MID-MAY

We’re half way through the month of May, with June just around the corner. This technically is “spring” but today it rained like it was a monsoon and the temperatures were well below double digits tonight. Jackets and long pants are still the norm here. Meanwhile, the high in New York city tomorrow will be 32 degrees Celsius, with sunny skies.

Vancouver had a particularly rough winter this year, with an excessive amount of snow and days were the mercury dropped to ferociously low temperatures (at least for this region). I was hoping that we might get a pleasant spring but so far that hasn’t happened yet. Apparently, we might get a high of 20 on Friday, with no rain but we’ll have wait and see what happens.

I foresee a very typical short Vancouver summer in the future.

DISAPPOINTING HELPER

Today was Mother’s Day in North America but I ate dinner by myself because my family celebrated our Mom last week when restaurants weren’t so busy and the service isn’t so bad.

I didn’t really know what I wanted to make this evening but then I realized I had a box of salisbury Hamburger Helper sitting in one of my cupboards. Without looking further, I went to the grocery store to get meat and milk, which is required for required for this particular type of Hamburger Helper.

When I returned home, I grabbed the box out of the cupboard to begin my culinary journey. I’ve made salisbury Hamburger Helper countless times so I was kinda on autopilot for most of the cooking. When the time came to add the hot water to the saucepan, I casually glanced at the box, at which I noticed the recipe called for more hot water than usual. What was this? I looked at the box more carefully and I realized this was actually Beef Taco Hamburger Helper. Ugh. Some time in the past, I must have accidentally bought this instead of the salisbury version.

Well, I didn’t have any other boxes of Helper at home so I was pretty much committed at this point. I followed through and made Beef Taco Hamburger Helper. It wasn’t very good at all. The box came with this odd cheese topping mix that you put on after it’s all ready. That was not good either.

I know people make fun of Hamburger Helper for being not tasty but honestly, salisbury is the only one worth making. Now I gotta eat the leftovers tomorrow. Bleh.

TRUMP RESPONDS TO COLBERT

Since Trump took the office of the President, Stephen Colbert has launched an unending series of comedic salvos at the orange one. Just recently, Colbert let loose his most devastating attack, going as far as saying Trump was Putin’s “cock holster“.

Surprisingly, Trump has been silent on the matter for weeks, even though he has demonstrated he can be easily baited and manipulated. He is silent no more however, as he finally commented on Colbert via an interview with Time magazine.

In the video above, Colbert responds to the comments (which are summarized in the video as well). Let’s just say he doesn’t feel too bad about Trump’s rebuke.

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH TV FOOD?

Do you like food, TV shows, and movies? If so, I think I might have some videos for you. Specialty “chef” and filmmaker Andrew Rea makes unique videos on YouTube where he attempts to recreate recipes and food items from popular TV shows and movies.

In the above video, Rea tries to tackle some of the many food items mentioned in Seinfeld, a show that some of you might have seen before. Are you a fan of the muffin top and just the top? Watch the video above. Are you familiar with the “Moistmaker“? You’re in luck as well!

LOCAL ELECTION

No time for a length post tonight as I was following the results of the provincial election. If you were not aware, this province had a general election today. It was my hope the results would lead to a wholesale regime change and the removal of Christy Clark from political office. Unfortunately, the latest reports indicate this won’t likely happen. I’m disappointed and this will mean this province will continue to head in the wrong direction for many more years.

VIDEO GAME DUMPSTER DIVING

On the weekend I found myself on that YouTube site when a random video popped on my “recommended” list. I’m not even sure why I clicked it in the first place. The video started out immediately with a dude inside a dumpster. Within a minute or so, I realized this wasn’t just any old dumpster but a dumpster outside a Gamestop store, which sells video games and video game accessories.

Essentially, this dude was dumpster diving but just for the trash that Gamestop threw out. For the next ten minutes or so, I watched this young man empty out the contents of several trash bags, looking for video games, consoles, controllers, and anything game related. The things he wanted he collected off to the side. At the end of the video, he quickly went over all the items he found and wanted to keep.

I’d never seen a video like this before, which combined dump diving and video games. I found myself oddly entertained. Since this gentleman had uploaded over 200 such videos, I kept on watching. At first, I wasn’t even sure why I wanted to see more, I just knew it offered me some unique entertainment.

After viewing about a dozen of these videos, I sorta grasped why I kept on watching and why this channel has over 400k subscribers. The videos have an element of surprise and the unknown. No one knows what’s going to be in the dumpster and in those bags. You watch because it’s random and there could be some amazing free stuff in the dumpster. It’s the same reason why people love watching those shows where they bid on storage lockers. Another reason why the videos are so good is the enthusiasm of the young gentleman who goes into the dumpster almost nightly. He seems genuinely excited each and every night that he makes a video. He’s excited when he finds a free game but he’s also excited when he finds just an empty game case. His joy comes through and you feel his satisfaction.

The videos also reveal a lot about how this particular Gamestop treats their garbage. I’m shocked at the lack of recycling that goes on. When the bags are emptied, you frequently see plastic bottles and aluminum cans. These should not be in the dumpster. They should be separated and put with the recycling. There’s also way too much plastic in the garbage. He frequently finds empty game cases which are made of plastic that can be recycled. There’s also so much paper thrown away that also can be recycled. If I were Gamestop and saw these videos I’d be embarrassed how much waste goes into the garbage. Their corporate recycling program either must be terrible or terribly enforced.

Anyways, in the above video, I selected one of his dives that turned out to be pretty productive. I hope you enjoy the video in a weird way.

CLASSIC LETTERMAN

David Letterman is now well into his much deserved retirement but after decades on TV, there’s so much material to reflect upon. One of the best things he put on the air was his viewer mail segment. Back when there was no Twitter nor e-mail, the only way for the public to contact his show was through old fashioned postal mail. Every week he’d answer a few letters from his fans and by gosh, if he answered your letter, that was like winning the lottery. I never got the courage to write Dave a letter but the few times that someone from Vancouver got a letter read on air I was so proud.

In the above special viewer mail segment, Dave went a step further than usual and decided to answer a letter in person. Watch the whole video for a special treat.

BOOM

I was walking to my bus stop, on my way home this evening. I had perhaps twenty feet to go from the stop when I heard some tires skidding to my right. I looked over and saw a small SUV smash into the rear of another SUV that had been stopped. It was your classic rear-ender. I didn’t see what happened before I heard the tires skidding but it seems like a reasonable guess that the first SUV braked way too late. The rear of the second SUV was all smashed in and the front of first SUV wasn’t in great shape either.

Luckily, it didn’t seem like either driver was hurt as both jumped out immediately to start taking pictures and exchanging information. The dude that got hit seemed really annoyed but he was not overtly angry at the person who hit him. This was no small fender bender though and I predict thousands of dollars in expensive repairs for both cars.

There was no time to gawk any further for me however, as my bus pretty much arrived less than a minute after the crash happened. I wouldn’t say this particular intersection is accident prone but this isn’t the first time I’ve come across an accident in this exact same location.

QUITE THE MONOLOGUE

Stephen Colbert’s ratings for his show have rocketed upwards since an idiot took office in the White House. He regularly has criticized Trump but he recently took it up a notch during one of his monologues. This is some amazing stuff and I really hope the man with a fragile ego saw it.