Vacation: Day 7

I made it to Chicago safe and sound!

I also have free wireless internet access (though, I’m learning that a MacBook dual 1.83 with 512 MB RAM is much slower than a Power Mac G5 dual 2.5 with 4 GB RAM. Still, I’m updating the blog, as promised.

I didn’t update yesterday for a couple of reasons: first, I did nothing other than pack and prep for my trip, a relatively boring day; second, I didn’t want to unpack my laptop at my parents’ house (where I slept, so my sister could drive me to the airport this morning) just for the sake of posting a quick iWeb update. There were enough computers in the house to satisfy my web browsing needs.

Upon my arrival in Chicago, I immediately drove to my hotel -- the Baymont Inns & Suites in Hoffman Estates, Illinois -- to find where it was and see if I could check in early. I couldn’t, so I spent the next hour driving up and down Barrington Road/Rt. 58 to get a sense of the area. I eventually checked in, got everything set up and got completely unpacked. I’m going to be here for 10 days, I may as well get comfortable.

I watched the Cubs-Cardinals game in the afternoon, then went to the Woodfield Mall in the evening, before returning to catch the tail end of the White Sox-Orioles game (btw, when I say “watched” I mean on Comcast SportsNet, not in person. I will be going to a Cubs game at some point next week. I won’t be attending a White Sox game, since they’re on the road until I leave).

So, let me sum up my first day in Illinois with some pros and cons:

PRO: Picking up my rental car was easier than expected.
CON: The car is a tan Chevy Malibu.

PRO: That Chevy Malibu is actually nearly brand new (less than 1,000 miles on it) and runs very smooth.
CON: It has no way for me to hook up my iPod.

PRO: The Woodfield Mall has an Apple Store, at which I was able to purchase an iTrip to solve the above “no way for me to hook up my iPod” problem.
CON: I bought an iTrip.

PRO: There are plenty of places to eat within a reasonable distance of my hotel.
CON: I hadn’t quite anticipated how much I’ll probably be spending on food on this trip.

PRO: It’s very easy to get around here, with pretty much everything on main roads and very accessible highways.
CON: I-90 is a toll road, and not only that, the tolls are unmanned.

Wait, this deserves more of an explanation. See, when I left the rental car place, they did inform me that I-90 was a toll road. No problem, I figure, I’ve got $200 in cash in my wallet (normally I carry almost no cash, except what I need to buy dinner at the ESPN Café). Of course, they fail to tell me that I need change. Actual coins. Because the exit tolls are completely unmanned. Well, I got to one and had just the 20 cents I’d gotten as change for the entrance toll. So now, I have to go through Illinois’s stupid system to mail in my payment for the toll I was forced to go through, despite the fact that I had enough money in my car to pay for me and the next 400 cars through, because the state is too cheap to pay for manned toll booths. This would never happen in the northeast. Could you imagine the Garden State Parkway or the Jersey Turnpike without a manned tollbooth. That’d be retarded.

Oh well, I’m past that now, and just looking forward to Slay-a-thon on Saturday. Go Buffy!

Vacation: Day 5

Well, only one full day left before I leave for Chicago. I should probably pack soon. I’ve essentially done nothing in that department. Which is bad, since I’m going to be there for 10 days.

As for what I did today -- besides not pack that is -- well, I went to the comic book shop. Why would I do that a week before attending a comic book convention? Well, last time I waited to pick something up at Wizard World (back in June when we went to Philadelphia), no one had it there. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, I went to the shop today to pick up Spike vs Dracula #4 (pictured at left), Angel Spotlight: Doyle, and Angel Scriptbook #5 (appropriately enough for the episode “Five by Five.” The big news related to this is that Joe Corroney, the artist for the Spike vs Dracula series, will be at Wizard World, so I’m hoping to have him sign the issues I have (I’m also going to try and get some of my other Buffy and Angel issues signed. If I succeed, I’ll be sure to post scans here).

After the comic book shop, I went over to Pooz’s, where we proceeded to play video games for a long amount of time. We played some more Def Jam: Fight for NY, then got in some NFL Street action (that was a very underrated game, which gets all-the-more forgotten because of the disappointment that was NFL Street 2). After a dinner break, the a trip to the pool (no, I didn’t swim, mostly because I wasn’t planning on it, so I had nothing in which to swim) we came back and played a best-of-3 NBA Street, Vol. 2 series. As always, Pooz was the Magic (featuring a way-too-good version of Shawn Kemp) and I was the Clippers (featuring Lamar Odom’s limitless potential, rather than his mediocre actual career). I won the series 2-1, and Pooz has already demanded a rematch when I return from Chicago.

Honestly, I don’t blame him for wanting a rematch, because during the third game, he was distracted by Sarah’s efforts to remove the world’s largest fly from their apartment. Seriously, this thing was like a small bird. It killed a lamp (no really, it did. It flew into the lamp, Pooz and Sarah shook the lamp to get the fly out, the bulb broke and the fly survived). It then ended up flying into their Canon printer and crawling inside. Even printing a document wasn’t enough to force the fly from its new home. So, if you’re scoring at home, that’s Fly 2, Modern Electronics 0.

Well, tomorrow is essentially a prep-and-pack day (I also need to print directions to and from various places in Chicago, so that should be lots of not fun). Then it’s off to the Windy City on Friday morning. I may post an update tomorrow, I may not, but I’ll try to have one once I’m in Chicago.

Oh, and for everyone going to Slay-a-thon, feel free to introduce yourself to me. I’ll be the guy who looks like the guy pictured on the front page of the blog, just with shorter hair, and a less genius-y T-shirt.

Vacation: Day 4

Another day down, and another eventful day.

I didn’t get the CD rack assembled, but that’s not a big deal. I did hang out with Moore... we visited the mall, had some dinner, and I whupped him in Fight Night at Best Buy (we played at Best Buy because I still have yet to purchase a 2nd controller for my 360... I swear I’ll do it eventually). While we were at Best Buy, I did pick up “Pinky and the Brain” Volume 1 on DVD. This show was freakin’ hilarious. It’s too bad it was only on for 3 years, though.

When we got back to my place, I discovered that UPS had dropped off the newest addition to my Buffy collection, “Primeval” Buffy (pictured to the left). Check out the full gallery in the Buffy section. Also, if you visit the Buffy section regularly, you’ll notice a serious reduction in the menu bar. I decided to take out the individual pages from the navigation and just leave the menu page and the full collection display up there. It saves a lot of room on the pages, and the menu has links to everything.

Oh, I should mention that I didn’t watch “ROTK” today. I promise I will before I leave for Chicago (not that I need to keep that promise, but I’d like to).

Vacation: Day 3

Well, things are actually moving ahead of schedule for my vacation. I reoriented the computer last night (though afterwards I was too tired to post about it), and then today went down to Ikea to pick up more shelving, lighting and the like, and actually installed most of it today. The only thing left to be assembled is the CD rack for the basement (and once I do that, I’ll post some pictures).

I did take a full slate of pictures of my “Buffy” collection on display in the reorganized living room. Feel free to check it out. I also updated the Sideshow page (I realized I hadn’t taken close-ups of any of my last 4 additions there), though that page will be growing immensely in the next year or so.

Of course, not all of my vacation has been about “Buffy” (though most of it will be once I get to Chicago). Last night I watched “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” for the first time in awhile. Tonight I watched “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” which of course means tomorrow is “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” Not as impressive as Thanksgiving ’04, when I did them all in one day, but not bad either. This afternoon, I did take a break from LOTR to watch “Ali” (having “The Champ is Here” as my text message alert has really put me in the mood to see that movie). Sure I’ve seen it a lot, but every time I watch a movie, I see something new. For example, today, I saw the scene where Ali is fighting Foreman, he’s in the clutch and trying to get his energy back. That scene seems to have been the inspiration for “Fight Night, Round 3” when a fighter is near a knockout. The visuals and audio are a near-perfect match.

Also should add that I finished my second Buffy mosaic, this one from “The Gift.” The thumbnail is pictured above and to the left. Click it to download the full image.

Well that’s it for today. Tomorrow, well, you already know what I’m doing (and if you don’t, please re-read the above entry, because it’s all spelled out in there). Oh, and if you are reading this, feel free to click that little button below this that says “Add a comment” so you can, you know, add a comment. I know people are reading this, so let me know what you think. I won’t bite.

Vacation: Day 2, Part 2

So the realy first day of my vacation was rather eventful. I got my nephew Eli his present for his 1st birthday (plush toys from “Cars” and “Toy Story” -- both Disney/Pixar productions -- I’m nothing if not a corporate shill), then I dropped them off and visited with the family for a little while. After that I made a trip to Walmart, to get some type of shelf/organizer for my video games. I picked up two cheap wire frame 28-capacity holders, which are now mounted on the wall right above my mass of video game systems (pictures will be coming sometime this week, I promise).

I then went to Pooz’s, where we played some good old fashioned “Def Jam: Fight for New York. Because Pooz’s Xbox was the one in the living room when he shared an apartment, my character was still intact on his system, so we got in some good head-to-head matches before tag-teaming to destroy the CPU opponents.

After that, it was back to the family to drop in on Eli’s 1st birthday party, which was fun. Now I’m back here for the night, ready to relax.

I have been playing around more with MacOSiaX. It’s a really fun program. I re-setup the parameters for my “Becoming” Buffy mosiac and ended up wtih what you see above. The picture on the left is the original photo, the one on the right is a mosaic made up of about 9,000 tiles of screenshots from “Becoming” 1 and 2. If you click the picture, you can download the full-res image, but I warn you, it’s almost 60 MB, so be prepared to wait.

I’m running another one right now -- a picture of Buffy and Dawn using “The Gift” as the source. When I’m finished, I’m probably going to take both of them to Kinkos and have them made up as posters.

Well, that just about wraps up day 2. On the docket for day 3: move my computer desk so I can at least somewhat see the TV from it, then possibly make an Ikea run.

Vacation: Day 2, Part 1

So, going to sleep at 2 a.m. when you have to be somewhere at 8 a.m. is, well, not a good idea to put it lightly. Still, I’m awake, dressed and ready to go. I just wanted to put up a quick post before I do go, and give you this special gift. Using a program called MacOSaiX, I was able to make a mosaic of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, using images from “Becoming” (parts 1 and 2). The image to the left is just a thumbnail of the full-res image. It’s best viewed from a distance to get the idea of SMG, but you can zoom in to see the individual tiles.

Vacation: Day 1

Ok, so “vacation” might be a little inaccurate at this point. Today was really just like a normal day off (which makes some sense, since it was really part of the previous work week. My vacation starts for real tomorrow).

As promised, though, I did finally clean my place, which meant throwing out a ton of boxes from the basement. It’s actually usable now, though I haven’t taken pictures yet, because I still want to move some things around down there.

I also got back involved on the “Buffy” figures board, with big things happening in the world of “Buffy” collectibles. Sideshow made some big announcements at SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con for the uninitiated). I’ve already preordered 12-inch Lorne and 12-inch Giles, and I’m eagerly anticipating the moment I can tell Sideshow to bill me for Premium Format Spike (partially pictured above). Diamond Select also had a lot of announcements (Deluxe Series 3, new props, etc.) but none are available for pre-order, since they’re not shipping for quite awhile.

Tomorrow should be a more eventful day. I’m going to visit my family and Pooz may come over. I’ll keep you all posted.

Welcome to... Vacation

Day 1 of 19...

Well, technically not Day 1 just yet, since I am getting home from work on Friday, so it’s not really my Saturday yet. Once I go to sleep, then wake up, it’ll be Day 1. And yes, you read that right, it’s Day 1 of 19. I’ve got back-to-back vacation weeks, a day off before them, and 4 days off after them (thanks to holidays), so it’s a long time without working. In fact, it’s my longest period of time without working since my sophomore year of high school (and if you count school as work, then it’d be my longest break since the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school).

As of now, I have 10 days of my vacation accounted for with a trip to Chicago (Slay-a-thon and Wizard World, here I come!) but otherwise, I’m unoccupied. You know what that means... I may actually update this site more than once a month! As for now, my plan is to update it daily, but that could easily fall through. Plus, I’ll try to update you on some projects I hope to get done in the course of the next week (Saturday’s task: clean out the basement, then take new Condo photos and add them to the photos page).

I’m also debating throwing a podcast on here, mostly just to try and make one and see how it works. I’m not sure exactly what I’d talk about (though I’m fairly certain the latest “Buffy” collectible news would take up a large chunk of it), but it might be fun. Plus, my friends who haven’t seen or heard from me in awhile outside of iChat would at least get to hear my voice.

Well, time to get some sleep and get started on this vacation thing. I’m sure I’ll have more to say Saturday.