Star Wars Exhibit

On Sunday (04/22/07) Amy, Tony, Michelle, Steve, Sandy & I drove up to the California ScienCenter in LA for the Star Wars - Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit.

Click for full Gallery

I'd never been to the ScienCenter, frankly I'd never even heard of the place, but a few months ago Sandy found out about this show and we all thought it would be fun. It sounded similar to the exposition Sandy & I saw back in '98 at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.

This presentation was quite different. It wasn't near as big as the Smithsonian version and it had a lower "production value." But the Center made relations between modern technology and SW tech. For example, next to the medical droids was a display on real life cybernetics and implants. And next to the Land Speeder there was a display about mag-lev trains and other uses for magnetism. This included an interactive demonstration with magnets attached to Legos and a train track so you too could build your own bullet train. Unfortunately the Legos were all busted and/or missing.

All of the similar "hands-on" demos that I looked at were similar busted. The place was packed and I saw few, if any, staff to keep an eye on things... Plus this is near the end of the exhibit's run, so there you go, disappointing.

Still, I had a good time seeing the props and models. There was a Millennium Falcon cock-pit "simulator" that we sat in. It didn't move, but ran a mini-movie narrated by Anthony "C-3PO" Daniels and R2-D2 about the exploration of our solar system and galaxy. Movie was ok, but it was most nifty to sit in a replica Falcon pilot seat. We weren't supposed to take pictures inside, but I snuck one... Heh.

There were a couple dozen people wandering around in various Stormtrooper and Rebel Pilot costumes. I don't think they were officially associated with the Center, but they appeared to be welcomed and given VIP status. Hmmm... Perhaps they were volunteers. I didn't think to ask. They were quite accomodating when asked for pictures.

After we'd had our fill of the SW Exhibit we found they had a Rose Garden outside. It was beautiful. We spent quite some time wandering around. And after Steve's story about how honey bees are disappearing it was pleasing to see them doing their jobs.

The day finished with a stop on the way home in San Marcos at The Old Spaghetti Factory. I ate the usual (Manager's Favorite with Meat Sauce and "ala Homer"). A perfectly satisfying end to a fun day.

Retro Post - One Boat, One Day Rafting

Just as August last year, Dad, Sandy, Amy, & I drove up to the Lower Kern on Friday 07/28/06, stopping in Riverside at the Spagetti Factory. We stayed the night in Ridgecrest traveling the remaining distance to the River yesterday (Saturday 07/29/06) morning. But this year we met Nol and Chris at Frandy Park. The six of us went down the Lower Kern on the 1-Day Big Water Run. This was Nol & Chris' first rafting trip, my fifth.

Retro Post - Ride the Tide

I first met Jodie's beau Harry when they came down to join us for a day at the San Diego County Fair, themed a watery Ride the Tide to Fun. Besides Jodie, Harry & Sammy there was Mom & Dad Lee, Amy, Mom & Dad, Sandy, Kirt, Karen, Trevor, & Sarah. A whole posse there to have a grand time eating food, riding rides, eating food, petting ameenals, eat food, looking at exhibits, eating food, etc.

SD County Fair Pix

This Week In Bob - Episode IV

On Saturday 06/03/06 I saw X-Men: The Last Stand (IMDb) with Sandy, Amy, and Dad. It was good. I didn't like it as much as the first two, there was just something lacking in the story and too many inconsistencies between certain scenes that bugged me, but over all I enjoyed it. I was happy to have seen it on the Big Screen and would pay to see it again. It's like those certain comic issues where not much happens to move along the plot, but there sure is a lot of action.

I would love for them to continue the series, but I doubt they will. Maybe we'll get a "New Mutants" type thing with Ice Man, Kitty, Colossus and the other "kids" from the school. And of course there's much buzz about a Wolverine movie. I sure hope it becomes a reality. I've always liked the Wolverine character and I think Hugh does a fantastic job at it.

Disneyland was the destination for Sunday 06/04/06. Mom, Dad, Amy, Sandy and I went up to the Happiest Place on Earth so the first three could be Born in the Park.

The New Borns completed all In Park Quests (with some help, hehe) and Sandy and I completed the High School Musical Quest. We got to ride many of the rides as it wasn't too busy. We tried to make up poses for the pictures. Here we are doing Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, and See No Evil on Space Mountain.

Another fun thing to do at Disneyland is posing with the characters. Here's a shot of myself with one of the rarely seen Face Characters, the Evil Queen from Snow White.

Early in the evening our party was joined by my Riversidian friends Shane and Kellie (yes, I know Kellie doesn't actually live in Riverside - HA). And we all got our picture taken with the Mouse Himself.

Not much else happened the rest of the week. Sandy and I had dinner at her parent's house on Wednesday. I played a ton of VMK throughout the week and on Friday I won a Space Mountain Guest Room in one of the Arcade Games. I was very happy about that. I was also a trading maniac and got lots of nifty stuff that way. I'm thrilled to see that the Newsletter is showing pictures of a Pirate Piano (Organ?) and Jack Sparrow costume. Oh, I can't wait! You can't either? Check out Disney's Pirates page.

I really need to make the time to do this on Mondays or Tuesdays, instead of telling about the previous weekend three or four days later on Thursday or Friday. Heh. This up coming Sunday the plan is to hit the San Diego County Fair which opens this weekend. Mmm Yummy food! HA! Until then, thanks for tuning in, and I'll catch ya next time. Happy Journeys!

This Week in Bob - Episode II

On Friday 05/19/06 I went to Best Buy and purchased a new digital camera. This is *my* first digital camera (any other that I've used was either Sandy's or one from another friend or family member). I bought a Sony DSC-T9. I also bought a 2GB Pro memory card and a spare battery. Awesome camera! I can't believe how small it is (as pictured). It's smaller than a deck of cards! Besides some practice shots, I used it extensively at Disneyland on Sunday and it produced some lovely pictures.

Saturday 05/20/06 was a nice and relaxing day. I enjoyed some time futzing around on my computer while I waited for someone to come and fix our toilet (it had stopped working Friday night - all fixed now). I added The Cars, OMD, Dead Can Dance, and most of my Enya to my iTunes Library. Oh, but wait, I haven't talked about this in TWiB yet. I have over 800 CDs and I am working to rip the songs from those CDs and put in them on my PC and iBob. I am keeping a spreadsheet that includes the number CDs remaining and so forth. Right now I am at 30.5 omplete. Still a long way to go. At some point I'll put a list of my Library online for all to view and envy over. LOL

In the evening I hung out over at Kirt's house. We chatted and shot the bull. Ate Cold Stone ice cream. Played Trivial Pursuit, heads up. And we both sucked. We know nothing.

I also got an e-mail from CJ about this site. Had me laughing my ass off! CJ if you're watching, here's a Shout-Out to you!

As mentioned above, on Sunday 05/21/06 Sandy and I went to Disneyland. The day was cloudy and cool and the park was busy, but only in a medium way - not so crowded really. Sandy joined VMK and I won a couple of rounds of an impromptu VMK Scavenger Hunt. She completed the Tomorrowland and 50th Anniversary Quests (which I did when born back in April with Shane and Kellie) and we both did the Fantasyland, Adventureland, and Frontierland Quests. We got mucho codes!

With the upcoming Pirate movie not too far off, DLR is loaded with all sorts of new merchandise. There were lots of new pirate pins, including several with Goofy which made me happy! Here you can see Sandy and I sporting in our new Pirate Mickey Ears. Very spiffy, these new ears, complete with hoop earring and red scarf. I can't wait for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride to reopen!

And speaking of new rides, there is a new feature in the Haunted Mansion. It's still mostly the same old great ride, but they've completely renovated the attic scene. The new Bride is amazing! You'll have to see it for yourself!

On Monday 05/22/06 I received an e-mail from my brother with another picture of him and Colin:

Tuesday 05/23/06 was a lazy day. I played VMK, of course. I also I updated and added some content to my VMK page including some useful codes. Sandy added a cute story on Ted's Website. Yes, my dog has a website. - sigh - - LOL

Last night (Wednesday 05/24/06) Sandy and I went out with Amy, Michelle and Chris to PF Chang's. It was a good time, food was ok (I'm not really into Chinese, but when it comes to Chinese, Chang's is very good), company was better. This was the first time I'd ever really hung out with Amy's friend Chris. He's a cool guy!

One last little tid-bit, check out this Superman Returns Trailer. The end shot especially is so Money! Thanks for tuning in, see you next week! Until then, Happy Journeys!

This Week in Bob - Episode I

This is Episode I of This Week in Bob. Since I am often too busy and/or too lazy to blog every day, I will try to update about once a week from now on to keep you in the know about happenings in my life. In this first edition I'm going to go back a little further than 7 days to catch up with recent developments. I figure it's worth repeating, that Jeff's wife Steffi had their second child on Saturday 05/06/06. Colin Patrick Clemins was born at 7lbs, 7oz. and almost 21". Here my new nephew is pictured with his older brother Julian (who's just over 2 years old).

On Tuesday 05/07/06 Kirt and I went to Magic Mountain. We were there the whole day the park was open (10a-6p) and boy howdy did the Roller Coaster Gods Smile upon us! The park was empty. I swear there were more employees in the park than guests. We rode every open ride at least once, and most we rode several times. For example we rode Viper and Super Man three times each and Goliath was ridden eight times (pictured here on our fifth go)! The only down side to the day was that Déjà vu, Psyclone, and Revolution were closed.

But the highlight of the day was the new Tatsu roller coaster. It wasn't scheduled to open until Saturday 05/13/06, but they were filming a commercial the day we were there so we got to ride the new beast three times in a row. Wow, what an amazing ride! It is tied as my favorite all time ride with Goliath. It is a flying roller coaster and it's an amazing flight! I can't wait to go again!!

Saturday 05/13/06 morning Sandy, Amy, Ted, Riley, Xander, and I participated in the 12th Annual San Diego Humane Society and SPCA fundraiser Walk for Animals. I got $200 to support the cause - Thanks to all who sponsored me! It was a nice day and we saw many animals including hundreds of dogs, a few cats, a pair of miniature donkeys, and some snakes, lizards, and birds. A regular menagerie.

On Mother's Day (05/14/06) Sandy, Amy & I threw a Tea Party for our Dear ol' Mums. Sandy & I hosted it on our patio which we had spruced up for the event. We had decorated with flowers and fine china and so forth. We had finger sandwiches, fruit, cheese, scones, cookies, cakes, and little gift bags. And tea. Though no one drank any, heh, preferring-strawberry lemonade or Pepsi. The weather was warm and clear, but thanks to the umbrella loaned to us by Kirt & Karen, the hot sun was kept at bay. The over doted Ladies greatly enjoy themselves as you might imagine.

Thanks for tuning in, Happy Journeys!

General Blog Entry

The gang was supposed to go to Disneyland tomorrow, but that got cancelled. SoCal is in the midst of a big storm. And we San Diegians can't handle this strange wet stuff that falls from the sky. Maybe we'll go next weekend.

I've recently been in a creative mode and have been tinkering with my webpage. I've been trying to come up with a new color scheme. So far, no luck, but don't be surprised if you see some changes. Or not...

I've done some updates to Jeff's Page and finally bought him a domain name, jeffclemins.com.

Sandy, Amy, and Mom & Dad have also recently been set up with domain names (charleyd2.com, aeris75.com, and danandpat.com respectively). I also finally bought fjiejo.com. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm sure I'll Spread the Word and Keep it Sacred. Heh. I'm hoping one other domain becomes available. It's currently in a "RedeptionPeriod." Maybe the previous owners will let it die?

I hope... I hope...

This year's river trips are planned and I'm quite excited about that. I'll be going on a two day trip with the Riversidians at the end of June, and a one day trip at the end of July with Sandy, Amy, Dad, Nol, and Chris. I can't wait!

Last weekend Sandy & I cruised on up to Riverside for an Oscar party Shane was hoasting complete with BBQ, fruit, cookies, chips, dips, whips... The usual. We had a great time and it was good to see my Northern Friends Shane, Kellie, Ron, and Jay, and to meet some new ones. Sandy won the "Who's Going To Win" Contest, beating out Shane on the final award for Best Picture. Good times. Good times.

Hello and Happy New Year!

New Year, New Blog! I'll start it off with an End of 2005 summary: I had a fine holiday season which began with our annual trip to Disneyland. Which was a great time, of course! Christmas Day was fun, Santa was quite good to me, and Sandy & I hosted brunch for our parents (and Amy). New Year's Eve was nice, spent the day with the Lees and Midnight was brought in quietly with Sandy and Ted.

Retro Post - One Day Rafting

For Father's Day '05 and Amy's 30th B-Day Sandy & I took Dad & Amy river rafting with Whitewater Voyages on the Lower Kern River's 1-Day Big Water Run. We drove up to stay the night in Ridgecrest Friday evening, stopping at the Riverside Spagetti Factory for dinner. Yesterday morning we continued on to Kernsville and took our trip down river. This was Dad & Amy's first rafting trip. Coincidentally our guide was Rob (the same Sandy & I had just a few months earlier). It was a fantastic trip!

Retro Post - Disneyland for Amy's Birthday

Amy, Michelle, Sandy & I go to the Disneyland Resort to celebrate Amy's 29th Birthday.

Amy's B-Day at
Disneyland

New Employer: National Stores - Fallas Paredes

I started my first day of work for Fallas Paredes (the company that purchased my former employer Factory 2-U). I am working at my old desk in the same building as before, though I am no longer responsible to answer the F2U Helpdesk Line, nor to handle any of their Support. During the next 30-90 days I'll be working to facilitate the merging of the two companies. No details have been figured out, yet. So for the next few days, at least, I've got nothing to do but show up and get paid. When "They" decide on a plan of action, I'll be here to Make It Happen. Of course, then I expect it to get quite busy.

And once the transition is complete, and Fallas fully takes over, I'll be back in charge of their POS Helpdesk and working out of their new Support Center which will exist down in Otay Mesa.

Larry started work today too, in the same capacity as myself. Sandy and Amy are still employed with F2U, and it's still uncertain for how long.

As the world turns...

Well, it's official. I am no longer employed for Factory 2-U. I have been laid off. F2U has been in Chapter 11 since January and was just purchased by a collection of interests lead by National Stores (who operates Fallas Paredes). Though technically it still exists to finish up all the paying off of creditors, etc. and to assist in the transition of assets to Fallas. Larry was also given his leave today too.

You can read about the news in this San Diego UnionTribune article.

On the up side, Sandy and Amy are still employed with F2U, though for how much longer is still unknown. Probably at least for another month, maybe more. Also, my bosses (Mark and Maris) both really like Larry and I as employees. Those two have been given offers by Fallas and they in turn are expecting to re-hire Larry and I soon. So basically, if all goes well we'll be employed again doing the same job with the same people, just for a different company. I should have a better idea of what's going to happen on Tuesday.

In other news, I took my bad DIMM back to ChipsandMemory. The DIMM is under warranty with the manufacturer and I was told if I brought it in they would send it off for me. However, they just did a straight out exchange. How cool is that? Now I just got to install it, I hope I can find the time... HA!

And finally, it looks like GoDaddy got their shit together and propagated my domain forwarding. So, bobclemins.com is working now after my registrar transfer.

San Diego County Fair

Amy, Sandy, & I went to the San Diego County Fair. My favorite thing to do at the fair is to eat. And, Boy-Howdy! Did we eat! I had Australian Battered Potatoes w/Cheese & Ranch Dressing, Garlic Butter and Parmesan Cheese Indian Fry Bread, four Teriyaki Chicken Sticks, a Deep Fried Twinkie, an Italian Sausage Sandwich, Mini-Donuts, and an assortment of free samples. Oh, I shared a bit with Amy & Sandy, but I ate most of it. YUM! :D

We looked around the various vendors, rode a couple of rides (including the Mouse Trap - see picture), and played a few of the boardwalk games where I won a silly "Large" stuffed-animal lizard after beating Amy at a race - Ha! Ha! Sandy got her first "100" while playing SkiBall and won a couple of smaller stuffed-animals. We toured the Gem & Mineral Exhibit where I discovered a like/facination for the mineral Wulfenite. The cheapest selling specimen they had there was ~$150, too much for my blood. Sandy later found the mineral selling on eBay at much cheaper prices, so I'll be able to add a piece to my meager rock collection.

The finale came when I was hypnotized by Mark Yuzuik. This is actually the fourth time I've been in his show, dating back to 1991 at Magic Mountain. I'm such a ham too. Hee hee. It's fun. Among other things I was a World Class Air Guitarist, World Class Booty Shaker, and he "programmed" me to propose to Sandy, though "woke me up" before I actually went through with it. HA! Needless to say, Sandy & Amy really enjoyed the show too.

Journey to Atlantis

Sandy used her Star Freeloader Points to buy tickets for a "special" evening admission at Sea World for the new Journey to Atlantis ride. She took Amy & I and we later met up with Kirt, Karen & Trevor.

The Atlantis ride was quite a hoot and we got a "little" wet. Neat-o elevator. Trevor and I also had a good time at the Tide Pools, a personal favorite of mine since I was a very young kid.

Tomorrow it's off to the Fair!

Off to Texas for Shawn's Graduation

Amy, Mr. & Mrs Lee, Sandy and I arrived yesterday at Dallas Fortworth Airport. We're here visiting Cindy, Richard, and Shawn in the small suburb of Grapevine, TX (just north of DFW) for Shawn's graduation from Colleyville Heritage High School. We spent the day shopping and looking around downtown Grapevine and tonight we start the celebrations with a BBQ Dinner Party.

Update - Friday, March 30, 2007
Pictures now available here.