It's just what I wanted, how did I know? Thanks me!

When it comes to Star Wars, and I'm talking about the good Star Wars movies here, one of the all time favorite bad guys is Boba Fett.  He was just so badass and cool, but when you look back he didn't really do anything except stand around and then in the end he went out like a little bitch.  Of course that didn't stop me from buying a vintage Kenner Boba Fett 13.5" figure.

I'll spare you the gory details like how much it cost, but it's an early birthday present to myself.  When it comes to my birthday and Christmas I always end up spending money on myself just to make sure I get the really cool stuff I want.  I can count on something like socks for a Christmas gift, but not something like a vintage Boba Fett.

I picked this up at Phoenix Comics and they had a few other Star Wars characters of the same size like Han Solo, a Stormtrooper, and Darth Vader.  I already got a Han Solo remember?!  The good news is that my Fett is 100% complete and in pretty decent shape.  He comes with gun, cloak, jet pack w/rope and Wookie scalps.  The Wookie scalps are the braided hairs he wears over his shoulder.

Here is shot of jet pack which can be removed, the thrusters on the side can be rotated and there is a cord wrapped around the bottom.  Note there is a small hole in the right side of his helmet.

You can look through hole in the back of the helmet for a Boba Fett POV.  I'm not sure what the point of this is other than a gimmick.  If they had at least put a cross hairs in there or even made it tinted like you are looking through an actual visor it would've been cooler.


I had already picked out a few small things, so when I went to pay for everything Kyle threw in a freebie in the form of a mini vintage 3 3/4" Fett.

Imagine all the hijinks these two guys will get up to!

Art?

Here is another part of Cody's birthday present which I found with Willie while at Twice As Nice in Cranbrook.  They also had a Speedy Gonzales plaque and it was a tough choice between the two, but in the end I went with Yosemite Sam.  He's got guns!  I like that it is totally homemade and at sometime somebody thought it was a good idea.  I guess it is a good idea, but in a bad way, so bad it's good.  This will fit in real nice with all the other "art" we have around here like the Chuck Norris poster, sad clown painting, Mr. T ceramic bank, pig in sunglasses picture, kitten poster and spin art.

Here is a fun fact for you, in the collage I made of Willie and I, the picture of me with the deer heads is taken in the basement of Twice As Nice.

It's got bite!

It was Cody's birthday back on Thursday and I gave him the stuff I bought him at the candy store in Nelson.  I said I would tell you about it, so here I go!

Fire makes it better..and also cough syrup makes is better.

Cody loves Moe and he loves energy drinks, so this was a sure fire winner!  Although, it's a lot smaller than the cans he usually drinks.  He usually gets those big cans of Amp and then plays COD.  What a spazz.

The perfect companion drink to the Flaming Moe.  Both drinks are made by the same company and I was expecting them to have identical ingredients, but I was surprised they differed a bit.  I guess you need different chemicals to make them different colours.  The Ghostbusters drink better be green!

I saved the best for last with the scorpion pop.  Yes, that's a real scorpion inside that strawberry flavored sucker/lollipop.  It is listed second on the ingredients list simply as "scorpion".  I'm sure it tastes delicious, but I ain't touching it.

The good old days...

I'm back!  Before I left Cranbrook I had to get gas and stopped by the Petro Can by Taco Time, but for some reason all the pumps were roped off, so I had to go over to 7-11 to fill up.  I swiped my cards and put in my payment and stuff and put the nozzle in the tank and for some reason it wouldn't let me select the grade of gas I wanted, it just gave me premium.  WTH?!  I was too lazy to try to cancel it and start over, so I just put the premium in it at $143.9/L.  My car never had it so good, it practically drove itself back to Calgary.  The drive back was a lot smoother than the drive down despite a lot of smoke through the park as I went the north way.  Visibility wasn't an issue, but it smelled like I was sitting next to a campfire.

When  I was back I had a few hockey cards I had recently acquired and wanted to put them with all my other old hockey cards.  That meant going through some boxes to find my hockey cards.  While doing so I came across a bunch of old pictures.  I have pictures in photo albums, but a bunch pictures never got around to getting in an album or anything.  I did the same thing I did before and took some pictures of the pictures.  Please note that the quality isn't the greatest.  I didn't grab pictures of everything I wanted to, but here are few, or fourteen.

 Catching a huge fish while rocking an In Utero t-shirt.  I don't remember where this was.

 "I'm thirsty.  Hey, this isn't my water bottle!"  From the same trip and remember kids, bear spray is not a toy.

 Don't let the hair fool you, yes that is Willie and he's rawkin' out.

 I think I stepped in something.

 No, don't leave me!

 I hate caves and I hate Zubats.  Where is my escape rope?  That's a Pokemon reference.

My impression of Ryu from Street Fighter.

Kristian, Michelle, me and Cody on the Lakit Canada Day hike.  I'm assuming Mike or Cam is taking the picture.

Stay classy fellas.

The exhaust hanger broke on Big Blue during the drive up to Lakit.  We patched it with a bungie cord and my bootlace for the drive back.

 From the top it is me, Mike and Murray enjoying some summertime snow.  I don't even remember where this was.  Up St. Marys maybe??

 Cam goes outside for an extreme creek crossing.

 A face only a mother could love.  Murray P in widescreen.

Cam and Mike taking a break.  Why is Cam the only one without a backpack?  What a newb.

As I said there were a few more good pictures that I didn't have to time to get pictures of.  There more hiking pictures and Cam and Mike boot skiing and more than a couple cat pictures as well.  Maybe next time.

Pound the Alarm!!

As promised this afternoon Willie and I drove up to party in Kimberley.  We did cool stuff like check out the thrift stores, walk around the Platzl and eat fries.

We grabbed fries at the snack shack (or is it a hut?) on Wallinger near the Platzl.  We pretty much had to as you can't get fries in Cranbrook anymore.  Willie said the fry truck is gone, so you'll have to drive all the way up to Kimberley for your fry fix.  RIP Cranbrook fry truck.  The fries weren't bad, but not as good as I remember the Cranbrook ones tasting.

There is a place off the Platzl called Willie Weenies.  No, we did not eat there.   In addition to hot dogs and bratwurst they also sell Willie's Weenies t-shirts.  I was disappointed to learn that Willie does not have one even though he already knew the place existed and sold shirts.  What the heck?!  If you are even shopping for a gift for him I bet he would love a WW shirt.  *hint hint*  I think he really wants one.

The above picture needs no explanation.  It's just that awesome. Click for the full size version as the little version doesn't do it justice.

Hippy hippy shake

Today we went over to Nelson for a few hours and it was only a few hours because there isn't much there to look at.  Unless you want to look at new age alternative hippies with dreadlocks and multi-coloured hair then you'd be there all day long.  There was some dude busking playing a digeridoo.  Get a job!  Then buy yourself some soap!

Nelson also still has a incredibly old school Dairy Queen that doesn't even have any indoor seating.  You stand outside and order at a window.  I think that's kinda cool, but do they operate in the winter?  Who is going to stand outside in the cold and order a Blizzard? 

When we got there we parked off downtown and walked down main street.  There were a couple OK stores including a candy store when I got some stuff for Cody's birthday.  That will be another blog.  I even went to two thrift stores.  I always imagined the thrift stores in Nelson would be like totally picked clean and only have a couple things hanging on the racks because the hippies are too cheap.  I was surprised that the Salvation Army had a lot of stuff in it. 

My mom always likes to eat at the the Main St. Diner, so we ate at King's instead.  Hey Mom, try new things.  It's a little more "street" and a lot more greasier than the Main St. Diner.  I ate there like way back in 1998 or so and the place looks EXACTLY like I remember it did.  My stomach was doing weird rumbling things after eating there.  I survived though.  After that we went to a real store aka Wal-Mart.  It was the highlight of the trip for me.

I guess downtown isn't that bad as you could just sit there all day and look at all the different people.  It's a nice change from the Cranbrook rednecks.

We went over (and came back) on the big ferry.

A bunch of change thrown down on the edge of the ferry.  There was a loonie down there! I need a magnet and a piece of string.

Hilarious article in the Nelson paper.

Score!

I went into some old store that was selling collectibles and junk including a MacGuyver bag(it actually had the MacGuyver logo embroidered on it) and some old corroded batteries.  Unfortunately, I didn't get either as I had already spent all my money on tea.

A pirate ship in the water off the Chahko Mika Mall.  They were inside pillaging Wal-Mart.

The trip back on the big ferry.  I can see my house from here!

Duck duck pigeon

Today I went outside and actually saw the sunlight.  Ahh, no, boo hiss, etc.  Now my face is only slightly red.  We still didn't do too much as we went over in the boat to Balfour not once, but twice.  The first time was to get some maggots and worms and the second time was to get ice cream.  Both times we fed the ducks.

They sell a bag of duck feed for $1 where you buy the boat gas.  Then you get swarmed by all the ducks.  They just see the brown paper bag and hear the rustling and they know it's dinner time.  There are a bunch of ducks and one lone pigeon who is a kind of a jerk.  Even though the pigeon is smaller he was bullying around the ducks.

Check it out I wore my free granola bar sandals, they still hurt my feet.  I'm all really weird and don't like to wear shoes that expose my toes.  People will see them! 

Don't look at my toes, I'm self conscious!

Danger! Danger!

I got to Kootenay Lake this afternoon and it's going to be a long three days.  The TV doesn't work!  I guess they used to get CBC, but even that's gone now.  Good thing I brought some DVDs.

Right beside my parent's place is the old Pilot Bay smelter which started operations way back in 1895 and only ran for 14 months before being shut down.  Despite it the fact that it didn't maintain operations for very long there are still very obvious signs it was there and some not so obvious signs as well.

What an obvious sign might look like.

The BC government finally got around to put up these warning signs after 115 years.  What's the rush?  My dad always thought it was a piece a history, but now it's just hurting his resale value.  I like how it says you need written permission to go on the land even though people were walking down from the road just tonight and my dad said there were a couple boats and like twenty people over there a couple weeks ago.  I'm sure they all have heavy metal poisoning now.  Next time get permission!

Collage degree

I didn't throw any pine cones at squirrels today, instead I visited all the Cranbrook hotspots with Willie.  It took twenty whole minutes.  We saw famous Cranbrook landmarks and went to the Hospital Aux, Wal-Mart and Liquidation World aka LW.  Willie calls it "LDub" because he's gansta like that.

It also gave me a chance to take a few pictures and try out some free collage apps I downloaded on my phone. I used Photo Grid and PicCollage and while they both make collages, the results were a little different.

This one was made with Photo Grid and I like it because it separates the pictures into panels and you can choose from many different layouts with only two pictures up to multiple pictures.  You can add effects and change the border color or pattern.  I didn't like that the program saves the final picture so small.  If you click the picture you'll see the full size picture.  Needs to be bigger.

In the layout on PicCollage your collage isn't as organized as on Photo Grid.  You get a background and then add/layers where ever.  You can resize them, rotate them, add effects, etc.  The app is free, but it comes with only a basic effects set.  If you want additional effects for your pictures, then it's gonna cost you money.  The size of the final saved image is larger than Photo Grid, but still needs to be larger.  Again, click to see the full size image.  Also, there should be an option to add text to the collage.

Looking at the final products PicCollage looks a little more slick than Photo Grid, but I'm not sure which one I prefer.   What do you guys think?  When I come back me and Willie might make a trip up to Kimberley, so plenty of more collage opportunities are in the future. 

Here is one picture that didn't make the cut.  I guess Willie had gone over to Scarff HQ, but that was last week.  Willie never gives up and decided to wait it out even though obviously no one was home.  Don't worry, he's okay.  Someone needs to mow the lawn though.

Things I did.

1. Threw a pine cone at a squirrel.

That's pretty much it.

The Drive

Playing the hits of today and yesterday.  But mostly yesterday.

Made it.

I got back to Cranbrook today just after 1pm and another mind numbingly boring drive.  This time it was even worse than usual!  I turned at Nanton to go over to Hwy 22 and discovered they were having some stupid bike race on there, so there we idiots on bikes all over the place.  I love how they would put the Aide Station practically directly on the road, so when all these clowns are stopped at one they are literally on the road.  Real smart.  The spandex must be cutting of the blood supply to the brain.

That was me driving back to Cranbrook.  Except I wear glasses.

I finally got out of that and it was smooth sailing until I hit a parking lot once I got to Sparwood because of road work there were it was down to one lane.  It was just a huge line of trucks, semis and RVs.  Also, towards Fernie there was a lamp shade in the middle of the road.  WTF?  And of course right before Cranbrook there is some hick driving his tractor down the highway at 40 km/hr.  I'm surrounded by frickin' idiots!

I made it back and luckily I won't have to go back for another ten days.  I got back this afternoon except my parents went out tonight and they are going out Sunday night too.  Monday morning they are headed out to Osoyoos leaving me home alone.  Well, the dog is here too, so I have to look after her.  On Thursday I'll go over to Kootenay Lake to meet my parents there.  I think we will be going to Nelson on Saturday.  It's back to Cranbrook on Sunday.  After a day off, it's back to Calgary on Tuesday.  I will probably see Willie one of those days, but he might go to Calgary for a few days, so we're not sure when.  Dude, I just came from there!

And my parents have got a real nice lawn ornament since last time was I back.  It's not quite rusty enough though.

Damn you Cam!

"Just stay calm, there's no need to panic until they develop opposable thumbs."

UH OH.

Double Team

No, I'm not talking about the movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dennis Rodman.  Although, I should because that movie is awesome.  I saw it in the theatre!

I came home tonight to see a couple rabbits waiting for me right at the entrance to our place.  They are getting smarter and starting to travel in pairs because there is power in numbers.  Uh oh.  Pretty soon there will be packs of them and we will be doomed.

Why can't I have nice things?

I had to work the closing shift on Saturday and when I was driving home after work I took the back way home.  I stopped at a stop sign and across the street somebody had left a CRT TV and a printer on top of it beside the sidewalk.  I went to work on Sunday and when I came home at 5pm I drove the same way and drove past the TV again, but this time the printer was gone.  Somebody took the printer, but not the TV?

Cody had went and pre-bought tickets to go see The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX for a Monday matinee.  Dennis was also coming and we had to pick him up.  Dennis lives near us and going to pick him up meant driving the back way and past the TV.  I was like, "If that TV is still there we are totally taking it."  The old CRT TVs are good if you still have and use a VCR or play old video games.  Watching VHS tapes on a new LCD TV just make them look like crap, same goes for playing old video games.  The graphics weren't the best back then and seeing them on a HD screen just hurts your eyeballs.  The old CRT TVs are still good for enjoying "classic" forms of entertainment media.  Anyway, long story short...it was still there!  And we took it!

We pulled up beside it and I told Cody to pop the trunk, but when I picked the TV up it weighed a tonne and I instantly remembered how huge and heavy those damn things were.  It wasn't fitting in the trunk.  I had to stuff it in the back seat of Cody's car instead where it took up 2/3 of the back.  I was a nice about it and let Dennis sit in the front while I rode in the back with the TV.  It was a decent 27" Toshiba and it still had the remote.

When we got home I nearly gave myself a hernia carrying it inside and immediately set about seeing if it worked.  It turned on which is a good sign, but the remote didn't seem to work.  I hooked up my VCR to it and it worked.  I was pretty jazzed, but the old VHS tape looked like crap, so I grabbed my old PSOne to see if it looked better.

It didn't!  The fuzzy messed up VHS tape just hid the fact that there were horizontal lines across the top of the screen.  I guess a free TV on the side of the road is too good to be true.  Now I'm stuck with a big heavy TV that doesn't work.  Tomorrow I'll have to drag it out to my car and take over to Best Buy where they have an e-cycle drop off.  Or I could just get up in the middle of the night and put it back where I found it.  What to do?

By popular demand

My e-mail was flooded with responses from readers disappointed by the lack of cats inserted in the dead squirrel picture in my previous post.  I'm always listening to you guys and will give you whatever you want.  You wants cats in the squirrel picture then you got it!

I originally planned to added as many cats as I could the the picture.  I had started making a border around the squirrel 360 degrees of a cat with his tongue out and then about a third of the way through I realized it was too much work and taking too long.  So I took the easy route and you got the above picture.

You can see I also captioned it with another free photo app called Meme Me.  It's exactly what is sounds like as you can use all the absolutely hilarious meme pictures and add your own text to them.  It's got all the classics like Business Cat, Aliens Guy, Futurama Fry/Not Sure If, Hipster Ariel, Picard Facepalm and tons more.  I don't really need those or will I use them, I just like the fact that you can use your own pictures from your Gallery and caption those.  There is also a similar free app that does the same thing called Meme Generator.  Start captioning.