Posts Tagged ‘what I did today’

Avatar!

Aug 28 2010

Until last night, my wife and I were the only two people in the free world who had not seen Avatar in the theatre. We never really were movie goers that much. In fact, last night was our first movie date ever!

We wanted to go see it when it was in the theatres earlier this year, but we didn’t want to be packed in somewhere like sardines two rows from the front. Then it left the theatres before we realized it was gone and our chances were gone forever.

Luckily, they re-released it starting yesterday with an additional eight minutes of “never before seen” footage. We went to the 7:00 showing in a theatre that was probably only quarter full, if that.

It was amazing! I know I’m writing what you all already know, but it really was impressive. I’d been to 3-D movies before and it always seemed to me that you were looking at cardboard cut-outs placed at various depths in front of you. AND, in order to get that effect, you were constantly adjusting your glasses to avoid the red and blue shadows around everything on the screen. But not Avatar! No! The depth of field was gradual, dynamic and continuous. The movie didn’t exist to exploit some cheesy effect, the effect was an integral part of the experience. About ten minutes in I had forgotten all about the 3-D and felt like I was standing in the movie watching all this happen around me.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you simply HAVE to. It’s back. Now’s your chance!

 
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Posted by Steve at 10:05 am

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Tires – The Original Highway Robbery

Aug 12 2010

This is where the rubber meets the road.

We are getting ready for a road trip soon.  Over the course of about two weeks we’ll put roughly 4000 kms on our 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe.  The vehicle was recently safety inspected and passed with flying colours.  Unfortunately, one of those colours was yellow.  Yep… the tires passed, but just barely. 

The dealer told us that the tires will soon need to be replaced.  They are right.  In fact, I was surprised that the tires didn’t fail.  The tread is getting very shallow.  So, now I want to replace the tires before my road trip.  It would suck to get this pseudo warning, ignore it, and then regret it.

I knew when I bought a vehicle with 18 inch rims that I might be in for a slightly more expensive tire when the time came to replace them.  I jumped on the Canadian Tire website to check out some prices.  They have this nice handy dandy questionnaire that helps narrow down your search.  Plug in your Year, Make, Model, Engine size, and Sub Model information and Voila! you know how much money they are going to screw you out of.

The cheapest tire they had for my vehicle was $210.  That’s each, my friends…. each.  The most expensive tire was $410.

Fourhundredandtendollarsandseventyfivecents each! 

Holy crap!  What are these tires made of?  The hooves of the Alpine Ibex culled from the 15,000 foot mark of the Swiss alps, ground and blended with extracted silk of the Golden Orb spider does increase the traction properties of the rubber used in these friggin’ tires…  It’s expensive, yes, but isn’t the safety of your family worth it?

Sigh.

 
1 Comment

Posted by Steve at 6:33 pm

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Green Shakes

Jul 20 2010

What did I have for lunch today? The same thing I had for breakfast! And the same thing I’ve had for breakfast and lunch for the past 2 and a half months.

- can of pineapple
- few sprigs of parsley
- couple of fists of spinach
- head of romaine lettuce
- couple of tablespoons of 3-6-9 oil

Blend until smooth and enjoy! Its actually better than it looks or sounds. (Keep telling yourself that, Stevie-boy, keep telling yourself that.)

 
2 Comments

Posted by Steve at 8:25 am

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How Hot Is It?

Jul 05 2010

It’s been freakin’ hot around here for the last couple of days and the forecast is promising temperatures in the mid to high thirties for the rest of the week… that’s Celsius with the humidex factor figured in. 

At least it’s a sticky heat.  Currently, it’s 9 pm and it’s 26 degrees, feeling like 34.

So.  What did I do to escape the heat?  I made more tea buns!

Yes, I stood in a sweltering kitchen baking tea buns, doing my best to keep the sweat from dripping off of my forehead while trying not to get flour on my forehead when I was trying to wipe sweat with the back of my flour covered hands.  (Can you tell from that sentence that I had flour on my hands and my forehead was dripping sweat?)

The tea buns turned out wonderfully but I’m sweating like hooker on nickel night.  On the bright side, I wasn’t all that successful at keeping the flour away from my sweaty forehead.  By the time the tea buns were done, I found a couple of dinner rolls baked golden in my eyebrows.

 
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Posted by Steve at 8:55 pm

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Smile! No, Wait. Is this thing on?

Feb 07 2010

Ever get ready to snap a photo of that special moment only to discover that the camera is set to “video” mode? 

Well, today I was cleaning up my video folders and found that over the course of eight or nine years of digital picture taking it appears we’ve amassed our fair share of these little time capsules.  Those two second videos are sometimes more amusing and memory provoking than the pictures they were intended to be.  Check out the montage below for a taste.

It’s all “location” humour, meaning you had to have been there.  But you might get a little chuckle anyway.

 
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Posted by Steve at 12:43 pm

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Little Prick

Nov 30 2009

Well, da wife and I went and got our H1N1 shots tonight. It was a relatively painless exercise. We arrived at 5:45 for a six o’clock clinic. The line up had been gathering since before five so needless to say there were plenty of people there. I’m guessing three or four hundred people in front of us. The doors opened at six and we were done by 6:45. After we waited the required 15 minutes, we were on our way. Not too shabby. The people in line around us were friendly, the workers were pleasant, and the time moved quickly.

So what’s everyone complaining about?

 
8 Comments

Posted by Steve at 8:16 pm

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