2026 | Carl's Blog

Corpus Christi Comic Con 2026 – Day 1

Welcome to the first of three planned adventures this summer.

For my own memory this first adventure is taking place over the June 5 to June 7 weekend here in Corpus Christi, Texas.

I started the day with a short walk down to Norma Urban Park, which hosts Laundry’s, Harrison’s and Joe’s. This seems to be a man created peninsula to help protect the boats in the marina. It is also a good place to get a view of the sunrise with buildings or boats in the foreground.

This also gave me a chance to test out the gimbal I bought to use with my phone at the comic con. Ok it’s more of just a selfie stick, but gimbal sounds more professional. 😁

It’s going to be a few more hours, the doors open at 11:30, and after a shower to fully wake up; I needed breakfast.

Sure I could have eaten at the hotel, but that’s boring and I’m here with my truck so let’s drive…

I decided on a place called Hester’s. It’s a coffee shop with pastries and hot food. It’s only open for breakfast and lunch; hence it sounded great to me.

Ok, I’m inserting a short side story… as I was getting ready to leave I noticed the person in the gallery above taking pictures. The owner of the restaurant came out from the back excited that the photographer was still there. Why?, fresh baked sourdough bread is why… So I’m going to guess these pictures will be on social media soon. Thanks for joining me on this side trip. I enjoy finding life happening. Ok, back to breakfast…

I decided on the “Louis” Armstrong, which is your basic, 2 eggs, toast, potatoes and bacon. It is going to be a good day when the cook gets the eggs over easy right.

I really need to get an egg mold this size. The ones I have are for 1 egg, which means I use 2 every time I cook myself breakfast. Enough with my rambling about other things… (FYI, if you are new… I ramble a lot, you’ve been warned.)

I’m finishing my 2nd cup of coffee and waiting for the rain to stop, and my brain is wondering so I’ll take you with me… (see…)

The weather is fascinating… It was sunny and partly cloudy when I entered the restaurant but as I was eating the forecasted rain decided to move in a few hours early. One day maybe the weather apps will work as well as they did for Doc Brown in Back to the Future Part II.

Ok, back on topic… Well, sort of, its still over 2 hours until doors open and I don’t sit still especially after coffee, but the rain is going to limit outdoor activity, so back to the hotel to finish charging my cell phone and edit this post on my laptop.

Text reading 'Several Hours Later...' with underwater background and coral

Well, the rain clouds have moved off and the sun is out again so it is working out to be an extra nice June 5th here in south Texas. I’m getting ready to head off to the main event of the day. No cosplay for me today, but I did bring my Halloween Jedi costume that I’m thinking of wearing tomorrow. Today’s it’s just my frost dragon Hawaiian shirt from Geek Tropical. I’ve got some other shirts on order and hope they arrive in time for my next June adventure… Where you say? You will have to check back or sign up for email notification to find out. 😇

Now on to the CON!!!!!

For anyone interested here is the guest line up for the 2026 Comic Con and Anime

Some pictures from the vendors and the DJ pumping tunes into the exhibit hall and making announcements.

Check out this booth that seems to focus on creating Pokemon dioramas.

So after walking the exhibit hall a few times, I needed a break so it was time to take advantage of the VIP lounge.

A place to sit, games, puzzles and chargers

This is such a great idea for events like this. A nice place to sit and get out of the crowd, well Friday there wasn’t that big of a crowd but tomorrow I expect more people.

I skipped a meal last year at the Maid Cafe, so I had to try it this year.

What an exciting experience. You get a dinner and a show. Maybe.?.

Well, that was an experience. To be honest, I was expecting a bit more. The cupcake was one of those bitesize ones you can buy from Walmart. The soda pictured above was very good and was an import from Japan. It was a glass bottle with a glass bead sealing the top. You had to use the plastic topper to pop the seal to drink. So the unique drink counts as an up. The players were all very enthusiastic and if I had known more about these Japanese maid cafes and was a fan of Kawaii this would have been an awesome experience. Would I do this again, sure but with a friend or group. But if you are into this topic, this troupe is out of Houston and is available for hire for a gig. They are good at what they do, it’s just not my thing.

PAUSE… Next day me with an edit… Here is a post from Mim Cloud on her Instagram. I’m at the table on the left out of the shot. Edit done..

So they don’t allow candid pictures of the meet and greet area, but I was able to sneak the one above of Scott Innes booth. I guess since he has lots of Scooby Doo merch to sell; his booth is extreme.

While walking around the exhibit hall, The Sea Breeze Singers, cornered me and forced me to sing a song with them. Just kidding they asked me to sing with them. I should have recorded it. Anyways they were walking the exhibit hall trying to drum up an audience for their 2 PM. Sadly it’s their only show of the weekend and I had dinner plans. See above.

I’m heading off to my first panel of the day and to be honest I don’t have a clue what to expect. Especially after the Maid Cafe.

The title is “The Butlers Did It”

This was a very cozy event with Steven Butler and his daughter Lily Butler. Both are graphic artists that draw for comic books. They are both freelance and work on Archie Comics and Sonic. Oh, if you happen to have a Spiderman themed wallet, Steven drew that. It was supposed to be a cover for an anniversary issue but Marvel decided to put on a wallet and other merchandise. Steven also showed some sketches of an upcoming Archie Comics crossover with a popular movie about time travel, but I need to Terminate this sentence so no one gets in trouble for revealing a secret.

Both father and daughter shared how they got into the trade and some important lessons they’ve learned about deadlines and getting your foot in the door. Basically to make it in the industry you need to be able to produce quality quickly and manage your time between various projects.

They both were very friendly and down to earth. They even host a live podcast on YouTube every Tuesday evening at 8 PM EST called, “Comic Book Chaos“. During this 30 minutes the draw on whatever random topic is selected. This would be a great opportunity to observe the drawing process in action. I’m planning on checking out a few episodes tonight before bed.

It’s now time for the first panel I wanted to hear. Let’s go check in on Eddie Mcclintock and talk all thing Warehouse 13.

A fun fact about Eddie, he is now a native of Corpus Christi. His wife is originally from Texas and they recently sold their home in California and moved here to Texas. So maybe he will be present at more Texas Cons.

We learned that Eddie is a fan of the horror genre, especially the Living Dead and Arm of Darkness. It’s amazing to hear from a star how much they sometimes fan over their heroes, such as Bruce Campbell, whom he met via a mutual friend and spent the lunch talking about the Living Dead movies.

From further discussion about his career related to Warehouse 13, it seems this show was another victim of an TV executive decisions to maximize profit over public entertainment. It sounds very similar to what happened to the original Quantum Leap.

After hearing the discussion, I’m amazed to learn of all the times Eddie was on the screen, from his first roll in a Coor’s beer commercial to his appearance on a day time soup opera to his bigger hits such as Warehouse 13.

Well, day 1 is drawing to an end and I’m now in search of dinner. I’m going to check out Harrison’s Landing again. It had cold beer and good fish n chips last year.

Well, another unexpected event… Seems Harrison’s is going through some remodeling so their menu is limited. The beer is still cold. 😁

And with desert eaten, it’s time to put this blog to bed. Until tomorrow. Live long and my the force be with you…

Published in:

on June 5, 2026 at 9:27 pm Leave a Comment
Tags: comic con, South Texas, vacation

Spring Break 2026 – Day 4

Final day in Las Vegas, gambling was planned but none took place. I check 5 casinos for $10 blackjack tables and I found them, but those tables were very popular, so I gave up at 4 PM and went back to my room to recharge for tomorrow’s flights back home.

First, let me start with the view from my room this morning. I forgot to post my first night view, so you get the one from this morning.

I spent the morning checking out The Forum Shops at Caesars. If you have read my blog from June 2025, when I walked around a very similar style shopping area, Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian Resort. I did check out Tommy Bahama for some shorts, and I did like the linen variety, but not for $138. Here are some views from The Forum.

I also ate lunch at the last Irish Pub I wanted to try while in Las Vegas, The Nine Fine Irishmen. I had their Seafood Chowder and was very happy with my meal. While the weather people kept mentioning that Vegas was hitting record high temperatures, if you are in the shade the breeze keeps you very comfortable, so just stay out of the direct sun.

As I started this blog, I spent the rest of the afternoon at the MGM, the Luxor and the Excalibur questing for a seat at a $10 table. I decided the 3:2 wasn’t worth my effort because I normally don’t play long enough to get that many blackjacks. Statistically, there is a blackjack every 21 hands, now I guess playing at a full table will increase the rate of seeing a blackjack, but for my $10 bets the difference between a 3:2 vs a 6:5 table is only $2. If I was betting larger amounts, things would be different.

And I have to end with The Sphere showing off Pi –

I forgot to talk about the start of March Madness. The sports betting areas were only lightly populated on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Thursday they were full. Not sure there was any other place where you could watch that many games at the same time. There was even a huge screen setup outside The Linq.

I’m glad I got out on Friday.

Speaking of getting out.. here are some pictures of Burbank Airport and some pictures from the airplane heading back to Texas.

I’m thinking of trying Vegas in December crossing my fingers the airplane ticket prices go down by then.

Ok now officially until the next adventure… Williamsburg, Virginia.

Published in:

on March 19, 2026 at 7:47 pm Comments Off
Tags: las Vegas, travel, vacation, vegas

Spring Break 2026 – Day 3

Today’s adventure – DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS – and the Fremont Street area. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m going to try my lucky at the Blackjack tables at the Golden Nugget, which the web and locals say is the best blackjack casino for the player. This means it has the best pay out with the greatest chances. Crossing my fingers I can win enough to pay for yesterday’s meals, so I need to win $120.

Ok, let me take care of the elephant in the room as they say. I didn’t win any money. Seems I shouldn’t have played today at the Nugget. The only blackjack tables open were the desired 3:2, $10 bets, but they had a mandatory $2 bonus blackjack bet. So even though I was winning at first, I kept losing $2 because I never hit a blackjack. Eventually, I lost and didn’t have enough to keep playing. So, lesson learned. Don’t play any blackjack game with a busy or messy felt and avoid mandatory bonus plays. The tables at Treasure Island, while having a $15 minimum would have been better for me to play again. I do have one more day here so I’m going to give it one more run but not if I can’t find the perfect table.

With the bad news out of the way, let’s talk about Fremont Street and Downtown Las Vegas.

The streets leading to Fremont were all quiet when I arrived. The only people moving around were those from the city hall and courthouse going to lunch. I did see a couple at the marriage license office taking pictures in their formal attire. As I approached the Golden Nugget from S. Casino Blvd, I stumbled upon St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church. According to their website:

“Historic St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church was founded in 1908. Our present church building was dedicated in 1940.“

Finding a church only a block from the casinos seems out of place, knowing that most of these casinos started by mob money.

So, I entered the Golden Nugget and walked through the casino, lost some money and then headed out to Fremont Street.

The temperature under the covered, dome ceiling was noticeable cooler. While Las Vegas was expected to break heat records today, there is still a cool breeze making the open space pleasant. Now if you could only get rid of the occasional smell of weed. Seriously, that has been a problem everyday here. Cigarette smoke is terrible but that burning, skunk smell of pot is twice as bad. You are walking down the street smelling all the amazing restaurants and then BAM! a cloud of invisible pot smoke.

I walked through the Fremont Street Experience toward East Fremont. Along the way I saw long bars selling draft beers and many flavored daiquiris. I expected to have to dodge other tourists, but there are marked out circles for street performers. Most of these spots were taken by people just begging for money. I appreciated the real performers that would draw your picture, sold flowers they crafted out of cornstalks or the singers/rappers. There was on lady that setup a speaker and backtrack device and sang a variety of Motown hits. I even saw a few fellow tourists dancing like they were at a concert. Oh, I almost forgot “the girls” the ones with the feathers, they were there in multiple colors, spaced out so they didn’t compete with each other. If you don’t make eye contact, they ignore you like you ignore them. At least the Chip n Dale dances had a booth and didn’t roam around. So after making it through all that I was at East Fremont where I had lunch at Hennessey’s Tavern. The burger has Irish bacon and Irish cheese. It was very juicy and delicious. Looking at the pictures, you will see a 60 oz glass, you could get a draft beer or a variety of mixed drinks in that glass. If I had bought one, I would not have been able to standup after finishing it. I could see sharing with a few close friends, but solo… have mercy on your liver.

Oh, I should probably mention the easy at getting to Fremont Street via the Monorail and the Downtown Loop shuttle. It was just that, very easy. The only issue was the time waiting for the free shuttle. A Google search said the shuttle is GPS tracked but didn’t provide a site to use to track it and the shuttle is operated by the city of Las Vegas and not the RTC so it doesn’t show up on that app. If anyone knows how to track the shuttle, please leave it in the comments and I will update with the link HERE.

Here are some pictures from the inside of the Sahara and the Strat.

I refollowed my travel path back to my hotel, thought about getting an ice cream, but decide to wait until after tonight’s show at the Sphere.

I did check out I Love Sugar. If you have a sweet tooth, I’m sure you could find something in this store to make your dentist happy with all the cavities you will have after eating all that sugar.

I can’t really describe the Sphere experience; you have to see it for yourself to understand. Some suggestions when you purchase tickets, obviously pick seats in the center sections the 300s are probably the better seats, but the low 400s below 410 are probably pretty good too. I’m going to limit the pictures and only show you size of the screen.

This is a full sensory event. They had big fans that spread leaves during the tornado. The seats rumbled but didn’t move. There were animated butterflies that flew around and took me a minute to realize they weren’t on the screen. I’m going to keep a few other things secret so you can be surprised if you see the show.

The food and drink prices in the Sphere were crazy. I wasn’t willing to pay $7 for a Diet Pepsi and $15 for a slice of pizza was also to much. I left the show sort of hungry, but after walking another 10+ miles, I decide I could just eat a bag of microwave popcorn that I bought at the market earlier.

And with that I’m going to sign off… One more day of adventure left.

Published in:

on March 19, 2026 at 12:46 am Comments Off
Tags: Downtown Las Vegas, Fremont Street, las Vegas, The Sphere, travel, vacation, Wizard of Oz

Spring Break 2026 – Day 2

Well, I was up at 4:30 AM (Vegas time) because my body thought I had overslept (6:30 AM my regular time). I’ve had plenty of time to think and solve my “no shorts, no fun” dilemma. There are a bunch of shops here in Vegas, I’ve settled on Macy’s because A. It’s closest to me and B. it opens at 10 AM. This “extra” shopping has me changing my plans, basically I’m switching my Tuesday and Wednesday. I will be keeping my quest for the perfect Guinness pour, I will just now be including Downtown Las Vegas to the plan.

A good question you should ask, how will you get around? Downtown Las Vegas is a good walk (1.5 hours) from The Strip. Well, I’ve been researching and found a few options. The best option is probably buying a 3-day bus pass and using The Deuce route. This route takes you from The Strip to Downtown Las Vega; however, it is a bus so it’s not the fastest. I provided links to these options, you will need to navigate the websites, but they aren’t hard to find the correct purchase option and the interactive map.

Another option if you are just staying on The Strip is the monorail. You can purchase single or daily passes. I opted for the 3-day pass.

There is a free bus that takes you from The Strat (Northern Hotel on The Strip) to Downtown Las Vegas, but it has only daily hours, from 11 AM to 6 PM Sunday through Thursday. If you are in Downtown Las Vegas, it looks to be a good way to move around. Just be ready to find another way to return to The Strip if you stay past 6 PM during the week. The weekend hours run until 10 PM.

My hotel’s coffee isn’t too bad. I’ve had 2 cups since starting today’s update. I’m just waiting until 9 AM so I can get discount tickets for my show at the Sphere on Wednesday.

My shopping adventure was a failure for finding shorts or jeans my size. I did only check Macy’s. Glad I can do laundry in my room, I’m washing my clothes now at 4:30 PM local time.

So, what was I up to all day you ask?

The Sphere from the other side of The Palazzo

Looking North from the southern most crossover

For all that walking, I explored some shopping centers, some resorts and some casinos. I tried my luck at Treasure Island Casino, and I watched my luck run away from me. I won the first hand, but then the dealer hit Blackjack once and then a second time, and poof there went my daily gambling budget all but $5.

After all the walking I finally found a spot to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day. With food, music and Guinness. The Shepard’s Pie was pretty good at Rí Rá Irish Pub. It was a very full pub, but I got lucky and found a seat at the bar near the Guinness pouring station. I lost track of how many pours the bartenders did. According to the Seatle Times, 13 million pints of Guinness are served worldwide on March 17th.

The number of people dressing in green was crazy. I only had my socks. There was an older gentleman play slots that dyed his beard orange and wearing a leprechaun costume. I’m still amazed at the number of children I had to dodge. Guess Vegas is losing its Sin City vibe… NAY!!!

Check out these lovely ladies I met. PSA they request a payment for the picture.

Now back to my room to type up this blog and relax from my adventures. Don’t think I will do anything else tonight, but eat dinner, plays some video games, and watch some TV.

12.3 miles and I even rode trams and monorails.

Tomorrow, it’s off to Downtown Las Vegas to try my luck at the Golden Nugget. Until tomorrow.

The bartender at my resort was celebrating St. Paddy’s.

Published in:

on March 17, 2026 at 8:27 pm Comments Off
Tags: adventure, las Vegas, St Patrick's Day, travel, vacation

Spring Break 2026 – Day 1

I’m subtitling this getting there…

Today is my first time flying with the new assigned seats via Southwest. One good thing, you can see how booked is the flight. 48 hours ago I had the option for a free seat upgrade, but only on the first leg of my flights today. At that time there were only 12 open seats; however, the 2nd plane was completely full, 😟 no free upgrade.

Getting through security was a breeze, but they had to pat my left ankle down again. I wonder if I should talk to my doctor about that? Also my crocs set off an issue so they had to be x-rayed. Some much for not having to take off my shoes. 🤷‍♂️

Now I just need to wait for my plane to arrive and then I’m off.

I’m sitting here smelling the food from the cafe by my gate and trying to decide if I should get something or was the donut I had a few hours ago will get me through? My layover in Houston is pretty short, gambling I have time to grab a quick bite.

Speaking of gambling… That is the theme of this week’s trip. Viva Las Vegas! I had luck the one and only time I played blackjack and I’m hoping to have enough luck to pay for meals and shows. It would be great if I could roll the cost of this vacation over and use it for my summer trips. 😁🤑😇

Enough for now be back soon.

I am now going to be landing 2 minutes before my other flight starts boarding. Crossing my fingers I don’t have to run across the airport

OMG!!! I’ve never had my name called over the PA at an airport until today. Needless to say, my flight to Houston was delayed by over an hour. We even just sat on the runway for 30 minutes before being given clearance to takeoff because of the air traffic in Houston. I did make it to my connection, but when I looked at this flight to Vegas from Houston the other night it was fully booked. I think less than half the seats are filled. All those 5Ks I run came in handy today. I was only partial winded speed walking from gate 2 to gate 43. On to Vegas.

Well, first we had to stop in Lubbock, Tx. Almost moved here as a teenager when my dad almost got transferred for work.

I can say I was in Lubbock. 👍🤷

Finally, heading to Vegas 2 hours late.

Enjoy some pictures from the window of the plane.

The first thing you see when you get off the plane isn’t a “Welcome to Vegas” sign its the other welcome, slot machines. Large, multi-color and blinking machines where you just push a button and hope the programmers have a setting that lets you win.

Even with all the blinking lights and machines promising you money if you are lucky, navigating the airport wasn’t too bad. There is plenty signage directing you to the tram that takes you bag claim and travel options, rental cars, uber, shuttles, you’ve got the idea.

I decided to use Uber on this trip, for no particular reason. Wow, the app has change a bunch since the last time I used it. And to be honest with all the warnings about making sure your driver is your driver, I wonder why I even used it. There are even warning now for you to state your name for the drivers safety. Ignoring all that, my driver was friendly and efficiently got me to my resort.

After getting into my room, I was hungry. I’ve only eaten pretzels and pistachios so I tried the Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad.

Salads are not my normal go to meal, but I’m on week 8 of a fitness challenge with my gym and the weigh-in is when I get home. I’ve been showing moderate success and I’d like to keep the momentum.

With something in my tummy I set out to see if I could find a 3:2 payout Blackjack table at the Linq or the Flamingo. I was out of luck. The Linq didn’t have any tables open, just digital machines and the Flamingo had mostly 6:5 payout with $15 buy in. There was one 3:2 table but it was $25 buy in and I was only planning on risking $20 for each try. Tomorrow I will head to Treasure Island or Excalibur. Google shows that they have 3:2 tables with lower buy ins or I will have to take an Uber to the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas. It was recommend for the best Blackjack tables in Vegas.

Enjoy some of the scenes walking the strip and looking in the casinos.

Now that I’m back in my room, I was changing into my night clothes and realized I didn’t pack any shorts or pants. I only have 2 pair of workout shorts and the pants I wore today. So, I guess I have to go shopping for shorts tomorrow or make use of the resorts laundry room.

Ok, local time shows it to be 11 PM but my internal clock is starting to feel the 1 AM that it would be in Texas. So I’m going to wrap this up here. I’m meeting with the resort hostess tomorrow to get discount tickets to see the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. Oh speaking of the Sphere, I’m on the opposite side of the resort this time, so no wake with The Sphere this time.

Until tomorrow, which is St. Paddy’s Day… (FYI this is the only day I plan on drinking, after I buy shorts.)

Published in:

on March 17, 2026 at 1:13 am Comments Off
Tags: casinos, las Vegas, travel, vacation, vegas

Goodwill 5K and Ally the Piper Concert

Well, it seems it’s been since November that I’ve actually made a post so here, I am, today in Corpus Christi, Texas making a post. I’m running a 5k Saturday morning sponsored Goodwill. A fun fact: the course is going to run me past my hotel.

Later this evening I’m seeing Ally the Piper. Here are some links for YouTube if you have not heard Ally’s music before.

The Session Music Video

And

Crazy Train Music Video

Now let’s see what else I find to do before the concert at 6 PM. I have meet and greet tickets 😀.

(more…)

Published in:

on March 7, 2026 at 10:46 pm Comments Off
Tags: 5k, fitness, running, training, travel

Carl's Blog

My attempt at a presence on the web.

Corpus Christi Comic Con 2026 – Day 1

Spring Break 2026 – Day 4

Spring Break 2026 – Day 3

Spring Break 2026 – Day 2

Spring Break 2026 – Day 1

Goodwill 5K and Ally the Piper Concert

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