Felix the Roomba

Video I made for those who have not seen/heard of Roombas. Plus I wanted to use my camcorder :)

Cooking!

Since I've been living on my own, I've been cooking. I ate out way too much over the last year so this is a nice change.

Here's some of the things I've made:

Steak with Garlic Pasta and Salad

Omelette with hashbrowns and sausage

Chicken Fusilli with Toast

Creamy Tortellini Carbonera with Garlic Fingers

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

The cookies are addictive! I made one batch and I didn't even take any to work... I made another batch the week after and they disappeared when I shared with my coworkers.

I've made some other things besides the above... Pretty much everything I make comes from a recipe found on KraftCanada.com. More cooking/baking to come.

First Post for "Wayne's Waterloo Wander"

Alright, so since I'm far-and-away from most of my family, I thought I would convert my rarely used blog into something more communicative. I intend to use it as an update board for my friends and family that I don't get a chance to talk to that often.

Okay, so the first thing I'm going to post is this...

Most people will look at this and not get it. Some others might be more intuitive and recognize it to be Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.

Here's another thing most will miss - it is basically a cheat sheet to finishing the game.

Now why did I make this? It started off with me getting an internship in Waterloo with Research In Motion (by the way: no, I can't get you a free BlackBerry). After starting work and realizing the cubicle is pretty plain, I began thinking of ways to decorate. Some traditional things came to mind like plants and photos... but that wasn't good enough for me. I needed something bigger and more unique. This led to the creation of a 53"x25" poster showing the following levels from the original Super Mario Bros.:

1. World 1-1
2. World 1-2
3. World 4-1
4. World 4-2 (unfortunately missing the bonus area due to size)
5. World 8-1
6. World 8-2
7. World 8-3
8. World 8-4

By knowing the proper warp pipes to take, a game of 32 levels can be completed through 8.

Time to complete: ~6 hours.

There is the possibility that I may cover my entire cubicle with all of the levels from the game (or possibly another Super Mario game). I haven't decided yet.

Oh, and I'm still thinking of getting a bamboo plant.

OMG: Beijing 2008 in Lego form

This was too good not to post on here... It's the Beijing Olympics made in Lego. 

I can only imagine the amount of time and effort required to make these... I'm in awe.

See the rest at Daily Mail.

Summer of Gaming: Rock Band (PS3)

After a bit of hiatus from writing, I'm back.

Rock Band (PS3)

Play Time: over 50 hours

Progress: 

Completed "Endless Setlist" - gained Legendary status

1 song left on Expert guitar

Over 1/2 done expert drums

Singing... I suck (aka stuck on Medium)

I first played Rock Band back in October 2007. I immediately enjoyed it, even though I only played Bass guitar (I had never played Guitar Hero before either, so I was still pretty n00b). I played with friends a couple more times and starting playing other instruments. I stayed away from drums as they were pretty intimidating. That changed IMMEDIATELY after I tried them. (read: TRY DRUMS!)

I bought the game disc and a generic guitar for my PS2 in November and quickly caught on to the instrument. I went on to finish guitar on hard, and all but 2 songs on expert :( ("Flirtin' With Disaster" and "Green Hills and High Tides" in case you were wondering). In February 2008 I got the full set (for PS2) and took up drumming. This past May I finally upgraded to a PS3. Luckily, all the peripherals transfer to the PS3 from PS2. I only needed to buy a new game disc. I have to say I am very, very glad I did. The multiplayer experience in the PS3/Xbox360 version is so great (they limited it in the PS2 verision FYI).

The gameplay is great. I prefer the Rock Band guitars over the Guitar Hero guitars for their frets and general feel. The drums are great and I haven't broken a thing (...yet, *knock on wood*), unlike most others I know. I think the singing works well... just not for me (or I suck, which is very likely). I'll stick to the instruments.

Final thing I have to say - I (and some friends) were crazy and took on the "Endless Setlist". That's all 58 standard Rock Band songs played in one set. This means no breaks in between (save for loading time). We completed it in about 4.4 hours. I was in pain after playing drums for all the songs. Some of the time was also used to replay a couple songs that we failed (I think every instrument failed the band on a song at least once through all the songs). Final verdict on "Endless Setlist" - it was crazy fun.

Random Video of Rock Band (not us...)

My Recommendation:

Isn't it obvious? INSANELY recommended!

Summer of Gaming: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii)

Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (Wii)

Playtime: just under 4 hours

Rayman Raving Rabbids is about mini-games. Your goal is to try to do the best in each mini-game. These games range from carrying sandwiches to running from boulders to playing music. Each of the games has their own amusing attributes, mainly topped off with the craziness that is the rabbids. They are just goofy, seemingly rabbid rabbits.

Here's a video, but it's not mine. It's just something I found on YouTube, as (again) I didn't have enough time to make a recording.

Here's one thing I forgot to include on my other posts in the "Summer of Gaming" series - my recommendation.

My Recommendation:
I recommend giving this game a shot, but it didn't take too long to finish so I call it a rental (rather than a purchase). However, it would make a good party game, so buy away if you are stocking up on party games.

For those who have been reading all of my "Summer of Gaming" posts and want to know what my recommendations are for those, go back to them as I've updated them.

Summer of Gaming: Cooking Mama 2 (DS)

Cooking Mama 2 - Dinner with Friends (DS)

Playtime: lost track... somewhere over 4 hours

Today's entry is Cooking Mama 2 - Dinner with Friends for the Nintendo DS. This game involves preparing various recipes - like Meat Loaf, Cake, Cookies, Lobster, and Seafood Cocktail. These all include different tasks like cutting, dicing, sifting, mixing, grinding, boiling, and folding. I've been playing for a while and still haven't stopped unlocking recipes (hopefully soon... I have other games to play!). It also makes a great multiplayer game and I'm looking for a group of people to try it out (so far only played 1 vs 1). Needless to say, this game makes great use of the hardware, the touch screen being ideal for this. It even makes use of the mic.

Video is back. I'm making Macaroons!

My Recommendation:
Fun! Definitely recommended. It takes a good while to completely finish it (still working on it).

That's all for today's post.