As for Firestorm, it reminds me of my dog Krystal who used to sneak my Secret Wars figures when I was playing with them. She always gave herself away when she was slowly slinking away from the scene of the crime. Poor Kang… Drop me a line if you still need a Firestorm – I *may* still be able to grab one off the pegs.

On a more positive note (for you lot anyway – not for me), my current graveyard of toys due to doggage consists of:

Mezco Johann Krauss (Comic version)
Mezco Flying Brain (Lobster Johnson accessory)
ML She Hulk
ML War Machine (luckily, the one from the two pack with Mandarin)
Botcon 2007 Dirge
Revoltech Patlabor…errr, something
The entire Indy Minimates pack
DCD minimates Gorilla Grodd

and probably a few more. Most of these were out of reach – they’ve learnt the art of knocking the wall hard enough so that figures fall off the shelf. I have staffies, so they’re built like small bags of hammers.

Jo

I think one of the sad things about life is that we spend so much time in the immediate – worrying about things and people that aren’t going to matter to us in the long term. You battle through the day and by the end you’re so whacked you don’t have the energy to pick up the phone or even email that old friend and ask how they’re going. I need to be better at that.

Sorry again and thanks for the kick in the butt.

As for the hotel thing, Ghost, it cost us pretty much the same as yours did you! Plus car rental! Grrr… I think we just got the rooms kind of late. It was the Extended Stay America on hotel circle, folks. I do not recommend it AT ALL. In addition to the filth, you had to get your towels yourself from downstairs, and when our room smelled like burning plastic their advice was to open the window.

Although as for the sleeping thing, not naming names but I usually end up sharing a room with one of snoring members of our online community, so this year I was very pleased to discover my roommate was quiet as a mouse. I slept like a damn baby.

Which is good, because on my first day i was so tired I fell asleep on the (wrong) train to the convention center and woke up as we were approaching San Ysidro. Next stop Tijuana! Ha ha. Good times.

Don’t know where you even found the energy to write this blog. But thanks for sharing with us. The death of a friend like that can bring up some unfamiliar emotions. Hang tight.

Too bad about the Firestorm, but that is one cute puppy!

I’ve been going through a bit of a rough spot, too, so it really helps to put things in perspective when you hear about another person’s difficulties.

We know you braved a lot of the Con hassles to get us here at AFI the latest news and we thank you for that.

Gah, that hotel is nasty!

Dan

I’m so sorry to hear about the passing of your friend. My sincere condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.

As for the hotel – man, that must have prevented you from getting a good night’s sleep. At least there’s no more residue of the chalk outline

Hope the coming weeks are much brighter for you.

PG

Sorry about your friend…I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago…

The hotel part would have had me up in arms…I say this not to rub salt in your wounds, but just to see if this will alter your plans for your next SDCC trip: My friend and I split a room at the Hard Rock…a two bed suite was $265.00 a night which is a little on the pricey side…HOWEVER…the convention is obviously right across the street, so a few times a day we could walk back to the room in under 5 minutes and go put things in the room or grab something to eat in the cool diner in the lobby…every night they brought us complimentary bottles of VOS water and rock candy (clever)…it had Aveda products in the bathroom (Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, soap, lotion, mouthwash…which is a high quality and expensive product…but one of the coolest parts were all the celebrities that we watched come and go because they were staying in the hotel…I talked to Zac Snyder (very nice) and saw Kevin Smith, Jason Statham, Jeremy Piven, various other actors…

All told, the $265.00 ($132.50 each) seemed like a great price to not worry about taxi cab rides, long walks, carrying tons of junk for loooong ways and unclean rooms…

There is NO doubt we are going to do our best to stay there again next year.

On the hotel front, I stopped by a Ramada on the drive from Miami to Chicago back in ’84, when we moved up north. The sheets were stained with red lipstick. Go figure, but it grossed my parents out.

As for Firestorm, I’m still looking for a Classic Ronnie myself. I can’t top your outlook on things, though. Spot on. And, hey, that IS one smart puppy you got there. Kudos, bro.