LG Stands For Lookin' Good

Well, my car's "Service Engine Soon" light turned off after I tightened the gas cap, so that was my sign from above that it was ok to finally replace the hunk of junk monitor that was gradually blinding me.

We checked around at the local shop but their prices were far too high. So it was off to Futureshop we go! I ended up with this beauty, an LG 22" Widescreen LCD.



It fits perfectly in the cubby on the computer desk. It wasn't too rough on the wallet either. I got an open-box model for $50 less than the normal price and aside from a fingerprint on the frame of the monitor, it is in pristine condition. My eyes haven't quite adjusted to the fact that the screen is so big and doesn't look like it's smeared in vaseline. If only I could actually run games on my computer and take advantage of the real estate!

Of course, while I was busy setting up the new monitor and cleaning out the 6 inches of dust that had accumulated behind it, Garrett and Kara amused themselves with a selection of our finest markers. Sigh.

From June 2009

No Sleep? NO PROBLEM!

You'd think I'd handle a night of no sleep rather well, given all of the overnight shifts I've pulled lately. There's something significantly different about a planned night with no sleep and one where your daughter, for some strange and unknown reason, decides that she wants nothing more than to cry in her room until you bring her to bed with you, where she proceeds to kick you and your wife in the ribs from 3-4am onwards.

I even tried bringing her downstairs at around 5:45am to watch a Western, which should have lulled any self-respecting 2 year old to sleep. Nope. She got even more excited and full of energy.

I'm starting to see a bit of weariness creep in though. As soon as Garrett is off to his day camp, we're coming home and she's going to sleep... and so am I!

No Gaming Weekend

This has been a very odd weekend for me. Aside from one or two short matches against Garrett with Super Mario on the DS, I haven't played any videogames since Friday evening. Of course, we had Garrett's birthday party yesterday and I essentially spent the entire day at work today, but yeah.

I'm going to go rectify this situation right now.

I guess I did finish reading Scar Night (cool book, by the way) and got to take one of the guys out to see Transformers 2 tonight, so it's not like I had an incredibly rough weekend. The kids got into the sidewalk chalk today and found out exactly what kind of gooey, colourful paste it makes when exposed to puddles... fun times.

By the way, Transformers 2 was exactly the kind of movie I wanted, nay, needed. It's absolutely mindless but it's what I had hoped the first movie would have been: lots and lots of robots punching, shooting and blowing each other up.

Why Is The Pig Purple?

We went out to the splash pad in Rockwood today, which was an exercise in futility. The kids were hell bent to get there and couldn't stop talking about it on the way to the park but the second we actually got set up next to the water fountains, they both wussed out. Garrett did get a little wet but whenever the water started to spray, he would run off of the pad.

Kara, on the other hand, was in tears any time I put her under the water, so she just spent the day on the playground. Oh well. We'll try it again later in the summer and see if they can grow to love it.

The real point of this post was to state just how awesome the pizza is at Purple Pig Pizzaria in Rockwood. I'd heard good things about it but it was probably some of the best pizza I've had from a local shop. Now I want to order an actual pizza from there!

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

Let's just say this:



Getting a DS for your 5th birthday is one way to totally brighten your day. Of course, now he doesn't want to put the thing down, EVER. And I probably should have held off on getting Pokémon until his reading skills were a bit better, but if nothing else, maybe this will kick start him into trying to read more since he is quite insistent on playing it as opposed to Mario right now.

Here's a video of the great unveiling.

Will He Survive To Five?

Garrett's birthday is today! He'll turn 5... if he makes it to 9pmish.

We've had an incredibly busy week or so and this has taken a toll on Garrett's ability not to be an complete punk. It hasn't helped that I'm working evenings this week, which are usually tough at the best of times.

All of this has culminated in Garrett's coup de grace tonight. For some reason known only to himself, Garrett decided that he'd wash his own hair. In the toilet. After he'd used it. Before he flushed it.

Yeah, that's about as gross as it sounds.

At this stage, Julie wants me to return his present, cancel the father-son breakfast I have planned for tomorrow morning and call all of his friends to say that the party is off. I'm of half a mind to agree with her, but I'll see how he is in the morning. The nice thing is that I'll be off for a week after this weekend and we'll be able to have some fun in the sun and shake all of our cares away... or something along those lines. I just want him and Julie to make it past tomorrow without one of them ending up in a mental institution!

I Warned You!

Whatever you do, whatever you have planned, whatever curiousity might overtake you...

Don't Circle The Cat.

It's EVIL!

Happy Father's Day Everyone!

I hope everyone called their dads and wished them well today.

We had a crazy busy weekend (which was a perfect cap to a crazy busy week) but once I made my piece with the fact that I wouldn't be lounging about the house all weekend, I had a pretty good time with all of the travels.

We went to Yorkdale Mall last night and had dinner at the Rainforest Café. The food wasn't worth the exorbitant amount they charged for it, though it wasn't awful. The kids loved the restaurant though, so that was worth the indigestion :)

And FYI, if you're a fan of Ghostbusters, go try the game out. I picked up the 360 version last night and have really enjoyed what I've played. Then again, I am someone who made his own proton-pack, trap, PKE meter and uniform for Hallowe'en back when I was 9-10 years old, so I'm a little biased.

Hey, I Know You!

Julie had the strangest encounter at our condo corp's AGM tonight. During the coffee break, we were waiting in line and as Julie got her snacks and was walking back, this guy patted her on the back and said, "Hey, I didn't know you were here!"

Julie had NO idea who this guy was or who he thought she was, so she said, "Do I know you?"

To which most people would say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm [BLANK]. Aren't you [BLANK]?"

But this guy just said, "I'm over in Phase 3! I've seen you around. How are you doing?"

Julie just looked at me and I couldn't help but shrug and say, "I think he means the third parking lot."

She ended up walking back to her chair and the guy turned to me and said, "I don't think she remembers me."

I just smiled and nodded and later congratulated Julie on making a new friend with the creepy guy from Phase 3. I'll keep you posted if she starts receiving flowers from a secret admirer :)

Weirdo...

Monitor Gremlins Strike Again!

This is sort of strange. I got home from work this afternoon and went to check my e-mail. Something wasn't quite right though... It took me a few minutes to ascertain what it was and that's when I realized that the sides of the e-mail were scrolling off the side of the monitor despite the window being maximized.

I checked to make sure the resolution was my usual and it was fine. I did some fiddling and things look sort of back to normal but there's still something a bit off. The sides of the screen are both super clear and sort of squished while the middle is normal sized and somewhat blurry.

Oh well. I've been sizing up new monitors lately and could really stand to get rid of this CRT beast and finally jump on the LCD bandwagon (it's sad that my TV is more advanced than my monitor) but I'm not sure whether to go big or go home.

You Will Buy Me More Videogames...

By the power of hypnosis, you will do what I ask!



Stupid DarkRoastedBlend and their pile of awesome pictures.

Also, I cannot relate to this XKCD comic in the slightest...

This One's For Anne

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Diamond Jubilee

We had an absolutely delightful afternoon and evening at my grandparents' 60th anniversary celebration. There was much good food and fellowship to be had both with the older set and amongst the younglings, though it was a good thing the weather was nice so I could take the boys out to the park during the speeches! And while I realize none of us are getting any younger, it was both touching and sad to hear their 90 year old friend tell them to appreciate every moment they have together because, well, there's not much time left and he can attest to what it feels like to lose the love of your life.

Sniff...

Anyway, the only downside to this day is the fact that the kids decided that sleep is for wimps and rather than being sound asleep when we rolled into Acton around 9:15 or so, they are both still up. Kara in particular is throwing a hissy fit... which is why I'm down here typing this instead of feeding into her negative attention seeking behaviours (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

At least Garrett went down pretty easily, though I'm sure they're both going to be absolutely miserable to be near tomorrow!

Now That's The Kind Of Reception I Need To Pick Up

This is a pretty cool little video/report of a surprise wedding reception. Yes, reception.

Check it out.

(See, not everything I post is about videogames or how my kids smell like nuclear waste.)

How Do They Do That?

Kara's currently involved in an ongoing struggle to knock herself out. I got home from work as the kids were just starting their bath and no less than 5 minutes later, she'd managed to trip over Garrett's legs and womp her face on the side of the tub. It wasn't anything major, though that ended the bath pretty fast.

A while later, she'd been put to bed and Garrett & I were just sitting on my bed playing Plants Vs. Zombies on the laptop when I heard a crash-thump-scream from Kara's room. I ran in there and her crib was empty. I looked around for the source of the crying and there she was standing wedged between the crib and the wall, bawling her head off. Why she'd decide to try scaling the back of the crib is beyond me. Again, she just required a little cuddle and was tucked in safe and sound and hasn't made any major escape attempts lately, but man...

The funny thing is that as I was trying to shush her the second time, I noticed that she smelled like maple syrup from her french toast this morning. Crazy, sticky kid...

A Winner Is Her!

Julie filled out a ballot last week on a whim while she was out shopping or something. Imagine her surprise when she got a call letting her know she won a 22-piece BBQ set at Home Hardware! It's actually a nice set, though 8 of the 22 pieces are corn-cob pokers.

I'll have to take the whole kit for a spin this weekend.

The Last Guardian

So last week was E3, the biggest trade show/news thingamie for the year in gaming. It was nice and all and there were enough interesting announcements to stimulate conversations on the boards, but what was easily the standout of the show (despite being leaked beforehand) was the trailer for The Last Guardian. In case you need any more justification for the "games as art" argument, go watch that trailer... then play Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus (the first two games of a very loose 'trilogy' of which The Last Guardian is the third) and tell me that it doesn't make you go 'aw'.

And as Penny Arcade so amply points out, we already know how it's going to end. Sniff.

Hopping On The Tweet Wagon

I was thinking about this while dropping the kids off at the babysitter this morning and decided that, while I still want to avoid Facebook, something like Twitter is actually a useful tool. I've started a Twitter feed (see the sidebar) and I figure it will be a good spot to turf the little ideas/thoughts/ephemera that fly through my head but that don't quite warrant a full blog post.

Don't expect me to update it all the time, but it will help keep some noise out of the main posts hereabouts.

Yum Yum Yum

This is just an public service announcement to declare that the Superstore in Georgetown has one of the best chocolate croissants I've ever eaten. And it was only $0.99. Yum.

I was over there to pick up the cooking school schedule and decided to buy fixin's for my lunch. I love being able to spend less than $4 and have a delicious croissant for breakfast and everything I need for a sandwich at lunch time. Yum yum yum...

Poke The Mon

I apologize for the dearth of posts of late, but I've been busy with overnight shifts and catching up on my sleep has taken a bit more of a priority than blither-blather.

That said, we did have a fun afternoon around these parts yesterday after I arose from my post-Night Awake slumber. On Saturday morning, Garrett was somehow able to finagle me into buying a Pokémon Mold Maker thingamie at a garage sale. With the relatively dismal weather yesterday, we set up shop on the kitchen table and spent most of yesterday afternoon making little floppy plastic figurines that Kara proceeded to demolish much faster than we could make them.

It's a pretty neat little system though. It's like a non-edible version of an EZ Bake oven. Now that we have a better grasp on how to make the figures, we'll try to make something that isn't just a big glob of green goop in the shape of a Pokémon.

Possessed Choir Boys? Wha?!

This video is making the rounds, but it's definately worth watching. I never realized that song had so many ninja and zombie references.

I Got It!

Today was the day I signed the piece of paper to retroactively become the new program coordinator at the house as of last Sunday. In other words, I got the job!

Of course, with every job come perks and one of the perks of this job was the one cent per hour pay cut! Yes, I actually am losing money on this promotion! Now, that said, I have room for advancement now whereas I'd basically gone as high as I could go in the old position, so it's all good. I just had to laugh when I noticed that I was actually going to be down $20 for the year after getting this job.

Go figure.

Keep The Zombies Off Our Lawn

So in yet another page out of the most awesomest parenting book ever, I've started playing Plants Vs. Zombies with Garrett before bed. I can teach him about botany AND necromancy at the same time as well as proper lawn maintenance techniques and proper defensive maneuvers.

I'm the best dad EVER!