Kenny's 1st Annual Christmas Party - Day One

Homemade Christmas gifts - Snowman

Woke up early as I normally do as I can't sleep because of the awesomeness that is about to happen today. First thing I did was try and wrap my home made Christmas presents. Well that didn't go as planned so I opted to just leave them be and place them under the Christmas Tree. Since everyone was getting the same thing I figured it didn't ruin the surprise.

The only thing I had to do before the party was get propane. Luckily for me the gas station down the street from my place sells propane so I grabbed my empty tank and headed over. But there was an issue, I was trying to use an older tank and I guess the valve rusted shut and we couldn't open the tank. So I had to jump back into my jeep and drive back up the dirt road to my house and grab my second propane tank and go back down the hill. That one worked so I filled it up and now everything was ready for the party. When I got back to my house my 2nd guest Rupert (Jes being my first) showed up. From 10am to Noon other folks started to show up. We prepped snack foods and drinks and the party official began.

We started off with a few games of Flux (if you don't know what Flux is, it's a pretty awesome card game). I then started to BBQ, after a few grill issues which Anthony and Chris fixed, thanks guy.. we got cooking. While I cooked the gang got a game in of extreme bocce ball. I'd run out and watch and take pictures but had to keep an eye on the BBQ and get everything ready for lunch.

One of the best things that happen this weekend was I got to finally meet Josh. We started as twitter friends and really hit it off. He's one of those rare people that you just know you were meant to have in your life. I found him on facebook and we friended each other there as well and our friendship continued to grow. Anyways long story short we tried to hook up several times but timing has been off and I totally forgot he RSVP'd for the party so when this guy drove up on a motorcycle I couldn't figure out who it was. As I got closer he pulled off his helmet and had a huge smile on his face and it hit me.. OMG IT'S JOSH!!! It was like two long lost friends seeing each other after years of being apart. We hugged and hugged I couldn't contain my excitement in finally meeting/seeing him in person, best Christmas gift EVER!!

I finished up prepping lunch and called everyone in. We all ate lunch and chatted. Once lunch was over the gang split into two groups. One went to play extreme bocce ball while the other stayed inside and watched some "Christmas" movies. I went out and played bocce ball. As we were playing it started to sprinkle but we continued until we finished the game before heading in.

We then started to decorate the delicious Christmas cookies that Anne had made. That was a lot of fun. Anne brought all the things you need to decorate, half of use decorated while the other half visited or watched us. It was some good times.

After cookies Chris and I drove over to Pizza Hut so I could pick up dinner for the night. Got back and everyone ate. Chris and I also did a shot as I was holding off on drinking as I knew I needed to drive to get the pizza. Everyone socialized for a bit. I had mentioned to Chris last time that I consider most of these guys really good friends but I really don't know much about them. He suggested we play a drinking game called "I Never". If you don't know what that is, one person says "I never went skinny dipping" and those who have must drink. Got to find out a few interesting details about my friends... but as we say "What happens at Kenny's parties, stay at Kenny's parties"

 We split again, half went to watch Die Hard in the TV room while the rest of us moved on to a drinking game that we were introduced to at the last movie marathon weekend.. Asshole. That was loads of fun.. well maybe not for everyone, but the majority of the folks seemed to have enjoyed it. Around 1am folks started to get tired. Unlike last time folks started to drink early so they were wiped out. I did my best to find a place for everyone to crash. This was the most we've every had staying the night.. 14 people. Luckily I have a king size bed and surprising can old 3 people. I think I finally fell asleep around 3am.

So day one comes to an end. Didn't get to watch as many Christmas movies as I expected but then again I really didn't want this to be a movie marathon and more of a fun social party which is exactly what it was. And we still have lots of fun things planned for tomorrow.

You can see more pictures from this fun weekend HERE

Party Prep & Dinner

Today I spent the majority of the day getting ready for my Christmas Party weekend. I had to go food shopping but the big thing was that I had to finish about 20 of my handmade Christmas gifts as I was giving one to each person who was coming this weekend and they were far from being complete.

Spent the majority of the day working on my Christmas gifts, but atlas didn't get them all done. I did get my food shopping for the weekend done and managed to clean my entire house. I'm in good shape.

Also during the evening I made some dinner plans to hang out with some old friends that I don't get to see as much as I would like to. We met out in Burbank at a place I had never been do Granville Cafe. I got there first and managed to find a place to park. The other guys were not so lucky. Bruce showed up next followed by Tom and finally Ervin. The place had a great atmosphere and the food was good, but my favorite part was just hanging with these guys. We use to get together on a weekly bases for a TV night every week when I lived closer but now that I'm live a bit further away we don't get to see each over very often. But when we do it's like no time has passed. Thanks guys for a fun evening.

I got back home around 10pm and my friend Jes who was coming to my Christmas Party Weekend arrived early. She live up in the San Fransisco area and drives in the night before for these events. We visited for about a half hour before she went to bed and I went back to work on finishing my Christmas gifts.  Around midnight I finished everything except wrapping them which I will take care of tomorrow before my guests arrive.

I'm very excited for this weekend.. I love my friends and can't wait to spread some holiday cheer with them.

Disneyland & Star Tours

After my trouble with my Jeep I was happy to be on my way to Disneyland. My buddy Andrew and I planned to ride Star Tours the entire time. We arrived at the park around 2pm (a few hours behind schedule), we grabbed a few corn dogs for lunch and then walked over to Tomorrow Land where Star Tours is located. When we got there Andrew wanted to get a picture of us in front of the Star Tours sign. So we asked a young girl to take a picture of us. As we stood there a Disneyland employee walked over to us and said you look like a Star Wars fan ( I was wearing my R2D2 Mickey cap). She asked if we did the ride yet and we said no. She put her hand into her pocket and pulled out some fast passes and said "here, this will get you started". At first she gave us a pair then she gave us seven fast passes that were good all day long since the times were 9:30am to 10am.

We couldn't believe our luck. We knew having these would be a huge help today. And the cool thing was that we went and got another fast pass for 6:30pm so we had four fast passes each and one extra. So we opted to use a pass first as the line was pretty long. And after that we would stand in line then use a pass if the line looked too long. We did this all night. We stopped a few times for bathroom and food breaks but we rode Star Tours a total of 10 times before we called it a night. The cool thing is we saw every scenario after ride number seven. Also Andrew was selected during our 5th ride as the Rebel Spy.  I also tweeted after every ride with what we saw... Here are those tweets.

"Star Tour ride #1 - Stormtroopers, Tatooine (podracers), Admiral Ackbar and Naboo. In line for ride #2 #StarToursMarathon "

"Star Tours ride #2 - Stormtroopers, Tatooine (podracers), Princess Leia, and Death Star. In line for ride #3 #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #3 - Darth Vader, Hoth, Admiral Ackbar, and Coruscant. In line for ride #4 #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #4 - Darth Vader, Hoth, Admiral Ackbar and Coruscant. In line for ride #5 #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #5 - Stormtroopers, Kashyyk, Princess Leia, and Coruscant. In line for ride #6 @andrewseely rebel spy #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #6 - Stormtroopers, Tatooine (podracers), Admiral Ackbar, and Naboo. In line for ride #7 #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #7 - Darth Vader, Hoth, Yoda, and Coruscant. 7 rounds & we've seen everything, even been a spy. #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #8 - Darth Vader, Hoth, Princess Leia, and Coruscant. Plan to go back for a 9th time.. Possibly 10th. #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #9 - Darth Vader, Kashyyk, Yoda, and Coruscant. In line for our 10th and final ride tonight. #StarToursMarathon"

"Star Tours ride #10 - Stormtroopers, Hoth, Princess Leia, and Coruscant. We did it!! 10 times in 9 hours. BEYOND EPIC!!! #StarToursMarathon"

It was a pretty incredible day. Never thought I would go to Disneyland and ride one ride all day long but it wasn't has hard as I thought it would be. We could have gone more times if we had time but by 11pm we were spent and we accomplished 10 times, which felt great. It was a great experience and one that I will remember for many years to come.

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen/direct download http://MASH4077Podcast.com

Show Notes

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

Today we cover Season 1, Episode #22 - Major Fred C. Dobbs
Directed by Don Weis
Written by Larry Gelbart & Sid Dorfman
Production code J320
Original air date March 11, 1973

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Hawkeye and Trapper's latest scheme succeeds where no other one has; Frank has finally demanded that he be transferred to another unit. But when another prank embarrasses both Frank and Hot Lips over the P.A., she also demands a transfer. However, when Hawkeye and Trapper discover they will be assigned double duty until replacements are found, they decide to trick Frank into staying by convincing him there’s a fortune in gold to be found near the camp.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny, Meds & Al

Jeep Woes

Today I got up early and was really excited as I was going to Disneyland with my buddy Andrew. I was driving down the 14 and almost got to the 5 when I was going up an hill and noticed that my acceleration was decreasing even though I was pushing down the gas harder and harder. I knew something was wrong and made my way to the side of the freeway and parked. As I stopped my jeep smoke started to billow out of the hood. I jumped out and opened my hood and saw some sort of liquid all over the engine. My first thought was I blew a head gasket and that it was oil all over the place. There goes me trip to Disney today :(

I called AAA and as I waited I swore to myself that I wouldn't put anymore big money into this jeep. I would have to buy a new car, which in turn would mean I would have to cancel my England/Ireland trip. I was hoping it wasn't the head gasket and something much more cheaper. About 10 minutes passed when the tow truck arrived. The guy gave it a quick look and noticed that one of my hoses was off and that's were all the liquid came from. That actually made me feel a bit better. He also mentioned that it was my transmission line and not oil, which makes sense why I lost acceleration. Now the only question is did I cause any internal damage getting over to the curb. Luckily I didn't drive more then a few minutes after the issue happened.

The tow truck to me to a local repair shop and after a two hour wait, they replaced two hoses and gave my jeep a clean bill of health. Only cost me $125 which isn't bad, compared to what I thought it would cost. So England/Ireland trip is still on and I'll continue to drive this car until it's next big repair.

Also since it was only a few hours I continued on to my friends Andrews and we headed to Disneyland (that will be my next blog).

Visiting my 3 Day Old Niece

Today I went down to visit family. Had lunch with my pops and then went Christmas shopping with him and finished all my shopping (with exception to one person). The plus side of visiting pops today is Lora and Molly got home from the hospital today. So I go to visit with my 3 day old Niece. And my Mom was visiting as well so I got to visit with my entire family which was great. Molly looks to have lost a bit of weight but she's still as adorable as ever. I got to cuddle with her for a bit which was great. Spent about six hours visiting.. it was some good times.

Shipping Presents

Well it's a little later then expected but I finally was able to ship out presents to my friends in other states as well as other countries. Friends in other states will get their Christmas gifts in time for Christmas. Friends out of the country might not, as I missed the guarantee deliver deadline by one day. :( But they did say that it will more then likely get there before Christmas. It's crazy expensive to ship things internationally. I sent three packages to England/Ireland and each one cost between $35 - $40 each to ship. Luckily I love the guys I sent them too so it's all good. :)

New Addition to the Family

Got I call from my brother at 8:30am this morning. He informed me that Lora (my pregnant sister-in-law's) water had broken and they were off to the hospital. It didn't come as a surprise as she is due and was actually going to go in next week to give birth (C section). He told me not to rush over as they weren't sure when she would be actually giving birth. I had stuff to do around the house so I took care of all that stuff. It was pouring rain outside and I really hate driving in it so I kept putting off leaving hoping it was lighten up a bit.. well it didn't and around noon I headed over. It's normally a 2 hour drive to the hospital but with the rain it took me about 3 hour to get there. I actually got there about 15 minutes before my brother came out with his new daughter Molly Skye. She is 8 pounds, 10 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. She's perfect in every way. Got to spend about 2 second with her before she was whisked off to the nursery. Went back to the waiting room with my Mom, Chuck (step dad), Vicki (Lora's Mom) and Wendy (Lora's sister). About a half hour later Mom and Chuck left and Lora was moved to a temporary room so she could be watched. We were able to go in one at a time and visit her. I spent about five minutes in there to see how Lora was doing. She was feeling great and happy that Molly was finally out. After another hour they moved her to her room (she's staying in the hospital for 2 days). I popped in and said goodbye before heading home. Again it took me about 3 hours to get home and it was still pouring down rain. So I spent 6 hours on the rain soaked roads but it was totally worth it to welcome my new niece into the world.

Happy Birthday Molly Skye Mittleider!!!

Lazy Sunday

Well it actually wasn't a Lazy Sunday as I did edit my next MASH 4077 Podcast and made some more Christmas gifts but for the most part I really didn't do as much as I hope to. But I do have an excuse as I'm still not feeling 100%, this stupid cold is holding on. I started to feel better for a few days then I'd wake up and not feel so hot.

Another good thing about Sunday, so much good TV is on. My most anticipated show this season is Once Upon A Time.. I say it every week.. I LOVE THIS SERIES!! If you're not watching it you're really missing out on something special. It did really well in the ratings when it first came out but the past few episodes the ratings have been a bit softer. I'm hoping it's because of the holidays and when it comes back in January the rating will get back up to the numbers of it's premiere. It did get picked up for a full season (22 episodes) so that makes me happy and it's still the #1 new Drama on ABC. As for the show I'm loving the story, the back and forth from "real" world to "fairytale" world is so well done. I'm a huge fantasy lover and I'm really enjoying how they are envisioning these fairytale characters. Now it's on it's holiday hiatus and will return early January.

Another show I really love is Amazing Race. This is the 19th season and the finale. This season has had it's ups and downs and the finally really was so loop sided as one team really pulled ahead and never lost the lead. I'm happy with the winner, they ran a great race and really deserved to win. Now I have to wait for season 20, which I know they shot just not sure when it will premiere.