Star Wars author Karen Traviss

Jeff's favorite Star Wars author, Karen Traviss, was in town for a book signing. Jeff has chatted with Karen virtually over Yahoo and they've become a sort of friends. Since Jeff is off in Germany (and soon to be Iraq again), Sandy & I went down to get her latest book signed for him. The event took place at Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego. The staff at the bookstore were all very friendly and helpful, passing on well-wishes for me to give to my brother. The store was populated by fans and members of the 501st Legion.

Karen had a Q&A segment followed by the signing line-up. When it was our book's turn to get autographed, she happily remembered her Sgt. Clemins and was glad to meet him "by proxy," graciously posing for a couple personal pictures. She expressed her hope for his safe return from deployment and to one day meet Jeff over a pint.

May '07 - Update

It's been a busy couple of weeks since my last blog, so I'll dive right in. Earlier this month, way back on Friday the 11th Sandy and I attended a special Padres game. PetCo gave Sandy's Department access to their Suite at the ballpark. She got tickets for herself, her dad and I. The game was great, and good times were had all 'round. The Padres won over the Cards 7-0 on Retro Night. It was a shutout game that included 11 strike-outs by Padres pitcher Jake Peavy (1st Padre to get 10+ Ks in 4 consecutive starts), a "Star" caliber catch by Giles, and 3 Padre HRs. About 2/3rds through the game, Sandy & her dad were able to sit in the PetCo Dugout section seats for a couple innings.

On Saturday, May 19, 2007 Sandy & I went to Kirt & Karen's daughter Sarah's 2nd Birthday Party. Steve, Fran, Karen's parents, and others were there. Sarah's actual b-day is March 2nd, but life gets in the way sometimes. Heh. Ladybugs were the theme, hence the red and black colors. Pizza, cake, & ice cream were eaten along with personalized M&M candies. Very posh. The kids played games and enjoyed frame making crafts and coloring. Also Kirt & Karen's new van was debuted.

Sandy & I purchased DLR 1Day Parkhoppers for Mom & Dad for Mother's & Father's Day. The announced closing of DLR's VMK Central on June 3rd prompted the early trip without Sandy (who wanted Mom & Dad to get their final Quests) on Dad's day off. So last Tuesday (05/22/07) we three went on up to Disneyland. We had a fantastic time completing the quests and trippin' the park. Some highlights included the Jedi Academy show (1st time I'd ever sat through the full thing, it's cute, and would be cuter still if I knew any of the kids in it), Billy Hill & the Hillbillies, got pictures with Jack Sparrow and I had a "Dreams event" when I was given a pair of Tinkerbell Dreams pins (that I gave to Mom & Dad, of course).

Thanks to Memorial Day I got a four day weekend. It was nice and relaxing. On Sunday (05/27/07) Amy, Sandy, & I went up to Disney's El Capitan Theatre on DLR Annual Passholder Day to see Pirates of the Caribbean III - At World's End. While waiting in line at the El Cap, I took pictures of the theatre and the cast of Pirates that were there to entertain the crowd. Once inside we had time to visit the Prop Room. Prior to the movie we were entertained by a restored 1920s Wurlitzer organ - Amazing! The theatre was decorated and lit to set a Piratey Mood. What a great movie! Lot's of fun, and full of fan-service in-jokes. Sure the story had some unneeded threads, but who cares?! It was a great ride. After El Cap, we cruised on down to DLR on the way home so Amy & Sandy could pick up their final VMK Quests. I scored a 2nd set myself, along with 4 cast-only lanyard pins. We took some time to ride a few rides, and got the VIP Gimp treatment since Amy was in a wheelchair due to her recent foot surgery. The highlight of which was going Up the Haunted Mansion's Stretching Room, watching all the pictures restore their subjects to life. Creepy. Thanks Amy!

I learned last week that my brother Jeff (still stationed in Germany) is being re-deployed to Iraq in August for fourteen months. That was muy no bueno news to be sure. On the upside, I found on Monday (05/28/07) that he and his family are coming here to visit in July! That was grand to hear!!

Finally, a couple links for you surfing pleasure. I had time this last weekend to process and post some pictures from last year including the 4th of July and Halloween '06. Shane posted pictures of his recent Galapagos Trip (Wow!). Lastly, here's a Lost Season 3 Recap that Sandy sent to me, funny stuff.

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!

My New Nephew!

Here's my proud brother Jeff and my new nephew, Colin Patrick Clemins, born a little over four hours ago after only 4.5hrs of labor. Steffi's very lucky! Colin weighs 3,370g (7.43lbs), is 53cm (20.86") long. Baby and Mommie are both happy and healthy!

Update - Friday, March 30, 2007
More pictures now available here.

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.

Parents to Germany, Disneyland Loner

I took Mom & Dad to LAX early this morning. They're on their way to Germany to see Jeff, Steffi, and Julian. We got on the road at about 3:20a, arriving at the airport (after a breakfast stop) at around 6a. Their flight was scheduled for takeoff at 9:15a. It's a good thing we were there so early. The International Flights desk had just opened and we got in about third in line. By the time we got up to the desk the line stretched back over a hundred people!!! Whew! After getting their boarding pass and checking their luggage I left them at the security checkpoint on their way to the gate.

On the way home I went to the Disneyland Resort. Yup, to D-land all alone. I've never done that before and it was great! I got there as the park opened at 8a. I took the early morning time to look at some of the Main Street Shops while they were still empty. It was nice to have the stores to myself. Usually, they're so crowded! I learned about Mickey's All American Pin Festival. To play I had to answered seven Olympics-related questions on a card. I then took that card to various locations within the park, where they would check my answer (and if I didn't know, give hints until I got it right) and give me a stamp. At the final stop I got a free pin. :) Way cool!

I also experienced the joy of the Single Rider Line. Basically, as a single person you can go into the exit lane of most rides and skip the big line. You get put into any available seat on the ride. With Stand-by Line wait times between 30-60 mins I was able to ride California Screamin', the Maliboomer, and Mulholland Madness (each five times in a row) in about 90 mins. That was great fun! I also by-passed a 90 min wait for Splash Mountain and got on that in about 5 mins.

I stayed at the park for about 9 hours, and leaving at around 5p, got home at about 7:15p. A wonderfully long day indeed!