Sneaky Hubby

Saw this story over on Dubious Quality.

This guy is even sneakier than I was when I convinced Julie that Garrett was a great name for our son. He was able to build an entire cottage in his backyard without his wife finding out until it was finished.

Hmm....

Garrett's Favourite Song (of the moment)

To further prove that I should not be left alone with my children as I am warping their minds, I currently have this song on perma-loop in my car and Garrett has been seen humming it to himself while playing with his cars.



Sing along!

Bajumbo moi noi noi jecker
Dabatto bunkergait jun jun
Nora juerue-rotto pura-pura petto
Puraret dum dum
Papuranoi noi noi jecker
Dabatto bumperget tum tum
Ora poerketino bookeran tan-tan-so

Bokeretyo kyenturanai mimani unlalhood-cha-la
Terra hooki-ra pishi-to diki-ra poody-to
Seni-kidi koseibo....
Kokorenkyo kyenturanai mimani unlalhood-cha-la
Terra hooki-ra shinshi-sho tusura haijiki yo

Bajumbo moi, noi noi jecker
Dabatto bumperget jun jun
Nora juerue-rotto, rokorolo-petto
Pura-purarun dum dum...

Papuramoi noi noi jecker
Dapatto bumperget tum tum
Ora poerketino bookeran tan-tan-so..

No More Coffee

I won a free coffee on Roll Up The Rim yesterday. I should stop buying Tim Horton's coffee from now on so that my win percentage from this year is an impressive 33%.

Yeah... that's going to happen.

I wish they had Roll Up The Bagel or something as I've been eating bagels almost every day from Tim Horton's for the past two weeks. I think I'm done my bagel binge for a bit though. They're just not tasting good anymore. It's just that they are very yummy (when you're not eating them on a daily basis) and when I'm driving around with the kids in the morning, they're a quick and easy breakfast or lunch.

Who's On First?

Sometimes talking to Garrett is like recreating an old Laurel & Hardy sketch.

Garrett was sitting there holding a Spiderman car in his hand that's the same colour as his pants.

"Hey Garrett. That car in your hand is the same colour as your pants."

He looks at Cars playing on the TV.

"No, the car in your hand."

He holds up his empty left hand and looks at it, turning it over to see what I'm talking about.

"NO, the other hand... the car in the other hand."

He puts the car down and looks at his now-empty right hand.

Sigh.

He eventually clued in, but man...

The Old Yeller Of Cars

Julie got the bill for all the repairs today. $360 or so. Blarg.

When the technician says that your tranny fluid smells bad, that's not a good sign. She ended up having to get her transmission fixed and the gearshifter lubed up, amongst other costly procedures. I think they also topped up the halogen fluid in her headlights and retorqued the trunk.

Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon!

If you have a PSP and like quirky (and cheap) games, today's the day for you.

It's Patapon day!



I can't wait to send my army of spear-wielding eyeballs into battle with the beat of my war drum.

Plus it's only $20, so you can't go wrong there.

Stuck In The Parking Lot

For another update on Julie's car, AKA the Crapmobile, she drove to work this morning and the check engine light came on. Not a good sign.

Maybe we'll be getting a new car/van/hovercraft soon! Yay!

I hate the Kia... did I mention that?

Stuck In The Snow

Julie was driving home from small group in Mississauga tonight and stopped to get some milk.

When she got back in her car, it wouldn't start no matter what she did. The tow truck came by about a half hour later, put the car in neutral, started it and charged her $60.

Sigh.

First my car goes bananas, now the Kia is starting to act up.

At least we all got home in one piece tonight. The roads were really nasty in Mississauga though not nearly as bad out here. There was a pretty bad accident on the 401 near Milton though... but that happens on the nicest days of the year too, so no surprise there.

Garfield Minus Garfield

Found this via Unshelved today.

"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life?
Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb."

Don't Talk Back To Darth Vader

This video has been making the rounds lately but it's just too cute not to share.



I should make one of these only I'll get Garrett to tell his theories about the current state of the Marvel Universe (and Batman). It's eerily similar.

How Small We Are

I saw this over on Evil Avatar and figured I should share it. It's quite humbling to see how small our little blue ball is when you have it laid out as simply as this video does.



If you skip to 1min 55sec or so, that's where things get really interesting.

Video Zombie

Did I mention that our new camera records sound? Woo!

New Camera! New Camera!

Hooray! We finally got a new digital camera. The HP camera that we had been using for the last few years has been driving us nuts so Julie picked up a new Canon at Shopper's using her points. I don't think it actually cost us anything out of pocket and we also got a 1GB memory card and a battery charger with it.

Now I can finally retire the camera that has been held together with duct tape and rubber bands (seriously).

Here are some of the lovely photos we took over the past day or two.


He does whatever a spider can. Namely, eat 3 times his body weight and run around a lot.


You can see every little dribble of drool now!

Only In Canada? Pity...

I swear, this country is the only place where a news story like this can occur and not be a joke or typo.

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn has apologized for a joke he's not sure he made, responding to a complaint from a politician who didn't hear it.

I've been wanting to use this gif for a while. I finally have a story that fits.

Merc With The Mouth Sightings

Well, this news just made my day. Well, the fact that my grandma is out of the hospital and seemingly fit as a fiddle made my day, but this made the comic-book-geek segment of my day.

Deadpool, AKA my absolute favourite superhero (and that's using the term hero very, very loosely) in the whole wide world, is going to be in the upcoming Wolverine: Origins movie. And to make things even better, Ryan Reynolds is slated to play him.



From Wikipedia:

"Nicknamed the "Merc with a Mouth", Deadpool is a high-tech mercenary known for his wisecracks, black humor, and satirical pop-culture references. Like the X-Men's Wolverine, Deadpool is the product of the Canadian government's paramilitary Weapon X program, although his place of birth is unknown. After Weapon X cured his terminal cancer by implementing a regenerative "healing factor" extracted from Wolverine, Deadpool is left disfigured and mentally unstable."

Woo! If any actor could pull off the type of crazy that is required to do Deadpool justice, I think Reynolds is the one to do it. I'm just curious if the film version of Deadpool will know that he's in a movie the same way that the comic book version knows that he's in a comic book. Just please, for the love of all that is good and holy, don't make him into the Ultimate version of Deadpool. Yarg.



On a sadder note, this week also marks the final issue of Cable & Deadpool. Sigh. On the other hand, the Wolverine vs. Deadpool fight is still going strong in Wolverine: Origins (he's trying to kill Wolverine with a piano, for crying out loud!) so I'll still have some Deadpool action to keep me going until he gets his own book.

So if you do go see that Wolverine movie when it hits and a crazy guy who can't seem to be killed steals the show, you can join the Deadpool fan train with me!

Bland As The Driven Snow

I was poking around today and came across a pretty funny site.

Stuff White People Like.

Sadly, it's very, very true.

One of my favourites is the Standing Still At Concerts entry.

"...When white people go to concerts at smaller venues, what to do they do? They stand still! This is an important part of white concert going as it enables you to focus on the music, and it will prevent drawing excess attention to you. Remember, at a concert everyone is watching you just waiting for you to try to start dancing. Then they will make fun of you."

That goes double true for Canadian concerts!

Hooray For Family Day!

How are you spending your Family Day long weekend?

We spent yesterday cooped up in the house because it was too icy to really go anywhere. We made it to Tim Horton's on the way to church but that was as far as we could go without feeling like we were going to die.

We spent the morning today cleaning the house and basically vegging out (everyone slept in this morning... except me, of course).

I'd hoped that I'd be able to have a Rock Band rock & roll session this weekend but alas, that dream seems to be dead. I'll have to wait until next weekend or so. Sigh.

Garrett has started playing with my old Gameboy Advance SP. He likes to make Mario jump in the holes and, in his words, make Mario "scream like a girl."

Sigh.

Little poll up on the side ---->

Words Of Wisdom From Cartoon Land

So Garrett & I are watching this cartoon called "Kappa Mikey" (which is actually pretty funny for a big anime fan like myself) and this line is uttered, which I think is the most accurate line uttered, ever.

"What is golf but mini-golf without the tiny windmills, tiny waterfalls and tiny lighthouses? Golf is not real golf. The only real golf is mini-golf."

Truer words were never spoken, my friends.

Drunken Garrett Says, "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Wager for the decorations and other V-Day supplies! They arrived today.

And thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Grace for the cards!

Nobody Likes My Poll

I made a new poll up the other day and only two people have voted. Sigh. By the way, I saw that a narrow margin decided to retain their Canadian vote in the last one I had up.

I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up!

Ouch.

I slipped on the ice in the parking spot next to my car this morning. I had just let Garrett out of the backseat and was starting to walk up to the house to put the diaper bag away when my feet both just went sideways and I landed on my right shoulder and hip.

It hurt at first (Garrett spent some time both laughing at me and trying to replicate the fall for himself, though he never succeeded) and then went away for a bit... until mid-afternoon.

Now my shoulder is REALLY FRACKIN' SORE!

At least I wasn't carrying Kara at that point!

The Cake Is Still A Lie

This is a pretty neat rendition of the best song to come out last year.



Here's the original.

Rockstar Curling?

I kid you not.

Sex, drugs, guitars — and curling?

The Toronto Star reported Monday that NBC has acquired exclusive rights to launch 10 episodes of a proposed television show called Rockstar Curling.

Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, apparently closet curlers, are among the megastar rockers being courted to host it.

Tim, maybe you can get something in the works for the next EBC fundraiser :)

The Gaming Rundown

I haven't really ranted and raved about games lately so I figured that I'd do a quick rundown of what I'm working on and what's worth playing according to me.

Professor Layton & The Curious Village



This just came out today for the DS and I can't wait to spend the rest of the evening losing myself in the puzzles. It's got a great sense of style, the animation is done by Studio Ghibli of Princess Mononoke fame (only with a very European feel) and the puzzles have been cobbled together by some sadistic 300 year old Japanese professor with a penchant for breaking minds. I've only done the first 6 puzzles but there have been a couple tricky ones already. I'm scared about the ones later in the game!

No More Heroes



Just getting a copy of this game is worth a post in itself (I'll probably do this later in the week) but suffice it to say, it was worth the drive to Kitchener. If you have a Wii and want a very stylish, very crude but very fun ode to videogames, you must try this game out. Plus it's the closest you'll get to having a lightsaber game for the time being. Of course, if you hated Killer7, stay far, far away.

Sins Of A Solar Empire



I've only started working on this on over the last day or two but I am afraid of how much of my time it will suck up once I really get into it. It's a mixture of 4x galactic conquest (like Civilization) with Real Time Strategy controls (like Warcraft or Command & Conquer). I spent a bit of time on my first real game last night and found it to be very deep yet very user friendly. Of course, I got into a bit of a stalemate with the computer as I had occupied all of the solar systems except the one that AI controlled. I couldn't get into that system because he had about 400 ships waiting to blow me to pieces if I poked my nose in and he couldn't get out because I had blockaded all of the jump points and would take out the few ships he could send through at a time... sorry... getting nerdy there...

Suffice it to say, it was very satisfying and I've barely scratched the surface, let alone played online against my other SoaSE playing friends.

------------

And that's it for now. I've been plunking away at Burnout: Paradise and Rock Band as well, but I'm stuck on a couple songs in Rock Band and I can't seem to drive more than 5 feet in Burnout without wrapping my car around a tree. That said, I did have a really cool crash yesterday when I drove my little sports car underneath a bus and was able to drive it away, albeit in a much flatter state...

Lost Odyssey comes out this week and looks to be a great Final Fantasy knock-off in the best possible sense of the word. This will be Mistwalker's chance to wow me as I was really disappointed in Blue Dragon, though I'll probably try to finish that game off sometime soon.

Grammar Grumps

I had a few word related things that were bugging me today but this one has been driving me nuts for a week or more, if only because I can't seem to figure out which is the right way to write this.

Is it yours or your's? As in, "That pen is your's."

Sigh. My brain must be turning to mush.

The World's Saddest Snowmen

Garrett and I had fun making snowmen today, but they're pretty sad looking. The snow was starting to fall apart while we worked on the second one, which is why it's so short :P

Brock Gets Grumpy: Issue #983

It's been a while since I really got worked up into a good froth about stuff around here, so behold!

First off, there's this case, which elicited both a laugh and a sigh from me when I read it.

Crown prosecutors will be at the Ontario Court of Appeal Thursday trying to designate sexsomnia as a mental illness after a man was cleared of sexual assault due to the rare sleep aberration.

I just don't know what to say... if you read the article, everything about it just boggles the mind. Plus I really hate it when people get off with nary a slap on the wrist, mental illness or not. Put some kind of conditions on them.

Moving on.

There was a case before one of the Children's Aid Societies around here that made me want to slap everyone too.

There's this kid who was born in Canada to druggie parents... I think they're dead or something. Anyway, he's been in a foster home since he was 10 days old. They want to adopt him. CAS wants to send him to the slums of Brazil (not sure what city, but probably Sao Paulo) to live with his Grandmother who has not initiated contact with him at all BUT she's his last blood relative.

And the host of the radio show (the wishy-washy Leslie Roberts, also of Global News) was arguing with people who thought that was a monumentally stupid idea because if we didn't let him go to the slums instead of staying in Toronto with a relatively well-to-do family, that would be practicing economic discrimination AND WHERE WOULD IT END?!

It's like people have stopped having the capacity to think in specifics these days and everything is about generalizations.

Forget about how it will affect this particular kid. Worry about the hypothetical kids that might or might not be affected in the future.

He even had the gall to say, "well, if it's bad for him to be with his poor grandmother, why not start pulling kids out of poor homes here in Canada?"

Thereby missing the point completely...

Sigh.

Julie's DVD Pick Of The Week

*shudder*

New Poll!

I put up a new poll inspired by this news story from CBC.

I've got people in both the Republican and Democratic parties that I'd be happy to vote for if I had the chance. I also have people in both of the parties that scare me.

Given the choice of voting for the people down south, some of whom are quite inspiring vs. the tools we have to choose from up here... well... I'd almost be willing to give up my ballot in the next Canadian election to make a decision in the US of A.

Geocaching With A Stylus

This is an interesting 'game'. There's an island in Japan that is about 4 kilometers in circumference. On this island are a lot of clues and puzzles that you have to solve to find a treasure.

Rather than using a GPS unit, you need to use a special piece of software and the DS.

The free game is open to Nintendo DS owners with the means to travel to Enoshima, a small island (4 kilometers in circumference) in the town of Fujisawa about 50 kilometers south of Tokyo. After picking up the free software, players are sent off to interact with their DS and move about the island in search of clues, which are obtained through both the physical environment and the game console. The game makes use of the DS’s wireless capabilities, and at certain key locations on the island where players obtain clues, the on-screen scenery matches that of the physical surroundings. Players can locate the treasure after obtaining all the pieces of the puzzle and putting them together to solve the mystery, which the developers claim is no easy task.

Very interesting...

Ever Dance With The Devil In The Pale Moonlight?

I was flipping around tonight looking for a cartoon to watch with Garrett before bed as the Treehouse lineup on Saturday evening sucks worse than a leaky space suit in a black hole. I ended up on Teletoon (which usually has some animated movie on Saturday) and a movie was on with Michael Keaton and it looked familiar but I couldn't place it...

Then in walked Jack Nicholson.

Garrett started flipping out.

"IT'S THE JOKER, DADDY! THE JOKER! Where's Batman? Where's Two-Face?"

That's when I had to break the sad news to Garrett that, yes, Michael Keaton IS Batman.

I think it broke his little heart. That said, he loved the last 20 minutes of the movie.

Mmmm.... Long Pig

Garrett was horsing around before bed tonight and he ended up biting me in the middle of my back. OUCH!

Suffice it to say, he was sent off to bed with no stories. We don't condone the consumption of human flesh around these parts!

It's been annoying me all night though. If I lean on anything, it throbs and it's right in the middle of my back. Sigh.

Ad This To Your Links

On the theme of clever ad campaigns, behold a few shining examples here.

I think these are my favourites.