ComicFanboy.net

I had a couple books signed recently at Wizard World in Philadelphia. The first one was a gift for my girlfriend who's a big Patrick Stewart and Next Generation fan. The second I just had signed on a whim after seeing it in a 50 cent box near John de Lancie's table. I'll probably add Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis to it.

Besides comics, I'm also a pretty avid shooter. Moving to Pittsburgh from Texas has only amplified my firearm enthusiasm. I know that seems backwards with Texas' gun-happy stigma, but that couldn't be further from the truth. When you compare each state's laws and the facilities available, Pennsylvania is a much better place to be a gun owner than Texas. I found a shooter's paradise within 20 minutes of Pittsburgh where a $60 per year membership allows me to participate in nearly any shooting sport I want any time I want. I've started to dabble in IPSC pistol and CMP high-power rifle, along with a weekly dosage of skeet.

Last week, I brought a coworker out for skeet who's also a talented photographer, and he snapped a few pictures. As you can see, I have a pretty unorthodox skeet gun, but I still consistently score 19 or 20 with it:

I got the book I had signed by Dan Aykroyd back from CGC:

So some friends who know I like eating insanely hot wings have been telling me to try the wing challenge at this place called Jigger's east of Pittsburgh. You basically have 40 minutes to eat either 12 of their "Psycho" wings or 12 of their "Psycho II" wings (twice as hot). Now, these are the whole wing. So 12 of these wings are the same as 24 of what most places call a "wing". I'd been told that only an idiot would attempt the Psycho II challenge. I guess I'm an idiot. It took me a mere eight and a half minutes of the 40 allowed to take them down:

So after totally embarrassing the Blazin' Challenge at Buffalo Wild Wings several months ago, I decided to take on the Atomic Challenge at Quaker Steak and Lube in Pittsburgh. It sounded simple compared to the Blazin' Challenge. You only have to eat six wings, with no time limit or drink restrictions (not that I would need a drink anyways). When I showed up, I was surprised to find that they had a new hottest sauce; the Triple-Atomic. Made with the world's current hottest pepper, these wings supposedly reach 500,000 on the Scoville Scale. I'm not one to back down from a challenge, however unexpected. So, I signed the waiver and ordered up six of the new wings. While they were hotter than the Blazin' wings, I had no trouble devouring them all in a mere minute and a half:


(sorry about the video quality...it was a bit too dark inside for the crappy phone camera)

So I was browsing the CGC message boards at work the Friday before my girlfriend and I were due to fly out to Las Vegas, and I saw a post by Kris (thecollector) announcing a rare Dan Aykroyd Signature Series opportunity. He had seven spots available and all had already been spoken for by the time I came along. I was about to throw a fit when I noticed that the signing was taking place in Las Vegas on our last day there. After a few frantic messages, I got in touch with CGC witness Chandler who was going to be doing the actual witnessing at the signing, and he said it would be no problem for me to bring my own book and get it signed in-person. I immediately knew what book I wanted signed. The only problem was that my copy was beat to hell and had water damage. I ran over to Eide's on my lunch break, but they didn't have a copy. Calls to other local shops came up empty as well. I was about to give up when I remembered a friend in Texas who had a complete Marvel bronze age collection. A few short hours later, he was packing his high-grade copy and preparing to overnight it to my hotel! So, a few days later, we woke up at our hotel, had breakfast, and prepared to catch a cab to the signing. The only problem? The book hadn't arrived yet! After several frantic calls to various USPS numbers, I got them to change the carrier's route and go to our hotel first. The book was finally in my hands a mere two hours before we needed to be in line at the signing...a little too close for comfort.

Despite Delta Airlines' best efforts, my girlfriend and I just got back from a fabulous five days and four nights in Vegas. We flew in Friday night and boarded a shuttle full of guys who sounded like Niko from GTA IV. After being dropped off at the Rio, we checked in and bought Penn & Teller tickets on the way up to our huge and luxurious room:

So it only took me three years to get around to having the custom control panel overlay printed up for my arcade machine. I've had the image file sitting on my computer the whole time, but I just recently sent it to Scott at Mame Marquees for printing. It came out great. Here's a before and after:

This weekend, my girlfriend and I went to our first show/con since moving to Pennsylvania. It's a smaller show with more toys than comics, but I still managed to find a few cool books. Attendance was pretty poor, but at least that meant no shoving through crowds or kicking kids out of the way. There was really only one dealer with decent stuff, including a handful of EC pre-code horror. I bought a Shock SuspenStories #9 from him before leaving for the day. On Sunday, we went to check out a couple of local comic shops I'd been told about. First up, we went to New Dimension Comics, but they weren't interested in selling me anything. Next, we went over to Eide's in downtown Pittsburgh. They had a MUCH better in-store selection, and even let me buy something that wasn't for sale. I think I know which store I'll be going back to.

I'm getting my first real winter experience since moving to Pittsburgh from Texas. I just finished digging two cars out of two to three feet of snow and did not enjoy it. Yes, there really is a car under there...