Happy Canada Day Long Weekend!

Didn't post for a few days.  Busy doing my basement and playing alot of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Nintendo Switch (I played so much I got Nintendo thumb and my eyes hurt). 
I got my TV stand built (Lappland from Ikea), got a new Rogers box with HDMI output, and setup the new 55" TV (I had bought last Black Friday, 7 months ago).

New TV and TV Stand.

Food this long weekend ->
I got some Jerk Chicken from Nu Caribbean last Friday.  It's been awhile since I've been there, and I wanted the fish special, but they don't have Fish Friday anymore :(  That sucked.  It was really good too.  Their jerk chicken is good too.  I got it with rice & beans and vegetables.

Jerk Chicken Meal.

On Canada Day Monday, I went to get the Monday Special from Big Bone BBQ: full rack of ribs, 1lb of wings, and a large fry for $25.

Mmm... Ribs.

Useless M:tG News:
Got a email today that my booster box of Japanese War of the Spark was in.  I got it for the great price of $159.  Most other stores are charging $300 for the box.

Japanese War of the Spark Booster Box.

Happy Retirement Mike!

Lunch today -> Lone Star.
Mike is retiring on Friday, but his retirement lunch party was today at Lone Star.  I'd say 3/4 of the company was there along with ex-CMC people.  He was my first boss, and the one that hired me.
I got a steak and guacamole sandwich with fries.  It was alright.  Not very much steak in the sandwich and the fries were really salty.

Not Good.

Useless Food News:
A 2nd location for "Art Haven" has opened at the old Kanata Town Center.  It's behind Basics before Danaldo's Barber Shop.
This shop lets you paint various pottery things and they sell good bubble tea!  I got myself a taro milk bubble tea after getting a haircut yesterday.

Taro Milk Bubble Tea.

Useless Gaming News:
Still re-organizing my basement, but it's getting there.  Steve was able to order for me a switch box.  Julie uses this one and it auto detects what gaming system is in use to display on the TV.  Fairly cheap too.

Switch Box.

Useless Kickstarter News:
I got my Kickstarted copy of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night on Nintendo Switch in yesterday.  It's made by the creator of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and is his new take on it without using the Castlevania theme.  Not very far in yet, but this game is awesome!  Lots to explore, lots to collect, and lots secrets to find.

Bloodstained.

Hellmann's Gochujang

Spent most of the weekend re-organizing my basement and main floor.  Today Marc and I went to IKEA to get one of the final pieces I needed, a 5x5 Kallax shelf.  The boxes were too big to fit in my car, but not Marc's new car.

Dinner today -> Flat Bread with Tomato Sauce, Pepperoni and Cheese (or pizza)
After getting the shelf, I went and got pizza from Little Ceasars: a hot 'n' ready pepperoni.

Pizza Dinner.

I also found a new Hellmann's Gochujang sauce at Sobey's.  I added that on the pizza I ate.  It's pretty good.  Adds a different spicy kick.

Hellmann's Gochujang Sauce.

10 Years and 2.5 Months

Useless Car News:
My car wouldn't start last night and Ed had to give me a jump.  It started fine on the weekend at -25C, but Monday night was only -8C and the car wouldn't start.
Then this morning it didn't start again, and my dad figured I needed a new battery.  We took out my battery and went to Canadian Tire to get a new battery.  The clerk told us that my battery was the original one from the car.  That meant my battery was working for 10 years and 2.5 months!  That is a super long time, as the average is 5 years.  Anyways, after $150, I got a new battery and a working car.

Lunch today -> Franks.
The clerk told me to drive the car for 20mins with a speed over 80km/hr, so I drove to Franks and picked up same sandwiches.  The bread was smaller and seemed like a pretzel-like bread.  I had asked for white bread.  There was still a ton of meat, but the bread wasn't chewy like I wanted.

Frank's #1.

Sagrada

Snack Monday -> Taco Chips.
Tried the Lay's Taco flavoured chips.  They are not bad.  Taste like taco with a hint of curry.  I think I still prefer Grilled Cheese flavour over these.

Taco Flavoured Chips.

Dinner today -> Sushi
Had today off.  Mowed the lawn this morning, as I hadn't mowed it for about 2 months and it's getting colder with possible snow later this week.  Then I ran some errands with Julie and then we watched last few episodes of BeastMaster Season 3 while eating Rideau Chinese food.  We went to Cabella's Flannel sale, but there wasn't that much real flannel for sale.  I was disappointed.
On my way home today, I stopped by Bayshore and got discount sushi.  I was there around 8:10pm and it was already BOGO free.  They started really early.

BOGO Sushi.

Useless Halloween News:
I decorated the fridge at work on Monday night.  I think it looks pretty good.  This year is more PG rated.  Last year we had bloody hand prints on the windows and ripped off limbs on the tables.  

Pumpkin Head Skeleton.

Useless Gaming News: 
Gaming/ house warming night at Peter's new house on Tuesday.  There were 6 of us there for games and pizza.  We played Coup, 7 Wonders, Dominion, and my new game Sagrada.
Sagrada is short 30-40 min game, where you draft coloured dice to build a stain glass window.  But our short game ended up being 1.5 hrs long!

My Sagrada Board.

Staycation Begins

Lunch today -> Ikea Salmon.
First day of staycation.  Went to Ikea to get a shoe cabinet with Julie.  We stopped for lunch in the Ikea cafeteria.  I got the salmon with a dill and lemon sauce, with a side of vegetable medallions, steamed vegetables, garlic toast.  Dessert was an apple cake.  Washed it down with Smurfberry Lingonberry juice.  Very good meal for a good price. 

Ikea Lunch.

Snack today -> Voodoo Chips.
Got a small bag of Zapps Voodoo kettle chips from the Dollarstore in Ogdensburg on Monday.  It's pretty good.  The chips are very crunchy and they taste like they were lightly seasoned with All-Dressed seasoning with a hint of Salt & Vinegar.  I definitely will get more next time I'm there.

Voodoo Kettle Chips.

Useless Lego News:
Finished building the Lego Voltron.  This is a very cool build.  Each lion has a slightly different build, and they are huge!  The sword looks nice on one side, but the back side is just plain Lego backing.

Lego Voltron Lions.

Forming Voltron is easy and the he stands on very sturdy feet.  The arms have very sturdy joints so when he holds the sword and shield, the weight doesn't make the arms drop down.

Voltron.

Useless Tool News:
Went to Lowes and picked up a new drill.  It's on sale for the Black Friday week.  Going to use it to build my shoe cabinet and some other errands during staycation.

Drill.

Useless Transformers News:
Forgot to post that I picked up Cindersaur and Outback last week.

Cindersaur and Outback.

Weekend Report -> Messy Frank's Sandwich

Ed and I helped Peter and his friends move to his new house on Saturday.  He said he did alot of it on Friday night, so there were only 10 boxes left.  I was like "awesome".  LIES!!!  Yes he had about 10 packed boxes left, but there were a ton of other unpacked stuff to move!  We spent about 2hrs packing shelves, bed frames, chairs, tables, etc.  Then we dumped everything at the new place.  His apartment still is still half-full of stuff!

Food this weekend ->
Got cookies from Loblaws at Carlingwood Mall Thursday night.  They were the hard-to-find Oatmeal Cookies.  Kanata Loblaws and Farmboy only sells oatmeal raisin cookies, so I never buy it.  The plain oatmeal is a better cookie.

Just Oatmeal Cookies.

While driving to Peter's new house on Saturday, Ed and I stopped at Frank's Catering and got some sandwiches.  The guys had a conveyor belt system going and were making 7 #1's at one time.  Probably more efficient for them, but the quality control was really bad.  I unwrapped one Saturday night and there was sauce everywhere!  Also the meat was lop-sided.  Most of the meat was on one half of the sandwich while the other half was mostly bread.  I had to manually clean-up and redistribute the meat manually.  I don't think I will get sandwiches on the weekends there anymore.

Messy Frank's #1.

Spent Saturday night and most of Sunday working at CMC.  Went to KNH and got chicken pad thai for dinner.  The portion size was big, but the price for pad thai had also gone up, up alot.  I pad almost $20 for this with 15% tip!  I should had just gone to Wendy's.

Expensive Pad Thai.

Useless Gaming News:
Ben and I went to Brian's on Friday night for boardgames.  We started with Sailor Moon: Dice Challenge. 

Looks Good, Plays Bad.

The game cards look really nice and there are alot of characters to use, but the game play really really sucks.  Seemed to be aimed at very little kids.  Too bad.  I would gotten this game if it was decent, but it really sucks.
Then we played Now Boarding.  This game was good.  It's a coop game where each player controls an airplane that moves x spaces and carries y passengers.  The object is to deliver passengers to their destinations before they get too mad and make a complaint.  3 complaints and the game is over.  We just barely won on the last turn and ended with only 1 complaint.  Good game to play.

Now Boarding.  Coop Fun.

We finished the night with a Bob Ross painting game.  This game is fun.  It's similar to Ticket to Ride with a few little twists.  Its a Target Exclusive, but I think I want to pick it up.  I would change the rule about no max hand size.  Someone will abuse the rule and spoil the game for everyone.

Cat Ears for Cats

Dinner today -> Dumpling? Dumpling!
Ran some errands with Julie tonight and then we went to Dumpling? Dumpling! for dinner.  We used a meal for two Groupon and this time we got pan fried beef & curry onion dumplings (got steamed last time) and steamed chicken & chinese mushroom dumplings.

Mmmm... Dumplings.

The meal included 2 soups, 2 spring rolls, and 2 bubble teas.  The pan fried beef and curry onion dumplings were awesome.  There was alot of soup/juices in them and they popped the liquid out when bit.  We had to be careful as they were hot.  They taste better dipped with the black vinegar.  The chicken and chinese mushroom dumplings were disappointing.  They lacked flavour.  I think these would be better served boiled in a soup.

Useless Food News:
Picked up a couple packs of frozen soup buns from Sobey's.  One each for Ed and myself.

Frozen Soup Buns.

I went looking for these after reading this article about how to correctly eat soup dumplings.  They look like regular dim sum packs but the front of the packaging says "Soup Filled".

Useless Garden News:
I caught the chipmunk that is eating my cherry tomatoes red-handed on Wednesday.  I went home for lunch and saw him sitting casually on my patio chair, chomping away at a fresh red cherry tomato.  He dropped the evidence when I whipped out my phone to take the picture.  Then he hid in the tomato plant.

Chipmunk Caught Red-Handed.

A few minutes after going inside, I checked and he was back on the chair finishing his interrupted meal.  I think he notice I was watching and dropped the tomato again when I tried to take the picture!  He is pretty cute.

Chipmunk Finishing His Meal.

Useless Pet News:
I got a box of Cat Ears from Japan for cats that want to cosplay as cats :)  Julie put them on her pets.
Lux didn't like it at all and wouldn't stop squirming to take a picture.  Maybe pink ears doesn't suit him.

Lux the Cat, Cosplaying as a Cat.

His brother Cass didn't care and just layed there.

Cass the Cat, Cosplaying as a Cat.

Sherlock the dog, tolerated the cat ears and looked good with purple ears.

Sherlock the Dog, Cosplaying as a Cat.

Shopping Day.

Been really busy with work the past few days, but I got today and Friday off for working in Montreal last weekend.  Woke up at noon today and went shopping at Carlingwood and Bayshore :)

Food today -> Tofu Curd Soup.
Made some tofu curd soup today.  I added some leftover shredded chicken, mushrooms, and noodle knots.  The broth is chicken broth and some dashi.  Tastes really good.

Tofu Curd Soup.

Useless Puzzle News:
Julie was over last week and she helped me finish my 1000 piece Wasgij Mystery Puzzle #13.  The box shows the "before" scene where the spy is captured.  The finished puzzle shows how escapes.

How the Spy Escapes.

Useless Toy News:
Found the "black hair" Psylocke variant at EB Games Bayshore today.  Probably will pick up the "purple hair" variant if I see it.

"Black Hair" Psylocke.

Useless Transformers News:
Found Inferno at Centrum Walmart on Tuesday.  No other PotP wave 3 though.
Today I found the re-release minibots at Bayshore Walmart.  Picked up all 4: Bumblebee, Outback, Tailgate, and Swerve.

Newest Transformers.

New Baby Fish!

Useless Garden News:
Found my first ripe cherry tomato of the year today!  I plucked it and ate it. 

1st Cherry Tomato of the Year.

It was so good.  Sweet too.

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters played a double-header tonight against 2 different team and both teams were in a division above us.  We treated the game like a practice as we were out matched.  We lost both games.  The 1st game was kind of close, but they pulled away in the 5th inning.
The 2nd game was no where close.  I think the final score was 11-26.
Game 1: I hit 2-for-2 with 2 singles.
Game 2: I hit 2-for-3 with a single, ground out, and a single.

Useless Aquarium News:
I found a new baby fish today!  I didn't see any others.  Usually it's more than just one.

New Fish.

It's so tiny and cute!

Cute Baby Fish.

Weekend Report -> Predaking

Food this weekend ->
Made a pack of Schneider's Bacon on Saturday.  I found it disappointing compared to Farmboy's maple bacon.  Also made eggs and toast for a late breakfast.

So-so Bacon.

On Sunday, I went to Swiss Chalet and got the limited time Crispy Chicken.  I got a half chicken meal.  The chicken is really good, but I didn't get any white meat pieces.  I got 1 drum and 3 thighs.  I do prefer the dark meat, but I was in the mood for a rib piece.

Crispy Chicken.

I should have gotten the family size instead.  It was the same price as getting 2 half chicken meals, but you get 4 sides, 4 coleslaw, 4 pickles, and 4 buns.  Maybe later this week :)

Useless Garden News:
My cherry tomato plant is really flourishing.  Been watering it every other day.  It was a little bigger than the garden lights when I got the plant from Costco last month.  Now it's  really tall and trying to take over the whole garden space.  I didn't plant anything else this year because I knew the tomato plant would just take over.

Cherry Tomato Plant.

I added some supports to help the plant expand out more and it looked like it has.  Still alot of green tomatoes, only 1 turning slightly orange.

Useless Transformers News:
Power of the Primes: Predaking got released last week.  Gordon told me Toys R Us Kanata finally got some in stock on Friday.  I hustled over and got us some.  I used the "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" coupon for getting a great price for them (Reg $229ea).  I'll need to sell off the extra Predaking or return it.

3 Predakings.

Re-injured Leg

Picked up the Robot Hockey Trophy today from an engraving place. 

Robot Hockey Trophy.

John's team won my pool this year, the Herron's Ham Hawks.

New Plaque.

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters faced Rockwell Collins tonight.  It was a low scoring game, but we played well defensively.  We won 9-4.
I also re-injured my leg in the exact same spot in the 5th inning, running to 1st.  But before I got hurt, I hit 1-for-2 with a single.

Useless Lego News:
Picked up the Lego Tron bike set from Toys R Us today.  I didn't expect TRU to get this as I thought it was a Lego Store Exclusive. 

Lego Tron Bikes.

Not sure when I will get around to building this, I still have my Lego Ship in a bottle to build.  Plus my big table it being used up by a new 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle I started.

Fettuccine Sila

Got my winter tires taken off today.  I also finally got my driver-side window fix.  The master control switch was worn out and the window didn't connect to roll back up sometimes.  All good now. 
Thanks Katie for driving me to lunch and again to get my car! :)

Lunch today -> Fettuccine Sila.
Today was June's retirement lunch.  (Congrats June!)  We went to Fratelli's for the get together and meal.  Pretty nice place.  The food was good, but abit expensive.  I got the Fettuccine Sila.  Very good, but I found the cream sauce abit watery at first.  It did thicken up after sitting for abit.  May have been due to the mad rush of orders.  Will give them another shot sometime.  Lots of mushrooms and prosciutto too.

Fettuccine Sila.

Useless Food News:
Went grocery shopping with Susanna after work.  We discovered that Loblaws now sells goat's milk!  If they had a smaller container I would have gotten some to try.

Goat Milk.

Surprise Baby Fish

Useless Aquarium News:
So I had gotten 3 "male" Sunburst Wags about a 6 weeks ago.  Well... they were labelled as "males" in the store.  Anyways, a couple days ago I notice something small and orange swimming around with the Neon Tetras. 

Baby Sunburst Wag!

Surprise!  It was 2 baby Sunburst Wags!  1 or 2 of those "male" Wags were actually female.  I'm still not sure which are females.