iPhone 5 & Weekend Fun

TGIF is all I was thinking today. It's been a long week and it's finally coming to an end. Also this weekend is another of my infamous weekend movie marathon parties... and I so can't wait for it.

I did manage to get my new iPhone 5 work, connected and looking great. Such a huge difference from the iPhone 3GS. I mean 4G alone is amazing. The screen is larger, the speed is much faster and the battery life is amazing. I'm slowly learning the phone. Still haven't played with Siri much so I look forward into delving into that more. I'm very happy that I went with he iPhone 5.

7pm came and I was out of work in a shot. I had to get home as I did have people coming over early (as it's become a tradition). So I needed to be there when they arrived. I made it home, ate dinner and had a half hour to relax before my first guest arrived. Aaron came at 8:30 sharp which is amazing since he drives from San Diego and traffic is always unpredictable. Not long after Rupert, Brett, Michele, Anthony and finally Robert arrived. We played some Cards Against Humanity (it's are go to game now) and then sat around the fireplace for about 2 hours just relaxing, talking and enjoying ones company. It was a great way to end what was a very stressful week. And a great way to start what will be an awesome weekend.

Bros Bros and More Bros

I had the honor of having lunch today with my buddy Will. Will and I don't get to hang out as much as we would like but the time we do spend together is very important to me. Today he came to my work, parked and we walked up with the hill to Universal City Walk. When we got there we decided to have lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. It was another fun get together. We chatted about work, life and our usual stuff. Will has always felt like a little brother to me. I've always been there to listen to and offer advice on various things happening in his life. And though many years have past we still have that kind of relationship and I'm so thankful.

After work today I headed over to my buddy Robert's place. We are continuing our Buffy rewatch/ 1st time watching. Unlike Will I haven't known Robert for that long but from the moment we met I felt as if I have known him my entire life. We have become the best of friends and I love hanging with him. Of all my "close" friend Robert is the one I hang with the most. Today we were having Italian for dinner and continuing with Season four of Buffy. We watched three episodes tonight, starting with Fear Itself. Fun episode, great ending and fun to see a different side to Giles. Our second episode was Beer Bad. This is unanimously considered the worst Buffy episode ever. I don't think it's the best and maybe it's low on the list of rewatch for me but even Buffy's worse is still 100 times better then other TV shows. Our final episode for the evening was Wild at Heart. This was the end of the Oz and Willow relationship. I love Oz but I'm happy to see him go as that means we will be seeing Tara (who I love). It was a great episode to end the night with.

It was nice to get a break from the crazies that is my job to have lunch with Will and then to decompress and hang with Robert after a long day of work. Bros are the best.

Mistaken Identity

At work we have to valet our cars as parking is in short supply and they normally stack the cars. I got off work today and headed over to the Valet area and they were super busy. There were two of them and they were running around. The parking was the worst I had ever seen. I waited about five minutes and the guy finally came over to me and I gave him my ticket. The night guy never brings my car around he always just hands me my ticket and then I go search for my car (luckily they park it in the same general area). Well today it was in the same area but it was blocked in. I walked back over to the valet station and as I was standing there a group of older woman came out of the restaurant next door (who also uses the valet parking). This blonde white woman (looked very well off), approached me with a $20 and said in a very loud and slow tone. "Do you have change for a, $20 your friend is pulling my car around and I want to give you guys a great tip." I looked at her, smiled and said "I'm sorry but I don't work for the valet" in perfect English of course. You could tell she was embarrassed and I really didn't take offense to it until she said "Well it's an honest mistake... I mean you have keys in your hand and your..."she didn't finished the sentence and kind of laughed and walked over to her friends as their car was being pulled around. It was a very strange experience.

New Credit Card

So I've been wanting to do this for a while,  My friend Sebastian, uses nothing but a credit card to pay for everything and get's cash back/points for every purchase. Since my best friend lives in Montana I thought it would be cool to get a credit card that I could do the same.. but instead of cash back I get points towards air miles. I bank with Bank of America and while on their site I noticed an ad for a credit card for travel miles. Now with most of these kinds of credit cards you have to pay a yearly fee, but this one you did not. Of course you're not getting huge amounts of point per dollar but I liked what I saw and signed up. I was approved in minutes and a few days later I got the credit card. I have been using it for everything since. If I spend $500 within 90 days I'll get an extra 10,000 points = $100. So I figure I'll get $1 for every 100 points. I get 1.5 points per dollar spent. Like I said it's not huge but any amount will help when it come to buying airline tickets. I'm going to try and pay for everything via the card and get the most out of the points I can. 

Hard Drive Woes

Since my hard drive crashed last month I have been slowly realizing the extent of what was lost. It was my main external hard drive, especially for my podcasts. But I'm not realizing how much I've actually lost until I go looking for something and can't find it. Today I was trying to finish up my next MASH 4077 podcast. All I have left to do is add audio from the episodes. I realized that I lost all my electronic versions of MASH episodes as they were on that drive so I no longer have any audio for the episodes. I don't even have the episodes on DVD (those went with Harry).. so what to do in a pinch.. I tried to find the episode of MASH I'm currently working on online and did manage to get it but it's a version with the audio laugh track and it's so distracting and horrible that I decided to stop editing. Figured I'll take a few days to try and find a cleaner version. I hope I can but if not I'll use the one with the laugh track. At least it's only this one episode. If I have to I'll go out and buy the entire series on DVD.

Movie Marathon Weekends Return

So I haven't had an official movie marathon weekend since May of 2012... wow it's been a long time. I did have a rather large party for my 42nd Birthday in September and again a much smaller party for my 2012 Christmas party. But after this long break.. I've decided to have another movie marathon. This time we are watching all things Superman.

The reason I am writing this blog is because this event is going to be my smallest yet. I only invited 10 or so people. So alot of my friends did not get invited to this one. I had to be super selective and it was tough. I don't want folks to think that I am trying to keep this a secret.. I mean I blog, tweet and facebook too much to keep things a secret. So if you were not invited to this one please don't take it personally.. it doesn't mean we are not friends.

As I have mentioned several times on my blog, back in September for my Birthday weekend things kind of got out of hand and from that point on I swore off doing any more movie marathons or parties for that matter. But I miss everyone and I enjoy those weekends so much that I'm starting them back up.. but on a much smaller scale.

I'm sorry if you feel left out or that we are not good enough friends to be invited to this event, neither is done on purpose. I wish I could invite every one of you but my house and my nerves can't take it.

I'm going to continue to have these smaller parties and will continue to rotate my invited friends so everyone can enjoy the hospitalizes of Casa De Kenny.

And for those I'm not seeing this coming weekend I hope we get to hangout at Wondercon next month.

Podcasts, Taxes, Dinner and Snow

Today I had to go in and sign my tax forms, but my tax place didn't open until 10am. So I let work know that I was going to be coming in a bit later then usual. Lucky for me my tax place is in Burbank which isn't far from my job. So I had some time to kill as I got up at my regular time of 6:30am. I struggled to get out of bed and go do my cardio, but I did. Afterwards I had a few hours to kill so I started editing my next MASH 4077 Podcast. I actually got pretty far along before I had to head out to my tax guy.

Got to my tax place at 10, went in and singed the papers, paid for their service and headed into work. I got into work around 10:30am which is about an hour later then I usual get in. Work was crazy as expected but as I mentioned in a recent blog, I'm just going with the flow. I did have one funny thing happen to me while I was at lunch. I walk to local places for lunch and today I went to Carl's Jr. Went I exited the building I notice that the ground was wet, it had rained. I did not bring my umbrella to work today as it wasn't rainy near me. I took my chance and walked about 15 minutes to Carls. I made it there nice a dry. I ordered my food, sat down and started eating when I noticed that folks were coming in with umbrellas and they looked wet. Sure enough it was raining and hard. I was almost done with food and didn't have clue how I was going to get back to work unsoaked. I waited an extra twenty minutes and when it looked like it had died down I made a run for work.. well I didn't actually run. I did walk a bit faster and it did start to rain a bit but I made it back to my office fairly dry.

After work I had dinner with my long long friend, Craig. We haven't seen each other for over five years. We've talked here and there but this was the first time we've seen each other in a long time. It was great seeing him and catching up on his life. He has some health issues and recently had a double stroke four days apart. Luckily he had recovered and doing well. We plan to hang out more often. He has rats as pets, and I used to have rats as pets and love them. He introduced me to two new little girls that he got and I am now considering getting some rats to keep me company.

It has been raining on and off all day at work so when I got home I expect there to be snow and sure enough.. there was. It wasn't alot as it just got cold enough for the rain to turn to snow. I expect that I'll wake up to a snowy winter land. The downside is that Fedex left a package on my doorstep. This package was covered in snow and ice when I got home and was soaked through and through. It was my new iPhone 5 and luckily for me the iPhone is sealed in plastic so only the paperwork was wet. I can't wait to get my phone charged and operational.

Knights of the Guild Ep 47

Download from itunes: bit.ly/KotGCast, Stitcher Radio ow.ly/hEXjY or Listen, get direct download bit.ly/2CrYxk 

 

Show Notes:

.

This episode I sit down with Felicia Day and talk about the creation of season six as well as episode one.

Enjoy,

~Kenny~

Working Out and Podcasts

So I started working out again this morning. It was freezing and I didn't want to get out of bed, but I did. I'm only doing cardio at the moment and after a few weeks I'll start weight training again. I'm also determined to drink 2 liters of water everyday. I rarely drink water and really need to force myself to drink more. Let's hope I can continue this so I can lose this unwanted weight.

I wish every drive to work was as empty as it was today. That's one good thing about working on a holiday.. Traffic is normally very light.

When I got home from work today I was determined to edit a new episode of Knights of the Guild. I have been really slacking when it has come to Knights of the Guild podcast. Part of me was disappointed that I wasn't able to create companioncasts for season six like I had done in the past. But with my work schedule at the time and the availability of the cast members I wasn't able to get as many interviews as I was hoping. I tried to set up interviews afterwards but everyone is so busy. So I decided that I'll just do regular episodes and sprinkle interviews that I did get with cast members throughout. I hope to release two episodes of month.. but right now I'm struggling to just get one out. So I got home around 8pm, ate dinner and then jumped on the avid. I edited for four hours and finally finished a new episode. I immediately uploaded it to podbean but didn't post anything about it since it was so late.

I was very tired but also very happy that I finally got a new episode done.

It's All About Family

Today was spent with my family, more specifically my Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law, Nephew and Niece. They live out in Riverside and it takes me about an hour and 45 minutes to get there so I don't see them as much as I would like to but I try and get down there twice a month. Family has always been super important to me and I really want to be a presence in my niece and nephews lives. I want to be their favorite uncle and look forward to my visits.

I was excited because today I got to show off my new car to the family. Dad really liked it... I got to have lunch with my Dad at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Hong Kong. Then I got to play Xbox Wipeout with my nephew Kenobi, while visiting Bro, sis-in-law and baby Molly... it was some good times.

I left around 4pm, got home close to 6, watched some TV and finished off my weekend with some LOTRO. Not a bad way to end a busy weekend.

Busy Saturday

Today was a busy day.. first thing I did this morning was get online with a group of friends and try and get San Diego Comic Con tickets for some other friends. I mean I already have my own tickets but I wanted to help out some of those who didn't get them last time. It was kind of crazy but in the end we got tickets for everyone who was online and needed them. I manage to get four tickets for friends. I can't wait for this years Comic Con

Lord of the Rings Online is back up!!! Wooohooo!!!! I played for a few hours.. it was bliss.

I've been debating on getting the new iPhone 5 for a while now. I have been eligible for an upgrade from AT&T for almost a year. The only thing holding me back was the new charger. I hate that they changed it over to the smaller connector. I like having many connectors (home, car, work) and now not only do I have to get a new phone I have to buy new connectors. I did consider getting a 4 or 4s as my phone is a 3gs. The 4 16gigs was .99 cent, and the 4s 16gigs was $99. I knew both of those would have been an upgrade from what I have but there was something that kept telling me to go for the 5. I chatted online with my buddy Chris to get his input. We talked it over and I figured I'll be getting the new iPad when it comes out and I'm sure it will also have the new connector so I went online and ordered the new iPhone 5. Now my next dilemma was which one to get, 16gigs, 32gigs or 64gigs. Since I was signing a 2 year agreement I was getting $450 off the phone, which meant I would pay either $199, $299 or $399. I don't use my phone to watch video, I hate watching on the small screen and my current phone is only 8gigs and I've never filled it up so I opted for the 16gigs for $199. I can't wait to get the new phone. Should have early next week.

So I got my insurance paperwork on my new car today. I have Lojack and was told that I would be getting a discount because of that. Well I was shocked at the amount that was taken off my insurance premium because of the Lojack. It was a whopping four dollars a year.. yeah four dollars. I think it cost me more to fill out the form and email it to them. I couldn't believe it. I first thought it was a joke, I mean a $4 discount is nothing and the cost of the Lojack was much much more. But no that is the discount that my insurance company offers. I may be on the lookout for a new insurance company.

I made some cupcakes for a housewarming party I was to attend later in the evening. I mixed two different cake mixes to make Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Swirl cupcakes. I think they turned out very tasty.

Speaking of House warming party I headed out around 4:30pm, I had a few errands to run beforehand. The house party was for my friends Dallas and Jes. I helped them move in a few weeks ago and was looking forward to checking out there place all set up. It was a fun party, they had an Avengers theme. They had masked and we played Ironman, Ironman2, Thor and Captain America in the background. We had yummy snacks, played a game of Cards Against Humanity. Got to hang out with some friends I haven't seen in a while. It was a fun night. Said my goodbyes around midnight and headed home.  You can check out pictures from the party HERE

It was a busy but fun day off.

Meteors, Miles & MMO's

Today I woke up to news that a large meteor hit the Earth's atmosphere over a part of Russia and exploded which caused several sonic booms/explosions that blew out doors and windows. Over 1000 people hurt. And of course in today's age there is a ton of video of it. I spent about an hour watching video after video. Some of the video was just the meteor burning up in the atmosphere causing a very bright light show. But then there were several videos of the explosion sound that set off car alarms and shattered windows. I even found a video of two people in an office when the window exploded next to the guy and force of the explosion through him across the room. These videos are amazing to watch but also very scary.  I mean meteors are always hitting earth but normally they are small enough that they burn up on entry. This one was said to be the size of a small apartment building.

And speaking of meteors we had another one, pass by the Earth. This one was HUGE and luckily it didn't hit us, but it did get closer then any other large meteor has in the past. It actually was closer then the orbit of our own satellites. I watched the live feed as this chunk of rock skipped off our atmosphere and drifted harmlessly into space.

Neither of these incidents were related, but it does make you think about the fact that we are flying through space at a very fast pace with tons of debris hitting us. One day we might not be so lucky.

After only 12 days I have already passed the 1000 miles mark on my odometer. I knew I would put some miles on this new car. That's one reason why I got a very good fuel economy vehicle. Average is said to be 1000 to 1200 miles a month.. I'm hoping to keep mine to 2000 a month.

Lord of the Rings Online MMO is still down :(. It was suppose to be down for only 24 hours for maintenance but it's not going on 48 hours... guess they have been running into problems. I hope they get it back up soon.. I'm really starting to miss it.

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 48

Download from Itunes - tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes, Stitcher Radio ow.ly/hEZUg or listen/ direct download MASH4077Podcast.com

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

Today we cover Season 2, Episode #24 - A Smattering of Intelligence

48th Episode Overall
Directed by Larry Gelbart
Written by Larry Gelbart & Laurence Marks
Production code K424
Original air date March 2, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: After a helicopter crash at the 4077 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital the only casualty is the infamous LTC Flagg who is laid up at the 4077th with a broken arm. He reveals that he suspects a security leak in the camp and will be investigating, presenting LTC Henry Blake with a number of aliases and demanding his full cooperation. Meanwhile, Hawkeye and Trapper John meet Trapper's friend Captain Pratt, who is an Army Intelligence officer. Pratt is undercover at the hospital to see what Flagg is up to, claiming Flagg had ordered the helicopter to crash and then broke his own arm in order to "infiltrate" the 4077th. Pratt explains his presence in the camp to Frank Burns by saying that the US Army Engineers are thinking of making MASHs amphibious; Frank reveals his naivete by believing Pratt's story. Pratt also blackmails Henry into cooperating with him. Soon the two spies are after each other, and Hawkeye and Trapper John decide to have some fun by tricking both spies into going after Major Frank Burns, making Pratt believe Burns is a right-wing fascist and making Flagg believe Burns is a left-wing communist.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny,

My Valentine

Today after work I was going to meet up with my buddy Robert for dinner. Last week Robert asked if I wanted to go out for dinner on Valentine, since we are both single... and of course I said yes.

Valentine's doesn't really effect me much. I mean it's nice to have someone you can share the holiday with but honestly everyday should be valentine's day. Anyways, I got off work at 7pm and headed up the hill to Universal City Walk. Robert was running late due to really bad traffic so I sat in front of the restaurant and people watched. It was tough just sitting there watching all these folks walking by holding hands and kissing.

I have my bouts of loneliness here and there but seeing all these people in Love really got to me. It really made me miss being in Love. It's been over two years since Harry and I broke up and I haven't gone out on a date or been with anyone since.

Well Robert arrived about an hour late and we made our way into the restaurant. Robert really wanted steak so I suggested Tony Roma's. We were seated fairly quickly and were given menus. Of course they were the Valentine "special" menus. I asked if they had their full menus but sadly they did not.

Robert and I spent the next hour enjoying the food and the company. Of course we talked about relationships, work and other geeky things. When we were done we walked over to the movie theater as we wanted to see "Warm Bodies" but the next showing was at 9:50pm and we would be getting out until after midnight. We both leave a half hour to forty five minutes away so it would be a rough morning for work if we did that. So instead we went over to Jillian's to play some video games. But once we were there we found out that you had to purchase a game card, then you could go get tokens for the machines. It was to much of a hassle so we just walked from one end of Citywalk to the other before going up to the food court area and sitting down and just chatting for an hour or so. Around 10:30 we said our goodbyes and I headed home.

It was a fun evening of good food and great company... it was the perfect Bro-Valentine

LOTRO is Down!!!!

So today at 6am EST Lord of the Rings Online went down for a 24 hour maintenance fix. I normally play a little bit before I drive into work (half hour to an hour), and a bit on my lunch if I'm lucky (half hour max) and then when I get home (hour or two).

When I woke up this morning I remembered that the game would be offline and I took it in stride. I told myself that I could handle not playing for the day. I mean I just started playing in December, how hard would it be to stop for the day. Well it's a lot harder then I would have ever expected. Lucky for me it was a really busy day at work so it took my mind off not being able to play... for the most part.

Now I don't know if you can call them withdrawal symptoms but I really missed playing. I miss quickly jumping on and mining for ore for a half hour. I miss immersing myself into Middle Earth. It's crazy.. it's only been 12 hours since I stopped playing the previous night, but I am really missing it.

I knew when I started playing, that I would get addicted to this game. That is why I never started World of Warcraft. But would I call myself an obsessed?? No not really...I mean I still sleep seven hours a night. I come to work for 10 hours and do my job, yes I might play on my break and I do tend to jump on for a few hours at night, but not every night, as I mentioned in previous blogs, playing the game is a great way for me to relieve stress.

I did discover that Lord of the Rings Online has an official tweeter account @LOTRO. For the downtime they did trivia and gave away "in game" points. I answered all the questions correctly but alas I did not win any points.

Lucky for me I have dinner plans today.. so hopefully that will keep my mind off of playing LOTRO.

Work Update

So my job is still an up and down adventure. Just when I think I have everything under control and running smoothly, something happens and everything is turned on it's head. I've decided to not freak out, to take it a day at a time. I mean in the end it's just a job and not worth getting tightness in the chest or stressing out over. Of course I am me so I will continue to stress out but I'm going to constantly be telling myself to calm down, it's not life or death, just breath.

I've worked in the entertainment industry for over 18 years. I know all the BS and stress that goes along with it. Yes I am tired of it but for now I have to accept it and continue moving forward until the opportunity of change is presented to me... let's just hope it's sooner then later :)

Tonight I was at work from 9am to 9pm, it was the longest I have been here since starting this new job... and to be honest 12 hours isn't that bad compared to some of my past jobs. As long as 12 hour shifts aren't the norm I think I'll be okay.

I'll still complain here and there but I am very happy to be employed and I'll stick with this job until they see otherwise.

Lucky for me I find my Lord of the Rings Online MMO playing a great stress reliever.

Stitcher Radio Approved!!

So I got an email today informing me that all five of my podcasts have been added to Stitcher Radio. I'm hoping with this extra platform it will bring more exposure to my podcasts.

Stitcher is an app that you download to your mobile device. It's similar to itunes. You can also listen directly from the website.. just follow the links below.

You can check out all my podcasts at app.stitcher.com Just type in Geekyfanboy in the search box.

Here are the direct links to each of my shows.

My Gimpy Life Podcast  ow.ly/hF0he

Knights of the Guild podcast ow.ly/hEXjY

MASH 4077 Podcast ow.ly/hEZUg

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast ow.ly/hF04B

Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast http://ow.ly/hF0xk

Thin Mints Are The Best

This is a great way to start my week. I'm a huge fan of Girl Scout Cookies.. especially Thin Mints. One of the editors here at work has a daughter who is selling them and today is the day that they came in. I got five boxes for myself and then two more for my buddy Robert. I really need to find some self control as I ate an entire package (16 cookies) in one day... not good. I plan on freezing some and making them last for at least a few months.

Another Lazy Sunday... kind of

Woke up today determined to finish my next MASH 4077 podcast. I was up early around 7am and I jumped right in. As I was doing my podcast I started doing laundry. It has built up over the past month or so. You think having a washer and dryer in my house I would do it more often.. but no that's not the case. While editing my buddy Chris popped online and I mentioned playing some Lord of the Rings Online as we haven't been able to play together for a few weeks. Of course he was all for it so we planned to play a little after I finished my MASH podcast.

A few hours into editing and on my second load of laundry my washer started making some crazy beeping sounds. I went to check it out and my clothes were sitting in a foot of water and the machine is not running. Yeah my washer is broken. There are a ton of dirty closes all over the laundry room and kitchen, I only manage to get one load done which was currently drying in the drier. I didn't have time to play around with it so I left it for the time being and went back to editing my podcast.

I finished around 12:30pm and uploaded it to podbean.. MASH 4077 #48 is now ready to be released on February 15th.

I told Chris I was ready for some LOTRO and started up the game. We played about three hours when I realized was a starving, my computer also decided to stop working so we took a break. I grabbed some food and also pulled my wet clothes out of my broke washer.

Played for another four hours for a total of seven hours.. it was fantastic. As I have mentioned playing LOTRO is a great stress reliever. And playing with my best friend in a world that I adore is nothing but win win.

Afterwards I made some dinner, I also rung out all my wet clothes enough so that I could put them in the drier.

Finished the night by watching a bit of TV. Got a podcasts done and played one of my favorite games with one of my favorite people... yeah it was a good Sunday.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep13

Download from itunes bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or  Listen, get a Direct Download Aliennationpodcast.com 

Show Notes

Brothers Kenny and Michael Mittleider review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 13 - Spirit Of '95
Directed by Harry Longstreet
Written by Tom Chehak
Original air date January 15th 1990

Plot Summary: Susan and Buck decide to become heavily involved in politics, as an amendment to the constitution which guarantees equal rights for Newcomers is soon to be voted on throughout the land.

A series of attacks is launched on campaign headquarters and important Newcomers are involved in the ongoing struggle, resulting in a growing sympathy for the Tenctonese. Everyone blames the Purists, but Sikes and George aren't so easily convinced. In the meantime, Sikes, who has been drafted as the leader of his building's tenant association, learns of the necessity of the democratic system, even on such a basic level.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny & Michael

Snow, Scratches, Taxes and Friends

When I got in last night from work it was lightly snowing. So when I got up this morning the snow continued the fall during the night and there was a nice dusting of is all over. It's the first snowfall of the year. I knew it wouldn't stick around but it was nice to wake up to a pretty sight.

Today I had to deal with my computer issues from last night. I started my computer and it didn't seem to have any start up issues. I opened my web browser and was surprised to see that all the fonts have changed. My blog, twitter and gmail.. all fonts changed and are now bold as well. At first I thought it was my computer settings but my computer is fine.. it looks to be something is wrong with the browser. Gonna have to look into that. There were a few other weird things going on so ran everything from Norton and in the end I think I got everything working right.. except the weird font thing.

I had friends coming over to day so I spent the morning cleaning the house. I also went out to clean my car. Living off a dirt road makes it impossible to keep the car clean, but I wanted to show it off to my buddy Brett so I wanted to give it a good washing. As I was inspecting it (as I do every morning) I noticed this really long scratch on the drivers side door right next to the handle.

I couldn't believe it. I haven't had the car a week and not only do I get a scratch (which I expect) but I get this six-inch scratch. My heart actually hurt. I was so sick to my stomach. As I mentioned I check this car every day so the only place it could have happened was at work. I have to valet my car and they cram these cars in like sardines. I assume someone squeezed between my car and another and something on their body scraped against my car. I hate the fact that I have to valet my car for work and there really isn't anyone I can go, to complain to.

I had to head out to do my taxes at noon. I've been going to the same guy for over 12 years and I love him. I only worked 3 months last year so I wasn't really expecting much.. all I really wanted to do was break even. Well I'm happy to say I'm getting a nice amount back, especially for how little I worked. Owning a house really helps. Kind of worried about what will happen when I sale the house.

While I was out I headed over to Pepboys to see if I could get something for this scratch. I purchased several things and when I got home I tried them all. None of them worked :( I was told I should try to wax and buff it out. So that will be my next attempt. But for now I have friends coming over to hang out so I have to get ready for them.

First to arrive was my buddy Brett; he came over not only to hang out but also to look at my Jeep to see if he could figure out what the problem was. As we were checking it out Jes arrived. BTW Brett thinks it's something internal, something in the actual engine. Not sure what I'm going to do about the Jeep.

We went inside and finished watching a ST: TNG episode I had been watching before they arrived. We then moved onto my screeners. We selected several but one that none of us had seen was Anne Karenina. Here's a synopsis; Set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky.

First of all it's one of the most uniquely filmed movies. It's like watching a theater play mixed with an actual film. There are times that sets are being moved as the action is happening and actors are going about their thing and they are changing clothes at the same time. It was kind of jarring at first but after a while I started to really enjoy it.

The main story about Anne was difficult at times to watch... you are watching this poor woman slowly go insane. I actually enjoyed the B-story with Anne's sister Kitty and her relationship with Constantine. That was a very rewarding story.

In the end I loved the movie for how it was presented but there was a bit too much dragging and drama for my taste. Technically it was stunning.. the scenery, the costumes and the acting was fantastic.. just a bit too slow for me. I give the idea and look of the movie an A but the story a C. I'm glad I watched it but I don't think I'll ever watch it again.

Afterwards we went out to dinner at Outback Steakhouse.. that place was packed but after a half-hour or so we found a booth in the bar area. We all enjoyed some yummy steak.

Because dinner took a bit longer then expected we decided to postpone Life of Pi and instead watch something that we have all seen and loved.. .Wreak-it-Ralph. We got about 2/3d's of the way through it before we called it a night and we said our goodbyes.

It was a fun evening.

Friday Night Hangout & Computer Woes

After work I got home and jumped online as my buddy Chris was hosting a Google Hangout. He did one of these last week and it was a huge success. I've tried Google hangout once or twice at home and my internet is so slow that it never works.. well Google hangout added a low bandwidth selection for their hang out so I gave that a try and it worked out great. When I joined there was Jen, Chris and Hollywood (Scott). Rupert, Kim and Anne joined in afterwards. Everything was going great.. we were chatting and laughing and watching Kim on her loom. Then my internet went out and it was down hill from there.

I restarted my computer and I was getting start up errors. It took three restarts to finally get the computer back up and somewhat running. I ran Norton over and over and it didn't find anything major, but I was still having issues. I gave up on trying to rejoin the Google hangout, which is disappointing as it went to about 1am.

My hard drive died the Monday before and now my computer is having issues. I think it's time to do a complete wipe and reload of everything. Just need to get a large enough hard drive to back everything up onto it.

I'll deal with that this weekend.

When a Dream Dies

As the days, months and years go by my dreams of a having a loving partner and children dwindle. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a husband and father. I was ready to settle down and start my family at age 16. Of course my life didn't quite turn out as I thought it would when I was younger, not that I'm complaining. I love my life, I have a great family and some of the best friends a guy could ever ask for, but still... something is missing.

It's now going on two years since Harry and I broke up and there hasn't been any romance in my life, absolutely nothing, zilch, nada.. and I'm beginning to doubt there will ever be. It's hard to understand when you have friends and family around you saying how great you are and how lucky someone would be to have me as a partner but still nothing... something is wrong with this situation.

As for having kids... Over the years I have considered adopting a child or fostering as a single parent. But I've never really been financially stable to do so. And as I have now entered my 40's the chances of me having that life is quickly disappearing.

Of course I don't know what the future holds but as of right now I am letting this dream die. I was not meant to be a daddy, and being an uncle is as close to having a child of my own, I am going to get and you know what..  I'm good with that. I love my nephew and niece and I can't wait until they are old enough to come visit their uncle and do all sorts of fun activities.

It's funny how life changes from what you want to what you get.

Podcasting

So tonight after work I went home determined to not do anything but finish my Alien Nation podcast which is due to be released in four days. I have been putting it off and putting it off. I did work on it a bit over the weekend but then I was having Avid/Hard Drive issues and stopped. I did mange to get the bulk of it done by midnight. I still have some offline media which I will deal with tomorrow morning before work. I hope to get this episode done and uploaded by end of day tomorrow.

I have to get back into podcasting. It's not like I'm bored with it or anything but sometimes it feels more like a job and once that happens it's no longer fun. But I truly love podcasting and I hope to continue podcasting for many years to come.

I have been doing alot of thinking about where to go next. I currently have five running podcasts and a sixth that I have been trying to get off the ground for over three years now. I have put my My Gimpy Life on hiatus until there is news about a season two.

My Knights of the Guild podcast has been dying a slow death. The past year has been a real hit and miss with it. I haven't been able to keep on a regular schedule. I think when Jenni left a huge part of the podcast charm went with her and I haven't been able to really bring it back up to it's prime. I have some audio from the set of Season Six but I think once that is done I'll bring that podcast to an end... maybe this summer.

Confessions of a Fanboy, like KOTG is starting to flounder a bit. I have four or five great interviews in the can.. I just need to get motivated to do the editing and post them. I'm already a few months behind and I hate that because I really do enjoy this podcast. This one has the potential to go on for many many years. Just need a good kick in the butt.

MASH 4077 is my strongest and most listen to podcast. This is the only podcast that I make sure I release every 1st and 15th of the month like clockwork. It's been going two years and the audience has grown from a few hundred a month to over 10,000 a month. We still have material for another eight years.. there is no end in sight for this one.

My Alien Nation podcast is just fun. It's probably the least listen to out of all my podcasts but we have some very loyal listeners. This is the podcast I do with my brother and we have such an awesome time doing it, that we'd do it even if nobody was listening to us. We have enough material to last a few more years.

The Geek RoundTable is the podcast that has been in the works for 3 years. It's the podcast that I've been wanting to do since I started podcasting. All my podcasts are for specific shows or things. This one is a general geek/nerd thing. This one will have the most guest hosts and that is one of the reasons why it's taking to long to get started. I hope to have it up and running by the end of the year. My co-host Charles has been super patient with me and I can't wait to get it going.

I just want to thank all my loyal listeners, you guys are the best.

Stitcher Radio

So I've been hearing about Stitcher Radio for over a year.  What is Stitcher.. Stitcher is the leader in Internet Radio for the world beyond music. They deliver the latest news, politics, sports, business and entertainment on-demand to listeners on their mobile phones. The Stitcher app has been downloaded over 8 million times and offers the best programming from thousands of content providers including NPR, Fox and CNN. Stitcher is available for iPhone, Android and iPad and is being integrated directly into new Ford and GM vehicles.

Several of my fellow friends/podcasters have uploaded their podcasts to this server. I have been hesitant because I have been working on my own kind of "geeky" Radio station and I didn't want to have my podcasts locked into one network.

In the past I have had offers to join other networks but when you read the fine print you find out that once your podcasts are part of their network, they either partly own your podcasts or restrict you from sharing your podcasts on any other network. I did not want his.

Recently when recording my MASH podcast with my buddies Meds and Al mentioned getting our MASH 4077 podcast up on Stitcher and I shared with them my concerns. They informed me that Stitcher is no like that. They don't require any kind of contract and they don't require to own anything of the podcasts. All they ask is that you promote Stitcher Radio.

After checking out the site myself and thoroughly reading the rules I came to the conclusion that this is just another great outlet like itunes for podcasters and I signed up with my five current podcasts.

Now I just have to wait and see if I get approved. Both Meds and Al said that their audience really grew once they were part of this Radio station... here's hoping.

Buffy and Bros

Tonight after work I headed over to Robert's place to continue our Buffy rewatch/1st time viewing. We ordered some pizza for dinner. It's been a few weeks since our last Buffy viewing party. As always it was great seeing Robert, though we talk everyday via texting or facebook messaging, it's not the same as seeing the person face to face.

We start season four today of Buffy. First up was "The Freshman", it was an good start to the season. This was Buffy's first day of collage and I think they conveyed what it was like the first day of collage. It also showed Buffy second guessing herself when it came to killing vampires but by the end the good ol' Buffy is back.

Our second episode was "Living Conditions". This is the one with Buffy's roommate who we come to find out is a demon from another dimension going to collage in ours. She is also sucking Buffy's soul out little by little causing Buffy to kind of go crazy. It was a fun episode, nothing to special but at least we get rid of Buffy's crazy roommate.

For our third and final episode of the evening we watched "The Harsh Light of Day" This was a fun episode and I know Robert really like it as it had one of his favorite character's return.. Spike. It was good to see Spike back and once again Buffy kicking his butt as she normally does.

I forgot that season four got off to a rather slow start. The main story arc of the season hasn't even begun yet. I have to admit that season four is probably my least favorite season but it does have one of the most incredible episodes in it.. "Hush". 

Having a great time rewatching Buffy with one of my besties.

Car Paranoia

So today is my first day driving my new car to work. I have to say driving something brand new to work makes the commute not so bad. I listen to podcasts while in bumper to bumper traffic but I don't mind. My biggest issue was leaving my car with the valet. Here at work we can't part our own cars. We have a valet who parks them for us. I was paranoid all day long hoping my car wasn't getting dinged, scratched or anything. I hate to say it but when I got off work I drove home, again not minding the traffic, but when I got home I took a flashlight and went over every inch of my car to make sure there weren't any dings or scratches. I know it's stupid and I know I'm going to get scratches and dings but I'm going to do my best to not let it happen within the first week.

Lazy Sunday

The day started with me wanting to get a ton of podcasting done, but I was having issues with Avid so I used that excuse to not do any podcasting. Instead I went for a joy ride with my new car. It was a beautiful day and kind of warm so I opened the sunroof and drove down Sierra Highway. It's kind of odd driving a different car after driving the same one for over 10 years, but knowing that I won't be having any issue with this vehicle for a long while (well I hope that's true) is a very comforting feeling. Made it to Santa Clarita, I stopped by Target to get some cool car accessories, like my ipod connector so I could listen to my ipod via my car speakers. It's funny as when I went to park I park so far away that there were no cars around me. I did the same when I went to lunch at Chili's. I made sure I was so far from any other car. I know that won't always be possible but for now it makes me happy.

Got back home and turned on the TV. Now it's Super Bowl Sunday but me noting being a huge sports person decided to not watch and flip through the channels where I found that BBC America was having a Star Trek The Next Generation marathon and playing was one of my favorites The Inner Light, and the next two episodes were Time's Arrow part 1 and 2, again some of my favorites so I settled in for a few evening of Trek.

I did hope to get some podcasting down but in the end I decided to just kick back and have a day of laziness and it was awesome.

My New Car

Well the day is finally here... I'm getting my new car. This will be the first time that I purchased a brand new car. All my cars in the past were used and at least over five years old. I called my buddy Stephen up, he use to be my boss at High Noon and while I was working there he said if I ever went out to buy a new car (I was talking about it even back then) that he wanted to go with me as he's awesome at haggling. Since I am a sucker I knew I would need his help.

We meet up at Galpin Ford around 2:15pm. Stephen brought his brother Scott along to help out as well. So we went right to the Ford Fiesta and found the ones I saw online. I liked the lime squeeze color but wanted to see it in person. When I saw it I knew it was the color for me. But I did go and check out the Ruby Red as planned but it was more Red then Burgundy and I didn't like it much. As we were outside.. salesman Eric approached asked if he could help us. We told him I was there to buy a car, I showed him the one I liked, it had a moon/sun roof, which I did not expect to get. It was an extra $750 but I've always wanted a moon/sun roof and I figured if I'm spending this much money for a new car I might as well get everything I want.

The car was sitting outside in front of the lobby area,  I loved the color, and it had everything I wanted and more so all that was left was the test drive. We went to start it up and the battery was dead, which I guess is common since these cars can sit for months without starting. So we quickly gave it a jump and we were on our way. After driving a Jeep Wrangler for 10 years anything would be better and I loved it.

So I got back to the dealer and we started the negotiations. First of all my friend Joyce mentioned that her father worked for Ford and is no retired but he gets an employee discount for friends and family and that she would contact him to see if he could get me a discount. This was a few days ago and I spoke with Art (Joyce's Dad) and sure enough he got me a X-Plan discount. So haggling on the price wasn't going to be happening. It's a set price, no more and no less... but even thought that was set there were plenty of other things to haggle. 

I'm not going into great details about my deal.. but here are some highlights; The X-Plan discount wasn't as much as I was hoping, as the Fiesta doesn't have a large mark up, I got about $400 off, which is better then nothing and I'm very thankful to Joyce, Art and Bobbi. The base price of the Fiesta is about $16,200 and I got a few add on's, like automatic transmission, and power moon/sun roof. I also got Equipment Group 201A which included SE appearance package, 15" Aluminum wheels, Ambient interior lighting, Sirus Satellite Radio, and Leather wrapped steering wheel. These additions cost an additional $3000.  It also came with keyless entry and Lojack (really didn't have a choice on getting these since they were part of the car. So that was an additional $1000.  I also have Ford Sync.. Needless to say that the price went higher and higher.

I found out that my FICO credit score was 856, my jaw dropped when I saw that.. I knew I had good credit but I didn't realized how good it was. They said that, that was the highest they seen a while. They did offered me 0% financing and at first I was going to take it, but they were also offering $1500 cash back and if you did the math it turns out that I'll be paying less a month with the 2.99% financial charge. As the $1500 actually covers the money I'll be paying in finance charge.

I was hoping to get my payments down below $300 a month. After all was said and done I did 60 months (5 years) at 2.99% with $3000 down and a rebate of $1500 so my payments were at $321 a month which is a bit higher then I wanted but I did get everything I wanted, including the sun/moon roof which really put me over. I was happy with the payment amount and agreed to the deal.

Next was the fiance paperwork guy. Stephen and his brother went out to grab some food (we had been there for over three hours). I sat down with a very nice guy and started signing my life away. There were two more plans that they wanted to offer me. One was 5 years of maintenance on the vehicle and the other was an extended bumper to bumper warranty. I already had a three year bumper to bumper warranty included in the price, but I really wanted to get the full 5 years 100,000 miles warranty. So I bit the bullet and added an additional $1300 to my total which pushed up my monthly payments to $352 month. As I mentioned it's a bit more then I wanted to pay but I am extremely happy with the final result and with the car. I signed the paperwork and the deal was done.

I asked if my buddy Stephen would drive me back to Enterprise rental car in Santa Clarita so I could drop off the car. The place was closed and also closed on Sunday but I'd just leave the car there and then go in Monday AM and close it out. So he was nice enough to help me out. About an hour and half later (we also grabbed some dinner), we made it back to the dealer where Stephen dropped me off. Before we parted ways I was talking names for my car, first one that popped in my head was "Yoda" but then seeing the color in person, "Kermit" also came to mind. Stephen's suggestion was Jose Cuervo because it's a Fiesta and the color is called lime squeeze.. I mean it's a very clever name but I'm a geek so I think I'm going to go with Yoda but I'll put the question up on twitter and see what my friends think.. I'm leaning toward Yoda.

I made my way back to Eric's office where he called to have my car brought around. Eric went over things in the car with me and a half hour later I was speeding along the freeway heading home in my new 2013 Ford Fiesta.

I want to thank Stephen and Scott for coming with me and helping negotiate the best possible deal I could get. Overall it was a pretty okay experience.

My Gimpy Life Podcast Episode 10

Download from iTunes ow.ly/hmTh8 or Listen, get direct download from mygimpylifepodcast.com

Show Notes:

Now that My Gimpy Life season one series has come to an end. There will be no more companioncasts, but that doesn't mean the podcast is over... far from it.

In this episode I sit down with the lovely Teal Sherer herself as we talk about the possibilities of Season Two and the Season One's two wins at the IAWTV Awards (International Academy of Web Television Awards)

Please take note that this podcast is going on hiatus for the time being. Soon the Season two starts picking up I'll be back with more behind the scenes goodness.

Thank you all who have downloaded and continue to spread the word about this great webseries and it's companioncast.

thanks & enjoy,

Kenny

MASH 4077 Podcast Episode 47

Download from itunes http://tinyurl.com/MASH4077itunes or listen, get a direct download http://bit.ly/eXCRxT

Show Notes

Kenny Mittleider from Knights of the Guild, Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast & Confessions of a Fanboy Podcast, Simon Meddings from Waffle On Podcast, & Al Kessel from Tales from the Mouse House, Fast Forward & Just Because Podcast discuss one of the most successful and longest running television series in history.. M*A*S*H

THIS IS OUR SECOND YEAR ANNIVERSARY EPISODE!!!!!!

Today we cover Season 2, Episode #23 - Mail Call
47th Episode Overall
Directed by Alan Alda
Written by Larry Gelbart & Laurence Marks
Production code K423
Original air date February 23, 1974

Set during the Korean War in the 1950’s

Plot Summary: Margaret talks marriage to Frank while Hawkeye tries to trick him into a phony stock investment , Klinger tries to convince Col. Blake that a 'death in the family' letter came for him (Klinger) in the mail bag, and a drunk Trapper tries to go AWOL to be with his family.

Hope you enjoy it, Kenny, Meds & Al

I Love Scifi & Fantasy

So I was listening to one of my favorite podcast Turning into Sci Fi TV this morning and they mentioned something about why they love Sci fi and it got me thinking. So I posed this question on Facebook and Twitter, "SciFi & Fantasy lovers, Do you enjoy it because you can escape into their world or escape from this world?"

Well I got several responses and most of them said it depends on the story but both can be true. And I agree with that. I love scifi and fantasy for the fact that I can escape into these magical world. Now I did get a few comments about how escaping into a scifi and fantasy world to escape this world is not a healthy thing and I have to say that I don't agree with that. I think there are times when you need to escape this world and scifi and fantasy is the perfect way to do that. I don't find it unhealthy wanting to get away from the woes of the world and travel to another world or universe.

But what do you think? Do you enjoy it because you can escape into their world or escape from this world?

Felicia Day on Supernatural

So I finally had some free time and watched my friend Felicia in the latest episode of Supernatural. She appeared last season as Charlie and won over everyone so they asked her back for another episode.

I watched the first season of Supernatural but haven't seen it since. Lucky for me the Felicia stories tend to be stand alone episodes and you really don't need to know to much background on the on going story.

Again with this episode you didn't have to know much of the on going story, which is great. This episode is called LARPing and the Real Girl. The boys investigate some mysterious deaths, which leads them to a LARPing community and guess who is their Queen.. yep, the real Queen of geek Felicia Day. I have always wanted to LARP and will one of these days. But it was a fun look into this world. It was awesome seeing Dean go all geek and really get into the LARPing. Felicia's character of Charlie was just as great as she was in the first time. She's the perfect geek and very likable, as are most of Felicia's characters. I heard a rumor that she'll be coming back for a third time later this season.. I can't wait. Great job Felicia!!!

Car Rentals and Good News??

So I was up at 6:30am, though I couldn't call the car rental place until 8am. So I jumped on the computer and started editing my next Knights of the Guild podcast. At 8am I called Enterprise and told them that I had a reservation today and that I needed to be picked up. They asked where I live and I told them. They then said.. "oh we don't pick up from that city". I said excuse me? It's only 10 miles and you are the closest one to me. The apologized but said they could not pick me up. I said okay I guess you don't want my business I'll see if I can find another car rental place and hung up. I called around to Hertz, Avis and other rental places and they all said they don't do picks up, so I'm back to square one. Sometimes living in a very rural area can be a huge negative. Well around 9:30 my phone rings and it's Enterprise saying, "oh I have a driver coming in at 11am, I can send him then if that works for you". I was desperate and said yep that would be great.

I had about an hour and a half to kill so I continued working on my next Knights of the Guild podcast until my avid started acting up again and finally just stopped working all together.. gonna have to try and figure out this problem soon.

First favorite color - Lime Squeeze

While I waited I emailed several friends to see if they wanted to go car shopping with me this weekend but unfortunately one is going to be out to town and the other might have plans with a lady he is pursuing. I then remembered that my former boss over at High Noon, Stephen mentioned that he'd go with me to get a new car as he's the king of hagglers. So I emailed him and he was available and willing to help me out. We talked and discussed what kind of car I wanted and all I know is I want great gas mileage but it can't be more then $15,000. I was thinking used (only a few years) but he actually convinced me that I should go new as you get a better finance percentage rate (0 to 1%) and in the long run you play less for the car. He also mentioned that I should be looking at a Ford Fiesta as they are great on mileage (almost 40 miles to the gallon), they are very reliable, tiny and the look very sporty now. So I check it out online and I have to say I am impressed. They also are priced right between $13,000 and $17,000. Oh and they have really awesome colors.. so I think this might be my next car.

So 11am came and I didn't get a call.. I called them at 11:15am and they said oh the guy is just now leaving he should be there shortly. He arrived around noon (it should have taken him only 20 minutes, but I guess he got lost). Anyways it's noon and I'm finally on my way to rent my car.

I get there and of course they didn't have the car I requested (economy), but instead they had a mid-size car (which is two levels up from what I wanted). He said it would normally be about $35 more a day for this car but he would only charge me $2 (so generous of them). I really didn't care as I just wanted to get out of there and get to work.  So I signed the paperwork and headed to work. I stopped by Wienerschnitzel and grabbed some lunch while I drove into work.

Second favorite color - Ruby Red

Once at work it took a few hours just to catch up on everything. But while I was working my friend Joyce contacted me over Facebook and asked if I was going to get a Ford vehicle.  I said I was really considering it and then she said that her Dad is a retired Ford employee and that the employees of Ford get a limited amount of what they call X and Z plans (a kind of employee discount for friends and family). She offered to talk to her dad to see if he would help me out. And guess what.. he is. I talked to him over the phone and gave him some personal information that he needed to to apply for a X plan. I gave him all the info and he said he will contact me tomorrow with my "pin" number that I take to the dealer for the discount (I don't know what kind of discount but he did say it's below what the dealers pay for it), there is also no haggling on the price, it is what it is, no less, no more.  I can also get any other incentives that are offered as well. I was super excited and this kind of sealed the deal that I will be getting a brand new 2013 Ford Fiesta SE Hatchback. This will be the first time in my entire life that I have purchased a brand new car.. I can't wait until this weekend. Thanks Joyce for offering me this fantastic discount and thanks to you Dad Art for making it happen.

So what started as a horrible day and what has been a few rough weeks it looks like things are finally turning around. Of course now that I have said that I have jinxed it all and things will fall apart.. luckily for me I don't believe in things like that. :)