Missing Fall of Cybertron Shockwave

Dinner today -> Flintstone Ribs.
CMC boyz and I went to Vera's Burger Shack in The Butchery for lunch.  I forgot to take pics of my Vera Burger, but I got pics of the ribs I bought. 
I cooked the ribs on the BBQ, but while I was reading Twitter, I didn't notice the flames and I burnt them abit on the bottom.

Flintstone Ribs.

Useless Transformers News:
I picked up the new Transformers: Fall of Cybertron toys the other day.  I got Prime and Jazz, but I'm still missing Shockwave from the 1st wave.  If anyone sees him at Zellars or somewhere, let me know.

TF: FoC - Prime and Jazz.

Looking for Retro Blue Variant

Dinner today -> Stew.
I made stew using beef rib fingers, red potatoes, organic carrots (I find them sweeter than regular carrots), red onion, garlic, and 1 egg.  I forgot to make rice, so I ate it with a $1 baguette I got from Walmart.

Rib Finger Stew.

Useless Toy News:
I picked up the new Carey Price McFarlane figure.  Now I'm looking for the retro blue variant.  If anyone finds it for retail, pick it up for me :) 

Carey Price in White.

Useless Idol News:
AKB48's Gingham Check was released yesterday.  It sold 906,617 copies on the 1st day!  4 of those are mine :) 
Here's the full PV.  It's like an amalgamation of a bunch of B-Movie previews.
Kashiwagi Yuki fans don't like what she did in this video.  I screamed "No way!" when I saw it too.  (at 05:35 Japanese Idols don't do that)

More like Pinball than Softball?

Useless Chinese News:
Today is the 1st day of Chinese Halloween.  This means that the doors to heaven and hell open for a few days to allow ghosts to visit the human world.  For people it means your not suppose to go out late at night because you can encounter ghosts AND they might follow you home!  (That's what my mom tells me.)  I think the doors close on Saturday?

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters had a match vs GDC today.  We lost 18-3.  Mark was our starting pitcher and gave up alot of runs, but it wasn't his fault.  Our fielding was horrid.  The ball would hit our players and bounce off them going in random directions!  From my catching position it was like watching a pinball machine and our players were the bumpers.
Gary took over pitching in the 4th inning.  I noticed our game completely changes when he pitches.  It's weird, but it's probably because we are used to him at pitcher.  Kind of like in hockey when the back-up goalie starts, the team plays differently.
I hit 1-for-3: Single and 2 ground outs.

Dinner today -> Watermelon and Dim Sum.
I was planning on going to the new Walmart at 9pm tonight to get some food from either the grocery section or the McDonalds.  Then I remembered about the Chinese Halloween and that I shouldn't go out.  I didn't feel like cooking,  so I ate half a whole watermelon and microwaved some instant dim sum.

Watermelon.

Instant DimSum.

I Want to Play Arcades!

I noticed that my pumpkin plant finally has a female flower.  It's late, but hopefully I can still grow a giant pumpkin by Halloween.

Female Pumpkin Flower.

Dinner today -> Leftover Scores.
I re-heated a leftover chicken leg, rice and blanched some fresh sugar snap peas.  The sugar snaps were really sweet.

Dinner.

Useless Idol News:
I got up at 4:45am today to watch the live stream of Maeda's Graduation Theatre show.  The streaming video quality was extremely good: 720 HD.
It started with a regular Team A: A6 setlist.  I've never actually seen all of A6, only parts of it, so now I've watched all the show.
The non-Team A members perform in the 2nd encore.
Again, this site has a really good review of it; with member speech translations and post concert pics (including Maeda removing her own picture from the AKB roster).
(Credit to AKB48WrapUp)

Useless Japan Info
This guy got's skill!  I totally want to go to the arcades and play UFO machines in Japan!  I want to play!!!

He's got a bunch of video's on YouTube.  Watch to learn the tricks.

Weekend Report: Up at 4am

Food this weekend ->
Pho #15 Large from the Kanata Noodle House.  Went there Friday with Steve and Ed.

Pho #15 Large.

4 McDoubles + XL Coke.  I got these Saturday night, and saved them for my breakfast Sunday morning at 4am (see below why).

McDoubles for Breakfast.

Fried Rice with Spicy Beef Tendon.  Fried up some leftover rice with peas, corn, and egg.  I also fried up spicy beef tendons from T&T.

Fried Rice.

Scores 2 Leg Meal.  I got 2 orders of them to go.  Ate 1 box Sunday night for dinner and saved the other box for lunch on Monday.

Scores 2 Leg Meal.

Useless Idol News:
I got up Saturday morning at 4am to listen to a live audio stream of Day 2 of the AKB48 Tokyo Dome concert.  I only went to bed at 2:30am too.  It was a long concert.  It lasted almost 4hrs and the girls performed 50 songs in the main setlist.+ 6 mores songs for the encore.
During the encore, the CEO of Universal Music had a video message to say that Takahashi Minami will get her dream, a solo debut!

TD D2 - Kaze wa Fuiteiru.

TD D2 - River.  Check out the flames!

I got up again Sunday morning at 4am for the Day 3 audio stream.  This time I only went to bed at 3am (I don't know why I stayed up to watch He-Man and TMNT on Teletoon Retro).  This time I had some McDoubles to eat while listen and refreshing Twitter/Google+.
No announcements today.  Just the main concert and Maeda's graduation.

TD D3 - Everyday Kachuusha.

TD D3 - Koko ni Ita Koto.

Maeda graduation song, Yume no Kawa" was performed live with the girls crying.

Maeda Atsuko.

1st Generation AKB48.

This site has really good overview of the 3 day concert (including MCs):
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
(Credit to AKBWrapUp)

I'll be up again at 4am Monday for Maeda's graduation from the AKB Theatre.  These are the members performing on Monday:

This is the link to YouTube for the live stream from the Theatre.
I should have taken Monday off from work, but my vacation request application doesn't work :(  I'll just have to tough it out with very little sleep for the past few days.

UPDATED: Ton of Shrimp Chips

Lunch today -> Sourdough Sandwich.
I went home for lunch today.  I put together this sandwich with sourdough bread, mock chicken, cheddar cheese and thick tomato slices.  It looked better than it tasted.  The sourdough bread doesn't really work for this sandwich :(  The sourdough bread was from Sobey's where they say they use real sourdough yeast from San Francisco.  It taste pretty good with just butter on it.

Sourdough Sandwich.

Opened a small box of shrimp chips to deep fry tonight.  That tiny box made a ton of chips!!!

Ton of Shrimp Chips.

I filled up a cardboard box with about 2/3rds of the shrimp chips and dropped it off at Jeff's house. The kids can finish them.

Useless Anime Info:
I got a box from HLJ today.  It was the AKB0048 Series 1 keychains.  I ordered 2 boxes and I got the set of 5: Mayu, Maeda, Makoto, Kanata, and Nagisa.   I don't think there is a chase?

AKB0048 Series 1 Keychains.

I only got 1 Mayu in 2 boxes! And only 2 Maedas.  I was hoping for an extra Mayu so I can hang it on my iPhone.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 5 Kanatas and 4 Makotos.  I kind of want another box, but its all sold out on HLJ.
I had pre-ordered 2 boxes of series 2 also, but I got worried I won't get an extra Yuko, Yukirin, or Tomochin; so I just pre-ordered a 3rd box.

Useless Gaming News:
The latest Diablo 3 patch is out.  Tons of upgrades to rare and legendary stuff, to skills, and you can now gain experience over level 60 for Paragon levels.  This is whats stopping me from buying the new Transformers game on XBox.
Ben, you should get to level 60 as soon as you can.

Useless Idol News:
This weekend is the big AKB48 Tokyo Dome concert and Maeda's last concert.  Still not sure if any of it will be streamed online or not.
Maeda's Graduation on Monday will be streamed on Youtube here at 5am EST.  BTW, her parade has been cancelled due to security reasons.

The girls performed Gingham Check on Ichiban Song Show.  The CD is released on Tuesday next week.

That "heart" move is just so cute!  Itano is also showing alot of leg at 01:36 (she's holding her skirt up too high compared to Mocchi beside her).

UPDATE:
Just announced at Tokyo Dome Day1 during encore:
- Team 4 disbanded
- Team shuffle (official from TGSK G+ post):
Team A 22 people

Takahashi Minami Team A
*Appointed General Director of AKB48 Group.
Shinoda Mariko Team A
*Following Takahashi Minami, appointed Team A captain.
Iwata Karen
Izuta Rina
Iriyama Anna
Oshima Ryoka (Promoted)
Kasai Tomomi
Kawaei Rina
Kikuchi Ayaka
Kotani Riho (AKB48 Team A and NMB48 Team N concurrent posts)
Kobayashi Marina
Satou Sumire
Satou Natsuki
Takahashi Juri
Tano Yuuka
Nakatsuka Tomomi
Nakamata Shiori
Nitou Moeno
Matsui Sakiko
Morikawa Ayaka
Yokoyama Yui (NMB48 and AKB48 Team A concurrent posts)
Watanabe Mayu

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team K 23 people
Oshima Yuko Team K
*Following Akimoto Sayaka, appointed Team K captain.
Akimoto Sayaka
Abe Maria
Itano Tomomi
Uchida Mayumi
Kitahara Rie (SKE48 and AKB48 Team K concurrent posts)
Kuramochi Asuka
Kobayashi Kana
Satou Amina
Shimada Haruka
Suzuki Shihori
Chikano Rina
Nakata Chisato
Nakaya Sayaka
Nagao Mariya
Fujita Nana
Maeda Ami
Masuda Yuka
Matsui Jurina (SKE48 Team S and AKB48 Team K concurrent posts)
Matsubara Natsumi
Mitsumune Kaoru (Promoted)
Miyazaki Miho
Mutou Tomu (Promoted)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team B 23 people
Umeda Ayaka Team B
*Following Kashiwagi Yuki, appointed Team K captain.
Ishida Anna (SKE48 Team KII and AKB48 Team B concurrent posts)
Ishida Haruka
Ichikawa Miori
Iwasa Misaki
Oba Mina
Oya Shizuka
Kashiwagi Yuki
Katayama Haruka
Kato Rena
Kojima Haruna
Kojima Natsuki
Komori Mika
Shimazaki Haruka
Takeuchi Miyu
Tanabe Miku
Nakamura Mariko
Natori Wakana
Nonaka Misato
Fujie Reina
Minegishi Minami
Yamauchi Suzuran
Watanabe Miyuki (NMB Team N and AKB48 Team B concurrent posts)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oota Aika transfer to HKT48

Takajo Aki transfer to JKT48
Nakagawa Haruka transfer to JKT48

Suzuki Mariya transfer to SNH48
Miyazawa Sae transfer to SNH48

Maeda Atsuko graduation
(translation credit to wotapota on Stage48)
Will there be more surprise announcements for Day 2/Day3?

Free Lawn Chairs?

So last Saturday, as Ben and I were leaving Anthony's place, we saw some lawn chairs at the end of one of his neighbour's driveway.  Ben said they were garbage so we could take them.  I wasn't so sure...  We doubled back and took them.

Free Lawn Chairs?

They are in good shape.  I only need to hose them down to clean them.  Were they really garbage?  I just saw the same ones on sale at Walmart for $10 each.

Dinner today -> BBQ
We gathered at my parent's house for BBQ.

BBQ.

We made my Korean short ribs (marinated for 2 days), Texas garlic bread with Jalapeno Jack cheese, and white mushrooms dipped in the short rib sauce.

BBQ Food.

Fruit Cup Non-spill Instructions

I bought some fruit cups on the weekend.  I noticed they now put instructions on the lid.  It tries to help you open the fruit cup without spilling any of the syrup.  I still spilt a little bit, but not as bad as Kurt who gets it allover his pants and table :)

Fruit Cup Instructions.

Dinner today -> Hot Maple Wings.
Deep fried some wings today.  I made my own simple wing sauce out of maple syrup, melted butter, and sriracha.  Toss the sauce over the wings.

Hot Maple Wings.

Win #5!

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters beat Chipworks 23-15 today.  Thanks to Tyler bringing in his family to fill out our incomplete roster.  I believe that with win #5, we are now tied with 2nd last place.  With 1 more win, we will be out of the basement.
I hit 4-for-4 tonight with 3 singles and a double.

Dinner today -> Cold Egg White Noodles.
I made some cold egg white noodles after the game.  Added some sugar snaps I got from Costco, and opened a can of lobster meat to top it off :)

Cold Egg White Noodles with Sugar Snaps and Lobster.

Useless Idol News:
Maeda Atsuko will graduate from AKB48 next Monday at the AKB Theatre.  Since the theatre can only hold 250 people, Maeda was granted a small parade circling Akihabara before her last theatre performance, so she can thank all her fans who couldn't win tickets to her final show.

Also announced today, Maeda's graduation show at the AKB Theatre will be streamed live on Google+ and Youtube.  The show starts at 6pm JST, so about 5am EST.  The show will probably be a big crying-fest for all the members on Team A.
Now I'm debating if I need to take a 1/2 day off on Monday or not...

The full video of Maeda's graduation song, "Yume no Kawa".  Watch it!

I was listening to this song for most of the day on repeat.  This song is great, and the video is perfect for it.  I like it alot.  I'm not a big Maeda fan, but she looks really pretty in this video, especially at 03:10+.  I need a higher quality of this video.
This site has the lyrics translated.

Weekend report:

Food this weekend ->
Got some T&T food.  I got Vietnamese style pork chops with lemon grass, chow mein, and female capelin.  The pork chops were better than I thought they would be, but I couldn't taste the lemon grass.

T&T Food.

I wanted to BBQ some chicken wings on Sunday, but it started raining :(  I nuked them instead with some mushrooms mixed in BBQ sauce, hot sauce, and 1/2 can of Coke. It was spicy and sweet.

Microwave Chicken Wings.

Useless Gaming News:
Anthony, Ben, and I did some gaming.  We started with Inner Circle.  Ben won.

Inner Circle.

Moved on to a few rounds of RoboRally.  We started with weapon options for all the games.  Anthony won 3 games in a row, because he kept drawing the right weapons for the level.  I won the final game.

Robo Rally with Weapons.

Robo Rally.

Useless Idol News:
The face of AKB48, Maeda Atsuko, had her last performance with AKB48 on Music Station was this weekend.  The girls performed "Flying Get", "Ponytail to Shushu", and Maeda's graduation song "Yume no Kawa". 
The "Yume no Kawa" performance was cut down super short and I didn't think Maeda was going to finish it.  It'll be included as the coupling song for Gingham Check Type A.  I'll post the full video later.  This song is really good.
(Credit to whoever uploaded this on Youtube.  I couldn't find a better version to rip.)

^ "Flying Get", "Ponytail to Shushu", and "Yume no Kawa"

Win #4

Useless Softball News:
We got win #4!  CMC Strikefighters beat A-Team 5-3 today.  We won through excellent pitching by Mark and great defence.  Good job team. 
I hit 2-for-3 with 2 singles.

Useless Idol News:
From this weeks AKBingo! Special: GIVE ME FIVE! with Kasai on lead guitar!

Stolen Gum

Someone swiped my last piece of Bubblicious Gum from my desk at work!  I only noticed it today, so it could have been a little while ago.

Gum Wrapper.

But the joke is on the thief.  It was my Bubblicious "Ink'd" Gum that he/she took, and it turns your WHOLE MOUTH BLUE when you chew it :)  Ha ha sucker!

Limited Oreos for Breakfast

Breakfast today -> Oreo with DQ Blizzard Creme.
Susanna got me this package limited edition Oreo's with DQ Blizzard creme.  These are really good.  The creme is tiny little crunchy candy bits, not alot, but just enough so it has a slight little crunch and change the texture of the creme.  The creme is more thick and smooth too.  I need more :)

Limited Edition Oreos.

Lunch today -> Scores 2 Leg Meal.
I made a trip to Best Buy and Big Al's Aquarium at lunchtime to pick up some stuff.  I stopped at Scores for a 2 leg meal.

Scores 2 Leg Meal.

I ate the chicken legs and about 1/3 of the fries.  I gave the rest of the fries and gravy to Marc.  I found out later that he somehow spilt all the fries, including the gravy, all over his pants and floor!  LOL  I wish he took a picture.

Bad Timing Dave

I think I agree with the trees in the CMC parking lot.  I'm tired of summer already and I'm ready for autumn.  One tree is already turning orange, while another has dropped most of it's leaves.

Leaves Turning Orange.

Dropping Leaves.

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strikefighters lost again tonight against Da Knobs 19-8.  We were winning 8-4 until we collapsed in the 6th and 7th innings.  None of our 3 regular pitchers could make the game, so Sean pitched most of the game and Alex was relief for 1 inning.  Sean was pretty good and only had 1 bad inning.  Our defence for that inning was mostly at fault too.
I only hit 1-for-3: Ground out, Single, and Pop Fly.
Dave wanted to umpire for us when the hot catcher chick on the other team was catching, but he couldn't get his timing right.  Whenever he went to ump, the hot girl played 2nd.  When Dave was not umping, the she was catching.  Bad timing Dave :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!!!

Haruna, Yuko, and Mariko.

Weekend Report: Rie Autograph

Food this weekend ->
I made some chicken drumsticks in the microwave.  Cooked some potatoes, carrots, whole garlic cloves, and mini-portabella mushrooms with the chicken.

Microwave Chicken.

Chicken and Veggies on Rice.

Microwave hotdogs.

Hotdogs.

Steak with Mushrooms and Potato Salad.

Steak.

Useless Idol Info:
I got a package from Japan with a bunch of AKB48, No Name, French Kiss, and AKB0048 stuff.

AKB Stuff.

The AKB48 2012 Election Mook included a mousepad.  It's not as good as my 3D mousepad.

2012 Mook and Mouse Pad.

In one of the French Kiss CD, I won a live event ticket! It's too bad I can't go and use it :(

French Kiss Event Ticket.

I also got another box of AKB48 cards.  I only opened 2 cards I needed for my set, but I pulled a Kitahara Rie autograph card!

Kitahara Rie Autograph!

LotR Lego

Dinner today -> Steak, Tomatoes, Corn, and Coleslaw.
It was raining today, so I didn't BBQ the steak.

Dinner.

Useless Toy News:
I saw at Playvalue and Walmart the other day that there are new Lord of the Rings Lego sets.  The "Battle of Helm's Deep" set looks cool.
Gordon, are you going to get these?

LotR Lego.

Useless Idol News:
I pre-ordered some boxes of AKB0048 AR Cards (cheaper here than at HLJ). 
Does anyone know if the AR cards will work on my 3DS?  Or do I need something else to use them, or is it only used in an arcade machine in Japan?

60 second preview of AKB48's Gingham Check video.

I didn’t like this song at first.  Maybe because I was expecting something similar to "Heavy Rotation", but after listening to it a couple times last night, I found that it got stuck in my head this morning.  The “heart” move with their hands by Yuko and the girls, is so cute!

Over-cooked Steak

Dinner today -> BBQ Steak with Corn and Tomatoes.
The rain stopped right before I was ready to cook the steak on the stove, so I jumped on the BBQ.  Too bad I over-cooked the steak on the BBQ :(

Dinner.

Useless Japan Info:
I got a package from Japan.  It had the Japanese snacks and learning cards I ordered.  It included some fruit gummies, takoyaki puffs, roasted Hojicha from Kyoto, and a smooth-flowing hi-tech black/red pen.

Japanese Snacks and Stuff.

Useless Idol News:
The cover of the AKB1/153 game.

AKB1/153 Cover.