydra key" that kind of seals the deal that's he's a good guy. Unfortunately at the end he is shot and the shooter takes the file on Peggy. We are left not knowing if he's alive but from the amount of blood I'd say he's not long for this world. I think it was a little to easy to take down Frost but that didn't take away the enjoyment of everyone teaming up to help fight her. And my favorite part of the episode.. Carter and Sousa finally kissing and I mean kissing hard.. it was amazing.

Overall I loved this season, was it better then season one.. no but I can say it was just as good. Season one was super special and kind of had many different stories but season two was just one huge crazy adventure that ran the entire season. I know the rating haven't been that great for Carter so it's doubtful that we will see a season three but my fingers are crossed. If this is it, if this is the last of Carter I can say that I'm happy with the conclusion. I mean we don't know about Thompson and there are plenty of mysteries still to solve but I felt this finale was satisfying on so many levels.

If you haven't seen any Agent Carter you are really missing out on some very special TV. Definitely check it out.

Wondercon Badges

Wondercon is coming up at the end of March and I've been checking their website every day to see if the "Pro" badge were released. Day after day nothing.. but I figured it had to be soon since the con is coming up. I got busy this week and wasn't able to check like I usually do. Well today I checked and sure enough they were available so I signed up to get my free badge, but when I went to get my two free guest badges they were completely sold out. I found out that they were available the day after I last checked. So it's been a week and though I was able to get a free Professional pass,  all of the guest badges were gone. Also Saturday badges were sold out, which is the only day my brother was able to go this year (he usually gets one of my free guest badges) so I wasn't sure what I was going to do for him but luckily my friend Jes had gotten an extra guest badge and was kind enough to give it to my brother... so we are both covered for Wondercon. It's away and I still have so much work to do on my Jedi Twi lek cosplay. I hope to get it all done before Wondercon but it's looking more and more doubtful as the days pass. Regardless I'm looking forward to the beginning of the con season!!

Visiting Hogsmeade Again!!

After my NerdStrong workout today I cancelled all my plans for so could attend The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood again. I had such an amazing time yesterday I couldn't resist going again today. I put a call out for friends to join me and my buddy Dallas took me up on my offer. I got to the park around noon and made my way to the entrance. Since it's a soft opening "aka technical rehearsal" you never know when they will open or close it. When I checked #Potterwatch at 11am after my workout they said it was open so I was hoping it still was when I approached it and sure enough it was. I entered and once again I got chills, I don't think I'll ever stop getting chills when I enter Hogsmeade. I hung around the entrance as my buddy Dallas was making his way into the park. It was fun to watch people's face's light up when they entered through the Hogsmeade gate. Adults and Children alike it didn't matter, you could tell it was a magical moment.

Dallas got past me somehow but I managed to find him over by Zonkos. The first thing we did was walk the entire park so he could see everything.. as I mentioned in my last blog this only takes a few minutes. We walked through the various shops, experienced Olivanders (neither of us were chosen).  We enjoyed some lunch at The Three Broomsticks where Dallas got the Butterbeer Potted Cream. He allowed me to have a spoonful and  have to say my taste buds went crazy. Now I love all thing Butterbeer but I have to say this was the best Butterbeer flavor thing I had tasted so far. The Frozen Butterbeer is still my favorite drink but this potter cream was AMAZING!!! It took all my will power to only have two bites.

After we ate we headed over to The Forbidden Journey ride, we decided to do the single rider line first just so he could experience the ride and then we'd do the regular line and enjoy the inside of Hogwarts Castle. As we approached the final section of line an employee asked both Dallas and I to sit in the "test" chairs to see if we could fit. There is a harness that comes over you and if you're to large they will not allow you to ride. I told the guy that I had already rode it yesterday and to be honest I was kind of insulted that he though I was to large for the ride. Unfortunately Dallas is not only a tall but large as well and he couldn't fit in the car so we had to exit the ride. I'm sure it was humiliating to Dallas but if you know Dallas he joked it off. When we got back down to the entrance to the ride we saw that they had two chairs there to test and see if you could fit on the ride. When you pull the overhead bar down you have to get a green light.. As much as we pulled and push he was just shy of getting a green light.

We headed over to the other ride "Flight of the Hippogriff" And again Dallas was asked to go over and sit in the their "test" chair to see if he would fit and again he was too large so we weren't able to enjoy that ride as well. I felt bad that he wasn't able to ride either of the two rides in that section of the park. But we did have a great time hanging out at Hogsmeade.

Boldly Go!! A Star Trek Musical

After my amazing day at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hollywood, I headed to Pasadena to see a Star Trek Parody musical called Boldly Go! My buddy Adam mentioned that he was attending and asked if anyone wanted to join him. I love Star Trek and this sounded fun so I of course said yes. Here's more about the musical.

A musical of both substance and comedy, Boldly Go! follows the intrepid crew of the Starship Enterprise, along with some new characters, on an exciting and hilarious adventure. Assumptions will be confronted, paradigms challenged, alliances tested, and new contacts made – whether for good or ill as yet to be seen. And it’s all set to a side-splitting tour de force of musical mayhem!

While having fun with the sometimes farcical aspects of science fiction and parodying Star Trek, this new show—written by brothers Cole Remmen and Caltech theoretical physics graduate student Grant Remmen—also satirizes the musical theater genre. At its core, Boldly Go! is a story about being true to oneself and one’s convictions, about friendship and love, about discovery and wonder, about the triumph of the individual over adversity, and about the joy of sharing with each other this vast and mysterious Universe.

I found this interesting as this is an extra curricular activity for the students of Cal Tech, these are nerds and techy geeks. So I expected the sets to be amazing, and they were but I didn't expect some of the great acting and singing. They got this amazing looking and extremely talented Kirk and Spook was spot on as well. The rest of the cast was great and varied from pretty good to completely terrified when it came to acting and singing. I enjoyed the story and about 80% of the songs. The Doctor really stole the show with his amazing song, it was one of my favorites.

I loved everything about this, it wasn't perfect and the acting and singing was hit and miss but I didn't care. It was fun and entertaining and I was so happy that Adam brought this to my attention. The only downside was up until 5 minutes before the play started the seat in front of me was empty because the gentleman in front of that seat was fairly tall. Well just before the lights went down this extremely tall man sat in front of me and completely blocked my view. I was beyond annoyed but it was one of the few seats left as the show sold out so he might not of had any other choice but I spent the entire musical bobbing my head back and forth but I did miss a few key moments that happened right in the middle of the stage. But as I said I loved this musical and had a great time... Thank again Adam.

Attending Hogsmeade (Wizarding World Hollywood)

Last night I purchased my Universal Studios Hollywood annual pass. I went with their best pass which is the Gold Pass. This gives me access to the park 313 days out of the year which is cool but I'd love to have a 365 days a year pass.. but I'll take what I can get. Weekends in the summertime are all blacked out as are a few weekends here and there.

The reason I got my annual pass is that the past week or so Universal has been doing soft openings or as they like to call them technical rehearsals for their Wizarding World of Harry Potter section. I heard rumors that it might be opened this weekend, there is a hashtag on twitter "Potterwatch" that is notifying when the Wizarding World is open. So after this mornings workout I checked my phone and sure enough the park having a soft opening. These soft openings can last a few hours or the entire day.. it's all very random. So I flew home, showered and got the the park entrance in about a half hour.. I don't know how I did it but I did. I got into the park around 11:30am and immediately made my who in looking for the entrance to the park, about halfway into the park on the right you can see the backside of Hogsmeade so I kept following it until I saw the entrance and yes they were still letting people in. As I passed over the threshold a chill when down my spine and a biggest smile came across my face.. I am in Hogsmeade!!

I went to the Hogsmeade in Universal "Islands of Adventure" in Florida a few years ago but this was different because this is in my own backyard. I can come here whenever I feel like it. The first thing I did was walk through the entire section. I wanted to see how similar it was to Hogsmeade Florida and with a few exceptions it's identical. I think the biggest different is Olivanders is on the opposite of the street and Florida has an extra roller coaster (Dueling Dragons) and Hollywood does not.

After my walk through which really only takes a few minutes (that section of the park isn't that big) I decided to grab some lunch as I had just come off of a workout and needed some food quickly. Of course the only place to eat in Hogsmeade is The Threebroom Sticks so I headed over and ordered some yummy fish and chips. I asked for a Frozen Butterbeer but they informed me that they were currently not offering that in the Three Broomsticks so I grabbed my lunch and found a seat. As I as sitting down I saw to figured in the doorway and they were waving at me. At first I could only see their silhouettes as the sun was behind them but they kept waving and then I noticed one of them. It was my friend Chrissy and as they entered I recognized the girl next to her, Amy.  I was talking to Chrissy earlier today at NerdStrong as she was debating on if she was going to come to Hogsmeade today or not. Well they grabbed some lunch and I moved to a larger table. We all gushed over how awesome it was to be eating lunch in the Three Broomsticks.

After lunch we decided to stick together and experience Hogsmeade together. Both Amy and I had been to the Florida park but this was Chrissy's first time so it was great to see it through her tearful eyes. We did everything, we rode The Forbidden Journey, we walked through every shop, we went to Olivanders for a wand and Chrissy was selected to get her wand. We did The Forbidden Journey for a second time and walked around the shops again. I finally got me my frozen Butterbeer (it was as amazing as I remember), I also picked up some Butterbeer fudge and just a small bite of the corner could put you into a sugar coma.. it was amazing. We also watched both of the stage shows (Hogwarts Choir and The Beauxbatons Dancers & Durmstrang Performers) and just hung out in the Owlery taking it all in.

Amy left around 4pm while Chrissy hooked up with some other friends and went off with them. I jumped in line for The Flight of the Hippogriff ride and when I got off that one I headed out around 5:30pm as I had to head out to Pasadena to see a play with my buddy Adam at Cal Tech called Boldly Go!

It was an AMAZING day at Hogsmeade, so much so that I am going to cancel my plans for tomorrow and come back again.. I can't wait!!

NerdStrong Gym - My Past Week

This week started off a bit wonky and I only worked out for four days this week.

Saturday I was stuck in my parking garage and couldn't make it to the gym. If you wish you can read more about my ordeal HERE.

So my workout week started with Sunday's TEAM workout. And the theme of this weeks workout was.. Hogwarts: Year One. We were sorted into our houses, this time I was sorted into my correct house of Hufflepuff. There were four classes (stations) and we worked out as a group. We started with our Platform 9 3/4 warm up which consisted of 460 Meter Pacman Run, 10x Air Squats, Triceps Stretch, Shoulder Stretch and Hamstring Stretch. We then move on to your main workout. As I said there were four classes, Transfiguration (Step-Ups), Defense Against the Dark Arts (1 Arm Steel Club Swing), Herbology (Air Squats) and Potions (Steel Club Front Press).  We were 3 rounds of 2:00 minutes of work and :30 seconds to transition to your next class. If you were caught by Mr. Filch and Mrs Norris you had to do 20 Jumping Jacks.

As for who started were of course Hufflepuffs started in Hebology, Ravenclaws started with Defense Against the Dark Arts, Gryffindors with Transfiguration and Slytherin had Potion Class. We then would rotate according to the white board.

Afterwards we took our O.W.L's (of practice O.W.L's) as we all know we don't take our real O.W.L's until our fifth year. That was 3 rounds of 20x Oblique Toe Touch, 20x Weighted Sit Ups and 20x Alternate Leg Levers. It was a great workout and a awesome theme.. can't wait for Year Two.

For Tuesday's DEX class we did 5 five minute AMRAPS (As Many Rounds As Possible) First one was 5x Pull Ups (Negatives) & then 10x Burpees. We rested for one minute and then did a plank for one minute before moving onto the next AMRAP which was 20x Twisting Wallslams (10 on each side) and then 40x Mountain Climbers. We then rested for a minute and planked for a minute. Our third AMRAP was 10x Push Ups and 10x Kettlebell Swings. And again we rested a minute and planked a minute before moving on to our fourth AMRAP. For that one we did 50x Seal Jacks and 10x V Ups. We rested and planked before moving on to our final AMRAP of 20 1 Arm Club Swings to Banner (10 on each arm) and then 10x Squats with Club and of course we finished with one minute of rest and one minute of planking.

For a finisher we did :30 seconds of work, :30 seconds of rest Alternate Heel Touch. Yeah there were horrible as they are nothing but core and after all the work you did your core isn't to happy with you.

Wednesday CON class was one of my favorite.. Taste the Painbow. That's where coach Blair has a bag of Skittles in his pocket and each color skittle is assigned a workout and then he rolls a die and we did that many of them. Here's the break down. Yellow skittles meant Sit Ups, Orange skittles meant Burpees, Blue was Goblet Squats, Green was a Run and Pink were Mountain Climbers. When all was said and done we did 157 Sit Ups, 48 Burpees, 148 Goblet Squats, 20 meters of running and 50 Mountain Climbers.

One reason I love this workout is that it can be extremely tough or fairly easy.. it all depends on the roll which the coach makes us do so we can't complete about the numbers. We fared a bit better then the 6am class as they did more of everything with exception to Sit Ups, we did 36 more of those then they did. Overall it wasn't a bad workout. Can't wait to do this one again.

Thursday STG day started off with a nice warm up of a 230 meter run, 1 minute of shoulder circles, then 3 rounds of 10x PVC PassThrus, 10x PVC Good Mornings and 10x Hanging Knee Raises. We finished with another 230 meter run. We then worked on some mobility and did 3 rounds of 10x Seat to Z-Press. We then moved into the main workout which was push presses. We did 8 sets of 3 starting at 60% of our Max Rep Count, then 70%, 80%, 85% and then back down to 65%, 75%, 85% and finally 90%. I didn't have a one rep max so my partner Lauren and I started with 95lbs and went up from there. After the fourth or fifth rounds your arms start to feel like jello but you push through. And to make things worse in between sets we did what the coaches like to call and "active" rest. We did :30 seconds of rowing, which doesn't sound like alot but when your arms are like jello, rowing for :30 seconds is extremely difficult. For a finisher we did :30 seconds of work and :15 seconds of rest doing Medball Slams and Medball Sprawls.. we did 8 rounds before calling it a day.

Bummed I only got four days in for this workout session but Saturday was unexpected and there really wasn't anything I could do. But the four workouts I did do this week were fantastic.. as all workouts I do at NerdStrong Gym are... Thank Coaches.

Tonight I went back to Nerdstrong but not to workout .. tonight was our monthly NerdStrong Gym Game Night. As always we had a blast. Got to play games I loved and also tried out a new one. Good times are always had at Game Night.

Shannara Chronicles S1 Ep9 - My Thoughts

Before work today I watched The Shannara Chronicles S1 Ep9 "Safehold" Wil, Amberle, and Eretria arrive at Safehold, which turns out to be the ruins of San Francisco and Oakland (the name Safehold coming off the highway sign missing some letters). Eretria discovers that the tattoo on her back is a magical map to the location of the Bloodfire, and leads the group there. They are confronted by the Guardians of the Bloodfire, who attempt to turn the group against each other. Ander sends Commander Tilton to make an alliance with the Gnomes against the Demons. Allanon tries to teach Bandon how to use his gifts, but the Dagda Mor continues to control the seer's mind, forcing him to attack Ander, Catania, and finally Allanon, who subdues him. Elven Councilor Kael Pindanon, thinking Ander too weak to lead the Elves, attempts to seize the throne for herself and has Ander imprisoned. Commander Tilton and Slanter return to Arborlon with a Gnome army and free Ander from prison, and the Council accepts Ander as king after he announces the alliance with the Gnomes. Overcoming the mental assaults of the Guardians, Eretria finds that her blood is the key to unlocking the Bloodfire and impales her hand on a magical spike, causing the Bloodfire to ignite. Wil destroys the Guardians with the Elfstones, and Amberle immerses herself in the Bloodfire. When the Bloodfire vanishes, Wil finds that Amberle is nowhere to be seen, and Eretria is unconscious. The last leaf falls from the Ellcrys, and the Elves and Gnomes prepare for war as the Dagda Mor's Demon army begins its march on Arborlon.

This episode was amazing.. each episode up to this point has moved the story along slowly.. but today we finally get to Safehold and all hell breaks loose. I've really grown to like Eretria, if you asked me back with episode one if she would be a favorite I would have laughed but now she has actually become one of my favorites. I love that she is the key to everything, we've barely scratched the surface of who or what she is. I hope we see more of her past, that is if she survives.. she is currently unconscious/possible dead.  Really enjoyed all the Anders stuff, him claiming the throne then being thrown in the dungeon only to pull off a union between the Elfs and Gnomes.. great stuff. He truly has become the Elven King.  I was hoping Bandon defeated Dagda Mor's mind control but it doesn't look like that happened.

We only have one episode left and I don't know how they are going to resolve all the stuff that's about to happen. We have a war about to start, I do hope they resolve this storyline before it concludes next week. I haven't heard if the series got picked up for a second season or if it was meant to be a mini series and just a 10 episode story arc. Regardless I can't wait to see how this all ends (or doesn't end). Can't wait until next week.

Owing Taxes & New Tivo Feature

So I got a call from my tax guys and the informed me that my taxes were ready. I told her I could stop by tomorrow to pick them up. She then said those dreaded words... "Do you want to know how much you will owe". This is the first time in all the years that I have been paying taxes that I will owe money and it's not just a few hundred, it's a few thousand... I couldn't believe it. I don't know what I did wrong this year but whatever it was I can't do it again for this 2016 taxes. Luckily I have a job and though it will take several weeks to pay the taxes as least I have the money to do it.

On a happier note Tivo introduced a new feature to their units today. You can now literally skip commercials instantly. Before you could fast forward through the commercials but you could never stop in time or you would stop to soon and have to watch a few seconds of commercials. Now you just hit one button and Tivo will jump from the end of one segment to the beginning of the next one instantly.. it's pretty fantastic... thanks Tivo.

Getting Contacts For The First Time

Today I took and extended lunch and headed to Costco to see the eye doctor and see if I could possible get contact. I tried to wear contact back in my 20's and was never able to get them in my eyes. But after years of cosplaying I'm tired of not having my glasses on while at the Con and having to pull them out to read my phone everytime. So I figured I'd try again.

I knew I had to get a new prescription as my prescription for my glasses wouldn't work for contact lenses. I went through your typical eye exam and was told that I could indeed get contacts. I didn't realize that I was going to get contacts right then and there and that they were going to put a set in right away. It was an interesting experience having someone try and poke your eye and you allowing it. After several tries my doctor finally managed to get my right one in. The left one took a bit longer. I kept apologizing for blinking but he said this was perfectly normal. Once they were in they only irritated my eyes for a few minutes before I started to get use to them. These were only my temp contacts as I need a certain prescription and they should be arriving in two weeks but these should work for the time being. It's a very bizarre experience to not have my glasses on yet see extremely well.

But the adventure isn't over.. the doctor now sent me out to his assistant and they were going to teach me how to remove my contact and how to put them in myself. She explained the technique and after ten minutes I managed to get my right contact out.. she was impressed. It took another ten or so minutes for me to get my left one out. I was extremely happy at how fast I got them out. Now the real test.. getting them back in. I tried over and over again but couldn't get it done. Again I kept apologizing to the assistant but like with the Doctor she said this is normal. After about a half hour I managed to get my right contact back in and about twenty minutes later I got my left one in. In all it took me just over an hour to get both of my contacts it.

When I went in to get these contact I didn't intend to wear them all the time. It was more for times when glasses would get in the way, like with cosplay. But after having these in for an hour I played with the idea of wearing on a more regular bases.

I could only wear them for about two hours before I had to take them out, the next day I would do 4 hours then 6 and so on until I could wear them all day. My only issue with these particular contact is that I had to strain a bit when I read text on my phone. The computer wasn't that bad but the phone was nearly impossible and I was just kind of guessing what I was reading and typing. I'm hoping my actual prescription will be better at reading extremely small print. But for now I'll just try and get better at putting them in and taking them out. When I remove them at work it only took me about four attempts to get both out. But the real test will be tomorrow morning and getting them back in.. wish me luck. 

Pete's Dragon Trailer, Geeky Girl Toys & The Magicians Ep 6 Thoughts

Disney released a trailer for the remake of Pete's Dragon. The story looks a bit different then the original which is s classic and I must have seen hundreds of times when I was a kid.

Target stores are one of what I hope will be many retails store that are bringing geeky/nerdy things to the young girl population. As many have know girls can be geeky too and would like to see some of their favorite superheroins made into kick ass action figures. 

Well Target is finally making this happen. From an article about it "Hitting Target shelves this March, “DC Super Hero Girls” action figures – and the accompanying line of clothes featuring girl superhero awesomeness – are pretty freakin’ awesome. The toys will featuring some of the most famous lady superheroes out there like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl and Bumble Bee. But they don’t stop there. They’re also including female villain action figures like Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn." You check out the full article HERE.

In the evening I watched The Magicians. You know I like the series when I watch it live. Tonight's episode is S1 Ep 6 "Impractical Applications" The first-years must pass a set of challenges called "the trials" set by the third years. During these, Quentin and Penny reconcile, Alice and Quentin share secrets, and Kady confesses the truth about her using Penny. Quentin turns into a goose at the end of the trials. Meanwhile, in an attempt to steal spells from Marina, Julia teams up with an older hedge witch who also has connections to Marina. The older Hedge witch turns out to be Kady's Mother and dies in the process of stealing the cabinet of spells from Marina's safe house. Kady had been working for Marina in payment of a debt related to her mother. Kady does not yet know that her mother has died and that Marina is responsible.

This episode has some crazy moments in it. I think the most shocking was the death of Kady's mother. It was very bloody but also looked extremely painful. We just meet this character in this episode but you feel bad for her. What a horrible way to die. I enjoyed the "tests" that the first years were put there. All these tests are so serious as if you don't pass you get your mind swiped and put back into the "normal" world, in essence you flunk out of collage. Some secrets are revealed with some not go good consequence and then of course you have the end when the remaining first years turn into geese and fly off.

Can't wait to see what happens next!!!

NerdStrong - Yoga Tune Up and Mobility for Performance Class

After workout today I headed to Hungry Fox to grab some brunch with some fellow NerdStrongers. As always brunch was fantastic and we had a fun time hanging out after a crazy workout. I walked back to the gym with Lauren and Brent. When we got back Lauren had an hour before she attended a special NerdStrong Yoga Tune Up and Mobility for Performance Class. Brent and I were not attending but we hung around to keep her company. After a half hour the coaches arrived and opened the gym. The three of us went inside and kind of just hung out. Coach Christy came by and asked if I wanted to join the Yoga Tune Up and Mobility for Performance Class as there was one more spot available. I had initially planned to visit my family so I didn't sign up this to class but I found out earlier in the day that everyone is sick so those plans were cancelled.  So I was free so when she asked me I considered it. I asked how much it cost and she said $40, I hesitated for a minute and coach Blair came over and said that he'd pay for it. He said that I do alot of the gym and it's the least he could do. I was very appreciative of the offer so of course I took the last spot.

Suddenly it was time for this 2 hour yoga/mobility class that I never intended on attending. Luckily I had my yoga mat in my car and I was still wearing my gym clothes from my earlier workout. We had a special guest host Alex Ellis leading the class. This yoga/mobility workout is all about working with small, medium and large balls. We started with the balls of our feet and worked all the way up to our neck. Alex was extremely knowledgeable about anatomy, muscles and tendons. She went into great detail about how and why we move the way we do.

The two hours just flew by and the next thing I knew the class was over. It was like giving yourself a massage and it felt amazing. Afterwards we had the option to purchase a set of these magic balls to continue our work on our mobility. I got two of the smaller balls and the large ball. I've used the large ball before in class on my back and it's amazing. The smaller balls are perfect for the feet and calves area. I look forward to continuing with these techniques.

Thank you to coach Christy for offering me the final spot and to coach Blair for making it happen. I'd also like to thank special guest coach Alex for a very informative and relaxing yoga/mobility class. If you want to learn more about Alex and her Yoga Tune Up and Mobility for Performance Class, check out her page HERE.