Recruit Log: 06/24/10 - PayPal & UnionBank Coordination

For the past few days I've been trying to get my PayPal account to work with my UnionBank EON Card and I'm glad to say today that everything is almost in order for me to send payment for my ATA helmet kit. I was able to get my UnionBank EON account re-activated yesterday and my online account registration has been sent and will be active in 2 days. After that, I can connect my EON Card to my PayPal then it's ready to go.

I just hope ATA still has a few helmet kits left. During our last e-mail exchange he mentioned that he had a few kits in-hand so I hope I'll be one of the lucky few to get one. If everything with customs both state-side and here go well then I should have my kit by mid-July and as long as I don't mess up I should have my bucket ready for painting by the end of July. I don't plan to paint my bucket until I get my armor kit so I can find white paint that matches with the white of the armor.

ToyCon 2010: Meeting the Outpost & Canvassing My Belt

Shayne & I went to out first ever ToyCon (Toys, Hobbies, & Collectibles Convention) last Saturday. It was held at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall. I finally went this year to meet the members of the Philippine Outpost (Pinoy 501st) who were trooping at the event. The event started at 10am and I wanted to get there on or before that time so I could meet the troopers before the event started but we ended up arriving at 11:30am. I bought our tickets, and lined up. The line was moving pretty quickly so we was able to get inside the hall in around 10 minutes. We walked around for awhile looking the the stalls and what they were selling while looking for the Maxi Collector booth which was the outpost's sponsor for the event. The hall had a stage at one end where they were showing trailers for upcoming games & movies. They also had a separate function room at the same end of the hall where various collections of items were displayed in large glass display cases. One of the display cases actually had Star Wars models owned by the Philippine Outpost's own GML, Luis Cacho.

While waiting to meet with Luis, I introduced myself to some of the other troopers and took pictures of them with Shayne (seen above). When we met Luis, he lead us to the dressing room provided for the outpost. We met the rest of the troopers and they showed us their armor and we talked a bit about armor building and how I should go about building my kit when I finally have it. They also offered a lot of help in both building and supplying some of the materials I'll be needing to build my amor. We stayed and talked for quite awhile before we left and had lunch at Cajun, a fairly new restaurant and also another first for us. After lunch we decided to head up again to the convention and walked around the whole place one more time before we left. We also passed by Carolina's because Shayne needed to buy some stuff for her business and I needed to buy some elastic to make my canvas belt for my TK armor.

Meeting and talking with the troopers peaked my excitement to get my own kit and join in on the fun. So much so that when we got back to Shayne's house I used her sewing machine to finally make my own canvas belt. It came out pretty good save for the canvas running a bit at the sides. I still have to adjust the length of the belt to fit me in armor and put in all the snaps, rivets, and Velcro to finish it up.

Other things on the checklist are buying a leather holster to attach to the belt for my E-11 blaster that I'm going to modify to 501st/EIB standards as soon as I get a resin kit & ordering my TK bucket soon from ATA in the US either this week or next week as soon as my PayPal & Unionbank EON accounts are up and running.