Dawn and Glory plus more Faith Deluxe

I don't normally buy "2-packs", but I really wanted these Dawn and Glory figures from Buffy Series VII. Poor Dawn. She is forever trapped with Glory in this plastic case, and her "sister" Buffy can't save her.
I ordered Bad Girls Faith last year but they must have been temporarily out. I believe these two Faith figures completes my collection of the Buffy and Faith Deluxe Series I. The next Deluxe series, Angel and Spike, will be out sometime this summer.

The rest of the Buffy/Dawn figures will also be available soon. There are another eight or so figures in that line, including a Joyce Summers as part of the Summers Family Album. Good times lay ahead.

Charmed Series 2 Action Figures

I came home from work today and found two large boxes on my door step. I ordered these four figures, based on the episode Valhalley of the Dolls , from Cinequest.com. This will probably be the last series of Charmed action figures, since the show has been canceled, unless Diamond Select Toys gets the license from Sota Toys. DST has a habit of reviving action figure lines from series such as Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer - which I also received in today's shipment.

Charmed Series 2: Paige

Charmed Series 2: Piper

Charmed Series 2: Phoebe

Charmed Series 2: Leo

Memorial Day Trip

Here are the people. Woody, Chris and Steve relaxing in and around the pool.



The view from Chris's front yard includes San Jacinto, which I'll be hiking in two weeks. If you hike this mountain from this side, it is called the "Cactus to Clouds" hike. Well be taking the Fuller Ridge route. This will give us great exposure to a hike at altitude. Judging by this photo, most of the winter snow has melted.



And here is my car looking bright red, even though it has a nice coat of dust covering the new paint. For the first time, some unlucky person sat in the back seat for this trip. I was happy to drive, even though we hit heavy traffic on the way home, where thousands of people like us were returning from a weekend in the sun.

All Beer'ed Out

Every so often it is necessary to have a mixed drink in between beers. We found this cool bar in Palm Desert, called Roc's FireHouse, where there were a few women that actually talked to us and a band playing cover songs on the patio. Funny, everyone we met was from San Diego.

Where are all the people?

This is the backyard of my friend's house in Desert Hot Springs. Nothing but hills in back of his house, which has a great backyard for pool parties. Unfortunatly, there were none this weekend. We just hung out at bars in Palm Springs and Palm Desert during the evening and drank beer before and afterwards in his house.

A Walk in the Park

That is what hiking Iron Mt. has become. I can pretty much get to the top without stopping, and can hike down in less than one hour without stopping. Pictured here is the telescope and mailbox at the peak. I can't tell you what the mailing address is, but I do know there is a notebook inside where you can leave messages for someone or everyone to read. The telescope is nice on a really clear day, but any other day all it does is magnify the smog and haze. On this hike it was clear but hazy to the west. I could see the ocean and downtown San Diego. The east was much clearer, with a great view of the mountains that had snow on them not too long ago.

"Soul Patrol" comes through - Taylor Hicks Win!

Must have been those three votes I cast for him last night. Actually, since I voted once for McPhee just to hear her voice, only two of my votes counted for Taylor Hicks.

Final Episode of Charmed

Warning - spoilers to follow.... First, it was a really good episode. They wrapped up the series nicely. However, I couldn't get over the similarities between this series finally and the last episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Both involved time travel to the future and past with the help of someone with a "Q" in their name - "Q" and "Q-Pid", also known as Coop. I guess whatever it takes to draw an audience that has faded over the years. I didn't start watching Charmed until after the character Pure was written off, and not surprisingly, she was the only main character not in this episode (other than Cole and other past demons/lovers). It is sad that another creative, non-conventional show is off the air, but TV goes on.

Hiked Mt. Woodson - Almost

We started at Lake Poway and didn't make it quite to the top, but not because we were too tired, it was a time management issue. Still a very good hike for Mt. Whitney training. Now I was very tired, stopping to catch my breath often, and my leg muscles were still sore from Thursday evening's hike. Also, I'm still breaking in my new boots, and for some reason I have a huge bruise on my left ankle that won't go away. I think I need to see a doctor about it. And to the person from St. Louis who commented on my blog early this morning, not making it to the top has nothing to do with race.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Wins!?!

Nobody should be surprised. Just remember how Marion "the bitch set me up" Barry was mayor of D.C., was caught using drugs (crack is whack!), went to jail and later was re-elected the mayor of Washington D.C. So now I guess New Orleans can be the "Chocolate City" that Nagin had envisioned.

Edit: Just be be clear, everything in quotes are direct quotes from that mayor - not my quotes. There is a reason I don't usually blog about politics.

One More Time for Iron Mountain

This hike never gets old. This time I added one more book to my pack. When I can do this hike with 45 lbs. on my back - I'm ready for Mt. Whitney - except for that altitude thing. And like wow, the hike is about a month away!

Last night I attended a seminar at REI on hiking Mt. Whitney. It lasted 90 minutes and the room was packed with people. The speaker started off taking about basically nothing and I was thinking this was a mistake. Overall, he lectured about stuff I already knew, but I did learn a few tips that will be helpful. I also learned that I still have a ton of supplies to buy.

Vote for Taylor Hicks!

What's this? I have a blog post related to American Idol - a show on Fox? I actually just voted for my favorite, my first time voting ever for a contestant. I got through once out of 20 or so tries. Why do I like Taylor Hicks? Just look at his hair. It is gray, like mine. Plus, his dancing moves make bad dancers like me look cool. I can now go out onto the dance floor, with my gray hair and awkward steps and feel good about myself. Well, I might be exaggerating a little, but still, you got to admire the guy. I think Katharine McPhee has the best voice, but could be better with some singing lessons. As for Elliot Yamin, I believe he will get the lowest number of votes this week. But, who know. So vote for your favorite now!

Guilty on all Counts

My jury duty is over quicker than I had expected and now I can talk about the case, not that it is all that interesting. We found the defendant guilty on all four charges. One charge was driving with a suspended license. Two charges were related to drunk driving. The last charge was the most difficult for the jury to come to a consensus on - simple battery against a person with whom he was in a current or previous relationship with. Yes, the charge was that specific. He was accused of punching his ex-girlfriend - after drinking heavily. According to the law, to be guilty of simple battery he would have to only have "touched her in a rude or angry manner", or something like that. The defendant never testified, so we never got his side of the he-said-she-said story, but the woman he was accused of hitting did take the stand. Overall, I was surprised at how quickly the trial lasted. The prosecution rested before lunch today and the defense has no witnesses. We took less than four hours to agree on all four counts, which was good. I was afraid that the jurors that thought he was not guilty on the battery charge wouldn't change their mind, but after we had the testimony of two witness played back, they all changed their minds. Our jury system at its best. I should not be called for jury duty again for at least three years. So tomorrow I can go back to work - oh joy.

Testing out new hiking equipment

I went on a "make-up" hike today. I missed the last authorized hike, plus, I wanted to test out some new hiking gear. Yesterday I bought new hiking boots. I started looking at REI because they were having a big sale. However, the boot section was packed with people and kids running around screaming like it was a McDonald's playland. So I ran out of the store screaming and drove to Adventure 16. Now talk about service! The saleswoman that helped me buy my boots must have spent one hour making sure I got the best boots for me. She started off by measuring my feet in three different places. Then she had me put on some good socks, new ones right off the shelf that I didn't even have to buy (but I did), placed the boots on me and laced them up. After I walked around the store for a few minutes, she asked me if how they felt. I said there were a few places they were rubbing, so she took the boots off and used an iron rod thing to expand the boots in those areas. She also fitted the boots with Super Feet insoles, which should help my back and knees, and she showed me how to tie a double knot. I was really happy with their service and will definitely go back to A16 to buy more.

On today's hike, I also used my new hiking poles, which are ultra light and have a anti-shock mechanism. My new Camel Pack has a three liter hydration pack, which supplied plenty of water for the hike. I also placed four books in the pack for added weight, because on the Whitney hike I'll have a full backpack that weights closer to 40 lbs, and I need to get used to the extra weight. And believe me, as I sit here typing this and drinking a Stone Pale Ale, I feel the extra weight in my leg muscles and knees. Hopefully we'll go one some hikes soon at altitude, because the thin air can be more challenging that the extra weight.

Day of Returns

I'm just not a good shopper. I had to return all the clothes I bought last week. I don't like returning items, but the pants were too big in the waist. I wore them on Monday and spent the whole day walking around pulling my slacks up, even with my belt as tight as it would go. The shirts I bought were too small, didn't "breathe" well and were scratchy. I bought some Dockers today, the kind with the hidden elastic band so they can stretch, which is what I need because I'm a size 34 while standing and a 36 when sitting - damn beer belly!

Jury Duty Again

Well, I got selected as a juror today. I was almost home free, but they called my name around 2PM and upstairs to a court room I went. After sitting in the juror lounge all morning, then a two hour lunch which was almost too long and more waiting and sitting in very uncomfortable chairs, I was hopeful that my name would not be called. It was. I can't talk about the case until it is over, so I'll blog about it then.

Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton

I don't do many book reviews on my blog, if any ever, but I just had to write something about the book that I'm reading and may not ever finish. First, as you may have guessed, I am a Star Trek fan, and Wil Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on The Next Generation. I must admit, I bought this book based on the title. I thought "Just a Geek" implies that Wil Wheaton was going to write about how he is just one of us geeks, not a movie star famous for his work as an actor. Boy was I wrong. Every chapter is about how he spent all his years after leaving Star Trek looking for work and never getting any roles in movies and TV shows. He reflect about how he once hated being thought of as Wesly Crusher but now embraces his Star Trek past. I was bored with the book just a few chapter in, but kept on reading because I paid money for this book. Well, actually I didn't. I used a gift certificate to buy it. However, I'd would have been better off buying a dictionary and reading it because that would have been more interesting.

Another problem I have with his book is that most of it is just entries from his semi-famous blog. Now if you have read my blog, like the first post I made, you will see that I have a connection to Wil Wheaton, They Might Be Giants and blogs. I even have a link (which I might remove soon) to his blog over on the left hand side of my blog. But in his book he writes about an experience and then prints a long, boring entry from his blog that says the exact same thing. Like I said, every chapter is about the same topic, and should be given the exact same title: "I wish I had never left Star Trek because now I can't get an acting job and I have trouble paying bills but now I embrace my past and regret leaving Star Trek." Sorry Mr. Wheaton, I can't give your book a good review and I hope you spend the money you got from me for buying your book in a positive way.

New Toaster Oven

How dumb am I? I wake up this morning and defrost two frozen waffles, yes, a wonderful breakfast, while drinking a cup of coffee. Then I place the waffles in my toaster oven, completely forgetting that it is broken and I had planned to buy a new one today. I placed the waffles back in the freezer for anther day and looked around for something I could eat untoasted. I ended up eating a raw pop-tart and a small breakfast bar.

Then I drove to Sears to look at clothes and toaster ovens. Once again, after looking at all the shirts at Sears, I decided I didn't like any of them and proceeded upstairs to the small appliances section. I was going to buy a Black and Decker oven, but I saw this Eruo Pro that had everything I wanted. It was slightly larger than mine which will be good for cooking small piazzas, plus it has two shelves and a crumb plate on the bottom. It felt well made and only cost $35. I have yet to try it, but it sure looks nice (although the black finish doesn't match all the white appliances in my kitchen).

Clean Mustang and New Pants

I woke up early this Saturday morning so I could drive my Mustang to my brother's house to wash it for the first time, and a good washing it needed. After 90 minutes of washing, drying and bug/tar removal, my Mustang looks showroom new. I forgot how much work and time is involved when washing your car. Ever since my condominium association disallowed car washing to save on the water bill, I've taken my Rav/4 to a car wash. Paying $10 for a wash was worth the saved time and effort, plus my Rav/4 is old enough that I don't care if it might get scratched during the wash. But the Mustang, I'd never trust a car wash - hand cleaning is the only way to go.

My second goal this weekend was to buy some new clothes for work. I must have spent one hour at Mervyn's finding a pair of slacks that fit me and a shirt or two to match. Since I couldn't decide on a shirt, all I bought were the slacks. Surprisingly, I was totally exhausted and ready for an afternoon nap - hmmm, nap. Tomorrow my I plan to go to the gym and then buy a new toaster over and briefcase. Yes, my goals are simple and boring, however, if it is sunny outside, I just might skip shopping and soak up some sun.

May Gray

Can it be any more depressing outside? Today is Cinco de Mayo, which apparently doesn't mean much in Mexico but is just an excuse for us Americans to drink. I don't know if this is true, but I'm drinking a Mexican beer at home while looking outside at the grayness that covers this fine city, also know as sunny San Diego. My goal this weekend is to wash my car, buy some new clothes for work and not crash my car like one of them pill-popping, hard drinking Kennedys.