ESB Screening at Loveland

So, I've decided to go backwards in time on these blogs. It seems my long term memory is getting shorter (sucks getting older!). And I have to search for photos of older events.

The first event up on this blog: ESB screening at the Rialto Theater in Loveland. This was a fundraiser for the downtown Loveland Bridge project, where a pedestrian bridge will join the Rialto with other businesses. It quite the downtown rivatlization undertaking, but very worth while. For more info on this project: http://www.rialtotheaterguild.org/

And the link to the Fan Force (http://www.theforce.net/) write up with a few pics (including AL): http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Loveland_CO_TESB_Screening_Report_138960.asp

My favorite pic so far (hopefully many more will come including the "family portrait" of Vader and family):



The person who taped the skit of rebels vs snowtroopers that the Mountain Garrison did on stage before the movie is being edited as I type this. Hopefully I can post a link to it here. It was awesome. Ice Cream Maker dude came out in the end. It was AWESOME! Looks like both sides took a hit with bodies lying on the floor. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Everyone laughed and cheered. AWESOME!!!!

I forgot how magnificent the movies are on the big screen. Not the best theater in the world but the picture quality was great, sound was a bit loud but not overwhelming (just a personal preference of not so loud sound, sucks getting old!), seats were clean and comfortable, view from the balcony was fun, everyone cheering and booing at just the right times in the movie. Yep, we LOVE our SW movies, and ESB is still the best of them all!!! Priceless moment: when Leia says "I love you" and all the guys in the theater said in deep whispers (in unison, mind you) "I KNOW". Beautiful to hear.

Next year the Rialto staff is planning to show ROTJ to continue the fundraising effort. AL and I will be there!

On a side note: AL's dome wasn't spinning on channel 3 like it did in Omaha, so Azman changed it to channel 1 temporarily. It worked for five minutes until the receiver battery went dead. I charged up all batteries except that one. Stupid me, and lesson learned: charge ALL batteries and definitely get spares.

Until next time,
Jawa Jaka
(still LOVE the original trilogy, and even more now that I'm seeing them on the big screen again)

I haven't blogged in awhile, and I promise over the next month I'll get everything caught up (Starfest, Robocon, Droidcon, Contagion Con, getting AL's dome to rotate, etc). However, I'm going to blog today about something that is painful for me to watch: the Great Missouri Flood.

Every year I take a road trip to Omaha to visit my friends and attend a con or two. Sometimes I'll go twice. Last week I attended the very first ever Contagion:Outbreak con, with AL in tow,at the fairly new and awesome Qwest Center, Omaha's new premier convention center . The R2-Central had a very strong showing and was one of the hits of the con. The Qwest Center overlooks the Missouri, so Denny took me to the glass wall to see the river. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! A fairly large metal sculpture was half-way under water, the boat docks were sinking, islands of trees half submerged, and the scariest was how fast the river was flowing. And that was just Saturday morning! By Sunday afternoon the water was within feet of the top of the levee on the Iowa side (Corps of Engineers had been sandbagging all weekend to keep it from collapsing).

Usually after a con we gather for a final feast at some restaurant. This was no different, so off to the Buffalo Wing Stop for burgers and wings. Our spirits were a little better, until Brad showed us a video on his iphone of billions of gallons of water rushing down the river in a heavy torrent. The flood gates were opened wide on a damn in S. Dakota, and the water was coming fast! By the next morning it arrived in Omaha and the towns south.

The big national news was the levee break in Hamsburg (?), Iowa, just south of Bellevue where Moose, Jen, and Brad live. My heart sank while watching the video of the levee breaking on the news. I knew then the BIG flood was upon the farming towns and communities along the Missouri.

This morning I checked my facebook, and I would like to repost a link of one man's arial photography of the damage done by the flood:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104592539075472798431/TheGreatMissouriRiverFloodOf2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCLLaoO7rm_qp1AE#

This is just one pic on another friend's facebook:


The skyscrapers in the background are downtown Omaha. The campground and river park in Bellevue, just a block from Moose is totally underwater. On Monday when Moose and I took our walk to the river, the water was up to the top of the bathroom door signs, roofline barely above water. Many farms are gone, I-29 is practically closed, most bridges are closed, sandbagging everywhere, railroad tracks being pulled up just to save the ties, people losing homes or wondering if they'll have a home after all this.

The Missouri is suppose to peak by today, Friday. Then hopefully the very long dry out. Unfortunately, with it still snowing in the mountains, and the snowmelt just getting started, I'm afraid more flooding is on the way. I'm still crying, and I pray for my friends and their families, and all the good people of Iowa and Nebraska along the river.

Until next time, may God and his angels keep watch over the people of the Missouri river,
Jawa Jaka

p.s. Larry Geiger, who took the arial photos, is allowing free use of these photos provided you donate to the Red Cross Flood Relief fund. I think that is generous and fair.

Dome Drive Kit Installed!

It's been a long time, but I actually got something done on AL!! I installed his dome drive wheel. Now I just gotta hook up the speed controller, battery, and R/C. I'm determined that his dome WILL rotate by the St. Patty's Parade (after all, he's in it!).

An overall inside shot (not much but a reference for those with JAG 5 frames)

I also bought AL a gift for Starfest. You'll have to wait until after Starfest for pics to understand what this is all about (in other words, be patient!)

And on a personal note: I've been very busy the past month cleaning the inside of my RV. WHAT A MESS!! I lent it to a friend and his girlfriend who trashed it completely!!! I won't go into details, but he owes me LOTS of money for professional cleaners, cleaning supplies, new pillow cases, and any damages to the RV itself (like a missing tail light cover, wonder if the tail light works!). Lesson learned: DO NOT EVER lend any vehicles to someone who is filthy (and on drugs, I found out later!!). So, now that I'm not gagging and vomitting every time I get in the RV, I can get back to important things, like AL.

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka (a very unhappy jawa with a very trashed up sandcrawler :(

2011 Planned Events

I've posted on the left side bar the planned 2011 Events for me and AL. It's going to be another busy year, including two new events I'm totally excited about.

1. The first event is the St. Patty's Parade. The RMFF has offered AL a seat in their float. If there's no room, then plan B is to pull him on the garden cart (heavy wheels and flip-down sides) fully decorated in green and plaid finery ("We've gone to PLAID!!"). My goal is to get his dome rotating and lit up by then. I won't worry about the drive system until April.

2. Starfest is Apri 15-17l, and I invite anyone who wants a complete scifi experience to join me, AL, and a bunch of other droids/robots. This year marks the first time RoboCon and the R2 BC joining together in one fantastic Robot Room. Check it out at RoboCon 2011.

3. May finds us in Indianapolis for the first ever DroidCon. A couple of us are planning an RV trip for this one, with a possibility of heading over to Niagara Falls afterwards (only 9 hours from Indy). 50 droid builders have signed up already. Even though this is a pseudo-private function of the R2BC, anyone who is interested in building a droid can come. There will be panels, displays, and lots of photo ops. This isn't really open to the public, but if you or someone you know wants to learn how to build one of these things, sign up! And don't forget to sign up at Astromech.net, official website of the R2BC.

4. In June another first! Contagion Outbreak in Omaha! This has been advertised for about a year! I was one of the first to sign up and will be getting a snazzy t-shirt. Jewel Staite of Firefly and Atlantis will be the main guest. Not bad for a first-time con! R2 Central will be well represented with lots of droids there. I'm sewing my "steampunk" outfit like crazy (I'll post progress later), getting AL ready (he'll be "steampunked", too), gathering up my Stargate stuff, and maybe a pirate or two outfits. This is gonna be good!!! Definitely will have to make the SW cookies for this one...

5. I'm hoping in July to make it to Osfest. This will be kinda iffy for now, since I'm planning another RV trip to Provo, Utah over the July 4th weekend with the Mountain Garrison. I've been invited to march in the parade that Monday in my officer outfit. Sorry, no droids for this one since it's a long route and no floats (unless we make our own droid float). I've been thinking about converting my RV to the SpaceBalls one with AL on top and drive down the parade. Don't think that will happen, but it's fun to dream!!

6. Might drive down to Albuquerque for Bubonicon end of August. Again, this is iffy. It's a very small literary con that really doesn't like SW (or StarTrek, StarGate, etc). I don't even know if I'll have any vacation time left for this one! Besides, Albuquerque Comic Con in January is much better. Just couldn't get the time off this year for it. Maybe next year.

7. Saturday before Halloween AL and I will be back at the Hauntings at the Hangar, held at the Wings Over the Rockies. If you're in town (anytime, not just Halloween) come by to see the X-wing, the B-52 bomber, and lots of other aviation history and planes. It's a must-see for visitors to the Denver area. Although Halloween is really fun there! And safe for the kids!

AL will be at other local events, like Toys-for-Tots, possible bell ringing, the new-improved CamCon, Kidspree, definitely JDRF walk again (he'll actually walk a little down the sidewalk for this one, planning to get support t-shirts made, hoping to get lots of donations). Of course, all of these events depend on my work schedule and timing. AL and I just can't be in two places at the same time!!!

Hope to see you all at an event! AL LOVES to meet his fans!!
Until next time,
Jawa Jaka

Imperial Officer Photos

So, yesterday our wonderful garrison photog, Bill, had an "open-house" photo shoot for costume submissions. Here are the ones for my Imperial Officer. I had to remake the hat to fit better, and worked on the front panel to make it kinda flatter (kinda hard on a busty lady like me). I guarantee it's way 200% better than what I had at CV (didn't even wear it then). It's so much fun to improve costumes to make them better! I should be approved as soon as our photog lightens up the photos a bit.

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka (er, Captain Jaka!)

EDIT: APPROVED FOR 501ST DUTY ON NOV. 24TH!!!

Hauntings at the Hangar

AL and I were previledged to join over 500 kids (and families) for Halloween at Wings Over the Rockies. Two other R2-D2's made it as well, along with Jim's E-WEB uber gun. Everyone played with that! AL stood on his rolling platform holding a bucket of spiders. He even had a couple giant spiders and other creepy crawlies tied to him as his Halloween costume. Kids LOVED that! And everyone, even the big "kids" got to pull a spider ring out of the bucket. I think AL had fun passing out spider rings! We'll be back next year for sure...

Notice, AL has the front PSI light in! Yippeee!

My good friend Meg chumming up to AL.

The MG 501st booth, complete with spider webs. AL was holding the spiders!

Cal's Family Guy Artoo. He's now rolling...

Kathy as the Family Guy Lois. As the jawa, I carried a large jar of Grey Poupon.

AL, Family Guy Artoo, and Jackson's Artoo. Earlier he had a ghost sheet over him. It was soooo cute seeing that Artoo roll around as a ghost collecting candy.

Me, Cal, and Jackson, our teenage wonder.

Jim Shima doing a little saber practice with.... a jawa??? I like how the jawa's blade matched his eyes.

The RMFF table with the famous 3/4 X-wing behind. Harrison Ford finally signed it while he was in town.

The Death Star Pumpkin. Yep, I pulled an all-nighter for this one. I was still seeing dots the next day. LOL

The "gun" is a plastic doohickey from a watering can with a large silver button at the center, all painted a flat black spray paint. Silver duct tape for the panel lines, tiny dots painted on for the windows. (this project was whatever I could find in the garage, plus $2.50 for the pumpkin).

I tried to recreate the trench run using the freebie cardboard minis from CIV. I knew there would be a good use for them some day! Unfortunately, two tie fighters blew up (broke). The Rebel Legion was pleased....

Halloween is sooooo much fun, definitely one of my favorite holidays. Since I had the day off, I went home to pass out leftover candy to the neighborhood kids. I had the pumpkin on the front porch. What happened during the night amazed my neighbors! Everytime a kid came up to the door they would shout for their parents to come up and see the pumpkin. Everyone left some candy for the PUMPKIN!!! I now have a small bagful of candy I took to work on Monday. I really don't know how I'll top this next year.... IDEAS?

p.s. I'm thinking about turning the Death Star into a massive Tantive IV pumpkin bread. I'll try it this weekend.

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka

Falling in Love (with Colors)

This "falls" under the category of other. Yesterday a friend suggested I go up to Boreas Pass Road in Breckinridge for some awesome photo ops of fall colors. So, I went, and he was right! This is the best of over 250 pictures taken. Enjoy! And get out there!!!

This was the pic selected from hundreds to air on the CW local news station (http://www.2onthedeuce.com/) and the ABC local news station (http://www.thedenverchannel.com/).

To have it air on one station is cause for celebration, but two?!!! I did see the CW news one air it this morning, and the meteoroligist (fancy word for weather man) said he liked it because of the "early snow on Quandry Peak in the background contrasting with the bright leaves" (or something like that). He even sent me a personal email this afternoon thanking me for a great shot!

And here are some more pics:

This one is my favorite and will probably enter it into some free photo contest (if I can find one!). I love the layered look!

Until next time,

Jawa Jaka

Enjoy fall while it lasts (another week)