CatStop

http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=59764&cat=2,51555&ap=1



Hello again! First day I've had off since returning from the trip up North for Christmas with the family. A great time had by all, and it always feels too short.

This here, this is something that I absolutely had to have for my garden this year. We just moved into our house not that long ago so there's still a few kinks to work out. One of these is that the backyard (especially the part I want to put my garden in) has quite a few cats wandering around through it. I don't want to grow my food in cat poop, there's very good hygienic reasons for it. I'm sure a good chunk of them are neighbours' "outdoors cats" so live traps or anything that would hurt them is out of the question. I have thought of trapping them and relocating them to Scarborough but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be legal. Regardless I spent a bit of time doing research and settled on this option and laid it pretty thick on to my wife - so guess what showed up for Christmas!

It's close to $60 so it had better work. Essentially it has a heat sensor, an ultrasonic emitter and a 9 volt battery. If a critter comes too close it sends a sound out that's supposed to scare them off. Haven't tried it yet due to the snow and work... but when I saw this online I just had visions of me standing by the window drinking coffee cackling madly while watching these cats approach and then run in terror.

Will post on how it works later on!

Merry Christmas!!!

Holidays

Hello everyone! I'm partway through a visit to my parents' home for Christmas. The entire family is here, even my brother the doctor who is very very busy practicing in NY. I think it has been maybe a year and a half since I've seen him last... It is always a smidge awkward with him here since it starts off being pleasant usually and after a few days he starts getting restless and being harder to be around. I think it had something to do with wanting his space, but I'd never ask him since questions like that would start a fight.

Anyways it is a good happy time with everyone here. I'm just thankful everyone is doing well.

Happy holidays!

Atomic Creep Spawner

Here's another interesting one. Heroes invade your dungeon, you spawn enemies to combat the hero. Your points to spawn enemies goes up as the hero causes damage to the dungeon. More of an arcadey clicker than anything strategic.
Also not anything that's going to keep you involved for more than half an hour, but it is a neat diversion while it lasts.

http://deepnight.net/games/ld25-atomiccreepspawner/

(Tie One Woman to a Train Track and Suddenly) I'm the Badguy

I saw this one posted on a few games blogs that I follow and thought it looked promising. It plays exactly like it looks: You're the Snidely Whiplash looking green follow with a top hat who captures and ties up women to train tracks. Trains come regularly and squish the ladies. Occasionally heroes come and try to stop you and free the ladies. The game as a whole works very well in an old-school way and I really like the package. Recommended to try (especially since it's free!)!

http://www.sharkarmstudios.com/2012/12/tie-one-woman-to-train-track-and.html

A Large Day

I haven't had much to say over the past couple days partly due to my being stressed out beyond belief regarding the upcoming PEBC results being posted - then they went up and I passed! I feel a lot of relief, and even though I knew I probably passed (since I barely didn't last time and did better preparation this time around) there's so much riding on this it couldn't help but weigh heavily on me. What a relief! I was so stressed out that even now that I know there's nothing to stress about I still feel it.

My first action after making all the calls to family/friends and going for a jog? Replacing my windshield. I was driving on the 401 on my way to work two days ago and a fist sized stone got kicked up by a transport in front of me. It started off small but has since gotten to be about 5 inches long, if I'm going to be using this car again to get to work this needs to get fixed.

The de-stressing continues... I really need to get jogging

Penumbra Overture

After finishing Super Meat Boy (finally - well, finished relatively speaking... just the light world) I've been on the fence as to what to play next. I've had this one on my steam account for years now after finding the shareware release interesting back in the day and am just now getting to it. It's held up surprisingly well in my view. The graphics are good, but a bit dated now. I don`t mind so much but some would. The sound is really what draws me into it... especially since there are many audio cues you need to listen for regarding potential predators and threats. The level design is pretty good too, along with related puzzles. I`ve been challenged but not held back at all. Of note is that there aren`t a ton of enemies to fight so you do get lulled into a sense of safety. Your combat skills are limited, and the interface for that part of it could use some work. I can`t count the times so far where I`ve wanted to swing a hammer when a dog`s attacking me and the game just won`t let me. Meanwhile my character gets killed and I get to look at the game over screen listening to that dog munch on my corpse. Thankfully the combat isn`t a large part of the game but it is there for better or worse. The writing for the text given on certain loading screens is well done as well, and is reminiscent of Lovecraft`s writing.

I`m not finished it yet (please no spoilers) - just chipping away at it and hoping that the rest of the game holds up to the first portions of it that I`ve played through.

Mill Street Cobblestone Stout - Nitro-Can

This is a surprisingly pleasant beer to have in a can at home. The beer comes out being completely black, with a nice thick head. A bit of carbonation is present but not enough to disrupt the experience. Pleasantly smooth, nice thick and creamy... you can taste a touch of roasted coffee and malt, a little bit of smokiness. Just enough to make you stop and think a bit about what you`re tasting. What sells this for me is the thick robust feel it has in the mouth, and it`ll likely be in my fridge for a while.

drywalling

Things are settling down a bit at home here. The plumber's gone through and given the thumbs up to a few areas of concern. The electrical in the house has been completely redone. There are a few things left to do before the unpacking and painting can begin in earnest. One of them is to get a drywall guy in to seal up all the holes left by everyone else that came in before him. The contractor we're in touch with is quite nice and walked through the house with us yesterday and quoted us a price in the $3-4k range for the job. To my eyes this doesn't seem unreasonable given the scope of and number of holes that needs to be sealed up. That being said, I`m also not a drywall expert. There's long trenches of drywall holes along where the baseboards should go where a lot of the wiring was run. Just covering those ones up with the baseboards isn't really an option since some of the holes go larger than what the baseboards would cover.

While we're getting the drywall work done, we're also looking at a few smaller (hopefully) jobs in the house. After the electrical was done some larger holes were left upstairs, one of which revealed a section of dead (unused) space enclosed by drywall that we're hoping to turn into a linen closet for some much needed storage. We also need to get our master bedroom's closet revisited since the way it is now is mostly unworkable. One rod and a shelf for two people just isn`t going to do it. The contractor was nice enough to run a few ideas by me and once we get the closet opened up a bit (there is much more space available vertically than the doors would allow access to) we`ll be able to get a more complete shelving closet solution in there. Two rods hopefully, along with some drawers.

Another question has come up in the meantime that we`re hoping to get some answers to. The master bedroom is cold... the new furnace is nice and all but for whatever reason when night hits the bedroom is still cold. I think it has to do with the face that the walls aren`t insulated as well as they should be and that we have 3 exterior walls on that room. Redoing the insulation on the upper level is out of the question ($$$$) but I don`t think doing just that room is. It wouldn`t be for resale value, it would be for us. Besides, the other bedrooms on the upper level seem to be doing fine heat-wise.

Howe Sound Brewing - Pothole Filler Imperial Stout

The Howe Sound Pothole Filler. The name's pretty good, since it describes what the beer is going to be like when it's poured out - thick and black. Like the Pumpkin Eater, it is respectable for what it is - in this case an imperial stout. The smells are of roasted malt and chocolate... the taste has a bit of smokiness to it but also has some molasses and coffee to it. It's not as refined as something along the lines of the Peche Mortel where you would have it and not really notice the alcohol in it. That's something that both this one and the Pumpkin Eater share - you know you're drinking a 9% beer and can taste the alcohol as a sort of booziness. Not at all unexpected.

Don't get me wrong, it's good stuff, just not going to blow your doors off. It should be given the commitment one makes to a 1L bottle. I'm just feeling that it would have been better around 7 or 8% rather than 9. The Wellington Russian Imperial Stout is a good example of what I'm thinking of. Since I like the 1L swingtop bottles for homebrewing so I may pick another one up just to give it a second try... but for the time being I feel there's better options out there like the Welly I mentioned before.

one week without internet

Hello again. We've just moved into the house and passed the electrical inspection (thank goodness). My folks came down to help us move along with my uncle from just a bit out of town, all of which were a godsend. We couldn't have done it without them. Everything was within 10 minutes of being late, getting out of the elevator we booked, returning the truck, ... it was tight and we pushed and we did it. I should have bought a lottery ticket.

A good chunk of our lives are still in boxes which is ok for the time being. The important things are out like clothes and food. There's still a ton of drywall to be patched post-electrical, and there's no point in doing that until we get a plumber in to take a look at the pipe leading to the washing machine (never mind a few other things). Hopefully it won't be that bad but if we need to get someone in to patch things up there's no point until this guy's finished.

We use Teksavvy for our internet and phone needs. Works great when it's going but this time around, despite booking things ahead of time to get the switch over to the new place done we were still without internet for over a week. Apparently Bell (they use Bell's lines) requires the phone to be up for a certain number of days before DSL activation. Stupid if you ask me, but then I'm not Bell. Anyways, things are cooking on the internet front so I can put down my flamethrower for now.