Go Green

Everybody tries to be more "green" now and one of the big things are reusable shopping bags.  Superstore has always charged for plastic bags, but more places are doing the same, like Ikea, in an effort to encourage customers to bring their own bags.  Of course all major retailers have their own branded reusable shopping bags for sale.  Superstore also has these, but they so small there are pretty useless.  I bought a reusable bag from the Chinese supermarket T&T and their bag can hold two Superstore bags.  Plus it folds up and snaps into a little pouch when you aren't using it.  It's still not only major retailers doing this, but also little stores.

Elaine gave me this bag (Thanks Lainey) from Chicken on the Way.  I've never actually eaten there, although I've always said I would try it one day.  It's just a local chain of one store down on the corner of Kensington Rd and 14th St NW.  I'm just picky and don't like eating stuff with bones in it and that goes for fried chicken, chicken wings and ribs.  I can still carry the bag around and pretend I've eaten there so people will think I'm some cool hipster.  But really I wanted the black bag!

Here's a fun fact, "green" reusable shopping bags are actually worse for the environment than plastic bags.  I saw a thing on TV and it said that a plastic bag will break down faster in a landfill because it's thinner than the thicker heavier reusable bag.  So remember not to throw out your reusable bags, just burn them instead!  Go green!

Happy Valentine's Day

I love it when a plan comes together.

We literally have a pile of empty pop cans, juice bottles, etc sitting in our basement.  The one corner is filled and pretty hard to navigate especially since the light is broken.  We started just throwing our empty cans/bottles/jugs in with the regular recycling just so it wouldn't accumulate in the basement.   Cody wanted to take some in to the bottle depot, so this morning we loaded up his car.  It was so full that if you opened the door stuff would fall out.  We still have another full load in the basement, but it already looks cleaner.  We got $68 for the bottles and even though Cody thought the lady at the cash register screwed up it doesn't matter because we cleaned up some of the mess and got some cash out of it.

I know you probably don't care about that because it's boring, but that was just the lead in for the real story here.  Check out what we saw on the way to the bottle depot.

The funny thing is that is parked just off 45th St SW, a main road by our place and I drive on it a few times a week, but I never spotted this van until today.  It's cool, but in a funny way.  It would cool, in a cool way if the paint job wasn't so fugly.  I wonder if the owner drives it around dressed as a member of the A-Team? 

Al TV

No, the picture isn't out of focus, the tape case is just really really dusty.  When Weird Al did his MuchMusic take overs they were always pretty entertaining, it's too bad he didn't do more of them.  MuchMusic released a compilation Weird Al album in 1995 of all his TV related songs, hence the title "The TV Album".  No true Weird Al fan would be without a copy.  Now does anybody have a cassette player I could borrow?  There is no way it would happen now because he is not that hip with kids today and I'm not even sure if MuchMusic still plays music videos. 

Back to the Future

I got a Best Buy gift card for Christmas and finally got around to using it last week when I picked up Borderlands(Game of the Year Edition) and Futurama Vol. 5 on Blu-Ray.  After originally getting canceled by FOX, the DVD sets sold well, so it came back as four direct to video movies.  The movies did well and the series was thankfully renewed by Comedy Central.  I don't think it aired on any of the crummy TV channels I get, so I'm stoked it's finally out on DVD.

I have all the movies and while they are okay, they aren't as good as the TV series.  Maybe they tried to do too much in a 90 minute movie instead of the usual half hour format.  Don't worry though because even though it's been off the air for a while, it's still as good as ever.  Futurama I have missed you! 

I bought the Blu-Ray, but the DVD has all the exact same content, but not at 1080P and and only half the price.  Unfortunately, it's titled Volume 5 and not season 5.  That means it's not a full season and only has the first 13 episodes of the new season.  All the episodes are great except for the Christmas episode which I thought was pretty weak sauce.   Even though I just finished watching all the episodes I plan to go through them again in a couple weeks.

WATCH IT OR ELSE!

Eating healthy

A couple weeks ago I saw the health nurse who told I need to eat better.  It's not like I eat crap all the time, I just have an erratic eating schedule and I'm not getting all my food groups especially fruits/vegetables and proteins.  Tonight I thought I'd make some Hamburger Helper because that's good for you right?

It's not just any hamburger helper, it is Whole Grain Helper made with 100% whole grain pasta.   There is nothing better for you than 100% whole grain pasta!  Don't run out to your local grocery store looking for this because it's not available in Canada and it's not because it failed CFIA guidelines.  My sister got this for me when she down to the States.  I've still another box sitting in my cupboard.  If someone really really wants it, I will give it away.  Any takers?  PLEASE?! You need those whole grains.

White Christmas

It's not Christmas, but it's white outside.  The weather sucks!  On Thursday it was +13C here and nice and sunny.  Then for Friday and Saturday a heavy snowfall warning was issued and it went down to -14C.  The hell?!  What ever happened global warming?

Today me and Cody were planning on going to see The Green Hornet, but when I looked outside this morning I was like forget it.  I don't need to go anyway, so I'm not.  Instead, I wore this Green Hornet t-shirt I got for free at this new toy/collectible store by our place.

One week later...

Wow, has it been one week since my post about my vintage Kenner Han Solo?  I thought I had written something since then, but I guess not.  I had planned on writing something, but got side tracked by watching DVDs. 

Today at lunch I went to Phoenix fully prepared to find that they had sold all the Kenner 12" figures, but was surprised to see that they were all still there with the exception of R2-D2.  I know I said I might get the Boba Fett figure, but that still is too much, so I passed.  Although, I decided how can I have Han with out Chewbacca?  That is like PB & J without the J, it is just wrong.   So I got Chewie!

Chewie is from 1978 and looks pretty damn for being 33 years old and there aren't any scratches or scuffs on his body.  He comes with all his parts, but unfortunately his bowcaster is a little messed up.  The silver cartridges actually remove from his bandoleer and then attach to his gun.  They are pretty tiny which would make losing one pretty easy if you aren't careful.  Luckily, Chewie has all his.

After doing a whole 10 minutes of research online I discovered my Han Solo is not actually complete.  He should've came with a Medal of Yavin and it looks like his belt is a reproduction and not original.  I had my suspicions about the belt and they were right.  It was made of a soft foamy material instead of plastic.  In a fit of OCD I went and bought a medal reproduction online.  It would've been nice to find an original, but it will have to do for now.

That being said if anyone happens to see Chewie's bowcaster or Han's belt and/or medal in good condition,  feel free to buy it for me.  I will probably pay you back.

Just the two us