What is On Jeffs' Mind

This afternoon, I decided to check out a few toy stores, to see what is out in terms of Star Wars collectibles since my afternoon was free as my Wife was playing Mahjong with friends. Recently Hasbro had released a new line of figures, which come on a Vintage style packaging. I went over to Toys r Us to see what was there. They had a few of the new figures, plus they had something I had been wanting for a very long time, the Twin Pod Cloud Car. I must say I was very tempted at getting this. I will get it, but will wait until I go on my trip to the USA in a few weeks. I figure with our dollar being fairly strong right now, and that these toys are usually cheaper in the USA, that I will wait. But it was very hard to walk out of the store and leave that ship behind. My friend Dan from Boston was telling me a few weeks ago how nice this ship was, so I am really excited to get it. So I am hoping that waiting will pay off for me with getting it for a good price.

After I went over to Walmart, and I found they had all the new figures released for this Vintage wave. I picked up a Boba Fett, and a cloud car pilot. They had a few others as well, and I was pretty tempted to get them, but I held back, since I really don’t collect action figures anymore, and at 10 dollars a piece, it is not cheap. With these new figures, I am going to be very selective on what I buy, it will be hard to pass on them as I like the packaging so much, but truth be told, I just don’t really have much space to display these anyways. The Cloud Car pilot, I picked up as I will need for my ship when I get that. I bought some a few years back, when they were issued before, in anticipation of this ship coming, so I should be set for when I get the ship in a few weeks.

Even though I just bought two figures, it was nice to be a bit excited about new figures and ships coming out. It has been a few years since I felt that way towards action figures.

Tags: Boba Fett, Cloud Car Pilot, Star Wars, Twin Pod Cloud Car

Over the weekend, I was at the annual Edmonton Indycar race,  and had a great time. The weather this year was pretty decent, maybe a little to sunny for my liking, since I sunburn easy, but the temperatures were pretty manageable. In the past, some of the weekends have been very hot, with temperatures in the mid to high 30′s, but this year, saturday was the hot day in the high 20′s, and the other two days were mid 20′s.

They had changed the grandstand layout this year. Due to the promoter Northlands cutting back on expenses, they did away with our turn one grandstand, and replaced it with additional RV parking. I will say, I was disappointed, as I really liked watching the race from that area. Our new grandstand was behind the pits, and we had a good view of the middle of the track, but I would prefer to be on a corner where some action happens. Some new promoters will be taking over the race next year, so not sure what they will do in regards to grandstand configuration, but hopefully maybe we get a chance to move to one in a corner. The RV parking bugs me as well, since that area of the track is blocked off to everyone except the RV owners. That is the section of the road course, and in the past we would go down and watch the cars in the practices, now we cant do that. I think it is short sited, and can see it is only a business decision. I could see where people who buy a general admission ticket, would not see the value in continuing, since there seems to be so few places to watch the race without a gransdtand seat.

I have never really cared for how Northlands have run this event, as each year, the off track entertainment seems to get less and less each year. I am hoping with the new promoters, that the party atmosphere comes back. I suspect Northlands figures since this runs the same time as CapitolEx, that is people want a fun atmosphere, they will go there, but since I don’t plan to, I miss out on what we had in the past. The food selection in thin as well, with not much to really choose from. You have your Hotdogs,  Hamburgers and Pizza, but not much else. A few specialized booths, but for the most part, the food selection is limited. As expected, the food prices are expensive, which I would be fine with, if there was more selection. But I can see, where bringing a family to this, would be a major outlay of money. As a simple hotdog and drink is going to cost around 10 dollars, so not family/budget friendly pricing.

I have always been and will be a big Champcar fan, so it has been hard to accept this new Indycar series, as the cars are inferior to the Champcar. One more year of the current configuration of car, and then they will go back to a Turbocharged car, and a chassis that is more suited to a variety of tracks, and not just Ovals. I am not really digging the proposed chassis, but hoping that the car will be more racy on tracks like Edmonton. I guess when I actually see one, I will have a better idea on how I feel. The current form of Indycar does nothing for me, we go through the paddocks, which is cool, but the cars are ugly to my eye, and underwhelming since they are 3 seconds slower on this track then the Champcar. But I was happy to see, with the new Indycar branding, and the IRL branding going out the door, that all the garish IRL tradmarks and branding are gone from around the track. I guess being a Champcar fan, I found the branding to be more appealing, and this new Indycar branding seems to be a step in that direction.

The race was alright, some controversy at the end, with Helio Castroneves being black flagged at the end of the race, and a surprise winner in Scott Dixon. Will Power had been pretty dominate in the race, but had lost the lead to Helio Castroneves a little earlier, and was blocked by Castroneves when attempting to pass. At the end of the race, Castroneves stormed the flag stand in anger, and provided some post race fireworks. Paul Tracy had a good run for the day, finishing in 6th, after starting so deep in the field. But watching this race, it really showed how much faster the Penske and Ganassi cars were over the rest of the field. Hopefully with the new Chassis, it will level the playing field out a bit more in the future. Simona Di Silvestro had a good qualifying, but unfortunately got bumped, and then problems with the car later on, but she looked very quick, and if not for the problems, would have had a good finish.

The Indy Lites race was alright, a bit of a parade at times, and only a handful of cars. We skipped the Canadian Tire race, as it seems like the same old same old each year, and without Andrew Ranger in the field,  we were not interested. I guess from that standpoint, we are casual fans, as we only seem to watch if certain people are in the race. The day before they had the Northern Alberta sports car race, it was fun to watch, and saw some good drives by a few.

I have some to the conclusion during the weekend, that at some point it would be nice to be a person who can go into restricted areas around the track. At times, it felt, like me the race ticket buying fan, that I help pay for this event, but a lot of times I am spending time looking at more privileged people from behind a fence. A race event is really a dichotomy of a class system, as there are areas for VIP’s that the rest can only watch from afar. Companies the sponsor cars or the series, seem to have people who get some pretty nice access to different areas of the track. I was watching the Pit lane from behind a fence, and noticed a bunch of people strolling up and down the lane. But for the common fan, you can buy a pit access pass, but it really in not pit access, as you are behind a fence, really on a few feet in front of the rest of the general public. To me, that access is a sham to sell, as they sell it as pit access, but it is not, but there are still non race team people strolling up and down the real pit lane. Maybe someday I can go to a race, and be able to walk into theses fenced off areas. But sadly to me, I notice more and more each year all the places that is restricted to me, and some of those places offer a good view of the track, and their is less for the person who actually buys a ticket.

Fun weekend, looking forward to next year, hopefully it will be better

Tags: Champ car, Edmonton Honda Indy, IndyCar

It has been a real long time since I have made a post. Life the last few months has been a bit unexpected at times, but I think it is starting to get more predictable, or at least I am getting better at how I handle it. I am going to be on the lookout for some cool things to blog about. Also, I will be putting in some more effort on my Collecting Podcast very soon, my basement is nearly completed, and I have a few days off coming up soon, so I can set things up a bit more in my basement to facilitate it.

From looking at the control Panel, looks like their is an update for the wordpress software I am using, so I guess I should update that, looks like a bit of a release as jumping up a number, so I guess there might be some changes coming soon on the layout. Not sure what they are, but I guess I will find out after the update.

The Annual Edmonton Indy Car race is coming up soon, so I will probably have something to say about that. Will lie if I say I am pumped for it, as I still find the racing package to be underwhelming, and from all reports, still have a nother season to go until their is any updates. But I will put a post in about the weekend.

A few weeks back, had a busy music weekend. On Saturday, went to see Iron Maiden, and they were great. This time around, they played songs mostly off of their last few CD’s, so it was cool to hear songs I had never heard live. They were touring in support of their latest CD called The Final Frontier, even though it is not released yet. On Sunday I went to see Star Wars in Concert. A great experience, and I really enjoyed it, cool experience, I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Star Wars.

Tags: IndyCar, Iron Maiden, Star Wars in Concert

The Final episode of LOST was wonderful, just a great ending. Thinking about after, leaves me very satisfied, and I like how they have ended it, but have left it open to each persons own interpretations, faith and belief of death and the afterlife.

To me, the Island was real, the characters lived an important part on the island. The final seasons flash sideways was of the step to the Afterlife after each has died.

What Jacob and the Island gave each passenger on Oceanic 815, was a chance to change their course in life, to change the person they were, to lead them to the point to going to the after life, and then passing over. Once each person died, they enter into the next phase, a different life, where they are a different person, but without the island, but with the same people that they were with on the island. Once they as a group were ready, that life ended and they moved onto Heaven. If we don’t work together, we will die alone. Very touching.

Thanks so much to LOST for 6 great seasons, and such a great ending, that has given me the chance to reflect and maybe strengthen my beliefs and faith on what is next after this life.

Tags: LOST

The past week was nothing short of a nightmare in regards to work.

Earlier in the month, at work we attempted to migrate our clients Microsoft Sharepoint servers from 2003 to 2007. Our first attempt at it had to be backed out after we discovered some problems with performance and issues with adding users. The adding users was resolved quickly, but the performance problem dogged us for a week and a half. Many calls to Microsoft support, lots of logging and investigation was spent. That troubleshooting led to having to work on the 20th and 21st in attempts to solving the issues. So on the Saturday, I start work, only to find that one of the servers was not operating, after a full day of troubleshooting, it was decided that it was best to reinstall Sharepoint. Boy, was that a mistake, we installed it, but the resource that we had, got busy on other things, and we were left with an unconfigured Sharepoint. Throughout the week we worked on the performance problems, only to find in the end, that it was a netbios issue in that it resolved the SQL servers name slow. So essentially, adding the SQL servers into the local hosts file for the Sharepoint servers fixed the issue with the performance. After that we continued on with the configuration, but ran into a problem well trying to configure the SSP for the farm. Another call to Microsoft, and working late at night with a deadline date looming. After a few stressful hours, the fix was found, and involved running a command on our second Sharepoint server. A few other issues were resolved, and we were ready for our Migration.

Armed with my steps on migrating, I set out on Saturday to start the configuration. Well it could not have gone any worse. Our first attempt failed, when we could not load the front page. We decided to try again, as we felt some other config we had done earlier in the week was causing an issue. The second attempt was a failure as well. People were getting pretty worried, as these servers needed to be done by March 31′st and this would be our last attempt. Another call to Microsoft, and we worked through the night and into Sunday troubleshooting the site. Finally after hours and hours of troubleshooting, we copied over the part of the Sharepoint site that was working from a different server. That fixed the issue, and the servers were done.

The past week was probably the most stressful and most hours I had ever worked. I had worked basically double my hours for the week, and all very stressful. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I did not get a chance to eat my supper until 12:00 am each night. The only bright spot in the work week was the Star Trek comic I received from my friend Rick in the mail, it is cool, and I am looking forward to reading it. I would start work around 7:30 and would not be finishing until 12:00 am, so basically lived the job. The second weekend, I worked from around 7:00 am Saturday morning until 2:00 pm Sunday, only taking a few hours off to go setup for the toy show on Sunday.

Probably the hardest part of the weekend, was that I ended up missing a good part of the toy show. once work had finished on Sunday, I headed to the toy show, but only got to spend a few hours there. I had a table again this year, and was so looking forward to selling and talking to all the different people. Jason shared the Table with me, and covered for me. He actually did a great job selling my stuff, he sold a lot of the stuff I could never the previous few toy shows. By the time I arrived at the show, most of what I brought was sold, so that was a pleasant surprise. But it was a real disappointment to miss so much. I was there to setup and there to tear down, but missed the real heart of the show. I was happy to get there for the final few hours, talk to a few people, wander around, and man the table.

I was so tired after working straight so many hours, but I am really glad I went. My friend Dale had a great setup of all his Kubricks, it was incredible to see all the Star Wars Kubricks in one spot. Dale is the only known person in North America with a complete collection of Star Wars Kubricks, and his display was impressive. Dale also sold me a set of Boba Fett Kubricks that were on the card. They are the first set of carded Kubricks I have ever bought. It is beautiful, as there are six different variations of Boba Fett. I am really impressed, and so happy Dale sold it to me. He told me about it on Saturday well setting up, and then told me again about it. I am just so happy to buy these, they are just so awesome, and since I have been a Fett fan, really something I should have in my collection. I am going to check with my Wife to see if there is some way I can get this mounted so I can hand it on a wall. The car backs for these are cool as well, as they mimic the Vintage Star Wars Kenner figures from back when I was a kid. All I can say, are these are awesome, I am so glad I went to the show, and it helps make up for a hell of a week.

Tags: Boba Fett, Dale, Jason, Microsoft Sharepoint, Rick Moyer, Star Wars Kubricks, work

I have not really slept well for the past few days, so some of my thoughts may partly be because I have not really had a real solid sleep. Laying on the couch this morning, my mind was thinking about all the things in my life that I haven’t been able to put as much of myself into as I would like. Recently I have been focused on a Sharepoint migration at work, and it has chewed up a lot of my time on the weekends, but it really just goes deeper then one project or application. Last week, I had to take some time off to balance out my work week, since policy changes at where I work will only compensate us for 40 hours. You can work more then 40 hours, and I am sure the company would like that very much, but you will not get any additional pay, or the ability to bank the hours for use later. Even though I was off, I still felt burdened, I was thinking, what were others thinking of me for being away, well there was still so much to do, I was thinking about the long hours this weekend is bringing, and just thinking about how tired I felt.  My job weighs so heavy on my mind, and I am frustrated that it does, as it shouldn’t.

I was thinking about all the things in my life that I haven’t been able to put more into, and made me feel sad.

My Family: Last night I went over to my parents for my nephews 6th birthday, I had been working all day, and I was not able to wrap his present properly. I felt bad for that, as he deserved better then that. I knew he would just rip it off quickly, but it was something small that I wasn’t even able to do. Also my mind was not really there, as I was lost in thought about the problems of the day, and what we will be doing today. I think of all the times over the past few years, when I was not there for my family, because at times I placed work ahead of my family. It was not something that I wanted to do, but I did in the end, and I truly regret that.

My Marriage: I am not as attentive to my Wife as I should be. We seldom go out, and many times even when I am not working, I am tired or I have work weighing on my mind. There have been times over the past few years, where she has gotten the short end of the stick, as again, I have placed the wants of my job ahead of her. A few years ago, we went on a weekend trip to Banff. Shortly before we left, I was informed that I needed to execute a change. So We had to rush back early from the trip so that I could do the work. She never truly got to enjoy that weekend in the mountains as we were there, and then we were gone. This summer, her mother came to visit, which was a busy time since we also moved. They went on a few trips, but I was never able to accompany them, as I was working. The one trip I did take them on to Jasper, was a one day trip, again, in and out, no real time to check things out. I recall we did see some great things, like some awesome waterfalls and watching some people cliff diving, but all to short and brief as needed to get back.

My Friends: I have some great friends, both local and non local, but I never spend as much time as I would like with them. A few weeks ago I spent some time with my good friend Dave. I had not seen him in awhile, and I called him up as I needed some help with picking up some building supplies, and then the following day for help when my TV broke. He was there to help me out, and the time I got to spend with him I really enjoyed. My other friends as well I have not spent much time, the two Jason’s I have not seen very much of, it has been a long time since I met up with my friend Donald. My friend Jason from Calgary is always asking for people to come down and visit, and I have not done that in so long, as usually every weekend I have committed myself to some sort of work. My friend Jason who is local, as mentioned going out for something to eat, and I have missed the last few times since always seems to be something with work.

I also have a great group of friends online, and I have seen all the great fun things they have done. But over the past few years, all I really have done is stand on the sidelines and watched, never contributing anything to the endeavors that they are doing. Some of what they have done, were things I was very interested in, but due to the time I was putting into my job, I have never participated in them. I look back, and that was a wrong choice, even if I did not have a lot of time, I should have contributed, as I think it would have been very good for me. I am grateful for my friend Rick, who I email regularly, we had a great chat on Friday, and I wish we would do those more, as we talk about a lot of fun and interesting things. I also exchanged some emails earlier in the week with my friend Dan, and talked about some shared interests we have. It is just so awesome to talk with people who have the same interests as you, as it makes you appreciate it more. I need to spend more time in my online communties.

Hobbies: I have not put much into my hobbies and the things that I really have passion for. This blog is an example, as it has been sometime since I have posted. I need to do that more. I had some great ideas for it, and I have never really allowed them to take off. My Podcasts as well, I have neglected them as well mainly due to work. My main Podcast that I do with my friend Jason, Champodcast, it feels at time I am just putting the minimum into it. The website for it has not changed since we launched, the forums I should be posting more, and more time spent on promoting it. But lately I have just been maintaining instead of building. My other podcast What’s in Jeff’s Basement, I have done nothing in the past year. I promise myself that when I get my basement done, more time will go to it, and I need to keep to that promise. Jason and I are also talking about launching a site for our group of Podcast we are working on, I was thinking about it the other day, but haven’t done anything more on it, I need to get on that.

My collecting has taken a bit of a back seat over the past few months as well. I have picked up a few things, but for the most part, I have really not done much. That is not a bad thing, as that is spending money, but I should probably try and follow it more closely, as even if I am not buying anything, I am still interested in what is released. This upcoming weekend is the annual Edmonton Toy and Collectible show. I have a table again this year, and will be selling a few items. I always enjoy that, mainly for meeting up with fellow collecting friends and talking about the hobby. The scary thing, is that I am considering missing it over work, if I do that, I will regret it. The issues we are working on now seem to be pointing to the toy show weekend for that work to happen. I have to find it in myself to say no to work, and place this Toy Show ahead of what ever demands are there. I think from a general mental health stand point, if I miss this show and doing something I really enjoy, it is going to stick with me for a long time and fester.

Around the House: Last summer I moved into a house. There have been renovation that I have done, but they have taken painfully long to do. My basement is near completion, but for the amount of work, they probably should have been done much sooner. There is still other things to be done, but it seems like I am always putting them off as I am either working or tired from it. Once Spring comes, I also need to get out in the yard and make sure I manage it before it becomes to much, with that, you cannot wait to long.

From the start of this Blog to the end of it, I have found I feel much better. Just writing down some of my feelings and frustrations with where I am right now had been somewhat cathartic. I was not really intending that when I started this, but at least it has helped in that I feel in a better mood to take on what I have today, and to realize that a lot starts with me. Work seems to be the main reason for my troubles, and I have struggled with it in the past. It usually gets over me and pounds me down, probably because I let it.  I guess all one can do is the best they can, and let that speak for itself. Some of the things I worry about, are just not my responsibility. The project I am working on, if it doesn’t get completed on time, that is some one else to deal with. If I look at it simply, if it is not my responsibility, then I should not put any of my energy, effort or worry into it.  For work, things work out the way they work out, for my life, what I truly care about, that is where my attention should be.

Tags: Champodcast, Dave, Jason, Jason L, Rick Moyer, Sharepoint, Tao tao, What's in Jeffs Basement, work