Meat

Cody's craving for charred animal flesh finally won over and he bought a propane tank for my BBQ that has been sitting in our kitchen for the past year and a half. He also bought steaks, BBQ sauce, BBQ accessories, cooked the steaks and then I ate the steaks. He did buy a big pack of four steaks and since he pretty much did all the work I ate the two smallest steaks because I'm such a considerate guy. Thanks Cody.

VS THE WORLD!

I always try to hype up the Scott Pilgrim series for you guys, but to no avail. Don't you guys trust me?! The movie from Edgar Wright is out August 13th and finally has a trailer. Check out the official movie site or just go to Apple to watch the trailer. Look for Michael Cera wearing a Plumtree t-shirt. If you don't go watch this movie I will kick you so hard you will see the curvature of the Earth.

Oh yeah, I'm back.

I got back to Calgary on Monday afternoon. When I came down I went through Hwy 22, so on the way back I went the north way through the park to mix things up. The road was pretty quiet, so it was mellow drive.

Cranbrook was Cranbrook. Lots of people driving around in rascals for some reason. I was going by 9th ave and some old lady was driving down the road on a rascal and then I went over to 10th ave and there was an old guy driving his rascal down the road. Then the next day I saw this old guy driving his rascal with a trailer on it and four huge garbage bags of pop bottles strapped to it. I guess with high prices and the fact you don't need a driver's license to drive one, rascals are the hot new ride. I'm thinking about getting one so I can drive myself from the couch to the kitchen and back again.

Other Cranbrook news is the new "Cranbrook" sign the arches over the road leading into downtown is now up. Although if you are sitting on the other side of the tracks by Liquidation World then you can only see part of the sign because the traffic lights block it. Good job Cranbrook! Cranbrook is also getting a Little Caesars! It is in that mini mall just down from Laurie school that had the Video Update and Mac's in it. FYI, the Mac's is gone replaced some none franchised convenience store. Anyway, LC isn't open yet, but the signs are up, so it should be open soon. I look forward to getting a $5 medium pepperoni next time I am back.

Here is my new fancy mug. I saw this at the Hospital Aux with Willie, but at the time I didn't get it. I ended up going back to buy it because it was calling my name.

Nuts.

Art??

As I said before I had to do some digging around in all my crap here in Cranbrook to find a couple comic books. I usually end up rooting through my stuff whenever I come home and I'm still surprised at some of the stuff I find. I'm also mad I can't find stuff I thought I had like my Scott Neidermayer rookie card. Where is it dammit?!

Anyway, I was going through this one box and found a bunch of old blank loose leaf lined paper. It had been around for a while because the edges of the paper were starting to turn yellow. I didn't want to throw it out, so I put it upstairs in the coloring book drawer so Avery could "draw" on it. After throwing it in the drawer I noticed one page wasn't exactly blank. Down on the bottom of the page there was a "drawing" of a car by yours truly.

I'm sure how old that picture is, I'd have to say grade 6 or 7. You can tell because that was way back before they had vehicle emission laws. Also, the antennae is pretty huge, and it must be pretty hard to see where you are going with a blower that big on the hood. I definitely can't draw, but thought you might enjoy it even if you laugh at it.

My art is so bad I can barely do stick figures despite the fact that I drew a series of stick figure cartoon strips in grade 12 titled "Calculus Cutups". I only used a couple of colors blue/black and red for blood and there was a lot of it. It had an Itchy & Scratchy vibe to it. I still have this somewhere too. Maybe next time I'll find them and post it.

You might be a redneck if...

You eat at the the Redneck Cafe!! For lunch on Friday me and Willie went to check out The Rocky Mountain Redneck Company Cafe. That is too wordy for me, so we'll just use Redneck Cafe. Willie had e-mailed me a link about the place which I checked out before we went, so I knew what I was getting into. After browsing the page which listed a few menu items I picked out what I wanted just based on the name alone, The Big Bubba Special.

We got there during the lunch rush and had to seat our selves which wasn't a big deal because there were lots of tables. We hadn't seen a server (or waitress or whatever they're called) yet, so that is -1 point. I browsed the menu at the table and saw my Big Bubba Special and also a Billy Bob Fried something-I-can't-remember. I passed the menu to Willie and he pointed out that breakfast runs from 8am to 11am...-1 point! Of course, The Big Bubba Special is a breakfast item which means I wouldn't be able to get it...-100 points!

I think this is where we sat, but don't remember exactly. I might the one behind it.

The server/waitress showed up with the lunch menus and took our drink orders. The menus aren't anything terribly complicated just pretty basic burgers and sandwiches and daily special of chili. Willie ordered the Redneck Burger and a garden salad with house Eyetalian dressing and I ordered exactly the same thing. The burger comes with a choice of soup or salad and if you choose salad then you can either get garden salad, fruit salad or potato salad. There are no fries! - 10 points!!

I'm also not quite sure what makes this burger "redneck", but was it was pretty good. From the ground up you had a bun, fried onions, burger, bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and finally the top bun. When they were brought out to us they were served open, so we could add our own condiments. They only brought ketchup and dijon mustard, but the lady asked if we wanted regular mustard. Dijon mustard in a redneck restaurant? Pretty ritzy. The dijon mustard was actually President's Choice brand, so that's an automatic -1 point right there. The bun was slighty toasted . The burger itself was pretty good, a nice size and maybe even homemade. It didn't look like those tiny frozen burgers. The burger itself was pretty good (+1 point) and the house salad dressing was also pretty good (+1).

The Redneck Cafe also offers homemade pie (+1) and got a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie. You can get it with ice cream, but I didn't want it getting in the way of the pie. It comes out warmed and tastes pretty good (+1) and I hope that in the summer when more fresh fruit is available they'll have different flavors.

Willie had to go to work, so I paid and we left. That's right I paid! Willie now owes me from fries from the fry truck next time I am back in town. The food was pretty good and didn't take too long to come out despite the fact that there is only one guy cooking. I'm still not sure what exactly makes the place "redneck" though. Hanging some John Deere stuff on the walls and putting a Jeff Foxworthy Redneck Dictionary by the menus doesn't make it redneck. The place was too clean and I didn't see a single thing with Nascar or Budweiser on it, but that is probably a good thing. It's redneck enough for the rednecks, but not too redneck to scary away the normies.

Overall, I would give the Rocky Mountain Redneck Company Cafe a positive review. I would eat there again. As long as they had some pie. What does Willie think?

He likes it!

A glowing recommendation if there ever was one. Also, Willie grew specially that facial hair just for the occasion.

Cranbrook rulz!

Well, after my first day in Cranbrook I managed to go through some of my junk and dig out a couple comics I want to get signed at the Calgary Comic Expo in April. In the afternoon me and Willie checked out the thrift stores and stuff. I actually took some stuff into the Hospital Auxiliary like my brother's TV. I thought it was my TV, but after I had already loaded it into the car and was leaving for downtown I noticed my TV was hooked up downstairs, but I still took Paul's TV in anyway. I wonder if he'll notice it's gone?


Don't worry I bought some toys from the Hospital Auxiliary while I was there. I hate how they have a bag of toys and most of the stuff is crap, but there is one toy in there you like. I bought a bag of die cast cars for a KNIGHT 2000 car. I already have a Knight Rider car, but don't remember it actually saying "KNIGHT 2000" on the side. After closer examination it turned out to be a Key Car (Mike!) from Kidco. Of course, there was no key, but I still bought it anyway. I'll hang on to it because I'm sure a key will show up eventually. I also got a pre-loved General Lee. Pre-loved means it's all scratched and chipped.


I also had to go Giant Tiger not only because it's cool, but because I needed to get my Crunk on son!! They also had this energy drink called Cronik which delivers "Unrelenting thermal energy". Unrelenting? I'm scared. Willie ended up getting 100 Grand for only 49 cents. Helluva deal! Tomorrow me and Willie are meeting for lunch, so prepare to hear all about it.

Guess where I am?

If you guessed Cranbrook then you're right! I sure hope you figured it from the picture above even though it looks pretty bad. I haven't been back since Christmas and if I didn't come home now then I probably wouldn't be able to until maybe May, so I thought I'd better do it now. I don't have to go back to Calgary until Monday, so I have a few days. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but after about a day I'll be bored. I mean I can't even play XBox here, so what am I supposed to do?!

While I'm here I brought a few things and need to dig out some comics to get signed at the up coming comic show. I brought back my little LCD TV to give to my parents. I'll be taking in their old TV as well as my old 25" TV to the thrift store tomorrow. They are the old school sets, ex. none flat screen, so are therefore useless.

My dad asked for some ice packs which we get at work. These are the reusable non-toxic gel packs that are packing in the with live shellfish. Normally, we just throw them in the garbage even though they are perfectly fine. I think my dad only wanted a few, but I ended up bring back like 18 or so. I grabbed a styrofoam box from work and thought they would all fit in there, but they didn't. Have a look.

Other than that nothing really planned for my stay other than I will be hanging out with Willie. We are doing something around noonish, those are his words, so I guess I should show up at around 2pm?

Zoom Zoom

It is still Monday and here is my post I promised about cars. I should have been a little more specific because it not about real cars. If I misled you then I apologize, but you came back, so it worked. It's also not about the Disney movie Cars, so sorry again if you thought it was. It's actually about toy cars.

On Saturday I stopped by Chinook & Hobby West on MacLeod Trail. They sell models, trains, statues and toys. They always have something you want, unfortunately you can't always afford that thing you want. Lucky for me I saw some cars and thought they looked pretty cool because the packaging and style was old school 80's looking. Upon closer inspection I saw that they weren't reproductions, but actual vintage cars still in the packages. Since they were only $1.99 each I picked up a couple.


I got this one because it glows in the dark and anything that glows in the dark is cool. Despite the fact that the car is like 27 years old the glow in the dark effect still works pretty good. They also had Glo Racers with a launcher that also glowed in the dark. Who needs a night light?


This one doesn't glow in the dark, but it does have the flashing lights and sound gimmick that kids die for. Right on the package it says "Permanent battery plays over 5000 Sound & Light actions." SOLD!

I saved the best one for last because it's about explosions! Yes, it's a Mega-Blasters cap car. You cut off a cap (that is safe right?) and place it in a slot on the bottom of the car. Put the car in the launcher and when you "Fire" it out of the launcher the cap goes off in a bang of awesomeness. I didn't have one of these when I was a kid, but wish I did. I had my fair share of cap guns, so a cap powered car would've been awesome.

Since all these cars are all vintage, I'm scared to open the packages because I'm such a nerd. I was also going to give Avery the Sonic Flashers car, but now I'm thinking about keeping for myself because it has a permanent battery that plays over 5000 sound & light actions. COOL! I guess they were only $1.99 each and I could go back and buy a couple more. It would be cool to have pile of Glo Racers spread throughout a darkened room, it would look nifty.

Knifey McKnife

Again, sorry for the lack of posts. I've been wasting a lot of my time playing Battlefield: Bad Company multi-player online. I'm slightly better at it than other online shooters because I can usually go with more kills than deaths which is weird for me. Remember my gamertag is DiesEazy because Cannonfodder was already taken. Here is one of those rare moments when I get the drop on someone and knife him in the back. After that I shot a sniper and then got killed. I respawned and saw an enemy run into a house, so I followed him and brought out my knife. Just as I was walking up to him a team mate spawned on him, so I killed the first guy then knifed the guy that just spawned. Sweet! I usually never get melee kills, so I was stoked. Enjoy the moments.


There will be another post tomorrow/Monday I promise. It will be about cars.

Go Canada!

Last weekend the weather was really nice, you didn't even need a jacket, so we decided to enjoy the sun by going over to the NE for some thrift store shopping. We went to Value Village, the Salvation Army and the MCC thrift store. At the Salvation Army I bought an Underdog t-shirt for $3.49, but it ran in at $2.97 with tax. I got it on sale because I'm so rad.



The were also giving out these "Go Canada Go" car window flags with every purchase. For some reason the lady gave me two flags. I guess she thought I looked like I needed two flags. There is a vast surplus of these "Go Canada" themed flags now the Olympics are over, ensuring we will be seeing them at thrift stores for years to come. It must be really bad if they are giving them out for free.


I love Canada and all, but no way in hell I'd be driving around with one of these on my car. I can show my love for Canada in other ways like making fun of Americans. Of course, now I'm stuck with two of these flags that I'll probably just hand down to Logan and Avery. They get one each, so nobody gets left out and my crap is now my sister's crap.

Other than we didn't find anything else cool except for an E.T. bed sheet with a yellow stain and a book about religion in the Star Wars which was kinda funny. I'll give props to the MCC for selling records that are actually in good condition, but too bad they all sucked.

Sorry.

Sorry, for no posts weeks, but I was caught up with the Olympic fever! Okay, that a lie, I know it and you know it. Last week I actually sat down a couple times to write stuff, but just wasn't feeling it. I was going to write about the flea market which only had one stall worth checking out, but he had tons of awesome stuff and he's a permanent vendor, so I can go back anytime. Then I was going to write about my Surprise Bag and it was no surprise that it was disappointing.

I also got a gas station two back of burgers. I was getting gas from Petro Canada and bought a pack of two double cheeseburgers. The package boasted the convenient "Heat 'N Eat" technology which means you can microwave them. Unfortunately, that package doesn't tell how to do it. How long do cook them for? Do you leave it in the package or take them out? I took them out and still managed to cook them. They are just the basics, buns, burgers and cheese. There are no condiments at all, but I "cooked" them at home so I just added my own ketchup. As far as they tasted, they weren't bad. Not great, but for a gas station microwave burger they were okay. Still I won't recommend them unless you are really hungry.

Cody went and downloaded Duke Nukem 3D and the original Doom from XBox Live Arcade. Doom you can play up to 4 players c0-op and online death matches. Duke Nukem can be played co-op over XBL or in death matches. Me and Cody played through Episode One of Doom and the whole time I kept trying to aim up and down and then remembered you can't do that! I went back and played Ep. One by myself on "Hurt Me Plenty" and even managed to remember a couple of secrets. I only died once and that on the last level when you fight the two bosses.

Believe it or not I have never played Duke Nukem 3D. Cam did you have this game? I sure if you had it that I would have at least tried it. I watched Cody play it and it looks pretty hilarious, but it also looks a bit hard and frustrating. Cody was stuck on level and ran around forever before he finally found a little crack in a rock wall to blast through. There is actually an achievement for giving the dancers money in the strip club. It just goes to show how games have changed since the old days. I think games in the old days were a lot more difficult than they are now. Even now we are seeing classic games coming back like Contra Rebirth and Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth on WiiWare and the comeback of the 8-bit Mega Man in Mega Man 9 and the recently released MM10. They still have the same difficulty as the originals.

I also got a cheque from Co-op, it's my annual patronage return or something. I got a whopping $28! I could've saved that much in a month by shopping at the Super Store, but I'll happily pay more just to stay away from that place. Don't worry I immediately spent that $28 by buying some CDs online.

I think that is pretty much it and you are all up to speed. I'll try not to wait as long until next post. But why hasn't anyone watched that Domo video?