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

A few weeks back, I got all my books sorted out and picked up on my reading again. I had been reading very consistently earlier in the year, but when the move came, I stopped, and was never able to get it back on track again. Reading at time for me is like exercising, in that I can get into a rythme and do it, but once I fall off, takes some effort to get back on. I really do like reading, and it was not that I wanted to stop, but for whatever reason, it took awhile to pick it back up.

I really like reading Star Wars and Star Trek books, to the point that those are really the only ones I read. I guess for me, I just like the thought of continuing in a universe that I am very familar with. The stories I really enjoy, and at times I find them much more deeper then what we have seen on Movie or TV screens. Another reason for me, is that I find it much easier to get into these books, as I know all the characters and situations so well. Some times with other books, not based off any particular series, I struggle to really understand the environment and the characters, since I don’t have a frame of reference to start with.

Not to say that I would not like to stray from Star Wars and Star Trek books, and try something different. I hope if I can keep up with my reading, that my skills will get better, and maybe at some point I can give something else a try. I really like series based books more so with Stand Alone books. I have read a few Star Wars and Star Trek stand alone books, but just prefer the series based books. I like the idea that the stories continue to grow and there is a flow from one book to the next.

So far I have been doing well, since picking up books again on late October, I have read 2 Star Trek books, the last 2 in the Destiny 3 part series, a great series I really enjoyed. Right now I am read the second book in the Coruscant Nights series, and will probably read the 3rd when I am finished to complete that series. After that I got another Star Trek Titan book to read, Star Wars the Force Unleashed novelization and a Star Wars 501st troopers book. I have been trying to put in at least a hour a day with reading, and there are so many great stories I want to read, hopefully I can pickup my pace.

Tags: Reading, Star Trek, Star Trek Destiny, Star Trek Titan, Star Wars, Star Wars Coruscant Nights

Yay

Today we got an extra hour do to Day Light Savings Time. So I spent it not being overly productive. There is a few more things I can do in the backyard, but I will save that for some other day. Well, unless it snows, then Cest la vie. I need to start priming the basement walls for painting, but I think that will be a project for next weekend. There are a few boxes of books and CD’s that I should unpack, so I might work on that. It might be alright as well as I can flip through them a bit and look at them, since they are mostly Star Wars and Star Trek books. I also like Organizing my CD’s, call me OCD, but I like to put them in Order of release and Artist.

I still have a bit of TV recorded to catch up on, this morning I watched the final Formula 1 race from Abu Dhabi. Real cool looking track, some interesting racing near the end for second, but for the most part it was the locale that was interesting to me. Some of these F1 tracks look like something out of a Video game. The one things I really love about Formula 1 is the in car cameras, with my TV and HD, you really do get to see the excitement of being in one of those cars. I love it every time they cut to one of those cameras. I wish every car was mounted with one, and someday maybe have a channel or feed devoted strictly to those. Just really great stuff. After that I watched the last half of the Nascar race from Talledega, Typical plate racing, with a few big wrecks at the end. Looks like Jimmy Johnson pretty much has the championship wrapped up again. I don’t watch a lot of Nascar races, but things like Talledega get me watching. Maybe partly as waiting for the big wreck, but also reminds me of my online racing sim days, and all the laps I put in at Talledega in the Sierra/Papyrus Nascar Racing game. Those were some fun times, and not sure how many online races I did at Talledega, but it was by far the one I raced the most. I just got Forza 3 the other day for my X-Box 360, so over the winter months, looking forward to putting in some time with that. 3 Nascar races left, Texas is up next, but will skip that as don’t care for that track. Will watch Phoenix, as I like that track, and reminds me of my Online Sim days as I had a big Victory at Phoenix.

Days is moving away, so I should get to something else. I picked up reading again, and maing some good progress on the Star Trek book I am reading. I will have to go to the book store and get a few more books, and hopefully I can get back on pace to at least 1 book a month.

A quote from Calvin and Hobbes on Weekends, I pretty much believe this.

“Weekends don’t count unless you spend them doing something completely pointless.”

Tags: Calvin and Hobbes, Formula 1, Forza 3, Nascar, Star Trek, Star Wars, X-Box 360

Not much overly interesting lately to talk about. So this post will be a little bit of this, and a little bit of that.

 I am really getting excited for the new Star Trek movie coming out soon. I even took the Friday off so that I can go see it. I would like to go see it at the first showing, but not sure when that is, possibly Thursday evening, so I will see. If not, then I am set for the Friday to go during the day. Lately I have been trying to avoid finding out to much information about the movie, so I have not been looking at any posts or sites that talk to much in detail about the movie. I want my first time watching to be as unspoiled as possible.

I got a few cool things in the mail this week. I got my Treks in Sci-Fi  T-Shirt from Rico. This time it is grey, and has some important Trek dates on the back of the shirt. Looks cool and already wore it once. The next day I got in some LOST Kubricks that I had won in an eBay auction a few weeks earlier. They are pretty cool, in the series: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Sayid, Charlie and Hurley. I think I like Locke, Sawyer and Charlie the most out of these, but all are very cool.  I do hope that they continue on with these, as I think they have so much more to do with them. I guess I will have to wait and see. Below is a pic of the Sawyer Kubrick.

The weekend was pretty quiet. I had originally planned on going to Calgary for a Comic Show, but decided that there wasn’t much I really wanted so decided to stay home. Tao tao and I did some cleaning around the house, and rearranged our Kitchen. In the evenings I watched some DVD’s, I felt a bit like a kid in that I watched some Battle of the Planet and had some Pop Shoppe Pop . It reminded me of when I was a kid, I really liked that Pop, and it pretty much tastes the same as it did when I was younger, The Battle of the Planets just set the mood .

Tao tao is finished her school now, and she is going to start looking for work. Hopefully she can find something quick, as she would like to save some money to go back to China this summer. This afternoon we went over to the mall, and she picked up some applications from a few places. At least stores had Job Applications out, so that is promising.

Looking forward to a new LOST and Fringe this week on TV, they are getting close to the season end for both series. Heroes season finale is on Monday, and hoping that it is good, last weeks episode was not bad, so hoping this one is as well. I am sort of hoping they leave Heroes with a cliff hanger, so it gives me something to think about over the summer. Presently I am reading Darth Bane: The Rule of Two, is seems pretty decent so far. I am trying to read more, as I am hoping at some point I can read two books a month, as there are so many Star Wars and Star Trek books I want to read.

Tags: Battle of the Planets, Charlie - LOST, Darth Bane, Fringe, Heroes, Hurley, Jack - LOST, Kate - LOST, Locke, LOST, LOST Kubricks, Rico, Sawyer, Sayid, Star Trek, Star Wars, Tao tao, The Pop Shoppe, Treks in Sci-Fi