Spooky stuff kids!

I drove back to Calgary today just in time to hand out candy to the dozen kids that came begging at our doorstep. That is marked improvement of last years dismal turn out of two kids. We didn't buy as much candy this year, so left over will be sparse. But I messed up when I thought I was buying a split pact of Kernels popcorn that had half white cheddar and half buttery, but turns out the entire box was white cheddar flavor. My plan was to hand out the white cheddar first and then eat the buttery flavor leftovers myself. Now I'm stuck with white cheddar which I don't even like!

The pumpkin pictured above is one Logan made for me and I brought back from Cranbrook. I guess now you don't actually put candles in pumpkins anymore because you can get battery powered lights you just put inside them. After we turned off the lights and declared Halloween officially over I immediately threw the pumpkin in the garbage bin. I didn't want to supply any troublemakers with potential ammunition.

Cranbrook was thrill-a-minutes as always! On Thursday afternoon I went by Willie's place and we hung out a bit. He was slacking off/not working/sleeping in while his wife was hard at work. Then on Thursday night I went by the Scarff household to say hi and drop off some goodies. On Friday night I went to the hockey game with my parents and was shocked when the Ice actually won the game! Every other game I've been to they lost, so I wasn't expecting much.

They are trying to beautify downtown Cranbrook by adding some art sculptures and a new sign. If you'll seen any of the old pictures of Cranbrook then you've seen the one of the old sign that led into town. It had pillars made from round river rocks on the outside and a curved sign that said "Cranbrook" that stretched of the road. They are re-creating this sign on King St as you drive into downtown. They are still working on the pillars, so I'm not sure when it'll be done.

On Thursday they had the official unveiling of the two new art features in downtown Cranbrook, the Spirit Tree and Cranbrook Ed. The Spirit Tree isn't a real tree, but some metal thing that looks tree-like. I think it's pretty lame and am rarely wrong.

Next up is the scupture of Cranbrook Ed, the elephant. I grew up Cranbrook and not once heard the story of Cranbrook Ed until a couple years ago when I read it in the Townsmen. The story goes a circus was travelling through Cranbrook and some of their elephants escaped with one living in the Jim Smith Lake area. One day some bandits came to rob the town and the townspeople all yelled for the help. The elephant heard their cries (cuz he's got big ears) and came running into town. The elephant beat up all the robbers and sat on them until the Mounties came and took them away. Cranbrook mayor, TM Roberts, poured champagne on the elephant's head and christened him Cranbrook Ed. Then he said "Let's get totally wrecked!" and everyone got hammered. The end.

You can check out the Townsmen paper online for the full story and see a picture of Cranbrook Ed. They said the elephant is interactive so you can climb on him and stuff which is cool. I was driving by and saw some fat chick sitting on him and some other girl taking a picture. Then the fat chick tried to get off which and it was scary. The end.

Back to BC

As you can see I'm back in Cranbrook. It has already snowed twice in Calgary, so I figured I should come back so I can get my winter tires put on. I think I also need a oil change, so might as well get it all done at once. Other than that I don't have any plans while I'm back other than drop some crap off for Cam and Mike at their parents and go see Willie. I'm sure I'll visit Giant Tiger, but other than that I don't have any plans.

After dinner I went down to my sisters to give Logan his birthday present and on the drive down I had to stop/slow down four different times foe deer crossing the road. On the way back just up from Kootenay Orchard school there were two elk in some guy's front yard. I usually see lots of deer whenever I'm home, but never elk, so that's weird. The whole wildlife in our backyards is getting very strange, I don't remember it being like this when I was kid or even before I left Cranbrook. I'm sure everyone has heardthe news about the girl killed by coyotes in a Cape Breton park which is crazy. I always figured coyotes would be scared of people, but to attack and kill someone is pretty scary. From now on I think I will carry two machetes just to be safe because coyotes are the new bears.

Swaggy

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but having company around has been getting in the way. Last Friday Todd was in town and ended up staying at our place. Normally, we're not used to having anyone over at our place, but with Murray, Eunice and now Todd we were running out of space and blankets. I felt kinda bad for Todd because he had to sleep on the floor with only some crappy camping foamy for padding and I ran out of pillows so he had to use some plushy Spider-Man thing. Todd stayed Friday and Saturday nights and Murray and Eunice headed back to Taiwan on Sunday morning, so the place is nice and quiet now. Now I can go back to dancing around the house in my boxers to Katy Perry.

Last week I bought a Huevos Rancheros 7" record off eBay and it turns out I bought it from the Mintmall which is the Mint Records eBay store. Mint Records is a record label in Vancouver who rose to fame with The Smugglers and Cub back in the 90's. Anyway, I got my record (red vinyl!) which came in a huge package. Props to the guy who sends the stuff as it was wrapped in cardboard like four times and then put in a bubble envelope. When I opened the package I found a ton of free swag.


Yes! I got four stickers, three buttons, a CD sampler, a Mint "Hooray for bears" patch and a pair of Mint Records sunglasses. Getting cool free stuff unexpectedly is always awesome. My order wasn't even that much $5 record + $3 shipping plus all the bonus goodies. I bet the shipping had to be more than $3 especially knowing Canada Post prices, plus I had it in like three days. I'm bidding on another Mintmall auction for a Riff Randells 7". I had bid on another copy previously, but lost that auction at the last minute to some jerk. Hopefully, I'll win this one and some more free swag. If I get enough free swag then that will help with some of my Christmas shopping.

Finally, tonight I watched a movie called The Tournament. I had never heard of it until reading about it last week and then seeing some ads on TV for the DVD/Blu Ray release. It's basically a shoot 'em up/blow 'em up that has assassins killing each other for title of number one while rich jerks watch on CCTV and bet on the proceedings. Not the most original script, but I wasn't watching for the story or acting. For some reason this went straight to DVD while much worse action flicks get released in theaters. How can you not like a movie where not one, but four bodies get blown up?! The effects are practical and not CG, so when a body is blowed up and blood is being sprayed around it's all "real" and not cheesy CGI. And Kelly Hu is in it, so check it out y'all!

Is it 2010 yet?!

Because I just bought the awesomest calendar ever and I want to put it up now! I was at Wal-Mart with Murray and Eunice and saw this calendar and had to have it. Each month features a Chuck Norris "fact" and my favorite would have to be, "If at first you don't succeed, you're not Chuck Norris." The calendar is actually endorsed by Chuck Norris as proceeds go to his charity the Kick Start Foundation. It's for the kids, but if it came down to it Chuck Norris wouldn't hesitate to roundhouse kick those kids into next week.

Before we went to Wal-Mart we stopped by the Goodwill and I bought a 7-11 shirt and a CD. When the lady rang it through she asked if I wanted a bag and I said yes and was expecting a plastic bag, but instead she put it in one of those reuseable fabric bags.

Now I can truly express my feelings about sewing on my bag! It's actually a Fabricland bag that someone obviously donated, but it seems like something that should be bought and not given away. Total score!

Tonight we went and saw Zombieland because zombies are cool. Zombie killing is even more cool, although Cody was disappointed by the lack of zombie killing. I was disappointed by the lack of gore. It's already rated 18A, so why not put in some decent gore of some exploded zombie heads/bodies/limbs/ect? Give the fans what they want! I'm not saying I didn't like it because I did. It wasn't scary, but it was funny. There is an awesome celebrity cameo who star as themselves. I won't give it away, but you'll love it. The main character played by Jesse Eisenberg just reminds me of Micheal Sera. Maybe they couldn't get Micheal Sera to do the role and went with this guy. Though at times the character seems like a real wuss and you wonder how he managed to survive in a zombie apocalypse. Rule #4: Double tap.

Catching up

Since you are all dying to know, the turkey actually turned out pretty good. I got lots of leftovers in the fridge still if anyone wants them. I don't like the drumsticks, so they'll be sticking around for a while. I have LOTS of leftover gravy, it is actually kind of scary.

Also, here are the abbreviated versions of a couple posts I was going to write, but never did because I'm lazy. First of all way back on October 4th was the fall comic show. This is super small which is nice because it's not as busy as the big one in the spring. I took stuff to get signed by Kaare Andrews, Craig Rousseau and Norm Brefogle. Norm Brefogle signed an issue of Mr. T and the T Force that he drew and it's AWESOME!

I got a sketchbook and a Captain America sketch from Craig Rousseau. I bought a couple hardcover trades and some of the homemade chocolate pops. I already ate the chocolate pops as I didn't want a repeat of leaving one lying around for nine months then finding it and eating it and then almost dying.

Then last Saturday I went to Vulcan with Murray and Eunice. Murray had told Eunice all about it and she looked for it online and found some Chinese blog with a story about it. She thought it sounded cool and wanted to go see it. We made it there and she took a bunch of pictures. I actually forgot my camera, so no pictures for you guys. Sorry! Since last time we were there they put up a board with various Star Trek characters on it and their faces flip down so you can put your face in to take super dorky pictures. Somebody had unscrewed a couple of the faces and stole them. Eunice took pictures of me and Murray with our faces in the characters. We just stuck our faces in the holes that had the faces stolen, I wasn't even sure what character I was. After she took the pictures I walked around to the front and after looking at the board I was like, "I was the chick!!" Turns out I had my face in the Seven of Nine face from ST: Voyager. Dammit! Then well we were outside some guy pulls up on the road and starts taking pictures of the ship and us with our faces in the board and says something to us in French. Jeez, buddy you drove to the middle of nowhere you should at least drag your fat ass out of your car to get some decent pictures.

We moved in the "Trek Station" to check things out. They have also fixed this place up since last time we were there too. They have this weird hologram game thing, I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it was broken, so we couldn't even try it. On the game board there is a button for "Light Speed". Somebody should out to them that "light speed" is from Star Wars, in Star Trek it's called "Warp Speed". Anyway, they also have a mock command bridge filled with Star Trek stand ups where you can sit and take pictures. They also have Star Trek uniforms you can put on for your pictures. It was cheesy, but cheesy cool.

Of course they had various souvenirs, but I wanted a magnet for my fridge. I ended up having to buy a magnetic poetry set just for the Vulcan, AB magnet which was in it. There weren't even any swear words in it, where is the fun in that? I also got some CSA (Canadian Space Agency) stickers which were free.

The Trek Station was surprisingly busy considering it was the long weekend, but the rest of town was completely dead. Not that there is that much there anyway. We checked out the V&S where I bought a hat. The end.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

How festive! That is actually my birthday cake and it's not actually a cake but collection of cupcakes with about 20 pounds of icing on them. Cody was going to buy me a cake for my birthday, but I had cookies and a chocolate zucchini loaf thing I was eating, so I just told him to wait. Then on Friday he comes home with this huge turkey cake thing and he left to go back to Moyie on Saturday, so I'm stuck eating this thing by myself. I think he is trying to kill me or something.

Also, I know pretty much everybody does Thanksgiving on Sunday night, but I was lazy and never wrote the post. I've been super extremely lazy lately as I have about two more other posts I just haven't bother to write yet, but I'll get on it.

I don't think I've eaten turkey at Thanksgiving for like 6 or 7 years, so this I decided I wouldn't let another Thanksgiving go by without eating some turkey. I can't cook, so cooking a turkey posed a problem. I solved that problem by buying one of those turkey you cook from frozen and it already stuffed. It was actually pretty expensive at $40, but I needs me some turkey.

I know it's President's Choice, but I got my discount on it, so it's all good. It's also boneless except for the drumsticks and even comes with gravy. You basically just put it in the oven from frozen, so it's pretty straight forward. I would've had it on Sunday, but I worked all day and didn't have time to cook it when I got home. Today I worked a half day and came home and put it in the oven. It does 8-12 servings, so hopefully it turns out good because I'll eating leftovers all week. I would've been happy with a plate of turkey and pumpkin pie, but decided maybe I should do some potatoes and vegetables too. I'll let you know how it turns out.

??????????

In the past 36 hours I've had approximately 3 hours of sleep, in other words I'm tired! I was the airport to pick up Murray P who flew in from Taiwan with his girlfriend, Eunice, at 12:33am. There were earlier flights, but flights coming in that late are cheaper. Cam met them out there too.

Usually, Murray will just stay with Cam, but Cam has no mattress or bed or anything for them to sleep on other than hardwood floors. They are staying with me and Cody for a couple nights because we have the couch and the army cot(remember that?!). Since Murray hadn't been in Canada for like three years, so Cam and Murray wanted to hang out a bit first. We went to the Ship and Anchor until they kicked us out at like 2:30am. While we were standing outside of "The Ship" (that's what the hipsters call it) some guy rides up on a bike and says, "Do you want something to sober you up?" Like what, crack?! Somehow I doubt that will sober you up, unless we mistaken and he was actually selling coffee which I don't think he was.

On the way back to my place we stopped up 7-11 because Murray wanted some Old Dutch dill pickle chips and as it turns out 7-11 doesn't sell Old Dutch, only Lays. Macs does Old Dutch though. After back home and getting them organized and such I finally fell asleep at 4am only to get back up at 7am. Turns out I was actually supposed to work at 7am, but just showed up for 8am. I was in such a daze at work I couldn't barely focus my eyeballs and I had a huge headache.. My supervisor came up to me and started to talking to me in Spanish which just confused me more. I went home for lunch and ate a bunch of Tylenol and actually felt a lot better. I was still tired, but not 3 hours of sleep tired, just my usual tired self.

I made it through the day and got home. I was till too tired to go out and meet up with Murray, Eunice and Cam again for dinner. Why can't the restaurant just come to me? I am looking forward to climbing into bed tonight. I like sleeping as it's pretty easy and I'm good at it. Good night!

BOOM!

With my recent purchase of a 46" LCD TV and the Blu Ray player all that was missing was the audio aspect of the package. We have had Cody's old bookshelf stereo hooked up as our audio component for way too long. Cody went out and about a receiver and some speakers, so now we can really annoying the neighbours with super loud movies and video games.

The system is a Yamaha receiver capable of 7.1 surround sound, but the Polk speaker package he got is only able to reproduce 5.1 surround. Whatever, I'm cool with it because so far it sounds pretty good. The sound of bullets ripping through flesh is crystal clear. It comes with different pre-sets for movies or music. For movies you got drama, action, sci fi, etc and for music you have like these concert hall settings. I was disappointed there wasn't a "rap concert" pre-set which would just be all bass.

The whole system is up and running, but Cody says it's still "a work in progress". He says he is going to hang the rear speakers in the top corners of the walls and such. Right now they are just sitting on stuff. Also, you can see Cody's speaker wire placement. You can barely even tell it's there! Where is Cam when you need him?

If you noticed in the receiver picture the copy of L4D sitting on top of it. Lately, I've been playing ODST, GOW2, Stranglehold, and Modern Warfare, but dug this out today because the new DLC is out. The first set of DLC was free, but this latest one you had to pay for. If you have the PC version it is free, but if you have the XBox version then you gotta pay. It comes with a new (although abbreviated) campaign called Crash Course which is also available to play in versus and survival modes. I just played the campaign portion by myself this afternoon (twice) and it wasn't bad. It's more zombie killing, so I'm all for it. It has just two chapters for the entire campaign, but they did seem to be a little bit longer than the regular chapters from the game. Since you had to pay for the newest DLC they put in some new achievements including "The Little Genocide" of killing 5,359 infected in the Crash Course campaign. Hopefully, these kills also count towards the Zombie Genocidest achievement for the main game of killing 53,595 infected. I got the Tank Stumble achievement this afternoon totally by accident. You have to stun a Tank with an explosion and right at the very end of the campaign when the rescue vehicle became available I picked up a pipe bomb and tossed it out and waited for it to explode so I could get a few more kills in before the game ended. I didn't even see or hear the Tank, but I guess he was running over the pipe bomb as blew up, so I got the achievement and the 20 G to put me at and even 11,000 gamerscore.