Sorry

Sorry people about not posting on Thursday and locking the blog. I had some material on my site I needed to edit. The material I removed/edited was not meant to offend or mislead. It was meant to praise how great and competent the people are at what they do, and that they do it really well.
This is also a fun blog about neat stuff I've encountered or discovered, nothing super serious... unless it's Ryu vs Ken. Then that is super serious... Hadouken! Shoryuken!
(BTW: Did people atleast learn how awesome my cooking, Japan, CMC, and AKB48 is by reading all the posts?)

Poll Results:
I'm disappointed. Only 5 people voted about Liver Sashimi. Actually only 4 people, since I voted too. I'm pretty sure I know who the 1 person who's tried liver sashimi is. I really want to try it soon, and I'll post about it when I do.

Poll:
New food poll on the Left. It's something easier accessible to tryout in restaurants: Chicken Feet.


^ I like the BBQ Chicken Feet from Dim Sum.
I don't like the white steamed/pickled version. With that version, the texture is too natural. You can feel the little bumps on the chicken feet skin in your mouth, which is kind of gross.

Useless Idol News:
This week's AKBingo! is another round of punishment dodgeball. (Download it here and join with HJSplit.) It was hilarious! Highly recommended to watch, even if you don't know Japanese.


^ Yukirin's punishment with the smelly smoke was really cool and had me LOL so hard.
(Download link credit to AikyiTaizne's Journal.)

Useless Tranformers Question:
Does anyone know if the new Tranformers toys are out yet in Ottawa? Or when they are released? The new Power-core series of combiners from Hasbro look kind of stupid, but I'll get 1 to see how it is. Maybe my first impression is wrong about them.
I'm mainly looking for the transformers made from the War for Cybertron game (Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Soundwave) and a few others.
Also looking for Voyager-size Seaspray too.

Holey Strawberry

My strawberry plant is bearing fruit!


^ Single Ripe Strawberry.
I've grown 1 strawberry :)... but when I picked it, I found a huge hole on the underside and half of the fruit hollowed out. Damn bugs ate my strawberry! This is war!

Dinner today -> Steamed Big Head Fish.


^ Steamed Big Head Fish.

Useless Idol News:
Got some more AKB48 stuff in the mail. I got my AKB48 2010 Team A, Team K, and Team B books.


^ AKB48 2010 Team Books (Front & Back).

13-13 Tie

CMC Strike Fighters game vs the #2 team in our division (CMC is #1 ^_^). Today and we got a tie: 13-13. We blew a 13-5 lead in the last inning! Brings back memories of our past teams when we blew alot of games in the last inning, some by more than 10 runs.
We also lost Mallory to injury in the game. She got called out at home, and rolled her ankle badly. Initially, I thought she broke her ankle.

People, don't forget to answer the Poll about Liver Sashimi

Useless Idol News:
Got my Dragon Ball Kai CDs from Japan. It's got the Dragon Ball Kai ending theme song, "Kokoro no Hane" by AKB48's Team Dragon. At first, I was only going to buy the Yuko version, but I caved and also bought the Maeda, Takamina, and Yukirin versions too :) Each CD has that member's collector card and DVD (PV video, Live performance, and that member's voice acting audition).
I also got the Team PB & Team YJ Mook (Magazine + Book = Mook).


^ Team Dragon CD and PB & YJ Mook.

I like the songs on the new CD. It's catchy. The video isn't bad either, but abit weird. I think the girls eat Sensu Beans to fly? Announced today, Team Dragon hit #1 on the Oricon Weekly charts.


^ Team Dragon PV.

Street Fighter x Tekken

Dinner today -> Italian Sausage.
Got some Italian Sausages from Metro. They were so-so. I should have gotten a spicy version.


^ Italian Sausages.

Useless ComicCon 2010 News:
Announced at this year's ComicCon: Street Fighter x Tekken! Check out the trailer and gameplay below!
If you only watch one, watch the gameplay one. So cool!


^ Street Fighter x Tekken Trailer.


^ Street Fighter x Tekken Gameplay.
(Ripped from YouTube)

Poll: Liver Sashimi

Poll:
Liver Sashimi (aka Raw Liver): It's suppose to be good for you, since it's full of proteins and vitamins. Cooking the liver destroys some of the vitamins and enzymes.
I saw it on a show: thinly sliced liver, wrapped around slivers of green onion and ginger (I think), and dipped in soy sauce. It looks good, and I'd like to try it.


^ Liver Sashimi.
Take the Poll on the left.
(closes Thursday, July 29 at 10pm)
BTW: That Koi chopstick holder is pretty cool too.

Weekend Report

Friday:
Played some Disc Golf at lunch with James and Ethan. We played the Kanata course and I got last place :( Need to work on my putting game.


^ Disc Golf Scores.

Saturday:
Did some shopping with Susanna and my mom, at Home Outfitters. They were having a huge sale. Got a couple of King size pillows, and Fitted Sheets for $10 each.

Dinner today -> Steak and Chinese Greens.


^ Steak and Chinese Greens.

Sunday:
Went out for dinner at Chinatown for my Grandma's Birthday. We wanted to go to Chu Shing for dinner, but the whole restaurant was booked. We went to Emerald Buffet on Merivale instead. It was pretty good. I had alot of seafood, even with dessert!


^ Plates 1 and 2.


^ Mussels with Dessert.


^ Strawberry Whip Cake from Swiss Bakery.

Wreally Tired

I was tired and yawning all day today. I've been having trouble falling asleep before 2am all week. Don't know why? It doesn't help that Dr.Who re-runs are on Space from 12am to 1am, and I need to watch it :)
Last night, I think I fell asleep around 2:15am, but I woke up at 4:30am wide awake. I forced myself back to sleep til 7am, but I think that made me more tired. I should have just gone into work super early and left early.
Maybe I'll fix my sleep pattern over the weekend..., probably not :) Music Station airs on Saturday at 1:25am, on NHK.

Useless Japan News:
Pepsi Strong Shot is now available! It's Pepsi's version of an energy drink, and exclusive to Japan.


^ Pepsi Strong Shot.
It has extra carbonation, which prompted the yellow warning on the top of the can, that consumers should let it sit for 15 seconds before opening!
I could have used this for some extra energy today.
James and I ordered some to try out :)

Garlic Barrier?

Does anyone know where to get Garlic Barrier? It's a pesticide to protect my strawberry plant. Bugs are eating the leaves and I found slugs under the pot. I'm accepting suggestions on any other good pesticides too.

^ My Strawberry Plant and Half-Eaten Leaves.

Lost our Strike Fighters game today vs Molson: 9-8. It was close. They're not that good, but they have a few guys that can hit homers.
Highlight of the Night: Marc made an awesome play, firing a bullet from beyond 2nd base to me, at home, to get the out at the plate.

Dinner today -> Eggs with Mushrooms, and Lettuce.

I wanted to make something quick after the softball game as I was hungry. I fried up 3 eggs, but I figured it wasn't enough. So I sauteed some mushrooms and lettuce in olive oil, salt, and pepper.


^ Eggs with Mushrooms, and Lettuce.

Happy Birthday Thu!!!

Happy Birthday Thu!!!

I uploaded AKB48's Birthday Song "Namida Surprise!". It's catchy, corny, and somehow this single hit the top 10. I'm sure Cindy and Steve will like it.


^ Namida Surprise!

Waving to Kurt

My good buddy Kurt was let go from CMC today. He got layed off, 1/2hr after Ethan and I had our daily breakfast with him.

I remember when Kurt first started at CMC. He got assigned to work with me, Thu, and Stefano on CP-140 with a bunch of other new-hires like Steve, Lei, and Julie. That was probably about 5 years ago. He was such a nerd back then :) ... probably a bigger nerd now ;)

Dinner today -> Sausages and Potatoes.


^ Sausages and Potatoes.

Useless NHL News:
Ilya Kovalchuk's 17 yr deal was rejected by the NHL! It was a stupid deal anyways.

Why Fish Hats?

Dinner today -> Beef Flank with Potatoes.
Steamed the left-over beef flank from T&T and boiled some mini potatoes. While the potatoes were boiling, I plopped and egg into the boiling water too.


^ Beef Flank with Potatoes and an Egg.

Useless Idol News:
Got my AKB48 album "SET LIST Greatest Songs Kanzenban", and DVD Box Set in the mail today.
The 3 DVD set has the PVs, Making of videos, and other misc videos from their earlier songs. I have no clue why the girls are wearing fish hats on the cover...?


^ AKB48 SetList Album and DVD Box.

HMV Japan has the cover pics of AKB48's next single "Heavy Rotation".
Type A has this year's top 3: Yuko, Maeda, and Mariko.
Type B has just Yuko :)

Useless Hockey News:
Ilya Kovalchuk signed with the New Jersey Devils for 17 years!!! He will be making 102 Million over the period, and will be 44 yrs old when complete! I think this is a stupid signing. He's going to play til he is about 36 and then NJ will be stuck with his cap hit for years after that.

Weekend Report

Friday:
The newest Magic Core set is out today: "Magic 2011" or "M11". Picked up 1 Fat Pack and 2 Booster boxes at Comic Book Shoppe.


^ M11 Boxes.

Saturday:
I had bought 3 onigiri (rice balls) from T&T and was planning on eating some for lunch today. I opened up the spicy salmon onigiri and bit into it. It was full of chopped ginger!!! It was so disgusting! You don't put chopped ginger into onigiri!
I had the Teriyaki salmon onigiri before, so I tried that and there was ginger in that one too! They changed the recipe to something disgusting.
Who would eat these? Onigiri is so simple that you can't screw it up, but T&T just did. I wonder if they have a complaint box? I want to tell them not to add ginger to everything.

Dinner today -> Salad with Lemon Coke Chicken.
Bought some chicken thighs and boiled them in the left over lemon coke sauce.
Put together a quick salad as a side with: lettuce, tomato, white mushrooms, red onion, bacon bits, cheese, and 3 cheese ranch dressing.


^ Salad with Lemon Coke Chicken.

Sunday:
Dinner today -> Bagel Sandwich.
Toasted bagel with onion and chive cream cheese, mock chicken, lettuce, tomato, and mustard. It was almost to big to fit in my mouth.


^ Bagel Sandwich.

Weed

Mowed the lawn today after hanging out at CMC for 7.5hrs. I mowed it because Steve told me it was going to rain today, but not a single drop fell.
A weed growing behind my air-conditioner, looked like a mini-hogweed plant. This plant has been in the news the past few days in Ottawa. It's been found in some parks. Apparently the sap is toxic and can cause sever burns and blindness. It also grows 5 meters tall.


^ Toxic Mini-Hogweed?
Not to worry. It'll be dead soon. I shot it with some Weed-B-Gon :)


^ Baby Michelangelo?

Win #4

CMC Strike Fighters vs Lockheed Martin in softball today. We've played them 3 times already this year (twice last week), and are 3-0 against them. We beat them again today: 25-1.

Marc hit 3 in the field home runs and Stefano got 1 too. I think our record so far is 8-3.

Dinner today -> Lemon Coke Chicken Wings
2 cans of Coke + 1 1/2 lemons + maple syrup + garlic and sugar. I should have stuck with only 1 lemon. The sauce was abit sour, but the wings were tasty.


^ Lemon Coke Chicken Wings.

This month's blog titles have been brought to you by the letter "W". I just noticed that most of the titles in July start with W. I might try and continue this trend.

Useless Idol News:

I watched the video for AKB48's "Anata ga Ite Kureta Kara". It's full of behind the scene clips of the girls working hard, singing and dancing, from the beginning to now. The girls sure do cry alot. Almost makes you want to cry too :) Really nice video and ballad.

^ AKB48 - Anata ga Ite Kureta Kara.

BTW: Steve and Stefano shouldn't watch this video. They're a couple of big cry babies ;p

Wind-Up Dog

There is this wind-up dog toy I want from Japan. It's out soon, and it's pretty funny.


^ Wind-up Dog.
(Ripped from YouTube.)
If you can't see what happens: the dog walks, lifts it's leg, pees, and continues walking. I'm going to have it mark it's territory all-over the office :)

Useless Idol News:
AKB48 re-released their 1st album today, "SET LIST Greatest Songs Kanzen Ban". It includes 2 new songs, "Seventeen" and "Anata ga Ite Kureta Kara".
CD downloadable here.
(Credit to AikyiTaizne's Journal.)

At the same site as the above dog toy, the nice people at JBox/J-List (J-List is NSFW) are going to order the Official AKB48 Cards for me. Whoo Hoo! :)


^ Definitely getting Kasai and Yuko Cards.

AKB in 3D?

It was another light day at work today..., until 3pm rolled around. CMC MTL sent me lots of stuff to do, and it was all due before I left today. I thought I was going to leave early and pick up some groceries for dinner, but I ended up staying late.

Dinner today -> Willy's Pizza.
I found out from the owner that all Willy's pizza's include double cheese. He told me that when people use coupons, you only get a single layer of cheese.


^ Willy's Canadian Pizza (Mushroom, Pepperoni, and Bacon + Double Cheese).

Useless Idol News:
Unofficial AKB48 3D-Mouse Pads!! LOL.
I'd like to add the Yuko version to my 3D mouse pad collection :) If anyone sees these in a store or online somewhere, let me know.
BTW, they are very comfortable on the wrist.


^ Maeda and Yuko 3D Mouse Pads.

Weekend Report

Friday:
I re-watched Disc 3 of the Yokohama Concert. In Disc 3, the girls are dressed up and sang in their Majisuka Gakuen characters. A cool twist to the concert.

Saturday:
Went to T&T in the morning. Got some more Onigiri. Spicy Tuna this time. It's pretty good.

Lunch today -> Chow Mein with Beef Flank and Spring Rolls.
Also picked up some noodles, beef flank, and spring rolls from T&T. I was looking for chinese greens, but they didn't have any of the kind I like.


^ Chow Mein with Beef Flank and Spring Rolls.

Ben and I went to Gordon's house for a marathon of Magic. I think I only won 3 games all night. My combos and new uber-fast Eldrazi deck forced Ben and Gordon to team up and kill me 1st for a few games.


^ Ben vs Gordon with me dead.

Sunday:
Watched some the World Cup final on TV. It was pretty boring... 0-0 through normal time and 1st extra time. Spain got a break and scored the game winning goal in the last 2 minutes of 2nd extra time.

Dinner today -> Soba with Beef Flank and Beef Tendons.


^ Soba with Beef Flank and Beef Tendons.

Useless Idol News:
As expected, there were a few surprise announcements at AKB48's Yoyogi "No Surprise" Concert:

It was announced that there will be a new "48" group. They will be called NMB48, whose base of operations will be Namba, Osaka!

Also, announced that the Senbatsu (aka starting lineup) for AKB48's 19th single (Dec release) will be decided by a JanKenPon (Rock-Paper-Scissors) Tournament!!! This is unbelievable! Every member now has an equal chance of making the single. Neat idea and fair, but I won't be happy if Yuko and Kasai don't make it. Topic info and tournament bracket info here.

Team K's Ono Erena announced her graduation from AKB48.

During Maeda Atsuko's Birthday celebration, Itano dropped her cake. LOL

"OneDay, TwoesDay, WhatDay, ThirdDay"

FYI: Title is a "Friends" reference.

Another hot and humid day today. When I made a quick trip to Comic Book Shop at lunch, the ambient temperature my car registered was 43 degrees!

I watched another AKB48 concert today. Disc 1 was better than Disc 2 of the Yokohama Concerts. Disc 3 is still the best one.

The New Team B performance of "Kuchi Utsushi no Chocolate" was really good. Yukirin (center) with the new additions of Kasai and Rie-chan make this song. These 3 are awesome together.


^ AKB48 - Kuchi Utsushi no Chocolate.
(Ripped from YouTube,)
Note: Can you believe Kashiwagi Yuki (aka Yukirin) was a Morning Musume audition reject!

Wednesday of Boredom.

Not much going on today. I watched Disc 1 of the AKB48 in Yokohama Arena Concert 2010. I might watch Disc 2 tomorrow.

Strike Fighters double-header softball game tonight. It's going to be tough in this heat. I'll probably be drenched in sweat with all the catcher equipment on.
Update:
We won both games, 17-10 and 17-13. Be the end of the games, my shirt and hat was completely soaked in sweat.


^ Top 10 Yakiniku Meats.

Top 10 Yakiniku Meats (Emi translated it for me):
NO.1 Shimacho - Large Intestine
NO.2 Mino - Rumen, First Stomach
NO.3 Kopuchan - Small Intestine
NO.4 Harami - Outside Skirt
NO.5 Tan - Tongue
NO.6 Mino - Rumen, Stomach
NO.7 Tontoro - Pork Neck
NO.8 Tsurami - Cheek Meat
NO.9 Giara - 4th Stomach
NO.10 Hatsu - Heart

Someday I'll try them all in one sitting.
The list is from this variety show, called Pussuma, I was watching with Oshima Yuko in it :)

Weed-B-Gon

Steve twisted my arm and kicked me in the groin a few times until I agreed to drive him home from work today :p
I stopped by Canadian Tire on the way back to get some bags of mulch. There, I also found...


^ A 4L Bottle of Weed-B-Gon.
I've been looking for this. This stuff is just awesome. My environmentally friendly chemical warfare with the lawn continues...

Useless Quote of the Day:
I read this off a TSN article about Jaroslav Halak's 15 million/4yr signing with St.Louis:
"I'm very happy for Jaroslav," said Gauthier. "He deserves it. And I think the St. Louis Blues are happy too. They gave up a lot to get the player."

Useless Idol News:
There is a huge joke going around online on Justin Bieber (some Canadian singer?). Apparently on his site you can vote to send him somewhere for his world tour. People on 4chan (huge Japanese forum) are voting to sending him to North Korea! LMAO
Why? Just because. I also believe part of the reason is that some people didn't like it when he put his arms around some AKB48 girls for some photos. That's a big no-no for jpop idols.
Update:
The prank's been picked up by the BBC News. LOL

Wild Growth

It hot again today. My car's ambient temperature says it's +39 outside. When I got home from work it was +27 in the house.


^ +27 in the House.

My strawberry plant is thriving in this heat. It's growing wild and reaching out with 4 vines. It looks like it wants to plant itself into the ground with new roots. I think I'll transplant it into the ground soon.


^ Strawberry Wild Growth.

Don't you feel sorry for that poor Storm Trooper... :)


^ Jedi Mind Tricks.

Weekend Report

Friday:
Went to T&T. They now carry onigiri (Japanese rice balls)! I got some Teriyaki Salmon and Unagi ones.


^ T&T Onigiri.
It's not bad, but you can tell this is a "chinese" style of onigiri. There is no filling, as the fish is mixed in with the rice throughout. I think it's kind of lazy...
Note: Definitely not as good as the ones I had in Japan, and not AKB48 quality...


^ AKB48 made Onigiri for 7-11 Comercial.
(Current AKB48 promotion with 7-11 stores in Japan. You buy X amount of AKB food and you get photos and random bearbricks.)

Saturday:
A Transformers marathon was on Teletoon Retro on Saturday. I watched a bunch of bits of some episodes.

I was watching Survivorman eating Whichetty Grubs both alive and cooked. He said they taste peanut buttery. I suddenly had the urge to eat peanut butter on toast...

Lunch today -> Salmon marinated in Maple Syrup, Lemon, and Soy Sauce.
The salmon was starting to go bad, so I had to cook it before eating it. I wanted to sear it and leave the center rare, but I thought against it incase the fish had gone bad; so I cooked it through. I hate when fish is cooked through like this.


^ Maple Syrup Salmon

Dinner today -> Beef and Chinese Greens on Rice.
Made this before. Nothing special.


^ Beef and Chinese Greens.

Sunday:
Got some groceries in the morning, and then spent most of the day in the basement. It was super hot today and I held off from turning on the air conditioning. Watched alot of Corner Gas Season 1 and 2 on DVD (hilarious show).

Dinner today -> Fettuccine with Meat Sauce.


^ Fettuccine with Meat Sauce.

Useless Japan Info:
New info on the Gundam Plane. The maiden voyage is now July 16, flying from Tokyo’s Haneda to Osaka’s Itami Airport.

Happy Canada Day!!!

Happy Canada Day!!!

Watched abit of the Queen at Parliament Hill on TV. Boy was Parliament Hill packed with lots of people at noon. I'm guessing alot of royal watchers were in there... maybe Stefano and his mom too?

Finished 2 more levels in TF: War for Cybertron. 2 more Autobot levels left.

Lunch today -> Sushi.


^ Sushi Lunch.

Dinner today -> More Sushi.


^ Sushi Dinner.
I think I'm sushi-ed out...