Pete over at The Private Universe is reporting that there are apparently still more regular (non-animated) Clone Wars figures coming down the pipeline beyond what we already know of - which would be up through the Saesee Tiin and Kit Fisto wave...  Hmm...

I think this is potentially not such good news, as this would likely indicate that this already peg warming line will be continuing on further than had been announced previously by Hasbro, which was the end of 2003.  That probably means that it will also be at retail concurrently with the "animated" line of CW figures, as well as the regular Saga line of figures.

That was my biggest fear all along, since I think there's no way in hell the retail shelves and pegs can support 3 seperate Star Wars lines, especially 2 that will probably struggle.  That means that the distribution of the Saga line to retail could be in serious jeopardy if the CW lines are already filling the pegs.  I've even seen a number of stores in my area that have pulled the Saga line completely in favor of the CW line right now...  

2004 was looking to be the best year ever.  I pray that the CW lines don't ruin the fun for all of us!

That said, what are your predictions for further figures in this line?  I guess Hasbro can probably put any of the Jedi into the CW "commando" getups that we've already seen.  I'd probably prefer more of the bad guys, or more Clones, or anything that has "cross-over" potential with the Prequel Trilogy.  But in all honesty, I'd prefer this line just end already...

Or when new neighbors just SUCK...!!!

Patty and I just moved into a new place a little over a month ago, and one of the reasons we chose this community, and this neighborhood, was because it was supposedly EXTREMELY quiet and mellow.  It's got an HOA (Home Owner's Association), so there's strict rules about what you can and can't doing, especially when it comes to stuff that might be bothering your fellow neighbors to any extent.  We moved into a cul-de-sac, that the former owner and a few neighbors told us was quiet as a library, not a peep out of anyone at any time...

Well, that's not exactly true, now that we've been here for a while, and have been able to see and listen for ourselves.  Yes, it's usually quiet, but there's some very noticeable and oft exceptions.

Starting to our next door neighbors on the right of us:  An older couple (60's), both of whom have a SERIOUS drinking problem, and are usually drunk every night, which often leads to some rather big fights between the two of them.  Big shouting matches, with swearing and everything.  Annoying.  Couple times a week probably.

Then, to our immediate left, some new people moved in just a month before us, replacing the former little old (85) lady that was there by herself before.  Well, the new neighbors are a young couple with a 1 year old and a live in mother-in-law too.  But they're the type of family who's always having parties (like loud music with LOTS of bass, drinking on the front porch, cars coming and going late into the night, etc.)  That doesn't even include the screaming baby.  Plus, they apparently don't have a dryer, and therefore hang all their clothes on the back patio to dry, in plain view of our patio.  Plus the guy smokes out on the front porch all the time too.  Obnoxious.  We HATE them.  Patty already asked them to tone it down a bit several weeks ago, which has helped a little, but we're close to starting up with the daily phone calls to our HOA.

Then, next house past them, there's an 18 year old daughter who likes to have all her buddies over constantly, and enjoys throwing big parties when her parents are out of town (a couple so far).  All of her friends have the suped up cars, with big stereos and ultra loud mufflers.  More loud music here too.  Annoying.

But the worst is a couple houses beyond that, at the end of the cul-de-sac, where a single lady lives with her two YAPPY as a MF dogs.        She's got two little Scottish terriers that NEVER shut up.  They're barking (little high pitched squeeling barks) in unison practically 24/7.  All day, all night.  They basically just sit out in the front window and stare into the cul-de-sac, and if they see so much as a single leaf move, they start their obnoxious yapping.  What makes it worse, is that the lady doesn't even care, and just let's them do it for as long as they want.  She could at the very least just close her front blinds so the dogs can't see out, but she won't, despite numerous complaints from the other neighbors.  The damned things usually wake us up several nights a week too.  I HATE those dogs more than anything in the world right now.

That about wraps up my disgust at this time.  A huge, peaceful neighborhood and community, and we wind up getting the only 4 bad neighbors in the entire area.  Sucks.  We love the inside of our new place though, when we can't hear the crap from the outside...  

So, what about everyone else?  Who's got crappy neighbors?  How bad are they?  Please do tell, as misery loves company!  

Hey fellow hoops fans!  So, who all out there is excited that the NBA preseason is finally underway, and our favorite teams and players are now loosening up the strings on the nearest nets?!  Good to be back...  

Of course, being a rabid Laker fan, I'm more than "a little" excited to see Dream Team 2 in action, but of course that excitement is being tempered somewhat by the whole damned Kobe saga...  What a shame that the dumbass couldn't keep his pants zipped, and is now overshadowing all the should-be fun and anticipation of an incredible season because of it...  

I won't get into whether or not I think he did what he was accused of, but either way, it's certainly taking a HUGE toll on the guy, way more than I ever thought it would.  He's finally been doing some interviews the last couple days, and he is DOWN, like manicly depressed and totally dejected down.  He's lost a TON of weight, is totally out of shape (especially following his offseason knee surgery), showed up several days late to training camp, and won't even be playing in any preseason games for a while due to his lack of conditioning.  And we thought Shaq was bad last year!  

And to top everything off, the once choir boy, clean as a whistle Kobe, has finally gone out and gotten himself a couple bigass tats on one arm.    Some big ol' crown that has something to do with his wife Vanessa, and something else that I couldn't quite decipher.  So the seeminly very last guy in the NBA with "non-tarnished" skin, has finally up and joined the rest of the NBA and inked himself all up...    Not that I think there's anything wrong with tattoos, but it was always refreshing to see Kobe being different from everyone else in that respect, and not taking part in all that...  Oh well.  The guy just seems completely ruined right now - both mentally and physically.  A shell of his former self.  He said that up until just recently he was strongly considering taking the entire season off, but that his wife finally talked him out of it.

Looks like he's even going to make the cover of Newsweek magazine next week, under the title "The Kobe You Never Knew", or something to that effect.  Even talks about him seeking a divorce lawyer several months prior to his affair.  WTF...

Well, I still think that even without Kobe, or with him only playing part time due to the trial, the Lakers are still going to be the team to beat.  Spurs lost the Admiral, but made some other good pickups.  Sacto made some strong moves as well.  And of course, one OCB will come charging in here shortly to tell us all about his dreaded T-Pups, and the strong push they made during the offseason.  If Latrell can keep his noggin screwed on properly, they'll be tough, I'll admit!

Still nothin' going out on East though.  That conference hardly even matters anymore.  Grant Hill's already out for the season again, so the Magic won't be improving much as they had hoped.  Pacers, Sixers, etc.  Same ol', same ol'.  No worries there.  Gonna be another massive showdown from the big dogs in the West again.

So, who are you folks all rooting for, and what crazy reasons do you have for them possibly beating my Lakers?!    

So, who else LOVES shopping at Costco (p/k/a/ Price Club)?!  For those of you who aren't familiar with the store, it's just a HUGE discount warehouse full of absolutely EVERYTHING, for cheap (a lot of it in bulk)!  We're talking TVs, computers, clothes, books, DVDs, CDs, alcohol, tools, food, furniture, tires, their own gas station, etc., etc, etc...  It's great!

We recently got a membership when my Mom was in town helping us move.  It's the first time I've had a membership there since about 10 years ago, in my early collegiate days...  Funny story about how we got our FREE membership (it's usually like $45 a year, or so).  My Mom and aunt took my wife over to our local Costco about 3 minutes away.  In order to be (free) on my Mom's membership, my wife Patty had to somehow be "connected" to someone else already on her membership card.  So my Mom told them Patty was my sister's "partner"...      So apparently my wife is therefore now a lesbian ("not that there's anything wrong with being gay" - Seinfeld)...

Anyways, we finally made our first trip over there this afternoon, and it was almost as fun as hanging out in Best Buy (my favorite store).  I browsed the widescreen TVs, computers, clothes, DVDs, CDs, and other assorted goodies, while Patty was off buying food and supplies by the truckload.  Unfortunately, we only had an hour in there before they closed, so our trip was cut short.  But we still managed to do almost $300 in damage there by the time we had checked out.

Not to mention all the tasty samples of food and beverage they often have around the store!  Enough to qualify for a nice square meal if you make the rounds in their entirety!  

Needless to say, we'll be visiting there a lot more often from now on.  Might even be buying a new computer and TV from them pretty soon too!  So who else has a Costco membership, and loves shopping there?

Just got my moolah from obi-dad, which took a little longer than expected due to his out-of-state move, but Pat eventually came through with his end of the deal so I'm happy!    Really friendly correspondence along the way made it a pleasant transaction as well...

Thanks Pat!

There's a fairly new song out right now from the Bad Boys 2 soundtrack that's all over the radio stations here in L.A., by Nelly, P-Diddy, and some other dude, that has a backing "vocal" that is absolutely STUCK in my freaking head.  We're talking all day long for several days now.  Just keeps going, and going (like the Energizer Bunny) - like it's on some type of continuous play in my brain or something.  I wake up in the morning and it's already playing.  I'm at work, browsing through royalty statements, and it's going.  Non-stop I tell ya'!  

This backing vocal is that chant that they do at all the "Indian" related sports franchise's stadiums, most notably the Atlanta Braves when the crowd is doing the tomahawk chop (but also at Florida State and Kansas City Chiefs football games too)...

You know - that OOOooohhh, ooouhooohhh, ooohhh, ooouhooohhh...  Sounds perfect in my mind, but I bet you're not following that lyrical text right there, eh?  I'm sure you know the one.  How do I get it out of my noggin?  I've tried humming other songs in there, but the "chant" always pops back in!

Another little repetitive vocal chorus that's been getting stuck in there as well is that new Beyonce/Jay-Z song - the part where she goes uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh uh-oh...  Argh!!!  Make it go away!!!  If it's not one, it's the other!  

So, what songs have you folks gotten stuck in your heads non-stop?  Did they ever go away on their own, or did you have to eventually seek therapy, as I'm considering doing...  

Well, we're finally officially moved into our new place and out of our old one, so I am finally commuting for the first time in my life (I lived just one mile from my office for the past 5+ years).

Patty and I made the drive back and forth between our old and new places probably about 25 times over the past 3 weeks and never hit a bit of traffic, which made the 20 mile drive just a measely 20-25 minutes - which is somewhat tolerable.  I figured I'd be in pretty good shape for my commute to and from the office, especially since I usually come in pretty late (9:30-10am) and leave after 7pm, so I figured I'd be avoiding the majority of the "rush hour" traffic.

Well, if yesterday and today are any indication of my average commute, I'm going to be looking for a new job pretty soon!     Took me a good 35 minutes yesterday to get into the office.  Started off smoothly for the first 15 miles, and then nothing but a parking lot on the freeway for the last 5 miles.  But today was twice as bad, as it took me over an hour to get in - 10 miles of pure gridlock!

I even hopped off the freeway at one point this morning to take side streets the rest of the way, but apparently thousands of other people had the same damned idea.  This royally SUCKS.  I HATE traffic (especially in 90+ degrees of heat) and idiotic drivers, so arriving at the office in a vengeful and angry mood, with a nice fat headache to go with it, is not going to be a good thing.  Not to mention all of the road rage spewing forth from my filthy mouth, and vulgar fingers...

Hopefully things will get better though, 'cause I just can't handle it as is!    God help me...

So what's everyone else's commutes to work or school like?

Just polished off my first transaction with rebeltrader, and it went absolutely perfect!  Jim's a standup guy, and a pleasure to deal with and as such, he definitely earns my trading seal of approval!    Thanks Jim.  Looking forward to helping eachother out again in the future...

- Matt