A DVD Christmas

I always seem to get a ton of DVD's for Christmas but this year was "The Year of the DVD's" for me.

I got all nine seasons of Smallville, now I had asked for these from my brother as I knew he was doing Black Friday at Best Buy and they were selling each season for only $10 each and though I've only seen the first three seasons of Smallville I'm a huge fan and really wanted to see the rest.. so my brother got these for me.

Another deal I couldn't pass up was Madmen, I've never seen the series but have heard such good things from friends that when I saw that they were selling the three seasons on Blu-ray for $10 I couldn't pass it up and bought them... of course they are from Harry to me.

Another series that I love is Kyle XY.. it only lasted three seasons and those too were on sale on Amazon so I picked up all three seasons.

Another series that I'm getting into is True Blood, season 1 was on sale and you guessed it I had to get it. I'm also a huge V fan and have really been enjoying the new series so my brother picked me up season 1 of the new series.

While I was on amazon I got Big Bang Theory season 3 and a very cool kids cartoon that I use to love when I was younger Dungeons and Dragons.

Two more DVD's that I got were Princess Bride (which I was surprised I didn't have already) but I got it on Blu-ray and then my buddy Jeff got me White Christmas

And finally I got two of my all time favorite Scifi/Fantasy films from the 80's Willow and Krull

Like I said tons of DVD.. but I also got some Wii games (Star Wars and Harry Potter), socks, shirts and underwear. Several very cool Harry Potter items (ornaments, pins and a plaque). Oh and I almost forgot my Lord of the Rings Ring.. which is AWESOME.

It was a very good Christmas for me this year

A Healthier Me - Day 135

So I didn't workout on Christmas Eve as planned and since I'm off work this week I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn and workout before work.. so it was a causal morning, Didn't get out there until 10am and had a good workout.

Since it's Monday I weight myself this morning 204.5

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical

Well this was unexpected but I lost a pound, from  205.5  to 204.5 I figured with the holidays and all the yummy foods I would have at least gained a pound or two but never thought I would lose.. so yay me. My workouts really just maintain my weight, I eat crappy but don't gain because of my workouts but I also don't lose or at least don't lose as much as I should.. for 2011 I'm going to focus on eating better and losing the weight. And then the real battle starts by keeping it off permanently.

Doctor Who Christmas Special 2010

First let me say that I'm a HUGE Doctor Who fan, I have loved every moment from when it first started re-airing in 2005 and I didn't think I could love it anymore then I already do.. but WOW..  I LOVED this Christmas Special and though it was one of the the best stories of all Who. Steven Moffat wrote my other favorite episodes of Who "Girl in the Fireplace" & "Blink" and he did it again with "A Christmas Carol". Previous Christmas specials have always been good, I've enjoyed them all but this one captured that special something that only Steven can capture. The acting was great, Matt Smith continued to impress me with his performance as The Doctor.. I swear he was born to play this character and he is fast becoming my favorite Doctor. Michael Gambon who I have enjoyed as Dumbledore did a fantastic job as the "Scrooge" of the story. All the actors were wonderful. One thing Steven can do is write characters.. all his characters are so engaging and you care for them instantly. But it truly was the story that stood out as something special. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. Moffat has a special talent of blending humor with sadness with just the right amounts of each. Though this story ends sadly it's still uplifting and only Moffat can write that to perfection. Another thing I enjoy about Moffat's writing are all the relationships that the Doctor make, be it with an young boy or an old man.. they are just magical and real. Oh one more thing.. I loved the fish and the CG was fantastic.. very whimsical.

I can't wait for the next season of Who.. it can't get here soon enough. I LOVE DOCTOR WHO!!!!

Christmas with Family

Today Harry and I got up really early as we had to go pick up a friend (Lydia, who was visiting from Switzerland) as she was going to be joining us for Christmas. She was staying in Hollywood and we had to be at my Mom's by 11am. So we got to Lydia's hotel around 9:30am, which was much quicker then we thought.. there was hardly any traffic. When then headed out to my Mom's in Newport Beach.. again we got there at 10:30am which was much sooner then we expected.. it was very light traffic.

Had a really good visit with my Mom, Step-Dad, and Grandma, along with my Brother, Sister-in-Law and Nephew. We had a nice Christmas lunch with turkey, ham, corn, peas, mash potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce and finished it off with pumpkin pie and ice cream. Kenobi managed to stay awake to open a few presents but was out like a light for most of it. Chuck's (my step dad) youngest son Christopher came over to visit and brought his boyfriend Josh.

We enjoyed each others company until around 4pm and then we packed up and headed over to visit my Dad.

Got to my Dad's around 5 and his Christmas dinner was almost ready. For Christmas dinner we had turkey, ham, corn, mash potatoes, gravy, rolls, and cranberry sauce. We had pumpkin and apple pie but forgot to eat it. it was a yummy dinner even though we had the same thing for lunch. I ate light for both meals so I was able to eat both meals.

After dinner we sat down to open presents. Every year my brother and dad go way over board with presents and this year was no exception. It was just crazy.. I am normally that one that will organize the gifts into piles and hand out one at a time and take pictures and video of everyone opening their gifts, but this time there were so many gifts and my brother just handed gifts out like crazy and folks were opening them all at the same time.. it was chaos and I got so few pictures and video this year. :(

But it's not about the gifts it's about spending time with the family... which is always nice. It was fun seeing Kenobi open his gifts. He's now 19 months and starting to understand  Christmas. I got him a bag of 150 plastic balls, as he really loves balls and my Dad got him a bag of 100 balls and soon those were all over the house.. but he was loving it.

It was fun sharing an "American" Christmas with Lydia. She said it's pretty much the same as how they celebrate in Europe, other then the meals are different and the open gifts on Christmas Eve.

All in all it was another exhausting but fun filled Christmas... but I'm glad it's over. I love Christmas but man is it a lot of work.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas Everyone. Hope you have a FANTASTIC Day!!!

Christmas Eve

I spent most of the day wrapping presents.. I would do two or three at a time and then take a break so it took me almost all day to wrap everything we had.

Later in the evening Harry and I open our gifts for each other since we spend Christmas day with my family. I think there was only one thing Harry didn't know about and I think I knew everything I was getting. The only stuff we didn't know was the stuff we got from Harry's friend Sandra and her family. It kind of takes the fun out of opening gifts when you  know what you are opening.. especially if you just spent hours before wrapping them up. It was fun because Harry actually forgot a few of his until he opened them... so there were a few surprises. All in all it was a good night.

Tomorrow is going to be a long but fun day. Merry Christmas Eve.

More Screeners

Today besides all the AWESOME Christmas gifts I got more movie screeners. The Way Back, Barney's Version, The Tillman Story and The Kings Speech. I haven't heard of any of any of these except The Kings Speech which has gotten alot of Oscar buzz. But other then that I'm not sure what any of these other movies are about. Hopefully next week between Christmas and New Years I'll be able to sit down and watch of few of these.. I'm now up to 30 movie screeners.. This is has been one of the best years for screeners.

Secret Santa's & Surprise Gifts

Today was full of surprises. We had many delivers from UPS and the post office. First thing I got were some AWESOME Star Wars book from my Guild Secret Santa. The past few years Guild Bryan has put together a fun Secret Santa with the Guild community. Found out my Secret Santa was my friend Liz who I got to meet/hang out with at comic con 2010. Thanks Liz for the great books.

Second to arrive was from my buddy Bryan. He's another person who I have met through The Guild. He is actually a listener of my Knights of the Guild podcast and wrote in every month and we struck up a friendship. He knows how much I love Harry Potter and he got me these really cool Harry Potter ornaments. They are so cool that I'm going to use them year round. Thanks Bryan

Third was another surprise gift from fellow Guildie Jeff Elwell. Again we meet him at last years comic con 2009. He like Bryan was a fan of our podcast and we because friends. He gave me White Christmas 2 disc special edition DVD set. I must have mentioned that it was my favorite Christmas movie and hadn't gotten it on DVD and normally watch it on TV every year. Now I have my very own copy.. Thanks Jeff.

A Healthier Me - Day 131

Today was a surprise day off so I actually slept in to about 8:30am, got up and checked my emails and such for an hour and then went out to workout.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Felt good working out, really pushed myself with the weights. Now that I'm off until Jan 3rd it's going to be a struggle to continue to get up and workout first thing.. but I'm going to do my best.

A Healthier Me - Day 130

Another workout day.. once again alarm went off at 6:30am and I fought with myself to get up. Almost convinced myself that I would work out after work and to sleep another hour.. but I knew better and dragged my butt out of bed.

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical

Doing pretty good 3 days in a row of working out.. it's a struggle each day but I'm doing it. As for eating better that really has taken a back seat since the holidays and I started my new job. I really need to focus in the new year on eating better. I can workout all I want but if I don't team that up with eating better I won't lose the weight I need to lose. Already failed my first goal.. can't fail another one. :(

Most Romantic Song Ever

I was digging through my CDs recently looking for my Buffy "Once More With Feeling" CD and came across my Moulin Rouge CD and decided to upload it to my ipod. I remember really enjoying the movie and music. I knew there was this one song that I totally LOVED and after looking at the titles realized it was "Come What May" I haven't stopped listening it since.  This is quintessential love song, this is the kind of love that everyone dreams of having someday... it's perfect.

KOTG Microcast #21 Quest for the UK

We have a special announcement for Fans of the Guild in the UK. Take a listen to this skype call with the one and only Felicia Day for all the details.

Link to The Guild on UK Itunes http://bit.ly/iaXVj2

Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans.

thanks,

Kenny

Other Important Links

• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/

Good Things About The Rain

VIEW FROM OUR BACKYARD

As much as I hate driving in the rain it has it's benefits. One thing it's replenishes the water table and as many of you know we use a well so that's good to know we will have plenty of water for the year. The second thing is the green everywhere. When it rains the hillsides get this thin layer of green moss/grass and it's just beautiful. 9 months out of the year we get to look at a very brown landscape (though still beautiful) it's drab and with winter rains we get green and then spring brings pretty orange and yellow weeds.. but they're pretty :)

A Healthier Me - Day 129

Well it was a struggle to get up today, I actually didn't get up at 6am and reset my alarm for 6:30am and really considered pushing off working out for when I got home. But I know how I am and I'm normally exhausted by the time I get home and wouldn't have worked out. I've done that too many times so I forced myself to get up and get out there.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)

Had a really nice workout, struggled with the cardio but the 30 minutes flew by.  I hadn't done weights in over a week so it was nice working with those again. This may sound vain but it's nice looking in the mirror and seeing the results of all your hard work. My upper (chest & arms) and lower body (legs) are starting to look really good.. it's the middle (stomach) I'm just not seeing any changes... that's seems to be my toughest part.  But will keep at it and I know in time I'll start to see the stomach shrink.

A Healthier Me - Day 128

Wow.. only worked out two days last week.. that was worse then the 3 days the previous week. I'm hoping after the holidays I'll be able to get back into my 5 day a week routine.

Since it's Monday I weight myself this morning 205.5

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical

Bad news I didn't lose any weight, which I kind of expected with my lack of working out.. but good news is I haven't gained any weight and will all these Holidays goodies I'm very proud of that. I know now that I will not hit my goal of 200 or below by the end of the year :( but come January I'll set some new goals and work my hardest to accomplish them.

Wash Away That Gray

BEFORE

AFTER

Tonight I dyed my hair. Over the years the gray has gotten worse and worse and prior to this I have only used that "Just for Men" but it washes out in a few weeks and wham you suddenly have tons of gray hair again. This time I used some kind of lady hair dye that I hope will stay in longer. I plan on doing the blond tips again but my hair needs to grow out a bit more for it to look good. One thing I did notice with my hair dyed you can notice my balding top more because the hair is darker and my skin in light.. oh well at least the gray is gone for now :)

It's a Eureka Christmas

Was finally able to sit down and watch the Eureka Christmas episode and I LOVED IT!!!!

Eureka has been one of the very few TV series that's been consisitant with great episodes. It's in it's fourth season now and I can't think of one single episode that I wouldn't love watching again. Each season they really manage to change things up. First season was the experiement gone wrong and though they still do those episode through out the other seasons they are not the focus of the season. Each season has a very well woven storyline that goes through out the entire season. And with season four they really went all out and changed the past which altered the future.. some major things have changed now and I thought they would revert things back but with it's mid-season finale it looks like this is the new Eureka.

Now with this Christmas episode it was a stand alone episode and was so well done, it was funny, heartfelt, had some action and was just another example of how good this series is. The Eureka Christmas episode will be a new yearly viewing along with White Christmas.. it's an instant classic.  Can't wait for the second of Eureka season 4 next year.

Christmas Party in the Hollywood Hills

Though the weather was horrible and it was raining cats and dogs Harry and I wouldn't have missed Gary and Steve's annual Christmas party. They live up in the Hollywood Hills in a beautiful house overlooking Los Angeles. It's always an adventure getting up to them but with the rain it made it even more adventurous. We got there about an hour late and the party was in full swing. It's always nice going to parties like these because we get to see alot of our friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like. I forgot my camera so I didn't take any pictures :( but we had a fun time. Great food, wonderful friends and some extremely fun games. It was, as always, a fantastic party and night... great way to end a roller coaster of a day.

People's Choice Podcast Award Results

Well they announced the winners of the 2010 People's Choice Podcast Awards today. Knights of the Guild podcast (my podcast) was nominated in the Entertainment category and was the sixth category to be announced. It's funny my internet sucks here at my house and I was in the middle of getting ready to head out for a Xmas party so I had my friend Aaron keep me updated via texting on the winners. They were going through them fairly quick and when he texted me the fifth winner I jumped online to see if I could actually watch my category. I was surprised that my internet actually worked and the streaming feed actually held up and I was able to watch that category and see that the winner was The Fringe Podcast.

Yeah we lost, which is a bummer but as they say (and it's true) it was an honor to be nominated. Out of the thousands of podcasts submitted for Best Entertainment we were selected as one of the top 10. I knew our chances were slim but you still hope.. Guildies are the best and it's a fairly large community but in the end Fringe got more votes.

But on a positive note our podcast will always be known as "The People's Choice "Best Entertainment" Nominated Knights of the Guild Podcast" ... see there is that silver lining :)

DADT Repealed

Finally something good comes out of this government. The Don't Ask Don't Tell law for the US Military has been repealed after 17 years. Wasn't sure it was going to happen.. there were several false started to repeal it but in the end it happened today. It's good that it's gone (or will be gone) and GLBT military folks will be able to serve opening and proud if they wish and won't be kicked out because of it, but honestly if I was a gay man in the military I still wouldn't serve openly as there is still so much hate and bigotry towards being gay I would fear for my life from other service men. I'm happy they can serve openly but cautious.

Coach, Crowds and Christmas

Still have a few Christmas gifts to buy and this being our last weekend we had to brave the storm and head out. One of those gifts is a Coach wallet for my mom. Now I can't afford a Coach wallet from one of their many stores but I figured if I went to one of the outlets I should be able to buy one there at a discounted price. So I looked online and found that the closest outlet to us is in Camarillo which is about 70 miles south west of us and would take about an hour and a half to get there. So with wind and rain we started our trek to the Coach outlet store. When we get there it's PACKED!!! I mean the parking lot, there were cars everywhere and it was pouring outside and people running around, it was pretty crazy. We found the Coach store and started to look for a parking space, which was going to take a miracle. When we drove by the front of the store we saw that there were at least 100+ people standing outside in the rain waiting to get into the Coach store which was also packed.. I looked at Harry and said "think I'm going to call Mom and see if it's cool if she gets her Christmas present after Christmas" it would take an hour to find a parking spot and then stand in line for a few hours and then fight my way inside the store to find a wallet. He agreed and we abandon our mission and headed home. But before that we went to a local Denny's for some lunch. Now the blog should be over but it's not. On our way home a bout of nausea hit me. So much so that I fought my body from trowing up. There were several times when I almost asked Harry to pull over on the freeway. Luckily I made it home and the nausea ceased after a few hours.. not sure if it was Denny's or what but for a moment I thought I had food poisoning.

A Healthier Me - Day 124

Well I didn't work out Tuesday or Wednesday, but Tuesday I did go roller skating for a hour and since I haven't gone roller skating in over 15 years it was a huge workout.. was a really good cardio workout. So I really only skipped working out on Wednesday. Anyways back on track for now..

Today's Workout:

5 minutes jumping rope
30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Things are so crazy and there seems to not be enough time in the day to do everything I need to do. I've gotten about seven hours sleep in the past 3 days and my working out unfortunately gets dropped if I run out of time or need a bit more sleep. I rather not workout a day than get sick as lack of sleep is really taking it's toll on my body. I know these are excuses but they are the truths.. still not 100% feeling well but I'm going to do my best to get back on track. Still hoping to get to 200 or below before the end of the year.

Gay = Bad?

Sorry guys this blog is going to be a bit of a rant. These two topic have been bothering me for a while and recently experience both of them again.. which leads me to blogging about it.

First.. "That's so Gay!!" or "That sounds Gay!!" the word Gay in that statement normally means stupid, ugly, weak, or some other derogatory thing. I hear kids say it all the time and even some of my friends have said it to my face.. of course I call them out and ask why they would say something like that and most times they say that they don't even think about it.. it's just a saying. I'm sure most people who do say it mean no ill will to the "gay" community, but it still doesn't make it right. When did Gay start to mean something derogatory? They use to say "Gay" back in the early years and it meant joyful or fun.. "A Gay Ol' time". People need to start thinking about what they say.. I understand that words are just words but you have to understand that when people compare who you are (gay) to being ugly, stupid, weak over and over again it can hurt. It's a form of hate and one that is prevalent in our society.

Second .. "oh but I'm not Gay.."  people say it like being gay is a bad thing.. an example from today I saw a posting of a picture of this guy and a male friend with their arms over each other shoulder.. the caption said.. "My Best Mate.. I love him.. but not like that.. I'm not gay".  It's like he purposely wrote that to make sure everyone knew he wasn't gay.. just because he said he loved his best mate and was showing affection to him. I see and hear this time and time again. I'll be having a conversation with someone and make sure they finish off with..."but I'm not gay". I always ask them why they would say such a thing. Is it that big of a deal if you were gay or if people think you are gay? They make it sound as if being gay is a bad thing and they want to make sure everyone knows that they aren't this "bad" thing... I just don't get it... when did "Gay" get such a negative connotation in our society??

Sorry for the rant.. these things have been bothering me and I'm trying to get better and blogging about these things and not keep them bottled up. Thanks for reading.

Knights of the Guild Ep 23 pt.1

 

Show Notes:

Here it is Episode 23 part 1 of Knights of the Guild… Enjoy!!!

Today’s show features:

• * First up a classic Vorkism
• * We are recording this weeks podcast live in our studios.
• * We have some great Crew Interviews with Greg Aronowitz and his prop making crew, Brian, Mazen & Nick

• * We find out what the cast and crew are up too
• * Then Business Time
• * Then our Good byes

Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans.
 

Kenny & Jenni

Other Important Links

• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/

Being Extremely Shy

I am an extremely shy person, very introverted and have had some bad cases of social anxiety, I have been this way my entire life. I hated public speaking, I use to have panic attacks when I knew something was coming up and I had to get up in front of the class and speak. One incident really stands out in my mind. I was in 7th grade in Chemistry class and they were going down the aisle asking each person to answer a question. I was counting desks in front of me and then counting questions so I knew which one I had to answer and make sure I actually knew the answer, well that kept changing because if the person got it wrong they would ask the next person in the row.. so I kept panicking until I literally made myself go blind. I panicked so much that my body shut down and I lost my vision. So not only am I panicking that I won't be able to answer the question correctly and that I have to speak in front of the entire class I'm now panicking that I can't see anymore. I remember trying to calm myself down by taking deep breaths, and trying to control my anxiety. After a few minutes my vision came back and I did answer the question, right or wrong I don't remember. That's the worst social anxiety that I've ever had.

As I get older I learned better ways of controlling my social anxiety and shyness. But I'm still not comfortable in large crowds, parties or bars. I much rather be with a small group of friends. If you know me you'd say I'm not extremely shy but that's because I know you. If I know you I can have a perfectly good conversation, but in a room on strangers I will not say a word. I don't have a clue why I'm so shy it's not like I can't carry a conversation. If I sounds stupid do I really care what they think of me?

I really admire those people who can go up to anyone and start a conversation.

I know I do a podcast that thousands of people listen too but it's different when you're talking into a microphone in an empty room, then if I was talking to a room with a thousand people staring at me.  But I will say that podcasting has helped me with my social anxiety/shyness along with my blogging, video blogging, daily booth, twitter, facebook and other social media forums.

Social anxiety and Shyness will be something that I will struggle with the rest of my life, it's part of what makes Kenny, Kenny I guess.

Extra, Extra, Extra

Today I got up extremely early 5am to head into North Hollywood to be an extra in a webseries. My padawan Troy who went to the skate party with me the previous night actually came back to my place as he too was going to be an extra and my place is closer to North Hollywood then his. Before we headed out for set I gave Troy an early Christmas present. Troy lives in Los Alamitos and hasn't had a GPS for a while so he uses google and yahoo maps so he is constantly getting lost or missing turn offs and such so I got him a brand new GPS system. So before we headed into town I had him open it up so he could use it this morning and break it in.

We were running a bit late but manage to get out of the house around 5:45am. We drove separately as I had to go into work after the shoot while he was going to head back to my place because he was going to be an extra for the next day as well. It normally takes about 40 minutes to get to NoHo from our place  but with morning traffic about 50 minutes to an hour. Well I didn't realize 6am traffic is different then 9am traffic and it took about an hour and a half this morning. Our call time was 6:30am and they were going to start shooting at 7am. Well Troy got there about 6:50am and I got there around 7:05am because I had to stop for gas on the way.

Luckily and kind of expected they were running late as well as it was sprinkling and we were shooting outside. I think we finally got started at 8am and did the scene for 2 hours.

It was loads of fun, I love being an extra... there really is no acting required.. they point and say go here, hold this, do that and you do it. It was great to see some of my old Guildie gang. Working with these guys always puts a smile on my face. It was some good times.. can't wait to see the final product.

Skating, Lazertag and Broken Legs

Tonight was my friends Marissa's 18th birthday. Our mutual friends Greg and Sheri went all out for this party. She had always joked about having a skate party. Well these guys rented out a skate park out in Northridge and through her a surprise party. The place was awesome, pizza, hot dogs, pretzels, churro and soda was at the plenty. Flashing light up glasses, glow bands and beads were given out. Belle and Arial also showed up to do balloon animals and hats and face painting. They also had what they called Lazertag but I wasn't too impressed with that. Marissa was extremely surprised and excited.

10 minutes into the party one of Greg's friends fell while skating and broke his leg. For the next 15 minute he laid on the floor waiting for an ambulance to come get him. Most people stopped skating but they did open part of the rink for those who wanted to continue. A few minutes after they took the guy away on a stretcher another guy went down and at first we thought he broke his ankle but he just sprained it really bad. But after that everything else went smoothly. We skated, ate junk food, got balloon animals made and played some lazertag. It only lasted two hours which felt like it just flew buy and at the end we had cake and sang Happy Birthday. 

Other then a few tumbles, it was a fun night, I hadn't skated in over 15 years but did pretty good (I never fell). It was great to see alot of Guildie faces, folks I haven't seen since season 4 ended. And it's always fun to hang out with my Padawan Troy. All in all a great night.

Looks Aren't Everything

First let me say these aren't random thoughts.. something will happen in my daily life and gets me thinking. So I decided to try and put my thoughts into words and blog about it... blogging is a great way to get things off my chest.  This isn't the first and won't be the last of these kinds of blogs.

I've struggled my entire teenage and adult life with they way I looked. I am short, a little over 5"3' and I've always had an issue with it. I was made fun of as a kid and before I was out of the closet I had difficulty getting a date with girls because most woman (not all) don't like short men . Besides being short I'm stocky as I like to call it. I top just over 200lbs and doctors tell me that I'm obese, according to their medical standards. So I'm a short stocky obese male. Beauty/Handsome are subjective to each person but there are what the general populace would consider beautiful or handsome and I wouldn't consider myself either

It's funny as you get older you realize there is more to life then the way you look. It's unfortunate that it can take years and years to reach that point. I think once I came out at 27 things changed and I started to look at myself differently. Luckily for me the guys I liked weren't into tall, dark and handsome, they looked beyond that and saw the beauty within. I accepted that I was going to be short all my life, there really wasn't anything I could do to change that. I also accepted that I am stocky.. I'll always be stocky, even when I lose weight I'll still be broad shouldered and stocky.. it's just the way my body was built.  As for being handsome, I've accepted that isn't in the cards for me. If someone doesn't like me for the way I look then they are not worth my time anyways.

It's taken years but I'm finally happy with myself, I like the person I have become.

A Healthier Me - Day 121

So I FAILED at the end of last week. I didn't work out on Thursday or Friday as planned. I can use the excuse of being tired (as I was on Thursday) but there really is no excuse. I just couldn't motivate myself to get up super early to workout or workout when I got home late at night from work.  But that's behind me.. got up early today and got out there.

Since it's Monday I weight myself this morning 205.5

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical
5 minutes jump roping

So a result of not working out those two days and eating crappy last week I gained 1.5 lbs. I'm really starting to doubt I'm going to be at or below 200 by the end of the year. I'm kind of disappointed in myself as it was a very doable goal and my lack of self control when it comes to eating is my downfall. I mean I still have a few weeks but unless I change my eating habits dramatically I'm not going to lose 5.5 lbs in two weeks. But this is only a minor set back, I'm not going to let this discourage me. I'll double my efforts on working out daily and really focus on eating better.

I did start with a new cardio workout.. I bought a jump rope this past weekend and gave it a whirl.. man does it get your heart racing but I was only able to do 5 minutes before my ankles were screaming for me to stop. I'm sure I'll build on that time as I continue to do it but it's a nice alternative to the elliptical.

Christmas Shopping

Today Harry and I went out for about four hours and went Christmas shopping. We hit Michale's ,Target, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble and Ross. I also purchased more stuff online when I got home. I actually bought a lot of stuff online this year. More this year then any other year. I'd say we are about 75% done with your shopping. Luckily we have one more weekend to finish.

My New Tattoo

Today I got up early and left my house around 9:30am to get to my brother's by 11am for the next Tattoo party he was having. Our friend Moose (Joesph) comes over to my brothers house and does tattoos for all those who want them. He charges $60 an hour and if you know tattoos, that's a fantastic price. Well a little over a month ago I got my Hogwarts tattoo and loved is so when I heard he was going another party I had to get my second one.

Well I got there first and waited for Moose to show up. A few other people came and finally Moose arrived. He set up and thought it's first come first serve, meaning I should go first I was a nice guy (as always) and allowed not one, not two but three ladies go in front of me. One was getting a fairly quick baseball and bat tattoo, while a daughter and mother were getting pink ribbons. So what I thought would be a 3 hour delay turned into a 5 hour delay and we didn't start my tattoo until 5:15pm. I didn't plan on being there all day but it turned into a all day thing.

So he copied the picture I wanted and placed it on my leg. Only did it twice to get it just right. He then started to tattoo and I don't know if I pushed the horrible memories of my first experience out of my head but man did it hurt. It might have been the location but everyone kept telling me that my calf wouldn't hurt as much as my arm.. boy were they wrong. I'm lucky I had a pillow that I could bury my face into as I would have screamed out in pain. 

He finished the outline and I got a quick break and then went in for coloring and once again the pain was back. This coloring wasn't as bad as doing the outline but again this coloring had some of the worse pain I've every felt.

In the end it took 2 hours to complete and I can't believed I survived it but the final product is BEAUTIFUL and a great addition to my tattoo collection.

I will say that I don't expect me to be getting any more tattoos for a while. Still have 3 more to go (Star Trek, Firefly and Lord of the Ring) but I think I'll wait a bit for the memory of the pain to leave me.. it's gonna take a while.

Snap out of it!!!

Man the past few day I have been in this kind of funk. Don't exactly know why but things around me seemed gloomy and depressing. I've had this dark cloud over my head and I couldn't shake it. I've been tired and have felt very overwhelmed at times.

Well enough is enough, it's Christmas time and my favorite time of the year. I look forward to this time all year long so it's time to snap out of it and take back control of my life. Sure not all things are going as planned, but it could be so much worse. I have a great job, yes it's a bit of a drive, but I work with some really nice people. I have family and friends who love and care for me just as much as I love and care for them. I have a fairly successful podcast with thousands of listeners who are friendly and supportive. I'm working out daily and though I might not be losing a ton of weight as hoped I'm losing the weight... slow and steady wins the race. I'm healthy and whole and still very much young at heart. I'm a geek and having some of the best times of my life... what more can I ask for.

A Healthier Me - Day 116

 Well today's workout was a struggle, I think the lack of sleep is starting to take it's toll. Was suppose to get up at 6am to do my hour of cardio but the alarm went off, which was strange as I normally get up a few minutes before the alarm, but instead of getting up I hit snooze and then laid there debating on whether I was going to get up or push my workout until after work. Well after the third snooze I decided it would be best to do my workout after work so I reset my alarm to 7am. Alarm went off again what felt like a few minutes later and I dragged my body out of bed and into the shower.

Got home around 8:30, ate dinner and finally dragged my butt out to the garage at 10pm. I was so not in the mood and debated with myself about working out on the weekend to make up for today but I knew better.. my weekends are so chuck full of everything I can't do during the week that there would be no way I'd find time to workout. So I turned on a podcast to listen too and started my cardio. About 18 minutes in I hit a wall and once again started to debate with myself If I should do just 30 minutes today.. surely I could get to 30 minutes. So I switched over to my workout music and that did the trick. I felt my energy start to build and I did a full hour with no problem. And even did some weights that I cut out of my Tues/Thurs workouts.

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

It's funny all the internal debate that goes on with in my head, all the deals I try and make with myself to get out of working out. Luckily my determination is stronger then all those little voices.. now only if my determination was stronger then my will to eat crappy food I'd be in good shape.

V - Season 1 Recap

Love these kinds of Recaps.. V Season 1 told in four and a half minutes. Can't wait for Season 2 on Jan 4th

Merry Trekmas by Rick Moyer

My good friend Rick Moyer produced this AWESOME CD last year of Star Trek themed Christmas songs. He does parody songs for the Treks in Sci fi Podcast, which I listen to every week and decided to do a full Christmas CD with a Trek twist. Rick continues to amaze me with his musical talents. All of these songs are downloadable for free along with the CD cover art. These are a must have for any Trek Fan out there.

Listen and download here. http://tinyurl.com/MerryTrekmas      ALL SONG ARE FREE!!!

He also produced a wonderful collections of music to watch to Star by called Stargazer. You can buy a CD at the link or download it from itunes. http://www.takehimwithyou.com/stargazer/

And recently he just released a second CD called MW-Orbit and this one is kind of like a Musical Short Story... it's very cool.  You can buy your copy by following the link http://mw-orbit.com/

Rick produced this Merry Trekmas CD all on his own with his own money, and gives it away for free. If you love it as much as I do, please consider buying one of other CD's and help support the independent artist... Thanks

A Healthier Me - Day 115

Well I had planned to workout tonight but when I woke up at 6am and couldn't go back to sleep.. figured I might as well get it done.... so I did.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)

All in all a nice workout.

A Healthier Me - Day 114

Another workout week begins.

Since it's Monday I weight myself this morning 204

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical


Well I'm to my lowest weight yet.. woo hoo.. now let's hope I can keep going down the next three weeks and meet my goal of getting to 200 or below by the end of the year.


I didn't workout on Friday as I wasn't feeling so hot on Friday AM and it totally slipped my mind when I got home from work as it seems like there's not enough time in the day to do everything that I need to do. And my weekends were chuck full of busy so I wasn't able to workout.. though I did do alot of Dance Central at Felicia's party and man that's one of the best cardio workouts yet.. may have to look into getting a 360 with Kinect.

Podcasting and Shopping

Today was a busy day.. didn't get home until 3 am this morning and had to be back up at 10 to prep for a special microcast that will go out in the next few days.

After that Jenni came over around 3:30 to record our next full episode of Knights of the Guild. That went really smooth  and after we recorded parts 1 & 2 we played around with my new webcam program and made a bunch of funny pixs (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=574680&id=707225374&l=695f76ea51) and video.

After that Harry and I went out for dinner and to try and get some Christmas shopping done and of course of all days it's pouring outside. We hit Target first as we wanted to get some clothes for Harry's nephews back in Austria. Our goal was to get all the stuff we would need to ship back to Austria. So that meant something for his parents, brother-in-law and nephews. We did manage to find everything we needed and also pick some stuff up for my friends and my nephew Kenobi.

Both Harry and I aren't feeling so hot so when we were done, about an hour and a half later, we opted to go home. We got everything we need for the packaged to Austria.. gotta get that in the mail soon so they get it by Xmas. Everything else can be picked up at a later date.. We still have lots of Xmas shopping to do and only 2 more weekends... scary!!!!

Felicia Day's Christmas/Gaming Party

Today I was fortunate enough to be invited to Felicia's (now) annual Christmas and Gaming party. I brought along my Padawan Troy as my +1 as I knew he would really enjoy it.

The party started at 5pm so of course he and I got there at 5pm, actually since we both live further away and you never know how traffic will be we both got there about 15 minutes early so we hung in his car and waited for a little bit after 5.

When we went in there were a few people there helping Felicia set up. There were several gaming station. In the living room was RockBand 3, Guest room had Super Mario Bros and the Library had the 360 with the new kinect and Dance Central.

First game we had to try out was the Dance Central. Troy and I had so much fun with that.. but wow is that a workout. We did a few rounds before taking a break and grabbing a drink. When we headed back to the living room we noticed they were setting up Rockband so Troy grabbed a guitar while I grabbed a microphone. We had loads of fun jamming with Felicia, her brother Ryon and Omar.

More and more people showed up as we continued to play Dance Central and Rockband. It was a great night that kind of flew by.. before we knew it was 12:30am and the party was coming to the close. Troy and I hung out in front of Felicia's house chatting and I finally got home around 3am.

One other thing that I was able to do was to finally give the last three Guild members their Lil Guildies Plushies. So Robin, Amy and Vince all got their plushies.

I took lots of video that I hope to cut together and put up on our KOTG youtube channel but I did manage to upload about half my pictures of the night.. you can go to facebook and see them there.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=574306&id=707225374&l=abad754638

Bust A Move - Elf Style

Check it out.. my Padawan Troy and I busting a move.. Hip Hop Style

Here's Harry and I along with my buddies Christopher, Will and Troy.. doing some Country Dancing

You can Elf yourself here.. http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/

An Unexpected Gift

Today I got a new 32gig Ipod Touch from a listener of my Knights of the Guild podcast. His name is Aaron and is a really cool guy we've chatted back and forth via email as he is currently working on an App for my podcast. I actually got to meet him last weekend at an improv show and he showed me what he has done so far and it's pretty AWESOME. He knew I didn't have a device to view this app and the next thing I knew he bought me this beautiful Ipod Touch.

I had a tough time accepting it at first as I'm normally the one buying things for people and not the other way around but then realized that he wanted to do this because he's a great guy and wants me to be able to see this awesome app that he is creating. Over the years I've learned to not "fight" people when it comes to them wanting to do nice things for me. I use to go out to dinner with a friend and they would grab the bill and a small struggle would ensue over it. I don't do that anymore, if someone wants to pay the bill, I graciously say Thank you and promise the get the next one, which normally happens. So with this gift (thought extremely more expensive then a dinner) I graciously accept it with a big THANK YOU.

Edit.. forgot to mention that he had it engraved as well.. with my name and Knights of the Guild Podcast.. so cool.

A Healthier Me - Day 110

Once again I was a bit tired but I'm getting the hang of this getting up at 6:30am and working out.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 working on my back (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)

My only concern is my diet, I did okay (no great) when I first started but I seemed to have fallen off the wagon. I blame my job, as it's easier to go out and eat then make something at home because I have to little time, but it's really my fault. I need to really step up the effort and stop eating out, or at least go back to once or twice a week like before the job. If I'm every going to hit my end of year goal something needs to change as cardio and weights can only go so far. I might see if I can get some medical help with this.. I know there are drugs that won't let your body absorb as much fat or maybe appetite suppressants... gotta talk with my doc.

My Podcast is up for a Podcast Award.. Please VOTE

 

My podcast Knights of the Guild has been nominated for a People's Choice Podcast Awards in the Entertainment Category. I put a lot of work into this podcast and it would be fantastic if we won. We're up against some very strong competition so it's going to take everyone voting everyday to beat them.

Voting starts December 1st and ends December 15th. http://podcastawards.com/

Please vote everyday, you can also vote multiple times with different valid email accounts. So please vote as many times as you can for the next 15 days... THANKS!!

A Healthier Me - Day 109

Today's Workout:

1 hour of cardio on the elliptical

I'm liking this new workout schedule.. even though I had a rough time waking up this morning once I was out there I had a great workout, 40 minutes was filled with The Forcecast podcast and the last 20 with my workout music.. time flew by and before I knew it, it was over.

You would think after 109 days that this working out thing would get easier..but it doesn't.. I have days were I really struggle to get out there and do it.. and then once there I can have a good day and it flies by or a bad day where I will fight with myself to continue. But with that said it really has become part of my morning routine. When I wake up my first thought is to put on my sweats.. gotta go workout... I guess that's good.

World AIDS Day

AIDS/HIV might not be the hot topic of late but it's still killing thousands people and hundreds are being infected daily. Today is World AIDS Day, please take a moment and remember all those who we have lost over the years and for those who are currently HIV positive. It's still a big issue and we must find a cure.

A Healthier Me - Day 108

It was a slow start up this morning but once I got going I turned into a pretty good workout.

Today's Workout:

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical
4 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the curl arm for my biceps (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 for shoulders (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
4 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Need to focus on my healthier eating again.. kind of slacked on that a bit with the holidays and going back to work and eating out for lunch everyday. Won't get below my 200 goal by end of year if I continue to eat poorly :(

People Suck!!!

So I went to El Pollo Loco for lunch today.. and there was a group of mentally handicap adults having lunch and seating towards the back of the restaurant. I was at the fountain drink machine and two ladies were there discussing where to sit. When one said fairly loud, "Let's go to the front I don't want to sit near the retards". I just kind gave her a dirty look and she put up her nose and walked away.

I sat down near the group when one of the guys wandered over to two young girls (high school age) and said hi. They kind of laughed and giggled then started to talk to him. Luckily he didn't seem to know they were making fun of him, calling him names and saying things that sound like compliments but are really back handed compliments. Luckily the chaperon came over and walked him back to the group but as they walked back the girls just pulled faces behind his back.

I know humans are horrible but it's still tough to see people be mean or rude for no reason. These guys were doing nothing to anyone, just there for their weekly lunch outing. I always say that rudeness and meanness are taught traits but I'm beginning to think all humans are born mean and there are only a few "good" people left in this world. So disappointed in the human race at the moment.