I know I haven’t written all that much lately. It’s not entirely my fault you know. There just hasn’t been all that much to write about. The last few weekends have been pretty tame (not to mention the weather has sucked) so we haven’t really gone out to do anything. This coming weekend looks to be quite a lot better. There are two big events happening, and of course they are on the same day, Saturday. Then there is always Monday which is Halloween! Not sure if you remember last Halloween. I tried to give out candy and spent the whole night sitting there in my Scout costume with no takers at the door. Well….. hopefully that will change this year. You saw how my front patio is completely decorated and has been for a few weeks now. I know the neighborhood kids have stopped by to see it. With any luck that means that they will come by this time.
Saturday will be Andrews’s first 501st event!!! In the morning we are all meeting up to walk in the Annandale Fall Festival Parade. Parades are always fun, seeing the reaction from the crowd as you walk by, kids running out to take pictures, even older folks coming over to recount their first watching of Star Wars. Andrew will finally get to meet some of the Garrison and see what it is we do. After the parade we will come back to the house and change costumes for the Annual Patton Halloween Party! Last year we had a blast and it’s always great to see everyone do costumes that aren’t Star Wars. See, here is the funny thing about the garrison, I think we spend most of the time that we just hang out with each other searching for and showing off non-star wars costumes! Halloween is a great time for this! It’s like, the Star wars costumes brought us all together because we like the costuming and the sci-fi, but we find out that we all like new and interesting costumes as well! There will, of course, be pictures coming next week.
I have re-discovered my love for comic books! When I was young (around the age of 13-15) I got into comic books. I can still remember the first one I picked up and considered my step down the comic road. (I know I read some others earlier in life, but I never really got into them until this one.) It was a collected paperback of a series that ran in Batman called Batman: A Death in the Family. I was up in Oregon visiting my grandparents with my best friend Ryan. We had stopped off in a local comic book shop to check it out and both Ryan and I picked up the same book. This was the tale of Jason Todd the “new” Robin for Batman. It recounted the tale of how Batman found him and led into how the Joker killed him. (It’s a good read, you should find it.)
It was also on this trip that Ryan and I went cliff climbing along the beach and he fell and slid down about 40 feet of rocky cliff down to the beach. He cracked his head open and nearly died. I remember watching him slid down, and my adrenalin took over. I Jumped off the cliff down to him (Landing in a blackberry bush, thorns = ow) feeling no pain in myself. I briefly checked him and he was still alive, I then tore through the forest that separated the beach from my grandparent’s house. My dad and I ran back to Ryan while my grandparents called 911. He had to be airlifted off the beach because they couldn’t get the ambulance down to him. After the paramedics got there and he was taken care of I just collapsed. I barely remember sitting down on the beach and pulling thorns out of my arms and legs.
Wow, and to think I remember all of this because I tied it to a comic book. Almost every day for the rest of the two weeks that I was in Oregon I went back to the store to pick up more comics. I loved Batman. Just the fact that a regular guy with no special powers could go out and make a difference in a world that doesn’t always work the way it ought to. Of course it helps to be a billionaire to buy all the cool gadgets. I was also a big Spiderman fan. Spiderman was just a kid that got thrown into a life he never expected. He always had a good cheerful attitude about it as well. Somewhere between my late high school years and when I joined the military I kind of trailed off of comics. I still have most of my collection as well as additions from a friend’s collection. Every now and then I would pop into a store and check out some of the latest books, but nothing ever serious.
Well, as I have stated, I have now rediscovered my love of the pulp. John called me up the other day saying that there was a new storyline going through Spiderman that would change everything! He said it was a must read so I was off. There is a great comic book store that’s not terribly far from my house, and the people there are awesomely friendly. When I walked in and asked about the story they were really helpful and even caught me up on what was going on in Spidey’s life. While there I also picked up a whole string of Green Lantern comics. GL has defiantly become the new obsession. Once again, just a regular guy that had his life altered by a power ring. It’s defiantly the new hotness. Look for more Green Lantern posts soon.
Andrew has also picked up the comic bug. He has started reading Green Lantern with me and even asked if he could pick up a Green Arrow. I had never read Green Arrow so it was a new experience for me as well. The plan now is to go through and sort/clean up the whole comic collection and really see what it is we have. I haven’t looked at the whole collection in a few years so it will be fun to sort through it with him. It will also give me the chance to re-read some of my old classics! Just remember, Wednesday is new comic day!
Well, Halloween is near upon us! I love this time of year. It’s the time of year when people like me thrive the most. We are no longer weird, for one day we get to be the cool ones. This last Sunday we took some family time and went out to a local nursery to get some pumpkins and decorations. Then we spent the rest of the evening decorating the front porch of the apartment. (I really hope the housing people don’t mind). I loaded some 
The other thing I have been getting into (or I should say back into) is comics. I miss my comic books. I found a local comic store that’s really nice and has some great people working there. I started reading the new Green Lantern books and there is a new story line in Spiderman that’s looking to be pretty good. Maybe I will post something later on my love for comics. This post is taking me far too long to type as it is. (I keep getting distracted with that silly work thing)
Ok, I think I have officially played too much WoW this last weekend. It was Columbus Day so we had Monday off of work and school. The general plan was to sleep in (accomplished) then maybe check e-mail and play online a little, (also accomplished) watch a movie or some TV, then maybe get outside. Overall the weekend went well. It rained almost all weekend so that put a damper on any real outside plans. I did find a really good comic book store near by. I have been thinking about getting back into some comics. I picked up a few of the new Green Lantern comics. They are pretty good. I also got the chance to pick up the Serenity comic books. There were three total and the third just recently came out. Thankfully they had the other two there as well. Given this, I think it’s time to go over Serenity. If you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to skip this part. (And go see the gorram movie!)
Long ago there was a silly little TV show called Firefly. I saw the previews for it on FOX and it looked pretty good. I decided to catch the first episode and was enthralled. It’s a science fiction show, with spaceships and lasers and such. Yet, there is this whole old western feel to it. As I have said before, it’s like Star Wars meets John Wayne. I was there for every airing. Some of course got missed because FOX thought it was more important to show Baseball instead, and not reschedule firefly. When it came to the end of the season I watched the last episode and was somewhat confused. It would seem that they were introducing the characters for the first time. Why would they need to do that at the end of the season??? Well, it wasn’t just the end of the season, Firefly had indeed been canceled. To make matters worse, a few web searches uncover the truth about the show, FOX screwed it up. 
What was shown as the Pilot episode was actually the second episode. The real pilot was aired last. I believe there were a few other show mix up’s as well as some skipped episodes. And they wondered why there was a confused and low turn out in the ratings. Thankfully there was a DVD set of the show released that had all of the episodes in the correct order. I bought it as soon as I could and commenced Firefly overload. It was glorious! FOX execs were such idiots! Apparently I was not the only one who thought this as millions of Brown Coats (official firefly fans) around the world stormed the stores and bought the DVD in mass. Based on all of the DVD sales and the incredible fan base that this “Single Season” show had, Universal Pictures offered Joss Whedon the opportunity to make his major motion picture directors debut. Serenity was born.
The world as we know it has advanced and evolved to the point of oblivion. The super powers sent ships out to discover new systems and new planets. Distant planets were tera-formed to sustain human life. In this new universe a collective of core planets formed the Alliance and sought to bring order and compliance to the rest of the worlds. Some of the outer planets did not agree. this is when the war started. Sadly the brown coats (rebels) did not succeed and the Alliance took control of all the planets. Captain Malcom Reynolds is a former Brown Coat looking to make his way in the ‘Verse. He’s got his ship, his crew, and his jobs (when he can find them). He also seems to also find a load of trouble where ever he goes. The latest trouble come in the form of two fugitives. It would seem that the Alliance is going to every extreme to get them back. There is also a little mater of this secret that one of the fugitives knows. Information that could destroy all that the Alliance had fought to hide.
Ok, enough back story and synopsis. The movie was awesome. Flat out. If you are a fan of the TV show you will be in awe, shock, and scared. Serenity (the ship) is back and as wonderful as ever. You can tell that they made a few alterations to the set, the ship looks a little darker then before. The characters are more fully developed as well. You don’t have to muck about with the whole “This is Jayne, he is the bad ass of the crew” introductions. When Jayne came on, you knew who he was. They also went more into the back story of the Alliance and how ruthless they can really be. The biggest discovery of the movie would have to be the reavers. We touched on them in the show but never really got the whole story. Now we do and what a story it is. Everything I loved from the TV show was in the movie, the humor, the drama, and all the action you can pack into an hour and 59 min. 
So we had a rather interesting incident in our house hold this last Monday. It would seem that our young Andrew had forgotten his keys and phone at home while he went to school. This doesn’t bode well for someone who wants to get into where he lives. When he didn’t check in I, of course, started to worry a bit. I called his phone (which I realize did no good, because he forgot that as well) and I kept getting a message saying that the call could not go through. After we sorted out the whole key issues and got Andrew settled down, I went to investigate the phone problem. You see we bought him one of the Pre-Paid phones so that any calls he made, he paid for. When I went looking at phones, the guy at the store told me that the In-Pulse phone would be perfect for me. I am a verizon customer and with this phone he would be able to call my phone (and any verizon phone) for free. He said “They have a 99 cent per day fee, but that’s only on days when you use the phone.” 
Well, after this fiasco, I called the customer support for In-Pulse and found out that the plan is actually 99 cents per day, every day. This would essentially make his prepaid phone a $30 a month phone plus 10 cents per min. This was the stupidest thing I had ever heard for a prepaid plan. I went in to the store and threw a fit. For the next 2 hours I sat looking at plans and re-structuring my home plan to add a new phone for him. Turns out that my plan was so old, if I added his phone and upgraded my plan, I would pay the same and get more minutes. Thankfully they took back the In-pulse phone and gave me store credit so I was able to upgrade so that we all have camera phones now. For now it’s not a big deal, he doesn’t spend all that much time on the phone. But I know that we are just entering the teenage years. Why do I feel like this is going to come back to get me.
So, as I was saying yesterday, I really was starting to feel like crap. Sunday I didn’t do anything. At least, nothing I could remember. I know I had wanted to work on a few things, but I really just lacked the energy. To the point that Sunday night I was up till 4am coughing up a new lung (or an old one). I couldn’t take much more. Monday morning I called in sick and Amy was nice enough to help me find a Dr. to visit. Of course the appointment wouldn’t be until Tuesday, but it was a start. I spent the rest of Monday asleep or trying to move because my back was hurting. Did I mention that it sucked? I did my best to try and keep moving after a while. I couldn’t sit and focus on the computer and sitting anywhere just hurt my back more. I was able to get some decent sleep though.
Yup, more waiting. It wasn’t quite as bad, I just wish they had magazines in the exam room as well. All you have to read are the disgusting posters hanging on the wall talking about the horrors of inflated diabetic cancerous kidneys that have exploded. The doc came in just before I was ready to blow chunks on his model display of a human heart cut away to show how termites have eaten away at the floor boards. We run through the routine and he shines a light in most of my openings. He then explains that I have a slight sinus infection and the problem with my coughing and breathing would be due to the bronchitis I have. Wouldn’t you know, he pulls out a little 3D display on what bronchitis looks like! It wasn’t pretty. The nice thing is that he hooked me up with some sample medicine he had in the office. I now have to take 1 inhaler once a day, and 1 giant horse pill twice a day for the next 2 weeks. Wonderful. I hate being sick.
So the scuba shop was a bust, but hey, we were still out enjoying the day. One of the other stores we saw in the same shopping center as the scuba shop was a Pet Store. This wasn’t just your standard pet supply store where you buy doggie treats and hamster tubes. This was the full blown, real deal, pet store. Where you can buy all sorts of pets and such. They had the full gambit too, Birds, fish, dogs, etc. One of the things that really threw me off was that they had ferrets. I guess I am just not used to seeing ferrets sold as pets. Don’t get me wrong, I like ferrets. I think they make cool pets. I’m just not used to seeing them in a pet store. 
Amy, of course, spent the most of the time looking at the puppies and going “OooOOhhhhh They are so cute!” It’s not that I am against puppies. I wouldn’t mind having one. But we live in a small apartment, and I already have a cat. One of the nice things about this store was that most of the animals were in open topped cages. This meant that you could reach in and pet, or hold, the more docile pets. Things like Dogs and cats were locked up, but the bunnies, hamsters, and…….ferrets, were open to the world. 
We spent probably about 45 min. to an hour playing with the hamsters and ferrets. One ferret would get so excited when we walked by he would start jumping at the wall to get our attention. It was amazing. It was kind of like being at a petting zoo, only much smaller, and no admission fee. I think that if we end up getting a bigger place, like a town home or a real full blown house, I would totally get a ferret and a dog. I know the ferrets are not the easiest of animals to care for, and if you don’t get them de-scented, they can stink. But still, it’s a cool pet. Even Andrew started to like them. 
Did you ever think that a simple trip out and bout can turn into an adventure? Well I am firmly in belief that it can happen now. After my stealthy trip into Ironforge (read below) we all decided that a trip somewhere out of the house was in order. It started as a drive out to see what was going on down in Fairfax. (That’s the city I live in btw). We stopped off in old town and visited a few of the stores along Main Street. If you have ever been to old town Fairfax, you know there is not a lot on Main Street. One of the stores happened to be a Surf shop. (Keep in mind that Fairfax isn’t anywhere near the water). One of the future projects I am working on for a costume involves a good wetsuit so I thought maybe I could browse the selection there and see if I could find something I could work with. 
I would say that it’s worth mentioning that this project revolves around a super hero type costume. You would think that spandex would be the perfect material for a super here costume, but….. having done the spandex spiderman thing I have learned that spandex can be very unforgiving. If you were not on top of your workout regime, you can quickly be portraying the super hero in a much different light. (Beer gut man anyone?) A trick I learned from John Fiorella (creator of the film trailer “Grayson”) A simple wetsuit can be modified to be a super hero type costume. The niceties about it are that neoprene is very restrictive. It stretches, but not much. The entire suit is cut to maintain a certain size and shape. The downsides of course is that you tend to get very, very hot. I have checked into a few different types of wetsuits and it turns out that there is a micro thin neoprene that would still fulfill my needs and not be that uncomfortable. 
