Renos, Redheads and Rainchecks

Dec 14 – Bailing Tools

Let's start out with something very cool. Until now, only humans and their related simian cousins have been known to use tools in the animal kingdom. Today a video was posted about a sea creature that uses discarded coconut shells as a mobile home – can you guess what kind of creature? Watch the video and find out!

From cool to whew! The world's markets stabilized significantly today with news that Abu Dhabi is footing a $10 billion bailout for Dubai. Weird to see that though, as the oil money isn't supposed to run out for a few decades yet.

Too bad this guy didn't learn to bail out... but it's funny all the same.

Dec 15 – Doozers!

Fraggle Rock was( and still is )a fave show of mine from when I was growing up – as was most everything Jim Henson did, in fact. Strange that I don't have any episodes of The Muppet Show on DVD; I'll have to look for that in the new year. Fozzie, Kermit, Miss Piggy - good times.

Another thing I really enjoy is cutaway art – that is, drawings akin to technical blueprints that show the insides of vehicles, buildings etc like this one. I most enjoy fictional topics, especially the Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections series of which I have a few books – the foldout Star Destroyer is especially magnificent, and captures the imagination just as it did on the screen when I saw it for the first time. This selection of cutaway drawings isn't quite the same thing though... but they MIGHT glow in the dark! Finally, this one is my favourite from when I was but ten years old – can you guess why?

A third thing I enjoy: bacon. Since the Bacon Mushroom Melt has yet to make it's appearance this year at Wendy's, I've debated trying out the new Applewood Smoked Bacon Deluxe. Fortunately, there's already a review of it from BaconToday.com – and they love it! Time to head down to Wendy's this week or next, I think, and chow down.

Dec 16 – Seeing Red

Sacrilege! Shocking news today for redhead fans around the world: a British ad was banned today for suggesting that redheads are unattractive! Incredibly, it was from Virgin Media... flabbergasting that redheads, the rarest of beauties, should be so shamed by such a large company. I'm swearing off anything Virgin from now on.

My Christmas shopping has been finished for quite some time now, but if you're still looking for a few more gifts, it can't hurt to check out DealNews.com – the place reports the best deals to be found from all around the internet. It's US-based though, in case you're wondering when your order( from whatever site you check out the deals from )will arrive.

The rain came today, in copious amounts which washed away all the snow – what little there was, actually. All that was left was... this.

Dec 17 – Surf's Up!

Hurray! I received an email today informing me that a NEW episode of Stoked was available for download from iTunes – just goes to show you have to make mention of something to get one's wheels greased, or somesuch. Now where's my elephant?!?!

Form large to small: who doesn't like hobbits? A while back I ran across this rather nice design for a model hobbit house, though it was obviously made with a smaller budget than the movies had. Today I ran across a rather larger version – it's in Switzerland! Built into the side of a hill, it's just darn amazing to think that someone lives there... very, very cool, even if it doesn't look much like Bilbo's place does.

Sweet – some Left4Dead2 news from the co-project lead himself! It's a brief interview, where among other things the possibility of vehicles is mentioned – how much more sweet would that be? Driving over zombies... the heart flutters!

Dec 18 – Feeling Blue?

Avatar opened in theatres today, with ten-foot-tall blue aliens prancing about the screen to draw your eye to the incredibly expensive special effects – word is the movie cost close to $400 million USD. Staggering! I can't deny that what I've seen from the trailers is mind-blowing, and the reviews at RottenTomatoes.com look quite favourable. I'll have to make the effort to get out and see it, as I haven't been going to the movies much these last few years – the last one I made an effort to go see was the new Star Trek, and I missed the latest Transformers release. Ah well – that's what DVD is for.

Today on EP Daily, I saw this: Hard Drive, an online comic that looks rather cool. Digging into a bit of the background, a lot of the art is created in interesting ways, including heavy use of 3D models – unusual for a 2D comic medium, even an online one. Worth checking out.

Some major health news today: while I was at the doctor's today to get my regular flu shot, we discussed some blood work results from a few weeks ago. I had asked him to retest me for Thalassemia, and today I got the news back: I do NOT have Thalassemia. In fact, my blood work came back as normal – how's that for a kick in the pants after 30+ years of thinking you have defective platelets?

Dec 19 – Nuclear Tongues

Strange how my days off tend to vanish if I don't pay close attention, much like today. In between catching up on household tasks, talking to a few friends online, watching episodes of Stargate: Atlantis and playing Left4Dead2, it was evening before I knew it. Lucas called with a heads-up for MW2, so I hopped on after dinner and blasted away merrily for a few hours – didn't do too badly either.

Still no sign of Fallout3: Game of the Year Edition, it's sold out all across the area. I stopped in at F.Shop across the road after work today just to check: the last shipment was supposed to be in Dec. 11^th, a week ago. So there's going to be a few disappointed people this Christmas when it doesn't come in. Not me though – I have a raincheck( or is that raincheque? )so I can wait for the stock, as the price is right.

Have a mutant tongue? Why not wreck a nice beach and check out these tongue twisters. There's some real mandible-manglers in there!

Dec 20 – Well, shoot...

The new landlords were busy from 9am this morning, noisily redoing the downstairs again today. They've moved the main entry door, added a steel fire door at the bottom of the stairs, cut away walls... it's quite the reno downstairs. I've had a few peeks in there while they've been working, as well as when they've done some work on the rest of the place – it's MUCH improved, and they're not even half begun yet!

MW2 today was hit and miss... aw heck, who am I kidding? It was mostly miss. I was lucky to have two or three games where I had more kills than deaths – those ones weren't half bad. For the rest, I struggled not to snap my controller in half in some games where I'd barely get a few steps before getting mowed down by players I'd never even see. It was a rather frustrating experience.

Still, it can't be as frustrating as this guy's marriage... to a video game character? Only in Japan, I guess – I just hope he signed a pre-nup.

That's about it – I hope you found this interesting, as I work hard to ensure that I don't repeat myself. For over 2 years, every week, I've kept that promise to myself... and to my readers. Ta!