I’ve been invited to be a Booth Influencer by Vector Optics at SHOT Show 2026. I’ll be filming Shorts of Vector’s scopes, making announcements, giving out swag and an optic or two. If you are attending SHOT, come to the Vector Optics booth and say, hi.
Venetian Expo Floor 1
Booth #41560
Tuesday, August 20
10:00am-12:00pm
Friday, August 23
8:00am-12:00pm
On an ideal day along Ocean Beach in San Francisco, CA. In the distance, on the right of the screen, is the famous Cliff House restaurant.
Pocket’s Chocolates makes oat-milk chocolate-coated almonds that I first discovered at my local COSTCO. Their matcha-flavored almonds had me hooked after my first handful. These mildly sweet snacks are remarkably healthy with less than 10g of sugar per 14-almond serving. Perfect for my Keto diet.
When I heard that Pockets was running pop-up stores in Costco stores and their next location would be an hour south of me in San Jose, I just had to go. They would be offering tastings of all of their flavors. And I would get a chance to try their new Dubai chocolate flavored pastachios.
I drove down to San Jose in the middle of the Christmas rush. I introduced myself to their staff and discovered that 2 of their 3 co-owners were there. I met Lynn and Chris who were super friendly and as sweet as their product. They gave me a gift bag as a gift, and I bought a case of their chocolates because I’m addicted to their matcha and ube almonds.
Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room is a multi-artist exhibition whose narrative is generated by the real, lived history of Seneca Village, a vibrant community founded predominantly by free Black tenants and landowners that flourished from the 1820s to the 1850s near The Met’s current site.
The Temple of Dendur is an Egyptian religious temple that was rescued from the floodwaters during the construction of the Aswan Dam and reservoir. It was donated by the Egyptian government and has been on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1978.
The museum built an extension to its north wing to house the temple. It connects the Egyptian art wing to the American wing of the Met. It is one of the most striking and visited installations at the museum. It was featured in several films, including When Harry Met Sally. A recent addition to the exhibit is a projection depicting the original white surface and brightly colored decorations that would have adorned the temple.
Due to crime and mismanagement by the MTA, the multi-million dollar renovation of the Fulton Street Station and shopping center lies mostly empty and deserted of commerce. Only stores that remain open are a donut shop and a newspaper stand. The situation is a sad indictment of the DeBlasio and Adams administrations at NY City Hall and the Cuomo administration in Albany.
#nyc #subway #crimenews https://youtu.be/o03PTZeRg7Q
This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the opening of the first Nintendo Store outside of Japan, at Rockefeller Plaza, in New York City. This store is a 2-story shop featuring Nintendo games, consoles, and lots of plush toys and merchandise. This June, the store was crowded with visitors hoping to try the newly released Switch2 console.
During our visit to Super Nintendo World Hollywood, we made reservations for Toadstool Cafe, the only food venue at Super Nintendo World. Because of the park’s attractions and long waits, we made reservations using the QR code at the cafe entrance as soon as we entered Super Nintendo World. To avoid the lunch crowds, we opted for a 10:45am reservation. We had heard that later reservations during peak hours resulted in long wait times and slow or poor service.
Entering the restaurant, choose a queue for a cashier. Make your orders in a fast-food style counter with photos menus of on the wall above. After placing your order, you are given a receipt with an order number and proceed to a staff member at the entrance of the dining room who will bring to you to an assigned table.
A server will bring our food out to your table. During the lunch or dinner rush, there may be delays but our orders came to use in less than 5 minutes. We chose a Toadstool Cheesy Garlic Knot, Piranha Plant Caprese, Super Star Chicken Salad, Yoshi’s Fettucine Alfredo, Mario Burger Kids Meal Set, and Fire Flower Spaghetti & Meatballs. In general, the food tasted good but looked even better than it tasted. Design was fanciful and fun but the flavors were just mid and underseasoned. I found the Mario Mini Burger to be a better deal as it also included a coin-up dessert (a cookie coated in gold colored white chocolate).
Despite the average tasting food, Toadstool Cafe is a worthy experience. While dining, we were entertained by LCD screens around the restaurant showing scenes from the mushroom kingdom, including an attack by Bowser’s airship dropping bombs onto the restaurant and village. The food was filling and pricing was reasonable for a major amusement park. We’ll come back.
https://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/dining/toadstool-cafe/menu.html
The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is the subway system that runs through San Francisco, Oakland, and now to San Jose. They recently adopted an anime mascot character called Baylee and her three associates. On September 6, 2025 BART hosted its first Anime and arts festival, named “Lets Glow” at their Warm Springs station near Freemont, CA.
The event was free to attend. I drove in and utlized the ample free parking. I arrived before the official start time of 4:00pm, there were already over 300 attendees and more arriving via the regular BART trains to the station.
They distrubeted event passports that could get stamped at various sections of the event. There was an Itasha row with fun anime and video game graphics modified cars. There were huge crowds around the Artist Alley where local aftists sold their art and merch. There was exceptionally long line to buy BART Anime themed merch.
Lets Glow had probably 10 times more folks than the BART organizers anticipated. It was a fun taste for anime lovers but not much to do and see. Future events would do better to have a headline guest or guests like voice-over artists or J-POP bands.
The unjustified murder of Charlie Kirk yesterday is a stark reminder that evil exists, but it should never overshadow the good. Never forget. https://youtu.be/CoqKds9HSao?si=hhjFlD-uQ56TkwNP
