February 04 – February 16 (2025)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

February 4th marked the 2 year anniversary of the passing of my beloved “adopted grandma” Shirley. She was top of my mind this past week and it threw me back to happier times. My dog Roxy passed away two years ago on February 25th, so this picture of me with my two favorite old gals really spoke to me this week.

Hearing “So Bad” by Paul McCartney from his “Give My Regards to Broad Street” soundtrack this past week sure brought back some memories. This guy is truly a master.

Tuesday the 4th – DEJA VOO-DOO! – Just before I turned in for the morning I heard a familiar chime while doing some work on the computer. You know the one…the chime that lets you know that you’ve lost one of your utilities. At first I thought it might be a background sound in the podcast I was listening to. But in addition to listening to the podcast I had a lot of windows open, and I was doing some graphics work on a photo, so the computer was pretty taxed. Plus, since I got home from South Dakota my computer unit had been running pretty warm. I clicked out of my graphics program and it wouldn’t save my images. Oh no…not again. I instantly had PTSD from 6 months ago when I lost my main data drive in my computer. The same thing was happening all over again! Sure enough my computer was giving me an error message that my internal data drive was no longer detectable. Since it was now about 7:30am Mountain time, I figured I’d text my computer guy Brian in Denver to see if he had gotten up for work yet. He texted me back about a half hour later saying that he found it hard to believe that I would lose another drive so soon, especially since it was a brand new drive just 6 months ago. He thought it was due to other reasons, so he suggested shutting everything down, letting it cool off, and starting it back up a while later. I hit the hay for the morning and got up around noon and fired it back up. But still…no good. Brian thought it could be due to a bad SATA cable, or a bad port on the motherboard. So I headed to Best Buy to purchase a few new SATA cables so we could give that a try. While I was there I figured I’d go downstairs and look at new dishwashers. The one I had installed back in 2020 was having issues, so a new one was necessary. Because of the supply chain issues at the time, it was sold as an open box unit. I bought it as I had very little other choices. It has given me more than my fair share of problems ever since. I left getting a new one up to my pal Handy Don, to pick out a good unit and install it, but he was busy with another project. So I figured I’d take this off his plate and handle it myself. I picked out a nice Kitchen Aid model and asked that it be delivered next Monday. I’d be in Seattle all weekend at a convention and I didn’t want my house sitter Emily to have to deal with the installation while I was gone. My sales rep was a guy named Juan, and as we were talking I discovered he was an anime fan. He said his buddy Omar, who also worked at the same store, was also a fan; particularly of “Bleach.” Omar came out while on his lunch break to meet me. Good guys. I got back home and figured out a way to get on-line so I could at least do some work. I also figured out some work-arounds so I could do my auditions. Luckily, I had a fresh back-up drive ready to go, (thanks to the lessons I learned 6 months ago) and the most recent back-up was done on January 25th. It’s set to update regularly every Saturday, but since I was out of town last weekend I had the computer shut off. So no back-up occurred the previous Saturday. This meant that I would only be losing a minimal amount of stuff; frustrating, but still not too bad. One of the things I lost in the meltdown was my packing list for Seattle. And my flight info was all lost as well. But I could recover the flight info easily enough through my email, but for my packing list I’d have to go mostly by memory. Then I got an idea. I rifled through my trash and found the packing list I used for my Sioux Falls trip last weekend and I rebuilt the list based on that. My pal Joe in Santa Barbara, who had done IT work for the city of Santa Barbara for many years, said he’d come down on Wednesday to get on the phone with Brian and try a lot of different things to see about getting everything back up the way it was on February 3rd. I just can’t believe that a brand new drive crapped out this quickly, but with me anything is possible since technology hates me so much. My gal Angi came over and we went to Paty’s to enjoy some dinner and conversation. I really needed the pleasant distraction.

Wednesday the 5th – IT’S DEAD, JIM! – Joe texted me in the mid-afternoon to let me know he and his wife Zandra were on their way. I did a few auditions in the afternoon, and once Joe arrived we got on the phone with Brian to shut down the computer and try a few things. The first option was to try the new SATA cable. No-go. Then we tried putting the new SATA cable in different ports on the motherboard. ALSO NO-GO! Then we put the damaged internal drive in an external dock that I had, plugged it into one of the USB ports of my computer and hoped it would read it. NO…FREAKIN’…GO! I just can’t believe a brand new drive was dead. I thought those things were more robust and were made to last a while. But since my unit is now about 6 years old, I think it’s time to design an entirely brand new system anyway. Perhaps the future system will use all solid state drives, but opinions vary about the effectiveness of those. Plus, I hear that solid state drives have a finite number of uses and then when you hit that limit…kaput. Joe, Zandra and I went to Bob’s Big Boy for dinner and had a great meal. Then we came back to Planet Wallywood so Joe could put together the pieces he made for a new display unit for the shrunken-head maquete I bought at Son of Monsterpalooza recently. I wanted it to go next to my life-size Beetlejuice figure in the Chaney Room, so the dimensions had to be very specific. He put it together on the spot with a few screws and it fit perfectly! Rain was coming, so Joe and Zandra took off before the storm arrived. Later in the evening I got on-line with Brian so we could look up several options for a new computer system. I’d love to have two mirrored internal drives so when I hit save on something, it would immediately be saved to two drives simultaneously. So if one took a dump, I could just revert over to the other one. The delivery time on a pre-built unit was only a couple of days, but a custom-built unit was about a month. I needed something soon! What to do!? I relaxed for a bit, and later took my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and pondered my options. It was slightly misting out, but it was rather nice. Then I started packing for my weekend trip to Seattle, and Anime Washington.

Thursday the 6th – “DRIVE” ME CRAZY! – An hour before my alarm was set to go off my eyes sprang open. I’d been thinking a lot about my computer issues and my subconscious had been working overtime on it. I now know how the term “let me sleep on it” came to be. When I woke up I had some clarity on the computer issue. I decided to buy a new internal hard-drive, have everything from the recent back-up drive migrated over to it, and limp along with that as long as I could. That would buy me some time until I got a new unit built and installed. Joe said I should buy a new drive on-line at a Best Buy near his house, he’d pick it up, and then drive it down to install it when I got back from Seattle. That sounds like the most logical option to me. Then Brian can pop in remotely and start the back-up process so I can be up and running sooner rather than later. I really hate being rushed into decisions, particularly when it comes to investing in something as important as a new computer. Satisfied that I had followed the most logical path possible, I packed up a few last-minute things and headed to the airport at 2. Now that my mind was at ease I was looking forward to enjoying a great weekend. Joe would pick up the drive I just ordered and I’d see him on Monday; the same day my new dishwasher was being installed. Normalcy was so close to returning to my life I could almost taste it! I got to the airport and checked in. I’ve never flown Alaska Airlines before, so it was a new experience. I had a nice hamburger delivered to my seat on the airplane, and it was actually quite good. But the guy next to me brought out a Tupperwear container filled with gross junk that smelled nauseating. What the hell was he eating?! GROSS! I enjoyed the short flight to Seattle by simply relaxing and doing a little meditation. Given the week I had it was necessary to decompress before the weekend. I was noticing that people are really addicted to their devices, and some people even had two devices going at the same time! Can’t they just relax and enjoy the trip? They were acting a lot like me when I’m at home working; with several internet windows open, a document and a graphics program open, all while listening to a podcast. Sheesh people! Relax! I was on the plane with a few other Voice Actors who were also going to the convention, and when we landed we located our driver. It was chilly out, but we loaded up our luggage in the van and headed to the hotel. I have a friend named Sunni and she’s lived in the Seattle area for a long, long time. I’ve known her for over 30 years and she’s been begging me to visit her since I’ve known her. Not only would I be visiting her, but I hired her to assist me for the weekend. That was a GREAT decision on my part. She was very, very good. Sunni has her own small business and she does trade shows and expos all the time. So she was used to the vibe. After I got my room and unpacked, Sunni drove us over to Red Robin for dinner. It was a nice, quiet night at the restaurant and they had a wonderful grilled chicken salad! She took me back to the hotel so we could hang out in the hospitality room that the convention had set up for the actors, and we hung out with the staff and told stories until late. Then I headed to my room to finish unpacking and prep for the show on Friday. The weather forecast for Saturday was calling for rain and snow, plus it was Superbowl Sunday weekend. So I’m hoping that both of those issues won’t affect the attendance at the show.

Friday the 7th – ANIME WASHINGTON: DAY 1: FRIDAY AT THE FAIRGROUNDS! – Sunni arrived at the hotel around 10:30 and we packed everything up and got into the van to take us to the show. We started setting everything up around 11 and we were ready to go. A lot of the “Bleach” Voice Actors were there so I was looking forward to a fun weekend. It was a steady day of customers and I got to meet some really nice people. Since the show was set up at the Puyallup Fairgrounds most of the “fair food” places were open, thankfully. I really enjoyed the pizza place and had a few slices while I sat at my table chatting with “Bleach” fans. We packed up around 6pm and headed back to the hotel. We chatted with some folks at the hospitality suite again, and then we went back to Red Robin to have dinner for the second night in a row. I had another one of those delicious grilled chicken salads! Our server saw our convention badges and asked what that was. I explained that I’m a Voice Actor and I came to town to appear at the convention. She asked me what shows I’ve been on so I was giving her a sampling of some of the voices I’ve performed. Just then another server came to the table when he heard me mention “The Tonight Show.” I did the voice for him and he said he got chills from hearing it. It’s always fun to get that kind of reaction. Then the people at the booth next to us started talking about cartoons, and they said one of the shows they loved was “The Garfield Show.” I did the voice of Jon for them and the 15 year old guy at the table said, “That’s a really good imitation.” I said, “Well, it’s not an imitation. I’m really that guy.” Great fun. I guess in Puyallup, Washington you just don’t expect to sit next to the former voice of “The Tonight Show” and Jon Arbuckle, so it probably would sound like a local doing an imitation of the guy they hear on TV. I never get tired of those wonderful reactions! We finished up and went back outside to the car. For a short period of time the sky was filled with beautiful snow flurries and it was kind of nice to see. But they didn’t last long.

Saturday the 8th – ANIME WASHINGTON: DAY 2: SLOW-TURDAY! – At 11am I met Sunni in the hotel lobby and we got on the van to head back to the convention for the second day. Sunni had driven in from home that morning through a considerable amount of snow, but once she got to Puyallup it was mostly just rain. We got set up and while it was a fairly steady stream of fans, overall it was pretty slow , as Saturdays normally go at these conventions. It was clear that the wintery weather had affected attendance. I doubt that I’ll do any more winter conventions in areas that could potentially be affected by bad weather. I enjoyed a few more slices of that delicious “fair” pizza, and chatted with people the rest of the day. Around 7pm we packed up and headed back to the hotel. Once again we went over to Red Robin for dinner, but this time we were joined by Sunni’s girlfriend Erica. I hadn’t seen her for several months, as the last time we were all together was when she and Sunni visited Los Angeles on vacation. As we sat at our table (I had another grilled chicken salad to offset all of the “fair” food I had consumed earlier in the day) our servers saw our convention badges once again. One guy said, “Yeah, last night there was a Voice Actor here!” I said, “Yeah, that was me. I really love your grilled chicken salad, so I came back.” What fun. What great people! I got back to my hotel room and started packing up some stuff for the final day at the convention, and the subsequent trip back home – and back to “adulting.”

Sunday the 9th – ANIME WASHINGTON: DAY 3: STUPID BOWL SUNDAY! – I was up early to pack up some last-minute stuff, met Sunni in the hotel lobby, threw my luggage into the van, and we headed to the convention for the final day. I always wonder about the logic of having a convention in the winter, but I also really have to wonder about having a convention on Super Bowl Sunday. However, I doubt that most of the convention goers couldn’t really give a rip about the game. I know I certainly couldn’t have cared less. But it was clear that both the weather and the game had definitely affected attendance. It was a shame too – as it was a really great convention! Instead of getting “fair” pizza for a third day, I opted for an honest-to-goodness corn dog! YUM! As the convention started to wind down there were two young ladies standing in front of my table who were “line monitors.” These were staff members hired by the convention to help keep the actors’ lines orderly. But as the audience started to wane I struck up a conversation with them. One of the gals said her name was Brooke. I told her that was my daughter’s middle name. She said she had just visited the tattoo booth at the convention and had her boyfriend’s name tattooed down the left-side of her neck for $160. Sunni said, “Oh no. Never have a boyfriend’s name tattooed anywhere on your body. Your kids’ names – YES! But never a boyfriend.” Brooke said she had a lot of tattoos, but since she looked very young I asked her how she was able to get so many at such a young age. She assured me she was over 18, and she had acquired all of her tattoos in the short time since her 18th birthday. I told her the ‘dad’ in me was cringing, and I wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. I asked, “What do your parents think about all your tattoos?” She explained that her family situation wasn’t ideal, and that her dad wasn’t in her life at all. I asked her how she afforded all the tattoos at such a young age. She said she has not one but TWO jobs. She’s going to be working towards getting a Master’s Degree in dermatology, and she wants to be an esthetician someday. I was amazed. I said, “Wow! For somebody so young, you’re a real go-getter!” She said, “Hearing you say that matters more to me than you know.” I told her my mind was made up, and that I was going to adopt her! She agreed so we took some fun photos together. She was a very nice young lady and I wish her the best in her dreams and endeavors. She seems to me like she’ll definitely get it done! Actually, I do hope to see her again someday to get the update on her progress. I love it when people have passion and know what they want out of life. She was quite a wonderful young lady. A lot of the “Bleach” cast members got together for a panel and we all had a great time. When it was finished I headed back to my table to pack up and catch the van for the airport. I didn’t care about arriving at the airport too early because I could just relax at my gate until it was time to board. But I definitely wanted to be there and ready to fly when the time came with no delays. I found the gate for my flight and relaxed. Then the flight changed to a different gate. So I moved over there. Then there was a THIRD gate change. So I moved over there. What was going on?! Luckily, the third gate change was the charm, and we all got on the flight and headed back to L.A. at last! The plane landed around 10:30 and walking off the plane felt great. The temp was warm and the weather was beautiful! I got my car from the valet and got back home by 11. I was beat, so I hit the hay! Great weekend!

Monday the 10th – DISHWASHER DILEMMA…OR…GOOD GRIEF! WHAT ELSE CAN GO WRONG!? – The much-anticipated delivery of my new dishwasher went awry. So much for getting back to “adulting.” Apparently the dishwasher was too deep for the counters in my kitchen. The washer was 24” deep, and my countertops are only 22” deep. Plus, my old dishwasher was hardwired into my house’s electrical system, and the tech said they don’t do that anymore. He would have to create a new safety outlet at an additional charge. I called Handy Don to get his opinion, but he was in the process of fighting a very bad flu. So they had to take the dishwasher back and I would need to buy a different one that was made under the ADA guidelines (Americans with Disabilities Act). These types of dishwashers are made 22” deep in order to be in compliance with the law. Back to the drawing board. So tomorrow it’ll be off to Best Buy again to buy a different dishwasher. I worked around the house all afternoon, continued unpacking from my Seattle trip, and relaxed. Later Joe and Zandra returned with the new internal drive and a jigsaw. The jigsaw was necessary because we needed to widen the ventilation window on the computer cubby that’s attached to my work desk. This will help keep the computer cool until I can get my new system designed and installed. The increased airflow should help immensely. We shut down the computer and removed it from the cubby, and then started the widening process. The saw created quite a mess of sawdust, so after we got all that cleaned up, we turned our attentions to the computer itself. Joe installed the new internal drive, and then plugged it back in. It took a while to get my computer to recognize the new drive, but once it was established, Joe started migrating the data from my back-up. Fingers crossed! We all went over to Paty’s for a nice, problem-free dinner. I got back home to do my nightly auditions and then I relaxed for a bit. I did my nightly WOG and then did some work around the house. There was so much to do after being gone for two weekends in a row!

Tuesday the 11th – RUBBER LARRY, ROGER & RENJI! – My pal Rubber Larry let me know that his sculpture of Roger Moore (for the new James Bond figure I’m making) was ready! He dropped over to show it to me, and it was gorgeous. Larry is the best celebrity likeness sculptor in the business! I’ll be honored to have some of his work in the Planet Wallywood collection. While the head and facial sculpture was amazing, we got into a specific discussion about the size of his “beauty mark.” Roger Moore always had a prominent mole in his left smile line – it was his trademark, of sorts. But I felt it was still a bit too small. We blew up pictures of Roger on the computer screen and did some measuring; measuring the size of his mole compared to the size of his nostrils. Larry agreed that it perhaps needed to be enhanced, so he took a little bit of clay from the bottom of the bust and added to it. Voila! Glad we were on ‘mole control,’ because now it’s perfect. The sculpture looked fragile so I called my pal Jim Ojala over to have him pick it up and take it to his shop right away for molding. Jim will surround the sculpture with silicone and a hard outer shell so my pal Kelly can cast the final display head out of translucent resin; a property that’s used for a great many heads for life-size figures like this. We had talked for a bit about doing the head out of lifelike silicone, but after careful consideration I think that the resin will be more robust and offer a longer life for the figure. Either way, it’s going to be a great reproduction of the “Scaramanga 007 Target Dummy” that you see in the opening of the 1974 film “The Man With The Golden Gun.” I called the Smoke House to get dinner reservations for this Thursday, so Angi and I can do a pre-Valentine’s Day dinner. Then I headed off to the post office to mail off a few things. I hit my box to pick up a few packages, and then headed to the world-famous In-N-Out for lunch. I hardly ever go to In-N-Out, but there’s one right by the local Best Buy. So whenever I go to Best Buy to pick something up, I always plan some time for lunch at In-N-Out. I got to Best Buy and bought another internal drive (just to have around, just in case), and I waited for Juan to help me settle my dishwasher madness. He said that the 22” problem never comes up in his world, but on the day I had my issue, he said another customer also had the same issue! What are the chances!? He showed me options for a replacement, but most of the delivery dates were off in the distant future! I told him I wanted to put this issue to bed as soon as possible. He said because they don’t make a lot of the “ADA-required” 22” deep models, they’re hard to come by. So the main criteria for a new dishwasher became not about which model was best, but which could be delivered the soonest. Luckily, the model we found was also a top-of-the-line unit. He said this unit is a 2024 model and will last me 10 years easily, and best of all, it will fit in the provided space in my house! But it would cost several hundred dollars more, compared to the other unit I had recently bought. Knowing that he and his pal Omar were big fans of Renji, I had brought them both signed photos, which they loved. Thankfully Juan was able to work a deal that saved me an additional $100 on the unit (thanks, Renji!) so it all worked out rather nicely. The new unit would now be delivered this Thursday! Was the madness of the past few weeks about to be over?! I headed back home to feed Spook and relax. I looked in on my computer and a lot of stuff had already transferred over to the new drive. Great! But when I looked in on it later, it seemed like it had stalled for some reason. I’ll have to do an assessment to see what’s been transferred and what hasn’t, and then redo the back-up manually until everything has been completed. Sigh. I did my nightly auditions, relaxed for a bit, and then took my daily WOG. It was gorgeous out! In fact, it was so pleasant out I got to spend a little decompression time in the anti-grav chair, staring at the clear sky out behind my garage. It was good to enjoy some outdoor relaxation again. The moon overhead was almost-full and it was beautiful! I went back inside to do more computer work, and continued migrating the data to the new internal drive piece by piece. I also decided that I was going to attempt to have the bad drive’s data recovered. Even though I’ll have most of the data I lost, it’ll be good to just have another back-up of the most recent version of my main data drive. I contacted a local data recovery company and I’ll deliver the drive on Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday the 12th – THAT ‘DERN’ BRUCE! – As the computer kept transferring I made myself busy around the house. It was spritzing rain outside, working its way toward a big storm that was coming in on Thursday…the day my new dishwasher would be delivered. Good timing, eh? I met my pals Chris Malmin and Emily Danyel for lunch at Paty’s. All of the usual outdoor seating was taken, so we took a booth inside; a rarity for me. But it all worked out for the best. As we dined the legendary actor Bruce Dern arrived with his assistant and sat in the booth directly across from us. I took the opportunity to thank him again for the nice video message he made for my dad’s 90th birthday, and told him how much he enjoyed it. He told me to send his love to my dad. Just before we left I grabbed their server and told her I would be paying for Bruce’s lunch once again. It’s starting to become a habit of mine to pay for Bruce’s meals, and I’m honored to be able to do so. I dropped my bad internal drive off to the data recovery place. If they’re able to recover any data – great. If not, no big deal. I’m OK with either outcome, frankly. I went over to Michael’s to pick up a few items I’d need for a project. One of the items I acquired from the Seattle convention was a wonderful 3D printed Kermit piece. It’s about 6 inches tall, and it has Kermit’s head, but his body is that of a highly trained bodybuilder. It’s hilarious! I love this piece. But I felt it needed a little more TLC before taking its permanent place in the Planet Wallywood collection. He needed his famous collar, and his mouth needed to be painted red, and he needed a tongue. I bought some pink and green craft foam, and some pink and green felt. I wasn’t sure which option was going to work best under the circumstances. Then I went to get some gas in the Gray Ghost, and I picked up some grocery items. Having been gone for so long, I was out of just about everything. So my grocery bill was considerable! The spritz of rain was stopping, and I got home to unload all my groceries. The transfer was still going well, and I hope it’ll all be put to bed soon and I can get back to some semblance of normalcy. The installation company texted me to let me know my new dishwasher would be coming in between 11 and 3 on Thursday. I sat down at my desk and covered “muscle Kermit’s” neck with some blue painter’s tape. Then I drew out his collar on the tape, removed the tape from the figure, and flattened it out to get a pattern. I made a sample out of paper and tried it on. But it still needed a few tweaks. Once I was satisfied with how it looked, I cut it out of craft foam. It looked amazing. I purposely made the collar smaller, so it would make his bodily girth look bigger. It’s almost as if Kermit was growing out of his collar. Being muscly and green, it almost looked like a Kermit version of The Hulk! Then I painted the inside of his mouth red, made the pattern for a tongue, cut one out of pink craft foam, and when the paint was dry, I glued it into his mouth. NOW he looks perfect! I love how Kermit/Hulk turned out! I relaxed for a bit, and then went out for a wet WOG. The new storm was on its way, but at this point it was just misting out. I took advantage of the pre-storm conditions and did my exercise and then came back inside to do some cleaning up of my main data folder, now that things had pretty much finished transferring over.

Thursday the 13th – WATER FROM THE DISHWASHER, WATER FROM THE SKY, AND WATER FROM MY EYES! – Since it was now pouring rain outside, I went to the garage and laid my hands on some plastic drop cloths that Handy Don had brought over the last time he did some work. I laid them out across the living room floor, and on my second level leading to the kitchen. When the guys show up with my new dishwasher it’s safe to assume they’ll be wet, as will the new dishwasher. This will minimize the amount of wetness on my carpet. The technicians arrived (the same guys who came out on Monday) and began the work. Carlos, the main technician, said that my shutoff valve was rusty, green and gross. He gave me the specifications that I would need to pass along to a plumber, should I decide that it needed to be replaced. I asked him if he could do it for an extra charge. He said he could, so I told him to go ahead and do it while he was here. I didn’t want to have to have another guy come over later, pull the dishwasher out, fix the valve, and then put it back. Let’s just get it all done while we’re here. He also installed the new electrical outlet. It was all adding up to a sizable extra charge, but what the heck. Let’s just get it done and have it over with. The good news was that the dishwasher problems would all be over in a few hours, and my computer was back up and running, albeit limping a little bit on training wheels. The bad news was that my cat Spook was having health issues. He threw up a few times, and he was also having some diarrhea issues – which thankfully I was able to stay ahead of. I honestly think the stress of not having me home for two weekends had affected him. Add to that all of the stresses around the house from the computer and dishwasher issues, which animals can no doubt feel. I thought, “This is it. He’s shutting down.” Then my mind flashed back to two years ago when I had to let Roxy go on a blustery, rainy day. I was having horrible déjà vu. Would I need to make a call and let Spooky go on a similarly stormy day? I dreaded the thought. Carlos the dishwasher tech finished the job and everything was working great. He said he really loved looking around my house, as a lot of the displays reminded him of his childhood. He asked what I did and I told him I was a Voice Actor. He said his nephew was a big fan of anime, and he thought his nephew might be a big fan of “Bleach!” I asked him to call him on the phone to confirm. He said, “Are you a fan of “Bleach?” His nephew said, “Yeah, the Soul Reapers.” Then he put me on the phone with him and I gave him a Renji greeting. It was a lot of fun, and Carlos said I made his day. What fun. So it was nice to have two problems solved now; the dishwasher and the computer. I would be keeping my eye on Spook’s progress throughout the night. Since I needed to remove all of the items under my sink so that the dishwasher tech could do his work, it was time to put everything away again. Since I had pulled everything out and placed it on the floor, I took advantage of the situation and did a massive clean-out and reorganization. I threw a bunch of stuff away I no longer needed, and organized the under-sink space the way I preferred it. This way I can easily find the things I need at the appropriate time. I cleaned the kitchen floor; mopped and vacuumed, and put everything in its place. It was a heckuva lotta work, but worth it! Brian called to check in on the computer progress and everything was looking good so far. The bad drive went in for inspection and possible recovery, and I’ll find out early next week if the recovery of any files was possible. I certainly have learned a lot about this computer stuff from the experience of 6 months ago. By late afternoon it was raining very hard. I got ready to take Angi to dinner at the Smoke House, but she called to say she was still at a shoot. She was doing some modeling for a Valentine’s Day photo spread for a web magazine. She said she would meet me at the Smoke House in time for our 8:30 reservation. During my shopping excursion the previous day, I bought a huge bouquet of red roses that were beautiful. Since it was raining out I placed the flowers in a bucket and let the rain kiss them with some wonderful moisture. I’d give them to her when we returned to my house later. We met up at Smoke House and had a wonderful pre-Valentine’s Day dinner. We were in the side of the restaurant that had piped-in, recorded music on the overhead speaker system. But in the room on the other side of the restaurant they had a live singer performing classic songs. Once in a while my ear would wander away from the recorded music overhead, and stray into the other room to see what the guy was singing. I recognized the song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” which will always remind me of my adopted grandma Shirley, who passed away on the 4th of this month back in 2023. Immediately I got a bit sad. Even though I held it together in front of Angi, she could tell that I had been affected by the song. What great memories. When we finished dinner we got in our separate cars and she followed me to my house to exchange Valentine’s Day gifts. I’m glad we were in separate cars, because once I got to the privacy of my own vehicle the sadness returned. The water from the sky had mostly stopped, but now the water in my eyes was making it difficult to see the road in front of me. I brought the roses in from outside and they were covered with a wonderful glaze of raindrops. Angi gifted me with a very nice card and a bag full of some of my favorite snacks! She knows the way to MY heart! I relaxed for a bit, did my nightly auditions, and was so exhausted from the day’s hectic activities – I hit the hay!

Friday the 15th – SINCE 1980!! – After waking up from a truly wacky dream, I got out of bed and waited for the maids to arrive. While I waited I recorded a few auditions, and then when they finished I headed off to Wienerschnitzel for some lunch. I was craving a good chili dog with kraut! I stopped by my box to pick up a huge package that I had been waiting for. A company called Jazwares just released a COMPLETE Darth Vader costume for a thousand bucks, and it comes with its own hard-side roller case! What a deal! I started cosplaying Darth Vader back in 1980 (before the word cosplay even existed), but this would be the most deluxe Vader costume I’ve ever had. My early costume began with a tape recorder strapped to my chest and a home-made breast plate made out of pasteboard and vinyl. Eventually I had a chest box fabricated out of wood, and the Chief Engineer at the radio station helped me wire up some Christmas lights to 9 volt batteries so it would light up. I had two little microphones in the helmet that ran down to speakers that were hidden on my belt underneath the cloak. That way I could talk to people and do the breathing effect. But this unit comes with a chest box and belt that have LED lights, as well as a sound effects box that has digital breathing effects! I can’t wait to open everything, pop in all the batteries and throw this baby on! I think I’ll make a video of me doing it piece by piece and post it! I’m glad I’ll have this costume around for any cosplay situations or a possible option for Halloween! Since I was going to be in town for a while now, I stopped over to Paty’s to get some chicken breasts for my homemade salads. I mailed off some bills and chatted on the phone with my folks and my buddy Dan Roebuck. He was in town for a few days so I hope to be able to see him before he leaves for his next project. I charged up my Bluetooth CD player and listened to the new double CD set of “The Man With The Golden Gun” soundtrack. It sounded great! I remember wearing out the grooves of my soundtrack LP when I was a kid, but hearing it again in crystal clear quality was delightful! It brought back great memories of the movie, and it reminded me that I need to watch that film again soon. I got back home and relaxed, and then did some work around the house later. It was nice to have things settled again with a lovely return to normalcy. The computer, the dishwasher, the cat – had all returned to normal. Thank God!

Saturday the 15th – HOME FOR THE WEEKEND AGAIN! – It sure felt nice to be home for the weekend again. While it was nice traveling the past two weekends, and seeing relatives and all the good people in Seattle, I just wanted to relax all weekend in my house. But going to lunch at Ernie’s Taco House with my pal Sara and Edi and Elliot Lurie was also delightful. I came back home to pick up a few things, and then I walked over to see my stylist Andie for a touch-up on my color and a trim. It’s great seeing her once a month and catching up. Then I walked home on a gorgeous day and relaxed. Later I did some work around the house. Recently, when Handy Don knocked some holes in my kitchen’s walls and ceiling so he could repair the leak from the Puppet Room shower, he replaced the drywall and spackled over it. But the white of the spackle didn’t match the eggshell color of the walls, so it needed to be painted to match. While I was reorganizing the items underneath my sink a few days ago, I found a small jar of paint marked “KITCHEN WALLS.” Bingo! I painted over the spackle and let it dry. It would definitely need a second coat, so I’d make sure to do that later in the evening. There’s also a spot of spackle on the kitchen ceiling over my table, but I’ll need to move a lot of stuff around to get to that one. I’ll also need to attach some plastic drop cloths to the area to keep paint from splattering onto the displays in that area. That will be a considerable amount of work that I’ll save for another day. In the Chaney Room I moved some things around on the wall so I could mount the Roger Moore life mask that I purchased for Rubber Larry’s sculpting process. As he’s sculpting he likes to refer to the original life mask to ascertain the width of the actor’s face and their bone structure. Now that he’s finished with the sculpture, the Roger Moore life mask will take its place among those of the other actors in my collection. I fed Spook (who’s doing MUCH better, by the way) and went outside to do my nightly WOG. When I got back inside I painted a second coat on my kitchen walls, and then looked at some of the pieces in my new Darth Vader costume. This set is truly GREAT! It’s clear that the company put a lot of thought into this collection. I made a giant salad and retired for the night to watch another episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller.” I also watched some of the stuff I had recorded on my DVR over the past few weeks. It’s good to be back home again.

Sunday the 16th – CHRISTMAS ALREADY???!!! – Since my pal Dan Roebuck was in town he wanted to show me all of his newly acquired Captain Action toys. Since I’m also a fan of the vintage Captain Action line from the Ideal toy company, I couldn’t wait to see his collection. I brought him a few Captain Action hats I had made recently to add to his collection. We met at a restaurant called Tally Rand, where his daughter Grace works on Sunday night. She joined us at the booth from time to time. What fun! After dinner I followed Dan to his house to see his amazing collection. He has managed to acquire virtually every Captain Action-themed toy in existence, and it’s truly amazing. He even owns the VERY rare Captain Action kid’s Halloween costume from Ben Cooper. It was in mint condition and looked like it had never even been worn! What a magnificent collectible! On the way home I called in an order to-go at Denny’s. I knew I’d be starting the DVD set of “Have Gun – Will Travel” later that night, so getting food now would save me the hassle of having to go out to get it later. I got my food and headed home to relax. Later I took my usual WOG, and then set about recording the first of 12 bits as Wally the Elf for this year’s “Christmas Across the Lands” radio show. Even though there are 311 days until Christmas, the host and producer Randy Sherwyn likes to get an early start on things. VERY early! I recorded the bit for the first hour, then edited it and sent it off to Randy. I’ll record the bit for hour 2 later next week. I love being a part of that radio show, but I had no idea he started so early! I got cleaned up and organized the Tranquility Zone so I could enjoy my Denny’s and fire up the “Have Gun – Will Travel” DVD set. Some of the episodes of this show that I had seen on TV looked pretty old, muddy and dated. I was concerned that the print quality on the DVD set would be the same. But for a show shot in 1957, the quality of these episodes was amazing! I’m going to love delving into this series. The first episode guest-starred a young, feisty Jack Lord – long before his tenure as Steve McGarrett on the original “Hawaii Five-O!” The second episode guest-starred a young Charles Bronson, long before he became a box office legend! Watching series star Richard Boon face off with these other fine actors was a wonderful sight to behold! I’m going to enjoy the heck out of these episodes!

And how were YOUR two weeks?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK