Blast from the past

So Faith went to TO today and found something quite remarkable in a Shopper's Drugmart in the Eaton's Centre.

The Pop Shoppe is back, just not in the way it was before. Pop Shoppe pop is being distributed to stores across Ontario. Most of the old flavours are there, including my favorite, Lime.

I remember taking our empties back to the store and picking out full pops, making sure to get lots of lime. Good memories, until the memories of it shutting down come back... bastards! How dare you take that away from me...

Well, it's back, so go celebrate... Most Hasty Markets and Farah foods in Kitchener have some.

Good ol' media coverage...

Is it just me, or was the whole "no confidence vote" thing just as stupid as the NHL lockout? All too many people speculating on how it would go down, while for months you knew that it was going to happen.

Don't mistake this for any sort of political opinion, or me giving a crap in general, i just thought it was real stupid having headlines today of how the government was brought down, having known for the past few weeks that it was gonna happen today... the headlines should have read "Ho hum... what a surprise..." bah.

What do you mean AIDS isn't funny

I stayed up til 1am, like every Tuesday night, to watch Dr House cure some other poor idiot's weird disease... It's a good show with a lot of wonderful sarcasm mixed with eclectic characters. Last night's main patient was a.)Gay as a 3 dollar bill, and b.) Infected with AIDS.

Somehow the show, while possessing all the same things that makes it real funny usually, was not as fun as the rest. It didn't have the mood of one of those shows where at the end a few of the people are on screen out of character talking about how deadly AIDS is and what you can do to prevent it... It was just a regular show, with the deadly disease of the day being HIV...

What is it about AIDS that makes it less fun than Cancer or MS? Who knows... I'm just glad they had the sub plot of House trying to cure a rat with a tumor...

"AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS AIDS"
-Team America, World Police quote from musical "Everyone's got Aids"

There was a what in the where now?

Faith and I went to Jolly ol' US of A this past weekend to visit Mike and Mary Marshall. We did some christmas shopping in Port Yorn (formerly port Huron) on saturday morn and made our way up the Thumb to the Marshall's place. Along the way, we stopped at Goodwill in Imlay City, a store that has provided us with many treasures. This is where it gets interesting.

Faith went into a change room to try on a sweater. A lady pulled her child out of her change room so faith could use it, cause the kid was gonna be a while. Faith didn't last very long in the small change room because she detected a strong odour inside. The smell became too much for her to bear, so she looked around for the source. And what, to her wondering eyes did she find?

Well, a nice little TURD on the floor of the change room under the chair. That's right, a little ol' piece of poopie.

She quickly left the area, notifying the mother that there was a piece of poo in the change room. The mother turned to her daughter and whispered "was that you?" , daughter denied it saying she smelled something too. No closure on who the phantom dooker was, but there's more.

This is not the first time.... Faith has encountered one other instance where she found a turd in a goodwill change room. What are the odds.

Othere than that, good weekend, Great meal at Ruby Tuesday's (they make my heart-attack fries, with cheese and bacon). Another weird thing was how many dead deer we saw... at least 3 on side of road and probably a half dozen on roofs of various vehicles.

The last number's 42... I'm sure of it.

If you're a lost fanatic, such as myself, and you want a goofy way to get more involved in the show, you can download the doomsday clock just like inside the hatch. That's right! You too can be part of the Dharma Initiative in station Swan. It functions practically the same, and you have to input the numbers every 108 minutes... not sure what happens when you put the wrong numbers in...

...guess your computer will blow up, or you'll get eaten by some black smoke... or maybe some new guy shows up at work and acts like he's always been there and makes a list of good people and his freaky buddies kidnap the good ones and some big black dude kills a few of them and doesn't talk for 40 days until the girl cries.

or whatever

Is it just me, or are there a lot of quality tv shows on these days?

That's the question that Faith posed to me the other night. I wondered if we were lowering our standards, but come to think of if, there's a lot of solid programming on these days. Last night, I experienced for the first time, My name is Earl and The Office, on top of Degrassi TNG and Corner Gas, of course not forgetting CSI: Miami.

Tuesdays, I've been watching House MD... good friggin show.

Wednesdays is of course LOST night, followed by CSI Newyork. I know New York and Miami aren't as good as Las Vegas, but they both have compelling and twisted plots...

Thursdays is Survivor by habit and CSI Las Vegas night... Same ol' survivor, but heck, I've watched it this long...

Skip Friday

Saturday is Hockey Night in Canada, as well as no other good reason to watch TV.

Which brings us to Sunday, Simpsons, Family Guy and Faith's favorite, Grey's Anatomy.

That brings me to a total of 13 1/2 hours of TV per week... I need to quite my job so I can keep up. It seems to be a bit of a revival of sitcoms and dramas rather than the glut of reality shows that have been the norm for a few too many years. That's a good thing I think, although bad for my eyes and brain. Most of these shows are in HD now, so that means I need a new TV... Just need to babysit Garrett more so he can work on killing the old one... on off on off on off...

Gonna be a long winter, with lots to distract your head... enjoy

I swear I'm not crazy...

Seriously, I saw another hologram on Mapleleafs.com... today it wasn't harry, it was some reporter guy... honestly... Dennis Beyak talked to me.

She's a lonely road that only ends in heartache...

and heartburn. The "she" I'm referring to is the mcDonalds Monopoly game, which I found out, today at lunch, is done. I might be mistaken, but I didn't win anything of note... what a crock.

I knew at the get-go that I shouldn't get into the game, as it has chewed up and spat out many a naive person before me. But, alas, I gave into the cravings and over-indulged (much to my wife's chagrin) for about a month now. I feel like such a sucker, but I knew I'd feel this way. Idiot! GOSH!

ah well, time to try to be healthy and do what Jared did... I'll be wasting my money on veggie subs with no cheese or sauce, to slim back down to my playing weight of just under 240... kilos...

Lets talk Weather.

Seriously, what's with all the thunder storms today... Woke up to one this morning, now here comes another. I talked to my Mother-in-law today, she lives in Cochrane, Ontario. They recently had about a foot of snow drop, and there was thunder along with freezing rain this morning...

At least my house is more elevated than the rest of the neighborhood. I'll have time to build an ark should the need arise.

Convergence

If you didn't watch CSI Miami on Monday night, I suggest you find a way... This week, the crime scene spans Miami and New York, so the Miami Team (Horatio et al.) Team up with New York (Mac et al.) to solve the crime. Aside from the crime scene being so big, it also spans 2 nights of television. It took the regular CSI Miami slot last night, and will take the Wednesday CSI NY time slot to finish up.

I know some of you don't like the other CSI's, cause Horatio is a fruit and Lieutenant Dang has no personality for example, but come on, cut them some slack. They're just trying to do their respective jobs, and they don't need fools like you getting in their way. There's no way they'll live up to the standards of Grissom, but hey, can you blame them?

Ah well, good tv anyways. Nothing better to do after LOST on wednesday, so why not?

All this time wasted... for tripping

So, last night, our church league hockey team won for the first time in a while. Good game, exciting down to the wire, and featuring my first ever Ice Hockey Penalty.

There goes my nomination for the Lady Byng trophy.

I was hooking a guy and tripped him, sure he went down easy, but I did trip him. I'm just sad cause I thought I'd get a better sounding penalty. Tripping isn't as cool as spearing, or boarding, or even gouging... ah well... got the monkey off my back so I can be what I always wanted to be... a goon!

I know what you did last weekend.

Do you like scary movies?

Me too... anyways, here's some pics from the Trebuchet Extraordinaire Day this past weekend. Matt has a bunch of videos posted HERE for you to peruse, so go ahead. We killed our previous records with a 292ft shot(prev. 252) and amount of counterweight 1200lbs (prev. 800lbs) We spent the morning fixing the dang thing, and calibrating a new firing mechanism, courtesy of Metal Head, Rudy Eigenheer. I got to play with the grinder, and do some chisselling, but mostly saved my energy for great ideas and grunt labour.

On to the pictures. First, there's a shot of the side of my hand-crafted sling blowing out and sending the 5-pin bowling ball lamely off to the side. The 5-pin ball was kinda a let-down, due to it's weight. Had it been 5 pounds instead of 3, I think it would have flown a lot higher. It seems our best projectiles are 5 lbs in weight, judging by our best shot last time, and this time.

Next is a pic of the master-crafted adjustable firing pin mechanism. If the pin is at less of an angle, the projectile will fire lower, releasing later. Conversly, if it's more of an angle, the projectile will release earlier, going higher. Kudos to Rudy on this design genius.



Apparently (according to the kitten) the trebuchet makes a better scratching post than anything else. Luckilly, the kitten stayed away during all the active points of the trebuchet's day.

Next is a picture of one of our larger projectiles, a 24lb pumpkin. These things flew a good distance, roundabouts 230ft, and made a mighty nice THUD sound when they hit the ground and exploded. You could feel the impact from a long way away, and the shards of pumpkin travelled as far as 40 ft from the impact point.

Anyways, good fun, managed to fire off 16 rounds in all on the day, and only broke a few parts. Good news was that our new axle didn't bend one bit with the more counterweight.

Again, for some more pics and VIDEOS, go HERE and give them a gander.

The Future is NOW!

Check this link, they've got a talking hologram.... what will they think of next...

Bowling for Combines

Well, I sure hope we don't hit a combine, cause they're dang expensive, but Saturday is the return of the Trebuchet.

And I've secured 2 projectiles of the bowling ball persuasion. I picked up a 10-pin ball (probably 14 lbs) at value village, and got a 5-pin ball (probably 4lbs) donated by Jamie and Jim at Towne Bowl in Kitchener.

My goal for the return of the trebuchet was to pick up some good weighted projectiles that would accel in the area of aerodynamics. What better than a cannonball! Alas, with no canonballs on the horizon, bowling balls were the next best option!

There will be pics and videos for all to see posted after the weekend. If you'd like to come along to partake in the festivities, email me and I'll hook you up with specifics.

Shootout! I love thee.

So, I've been swayed to the liking of the shootout, strictly because the Leafs won last night, but at least I'm honest. I missed all of the game up to the last 2 1/2 minutes, but what a finish! I don't think I've seen such a good active Overtime in a long time, and the Leafs held on to have the chance to win in the ol' shootout. A Tie would have been a let-down at the end of such a good game, although it's almost unfair that the Leafs be rewarded for hanging on by the skin of their teeth. However, Belfour played well enough to get that far, why not let him win based on stopping more shots..

Ah well, 1-2 in shootouts this year, Jason Allison 0-3. Not sure why Quinn wouldn't put someone else in that #2 spot. I really think Jason's a wonderful player, more of a playmaker, but really, he's pickin slow, and hasn't seemed all that wonderful in the shootout. Put Domi in so he can just plow through the goalie and let the puck follow.

Wonder when teams will start running goalies in shootout and make it look like an accident. Strategy.

Guess that makes me a DIC

So, on a very tough day of work Friday, we did a personality test at our Day Program Breakaway Day. Ya, tough day... personality test, chinese food and pool tourney.

Anyways, I hate personality tests cause there's no way to lump people into 1 of 14 possible categories. However, I was being paid so I took my test. It was the DISC test, so you could be a D, I, S or C type personality, or a combination of all. Turns out that I'm a DIC, possessing 3/4 of all personality traits! Lucky me, most of the genaralizations for DIC's didn't really fit me, as I am much more complex than that.

Well, that was good for a laugh and a few cheap jabs from Pat, so, not all lost... Now I can claim to all who suggest doing personality tests that they only prove that I'm a DIC.

I ended up winning the modified 9-ball pool tournament, skunking Patrick in the first game... Booyah!

Ever Feel Like a Criminal?

Twice in the past week, I have. Last week sometime, I got to work and my key wouldn't work in the front entrance. I went to them back door to try it, subsequently setting off the alarm (a very loud one) which could be heard throughout the Christian Horizons Building (Corporate Office and West District office). I scampered quite quickly to the front entrance to punch in the code (4 8 15 16 23 42) and shut off the alarm. I called the security company to make sure I wasn't gonna get a visit from the police, and everything was ok.

Last night, I was teaching at Calvary Pentecostal Assembly School of the Arts, when I left the teaching area between lessons to use the washroom. Other teachers often share the same lesson time in the teaching area, but they had all gone home by then. My 9:00 lesson showed up just as I was realizing that I locked my keys in the teaching area. I scrambled and tried the ol' Bible College blockbuster card trick, to no avail. Apparently that only works on Chris Pudel's room. I was forced to send my student home as I had no idea when I was going to get back in. Oddly enough, the only thing I worried about was my computer left in the room and my bottle of Dr Pepper. I called someone, they came to let me in, and I was extra paranoid of leaving my keys anywhere after that.

It's a strange feeling, trying to break in to a place you're supposed to be, can't immagine what it would be like actually breaking into some place. That's my story

Festering away.

Seasons are a'changin... we are now (apparently) knee deep in the seasons of festivities. First was Turkeyfest last weekend, Oktoberfest is still rolling out their barrel, and all over KW I see signs for "Einsteinfest". Which prompts me to ask the questions:

"Who is this Einstein and what's so festy about him?"

The website claims Einsteinfest is a "celebration of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s annus mirabilis – “miracle year” – of 1905 when, at the age of twenty-six, he published several groundbreaking ideas that led physics—and thereby, the world—into the modern era."

Sounds like a lot of modern geekery or nerdcraft to me. It's been going on for 2 weeks now and will go on til Oct 23rd. Just how much crap can you fit into a 3 1/2 week span. Oktoberfest is only barely over a week long, and that's been going on for ages since the dawn of Kitchener when city planners sat around a barrel with crayons, wearing leiderhosen, drunk out of their heads, deciding what the map of Kitchener would look like... "lets make Weber and King street cross 3 times!" said one, to which another replied, "what if Weber and King street were the same..." They all gasped at the depth of this conversation.

Anyways, I have no idea how they can justify 3 1/2 weeks of Einstein crap, but there is one thing I do know. There sure are a lot of signs on the highway for it.

Cameo Appearance by Yours Truly!

So, over on this blog, Matt seems to have changed the look of ye ol' blog stylings. Nice simple look with a photo banner on top featuring moi in the far right behind the ladder. Kinda creepy eh...

Correction Notice: Matt's blog turns out to be very sophisticated and challenging to even comprehend. To think that it would be simple would be like saying Einstein is an idiot.

- The Management

At Least My Blog's Back to Normal...

After a long wait, my hair has grown in and my bLog has gone through an ugly phase with it's links section. Ah well.

Turkey day comes and goes, and somehow the only turkey I consumed on Sunday was on my Subway Club sandwich. We went to Grandma's in Corunna on Sunday to find out that Turkey had been taken away from us and been replaced by ham. The ham was good mind you, but it sure wasn't Turkey. Oh well, life goes on.

Garrett seemed to recognize me after a little bit. I don't see him all that often, and last time I saw him was when I had my mullet... he's a good kid, almost makes me wanna have a 1 1/4 year old, but I want to skip the time leading up to that. I also got the urge to get a little dog over the weekend. I won't act on that impulse, but have made some simple guidelines for any dog wishing to join my household.
1. It must have short hair (allergies)
2. It must be small enough to give the cats a fair fight.
3. It must not be ugly

I know I'm limiting my selections, but I really don't want a dog... not until I get a fence around the yard. I don't like walking a lot, dogs do.

I hope all had a wonderful Turkey Weekend and a beautiful Oktoberfest season.