Don't call it a comeback...

Well, I suppose it is a comeback...

At the end of February, I had to hang up my Lego spurs and put this blog on indefinite hiatus while I took care of me.  Life caught up and overwhelmed me.  It was draining.  I had no energy, no desire, no time.

There was too much to do.  My wife wanted to move to a place closer to her place of work, since I can work remotely.  The new place is smaller, so we had to get a larger storage space, closer to the new residence.  Everything had to be packed up, including the Lego's.  I must have went through 20 boxes, and most of them are still awaiting unpacking.

When we weren't planning to move or actually doing so, I had school.  As I've progressed through the University of Minnesota Carlson program, the coursework has gotten tougher.  I've had to put more and more hours in to pass the class and keep my grades up (I want to finish with a GPA around 3.2).

I've also been busy with work.  I'm expected to take more of a project management role in my current position, so I'm constantly working on software rollouts.  I've been putting in extra time to ensure things go smoothly.  And I can't afford Lego fun time if I can't pay the bills with my mad programming skills, defragging my hard drive for thrills (Weird Al Yankovic - "All About the Pentiums").

Whatever free time I've had has been partially spent playing Pokemon Go.  A distraction?  Yeah, but I need to get out of house so I don't go mad.

Speaking of getting out of the house, my wife and I did some travelling this summer, post-move.  Disneyland, Kansas City (to see the solar eclipse), Duluth (her parents were in town a week)...  Can't sit around and write Lego blog posts when you're away from your source material.

So, after all that, am I back?  I hope so.  I don't have class again until late October, so I'll have some nights off to go through some boxes, find elements of my Lego town, and blog about their design, their construction, their purpose.  I never finished the Marina district.  I've got two more posts to write there before the next overarching theme.

I just have to dig everything out and reassemble the buildings.  Shouldn't be too hard.  The big question will be, can I?  Or is there another major obstacle in my path?  We'll see.

Just don't hold your breath quite yet...

Lego Haul - 9/11/17

My wife and I were in Target, and we FINALLY saw some 71018 Series 17 minifigures there.  I only needed three to complete the series.

The haul from 9/11/17 

Like Meat Loaf said, "two out of three ain't bad".  I was able to get an Elf Maiden and  Butterfly Girl.  Rocket Boy wasn't there.

It was easy to feel up the packaging this time around, as all three minifigures don't have the standard length legs.  Both the Rocket Boy and Butterfly Girl have shorter, child-like legs.  The Elf Maiden has 2 x 2 x 2 slope brick to represent the bottom part of her dress.  All the non-standard legs made it to easy to find the ones I did.

The 71018 Series 16 Minifigures - Elf Maiden (left) and Butterfly Girl (right)

Finding Rocket Boy should be easy enough, with his rocket-shaped costume.  The trouble will be finding someone still selling these sets.  The LEGO Ninjago Movie minifigures are all the rage now in the Lego store.  I don't think I'm going to collect that whole series, as I have no idea what to do with them.  But now that I've taken a closer look...

BAH!!  I have to go buy more Lego's!!

Lego Haul - 9/10/17

I finally got a chance to go to the Lego store at the Mall of America last Saturday.  I originally wanted to get a large cup of bricks, some minifigures, and maybe a set or two.  Then my wife found the seasonal Halloween set.  I'm around ready to check out, making one last trip around the shelves and we saw some Lego Dimensions sets on sale.  So I grab one...  but my wife egged me on.  "Get another one, they're half off!!"  Such an enabler (but that's why I love her).

The Lego Haul for 9/10/17

It's been a while since I made such a large purchase at the Lego store.  But it felt good to do so.  There's a lot to cover here, so let's get to work.

Contents of my large Lego Cup

My large cup consisted of 2x4 bricks and nothing else.  15 white, 4 brown, 12 light blue, and about 100 pink.  The brown ones were for an additional layer to my police station.  The light blue are for redesigning the Princess Play Castle, and the pink and white ones for the Bakery I'm working on.

I haven't been seeing anything else good on the Pick-A-Brick wall at various Lego stores lately, so I think it's time to do an online order for bricks.  I've got my list ready to go, so I'll probably be ready to submit it in a week or so.

Contents of the 40260 LEGO Halloween Haunt

 40260 LEGO Halloween Haunt fully assembled with the gate closed (left) and open (right)

My wife loves Halloween mostly for the fun decorative items one can set up around the house.  Lego's are a great way to do that.  This year's set, the 40260 LEGO Halloween Haunt, is a great addition to my existing Lego sets.  I think I have enough for an outdoor Halloween haunted house-type thing.  I'll have to dig out the rest of my collection here in the coming weeks to help her get everything set up.

Contents of 60150 Pizza Van

60150 Pizza Van full assembled

Lego came out with yet another restaurant/food service type thing, and although I'm firmly in the belief that I have plenty of those kinds of sets and buildings, I had to get the 60150 Pizza Van.  Why?  BECAUSE THEY HAVE PIECES FOR INDIVIDUAL SLICES OF PIZZA.  Seriously, how can I be expected to say no to that?

I've got the Restaurant, a corner deli, separate pizza place, a grocery store, a coffee shop, a couple of hot dog carts...  There are plenty of places to eat in town.  I guess one more can't hurt.

But this is the end of it!!...  Maybe...

Three-pack of minifgures

I grabbed a three-pack of minifigures to get someone to run the Bakery, and maybe a couple of medical professionals as well.  So I grabbed a three-pack with some various accessories that could be used by others in town.

There is just one problem...  The dude at the register didn't ring them up...  Whoops.

I plan to, upon my next visit to the MOA Lego store, inform someone at my next checkout and square away my bill.

Lego's sales are down right now.  They don't need me walking out with merchandise that I didn't pay for.

Contents of 71248 Mission: Impossible Level Pack (left) and 71266 LEGO City Fun Pack (right)

71266 LEGO City Fun Pack (the first two two on the left) and 71248 Mission: Impossible Level Pack (last three on the right) fully assembled

Lego has recently started the next round of Dimensions game content updates and new sets to coincide with that.  This makes existing sets available on the cheap.  There's quite a bit of content my wife and I haven't unlocked yet.  Mainly because I rarely play it without her.  It's an activity for US to enjoy.  Especially when she unleashes on all the shit to break in the levels.  She's pretty good at figuring out some of the puzzles before I can as well.

She STRONGLY suggested getting some more sets, so I grabbed 71248 Mission: Impossible Level Pack and 71266 LEGO City Fun Pack.  It allowed us to unlock a few more levels in the game, and with the characters' abilities (like Ethan Hunt's x-ray vision), we can unlocked even more content.  Yay!!

 30428 Green Ninja Mech Dragon contents (left) and fully assembled (right)

Given the volume of stuff I purchased (regardless of how much I paid for it...), I got a free promotional 30428 Green Ninja Mech Dragon from the upcoming Lego Ninjago movie.  I don't plan on seeing it, as the Ninjago cartoon series or product line has never really appealed to me.  I'm just too old for it.  But a green dragon gives me an idea...

Uh oh, I'm thinking of building another restaurant.  Whelp. 

Everything fully assembled, surrounding the Bakery

Checking my list of the additional sets I want to buy...  Yeah, I'm going to keep have to keep going back there again and again and again...

Lego Haul - 8/28/17

I finally finished the summer semester at school, so I could sit down and relax for a bit, recover some personal, internal mental strength, and get back to my normal, chipper self...  Right?  Wrong.  My in-laws were in town for the week, which meant running around town and doing everything possible in the limited time we had together.  It's over now, but it really took it's toll on me.

We did make it out to the Lego store at the MOA on Monday, and it was bad.  The shelves looked fairly depleted.  Way more than they should have been.  It had to be an end of the month thing.  Getting rid of the relatively older inventory and making room for the new stuff that was coming out on the 1st of September.

The Lego haul from 8/28/17

I made the best of it and got a small cup of Lego's.  I got about 35 white 2x4 bricks to add another level to the walls at the Police Station.  I also got a few pink 2x4 bricks for the Bakery I'm planning, giving me enough to build at least one wall.  I think I have enough for the rest of the outside wall, but I'd have to finish unpacking all the boxes from my recent move.

Contents of the small Lego cup from 8/28/17

The medium azur 4x6 plates will go towards building a more secure floor for the Princess Play Castle.  The ice cream cones are going to be used for ice cream (duh) at various locales.  The dark stone grey 1x2/2x4 angle plates gave me an idea for a large display sign.  Where and what it says, I don't know.  It'll come to me.  The other bricks will have purposes as well, what they are, I just don't know yet.

I guess I should back to work building things from Lego's...

Lego Haul - 8/20/17

My wife and I went down to Kansas City last weekend to check out the solar eclipse.  We got down there on Friday, so with some time to kill, we went over to Overland Park, KS to see what they had to offer.

The Lego haul from 8/20/17

There wasn't much there.  It was a smaller, mall-sized Lego store.  Nowhere near the size of the MOA store.  Fortunately, they did have some Series 17 minifigures.  My wife and I spent some time finding some of the items I was still missing and walked away with a Veterinarian and a Gourmet Chef.

71018 Series 17 Minifigures Veterinarian (left) and Gourmet Chef (right)

I'll send the Veterinarian to the Zoo to help care for the animals there.  I'll use the Gourmet Chef at a new bakery I'm considering for addition.to my town.  Speaking of a bakery...

Contents of the small Lego Cup from the Overland Park, KS store

...I also got a small cup of bricks.  I filled half of it with pink 2x4 bricks for the building of the bakery.  I supplemented by cup with 8 4x4 Round Bricks (which I think I'll use in the Laser Tag Arena.  The rest of the pieces will be for projects to be determined.

Lego Haul - 7/4/17

To celebrate Independence Day, my wife and I celebrated our freedom by buying classic American toys...

Yeah, I know, it's crap.  Lego is Danish.  And I don't think they did anything to help the U.S. gain their freedom from England.  But still, being able to have a day off and the chance to relax, thanks to the sacrifice of colonial revolutionaries more than 200 years ago and thousands more since then...  I appreciate it, thank you very much.  Keep up the good work, servicepeople.

The Lego Haul from July 4th, 2017

Now, back to the Lego's.  I got a 31065 Park Street Townhouse and 6 71018 Series 17 minifigures.

The contents of 31065 Park Street Townhouse, bricks (left) and manuals (right)

I've got a few options with the Park Street Townhouse.  I could put it next to the Apple Tree House and Family House, but it's a bit too upscale for a suburban-ish neighborhood.  I could closer to the city center, but I don't know if I have a place for it over there.  I know I have space on the south side, I think...  I'd have to look at my city layout drawing to be sure.

30165 Park Townhouse fully assembled

We could have gotten more 71018 Series 17 minifigures, but I lost patience.  I didn't want to stand near the bin for another half hour or so to find the last five.  It's also a good idea to leave the table while you're up and cash in.  My wife and I were able to confirm these folks, so we just need an Elf Maiden, a Veterinarian, a Rocket Boy, a Butterfly Girl, and Dance Instructor.  We should be able to get them during our next visit.

New 71018 Series 17 Minifigures

From left to right: Retro Space Hero, Hot Dog Vendor, Connoisseur, Corn Cob Guy, Battle Dwarf, and Pro Surfer

Lego Haul - Disneyland

For my wife's birthday in June, we went to Disneyland in Anaheim for the week.  We had a blast.  Seeing characters, going on some rides, just relaxing and not having to worry about a damn thing.  We also did some shopping too, hitting up the Lego store in Downtown Disney, just a couple blocks from our hotel.

The Lego haul from Downtown Disney in June 2017

I got the 60153 People Pack - Fun at the beach minifig pack.  15 people to set up at the beach where they're having fun.  It'd made me refine my design for a beachfront area.  Once all the craziness this summer has brought is over, I can pick up and finish off that design and build.

60153 People Pack - Fun at the beach contents

With my purchase, I got a free bonus pack with a minifig and all the accessories one might need for summer fun.  Scuba gear, a fishing rod, a surfboard, and a chair and grill.  There were also some idea thought balloons and a little passport thing with pictures of this dude and his adventures.

Contents of the minifigure summer vacation accessory pack

I finally opened everything up and put it all together last night.  I'm looking forward to September coming around when I can get back into a regular Lego schedule.  We'll see how things shake out as summer fades away.

All sorts of fun going on at the beach this summer