Frenzied Friday

My third day at the Con. And it was no different from the previous days. Same old parking, same old crowd, same old stuff to see, but a whole new experience.

Same routine as we did on Thursday but now, I was there as early as 6:30. And I was able to get a good parking spot, just beside the Convention Center. People were just rushing to get inside and trying to get ahead of all the lines.

The next thing I know, I was sitting down, probably one of the first 100 people in line. I was sooooo happy that finally, I'd be able to get inside really early. But then again , something's wrong here.

After 2 hours, the line moved forward but we're heading towards one of the ballrooms. Ok, it's confirmed, I'm attending one of the programs. But which one? I sat comfortably on the 4th row and just waited what's in store.

And then I heard one of the attendees on my right said that it's Stargate Universe. I'm familiar with the show and yet I haven't seen even an episode of it's franchise. Oh well, I waited 2 freakin hours in line and I'm sitting on the 4th row. So i;m just gonna make the best out of this.

I was just there sitting for an hour before the program started. Then they showed a clip of the upcoming season of the series. Everyone was so excited and I was there having no clue at all. At least the cast were there, and I get to see celebrities.

I then headed downstairs to the exhibit hall. Place was packed, "again". So, I just went around, took pictures and headed off to pick up Anna from work and then went home. Another day at the con and another one for tomorrow.

Tricky Thursday

San Diego Comic-Con officially starts at this day. I was on my own now since Anna had to go to work. She did not opted for vacation since she's really not into it. I was supposed to go with a friend but he backed out.

I was already up as early as 2:30 AM. I can't sleep not because I'm excited but I was updating our blog and Flickr. We got everything planned out. Drop Anna at work and I'd go directly to the convention center. I thought that 7:30 AM was early since the doors don't open till past 9. And again I was wrong. Place was already packed and I cant get a decent parking spot. So I settled for Seaport Village which was 7 blocks away. I thought to myself, "What's 7 blocks?! And besides, walking is good".

After a few minutes of "walking", I headed right away to Hasbro's ticket booth (You need to avail a ticket to be able to buy any of their items). I was in line for 30 minutes. And again i said to myself, "Ok. Now i got the tickets, and 30 minutes wasn't that long, I guess everything would go smoothly at the booth". And again, I was wrong. I was again in line, and now I stayed there for almost 4 hours.

Since I was there for 4 hours I bought tons of stuff, just to make my time worth while. Which I later realized that I was alone and no one to help me out carry all of these little plastic men. And the hard part is, I had to walk 7 freakin blocks. When I finally got to the car, I was sweating like a thousand pigs.

I was too tired to go back and just decided to head home. When I picked Anna from work, she asked me up to what time is the con open, I said till midnight. So she convinced me to go back. Me being a good husband said yes. Hehehe!!! We then arrived at 6PM. I went around and took several pics, while Anna just stayed in a corner and surf the net. After a few minutes, we then heard an announcement saying that the exhibit hall is closing at 7PM. For the nth time, I was wrong again about the closing time.

We then went home, and now ready for Friday. But was I ever right? ...........

Preview Night of SDCC 09

Oh yes, it's that time of the year where heroes, villains, monsters, aliens and all that weird stuff gather in one place. It's Comic-Con!!! This time, we get to go for 4 days.

It's my second time around, and I came prepared. I did my research, took my time in checking which booths I'd want to go first and made an estimate of how much moolah would jump out of my wallet.

But me being the cheapskate that I am, told my lead nurse prior the week before, if I can come to work on Tuesday night (my shift was from 11pm to 7am)which was the night before Comic-con. I was thinking, I'd probably have enough sleep before going to the con. But i have totally forgotten about someone from the cable company coming over around 8-10 AM. To make the long story short, while I'm writing down this blog, I've been up for almost 26 hours with just 2 hours of sleep in between.

Anyways, this year's Comic-Con was a huge disappointment for me. We bought the 4-Day pass thinkin that there would be less people on preview night. But when we got there at around 6pm, the crowd was already huge. Lucky for us, we were able to get parking at the convention center which was way cheaper compared to the other "pay parking" lots around the area.

And when we got inside, everything was a mess. People are everywhere, the exhibitors in my opinion were overwhelmed with the huge number of attendees. One of the booths that was included in my plan, didn't even had a line to start with. People were just making their way through to the nearest cashier.

Even though the ensuing chaos was way out of hand. I was still half dazed thinking, I probably died and gone to toy heaven. It never seizes to amaze me, that toys can still have that distinctive allure that affects adults like me. Probably 80% of the people at the con are at the ranges of 18-40 years of age. Which makes you wonder, where are all the kids who are supposed to be the one enjoying these plastic goodies?

With our little one on the way, I'm already thinkin, "What would be a nice costume for our baby in next years Con?".

We are soooo spoiled!!!

Few months back, we went to Mexico for a day trip. It was fun. Had a couple of tacos and lobsters. But what made that trip memorable was when Anna lost her camera. We didn't notice till the following day.

When we went to San Francisco, although we have 2 SLR's and mommy's digicam, Anna still wanted a point and shoot of her own. We went to Costco and went cam hunting. She just wanted the same model as mommy's cam, but it was out of stock. I convinced her to get the newest model, and she ended up with this cam. She loved it.

After a few days after coming back from SF, I was thinking that our Dell laptop was also due for an upgrade. We then went to Fry's, and I had my eye on a couple of HP laptops, but after an hour and a half of looking and trying out several laptops, i decided to just walk away and just settle with the one that we had.


We went for lunch and then headed to Wal-mart. But i just can't get rid that itch. I want something new, and I'm not going home empty handed. We went back to Fry's, but again, it took me 30 minutes to get what i really want. And instead of an HP, I ended up with a Toshiba. Which was cheaper and better.

But things doesn't end there. Anna kept asking when is she getting a new phone, but i kept telling her soon. During this weekend, she asked me again, so I told her, "OK let's go to AT&T". We we're just there to take a look at the new iPhone 3G S. After an hour of convincing us to change our cable provider from Cox to AT&T. We then stepped out with a new iPhone.



Hmmmmm!!! We are sooo spoiled!!! But in a couple months, someone else besides me and Anna will be saying the very same words, in a "goo goo" kinda way.

San Francisco Road Trip: Day 1

The first leg of our trip started in Torrance (Los Angeles). We stayed in a friends house for 2 days. We we're supposed to go to Universal Studios but the weather wasn't cooperating and ended up in several Target's and Wal-mart's instead.

The gang was just happy sitting and enjoying the day.

San Francisco or Bust

Anna's mom flew from Alaska for a month long vacation with us. As a treat, we'll be spending 6 days in San Francisco.

We have our new mascot, Ooohgee the Monkey. Along with him are some of my toys, Bumblebee, The Thing (Fantastic Four), B.A.T.(G.I. Joe, Starscream (Transformers) and Masterchief. Here's a pic of 'em setting up for the trip.