Itsha Birfday

So, I've noted my fondness for LEGO before on this blog, and just thought I'd share some neat gifts I got for my birthday this year:

...the double-decker couch from The LEGO Movie!  The real story here isn't really the couch, but all the minifigs the set comes with - I really wanted a UniKitty, but the only set I had noticed that it was included with that I was interested in was Metalbeard's Sea Cow, and I wasn't willing to pay two hundred and fifty dollars for it.  It also comes with a ghost Vitruvius (I came dangerously close to paying $50 for a "limited edition" Blu-Ray back around the holidays just to get the Vitruvius fig) and a Benny, which gives me all the feels - the LEGO Space sets were my absolute favorite as a kid.

It also came with a couple of Spongebob Squarepants Mega-Blok (boo hiss) figures that my friend bought because the store was sold out of the individual LEGO minifigs - I'm usually not a fan of Mega-Bloks, or even Spongebob particularly, but this fig cracks me up every time I look at it:

NO, THIS IS PATRICK

Later that evening, my wife took me took a great dinner with all my friends, and I was presented with this:

The Ghostbusters Ecto-1!  I've really wanted this set - it was about the only thing I was bummed about not getting at Christmas, and it was starting to get hard-to-find, so I just kind of resigned myself to not getting it - it was totally unexpected!

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

...so I have no intention of regularly covering Lego in this blog (CounterFett already does a good job at that) but I thought this was pretty cool, so I figured I'd throw it up here.  See, years ago I had a 1972 Volkswagen Westfalia camper that was very dear to me:

Eventually it became obvious that I had neither the time, space, or money to give it the attention it deserved, so I decided to sell it.  I took some solace in the fact that I sold it to one of the most active members of the local Volkswagen bus owner's club, so I figured at least it would get lots of use.  Unfortunately a few months later, the new owner was driving the bus through the streets of Cincinnati when someone ran a red light and T-boned him, totaling the van.

Regardless, I still love the old VW vans, and hope to own another one someday.  A couple of years ago my Mom was asking my wife what to get me for Christmas, and she tipped her off about this:

(Okay, it's a Type I, not a Type II, but still - it's awesome)

(There is long history of my Mom giving me Lego sets for Christmas - when I was kid, I always got the requisite clothes (bleargh), some books (which I actually liked, 'cause I'm a nerd), but my "big" Xmas gift most years was one of the large Lego sets.  Usually one of the "Space" -themed sets.  Those were my favorite).

We had recently moved when I got this kit, so it got stored with my hobby stuff in the basement.  I finally got around to building it and had a blast!

(I picked up a display case to keep everyone's grubby mitts off it!)