Scaring yourself in the woods...

So, I am on holidays this week and next.  This week I am up at my dads cottage, with him and Padme (my 7lb little pooch).  Dad has 10.5 acres of land in the BC mountains on a lake.  It is pretty awesome up here.  Every day Padme and I have ventured out and walked his property all around and down to the lake.  Today though it was different.  Maybe its the fact that a bird SO huge that when it flew over my head i could heat the wings whooshing, or I have finally just read one too many scary books but standing at the bottom of a very large hill looking out at the lake, I heard all sorts, all around me... snapping and creaking, cawing and rustling.. Padme kept sniffing the air, looking up and me and then looking off somewhere.. Its that kind of feeling you get where you laugh at yourself, then turn and irrationally run up the steep hill giggling all the way....

the foliage is so high, you can't see what is lingering in there...

Hu? Wha? Was that something up on the ridge?

Padmé bravely leads the way...

Really Dad? A bridge and path to no where, but off a ledge? Nice one.

Obviously nothing got us, but oh how your own imagination can be your own worst nightmare, though hoofing it up the hill sure was good cardio!

One the note of scary, check out Steve Niles (http://www.steveniles.com/), prequel to The Thing by Dark Horse comics, you can read it free this month (2 are out so far) https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/1181.the-thing-1/

Supporting and Funding what you love

Recently, thanks to the power of Twitter, I discovered something called Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/)

One of my favorite pass times is reading comics, mostly horror comics but I read other types as well.  One of my favorite comic authors is Steve Niles (http://www.steveniles.com/) you may know his name from 30 Days of Night, that was when I first discovered him, but he has done many books now and I was lucky enough to meet him a few years back at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo... I totally digress... anyway he tweeted about a project called Womanathology (http://www.facebook.com/#!/Womanthology ) and that it needed funding via Kickstarter.

I checked it out, and decided to support the project.  As I have looked around the Kickstarter site there are A LOT of really cool looking projects on there in need of help.  You always get something for helping (though that's not the reason for helping out).  Have a look, there were quite a few other projects Id love to help fund, but sadly I need a new furnace and winter is cold in Canada.

I think it is cool that we can help fund what we love.

Comic picks for the month:

Walking Dead #88 http://www.imagecomics.com/comics/4173/The-Walking-Dead-88-MR-
Doc Macabre (all three) http://www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/1538/
Lady Mechanika (2 out so far)  http://www.joebenitez.com/mechanika.htm

My favorite online comic book shop:

http://www.tfaw.com/

Or if you are in Calgary I shop at http://www.comickazi.com/ or http://www.another-dimension.com/

*I'm not affiliated with anything listed above, its all my humble opinion and if any of these sites mess you about its not my fault! I have had nothing but great experiences with them though... if you have a bad experience I take zero responsibility for mentioning them! (eep!)

Calgary Comic-Con

... or otherwise know as The Calgary Comic &  Entertainment Expo (http://www.calgaryexpo.com/).  This is something my sister and I have attended every year (except the first one, we missed that year damn-it). 

We, as always, had a great time.

This was the first year, they opened up on Friday night.  So off sister and I went to exchange our tickets (which I had pre-ordered back in October) for our passes.  I had also booked us for a photo-op with William Shatner (I am a huge fan of his). 

We got our passes and went in!  We booked our photo-op and signing spot for The Shat and then wandered around a little (I was getting over the flu, so we kept it short).

We went and met Jonathan Frakes, who was so friendly and kind, we were able to chat with him for a while and he posed for a pic with me.  I think his smile summarises him 100%.

Next we stopped by The Guild (http://www.watchtheguild.com/) area.  I guess it is rare that they all come to one Con at the same time, so I was stoked to meet the whole cast and the very lovely Felicia Day.  We got there as they were still setting up, but there was already a line up.  Sandeep (who plays Zaboo) had created a cardboard sign, that listed the autograph fees.  The handler shouted out :this is worth one in a million, Ill take bids!:... People were shouting things out, and I yelled :I will give you my sister!:  SOLD yelled Sandeep.  When we got to him, we laughed and joked about the comment (see his signed pic below for what he wrote), I told him she would be ready for pick up at 9.  Later on as we left the con I tweeted Sandeep a thank you for joking with us.  Well! He tweeted me back the next morning: I was waiting at 9pm! what happened. your word is your bond!: We spent the weekend joking back and forth.. very cool, super nice guy!

Meanwhile, I had been Tweeting Teddy and Ajay from Space (http://www.spacecast.com/) Sister and I had met Teddy the year before and he had posed with us for a picture, that Space later put up on their Facebook page (we were thrilled) Teddy was super nice.  This year I had tweeted a little bit with them, and when I found out they were both going to there I told them I was happy they would be there.  Friday night we tried to find them, but with no luck.  Again, thanks to the power of twitter I was able to find out that they were there and would be there all weekend.

Kate Vernon and Micheal Hogan from BSG were there, and friendly and chatted with me.  I called Micheal a Frakking Toaster, he took it well.  He signed my photo FRAK EM ALL lol.  Kate was very sweet and signed my photo :Bottoms up!:.  If you have watched BSG, that make sense :)

My sister and I picked up some T-shirts made for the Con by William Shatner (pic to follow).

Saturday was the crazy day, and leads to my one and only complaint about the con. We went and picked up our passes Friday night thinking we would be able to walk in fairly quickly Sat and Sunday. This was not the case. Even though we had our passes we had to stand in a massive line up to get in. I am not sure what the advantage was for picking up these passes ahead of time, but it was a smidge annoying. Anyway! That day we had a lot to do. There was meeting Shatner, our photo with him, and the panels done with him (our mayor White Hatted him.).

I also met Christopher Judge from Stargate (also very nice) that day as well.

We stood in line for quite a while for Shatner, even though we had booked a signing time, and then of course you are shoved through quickly.  I did make sure to mumble a few words to him and he did look at me but sadly it was rather anti-climatic.  We also had our photo-op, which again is pretty rushed... I look rather shell shocked.  They shove you towards your idol and yell out :LOOK HERE: then snap and off you go lol.. again I said a couple of things to him and off we went!  We are wearing our shirts, that he designed in this pic.

My brother commented that I look like Shatner just told me :you suck: lol that's my brother.  Sister had a little doll with her that her friend made her,  it is Little Kirk, and very awesome.  You can see him there.

Saturday we also finally met up with Teddy and Ajay.  Wow what super nice guys, I was really impressed that when I told Ajay my friend name, he knew my last from tweeting.  These guys are awesome.  They told us to stop by their booth on Sunday, we said we would.

We got to watch a lot of the costume contest, wow some are amazing.  There are a lot of pictures on the Expos Facebook page, check it out, they are amazing. (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=537532399#!/home.php?sk=group_14718621017&ap=1)

Sunday, had us going back for Summer Glau (sorry guys no pic) and Shopping.  They have amazing artists and comic book authors there.  A few years ago I met Steve Niles.. I nearly died lol.  My bag was full and nearly too heavy when we left.  DC Comics, also had a booth there to promoted their reboot, and were handing our free first additions of many of the comics, I loaded up! 

To go back to Teddy and Ajay, their signing booth was that day, sadly I got stuck in the Summer Glau line and when I got there was too late and was turned away by their Handler.  Ajay saw this, and that night Teddy sent me a message on twitter apologising... I mean really... WOW.. as I said such nice guys! 

We had our Guild photo-op and was able to joke with Sandeep some more!

We went to the Jonathan Frakes panel (where he too was white-hatted) and then the Guild Panel which was funny.  We left at the very end of the day, exhausted but totally happy.

Our little Con has become one of the best in Canada (I think), the organisers are awesome along with the staff.  Cant wait for next year and see who they get!  Its in April next (that is normally when it is).

Check it out!

What a week and it's only Monday

As I was playing EQ2 on Sunday night, someone shouted out over the chat lines that Osama Bin Laden was dead.  I quickly googles this and saw it was true.  I was glued to my TV and Twitter account.  Holy crap.. the bastard was dead.  Shot in the head while hiding behind two women.  Yup, that's a leader to be proud of.  I am glad the American people (and the families of anyone who has lost someone because of this nut job) has justice, but my fear is... is he now a Martyr?  The people who follow him will now be even more enraged and have more hatred towards the American People.  This worries me as I have American friends and travel several times a year to the US to visit friends there. 

I thought Obama's speech was great, brought a tear to this Canuk.  I remember clearly 9-11 ... scrabbling for hours trying to get in touch with a friend who worked near the Pentagon.. getting evacuated from my building as it was an Oil and Gas company in a big companies building... No one knew what was happening, seeing the footage of people jumping from the towers.  It was awful.  I am glad he gone from this world now, I just wish his death wasn't so swift, those people in the towers and planes suffered, some for hours...

Conversations with my dog.... Part One

Padmé is my 7lb white, Maltese-Shi-tzu cross…. These are events that did happen, I just wrote dialog to them...

Padme: Tra-la-la :Huge-Ninja-Pug: Ima gonna mess you up tiny dog *bowls Padme over* :Padme: YIPE! :Me: ACK WTF! :Huge-Ninja-Pug's mom: OMG I'm SO sorry! :Huge-Ninja-Pug: Im not through Ima gonna git you.. uh oh :Padme: OH NO YOU DIDNT :Huge-Ninja-Pug: uh-oh :Padme: BOWOWOW *runs full out at Huge-Ninja-Pug* :Scardy-Kat-Huge-Ninja-Pug: HOLY ^%$@ *runs off* :Padme: That's right bitches! :me: BAHAHAHAHA good girl Paddy!

Padme: Mummy it is bEAUtiful out here :Me: Yup! :Padme: I am getting pretty wet though :Me: Yes, you are.. another bath is in order I think :Padme: Aweeeee maaan :Me: Sorry no mucky feet on the hardwood :Padme *sighs* can we stay at the off least ALL day?!?!? :Me: Nope, got to go clean the backyard up :Padme: Blueberries?! :Me: yup in a couple of months.... *Padme runs off* - GET OUTSIDE TODAY!!!!

Padme: *nudging my calf* Look Mummie a wonderful-I-love-it-so-much-and-must bring-it-with-me-STICK! :Me: umm that's not a stick it's a log and bigger then you :Padme: Nah, I can drag it.. umm give me a sec... oh no better from this angle, wait this will work... :Me: I am not picking that up... other dogs have prolly peed and pooped on that : Padme: but.. but... bah you SUCK MUM! *runs off*

Padme: Yay! Off leash time :Me: Enjoy, going to get cold again :Padme: Look Mummie ima gonna run real fast :Me: Mind the ice! :Padme: Ice-schmice, look at me gooooooo woah WTF! *slip! slide! smashy! kronkel!* :Me: *stiffling laughter* You okay baby? :Padme: *giving me the skunk eye* Ima fine... your laughing... you gotta sleep sometime laughing girl!

Padme: Look mum a telephone pole! :Me: Uh-hu :Pole: ... :Padme: Just going to take care of some buisness :Me: Hurry Up its getting Dark :Pole: CREAK! :Padme: ZOMG WTF! :Me: BAHAHAHA :Padme: Shut-up Pole: ....

Padme made friends with a massive tank-like black lab at the off-leash... they ran all around together ... Paddy was so brave with Webster around to protect her.. she'd chase after big dogs then run back and hide under him lol

Me: mmm this stew is good: Padme: ..... : Me: Oh I need more milk: Padme ..... *me getting a glass of milk and coming back into living room*: Padme: mmmm this stew IS good: Me: .....

My First Post

Just as I start my first Blog SGU starts.. *sigh * with only a couple of episodes left *shakes a fist at the SyFy channel*  I want to sit and watch it live :)

I have no real thoughts for this Blog, other then what pops to mind.  Lesson one about me taught and learned,  I am a Sci-Fi nut job.

:)