Tim’s Ramblings

Hello Fall… I kind of missed you but…when I had to grab my jacket this morning…I kind of didn’t.

The leaves are certainly pretty though. Really pretty.

I think in the end it’s one of my favorite seasons :)

“A Dreary Day Through a Dreary Window with a Dreary Tint”

…blah…

(54 degrees and rainy…still haven’t turned the heater on though…it’s not that bad in the house yet…)

So. Going to JemCon made me think about some of the stuff that I’ve collected over the years. And I realized…sure it’s knda funny and easy to smirk at people who collect Jem dolls but… Well… I used to have an enormous collection of anime related “figures” (not dolls!! heh heh heh) :)

I had a huge collection on my desk at work. But then they moved me to a smaller desk where I am now (since back then I traveled so much) so I had to take most home. They pretty much all came from those boxes where you don’t know which one you’ll get until you open it. So needless to say, it took me a while and a good amount of money to get all of them. Most of my coworkers who were fans of anime got the benefit of me going “goddammit…another double…uh…you want this?”

So. Tonight I found the bag that I threw everything in. It was a mess. Dusty and most of the pieces were in…well…pieces. Took me a while to even put all of these together. This is probably just a 5th of what I have still in tiny pieces in a bag. I’ll dust them off and display them one day :)

In the meantime here are a few. You can click on it for a bigger version. And bonus points if you can name them all! Oh…and here’s a hint…some don’t have names but are just professions. Will you get a prize if you name them all? Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe :)

So yeah. I guess in the end I’m not so far from those Jem fans after all…

Except you won’t hear me sing any of the songs from the anime in public… Heh heh heh.

Judie was raving about this beer a few years ago and she asked me if I could find it while in Detroit. Took a while but I finally tracked it down at a liquor store outside of Detroit a few miles from the airport so I picked up a case.

It’s…different. It’s not pumpkin beer because it’s spiced. So it’s literally like pumpkin pie filling with the sweetness replaced with the slight bitterness of the beer. I can’t tell if I really like it… I’ll try it again tomorrow after it’s far more chilled (it was cold tonight but not really really cold) and see how it is. I think with the current temperature, the spice was a bit overpowering for me. I guess if I think of it more like a dessert beer it’s not too bad.

It’s Screamin’ Pumpkin Spiced Ale by the Michigan Brewing Company. Pretty rare out there I think…I asked a bunch of people at JemCon and they never heard of it… Then again I don’t think there’s a large number of beer drinkers at JemCon…

It’s a day late I know. Didn’t have time to post last night.

Went to Detroit to meet 2 friends E and J. Of course the catch was, J was working the JemCon 2009. Yeah. You know. Jem and the Holograms?

Photos from there will come later (want to go watch football though the Bills are already down so…oh well…). It’s a pretty small con with a very tight knit group of people so I honestly did not get as many pictures…which is not entirely a bad thing…

Anyway, first off, the GM building in downtown Detroit.

It’s big. It’s imposing. It’s stylish. It’s futuristic. It’s so bankrupt…

Also went to the Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Museum. Those photos will come soon too.

JemCon, as you’d expect, had lots and lots of dolls on display with both original clothing and custom made ones as well.

Of course, the Misfits were here too.

Aaaaaaand performances as well as karaoke and dancing. Including a few songs sung by the voice actress who did the singing voice of the character “Pizzaz” (don’t ask me which one…I have no idea…)

All in all, an interesting and fun weekend. It was great to see the two of them and JemCon was a peek into a small group of very rabid fans. I have to say, most shows would be lucky to have this level of a following after over 20 years since the last air date… There was even a guy there from Amsterdam…

:)

Today’s photo is embarrassingly simple and poorly done. But it’s done to illustrate one of the frustrations of most photographers. The quest for the “perfect camera bag”.

It doesn’t exist…but we look for it… And this photo doesn’t show the smaller one I have that I have currently lent to a friend of mine along with my older DSLR. I just need one that can hold about 4 lenses weighing total of about 6 to 7 pounds, my Canon 50D with the battery grip, 2 very large lens hoods, my 580EXII Speedlite flash, about 4 filters, 4 memory cards, an 18% grey card, battery charger, 4 spare AA batteries, camera strap, cleaning equipment and a carbon fiber tripod all while providing quick access to the camera, preferably with at least one lens already attached without having to put the bag down and also being able to carry the bag easily and not get in the way while walking or going into buildings.

…that’s not so hard right?????

Right???

*sigh*…

Home finally!

Had an hour and a half long conference call and almost forgot about the photo of the day.

So. Looking around the house I realized I had a few things that have never made it as an official photo of the day photo.

Today it’s one of my 3 replica Japanese swords. It’s cheap (aka not thousands and thousands of dollars…), it’s not made in Japan. But it’s big. Heavy. And very very very sharp. Yup. My one piece of real deadly weaponry I have in my house (not counting my Henckle knives that are even sharper!).

I wanted to try for a look that I see in many Meiji era Japanese photographs (1870’s to the early 1900’s) where it’s not as much faded as very scratched up from age and the fact that it was many times printed on glass.

It looks much better in the bigger version that you can get to if you click on this one. :)

The saying on the scabbard is one of the 5 guiding rules for Japanese martial arts that also included swordsmanship. It states: “Hitotsu. Kekki no you o imashimuru koto.”

It can be translated many ways but it essentially means that one guard against impetuous courage. In another words, one should not get blinded by courage that can come up during the heat of battle and become irrational but instead should stay calm and collected.

:)

Last night of the main part of the user conference. The party was at Universal Studios. Good times :)

I usually don’t like to post where I work but…oh well…it’s not a real secret anyway…

The new roller coaster. Can’t remember the name. Didn’t ride it. But after seeing Cedar Point so often, this one looked…tiny…

And the exit to Universal Studios. It kinda screams out “FLORIDA!!” doesn’t it?

I found a use for the sticker that came with the Petite Petit wine. :) I had to get a new suitcase after my old favorite was busted on the trip out to Seattle but now it’s a common black Samsung free rolling one (it’s nice though). So I needed something to stand out and I didn’t want to use a ribbon. Superglue worked great along with the adhesive. :)

Ahhh…the gigantic swans on top of the Disney Swan and Dolphin hotel. This is my 4th trip out here for work… Been coming here far too often. This literally means I’ve been in Orlando at least 3 to 4 days every year for 7 years now… You’d think I love this place or something…

(cell phone camera…sorry about the quality..)