Weigh-in at Weight Watchers this morning...
I've lost 100 POUNDS!
More tomorrow.
Jon
Jon's Random Acts of Geekery is your five days a week destination for old-school geekery!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
Going into the Weekend...
OK, first of all... I realized that my post regarding the anniversary of John Lennon's death was actually a day early. Blame Fred Hembeck -- his blog's posting was read by me on Wednesday night, and I wasn't thinking what the actual date was.
No blog entry from me last night, you likely noticed... why? Well, I was busy taking a bunch of photos for new eBay auctions -- there's a lot of very cool stuff up for sale by me, from the Radio Control Speed Racer Mach 5 to all my Justice League Unlimited figures (all still on the card) to a bunch of trade paperbacks and other stuff. You should get a listing of all my current auctions by clicking here.
Don't forget, there's still the relistings of the comics that I had up for auction -- only one of which has a bid at this time (strangely, though, there are a lot of watchers on those auctions, which close in less than 24 hours as I type this).
Anyway... after taking the pix and transferring the to the computer (and then to Flickr), I wrote up the descriptions and so on for the new items, but by the time I got them all written, it was too late to post them, so I did that tonight.
Work was pretty good yesterday and today... but hey, I love my job, you know?
This morning, I woke up at 7:30 instead of my usual 8:00 -- the dogs were getting rambunctious! Even though it was nice having Jäger here this past week, I'm glad Kathy's back and taken him home again -- he decided a few nights ago he wanted to sleep on the bed, too -- and two adult humans plus three boxers don't fit that well on a queen-sized bed!
After I got home from work, Jessi and I decided to go out and do a little Christmas shopping... especially since tomorrow is my niece Jessica's birthday party, and I needed my present for my nephew, Brady (my youngest brother Karl's son, they're all in New York, and I got Brady's name in the drawing) purchased and wrapped so I could turn it over to my parents, or whoever's taking responsibility for shipping Karl, his wife Julie, and their kids Emma and Brady's presents back there.
Brady, for his young age, shows remarkable good taste... he loves Spider-Man, Star Wars.... and watching Krypto, the Superdog on Cartoon Network! So for his Christmas present, I bought him the two-pack of toys with Krypto and Kevin (which I already have in my own collection). I was hoping to just get Krypto, and get him another figure, too, but Toys R Us was out of just Krypto.
We then went to Tuesday Morning to see if we could find anything there on our shopping list -- Tuesday Morning is kind of a clearance store, and it's always different stuff every time we go there!
Then, we got home, I made us a light dinner, Jessi headed off to bed, and I posted my auctions!
Tomorrow, of course, is Weight Watchers Weigh-In day... will I make my 100 lb. loss? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Jon
No blog entry from me last night, you likely noticed... why? Well, I was busy taking a bunch of photos for new eBay auctions -- there's a lot of very cool stuff up for sale by me, from the Radio Control Speed Racer Mach 5 to all my Justice League Unlimited figures (all still on the card) to a bunch of trade paperbacks and other stuff. You should get a listing of all my current auctions by clicking here.
Don't forget, there's still the relistings of the comics that I had up for auction -- only one of which has a bid at this time (strangely, though, there are a lot of watchers on those auctions, which close in less than 24 hours as I type this).
Anyway... after taking the pix and transferring the to the computer (and then to Flickr), I wrote up the descriptions and so on for the new items, but by the time I got them all written, it was too late to post them, so I did that tonight.
Work was pretty good yesterday and today... but hey, I love my job, you know?
This morning, I woke up at 7:30 instead of my usual 8:00 -- the dogs were getting rambunctious! Even though it was nice having Jäger here this past week, I'm glad Kathy's back and taken him home again -- he decided a few nights ago he wanted to sleep on the bed, too -- and two adult humans plus three boxers don't fit that well on a queen-sized bed!
After I got home from work, Jessi and I decided to go out and do a little Christmas shopping... especially since tomorrow is my niece Jessica's birthday party, and I needed my present for my nephew, Brady (my youngest brother Karl's son, they're all in New York, and I got Brady's name in the drawing) purchased and wrapped so I could turn it over to my parents, or whoever's taking responsibility for shipping Karl, his wife Julie, and their kids Emma and Brady's presents back there.
Brady, for his young age, shows remarkable good taste... he loves Spider-Man, Star Wars.... and watching Krypto, the Superdog on Cartoon Network! So for his Christmas present, I bought him the two-pack of toys with Krypto and Kevin (which I already have in my own collection). I was hoping to just get Krypto, and get him another figure, too, but Toys R Us was out of just Krypto.
We then went to Tuesday Morning to see if we could find anything there on our shopping list -- Tuesday Morning is kind of a clearance store, and it's always different stuff every time we go there!
Then, we got home, I made us a light dinner, Jessi headed off to bed, and I posted my auctions!
Tomorrow, of course, is Weight Watchers Weigh-In day... will I make my 100 lb. loss? Tune in tomorrow to find out!
Jon
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
A sad anniversary...
As I write this, it's nearing the end of the anniversary of the death of John Lennon.
It's always a sad observance for me, and more often than not, I try not to think about it overmuch, as it's very depressing.
Have I ever mentioned here before just how huge a Beatles fan I am? The first records I remember ever owning were Beatles 45's... Help/I'm Down, Act Naturally (forget the other side), a number of others, that I played over and over. I was probably 8 or 9 when I had those, and made the mistake of placing them in a metal record rack that, one day, got more than its share of sunlight, warping the records beyond playability.
It was probably not long after that I bought my first Beatles album... but ah, I get ahead of myself.
I'm pretty certain that I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan... probably not the first time or two they were on, but almost every time after that (my family were religious Sullivan watchers). I don't recall seeing them on any other special... but I may well have. I distinctly recall watching "Help!" when it aired on NBC -- it must've been shown once a year for a while.
Anyway... my first Beatles album was "Revolver," which I bought used at a church rummage sale, believe it or not. My second album was "Introducing the Beatles," the Vee-Jay album, which I got at a record store at the Tacoma Mall that no longer exists (it was next to the also no-longer-existing Toys Galore, where I got my first ventriloquist dummy).
My next Beatles-related purchase would've been an 8-track-tape of the Beatles Live at the Star Club in Hamburg... but I know I had been recording Beatles songs off the radio for quite some time before (and after) that, like when one of the radio stations did an all-Beatles weekend.
The summer between junior high and high school, I worked for Stan Johnson, a man from the church my family went to, who was running for office. The money I made campaigning and canvassing for him was used to purchase a black-and-white TV, as well as a stereo that had radio, cassette, 8-track, and record player all in one. I also bought the Red and Blue collections (you know, the two-record sets '63-'66 and '67-'70, or something like that). After that, I think Sgt. Pepper was next on my purchase list, but I could be mistaken.
Like I said, I was a huge Beatles fan... and a few of my friends were Beatles fans as well.
I still remember the day John was killed. John was my favorite Beatle, and not just because I'm Jon... his music just spoke to me in a way that Paul or George or Ringo couldn't (not that I didn't like their stuff, too). When Double Fantasy came out, I loved all the songs I heard from it... especially "Starting Over".
That night, long ago, I was in my bedroom, talking on the phone to my then-best friend. I had my own telephone in high school, and I heard my family's phone ringing. I went to answer it, and it was a friend of my youngest brother's, who told me what had happened. I immediately turned on the radio, and sat there, in shock.
I couldn't believe it... and the more I heard, the harder it was to believe. Why would someone shoot John? No matter what came out about his murderer, it still made no sense to me... as if there could ever be any sense in it.
I had started teaching myself guitar that year... I was a senior in high school, and had purchased a copy of "Beatles Complete" (a songbook that wasn't complete by any means... and a lot of songs weren't in the right key, either) as well as a "Beatles Guitar Course" book. I was making pretty decent progress, but after John's death, I dedicated myself even more to learning guitar (sadly, as good as I got at one point, I haven't even picked up a guitar in a long time). Of course, I played Beatles songs, especially John's songs.
Even after I went into the Navy, I still wanted more Beatles stuff... especially books about the Beatles, although I knew that at one point in each book, I'd hit the point where the group broke up... or for more recently-written books, the point where John was killed.
And every single time, I hoped that this time around, things would end up differently.
It's been 25 years since John's been gone... and sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. It's sad to realize that John's been gone longer than I was aware of him when he was alive.
Jon
It's always a sad observance for me, and more often than not, I try not to think about it overmuch, as it's very depressing.
Have I ever mentioned here before just how huge a Beatles fan I am? The first records I remember ever owning were Beatles 45's... Help/I'm Down, Act Naturally (forget the other side), a number of others, that I played over and over. I was probably 8 or 9 when I had those, and made the mistake of placing them in a metal record rack that, one day, got more than its share of sunlight, warping the records beyond playability.
It was probably not long after that I bought my first Beatles album... but ah, I get ahead of myself.
I'm pretty certain that I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan... probably not the first time or two they were on, but almost every time after that (my family were religious Sullivan watchers). I don't recall seeing them on any other special... but I may well have. I distinctly recall watching "Help!" when it aired on NBC -- it must've been shown once a year for a while.
Anyway... my first Beatles album was "Revolver," which I bought used at a church rummage sale, believe it or not. My second album was "Introducing the Beatles," the Vee-Jay album, which I got at a record store at the Tacoma Mall that no longer exists (it was next to the also no-longer-existing Toys Galore, where I got my first ventriloquist dummy).
My next Beatles-related purchase would've been an 8-track-tape of the Beatles Live at the Star Club in Hamburg... but I know I had been recording Beatles songs off the radio for quite some time before (and after) that, like when one of the radio stations did an all-Beatles weekend.
The summer between junior high and high school, I worked for Stan Johnson, a man from the church my family went to, who was running for office. The money I made campaigning and canvassing for him was used to purchase a black-and-white TV, as well as a stereo that had radio, cassette, 8-track, and record player all in one. I also bought the Red and Blue collections (you know, the two-record sets '63-'66 and '67-'70, or something like that). After that, I think Sgt. Pepper was next on my purchase list, but I could be mistaken.
Like I said, I was a huge Beatles fan... and a few of my friends were Beatles fans as well.
I still remember the day John was killed. John was my favorite Beatle, and not just because I'm Jon... his music just spoke to me in a way that Paul or George or Ringo couldn't (not that I didn't like their stuff, too). When Double Fantasy came out, I loved all the songs I heard from it... especially "Starting Over".
That night, long ago, I was in my bedroom, talking on the phone to my then-best friend. I had my own telephone in high school, and I heard my family's phone ringing. I went to answer it, and it was a friend of my youngest brother's, who told me what had happened. I immediately turned on the radio, and sat there, in shock.
I couldn't believe it... and the more I heard, the harder it was to believe. Why would someone shoot John? No matter what came out about his murderer, it still made no sense to me... as if there could ever be any sense in it.
I had started teaching myself guitar that year... I was a senior in high school, and had purchased a copy of "Beatles Complete" (a songbook that wasn't complete by any means... and a lot of songs weren't in the right key, either) as well as a "Beatles Guitar Course" book. I was making pretty decent progress, but after John's death, I dedicated myself even more to learning guitar (sadly, as good as I got at one point, I haven't even picked up a guitar in a long time). Of course, I played Beatles songs, especially John's songs.
Even after I went into the Navy, I still wanted more Beatles stuff... especially books about the Beatles, although I knew that at one point in each book, I'd hit the point where the group broke up... or for more recently-written books, the point where John was killed.
And every single time, I hoped that this time around, things would end up differently.
It's been 25 years since John's been gone... and sometimes it feels like it was just yesterday. It's sad to realize that John's been gone longer than I was aware of him when he was alive.
Jon
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Linkblogging!
Haven't done this in a while... so here's some links that I check regularlly!
There are two blogs that I check at least twice a day... firstly, there's Peter David's blog, which I could really just check once a day and be fine with.
Then, there's Mark Evanier's News From Me, which I sometimes check three times a day, as he posts so much there!
Then, there's the ones I always check once a day, in the mornings:
The Imponderables blog doesn't always have much about the Imponderables themselves, but there are often some interesting links to be found there.
Fans of Mike Gold might want to check out Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mind to see what he's up to lately. Sometimes he goes a day or two or three without posting... even once a week sometimes.
From there, I'm usually going to World Famous Comics, specifically to the TonyPoll page, to see what my buddy Tony Isabella has for his latest poll, which runs once a week. While you're there, you should also read Tony's Online Tips, which is usually updated three times a week. My other regular stop at World Famous Comics Monday-Friday is the Daily Megaton Man reruns, featuring Don Simpson's classic parody character.
From there, I see what Bob Greenberger and Tom Peyer have going on in their blogs -- and I doubt you'll find two blogs that are more different than each other than those two!
My last morning blog stop Monday-Friday (although, to be honest, I sometimes check it a second time during the day) is Cartoon Brew, although one could argue it's more of a news site.
After those blogs, it's on to news! My first stop for news is always Comic Book Resources,
followed by Comics2Film,
Silver Bullet Comics,
Toy News International,
and Newsarama.
On Sunday or Monday, I'll see what's up with The Pulse.
In the evenings, after 10 pm or so Pacific Time, there are other blogs I check, starting with Fred Hembeck's blog, which I've linked to before from here, and it's a good read (even if he hasn't deigned to add my own blog to his link list -- not that I ever expected he would!). The great thing about Fred Hembeck's blog is that he'll remind me when his own column is updated elsewhere, and provides a link to that -- as well as links to a few other regular columns, like Peter Sanderson's!
Next up is the infamous Dial B for Blog, by Robby Reed, probably the fastest-growing blog on the net -- and you probably didn't need me to tell you about it, did you?
From there, I usually check out This Is Broken, followed by King's Chronicles, so I can see what Paul Dini's up to lately.
Then, it's on to Comics Should Be Good and hope for another segment on comic book urban legends, then I'll check the utterly bizarre blog Batfatty vs the Chocodiles, which used to be updated way more often than it is lately... but if you haven't checked it out, do so, and look through the archives for some freakishly weird Batman merchandise!
From there, it's The Comics Treadmill,
followed by The Absorbascon,
Suspension of Disbelief,
The Comics Reporter,
Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog, and finally,
Lady, That's My Skull.
I keep a fairly large set of bookmarks, too... and I really should share some of these with you later this week... but I haven't checked what Fred Hembeck and Robby Reed, or the other comics bloggers, have to say tonight yet!
Jon
There are two blogs that I check at least twice a day... firstly, there's Peter David's blog, which I could really just check once a day and be fine with.
Then, there's Mark Evanier's News From Me, which I sometimes check three times a day, as he posts so much there!
Then, there's the ones I always check once a day, in the mornings:
The Imponderables blog doesn't always have much about the Imponderables themselves, but there are often some interesting links to be found there.
Fans of Mike Gold might want to check out Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mind to see what he's up to lately. Sometimes he goes a day or two or three without posting... even once a week sometimes.
From there, I'm usually going to World Famous Comics, specifically to the TonyPoll page, to see what my buddy Tony Isabella has for his latest poll, which runs once a week. While you're there, you should also read Tony's Online Tips, which is usually updated three times a week. My other regular stop at World Famous Comics Monday-Friday is the Daily Megaton Man reruns, featuring Don Simpson's classic parody character.
From there, I see what Bob Greenberger and Tom Peyer have going on in their blogs -- and I doubt you'll find two blogs that are more different than each other than those two!
My last morning blog stop Monday-Friday (although, to be honest, I sometimes check it a second time during the day) is Cartoon Brew, although one could argue it's more of a news site.
After those blogs, it's on to news! My first stop for news is always Comic Book Resources,
followed by Comics2Film,
Silver Bullet Comics,
Toy News International,
and Newsarama.
On Sunday or Monday, I'll see what's up with The Pulse.
In the evenings, after 10 pm or so Pacific Time, there are other blogs I check, starting with Fred Hembeck's blog, which I've linked to before from here, and it's a good read (even if he hasn't deigned to add my own blog to his link list -- not that I ever expected he would!). The great thing about Fred Hembeck's blog is that he'll remind me when his own column is updated elsewhere, and provides a link to that -- as well as links to a few other regular columns, like Peter Sanderson's!
Next up is the infamous Dial B for Blog, by Robby Reed, probably the fastest-growing blog on the net -- and you probably didn't need me to tell you about it, did you?
From there, I usually check out This Is Broken, followed by King's Chronicles, so I can see what Paul Dini's up to lately.
Then, it's on to Comics Should Be Good and hope for another segment on comic book urban legends, then I'll check the utterly bizarre blog Batfatty vs the Chocodiles, which used to be updated way more often than it is lately... but if you haven't checked it out, do so, and look through the archives for some freakishly weird Batman merchandise!
From there, it's The Comics Treadmill,
followed by The Absorbascon,
Suspension of Disbelief,
The Comics Reporter,
Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog, and finally,
Lady, That's My Skull.
I keep a fairly large set of bookmarks, too... and I really should share some of these with you later this week... but I haven't checked what Fred Hembeck and Robby Reed, or the other comics bloggers, have to say tonight yet!
Jon
Tuesday Night
Wow, I didn't really update anything since Saturday night, did I?
Well... Sunday was a typical Sunday around here, or at least it started out that way! Jessi and I took Krypto and KO for their walk at 10 instead of 9, meeting our friend Kathy and her boxer, Jäger, plus two of her son's boxers, Jane and Yoshi (Yoshi is Jäger's brother, Jane was a rescue). We did a two-mile walk with them. In theory, Sunday was our scheduled Boxer Meet-Up day, but we didn't see anyone else there (the weather was somewhat inclement... still a bit of snow on the ground, and it was still a bit chilly, so we didn't expect anyone -- plus, we changed the time of the meet-up at the last minute, so some people may have shown up at 2 instead).
Kathy is spending this week in Salt Lake City, I believe, and she was putting her son's boxers (the two mentioned above, plus one other one who's not that well socialized) plus Jäger and her dachsund, Emily in boarding while she was out of town, but we offered to take Jäger for the week (Emily's kind of a pirhana with legs, and our dogs, especially Krypto, don't know enough to leave her alone). She came by later Sunday afternoon with Jäger, as well as her Betta, Clem (we've watched Clem before... when he's over here, his tank is put in the main bathroom next to our own Betta, Swimmy -- don't blame me, I didn't name him).
Naturally, with their boxer friend here, KO and Krypto were all hyper, and the three of them pretty much played non-stop until bedtime.
Saturday night had us watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, although since finding out a few things about the show (like that Ty doesn't stay on-site the entire week -- he hops between two different work sites... there's other stuff I've already forgotten about), we've kind of lost interest in the show. It's much the same way I lost interest in Changing Spaces, after my friend Vicki (who works for Discovery Channel) told me the woman who hosts that show is an obnoxious drunk.
Monday, naturally, I was back at work, after stopping at the post office to ship out eBay purchases that had been paid for... and it was a typical Monday. Jessi ended up going to sleep at 9, instead of her usual 10 (she did this Sunday, as well as tonight) because she's been getting up at 5 a.m to go to the YMCA for an early morning work-out. Today, another day of shipping, and then going to work (although I ended up being at work a bit longer than typical for a Tuesday). When I got home from work, we had dinner and watched Law & Order and some Friends re-runs.
And that pretty much brings you up to date!
Jon
Well... Sunday was a typical Sunday around here, or at least it started out that way! Jessi and I took Krypto and KO for their walk at 10 instead of 9, meeting our friend Kathy and her boxer, Jäger, plus two of her son's boxers, Jane and Yoshi (Yoshi is Jäger's brother, Jane was a rescue). We did a two-mile walk with them. In theory, Sunday was our scheduled Boxer Meet-Up day, but we didn't see anyone else there (the weather was somewhat inclement... still a bit of snow on the ground, and it was still a bit chilly, so we didn't expect anyone -- plus, we changed the time of the meet-up at the last minute, so some people may have shown up at 2 instead).
Kathy is spending this week in Salt Lake City, I believe, and she was putting her son's boxers (the two mentioned above, plus one other one who's not that well socialized) plus Jäger and her dachsund, Emily in boarding while she was out of town, but we offered to take Jäger for the week (Emily's kind of a pirhana with legs, and our dogs, especially Krypto, don't know enough to leave her alone). She came by later Sunday afternoon with Jäger, as well as her Betta, Clem (we've watched Clem before... when he's over here, his tank is put in the main bathroom next to our own Betta, Swimmy -- don't blame me, I didn't name him).
Naturally, with their boxer friend here, KO and Krypto were all hyper, and the three of them pretty much played non-stop until bedtime.
Saturday night had us watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, although since finding out a few things about the show (like that Ty doesn't stay on-site the entire week -- he hops between two different work sites... there's other stuff I've already forgotten about), we've kind of lost interest in the show. It's much the same way I lost interest in Changing Spaces, after my friend Vicki (who works for Discovery Channel) told me the woman who hosts that show is an obnoxious drunk.
Monday, naturally, I was back at work, after stopping at the post office to ship out eBay purchases that had been paid for... and it was a typical Monday. Jessi ended up going to sleep at 9, instead of her usual 10 (she did this Sunday, as well as tonight) because she's been getting up at 5 a.m to go to the YMCA for an early morning work-out. Today, another day of shipping, and then going to work (although I ended up being at work a bit longer than typical for a Tuesday). When I got home from work, we had dinner and watched Law & Order and some Friends re-runs.
And that pretty much brings you up to date!
Jon
Tuesday Lunchbreak Update!
Just a short post here... eBay auctions ended fairly well, and most of my winners have already paid. I think I've shipped something like 20-25 packages so far!
Currently, there are 26 items that I've relisted, without buy it now prices, and most of them have had the starting price knocked down a buck or two -- search for ebay user jon8229 if you want to check 'em out -- odds are you'll be able to get 'em for the starting price!
I'll post more tonight.
Jon
Currently, there are 26 items that I've relisted, without buy it now prices, and most of them have had the starting price knocked down a buck or two -- search for ebay user jon8229 if you want to check 'em out -- odds are you'll be able to get 'em for the starting price!
I'll post more tonight.
Jon
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