May 2024
My very good friend, Matt Chu, and I were given the opportunity to speak at the San Diego Public Library to support their IDEA Lab and May the 4th Star Wars activity event! Matt gave a brilliant introduction to TinkerCad and the computer lab was enabled with internet so we could create a TinkerCad account and start designing our own lightsaber
I gave an Introduction to Droidbuilding presentation and brought a few droids along for show and tell. There will definitely be more droids builders inspired to make their favorite Star Wars Droid. I got a bunch of new droids prepared for this event, including 2 ID-9 Probe droids, a folded Pit Droid, Rat Catcher Service Droid, and a baby Chopper with a variety of alternate topper. Unfortunately, Ratty took a header during setup and snapped his neck dowel, but it was an easy 30 print to fix when I got home. Plus I printed a stand for him so that should not an an issue in the future.
March 2024
WonderCon is coming and it is my absolute favorite convention. Reminiscent of San Diego Comic Cons from a long, long time ago and an attendance of less that 60k, it’s compact size, variety of vendors, and excellent panels is why it is beloved of both fans and exhibitors alike.
This year I will be on two panels. On Saturday, March 30, 2024, at 6pm in Room 207, my friend Matt and I will be talking about how you can Jumpstart Your 3D Printing! If you had questions or wanted more information about the joys of 3D printing, this panel is for you.
On Sunday, March 31, 2024, a bunch of my geeky friends and I will be presenting with me about Gateways to Fandom – From Anime to Video Games, Everything, Everywhere, All At Once at 2pm in Room 300A. You never have to limit yourself to only one fandom and some lead us to merrily discover other fandoms we had not originally thought we had interest in.
February 2024
Visited Northern California for some additional nerdy shenanigans. This included a walk through the new Google campus, a wander around NASA’s Ames facility, a wander around Meta’s campus of attached buildings, and culminated in a visit to the Lucasfilm campus and screening of premier of Season 3 of Bad Batch in San Francisco.
Lucasfilm is home to ILM – Industrial Light & Magic where so much movie magic is made for all kinds of films, thanks to its extensive history of groundbreaking effects. It’s legacy goes far beyond Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
October 2023
Received the Inkpot Award for Volunteer Services from San Diego Comic Con at the SDCC Volunteer Dinner at the Air & Space Museum. I have been attending SDCC since 1992 and volunteering since the mid 90s. As one thing leads to another, I started my volunteer service working for the Masquerade, before transferring to Exhibitor Registration. Next I was fortunate to be one of the Assistants to the VP of Events, working mainly in Hall H, handling lines and giveaways, until we started getting so many giveaways in Programming that a Giveaway Department was created. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Vasquez Rocks – Reagan Museum – Universal Studios Horror Night
If this rocky formation looks familiar, it would be because they have served as the background for a number of Hollywood and TV productions, including the famous episode of Star Trek: The Original Series that featured Kirk fighting the Gorn. Located just north of Los Angeles, it makes for a fun day trip.
Pro tip: There is a road that will take you directly to the famous rocks and the other road takes you to the Visitor Center. We walked from the Visitor Center, which is a bit of hike across uneven ground, but once we arrived and saw there was parking right next to it, we will park closer. However, the Visitor Center has a wonderful display on the many film and TV productions that have used the location over the years, including many early Westerns.
After exploring the Vasquez Rocks, we headed up to the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley. Your ticket also allows you to walk through Air Force One and this was by far my favorite part of the tour. The large hanger had to be built around the plane and has a spectacular view across the valley. The hanger also serves as a special event venue. Unfortunately, it was a blistering hot day so we did not get to explore the grounds as much as we had hoped but look forward to visiting this museum again this year.
September 2023
Nephew Tyler’s First Visit to Disneyland
My brother has kindly allowed me to be the first person to take each of his children to Disneyland and this year Tyler and I made an magical adventure of it. It is funny how much I knew about Disneyland and its stories before I went. Tyler wanted to know if we would see any Halo characters. (laugh – cough) No. No Halo. However, it may have been a strategic miscalculation to take him to Downtown Disney and the Lego store the day before we went into the park. (Can we go back to the hotel and play Legos, Auntie?)
However, even though he wasn’t familiar with the classics, we still had the very best time. We got pixie-dusted almost immediately on entry with some free popcorn from people who came to get the limited edition Halloween popcorn holders and took them on the train. The 2nd day his older brother Nathan joined us and we got the genie pass and did all the things!
July 2023
San Diego Comic Con continues to press on even with the ongoing strikes from SAG – AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. More importantly, I had an opportunity to host a droid building panel with some of my local San Diego Droidbuilders at 10am on Thursday morning. For the first panel of the show, we had a mostly full room and I was able to bring my own 3D printed droids, IG-12 and L0-LA out to see the world. We had so many great questions and hopefully we inspired lots of people to get out there and build droids!
June 2023 – Alaska Family Cruise
Early June is an excellent time to visit Alaska. There is a bit of snow yet in the mountains and we only had rain in Ketchikan, which is apparently a northern rain forest. The raw, natural beauty of Alaska is spectacular.
We were also fortunate to visit the Mendenhall Glacier which was packed with people. The glacier has receded quite a bit due to global warming and the Visitors Center has lots of information about the eco system that the glacier serves.
Mendenhall Glacier – Juneau, Alaska
January 2023
I finally found my way to Middle Earth (New Zealand) with a bunch of fellow fans. This was more than a dream come true. We visited a number of the filming locations for Lord of the Rings and got an opportunity to tour and meet up with incomparable Sir Richard Taylor at Weta Workshop.
The natural beauty of New Zealand incredible. We cruised around both the north and south islands, went into Milford Sound, drove through the Fjordlands National Forest, saw glaciers and their incredible lakes, plus spent most of the day in Hobbiton, the location that was created for the films. Pure magic!
Milford Sound
Edoras
Valley of the Horse Lords
December 2022
On our way to Middle Earth, we spent a few days in Sydney, Australia before getting on our first cruise. Sydney is an incredible city with a huge active harbor that allows for water ferries, as well and light rail and buses that make getting around super easy. Also, all you have to do is swipe your credit card to get on their public transit. Easy peasy! Just be sure to bring a card without any foreign transaction fees!
If you every have the opportunity to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Sydney, I absolutely recommend it. The fireworks show was spectacular plus the weather cannot be beat as it is summer down under in late December.
Speaking with one of our bus drivers, I discovered that most all of the highways were originally built as toll roads that are eventually given over to the local road agency. This can make getting into Sydney an expensive proposition.
Updated: May 11, 2024
