Gaming, Podcasting and Helping a Friend

So I got up this morning and was on a high from yesterday's game play that I immediately jumped on LOTRO with Chris to play some more. I had planned to only play for a few hours as I had several podcasts that needed to be edited. So I told Chris I was only going to play until noon, well noon came and I told him.. let's play another hour and then another hour and so on. Well needless to say I didn't edit any of my podcasts and finally pulled myself away around 5pm as I needed to go to my friends Jes and Dallas' new place to help them move in.

So what I was hoping wouldn't happened finally did. I knew if i started an MMO that I would become addicted and though I can control the urge to play most of the time (like not staying up all night playing and being tired at work the next day) This was the first time that I allowed my love of the MMO to get in the way of my podcasting life. I know it's going to happen from time to time but I really need to make sure it doesn't become the majority.

After saying goodbye to Chris and LOTRO I headed to North Hollywood where my friend Jes had already arrived from San Fransisco area and folks were already unloading the truck. Friends Aaron, Rupert, Nicki, Anne, Robert and Brett were there, also Jes' friend Rachel and of course Jes and Dallas. I quickly parked and jumped in.  The truck was unloaded in about an hour. The tough part was that they lived at the very back of the apartment complex and on the third floor which meant we had to climb two set's of stairs to get there. It was a lot of work carrying the heavier stuff like the couches up there but for the most part it went fairly smoothly. Afterwards Rupert, Nicki, Anne and Aaron went to the Hammer Improv show, Rachel stayed with the apartment and Jes, Robert, Brett and I drove the Uhaul over to Dallas' old place to pick up some of his things. The big item is the refrigerator and the fact that they don't have a dolly for it. So we moved what little Dallas had and then saved the fridge for the end. With four guys it actually wasn't that bad. It also had wheels so for the majority of the time to get it to the truck was rolled it. Getting on the truck wasn't so bad as well as getting off the truck. The fun part was taking it up the two flights of stairs. But honestly in the end it sounded alot harder then it actually was. As I  mentioned with Robert, Dallas, Brett and I it wasn't so bad carrying it up the stairs. But with that said I was so happy when we were completely done and could just chill. Oh I forgot to mention during the moving a little friend came out to watch. -->

Afterwards Jen showed up (yeah good timing). She, Brett, Robert and I went out to the store to get some beer and pick up some Carl's Jr. We were all so hungry and the food was so yummy. Well not for Brett who was kind of sick :(. We hung out at their new place to about 11:30 before calling it a night and heading home.

You know you have a great group of friends when six or seven of them come out to help you move on a Saturday evening. It was alot of fun and I'm so happy that Jes is now down here in the LA with us.

IMDB, Wondercon and LOTRO

Today I got my professional invite for Wondercon this year. Since I proved I was a professional last year and then again this year for SDCC (which are ran by the same people) I figured I was good to go. But when I checked I had to verify once again that I'm a professional. So I went to my IMDB page to print it out and realized that it hasn't been updated and there there are still some missing shows/episodes that I worked on for various things. Gonna have to do a major update on it soon. 

So I filled out my application, scanned the IMDB pages and PGA card and emailed them to the Con to be approved once again. I hope this is the last time (at least for 3 years) that I have to do this.

It was another busy week at work so when I got home I jumped on LOTRO and played for a bit to unwind. I started putting stuff that I have found, made and mined up on the auction block and I've been making some nice gold from it. It's become kind of an obsession of mine. I'll spend an hour or two just roaming around finding things, mining gold, tin, copper, iron and silver.  But today I was playing with my buddy Chris (as usual) and he roped us into joining a temporary fellowship to do an instance (a raid) that needed five or more people. This would be the first time that I'd be working with a group for a common goal. I have to say it was one of the best experiences I'd had playing this game. I can understand why folks love raiding. My little Hobbit is the muscle and would run in before everyone else and draw all the fire/attacks, then the fellowship would swoop in and pick them off. We played for about four hours, the time just flew by and before I knew it was past midnight. Luckily it was a Friday and I didn't have to be up for work in the morning.

It was a perfect way to end my crazy week. I can't wait until Chris and I can build our own Fellowship and do some instances with them.

Struggling with my Weight

So if you are a regular reader of my blog you know I have been struggling with my weight the past... well my entire life. I've never been a thin person. I'm short 5'3" and have a stocky built. Most of high school I kept my weight in check at around 145/150. In collage it went up to 165/175 and then in my 30's to 40's and after I meet Harry it ballooned to a whopping 219 (which is the heaviest I have ever been).

The past few years I have really tried to lose weight. I started working out and tried my best to eat better. But it's extremely hard after 40 years of doing something the same way. I love working out, I love the feeling it gives me knowing that I'm doing something good for my body. So when I start a new workout, it's great for about 3 months, then I'll get sick and not do it for a week or two and when I'm better I just can't find the motivation to start back up. Then six or seven months down the road I'll do it again and once again it's great until I'm sick and stop again. This goes on and on...

When I do workout I do manage to lose weight. For the past two years I have struggled to get below 200. Last year my goal was to drop from 217 to under 200 and I did it. For one entire day I was 199. But since then I have gone back and forth. It's not as bad as 219 but I fluctuate between 201 and 208. I just can't get below the 200 mark. I'm currently 206 and I hate it. I know as I get older this extra weight is not good for my body. I'm in my 40's and that starting to get in the range of heart attacks and strokes due to being overweight. I'm on cholesterol and high blood pressure medicine, both of which I could probably stop taking it if I lost the weigh, my weight keeps me from getting a good night sleep.

I know all this but still I can't seem to make it work... why is it so hard, is it going to take me having a heart attack or stroke to make me take this seriously? I hope not. I have no excuse. I have a $1000 gym set up in my garage, all I have to do is get my butt out there three to four times a week. And I know working out won't solve everything if I can't eat better. I'm addicted to fast food, I have been my entire life. I like very few vegetables but I am trying to eat more. I need to start off small and cut back on fast food and hopefully with in time I can limit it to once or twice a week. I'll never be skinny. I'll never been what the medical institute sees as my ideal weight, between 107 to 135. I've never been that skinny even as a kid. I'll be happy with 150 but will settle with 160. That means I have to lose over 40 pounds... I just don't know where to start.

Work, Celebrity & Buffy... oh my

Well the past few days at work have been pretty much the same. I get up at 6:30am, leave for work at 8am, get to work around 9am, take my lunch at 1pm, get off at 7pm and I'm home by 8pm. The work is crazy busy, frustrating at times, but also lots of fun. I enjoy the people I work with, the show I'm working on is a reality show but it's one of those ones with heart. Lot's of tears will be shed watching it. I love the location of the post facility, it's in the valley which makes it closer to where I live, less traffic, which is always good. It's close to several friends houses so we can hang more often. And there are several good places to eat near by for lunch.

Speaking of lunch today while walking back I saw this tall guy coming out of this building and as I passed by I noticed it was Ron Peralman. I'm a huge fan, been one since he played the Beast in Beauty and the Beast TV series from the 80's. But my favorite role he has done in recent years was playing Hellboy in the Hellboy movies. Anyways he was walking over to get his car from the valet. If he wasn't talking to the valet person I probably would have said hello, but instead we made eye contact, I smiled, he smiled and gave me a nod. It was pretty cool.

After work today I drove to the Santa Monica area to spend some time with my buddy Robert. We were continuing our dinners and Buffy viewing. Took about an hour to get to his place, which I expected, but traffic wasn't bad it's just driving across the entire city.

For our Buffy Rewatch/1st Time we finished off Season Three with Choices, The Prom and Graduation Day parts 1 & 2. As always it was a fun evening of Buffy, pizza and good company. Not sure we will be able to do this ever week but I'm hoping we can continue at least once every two weeks. Next up we move on to Season 4.

To Share.. or Not To Share

I've been debating how personal I should be on this blog lately. I mean if it was a anonymous blog then I would have no problem spilling out all my inner thoughts. But because I do acknowledge and promote this blog I tend to hold back on the personal stuff. I mean the title of my blog is "My Life As A Geek" and I do try and post mainly geeky things but occasionally I'll post some personal things like being alone, work or being gay and it's nice to be able to share those kinds of things every once in a while. It's kind of therapeutic to be able to vent to my faceless followers (not that I have many). Plus those things are part of my geeky life. But the real question is, what is too personal and how much of my personal life do I really want out there. I mean I'm already a pretty open person when it comes to the internet, I've been blogging full time for over seven years. But I do hold back on certain topics.. maybe I should reconsider.

What do you guys think? I'd appreciate your thoughts on this subject... thanks

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 46

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen or get a 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 2, Episode #22 - George
46th Episode Overall
Directed by Gene Reynolds
Written by Regier and Markowitz
Production code K422
Original air date February 16, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: A decorated soldier arrives at the 4077th as the result of a fight and confides to Hawkeye that he is homosexual. Hawkeye and Trapper try to preserve his secret and prevent him from receiving a dishonorable discharge, courtesy of Frank.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny

Moving on Up!!

Today I start my second week on this new job. I've been working on the post production schedule all last week and guess what I'm starting my Monday with.. yep the same post schedule. One good thing that happened today... we were suppose to have eight editors but after I got done with the schedule I realized that we only really need seven so that freed up one of our edit bays to be an office and of course I snapped it up.

Up to now I've been in the "bullpen" area with the story people, who are great but it's really out in the open and there is a lot a traffic going back and forth. Also when my post coordinator starts in a few months that place will be packed. So I moved my future post coordinator and I into this new office.

I got it all set up and was in it for about four hours when the executive producer came in and said "I need an office here, find me one". Well there are no offices left, they are all edit bays as I mentioned and this one just opened up. But if the EP wants an office the EP gets an office so I offered her up my new office.. I'm waiting to hear back from her.

After work I was jonesing for some Lord of the Rings Online and hang time with my bestie Chris. Soon as I got home and fired up the machine. I quickly ate dinner and then jumped on with Chris. We quested for about two hours and had a blast. Chris had to head to work so I finished by going back to my Hobbit hole and unloading all my loot that I gathered during these quests.

Chris purchased a VIP membership to LOTRO last week. I've been debating on doing it and tonight I saw an ad saying I could get a 12 month membership for only $99.99. It's normally $14.99 a month and since I'm loving it so much and don't see myself stopping anytime soon I went ahead and purchased the membership for the entire year. With this membership comes lots of perks and I can't wait to explore all the perks in the coming weeks.

I know I joke about being addicted to this game... but I'm really not. When I play I only play for a few hours and I don't sacrifice sleep to play. I may put off podcasting or watching TV to play but that's different. Do I wish I could play more.. OH HECK YEAH!!! But I know I have limited time. I'll just enjoy the time I am able to play and when I have more time.. then I'll play more.

Podcasts and More Podcasts

Today I was hoping to be more productive then I actually was. I was recording six episodes of my MASH 4077 podcast today with my buddies/co-hosts Al and Meds. That wasn't going to happen until Noon. I had gotten up around 8am so I had a few hours to kill and my plan was to edit my next MASH podcast, which is due to be released in a few days.  Well as I said that was my plan.. instead I watched TV. Now to be fair I do have a large amount of shows recorded on my DVR so that does need to be done at some point but I was really hoping to work on my podcasts.

So noon came and for the next two hours we recorded six new episodes of MASH 4077 podcast (for Feb, March and April). We had some fun conversations I think these one will be very entertaining.  Afterwards I made some lunch and once again went back to watching TV. I chatted with friends online here and there and I really procrastinated for a few hours. I finally go started on edited the next MASH podcast and sure enough I ran into avid audio problems over and over again. So what should have taken me three hours to edit I spent seven hours editing. I did take a break at 8:30 to watch the new episode of Once Upon a Time with my bestie Chris (it's our thing).

But when that was over I went back to editing and finally finished around 11pm. So episode 46 of MASH is prepped and ready to be released on Jan. 15th. Now time for bed!! Gotta go to work tomorrow.