King of Thieves

Well I sure haven’t posted anything in a while..

So here I am to talk about a new mobile game I’ve been playing which is pretty decent.  It’s called King of Thieves, and it’s another one of those “free to play but limited things to do before you have to wait for a recharge to do more things, unless you pay money to satiate your impatience” games that I’m pretty ambivalent about.  But I rarely felt like the game was robbing me of enjoyment by forcing me to wait, so it’s not bad as far as those games go.

The result is that this game is best enjoyed casually, once or twice a day in 5-10 minute sessions, unless you’re super competitive and want to reach the top of your league.  As such, I don’t think this game warrants a long-winded review.  Basically, you set up your home base (dungeon) with obstacles and defenses, and you raid other dungeons which are either owned by other players or provided as stages on a map.  The game plays like a platformer, except your blobby ninja guy just runs on his own, and you tap the screen to jump.  To change direction, you have to jump off of walls.  So timing is the name of the game, and if you make it past the dungeon’s defenses and get to the treasure then you’ll be rewarded with gold and/or gems.  There are leagues to make things competitive, and guilds to add a social element.

Pretty decent game.  I’ll give it a 7 out of 10.  That’s 28 thieves out of 40.

Download links:
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zeptolab.thieves.google
iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/king-of-thieves/id952715194?mt=8

Mezzetta Garlic stuffed olives

It's weird, I was never a fan of olives, but on a whim one time at Costco I bought some Mezzetta Garlic Stuffed Olives.  I do love garlic, raw or otherwise, and olives are actually a really good complement to them.  I was hooked.. I'd go to eat one out of the jar, and ended up eating at least three every time.  After I finished the jar, I went back to Costco and they no longer had them in stock.  But they carried Tassos Double Stuffed Jalapeno/Garlic super mammoth olives, so I bought some.

Here is a side by side pic.  You'll notice that the jar on the left is almost empty, and somewhat foggy, while the one on the right is clear and full. That's because the Tassos jar has been sitting in the fridge for months and months, because they're really not that good.  Luckily for me, Costco is carrying the Mezzetta ones again.

  Here's a pic of the Tassos with olives inside. There are no herbs or anything that really adds flavor, and as much as I also like jalapeno, I don't think it mixes into the brine or whatever very well.  The Mezzetta olives are marinated in herbs and chardonnay, and it really gives it a great flavor.  If I have any complaint it's that some of the olives are a little too salty.

I would give the Mezzetta olives an 8/10, while the Tassos gets a 5/10.

Well, there you have it, a blog post comparing two brands of garlic stuffed olives.  Fun stuff.

Yogo Vera aloe drink

a.k.a Yogur de Savila. I really like the strawberry flavor, pictured to the right.  You can find it at your local asian supermarket probably?

It tastes a lot like this sweet milky "soft drink" on the left (also available at asian supermarkets).. but with little bits of aloe vera floating in the drink.  The soft drinks are pretty good too, if you just feel like wetting your lips with flavor.  They're tiny.

If you've never had an aloe vera drink, I recommend you try that too!  It doesn't taste like lotion, I promise.  It's sweet and delicious.  Here's a pic:

Recently I bought a bottle of strawberry Calpico because it was on sale.  Calpico is a similar milky drink, but without the aloe vera bits.  I actually found it a little too sweet and not having as good of a flavor as Yogo Vera.  According to Wikipedia, Calpico is called Calpis outside of the US.  They changed it to Calpico because Calpis sounds like "cow piss".

My lock picking tools

I ordered my first set of lock picks on June 18th of this year (1.5 months ago), along with a few locks to practice with.  I've been able to pick the Kwikset deadbolts that I have, but up until a few days ago I've never been able to pick my Master Locks, which are supposedly one of the easier locks to pick, and one that lock picking folks often tell newbies to start with.  It is so gratifying to finally pick this lock.

Anyway, I decided that the achievement would spawn the first of my posts on lock picking.  This post is just some eye candy to show the tools I've been using, and the locks I've been practicing with.  Later I might post a brief introduction to the mechanics of lock picking, as well as a log of future achievements.

On to the pic[k]s!

Schlagwerk DC300 Cajonito review

A little while back I was all about cajons.  They're basically wooden boxes that you sit on and beat with your hands.  Here's some videos: here and here; they sound pretty cool, right?  So I decided to buy one, because I love banging on desks and tapping rhythms on computer keyboards.  Except, since I wasn't sure how much I'd get into it, I held back and bought a little mini cajon: a Cajonito by Schlagwerk, who I hear makes pretty good cajons.  Well I ordered one from shopercussion.ca (who I would recommend, they even sent me complimentary almonds), and I started using it, and I gotta say: I was a little disappointed.  Read on to find out why!