Jiff

Remember that Jeff Patterson guy?  Well if you do, I feel your pain because he haunts my nightmares too.  Anyway, he was in Whistler for some photo competition showing off his snowboarding snaps.  Unfortunately he didn't win, but you can check out his photo slideshow at the link.

http://vimeo.com/40633906?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=email&utm_c

EXPwnd

Spring is in the air and it's that time of year.  Yep, it's time for the annual Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo!  They got a lot of cool guests this year including the primary cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Apparently, this is the first time they've all been together at one event since the show went off the air, so it's a big deal.  They also got Stan "The Man" Lee!  This year they seemed to hyping most of the movie and TV guests instead of the comic book guests with the exception of Stan Lee.

Of course I wanted to see Stan Lee, but I also wanted to see Archie artist/writer Dan Parent, artist Adrian Alphona, local artist Fiona Staples, Ty Templeton, Joseph Linsner, Jim Cummings voice of Darkwing Duck, Katie Cook and Futurama megastars Billy West and John DiMaggio.  I got up this morning and got ready and grabbed my bag which was packed with goodies to get signed.  The doors opened at 10am and I got there about 10:25 am and the line up to get inside went outside the building and must've been at least two blocks long.  Then I went home and played some BF3.

Are you shiatting me?  The doors were open for 25 minutes and the line was still freakin' huge.  It was just idiotic.  I knew it was going to be busy, but there is nobody on the planet I would want to see that bad to have to put up with that.  I'm old and I have no patience for anything anymore.  Over at the website there is a little thing about people getting turned away and denied entry on Saturday by the Fire Marshall.  It sucks, but I didn't go and probably won't ever be going back.  Oh well.

Update: Check out this link I found on the Calgary Herald website about the huge crowds.  Read some of the comments.  Looks like a lot of unhappy people.

Self help?

Slow news day

I've been messing around with my phone, but am disappointed that I can't remove the stupid Facebook app from it.  I have figured some stuff out with it and I'm playing around with it a little bit everyday.  When I'm at home I'm on my own wi-fi so I don't waste my data.  For some reason I can't get the phone to connect to my laptop with the USB.  It will charge through the USB, but I have to use an app to download/upload any stuff from the phone to my laptop.  It's kind of a pain, but whatever.  The good news is that I got a free app that let's me turn my phone into a flashlight.  Handy!

I used the phone to call my parents tonight to tell them that I saw Cranbrook on the CTV news with the fire Mike mentioned.  Then my mom told that Paul almost burned down the shop on Sunday!  My dad and Paul built a workshop at the house out back beside the barn and Paul was burning some dead grass and came inside the house for a minute.  My sister drove up and there was a big fire out back.  They managed to put it out with some help from the neighbors.  It almost got the shop, but they got it just in time.  That totally sounds like something my brother would do.

Today I went to the dentist and they started my crown on the tooth that already had the root canal.  For some reason my mouth was a lot more numbed than when they did the root canal.  After my root canal my mouth felt fine and I could even eat right away.  This time I was totally numb and bit my tongue and didn't even realize it.  Now I have this swollen lump on the side of my tongue where I chomped down on it.  I still have one more appointment to go.  They made a mold of my original tooth and when that gets made the temporary cap will come off and the new one will get set in permanently.  In the meantime I'm not allowed to eat anything sticky or crunchy as it might pull off the temporary cap.  Oh man, I really wanted to eat some taffy and almonds too!

The weather here was been pretty nice as yesterday it was +26C.  It was a little cooler today and tomorrow it's supposed to be 19C, but at the end of the week it's going to cool down.  The warm weather has let me open my bedroom window and air some of the winter stank out.  It's time for the spring time stank.

Am I cool now?

Guess who got a new phone?

This guy did!

I finally caved in and got a phone.  No, it's not an iPhone!  Do I even really need a cell phone?  Maybe, but I've managed to survive this long with out one.  Do I need the particular model I got?  Definitely not!  Hey, if I'm going to get one I might as well get something cool.  I ended up getting a Samsung Galaxy S II LTE which I supposedly pretty good.

It's got a 4.5" super Amoled screen, 1.5 GHz processor, 4G/LTE data network, 16GB memory and will take up to a 32GB microSD, 8MB rear facing camera, 2MB front facing camera and runs Android 2.3.  I just got it, so I haven't even had time to screw around with it much.  I haven't even downloaded Angry Birds yet on it.  OMG!  I still haven't checked out all the pre-loaded apps on it and it looks like most of them I won't even need/want.  So long Facebook!

The phone was free with a contract which I will probably be regretting sometime in the future.  It's too much of a long term commitment for me.  I don't know if I want to be tied down right now.  I'm freakin' out!

I'll keep you updated on how everything works out with it.  I'm working on figuring out to make an actual phone call right now.  Unfortunately I don't have any friends to call.

Smells like free t-shirts

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Post telling me all about their new promotion with Reebok.  Like previous Post free t-shirt offers this one requires two PINs in order to get your free Reebok PlayDry t-shirt.  They also said the shirt is worth $35, so you know how much of an awesome deal you'll be getting.  I thought I'd let you guys know about it, but I won't be planning on getting one.  But why not you ask?  It's just a boring sports type shirt.  Next time put some cereal characters on the front of them and I'll be all over them.  If you want the deets check them out at the website.

Smells like bootleg

I bought a new Nirvana record!  Well, it's not new, it's an older 7" record.  Also, it's Nirvana, but not an official release, it's a bootleg.  Seems like there are just as many bootleg Nirvana releases as there are official ones.  That's what happens when Kurt kills himself, but people just keep wanting more.

Some nice white vinyl.  As you can see the record has a label on it, but the sides are not marked.  You don't know if it's side one or two until the music starts playing.

The sound quality is pretty good.  The songs sound better than some of the demos from the "With the Lights Out" boxset.  It says limited edition of 500, but for some reason I doubt that. 

Never fails

This morning the weather wasn't cold, but it was overcast.  I had planned to walk to the pharmacy in the afternoon, but then it started pouring rain, so I had to drive.  I came home and played BF3 for a couple hours which is borderline retarded now, but that is for another day.  After taking a break because the XBox froze up I walked out to the kitchen to get something to eat for dinner and was a little shocked looking out the window.

It was snowing like crazy outside and the size of the snowflakes were huge.  The size your hand I tell you!  It's already snowed over six inches and it's still coming down, but not as hard.  This always happens every single year in April.  Everybody goes on about how nice the weather is and how spring is finally here then we get a dump of snow.  At least it will be melted in a few days, but in the mean time I still have my winter tires on.

File under...

...Crap I Bought.

Why are all my posts about crap that I've bought or crap that I've eaten?  Is this what my life has come to?  Talk about depressing.   I had a appointment with the endocrinologist Wednesday morning and it went okay.  It's all good except she raised the dosage of my high blood pressure medicine.  My blood pressure would probably go down a bit if I quit playing video games, but that is unlikely.  Since the doctor's place was right near Value Village I decided to go have a look.  Usually, I don't find too much, but it must've been my lucky day.

I got a t-shirt with a real hilarious and witty remark on it.  You know you aren't cool unless your shirt has funny stuff on it.  Also, having a funny shirt takes the pressure of having to be funny yourself because the shirt does all the work.

Hilarious right?!  Okay, I actually totally don't get it.

I also got two Future Sound of London CDs and one of them is the "We Have Explosive" single.  The single has not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, but NINE different versions of the song which is riding the fine line of having too many.  I listened to it soon as I got back to my car and instantly wanted to play some Wipeout XL.  The other FSOL disc is "Accelerator" and has a funky 3D lenticular cover.

Another Chuck movie to add to my collection with Sidekicks.  I have been looking into getting this, but it seems hard to find.  Most copies on eBay are all VHS copies and the DVDs that do show up are from Europe and are used and like to sell for $30.  I got mine for $3.99 and it's still sealed.   I wouldn't want to pay more than $4, but the Chuck Norris vs Joe Piscopo fight is worth that alone.   Next on my Chuck Norris checklist is Forrest Warrior, the one where he can turn into a bear.

I spotted this bag hanging on the wall from a mile away and right away I could tell it had M.U.S.C.L.E. guys in it!  It not only had MUSCLEs in it, but also other 80's mini figures, GUTS and Battle Beasts.

Like MUSCLE, Battle Beasts were originally from Japan and actually were a spin-off of Transformers.  I actually had a couple of these guys, but the ones I had were the early versions when they had stickers on the chest that you would rub to display their elemental power.  The ones in the bag must be a newer version as they have a "prism" embedded in their chest that revealed what element they were when you looked through it.  I guess it worked like paper, rock, scissors as the guys were either fire, water, or wood.  I assuming wood = earth?   But they don't have their weapons!

GUTS!  I never actually had any of these guys who are from Mattel.   I got lucky with this bag because it not only contains all the figures from a complete 10 pack, but also the insert as well.  Now I can learn all their names!  Say hello to the Aikido Force!

The flip side of the insert shows all the guys from Jungle Fighters collection.  The insert shows the guy, their name and what weapon they use.

The Jungle Warriors guys are hilarious.  All the decent code names were already taken by G.I. Joe so the Jungle Warriors had some slim pickings like Beach Bum and Whacko.   The weapons are funny too with Cool Hand's weapon of choice being hand grenades.  This guy goes into a fire fight armed only with grenades?  He's not even wearing a shirt, so where is he going keep them all?  Other guys have stuff like modified PPS-42, custom built M-16 or customized A-15, but my favorite is Dog Breath who uses a souped up M-19.  Souped up??  Is it like blinged out with gold and platinum inlays?

I bought the bag just for these guys, so the other dudes were all just a bonus.  A few different guys in here and some I already have and some I don't.  Some are in better shape than others and some just need to be cleaned a bit.

The previous owners of these guys tried to do some custom work and paint a few of the figures.  They didn't turn out too bad, but some other guys have paint rubbed off on them.  Remember always try to keep your stuff in pristine condition because one day it might be someone else's stuff who finds it at Value Village and they might not like paint on it.

Not a bad day as I actually found some cool swag and then went and ate some Vietnamese for lunch to celebrate.

Puzzling

Check out what I bought at the thrift store for only 25 cents!  Since I bought at the Bibles For Mission thrift store it was 25 cents plus GST because they suck.

Giant shaped?  It's more like turtle shaped!  HA HA!  An old school TMNT Michelangelo floor puzzle, 51cm X 61 cm and 20 pieces of pure awesome.  Suddenly I'm craving pizza.

IT'S GIANT!

Okay, maybe it's not THAT giant, but it's still big and still pretty cool.  I'm not sure what to do with it though.  It would be cool to make into a stand-up or something.

A word of advice though!  If you ever buy a floor puzzle don't put it together in the middle of the kitchen floor and leave there when you go to bed.  In the middle of the night someone might get up and go downstairs to the kitchen to get a drink and slip and fall on it.  Then your puzzle would get wrecked!  Just saying, be safe people.

Stuff I...

It's been pretty slow around here, but I'm sure you already know that by the lack of posts.  The one post I did make was about how I have a hole in my bed sheets.  Yep, riveting stuff.  There still isn't anything cool going on, so I'll have to fall back on another uninteresting blog topic, "Stuff I ate".

Sometime ago I wrote about how Old Dutch brought a favorite potato chip flavor of mine from when I was a kid, Mexican Chili.  Now Old Dutch are bringing over the Mexican Chili flavor to their taco chips.  It's sounds awesome, but it's not that great mostly because Old Dutch taco chips aren't very good to begin with.  The awesomeness of Mexican Chili can't save these tacos, so stick with the classic Mexican Chili rippled potato chips.

I thought I had a picture of the bag of taco chips, but looks like I forgot to take one.  I didn't like the chips enough to go out and buy another bag just for a picture.  Next time you are at your local grocery store just walk down the potato chip aisle and check out the Old Dutch section and you will see them.  Hey, this post is getting interactive.

This one is a little late as Easter is now over!  Everyone loves Cadbury Creme eggs and if you don't, then what is wrong with you?!  This year Cadbury expanded the Creme egg theme to cakes.  The chocolate cakes are oval (egg) shaped with the classic creme egg filling inside and are surprisingly good.  I'd tell you they are so good that you should try some, but I'm not sure if you can find them any more.  I bought mine a long time ago and haven't seen them since.  Maybe next year?

Frubob?  What a weird name.  It's a fruit drink that has floating fruit bits in it or as the label says "The Natural Fruit Float".  I bought a mango flavor at Co-op and liked it enough to get a pineapple as well that is still in my fridge.

Okay, those things weren't very interesting, but I saved the best for last with a meat product you cook in the toaster!  I was shopping at Co-op and was walking by the frozen aisle when I saw a box said Tillman's Toasty Pork Snitzel and had a picture of two things popping out of a toaster and I was like "No way you cook that stuff in a toast!"  I had to try it.

Damn right I bought it and looked up with Tillman's website when I got home and got the whole story.  "Invented" by a (surprise!) German guy, it took two years to develop because there is lots of science and engineering behind it.  I bought the pork snitzel because that's all they had, but it also comes in chicken, egg & bacon as well as garden vegetable.

I guess the only way to cook it is in the toaster because that's the only way the instructions tell you on the box.  All you do it crank the temperature setting to max on your toaster and put in it.  When it pops up, start eating!  It's actually not bad considering it came out of the toaster, but the first time I tried it I couldn't really tell it was pork.  I knew it was some kind of meat product, but it was hard to tell.

I bought the pork at Co-op and checked to see if they had any other flavors, but haven't been able find anymore Tillman's Toasty's at all.  I found all four varities in the meat department at Safeway and have since tried the chicken and egg & bacon.  They aren't bad and I'll eat one once it in a while usually in a sandwich, but sometimes by itself.  According to the Tillman's website you can also use it as pizza topping or chop it up in a salad.  Wow, it is so versatile.

After I tried Tillman's Toasty I saw a commercial on TV for Jane's who have a chicken snack that you cook in the toaster and my sister told me you can get similar items at M&M.  It's like out of nowhere the whole toaster meat product scene is exploding!

Kickin' it

Apparently I have the tendency to kick around and move my legs when I sleep.  It's taken me a few years, but I've managed to wear through the fitted sheet on my bed.  I do have other sheets, but I keep using this same one because I like the colour and the fabric is super soft.  I just wash it and then immediately put it back on without checking the orientation of the sheet.  As luck would have I always keep putting the worn feet end down by my feet, hence speeding up the erosion process of my sheets.  Now, it's too late and it looks like I'll have to break out one my other sets of sheets or buy some new ones.  I have some Dukes of Hazzard sheets, but they are too small for my bed.  :-(