7 Wonders

Useless Gaming News:
Thursday gaming at lunchtime today was 8 player Saboteur 2.  We played 2 great rounds of it.  Saboteurs won the 1st game easily.  Lucas revealed himself as a saboteur on the 1st play and we couldn't stop him at all.  I was a gemologist and didn't care who won.  I got 5 gold from the 5 gems played. 
The second game was looking to be another win for the saboteurs, but a late game lucky draw won it for the green dwarves.  I was a blue dwarf and got nothing.

After work, 4 of us stayed late to play "7 Wonders".  This is a great game.  It involves card drafting and unique way of resource management.  It doesn't take very long to learn and the game has good elements of planning and strategy.  A game I will probably add to my collection.  It scales well for different number of players too.

4-Player 7 Wonders Game.

Useless Idol News:
During Watanabe Mayu's Birthday show at the AKB48 Theatre the other day, she groped Yukirin's oppai live on stage!  LOL

Japanese Chocolate Crepe Cake

Lunch today -> Sushi.
Discount sushi from Bayshore.  I got the Golden Dragon roll with salmon sushi.  I put lots of wasabi on them.  Very good.

Sushi Lunch.

Snack today -> Chocolate Crepe Cake.
Got this Japanese Chocolate Crepe Cake at T&T for Becky's Birthday.  It was good, light, and not too sweet; but nowhere near as good as the Nutella Crepe Cake from Montreal.  

Japanese Chocolate Crepe Cake.

Dinner today -> BBQ Steak.
Barbequed a couple steaks for dinner.  I wanted them medium rare, but the came out more medium than I wanted.

BBQ Steak.

Quickly pan fried some green and yellow zucchini for a side.  Also had some leftover kale Caesar salad, broccoli, and cucumber for more sides.

Steak Dinner.

Useless Idol News:
AKB48 performance of "Halloween Night" at FNS today.  All senbatsu members performed.

Christmas Trees for sale in July!?!

Went to Costco today.  No Devastator yet, but I did see a surprise.  Costco already has Christmas trees on sale!?!  It's only July and back to school stuff is barely starting to be found on the shelves. 

Dinner today -> Steak.
Defrosted and cooked a steak in a pan today instead of in the BBQ.  It was too hot outside to BBQ.  I also made a side of zucchini with abit of onion and garlic.

Useless M:tG News:
I was able to get a copy of this year's San Diego Comic Con exclusive Origins Pack from the HasbroToyShop.  Gordon wasn't able to get a set :(, and he was the one who told me when it was made available online today.  I had been refreshing the site since last night at midnight til 11:25am.  I was using 3 screens to nab it: 1 on the main page, 1 on the search page, and 1 on the shopping cart page.  The set looks cools and the art is double-sided.

Tabletop Gaming Magazine

Went to Chapters at lunchtime today and I picked up the Tabletop Gaming Magazine.  It's the 1st issue and it reviews 101 games.  From the shelf date on the cover, it seems to be a quarterly magazine?

Tabletop Gaming Magazine.

Lunch today -> Subway
Went to Subway after Chapters to pick up a sandwich.  Got my usual Cold Cut Trio on Italian with everything but the olives, plus mayo and pepper for toppings.

Cold Cut Trio.

Snack today -> Double Chocolate Middles Chips Ahoy Cookies.
Cookies are on sale at Rexall.  Opened these double chocolate middles cookies today.  They are good and soft.  Very chocolatey.

Double Chocolate Middles.

Dinner today -> Gyudon
Microwave some instant gyudon for dinner.  Really tasty.  Good amount of meat and onions.  I only wish it was bigger.  I'm going to need to pick up some more at T&T while it's on sale this week.

Instant Gyudon.

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters played Saved by the Balls tonight.  We lost 14-11.  We almost came back to win in the on and off rainy weather.
I hit 0-for-4.  1 strikeout and 3 opposite field flyouts.

Weekend Report -> Calf Liver

Food this weekend ->
Ed's gave me this Calf Liver dish made by the student chefs at Algonquin College.  It was unbelievably good!  The liver was perfectly cooked and very tasty.  I need more!

Calf Liver Dish.

Picked up some Mushroom Bean Curds and Five Spice Ribs from T&T on Friday.  The girl scooping just kept piling on the food so it was overflowing when she squashed the lid done.  :)

Mushroom Bean Curds and Ribs.

I also found these Japanese drinks at T&T: Double Cream Boss Coffee, Bear Cola from Hokkaido, and Pepsi Refresh Shot.  Finally T&T carries Boss Coffee.  This is the good stuff from Japan.  I'll try the Bear cola and Pepsi another time.

Drinks from Japan.

In the freezer section at T&T, I got some frozen meals of Gyudon and Bibimbap.  This is the Bibimbap.  Very good, but abit small for a meal.  It's on sale for $4 from $7 this week.  Might go get some more.

Bibimbap.

Useless Gaming News:
5-Player gaming at Brian's on Friday.  We played Saboteur 2, Rummy Alcatraz, Biblios Dice, and Pairs.  Brian was only interested in playing new games, so he was complaining during Saboteur 2 and didn't play Rummy Alcatraz.  Biblios Dice is a great game.  Lots of player interaction and dice randomness mixed with luck.  My copy won't be here for a few more months :(

Biblios Dice.

I also got KickStarted Viceroy in on Friday.  I didn't get my playmat or gem add-ons.  I'll have find out if they are coming separately or need to send a request for them.

KickStarter Viceroy.

Puerto Rico

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming lunch today.  We played more RoboRally this week, but with 7 players this time.  Lots of chaos ensued, especially when I was planning moves for the wrong robot.  That completely messed me up.  James won easily as he got the weapon card where you count as touching the flag from 1 square away.  He touched 3 flags by the end of the game when the rest of us only touched 1.

James, Evan and I stayed after work to play Puerto Rico.  James had the Anniversary edition of the game.  It's a city building game with some worker placement mixed with resource management.  I like the game.  Lots of strategy to think about.  In the end, Evan and I tied with 53 points for shared victory.

Mid-game Action.

Mmm... Brains and Octopus

Breakfast today -> Brains and Cookies.
Energy breakfast this morning: raspberry & blueberry gummy brains and white macadamia nut cookies.  Even with this sugar rush, I still didn't get everything done that I wanted to.

Sugar Rush Breakfast.

Lunch today -> Fish and Chips.
Got fish and chips from The Glen food truck today.  Big piece of fish, but the fries had a hint of motor grease.

Fish and Chips Lunch.

Dinner today -> BBQ
BBQed some chicken thighs and half an octopus.  Sliced the octopus into tentacles and body, and then marinated it for 2 days in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and garlic.  Slow cooked the chicken and the octopus in the BBQ.

BBQ Chicken and Octopus.

BTW: Chopsticks make great skewers.  I get tons of these free from takeout, and now I have a use for them.
Ate the chicken and octopus over a big Caesar salad.

Dinner.

Useless Transformers News:
Went to Wizards Tower tonight to get the remaining Magic pre-release boxes I'm missing, but they had already taken them apart to sell in pieces.  WTF!  I have one last place to try, otherwise I'm out of luck.  Since I was in Barrhaven, I went to Walmart and found a couple new Transformers.  I picked up Viper and Warpath.

Viper and Warpath.

2 of 5 Pre-Release Origin Boxes

Lunch today -> 2 Leg Meal.
Went to Scores at lunchtime and got a "2 Leg Meal" to go.  Ate half the meal for lunch and then the other half for dinner.  Good meal for only $11.

2 Leg Meal.

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters played a double-header tonight vs Anonymous.
It was a close game, but we lost the 1st game 14-15 in the last inning. 
I hit 3-for-4 with 3 singles.  One was a hit to the fence and I almost got my 1st homerun in 3 years.  Since I was watching it, I only got a single out of it.

Game 2: we won 29-15.  Our bats exploded in 3 big innings.  Tanya almost got a homerun, but it just went over the foul line.  The mosquitoes came out during the last inning.  I got bites on my fingers while staying still and waiting for Mark to throw his pitch.
I hit 3-for-4 again.  2 doubles and a single.
MVP: Dave.  He umpired most of the game, inplace of Jeff and myself :)  Thanks Dave.

Useless M:tG News:
Picked up 2 of the 5 pre-release Origins seed boxes today.  Kobold's Korner only had the Blue and Red boxes left.  Might need to go to Wizard's Tower and get the other 3 boxes. 

Pre-Release Blue and Red Boxes.

It's a pretty good deal for these boxes.  It includes 6 booster packs, a countdown die, and a random premium foil rare or mythic card of that colour for $25 (incl tax).

Inside the Red Box.

Happy Birthday Thu!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THU!!!

Lopsided Pizza.

Dinner today -> Pizza.
Picked up a pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars in Kanata for dinner.  I also got a strawberry milkshake from Quickie.  When I opened the pizza, it was lopsided!  There was only 1 piece of pepperoni on 2 of the slices.  Were they really in that much of a rush that they can't lay out the single topping correctly? 

Lopsided Pizza.

Useless Gaming News:
Got a small package in the mail today.  But inside the small package was 4 games.  It was 4 games from KickStarter: Eggs and Empires, 12 Days of Christmas, King's Kilt, and Krakatoa.  I got these mainly for Eggs and Empires and Krakatoa.

Latest Games.

Weekend Report -> Asian Night Market

Food this weekend ->
Friday, I picked up some BBQ pork and fried dungeness crab.  The ate the BBQ pork in some hambuger buns and snacked on the tasty crab legs.  I should have gotten another container of crab.

T&T Food.

Went to the Asian Night Market on Saturday night.  The place was packed, but only packed because the layout was horrible.  All the stalls were in 1 row with very little room to line up for food, and the lines were uber long.  Whoever setup the layout doesn't know how to do it for an event like this.  Plus there were tons of room elsewhere in at Lansdowne.  Also, all the plants got trampled and there were only green bins for cans, but no garbage bins.  So every was just throwing the garbage into the green bins.

Night Market.

I waited in line for 30mins to get 6 lamb sticks ($10).  Wasn't worth the wait.  They were good, but not worth the wait or the price.

Lamb Sticks.

I then got a souvlaki platter from a food truck because the line was short and I was hungry.  Only waited 5 mins for the platter.

Platter.

I wanted to get the Stinky Tofu, but the line was atleast 45mins.

Long Line for Stinky Tofu.

The squid on a stick was the best thing there.  Filling and good, but I remember it being a whole squid and not parts of one last time.

Squid on a Stick.

On the way home, Ben and I went to Menchies for frozen yogurt.  I got vanilla, chocolate cake, and pineapple sorbet.  I topped it with all the different popping balls.

Menchies.

Useless Gaming News:
Gavin was in town this weekend.  Ben and I dropped by his place to play some games.  We played abunch of games of 3-player Magic.  Ben's Wurmcoil Engine was played almost every game, and we each had control of it at least once through various control abilities.

Magic Gaming.

We also played a game of Libertalia.  It doesn't play that well with just 3 players.  It needs atleast 4-5 for best play.

Libertalia.

Useless Magic News:
Picked up the new M:tG Origins set on Friday.  It's the last Core set to be made.  I got a couple booster boxes and the Fat Pack.

M:tG Origins.

1 Flag Captured in 1 Hour.

Dinner today -> BBQ Chicken.
Made BBQ chicken again for dinner.  When I was pre-heating and cleaning the grill, a huge spider and a earwig crawled out onto the grill.  I guess they were running for their lives, but I don't think there was anywhere to go.  My BBQ gets hot really fast and I closed the lid on them. 
When I went inside the house for 15 seconds, some of the chicken caught fire and I burnt some of the skins.  All good in the end.

BBQ Chicken.

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming Thursday at lunch today.  We played 6-player RoboRally.  No one else had played it before, so it was a learning game.  Only 2 players reached the 1st flag in 1hr, when we had to stop.  Everyone liked it and we'll probably play it again, but faster.

Pluto

Pluto's been in the news lately with new close-up photos.  NASA's pluto photo below.

Pluto.

But notice how the Pluto was photo-shopped to look very "Plain Jane".  I found the original Pluto photo on Twitter, and it's more menacing ;) 

Pluto?

Lunch today -> Junk Yard Poutine.
Food Trucks today at Kanata Community Hub.  I got lunch from Big D's.  This time tried the Junk Yard Poutine.  It's topped with beans, bacon, and cheedar cheese on top of the regular curds and gravy.  It was filled to the top and I was stuffed after finishing it.

Junk Yard Poutine.

Useless Toy News:
Was at Walmart tonight and I found Star Fox's Fox Amiibo.  Picked that up along with original Sailor Moon Season 2 Part 1 DVD box.

Fox Amiibo and Sailor Moon DVDs.

Soaked in the Rain Again

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters lost to DRS tonight 12-7.  We played 6 1/2 innings when the rain poured down soaking us and forcing us to stop.  Second week in a row we get rained on.  Atleast the seagulls seemed to enjoy the wet field.

Seagulls on a Wet Diamond.

It was a weird game where players kept getting hit by the ball.  Jeno got hit in the leg during warmup.  Maureen got hit in the face on a bounce.  Marc got line-drived in his side-butt.  Players on the other team got hit in the face, face again, and chest.  No big injuries, except maybe for Marc's butt.  It's going to leave a mark.
I batted 1-for-2 tonight with a double.

Useless Food News:
The Asian Night Market is this weekend at Lansdowne Park.  I want to eat a whole squid on a stick or fresh takoyaki.  I may try the stinky tofu.

Discount Food

Dinner today -> Discount Food.
Went to T&T tonight.  When I got there there were alot of people swarming the discount foods.  There was nothing left that I wanted.  Picked up some regular groceries and left.  As I was paying, they announced all the sushi was "Buy 1, Get 1 Free", so I hustled there 1st and got a couple sushi trays.
I went to Bayshore afterwards.  Got there around 8:25pm.  The Mac's Sushi was Buy any 2 for $12, but nothing good left.  Shanghai 360 didn't even start selling off their food yet.  So I went to Manchu Wok.  I got 2 boxes for $5 each.  Super deal!  Got one with noodles, sweet & sour pork, and veggies.  The other was fried rice, noodles, General Tao chicken, and teriyaki beef.  Only ate the 1st box.  Saving the rest for lunch and dinner tomorrow.

Discount Food.

Weekend Report -> Caveman Minion

Food this weekend ->
I ordered some Rideau for lunch on Friday.  I got Schezwan Beef, rice, and Beef Chow Mein.  Ate about half of each and saved the rest for dinner.  I also got a dried fried beef noodle dish (not shown).

Rideau Lunch.

BBQ some chicken thighs for dinner on Saturday.  Didn't burn them this time.

BBQ Chicken.

I de-boned a couple chicken thighs to make a chicken thigh burger with cheese.  That's a real chicken burger.

BBQ Chicken Thigh Burgers.

Useless Toy News:
I read an article about the new talking Minion toys at McDonalds.  It said the Caveman Minion swears.  I thought it was small news, but then CBC picked it up on their site.  I was intrigued and had to get one before it got pulled or sold out. 

Swearing Caveman Minion

I got it (and some McFlurries for my testers), and it kind of does sound like it swears.

Robot Marriage

Useless Toy News:
Picked up some figs from the new wave of Marvel Legends at Toys R Us.  I got Giant Man, Ant-man, and Wasp.  Didn't see any of the other figures on the shelf, but I only wanted these 3 Avengers first.  The extra parts make Ultron. 

Newest Avenger Figures.

I think I should pick up Hawkeye from the previous wave.  Missing him to complete the Avengers team.

Useless Japan News:
The Kashiwagi Yuki look-a-like robot "Yukirin" got married to another robot.  Article here.