Emerald City Comic Con - 2010

Another year, another comic convention here in the great metropolis of Seattle.

This show was the biggest ever, in terms of not only the guest list but also the sheer number of people who attended it.

There is just w-a-y to much to cover in this post, so I will simply touch on a few of the high-points of my weekend.

Friday morning started early... like 3:50 a.m. early!.... as I woke up 'cause I couldn't sleep anymore. I had to be up to catch a ride to Seattle so I could check into the hotel, then it was off to the airport to greet guests as they arrived.

I was at the airport with the Maimed Man from around 9:00 a.m. until 6:45 p.m.

We worked in tandem: he kept an eye on the flights and which baggage claim to meet them at, while I coordinated with the drivers outside and gave the guests their show packets. It was a great system and went very smoothly with both of us there.

We met a lot of the guests, including (but certainly not limited to) Erin Gray, Lou Ferrigno, and Leonard "Spock" Nimoy!

I also got to meet Terry Moore & his wife Robyn as they arrived. They remembered me and gave me hugs to say "hello".

It was a long day and very tiring, but after leaving to come back to the hotel we then went out to dinner with a bunch of the other ECCC volunteers.

Saturday morning, I got up early again and started taking my stuff over to the convention center so I didn't have to lug it there at the last minute.

It was about 6:30 a.m. when I walked up to registration and there was already a line of people waiting to get in. (The show didn't open until 10:00 and they still had 3-1/2 hours to go)

Then I got some breakfast at the Dragonfish with C. Burnham before going back to the convention center for the day.

People were still setting up their booths right until the time the doors were opened for the attendees.

I made my way around the show floor getting reacquainted with old friends and meeting a few new ones.

Then 10:00 rolled around and the people started pouring in.... literally!

Here's a pic of the crowd right before the doors opened:

And here's what it looked like on the inside just a few seconds after they opened:

There were three main places that people were making a beeline towards.

One was to get in line to meet Stan Lee.

Another to meet Leonard Nimoy.

And the third was at the opposite end of the building to meet Geoff Johns.

Those three areas quickly became a mass of bodies and chaos.

It took some wrangling, but eventually we got volunteers to manage those areas as best as possible.

As for the show floor, it was PACKED!

So much so that I had a difficult time getting around from place to place.

Still, I managed to weave through the crowd and make my way to the guests and bring them stuff they were asking for.

I ended up at the end of the day with blisters on two of my left toes and I was sore all over just maneuvering through the crowd and being on my feet all day.

Originally there was to be a "meet-and-greet" with Stan Lee right before the show opened for a few of us volunteers, but Stan got the the show floor too late for it to happen and then his line was overwhelming. I asked a couple of the promoters if there was even a chance of getting to see him, but it looked doubtful. So I gave up on my dream of getting to have my picture taken with him.*

I was busy the entire 8 hours of the show (not to mention being there a few hours early), but finally it was 6:00 and everybody was shooshed out for the evening.

A bunch of volunteers met up for dinner, but I went out with a friend and we met up with some of the comic writers from the show.

Along the way, I ran into Filip Sablik (the publisher at Top Cow) and Steve Rolston among others.

I was having a good time, but the evening began to catch up to me and I began to fade. So I bid them all a good night and headed back to my hotel room to try and sleep.

Sunday morning came and I got up later than I expected.

In fact, I had just enough time to take a quick shower before getting to the convention center and had to skip breakfast.

On my way, I was carrying an ice cooler on one shoulder and talking to my mom (who came for the show) with my other hand. The guy in front of me was nice enough to open the door and hold it for me so I could get in. It turned out to be none other than Joe Quesada! The Editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics!

I showed my mom and her husband around for a bit, and then I had to get busy as the doors were about to open again for the second day of the show.

Day two is always (THANKFULLY!!!) a bit slower, and I managed to meet a few new people and find out more about the books or art they were selling. I also was able to get a couple of sketches I'd been hoping to get this year and I picked up some new books to read.

The day went a lot easier with fewer attendees on the show floor, but my blisters from the day before began giving me trouble. I wrapped up each toe with a band-aid and continued to power on for the day.

As it drew closer to the end of the day, the crowds started to die down and people started to get their stuff ready to pack up.

Over the intercom speakers, they announced that this year's show was the biggest ever with over 14,000 people having attended it! (Although, I heard a little later that the number might have even been larger... so once I get the final total I'll let you all know)

The post-show dinner party took place across the street about an hour and a half later.

Hotness & I showed up a few minutes apart but mingled for a bit and then ended up sitting at different tables.

Since she works with the media guests, she tends to hang out with a lot of the volunteers from that group.

I am usually working with the comic book professionals, so I always end-up sitting with them at dinner and catching up.

After a couple of hours, they kicked us out of the resteraunt and sent us downstairs to hang out in the bar. Aaron Douglas (who was a guest at this and last year's shows) showed up and goofed off for a bit with all of us.

Then we headed out to another resteraunt for a few drinks and nibbles before settling down for the night.

We stayed at the hotel an extra night, so it was nice not having to rush home after staying out late the night before.

I got up Monday morning and had breakfast, then after Hotness woke up I took her to get something to eat.

There were a few guests in the hotel lobby when we got back and I got to speak with them and introduce them to Hotness.

Among them: Tim Bradstreet and Mark Texeira, both of whom Hotness has always enjoyed art they have done.

We finally headed back up to the room and packed up our stuff and made the drive back home.

It was a long, but very fun and eventful, weekend.

Much more so than last year's. (I was fighting off a cold last year, and by the end of the show I had no voice left and could barely walk anymore)

I'm resting up and looking forward to my trip to Calgary in a little over a month.

Lots of cool stuff happening then and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

* Oh yeah.

I had given up on ever meeting Stan Lee, when at about 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday I got a text message that said: "Hustle your butt down to the photo booth right away!"

I got there and found out that I was going to get the chance to have my picture taken with Stan after all!

Unfortunately I didn't get to talk to him for very long, but I did get to shake his hand and tell him what an honor it was to meet a legend like himself. Then 3 seconds later, our picture was taken and I was out of there and back on the floor helping guests.

The photo printer broke down during the show and I was not able to get my picture before the convention ended. Luckily I know the photographer and will be getting it in the mail soon, though.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Today I am making the stuffing I posted the recipe for earlier.
I'm really looking forward to how it comes out.
I'll post my thoughts on it after this Friday.
---------------------------------

So yesterday I got to spend the day in Seattle with Technogreek and my friends from Calgary, "K & L".
L is a B-I-G fan of animation and it just so happened that there was an animation exhibit going on at the Pacific Science Center.
Having connections like I do (wink-wink), I was able to get all four of us FREE PASSES to the exhibit for the day.
Which was especially nice, since the whole thing was geared a lot more for kids than for the general animation loving public.
There were a lot of hands-on projects for younger folks, but not a whole lot of history or background for us 'old fogies' who remember the "Good Old Days".
They did, however, have a nifty real-time animation set-up that took your picture in "bullet time" and then animated it right there for you.
This was just one of the three that we did:

Overall it was a fun experience, but I'm certainly glad we didn't have to spend full price to see it.

Afterwards, we went to a sports bar across the street for some Kobe Beef burgers, and then to Bellevue to check out a paper supply store for L.

Technogreek had an appointment in the afternoon, so he dropped us off at his place. K and I went to the Comic Stop and then to Jamba Juice before I dropped him back off and headed back home for the day.

Other than that, I watched "Boondock Saints" with Hotness that evening, under the threat of my brother disowning for not having ever seen it.
It was really good, and I'm surprised I hadn't known about it earlier.
Now that I have seen it, my brother has agreed to not disown me and I am back in his good graces again. (*WHEW!* I was really worried there for a bit!)

Anyway, I wish everyone a terrific Thanksgiving and I have some good news looming on the horizon. I'll write more about it when I have something 'concrete' to report.

KISS Alive 35

I apologize for the tardiness in getting this up on the blog, but I was kept down with a bad cold when I woke up on Monday and I've just been taking it easy.

Apparently rocking out on Sunday night took too much out of me. But before I dive into what happened, a little history first....

I'd never been a big fan of KISS growing up. Mostly because my mom thought they were a bad influence, but also that I wasn't really into that kind of music as a youngster.

As I grew older, and started to develop my (warped) sense of musical taste, I never really took the time to 'discover' them and see what the fuss was about. The few songs I'd heard were just okay to me.

But they have a devoted fan base of all ages.... the KISS Army, it's called.

I saw them about 8 years ago during their "Official Farewell Tour", back when all original four members were putting on the makeup and hitting the concert circuit.

I thought, "Well, I'll probably never get to see them again so I ought to check them out and see them live before they retire".

What a fantastic concert!

They pull out all the stops to make their show a spectacle beyond any other.

I became a fan of the band after that night.

Their "Farewell Tour" turned out to not be so 'final' after all, as they have continued touring during the last 8 years since I saw them.

When I heard they were coming back to town, I thought it'd be fun to go see them again but having been recently laid off (and therefore having to watch what I spend), I figured I'd have to pass.

Besides, it was only two original members and two others who've been in-and-out of the band over the years, so really it probably wasn't going to be the same anyway.

Then on Friday (before the show), I was putzing around on Facebook when I saw a post by Wicked Juan... "Going to try and score $10 KISS tickets".

WHAT!?! Tickets for 10 bucks?! Seriously?!?

I wished him luck, and he turned around and sent a message back to me, "You can try and get them too, here's the link....".

How... HOW, I ask you?... could I pass up a chance to get super-cheap tickets to go see KISS?

I couldn't.

So I followed the link, typed in the "secret code" and.... I scored them as well!

I figured I'd get two tickets, because really, what good is going to concert by yourself. Especially to see these guys?

I was so excited. Not only did I get the tickets for dirt cheap, but I was going to take my concert buddy with me.

I called her up and asked if she could join me, but it turned out she already had plans for that night.

So I called Elwood... same thing.
I called a buddy who works with Hotness, but he couldn't make it either.

I was getting bummed because I was afraid I'd have to go to the concert alone.

I mentioned that I got the tickets but hadn't found a "date" to go with me, when one of my friends suggested a camping buddy of mine.

I called him up and asked him and he said, "Hmmm.... I don't really know what they sing, but it sounds like fun. Sure."

So on Sunday night we headed into Seattle to meet up with Wicked Juan and his wife and have pizza before heading to the show.

We got to the concert, found our seats and got ready for the show.

Here' our view of the stage:

The opening band was Buckcherry. Not only was I unimpressed by them, but the sound was awful. If they were any good, I couldn't tell because they just sounded horrible.

In fact my ears hurt after their set was finished.

This isn't the first time I've had this problem with opening bands at the Key Arena.

The same thing happened when I saw Van Halen in 2004 there. Their opening band was Rose Hill Drive and they played so gosh-darn loud that I put in earplugs (something I rarely ever do at a concert).

Luckily, the main act doesn't have this problem and the sound is much better.

Anyway, they finished and left the stage. Then a big banner dropped while they switched out equipment:

After about 20 minutes, the lights dimmed and over the speakers everybody heard...
"ALRIGHT SEATTLE! YOU WANTED THE BEST, YOU GOT THE BEST!!!"

The banner dropped and the band started right in with "Deuce" and even set off fireworks right off the bat!

From then on it was hit after hit, explosions, fireballs, confetti, elevated stages, fog machines and the craziest rock costumes ever!

Gene Simmons did a bass solo, complete with the "spitting blood" routine and flying up from the stage.

There's a good video montage of the show we went to that night here on YouTube.

What the band lacks in profound musical lyricism, they more than make up for in showmanship on the stage.

There is no other concert like a KISS concert!

People were decked out in costumes all over the place, and all ages were represented.

There were young kids with their parents, teenagers, on up to the 40+ crowd.

Once the music starts and they start performing, no matter what age you are in real life you suddenly become an pre-adolescent and get your face rocked!

It was a total blast and I think if they come back to Seattle again, I just might have to go see them... one more time.

****** BONUS ******

A little Gene Simmons goodness to put on your desk so you can rock out at work.

Via Nice Bunny Downloads.

Being A Local Tourist

On Wednesday I took a break from my standard schedule and headed into Seattle for a "job search / ticket purchase / walkaround town" day of adventure.

I called up 2.0's girlfriend to see if she'd like to join me.

She's currently looking for work as well and since I was heading into town to buy her a ticket for the opera as part of a trade we made (she's joining Hotness & I in January), I thought she might like to join me. Plus, I always like having company when I drive to Seattle.

It turned out she had a job interview that day... in Seattle.

So joining me into the city was a double-treat for her, as her car was not driveable that day and she'd been planning to take the bus.

We met up around 10:00 a.m. and drove to the Big City.

Her interview was at 11:00 and I needed to kill some time while she was there, so I went to the Uwajimaya store and looked around. (There's ALWAYS lots of stuff to look at there)

I ended up buying a DVD of some classic kung-fu action by the legendary Shaw Brothers.

It was "The 5 Deadly Venoms" and I'm still trying to find time to sit and watch it. I'm really excited to see it.

After the interview, we went to Seattle Center so I could pick up her ticket.

The ballet and the opera share the same venue, but apparently they do not share the same ticket office. We had to go about a mile and a half uptown to get the extra opera ticket.

We decided to hold off on that, as there was other stuff we wanted to do.

So we took the monorail to Westlake Center and then walked to Pike Place Market.

There were some businesses in that area that I wanted to check out and I wanted to wander around town since it was a nice day.

Unfortunately, my trip into Seattle to look for a job turned into a wasted effort, as everybody I went to see only took applications online. It didn't do me any good to actually drive into the city and try to apply in person.

However... the day was not a total loss as the two of us had a great time walking around Pike Place and looking in the shops.

We had lunch at a pasta bar in Post Alley. She picked up a present at the (ORIGINAL) Starbuck's shop. We went to the Great Wind-Up Shop. We stopped in at Golden Age Collectibles. And many, many other places.

It was a really fun day.

Then we headed back up north, where I dropped her off with her boyfriend and she caught a ride home with him.

Later that evening, we all met up again at the Comic Stop and hung out until after closing when we all went out for dinner afterwards.

Thursday & Friday were sort of uneventful, but tonight Hotness and I have another ballet to attend.

This one is "Director's Choice", so there are lots of smaller works with a lot of diversity to them.

I'm looking forward to it as there is usaully one 'stand-out performance' which makes the whole evening worthwhile.

After that, perhaps a late-night nibble at Pomodoro.

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I hadn't posted my Halloween costume from this year yet, so for those of you who missed it, here it is:

I intended to go as "The Fly" from the 50's sci-fi film, but never got around to finishing the mask for it.

Since I had all the major components of the costume, I opted for a 'mad scientist' instead.

And here was Hotness:

Me-ow, baby!

Well, that's all for now.

I'll be back soon when I have more to alk about about.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Have you got your costume ready? Are you all set for going out and making a "ghoul" of your self at a party, or are you going to be hanging around and 'trick-or-treating' with the kids?

Well, whatever you do have fun!

Also... Happy Birthday to Peter Jackson, who turned 48 today.

What have I been up to lately?

Until yesterday, not a whole lot.

I've working on my unemployment obligations, so nothing exciting there.

I'm still doing the organization work for a friend of mine. Finally starting to see some progress there. It felt like I really wasn't making much of a dent in it but I'm starting to see that's not the case now.

On Wednesday I applied for a job position that I'd been hoping would open up.

I'm really excited about it, although I haven't been called in for an interview so I'm just in a holding pattern for now.

Thursday I had to attend mandatory "orientation" at the local unemployment office. *YAWN!*

But that's out of my way now. It counted as a job search for my requirements, and since it was early in the day AND it completed my week's quota... I blew the rest of the day off and watched horror movies while Hotness was at work.

First up was the remake of "Friday the 13th".

Other than being a newer "retelling" of the story, this movie didn't bring anything to the table that was really all that good. (Except for Julianna Guill. RAWR!)

I wasn't shocked in the least and the suspense wasn't really there.

On the plus side, it was better than the original in that it had a better budget and so the effects were on a higher level than when it first came out. Overall.... meh.

Second movie was the remake of "Halloween" which was directed by Rob Zombie.

This one fired on all 8 cylinders and was a great remake of the original.

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My only regret is having watched it during the daytime, as I think it would've been much better to watch it after dark with the lights turned down. Other than that, I thought it was top-notch for a horror / suspense movie.

On Friday I was supposed to babysit my nephew for the morning, but that ended rather abruptly when he decided that he'd had enough excitement and fell asleep in his highchair while eating breakfast.

I'd only been there 45 minutes before the little tyke crashed and burned. His mom was already home, so she put him to bed and didn't need me to stick around anymore.

I went the next town and picked up some Halloween candy to hand out at their house tonight, and while I was there I went to see a movie.

I watched "Where The Wild Things Are".

I'd been looking forward to seeing it ever since I heard it was coming out and wanted to catch it in the theater.

It was just under 2 hours long and when it was finished I felt like I'd really spent my money on a "non-experience".

I don't know... The cinematography was well done. The music was appropriately moody and fitting. The costume design was incredible. But when the movie was over I just felt like it really didn't say anything.

This is one case where I really think the book was better.

With that finished, I came back home and putzed around the house for a bit.

Then I took off in the late afternoon to catch up with my good friend Liz and go see a concert in Seattle that night.

She had won tickets to go see UFO at Neumo's and asked me if I wanted to join her.

The music was great. They are a band from the late 70's that has continued to have a somewhat lucrative career in rock, although they are somewhat unknown to a lot of people in the U.S. who are under 35 years old.

I looked around the crowd and it seemed like I was the youngest person there. Kind of a shock, but at least I wasn't "creepy old guy" for a change!

As for the bar, well.... I won't be going back just for drinks there anytime soon. If ever.

I'm not much of a social drinker when I'm out and about, so I didn't know what I wanted when we were at the bar. I sat down with Liz and looked over the drink menu.

Let me clarify that a bit. It's a "menu" of the types of drinks they can make which you pay for to enjoy. Sort of like going to a restaurant and ordering a food item that they offer on their menu.

So I went up to the bar and ordered my drink. The bartender said "A what?", so I repeated it and then said, "It's in your drink menu".

He fiddled with some cash for a moment, filled a beer glass and then came back to me and said, "What is it called?". I repeated it again. He looked puzzled.

Then he grabbed a glass and mixed up something that sounded like what I wanted and handed it to me. Plus he overcharged me for it.

So not only only did I not get what I wanted, but the bartender WHO WORKS AT THE BAR THAT OFFERED THE DRINK MENU didn't know what drinks were on that menu. Plus I paid extra for his lack of knowledge.

Customer service FAIL in my book. Thank you very little.

We finished and our drinks and then went to see the band. They rocked for over an hour and had a couple of encores. Then we left and headed for home.

It was well after midnight and the roads were very wet, so I stayed at her place and had breakfast there before coming back to my house to Hotness today.

Tonight we'll be handing out candy to costumed hoodlums at separate locations.

She'll be downtown at the auto parts store and I'll be at our friend's house.

Then after the ghosts and goblins (and princesses) settle down for the night, we'll be heading to a local restaurant for their Halloween shindig. It should be a fun evening.

** UPDATE!! **

I forgot I'd taken pictures of the band last night.

They aren't great but here they are:

We were on the left side of the stage in the second row, so we got a great view.

It's Not Blog Neglect... Honest!

Yeesh!
The posts around here have been pretty lean lately, huh?

It's not that I'm tired of this blog or anything.
I just haven't had a lot of things I wanted to devote a post to.
Usually when I find something funny (typically a news story), I've been posting it over on my Facebook page. I don't feel like writing up some big involved post about it, so it's just quicker to put it there.
I've also had a couple of recent posts over at the Comic Stop blog, so it's not like I've deserted Blogger.

But I finally had something I wanted to put on here, so if you're still coming by here and reading this thing every so often, well today's your lucky day.

A while back (in March, to be precise), I made a gift certificate for a friend and offered to take him to a Mariner's game as a Birthday present.
Life quickly got in the way of things and there were a couple of comic book conventions shortly afterward, so going to a game sort of became an afterthought.

Not much was said about it until the other day when I reminded him that my offer for the game was still open if he'd like to go.
He was still up for it and as luck would have it, the next game coming up was Sunday against the New York Yankees.

I got the tickets through my work and we made plans to enjoy the game that day.


We met up in Lynnwood and carpooled into Seattle from there.
Traffic was lighter than we expected, so we had lots of time to kill before the game.

We parked and then walked to Uwajimaya to get something to eat.
Then we walked around the International District for a bit. (I wanted to stop into Pink Godzilla and a Japanese toy store while I was there)


While we were wandering, there was a large group of people gathered at a small park in the neighborhood.
We asked one of the police officers what was going one and they said it was Chinese National Day celebrations.

Looked like they were all excited, but we had a game to get to, so we headed back to Safeco Field.


We missed the National Anthem and the first pitch, but got to our seats not too long after.
Our seats were in the 1st row, right off the third baseline. A great view with nobody in front of us to spoil it.

I'm not a big sports fan (hence the lack of "sports talk" on this blog), but I do enjoy a fun game with the sun shining and spending it with a friend.
Especially one that answered my questions about the things I didn't understand.
(I finally learned how they figure baseball averages, and why the home team didn't need to finish the last inning if they were ahead. Things like that.)

The Mariners scored two runs in the first inning and then 5 more in the second inning.
The Yankees only scored one run, but like I mentioned to George, it seemed like they weren't even trying.
So overall it was a fun game but not very exciting. Glad that the home team won anyway.

In the last inning, a foul ball headed our direction.
George went to catch it but it got knocked out out his hand. One of the players threw it back and this time George caught it.
It was a nice way to top off his birthday present!

After that, we headed back up north to get my car and parted ways.

And that was the highlight of my weekend.

Coming up:
Ballet season starts this week
New Ultraman news
Learning Korean... the hard way!

Fair, Camping, Bumbershoot

I had planned on being back and posting long before now, but I just kept putting it off.
I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting.

Anyway, I could ramble on and on about everything, but it'll be much simpler to just post some pictures and give you captions to fill you up-to-date.
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Back in late August, Hotness & I went to the fair;
Where I had my annual Purple Cow*


We also checked out the floral dept.
They had a big display of carnivorous plants

As well as a live tarantula in one of the other displays


Hotness was not getting any closer than she had to, to see that.


Other than that, the fair was the same old, same old.
Nothing has really changed.

Oh! I did buy some lottery tickets to win a mobile chicken coop.


I haven't heard whether I was the winner, but at least I can figure out how to build this style from these pictures if I wasn't.
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On Labor Day weekend, I went camping again.
This was the last of our "group camping trips" for the season.

It pretty much rained the whole time, but that didn't prevent us from having any fun.

We had a nice big tarp over the table, so we were able to prepare food and eat without getting too wet.



And on one of the few breaks in the weather I was able to pursue my quest for the perfect S'more.

This one includes a whole Reese's Peanut Butter cup.


It was extremely close to perfection!


I got back from camping on Sunday, and then on Monday I scooted off for Bumbershoot in Seattle with a friend.
It was rainy off-and-on, but we had a lot of fun despite the indecisive weather.

The first thing we did after getting inside the event was to get ourselves a pass for the comedy stage.
Then we headed straight for the EMP SkyChurch to watch an indie band called "Dept. of Energy".

They did a cool rendition of Van Halen's "JUMP" using a vibraphone.

Then we wandered around for a bit until going to the Mainstage to watch the "Black Eyed Peas" perform.

We got pretty close to the stage. Close enough to get a good view.
(That's Fergie standing on a speaker directly above the guy in the orange jacket)
They put on a really good show, although they blew an amp at one point and so they lost their sound for a few minutes.
They got it back and then lost it again.
Finally everything got figured out and the show went on.

Here's a view of the crowd from above the main floor:

That's a LOT of people!

We left the concert early so that we could get in line for the comedy stage we got passes for earlier.
It was an improvisational Shakespeare group, and that was one heck of a funny show!
Unfortunately we couldn't get any pictures or video, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
But it was well worth the money!


After that, we wandered around and looked at the art on display and then checked out Flatstock 22.


There were a couple of concerts coming up later in the evening, but by that time we were hungry and our feet were starting to hurt from all the wandering and standing in lines.
We grabbed a bite outside the Bumbershoot grounds at a nifty little Mexican place.
After talking it over we decided that we'd seen enough and that we really didn't need to stay.
We both had work the next day, and it was in our best interests to get back home so that we weren't dragging the next day.
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Since then, nothing much has been happening worth noting.
At least, not until last evening.

A few of us got together to help celebrate Palindrome's birthday with burgers at Red Robin followed by aimless wandering at the nearby Target.




And THAT catches you up on things in my "exciting" life.
The fun never ends, does it?





* A "Purple Cow" is a float made out of:
Blackberry ice cream
Lemon-lime soda
and a bit of blackberry syrup

Post 4th Report

The 4th of July Holiday came and went... with a bang. Ha ha!

I managed to survive my trip into Seattle on Friday despite my sprained ankle.
I applied ice and heat to it on Thursday and dosed up on painkillers.
That night wasn't too bad trying to sleep thankfully.

I got up on Friday morning and hobbled around watering plants, filling birdfeeders, etc... until it was time to leave and drive into the big city.
We got there and met up with my mom, her husband, and a friend of the family.
Not a lot to report, so I'll just post a few pictures from the day.

Hotness grabbed a bite at a shop in Post Alley.

The dishes were embedded in the cement steps next to where we were sitting:


Some shoes in a tree at a park near Pike Street that the homeless hang out in:


A view over the Alaskan Way Viaduct:


The infamous gum wall (with a close-up)

And across from the gum wall was "Narboo":


These Hanna-Barbera characters were part of a graffiti wall where we'd parked the car for the day:

Secret Squirrel & Morrocco Mole

And here's Hotness in the parking lot:


After we got back home, we just hung around the house for a bit before going over to our neighbor's to watch TV.
Here's Lewis the Barn Cat chillaxin' on the couch with Hotness:



On Saturday we went to our friend's place to BBQ, watch fireworks and play with my niece and nephew.
It was great fun spending time with everybody.

Here a few pics from that day:
Little ZEN sweeping the floor


The allure of sparklers

Hotness wasn't up to staying and watching people blow stuff up, so she headed home before it got dark.
I stayed until well past midnight and watched the neighborhod pyromaniacs light up the sky.


Sunday was a slow day.
We slept in and stayed around the house for the most part.
We did make a trip to the Comic Stop to pick up my comics and then that evening we went over to the neighbor's place again for more television goodness.
-------------------------------------
AND
In case you were wondering how my foot looked after the sprain...
Well wait no more!

This on Friday afternoon.
I'd worn an ACE bandage all day and when I took it off this is what my foot looked like.
The ankle was swollen and the bruise was starting to show.


This pic was taken this morning.
The swelling has gone down a bit but the bruise is more purple-colored now.
You can see color on both side of my foot, but it's more 'colorful' on the outside.