Free Sloan!

I was bored and decided to check out the Sloan site because I hadn't seen it for a while only to discover they have a new song out and it's free. They are putting out an online only EP and have the first song available for download...for free! Go to their website or click on the widget (whatever the hell that is) below to get the song...for free!

FREE!!

Old Fashioned

I stopped in at this Mom & Pop convenience store near my place to get a drink. These places always over priced, beat up, run down and in a little strip mall alongside some other lame retailers. Despite this they have charm and usually you'll find something you never thought you'd find. I saw McSweeny's Jerky Chew and some Old Fashion Taffy and had to get some as I can't even remember that time I had eaten either of these.

I'm sure if you looked for the Jerky Chew you wouldn't be too hard pressed to find it, but I've just never looked for it. It's basically a huge rip off because the jerky is so shredded and light weight. If you were outside and it was windy once you took the lid all the jerky would blow away. The container it comes in weighs more than the product and probably cost more to make too. It comes in the classic plastic round case just like the real chewing tobacco. Now you can eat your jerky and keep the tin in your back jean pocket just like your Pa! And once you turn sixteen you can graduate up to the real stuff! Now you're a real man.

I didn't think anyone would buy or eat taffy nowadays because there are so many other better candies out there. The Old Fashion Taffy is pressed thin and packaged in wax paper, so it has that retro thing going on. It's not as soft and the name taffy would suggest. I peeled the paper back and took a bite and it broke off leaving crumbs all other the counter top. It's a lot more brittle than soft, but it does soften up in your mouth once you sweep all the little bits of the counter and eat them.

These "retro" candies were pretty disappointing in the end. I think the best candy from your youth would have to be the five cent candies that every store used to carry and that they still carry and the best thing is that they are still five cents each. You could mix and match and get anything and everything you wanted, but dinosours, juice berries, red hots and cola bottles were always the best.

One stop shop

A while ago I mentioned I had watched JCVD which made me want to see Double Impact again. Cody was going to get it for my birthday, but couldn't find it anywhere. I checked a few places that sell used stuff and couldn't find it either. I thought for sure I'd find it at AABCO in Cranbrook, but they didn't even have it. It just goes to show how awesome Double Impact is because it's sold out in stores and nobody wants to give up their copy. I had to go online to order it and finding it was pretty easy. Did I go to eBay or Amazon? No, I went to GiantTiger.com!!

At the Giant Tiger website, just head to the GT Boutique section where you can order DVDs, CDs and video games. Of course I found more than just Double Impact, I also picked up two other DVDs and a XBox 360 game.

"Eddie Cuscack(Norris) is a Chicago detective who plays by his own rules..."
I don't need to read anymore, I'm already loving it!

As you can see in addition to Double Impact I also got Chuck Norris in Code of Silence and Ghayal which is a Bollywood action movie. The selection isn't bad, and they have some stuff in there that you would not find in stores like Ghayal. I won't tell what game I bought because that is a blog post for another time. Prices are okay, some stuff is cheaper and some stuff is higher than others places, online or retail. The nice thing is that they other a flat shipping fee of $4.95 so if you order one DVD or ten, it will cost only cost $4.95 for shipping. Giant Tiger is a Canadian company, so it's shipped Canada Post. My package shipped on Monday and I got it on Friday. Could've been faster, but for $5 what do you expect.

More Giant Tiger goodness in the form of a playing card. I bought a pack of playing cards at the GT in Cranbrook if only for the funny picture of the mascot on the card. With some cropping that picture would make a great avatar picture. If you do not believe me then have a look to the right!

PREPARE TO DROP

Recap

Oh yeah, I'm back in Calgary now. Got back on Sunday afternoon and littler later than I planned because hwy 22 was closed! I had to go the long way, but it didn't bother me that much. I've never actually driven the other way before, I've always gone on 22. It was actually nice because it all new to me and it didn't seem that much longer. I had new stuff to look at!

Cranbrook was okay, the same as always. I was also at good old Wal-Mart and ran into Flemming. Apparently, Kristian and Michelle are having a baby any day now! What took you guys so long? Kristian is already on his 9 month paternity leave.

On Saturday me and my dad took Logan and Avery to the fish hatchery. I haven't been there forever and wanted to check it out and see this new kid's fish pond they put in.

Say what?! Oh well, we checked it out anyway(take that grizzlies!). It was small, but pretty nice. A little bridge over a creek going in on end, some picnic tables on one side and benches on the other. In the middle of the pond there is a floating log that already has like four bobbers stuck on it. It has some decent sized trout in it, but it is for catch and release only. No barbed hooks!

Back at the hatchery moat it was full of the usual huge trout. My dad brought bread and Logan was feeding it to them. But...

And I was wondering why there were chicken bones in there. They tell you that, but then don't supply the proper fish feed for you. I remember they used have a dispenser there at one time. You put in 25 cents and got a handful of pellets. We ended up going down by the fish pond where the grass is drier and caught some grasshoppers and tossed them in.

Inside the hatchery and out in the courtyard there wasn't much before and there still isn't much, but they've put in a turtle pond. It's not that big, but I spotted four larger turtles and one little guy. It was neato.

It was pretty quiet out there as the"busy" season is over, so no more hatchery tours until next spring. I'd like to go back and go on a tour. I think they last time I went on a tour of the hatchery was probably on a school trip, so it has been a while.

Splat!

This morning/afternoon I drove back to Cranbrook where I'll be for a few days, probably until Sunday. The drive was the usual bore, but with more road construction getting in the way. I drove the south way and actually stopped once. Usually, I just drive non-stop, but this time I stopped in Fernie to check out the Bargain Shop, also known as TB!S. In additon to cheap crap The Bargain Shop now sells fireworks! I now wish Cranbrook still had a Bargain Shop. Hey Cam, they have one in Kelowna, so go buy some fireworks! But make sure to use the responsibly. If you are going to aim them at people, do not aim at their faces, aim at the torso or crotch.

On the subject of fireworks, in Coleman there is a place by the 7-11 that is a laundromat, internet cafe AND they also sell fireworks. It sounds like an odd combination, but when you think about it, but really it makes sense. People go in to do laundry and check their e-mail and stocks online and then get suckered into buying fireworks. Keep them at the front to get peoples' attention, it's an impulse buy. I've fallen for it many times.

Back to Fernie. I also stopped at the Salvation Army in Fernie. It is cooler than other Salvation Army's, but only because it's cheaper. I got two CDs and a Bart Simpson magnet for $2.25. I would've bought more, but those are they only good things they had. I tried to pay with debit, but they don't do debit under $5, so I had to go outside to my car to get some change. How dare they inconvience me?! Despite the fact that I had to walk all the out to my car and back, it was still a good deal. The CDs I got were the soundtrack for Not Another Teen Movie (I liked the movie okay!) and the self titled Misfits "best of" album put on Caroline which is totally OOP. Collector's item! I bought it for a $1 and could probably sell it for $10 easy. I'm a natural born business dude.

I made it back to Cranbrook and unpacked the car. Julie, Matt, and the kids came up for dinner and that was it. I'm not sure what else I'll be up to while I'm here, but if anything exciting happens I'll let you know. I read in the Townsman that there is a garage sale at the Eagles Hall, so I think I'll check that out. Also, for once I did not notice any typos in the Townsman. Good job guys! Anyway, I'm going to shoot off some fireworks. Later!

Fatburger, empty wallet.

I've eaten at Fatburger once and it was a couple of years ago. I wasn't that impressed with it and all I remember is that it was expensive. Cody wanted to go back and try it again and since we were in the area and I was hungry we went. I remain unimpressed.

I ended up getting the King burger with fries and a drink which set me back over $14. Yes, it was expensive. The King burger is an 8 oz burger plus is had cheese on it. When I got it and picked it up it felt like like it weighed a ton. It didn't taste anything special, it tasted like a fast food burger. The fries were the usual fries again, but I accidentally put a butt load of spice on them. Fatburger also has it's own brand of spice available at the tables and to buy and take home. The containers are pretty big with two openings on them. A wide mouth for pouring and one with holes for shaking. The problem is that there are only three holes and they are huge, so when I went to shake some spice on my fries a butt load(a metric butt load) of spice came out. I ended up having to scrape, shake and wipe the excess spice of some of the fries and some I didn't even bother to eat. The drinks were self serve, so at least you can go up and get free refills if you'd like. Overall, I wasn't impressed with the food or the price and probably would not eat there again unless I was extremely hungry or someone else paid for it.

If I did go there again I'd probably just get a Fatburger t-shirt as it is cheaper than actually eating there. A shirt is $9.99 and you can wear it forever, unlike a hamburger which you eat and that is it.

Keeping checking back for more burger review posts. Cody has scoped out two places for future visits, Rocky's Burger Bus and Boogies Burgers. After doing some initial research it sounds like we will checking out Boogies Burgers soon. This one could be epic. We are still trying to find a guinea pig to take along with us.

Looking good.

I always knew Cam had good taste.

Don't sweat it.

I could start off complaining about having to get a driver's medical, so I can get my driver's license renewed. And complain about said driver's medical costing $90 plus the $17 for the actual license and then complain some more about having to do it every single year. Alberta sucks. Anyway, after getting my driver's medical done I was walking home and stopped in at the Korean grocery store, E-Mart, because I wanted to find some more of those 3+2 or Rebisco cracker snacks they have at the Chinese grocery stores.

I got my crackers and some other stuff too. Starting at the green cracker box and going clockwise there is a bottle of Pocari Sweat, Captain Kim tuna, Popeye candy, and UFO noodles. I went there just for the crackers and they weren't even that good! They were "butter lemon" flavored. I will eat lemon, orange, strawberry, but butter lemon tastes as bad as it sounds. Next time I'm better off driving across town to T&T Market. The Pocari Sweat turned out to be pretty good. For some reason I was expecting it to be bitter, but it had a faint lemony taste and that was it. I would drink it again! It's basically a sports drink or "ion supply drink" and being the athlete that I am I need to replace those electrolytes.

They actually had different kinds of the Captain Kim tuna ranging from spicy, mild, and light. I got the light which is still flavored a little bit, but nothing very strong. Tuna Helper here I come! I never liked Popeye as I kid and I dislike him even more as an adult and didn't think he was cool enough to get his own candy. From the pictures on the package the candy looks weird and I'm not going to eat it. I'll give it to Logan because kids love candy. The UFO in the UFO noodles actually does stand for "Unidentified Flying Object" and I'm not sure how that relates to instant yakisoba bowl noodles. Maybe because the bowl looks like a flying saucer! The name is cool and it's a gimmick that made it stand out over all the other instant noodles, so I guess it worked.

You'll be saying "wow" every time!

If you own a TV then you've seen the commercial for the Shamwow starring pitchman, "Vince". The commercial is hilarious and Vince's follow up commercial for the Slap Chop is even funnier. Every time it would come on we would actually watch it and then say stuff like "I'll be saying "wow" every time!", "I'm sick of paying $25 a month on paper towel!" and "Those Germans sure make good stuff!". Cody had always talked about how he was going to get one, but never did...until now!

Cody's Vince impersonation complete with headset.

Cody was buying groceries at Co-op and they had them on sale for $5.00. Nobody can resist a Shamwow for only $5.00!

Cody is going to buy a shaggy dog like in the picture just so he can use the Shamwow on it. We'll have to make more messes so we can get to use it. And now that we have a Shamwow, we won't be needing paper towel, so into the garbage it goes!

Bilingual Vince!

Spine-tingling!

Last time I was in Cranbrook I picked up another wildlife postcard from the Hospital Auxiliary. It is the from the same line as the Pika postcard, so it has "facts" on it. Prepare to get learned!

The cry of the Loon is an unforgettable, spine-tingling feature of the northern forest. This fish catching machine can dive to depths of 200 feet and star submerged for over three minutes.

I still wish they had postcards of less popular Canadian critters like skunks, porcupines and mosquitos. That reminds me I used to have a t-shirt that said "Where the hell is Yahk, BC" and had a giant mosquito and monster truck on it. It was $5 and well worth it.