Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something "Blu"

With the wedding coming up shortly, things are beginning to take shape.
I made Hotness's bridal bouquet and I'm taking care of the music.
I also need to get some appetizers whipped up (I have the stuff for one, but still trying to decide on what the other will be), and I'm working on the decorations... although we aren't going crazy with that. Just something to make the place look more "wedding-like".

I have my suit all ready and Hotness picked up her dress last weekend, so those are out of the way.

This is our last weekend to "take it easy", as next weekend will begin the final hours to the event.
Friday night we have a wedding shower to go to. Saturday night is the ballet. Sunday I will be getting the chairs and dropping off the decorations. Monday I'll be getting the appetizers made and setting up the chairs and decorations I dropped off earlier. Tuesday will be... let's see... um....
Oh yeah! The actual wedding.

As the day approaches, we have been asked by different people, "What would we like to have as a wedding gift?"
Hotness and I have different opinions about this.
I feel that we really don't need anything, as we've been together for so long and already have the things we need. Plus, with the economy the way it is, I don't want people to feel they HAVE to spend money on us.
Hotness feels that if people would like to get presents, we should let them. Some people really want to express their happiness for us by getting us a gift, so we shouldn't stop them and make them feel unappreciated.
So we're basically leaving it up to the individual as to whether they want to buy a gift, but it's certainly not necessary.

Now, having said that, we received our first wedding gift in the mail on Friday.
It was from my good friend Imperfect and his wife.
They got us a Blu-ray disc player!

I've been on the fence about getting one.
I was perfectly happy with the DVD player we currently had and didn't see the need for spending more money to upgrade just yet. But on the other hand, I did have a nice, new HDTV that wasn't living up to it's full potential and with Blu-ray discs being released at lower prices than standard DVDs, it was beginning to sway me over.

I would've been happy to wait until our wedding day to open their present, but due to some packaging SNAFUs, we decided to open it early.
We opened the box and... TAA-DAA!!! A beautiful, Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player was inside!
So yesterday, I made a trip down south to Fry's to pick up the HDMI cable (and a Blu-ray disc, 'cause... Heck! Why not?) as well as some LAN cable to connect it to the interwebs.

I got back home and proceeded to hook it all up.
There was an update for the firmware, so I took care of that right away and then afterwards I went about setting up the adjustments (i.e. video output, audio, brightness, on screen language, etc...).

Unfortunately, my surround sound DVD player did not have an HDMI input.
That would have been the best option. So instead, I had to use regular co-axial plugs.
But to be totally honest, I can't see that it makes a bunch of difference to my ears. My "home theater" isn't that big and my ears aren't that discerning when it comes to sound. So I'm happy it works.
I did have HDMI inputs on the TV, so I plugged the Blu-ray player directly into it.

Then I went and tried out a few standard DVDs to see if the picture quality was any better.
I noticed it was a bit sharper, but almost a bit "over compensating", so I'll have to tweak the settings a bit more (or just use the regular DVD player).

Then I put in the new disc I bought. I got "The Blue Man Group: How To Be A Megastar Live!"
This had special significance on a couple of levels.
First: Being our first "Blu-ray" disc, why not get the "Blue Man Group"?
And Second: This was the same concert tour I went to see with Imperfect a few years back, and since he got us the player it seemed appropriate.
This was by far a H-U-G-E difference in visual quality. I really didn't expect it to be, but I was amazed. Even Hotness said "Wow, that's really clear and what an amazing picture!".
So I'm totally glad to have it have it and especially happy that they got us such a nice gift.
Thank you both again!

In other news....
Nothing new to report in the job-search, although I hope to have something exciting to say in the not-to-distant future.

The Emerald City Comic Con is only a few weeks away. I'm excited and nervous at the same time for it to happen. There are so many cool new guests (Stan Lee, Leonard Nimoy) and awesome returning guests (Terry Moore, Whilce Portacio). It's also expected to be the BIGGEST show yet, which means there's going to be a LOT of hard work to do while it's happening.
Last year was a tough one, so hopefully this year we'll be better prepared. Hotness and I are sharing a hotel room for three nights (instead of two, like in previous years), so that'll help in not having to travel back right away after the second day of the show. We can relax one evening and take our time leaving on Monday.

Babysitting is still happening quite a bit and despite catching the occasional "bug" from the kids, has been a lot of fun. Being "Uncle Ferretnick" is a blast.

Well, that catches us up again for now.
I apologize for the sparse postings, but until something happens that's worth "blogging" about, I tend to just let things slide on here.
With the wedding and conventions coming up I should have more to talk about.

Ya'll be good now!

A Pirate Looks A Forty

Last week I turned 40.
I wasn't all "I'm having a mid-life crisis" about it, but still.... 40 years old.
That's twice as old as 20 and in some ways I don't feel any wiser than I did back then, only older.

Anyway, to mark the occasion, I wanted to have a "pirate-themed" birthday party at the Comic Stop with all my friends to celebrate.

(I was listening to Jimmy Buffet's song "A Pirate Looks At Forty" and thought that was kind of appropriate for me considering my penchant for acquiring music and such. *wink wink*)

My buddy Imperfect also has his birthday on the same day as mine, so we went to IXTAPA in town and had lunch together.

He mentioned to the restaurant owner that it was my birthday, to which I added that it was also his. The owner asked which of us was the younger, and we told him it was me.

So, after we were finished with our meals (which were muy bueno, by the way), he came over to us with two sombreros and two bowls of fried ice-cream for us, while he and a few of the waitstaff sang us "Happy Birthday".

Here we are, as the goofballs we tend to be:

Anyway, back to the party....

Hotness was busy with work and getting stuff ready for the wedding, so she delegated the party responsibilities to other capable hands.

It was supposed to be a surprise party, but since it was originally my idea and I'd only been talking about it all year, it wasn't much of a "surprise". Especially since I had to carry a cooler into the comic store that night of my birthday. (Hmmm... suspicious?)

Still, I was greeted with a loud "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!" when I walked into the back and they turned on the lights.

The party was fun and it was a nice way to turn "middle-aged", even if I did look like a dork for the duration.

Here are some pics for ya:

I really didn't expect gifts, as it wasn't my intention for having a birthday get-together, but I got some pretty nifty swag nevertheless.

I got a few gift cards for iTunes and Target. A got a limited edition Mighty Mugg of Peter Parker with his "Spidey senses" going off. (Way cool!)

And I got a book that I had on my Christmas list (but Hotness wasn't able to find) called "The Supergirls".

The party didn't last too terribly long, but it was fun while it lasted.

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On Saturday we met up with Dr. Zoltar and his lovely assistant to see their baby. (I'd actually gotten to see her a couple weeks earlier, but Hotness hadn't yet)

Then that evening we went to help celebrate 2.0's girlfriend's birthday. (She doesn't have a 'nickname', so I'll call her GF2.0)

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Sunday was our second opera for this season and it promised to be a doozy!

It was "Il Trovatore", and it had just about everything you could want in an opera.

There was fighting, murder, love, kidnapping, curses, vengeance, gypsies and the popular "Anvil Chorus".

We were joined by GF2.0, who wasn't able to make it in time to get her seat for the first act, so she had to watch it in the lobby on the screens.

During intermission we caught up with her and we all got our seats for the second act.

Then, she left to head back home while Hotness and I went to... where else?... Pomodoro for dinner after the show.

Yum-yum-yummy, as always!

Overall it was a great birthday weekend and made turning 40 into a "not-so-bad" event.

Wedding Planning

Well, back to the blog again.

After proposing and getting engaged almost a year ago, I tried to come up with ideas for the wedding (what to wear, where to have it, when to have it, etc...).
I wasn't met with resistance by Hotness, but rather benign indifference. Nothing seemed like a bad idea, but it all seemed like it could be taken care of later.
So after a few weeks of trying to come up with ideas, I gave up and put it on the back burner until she wanted to sit down together and plan for it.

Nothing, other than talking about going to Las Vegas, was ever really discussed.... until about 2 weeks ago.
That was when Hotness dropped her wedding plans on me. And only 1 month before she wanted to make them happen.

She thought I was upset at first, but really all it turned out to be was that I was totally unaware of what she wanted to do until that moment.
So in one fell swoop I got the lowdown on what she wanted to do and the steps she'd already taken to make them a reality.
I was a bit speechless.
I didn't know that she was planning ANYTHING, and now I'm having to rush around and get stuff together to make it happen in less than a month.

It's not all that bad though.
I got my outfit already picked out, and last Saturday we found a dress for her that not only looks great, but totally suits her.
So those two things are taken care of.
This afternoon, we'll be heading out to pick up the marriage license.

Other than that, we're planning a very small, intimate wedding.
So right now, we're in the process of trying to get invitations made up so we can get them sent out as soon as possible.

In fact, we're not even planning on a real reception for afterwards because we'll have so few people there.
The reception we want to have will be much more elaborate so that we can share it with all our friends. But right now, we're not even sure when that will be. Originally Hotness wanted to have it on the anniversary of when I proposed, but it turns out that that's on the weekend of the Emerald City Comic Con. I'm cool with that, but for some reason she says "no". Then in April, I'll be gone for Calgary Expo again.
So for right now, that event is up in the air until we can find a time (and a place) to have it.

In the meantime, I'm just kind of in a fog.
My birthday is coming up and we're sort of 'half-way' to the wedding, so everything just seems kind of surreal right now. I know things are going to happen, but they aren't happening "right now".

I'm kind of rambling, aren't I?
Yeah, okay. Onto other subjects...

I went and saw "Avatar" the other day.
It was in 3-D and I was afraid that I might get motion sickness (as I'm prone to do at movies lately), so I dosed up on Dramamine.
What an incredible movie. And the 3-D only made it better.
I think if I'm going to get a Blu-ray player in the near future, THIS will be the movie that tips the scales in favor of doing it.

What else? Hmmm...
Oh yeah!
I TOTALLY geeked out yesterday when I found out that Stan "The Man" Lee would be coming to ECCC this year!
I only have to real goals in life, and in the grand scheme of things they are within reason.
1) To meet and get a picture taken with Weird Al Yankovic
2) To meet and get a picture taken with Stan Lee.
Looks like I can cross one of those off my list real soon! (and if anybody can help make that first one a reality, please let me know!)

I'd like to say I have a whole bunch of other stuff to talk (or rather, "blog") about, but I don't.
No news on the job search other than I haven't heard back from anybody.
Nobody has called me to even set up an interview. I'm still sending out job apps and my resume, and all I'll hearing back is the sound of crickets chirping.
I'm not depressed, but it does get a bit discouraging after a while.

I'll probably have more to talk about after this weekend.
My birthday is coming up and on Sunday Hotness and I are going to the opera (our second one for the season).
I should have SOMETHING to talk about again by then.

So Yeah.... 2010. Yippee.

2009 has gone out with a whimper it seems.
It had it's ups-and-downs (mostly downs) but I really can't think of last year as being anything spectacular. Just another milestone on the road of life.

Oh sure, we got a new President. That was new and a high-point for the year.
Everybody was all excited to see fresh, new blood move into the White House and take command. But where's that enthusiasm now?

Hotness and I got engaged last year. Another high-point.
But with money being tight, we really can't have the wedding we'd been planning to have.

Two good friends and myself lost their jobs last year.
Luckily the two of them were able to find work and I *might* have something lined up soon, but still... losing your job isn't exactly the most exciting thing to experience with an economy in the toilet like it is.

No, 2009 will not be a memorable year for me other than to say "Oh yeah, THAT happened".

Now with 2010 upon us, I get to look forward to hitting the 40 year mark.

I do have a lot to be thankful for, actually.
I have some very amazing, supportive friends. I'm no longer working at a place I didn't enjoy being at. I'm going to get married soon. I still have a roof over my head.
But overall, I just don't feel all that excited about this new year.
Maybe it's the grey weather outside. Maybe it's that I've been sort of cooped up in the house a lot lately. I don't know.

I realize I'm only three days into it so far, and I should really give it a chance to prove itself.
But today... I just don't feel the love for it.

Livin' Large

Yeesh!
Almost a whole has gone by without any new posts.
I'd like to say I've just been too busy, but the reality is only partially true.
I have been busy but not enough to prevent me from blogging.

What's been happening?

Well, I'm still searching for a job. Lots of resumes sent out but nobody has called back.

I did have an interview, but it turned out to not be for a job directly. It was a 'job placement service' and they called me in to get more information regarding my work history. I think the interview went well, but I haven't heard anything from them since.

Been doing a lot of babysitting and I just recently house-sat for our neighbor last weekend.

Other than that....? Not much.

So see, really nothing exciting to blog about.
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I did make a major upgrade in our house a few days ago.

I was out shopping with G-rod the other day and noticed a flat screen LCD TV on sale for the holidays.
I've been wanting to upgrade from our old 29" clunker for a while, but I've been waiting for a good price drop on the new flat screen HDTVs before I made the switch.

This one was marked down $200 from the original price and seemed to have everything I was looking for in a new TV.

I asked G his opinion and he thought it was a great deal as well, especially the price.

So I came home and talked it over with Hotness and did some research online to get reviews and price comparisons before making a purchase.

Almost all the reviews I read were positive (and the few negative ones were really petty complaints) and the prices I found online for it were about the same as the non-sale price I'd seen, so overall it looked to be a good buy.
I decided... "This is it".

It's a SONY Bravia 40" LCD HDTV.

To make a very long story short, there were a few mishaps in trying to locate a store that still had stock on this TV while it was on sale but after some dogged perseverance I managed to succeed in my goal of finding one.
I even manged to get it for LESS than the advertised sale price so... BONUS!!!

I loaded it into my car (which was a feat unto itself... take a look at the pictures)


and brought it home to hook it up.

One of the reasons I liked this TV was it had a lot of different types of inputs for various cables.
My DVD player used an S-cable and this TV was one of the few styles I found that had an input for that.
So after I got home and took it out of the box, it was plugged in and I was watching movies on it within 20 minutes.

I'm loving this new TV and do not regret buying it at all.
I've been going over scenes from different movies just to watch how they look on the new screen.

With the surround sound system I acquired not long ago, I feel like I'm starting to catch up with the 21st Century finally.

As for my older 29" television, I gave it to my aunt to replace her tiny, little 13" TV.
(Yeah, people still have some of those!)
So everybody's happy and watching programs on bigger screens now.

I recently bought the "Ultimate Cut of Watchmen", and I'm looking forward to spending the better part of 4 hours watching it on hi-def and surround sound. Probably today since I don't have any other plans to speak of.

The rest of this week will be filled with playing Heroclix with a friend's kids, more babysitting and... something else I forget. (Aw c'mon! I know it Christmas this Friday!)

I don't know when I'll get back to this blog, so in the meantime have a great Christmas and hopefully you have your shopping finished.

Be talking again (hopefully) soon.....

Das Krümelmonster sagt NEIN!

It's not Monday, but it would qualify if I was still doing those posts.

For your enjoyment, here's Cookie Monster singing with Rammstein:

Stress Symptoms

I gotta take Hotness to the doctor today for an appointment.
She's been feeling under the weather, much more so than I was when I had the cold I just got over. We're hoping it's nothing to serious (as in the flu, or particularly H1N1) so we'll see.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about some stuff in my life right now and I thought I'd talk about them briefly.

Stress does a wicked number on your health in more ways than you can imagine.
When I was selling aquarium fish (many years ago) we always informed customers about the many factors that can cause stress in the fish tank environment and how to try and eliminate them for the overall health of the fish inside.

The same thing applies to us humans.
We have sources of stress on many, many different levels coming at us at all times.
Not all of it is bad, but constant repetitive stress can really wear you down after a while.

About 8 or 9 years ago I started having trouble with my sinuses. I wasn't having infections or anything like that, but I was having difficulty clearing my nose when I blew it into a tissue. It never seemed to work and only got worse as the years continued. I even went to the doctor to try and see what the problem was, but he couldn't determine a cause so it went on without any remedy.
Occasionally I'd take an over-the-counter allergy or sinus pill to help alleviate the symptoms, but they always returned.
At night, I'd have difficulty breathing and wouldn't get a full, restful night's sleep. In the morning I'd wake up barely able to breath through my nose and would spend a good portion of my morning trying to blow it out so I could breath a little.

I thought I may be allergic to the cat, but I never had been before and the symptoms never got drastically worse when I was around the cat.

Then, about 4 or 5 years ago I started having trouble with my stomach. At least once (and quite often twice) a week I'd have an upset stomach.
My tummy would cramp up and I'd have to go. It was not comfortable in the least.
The medical term for this would be called "irritable bowel syndrome". No real way to stop it, it just happens and people have to deal with it for the rest of their lives.

Well a funny thing has happened in the last couple of months.
I haven't had one instance of an 'irritable bowel' at all.
And around the middle of November my sinus started to clear up. I've been able to breath clearly at night, and when I blow my nose... it clears out the junk and I can breath.

What have I been doing in the last two months to make such an improvement to my health?
Nothing, quite literally.
I was laid off two months ago and in these past two months, my body has started to recover from stress I was subjecting it to at a job that I wasn't enjoying.

When my sinuses started acting up, I had just moved into "Will Call / shipping". I was there for about a year or two before moving into sales. Then in the last 4 or 5 years of being in sales and having to deal with customers, vendors, and even some co-workers my stomach started acting up.

When I was let go from my job, my tummy troubles ceased.... practically overnight.
My sinuses took a little while longer to start to clear, but they have been for the last 2 or 3 weeks and I can not only breath easier but I actually feel a lot better than I have in recent years.

You'd think that being unemployed would add more stress and make my body react even worse, but I've really been more relaxed than I ever have been in a long while.
I'm looking for work, but I'm only looking for things I seriously want to do. Not just the first thing that comes along.
I'm not about to subject myself anytime soon to the same stress levels I had been before.

Now, if I would just get my butt into the gym.........