Thursday, December 31, 2009

Already Thursday

It's already Thursday. Feels like I wasted my whole holiday. The only thing I recall doing is eating tons of food, playing alot of Dragon Age on 360, and playing those stupid addicting RPGs on my iPhone. Also my DVD player just suddenly stopped working. It doesn't turn on anymore. I've got a disc in it too. Time to buy another cheap one and region crack it.

Useless Idol Info:
AKB48's "River Surprise" completely sucked. I was utterly disappointed with the performance. The River part was super-shortened, but the initial costumes were kind of neat; mainly because of the break-away gimmick. The Namida Surprise part sucked as did the costumes.


^ AKB48 - River Surprise.
(ripped from Youtube)

Good performances by Aiko, Perfume, and Arashi; but IMO the best performance of the night was Ikimono-gakari's "YELL". Lead singer, Kiyoe Yoshioka, has an amazing voice. The group also sings a bunch of anime theme songs. Recommended watching.


^Ikimono-gakari - YELL (performance starts at about 1:30 in)
(ripped from Youtube)

FYI: The Susan Boyle part was kind of funny. The interviewer introduced and welcomed her in ENGLISH, and Susan waited for the translator to tell her what he said in ENGLISH. So the translator repeated the exact same thing. Not sure if that was planned, but it made me LOL.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Pre-Kouhaku

Dinner Today -> Short Rib Wraps.
The filling was stir-fried boneless beef short ribs with carrot strips, cucumber strips, and green onion strips. The wrap was Peking Duck Wrappers from T&T. Added a line of Hoisen Sauce, and poof: Short Rib Wraps.


^ Short Rib Wraps. I only show 3, but it took 10 to satisfy me :)

Useless Idol info:
Just watched the pre-show for this year's Kouhaku. I think they were talking about the line-up for this years show. Ayumi Hamasaki will lead-off the show on Dec 31 at 9pm JPN time (also replayed at 9pm on TV Japan on Rogers). EXILE will lead-off for the White Team at #2. AKB48 is up 3rd, Perfume #29, SMAP #48. I think Funky Monkey Babys are up 12th, but I forgot exactly when.

AKB48 is performing a "River Surprise Remix". That's a mix of their songs "River" and "Namida Surprise". I would have preferred a "River Maybe Remix" or a "River Diamond Remix" (aka River with Iiwake Maybe or Oogee Diamond). Not a big fan of Namida Surprise.

In the pre-show, I think said they invited Susan Boyle to Kouhaku as a special guest. They showed a clip of her in Japan and thanking them. I can't believe they invited her and not Morning Musume :)

The pre-show also stated that the White Team (Men's Team) is predicted to win by a 2:1 margin, but if the Red Team (Women's Team) can do some great performances, it could change.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Lobsters

Live Lobster Sale at Loblaws til Dec 31. $6.99/lb.
I got 2. I was thinking about keeping them in my fish tank, to fatten them up, but they would probably eat my sharks.


^ Live Lobsters.
I put them in salt water until I was ready for them. First thing they did when I put them in was poop and barf.

Time to cook the lobsters. 10 minutes for 1lb +3minutes per additional lb. I boiled them in salt water for 11 minutes each.


^ Cooking Lobsters.
The 2nd lobster (right pic), the head kind of looks like the head of a Sliver (Magic creature type).


^ Plated Lobsters.
They were actually pretty big for 1lb lobsters.

I'm pretty thorough when eating Lobster. I eat everything, but the poop sack, gills, and shells. The lobster liver or tomalley (aka green stuff) is my favorite part. Usually takes me a good 1/2 hour to de-meat 1 lobster. The little legs take the longest. Also, no tools. I crunch through everything with my teeth :)


^ Lobster shells. The obvious end result.
I completely destroyed these 2 lobsters. They were freakishly good.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Zaisu

Zaisu = Japanese Legless Chair. Anyone know where I can find one of these?


^ Folding Zaisu Chair.

Amazon.com has some but it's no longer in stock.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas 2009 Recap

Thursday Dec 24:
The traditional family Christmas party. This year it was at Joe and Joan's house.
(most of the photos were taken with my iPhone, so the quality isn't great.)


^ The Christmas Tree with a ton of gifts under it.

As usual, everyone brought a ton of food for the Christmas feast. We started eating at around 4pm and didn't stop eating til about 11pm. Only took a small 1.5 hr break to open presents. By the end, most of us were about ready to explode. On with the food pics:


^ The Appetizers (forgot to get the pic of the Peking Duck Wraps and the Potato and Leek Soup). Most of us feasted on these dishes while waiting for everyone to arrive and for the main dishes to finish cooking.


^ The Main Dishes. I targeted the Roast Lamb, Lamb Tendons, and the Colossal Shrimp :)


^ Dessert. That little chocolate cake was unbelievably good. I need to know where to buy it! If I wasn't so full at the time, I would have had more than 1 slice.

Friday Dec 25:
2nd Christmas dinner with my family and grandparents.


^ I made the Fongpay Makizushi, Ben made the Spicy Salmon Cream Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper wraps,


^ and Susanna made the Roast Beef with Potatoes and Carrots.


^ Dinner and Dessert. Note the cake cutters are shaped like shoes.


^ My post meal drink to wash everything down. I love this mug :) It's bigger than my face! I can't watch TV while drinking from the mug too.

Sat Dec 26:
Didn't go Boxing Day shopping. Not looking for anything right now, plus it was freezing raining all day. I did open the remainder of my gifts. Let's see what I scored this year:


^ Fongpay's Christmas Haul.

Gordon got me Magic card sleeves and the Street Fighter figs I'm missing.
Gavin got me the Tokyo JR Train Clock. The alarms are JR Station tunes. It's pretty cool.
Jeff/Linda got me the Rockband T-shirt.
Susanna got me the a Knife set and the GIJoe movie.
Dino/Michel got me a Wallet and $$$ to put in it.
Parents and Grandparents gave me $$$.
Bought myself the iPhone and giant Mug.
Thank you everyone for the stuff, but it seems like Ben got me nothing...

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

My Christmas Breakfast: 8 pancakes and about 10 cups of tea in my new 1.5Litre Coffee Mug!


^ Christmas Breakfast.

Maybe I'll bring my mug to work. The cafeteria sells "any sized Tea for $1".

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Yuto is Born!

Gavin's and Emi's baby may was born Saturday December 19th, 2009.
His English name is Evan, and his Japanese name is Yuto.

I got exclusive to Fongpay's Universe only, pictures of the new born baby below. If I were a paparazzi photographer, and if Gavin and Emi were famous, these pics would be worth alot of $money$ ^_^


^ Exclusive pics of baby Yuto.

Quoting Gavin:
"Evan Yuto ____ joined us on December 19, 2009 at 11:07pm. He was delivered at a healthy 7lb 6oz.
Evan enjoys passing gas, and sucking on his pacifier."
I'm guessing Yuto eats more than Gavin already ;P
Gavin, are you going to hand out cigars?

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Post #100! -> Rogers Channel 175 (575HD)

Wow 100 posts since I started. And for the 100th post I got nothing super interesting to talk about, except for... Rogers Channel 175. Everyone should put this channel on your favorites list. It's currently a free channel. Quick go check it out! LOL
Update: Channel 575 for HD.

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs: "Christmas Eve" by Tatsuro Yamashita. I heard it a few years ago but only learned who sang it last year, and that the verses were originally in Japanese!


^ "Christmas Eve" by Tatsuro Yamashita.

Here is a version by Twelve Girls Band. It's an instrumental played with traditional Chinese instruments. I think it's pretty cool. I couldn't rip the video from YouTube, so you'll have to watch it using YouTube.

Useless Idol News:
Tomorrow is the return of AKB48's weekly variety show, "AKBingo!". It was on hiatus for 2 weeks (probably to allow the girls to film their TV drama). I hope it'll be a good one.
Did everyone order their Oshima Yuko cards? I'll buy your autograph inserts off you for $10 ^_^.

Japanese Word of the Month:
"Yoroshiku!" (Yo-ro-shi-ku) meaning "Die painfully alongside the night dew!"
When to say it... umm, maybe in a summer evening after kicking someone hard in the family jewels? Doesn't work on Steve and Stefano. They enjoy getting kicked there. Repeatedly.

Notice:
Blog entries may get lighter during the holidays. I'll try and post as usual, but may skip a day here or there.

Monday, December 21, 2009

And the Winner is...

... Andrew!!! Congratulations! This is your prize:


^ Best House Christmas Lights Prize: Perfection Alarm Clock.
When the alarm goes off, the pieces launch out of the clock. The only way to turn off the alarm is to put the pieces back into the correct slots.

I got this tasty little drink at Comic Book Shoppe today.


^ BLOOD Energy Potion.
It's an energy drink packaged like a pack of blood. I think it's pretty cool. Too bad it didn't come out at Halloween. Suppose to taste like fruit punch too.

Latest Idol Information:
In March 2010, my #1 AKB48 member: Oshima Yuko, will be releasing a trading card set. 72 card base set with additional limited inserts like autograph cards, Polaroid photos, camera film cards, jersey cards (similar to hockey jersey cards), and more.
These cards are extremely limited, so pre-order them before they are all gone. Choice of either the 1 box or the premium box (3 boxes + collector binder). I pre-ordered mine and I'm sure I don't need to say which link I ordered from.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

*STICKY* Best House Christmas Lights Contest Submissions

** New Post below this one**

Your choices for the Best House Christmas Lights Contest (In no particular order):


^ Sandra's Lights ~ Click for larger version


^ Steve's Lights ~ Click for larger version


^ Andrew's Lights ~ Click for larger version

Please vote in the Poll on the Left. The Poll will be open now til 11:59pm Monday Dec 21, 2009. You may vote for more than 1 person. There will be a prize for the winner...

Weekend Report -> HOTAS

Friday:
Long day at CMC today. I spent all day witnessing formal testing for a project. It was interesting. The HUD system is pretty cool.


^ Check out the name of the Flight Stick. LOL!

Saturday:
Went out Christmas shopping at 9am. Got a few more things on my list, then the traffic and crowds got too thick. Found some cool stuff, but I can't show any pics.

I went to Farmboy for my last stop and found some nice Beef Soup Bones. So I bought them along with some stewing beef, carrots and potatoes; and made a simple stew for dinner. I added dashi to the water to make the stock. I think it adds a subtle flavour itself and allows the beef flavour to stand out more.


^ Beef Stew. The pot was full almost to the rim, but after I took the soup bones out, it became 3/4 full.

I'm addicted to my new iPhone game "Zombies Live". It's kind of like an online RPG. You control a horde of zombies and buy abilities for them to perform missions or attack other players. The purpose it to collect Flesh to buy more Abilities or Traps.
The horde increases in size by either getting people to align with you or by buying NPC Zombies. So far I have Steve and James aligned with me, and bought 2 NPC Zombies.
It's free right now if people want to download it. Also, if you download the other games by the same company, you get bonus Loyalty points which you can use to buy NPC Zombies or some large amounts of Flesh.

Sunday:
Happy Birthday Stefano!!!


^ My gift to you Stefano, a pic of AKB48's Kasai Tomomi offering you a Pork Manjuu (aka Steamed Japanese Pork Bun). The 551 Pork Manjuu from Osaka is apparently famously delicious.

I'll be staying up til 2am tonight to watch Cool Japan at 1:15am. I'm hoping it'll be a good topic tonight.

FYI: Last day to vote is Monday.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Dinner today -> Scoobi Doos

Dinner today was Scoobi Doo pasta with meat sauce. It's the last of the meat sauce I made on the weekend.


^ Scoobi Doo's with Meat Sauce.

Nothing much else going on today. Was planning on going out to finish off a few more items on my Christmas list, but it's really cold outside and I decided to stay home and watch the MIN @ MTL hockey game instead. MTL lost 3-1.

Useless Japan Info:
Found this interesting article on "moe" (mo-eh). I like it.

AKB48 plan to send over 100 members to this year's Kouhaku (New Year's Music Show). Likely means that they will send members from SKE48, SDN48, and "Research Students". Seems like a ploy to promote AKB48's sister groups.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

8 shopping days left...

The answer to the yesterday's dessert question, "Which dessert was made by Jill?" was "B" (the Hershy Kiss Ball Thingie... is there a name for this treat?).
I completely forgot that it wasn't Jill's choice to pick what dessert to make. It was decided upon by her co-workers. So all of my reasoning is out-the-window.

Everyone check out Gavin and Emi's Christmas Tree. It's so cool.


^ Gavin and Emi' Christmas Tree.
It's decorated with Rilakkuma plushies from Gavin's large collection. I've got a few of my own that I won from UFO machines in Japan.

FYI: 8 shopping days left til Christmas...

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

4 Desserts: Which is Jill's?

I got a sampler box of treats today from Andrew (I wonder if it's a bribe for my vote...). It has 4 types of home-made desserts from Jill and 3 of her co-workers. I'm going to pick out my favorite and guess which one is Jill's creation.
In no particular order, here are the desserts:


^ Dessert A (left) & Dessert B (right).


^ Dessert C (left) & Dessert D (right).

They were all tasty, but I'm liking "A" the best. The large peanuts and chocolate brownie combo is great. It has a crunch and a light chewyness to it.
But which one is Jill's... hmm... I think "D" is the one Jill made. This is my reasoning:
"C" has decorations on it, which I don't think is Jill's style.
"B" has a whole Hershey kiss inside it and I don't think Jill would feed Ace that much chocolate in 1 shot... I think?
So it comes down to "A" and "D", but judging purely based on Andrew's super healthy lunch, "D" looks is more healthy than "A", therefore it must be "D".
Everything I reasoned above is all BS, but am I right? Stay tuned for the answer after these commercial messages...

~Wreckgar doing chicken dance~ "I feel like chicken tonight..., like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight..."

We're back. So the answer to "Which is the dessert Jill made is..."? (I don't know til Wednesday)

Next episode: "Bribes"..*cough* I mean "gifts" from Steve and Sandra. ^_^

Happy Birthday Charin!

Happy Birthday Charin!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Monday...

I see that lots of people are voting. Good luck to all the contestants. I will have a prize for the winner.

Nothing much else going on today, just lots of SQA work for 1 project, as the project is in crunch time. Actions need to be completed and verified; test procedures need to be released and approved; and everything needs SQA audits! I also have formal test witnessing this week too. I wonder if it will be boring? I'd much prefer to run the test than watch other people run them (it'd be more fun too).

Useless Idol News:
AKB48 are invited to perform at this years "Music Station Super Live". This year it airs on Dec 25, 19:00-23:10 japan time. TV Japan (on Rogers) will air this in 4 1hr shows over 8 weeks (Music Station airs bi-weekly). Maybe I'll watch it live on KeyHoleTV (live streaming program)

Takahashi Ai, Leader of Morning Musume, will be at the Square Enix Release Event of Final Fantasy XIII in Shibyua. Ai-chan's a big FF gamer. Don't know if she'll be signing, singing, demoing, or just there to get a limited edition copy of the game?

Happy Birthday Myriam!

Happy Birthday Myriam!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Weekend Report

Friday:
2nd half of DO-178B training today. Covered some QA topics that I needed to pay extra attention to. A fight almost broke out during the QA discussions, but no Fireballs, Sonic-Booms, or Yoga-Fires were thrown :). During the other captivating parts of the training, I started doodling.


^ Doodles.
Pretty good course, but I think the stuff I learned would have been more useful if I had taken this course a couple of years ago.

Saturday:
Did a little Christmas Shopping today. Too many people out. Going to have to do this during the week nights.
Went to T&T and scored some cheap food. Got a big container full of fried noodles, another full of gyoza (15 pieces), and some Vietnamese subs. (No pics, I ate it all before I realized I should have taken a pic.)

Mark sent me this link to a "Katamari Bento". It's pretty cool if you know the game (giant ball that you roll around to stick things to it).
Scroll down to Gabe's post.

FYI: Walmart and SuperStore in Kanata are open 24hrs now.

Sunday:
Did some more Christmas shopping with Susanna today. I think I'm just over 1/2 way done.
Afterwards, I went to CMC for 4hrs and finished off all my audits.

Sunday Dinner was spaghetti with meat and mushroom sauce. I made a huge pot of the sauce. I'll feasting on it for the next few days


^ Spaghetti with Meat and Mushroom sauce.

Tried out the PC Apple Upside Down Cake. It's actually really good!


^ PC Apple Upside Down Cake Box.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

DO-178B Training

Had all day DO-178B training today at CMC. It's a document created to help guide software aviation projects for certification by the FAA. There are 5 certification levels (A-E) which are determined by the level of safety required.
I thought it was going to be boring, but it wasn't too bad and at times interesting (ie watching a video of an engine turbine test involving shooting large birds into the engine). After training I stayed late (7:15pm-ish) to audit abunch of actions a project sent me today and needed them closed ASAP. I'll probably have to come in the weekend to finish. Maybe I'll bank the hours to take Dec 24 off.
Friday will be the 2nd day of DO-178B training, and the FREE CMC Christmas lunch.

Decided to have Breakfast for Dinner today.


^ 3 Eggs, 4 Thick Sliced Bacon Strips, 4 pieces of Toast, and some Bread & Butter Pickles.

Reminder:
Christmas Light pictures are due this Sunday, 8pm.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Winter Storm Warning

Big snow storm today in OTT. A "Winter Storm Warning" was issued by Environment Canada, so a bunch of people at CMC "worked from home" today. I think we got about 20cm of snow with 5 more cm to fall on Thurs.


^ I'm so glad I pay people to clear my driveway. It's so convenient. I almost feel sorry for the people who have to shovel... almost :)

I wanted to make spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner tonight, but ended up not going to Metro to pickup the ground beef. So I made spaghetti with a sauce created from Parmesan cheese, garlic, butter, a can of Cream of Chicken Soup, and a can of Sockeye Salmon.


^ Pretty good considering I was scrounging for ingredients to throw together.

My good friend Gordon weathered the storm tonight to drop off some Christmas Presents for me. I was surprised when he brought in a big box for me!


^ Christmas Presents from Gordon.
Thanks Gordon. I have stuff shipping to me from Japan for you, but it hasn't arrived yet.