First up is from my most treasured Internet gem, Squishable.com: The Squishable Android! In June, the lovely folks at Squishable.com auctioned one of these adorable guys for the Child’s Play Charity. Just when I thought I couldn’t love these guys any more, they go and do that. Maybe if I’m a very good girl, Santa will leave me one under the tree when they go on sale in December. (HINT HINT)

This second example of pure win comes from artist James Hance in the form of Wookie the Chew. I love love love the original, classic, timeless artwork from Winnie the Pooh by E.H. Shepard (and many times imitable stories by A.A. Milne). The way he has merged Star Wars with Winnie the Pooh tugs at my nerdy heartstrings making me ridiculously happy. Prints are available at the link provided. He also has t-shirts and released a book this past Wednesday, September 1. I’m pretty sure Santa will have to beat me to the punch for getting “Most Likely Lose It Again, Anyway” in t-shirt form. WANT!

Last, but not least, another example of win from the fine folks at Think Geek, App Magnets. As Motorola Droid user, and recently indoctrinated member of the Cult of Android, I can’t help but poke a little fun at my iPhone using brethren. As appears to be the theme of today’s Wins, the magnets are simply a-dork-able. As testament to their awesomeness, they are currently out of stock. Think Geek has long been a purveyor of fine nerdy goods and I enjoy recommending them to many to fulfill multiple and sundry nerd-ly needs.

I started collecting Sandman comics around 1998 or so. This was back in the days when huge swaths of the San Diego Comic-Con floor was nothing but booth after booth of comic books. I would plop down with a box of $1 comics and a list written down on notebook paper and carefully pluck out the little treasures.

As we all know, SDCC is nothing like those halcyon days any more. Where there were once 10-15 booths of cheap back issues of non-superhero comics, there are now 2. Walking into Baltimore Comic-Con was like coming home. Comic shop owners dominated the floor. $1 comics. $5 graphic novels. Action figures, artists, independent comics publishers, and web comics. It was beautiful. My nerd heart wept.

We stopped in many booths looking for a comic that has eluded us since July: Blackhawk #133, the first appearance of Lady Blackhawk. (Still haven’t found it) In one booth, I started flipping through a box of comics entitled “Misc. Vertigo”. In it, I found the Death Mini Comic, “Death Talks About Life”. A 6-page pamphlet distributed in the 90s informing people about safe sex, STDs, and condoms with a guest appearance from John Constantine. I kept flipping through the box and Trey and I opted to split up so he could keep looking for Blackhawk. This booth wasn’t done with me, yet.

I found the Sandman back issues and the front of the stack had issue #3. My eyes got big as saucers. The front part of my collection was the most naked. The first 8 issues of Sandman were always out of my price range as a young’un. I am now a grown up with a scandalous amount of disposable income. I stumbled upon the box of comic book treasures. Literally. I pulled all the low number issues missing from my list rather gleefully.

Tucked in the wrong place, out of order, was Sandman #8 — the first appearance of Death. My breath caught in my chest. I stared at in disbelief for a few seconds. I had found it. My first thought was, “Trey is NEVER going to believe this!” My second thought was, “He missed me finding it! Sad! I wish he was here.” No matter what else happened, though, I could go home happy.

I purchased my huge stack of Sandman back issues and asked the booth owner if he had copies of Sandman #1 and #2. He stepped down to a box of comics on the floor and plucked issue #1 effortlessly from the box and handed it to me. His asking price was half what I was used to seeing when I started my collection, it was a no-brainer. I had successfully found the mini-comic, the first appearances of Death and Dream in one place. Full on triple nerdgasm, all the way, across the con. (To borrow a SUPER tired meme)

Out of a 75-issue run of a seminal series of comics, I am only missing 4 issues. I am on nerdy cloud 9.

Did you read it? Good. (If you didn’t, go do so, but we’re not waiting for any stragglers. Keep up with the rest of the class!)

Explanation of Scott Kurtz’s mind-reading powers: I suck at losing. Which is a big problem for me, because I lose a lot. Munchkin? Settlers of Catan? Halo? (OMG am I terrible at Halo) Super Mario Brothers for the Wii? (There was much stress from badly losing the game)

The way it works for me is a series of if/then/else statements. If everyone has the same experience level then I am generally fine with losing. If I am the only one new to the game then I probably won’t play. My chances of winning are low and I won’t learn by continually being beaten. If I am the one with the most experience then I will play confident that I will win. When I lose, it is infuriating.

Wherever possible, I prefer cooperative play. Best-case scenario is playing a game where I am my only opponent. Example: DJ Hero. There are no goombas, orcs, flying-turtles, or spike deathtraps for me to blame for my failure. DJ Hero is learning music in easy mode. If I mess up a mix, I know I’ll do better next time and get five stars to boot. DJ Hero was the tincture that soothed the Super Mario Bros rage-beast (See Dex-Starr above for example of rage-beasts).

Now I have Starcraft II. Trey and I played each other last night and the first match, he crushed me. I got irritated, knew I couldn’t win and just surrendered. It made me grouchy. He gave me some pointers on how to do that role better and we played again. I won the next match, but he went a little easy on me so as not to upset the marital household. After last night, the PVP comic was just perfectly timed.

Thursday was a travel day and can be summed up with a headache from pre-flight beer and high altitudes with a dash of cramped airline seats on Continental. If you are tall, flying Continental may not be a good choice for you. Research, research, research. (Yes, I know I am short, I can fit on any plane, my husband, not so much. His comfort is a priority of mine considering he already hates to fly)

Friday was a con day for us. We met some really nice people who work for Hasbro on the walk from our hotel to the con. They gave us the 411 on some really neat things to find on the con floor, like the actual Bumblebee car next to the transformed Bumblebee in the Hasbro booth. We picked up the majority of our free stuff from con that morning (as can be seen in the pic above). It was also the day we stood in line to get Gail Simone’s autograph on a comic and confess to her that we were at Comic-Con on our Honeymoon. She asked if we were nuts. We said we were.

Saturday was our second and last con day. We knocked spent the day looking for some hard to find single issues and completing a few trade paperback collections. We were thwarted in finding Blackhawk #133, the first appearance of Lady Blackhawk, Zinda Blake. I was also unsuccessful linking up for The Guild panel after lunch, but got to see the DC Showcase with Trey instead. Thomas Jane spent the whole panel eating a sandwich and fries. He was a trip. I got horrible pictures of him, sadly. We ended our Saturday with the Fables panel, amiably hosted by Bill Willingham. It was amazing.

Sunday, we went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. We spent all day there. Quite seriously. It was wonderful, as always. Trey had never been, so it was pretty important to me that he get to it this time around. Many aminals were seen and just as many photos were taken. They can be seen on my Picasa page.

Monday was a very slow day with checking out of the hotel and me losing my passport amongst all our crap and blaming its disappearance on the housekeeping staff. More than slightly embarrassed by that, but at least I found my passport. I really should have apologized all over myself to the housekeeping and hotel folks a ton more than I did. I will instead sing the praises of the Sheraton Suites at Symphony Hall in San Diego lots. It was a great hotel and a wondrous home base for our Comic-Con adventures. I highly recommend it.

That’s really the highlights. It was a really good time. We had a lot of fun and were really sad that the con had to end. Super nerdy honeymoon FTW.

It has been super hot here the last few weeks. We haven’t hardly had a chance to enjoy our kickass patio set we bought because the heat and humidity has been so oppressive. Such is life in Maryland. Our in ground garden has been pretty productive now that we’ve fended off the deer and weeded it. Our container garden has not done as well. Note to other container gardeners: ceramic pots create too much heat and cook the roots of your plants. Next year we’re going to fork over the cash and go with some whiskey barrel pots instead.

The most exciting thing was the earthquake yesterday. It woke Trey and I both up at 5am when it happened. I remember my cat growling waking me up. Apparently, Trey woke up and asked why the headboard was shaking. I told him the whole house was shaking and that it was an earthquake and to go back to sleep (I do not remember saying this, but he swears I did). He told me it wasn’t an earthquake, this is Maryland, it was just a low-flying plane. When he got up and checked the Internet, my earthquake claims were confirmed.

It is a little known fact that there is a very large, dangerous fault line underneath the Eastern seaboard. It is often forgotten because it is not very active at all. We’ve been hearing a few more reports of other earthquakes steadily moving west. Like dominoes.

Next week, we head to San Diego for our honeymoon. This includes two days at the San Diego Comic-Con. We are very excited. Trey gleefully enjoys telling people where we’re going for our honeymoon. Then, even more gleefully, he enjoys telling people that it was MY idea to go to Comic-Con for a honeymoon. I am the nerd girl. It is true.

So, that’s really all I’ve got going on. Work has been picking up in busy-ness rather steadily the last few weeks. Planning for the honeymoon has consumed a lot of my leisure Internet time. Sitting down and writing has not been foremost on my mind, sadly. I hope I’ll have more to say post Comic-Con.

Any of the time I’d normally use for blogging has otherwise been occupied with commuting this week. It stinks. I promise some fun stuff next week. There’s a bunch of different ideas floating around my head wanting out. And the spam has been hilarious the last two weeks too.

For now I just have to shout out to my friends who have unknowingly made this week bearable, the tiny victories of finding Chinese food that delivers and the caffeine consumed miraculously keeping me awake.

I would be a horrible wife for not also giving love to my husband who has suppressed his own bad day dealings to comfort me. His week has sucked just as much but he’s let me be the whiny one. I win at life because I married that guy.

Because of this particular limitation, I refuse to purchase a metal patio set. It would get too hot to sit on and then what’s the point of having it? So, I insist on buying a wood patio set. I found a perfect teak one at a seasonal store a few months back. The season came and went and I do not have a teak patio set, unfortunately. I was at Lowes the week before the wedding for something not patio-related and saw a 5-piece wood patio set. I decided to come back after the wedding and get it. My patio set problem appeared to be solved.

Trey and I went to Lowes this weekend to purchase said patio set. As we pulled out the chairs and sat down in it, I came to a horrible realization. The chair was cold. Cold? Wood doesn’t get cold in air conditioning? The wood patio set was metal painted to look like wood. Naughty decoy patio set!

I would not be foiled. We continued shopping around Lowes in the hopes that something else would catch my eye. Such a set did, it is dark brown wicker and on clearance! The naughty decoy was trying to keep me from finding the killer deal in the next room. Obviously.

I honestly would have much preferred the teak patio dining set from the other shop, but I will be very happy with the set we found. Now the tricky part is getting my victorious find delivered. It was supposed to arrive yesterday. No such luck. Some sort of mishap involving no one having put together the thing and it not getting onto the truck yesterday. I should get it tomorrow. Expect a volcanic hissy fit if they fail a second time. Lowes, you’re on notice. I usually <3 you, don’t disappoint me.

From The Win Files will be a list of nifty things or links that I just find completely and utterly awesome. Welcome to the first installment.

I Am Comic Sans, a short imagined monologue from an oft-maligned font found on every personal computer from here to Timbuktu. If you have delicate sensibilities regarding foul language, this here be your warning.

I have the uncontrollable urge to place a tiny little 100×100 preview graphic of the awesome in the next link but I can’t bring myself to preview it and cheapen the full reveal. While I was very proud of my own wedding invitations, I would have been just as happy with these and take no personal insult in declaring them the Best. Wedding Invitations. Ever. Serious nerd points with this one. Serious. Like whoa.

Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame is working on a documentary about people who <3 Comic-Con. My husband and I are going to Comic-Con this year for 2 days of our honeymoon. I’m trying to decide if I’m going to be outgoing enough to send in a submission for the documentary. How much will I kick myself if I miss out on it?

Last week, our Xbox up and red ring of deathed. First it was doing some fun video locking up accompanied by loud crackling. I found a trouble shooting article on Microsoft’s website for it and determined it wasn’t the hard drive. Yay! It was the actual console.

To be fair, it lasted almost 4 years of infrequent use as a first or second gen Xbox. Not too shabby. The timing of it just sucked. Trey was very much looking forward to getting his couch potato on in advance of the wedding weekend. We wandered out to Best Buy and bought the plain olds arcade Xbox with no hard drive. My rationale being if the hard drive from the old console was crap, it would still be cheaper to buy that console and a huge drive separately than the elite.

My cunning plan worked fine however and we plopped the hard drive on the new Xbox and were up and running right away. It was really nice not having to recreate gamer tags and restart all our games.

Yay technology and thanks for the happy surprise Comcast! I take back all the nasty things I’ve said about you.

Goal #1: At the end of the day, be married to the person you love most in the world.
ACHIEVED

Things did not all go as planned, which if anyone will recall, was planned. And everyone loved it anyway which was so much more important to me.

Our officiant was quirky, sweet, hilarious, and genuine. She would make some tiny mistake and it just made me smile at her charmingness.

We ordered two small tents and got one huge one instead. It was great and really turned out better than the two tents probably would have.

The friend who was supposed to video our wedding got suck and had to cancel at the last minute (eek!) And our friends proved they are damned heroes and bought a video camera. Heroes.

My family was perfect. His family was perfect. Love everywhere. It was stupid hot, but there was so much love. Perfect.

I forgot the jewelry for my bridesmaids, my mother-in-law had an extra set and we just made it work. I forgot the cake serving set and Christi had summer stiff at the house that worked in its place. I forgot the pen for the guest book, the McCradys bought us one.

The totally cute escort board I made and we both worked really hard on? MELTED! more than once. Hot glue + hot sun = hot mess. I admit a little sadness that no one got to see how very cute it looked, but some of the cute got seen. The actual table cards were still super cute. My table labels got shorter and shorter as their susceptibility to wind became more dire. They were a great conversation starter for folks.

The sparklers were supposed to go at everyone’s seat, they didn’t. I didn’t even see where they were. Plus the party ended before we got to play with them. Oops. But yay sparklers!

I forgot to pack lipstick and BOOM! bridesmaids had a bevy of lipsticks in front of me. I feel in love with the one Kym offered me. I made sure to note the name of the color (Clinique Honeynut) to pick it up later and she told me to keep it. Trey has good sisters. Srsly.

My hair was awesome and my makeup stayed perfect. I got married!

So, yes, some stuff went wrong but still managed to be awesome.

Things that were perfect:

• Husband said yes
• Mimosas
• Bridesmaids’ hair
• My hair
• Dancing with my dad
• Food
• Makeup
• No sunburn
• Rain stayed away just long enough
• Centerpieces
• Tiki bar
• Ambience
• Ceremony site
• All the love of friends and family
• Everything? Yeah. Everything.