Thank God for a great day in Portland, Oregon (PDX) Sept 4, 2014 (pics galore redux)

Another beautiful day in Sea.... err..... so we woke up about 5AM in the morning of Sept 4, 2014 because we had a rendezvous with destiny in Portland, Oregon. So that means.... ROAD TRIP! So from 6AM to 9:30AM, we had loads of pit stops, driver switches, and naps in between. Thank God we weren't really hungry so we stopped off first in Portland's International Rose Garden. Then again, Extended Stay America had free coffee and breakfast so that was good enough. I took enough Nutri-grain bars and muffins to satisfy me.The sad thing about the Rose Garden now is that you have to pay for parking, which used to be free when I was here back in 2010. I guess the city is losing money. I remember a lot of locals would come here to play, shoot archery and rifles, and walk their dogs. Lots of empty parking spaces because nobody wants to pay. Once again, photos for your viewing pleasure....

My sister.

Family Pic.

Transformers Classics Retrospective look! Transformers Universe Prowl (2008)

At this point, I started to buy TF figures mad-like crazy! I was shopping at Hasbrotoyshop.com and came across SDCC 2010 Blaster, Universe Prowl, and Universe Smokescreen. I also had Henkei Skyfire at this point, though awkwardly, I was opening random figures and not opening them in the fashion and order that I buy my figures.  Guess what? Its four years now and Universe Smokescreen is still MISB in my collection. I eventually opened up Skyfire though it probably wasn't until a year later. On a side note: SDCC 2010 Blaster is also MISB as well.


So i couldn't pass up on Prowl since he had a pretty close resemblance to his G1 figure. Here are pics of his vehicle mode and boxing. Once again, pics were taken in the past before I learned to really pose with them.

Classics Prowl

Transformers Classics Retrospective look! Henkei Sunstreaker! C-07

Michael Bays Transformers brought Transformers back to the big screen, but it also re-vitalized interest for some TF fans such as myself . The year was 2010 and though some of the G1 re-issue figures caught my interest, I realized Hasbro/Takara Tomy were releasing these "classic" figures by giving them a modern look as of today. The line started somewhere around 2006 and it continues on today. Some people call this the Generation 3 line. In the west, Hasbro released updated models of the G1 heroes/Villains and were branded and released as the Classics and Universe line that was eventually renamed the Generations Line. The western releases, however, left a lot to be desired because a few releases such like Megatron, Cyclonus, Starscream version 1, and Smokescreen etc..  had awkward color schemes from their G1 counterparts. Takara Tomy Japan weren't far behind as they released their version of Universe/Generations into the "Henkei Henkei" line. What made Takara's figures standout in comparison to the Hasbro line was that their figures sported a more cartoon accurate paint job with chrome guns, chrome spoilers, and chrome on different areas. Takara Tomy was often hailed as the more superior bunch though the random chrome on certain figures like Grimlock, Galvatron, and a few others had people getting the more affordable western version. So collectors often mixed up their collection with both Japanese and western releases. Be thankful that you had more options then just eating slice bread.

Front cover

back cover

Thank God for a great day in Seattle, Washington Sept 3, 2014 (pics galore!)

Aloha folks and welcome back to day 2 of my trip to Seattle with my family. So we woke up around 7AM in the morning and left the hotel (free breakfast grabs btw) around 7:45AM to head to the Big Four Ice Caves at Granite Falls for a friendly family hike. The drive from Aurora was nearly an hour and a half. To make things easier, make sure you buy a day pass when you see the ranger station as you enter Granite Falls to your left. The one day pass is $5. If you miss the station, you have another chance to pay by putting money into the envelope and putting it in the drop box in the beginning of the hike.

The hike is roughly 2 miles round-trip. The path way to the caves is an easy hike. When we got to the ice caves, lots of the ice melted. I could recall the ice being stretched all the way towards the beginning of rocks that lead to the ice caves when I was back here in 2011. There is also a memorial cross to Grace Tam, 11 years old, who died back in 2010 when a big chunk of ice landed on her. Though she never died right away, it took hikers a long time to rush back to civilian areas for help.

Pay your respects if you have to but remember to be careful as you can see there are a lot of holes in the cave decks. Plus, the ice really seems thinned out. For the most part, me and my family steered clear of going inside the caves. I did go inside one of the caves back in 2011. All I can say is be careful and if you do go into a cave, bring a flashlight, heavy duty jacket and boots. Because the ice is constantly melting causing a stream to run aground, jacket because its super cold, and flash light because the more you hike in, the less you will see light. Overall, please be careful because if something happens to you, its a long way from help.

Sadly, the U.S. Forest service made the Tam family take down their cross because of our God-hating laws these days. What has our nation turned into? And our nation preaches love but yet I don't see any love in this.  Remember we are still a nation under God plus freedom of speech and religion.  No reason for the U.S. Forest service to do what they did. I betcha if a bunch of atheists placed some marker, aside from a cross, there will be no hissy fit thrown. No questions asked, period. Oh well, God will resolve the rest. I will continue to pray for the Tam family that they stay strong in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the link:

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/family-grace-tam-11-killed-ice-caves-forced-take-down-cross-they-placed-her-memory

Return to the Ice Caves!

My mom having fun.

I will conquer thee!

The white parts are very slippery. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Roughly at noon, we decided to head back into town to eat at Paseo Caribbean Restaurant located at Fremont. I didn't get a pic of the store because it is very difficult to find parking so I had to drop my sister off and had her buy the sandwiches while I drove around.

The sandwiches are about a foot long and are very tasty. I recommend trying here if any of you ever come to Seattle. Definitely worth the $8. 

Thank God for a great day in Seattle, Washington Sept 2, 2014.

 *Disclaimer* I am only copyrighting my photos because I do not want any mis-representation of me.  If you wish to use my pics, just write to me. Through a past experience, I just don't want anyone using my pics to slander me and my family. Otherwise, enjoy.




Caught a red eye Delta flight from Honolulu to LAX (Los Angeles) and then transferred from LAX to SEATAC around 9:30AM. Arrived in weathers ranging from 60-70 degrees. Not so bad. Got my rental car from Budget. Okay, ready to start the day!

First off, Chinatown aka International District! My sister got a tip in where to eat. Let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

 

After we ate, we walked around because my sister wanted to go to Uwajimaya which is actually linked to the KinoKuniya Bookstores. Uwajimaya sells some local Hawaiian food such as Laulau, Poi, Portuguese Sausage, and Zippy's chili etc....

Will change blog name soon.

Anyone following I will change the site of this blog to tdawgspersonalblog.blogspot.com.  very soon. I think it would fit in more nicely with my hobbies of who I am, what I like, and what I do.

original: retroandmodernstuff.blogspot.com

Thank you. See you soon.

Me Grimlock Hate Push-ups!

Just graduated from Respiratory school and hope that God will open the door for getting an RT job. I decided to get the "Me Grimlock Hate Push-Ups T-shirt after seeing an TF fan wear it online. The pics above was on July 4, 2014.  There are numerous versions of Grimlock "hate push-ups" tshirts, but I thought this was the coolest one. Not to mention, my sister thought it look cute. I love the shirt as I wear it almost every week. Shouldn't wear it out but you can't deny its a cool looking and funny t shirt. The kids and TF fans always get a good kick when they see me wear this shirt. Even my best friend thought it was awesome as well.

You can purchase this t-shirt for an limited time on Hottopic website or stores near you. God Bless you dudes and dudettes. Laters.

Beware Microsoft Indian call scams viruses or errors.

First off, please don't rub it in, but yes, I got scammed by these folks. Yes, I was stupid and admit it.


First off, I should had really consulted God on this matter, and I didn't and I have no one else to blame but me. But I am glad he helped me rectify the situation even if I lost quite a bit of money. The point of this post is to show and warn you to not do the same thing and to help save your hard earned money.



Priority: Once you hear these people with  thick Indian accents calling you from Microsoft talking either about Viruses or errors ( this is what I got.) Hang up quick! Microsoft, through my experience never calls, and after this incident never will. These people are fakes.



If you were duped, be-careful here. Let's say you already paid the money which is where I am getting at, then you just lucked out on the money. But you can still save your computer. These people will have access to your comp because you gave it to them. You can see them doing stuff on your comp via remote pc. Before I get to the bad stuff, these folks are professionals! Sadly, they used their intelligence to do evil! Yes, I do forgive these folks and pray they find the lord some day. But I will never give them my business ever again nor will I trust any phone scheme ever again. Once again, how can I be so stupid! Anyways, they will give your confirmation codes through your email and stuff and it looks all legit. They will give you a website which you should look carefully, because it may not really have anything to do with what they are offering. They will use western names like Victor, Mark, and common names.... doesn't sound much Indian doesn't it?



I told them I had to go out for a moment. I come back hours later, and they barely did anything. I realized something was wrong. When they came back on, they were doing simple stuff that a blind lady can do. I did a research with my IPAD and put two and two together, and realized, this is a SCAM!

Yes, the monetary damage was done, but thank the Lord he still saved me in time to prevent my comp from losing info because I heard that the people who got scammed all the way lost their info, and these mis-guided souls would put viruses on there comps. Some got really nasty malware from what I heard and some couldn't even get past the login screen. I noticed that the guy who was controlling my comp was deleting my anti-virus software. I realized he was setting up the big finale!!! I quickly pulled the plug on my comp.

He was still trying to gain access to my comp after it rebooted. Though I learned the hard way, I said NO! My info is still intact and I changed my password just in case. Not only that, if you paid by card...CANCEL IT IMMEDIATELY! You see, I think the Lord wanted me to learn about this, because my faith has been dwindling (my fault) but now I see a real reason to need him more than ever.  Guess what? If they were really caring, they would had called and said "why you unplug?" Not one call.......FAKE! Another way I knew the Lord protected me after my fall was that the guy could not finish his scanning on my computer for hours, when he talked to me he keeps saying he was dis-connected time after time. So thank the Lord he protected me from having my computer wiped out.


I knew something was wrong because I went out for "those" hours and I couldn't let go of the situation that I just gave a large sum of money away. I felt the lord was trying to teach me a lesson and that lesson was to trust in him and learn how to say NO to un-righteousness! You can't always say yes to everything.


I was foolish and careless and the damage had been done. I know many of you folks will not fall for it. Those who already paid.. you can still save your computer if you realize it though you can't get your money back because it was your negligence as it was mine.


Sure.... these people are laughing at me cuz they got my money. But if they die in their sins, can you take the money with you? If you are one of those that are cheating people and reading this, tell me:

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt 16:26)

Yes, i am disappointed in myself as well as those who do this. But know this, I do forgive you folks but my God will have vengeance upon you if you do not repent. You have been warned!


Its a hard lesson learned. I learned it very well. Through my faith in the lord, I know I will earn my money back. However, try and not lose your soul. Peace brothers and sisters.


*up date 5/21/14* I just did a research online and many people got scammed by this evil scheme. There was s story with one guy who isn't trusting of phone soliciting, but even he fell for it. Thank God he was able to get back most of his money. Another lesson here is that keep God's armor on, and don't let your guard down for one sec.

Another thing is that I do not condone any of this. I am actually hoping they call me again some day so i can preach to them the Gospel. From that point on, they can continue to sin or drop their evil acts and turn themselves in. Either way, Justice will be served. If it comes from the Lord, you better hope your life wasn't lost in the process and you will be jailed for your criminal activities.

*update 5/22/14* Thank the Lord, I don't think I lost anything at all when I checked my statement. I was able to close the account in time before they did any damage. Hallelujah! I heard a lady in the past gave her bank account, and in front of her computer screen she saw her bank account being wired to an unknown source. She quickly called her bank to close the transfer. She too was able to stop it. This morning they called my dad up and said they were computer maintenance.  Geez, these guys/girls will just hurt people just to get money. I hope they call again so I can say a couple things to them. Laters.


*update 7/22/14* Well, these folks keep calling. They called me a few days prior to writing this message and I told them a lie (forgive me God) that I had no computer. They hung up. They called me today in a very low frequency (some what eerie voice). I just quickly hung up. I was very tired so didn't feel like talking to them. Yeah, I have yet to preach to them, but I doubt they will listen. I ain't preaching niceties, its going to be more like, you guys/gals need forgiveness and you need to turn a new leaf that type of thing. Some people just can't take no for an answer like my friend said.

*August 2014* These guys don't let up. From what I hear, as long as you pick up the phone and say hi, the word "live bait" comes to mind. Sadly, I don't have caller ID on my phone so I can't pull the whole "If I don't recognize the number, then I'm not picking it up." One of the scammers called and I finally told them to seek God, and I was aware of their plans and what they were doing and then I hung up. The same people called me up few days later and I just hung them up because I was busy.  The funny thing is that the latter said his name was Daniel Bryan who is a current WWE superstar.



*Sept 2014*   I guess I should do this monthly. They are attempting to be more aggressive now. They call you up and then automatically say "You have a computer, right?" And then I just say: "Sorry dude, I'm not interested." *Click* *Sept 23, 2014* So They call my dad up. I tell them he's not home so "Sam" tries to sell his pitch to me. I abruptly interrupt him and say, I'll let my dad now, bye. *Click*