Father's Day June 20, 2010

With Zoey only 4 days old, my family gathered at my parents' house for dinner and celebrating Father's Day; My dad's 29th, Ron's 1st. To see the really cool geek gift I got my dad, go here.

We took turns passing around the baby, Matt played with Zander, and we all had a great time.

As I get older, I realize how important even these small get-togethers are in keeping our family close. I'm glad we all still live nearby and can make time for each other.

Day Glo Red plays in New River

Matt's band is still playing on the Northwest side of town, so I bribed my friends Josh and Becky into making the trek to New River with me so I didn't have to drive alone at 3am. We had dinner at Kid Chilleen's Kick-Ass BBQ. I have looked at that place to the east of I-17 for many years, and finally had an excuse to have dinner there! After dinner, we headed to Gavilan Peak Sports bar, and watched the guys rock out. Unfortunately, there were only about 20 people there, but everyone enjoyed the music.

Welcome Baby Zoey!! June 16, 2010

After delaying her original arrival date by a week, my niece Zoey finally made an appearance.

She was beautiful, even at less than a day old (these pictures are from 6/17/10, around 5 in the evening. She was born at 10:30pm, 6/16/10).

My mom is thrilled to have a granddaughter to spoil and dress up. Even Zander doesn't seem to mind sharing the spotlight with his new little sister.

See you next year, Phoenix Comicon!

Becky & I woke to our third and final day at Comicon. We made our way over to the exhibitor hall, and waited for Aaron Douglas to arrive. While waiting for Aaron, Levar Burton showed up so I paid the $30 to have him autograph a poster for my mom's boss. Levar seems like a very nice person, and I understand that the money the celebrities' make at these shows is mostly due to what they sell and the charging for autographs. That being said, there was a small 11 year old girl with a Reading Rainbow shirt, but no money. Levar's handler told this girl (with Levar sitting right there) that he would be unable to sign the shirt without the payment. I thought this was bad form on his part. The other people at the show were more than happy to sign things, pose for impromptu pics and chat. He seemed removed from the process.

Aaron finally showed up (very handsome in person), and signed a picture for Becky that she purchased, posed for a picture, and chatted with us about hockey, Battlestar Galactica, and beer until more people realized he was there and got in line for autographs. Thanks for being cool Aaron!

The last part of our day was watching Spike Lee's question and answer session. Thank god for Mr. Lee. He is funny, intelligent, and realizes that his characters, while entertaining, are his creation.

I had a great time at the con. Kudos to all the workers and volunteers who make the show possible, and to the actors, authors, artists, and everyone else who shows up to contribute.

Phoenix Comicon Day 2-May 29th, 2010

Day 2 did not start out as well as Day 1. I went bike riding with my dad, then took a shower and a nap. It took both Becky & I longer than we had planned to get on the road, and on the light rail we received the AZ Browncoats tweet that Geek Prom tickets were going to sell out!! We had an opportunity to buy them Friday, but didn't, becuase we didn't realize that there were only a limited amount. So we were sorely disappointed by the time we arrived at the Con and the tickets were gone. Grrr. Next year, Geek Prom, next year.

After that disappointment, we made our way to the Star Trek panel, with Wil Wheaton, Levar Burton, and Jonathon Frakes. It was the first time that those 3 had been on stage together at a Con! The three of them played off each other very well, and it was interesting to hear the comments about working on Star Trek. Again, Wil Wheaton was hilarious, and all 3 got some very interesting questions from the crowd.

After that we wandered around the vendor hall again, and then went to check into our hotel. Turns out, the Phoenix Hyatt was overbooked from the Comicon and Volleyball convention, so they comped a room for us at the Wyndham! That turned out to be awesome, since our sole reason for getting the room was to attend Geek Prom. Despite a flurry of Twitter and Facebook pleas, we never were able to obtain tickets. Instead we enjoyed our free room, had dinner at the Rose & Crown Pub so we could watch the Phoenix Suns lose to the Lakers (boo, hiss). I had never been to the Rose & Crown before, and it turned out to be a jewel. We got to eat in these large cushy living room-type chairs, and enjoyed meaty hamburgers and cold beers while watching the game. Later that we evening we ventured back to the convention hall for a bit of Star Trek jeopardy at the con. It was nice to just walk around town with Becky, free of kids and significant others and relax.

Phoenix Comicon Friday May 28th: Meeting Wil Wheaton

My best friend Becky & I are both uber-nerds, and have been dubbed the "nerd twins" by her loving husband. In order to expand our nerdiness, we attended our first ever Phoenix Comicon at the convention center in downtown Phoenix. I got off work at 2, and Becky took the light rail downtown to meet me at the convention. It was fun waiting for her and seeing all the people who had already been in the con, with costumes galore. I'm sure all the regular business people were wondering what the heck was going on.

Once Becky arrived, we made our way into the building, and wandered the vendor hall. We had missed the NASA panel, but there was still plenty to see before the Wil Wheaton Awesome Hour. One of the more interesting panels we attended was the Learning to Speak Na'vi presentation. Note the fan in full Avatar make-up. He said it took over 6 hours!! The presentors had arranged for a skype call with the professor who created the Na'vi language, and despite a few minor technical glitches, it was an educational experience.

Afterwards we attended the Wil Wheaton Awesome hour which was, in fact, AWESOME. I had never heard him speak in person before, and he did not disappoint. He was funny, intelligent, a great story teller, and extraordinarily down to earth. He spoke for quite a while, telling a few funny stories from his blog, and giving advice on parenting using video games. Then he took questions from the audience, and answered mine about being "Evil Wil Wheaton" on the Big Bang Theory. After the lecture we waited in line with our free Star Trek posters for autographs (which a very cool Wil Wheaton signed without charging a fee) and I bought a special limited edition of his new book, which was already signed, but he personalized for me. I haven't read the new book yet, but I will blog about that and Just A Geek, which I have read, separately, for they are deserving of their own entry.

Having procured our autographs and a photo with Wil, we left the Con, but didn't get very far before we noticed the Red Cross Blood Mobile. Free Comic Books with donations!! Luckily both Becky and I were eligible (me by 2 days) so we waited and gave our very popular B+ blood for loot. The blood techs were mystified by the more costumed people at the convention and said Becky and I were the most normal ones they had seen all day. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. . .

Our First Camping Trip!! May 14-May 16th

Matt & I share a love of the outdoors, so I finally marked a date on the calendar as our first camping trip, and said come hell or high water, we are hitting the road. After a few last minute trips to The Sportsman's Warehouse, we hit the road at 5am Friday morning headed for the White Mountains. Unfortunately, the most reliable vehicle we have at the moment is my little red Honda, which was packed to the gils. didn't mind.

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 The poor dogs barely had enough room to lie down. Sadie, who loves car rides and wags her whole body at the phrase "who wants to go for a ride in the car?  Buster, who gets carsick, but loves to be wherever we are, put up with the inconvenience.

We arrived in Prescott and made a quick stop at Wal-mart to grab fishing line, and clean up after Buster got carsick. after coaxing the dogs back into the car, we headed for Woods Canyon Lake. We were about the 4th party into the campground by 8:30am, and everything looked a lot like an urban park. Firepits were already made, charcoal grills were in the camp, and your campsite was about 40x50. Not quite what I was expecting, but we were going to have a good time. We set up camp, then headed down to the lake to see if the fish were biting. 

The dogs were extraordinarily happy to be out of the car, and were running around as far as their leads would let them sniffing the air, peeing on rocks and trees, and having the time of their lives. Woods Canyon lake was beautiful, but already pretty crowded. The weather was a bit chilly, and once the wind picked up we headed back to camp. I was exhausted, and irritated that the campground was filling up so quickly, complete with two tiny hurricanes that were running through our camp, shrieking at the top of their lungs. A nap sounded like an awesome idea, so I laid down.

 Matt was 10x more irritated than I was, so he put the dogs (poor Buster!!) back in the car and decided to see if Bear Canyon (a much more primitive campground 15 miles up a washboard dirt road) was open. 1.5 hours later he came back, shook me awake, and we packed up and hightailed it out of Woods Canyon. Don't get me wrong, commercial camping is awesome if you have small kids, or don't know how to camp, but it wasn't what we were interested in. We made it out to the Bear Canyon campground, and it was perfect. There were only 3 other parties in the whole campground, and we managed to triangulate ourselves so that we weren't right on top of one another. There were no street lights, no paved roads, and we built our own firepit. (If you've never had a steak cooked over a campfire, you are missing out on a culinary delight!!). The sky was filled with stars; it felt like I could touch the entire Milky Way. And it was quite. No kids shrieking and running through the camp, no generators, just the sounds of the campfire crackling and my ipod playing softly in the background.

Buster, after 6 hours of being in the car, being carsick, and now freezing, was not having such a perfect time. I had even brought a small sweater for him, since he has thin fur and 0% body fat. The sweater helped, but he was terrified of the campfire, so he laid as far away as he could get on his lead. He did come closer when we offered him steak, but was still very cautious, and shivering!! It was pathetic, as you can see. Poor Buster, no dog bed, it's freezing, and he's still a bit shaky from the car ride. He is definitely not a camping dog. After dinner and stargazing, the 4 of us (2 people, 2 dogs) gathered in our 3 person tent. Buster slept right under Matt's armpit the whole night!! Sadie, who has been camping with Matt multiple times, enjoyed herself much more, although she wasn't used to being on a lead. 

The next morning we got up, experimented with the old propane grill I borrowed from my parents, and ended up placing the percolator in the fire in order make coffee. The camping trip was a learning experience. After breakfast, we hiked down to Bear Canyon Lake, which was even more beautiful than Woods Canyon.  There were quite a few Kayaks and Canoes on the water, but everyone was having a good time. After 2 hours of fishing, I noticed that I hadn't seen my bobber in a while, assumed I had gotten caught on something again, and started to reel it in. Once my line started to fight me, I realized I had hooked the first trout of our trip! Trout don't bite as hard as bass, and since I was reading rather than watching my line, I didn't realize right away I had a trout. This gives the trout an opportunity to swallow the hook, which is horrible if you're trying to do catch and release fishing. I wanted trout for dinner, and luckily my fish was plenty big to keep for eating.

We fished a while longer, but couldn't get any more bites. The dogs were getting antsy, so we headed  back to camp for naps and lunch. We let the dogs sleep in the car, off the dirt, and where it was warm. Around sunset, Matt wanted to try his luck at fishing again, so we headed back to the lake.  I was sending all sorts of good mojo to Matt, the lake gods, and the trout king, as I didn't want to be the only one with a fish. Luckily Matt reeled in a whopper after about an hour, and once the sun dipped behind the treeline, we called it a day and headed back to camp to cook our bounty.  

Trout is best cooked in tin foil packets, with a little bit of seasonings and butter, placed directly in the campfire. The food was Buster's favorite part of the trip. He got plenty of fish and steak extras in order to coax him near the fire. 

The next morning we packed up and headed home. Dirty, exhausted, and frustrated after trying to cram everything back in the car (we got it all out here, so surely it must all fit back in!!), we made our way home. Buster's torture was only completed upon the dreaded bath that was a necessity as soon as we walked in the door. Matt & I will definitely head back north to camp and fish again soon, but it will either involve only Sadie, or just the two of us, and the dogs can stay home with their comfy pillows and air conditioning.

For more photos of the trip, including beautiful shots of the Mogollon Rim and both lakes, please visit my Flickr page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/awilderm/sets/72157623990836829/