Chunker's Blog » Tidbits

Another weekend at the desert/scary moment

Chunker — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:13:34 +0000

Roughly twice a year a bunch of us head out to Palm Desert and hang out at Lon’s parents place for three days or so. What do we do for those three days? Hang out, play games, get drunk, eat the breakfast of death…basically relax and enjoy each others company. What is this breakfast of death you ask?? Well we start off with about two pounds of bacon and fry that up. Then we take the hash browns and fry that up in the bacon grease (with a slab of butter on top for taste). Next we mix chorizo sausage, mexican cheese and about 30 eggs and scramble that up. Last we whip up some chocolate chip pancakes and call it it all the breakfast of death. After we feed on all of this none of us can move for the next few hours…some sleep…some watch TV…but most just sorta lay there half dead =)

As for games…this time two new game were introduced….Three Man and The Great Dalmuti. Three Man is a dice based drinking game that will get you drunk so fast you’ll be on the floor staring at the ceiling before you know it. It’s lots of fun =) The Great Dalmuti is a card based game (that can be a drinking game but it wasn’t played that way) made back in the 90′s that won a few awards for how good the game was. Some other games we played were Bull Shit, Poker and Apples to Apples.

Soo…about this scary moment…at around 5pm I get a phone call from Victoria saying my mom is in the hospital. My first reaction is crap…first off I’m 2 hours away and second…I’m kinda drunk. Apparently my mom was feeling weak and had a fever of 104…Vic asks me if I can come out and I tell her that I’m in Palm Desert (I didn’t tell her I was a bit drunk)…she tells me that I should just stay out there and wait for the test results to come in. I agree with her and she tells me she’ll call me back as soon as the test results come in. An hour or two later I sober up and decided to hell with it and head out anyway. When I was about 40 minutes form the hospital I call my dad and he tells me that everything is okay and that she only had strep throat. They are both at home and she is resting comfortably….::sigh of relief::

Quote of the day!

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.”

–Charles Shultz

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

Chunker — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:03:59 +0000

One of my favorite games when I was a kid was the Monkey Island series.Â I’m not gonna bother trying to explain what Monkey Island is but I will say that this game was made back in the days when games required thought and out of the box thinking to complete.Â Lucas arts (the makers of Monkey Island) went back and remastered the original Monkey Island and created The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition.Â As you can see from the image above they made everything look prettier, they added voices for everybody and they enhanced the music/ambient sounds.Â The really cool thing is that you can hit F10 and toggle between the old version and the new version…that’s how I got the nifty screen caps =)Â As you can see just from the title screen caps above they really have made everything look better and even changed the color scheme a bit with the title.

Here you see part of the Scumm bar and the docks….notice that the moon and background have much more detail.Â Also note that the inventory is no longer a part of the screen and you have to hit “i” to bring it up in the Special Edition version.Â All in all I LOVE the new version and I hope that they make Monkey Island 2: LeChucks Revenge.

Quote of the day!

“Look a three headed monkey!!”

–Guybrush Threepwood

Vodka, Skittles and Gummie Bears

Chunker — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:22:16 +0000

Not acutal flaskes used...=)

Last week was Dave Sanders’s bachelor party.Â I wanted to make something special that would look cool and get everybody really drunk at the same time…=)Â My solution?Â Skittle infused Vodka and Vodka infused Gummy Bears.Â Â A few months ago I stumbled upon the recipe for Skittle infused Vodka over here at Mixthatdrink.com.Â The instructions were very clear and I only had to change a few things based on my own observations while making my first few batches, some assumptions and a difference in materials used to make my own batch.Â As for the gummy bears my friend Gillian told me about them and while the instructions over at again mixthatdrink.com…it left out the fact that I would have to air out the gummy bears to let them firm up a bit…but more on that later.

Skittle infused vodka…Iâ€™m gonna assume that you all read through the recipe at Mix That Drink…so I won’t bore you with the details as to how to make it…but with what changes I had to make…=)Â First off the recipe stated that the quality of the vodka didn’t matter too much but to not use the really cheap vodka i.e. Vons brand vodka.Â My assumption there told me that I could useÂ what I have deemed a C grade vodka (first mistake)Â which was Smirnoff Triple Distilled Vodka.Â I also picked up some plastic flasks (second mistake) as I couldn’t find the nice glass ones that they used in the short amount of time I had.Â I decided to start out with the red skittles (third mistake) and after I let the infusion sit in the freezer for 2 hours…I tried it.Â Yeah tasted like medicine.Â I tried a second shot and swirled it in my mouth a bit…yup medicine.Â Turns out that after a bit more research I found another site that said that I have to use a B or A grade vodka and that out of all the flavors…the red ones tasted the worst.Â Down the drain it went.Â After that failure I went out and bought some Kettle One Vodka which I decided would be a B grade vodka.Â The other site also stated that the purple skittles tasted the best so I infused the Kettle One with the purple, stuck it in the plastic flask, stuck it in the freezer and 2 hours later…medicine…although not as bad.Â I decided to keep this batch cause I didn’t want to waste anymore booze.Â Dejected I tried the yellow skittles but this time since I had used the last of the vodka I put it back in to the original glass bottle.Â Two hours later…it tasted like yellow skittles!!!Â I deduced from this that I need to use glass to store the vodka infusion and not plastic…cause I guess plastic will change the taste of the infusion.Â Â A few other things I learned was the recipe said to just stack 4 coffee filters together and use that to filter the infusion…bad idea…at least for the filters I used cause when I tried to use 4 eventually it just stopped flowing through.Â I figured that the white gunk was clogging the filters so I decided to just use one at a time….but even just using one at a time didn’t work so I used one till the flow stopped then switched to another filter.Â I stopped filtering when all I had to use was one filter.Â They also say you can use paper towels…but I found that they absorbed about a quarter shot per filter run…and that’s just unacceptable =)

What about the vodka infused gummy bears?Â Not much there really just that (I think) I have to air them out for a few hours to let them firm up and get less slimy and that I probably have to use again a B grade vodka…cause I used the rest of the C grade to make them.Â They turned out okay…but I’ll have to play around with them to figure out the best way to firm them up.

Quote of the day!

“Jesus turned water into wine…I turned a whole student loan into Vodka. Your move, Jesus…”

–JSD (Just Some Dude)

Wow…just wow…

Chunker — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:20:16 +0000

I have no words for this…I went over to look to see what Frazz was up too and what do I see?Â I see Frazz asleep holding a seed…yes folks…she fell asleep WHILE eating.

Anyhoo…quote of the day!

“I don’t believe in reincarnation, and I didn’t believe in it when I was a hamster.”

–Shane Ritchie

Punch-Out!! (Wii Version)

Chunker — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:11:47 +0000

Since the last incarnation of Punch-Out!! that came out for the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) I’ve been (we all have been) waiting for the next version of this game to come out.Â The last two consoles (N64 and Game Cube) had some great franchises on them and even launched a few of them…but they never saw Punch-Out!!.Â Why would Nintendo do this?Â Even though I would say this game is probably one of the most entertaining games I have ever played…there is one small problem.Â Replayability.Â Once you go through the game and figure out the patterns and the way the boxers telegraph their punches the game becomes very easy.Â So yeah it may take a week or a month or whatever to figure it out…but once you do…there’s no incentive to play it again. Nintendo has (it seems) to have addressed this particular issue.

After you fight each boxer it opens up an exhibition mode for that particular boxer.Â So say you fight Glass Joe and you whomp his ass and you’re feeling good about your self cause you beat the snot out of a boxer that has a 1-99 record (that’s 1 win and 99 losses) what do you do now?Â Move on to Von Kaiser?Â Nope you go to the exibition mode and you will find three challenges for Glass Joe.Â One is you have to knock him down three times…then let him win by Decision.Â The second one is to find his one punch knockdown.Â The last one is you have to beat Glass Joe with out ducking, dodging or blocking (a lot harder than it seems).Â So yeah…each boxer has this mode…so it adds another thing to do once you beat the game the first time around.

Another thing that Nintendo did for Punch-Out!! is that once you do win the first time around you get to defend your title!Â You fight all the same boxers but they are different somehow.Â I have yet to beat the game so I cannot say as to what or how they are different…this is just what the Nintendo site says.Â Once you beat the title defense mode…there is yet another mode called Last Stand.Â No clue what that is…but…you do get to fight Donkey Kong.Â =)Â I assume that you once again get to fight all the boxers again and based on the name I’m gonna guess you start at half health and you have already been knocked down twice.Â We’ll see.

The actual game play however is pretty cool.Â I love how they did the boxers and how they kept with the theme of Punch-Outs!! of the past.Â The one thing they did change is in the past as you progressed the boxers basically got faster and had cool gimmicks.Â With the Wii version yes the boxers get faster but they also don’t throw all their punches at the same speed.Â What does this mean?Â Well take Super Macho Man for instance…he has 5 punches.Â Two upper cuts, one hook and two different spin moves.Â The two uppercuts (depending on which side they come from) will come at you at different speeds so if you’re used to just dodging as soon as they move…you’re in for a big surprise when you go up against Super Macho Man and some other boxers that do the same thing.Â As for the controls…man I was totally excited about being able to actually box with the wiimote and nunchuk in hand.Â When I tried it it seemed clumsy and awkward.Â The only other option (unfortunatlly) is to turn the wiimote sideways and use it like a controller.Â While this method is much more accurate…the wiimote wasn’t designed to be used like this.Â The direction controler isn’t flat…it sorta curves up at the ends and after an hour of ducking, dodging and jabbing your thumb gets a bit raw.Â It’s also a bit on the small side so I found myself ducking when I should be punching or dodging when I should be ducking.Â The last thing about the wiimote is that it was designe to be held vertically not horizontally so it’s just awakward in that sense.Â All in all though it’s not TOO bad…but I wish I could use the classic controller or even the wavebird.

Even with the short comings with the controller…I am still having a lot of fun playing it and I look forward to the other two fight modes…they sound pretty challenging.

Quote of the day!

“There are many ways to climb a mountian Mac but there’s only one way to swim across a river.”

–Doc Louis (Little Mac’s Trainer in Punch-Out!!)

Pagan Weddings

Chunker — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:15:10 +0000

So Bonnie’s wedding was a first for me…not because I’ve never been to a wedding…but because it was a Pagan ceremony.Â Don’t get me wrong…there is nothing wrong with it…I’ve just never been to one before.Â It seemed very familar though…there was a wedding party (though all guys and all but one were in Kilts), there was the person who married Nick and Bonnie (cept she was 9 months pregnant and had a ton of white face makeup on), There was a wedding cake but instead of a cute bride and groom figurine…there was a figure dressed in a teddy and a Dread Pirate Roberts…=)Â Basically there were lots of similarities to the other weddings I’ve been too but with twists.Â I liked it.Â Not sure if I’d get married like it myself…but it was a fun ceremony…=)Â Not much else to say…and no..you don’t get another quote of the day…=)

Bellingham and Washington as a whole Final Thoughts…

Chunker — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:06:07 +0000

As I said earlier…Washington is a beautiful state…and Bellingham is a great city.Â Trees everywhere, the ghettos not really being ghettos, getting a two bedroom apartment for 600 bucks, Cuban cigars are just an hour’s drive away, Gerbils can be bought and owned…the list goes on.Â But being a native of California I really didn’t like the weather up there.Â Out of the 5 days I was up there…it rained 2 of them.Â That’s about 1/3 of the rainy days we get down here in California.Â =)Â It’s also a bit too cold for my tastes…I like my cold being 60 and my hot being 90….but that’s just me being a spoiled Californian…=)Â Would I live in Washington?Â Maybe if I got a really good job…but it would take a lot for me to leave my home town.Â I love it here too much.

Quote of the Day!

” There are no stupid questions, just stupid people.”

–JSD (Just Some Dude)

Grandma by the 101

Chunker — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:33:43 +0000

Last year I went up to Piratefest up for some drunken pirate fun.Â I had two choices…the 5 which would save me an hour but be a really boring drive visually or drive up the 101 and have see some truly beautiful scenery.Â I choose the 101 =) .Â On my way up I saw many things golden fileds, cows, trees (lots of trees), ocean, hills and a picture of a Grandma on a hill (pictured to the right).Â I got the feeling that she represents some grandma that died and this is a monument to her…but I didn’t see any signs that said “In Loving Memory of…”Â So I’m not so sure as to why there is a giant picture of this old lady on a hill along the 101 freeway.

When I asked my buddy Kyung about it (because he drives up and down the 101 atleast 10 times a year) if he has ever seen this picture…he said no.Â I was then wondering if I was halucinating and that burger I had back at McDonalds was laced with something.Â But then as he’s driving back up the 101 he sees her!Â But due to his own shock and awe…he didn’t get a picture or an exact location.Â I was excited and saddened by this.Â With this new knowledge I was determined to somehow get a picture of her and get the exact cordinates so I can always find her.Â When I treid to google her I found nothing.Â Kyung had a vauge idea as to where she was…so I tried street view to find her…but after 30 mins of searching I gave up and decided to just to look for her when I head up for Pratefest in a few months.Â Then Kyung came to my rescue and took the picture there to the right and gave me a much better idea as to where she was.Â Armed with this knowledge and what I remember of where she was I went back to google maps and used their terrain function and looked for a hilly area near San Ardo, CA.Â After about 30 mins of searching I found her!Â Here’s a link to her on google maps.Â Just click on street view…look east and you will see this bilboard like object on the hill.Â It’s really fuzzy but it’s her…trust me.Â =)Â If you don’t want to use google maps…here are the exact cordinates 36.157402777777776, -121.04736944444444 or 36Â° 9’26.65″N, 121Â° 2’50.53″W.Â Enjoy!

Quote of the day!

Lon: What was the score of the Rockets vs. Lakers game?

Me: 100, 92 Rockets.

Lon:Â What was the score?

Me: 100, 92…Rockets won.

Lon: Yes I understand Rockets got 192…what did the Lakers score?

Me:Â ::Face Palm::

I’m on a bus!

Chunker — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:31:03 +0000

So like the buses in Washington have signs in English and French. Whereas in California they are in English and Spanish…not sure why I find this so interesting…but I do.

It’s always interesting to me to find out about the differences between states and even countries that the locals find to be the norm…but the outsiders find strange or different.Â Take for instance (and yes I’m basing this on a TV show) in the TV show How I Met Your Mother Robin is from Canada and she is always talking about cultural stuff in Canada…such as sexual innuendos.Â In the United States we use baseball i.e. first base, second base, third base, home run, switch hitter, catcher…etc.Â In Canada they use Hockey references (again this info is from a TV show…so I’m not sure if it’s true or not)Â So if anybody who reads this Canadian and can deny or verify this…I’d love for you to comment below…=)

Quote of the day!

“This game’s in the refrigerator: the door is closed, the lights are out, the eggs are cooling, the butter’s getting hard, and the Jello’s jigglin’!”

–Chick Hearn

Realizations…

Chunker — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:45:21 +0000

I have come to a small realization…the purpose of this blog is to share my thoughts…my feelings…and things that I find interesting with the outside world.Â But not just that, but to keep a record of it so that 50 years from now I can look back and see the stuff I’ve written about…a record of my life as it were.Â I have been posting the stuff that I find interesting on facebook because I want to share what I find cool to more people than the zero people who read this regularly…but the problem with facebook is that after a few hours…it get lost in the void never to been seen again.Â I personally would like to have some record of the stuff that I find interestng and cool so that my 60 year old self can look back and see what I found interesting back then.

With that in mind…here I am…posting a vid of a video mashup of many different people either singing or playing instruments to Stand By Me.Â The mashup was done by The Concord Group.

Quote of the day!

“Legen wait for it DARY!”

–Barney Stinson