Podcasts, Gaming and More

I had a very productive day today.. I worked on sanding my deck for a half hour, played some LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) and cleaned up the kitchen. I put a call out there for a green screen and several folks came to my rescue. So now I have one for our GE3K'S Company photo shoot on Saturday October 5th.

I recorded the next episode of my Alien Nation Podcast. My brother's family are all sick so he wasn't able to make it over here today and it's due to be released in a few days so I put the call out there for a co-host and my buddy Doug responded. He's also the person who loaned me his green screen.

The recording went off with out a hitch. We did as my brother and I normally do, watch the episode and then record the podcast for that episode.  We only did the one episode as my brother should be able to join me for the rest.

For dinner I was going to head out and pick up Taco Bell (really had the urge for it, I haven't had it in a good month or so), in fact I was in my car and already five minutes down the road when I stopped, turned around and decided that I had everything at my house to make some burritos. Of course they aren't as tasty as Taco Bell's but they were cheaper and less fattening. I was very proud of myself, my will power may have been delayed a bit but all the matter is that I didn't give in to it... this time :)

Chris introduced to me to Minecraft and I played for a few months until he introduced me to LOTRO last December and that is all I play now. But during Chris' recent visit he was watching some videos of these British guys who became really popular within the Minecraft universe. They record themselves playing video games and are very funny and charismatic. I found out that they have quite a few videos on You Tube with millions of views. So I started at the beginning and I've watched about 20 of them of far. They are some of the most entertaining guys I've seen in a while... I'm defiantly addicted. If you want to check them out they are Simon and Lewis and are part of the "Yogscast" It's pretty amazing, they started off with just a few videos now they have this huge online empire.. you can check out their main website HERE.

So all in all a pretty good day.. got some work done, got some cleaning done and have a bit of fun.

Requesting Donations

So I just got hit with some pretty big fees for Podbean (my podcasting provider) and my URL's. If you're enjoying any of my podcasts and are able to donate a little something to help me out I'd really appreciate it. Just use the link below... Thanks for your continued support

So my Geekyfanboy Production Donation button doesn't seem to be working yet.. so instead you can use this LINK and make a donation there. This is for my Knights of the Guild podcast but it all goes to the same place.. Just put in the amount you want to donate in "Item Price" and hit update. Then sign in and finish the transaction.. piece of cake.. Thanks

Just Another Day...

Today I didn't do much around the house.. after my disappointing weight gain I went out and actually did a half hour workout with my weights. I also jumped rope for 15 minutes to get my heart rate going, though it was murder on my knees and ankles.

I did do a bit of deck sanding, every time I go out there it looks so daunting but if I just do bit by bit in time it will all be done.

During the evening I did a Google hang out with my buddy Chris.We were joined but several friends. The conversation turned to Harry Potter and Pottermore. It's been a good six months or so since I logged into Pottermore and I was surprised at all the changes.. gonna have to take some time to go back through it and check them all out. While we were chatting I also logged another box of toys... Again a very daunting task but one box at a time and it will get done.

New TV Series - FanAddicts!

As many of you know I'm a huge collector of movie and TV action figures and memorabilia, so when I saw commercials for this new TV series on the Reelz Channel I had to check it out. It's called FanAddicts! Here's a quick synopsis: "You think you’re a movie fan? Wait until you meet the FanAddicts!. Get inside the minds of those who simply cannot stop adding to their incredible movie memorabilia collections. With homes and storage lockers overflowing with the some of the most fascinating collections ever, they persist in the never ending quest for more. Learn why the collection has become such an obsession. What motivates them to do this? Do they ever sell anything? What are these things worth?  We'll see memorabilia from Harry Potter, Superman, Star Wars, E.T., James Bond, Star Trek, The Wizard of Oz and more, and these super fans will find out just how much money their obsession is worth.

They aired two episodes last week back to back. First one was a fan of Harry Potter, this guy is in the Guinness World Record book for having he most Harry Potter items, I think it's over 1000. It was a really good story about an 11 year old troubled kid who's grandmother gave him the first Harry Potter book when he was being grounded. He says HP saved his life and made him into the man he is today. Of course I was just entering my 30's when Harry Potter caught my attention with the first movie. I guess his experience with Harry Potter was kind of like my experience with Star Wars, being only 6 when the first movie came out (life changing). The second episode was about a fan of Superman. This guy was a bit more socially awkward. He actually portrays Superman down on Hollywood Blvd. He choose his collection over his marriage. You can love something and be obsessed about it but once it starts interfering with your "real" life then that's when I think you have a problem.

What I enjoyed about the series is that they don't make fun of the collectors. They portray them as passionate fans who love to collect things. I mean the Harry Potter collector loved all things Potter but it didn't cause chaos in his life, in fact it saved his life... unlike the Superman collector.

But tonight's episode is my favorite by far and it was about two different collectors of Star Trek stuff. The first guy is a pretty wealth guy who is also a Star Trek fan. About seven years ago the Christie's Auction house and Paramount sold off a ton of Star Trek set piece, models, uniforms and everything else they had in storage. Well this guy was there and purchased a ton of models. That's the bulk of his collection. He had quite a few of the big ticket items like the working model for Deep Space Nine. He said that these ships were in bad shape when he got them and he had to do alot of restoration to bring them back to prime condition. But the bulk of his story is when he purchased the full size shuttle craft Galileo from the original series for a whopping $70,000, but when he got it, it was a huge mess so he spent countless dollars restoring it. In the end he wound up donating it to NASA where it will be on display for everyone to see. It was an pretty amazing story and even brought me to tears.

The second story in this episode was another Star Trek fan but this guy was more your average collector... he just had alot of things. He's the type that would buy the same figure five times to get every color variant of the weapons... yeah I'm not that bad. He also built Captain's Kirks chair from the bridge of the Enterprise and they show him donating his time and his chair for photo ops for charity.

What I really liked about this particular episode, besides it being about Star Trek. They show these guys, who might be a bit obsessed with Star Trek collecting but they are doing good in this world with it.

So if you're a geek and ever collected anything, please check out this series.. it's always airing on Reelz and showing repeats all the time just check your listings.

"Get Fit" Week 5

So this week was a bust as I expected it to me. My buddy Chris was visiting for Labor Day weekend (4 days) and I went to two Picnics. I didn't eat properly and I didn't workout as much as I should have. I'm not using Chris as an excuse, I chose not to workout, I chose not to eat better..  I know I failed this week..  After Chris left I was kind of depressed (always happens when he leaves) so I wasn't motivated to do anything and the scales had proof of my failure. I weighted myself this morning and I'm currently 205. Last Friday I was 203 so I gained 2 pounds. All I need to do is refocus and get back on track. I'm hoping by next Friday I can lose those 2 pounds and get back on track to getting below 200 by the end of September.

LOTRO, Deck Work and RGQ: Fav Cartoon

Woke up this morning and jumped on LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) to get my daily Hobbit gift and surprise, surprise.. they have begun the Farmers Faire Festival. I spent the next four hours (it felt like ten minutes) finishing up all the quests. I played it with all four of my characters to get as many Bounder Bounties (another new things to collect). I did manage to finally pull myself away from my computer to work on other things around the house... like my deck.

I went to Lowes to purchase some paint stripper thinking that this would be easier then trying to sand it all down. It somewhat works but still requires alot of elbow grease, it wasn't the easy fix I was hoping it would be. I worked on the deck for about an hour before coming inside and inventorying a few more boxes of action figures.

I posted another Random Geek Question: This time I asked...What was your favorite cartoon growing up & why? Not to many commented on Twitter but we got a really good conversation going on Facebook. It's funny because of all the different age differences, folks favorites varied from Wacky Racer (1968) to Muppet Babies (1984) to Dexter Laboratory (1996) and everything in between. I think I've seen about 2/3d's of the series that folks said was their favorites. Alot of people couldn't just give me one or two or three.. they gave me lists of favorites. :)

As for me, my favorites growing up in the 70's were Super Friends, George of the Jungle, Super Chicken, Josie and the Pussycats, Loony Tunes and of course Scooby Doo. But I watched cartoons well into my teens and for that matter I still love watching cartoons even today.. Ones that I loved from my teens, Gummi Bears, Snorks, Smurfs, Muppet Babies, Star Wars Droids & Ewoks and Dungeon & Dragons.

So many great cartoons when I was growing up... I watch today's cartoons and honestly they are pretty horrible, with a few exceptions of course. They're nothing like the classics from the 70's and 80's

Babylon 5 First Time Viewing Continues

It's been in the hundreds this week but I did manage to get outside and do a bit of deck work with the hand sander. Though the deck was sanded with a deck sander there is still alot of work to be done on it. It's going to take me a while to finish it.

Since today is Wednesday it's TV night with Robert. We missed last week but we weren't going to miss this weeks. We continued with our Babylon 5 first time viewing. We started our night with S1 Ep 20 "Babylon Squared" Babylon 4 reappears at the same place it disappeared four years before, and Sinclair and Garibaldi lead an expedition to evacuate its crew. Meanwhile Delenn is summoned by the Grey council. They inform her that they have selected a new leader— her.

This was a HUGE episode.. lots of information was given to us. Lot's of set up for what's to come. I love episodes like these where they finally answer a ton of questions but then leave with you more questions then answers. I knew it was Sinclair in the spacesuit!!

We opted to not order in food but instead Robert made some very tasty sausage curry. 

We then moved on to S1 Ep 21 "The Quality of Mercy" Dr. Franklin investigates an unlicensed medical practitioner in Downbelow, while Londo takes Lennier for a tour of Babylon 5's seedier locales. And in the brig, a convicted murderer waits for his sentence to be carried out — the death of personality.

Another great episode, it was a departure from the main story arc but a very enjoyable episodes.. had lots of laughs with Londo and Lennier but had some serious heart with Dr. Franklin storyline. Very well done.

We finally came to the end of Season One with Ep 22 "Chrysalis" The Centauri are about to withdraw from a quadrant of space because the Narns are harassing them, when Londo gets an offer to take care of the problem. Meanwhile Garibaldi tries to find out what his informant stumbled upon that got him killed.

Not liking where Londo's character is going, he has to know that the guy who is offering him help is bad news. The death of the president was huge and the the unknown fate of Garibaldi made for a great cliffhanger. Also Delenn changing. Of course I already knew this was going to happen as I've seen pictures but I like how it's integrated into the bigger overall story arc.

Our night continued with the start up of Season 2 with Ep 1 "Points of Departure" Captain John Sheridan takes command of Babylon 5 after Sinclair is reassigned; a rogue Minbari warship is on the loose in hyperspace; and the truth behind the end of the Minbari War is revealed.

Big changes this season... again I knew about this already so it wasn't a big surprise that they got rid of Captain Sinclair and replaced him with Captain Sheridan. I'm a huge fan of Bruce Boxleitner. And we get even more info about the Minbari war and why it ended. I loved that twist and didn't see that coming. I think vice president, now president is a bad guy.. guess will have to wait and see.

And our final episode of the night was S2 Ep 2 "Revelations" Franklin takes extreme measures to save Garibaldi; Delenn emerges from her chrysalis; Sheridan's sister arrives for a visit; Londo's dealings with Mr Morden become even more complex; and G'Kar returns from his travels with a dire warning.

Another excellent episode. Lots of stuff going on. The full cast is back with Delenn reapparing as a hybrid of human and Minbari. Garibaldi is back and getting better. We get some back story on the new Captain. and I actually liked G'Kar in this episode. He's trying to warn folks that something big is coming but they are not listening.

Great ending to season one and a fantastic start to season two. This series continue to entertain me and I can't wait to see where the story goes. Both Robert and I are thoroughly enjoying Babylon 5.

Toy Inventory & Random Geek Question: Potter

Besides job hunting (still no luck and I never heard back from the interview a week or so ago), fixing up the house to sell, my podcasts, my webseries, TV, my friends and family I decided to pick back up another project that I started working on about six or seven months ago.... Toy inventory.

As you all should know I'm an avid collector of TV and Film Action Figures and Toys. In my old house I use to have a "Toy" room, you can check out pics HERE. But since moving into the new house it's all been packed up for none to see. And now that I'm selling the house it won't see the light of day until I move to my new place.

Anyways I've been wanting to have a comprehensive list of every toys, action figures, dolls, and any other collectable that I might own. It seems like a very overwhelming task to jump into that's why I have put it off over and over again. But as I mentioned a few months back my buddy Sebastian came over and started to help me. We managed to get 4 boxes done and that took a good part of the day. So we stopped and I haven't picked it up since... well that was until today. I figured if I bring in three or four boxes into my office I can work on it when I'm bored, or on a break from working outside. As long I was moving forward I will get it done eventually.
 

I also asked another Random Geek Question to my Twitter and Facebook followers. I asked If you're a fan of Harry Potter. Which Hogwarts house would you be sorted into? Gryffindor which values bravery, daring, nerve, and chivalry. Hufflepuff which values kindness, hard work, patience and loyalty. Ravenclaw which values intelligence, knowledge, and wit. And Slytherin which values ambition, cunning and resourcefulness.

As expected with my group of friends alot of them said.. "well Pottermore sorted me into..." Some disagreed with Pottermore and some said they nailed it. A few said they were a mix of several houses, which really didn't answer my question as Harry Potter fans know if the hat can't choose between two houses you can choose which one you want to join. And I think we're all a little bit of several houses mixed together.

Pottermore sorted me into Gryffindor, which I can accept but my heart belongs to Hufflepuff. I've always felt that I would be sorted into the house of Hufflepuff, though it seems to be the least favorable of all the houses.. which kind of goes along with my personality as well (always being the outcast).

Which house would you be sorted into.. let me know below in the comment section.

Saying Goodbye to My BFF

Today was Chris' last day here. After today I won't see him for at least seven months as he is being deployed to Kuwait. We got up and just hung out, enjoyed each others company. We were going out to lunch with a group of friends at noon so we left my place around 11am.

We got to the Olivia Garden and soon were joined by Jes, Dallas, Red, and Jen. We ate, talked, laughed for about two hours. At 2pm we had to say goodbye to the group and head to the Burbank Airport for his flight at 3:15pm.

Got to the airport and pulled to the curb to drop him off. Of course I had to get out to give him a final hug. I hugged for as long as I thought he would be comfortable with. Believe me I could have hugged him for ten minutes.. I didn't want to let him go. There were no tears, I told him I loved him and that I would be talking to him in a few hours (when he got home).

Got back into my car and took one final look as he walked into the airport terminal. About a half hour into my drive home the thought of not being able to see him for seven months hit me and the tears started flowing. This will be the longest that Chris and I have been apart since we met. I know I have it much easier then he does, since I'm in Cali and have friends surrounding me but it doesn't make me miss him any less. I just hope those seven months fly by.

D&D Woes

Got up and went out to breakfast with Chris and Aaron who crashed at my place last night after working on my house. We headed to Denny's and then to Home Depot to return the deck sander. Once we were done there we drove down to North Hollywood to hang with our friends Jes and Dallas. We ran a few errands with them before heading over to Jen's for our Sunday D&D game.

Today was one of the worse D&D sessions we have had so far. I'm not going into great detail.. but needless to say that I almost walked out of the game, but my buddy Chris was guest playing with us so I stayed. It wasn't the adventure itself, Dallas is doing an amazing job with that and I'm loving every minute of it.. it was actually several of the players.

We have two definite groups.. the good guys (about 9 of us) and the bad guys (about 4 of them) and today those two groups clashed big time. Conversations/debates were heated but the worse part is that some of that heat bleed into the real world, hurtful things were said. Hence why I almost walked out. This D&D session was not fun. I'm actually debating on if I'm going to continue with this group or not. I value my friendships with these people and if we continue to have sessions like the one we had tonight... I can see it permanently damaging some of those friendships.

Gonna go back in two weeks for another session. Will see if we can work out our differences... I hope so.