Pizza Party!

The other day Cody and I were out and decided to get something to eat at Taco Bell.  Why Taco Bell?  Because it was either Taco Bell or KFC, so it was pretty much the lesser of two evils thing.  When we pulled up they had big posters hanging in the window proclaiming that Mexican pizza is back!  I never knew such a thing existed, let alone was already here before, then left, then came back.  I had to eat it.

Make a run for the border.

There is the Mexican pizza big box combo meal.  I was a little disappointed it didn't come in an actual box.  Why call it a big box combo if there is no box?  That's most blatant case of false advertising since the Neverending Story.  Oh, there is a drink there too, but it's out of frame.

I'm sure you've guessed the "pizza" is the thing in the bottom left hand corner.  It's a layer ground beef and beans sandwhiched between two burrito(?) shells with cheese, pizza sauce and stuff on top.  It was surprisingly edible.  The combo also comes with a hard taco, the cinnamon twists and fries.  Taco Bell fries are nasty, so I got tacos and then upgraded them to tacos supreme.  They were supremely delicious.

Even though Taco Bell is less than a 10 minute drive from where we live I rarely eat there.  Maybe only two times a year.  I'm almost ashamed to say I went back a week later to get another Mexican pizza.  I don't know why and I can't help myself.

Rabbit season

Today former Discovery Channel TV host Jay Ingram was in the store buying groceries!  He bought some mussels and was actually looking at fresh sardines.  Gross.  Then I came home and the rabbit was waiting for me, but I escaped.

Sloan? In Cranbrook? WTF.

Does anyone subscribe to the Sloan mailing list?  I know Mike does, or at least he did.  Anyway, they just released their second official bootleg album a few weeks ago.  The first bootleg was only limited to 100 pressings or something and sold out right away.  This time they pressed 500 copies and I actually got one this time.  It was recorded during the Australian tour for Between the Bridges.

435/500

In other Sloan news they are putting together a 3 LP package of Twice Removed and touring to support it and for some crazy reason they are playing Cranbrook!  According to the e-mail they play the entire album plus other career hits.  I wonder if Willie is still working at the Key City.  I wonder if they will be able to top Nickelback's Cranbrook show?  It will be legendary.

Photo Op 2

I looking around the Android Play Store for some free photo apps I could use for the blog and I came across a pair of video game related photo apps. 

Portal 2

And the perfect companion app to the Portal 2 Booth would be based on another classic from Valve, the HalfLife2 Booth.

Crowbar

Gravity gun

The same guy made both apps and they are very basic.  When you open the Portal 2 app the game HUD is just laid over whatever you are aiming your camera at.  There is one button on the right hand side of the screen and that takes the picture.  That is it!  On the Half-Life 2 app it is pretty much the same except on the the left there is a button that lets you switch between the crow or gravity gun, there are no other weapons available.  Update please!  While I was attempting to take some Half-Life 2 pics the app froze up twice when I tried to take a picture.  The first time the app just closed, so I re-opened it and tried to take another picture, but it froze up again and I ended up having to turn off my phone and restart it.  The apps take decent pictures as long as there is enough natural light.  The image files are saved as .png files, but they are only 800 x 480 in size.  It's still pretty fun and it's free.  Just go around taking pictures with the crowbar in the HalfLife2 Booth of people going about their business.

Put up your Dukes

Last time I went home I gave Logan a bunch of books I had bought for him at the thrift store.  He likes to read, so I guess it's good to encourage him to do it instead of playing video games or watching TV.  Although, there is reading involved in video games.  Anyway, I had bought some Star Wars books, the novelization of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as well as some classics from my childhood such as the Hardy Boys, The Three Investigators and Gordon Korman.  I gave him a stack of books and he read them all in less than a month.  I've been looking around to get some more and the Bibles For Mission thrift store near my place is pretty good because kids books are only 25 cents each.  I had picked that place clean, so I went way out of my way over to the ghetto of Ogden and went to the Salvation Army there.  Here is a fun fact for you, Bob's Hamburgers (remember that place?) is right in the same small shopping area and unfortunately is now closed, RIP Bob's.

I was pretty disappointed by the lack of kids books and the lack of books in general at that particular Salvation Army.  If that place can turn up some Goonies glasses (remember those?) it should at least a few decent books.  I didn't find any books for Logan, but that doesn't mean I can't look for stuff for myself.  Good news everyone, I found stuff!  I got an American Eagle polo shirt, a SW themed Domo t-shirt (which may or may not fit depending on how washing goes) and the coolest thing I found was The Dukes of Hazzard card game.

Yeehaw!

The box is all scuffed up and faded, but all the cards are accounted for and it still has the instructions.  I liked how it has the "From the makes of UNO" on the front of it, like that carries a lot of weight to the card game buying public.  When I read that I was thinking, "How old is UNO?"  The Dukes card game is from 1981, so it's obviously older than that.  After a quick look up on Wikipedia I found out UNO was developed in 1971.  Another fun fact!

These are the instructions on how to play the Dukes of Hazzard card game and it sounds too complicated for me due to the fact that you need paper and a pencil to play it.  Basically you put down your cards gaining and losing points in the process.  The first player to make it to 500 points is the winner.  The game can be played by two to eight players.

The deck is divided up into different types of cards and you've got the "Good guy" cards in Luke, Bo, Daisy, Uncle Jesse and Cooter.  But why no General Lee?  The General Lee was the main character of the TV show.

 

Cuff 'em and stuff 'em.

The "Bad guys" cards are Boss Hogg, Rosco, Cletus and Flash.  I like how Flash got her own card.

These are the action cards you would play to screw up your opponents.  There is Hogg Wild, Speed Trap, Road Block, Hazzard County Clout, and Parking ticket.  How come the cop on the road block and parking ticket cards doesn't look like Rosco or Cletus?  They are the only two cops in Hazzard county!

Even though I only paid 49 cents for it, the going rate on eBay seems vary greatly with the lowest being $9.00 and the highest going all the way to $39.95.  I'm not going to sell it, so it looks like it's time to pack this game away in a box with all my other crap I've bought at thrift stores. You've got to be pretty cool like Mr. T or Flipbot to get shelf display time around my place.

Mugged

Even though I was already disappointed by my cereal bowls from Co-op for being too small I still collected the reward stickers.  I mean I have to eat and buy groceries anyway, so might as well as try to get something else out of it.  That something else would be a pair of mugs.

The mugs sent me back 25 stickers and believe it or not have a S.R.P of $19.99.  The cereal bowls have a S.R.P. of $24.99.  That is some expensive ass tableware!  The bowls are too small to use and I don't drink out of mugs/cups, so both sets are kinda useless to me.  Hopefully, I can sell them.

Lately, I just pass on anything I don't want or need anymore and get my sister to sell it for me.  She takes some pictures and puts them on Facebook with the prices.  Next time I go back to Cranbrook I have over $100 waiting for me.  I wonder what I can spend it on?

Cam's Cat

Hey Cam, is that food for you or for the cat?  Or both?

Photo Op

I was browsing the Play Store on my phone mostly looking for anything free.  There seems to be lots of photo apps, some are good and some stupid.  The stupid ones tend to be free which is good for about five minutes then you delete it off your phone to make room for a crappy free match three game which you also delete in five minutes.  I haven't even looked that much and have come across a quite few stupid, yet funny(?) photo apps.  Get ready to look forward to future posts with pictures I've taken with free photo apps. 

Today's photo app is the "Add a cat" app that lets you add cats to a picture you've taken with your phone or a picture you have uploaded to your phone.  It's suitable useless and a waste of space, but I will keep it around for now.  For some reason when I tried to add certain cats part of them cut off and I wish the saved image was larger.  I'd demand the publisher fix it in an update, but it was free so I shouldn't complain too much.  Here is a picture of Cody made even funnier with the "Add a cat" app.  I just made him pose and didn't even tell him what the picture was for.  Also yes, there is a zombie photo app.

He wouldn't dare!!

Don't pity me.

Pity the fool!

What better way to save your money than in a Mr. T ceramic bank?  Holy crap, I can't believe how awesome this thing is.  I will buy a house with a big fireplace just so I can place it on the mantle over top of it.

I was actually trying not to use my Visa too much as I'm trying to pay it down a bit.  Those damn dentist trips ran up a quite a bill.  I was on eBay leaving feedback for a $4 cable I bought and just as I clicked a link I caught a glimpse of Mr. T in the recommendations.  I hit the "Back" button because I had to see this.  I'm not sure why it was recommended for me because I had not bought anything Mr. T related ever, but I glad it did.

The seller was based in golly old England, so shipping was a little pricey.  With the high shipping and the fact that I was still trying to keep my Visa bill down I only entered one bid and that was the starting bid.  Luckily for me the seller had an awful item description, so no other bidders found it and I won with the starting bid.

I received it in the mail pretty quickly and now Mr. T is residing on the corner of my desk along side Flipbot, Scott Pilgrim and Coolbot.  Feel free to send me some money, so I can put it in inside my Mr. T.  No pennies please.

Apparently, banks are called "money boxes" in the UK.  It's not a box, it's a T! 

Put yo money in fool!

Stick or cone?

I think so far this year we've had maybe one hot day here in Calgary.  A few warm ones, but only one hot day.  On that hot day I happened to be buying some groceries and thought, "Damn, it's hot I need some ice cream."  I couldn't decide what flavour to get as long as it wasn't pink lemonade or pb & j.  I went with a classic, a flavour we've all enjoyed before, but on a stick.

Creamsicle FTW!

It tastes exactly like a creamsicle which is awesome to begin with, but now it's in ice cream form.  Then again they'd have to try pretty hard to mess this one up.  It's pretty good, so I recommend getting a carton for your freezers.  Or you just buy a box of Creamsicles (stick versions) instead, either way you're a winner.  I wonder if there is a fudgesicle flavour ice cream?

Bored

Hey, guess what? I'm blogging from my phone at work (in Airdrie) right now!!

Usually if I'm on my hour lunch break I will watch my "shows" and play my crappy match three game on my phone. Last night I forgot to put some new episodes on my phone, so now I have nothing to do for my break. It seems like has taken forever to type this because my fat fingers keep pressing the buttoms. See what I mean?

Free Stuff Vol. 29

It has been some time since I did post about free stuff, so here we go!  With the 2012 summer Olympics in England coming up General Mills has more offers for their "cheer gear".   Remember if you don't wear it, it means you hate Canada.

I was shopping for granola bars and was all pissed because they didn't have the ones I usually buy.  I was forced to look at different brands of granola bars when I noticed the word "FREE" on boxes of Nature Valley bars.  That is the best way to get my attention at the grocery store.  Unlike past offers there is no free t-shirt from Nature Valley, but instead you get a pair of flip-flops.  The flip-flops are free with two PIN codes from selected boxes of Nature Valley, Fruit by the Foot and Gushers fruit snacks.  I already redeemed my PINs, so now that's all left to do is kick back and wait the 8 - 10 weeks for them to arrive.  Hopefully, we'll still have some summer left by the time I get them.

Want a t-shirt to go with those flip-flops?  No problem!  When I went to lifemadelicious.ca/cheergear to redeem my PIN codes I found out that there is also another offer through General Mills cereal to get a free t-shirt.  The codes can be found in all types of cereal from healthy like Cheerios and Oatmeal Crisp varieties to a lot less healthy like Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I haven't actually seen any of these yet, but I haven't really checked the cereal aisle lately.  Now go get yours because I know you don't hate Canada.

Asstro Command from Uranus

I finally got around to finishing Saints Row 3.  I've finished all the story missions, but I still have to complete all the activities and challenges.  I'll give it a shot, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to it as some of the activities are pretty hard and I'm short on skill and patience.   But you can expect some more crazy screen caps sometime in the future.

Yeah, nowadays it's all about the big name franchise games like Call of Duty or Skyrim, but let's take a trip back in time when video games were still in the infancy.  The year is 1987 and Radio Shack had just unleashed this monster upon the public.

ASTRO COMMAND

I can't believe that this used to qualify as a handheld system.  Sure, you can hold it in your hands, but you have to set it down on a flat surface to play it, so it's more of a tabletop system.  Anyway, I found this at Value Village on Tuesday and I know you are all curious, but it's also where I picked up the Chuck Norris action figure.

I remember these batteries! 

Even though it still had batteries in it, it didn't work but probably because the batteries have been inside it since 1987.  It was only $2.99, so if it didn't work it might still make a nice retro paperweight.  It was pretty dirty and the bottom was really sticky where some tape or something had been stuck on it.  It cleaned up pretty good except the damn tape residue.  I tried some Goof Off, but that actually made it worse and messed up the finish which pisses me off.  The battery compartment cover still has some reside on it that I haven't tried getting off yet.  I read cooking oil works, but does anybody have any other ideas?

Stunning HD graphics circa 1987

I bought 4 new C batteries and put on then in and hit the power switch and was greeted with the worst/cheesiest sounding bleeps and bloops.  This was great because it means that it actually works!  The poor picture doesn't do the graphics justice, it's a shame.  Okay whatever, that's pretty much what it looks like!

Once the machine is turned on you can press the "SELECT" button to choose the difficulty setting from 1 to 4.  Once you're ready press "START" to begin.  Your ship is on the left side of the screen with enemy ships coming at you from the right hand side.  You can move in all directions with the joystick while shooting at ships with the "MISSILE" button and using the "BOMB" button to take out ships that are below you.  I played it for about five minutes and said, "Well this is awful." and put it aside.

I won't be playing it, but I will definitely keep it.  It will look real nice next to my Alien Attack game from Tomy.  I somehow acquired this from Jeff Patterson many years ago, but can't remember the exact details.  Anyway, it's mine now, too bad Jeff!

Going Kommando

This is going to look real nice next to my Rambo action figure.

When Chuck Norris tells time, time obeys.

World of flavour

I finally got around to buying myself some of those new PC hamburger chips you've all heard so much about.  Get this, they just aren't any old hamburger chips, but CANADIAN HAMBURGER chips.  I'm not sure what makes them Canadian hamburger, but it probably sounds better than ARGENTINIAN HAMBURGER chips.

 The good news is that they do taste better than the Ballpark Hotdog chips, but the bad news is not by much.  As soon I opened the bag I had to have a smell to get the aromatic bouquet of the chips, then later when I regained consciousness I actually ate some.  They taste vaguely bugerlike, but still a bit odd.  I've given them a try a few times, but haven't managed to eat the entire bag.  I've managed to eat more of them then I did the hotdog chips.  I can say I've tried them, but I won't be buying another bag.  If you've been thinking about trying them, maybe try something else.  You've been warned.

They keep coming up with all these crazy potato chip flavours, but I guess I'm old fashioned and when I buy potato chips I usually stick with my Old Dutch Mexican Chili chips.  Which gets me thinking, do they still make Gravy flavour chips?