Yard Work & Dog Fights

Today Harry and I spent the majority of the time working on the west side of our property pulling weeds and replanting what look like weeds but turn into some very nice tree like bushes. It was a long but satisfying day. It's nice to be able to say.. " I did that " and that fact that's it's our land and our property makes the more not so bad.

It was a good day with one exception.

Daisy was hanging out with us all day enjoying the outside fresh air when suddenly 3 dogs come running up the hillside and attacked. Two were large 90 + lbs Rottweilers and the third was a Rottweiler mix. Daisy, being about 40 lbs chased all three dogs back down the hill as Harry and I went racing after them. Called to her and she stopped at the top and of hill while the three ran down. Suddenly the larger one came back up and locked jaws with Daisy and she wrestled him down the hillside while the other one snipped at her from the sides. I torn down the hill side as the owner of the other dogs came running out of his house yelling. I wasn't sure what I was going to do to get them apart all I know is my little girl was going to get hurt and I was going to stop it. Again she stopped when she heard me yell but the other dog continued to lunge at her and she wasn't going to stand for it. Finally the owner of the other dog manage to grab the largest one and I got a hold of Daisy and we pulled them apart.

The owner apologized and said they got out by accident. I really didn't care what he said.. I ran up the hill with Daisy and once at the top examined her to make sure she didn't have any bites. She looked in good shape. I have to say that both Harry and I were very proud of her defending her property and her masters. She made be getting old (going on 10 years) but man she's one tough little girl.

Not wanting to take any more chances we left her in the house while we finished gardening.

One thing I do know is I want to get a fence around our property sooner then later.. it's now moved up the list of Thing we need to do.

More Shopping

It seems like every weekend Harry and I go out shopping.. now I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but I wish we could just go out and find everything we need for the house, but so far.. not having that much luck. Today we went to Target, Staples, Ross, Bed Bath Beyond, Michaels and Bevmo. We were on the hunt for anything (accessory) for the house, picture frames and backpack. At Target I got a few T-shirts (not planned, but couldn't pass up Star Wars, Goonies and Ghostbusters T's), we got a cool nature picture for the living room and a frame along with some odds and ends. We had dinner next at Panda Express before heading over to Staples were we found a great back pack for Harry but we were unwilling to pay $90 bucks for it. We then went to Ross and almost got some throw pills for the couches but in the end didn't. Then to BBB and found some nice throw pills and a few candle wall sconces. At Micheal's we found some frames but again were way to expensive and I know they always have sales so we waited and since Bevmo was next door and I know they had one of Harry's favorite beers Gordan Biersch we stopped by and actually purchased about $90 in beer for him that should last a few months. All in all we didn't get everything needed but we did get a few more things.

Shutting Down

Today at 6pm post was shut down. They are switching over our power source this weekend and in order to do so we have to turn everything off and unplug everything. We opted that 6pm everyone would stop working and go home.. needless to say this made everyone very happy. To be able to plan to do something Friday night is rare for our editors. Of course 6 pm comes and goes and it take another half hour to get folks to leave and then we have to go through and turn everything off and unplug everything. I manage to get out of here around 7:30pm.. but it was a good way to start my weekend. Now we just hope everything goes smooth this weekend and we have power come Monday.

Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief

During lunch today I ran into my good friend Christopher and he mentioned that he was going to go see a movie tonight. I asked him which one and he said Percy Jackson.. I had also planned to see Percy Jackson after work so it was kind of cool that we both just happen to met up for lunch and had the same plans for the evening.. so after work I headed over to the movie theater and met up with Christopher.

I have read four of the five books of this series and was looking forward to this movie. I went into to this movie hearing not so good things about it but I didn't care as I really enjoyed the books and from the commercials it looked like my kind of movie.

Here's a little about the storyline: The protagonist is Percy Jackson, who discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea and earthquakes. He learns that the legendary beings of Greek mythology still exist and have always existed, including monsters, Titans, and the Olympians (Greek gods) themselves who dwell in Olympus, which is now situated at the mythical 600th floor of the Empire State Building.

The movie storyline is somewhat similar to the book storyline but with some major differences. I knew going into this that the movie wasn't going to be a copy cat of the book, they never are. But this one left out some major plot points and tweaked the entire main story a bit. But with all that said I really enjoyed the movie. It's very different from the books but on it's own it was a fun adventure with some cool effects and I look forward to seeing it again with my Dad.

The Odd Man Out

I normally feel like the odd man out as I'm not particularly social even among a group of friends or co-workers.. I guess it's just the way I am.. but lately it really hit me on how different I really am from my co-worker and/or typical males.

I currently work on Deadliest Catch for Discovery. All of the editors are male, the producers are male and most of the AE's and AP's are male. They share low brow humor, speak in explicit language, talk sports and discuss woman in an unflattering ways.. in essence your typical macho guy. I never par take in this as for one I don't drink, use foul language, watch sports or am interested in woman, but I do sit in my office and listen to them go on and on and just marvel out how different I am to your typical male.

Luckily there are some geeks among them so I'll join in a conversation about Star Wars or a recent movie but for the most part I keep to my office, which I 'm sure makes them think I'm anti-social.

There is really is no reason for this blog post other then to talk about a recent observation that I made about my workplace.

My Morning

Today I woke up and had the hardest time getting going. I wasn't feeling so great, my head was killing me, and the back of my eyes felt like someone was poking them from the inside. I decided that I was going to relax a bit more and go into work late. A few hours later I started a feel a bit better and opted to set up my second monitor.

I plugged in the digital monitor and the analog monitor went out, which made me think that I only had a single monitor card. I went to my control panel and noticed I had two monitors in the picture and saw a button that said something like "Extend your computer to other monitor" so I clicked it and voila both monitors were up and my mouse would jump from one to the other.

OMG.. I love my dual monitor, so much work space. Doing a podcast is going to be so much easier.

Dual Monitors and Hard Drives

Today while I was out to lunch with my friend/co-worker Brian we stopped by Fry's Electronic. They were selling 2TB external hard drives for $149.99 and both Harry and I wanted one. There was a catch as you could only buy one per household. Fortunately I had just pulled out some money from the bank so I was able to give money to Brian so he could purchase a second one for me... if not I had just planned to go back the next day and get a second one... so this saved me time.. thanks Brian.

While there I have been wanting to get a second monitor for my computer. Since I have started the podcast it seems there is never enough desktop space to work with while recording. So I took some KOTG donations and purchased a really cool and big second monitor. This was unknown to me but I had a digital and analog output for monitors on my computer but I'm not sure if it's a dual video card or not.. guess I'll find out soon.

Can't wait to get this hooked up.

Sometimes a Kiss is just a Kiss

Ewan McGregor appeared on last Friday’s edition of ABC’s Good Morning America to promote his two new films, Ghost Writer and the upcoming LGBT-centered film I Love You Phillip Morris. During the interview, a photo was shown of McGregor kissing his Phillip Morris costar, Jim Carrey in Paris, where they were knighted in the National Order of Arts and Letters at the Ministry of Culture. Several crew members could clearly be heard laughing on the set while GMA host, George Stephanopoulos asked, “What was that about?”




Without missing a beat, McGregor responded, “Well that’s just two men kissing,” as Stephanapoulos joined in on the laughter while McGregor continued, “In this age, in 2010, it’s extraordinary that it’s still an object of humor.”

Stephanopoulos interrupted McGregor, saying “You weren’t just kissing, you were kind of making out there.” McGregor responded, “No, that’s a kiss. That’s just a kiss.”

Good Morning America is America’s second highest rated morning news show, with an average of 4 million viewers. By attempting to make an issue out of the kiss and by joining in on the laughter, Stephanopoulos perpetuates the idea that being gay is a joke. GLAAD applauds McGregor for standing up to Stephanopoulos’ trivial display and will be reaching out to ABC to voice concerns about the tone of these questions.


http://glaadblog.org/2010/02/22/abcs-stephanopoulos-trivializes-ewan-mcgregor-and-jim-carrey-kiss/

It's All Worth It

Folks ask me why we live so far way from the city, besides the clean air, big house, acres of land and not having our neighbors right next to us.. I get to wake up to this.

My Shiny New Hat

My friend Eva's sister was making Jayne hats and I have always wanted one but you can't really buy them unless someone makes it. And luckily Eva tweeted about her sister. So I put my order in and today when I went to the mail box (forgot to go on Saturday) I found my hat.. I LOVE IT!!!!

PS.. If you are wondering what this is from then I am sad for you as you are missing out on an one of my all time FAVORITE TV series ever.. "Firefly" from Joss Whedon. In one of the episodes tough guy Jayne Cobb gets this hand made hat from his momma.

Avatar (second screening)

Today I went and visited my Dad. Wasn't feeling 100% but I had promised to visit a few weekends ago and thing kept popping us so I haven't seen him in a while. We first went out to lunch at Islands and after we to the movies. It was between Percy Jackson and Avatar. I had seen Avatar once already but really wanted to see it again. Dad brought up a good point saying that Avatar 3D needs to be seen in the theater and Percy Jackson could be seen on DVD. So we opted for Avatar.

I loved it just as much my second time. It's still a beautiful world, sweet love story and great commentary about our world. The 3D enhances the visuals but this movie is so good it will be great in 2D when it comes out on DVD. Another cool think is my Dad really enjoyed it. Normally when we get out of movies we say if we liked it or not but don't really discuss it much.. not with this one we talked all the way out of the theater and in the car and a bit when we got home. I could tell his was a favorite and I'm glad we were able to see it in 3D.

Now I want to see it in 3D IMAX before it leaves theaters.. that's my next goal.

My Little Guy

Update on my Nephew Kenobi.. he's going on nine months and you would never know he was born a month early. He's getting big, his teeth are coming in and he's trying to walk. I don't get to see him as often as I would like but I try and visit with him whenever I visit my Dad, even if it's just a half hour, I cherish ever minute. I hope when he gets a little older he'll be able to spend the weekend with us.

Being Sick

I haven't really felt 100% for a few weeks but today it finally knocked me down. Seemed everything I had hurt my stomach. My head was killing me and it felt like something was poking my eyeballs from the inside. My body aches and my left ear was killing me. Even though I had tons of stuff I could be doing I opted to sit, relax and watch TV. Harry seemed to have it worse then me.. so I guess I got off easy.

One of Those Weeks

Work has been hellish, it's not so much the work as the no knowing. We haven't been behind schedule the entire time but this is made worse when I don't even know what's happening the next week. Circumstance keep happening and it seems to push us further and further behind and the bad thing about that is the schedule was tight already so it's nearly impossible to catch up. No matter how much pre-planning you do one little thing through the entire machine out of whack. And this in turns causes tons of unnecessary stress... TGIF!!!

I'm thankful for my job as I have tons of friends who are jobless.. but sometimes it's just not worth the stress.

Wand TV Remote Control

OMG... how cool is this. It's a Magical Wand that controls your TV. You can program 13 different moves for 13 different actions. It may not be pratical but it's pretty sweet.. A friend of mind from England is going to get this for me for a housewarming present so I'll be testing it out first hand.. CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

http://www.thewandcompany.com/index.html

Happy Birthday

Want to wish a very Happy Birthday to two very cool dudes.. One is the all powerful, Director and Editor of The Guild, Mr. Sean Becker. The other is the Master of Marketing for The Guild, Brian Kameoka. Very happy to call both of them friend and wish them all the best today.

Postponing Housewarming

We heard rumors that it might rain this weekend, Sunday we planned on having our housewarming party so we had to decide on taking a chance or postponing the BBQ. Since we live out in the middle of no where and on dirt roads we opted to postpone the BBQ housewarming. It will be better for everyone is they don't have to drive on the wet dirt roads and they will be able to enjoy our place more with nicer weather.. so will be having our housewarming party sometime in March. Good thing is it will give us more time to fix up our place.. still have some odds and ends to take care of.

Knights of the Guild Ep 13 pt1

Show Notes:
**** IT’S OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY PODCAST ****
WOW!!!! that pretty much sums up this 1 year anniversary party/podcast.
It was truly and amazing night of friends, podcasting and good times. We had some very special guests show up to join in on the fun. I would like to thank all our guests for making the trek out of my house (I live in the middle of nowhere). Felicia, Kim, Michele, Brian, Fernie, Andrew, Will, Mel, Jay, Greg, Jared, Sean, Megan and Ray.

This podcast is an edited version of our live podcast on Ustream. You can watch the entire 5 hours here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/knights-of-the-guild Password for UStream is KOTG
Today’s show features:
• * First up we have a Vorkism.
• * We are recording this weeks podcast live from our studio.
• * We sit down and interview Fernando Chien, Michele Boyd, Sean Becker, Greg Aronowitz, Kim Evey and Felicia Day
• * We then read and listen to listeners comments for our 1 Year Annivesary.
• * We then have a Very Special Buinsess Time and say goodbye
Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans.
Kenny & Jenni
Other Important Links
• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/

How to Build Codex's Staff pt.1

My friend Greg Aronowitz http://barnyardfx.blogspot.com made this AWESOME video blog with Felicia Day on how to build Codex's staff.. if you haven't a clue what I'm talking about then you need to watch The Guild at http://www.watchtheguild.com

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day



Neither Harry nor I are really into this holiday but we did go out for a "Valentine" lunch at Chills. But that was the extent of our holiday.

Yep.. more painting

Today Harry and I finally got some motivation to do a little touch up painting in the master bathroom, master bedroom and laundry room. We didn't get it all done but we did get a start and that's the important part.

KOTG Microcast #15 - Quest for S3 DVD Extras

Show Notes:
Today we do a skype chat with some Guild fans who were lucky enough to get an advance copy of The Guild Season Three DVD. On our skype chat we discuss the Extras that come with the DVD. Please note that we will be talking about the extras in detail so there will be SPOILERS.
Our Guests for this Skype Call are: Eva, Higlet, Brian K, Chris F, Jeff V, Edgar G, Jenni and Kenny
Thank you all for taking the time and chatting with us.

On Monday, February 15th, Season 3 arrives on DVD exclusively on Amazon.com with a retail price of $14.95.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0031ESNZG?ie=UTF8&tag=watchtheguild-20&creativeASIN=B0031ESNZG
Bonus features on the DVD include “Do You Want to Date My Avatar” Music Video, The Making of “Do You Want to Date My Avatar,” the Halloween episode, Guild Applicant Rejects, How to Build Vork’s Sword, Audio Commentary with the Cast, Audio Commentary with the Creator, Director and Producer, Axis of Anarchy Interviews, Gag Reels, PDF of Script, Play All Feature and English Subtitles. The Amazon.com DVD release comes on two DVD-R discs by Amazon’s Create Space, and is NTSC format, region-free.
Hope you enjoy it…
Thanks,
Kenny & Jenni
Other Important Links
• Knights of the Guild Feeds/Downloads http://knightsoftheguild.com
• Knights of the Guild Daily Blog http://knightsoftheguildpodcast.blogspot.com/

Recording a Podcast

I had scheduled to record a podcast even though we had friends over, I was willing to give them a half hour of my time so I could get back to my friends. Well things didn't turn out as I had planned. We were recording a skype call with several Guild fans who were given the Season 3 DVD early and we were to talk about the DVD extras. It was to start a 5 and right from the beginning people kept dropped out of the call. We tried and tried to get everyone in the call but kept losing folks.. finally around 5:45 I went out to my friends and told them that we haven't even started yet. That I was sorry but I wasn't sure how long it was going to take. They understood and we had a nice visit so they decided to head home as it was getting late.

Went back to the skype call and finally made the call that we would just have to start without everyone. This was already taking a hour and we hadn't even begun yet. So we started around 6:00 and I then had issues with my recording programs as it wouldn't record the conversation. Instead of restarting my computer we had several other folks on the call record it. So about 6:10 we started his skype chat.

The chat moved along, folks were dropped and I'd add them back again and again. Finally around 7pm we finished this "quick" skype call. Brian emailed me his recording of the call, which was okay but had some audio glitches but it was the best we had.. Now I had to edit it and post it on our website as the DVD is coming out in a few days. I finally got everything edited and posted around 11pm. In the end it turned out to be a pretty cool podcast.

Lunch with Friends

Today our friends John and Moises came out to our house to visit for the first time. We also have a nice BBQ and played some board games. They seemed to really like our place which makes all our hard work worth it. It was a nice and relaxing visit. It's always nice hanging out with those two.

Taxes (Results)

This morning when I got up I had an email from my tax guy with the estimates of my Federal and State refund checks.. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised for Federal it looks like I'm getting 7 times the amount I normally do and for State it looks like 6 times the amount.. needless to say I was very happy. Just one thing stands in the way. I need my house paperwork showing that I actually purchased the house to get the $8000 deduction, and of course the paperwork I have there are no official signatures so I'm waiting to hear from my tax guy on what I need to provide next. Hopefully it's an easy fix and I will get close to the estimates that he provided.

Taxes

Today I went to see my Tax guy and do my 2009 taxes. I knew this year would be a bit different since I purchased a house. I normally go in and we sit down for a half hour and go over all my expenses and such and then he gives me an estimate on how much I'll be getting back from Federal and State (as I've always gotten a refund). This time because of the addition of the house and all the deductions that come with that he was unable to give me a number which kind of worried me but he did say that I should still be getting a refund. So now I have to wait and see just how much of a refund.

KOTG T-shirts

Wow the past few weeks I've been a little giveaway happy. I've given away at least 10 KOTG T-shirts. Either by doing quick contests or just wanted to give some shirts out to those who support the podcast. This morning I packed up a bunch of them to take to the post office along with autographed pictures for those who made donations.. well the weather worked against me and I was unable to get to the post office.. hopefully tomorrow things will be better.. so if I owe you a shirt or autograph picture it's been delayed a day.

Work around the House

Because I was so lazy on the weekend and didn't get nearly as much stuff done as I wanted to I figured when I got home from work I could start working on some minor things.. so tonight I putted up some chunks of trim that were knocked out when pictures fell. And also putted up some holes in our master bathroom. Once they dry I can sand them down and paint them. Slowly but surely we are going to get these things done.

Dinner

Tonight when I got home and as soon as I opened the door a wonder smell greeted me. Three times last week and now today Harry has made dinner. He's using his German cook book and making some wonderful dishes. I can get use to coming home from work and having dinner made for me already.

Lazy Sunday

Today we had planned to finish up the painting but may both Harry and I are burnt out and didn't feel like doing it.. instead we sat in front of the TV and chilled. I felt horrible for not doing some work but obviously I didn't feel bad enough to get up and do it. I mean we still have two weeks before the housewarming. ( I know this will come back to bit me in the butt). But because I felt guilty for not painting and wanted to feel productive.. I went ahead with Harry's help and built our office chairs and the DVD rack.

Building chairs is fun.. and it's even more fun when you put things on backwards and have to un-build it. This happen to both Harry and I. And then the DVD rack.. I thought that was going to be the death of me. I guess I wasn't in the building mood.. building this DVD rack frustrated me so much.. but in the end we have some great office chairs and a pretty nice looking DVD rack.

So this day wasn't a total lose.. but I didn't do nearly as much as I wanted to.

My Saturday

Today I had planned on getting some painting down around the house.. we need to do the fixes our contractor did not complete. But before that I was going to work on my next Knights of the Guild podcast. I already edited some of the audio at work so half my job was done but when I went to import the audio file I found out it was corrupt and wouldn't play. So doing my podcast this weekend went down the tubes. By this time Harry was up so we started to do things around the house.. did a few paint touch ups here and there, but couldn't tackle the larger paint jobs (laundry room and master bathroom) because we didn't have any painters tape. I also put up all the pictures.. as we used those 3M stick up velcro things but pictures kept falling (and breaking) so I finally removed them all and went with good ol' nails.

Because we couldn't continue to paint without painters tape and other supplies. We headed to Lowes.. while out I wanted to get a DVD holder as we have out grown our three DVD shelves already. In the end we got our home supplies, picked up a larger DVD holder and stopped by Staples and got two very nice and expensive office chairs.

By the time we got home it was later and neither of us felt like painting so instead we watched six hours of Lost. We fell behind last season so we had to watch four hours form last season and then the 2 hour premiere of the final season. I knew once we started we wouldn't stop. After the 4 hours of last season it was almost midnight and I asked if Harry wanted to wait till tomorrow to watch the 2 hour premiere and he said.. we can watch them now.. it will end at 1:30ish so we stayed up and watch it..

I've loved Lost since I saw the pilot at comic con in 2004 and still loving to today.. it's confusing and crazy at times but it's such a fun roller coaster ride and I look forward to this final season. I haven't a clue what's happening or where it's going but you know what... I don't care... I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the ride.

New Hairdo

Since I've been growing my hair long I figured it was time to try something new.. I haven't highlighted my hair in over five years.. it's always scary to see how things turn out but as always it turned out pretty good.. I'm very happy with this look.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

I don't know alot about this movie.. I do know it was a series of cartoons but man it looks so cool.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Commerical

I am already planning to fly out to Orlando when this opens... I can't wait!!!!

I Am A Browncoat

On Saturday when we were done with the majority of the podcast and folks started to leave I wanted to get a group of us to do the "I am a Browncoat" video for the Browncoats: Redemption, a charity fan film. I also did several individual ones.

Knights of the Guild Ep 12 pt2

http://knightsoftheguild.com

Show Notes:

Here it is Episode 12 part 2 of Knights of the Guild. We hope you enjoy it.

Today’s show features:

• * First up we have a Vorkism.
• * We are recording this weeks podcast from the back of the Vork-mobile
• * We discuss Behind the Scenes of Episode 1 Season 3 Expansion Time
• * We have a fun fan Interview with SoapboxMark
• * We thank our donors
• * Then we have our final words and we say goodbye aka Business Time.

This podcast was recorded live, you can watch the video on our UStream channel - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/knights-of-the-guild

You do need a password to access it. The password is KOTG

Thank you again for all your support, we do this podcast because we are fans and more importantly for the fans.

Kenny & Jenni

Skywalker Ranch... NOT

Okay so it was a wonderful dream while it lasted but I got an email from my friend Ray, who invited me yesterday and he informed me that his job is ending on Friday and he had to rescind his invite. I was bummed but I feel bad for him as he will now be jobless months before he was expecting it. Maybe one of these days I'll actually get to visit Skywalker Ranch.