Getting Grumpy …

I think all this hassle while riding the Red Line back and forth from work to home is making me grumpy.    Not only that according but Catoe says all train cars in the Metrorail system will continue to be operated manually until outside train signal experts are brought in to evaluate the system. Catoe says that could take anywhere from a week to a year or two.   OUCH!!!  A year or two on manual!!    ugh.

For those in Maryland who utilize the E-ZPass system you probably already got your notice in the mail.  For those that didn’t hear Maryland is charging a monthly fee to use the system.  Oh, thank you grand state of Maryland.

On a positive note, looks like you either hate or love the new Transformers movie.  I’m still in between.  I think I need to see it again. 

Cursed I Tell Ya!  Cursed! …

With everything that’s happening on the Red Line these past few weeks, there was yet another incident today.  Looks like suicide from the initial reports.  Sorta sad that if it was suicide that folks think the easy way out is death.  To have all your troubles disappear by removing oneself from the world.  There was even a report that said 15% of teens have a sense of hopelessness and therefore are more willing to try drugs or commit suicide.

Why is there a sense of hopelessness?  What leads a person to consider suicide as an option?  Like the M*A*S*H theme song is suicide really painless?  Is it because those that are lost lack a sense of community or fellowship?  Are these people believers who were left off the side of the road by the body of believers?  What more can be done? 

Why don’t people see that Christ offers a way out?

BONUS ROUND! …

Billy Mays died today.  Not sure if it’s the start of a new trifecta or just a bonus round.  As over the top as Billy Mays was can you really forget the things he advertised?  OxiClean?  Orange Glo?  Kaboom?  Isn’t it funny how influential people like Billy Mays can make you remember something as silly as OxiClean but it’s extremely hard to remember scripture? 

Well at least for me it is.

Celebrity Death Trifecta Hits Again …

First Ed McMahon dies on Tuesday.  Then Farrah Fawcett loses her battle with cancer today.  And finally, the most surprising one, the King of Pop: Michael Jackson mysteriously dies at age 50.  Not that I was a big Farrah Fawcett fan since she was really before my time all three were entertainment icons.  Pop Culture just lost a few gems.  Still can’t believe the odd saga known as Michael Jacksons life is over.

Chalking It Up As Lucky …

Two instances of shear luck, though I don’t believe in luck so what am I really talking about? 

Chewy and I were watching yesterday’s Orioles game verse the Marlins and before we turned off the tube to eat dinner the score was tied 1-1.  After dinner the tube got turned back on and the Marlins were up 6-1 all in a span of 20 minutes or something like that.  While we continued to watch the Orioles make a 9th inning comeback to tie the game 6-6 – OMG the Orioles are making a comeback.  As the Orioles make it through the bottom of the ninth Chewy just mutters it doesn’t matter they’ll still lose in the 12th.  Low and behold the Orioles lose in the bottom of the 12th inning.  Man she’s gotta stop making those predictions.

Then today, did the Wizards fleece the Timberwolves?  The Zards trade for two proven players (Foyle and Miller) who will provide depth and scoring for a bunch of dead weight (Percherov, Thomas and Sangaila – whom I liked as a player) and the 5th pick in Thursday’s Draft.  At first I didn’t like the trade because we did another big for small trade and ultimately become guard heavy.  We still have James and Crittenton at PG as well as Young at SG.  This tells me potentially Gilbert is still hurt or another deal is in the works to get a BIG in.  The trade saves the Zards $3 Million in cap space so that should help.  I now expect either Stevenson and/or James to move to another team. 

A starting five of Arenas, Foyle, Butler, Jamison and Haywood look awesome on paper.  Young, Miller, Blatche, McGuire and McGee off the bench doesn’t sound that bad.  Though I feel bad for Young since I’ve always thought of him as the soon-to-be replacement for Stevenson.  Only problem I see is overall depth gets hurt and there really are no back-to-the-basket type players and rebounders beyond Haywood.  Still need a few rebounders.  Either way, should be an interesting upcoming season!

 
AWESOME!

OK.  Realy, it wasn’t bad.    There were some stuff that didn’t make sense but probably only the fanboys would notice it and question it.  As a buddy of mine said – remember to check your brain at the door.  Good action flick.  I mean it’s about transforming vehicles and stuff blowing up.  Who wouldn’t like that? 

Plus they wrote in a  Pretender!  A Pretender!  What’s going to be in the third movie?  Action Masters?!?!? 

Metro … Red Line …

As a daily Red Line rider I’m pretty much speechless.  Not just about the Red Line but for WMATA and those who take metro as part of their daily routine.  Fortunately for me I had the day off but Chewy had to go downtown yesterday.  As she was in the station Metro was just reporting delays due to “Police Activity.”  It’s interesting how they control the crowds through misinformation.  Though it only took Chewy an extra hour to get home it still brings up about how a lack of accurate information can really play with your mind. 

After talking to Chewy, I tried WMATA’s webpage but obviously there were being hammered.  The Washington Post revealed the collision.  First accounts that I heard was that the first train derailed and the second hit it.  That trains were sorta running but just extremely delayed.  My parents called trying to find out if we went to work and if we needed a ride because they heard reports that the Red Line had no power and people were stuck.  Chewy’s parents called to see if we were fine since all they know is we take the Red Line (or maybe just Metro I’m not too sure).  Like I said before – it’s all about misinformation and how one source may control the situation it can easily be “telephoned” out and cause mental havok.

As the investigation continues it’ll be interesting to find out what they have to say.  I wonder though are people going to start to avoid the first and last train due to the possibility of repeats.  If anything, WMATA does not need anymore black marks across itself.  People already complain about who Metro works are clueless, late and they charge too much.  With WMATA constantly in the hole with money I wonder if they’ll get a nice stimulas check to help get itself back together.  One would think that the nations mass transit system should be fully functional and safe.  Right?

Well, Ain’t That Interesting?

Actually, not really. 

I find it amazing that when I get busy my thoughts outside of what is causing me to be busy tend to be indiscriminate.  I begin to have no opinion on everything and life just begins to pass me by.  I think my ability to multitask is slowly slipping and is being replaced with a desire to just sleep.  My goal of becoming a lifeless, blob of fat is slowly coming true much to Chewy’s horror.  I kid.  It’s not a goal.  More a life dream.  Wait.  Aren’t they the same?

Father’s Day just came and went.  Waz called “lazy” for not being a father after 4+ years of marriage.   I could probably comment more but “meh.”  Spent time with the family eating at Gui Lin where the service was slow and the food was too salty for me.  Otherwise it was niiiiiice.  My dad saw one of his old buddies from yonder years.  It was good to see him mingle with him because I think it reminds him of a simpler time. 

Beyond that celebrated with my third cousin-once-removed who just became a father about a month ago.  Our third cousin-twice-removed is extremely cute.  Seems like mother, father and kid are doing well.  It was fun celebrating with everyone and helping setup my third cousins DVD-recorder to their TV.

Decided to login to my Facebook account for the first time in like ever.  I’ve got 14 Friend requests from people I don’t know and they want me to join some sorority.  whaaaaat?  I still don’t get Facebook.  Maybe I will the next time I login in like in six months.

More, Much More to AWESOME …

There were toys.   There were friends and new acquaintances.  There were celebrities.  As cool as all that was the best part of the convention was the opportunity to witness to a friend of mine.  It wasn’t planned but the opportunity opened itself to it.  It all started when someone from a Transformers Christian social group that I frequent asked if anyone was going to Botcon and if so would we all like to meet up for dinner.  Dinner, obvious on the West Coast would mean going to In-N-Out Burger the apparent defacto Christian fastfood joint.    The organizer mentioned that he got a “Be Transformed” t-shirt and would wear that at the convention and that we could just look for the shirt.  Thinking that was a good idea I got the shirt too, though I was so cold at the conference my jacket always covered up the shirt.

The plan was to meet after the dealer room closed on Friday and for all of us to go out, get some grub and share about our lives.  Currently, in the social group we’re taking turns sharing our testimony.  I’m up in a few weeks.  After the dealer room closed, I found the organizer and we began to talk, etc, etc.  Since the room was closing my friend was leaving and the three of us started to talk.  We asked if he wanted to join us for dinner and that it was the Christian group just meeting for a meal.  He said he wasn’t a believer but he would be happy to join us.

It was during dinner that I was able to pray over the meal and then the organizer asked about my friends’ faith.  We spent a few moments talking about faith and what it means to be a Christian.  Though he did not accept Christ as his savior it was an amazing opportunity that I’m glad we did not pass up.

See it’s not just about Transformers. 

It’s about being Transformed before God. (Romans 12:2)

More to AWESOME …

Probably what made this convention one of the best ones I’ve experienced is the fact that I knew people and I met new people.  Being the anti-social, closet Transformers fan that I am one would guess I fit pretty well in a Transformer geekdom of socially inept folks.  Tru dat. 

Either way there was tons of cool stuff to see especially some of the fan made customs and art.  Someone had made a origami fully Transformable paper robot named Drift.  There was a huge Masterpiece style fully transformable Optimus Prime.  Then this group from overseas had originally made a garage kit of Optimus Prime from Hearts of Steel but then they took it one more step further in terms of trying to mass produce it and so they brought a prototype to the show to “advertise” for it.  Pretty neat.  Still there was a handmade Laserbeak that fully transformed and then just an interesting and funny looking Elvis/Prime diarama.

     

During the fan made video selection there was an awesome entry from Randell Ng and Dr. Smoov called Generations One.  The last video shown was sorta weird because the way it was done; it almost seemed like a tribute video to someone who had past away.  I totally got that vibe until the end where the guy making the video pretty much said “What do I love more than Transformers?  My girlfriend <insert name> … would you marry me?”  I can’t remember the name but basically I witnessed a marriage proposal at the convention.  She did say yes and everyone cried and cheered.  I figured at some point I would have to experience this to have a complete convention.  Apparently there were a total of two proposals during this convention.

The other thing that I find pretty cool is the amount of people in cosplay.  I know I missed a few since I’ve seen other folks pictures but I did see a bunch.  One of the ladies that I know who dresses up only brought her Baroness outfit (as seen at previous Botcons so I didn’t take her picture) and she mentioned since Botcon was on the West Coast she couldn’t lug all her different outfits this time.  oh well. 

 

Obviously some were better than others, the Arcee and Shockwaves were extremely good as well as the dude in the Bumblebee outfit.  That was sorta funny when I saw him crossing the street.    I also like the group of GI Joe villians: Xamot with face scar, Tomat, the Baroness (a different person than mentioned above) and Cobra Commander.

25th Anniversary …

The past few days I was in Pasadena, CA for the annual Transformers convention known as Botcon.  It was totally AWESOME!! 

 

Like previous Botcon’s, we basically stood in line to basically register to get in, get extra souvenir toys, enter the dealer room, get autographs, take tours, get food, etc, etc.  Over the course of four days I think I stood in line for well over 12 hours.

The event was pretty cool since they had announced some nice guests such as Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime), Vince Dicola, Weird Al, Gregg Berger (voice of Grimlock) and many others.  They also had a party at Paramount Studios and surprised everyone with a “surprise” movie star.  That namely being Tyrese Gibson or Mr. Left Cheek as many were screaming out.  I was essentially five feet from him and just missed shaking hands with him!  It was just like when I met Dan Quayle back in the day.

In the dealer room was Optimus Prime (who was leaking oil).  He took so much space in the dealer room I wish they had stuck him somewhere else to make more room for people.  At the Party at Paramount, Ironhide was in attendence and then Tyrese came riding in Ratchet.  I overheard someone saying that Ironhide wasn’t street legal because he had didn’t have a VIN on him.  Yeah, talk about fanboy details.

The Party at Paramount was pretty cool even if the buses that were going to take us were late.  The buffet was pretty good considering the type of food they had at previous Botcons.  There was a concert by Stan Bush and Vince Dicola.  If I ever hear “The Touch” any time soon I think I’m going to go crazy.  Talk about overplayed!  We all knew a “special” guest was going to be at the party and most of us figured it was Tyrese.  He was in Providence during the preview showing of the first movie.  Apparently, he’s a BIG Transformers fan and he was in town for some MTV awards show. 

The one thing we all wondered was if they would show the new movie at the party.  As time ticked away we were later ushed to a nice theatre where they started to collect everyone’s cellphones and cameras.  ooooh the suspence!  But alas, they were only going to show us the latest trailer.  yeah bummer.  That’s when Boo’s started to echo in the hall and then they turned to screams!!!!  Michael Bay comes running out, my friend and I had front row seats but NO CAMERA!!!!  Bay talked abunch and then they showed two short clips.  First was a clip of Devestator combining and then a prolonged fight scene between Bumblebee, Rampage and Ravage.  It was pretty slick.  Especially since Shia was holding a sock in his hand!  Since the footage was not final we expect it to be digitized into something else.

After that, we took a quick backlot tour with my friend and I being one of the last ones being able to do that.  It was pretty cool.  Saw an area where they shot a clip of 24, the place where Spider-Man kissed Mary Jane in the first Spider-Man movie, the diner from Indiana Jones 4, a street from Sunnydale (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and an alley used in Angel.  The rest I didn’t know the references to or just can’t remember.