evanroberts.com

Breakfast

• Two light Babybels

Lunch

• Two light Babybels

Dinner

• Top sirloin steak with garlic salt on one piece and spicy hickory rub on the other - 681g
• Veggies (red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, red onion, zucchini, asparagus, mushrooms, sunflower oil, dill, thyme)

Breakfast

• Three hard boiled eggs

Lunch

• Two light Babybels

Snacks

• One light Babybel

Dinner

• Nine chicken wings at The Tap
• Shared the sides of fries and carrots and celery with blue cheese
• A basket of fries later on in the night
• Four pints of Creemore

…but it is 1:30am, and I’m tired from a lack of sleep last night, and will pass out should I attempt to play it right now… or, I fear I might play it until dawn. Either way, I’m saving the gaming for tomorrow night (even though it is Tuesday right now, I still have yet to sleep, hence it referred to as “tomorrow”).

I was one of those guys and gals that stood outside of Best Buy at Yonge and Dundas tonight, waiting until midnight for the store to open up and start selling the game. I didn’t think I had to worry about them running out of stock, and in the end I was right. When I got there, the lineup easily had 300-400 people ahead of me, and once it was midnight, they let in 10 at a time. By the time I got to the front, I looked back, and the line was still stretched out to where I had first lined up. Seems I was not the only one yearning for this game.

While standing in line, it was fun to listen to people chat about all things GTA, and other geek-related topics. One guy behind me joked about how he as just standing in line to buy some RAM for his machine, while his friend said he was going to buy Windows Vista. Another guy in front of me was telling his girlfriend about all the things you could do in the game, ranging from jacking cars, to laying waste to crowds of civilians if you so chose. He even mentioned about how in GTA3 that you could beat someone to death with a baseball bat, and keep pounding them and pounding them, even though they were dead, and the body wouldn’t disappear for a while. Glad to know I’m not the only sick fucker that figured that out too.

Anyway, now that I have the game, I can rest easy knowing that I can play it soon, and not have to worry about not finding it anywhere, even if that worry was unfounded. I’m really looking forward to the multiplayer aspect of the game, and I think I’ve already sold my brother on the idea of rampaging around Liberty City, and seeing how long we can last while being chased down by the cops.

Looking forward to it!

Snacks

• Two Black Diamond Cheestrings - part skim mozzarella
• One Black Diamond Cheestring - cheddar

Breakfast / Lunch

• The last chunk of the pork tenderloin butterflied stuffed (ricotta cheese, basil, baby spinach leaves, artichoke hearts, olive oil, salt’n’peppa)

Snacks

• Two light Babybels

Dinner

• One hand-made extra lean Cajun burger with Black Diamond Sargento Tacos and Nachos six cheese blend on top
• Veggies (red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, red onion, mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, olive oil, paprika, dill, thyme, garlic powder)

Breakfast

• A chunk of pork tenderloin butterflied stuffed (ricotta cheese, basil, baby spinach leaves, artichoke hearts, olive oil, salt’n’peppa)

Lunch

• Another chunk of pork tenderloin butterflied stuffed (ricotta cheese, basil, baby spinach leaves, artichoke hearts, olive oil, salt’n’peppa)
• Shared a bottle of Yellow Tail Merlot

Snacks

• One Black Diamond Cheestring - cheddar
• Shared half a bottle of Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon

Activity

• Rode the bike to one No Frills, then to another No Frills, and then home (4.5km)

Dinner

• Strip loin with Montreal Steak rub - 286g
• Veggies (red peppers, orange peppers, yellow peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, butter)
• Shared the last half of the bottle of Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon
• Shared a bottle of Rosemount Cabernet Merlot

I just came across this web comic entitled Dueling Analogs. While looking through the various post comics, I found myself laughing at the absurdity of the humour, and this one was the best so far:

http://www.duelinganalogs.com/comic/2008/02/28/this-is-portal/

I’m definitely going to check all of them out when I have the time, and in the meantime I’ve added them to my list of comic links. Web comics rock.

When it comes to sites that review games, I personally only check out IGN. They always seem to have pretty much my tastes in gaming, and their reviews are really good and down to the point. Also, they always have a healthy supply of images of the game before and after it is released, and they are pretty good about putting together video reviews, so you can see the game in action while they talk about it.

Anyway, the last time they gave ANY game a 10 out of 10 was for “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” almost 10 years ago (this post has a lot of “10″s), and that was a phenomenal game. For IGN, and pretty much any other gaming review site, to give a game a 10 out of 10, that says something, as they don’t just hand those scores out all the time.

Here’s IGN’s review on GTA IV (for the Xbox360 as I don’t have a PS3… yet):

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/869/869381p1.html

To say that I am eager to play this game is an understatement in the extreme.

Last night, I decided to surprise Molly with a new idea for dinner.

In the latest issue of Men’s Health, there was a recipe for “Super-Stuffed Tenderloin”. I’ve had a pork tenderloin in my freezer for the better part of a year; it weighed 2.5kg (just over 5 pounds), and it was on sale for about $10. Thing is, I’d never cooked pork before, and thought about butterflying it, but never got around to it, etc. It essentially became one of those “Oh, we should eat that soon as it’s taking up space in the freezer” things.

Anyway, as I read the recipe, it was stupid-easy, so I thought why the hell not. Here’s what they wrote:

What you’ll need:

• 2lb pork tenderloin
• 1 cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1 jar (5 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and diced
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

How to make it:

Ask your butcher to butterfly the loin, or do it yourself by splitting it down the center, cutting it almost but not all the way through, and then opening the two halves so they lie flat (the shape should resemble a butterfly). Stir the cheese, basil, spinach, and artichokes together and spread the mixture on the inside of the cut loin. Roll the loin closed and tie it with cord in at least five places. Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the pork in a roasting pan, brush it lightly with oil, and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Roast for 25-35 minutes. Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer (it should read 160F). Makes four servings.

Per serving:

• 350 calories
• 54g protein
• 7g carbs
• 10g fat (4g saturated)
• 1g fiber
• 280mg sodium

One thing I didn’t know where to get was the cord. I couldn’t even for the life of me remember what type of cord I needed, and I used to work in the meat department at Dominion while in high school, and my grandfather was a butcher back in the day too. Erol clued me in and reminded me it was “butcher’s twine”. Unfortunately, they don’t sell it at Dominion, but the butcher I asked was kind enough to give me some. As for where to get it from now on, he suggested a hardware store, of all places. Makes sense, I guess.

I didn’t follow the recipe completely to the letter, considering that the pork tenderloin I had was more than twice the size of the one they suggested. I ended up cooking it for about 70-75 minutes, cutting it twice over the course of the cooking time to see how it was doing as I don’t have a meat thermometer, although I think I’ll get one. Also, we used a glaze that was suggested on the plastic wrap for the pork tenderloin:

Mustard and herb crust:

Stir together:

• 1/2 cup (125ml) grainy or regular Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp (15ml) each of honey and vegetable oil
• 1 tsp (5ml) dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp (2ml) each salt and cracked black pepper
• 1/4 tsp (1ml) dried rosemary.

Spread on meat before roasting.

This glaze tasted AMAZING with the pork tenderloin, and it lent it a nice golden brown as it cooked.

In the end, Molly and I ate only a quarter of the thing, and we’ll be having pork for the next few meals. Even typing about it is making me hungry for a few pieces. As well, since I now know how to cook one of these things, it’d be great for when we have a bunch of friends over for a party or something, and don’t feel like ordering a pizza.

I tell ya, this healthy eating thing is a lot of fun.

So, I recently upgraded my Wordpress install to the latest version (something that should NEVER be done while hungover, but I digress) and sure enough, something went wrong. Good thing I backed up my site files and database content prior to doing thing, even if I didn’t need it to fix the issue; it’s nice to have the option of reverting everything back to how it was before you started fucking around…

Anyway, a plugin known as “Category Visibility-iPeat Rev” that I rely on to hide my “Sustenance” category from the main page, the category I use for my Meals & Activity section, failed to work with the new upgraded Wordpress. Instead of just hiding one category from the front page, it decided to hide them all. Sort of a big deal, seeing as how my main page was stating “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria”.

It’s not really the fault of the author of the plugin, as it did say that it was tested up to Wordpress v2.3.3, and I was surprised it worked for v2.5 at all, seeing as how many people were having issues with it. But, sure enough, testing fate I upgraded to v2.5.1, and it broke. Naturally, looking through the code didn’t lead me anywhere; let’s face it, I’m not an expert on PHP, and this is even more apparent when I’m hungover. As well, there aren’t many plugins out there for hiding categories, and v2.5.1 is pretty new… as in, released yesterday. So, I was faced with a decision: revert my site back to v2.5 (easy), or try to find another plugin that does the same job (be a stubborn bastard).

I opted for the latter.

With my last Wordpress site, I wanted to exclude the “Skate” category from the main page, so it could have it’s own section, and be mostly separate from the main site. I used a plugin known as “Advanced Category Excluder” and sure enough, after a bit of searching I found it again. While it also says it was tested up to Wordpress v2.3.3, I installed it, and hoped for the best. Sure enough, it did the trick, and my site is working properly again.

Long story short? When installing an upgrade, always do so when you’re NOT hungover, as it takes a bit to figure out what the hell is wrong, and also find a solution.

Lunch

• A big piece of pork tenderloin butterflied stuffed (ricotta cheese, basil, baby spinach leaves, artichoke hearts, olive oil, salt’n’peppa)