Christmas!

I had a great Christmas this year and thought I would share some of the great presents I received. To the left is a group shot of most everything. I got a few modern Star Wars figures, a Canon Camera bag to hold my new DSLR camera with plenty of room for flashes and lenses, a Lili Ledy (Mexico) Luke Jedi vintage cardback, Transformers Encore 17 Cassettes, and a Canon 50mm F1.8 Lens for the camera.

Here are some pictures taken from the Takara website that show the cassettes for Soundwave and Blaster. They recently released the 3rd set in Japan and I hope to add those sometime soon to complete the set. One nice little touch is the fact that the marking on the sides were stickers on the originals and on these they are actually painted on. Now there is no chance of them falling off and getting lost.

I also had a very nice surprise this year. Some friends that I have met online grouped together and got me a Secret Santa gift this year. I’ve helped a few international collectors this year by having some items come through me and then mailing them on to them. There are quite a few sellers that will not deal outside of the U.S., so it is a way to help collectors still get what they want. Three collectors went in on this with two being from Australia and the 3rd in Romania. It is a Cardback with the bubble still attached for Luke Jedi from Mexico. The company that brought the figures out in Mexico was called Lili Ledy and all of those items are highly sought after by collectors. I hope to add the actual figure to go with the card some time this year.

The same Romanian friend mentioned above also got me a piece of original artwork. The artist is also a collector and has been doing these character pieces under the name “Attack of the Cute” I’m really impressed with all of the pieces I’ve seen him do and think it makes for a great one of a kind collectible. I can’t wait to get mine framed and up on the wall. You can see more of his art on rebelscum at http://threads.rebelscum.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Fanart&Number=2545921 and his official website is http://www.jpc-art.co.cc/

Finally, here are a few pictures that I have taken with the new lens. I’m still learning a few things with it, but am taking the pictures in full manual mode on my camera. It was an excellent Christmas and thanks to everyone for the great gifts.

5 weeks old

The kittens are getting older. Here is a picture i took of them a few days ago. They are now getting to the point where they are getting playful. I was having fun with one of them the other day with a laser pointer. We try to give them a few hours a day to roam around a bit in our living room. I think we have home for two of them now, so there will be two left if anyone wants one.

Here We Go Again

Yesterday we found out that our neighborhood black cat had more kittens. This time it was four. She had them in an old car at our neighbors. It took a little searching before we tracked down where they were. If anyone wants one please let us know. They should be ready to go to homes in about 6 weeks. This time we are going to have to either get the mother fixed or take her to the humane society. I wish people would just take care of their pets in the first place.
kittens

Black Friday Madness

We survived another Black Friday. This year there really wasn’t anything in particular that I needed, so we didn’t camp out all night or anything like that. Sarah mainly wanted lots of movies, so we did get to Wal-Mart an hour before they opened. I think she ended up with somewhere around 9 movies and the cost was under $25. Not bad if I say so myself. I myself picked up the latest Indiana Jones for $9, Interview with the Vampire for $2, and at Toys R Us a guitar for Guitar Hero at $10. I was surprised at that price Toys R Us still had some left by the time we got there.

The one part that I really hate about Black Friday is how rude people can be. This is supposed to mark the first day of the Christmas season which is generally a time that people are nicer to each other. Instead you get people pushing, shoving, and yelling at each other just to get a good deal. The stores bring this upon themselves by only getting a handful of the big items that people want. I couldn’t believe it when I read that a man was trampled to death at a Walmart in N.Y. and two people shot to death at a Toys R Us in CA. Stuff like that really makes me sick. And it was all done in the name of getting a bargain.

I myself try and be extra friendly at this time especially to the workers. I know I would absolutely hate this day if I worked in the retail industry. If you get the deal great and if not many times you can wait until after Christmas and get the same item for about the same price. Anyway I do enjoy Blackk Friday and look forward to it, but many people need to not take it so seriously. It is just stuff that can be purchased later if you really need it.

Hope everyone has a good Cyber Monday.

Trip To St. George

Yesterday I found out that I had today and tomorrow off of work. We decided to make a trip to St. George. Nobody knew we were coming. This weekend is also comic con in San Diego, so I will be posting some news from the event. The big thing that I wished I could attend is one of the biggest collections of vintage star wars ever auctioned. There are going to be many rare and high grade items that I wish I could at least have seen in person. Hopefully some pictures will surface online.