Chicago again, and some other stuff.
July 10, 2008, 4:37 pm
How's it going? Where have I been? Well, there's a lot of answers to that. Let's start with:

I went to Chicago again this year. It was a great time. I am glad I had time to spend with the guys. Really that was the highlight this year – time spent with friends that you love and care about. We had such a great time just laughing and being stupid. We spent probably 90% of the trip laughing about the Ultimate Warrior. Also ate some great food in the same old Chicago stomping grounds -- Giordano's and Basilico's. Great places to have a meal and unwind. I missed my boy a bunch but I'd be fibbing if I said taking a break from him for a bit wasn't somewhat refreshing.

Highlights of the show for me:

Talking with Kelly Howlett again this year. I'm just blown away by her as an artist and as a person. I remember last year I likely could have appeared to her as "stalker guy" as I came by the booth so many times to admire her work. This year I bought a print and her journal / sketchbook entitled Substrate. What a great mix of art and personal stories. It is right up my alley and actually very similar to something I have been thinking about putting together myself for a few years now. My version obviously wouldn't have very many sketches as I don't think anything I can produce is worthy of going into a book – but I seem to have a lot of odds and ends over the years that I'd like to put SOMEWHERE. I keep thinking I'll get one of those hard cover sketchbooks one of these days and have a go at it.

Anyway, we had a great conversation about various things: our moms and dealing with cancer, how you grow as a person over the years, how your writing changes, how you as a person change and how that reflects on your work and what you do – probably the best 30 minutes I spent at the show came from talking to her. Most people I have experienced in Artist's Alley over the years are pretty pushy and there to make a buck, and often engage in some pretty overtly placating speech to try to get you to buy their stuff. In my experiences, I remember from even last year, Kelly was a person who didn't say much. She'd just let you admire her work and would answer any questions you had without to hawk any merchandise. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that in my estimation, there's a lot of garbage in Artist's Alley that probably needs to be hawked to sell – her stuff just stands on its own and she doesn't have to say much.

I did get some good deals on a few of my Masters of the Universe stuff I was looking for. I can't believe how dirt cheap some of the old 80s stuff can be – and really all the pieces I bought look very nice. $5-7 for a figure isn't bad at all. I guess in the old toy line the big deal is the Mint on Card stuff that's graded, and that can be anywhere from $100-1000, so count me out.

The Gotham Knight cartoon, which bridges the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, also premiered at the con. It was a very outstanding short movie. I really enjoyed myself. They continue more into the origin of Bruce Wayne in it – what he's doing training wise to help himself, and focus on a few battles he has in Gotham City along the way. It's pretty excellently done. I may have to pick it up.

The lowlights of the show? No Mattel. Completely phoned in the show. Very disappointing. I'll forgive them considering how much they are doing to reinvent the Masters of the Universe line, starting at SDCC this year. Fully articulated figures and a collector's line that'll be on the shelves again. Seems like forever since 2002.

The Chinese place that rocked from last year also managed to suck completely this year. Meals were very bleh across the board. The only highlights were the hand blow dryer in the bathroom that nearly took your skin off from the air pressure it put forth, and the one guy who completely lost his mind trying to get out of the Chinatown parking lot. Oh, and the Ultimate Warrior keeping us company.

Another item that isn't a secret any longer is that my brother and his wife are gearing up for kiddo number two! Exciting stuff. Looking like a late December timeline right now, which should be fun times. I will have to make extra sure that the incoming kiddo is given some extra love around Christmas time. I know kids in school when I was growing up would have these Birthday / Christmas combo things going if their birthday was too close to December 25th, and they always seemed to dislike it. Seeing as I'm the guy who still goes to the stores to check out the toy section, I don't think we're going to run into very many issues.

Daryl's coming to Ohio tomorrow from the good old YYZ airport. Heading to Snobfest again for another year of watching people have issues with alcohol and camping. I really am glad I don't find drinking very fun. I don't even have days to recover from anyway. Will's still going to drop an elbow on my head if I don't feel quite right, so who needs to put yourself in a position like that? Not me.

I think there's more to say but I'm drawing a blank, and so now this will end. Bye bye.

Craptacular weekend so far.
June 1, 2008, 2:14 pm
Mo's been feeling under the weather this past week -- turns out she's got a kidney infection. We went to the ER last night and they gave her Cipro though the IV and then some fluids, gave her some crackers to see if she could hold them down, and then we were discharged. Spent from about midnight to 1am at a 24 hour pharmacy with one dude working at it to get her follow-up meds. Today she's feeling worse and she's thrown up 4 times -- can't keep any food down at all. She's headed back to the ER while I watch Will.

Going to need a weekend after this weekend.

63 minutes.
May 29, 2008, 8:05 am
That's what I did last night on Wii Fit. Still about the same weight and everything. I sorta don't care if that changes or not I guess, especially considering now I'll be lifting regularly again. I'll likely be losing some of the fat but I'll be gaining muscle and my BMI will be all whacked out anyway. I did about 50 minutes of Free Step and 12-13 of Rhythm Boxing, or whatever it's called (too lazy to look up the actual name). Still having fun, getting much better @ the boxing combos. Going to start working now.

Back at it!
May 27, 2008, 9:26 pm
Good old Randy called me this weekend and said "hey, why don't we try to work out in the afternoons during lunch break?"

So today we did the noon thing, and wow, have I lost a lot of strength. That's what 9 months off will do to you. I am excited as hell to be back though, and it was great that Todd was there too. The boys are going to do their best to kick my butt again, and boy do I need it. I really can't wait to get working away at it. I am going to be so sore tomorrow. I did 30 mins on Wii Fit and none yesterday (needed a day off). I went up 1.5 pounds. Gotta love those fluctuations. I think I am going to set some goals of gaining 10 pounds instead, just to try and account for muscle mass -- all I need are some horse steroids. :-)

Anyway, chat you later.

Another day.
May 25, 2008, 11:31 pm
37 minutes today, but only because Mary and Joe came over and wanted to try it too. I will get back on again tomorrow.

So far it is pretty fun but I definitely think there are beneficial exercises on here and ones that are completely worthless.

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