Getting My Hobbit On!!!

Today was pretty much a day full of Lord of the Rings Online. My best bud, my compadre, my bosom buddy, my confidant, my pal Chris was home and able to jump online with me. The big thing for the day was us buying a Kinship house for our Fellowship - Free Alliance of Middle Earth (F.A.M.E). We started this Kinship together and though we have like 20 members very few of them actually are still playing. So Chris and I traveled to The Shire to look at homes, then to the Dwarven homestead, then to man and finally Elven.

We liked the size of the Kinship houses in the Shire and the Elf homesteads. Man and Dwarfs were small and very much the same. If you read this blog and know anything about me you know I'm a huge fan of all things Hobbit. So when Chris said he didn't care which homestead we chose I of course said The Shire. So we purchased our Kinship home just down the road from our individual homes in The Shire... cost 16 gold.

So now we had the house the next thing was getting furniture and things to fill it up, both Chris and I had left overs from our individual homes but that barely made a scratch and we had to go shopping to buy a ton more. Each of the homesteads have twenty or so things you can buy. Chris was insistent that we purchase one of everything from each homestead. I was trying to be more selective, not only because it was my hard earned gold and silver we were spending but I didn't want to wind up with a ton of extra things that we would have to store. Well Chris pushed and I finally gave in and purchased one of everything. I'm actually very happy that Chris did push me as it really didn't cost me that much to buy all that stuff and it did give us option on what to use. We also had very little left over when we were done and we actually had to go back out and buy more to fill in the gaps.

By the time we were done it was around 1pm and I had to take a break and make some lunch. While eating a watched a bit of TV before jumping back online, Chris was still on and we played more LOTRO.. this time we did a bit of Questing, that's my favorite part... around 7pm Chris had to call it a night since he had to be at work early the next morning.

Since Chris was gone I started prepping my Alien Nation Podcast, I uploaded the actually TV series episode to Avid and also the raw audio files from our recording yesterday. I plan on editing it up tomorrow.

Family and a Podcast Fiasco

Today was family day, I drove a few hours to visit my dad, brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece. I hadn't seen them in a few weeks and I like to get down there every two to three weeks. I stopped by my favorite Chinese restaurant and picked up some lunch for Dad and I and then went to Mickey D's for a hamburger for my nephew. When I pulled up my nephew was waiting for me outside and ran up to my car to greet me... loved

While I was eating the nannies friend was talking and kept saying something about her boyfriend wanting to do this and that "he's so gay" and omg "that's so gay". She used it about four or five times. I know that it's just a saying and that for some reason it's prevalent in today's younger generation but being a gay man I was offended. But more so I was upset that she was saying it in front of my nephew and niece. I debated on saying something at the time but I know that my brother and sister-in-law love their nanny and I didn't want to cause any conflict... but I did talk to my sister-in-law later that day about the incident.

I played with my nephew for a few hours until my brother got home. We needed to record several Alien Nation podcasts as one is due to be released next week. My nephew and I were playing light sabers and man can that boy hit hard. I retaliated and may have hit him a bit harder then I planned but it made him burst into tears and run to his mom. I felt horrible, I've never made my nephew cry before. I felt like such a bad uncle and I was sure he wasn't going to like me after that. Of course fifteen minutes later he was attacking me again and wanting to play.

My brother and I have decided, thought it's more convenient for him that we record at his house, with the kids there it's nearly impossible. My niece was in rare form and was screaming the entire time we tried to record the podcast... at one point I said screw it just talk and our listeners will have to deal with the screaming kid behind us.  We recorded for about 16 minutes when we heard these loud scrapping sounds. My niece was pushing dining room chairs around on the wood floors. My brother went to investigate so I paused the recording.. well I actually stopped it. So when we were ready to record again I pressed record but was so frazzled that I actually only pressed play so for the next 50 minutes we went on with the podcast and had a great time and when I went to stop recording I realized that we hadn't recorded anything for the last 50 minutes :(

At this point my brother was done, we had planned to watch two episodes and then record two podcasts.. now we were just struggling to get one done. If we didn't have a deadline in less then a week I'm sure we would have given up and tried again later but we had to get at least this podcast recorded. So we started back up, this time I made sure the recorder was recording. It's always hard doing the same podcast over again as you always forget stuff and the second time around never really turns out as great as the first.. but I have to say I think our second time was just as if not better then our first.

It was a long and exhausting day but we did manage to record at least one episode and I was able to spend some quality time with my family.

The Date

I don't normally talk about my relationships on my blog, it tends to be an off topic subject for me but occasionally I feel like sharing important milestones and today I think was an important one.

Some of you might not know this but ever since Harry and I broke up in January of 2011 I have not dated a single person... yes it's been over two years. At first it was because I was coming out of an eight year relationship and didn't want to jump back into anything to soon. And then it became just a normal part of my life. I came to the conclusion that I am single and it seems like I'll be single the rest of my life. Though I've been extremely lonely during those two years it never motivated me to do anything about it. I figured if I was meant to find someone then it would happen. And though I have some gorgeous guys in my life (you know who you are..) they are unfortunately straight as an arrow. But the past few months I have decided to not just sit around and hope for Mr. Right to knock on my door. I signed up for several online dating sites and for the past few months I have gotten a few bites (not much really). But one in particular caught my eye and we started chatting.

As the week went by we talked via the sites messaging system and we seemed to get along and wanted to meet in person.. so today I had my very first lunch date in over 10 years. People kept asking me if I was nervous and I wasn't. After being in a relationship for 8 years I know what I want in a partner and I know what I'm willing to overlook. So I went into this date with no expectations.

I won't go into great details about the date, but it was very enjoyable. Started off a bit rocky as we were to meet up at Universal Citywalk, Hard Rock Cafe at 12:30pm. He didn't arrived until about 1:15pm. It was partly my fault as I've been to Citywalk many times and know where to park and go. Well he is new to LA and still learning the area and had no idea where to park or go. He finally just parked down on the street and walked up the hill to Citywalk.. I felt bad for not thinking of explaining where to park for Citywalk. But once he was there everything else went smoothly. We had some good conversations, we got to know each other a bit better, we also talked geek as he is also a geek, maybe not to the extreme as me but he could hold his own. We weren't able to explore Citywalk as planned as he was parked at a 2 hr meter and time was limited. I offered to drive him back to his car and when I dropped him off I was feeling like things went well. I enjoyed my time with him and was willing to give it another date to see what happens. As I was saying Thank you, I mentioned maybe doing it again sometime. He hesitated and then said.. "um yeah" and then exited my car. Hmmm not really sure what happen but that's how it goes sometimes.

The upside to this is I've started dating again. I have taken the next step in not being alone. Even if things didn't turn out as planned it was a good date and a great way to jump back in to the dating pool... I call it a success.

Potter, Buffy and Bros

Today before I went over to my buddy Robert's place for "Buffy and Bros" I stopped by Whimsic Alley with my friends the Luchsinger. Neither Jennifer or Matt had been to the Harry Potter store before and both of them are big Harry Potter fans (well Jennifer a bit more then Matt). We got there around 5:30pm, a half hour before they closed. Both of them really enjoyed the place. If you haven't been, it really is a cool store and I love taking Harry Potter fans for the first time. Luckily for us we were only there for a half hour.. I think if we would have stayed longer Jennifer would have done alot more damage to her back account then she already did. Matt was more reserved and only purchased a hat. I always fight to not buy everything in the store.. but this time they had Hobbit mini buttons and they were only 99 cents each.. only problem I had to have the entire group which meant 13 Dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf which meant I spent just under $20 for all of them.

Next up is Buffy and Bros with one of my favorite people in the world... Robert. Got to Roberts and we walked down to Taco Bell for some dinner before going back to his place and starting our Buffy viewing..

Tonight if we are lucky we will finish up season four. We started the night with "Where the Wild Things Are" Here's a brief synopsis; At a fraternity party, Buffy and Riley are compelled to have sex by a mystical influence. The party is held in a house — formerly a home for wayward children — that is haunted by angry manifestations of children who were physically and emotionally abused by the woman who managed the home. I enjoyed the episode, I mean it's wasn't one of the best but just an okay episode.

Next was "New Moon Rising" Here's a quick synopsis; Oz arrives back in Sunnydale, seemingly able to control his wolf side even during the full moon, and presents Willow with a difficult choice. Compared to the first episode we watched tonight I really enjoyed this episode. It truly is the beginning of the Tara and Willow relationship. As much as I loved Oz and Willow as a couple, He had he chance and blew it. Willow has moved on and Tara is one of my favorite characters from the series. Great episode.

Our third episode of the night was "The Yoko Factor" Here's a quick synopsis; Adam agrees to remove Spike's chip if he helps him by isolating Buffy from the rest of the Scooby Gang. This was the first and only time I can think of when it would have been good to have seen the Angel episode that happens before this episode. When Angel started there were a few cross overs but you never had to watch Angel to enjoy Buffy or vis verse.. but this episode starts off with Buffy returning from visiting Angel and it just made things difficult to understand. I'm glad this is the only episode (that I can remember) that this happen. Was still a good episode.. just a bit confusing.

 For our fourth episode of the night we watched "Primeval" Here's a quick synopsis; The Scooby Gang foil Adam's plan to create an army of hybrid cyborg monsters. Buffy magically joins with the rest of the gang to kill Adam after an intense fight. Even though this is the second to last episode of season four this truly is the ending of the season four storyline. It's a very enjoyable episode. Has one of my favorite moments at the end when Buffy is combined with the scooby gang and become super Buffy. I love when she just hold her hand up and turns those large grenades into doves... that entire scene was pretty awesome.

Now we normally watch just 3 to 4 episodes but since we had one more for the season we decided to go with five.. so for our fifth and final episode of the night we watched "Restless" Here's a quick synopsis; "Restless" is characterized by bizarre dream settings which illustrate the four main characters' overall themes as well as providing extensive hints about future developments. It follows the Scooby

Gang's victory over the villain Adam by magically joining in "Primeval", which has summoned the essence of the First Slayer (who is not happy about how Buffy is handling the job). Extremely bizarre, interestingly shot and lots of set up for the next season. Folks normally love or hate this episode. I think it's Joss being very experimental so I can enjoy it on that level. I haven't seen it in a while and watching it again I think I enjoyed it more as I knew what craziness was about to happen. Probably not the best episode to end the night on for Robert. But woohoo... we finished another season, only 3 more seasons to go.

Next up Season Five and one of my all time favorite big bads... Glory. I can't wait!!!!

My Online Presence

Today I spent half my day really organizing all my social media outlets. I now have a master document that has all my twitter, facebook, g+ accounts. Also all my Domain URL's, Blog sites, webpages and anything else I do online.

Having all this information in one place not only makes my life easier but it's shows me how much of my life revolves around the internet.

I have eight twitter accounts. My main one @Geekyfanboy, five for my podcasts @KnightsofGuild, @FanboyPodcast, @AlienNationCast, @Geek_Roundtable, @MASH4077Podcast. I have one for my new webseries (can't post what it is just yet) and one for my Hobbit alter ego @MyHobbitLife

I have five facebook accounts, my main one for me, three for my podcasts, Knights of the Guild, MASH4077 and Confessions of a Fanboy and one that my friend started and made me an co-owner of Lil' Guldies. I also have two group on Facebook that I started and run The Geek Mob & my new webseries (which I can't announce yet).

I have four G plus accounts, one person, and the others are for podcasts. Knights of the Guild, MASH4077 Podcast and Confessions of a Fanboy.

I have 2 Youtube accounts, one is for personal and the other is for Knights of the Guild Podcast

I have  17 Domains but only 8 active and being used.. they other 9 are URL's that I liked and will hopefully use one day.

I have eight email address, 2 are for personal use (hoping to go down to one soon). Five are for podcasts and 1 is for my new webseries.

I have five of my podcasts on Stitcher Radio and when my sixth one is up and running that too will be on Stitcher.

I have three Blogs on blogspot. One personal "My Life As A Geek" and the two others are for Knights of the Guild and MASH 4077 Podcast.

I have six Podbean accounts, one for each of my podcasts. Knights of the Guild Podcast, MASH 4077 Podcast, Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast, The Geek Roundtable and My Gimpy Life Podcast.

I don't know what would happen if all of a sudden the internet was gone. Some say I would finally get a life, but I love what I do online, I love the people I get to meet online doing what I do. Social Media has become a big part of my life and will be a big part of my life for the unseeable future.

Lunch with Jenni & KOTG Talk

Today I had lunch with my former co-host of Knights of the Guild podcast, Jenni. I haven't seen her in a good year or so but we talk online here and there. It was great getting to hangout with her again and catch up on each others lives. She has really taken off in the entertainment industry and I'm so happy for her. Sitting there talking to her really made me miss the good ol' days of recording podcasts with her. Knights of the Guild podcast was about the Guild but what I think the listeners really enjoyed was the banter between Jenni and I. She was the funny one and I played the perfect "straight" guy. When she left the podcast it was never the same again. I think it went from a fun fan community driven show to pretty much me doing interviews with the cast and crew. I still think it's a great supplement to the webseries as it does take you behind the scenes but it lost some of it's charm when she left.

Now that the podcast it winding down I was able to talk with her about coming back for a few episodes to help finish off the podcast properly. I don't know when that will be as I still have some interviews from season six but stay tuned, there are some fun plans brewing.

After lunch she took me across the street to the offices of Geek and Sundry (She's a producer over there). It was fun to see how big this You Tube channel has gotten. It started out in Felicia's converted garage and now has offices on Sunset in Hollywood. Unfortunately Felicia was not in the office today so I wasn't able to say hi but it was fun seeing where all the action takes place.

We said our goodbyes and swore that it wouldn't be another year before we saw each other again.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 51

Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or Listen, get direct download from our main website 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 3, Episode #3 - Officer of the Day
51st Episode Overall

Directed by Hy Averback
Written by Laurence Marks
Production code B307
Original air date September 24, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Hawkeye is named "Officer of the Day", which means he has to tend to various matters throughout the camp, including the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel Sam Flagg, who orders Pierce to patch up a wounded prisoner of war so he will survive to his execution. He also treats five local Koreans, all named Kim Luck, as well as conducting a camp search for Radar's missing teddy bear.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny

Game of Who!!!

On our way home from Wondercon I was to drop off Chris at Dallas and Jes' place as they were going to drive him to the airport in the early AM the next morning.

We decided to get some dinner and watch the latest Doctor Who as it returned last night with brand new episodes. This was the return of new companion Clara who has been in the previous episodes but has died both times. In this episode the Doctor finds Clara in present day London and fights an enemy via the city's "Wi-Fi soup".

Overall I enjoyed the episode. I really like the new companion and was sad to see her die twice. I was hoping they were going to use a companion who wasn't from modern day but atlas they killed her off in the last Christmas episode and we now have the Clara of today. The story was cool but seemed to just happen very quickly and then just as quickly be resolved. I did like the interaction between the Doctor and Clara. I think they have great chemistry way back to the beginning of the seasons Asylum of the Daleks and the two actors never had screen time together. I am looking forward to finding out why The Doctor keeps running into different incarnations of this same girl. Why is she so special.  So a good episode but not an "OMG that was the best" kind of episode. I look forward to next weeks episode and the remainder of this season.

After Who we got to talking about Game of Thrones. I have yet to see this series as I don't have HBO and can't use HBO Go since my internet is so horrible. Jes mentioned that we should watch the first episode and since Chris had not seen it either we thought it was a good idea. I was super excited as I've been trying to find someone with the DVD's so I could watch seasons 1 & 2 (I actually did find someone, Greg Aronowitz and he is going to allow me to borrow them.. I can't wait.) Anyways we watched the first episode. Now I've read the first 2/3'ds of the first book, so I kind of knew what was going on. I think it looks great and it's beautifully shot but it's slow.  Now that doesn't mean I didn't like it. I actually enjoyed it and I can't wait to watch the rest of season 1 and then 2. I had a hard time with the book because I was told it was a fantasy world and though it has those elements it's really more about political intrigue and that didn't interest me at the time. As well as all the underage rape scenes and incests... it just didn't sit well with me. But with the TV series that actually aged the girls up a bit so it's not so bad, though the incest is still there. I look forward to continuing to watch Game of Thrones.

After Game of Thrones Dallas and I worked on my D&D character. We will be starting a game at the end of April, which I am looking forward to. I haven't played D&D since fifth grade and for me that was over 30 years ago. So I rolled some dice and picked some spells. We weren't able to finish everything but I got a start of building my Halfling Wizard. You can be sure I'll be blogging more about D&D when the time comes.

I ended my night be saying goodbye to Jes and Dallas and then saying goodbye to my BFF Chris. It's always hard saying goodbye to him because I know I won't be seeing him for a few months (SDCC, or maybe sooner) but this time it was a bit harder and I really don't know why. My heart actually ached this time around. I felt it in the pit of my chest. I guess it could be because we only got to spend a few days together unlike past hang outs when I got to live with him for a few weeks or SDCC when we get to hang out for a good five to six days. I guess just over two days is just not enough Chris time for me. Anyways I said my goodbye and headed home, thus ended my 2013 Wondercon experience.

Wondercon Day 3 - Sunday

I woke up today around 8am and debated on weather I was going to cos-play or not today. My initial plan was to cos-play both Saturday and Sunday. But with all my issues with my ears and hair I didn't feel like doing that all over again. Also we had to check out of the hotel by 10am and we were going out to breakfast. Now I don't mind being out in public as a Hobbit, I actually quite like it, but I also needed to buy some things which makes it harder when your in costume.

So I went back and fourth for a good half hour. I really love cos-playing and other then hanging out with friends that is the main reason I am here at Wondercon. Robert said I shouldn't, Aaron was indifferent and Chris said I shouldn't but then a few moments later when I did decided that I as not going to cos-play he made me feel guilty for not cos-playing.. yeah that's what Chris does. :)

I was bummed that I didn't cos-play but in the end I think it was for the best. We packed up everything and took it to our cars and then checked out of the Hotel.. just like checking in, checking out was a piece of cake. Afterwards we walked over to iHop for some much needed breakfast.

The con was to open at 11am so we made our way over there just after 11. We hooked up with Brett and Daniella once again and started to do some shopping. I wanted to get some "Pop" bobble head Star Wars figures. Jes bought me a set a few years ago for my birthday and since then I've purchased the continuing series of figures. They also had some Hobbit one and I couldn't pass those up. We then went over to the artist alley as you can find some great pictures from local artists. This was a big mistake for my wallet as I spent way to much money but I did find some fantastic prints. I think my favorites are some gender bending X-men characters. Rogue and Phoenix as hot guys, Supergirl as a guy (not Superman) and a few others. I could defiantly do some damage at this table. The artist is Joe Phillips http://www.joephillips.com/ He has a sexy take on some classic super heroes. Check it out...

Once again several friends joined our group and left our group though out the day. Robert left mid day as he wasn't feeling great and his friend Daniella soon followed. We ran into Scott, Red 5, Keri, Marissa and Greg Aronowitz and chatted for a bit. Soon our party was down to Chris, Aaron, Rupert, Brett, Luis and I.  We decided to go over to the gaming area and play a game of Ticket to Ride. Brett had to leave us before the game was over but in the end Chris beat Luis by 2 cars to take the game... it was a ton of fun.

We had about and hour or so left before the con closed. We wandered around another half hour before Chris and I called it a day.

Over all Wondercon 2013 was exactly what I was hoping it would be. A place for me to cos-play and get my Hobbit on as well as having a fun time hanging with friends and enjoying the geeky/nerdy atmosphere. San Diego Comic Con is coming up next and I can't wait.. 

You can see more con pictures HERE