What is On Jeffs' Mind

I thought I would do a quick post on some of my 2012 resolutions.

Probably the one I was most excited about for the year, was recommitting myself to completing my vintage Star Wars loose figure collection. I said to myself that each month I would get one figure. Well today, my first vintage figure for 2012 arrived. A few weeks back I won an eBay auction for a vintage Emperor Palpatine, and today he arrived in the mail. It is probably not one of figures that was very high on my list, but none the less, he was on it. I got it for a pretty good price, and it came in a bag. Hard to tell if he was ever removed from the bag or not, as there was a piece of tape on it that looked really old. The paint looks good, and the joints are very stiff, so if he was loose before, he did not see much play. It is probably a figure that is not one of the harder ones to get, but to me, he represents the start of my goal for 2012 and until I complete my collection. Welcome to you new home Emperor.

Another resolution I had was to get more healthy and exercise more. My start has not been what I was hoping for. I started off the year being pretty good with riding my exercise bike. But after a few days, I was pushing myself to hard and ended up getting a rather painful rash, that led to a sore back. So for over a week, I had to not exercise as I tried to recover from my rash and other pains. I started back earlier in the week, but not pushing myself as hard, and making sure to incorporate more stretching. So I am hopeful if I ease into this more reasonably I can up my pace and intensity in short order.

No further updates, but my other goals are still on my mind constantly, so hopefully in the next month I can start making those more of a reality.

Tags: Exercising, Star Wars Vintage

I guess I have something to celebrate for 2012, I have finally gotten to the point where I can record stereo through my mixer. That is a big thing for me as I have been battling this since summer when I got the mixer. I have to admit this really got me down, probably more down then I was expecting. I think for most of the fall, I was in a real funk about this. Working in computers, I somewhat pride myself in being able to figure out a lot of things, but this mixer had me. I guess another part of my frustration was that I could not just easily buy another mixer, as I don’t have as much available cash as I did a few years ago, thanks to my company not recognizing that the cost of living has increased (That is a complaint for another time).

It came down to I had the wrong driver selected in the recording program, and that I am limited to using this Mixer with a recording program that supports an ASIO driver. I am sort of up in the air about what I am going to do with the mixer. I don’t really like using the Cubase software that has come with the mixer, it is much more then I really need, as there is so many settings to configure. I might play around with it a bit over the next few months, record a few podcasts, and see how I feel. I sent the tech support a question as well if there is some other recording programs that would work with this mixer that I could try. I might just sell it as well , and use the money towards a different, less advanced mixer.

At least this is off my mind now, and I am grateful for that.  It has been a bit of a journey of frustration and doubt. So I am hoping now I can get my collecting podcast back on track, even if I have to use software I would not normally use. Hopefully this is the start of some good things coming for 2012.

Tags: Mixer

I will be doing a series of 3 posts on my favorite ships from different Sci-Fi Movies and TV Shows. This first one will be ships that are not from either Star Trek or Star Wars. Then I will have posts, one for Star Trek and One for Star Wars.

One of the reasons why I like Sci-Fi so much, is for the Ships. There is something about them that really grab me, so I was thinking, why not talk about some of my favorites.

Original Series Cylon Raider

This ship has always been a favorite, since the first time I saw it as a kid. I really like that it has some what of a saucer shape, but looks so menacing. It looks fast, it looks tough, it looks mean. When I think about this ship, I think about all the stock clips from the old Battlestar Galactica series, where the Cylon Raiders would cruise onto the screen in packs. I saw it over and over, but never tire of those clips. They are iconic to me.

When I was a kid, a friend down the road from me, had a toy Cylon Raider, and I would remember going over and always gravitating to that toy. The Cylons in side were pretty small, and it shot little missiles, but I thought it was real cool. I am not really sure why I never asked for one from my parents, it might have been there were other Star Wars toys that I wanted more. But I had a lot of good times playing with my friends Raider.

When the updated Battlestar Galactica came out, I was interested to see what the new Cylon Raider would look like, and to be honest, I really did not like it, and still dont. I get the idea that in the new series that the Cylon and Ship are one, but I guess the design of it really did not grab me. They did come out with some larger Cylon ships that were bombers, that were more reminiscent of the original, but they never got a lot of screen time.

Jupiter 2

A pretty plain looking ship from all accounts, but I find something charming about it. From the 60′s show Lost in Space, each week the Robinson on the Jupiter 2 would travel to some new strange world and have a new and usually cheesy adventure.

I think what I like about this ship, is it simplicity, as it really is just a saucer, almost like what one would imagine of a flying saucer from that era. It spun when it flew, landing and take off. It had a big front wind shield so to say, where they could look out to help navigate. But since it’s mission was to take the Robinson’s to different planets as they found a new place for the people of Earth, it was sort of a futuristic Motorhome.  There was two floors to it as we saw on the show, with the upper level for navigation, and the lower level for living.

It did seem for the size for the Ship, that they were able to pack a lot into it, as they had a Land Chariot, a bunch of equipments, and a crew of 7 plus a robot. The sets looked quite large compared to the scale of the ship when we saw it on the outside. I suspect back in the 60′s, they did not put as much thought into the scale like they would now. Also it was Lost in Space, so a very Cheesy show. But still, I really liked this ship, and some day I hope that I can get some sort of model of it.

Blackbird BSG

I have always liked Vipers from Battlestar Galactica, and I actually like all of them from both series. There is something about them that I really find cool, they look so fast, and can deliver a good punch. Some might say they are a bit derivative of the X-Wing as they have some of the same lines to them with a long nose, rear engines, and red striping, but I think they are cool none the less.

I chose the Blackbird out of all the Vipers as the one to put on my list as I found it different from the rest, but still very familiar to the over all design. They don’t really consider it a Viper, but part of me still does. It is cool as it is black, and made for stealth. Built from carbon fiber they use it to go on secret type missions when they want to do surveillance, since it cannot be detected like the standard Viper.

It was named Laura after president Roslyn on BSG, and it is a pretty simple design. There is not a lot to it, and it is pretty sleek. I think part of the reason why I like this ship so much, was that it was in some of my favorite BSG episodes. I always liked more of the space and ship based episodes compared to all the dramatic and arc based episodes. So anytime they got out in the ships and did battles or missions, I really liked the episodes.

Phoenix

Growing up one of the cartoon series I watched a lot was Battle of the Planets. I remember watching it every day after school, and looking forward to it. The show was based off a Japanese anime show called Gatchaman, and re dubbed and edited for North American audiences. It followed 5 young people who protected Earth from an enemy called Spectra. The crew was led by their commander Mark, his second in command was Jason, Tiny piloted the ship, and Princess and Keyop rounded out the crew. Their base was an underwater facility called Center Neptune.

This was a real cool ship in my opinion, it was a pretty basic design, and was blue and red. But what the Phoenix could do made it so special. 4 of the members had their own vehicles which would be located in different parts of the ship. It was always cool, when they would show clips of the Phoenix picking them up. Jason had a race car that would fit into the nose of the ship, Keyop had a buggy of some sort that was in one of the wings, Princess had a cool looking motorcycle that went in the other wing, and Mark had a jet that would be docked in a hangar in the back of the Phoenix. All their vehicles could transform from standard type vehicles to the special vehicles they used to protect Earth. Another thing that made this ship so cool, was that they could transform it into what was called the fiery Phoenix, which was that the ship turned into a flaming bird.

This ship will always hold a soft spot in my heart as it was one of the first models I ever built. I built it in the early 80′s at summer camp. I wish I still had the model, but I don’t as I played with it quite a bit. I suspect that I did not do a very good job, since it was my first model, and I might have been a pre teen at the time, but it always gives me some nice memories of the time. It is a ship that I am hoping that one day I can find a model of, as I would not mind having something in my collection. I look for it off and on on eBay but never really got to anything serious, but it is on my list of ships I would like.

Original Series Basestar

Seems like my list has a lot of Battlestar Galactica ships in it. I guess for me, I really liked the ships in the shows, and they really grabbed me. The Original series had a lot of episodes based on space battles and missions, and like I said, I really like sci-fi shows that focus a lot on ships. The Basestar from the original series I thought had a real cool and different design from the rest of the ships.

Again, like the Cylon Raiders, I really liked these ships, especially when they traveled in numbers, as they looked like a formidable opponent. Basically they look like two disks which tapered down and connected to each other. They had a much different look to them then the Galactica did, since they did not have a real traditional ship look to them. I guess they are a Basestar, so in a sense probably more of a Spacestation then a ship. I guess another argument could be made that they come off a bit similar to the Deathstar, since both are sort of round, and a ship or station that does not have a lot of detailing to it.

All I know, is if I was a fugitive fleet, on the run, that I would not want a pack of these following me, with their squadrons of Raiders that could be deployed to attack. I think some of the coolest Episodes these ships were in was the Living Legend episodes, where the Galactica and the Pegasus take on the Basestar is some cool battle sequences.

 

So that is my list of top 5 Sci-Fi ships that are not in Star Trek or Star Wars. I was going to add honorable mentions, but to be honest, there are probably quite a few ships I could add, so I think I will leave it at this list. Also, I only included shows that I watched a lot of, as I am sure there are plenty more cool shows with cool ship I have not seen. Maybe this list is a bit of a reminder to me that I need to watch some more Sci-Fi . My Followup posts for Star Trek and Star Wars I will add Honorable Mentions.

Tags: Basestar, Battle of the Planets, Battlestar Galactica, Blackbird, BSG, Cylon Raider, Fiery Phoenix, Gatchaman, Jupiter 2, Lost in Space, Phoenix, Viper

Wow, another year is upon us. I always like to look at the beginning of the year as a starting point, sometimes a fresh start. I do agree, that any day can be a day to start with changes, but my personality always acknowledges significant days. Not going to dwell on 2011 as I did that in my previous post, so this one will be more about 2012.

I am a person who likes to make resolutions, but I will admit, more often then not, I don’t keep them. But this year I am in the mood to do so, so I will. The past few days, I was going through my older posts, and I did find it interesting to see how I was feeling at times over the past few years. So more the anything, this might be a post I come back to in a year or two from now, so will be interesting to see if I have progressed on what I want to achieve.

Fitness – Pretty common for everyone to make, but I think something I have to address. I am not in bad shape, but I could be better. I think in the past I have had very ambitious goals in the area of fitness, so I think I will just make the resolution to be more regular with exercising. That is what I struggle with the most, is that I will exercise regularly for a month or two, and then fall out of the schedule. Then all the gains I made go away, and I am basically left at the point when I am started. I do believe that being fit is a key to having a productive and happy life, so I am going to make a better effort to work at exercising and being more active. I want to try and mix it up a bit, maybe some walking, some exercise bike, and maybe a few other things thrown into the mix. I guess I do have a goal in that I would like to wear Jeans again, it has been years as I have felt I was to heavy for them, so I am hoping at some point in 2012, I can get a pair again.

Clean Up Around the House – My office is a mess, and I want to paint it, so I want to get onto that in 2012. Clean out some of the papers and things that I don’t need, and then paint it a different colour. I spend a lot of time in my office, so I would like it to be a room I like to spend time in. I have a few others Ideas I would like to do with it as well, so I will put forth the effort to remake this room somewhat.
Also my basement storage room is a real mess. It is dark and dirty, and that is another room I want to give some attention to. Clean out some old garbage, paint the walls to brighten it up, and change the flooring. It is not the best space, but I think I can make better use of it. I will have a few weeks of time off to use up in the first quarter of the year, so I am hoping to work on those projects at that time.

Hobbies – Each year I make the resolution to work on the pile of models I have in my basement, and I never do. But over the past few years I have been slowly building up my hobby area in the basement that I think I am close to getting to these. I want to buy a laptop, for reference when I am working on models, and I think I am close to doing so. So I really want to commit myself to getting some models done this year.
I also want to keep more regular with my Podcasts, as stated in my previous post, I have issues with my mixer, so my collecting podcast will be a bit of a ways off until that is sorted out, but once I do, I want to get back to my monthly schedule. I am hoping the laptop will help, as I think it will allow me to work more out of my basement, as I just work better underground
I also want to be more regular with reading, as I sort of fall off on that just like fitness. So I really want to make myself read a bit each day as I really do enjoy it. My Sister and her Husband bought me a bunch of books for Christmas, so I should have plenty to read for 2012. I am not going force myself to read a certain amount of books in a period of time, but if I can be regular with reading then I will be happy. Books are great, especially at work, as it is a few minutes I can escape to other places.

Collecting – The one goal for collecting I have had is getting a complete Star Wars vintage collection, and maybe a few vehicles as well. I sort have this in my mind each year, but other things come up, so it falls to the way side. So I think I will try and get back on this, and set myself to a schedule of one vintage figure a month. Some months will be more expensive depending on what I am looking for, and might make sense for me to mix in some of the more costly figures with the ones that are not as much. But it is something I really would like to accomplish as a collector, and I don’t think it is a unrealistic goal.
My other goal is not really my goal, but the hope that some of my pre-orders come through. I have pre-ordered a classic style Battlestar Galactica Viper Helmet, and hoping that it comes through in 2012. I also have a Premium Format Han Solo in Carbonite statue on pre-order, that should be in the 1st quarter of 2012. Both are a bit of money, but I am putting some money aside to help pay for them. They are two things I really excited about.
I will keep up with my Star Wars Kubricks and Hasbro Astro-Mechs, as I really enjoy those. Also there should be a few Star Trek Diamond Select ships on the way that I want to get, so I think that 2012 should be a decent year. Of course there will be some other things that come up over the year that I will want, but I will make sure that I keep to a budget. I do feel proud that over the past few years, I have really been more selective in what I buy, and really don’t have any regrets in terms of collecting.

Personal – I want to work harder at being happier with the person I am. I think I have come to realize who I am, and how I fit into this world. Some times I struggle with it, as I tend to compare myself to others, and fail to realize that everyone is different. For sure there are things I can change about myself, as they need changing. I tend to spend more time observing, then doing, and I really want to be a person that does instead of watches others live their life. I want to point to my accomplishment, and feel good and proud about them. This is a journey I work on every day, but the start of the year is a nice time to reflect on it.
I also need to get out of my head, as I tend to get lost in my own world in there, and at times I think I lose touch with the outside world. I will always be a bit of a introvert, but I would like to break that up more. I guess part of me worries that I will become consumed by my idiosyncrasies as I get older, so I am hoping that over the past year or so, I have come to recognize them, and  work at changing them a bit. The saying, idle hands are the Devils workshop is so true, so if I can keep myself more occupied, it will help with my overall personality.

I will have to come back to this post later in the year to see how I am doing on these. Most of these things on my list are nothing new, so maybe I am using the New Year as a bit of a check point on them, and re examine on how I approach them.

Just want to wish all the people who read this Blog a Happy New Year and all the best for 2012.

Tags: 2012, Collecting, Fitness, Hobbies, House Projects