The Reality of Our World After 9/11

Punching yourself, it sucks.

Rock/Paper/Scissors

Burst Bubble

What a cool photo!

UAV's - Drones

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) play a large part in modern warfare nowadays and also in video games such as Call of Duty Modern Warfare. I always thought of them to be the size of a larger remote control (RC) airplane, at most being about 6 feet long. Looks like I was wrong, they are huge! (Insert "That's what she said" joke here).



This a picture of NASA's UAV drone that they are using to fly into hurricanes/tropical storms (most recently Hurricane Earl) to gather more real time data on storm systems for scientists. So cool! More on NASA's UAV drone HERE.

Stormtrooper Hood Ornament

So rad!

Lotus...

..makes beautiful cars.

Tron Legacy

Tron Legacy is being released in Canada in December of 2010. I'm a bit excited! Olivia Wilde and Serinda Swan help in the excitement :D

Olivia on the couch

Serinda Swan

"Tron Girl" from some youtube video

Honda NSX HSV-010 GT

Honda NSX HSV-010 GT made for the Japanese Super GT Race. Too bad there won't be any for consumers :(

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/nsx-reloaded

Inception

Went to see this on Monday and it was everything (and more) that I expected. The script was awesome, the plot was very complex, the special effects were very decent and the acting was fantastic. This movie and its complexity is actually making me want to go back and see it multiple times to have a better grasp on the story. There were many things to follow and pick up through the movie so going back for multiple viewings is almost a must! Here's a little diagram I found on the net recently to help you keep track of the levels (warning SPOILER). However I believe whoever made it used one too many levels and shouldn't have described reality as level one. But it does its purpose in making Inception a bit clearer.

P.S. I totally recommend this movie. I haven't seen something this great in a long time! Not since the likes of The Matrix or Memento!

Click for larger version

Ultimate Frisbee

My Ultimate 2010 summer season started yesterday! It was awesome! Loved every minute of it, well maybe not the running part. I love the sport even though I don't know much about it or play it well. I just love the strategy and athleticism involved in playing it. We lost both our games last night, but I blame that on us not having chemistry and just running all over the place. After a few weeks I think we should be good. Hopefully my ankles and toes hold out long enough so I can enjoy a full season of it.

Go Ho's Go!

Chicken Vesuvio

So I tried this recipe last night that I saw Giada de Laurentiis do on one of her cooking shows awhile back ago. It turned out quite well and inspired me to try it again next time with a few adjustments. And don't worry about having leftovers because it is even better the second time around.

Prep Time:15 min

Cook Time:1 hr 0 min
Level: Intermediate
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 chicken thighs with skin and bones
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds small red-skinned potatoes, halved
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 8 ounces frozen artichoke hearts or 1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Heat the oil in large ovenproof pot over high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Working in 2 batches if necessary, cook the chicken in the pot until golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl. Carefully add the potatoes to the same pot and cook until they are golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the wine and stir to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the broth, oregano, and thyme. Return the chicken to the pot. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Cover and bake in the oven until the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Arrange the potatoes around chicken. Add the artichoke hearts to the sauce in the pot. Cover and simmer over high heat until the artichokes are tender, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Turn heat to low. Stir in the butter. Pour the sauce over chicken and potatoes, and serve.

Notes
I used a bit too much olive oil when searing the chicken thighs golden brown, so use much less next time. I didn't use the artichoke hearts or lima beans, instead I just did potatoes and onions. However I am thinking other veggies such as carrots and tomatoes would make this a great dish. Instead of using chicken broth I am think I can use tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. For the white whine I just used a Riesling that I had in the fridge, but any white wine would work. When serving you can either have the sauce on the side for people to apply on the quantity they want just in case the wine taste is too strong.

My Inner Geek is Showing

I have been eyeing one of these for quite some time, it is a Limited Edition 12-inch adjustable Sandtrooper figurine from Sideshow Collectibles. They were only released to Sideshow approved/licensed vendors. 3500 were made and sent out across the world to the vendors, who then marked the prices up. Usually something like this on the Sideshow Collectibles website goes from $80-$120 USD, but vendors around my area had them in the $200 range and up. Luckily I found this guy for $100 USD off of ebay! So Rad :D

P.S. I am thinking of converting my existing Stormtroopers costume into a Sandtrooper one with DIY help from this site http://tk409.com/tk409.html. VARY VARY COOL :D

P.P.S. The only way I could top this off is to buy something Star Trek now.

Back To The Future Car Ad

Stormtroopers Being Stormtroopers

Team Japan: Worldcup 2010

Japan made it into the final 16 very convincingly this year in the tournament but was ousted from the final 8 by Paraguay in a very tight defensive game. Nothing could be decided in 120 minutes (0-0) so it went into penalty shoot-outs where both sides were scoring and the keepers weren't keeping anything out. The turning point was when Japanese defender Komano went up for the shot. Komano placed the ball down and was going high for his shot but kicked the ball too hard and it hit the crossbar and out. This proved to be the game decider and the end of Team Japans run in Worldcup 2010. It's too bad. I really wanted to see Japan and also an Asian team make it into the finals. Hopefully it happens in my lifetime. Now I don't know who to cheer for.

Ice Breakers are 09-10 EIII NCHL Champions!

I forgot to post about this when it did happen (March 30, 2010) but after a gruelling round of playoffs we became the NCHL EIII division Champions for Fall/Winter 09-10!

Our first playoff game was against Out of position which was an easy win and lead us to the semi-finals against Scared Hitless. Against Scared HItless we were winning convincingly throughout most of the game until the last few minutes where we gave up a few goals and barely scraped through. I believe it was in this game that I nutted the guy after he slew footed me and he wasn't wearing a cup. He went down lack a sack of potatoes as soon as I made contact with the tip of my stick to his sack (haha). After this huge win we then went on to a best of 3 final against the Ninja Squirrels. We managed to sweep them in 2 games. The first game was definitely a nail biter that went into overtime shootouts and we didn't win it until the 4th or 5th round (can't remember)! The 2nd game we won way more convincingly because they were super tired and we gave it our all.

That was probably the most I have given to any sport I have participated in (since TKD) and my body definitely paid for it. That second game my lower back was hurting, my IT band was killing and my ankles were shot from a fat guy falling on me but in the end it was definitely worth it.

It was really awesome that as a team we all bought into the systems that I implemented. Dumping and pumping, back checking, forechecking and d-zone. It was so awesome.

I definitely can't wait for the Fall/Winter 10-11 to start up, should be great fun.

Youtube & the Vuvuzela horn

I think its absolutely brilliant that people at Youtube added the obnoxiously annoying buzz of the vuvuzela horns on their youtube videos (its to the right of the resolution and looks like a soccer ball). Now you can enjoy ANY video with the ever so pleasant buzz of the vuvuzela!

Twisted my ankle!

The last time I twisted my ankle this badly was back in the summer of 2000 playing some outdoor basketball. 10 years after I managed to do it again, this time playing flag football. In that 10 year span both my ankles have suffered reoccuring injuries but never this bad. Looks like I will be out for 3 to 4 weeks (hopefully 3) and my workouts and sports will be sidelined for the time being. It sucks but nothing I can do now but rest it up and hope it heals fast.

Here are some pics of the damage:

Counting Calories: Update

So after a month and a little bit I am sitting just around 165lbs-167lbs depending on the time of day I weigh myself. I'm pretty happy with the results of losing weight by eating better. Now I think I might actually try for 160 or even 155! I haven't been 155 in over 15 years! But if I do get to 155lbs I'm pretty sure I will be able to see abs. Woohoo!

Garlic Butter Tilapia

I love this recipe. Tried it out a few weeks ago and couldn't stop licking my lips after I was done eating!

Tilapia is a great choice for a low carb diet or any healthy diet.
Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
dash pepper
dash salt
pinch dried dillweed or parsley
dash paprika
4 tilapia fillets
Preparation:

In saucepan, combine butter, garlic, pepper, salt, dillweed, and paprika. Heat over low heat until butter is melted and starts simmering. Remove from heat. Brush a little of the butter mixture in the bottom of a shallow baking dish (line baking dish with foil, if desired) then place tilapia fillets on the buttered area. Brush top of each tilapia fillet with the seasoned butter mixture. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, until tilapia flakes easily with a fork.
Serves 2.

Notes:
-Added hot pepper flakes to it for a spicy kick.
-Instead of just brushing the sauce on the filets and then cooking I poured the entire sauce over the filets and baked (Do this if you aren't really worried about calories, use brushing method if you are)
-takes about 10-12 minutes per inch of fish to cook in the oven.

Clever :D

Taking the next step: Counting Calories

From a few posts before this one you can see that I am big into working out now, specifically weight lifting. I still do 3 days a week of weight training when possible and play hockey once a week (and soon will be starting up Flag football with hockey too). The weight training has been steadily replacing my fat with muscle and my hockey is a great cardiovascular workout that incorporates short intense intervals (1-2min) and a few mins of rest. However since my drop down to 170lbs I have not gotten any lower and it is definitely due to my daily diet.

With school, work, workouts and more school I found myself very busy and extremely lazy to make that effort to find/make something healthy to eat. My quickest and easiest solution was always to go pick up some fast food. That would be McDonald's, Wendy's, Jimmy's (Donairs), Chicken on the Way (Fried Chicken) or a poutine. The only good thing about this was that it kept me at around 2800 calories per day and kept me at a consistent weight of 170 for the last 7 to 8 months.

Now with school wrapping up and all I have is finals left I feel like I can lean up some more and get this body looking SEXY! So I went online and used a few Calorie counters to help me figure out what I need to start my calorie counting. I inputed my height, age and weight and my goal weight of 165lbs. The numbers calculated for me were:

Without Exercise
-2523.8 calories per day to maintain my current weight without exercise
-2487.6 calories per day to reach my goal slowly without exercise
-2023.8 calories per day without exercise to lose one pound per week
-3023.8 calories per day to gain one pound per week

With Exercise
-2760 calories per day with 30 min exercise per day
-3060.7 calories per day with 60 min exercise per day

Macronutrients
50% of my calories should come from carbohydrates
30% of my calories should come from fats
20% of my calories should come from protein

1g of protein = 4 calories
1g of fat = 9 calories
1g of carbohydrates = 4 calories

so to maintain my weight of 170lbs I must eat:
-315.5 g of carbohydrates
-83.3g of fat
-126.2g of protein per day
total calories consumed=2523.8

to get to 165lbs I must eat:
-311g of carbohydrates
-82.1g of fat
-124.4g of protein
total calories consumed=2487.6

With those numbers I am going to try and hit around 1800 to 2000 calories per day and still do 3 days of weight training with 2 days of sports (flag football and hockey). I might start supplementing that with some treadmill action once to two times a week (depending on how busy I am). From all this let's see firstly if I can stick to counting calories (something I have NEVER done) and secondly see my results within a month from now!

The hardest things to over come with this new change in eating is definitely not cheating and eating fast food. Basically I have to cut it out, and if I do eat it, I should only eat it once a week maximum. The other hardest thing will to be cut down on yummy intake of rice during supper and to make sure that I eat a healthy filling low calorie breakfast and lunch as well.

Hopefully this turns out well! Wish me luck!

Sutter Cup Champions 2010!!!

CBHA Minor Midget AAA Rangers are 2010 Sutter Cup Champions!!! I got close with the Midget A Bruins back in 08 (second place) but we finally did it this year. The 5 game tournament started off shaky with us falling behind to the Blazers in the first period but we managed to win that game. The next 2 games vs Red Deer and the Royals were also iffy but we still won. It all started melding together when we had to face the AC Avalanche in the semi-finals. Down 3 goals in the first period the Rangers battled back scoring 6 unanswered goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods to a convincing 6-3 win! Our biggest challenge was next, The Lethbridge Hurricanes. They were the regular season league leaders, their first line which consisted of two twin scored 180 points in total during 30 regular season games (amongst 3 line mates)! We only played them once but lost 9-1 . So we had a tough game ahead of us if we wanted that gold medal. The game turned out really well, our coaches were smarter and out coached the other team's coaches. The other team only had one line and would double/triple shifted them for most of the 1st and 2nd period and eventually they had no more steam. The game was back and forth with them always in the lead and us tying it up. Eventually when all was said and done we won 5-3 with pure hard work. Our goalie Emmet Oh stood on his head and had 51 saves. The MVP of the tournament and total stand out star of our team (totally unexpected) was Christian Nypower (Nypes)!

This was one of the most exciting things I have been privileged to take part in and I am so proud of everyone who contributed to the success of the CBHA Rangers this year! It was too bad that we got swept 3 straight in Provincials, but at least we won the Sutter Cup!

GO RANGERS GO!!!

Awesomely Awkward!

Click Image for larger photo!