Nerding Out, A Photo Essay

The Great Annual Nerd Trek (aka Comic Con) brought many great fun and exciting adventures as it always does.  There's nothing like being amongst my brethren in gorgeous San Diego.  I wish I could share them all with you, but that would make for a long post.  And really, you guys don't want to read about 4 days worth of geeky pop culture goodness.  But I did have my camera phone at the ready to document some of it for you.

Here's the thing you need to know about the San Diego Comic Con:  It's crowded.  Like 126,000 people crammed into one building kind of crowded.  The walkways of the main floor are clogged with two kinds of people--those who are in costume and those who block up the passageways in order to take pictures of those in costume.  This causes the gridlock that can make walking the floor an exhausting experience.

Never wanting to contribute to the problem, I take my pictures on the fly.  So here's a small sampling of what I saw walking around the world's biggest pop culture convention while trying not to cause gridlock, along with some of my Tweets from the event:

I don't care if they were dressed provocatively, the group of goth clown girls were scary.

Oh THERE'S Waldo!

Girl dressed as Picachu your costume is downright adorable.

Overheard: "I got you a shirt, you won't let me get a sword?"  
 

Uh oh, Batman's in the bar.

Bite his shiny metal ass.

 The car from The Green Hornet

From the bar inside Flynn's Arcade

Storm Troopers ready to throw down.

Yes, this was as freaky as it looks.

Yes, this was as freaky as it looks.

WHAT TIME IS IT??

Don't know what Jack could have done to piss her off so much.

The Pope of Comic Con offer blessings of nerdy peace.

To the guy dressed as Birdman: I applaud your bravery for wearing such a revealing costume without having much to reveal.

 

It took until day 3 to see my first Na'vi.

 

If that wasn't Jamie from Mythbusters who just walked by me, that was a damn good costume.

2 hours on the Con floor is not easy on the body, mind or wallet.

For the record, I was not a part of the "stabbing" at Comic Con. I'm a passive geek.

Overheard going up the elevator: "Watch your cloak, Jasper." 

Well my fellow Con geeks, I must bid you farewell. So long and thanks for all the fish. Stay classy San Diego.


Want more of my Comic Con adventures?  Check out Culture Brats and see how I was transported to the 80s.

The Bacon Flavored Band-Aid

Friday night poker game at my buddy’s house meant a lot of pizza, a lot of beer and hopefully leaving with a few extra bucks in my pocket. As I was helping to set things up, my friend tossed something on the table.

I wasn’t sure what the true function of a bacon flavored toothpick was, but it had the magic word “bacon” on the package so you know that I was interested.

Since there were 7 of us there, I broke into the pack and as the cards were shuffled up and dealt, we each tried one. Here’s what we had to say:

“Tastes like a campfire.”

“Yeah, I taste campfirelisciousness.”

“It’s smoky and I love it.”

“It’s like sucking on a mesquite chip.”

“It tastes like my nightmares.”

“It’s got a bacony taste…and a band-aid taste.”

“Really, can I have one now? It's the band-aid that sold me.”

Slipping and Sliding

I always wanted a Slip N Slide, but I never got one. Growing up, summertime consisted of my sister and I spraying each other with the garden hose and running back and forth through the slow moving sprinkler. Sure it was amusing, but I wanted the kind of backyard fun I saw on Saturday morning commercials. The kind only afforded you if you had the right stuff.

For me, Slip N Slide (along with the Water Wiggle) represented the quintessential summertime toy. It’s an ingeniously simple concept. You put a thin sheet of plastic down on your lawn, water it (the slip) and hurl yourself down it (the slide). It’s the stuff of which America’s Funniest Videos are made, which is why I probably never got one.

One of the great things about being a parent is the ability to re-do your childhood through your offspring. The fact that I coveted but didn't get a Slip N Slide meant that it was an unquestionable fact that they would have one.  This was decided about five minutes after I found out that we were pregnant with our first. Since then, I've been biding my time waiting for them to grow up enough to use one. In the meantime, I’d occasionally stroll through the toy aisle. I happily discovered that the once humble sheet of plastic has been upgraded with some fancy new features, like a water filled basin which not only ends the ride with a splash but keeps you from sliding off the mat preventing the ever-painful grass burn. Some of them even attach to a hose which keeps the slide constantly wet.  Technology rules!

Summer finally arrived full blast this weekend as temperatures in the Valley reached 110 (and will stay this way until November). WonderWife™ agreed that our kids were Slip N Slide ready, and because she is brilliant she planned ahead and had already procured one--a fancy one at that!

The kids’ eyes got big as I unfurled the plastic and turned on the water. While it may have been sweltering outside, they didn’t feel it because they had an amazing time staying nice and cool running around and soaking themselves on their new Slip N Slide.

(Oh yeah, and at long last somebody else got to use it too.)

Our Life and New Products: He Said, She Said

There was a new email waiting for me when I logged on the other day. It was from WonderWife™. After reading it, I glared at her aghast.

“You really want me to post this on my blog?”

“Yes,” she said matter of factly. “People need to know the truth.”

I’ve never been one to limit anyone’s freedom of expression, and if I’ve learned anything in my marriage it’s that censoring my wife isn’t the smartest idea.

“You know that I’m going to need to write a rebuttal,” I told her.

“Fire away, Geek Boy,” she said.

So in what looks like it might become an annual feature, I present to you a guest post from WonderWife™:


It’s been well documented that DGB is a fan of anything labeled ‘new; or ‘limited edition’ or is otherwise labeled in a way to entice him to try the latest trends in junk food.

Today, as I randomly offered him a Tic-Tac, he noted, “I saw them in Pina Colada flavor at the convenience-mart earlier today.” 

Um, what? “Why didn’t you get them,” I demanded. “Were they labeled ‘new’?” 

When I was told that they were labeled “Summer Edition” I nearly lost my shit. How is that not the same as “new” or the like? What possible explanation could he have for passing them up? 

“I just wasn’t interested,” he lamely explained. 

Not interested?!?! Those words barely register with me. For him, each trip to the Sev for coffee, each trip to the mega-mart for groceries, each trip to the gas station (with attached bodega) all warrant a trip down the snack aisle in search of new products. And now he just waltzed right by such a treat. How can it be?

This isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened. A few months ago, I was cutting coupons and the geniuses at Keebler were promoting a new cookie:

They’re labeled ‘new.’ They’re cheesecake, which is something that I’ve never known DGB to be opposed to. They even come in dark chocolate. I was sure that I’d stumbled on a winner, so had been looking for them each time I went to the mega-mart to no avail. Each time I was in Target, I took a slow walk down the cookie aisle. No dice. I’d even duck into convenience stores to see if I could find ‘em, but always walked away empty-handed. Then one day, DGB and I were at the mega-mart together and behold – there they were. I scooped them off the shelf and presented them to DGB as though they were an offering. And he promptly dismissed me them. 

“Eh,” he said. “I don’t really need them.” 

He has created a monster in me. I find it hard *not* to look for foods emblazoned with ‘New’ or ‘NEW’ or ‘Limited Edition’ on them. I have even enlisted my family to help in my quest of procuring the newest goodies for my husband. And now that he’s brushing them away right and left, I’m left confused and hungry for those goodies out there, labeled ‘new’ and calling my name.




Ahem.

Considering that my wife and I do not have many common interests, I am flattered that she’s developed an obsession with new products along side of me. However, as per usual when it comes to WonderWife™ and me, there are vast differences in how we go about life.

The accusations put forth by my wife here are indeed true. There have been a few new products that I have not bought or tried. Although I do love something new, it has to be something new and interesting to me for me to spend the money and calories on it. There could be a cilantro and mushroom bar with a “new” or a “limited edition” on it, but it doesn’t mean I’m getting it. There are dozens of new products on the shelves all of the time. I’d go broke trying all of them. Some of them just aren’t that unique. Milky Way’s Simply Caramel bar had a “new”. Chocolate and caramel may be new to them, but really it’s nothing blog worthy. 

In regards to the cheesecake cookies, WonderWife™ caught me at a time where I was thinking about trying to eat healthier. So while they did look good, they didn’t seem so extraordinary that we should’ve bought them, which would have lead to us devouring the whole bag that night while watching AFV.  When she was standing in the aisle with the bag of cookies that she was so desperate to find, she could have mentioned the extend of her quest.  She could have ignored what I said and bought them anyway.  But she relented and put them back on the shelf and walked away. 

In retrospect, I should have bought the Tic Tacs. If not for me, for my wife. She’s good enough to bring me home new products and it would have been a nice gesture to return the favor. And now that they are gone and I can’t find them again, I wish I had bought them cause now I really want to try them.*

So in that case it’s my loss. And hers.






*expect to hear about this from her in the comments

Trust and Security

She held her hand over her mouth as we approached the train, her non verbal cue that she was scared.  I reassured her as I lifted her onto the seat.  I explained the noises we would hear and the sights we would see.  The train whistle blew and she flinched for a second.  We lurched forward and her hand began to tremble slightly.  But as we wound our way around the track, she unclenched her fist.  The breeze kissed our faces and made her smile.  For our entire ride she never let go of me.  Her tiny hand clamped onto my finger as a sign of trust and a show of security.

Voicemail

The Bean has been known to ramble since he could first talk. Now that he’s getting older and (slightly) more coherent, he’s really taken to talking on the phone. This has been great considering how much time we’ve spent apart these days. He’s also figured out the joys of voicemail. At first he rejected the concept completely, unable to figure out why I wasn’t responding to him. But now he’s become an expert at the random voicemail message.

He left me this first one on my cell phone about 7 days into his 10-day vacation on the east coast. This is transcribed verbatim:

“Um, I love you. Goodnight. But I know I will you see you when I come back. Did you know that? Oh boy! Thank you! I know you’re going to take me out. It’s going to be great. I love you. I love you. Kiss kiss kiss. I love you. I love you. Hey Dad! Goodnight. Goodbye.

(As he’s hanging up he says…)

He will love that message!”


Moments later, this message was left on my work voicemail:

“Hi Dad. Um, I love you. You get two messages. WOW! You want two? Oh great! Yea! You want to hear them? [Something something something] real. All aboard! (shuffles phone). Goodnight. I never know that you were at work. Wow! Cool! Gooooodnight. Goodbye. Good everything. Goodbye.


(As he’s passing phone back to WonderWife™…)


He will loooove that message!”


But this one, left for me at work last night, might be my favorite for it’s complete randomness:


“Okay. Um, Dad? Goodnight. But this is one thing. I didn’t get any stories tonight because I flicked my toothbrush. Um, did you know this message is going to be so long. Oh! And just…I went…Um I sang “Mary” and I’ll have an electric toothbrush someday. Oh! You know that already. Ha ha. Oh well! Um. Mom is having new teeth. And…This is such a nice message. I know but Bloo isn’t really a blue. He is blue blue Bloo! Ha ha ha. (singing) Aw eew eh ah ah ah. Mom’s glasses!


WonderWife™: Can I have the phone please. Say goodnight.

Teeth teeth teeth! Goodnight!


WonderWife™: And what else?


And zoooo long!"

You're Despicable

Hey everyone...I got an early look at the new animated flick Despicable Me. Check out my review over at Reeling.