Stem Cell Tic-Tac-Toe

People who think Christians are all of one mindset, reading the Bible instead of the newspaper, watching NASCARR and finding more Muslim countries to invade.

People who think that have obviously never set foot inside a church. Like any demographic segment there are as diverse a set of opinions as you might have at your average beat M*ch*g*n party.

That being said I walked into a conversation at church Sunday on the topic of Stem Cell research. Now I know liberals like to think Christians never put down the bible and are otherwise uninformed, but in reality it’s liberals who rarely read past the headlines and learn the facts about stem cell research.

I’m going to base the rest of this blog post on these three facts:

1. Embryonic stem cell research is legal (just not funded by the federal government)
2. Embryonic stem cell research has yielded ZERO treatments
3. Adult stem cell research has yielded over seventy treatments

The conversation began somewhere around the point that the government should permit stem cell research.

Of course I had an opinion and said that the government does permit it, they’re just not funding it. Private industry has done plenty of research as well but because there are no results it has become a money hole and thus they have focused efforts on adult stem cell research where the rewards are abundant.

The reply was that the government should fund it because there are so many cures that could come from stem cell research.

At this time I defined the differences between adult and embryonic stem cells. Of course embryonic stem cells only come from aborted fetuses.

That’s when I was presented with the great myth: embryonic stem cells are untyped and can be made to become any kind of cell.

Well that’s a great theory, but it has yet to be proven in practice, whereas adult stem cells are providing over seventy cures for varying diseases.

Now I rarely get political at church, but I had to play my pro-life card here. You do realize that the only way to get embryonic stem cells is from aborted fetuses? And the real political motivation behind the stem cell issue is to legitimize the practice of abortion.

“Well, what else are you going to do with an aborted fetus?”

Sometimes you just aren’t prepared to react. This coming from someone who lives her faith, and is even in seminary with the hopes of becoming a pastor.

If I may take a take a page from Ann Coulter, the church of liberalism isn’t so much without God, just trying to become him.

But you don’t have to take my word on the miracles of adult stem cells, here are two articles with the details on everything I’ve said above.

Enjoy.

Using The Body's Own Stem Cells To Grow New Arteries

Now, vision possible with [adult] stem cells

Thursday night breakdown

6:00 walk over to the Dublin Village tavern for $3 burger night with Buddy.
6:45 Karrie, Laci and Matt show up.
7:15 Bryce joins the party
8:00 round of shots
8:20 Bob and his brother join in.
10:00 we move the party to Chubbys
12:20 Bryce bets me that I won't make an 8:00 AM conference call
12:30 Finally get home
7:15 Wake up
8:00 AM conference call and I am there, with bryce

Mr. Pimpmobile: Gone But Not Forgotten

Related posts: Mr. Pimpmobile: Part 1, Part 2


I think we’ve all met this certain kind of individual. The type that after a while you wonder how they get their shoes tied in the morning. You wonder how they hold a job or why they’re allowed out of the house without wearing a helmet.

Mr. Pimpmobile is one of these people.

It’s been about a year since I’ve seen my nemesis, though I happen to see the Pimpmobile at Kroger one day last winter. But apparently Mr. Pimpmobile misses me.

Now It’s been a few years sine I’ve moved. But as I recall I pretty much had the new address memorized within a few days, and within a year, I was getting all my junk mail at my new address.

Well yesterday afternoon as I was chillin’ with some Seinfeld reruns after work, there is a knock on my door. My hippy dippy neighbor lady said that a package was delivered during the day and she signed for it.

Not expecting anything I thanked her for it and started to open it. That’s when I saw the addressee. It was addressed to MR. PIMPMOBILE!!! Ladies and gentlemen, a year after moving he’s still giving out his old address!

Now at this point I ceased opening up the package because even though I have no idea what’s in the box I’m very sure it’s not something I would want.

Who are you calling a Hallo-weenie?

Laundry basket: $2.49



Rope for suspenders: $1.99



Safety pins: $1.19



Winning the prize for most original costume: PRICELESS!

TV

Is it just me or is TV better these days? Yes I know that’s a silly question; how could I get any better?

About a year ago I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that stated “Television has traditionally been a writer’s medium and Movies a medium for Directors.” The article went on to describe that the decreased cost of visual effects due to the use of computer imagery has put many TV shows on a par with our favorite Hollywood Blockbusters.

The article went on to site shows like Smallville and CSI as being among the most popular and using the new digital media technologies to tell their story.

This, combined with the fact that Hollywood most movies are remakes these days shows that these effects are nothing without good writing when it comes to movies.

And the timeliness of this post has everything to do with tonight’s premier of Lost. So as a tribute to the most important season premier of the fall, here is my review of highlights of this season so far.

Sunday Night Football
NBC Sundays 8:00
Football returns to NBC with host Bob Costas, and his team of pundits, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, Sterling Sharpe Peter King and Chris Collinsworth host a high quality, excellently polished football show. Madden and Michaels do the play by play during the game which means you only actually have to listen to Chris Collinsworth during half time. That when you should actually be in the kitchen opening another beer anyway!

Till Death
Fox Plugging all holes in the weekly lineup
Brad Garrett only a year removed from “Raymond” is now leading a series as the disillusioned married man mentoring a newlywed neighbor. There you go; the basis for every episode. I probably wouldn’t have mentioned this show other than the fact that Fox airs this show about 3 times a week just to get you to know that “we got the Raymond’s brother!”

Heroes
NBC Monday’s 9:00
On the surface, it’s X-Men. And they’re up front about it. They even make references to X-men comics and other science-fiction works. However a good idea is a good idea, and when you add good writing and acting into it you have a very intriguing story and characters you can empathize with. Unlike last season’s Surface NBC seems very intent on promoting this show to success. The show’s Jump-the-shark moment could come if the story-within-a-story plot device comes off as cheesy. So far, so good.


Jericho
CBS Wedyesdays 8:00
Last season when the networks decided to fling as much science fiction at us as possible due to the success of Lost in 2004 we got a lot of eye candy that didn’t stick around for the whole season. The problem with these shows was that they focused wholly on the science fiction element and not on the gripping human drama that is the heart of Lost. Jericho finds that formula and correctly implements it. Jericho is a small Kansas town that is cut off from the rest of the world when a mushroom cloud is seen in the distance over Denver. With no communication and resources limited, the townspeople must work together to survive post nuclear America. It really is Lost in the Midwest fully taking advantage of an ensemble cast to portray gripping drama. Jumping-the-shark could come when they run out of nuclear-bomb related conflicts. Then again I never thought being stranded on an island without Maryanne and Ginger would never last 3 years!

The other shows premiering this fall:
Ugly Betty: the title just doesn’t appeal
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: I don’t watch shows with Alec Baldwin
30 Rock: This is the show with Alec Baldwin? Aside from the Baldwin factor I really can’t tell the difference.
Friday Night Lights: Why is this on Tuesdays?
Smith: The most common name for a TV show.
Daybreak, Kidnapped, Standoff, Vanished, Runaway: All basically the same show.

Where Somebody Occasionally Might Recall Your Face But Is Drawing A Blank On The Name

The Backstreet Pub is closed!

I recall the day I first saw my condo and was standing on the front porch with my realtor pointing at the sign in the back of the strip mall across the street and saying, “I drink there!”

Yes, walking distance from a place that has Miller Lite on tap is a selling point in my book!

But last weekend Brett and I were having a couple beers and he pointed out to me that the booths up against the window were gone and that one of the plasma TVs was removed.

Me being an optimist asked the bartender on duty why all the changes. Her line was that they were having the carpet cleaned. That sounded reasonable enough. However on Wednesday Brett emailed me to tell me it had closed.

So now I am a man without a home.

Thursday night I walked into the Gooseneck Tavern in Powell. Immediately Kristy, the lovely bartender on duty, knew why I was there.

Friday, I tried Chubbys… unfortunately it’s a bar run like a resturant, so at 1:00. That’s about the time I still had 5 songs left on the jukebox.

The Backstreet used to let me stay at least until the jukebox ran out.

I ran into Jason at Spoonz… That was the first bar I knew about when I moved to Columbus. I also haven’t closed that place down in quite some time. He told me that he and some mutual friends go to The Hard Road Café for the Buckeye games. So Saturday after the Buckeyes beat Iowa 35-21 I traveled to Hard Road for a beer, or three.

Not everybody knew my name there, but at least a few familiar faces, cold beer and I got to listen to the worlds worst rendition of “Feed My Frankenstein”. Saturday night is Karaoke night at the Hard Road… That’s why Saturdays I usually went to the Backstreet.

I need a beer!

In The News

It's been a while but here it comes again...

The Adventures of Andy Presents:
IN THE NEWS

PETA vs Six Flags over Roach promotion

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/lifestyles/
76871,4_5_JO29_BUGS_S2.article

People for Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling on Six Flags Great America to
cancel a live cockroach-eating contest planned for next month's Fright
Fest.

Six Flags officials announced this week that visitors to
Fright Fest 2006 will be offered a chance to eat a live Madagascar hissing
cockroach, a three-inch version of the Blattodea order that is native to the
island of Madagascar, but raised on farms for use as pets and feed.

Okay PETA, since cockroaches are members of the Insect Kingdom and not the Animal Kingdom this one is out of your jurisdiction. Thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts for you.

Just for comparison, a Madagascar hissing cockroach can grow to about the size of a Whitecastle slider…. And is only about half as gross.

My Two Dads

http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/two-men-and-a-baby-battle/2006/09/28/1159337281168.html

New York: A former boyfriend of Anna Nicole Smith says he is the father of
the former Playboy playmate's newborn daughter - and he is seeking a DNA test to
prove it.
In an interview on Us magazine's website, Larry Birkhead, a
photographer, described as laughable claims by Smith's lawyer, Howard Stern,
that he was the father of Dannie Ray Hope, born in the Bahamas on September
7.

"I have asked for a DNA test," Mr Birkhead said. He was confident of the
result. "I know I am the father of the child. I look forward to having a
relationship with my new daughter."

I smell a sitcom!!!

HP chair deflects blame in spy saga

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20498924-36375,00.html

The role played by Mark Hurd and his assistants in the Hewlett-Packard
boardroom spying scandal moved further into the spotlight on Thursday as
Patricia Dunn, HP's ousted chairman, laid blame for the fiasco with the
computer-maker's management team.

Ms Dunn's denial of responsibility for the scandal came as Ann Baskins,
HP's general counsel, became the closest HP official to chief executive Mr Hurd
to resign as a result of the controversy.

See and this whole time you were worried about Bill Gates and the CIA…
it was HP the whole time.

You can send your apologies to:
Apologies: C/O Adventures Of Andy
Dublin, Ohio 43016

That’s the news, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me!

A Long Overdue Review of Pirates of the Caribbean 2

One of Disney’s biggest surprise hits of recent memory has been Pirates of the Caribbean. It is simply a swashbuckling tale of pirates, ghosts and the politics and romance of the British colonies.

Admittedly I have only seen the first movie once. It was shortly after the DVD release. Given the hype surrounding the sequel I did not have a chance to review the source material before seeing part 2.

However that did not take away from my enjoyment of part 2. And that’s as much as you need to know going into this movie. It is a pure joyride.



Continuing where the first film left off Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is back in command of his ship, while Norrington (Jack Davenport) has Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) in custody and bargains with them to steal Jack’s magic compass so he might find a lost treasure.

Got all that? Okay cause that’s only the first half of the plot.

We soon find out that Jack Sparrow is on borrowed time and owes a debit to the mythic and visually stunning Davey Jones (Bill Nighy).

Throw in a love triangle between Bloom, Knightley and Depp and you find yourself in what boils down to the Star Wars of the high seas.

There are however two disappointing aspects to this movie. First it’s rated PG-13 for some intense images that could upset younger audience members. For older fans yes this is the Star Wars of the high seas. However, instead of bad guys in white plastic armor and an onyx-caped villain we have some rather gruesome half sea creature half human evildoers.

Continuing with the adult themes is the innuendo Depp creates when interacting with Knightley, as well as his drinking. Not quite the virtouous Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo was still a better roll model.

The second is the ending… it’s not. With Pirates 3 due in 2007 we are left with a cliffhanger that feels not so much like an ending to this movie, but the beginning of the third act. It just leaves you with that unfinished feeling when you leave the theatre.

The movie is paced well, always something visually appealing on the screen (but what’s not visual appealing about the Caribbean or Keira Knightley?). The humor is delivered with spot-on timing as well as believable and engaging dialogue. Overall the move does what the first does, but with a bigger effects budget and another edition due in a year. Like most of Disney’s live-action movies as of late this is a good one, but you may want to leave the sensitive younger kids at home.

P.S. Jack Sparrow runs like a girl!

The Parable of Han Solo

This week I was out buying a video game and looking at DVD’s when I saw the Original Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Now this is the original unedited versions that are without the 1997 special features that some fans believe ruined the saga.

One of the most notable changes is that in the Special Editions Greedo shoots at Han Solo first in the classic bar scene.

In the updated version Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker have just agreed to book passage on Han’s ship the Millennium Falcon. Once Han agrees he sends Chewbacca to ready the ship. With Han alone Greedo, a bounty hunter, corners Solo at gunpoint and fires a warning shot above his shoulder before Han fires back killing Greedo where he sat.

The original vision shows depicts Han unholstering his weapon below the table and before Greedo is aware that there is a weapon pointed at him he is dead.

All movies should be made like this! Not the updated PC version that makes many true Star Wars fans want to puke but the way that hits you in your gut as great movie making? Why because it’s believable!

And this is how the war on terror should be fought.

We know the terrorists want us dead. Like Greedo they’re pointing guns in our preverbal faces. Liberals in our country would like to think that the enemy would fire a non-hazardous warning shot before we should be allowed to fire a deadly counter strike. However they forget that their last “warning shot” cost 3000 lives, 4 airplanes and my favorite 2 buildings in New York City!

Back in 1977 Han Solo got it right.

9/11

We're still here!

Women

Comments from Dustin on Women and how they view themselves:

I was talking with a co-worker (female) on the subject of weight loss and/or self-image for females. Pretty gutsy, huh? Well, she made a comment that girls always are very sensitve about weight because of how guys expect or want them to look.

I told her that was false. I said that girls watch their figure and try to lose weight to impress OTHER WOMEN, not guys. I went on to say that women think guys care a lot about women's weight and stuff, but we guys really don't care that much on the average. When she asked me why guys talk about really hot women and want to approach them because they were thin, I responded by saying that guys do that to impress OTHER GUYS.

I went on to say that women shouldn't worry about weight and if they would just eat and exercise moderately their body will find it's ideal weight and they will be healthier than being too thin for what they are meant to.

Here is what I did not say. Basically, all that worry is a waste of time and causes them to be bitchy. Guys don't like bitchy women. We guys would certainly put up with an extra (at least) 10 lbs. if the women would all be happy. We don't like mean stick women, we like happy and healthy women!

Basically what he's saying is we don't need you to be an anorexic bitch... we just need you to not be a bitch!

A Reality Show That Brings Out the Best in People?

I don’t review TV that much and I assign myself the blanket title of “not a fan of reality shows” however I have found one case where I can enjoy such a premise.

“Who Wants To be A Superhero” Has been airing on the SciFi channel this summer. It takes 11 contestants who dress up in brightly-colored spandex and must prove themselves to that guru of all things comicdom, Stan Lee.

Now I must of course I must criticze the producers for not including the ultimate superhero in their competition... ME!!!

What sets this show apart from every other reality show in existence is that there is no backstabbing, no double-crossing and no manipulation of others to get ahead. Why?

BECAUSE THAT’S NOT WHAT SUPERHEROS DO!!!

All throughout this “competition” (it’s a reality show, the NFL is competition, this is semi-scripted roll playing on TV) the contestants have been asked to perform various acts that a superhero might face in everyday life. Many of the challenges were simple and rather indicative of the show’s low budget, but those who perform admirably are rewarded, and those who do not are asked to “turn in our costume”

This is a stark contrast to the Survivors and Apprentices of the reality world. There it is exposing weakness and beating down the competitors for selfish gain that makes for winners on those shows.

What Stan Lee has done here is influenced our reality show participants to support each other and are actually sad when someone is asked to leave.

The final episode airs this Thursday and will decide who will win between "Feedback" a computer nerd turned superhero, and "Fat Mamma" a heavyset black lady who touts the banner fo self esteem and punishes bullies.

It’s cheesy, it’s silly but it’s also wholesome and uplifting family viewing. And the winner get’s their character turned into a Darkhorse Comic series.

Fan mail

I love reader comments. The best is when someone takes the time to email me.

Yesterday I recieved the following regarding my "Planetism in our Solar System" post:

Hello,

I just wanted to let you know, that I will possibly be using your
post "Planetism in Our Own Solar System" as an example of an argument in a
critical reasoning class. Your blog will be cited, but I thought I'd let
you know.

-J

p.s. - I for one agree, this planetism must stop!

To which I replied:

J, If I'm getting that kind of recognition, I think I'll go back and
double check my spelling! ;-)

Feel free to use whatever crazy ideas I post.

andy!

To which he replied:

Andy,

I've never seen your blog until today, but I grab random blogs to use for
this course. I already corrected a couple spelling errors, but I'll check
back periodically for more arguments.

-J

A weblebrety's work is never done!

Planetism in Our Own Solar System

Pluto Gets the Boot - Solar System Shrinks to 8 Planets

Pluto got the boot today when 2,500 astronomers from 75 countries at the International Astronomical Union (IAU) annual meeting in Prague voted on a resolution that aims to define exactly what a planet is.




Effectively the scientific community is saying "Pluto, you are the weakest link... goodbye!"

I for one think this is planetism and I won't stand for it.The planetists in the scientific community are oppressing these "dwarf Planets".

People who know what they're talking about my not accept you, Pluto, but I do!

In the country club that is our solar system apparently these Dwarf Planets are not good enough to be categorized with the rest of us!

I propose affirmative planetary action and that we de-classify ourselves as a solar system until we officially recognize dwarf planets as full planets with all rights and privileges therein!

This should not be a solar system of exclusion, but one of inclusion!

Data Recovery Adventures of Andy Style

I’ve spent a lot of time at my computer this week, none of it blogging.

The Adventure begins Saturday evening when I decided it was finally time to reformat the old hard drive and reinstall everything. The week before I had purchased an external hard drive with ample space to do my backups. And like a good IT professional I properly backed up all my files, and settings.

Oh by the way, the Windows XP settings backup is a great utility!

So there I am, I’ve got all my backups in place A Windows XP install disc and a computer that desperately needs a reformat.

So when prompted to partition hard disc space I decide to go from 2 partitions to 1. So I start deleting partitions. Unfortunately my firewire drive was still on so that third partition I deleted was all my backup data.

(insert expletives here)

Now keep in mind At this point I have no access to my now unpardoned backup drive because the only firewire port in the house is on my desktop PC with no operating system at the moment.

Now this is where things get a little complicated. Even though I had the foresight to turn off the firewire drive AFTER I had deleted the partition (not that it would have mattered) Mid-format of the internal drive was interrupted when the power surged and restarted the computer.

At this point I have an unpartioned external drive and a half-formatted hard drive that when you plug it in you get a lot of clicking because it can’t find its own start point.

So I give up and go to the bar.

Sunday I buy a brand new internal hard drive and install Windows properly and then the fun begins. I finally have confirmation of my worst fears. I don’t have access to any of my backups!

Well I know where they are. They’re in that little grey box with the bright blue light on my desk… I just have no way to access them.

Apearently I’m not the only person to have done this. This article explains how someone could easially do the same thing. And I agree Frustration compounds even the simplest task (you can quote me on that one!).

I tried the program he recommended and honestly after 2 hours of waiting for it to finish scanning the drive and providing no results I was almost depressed. Wanting to give it another try I mentioned it to a DBA that I play volleyball with. He recommended Zero Assumption Recovery.

Where was this when I needed it Sunday? (given it was only Tuesday when I talked to him) but literally within 20 minutes I had found all my data in tact! So it didn’t take me long to whip out Mr. Plastic (that’s a credit card, not a penis euphemism you pervert!) and pay the $79 to get it all back.

So there you have it... Data Recovery Adventures Of Andy Style…

The moral of this story: Try not to loose anything important in the first place!

The final adventure of The Grandmanator

The Grandmanator’s adventure ended on July 22, after 80 full years and an unrelenting bout with Cancer.

Grandma was special. She came from nothing, never gained much more, but got her family to grow from that. All 3 of her daughters did quite well in comparison.

But this being my blog and my story I’ll tell the stories of Grandma and I. Maybe I didn’t always make time for her, but when she needed me I was there without question. You’ve read about our adventure at the hospital… well that’s where I gave her the nickname “Grandmanator”. It comes from the fact that every time over the past ten years that we’ve taken her to a hospital, we expected the worst… and she always proved us wrong.

She is the Grandmanator, she cannot be killed by conventional means.

Dinner with Grandma was always an adventure. Coming from a certain level of poverty (or moreso a function of having grown up in the great depression) she never turned down food. In fact that was her favorite thing, going out to eat. Her favorite foods include:

Chicken Livers
Hamburgers

Okay that’s most of it but more than what she ate was what she did at the restaurant. Never one to waste, there was a guaranteed certainty that she would pack anything that wasn’t nailed down into a doggie bag. It got to be so comical that I’d start suggesting things she might not otherwise want. “Grandma, how about some of these Bob Evan’s jelly packets?”

In they went.

Just as interesting was where we went. Usually Max & Erma’s but often enough Olive Garden or Red Lobster. Once on an outing to Chi-Chi’s, which at the time happened to be across the street from Hooters, Grandma asked me if I’d ever been to Hooters. I hadn’t… and still haven’t. Now we all know Hooters isn’t exactly the place you take your grandmother. But you know what? I just might have taken her if she asked me to go there!


Grandma loved the animals

However one of the fondest memories of grandma comes from Christmas 85 or so. That was the year of Voltron. You see this wasn’t just a toy, as described on x-entertainment.com by toy virtuoso Matt it’s “The toy set that kicked more ass than a team of ass-kicking ass-kickers.”

Yes I had it!

More than just completing the set of 5 lions and their drivers Grandma actually WATCHED the show! Calling her wasn’t just a chance to talk to grandma; we connected on that most beloved defender of the universe. Even today when I pick up a Voltron comic, or as I start considering buying a masterpiece Voltron by Toynami, It’s not because giant lions make me all tingly inside… seriously they don’t, I prefer girls for that! It’s because it’s something I had with Grandma and though I’m sure she had lost that memory It’s still one of my favorites with her.



I’ll miss the feisty old lady who took on a petty cash register thief at 78. Or how she found a card for every possible occasion; sometimes with a strange dollar amount inside. I’m not complaining about seven dollars for Easter, that’s a pretty good resurrection in my book!

Grandma still had a sweet side. Though I joked that I had the only grandmother on the planet that didn’t cook, she always took me out to dinner even though I usually had more money. Offered me something to eat or drink 4 times an hour and wanted to please whoever was a guest in her house.

It’s good to have a grandma, especially one that sticks around longer than you expect. It just gives you more to miss.

In The News

The Adventures of Andy Presents:

IN THE NEWS

Fans cheer Roethlisberger's every move during training camp debut

They screamed in delight, yelled out his name, asked him to slow down so they
could snap more pictures. Ben Roethlisberger heard the ruckus, realized he was the cause of it and could only smile at the attention.
And all he was doing midway through the Pittsburgh Steelers' first training camp practice Sunday was changing his jersey.

Actually I think they were just cheering because he finally put on a helmet!



Floyd Landis Denies Tour de France Doping

Floyd Landis stated his case this past Friday, denying any use of doping at
the Tour de France.“I declare convincingly and categorically that my winning the
Tour De France has been exclusively due to many years of training and my
complete devotion to cycling,” said Landis, in his first public appearance since
the positive doping test.

Is it really news that the French think an American has too much testosterone?



Heath Ledger to Play the Joker

"Brokeback Mountain" star Heath Ledger will swap his spurs and saddle for
whiteface and a twisted leer to play Batman arch villain the Joker, Warner Bros.
announced Monday.

Will this movie be called Broke Batman?

They can't all be winners...

Coming soon, A review of Pirates of the Caribbean and a farewell to the Grandmanator...

Some Days are Diamonds...

Some days are rocks!
-- Tom Petty

I don’t wanna’ grow up!

And we wrap up rapid-fire blogging tonight with something near and dear to my heart: Robot toys from the 80’s.

My friend Brett invited me over to cook out at his house. I’ve only been to his house once and that was to tour it and I was about 2 hours too late to put a bid on it. Damnit!

Well the house went to a good owner.

After the brats were on their way to being digested and we were on our third or fourth beer the subject of 80’s toys came up, and Brett broke out his collection of Transformers.

A pretty nice collection including an original Megatron, Optimous Prime, Perceptor, Omega Supreme and a complete Devastator!

We spent a couple hours trying to figure out how to convert these multi-dimensional toys in our adulthood, when we could do it in our sleep as children.

There’s something completely wholesome about 2 guys drinking beer and playing with toys kept in the basement for 20 years.
I also quoted him some prices and with the live-action Transformers movie coming out next year, the hype and excitement around Robots in Disguise will only grow and he’ll make a killing on ebay then!

On being a Weblebrity

web·leb·ri·ty
n. pl. web·leb·ri·ties
a person recognized in real life for activity participated in on the internet.

Real celebrities don't have to ask to be asked for their autograph

I was introduced to the above term by my friend John a.k.a. "novapup" (a weblebrity in his own rite) from Washington. He describes his wife as a weblebirty. She goes by the internet name Panda and writes for the anime news website http://www.theotaku.com/. As they attend anime and sci-fi conventions people will see her nametag and ask “are you THE Panda?”

She is!

So this weekend I was in Cincinnati for an anime convention that I can’t pronounce and refuse to try and spell. It was a good time. Robotech.com webmaster (and big time weblebrity) Steve Yun and I partied pretty good.

While I was there I met a few other Robotech fans and one in particular who asked, “are you THE Azoric from robotech.com?”

”Yes I am,” I replied.

The eyes of the young man before me widened as he suddenly realized he was in the presence of a real-life weblebrity.

Yes I do like the attention. And when it gets back to me via the internet, I like it even more. You see when TrueGritt1 (his internet name) got home he posted the following on robotech.com.

Hey guys. I was at Ikasucon this weekend and I met Steve Yun and Azoric!!!

I was there when Steve presented the new Robotech movie, and it looks cool! I even got my picture taken with Steve!

And then later, at this Giant Robot Battle Panel, that was hosted by Steve, I met Azoric! Two very cool people and it was fun seeing them both. (I took Azoric's picture too.)

It was fun!!!

Not a lot of people know this, but I am quite fameous!