IT Crowd, Thrones and a Friend

Today my good friend Jen came over to hang out. We haven't had a one on one hangout in quite a while and it was long over due. She got here around noon and he headed out to El Pollo for some lunch. While we were out we grabbed some snacks as we planned to chill out and watch some TV.

Jen introduced me to The IT Crowd, I had heard of it but didn't really know much about it until we watched the 1st season at our last "hangout". I watched season two and some of three back in November of 2012, so today we are going to finish season 3 and watch season 4. When season 4 was over I was sad that that was going to be it.. but I did hear that they are doing at 40 minute one-off episode to wrap things up. It's not as good as a full season five but will take what we can get. Any amount of Roy, Moss and Jen is always a good thing.

The IT Crowd is such a funny show, Moss was my favorite when I first started watching but I've really taken a liking to Roy (I mean he's so adorable). I use to really dislike Jen but she's grown on me but I still very much dislike the owner of the company. I was disappointed to see quite a few episodes in season 4 that revolved around this very unlikable character (including the last episode of the series).

After the IT Crowd, we watched some more Game of Thrones. Jen loaned me her blu-rays of seasons 1 and 2, but I've only been able to really watch the first two episodes of season one. So we continued to watch starting with Season 1 Ep 3.

I have heard that it's extremely slow at times and I agree but like that. It's all about the characters and building the drama. I read 2/3'ds of the first book so I kind of have an idea of what's going on so maybe that helps with the pacing. But so far I'm loving it.

We took a break and headed to Vasquez Rocks for a hike, we figured since we were snacking on donuts and chips we should try and counter that with a good hike. We hike Vasquez for over 45 minutes. It was beautiful outside and a very nice hike. 

Back home we continued with Game of Thrones.. S1 Ep 4. We made some dinner that we had purchased earlier from the store and then watched S1 Ep 5. Again, loving the storytelling and the characters. I know Jen could have kept going and to be honest so could I but it was already pass 11pm and I figured this was a good place to stop.. I'm halfway through season 1. I can't wait to get back to it and finish off season 1 and move on to season 2.

Thanks Jen for a fun day of awesome TV shows and great company.. hope it's not another year before we can do this again.

Knights of the Guild Ep 51

My trim painting continued.. nothing to exciting.. just painting.

I did manage to edit and release the next episode of Knights of the Guild podcast.

Download from itunes: bit.ly/KotGCast, Listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/linep or Listen / Direct Download from the main website bit.ly/2CrYxk

This episode is all about Greg Aronowitz, we sit down and talk sets and props for Season 6 of The Guild.

It's always fun talking with Greg as he's been in the industry for so long and has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood. He has the best stories. 

New Look!!!

So I decided to change my look up a bit, I shaved the beard and dyed my gray hair. I've had the beard "look" for over 10 years and only shaved it off when I would cosplay as a Hobbit. But it never lasted more then a few days. I posted a before and after pic on Facebook and twitter and the majority, I'd say about 70% said they liked the beardless Kenny and 30% said they liked the bearded Kenny.

I think I so look younger without the beard, especially since there is so much gray in it. But I think I look fatter without the beard as it can hide my double chin.. so it's a trade off... youth for fatness. I'm going to try it for a while and see how it goes. I mean SDCC is coming up and I'd be shaving anything as I plan on cosplaying again as Frodo/Bilbo Baggins.

Productivity wise I continued to paint the trim on the house. It's a process that I have gotten down but still it feels like I'm moving so slow. But I'm happy that I'm moving forward, slow or not it's getting done.

It's Buffy Time

So it's been a few weeks since Robert and I had our Buffy night rewatch/1st time so we were both excited to pick that back up again tonight. We are actually in the middle of the final season, season seven. We started the night off with S7 Ep 12 "Potential" Willow learns from her contacts that there is another Potential Slayer in Sunnydale. She casts a reveal spell that makes all the Scooby Gang (except Buffy, who is not home) think this new Potential is Dawn. Dawn runs into her friend Amanda, who tells her that all sorts of strange things have been happening to her. The two go to the school to investigate. Their encounter with vampires and Bringers leads Dawn to realize that Amanda is the actual Potential, not her. Dawn and Amanda escape and Buffy, Spike, and Xander arrive in time to defeat the Bringers.

A good episode, you really believe that Dawn is a potential and it makes sense as they used the blood of the slayer to create her.. but of course you find out it's Amanda who happen to be standing on the other side of the front door when Willow did the spell. This is one of the very few episode that I actually enjoyed Xander. His speech to Dawn about being the "sidekick" with no powers and just being "support" was touching and truthful. It was a great moment between Dawn and Xander.  Also I was shocked with Spike and Buffy left the four potential in the crypt with the vampire to fend for themselves.

Next up was S7 Ep 13 "The Killer In Me" Willow must face her own demons after her first kiss with Kennedy has an unexpected, magical result. Buffy gets in touch with the government about Spike's chip, which is malfunctioning.

Another good episode, it was good seeing Willow deal with the death of Tara finally and move on with Kennedy. I mean I loved Willow and Tara but Kennedy is very sweet as well. She'll be good for Willow. And finally Spike gets that stupid chip taken out of his head. I didn't like Giles reaction to this news. Buffy did the right thing. I liked that Xander, Anya, Dawn and Andrew headed to the desert to capture Giles, who they think is the 1st evil.

And our final episode of the night S7 Ep 14 "First Date" Principal Wood asks Buffy out to dinner, to which she accepts partly because she likes him and partly because she is intrigued as to what he really is. Xander also agrees to go out at night with Lissa, a girl he meets at a tool demo somewhere in Sunnydale. Things go very differently for them. Buffy finds out Robin Wood is in fact the son of a Slayer, while Xander's date turns out to be a demon. Willow receives an SOS text message from Xander and she and Spike round up Buffy and Wood to rescue Xander. Wood finds out Spike is a vampire. Later, The First shows itself to Wood in the guise of his dead mother and tells him it was Spike who killed her.

Lots happen in this episode, the reveal of Principle Woods being the son of the New York Slayer and him finding out that Spike it the one that killed her.. bit stuff. Xander and he bad luck with women continue, I like that Andrew didn't let the 1st talk in into being bad again.. Andrew is really trying to be a "good guy".

We're more then halfway through this final season. I'm happy that it's almost over as we get to move on to something new but I'm also sad to see it end because it's BUFFY!!! I think our next series to watch is going to be Smallville, which I'm excited for as I only saw the first two and a half seasons.

House Woes

Owning a house is great most of the times.. but man sometime it just sucks.

I continue my slow and steady painting of the window trim around my house. I have lots of windows, it takes so long just taping off everything, painting and then re-painting. I figure it's going to take me at least another week to finish all the trim including the top trim around the house and the trim around the garage.

A new house issue showed up today, while painting I realized that my plants and trees looked a little bit more brown then they should be during summer time, come to find out that my watering system isn't working. I don't know how long it's been out but from the look of my plants and tress it's been a while. :(

First thing I did was grab the hose and begin watering everything... that took about an hour (I have lots of plants and trees). I then went on to search for where the main control was for the watering system. I know we have two in the back of the house that water the back area, that we really don't use. They run on batteries so my idea is that the batteries must be dead for the front sytem.. my only problem is I don't know where the control is.  

I emailed Harry as he dealt with the water system in the past and he told me where to find the device. I checked it out and and come to find out that it's powered through electricity so that crushed my plan to fix it with a battery. I should have known it wasn't going to be that easy. I re-started and re-programed everything and tried to run some tests but I couldn't get it to work. I looked up the company who made it and they are still around so it looks like I'm going to have to call and have someone come out to take a look at the entire system... which of course means more $$$ that I don't have being jobless. So for now I'll continue watering everything by hand. It's a pain in the butt but I have to revive these plants and trees.. everything's gotta look great for when I put the house up on the market.

Family Time

Today I got to spend the day with my Dad for Father's Day. We originally planned to hang out a few days ago on Saturday but that didn't work out and I was booked on Sunday so we opted to hang out on Monday.

Got to his place around 1 and we headed out to lunch. My dad wanted to take me to this steakhouse that he really enjoys called Lone Star Steakhouse. And with most steakhouses it was fantastic. I got BBQ chicken and steak.. very tasty.

Afterwards we headed to the movie theater. My dad rarely goes to the movies so this was a treat for him. We were going to see Man of Steel. I saw it a few days ago and loved it and I figured my dad would love it as well since I got alot of my geeky love of things from him.

As expected my Dad loved Man of Steel, said he loved it as much as Dark Knight (and he LOVES Dark Knight, so that's saying something). I enjoyed Man of Steel even more a second time and I can't wait to see it again, hopefully in an IMAX theater.

After the movie we went to the store to pick up some things my Dad needed before heading home. Once home my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece were home so I got to visit with them. Lora and Molly shortly left after I arrived so I spent most of my time with my brother Michael and Kenobi. Dad went to lay down and rest.

I love playing with my nephew Kenobi, he's four and it so much fun to do things with. We played with cars and then mega blocks. He put on his Superman onsie pj's that I got for him for his birthday and flew around the house for a bit.

Around 8pm I said my goodbyes and headed home. It was a great day spent with my Dad for Father's Day and and extra special day as I got to spend some time with my brother and his family. All in all it was a fantastic day.

D&D, Dinner & Dad's Day

First of all Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dad's out there.. I hope to join your ranks in the not to far future. I was suppose to hang out with my dad yesterday but he forgot and made plans. I could have seen him for a few hours but the fact that it takes me two hour to drive there and 2 hours to get home I didn't want to be on the road longer then I would be visiting. So I made plans to hang out with him tomorrow. 

Today was D&D (Pathfinder). We planned to start early as it's our friend and fellow player Luis' birthday and we planned to do dinner and cake afterwards. So I got to Dallas' place around 1:45, well ahead of the 2pm start time. Unfortunately not many others showed up on time. I don't think we actually got started with the game until around 3:30 (which just happens to be our normal start time).

Lot's of battling was happening and I was having a blast until I rolled a 1 and my very nice and fancy Quarter staff was snapped in half (btw that is my main weapon, being a Wizard).  I then rolled another 1 and had a critical fail which in turn made me stab my own hand with my dagger. Of course I couldn't roll a 1 again.. I mean three times in one session is impossible.. well not for me. Luckily nothing broke this time.. but the fact that I tried to throw an enchanted coin away from the group and instead it bounced off the wall and went right back into the middle of the group wasn't good.

The worse part of this session was being attacked and took 14 hit points. My hit points for my character are 8 and I was down one from the hand stabbing earlier..so this hit brought me down to -7. I was unconscious and near death for about an hour (well in D&D time it was about 10 hours). No one was able to heal me but lucky for me they were able to stabilized me so at least I wasn't going to lose 1 hit point per round.. but I wasn't out of the woods yet. So I laid there dying while everyone else fought. Calvis avenged my near death stabbing by killing the person who almost killed me with one blow.  Everyone rested and soon they were able to heal the wounded. I was healed back up to 0 and finally back up to 7 before we took on the big bad. This session ended on a cliffhanger and I can't wait to play in two weeks to see what happens.

That was a close call for Dash, I don't like the idea of a character in D&D actually dying and not being able to play them again. I mean you put all this work in a character and they can actually die. Not a fan of that rule.

Anyways at around 7:45 we finished D&D and headed over to Pitfire Pizza for dinner. It was fun walking over there as it's a good mile or so away and there was a group of 12 or 13 of us. We got there ordered and ate for the next few hours. We haven't done a big group outing like this in a while so it was nice hanging with everyone. When we were done most of us headed back to Dallas and Jes' place and we surprised Luis with a yummy Birthday cake. We sang Happy Birthday, ate cake and chatted for another hour. Finally around 11pm I called it a night and headed home. It was another awesome D&D session and a fun dinner with friends. Thanks all. And Thanks for not letting my little Halfling Wizard die.