Finding Dory - My Thoughts

After doing the mud run I came home and then headed out to meet up with some friends to watch Finding Dory. I've been super excited to see this movie since it was announced as I loved, loved, loved Finding Nemo, so I had high hopes for this one and I have to say it didn't disappoint. I wouldn't say it was as good as Finding Nemo but it was extremely entertaining. It has the same "feel" as the first movie and of course the animation was amazing. I'm a huge fan of Ellen Degeneres and Dory was one of my favorites from Finding Nemo. And I had to say "little" Dory was adorable, cutest thing ever. I really enjoyed some of the new characters and I'm glad we got to see some returning characters. The story is a bit far fetches but hey it's a cartoon that is entertaining. There were a lot of very sweet moments in this movie, especially between young Dory and her parents. I love that her parents never gave up hope that one day their daughter would return to them. This will definitely be a must buy when it comes out on Blu-ray. I give Finding Dory a solid B+

The Rugged Maniac Mud Run

Today I did my second "mud run" and it was called the Rugged Maniac, it was out in Temecula. I was doing it with my buddy Rob (from NerdStrong) and his family (dad, sister and her boyfriend) This is a 3.1 miles run with 25 obstacles. Our run time was at 1:30pm so it was hot, like 105 f hot. We jogged here and there but the majority of the time we walked along with the majority of the other people... It was just to hot to run. It was a lot of fun.. they had a water truck that would drive by you while you were on the path and spray a ton of water on you. Of course you dried immediately afterwards. There were so many awesome obstacles and there were a few that I attempted to do but failed, overall I was able to accomplish about 95% of them.

This experience was similar but different to the other mud run that I did earlier this year, The Warrior Dash. That had about half of the obstacles and they didn't allow people to roam around the grounds to cheer people on like they did here. The shower systems was much better here then at the Warrior Dash. The Warrior Dash had a large hosing off area that was way to crowded and the water pressure was horrible so people were removing the nozzles which would make the water pressure even worse. Here at the Rugged Maniac they had this large glass room that about thirty people would get into and then people from above would spray soap foam all over you and then wait a few minutes for you to wash up before turning on high pressure hoses and spraying you off. It was surprisingly efficient and got you really clean. I think the overall set up and organization was better then Warrior Dash... both were fun but I definitely prefer Rugged Maniac

I was going to type out all the different obstacles but instead I decided to just post pictures of each so you can get an idea of what we did.

If you want to read more about the obstacles you go check them out HERE. This was my second mud run and it was a blast (though hot). I will definitely be going another one of these in the near future.

Getting Drunk

After the horrible week I had (Orlando tragedy and Work woes) I put out there on Facebook that I was going to go to Idle Hour (a local bar in NoHo) to get drunk. I figured I'd get a few friends to join me but I never expected to get about 20 people to join me. It was pretty fantastic. I felt extremely loved and cared for. Everyone who came knew that I just needed to unwind and have a good time and they helped with that.

Got home from work and grabbed a quick shot of Fireball before walking over to the bar. The night started off a bit rocky as the plan was to sit in back and kind of eat, drink and hang out but I didn't realize that the place is like a restaurant Friday night and you have to be seated and can't just go where ever there is open seating. At first I put my name down for 12 people and as the party continued to grow it became more and more evident that we were not going to be seated so we actually hung out front in their little porch area. There was no seating but we did have high tables to set our drinks on. Everyone seems to be having a great time. I didn't buy a single drink as people kept putting drinks in my hand. About an hour in and I had already had that shot from earlier and three more drinks and I was feeling pretty good.

I like to think that I'm a fun drunk, I can get a bit loud but that's usually from the constant giggling. I had my friends Shannon and Jes look after me to make sure I didn't do anything stupid (well other then drunk tweet) which everyone seemed to love. They also made sure I ate something and drank plenty of water and at the end of the night Shannon and Brett walked me home and made sure I arrived safe. Gotta love my friends!!

In the end I accomplished exactly what I set out to do. Have an amazing time with my friends, lift my spirits and live life to the fullest because you never know when it might end.

Star Trek Risk & Serenity Color Book

I'm not a big fan of the board game "Risk" but I have to say this Star Trek Risk game looks pretty fantastic. I love that it's Captain's verses Captain's. Now you can really find out which Captain is best. You can check out all the details HERE.

This is a new trend.. coloring books for adults. I have several friends who say it's extremely relaxing. I've seen some books here and there but not until I saw that they were going to release a Serenity/Firefly color book did I even consider getting one. You can read more about the coloring book HERE... it's going to be Shiny!!

Pete's Dragon Trailer, New MASH Podcast & Real Life Minecraft

Today Disney released a trailer for the re-imagined Pete's Dragon. I watched the original when I was a kid and loved it. This new version isn't a remake (or at least it doesn't look like it from this trailer) but I'll see this at some point. I don't know if it will be in the theater or on blu-ray but I want to watch it.

Geekyfanboy Productions released a new episode of the MASH 4077 Podcast. This is episode 131, covering Season 6 Episode 9, "Change Day"

Klinger says he grew up over the weekend and is wearing his Army uniform. Potter is tickled; he cannot wait to laugh over the latest Lebanese lunacy...until Potter gets a letter that pertains to West Point. Colonel Mike Abrams at HQ announces Army scrip change (from blue to red) will take place the following day. The 4077 will be on "lockdown" at 1600 hours while scrip exchange takes place. An MP named Boone is in post-op; his friend, Sgt. Maxwell thanks Hawkeye and BJ for saving his friend's life. Maxwell offers to do them a favor any time. When Boone's $400 in old scrip goes missing, Father Mulcahy is outraged and blasts the camp from his PA pulpit. With a bit of luck and a lot of help from friends, the zany surgeons enact their own take on Scripture and give a brief demonstration of what the Lord will giveth and what the Lord will taketh away.

You can Download from itunes tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes , listen on Stitcher Radio ow.ly/iZJIz or listen and get direct download from our main website MASH4077Podcast.com

My friend Maggie saw that I have been this week and gave me this picture that she colored last night... how sweet is she. Thanks Maggie, gonna put it up in my office so I can look at it and remember your kindness.

Last thing I want to share is this amazing "real life" Minecraft video. If you don't know what Minecraft is, in simple terms it's a video game where you build blockish type things. But it's extremely popular and a blast to play.. anyways someone create this live action Minecraft and it's pretty fantastic!!!

Uplifting LOTR Quote

So I woke up not feeling so great, not sick from illness but sick from sadness. More and more stories are coming out of the Orlando tragedy as well as text messages and voice messages from the victims that are just heartbreaking.

But I saw something on Facebook that did make me smile and brighten my day. It's one of my favorite quotes from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers movie. It's the exchange at the end when Frodo is starting to feel down and is losing hope in all things. Sam is there to lift his spirits.

FRODO: I can’t do this, Sam.

SAM: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam?

SAM: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

I tear up every time I read this.. it's just what I needed to get through another day. 

Re-Watching The West Wing

After the horrible day I came home from work extremely depressed so I plopped myself in front of the TV and started my re-watch of The West Wing. I haven't watched this series since it's first premiered many years ago. I have been wanting to do a re-watch for a while now, even considered watching it with my buddy Robert after we finished our re-watch/first time viewing of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but instead we decided to go with a Babylon 5, a series neither of us had seen before. But I needed something to get my mind off of the horribleness that has happened to The West Wing to the rescue and I have to say it really worked. I watched the first four episodes back to back to back to back. I would have watched more but had to be up at 6am for a workout.

Watching the pilot episode of The West Wing brought back to many amazing memories of this series. It really is one of my all time favorite TV series. I forgot how much walking and talking they did in this series.. I know it kind of became a joke but they do it alot. So happy I decided to do a re-watch. So many great episodes to come.. can't wait.

Orlando Tragedy

I woke up this morning to horrific news.. there was a mass shooting in Orlando Florida at a gay nightclub last night. Like with most news you get bits and pieces of news as the day progresses, first it was a few shot and killed then that number went up and kept going up. 49 people were killed, (50 if you include the gunman). When I heard the news my heart dropped and I felt sick to my stomach. I didn't know any of the victims but the fact that 49 people were killed at a place where you go for sanctuary, where you can be yourself and not worry about being made fun of or harassed. Such senseless deaths to such beautiful people. I was pretty numb all day at work as more and more info came out about the victims and the pain deepened.

So L.A. Pride was this past weekend and I planned on going as I haven't gone in over 10 years but for some reason I just wasn't feeling it and I decided to just stay in and chill this weekend. Well come to find out today that Santa Monica police detained a man who had explosives and other weapons in his car. When they stopped and questioned him he said he wanted to "harm L.A. Pride". Thankfully a concerned citizen noticed this guy being weird and called the police. She potentially saved a lot of lives.

Things like this really make you think about life, you really don't know what will happen from minute to minute. Places that you think you are safe and secure can become your tomb in a heartbeat. Life is short and you need to constantly remind yourself of this. Don't put off anything that you really want to do as you don't know if you have a tomorrow.