Badges, Bobbles and Buffy

Today started out with a group of 30+ Guildies meeting in a Facebook chat preparing to battle it out for some San Diego Comic Con tickets. I have already gotten my tickets but I wanted to be there to help out my friend Thomas and anyone else who wasn't able to be online when the tickets went on sale.

So I was up at 6:30am and logged into the waiting room right at 7am. SDCC were doing things differently this time around. They were allowing folks to log into a waiting room from 7am to 9am and then they would randomly line you up to purchase tickets. So it didn't matter want time you got into the waiting room as long as you were in the room.

As I mentioned by 9am we had a group of about 30+ people in the waiting room all willing to help get tickets for all of those who needed them. 9am came and went and we were all still waiting. About 20 minutes in a few folks said they got it and the frenzy began and over the next hour the group managed to purchase about 50 or so badges for SDCC 2014. My friend Rachelle was able to get my buddy Thomas' badge as I was one of the few unfortunate ones from our group that didn't get in until almost all the days were sold out.

Needless to say that this was a success. Everyone who wanted a ticket/badge got it. I say this every time but Guildies are am amazing community of geeks, always there to support each other in everything we do. Thanks Anne for organizing this successful event.

Around noon my brother and his family stopped by to help me move my old refrigerator out of storage and take to their place to store for now until I can sell it. When they got here I went outside to greet them and my nephew Kenobi came running up to me and kind of tackled me with a hug. I pretended that he pushed me so hard that I started to fall back but as I placed my right foot down from actually falling back I heard something pop and then felt immense pain in my right calf. I don't know what happened but this isn't a good time for me not to be able to walk since my buddy Erik is coming to visit for a week and I'm showing him around SoCal... Ugh

But on a good note.. we were able to get the fridge out of storage and also pick up the bar stools which were going to my brothers. I am officially out of the storage unit and my move if officially over.. yay!! 

After the crazy morning/afternoon I went back to decorating around the house.. first I put out my Star Wars bobble heads. When I was in the guest bathroom I saw this ledge that I thought would be perfect for the figures. Once I put them all out I thought they looked great. Then I went in there to pee and it was kind of strange having 15+ Star Wars figures watching you. Luckily for me I don't use that bathroom very often :)

I started putting up Buffy Action Figures in my guest room. I don't have many walls available in that room yet (due to a ton of bin/boxes) but the wall next to the guest bed is empty so I decided to put my Buffy figures there. It's always a slow process putting up figures as it take a while digging through the remaining bins looking for stray figures but by the end of the day the wall came together nicely.

It was late by the time I was done and my guest room was still a mess, which wasn't good since my buddy Erik was flying in tomorrow to stay with me for a week. Luckily he doesn't get in until 2pm.. so that will give me some time to finish it up and have it ready for him. I so can't wait for him to be here. Oh and my right calf is extremely sore but I don't think I tore anything... thank goodness.

Sherlock Series 3 Finale - My Review

During the evening my friends Dallas and Jes come over to watch the finale episode of Season 3 of Sherlock. We also watched the two speicals that aired after episode 2 and 3.

Sherlock Season 3 Episode 3 "His Last Vow" Lady Elizabeth Smallwood is one of many victims of master blackmailer and media tycoon Charles Augustus Magnussen and asks Holmes to retrieve some incriminating letters for her. Having cultivated Magnussen's secretary Janine, Holmes breaks into Magnussen's office but is confronted by a mysterious black-clad woman, who shoots him. He recovers in hospital and goes after her to discover her identity and reason for wanting the blackmailer dead before he and Watson visit Magnussen at his country house for a confrontation and shoot-out.

This episode started off in one direction, with Sherlock seemingly falling off the wagon and back on drugs and then took a completely different turn out of left field that was awesome. They introduce an extremely creepy and disgusting new villain Magnussen. He made my skin crawl every time he was on screen. The huge game changer was the revelation that Watson's wife Mary is an assassin or something similar. She took on the persona of a Mary (who had died or was killed, five years earlier). And then she shot Sherlock!!! I was dumbfounded as I loved Mary and it was very difficult to think that she isn't the person that I thought she was.

And then Sherlock tricks her into confessing to John which was a pretty incredible scene. At the end you find out that Mary shot Sherlock to save him and if she wanted to she could have killed him. And it was great that John forgave her and accepted her for who she is now because she truly loves John.

Again this episode had so many fantastic scenes of going into Sherlock's head and seeing how he solves problems. And then there was then ending, which I kind of predicted but still was amazing.. it was really the only way to finish off Magnussen. And of course the final scene we still the "return" of Moriarty.

Can't wait for series four!!!!

Podcasts & Toy Rooms

So I'm bad at drinking water.. I know it's good for me and I love it but I don't drink as much as I should. So I recently purchased this new 64 ounce bottle so that I can fill it up everyday and make a point to drink it all and that way I will know that I got my allotted amount of water for the day.

I have a MASH podcast due to be released on the 15th and I have to get it done before my buddy Erik arrives in a few days for a week vacation that he'll be spending with me. I still haven't been able to get my Avid up and running so I had to set up my older computer (which I still have). It has an older Avid program on it but it does work. It's more complicated to edit on this older computer but it has to get done. So I transferred over the media to the older computer and started to edit. What normally takes me about four hours to edit took me about ten hours. It was frustrating but I got it done. I also wanted to do a quick message/mini podcast for my Alien Nation podcast. I haven't put out a new podcast for Alien Nation since November. Both my brother and I have been extremely busy and just haven't had the time to get together and do one. But with the move and now my UK trip we won't be able to get one done for another few months and I wanted to put out something letting folks know that we haven't stopped podcasting and that we are currently on hiatus and will be back.

But again that should have been a ten minute edit but it took me nearly two hours to finish it. That one will be released on Feb 10th and the MASH one will be released on Feb 15th. It may have taken me longer but I'm happy that they are both done and I don't have to worry about them while Erik is visiting.

I spent a few hours throughout the day putting up action figures in my master bedroom. By the end of the night I got about 95% of the walls done. I left a bit of free space for the expanding "Hobbit" action figures.. still have one more movie and I expect them to produce some figures for it. But other than that it's done and I have to say it looks pretty AWESOMETASTIC!! Pictures don't do it justice but that's all I have at the moment.. so what do you think?

Mice & Action Figures

Today was all about going through my toy bins and looking for any more action figures to put up in my bedroom. In the master bedroom I am putting up Star Trek, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter along with a few odds and ends. But in order to save space in the bins I would put a few pieces here and there scattered throughout all 50 bins. So every time I think I have found all my figures a few more would pop up. So I spent the majority of the day going through box after box trying to find every last one.

I'm happy to report that about 80% of my action figures are still looking pretty good. The other 20% have crushed bubbles or bent card backs and I knew after all the moving and storage over the years that they wouldn't all have survived. But the worse of the damage were to my Battlestar Galatica figures. I opened a box and there was a foul smell but it wasn't horrible so I didn't anything of it. As I was pulling out figures I noticed a large pile of cotton in the corner of the bin.. I have seen this before and knew it meant mice had gotten in to this bin. What I didn't expect was the dead mouse next to the pile of cotton and as I pulled out figures I noticed that about ten of the figure card backs were actually damaged, some with small tears and some with huge bite marks taken out. As I pulled the last figure out I could see mouse feces and urine stains at the bottom and a second mouse but all that was left of this one was the skin and tail.

Needless to say I tossed the bin with the mouse carcases in it, cleaned up the action figures and stored them in a new bin. I'm bummed that several were pretty damaged but in the end it's all about the action figures and those all still look great.

Computer Issues, Twitter Followers & SHIELD

This morning I attempted to edit the next MASH 4077 Podcast, but when I went to activate my Avid program on my computer I kept getting errors. I've been having computer problems the last few weeks but it looks to be spreading. First my itunes went down and now my Avid. I tried reinstalling both but with no luck.

Early afternoon I had scheduled to interview Teal Sherer for My Gimpy Life Companioncasts as Season two of My Gimpy Life will be starting in a few weeks. Again for whatever reasons I couldn't get "Pamela" to work so I couldn't record the conversation. I have other audio tools but since I've always used Pamela I didn't know how to work them so I had to postpone the interview and work on a roundabout way to get this done. It took me about an hour but I figured out how to record both our audios separately and then blend them back together but by this time Teal was busy and we had to reschedule for another day.

Since my computer was being a dick.. I decided to go work on my toy walls in my bedroom. They are coming along nicely and I should be done in a few days.

I tweeted a story about a young boy being bullied for liking My Little Pony and my friend Felicia retweeted it. Of course I didn't know this had happened until I started getting mass amounts of new followers in a matter of a few minutes. I went from around 2520 followers to 2545 in about ten minutes. Every time Felicia (Day) mentions me or RT's me on twitter I tend to get a boost of new followers.. this time it was about 25 new followers. And I'm sure when they find out that I'm not that cool or interesting they will unfollow.. but for now I'm happy that I'm a bit closer to 3000 followers (which is my goal for 2014).

I came across a new word that I saw in an article "AWESOMETASTICNESS" It combines two of my favorite words AWESOME and FANTASTIC.. I tend to use Awesome alot... It's even in the Urban Dictionary and defined as "The highest level of awesome in the whole world!" Gonna try and integrate it into my daily vocabulary.

I ended my day by watching the latest episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D  titled T.R.A.C.K.S. Here's a synopsis; In order to find the Clairvoyant, the team boards a train in Italy, on which a Cybertek security group is shipping a package to Ian Quinn. The team splits into groups, with Coulson and Simmons posing as a father and daughter while Fitz and Skye work with Ward and May to track down the package. However, the group is exposed, leaving Coulson and Ward to flee the train. May also goes missing, but when Coulson and Ward track her down, they learn the team was sold out by Luca Russo, who is killed by May. The team finds the train and Simmons, but Fitz and Skye are gone, having disembarked to track the package to Quinn's mansion. In the basement, Skye is confronted by Quinn and Mancini, who reveal that Mike Peterson is alive, having been kept in a hyperbaric chamber. Mancini opens the package, which a high-tech prosthetic leg that he fits onto Peterson's severed right leg. To test Peterson's obedience to Centipede, Quinn orders him to kill Skye. He refuses as it is not what the Clairvoyant ordered. Instead, Quinn then shoots Skye twice in the stomach and leaves her for dead stating that he has his own orders. Peterson then executes the Cybertek security team because they led S.H.I.E.L.D. to the mansion. Quinn walks right into a S.H.I.E.L.D. raid on the mansion. Quinn is arrested, but Skye is left near death and Simmons can only sustain her temporarily by placing her into Peterson's hyperbaric chamber. In the final scene, Peterson secretly observes his son at a playground and requests the Clairvoyant to let him see his son by writing on a piece of paper for the Clairvoyant to read. The Clairvoyant says "not yet". The view zooms in on his new prosthetic leg which bears the name "Project Deathlok".

What an amazing episode.. this series continue to impress. I loved the storytelling in this episode. Since the team was split into three groups we are told the beginning of this story three times.. each time we get a bit more information until we have the full story. It then shifts to Skye who is shot by Quinn... If I could reach through the TV I would have strangled Quinn for shooting her.. not only once but twice. And the look on his face when he did it just infuriated me. Of course you are left with a cliffhanger of will Skye die or not and with Joss Wheadon behind this show I would count anything out. They also introduce or reintroduce a new character Deathlok/Michael. Which I know he is in the comic books but I don't know much about him, so I can't wait to find out more about this good guy/ bad guy.

And of course we are on break for a few weeks because of the Winter Olympics. And then I'll only be able to watch a few episodes before I leave for my vacation for month. This will be one show that I really miss while on vacation, but don't worry my Tivo is set to record.

More Action Figures, Facebook Goodness and Running

Putting action figures up on the walls continues. My place is a wreak, bins all over the place and empty boxes and bins filling up my kitchen.. but I know it has to get dirtier before it get's better. I think the master bedroom is coming along nicely. I'm really hoping I can get most of my toys out of the bins as I don't have anywhere to store these bins and if I can't store them then they will have to be sold. I think by the end of all this I will have sold about 1/3 of my toy collection.

Facebook turns 10 years old this year and in celebration they compiled this very short but also very cool video. Anyone with a Facebook account can create their very own. Here's my "A Look Back".

In the evening I went for a jog/run/walk with my friend Jen. We went around the park three times and I'm actually very proud of my performance. I didn't think I'd be able to run as much as I did but I have to say I am in better shape then I thought... so woohoo.

Earthquake x2 and Action Figures

It's been a rocky morning.. we've had two Earthquakes within a few hours of each other. The first one was 1.9 and the second was 1.4. Now I know these numbers are small but when you are less then a mile away form the epic center you get a good shake. The first one was alot sharper then the second.

I headed out and finally picked up a prescription that I have been trying to get filled for the past two weeks. While I was out I searched three different places for thumb tacks and finally found them at my fourth location. I purchased 600 tacks.. that should be enough to hang all my action figures.  So when I got back and continued working on putting up action figures in my master bedroom.

Hanging action figures is a long process because they are scattered throughout 50 or so bins so it takes alot of moving things around and searching to find everything. After I finished LOTR action figures I moved onto Star Trek.

I took a break from action figures to work on some podcasts. But when I started up my Avid I got an error and then there was a glitch and now I can't get it to start again. I spent a few hours trying to figure out what the issue was, I even removed and reloaded Avid but still no go. Not sure what I'm going to do now but I have to come up with a solution quick... I got lots of podcasts to edit before I leave in March.

Spent the evening catching up some TV.. my Tivo is starting to get loaded down so I took a few hours and cleared some of the programs off. I also got to video skype chat with my buddy Erik and that's always a great way to end my night.

Action Figures, Captain America & Being An Extra

Started resurrecting my Toy Walls. I have decided to put up action figures not only in my "office/podcasting/guest & toy room" but also I'm putting them up in my master bedroom. Might as well enjoy my collection and I can't do that when they are all in boxes. So I started in my master bedroom and with Lord of the Rings action figures.

I can't find my large bag of push pins and thumb tacks but I did mange to find a small stache so I started with those. I quickly ran out but plan to get more while I'm out tomorrow. But it's a good start and it makes me smile.

I'm continuing my efforts to be nominated for a Shorty Award. I need to be in the top 4 and I'm currently #16 and need quite a few nominations to make it to the top 4. If you have an active twitter account then please consider me for "best podcaster". I made it super easy.. all you have to do is click on the LINK and complete the sentence... I nominate @Geekyfanboy for a Shorty Award in #podcaster because... it only takes few seconds... Thanks

During the superbowl they released the 2nd trailer for Captain America: The Winter Solider. I was excited when I saw the first trailer but this one pushed me over the top. Captain America is my favorite of the Avengers.. and not only because (Chris Evens) is beyond gorgeous but I like the character and what he stands for. So I'm super excited to see this movie in April.  Check out the trailer below. 

I got a text from my friend America about the shoot tomorrow.. she is doing pick ups for her new movie The Concessionaires Must Die. I was going to be a featured extra in a scene but unfortunately the scene was cut. But she did have a new scene I could extra in but it's tonight in Oxnard. She asked if I was interested. Of course I didn't hesitate and said yes I would love to be an extra tonight. So around 7:30pm I headed out to Oxnard. My buddy Erik kept me company (via cell) for the hour long drive. 

The call time was 9pm but we didn't get to my scene until around midnight. It was fun watching my friend America in action. I had never seen her direct before and she's a natural. My scene was a lot of fun and hopefully turned out as they were hoping for. We did a few takes and that was it. I was wrapped but I hung around another hour or so and watched them film.. I finally left around 1:45am and was home in bed by 3am. 

This movie is going to be amazing.. you can watch the trailer below. It reminds me of some of my favorite 80's movies.