Looks like I'm out of work today at 3:30 thanks to the snow. Woo hoo, I say.

I know some of you wanted to see the ring I gave Danielle, so here it is in all it's shining clarity. Mind you, it looks better in person, but the picture still works.

(Click to enlarge in a new window)

Never did I think I'd live to see the day...

Series 1 Figures, Set of 5
Hitchhiker's Kit, including Babel Fish and Towel
Knitted Plushies, Set of 5
10" Roto-Cast Marvin
Marvin's Toy Gun
Prop Replica, Desk Pen
Prop Replica, Vogon Mug
Prop Replica, Vogon Stapler

Yes, we have Hitchhiker's Guide movie tie-in products! If anyone would like to purchase me that Marvin, I would be eternally grateful.

Okay, back to begging once again...I know I'll eventually get a 5th person to complete an offer on that damned free iPod thing. C'mon, be a pal. Go here and do it. Please?

Well, looks like I'm not going to Michigan for Spring Break since...ugh...they're holding classes on the Saturday right in the middle of the break and I'll have to work it. Fucking geniuses. Oh well, it's what I've come to expect from this campus, really.

The departments on campus that get perpetually screwed by alleged 'breaks' such as this are mine (the Instructional Media Center) and Admissions. Hell, back in January '04, they actually had Saturday classes start back up before our holiday break ended. And of course, no one bothered to tell us...until the campus Public Safety office called that morning while I was sick as hell in bed.

"Uh, yeah, there are some professors here who need their equipment."

Yeah, I came to find out they had all faxed in their equipment requests over the holiday break when no one was on campus. Again, fucking geniuses.

Today, we're getting some similar garbage. Three classes have already called in today to request equipment for today, ignoring the 24-hour notice rule. Ironically, they're all for the same classroom, three different times. And yes, we had a snow day yesterday, but the campus opened for evening classes and I was here to check messages and these professors didn't bother to leave any (one other professor did, however, leave a message for equipment the day before and as such, he got what he requested). Nor did they actually think to request this equipment last week. Here's how one of the conversations went:

"Well, I e-mailed it to (his department secretary) yesterday."
"While the campus was closed and she wasn't here?"
"Yes."
"And you didn't think to leave a message directly with our department?"
"No. I think you're being terribly inflexible."
"..."

I gather these professors are the same ones who jaywalk, cheat on their taxes, and shoplift, all the while never getting caught. Well, allegedly anyway.

Well, some of you know that I was fortunate enough to attend Toy Fair 2005 in NYC this past weekend as a member of the press, along with a few other cohorts from Transfandom. Just figured I'd share a few highlights of the weekend with you, my privileged readers.

One thing that was noticed on the train to Penn Station was how politicized graffiti has become lately. At Penn Station, there was one sign that I'd wanted to take a picture of for years, but never had a camera on me before. That carrot must be quite flexible, that's all I'll say.

Then, on to the actual toy show itself. First off, we got to tour Hasbro's new products and I snapped more than a few pictures.

As far as Transformers goes, I was pleased to see the new Cybertron releases for Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream. Notice the crown on Starscream's head, total homage to Transformers: The Movie. Another good looking fig was Scourge, also known as Flame Convoy in the Japanese Galaxy Force line. Gotta love dragons. The biggest surprise for me in the Alternators line was a new Prowl figure...although he had taken a bit of an unfortunate nose-dive before I snapped that picture.

With the rest of Hasbro, there was a lot of Star Wars stuff going on, as evidenced by the presence of Storm Troopers, Darth Vader, and even a life-size Darth Tater to accompany his toy incarnation.

And then, my last Hasbro snapshot...how do you update a classic game and actually make it work? Try Simpsons Operation, complete with Homer's voice!

Once on the display floor of the Jacob Javits center for all the display booths, we weren't really allowed to take pictures, but I did manage to sneak a picture of this huge stack of fireworks which reminded me of the scene in the no-longer-aired NYC episode of Simpsons where Bart lights off a bunch of fireworks at a fireworks stand.

"Chinese fire drill! For real this time!!!"

No, I didn't light them off. I didn't have any fire on me. And I had to keep my cohorts away from it, since I know at least one of them did have fire on him.

But, all in all, it was quite an enjoyable weekend. I don't often have out-of-towners crashing at my place and it was fun to hang with a group of guys for a change. Hell, after seeing everything going on at Toy Fair, I almost want to get involved in the industry somehow, in a multimedia capacity of course. Could definitely be some fun.

Anybody ever wear those gel insoles in your shoes? I bought a couple of them the other day and I swear, I feel like I'm walking in slippers now. Complete difference from how my shoes felt before. I never bought into the hype of them, but damn...these are nice. Do your feet a favor and get some.

*cough* I'm engaged! *cough*

That is all. Heh.

Behold the absolute horror that is a Star Wars convention. The comments on that LiveJournal are pure comic gold.

Well, I finally got it completely finished. My Transformers Collection Page has been completed and is live online! Not like any of you really care, but this is a cool thing for me considering how large my collection has gotten in recent years. Plus if anyone wants to buy doubles off of me, they can just look at the page. Or on the off chance someone wants to buy me Transformers, they can see what I have so they don't duplicate it. Fun fun fun. Yeah, I'm an uber geek.

And in other news...I might be venturing to Los Angeles for a couple days next month. More details to follow if things fall into place.

Is anyone else completely disturbed that Fox changed the name of "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" to "The Best Darn Sports Show Period" for the Super Bowl pre-game show? Ugh. What a nation of over-sensitive, easily-offended fucking pussies we've become.

Well, the carafe to my coffee maker broke the other day and rather than buy a new $10 carafe for a $17 coffeemaker, I decided that I'd just buy a new one. And instead of just getting something similar to my old one, I said screw it and decided to get one with a few bells and whistles to it. The result was this beautiful maker of coffee, available for $37.36 here at Wal-Mart:



Yeah, obviously I like my coffee a lot, so sue me.

Somehow, I've earned a reputation at Transfandom for being the culprit whenever the server goes down...despite the fact that I'm completely innocent! Really, I am! Bah, no one believes me... <_<

Anyhow, click below to enlarge my little cartoon that I made illustrating this bizarre new reputation:

Looks like the SabresInsider.com report was mere speculation on Tim Taylor's part. Good. A 28-game season would be a fucking joke.

According to TSN.ca, the meeting between the league and player's union is over after only 4 hours today. And it ended poorly.

Buh-bye, NHL. Maybe in 2006, eh?

This whole deal of whether or not the NHL season is going to be cancelled or not is getting beyond ridiculous. The league and the player's union have been meeting for the past couple days...and we've gone back and forth as to what's taking place. Some anonymous GM said that the announcement of the season's cancellation would come today. Meanwhile, SabresInsider.com is reporting here that a deal is in place for a 28 game season. Which is it, guys?

Frankly, I'd rather have no season at all than a season shortened to 28 games. That's just a joke and won't make for a legitimate Stanley Cup Champion in the least.

The good news, though, is that whether or not there's hockey, I'll be going up to Boston in July to see a Red Sox game at Fenway with my friend Chris. Should be a good time, I haven't been to a baseball game in years and Fenway is a pretty storied park. Looking forward to that one.