Malathion!

Maybe because I’m reading through the 40K Cityfight rules right now, but when a deep rumbling woke me from my sleep the first thought that flashed through my kickstarting-from-sleep brain was ‘tanks’. The next instant awareness fully synched up and I realized it was one of the happy sounds of summer – the mosquito fogging truck. Gleefully, I went around closing the bedroom windows.

Most places get mosquitoes to some degree but we often get them bad. It may have to do with the clay/mud soil or the wet springs but often they can swarm in larger size and numbers than I have seen in other areas. My sister was in for the reunion last weekend from BC – she confirms this.

We do use larvacide and they have introduced dragonflies to help cut down on the populations but neither seem to work as well as a good dousing of malathion. There is a bit of controversy about the buffer zones people are allowed to request around their houses but when it becomes bad, or the threat of west nile virus increases, these are overridden.

Tears for Toys?

We took the kids to see Toy Story 3. It was worth seeing. The Toy Story franchise has been very good – the first movie was great, the second movie added nicely to the story, and now the third movie has furthered the story even more and provided a nice final ending. It was fairly predictable but there were still a few moments near the end where we were all choked up.

If you have seen any of the others, I recommend this as well. If you haven’t seen them yet, then watch them and then go see this one. And take your kids with you. Now they are asking us to dig out their old Buzz and Woody toys so they can play again.

Movies: Prince of Persia / A-Team

We have been able to take the kids to some more movies lately.

Prince of Persia. I had played this a bit when it first came out as a side scroller – but never managed to get very far at all. The movie was fun – like a medieval parkour fest. I seem to remember there being more cleavage in the trailer though. It’s predictable – being that it’s based on time travel to a degree but still a fun bit of summer fluff.

A-Team. I have to admit that I didn’t really watch the show when it was on. Mark used to watch it so I did catch a few and Shannon used to watch it. That said, the movie was fun enough. It shows how they get together and works with the current war. I was good with the characters (I thought Liam would bother me but he didn’t) and the story held together enough for what it was.
The cameos with the old actors was a nice touch - stay until the end of the credits!

D3 - Life Lesson averted

On Saturday, I took another try at getting the Bionicle piece out from under the stairs. I took one of the bamboo poles from the old tiki torches and drilled two holes in one end. I took some of the fencing wire I have for making mail and fed some through the end to make a scoop. After a few adjustments to make the scoop smaller in order to be able to turn it and covered it in green painters tape to make the scoop. After a few tries, I was able to recover the part.



So, once again I make it harder for my kids to believe me when I tell them I can’t fix everything for them.

D3 - Life lesson

We’ve told the kids not to take legos out to play in the car – there are so many tiny pieces that are so easy to get lost. Like most of the advice we tell them, they don’t always listen to it.

So it finally happened.

On Monday, he was carrying a Bionicle (Brutaka) from the car to the house in his hat (for some reason) and one of the gold leg covers bounced out and fell behind the stairs to the side door. Shan tried to get it out but couldn’t. When I came home I tried but couldn’t even see it. I was hampered by the fact that none of the drawer full of flashlights currently give off more than a faint yellow glow.
Shan told him it should be a ‘life lesson’ and that he shouldn’t buy a replacement. He naturally thought otherwise.

Checking online, bricklink doesn’t have any Brutaka parts at all. Ebay does have two sets – one at $56 and one at $226 – both currently a bit high to replace one missing piece.
I have a few more ideas to try – the concrete stairs seem to be undercut on the side against the house and it must have bounced under or been knocked under in subsequent rescue attempts. If I still can’t get it, I have a few other options I will try. Otherwise, he has a reminder on his wall to look for it when renovations happen and the stairs are removed.

St John's High School 100th

My alma mater, St John’s High School, is celebrating their 100th anniversary this weekend. I was there from grade 7 through grade 12 and even went back for more courses the year after I graduated. They had celebrated their 75th anniversary while we were in school but this looks like it’s going to be quite the event.

I have a lot of fond memories from those times. I wasn’t one of the popular crowd but was well known. I wasn’t a jock but was on many teams in junior high. I would say I was more in the Geeks than the Freaks – especially in senior high.
I don’t keep in touch with many people that I went to school with. I have a few in fandom but even those I don’t see so often.

I am looking forward to this weekend. Hopefully I’ll run into some familiar faces and find out how people are doing.


Go Tigers!

stompa bits

I’ve been picking a Ork Stompa in bits and pieces. A boxed set from Games Workshop is about $120. From GC-Minis it would be about $85 – much better, but still a bit out of my range.

From Horde of Bits, I’ve managed to collect most of the main pieces and it has only run me about $50. The last batch finally came in – the weapon arms. I’m really looking forward to putting this together. Plus when I have it finished and have the sizes, I can scratchbuild another one.