Highlights Magazine

 I really am curious how many people DID NOT grow up with this magazine in your life. I'm almost convinced if you're 5 years older or younger than me, you had this in your house growing up. 

It was a magazine for kids. With cartoons, articles and games inside. My great aunt bought us a subscription every year for Christmas when we were kids. It was a staple around the household. 

My favorite part? The one where you look at two pictures and try to find all the differences between them. 

Fun times. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Omegles

A real blast from the past are these giant tinker toy like toys we had as a kid. So big, you could make them into a car, table and chairs, a house, ANYTHING!

We made guns and wands out of them a lot too as we were older. Our grandmother bought these for us one Christmas and we went nuts with them back in the day! 

I'm shocked to see them still around to this day....for $369. But it's one HUGE box. 

Still not worth it for me, but as they say in Fiddler on a Roof. "If I were a rich man...."

Pepsi Peeps

 No. 

Never. 

Megan tried it and liked it. I'm still on my diet. 

But even if I wasn't.....yuck. 

Why do we get THIS and not Crystal Pepsi!?

Injustice. 

Survior South Africa: Immunity Island

 On to season 8!

So what did they have interesting this season?

Unfortunately this one was filmed off the coast of South Africa due to the ongoing pandemic conditions in 2021, so it really led to some underwhelming scenery and you could tell they were anywhere exotic. 

In fact, it was revealed in the post show that it was an area owned by a hotel who sectioned it off for them to film in exchange for being a sponsor. There was a big commercial for them in the end. Really underwhelming. 

For a reward challenge, they even got to play at the waterpark on site. Eeee.

But it wasn't without its Survivor "firsts"

In the begining when gathering supplies there were 2 immunity idols in plain site on poles. Only one person could get them but in exchange, everyone knew they had it. Interesting concept. 

There was also something called "diplomatic immunity" where 1 person from each tribe had a chance to jump ship if they wanted. Since teams kept getting mixed up (4 times during the team round) I thought you'd see someone take advantage of that. But neither did so we never got to see it in action which would've been nice. 

The worst thing about the season? The cast. Almost ALL boring and NONE of them had a clue of how to play the game. 

One girl couldn't understand why her new tribe didn't like her....as she sat in front of them eating cookies from a previous award she won with her prior team and NOT sharing with the rest of them. 

She was voted out that night. 

Another group complained someone was taking food back with him from challenges (which is against the rules) but when they called the guy out for it he turned it back around on them and how they did the SAME EXACT thing at an earlier challenge. 

Everyone looked like kindergarteners.

There was a neat "pairing" challenge where 2 people at random had their fates tied together. Meaning if someone won immunity it would apply to both of them, whereas is someone got voted off, the other would share its fate. 

Really good stuff!

Another was a "fire" idol which took the top 2 people getting votes and have them face off in a fire challenge. It was only used once and didn't matter because the same person with the most votes left anyway. 

The final reward was pretty good too. The winner not only got immunity but a chance to sit and chat with a council member of their choice!!! Excellent idea!

That being said, the ONLY halfway interesting character of the season was "Chappies"

He had NO game plan only towards the end when everyone in his alliance was voted out was to win 7 challenges in a row to stay in the game. But in the end he lost the FINAL challenge and was voted out immediately giving a coat-tail rider the win. 

Sadly, this one wasn't as good as the past 2 but it's alright. The next one I understand, has returning players coming back. And THAT, I'm ready to see!! 

Top 5 Mini-Epxansions/Promos I want!

 It's a short list today but I thought I'd go for it today!

This may be in order but I'd love to get the Queenies for Pioneers!

In my experience, queenies enrich every Queen Game. And though I already enjoy this one, I'm sure I'd love it more if I had these added.

Don't know how big an impact it would make in the gameplay but it even the simpliest rule changes can bring out an entirly different gameplay. 

I LOVE Lords of Waterdeep but this promo is KILLING me! It cost $75 and that's the cheapest I've ever seen it. I can't pay that much but I'm a completist and would love to have this one to make my copy complete!

The Chocolatiers Mini-Expansion for Chocolate Factory is the one that hurts me the most because I ordered the last one on their website, only to discover they'd already sold out. 

I was ONE away!

But now it's completely out of my reach since I see jokers trying to get away with selling it for $100. 

I love having extra options for my factory but at that price? Nope!

Mini-Review: Century A New World G1H1 Promo

 Got this in a month ago. I'm a big fan of the game and have always wondered how big of a difference this board makes. 

The answer? Not that big. But not bad either. The mini-expansion is double-sided with lots of new actions and trades to choose from. What's interesting with this promo is that there are fields that allow you to take an additional action and even WIPE the score cards from the top of the board!

This is great in that it allows you to get more combo's that may help you during the game as well as knock goals away from others. I REALLY like that action and we used it a couple of times for both reasons. 

Since it's only one space it's never overused and I believe this promo adds more variety to an already great game so it's worth getting in my opinion.

Have a good weekend folks!

Games on the Radar

 Today I thought I'd talk about a few games I have my eye on getting one day (but not now)

I feel I was a bit hasty letting this one go from my collection so soon. I really enjoyed it, but got tied up in the excitment of a trade and let it go. 

I regret it now. Pretty solid area control game that held a lot of strategy in what moves you made each turn. 

I feel this one will return to my collection again one day. 

On and off on this one over the past few years. I like the marble mechanism, just wish someone had a playthrough for it. I feel this game is right up my alley but haven't made the dive for it....yet. 

Relatively cheap to find, it looks interesting and I do love me some Queen Games, but I feel this is one I really need to play for before buying. Though I will admit, in playthroughs, it does look interesting. 

Who knows? By the time this post is out I might own one (or all) of the games above. Only time will tell. 

Pibb Xtra Zero

 Finally got a chance to try this after searching EVERYWHERE for it!

I friend of min from Houston came in last month and delivered 3 to my door step. (to which I'm eternally gratful for) 

So what's the taste? Relatively the same but with a little less after taste than the real thing. 

Which is better? The REAL Pibb Xtra of course! 

But during my diet, I can't have that. But I CAN have this. So it'll do for now!

Lining the garbage can

 I've noticed something over the years...no one likes placing a new bag in the garbage can after someone else takes it out. 

A common courtesy I think nothing about at our beach vacation when I see someone trucking out the garbage. I'm more than happy to replace the bag but NO ONE else will do it. 

It's almost as if when you take it upon yourself to take out the garbage, you are responsible for replacing it. 

Weird. But the same thing happens in my household. Megan won't replace the bag no matter what. 

The bags are two steps away on a shelf in the broom closet, but NO. She'll pile trash up on the counter until I finally replace it. I just don't understand that. 

I'd rather have someone else take out the garbage for me instead. Replacing the bag is the simple part of the process. But for some reason, no one likes doing it. 

At least around here. 

Diet Update (Phase 2 begins!)

 Today I began Phase 2 of the diet. As of today, all veggies and fruits have entered the diet! I'm happy about my progress so far. I thought I'd never see size 36 again but as of now, they fit fine. Maybe a little lose. I got a belt but it's not needed much at this point. Maybe that will change as the weeks go by. 

But I'm motivated to keep this going! With each phase, it'll only get easier!

At the moment, I just pretend I'm on Survivor and winning with every phase I complete. Gotta make a game out of this or you'll go crazy!

Island of Secrets (review)

 Man oh man, this series gets better with each passing season!

I got A LOT to say about this one!

First off. they started with a reward challenge to gather food for the season (and unlike the American version these people all well fed during the game) but during the challenge everyone is blind except for the 3 people who were voted "the weakest" of their tribe. 

One guy immediatly saw that there was an immunity idol and has his team blindly deliver it to him with no one the wiser! Brilliant move! (and sadly the only one he would made for the entire game)

A former Ms South Africa was on the seaon and came close to winning (thanks to sour grapes from the tribal council) but thankfully didn't. They paired her up with another contestant from the beauty pageant that year who didn't even finish in the  first qualifing round. In her interview, Ms Cape Town made a vow to outlast her competitor this time, talking about how she was able to charm people in the pageant but Ms Cape Town would do a better job in the game.

She was the first voted off because she couldn't connect to her tribe while Ms South Africa had an allience with everyone after day 1. 

Set. Spike. Match. History repeats itself. 

A new twist this season was that the tribes would play for Immunity and Rewad at the same time. Two tribes got immunity but one got a bigger reward and 2nd place got a smaller one. Brillant aspect to add to the game!

This year held the "Island of Secrets" where the winning tribe (or winner of indiviual challenges) chose someone from the losing tribe (or just another castwaway during the individual game) to be sent away. The only problem was...you were helping that person get an advantage in the game!

Here's a list of some of the rewards the island held:

1) Protection from tribal that night (meaning you wouldn't come back until after tribal the next day)

2) A reward stealing challenge (you replace a winner or someone they picked to go)

3) See family member early. (before the reward challenge)

4) Tons of food options. (I'm telling you, they feed them well)

5) An idol only good for the next tribal

6) 2 halves of an idol split between two players to use (trust was the key)

7) Option to choose a new tribe (after a shakeup)

8) Nothing (only happened once but each castaway used this story all the time and no one ever believed them)

When it became an indiviual game that's when Rob took complete control of the game. Out of the 14 people in the game, all but ONE thought they were going to the end with Rob. They obeyed whatever Rob said, told him about what other tribe members said. It was incredible to watch. 

Boston Rob is a joke compared to this guy. It was like seeing everyone fawn over a celebrity and promise him anything, while getting nothing in return. 

Dante was the only one who could see what was going on. The whole time he was in the game, he tried telling people about Rob. And as each of them left (Sherill, Goeff, Mmba) he tried warning them that they were going home that night and each of them refused to believe him. Dante was eventually voted off because Rob had enough of him, trying to destroy his game. 

Mmba even left the game with an idol in her pocket she'd just gotten. Dante warned her she was on the chopping block and she knew she was outside the allience with Rob but she STILL didn't play it because Rob (the god king) told her she was ok. 

Amazing idiocracy. 

Then we get to the "Misfit" allience. 4 poeple who thought they controlled the game....and were the worst players in Survivor history. 

Here's how they went down:

Tanya - No one liked her. Not even her allience wanted her. She was the first of the four voted off. 

Seeway - An outcast from her first tribe, when the merge happened Rob invited her back in and she despertly fawned for his attention and agreed. The whole time she kept saying how she was in charge of the game, so Rob voted her out to show her the real truth. She was pissed at the last tribal council about it and refused to vote for Rob who had correctly pointed out that she tried to betray his allience which was the reason she was voted out. 

Jacque- Maybe the biggest idiot on the season? Had several advantages and idols during the season and wasted them ALL during the game. He could never read his tribe or the situation. He was in the dark when making decisions and had ZERO impact in the game. His game was SO bad that no one talked to him his last remaining days before being voted off because he had pushed so many of them away. 

Duras - He made it to the end but only because he was the dumbest player ever to play the game. He followed Rob like a little puppy, reported any conspiracy against Rob. Rob loved that and kept him to the end because of it. But what makes him so stupid is when he found out the truth (that he was being used) he STILL voted however Rob asked him too in the end, even though he could've flipped on him and changed the game. 

Incredible ignorance. 

As expected, he received no votes in the end. 

Lastly is Latisha, an old woman they kept around because she couldn't win challenges and was unpopular with the others. She was even notified (at 6) that she wasn't going to the end, but refused to believe the truth until the voted her out exactly when they'd told her she'd be voted out. 

She was pissed. But I still don't know why. She was TOLD she would be going home at 4! 

As aggravating as it was to watch, it was amazing to see Rob have that much control in the game. Never seen anything like it. 

Even in her final speech, Ms South Africa shot herself in the foot when she bragged about being the person who devliered all the information to Rob the entire game. Making her look like the biggest tool in the game. It was hilarious. 

Great season. Onward to the next!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

 It's that time of year to dress like an idiot, remember to wear green and drink green beer tonight. 

I'll be home with my kids. Thanks. 

Hurt finger

 Meridian hurt her finger last month at Day Care and which one do you think it was? 

When I came in that afternoon to pick her up she said "Hey Dad!" and then shot me the bird. 

When I didn't know how to take it, she informed me that she had hurt it and wanted a band aid. 

I made sure she showed all her teachers and the Day Care manager before we left. Even told her to show all her friends befoe we left. 

I may not be the best dad.....but it was a good day.

Fun facts!

 Now that several more studies have come out about masks being ineffective during the pandemic, I find it funny the news networks fail to cover it. 

Wanting to move on from their own blunders of how they handled things, I suppose it makes sense. 

But I read the most hilaious study on masks yet. Get this: Ugly people are more likely to continue wearing masks. 

Love it. 

Most likely true.

Why bother with Birthday Cake?

 Why do we even buy birthday cake anymore? No one eats cake that much these days. There's ALWAYS leftovers and we ALWAYS end of throwing it away!

In fact, people give us cake to take to....that eventually gets thrown away. Happens EVERY time!

The solution?

Stop buying cake for birthdays. Go with cookie cake, or pies?! Everyone loves a pie! Or a cobbler! Just saying, why are we buying cake we throw 80% away when it's all said and done?

Makes no sense. 

Survivor South Africa: Phillipines

 

Another GREAT season!

So many characters and twists to talk a about!

First off, characters...

Martinez: Totally clueless about the game, making friends, everything. He insulted others, already had a speech filled out in his coat pocket when he arrived and ended up quitting the game when he found out he was on the outs anyway. 

A doctor who would've won it all but when home early when he got WAY too cocky too early. 

Werner: A pastor who had the game LOCKED but at the final four, everyone woke up to the fact and voted him out at the last minute. 

Tom: Bull headed, worst social gme of the all. Anyone in an allience with him quickly backed out (except for Werner) People kept him on because they knew they could win against him. He valued his honor among everything and said he'd never betray someone unless they betrayed him. 

He broke that promise in the final 4 when money was on the line and betrayed Werner. 

Then he ended up winning in a landslide. 

The person he was against was a coattail rider, totally oblivious to the game being played until it got to the final 4 and the jury thought she woke up too late in the game to deserve it. 

I agree. 

Twists.

This season didn't dissappoint. With new challenges I've never seen before and twists that came out of nowhere!

NO two hidden idols looked the same, so if someone saw someone else with one they might not even notice it because it looked different than theres. EXCELLENT strategy. Idols could now hide in plain sight with no one the wiser. What's that? A coin? A ball? Beads? Could be nothing....or it could be an idol. 

There was one tribal council where two tribes where brought in at the same time to vote someone off their tribe. I was confused as to why they would do this at first but afterwards it became one of the biggest twists I've ever seen made. 

You were voting them off your TRIBE....not from the game! Therefore, the two member who got voted off, switched tribes AND had the choice to bring someone from their old tribe with them. Either as a shield or ally. BRILLIANT.

The 3rd twist I enjoyed was at the final 2. Not only did the winner of the immunity challenge get to vote someone out but the twist was they also got to vote someone off the COUNCIL!!!

This is HUGE when you think about it because you don't know who's in your corner or not. I loved it. 

Another great season! I'm moving on to the next one!

Santa Bowl Update III

 We're just counting down the months until the next Santa Bowl and this week's announcement completes out "Date, Place and Time" information. 

We're moving kickoff up an hour to 1pm this year. We figure that way we won't feel so rushed to get the game over as dusk creeps in. 

So to sum it all up: Dec 10th, 1pm at Forsythe Park!

Stay tuned for other exciting news updates!

Activity Center Toy

 This was a baby toy that we attached to the crib so the baby would have something to play with while they were sitting in their crib. 

Later on we detached it and would play around with it here or there along with any crawler we had around the house at the time. 

Not the best toy but very memorable from my childhood. 

Tommy Tutor Typewriter

 Man did I play this toy back in the day!

The back piece counted up to 10 so each time you pushed the typewriter back it'd go to the next number. And even though there were several keys, there was only 4 sections to push where all the keys would press down. 

I don't know why I played with this so much (and for so long) as I did, but it's a classic toy from my childhood, that's for sure!

Super Juniors Squeeze Toys

 Another toy from my childhood I remember having. If I'm correct we just had Superman and Wonder Woman for some reason. But I knew there was a Batman and Robin too as a kid and I wanted them so bad but we never got them. 

These weren't posable and we were for younger kids but anything Batman and Robin....I wanted. 

Sit N Drive

 I remember us having one of these when I was a kid. I used to sit with it in my lap on holiday trips to my grandparent's house, pretending I was the one driving us on the highway. 

Wild to think it can with an ash tray. But those were the good ole days!

I also think it made a noise when you turned the key but it's been so long I could be wrong. Anyway, was thinking about it today while talking to my girls about it and wondered if I could find a pic. 

I could swear out stick shift was yellow and looked slightly different than this, but I could be wrong. 

Orleans N1-N5 Promos (mini-review)

 Last month I bought all the remaining promos I'd yet to have to finally complete my Orleans collection!

Being a huge fan of the game, I just had to have all that came with it. And these were easy to find off the publishers site in Germany. 

Though I've played the game recently, I can't say I'll played with all these tiles because I shuffled them up in their respected decks. 

But I will say if you're a fan of the game this would be worth it. It's always great to have extra options for buildings during games and a lot of these seem unique to me!

The whole set cost me $24 (shipping included) SO that's around $4.20 for 3 tiles each. Worth it, if you're a big fan like me, of course you'll have to make the call if it's worth it for you as well. 

Top Kickstarters I'm looking forward to in 2023!

 Wow! When the year started I only had one kickstarter left to fund. Now I have 4!

So today, I'm counting down the ones I have coming in 2023. 

This was a late pledge but one I'd been going back and fourth on for quite some time. I finally decided to get it after missing out on an opportunity to grab a new cube shelf from Ikea earlier this year, since they were both around the same price. 

It looks like a better "Big City" A game that's been slowly sinking on my list. What makes this one more attractive is the smart decsions you have to make and the timing of when those descions need to be made. 

It looks like a deluxe edition and the box is HUGE but I've heard good things and like what I see in playthroughs online. This one should come in towards the end of the summer. 

Haven't been a fan of the Dice Tower for a while now. Their reviewers are boring and incomplete and their content has really gone downhill over the years as they've become bigger. But I decided to go ahead and support them on Kickstarter because I'm a completist and this is cheapest way I'll ever be able to get these promos. 

Worth it? Maybe, maybe not. I will say this was the only Kickstarter I backed that came with a warning that the creators of the kickstarter are not responsible for producing said rewards. 

Always a confidence builder when I see that. 

Marvel United S3 was an insta-back for me. I've enjoyed the past two so I had to go all in for the 3rd. Although I will admit it's a very weak wave of characters. 

Outside of Galactus, there's hardly a handful of characters I'm interested in. Hopefully this is finally the last one they do and get this kicked off into DC!

Due out 2 years ago, I'm finally getting it this summer (fingers crossed) I want this one the most so I can show the girls the picture of them as Zombies, they posed for when they were 2 years old! 

I'm not too upset about hte delay. Kerrie (the owner) hasn't been the best at putting these together. They always run over on getting these games delivered. Hopefully this is one I'll be playing before the rest of the Kickstarters come in. 

7Up

 I know Pepsi came out with a new lemon lime drink called Starry this year, but I still haven't tried it. Instead, I opted to try 7Up again. I remember loving it as a kid and wanted to know if it holds up.

It does. Much better than Sprite (which I don't like) this has a lighter sweeter taste and you really pick up more of the flavors than in Sprite. 

Not something I'd have all the time but every once in a while, I'll be happy to give it a try!

Survivor South Africa: Champions

 Just finished this season and....they finally got it right. 

This was an excellent season. It had everything! Great characters, great challenges and twists. It felt like old school GOOD ole Survivor!

This season they took 2 retired sports players (popular in South Africa) from Rugby and Soccer and had them lead the 2 teams. They couldn't get voted out, but they weren't contenders for the million either. 

When the team merged the captains took on new roles as they battled privately every day for the "Redemption Cup" that burned one vote at tribal for a member of their choice. 

Good idea but never made a difference at any of the votes so it kind of fell flat. But I liked the general idea. 

As for characters....man they had some good ones! (spoilers ahoy!!!)

Savion was an arrogant beast of the man who gloated over the weaker members on his tribe, telling them to their faces they wouldn't last long.

After the first tribal council the weak formed a stronger reliance and started voting out all his alliance members. Savion did a complete 180 and was nothing but humble for the next 24 days of the game...until he thought he finally had the upper hand again and become his old arrogant self. Telling the 2 remaining weak players in the game goodbye in advance as he gloated over their eventual withdrawal from the game.  

Only to be STUNNED by a hidden immunity idol one of them had (and the producers of the show let the viewers know it) and he was out. Amazing. 

Shivu, a weak kid who dominated the end of the game in the final two challenges and pulled off a HUGE blindside of Savion. The votes were set to go his way but in the end before the jury, he got to high an opinion of the player he was and talked like he DESERVED the million more than anyone on the jury! Literally losing 3 votes and losing the entire game. 

It was such a disaster that someone who outright told him she'd be voting for him (at the beginning of the jury stage) ended up switching her vote after hearing Shivu's pride take over his persona. Unbelievable. 

Shane, the mastermind who had BOTH immunity idols and got voted off even when he suspected a blindside but greedily held on to his idols instead of risk them. 

Shona, who started on the outs but midway through found herself in the most powerful alliance in the game...until she made a STUPID mistake to steal the idol from someone and get busted for it....immediately voted off that night. Brutal. 

Buthle the coattail rider who thought she deserved to win because she won the last challenge....and did nothing else of meaning. She got 2 pity votes and the rest of the jury told her she wasn't getting their vote or attention during the final council. 

Graham, the winner. Who was a jerk, but made the right decisions at the right time. The jury rightfully hated him for it but amazingly he turned most of them around in the end with his speech about how the winner shouldn't win by "pity" vote but by who played the game the best. 

That would never work in America but it worked in South Africa. 

Wonderful season. Looking forward to the next!