Happy Birthday Georgie!

Today was my nephew Georgie's birthday party! Stacey and I spent most of our afternoon there just relaxing and having fun with my family. Little Georgie ended up with $105 dollars in birthday money! Gee ,times have changed, I never ended up with more than 20-25 dollars total on a birthday when I was a kid.

It never ceases to amaze me how much Georgie likes me. I mean I'm good to him and treat him kindly but so does everyone else around there, but sometimes he makes such a big deal out of me that I get embarrassed. Today when we were pulling up to my parents house Stacey started laughing because Georgie was yelling "It's Donnie! It's Donnie!" I thought it was sweet of him but honestly it made me self-conscious about getting out of the car! lol!

As we walked up to the house Georgie eyed the gift bag I was carrying anxiously and asked "Is that for me?" I laughed and told him that he'd have to wait and see. Stacey helped me find a Transformers gift bag with Bumblebee on it so he probably suspected there was a Transformer waiting in there somewhere.

We had cake and ice cream after we all sang Happy Birthday to the little guy and he seemed to be having a ball. There were several other kids there from the neighborhood and they were all running around in the front yard playing with plastic swords.

When he opened his presents he would go give the person who gave it to him a big hug and tell them "Thanks!, I love you!" It was so cute. I was proud of him taking the time out to show his appreciation.

I think the best part of the party for me was the look on his face when he saw his presents from Stacey & I. When he got to our gift he pulled out the first Bumblebee figure and said "Wow! Nana look it's Bumblebee!" to my mom. Then he went back in the bag and found the other one and asked me with surprise "You mean you gave me YOUR Bumblebees?!" I told him yes and this seemed like a big deal to him for some reason, and I was touched.

I got my hug from him and told him that I loved him too and felt satisfied. It felt very good to give him a present that I knew he really wanted. I'd say that those two figures were worth every penny and every minute spent searching for them.

Have a very Happy Birthday Georgie, I love you.

Family time

Last night I went over to visit with my foster parents and pick up my new Bumblebee figure. As soon as I entered the house my nephew Georgie yelled "Donnie!" and ran to greet me. I said my hellos and he followed me into the dining room where my package was waiting for me. When I opened it he oohed and ahhed over it like it was the most wonderful thing he'd ever seen. It was so cute.

Then he told me that he had his own transformer collection that he wanted to show me. He showed me a handful of smaller figures and I oohed and ahhed over them appropriately. I knew the little guy desperately wanted his "uncle" Donnie's approval and I told him that they were great.

Showing me one of his transformers he asked me if I had that same figure at home and being honest I told him that I didn't. I was telling the truth but I also told him this hoping that this would make him feel like he had something special to be proud of. Then the little cutie looked down at the toy seriously for a moment and then told me that if I wanted it I could have it.

That was so sweet of him that it almost brought tears to my eyes. I told him thank you but that he should hang onto it because I would go get one for myself some other time. He seemed a little disappointed over this at first, but there is no way I could have taken this little sweethearts toy from him. I don't care if it had been one of the figures I've always wanted.

I was so touched by Georgie's selflessness. Most kids wouldn't have done that I don't think. But little Georgie wanted to get my approval so bad he was willing to give me one of his toys to get it. That is just too sweet.

Saturday is his birthday party, although his real birthday is actually on Sunday. I found out from my mom that he's been wanting the bumblebee figure's from the movie ever since he saw it a few weeks ago. My sister thought that she had found what he was wanting but it had turned out to just be a statue of Bumblebee that doesn't even have any moving parts. She said that he opened it and fiddled around with it a few seconds and said "It doesn't fold up!". LOL! Poor little guy.

I went on eBay this evening and purchased the two figures from the movie again. They are a preorder and won't be shipped out until next month sometime. So I'm going to take the two opened Bumblebee toys I have here and box them up and wrap them and give them to Georgie on Saturday for his birthday. I hope that he doesn't mind that they're not still in the packages. They are in mint condition with all the paperwork and accessories, so I hope this will be o.k. with him.

Afterwards I went upstairs and visited with my foster dad for a couple of hours. I had a great time just chatting about computers and ham radios with him and a friend of the family that was also visiting. Alas time flies when your having fun and before I knew it I had to get home and go to bed.

Transformers, babies, and internet withdrawl

First off let me just say that Stacey and I are NOT about to have a baby yet. I know that some family (You know who you are!) might read the title and jump to conclusions. I repeat, there's NO BABY on the way. Maybe someday, but not right now.

Now the reason I bring up babies is because Stacey and I have just spent the last half hour talking about possible baby names that we might like. (I think her biological clock is ticking on me folks, she's been bringing up babies all weekend.) At first we were seriously trying to find names we might like, but after about 15 minutes or so this degenerated to just plain ugly or funny names. Names such as Elmer Fudd, Brad Pitt, Optimus Prime and so on.

So even though Stacey rolled her eyes at the idea, I thought I'd put the question to you, constant reader, and see if you had any good ideas for our future children! So if you know any good ones or just plain funny ones leave them in the comments for us.



Second, today is the last day that my beautiful bride is fasting from the internet. It's been hard for her but I think she's going to make it. There were a few times I had to talk her away from the keyboard but she's holding out ok for the moment. I tell ya, this weekend it hasn't been pretty! First she was just a little crabby and I thought nothing of it. But I knew things were getting bad when my baby started getting the shakes. I later saw how ugly it could really become when I found her curled up under the computer desk in a fetal position clutching the mouse. She kept repeating, "Just my email! Just my email!" :)

Seriously though I'm VERY proud of my beautiful bride. I know the the weekend has been especially hard for her to abstain from the computer because that's her time to really unwind and just have fun. Instead, Stacey worked in the front yard with me helping to remove some particularly ugly bushes that she's hated since we moved in here.

However I think Geo was right when he said that I might not get the computer for a month when she goes back online. She just told me that if she even wakes up in the middle of the night tonight that she IS going to check her email! More power to ya sweetie.

And finally I have to mention Transformers. (GASP! Who'd a thunk it!? Me, talking about Transformers?!) Yep it's true, as I read someone else on the net refer to them as "plastic crack". I think it's totally true I just wish that I had thought of it first!

So, last night I was on my favorite Transformers web site and I found out there was going to be a comic and toy convention right here near my house! At first I said that I wouldn't go because I'd bought so many toys the last week or two. But this morning I just couldn't help myself so I hopped in the car and raced to the show!

I spent WAY too much money and after the beating that my wife gave me I'll be lucky if I'm walking again by Christmas! But I'd have to say that the collector in me thinks that it was well worth it. I got several figures that I'd been wanting for a long time.

Yes that's right I bought SEVEN more Transformers! Because I don't have nearly enough now.

While I was at the show I ran into a friend I know from Ypsilanti who works at a comic shop. We always talk Transformers when I go to buy my comics and he had his own table at the show selling his extra figures.

To my surprise he gave me an awesome deal on a rare Transformer figure that I never expected to get. It's name is Ratbat. It's very hard to find this guy intact because he's so delicate and the "ears" of the figure are almost always missing when I see it on eBay. But my buddy sold the figure to me for a fraction of what I'd have had to pay on eBay. To tell the truth he sold it to me cheaper than I could get it from ANYWHERE I think.

"Look Maw! I got EARS!!"

This now raises the count of figures to 267 folks! So needless to say I came home broke but a very happy geek-boy. Ahem, geek-man. :)

Finally! Bumblebee!

Earlier in the week I posted that I had run all over the place trying to find a Bumblebee figure from the movie. I really did go to every store that might have him within a 25 mile radius of my home. Finally disappointed and discouraged I posted my woes here in a rant.

Later the next day I saw in my comments that my cousin who uses the screen name "Rain" would check the stores where she lives in Ohio. I thought that was SO sweet of her! She's got two children of her own to take care of as well as a boyfriend to spend time with (Not to mention a really cute pug named Jackson!) and she still took time out to go looking for a TOY for her immature cousin.

While waiting to hear back from her I continued my search and much to my surprise, my wife told me that her mom was now looking for the figure as well! Now that was amazingly sweet of her as well! I'm blessed that I have a good relationship with Stacey's parents. I love em' to death and think they're the kind of people I'd be friends with even if I wasn't married to their daughter. Both "Mom" and "Rain" are such darlings to sacrifice their time (and gas money) just to help me find a Transformer!

So anyway Thursday night just as I was getting into bed the phone started ringing. Normally I wouldn't have bothered answering it seeing that it was already past 10 o'clock. But as anyone who's read Thursday's post knows I was in a REALLY bad mood so I went to answer it just so I could tell them off for calling my house so late on a week night! (Bad Donnie!)

Well to my surprise it was my cousin "Rain"! I only get to talk to her about once a month, so no matter what , I wouldn't have yelled at her. I'm a single child but "Rain" is the closest thing I have to a sister in this world. She can get away with things that no one else besides my wife can. So anyway she was calling to tell me that she was watching an auction on eBay for Bumblebee!

I checked it out and sat up with her talking on the phone most of the night! We are ALWAYS on the phone for a long time whenever we talk. We both just enjoy the others conversation so much that we loose track of time. So that night I bid on the auction and won! And I didn't have to pay too much more than what I would have had to in the store!

This is the little sucker I was looking for! Now I can't wait for it to get here!

The next day I went to TransformersWorld2005, a website about transformers and collecting to check their message boards out and ended up finding and chatting with the same guy that I made my eBay purchase from! Small world huh?

I just want to say thanks to my cousin and Mother-in-law for all their help. It honestly didn't matter to me if they found one or not, I was genuinely touched that they would help. The fact that I DID end up getting the figure sure is a sweet icing on the cake though. :P

Exhaustion

Hi folks, sorry I haven't posted in a day or two. The truth is I've just been too tired, both physically and mentally to put my thoughts into words. As you already know, last week my boss was on vacation so I had to cover for him. That is a week I hope to forget! Everything turned out well but it was so draining!

This week my boss is back but our work schedule has been hectic! With the automotive industry in it's unstable condition shops like mine are either feast or famine. Well this week it's definitely a feast! Were so busy that I'd venture to say that I'm doing more work in one day than I normally do in two!

This is good as far as job security is concerned but it's bad on my energy level. I'm not really that energetic of a person to start with and my job at normal levels leaves me very tired by the time two o'clock rolls around. I think it's harder for me because last week was so mentally stressful.

Anyway this morning I was just so drained that I couldn't face the day. I haven't missed a days work since my wife had surgery in May so I called in. I know that I shouldn't have done it but I just couldn't deal with that drama and workload today. I know, I'm a lazy butt.

Some of you may not know it but I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, called O.C.D. for short. It gets complicated to explain what it does to me specifically but one of the things it does is cause me to suffer from depression. Usually my medication takes care of this for me but sometimes I still get down. Now is one of those times. I think that it's partly because of how tired I am.

I'm not a people person at the best of times. When I'm struggling with depression or other aspects of my O.C.D. I just don't have the mental or emotional resources to deal with people at times. I think it's really the reason why I called off today.

Most of the employees at my work only speak Spanish and since I'm one of only three bilingual people there, when I'm not inspecting parts I'm usually translating for someone. Today that just seemed too demanding for me so I played hooky!

Speaking of my mental shortcomings, I had to go see my psychiatrist today. (See?! I really AM crazy!) I go and see her about every two months just to monitor that my meds are working properly. I told her about the depression and she also thinks that part of it's just my workload right now. Also she said that sometimes, no matter what meds I may be on, the depression just breaks through.

The hard part right now is my spiritual life. It's really hard to have faith when your outlook in general is already gone kaput. I don't really want to read my bible or pray. When I do, I feel condemned for my failures or I just feel numb and want to get it over with. I will continue to both read the Word and pray anyways however because I know that God is the only one who can pull me out of this funk. I've learned that sometimes when I don't feel any faith I have to just keep doing what I know is right until my feelings catch up with me. It's easier said than done but then most things that are important usually are.

Anyway, not to worry, just like a bad burrito that's setting too heavy on your stomach, this too shall pass. There's no need to worry about me, Stacey's doing a good job of keeping me laughing, but any of you that are believers know that I do covet your prayers.

Stacey & The Internet

As many of you who read my wife's blog already know, Stacey is fasting from the internet this week. To support her in this I've been trying to avoid being on the computer when she's home. The only reason I'm writing this post right now is because she's still at work and won't be home for another couple of hours.

Well, on a normal work day I have the computer until my wife gets home and then we sort of split our time on it after that. Seeing as I didn't want to tempt my beloved last night, I just got off the computer and spent the evening with her.

We had a wonderful time. We cuddled and talked a while, we played with Frankie our pug. And then in the evening we watched Miss Congeniality 2 while we ate our dinner. I must say that it was actually nice to just spend time alone together. Some days seem to blur by so quickly that it doesn't seem like we really get a chance to chat until were in bed at night. I often worry if I'm neglecting Stacey because of this.

We are both only children so were pretty independent most of the time. Often we just like to pursue our individual interests together in the same room but not really talking that much. I really enjoy that we can be alone in silence sometimes and there's no awkwardness to it.

But I think times like last night are really important too. It was a chance to reconnect and just have fun. I wouldn't have married Stacey if she wasn't also the best friend I've ever had, I just enjoy being with her. I told Stace to be thinking about what she'd like to do together after work tonight and I'm looking forward to hopefully another evening like yesterday.

Usually Friday night after work is our date night when we do all our catching up from the week. But I'm thinking about proposing the idea that at least one other night a week we just turn this computer off and do something together here around the house. What do you think about this?

Collecting Woes

Most of this weekend was a waste of time for me. I spent most of the day Friday and Saturday on the road going from store to store trying to find two transformers I REALLY want and finding bupkiss.

Lets see I went to;

4 Meijers
4 Targets
2 Toys R Us
2 Kohls
& 1 KB Toys

And what do I have to show for it? An empty gas tank. }:- (

And what figures pray tell were I looking for? The first is the 2008 Concept Camaro version Bumblebee figure from the new movie. I have the 70's camaro version but the '08 was recently released and I wanted to get one at the store because on eBay they're going for 30+ dollars. If you can find one in the store they're only about 17 dollars. Now I think I know why I couldn't find one. Everyone's buying them up in the stores to sell on eBay!

The second figure was a long shot in the first place. It's the Titanium version of G1 Ultra Magnus. This figure was not released in stores when it came out 6-8 months ago. The only way to get it was from online toy dealers and the going price was $50. I wanted the figure terribly because it was the closest representation of the character in it's original 80's form. But I couldn't justify that high of a price for a figure from a series that retails for $16.

This is Ultra Magnus as he appeared in the 80's cartoon series.

As you can see this version of the toy is a very faithful translation of the charater.

Well, last week Target did their fall reset in the toy aisles and many people online reported finding the elusive Ultra Magnus figure! I was so geeked! I went online and found several locations near me and checked them two or three different times last week. But alas to no avail. :-(

The worst part? Even if I wanted to get the figures online now I probably can't all the online dealers sold out several weeks ago. So now BOTH of these bots will be added to my wish list of hard to find figures. Sadly this list is long as it is and their prices on Ebay will only continue to go up.

So to ease my woes I went to Hollywood Video and bought a bunch of used DVDs. (Which is just as stupid a waste of our hard earned money as the transformer toys I was looking for by the way.) But I'm the type that spends money when I'm depressed or mad and I was both so I got quite a few.

I bought;

Pan's Labyrinth


The Messengers


Slither


The Grudge 2


Feast


The Return


Miss Congeniality 2

(This last mostly for Stacey but hey I don't mind watching it, Sandra Bullock's cute! :P )

I'd have to say that the only part of my weekend that wasn't a waste of either time or money was going to church on Sunday and afterwards having lunch with my beautiful wife in Royal Oak.