Getting my felt on - 1

After a two-year hiatus I plan on getting back into needle felting tonight. My plan is to start small. I am going to try to start with some kind of needle cushion type thing. This will then be used by Jeannette when she uses her new sewing machine to make me socks and other sewing machine-made clothes. (No more clothes shopping for me.) The great thing about such a project is that just about any outcome will be at least somewhat functional as a pin cushion. That said, I really do hope to end up with somemthing functional and nice. Here we go.

Perfect gift

Because it was recently my mother's birthday I have been thinking about things that might make appropriate gifts for her. Today I think I came across the perfect gift for my father to give my mother - a rubber flash drive bracelet.

One of these would be perfect because it would combine my father's favourite thing to give (flash drives) with my mother's favourite thing to get (jewelry). And, in this case, the funds would go to support a good cause. Who doesn't win in this scenario?

Plus, who wouldn't want one of these puppies? These things are so hot right now that I almost burned my wrist while I was wearing it earlier today (or maybe that was just the rubber burn that it caused when I was putting my sweater on)

The only thing that might make it better is if it said "Savestrong" instead of "Dalhousie Libraries."

Christmas Recap

Christmas, at least for the most part, was pretty much as was expected.

After a night filled with mahjong and food at Jeannette's house on Christmas Eve, we awoke on Christmas morning to find filled stockings and plenty of gifts under the trees.

One of the items that I was pleased to find and immediately intrigued by was a small remote controlled helicopter. For years I have been taken with the idea of remote controlled flying vehicles, so it was nice to finally have one to play with. After charging the helicopter I was able to take it out for a test flight.



[Embedded video]

Unfortunately through subsequent flight attempts I haven't been able to get the battery to hold enough of a charge to get the machine off the ground. This is all the more frustrating because I now know that the machine is actually capable of flight.

Much to my surprise, one of the items that was found adjacent to the stockings was a Nintendo Wii. Though I am not a big video game player and am generally skeptical of such endeavours, in the days since Christmas I have had plenty of fun playing with the basic games on this system. So far we haven't marred the experience of owning a Wii by having any of the type of mishap that are documented in the video below (though from time to time Kirsten does inexplicably opt not to wear the wrist strap).



[Embedded video]

After our stocking-related acquisitions were adequately examined and breakfast consumed we moved on to a quick round of gift opening and scratch-ticket bingo playing. Eventually we realized that we could cut Neil and Rebecca in on the action even though they were in Halifax by using video chat technology.



[Embedded video]

We were even able to have the play bingo with us by scanning and then emailing them a game card. While I don't know how much Neil and Rebecca enjoyed this, I can say that everyone on this end thought it was pretty good.

Much of the rest of the day was spent preparing for Christmas dinner and then consuming Christmas dinner. Along with another couple, we were joined for dinner by Jeannette and her family. As far as I could tell, a good time was had by all.

I imagine that there are a few more things I could mention, but unfortunately I am drawing a blank right now or have decided that they are too unimportant to be worth the effort of re-telling them. Hope everyone else had as enjoyable a Christmas.

Christmas Shopping Drama

My Christmas shopping for this year has not gone the least bit smoothly. Not only have I routinely been stuck for ideas, and then not particularly pleased with the items I have settle for, but I have also had problems acquiring a few of the things that I have thought about.

For instance, a few days ago I finally had an idea for Kirsten. Unfortunately, though, the store I was then in which might have been expected to sell the product I was looking for did not seem to have a copy. I then started looking at other stores we visited with no success. Then, today, Christmas Eve, I made a last minute run to a street populated with many chain stores only to have a similar level of success. Fortunately, I was, eventually, able to find a store that contained a variation the theme of what I was originally going for.

After this moderate success I still had to head to another shopping centre/district get ideas/gifts for two more people. It was emotionally tiring.

The only aspect of this experience that I might frame as positive was my ability to enter stores and buy absolutely nothing if they didn't have what I was looking for. Thus I don't feel that I bought too many pieces of crap just for the sake of buying something.

Anyway, we now have about 12 hours until Christmas and I think that I have purchased (or it has been purchased on my behalf) everything that I will be buying for Christmas. And while I am frequently quite late when it comes to shopping, I don't know if I have ever before made Christmas Eve morning emergency runs to such a large number of stores.

Now I just have to wrap all of my purchases.

Holiday Prep

The holidays are definitely starting to feel as though they are just around the corner and that I am wholly unprepared for their imminent arrival.

Though I did force myself to engage in some last minute online shopping today, and I also handed off my semester's marking to my supervising professor, I am still nowhere near ready for the upcoming Christmas. My biggest problem seems to be Christmas shopping, an area in which I am just not making much progress. Hopefully I will figure something out before too long.

On the preparation front I have also started stocking the fridge for the apartment's holiday celebrations. Hopefully not too much else will need acquired before the big day (though I am sure a few last minute purchases will be required despite my best attempts to prepare).

It's going to be amazing

A few days ago I received a notice that I would be invited to a friend's birthday party, which is to take place this evening. Almost as soon as I learned of the party I started to think about jokes and whatnot that I might bring to the party. After not too long I settled on the idea of bringing a joke present, one which would emphasize a character flaw of my that the celebrant and I have enjoyed laughing about.

I guess I should go back a bit, and explain this character flaw. It seems that for some number of years, at least going back to my high school days, I have been moderately interested in knowing what nicotine feels like (and I should be clear, not what smoking feels like). I think I am curious to know what it is that people like about smoking that makes it addictive, or at least something along these lines. As a result of this fascination with nicotine and the resulting feeling I have tired a number of smoking cessation products over the past number of years.

I started with a piece of nicotine gum that I acquired from a friend of mine who was trying to quite. Contrary to the instructions I received from my friend I chewed away like this was regular gum. Perhaps not surprisingly, I quickly felt quite ill and nothing else. Though this experiment ended with me feeling rather poorly, I have always felt that it was a success of sorts. If nothing else, I learned what a high dose of nicotine will do to me.

More recently I decided that my first experiment with the gum wasn't enough and that I should really try the patch. This summer I was able to get a patch from a friend. It turned out that he gave me the strongest level patch, which was supposed to be equivalent to smoking some relatively high proportion of a pack of cigarettes. Again, not surprisingly, it made me feel a little like death.

This past fall I mentioned this incidents to the birthday boy and he found them funny (meaning ridiculous). A few days afterwards suggested that I might try a nicotine inhaler that he had recently seen advertised. Since then a running conversation we have had is about my non-smoking use of nicotine and tobacco.

When I heard it was his birthday I thought that I could try and bring him in on the fun. As I know that he isn't interested in ingesting nicotine or tobacco, I thought that I could give him some of my dried stash that he could use as pesticide (nicotine can be dissolved in water by soaking tobacco leaves and then used as a pesticide). This should allow him to partake in the whole nicotine thing without having to worry about developing an addiction or bad breath.

Instead of just giving him dried home-grown tobacco leaves I decided to try to make the whole thing a bit more elaborate. I created a name for the product, and then matching packaging material. I then decided that I would go all out and make a 'gift basket' by also included disposable strainers (to remove the leaves from the water) and a spray bottle (for spraying the homemade pesticide). This was all wrapped together, as you can see below.



[Embedded Video]

For those of you who are interested in a more direct view of the product and its packaging, here you go:



Sorry if this is a little disorganized, I was writing this and getting ready to go (hopefully I won't miss the bus).

Christmas Games: 2010

A few years ago it seemed that Christmas couldn't pass without at least a few members of my family receiving as gifts some number of movies (either on VHS or DVD). More recently this trend seems to have been almost completely replaced by the exchange of board games. The result of the change is that instead of passing Christmas afternoon in front of a TV watching a newly acquired movie we are now somewhat more inclined to pass at least part of our gift opening days (another change has been to stretch the gift opening over a number of days) playing one or more of the newly acquired games.

Given that this seemed to be a banner year for new games I thought that I might try to give a quick rundown on some of the newly acquired games, most of which I had a chance to play at least once.

Fluxx v 4.0 - I started to play Fluxx in about 2007 and then introduced it to my family shortly thereafter. Almost immediately it became a particular favourite of Kirsten's, so it was not particularly surprising that she received Fluxx v. 4.0 this year. Fluxx v. 4.0 is really quite different than v. 3.1 (the version with which I am most familiar). At least as far as I can tell, one of the most significant differences are the 'Creepers,' which go with 'Keepers.' Typically, players with Creepers in front of them are unable to win (though some rule and goal cards alter this state of affairs). The general impression that I had of Creepers was that they tended to make the game more confusing and difficult to win (and I am not sure that they would work well with non-Creeper variants of the game). The up side of the new version were a few new rule and action cards that mixed things up a little and allowed those familiar with the game a chance to achieve a feeling of bewilderment that seems to accompany most people's introduction to the game.

Monty Python Fluxx - Like Fluxx v. 4.0, this version of the game had Creepers. Most of the Creepers and Keepers were based on various aspects of the Monty Python ouevre, as were some of the new Rule, Action, and Goal cards. The aspect of the game that I found less appealing than other Fluxx variants were the rules that rewarded those with Monty Python knowledge (i.e. more plays are associated with more ability to quote lines from Monty Python movies). The problem with such rules is that the same people tend to be advantaged or disadvantaged in various iterations of the game. The fix, just going to the internet to satisfy the requirements, doesn't really improve my enjoyment of the game and just devolves into a matter of regurgitation. The other problem, which is one that we encounter, relates to interpretation of players actions (something that doesn't come up in the traditional forms of the game). For instance, does talking in a fake Newfoundland accent satisfy the requirement that one conduct their term while speaking entirely in an "outrageous foreign accent"? (Neil thought not). While Monty Python fans will likely appreciate many of the names of the cards and rules, I am not sure if this is really the game for dedicated Fluxx traditionalists (if such a type of person exists).

Scrabble Slam - Though this games shares a name with the classic crossword game Scrabble it is really more like Upwords (also a crossword game) in card form. The basic idea is that players modify a communal four letter words with cards from their hand. There is no turn order and players play cards to form new words as quickly as they can think of them. While the basic idea is pretty simple (which I tend consider a good quality) the application of the rules can sometimes be a bit tricky. Not only can it sometimes be difficult to determine who actually played first, it can also be a bit of a challenge to ensure that everyone is playing valid words (or the letters they are suggesting they are playing). Aside from rules or gameplay characteristics, one of the problems I had with the game is that it caused my brain to freeze (at times it felt as though I just couldn't think). As a person with spelling/reading difficulties I just couldn't effectively operate at pace required for me to be even moderately competitive. I guess the bottom line is that this isn't likely the hot new game for dyslexics.

Monopoly Deal - This is a game that we first encountered a few months ago and have played on a pretty regular basis since then (it makes it onto the Christmas list because Neil and Rebecca gave a copy to Kirsten). While the game is a card game version of the classic board game, the goal is to be the first player to collect three monopolies rather than to bankrupt one’s opponents. Like Fluxx, there are a number of cards that add a degree change and excitement to the game. Also like Fluxx, the length of time that a game can take to complete can really vary and the winner may not be the person who appears to be the strongest. One of the things that we have noticed as we have continued playing this game is that our gameplay continues to become more cutthroat and complex (Neil’s favourite move appears to be to Forced Deal someone a Monopoly so that he can throw down a Deal Breaker). This means that while when played on a relatively basic level the game can seem quite random and prone to sudden shifts in momentum more experienced players (sometimes through working collectively to prevent the win) can slow things down and add a greater degree of stability to the outcome and gameplay.

Alhambra – This is a game that I gave to Neil for Christmas, but that he didn’t receive until we returned as I saw no reason to lug it to St. John’s just so that he would have to lug it back. This winner of the 2003 Spiel des Jahres award is my favourite of the games that we acquired this Christmas. A simplified version of the goal is that players are trying to build the best (not necessarily only largest) building complex. Points are awarded in relation to the nature of one’s opponents building complexes. Some of the aspects of the game that I really like are that it seems to progress smoothly and reach a relatively natural end. Unlike some games, it doesn’t feel as though it ends too early. Though we have only been playing this game for a few days I feel as though we already have started to improve (in particular we are now doing a much better job of paying attention to the wall structures of the various building components that one is able to buy). I am curious to try this with more than 3 players as I think such a condition will require more attention to certain details (some of which seem to be ignorable with three players).

Ticket to Ride – The Card Game – Not surprisingly, this game is a card game version of the 2004 Spiel des Jahres winning board game Ticket to Ride. Though I didn’t get a chance to play this game before I left, Neil and Kirsten both seemed to enjoy it. My sense of things is that it is somewhat similar to the board game in that you seem to collect train tickets to complete routes, though I am not sure that I can really say much more about it than that.

Carcassonne: Cult, Siege, & Creativity – As one might have guessed from the title, this is a set of Carcassonne game expansions rather than a completely new game. Each of these expansions is relatively small and can be added singly or together with other expansions to a regular game of Carcassonne. The Cult and the Heretic expansion provides an equivalent to cloisters that can either be used almost exactly like regular cloisters, or as a means of potentially rendering ineffective a competing player’s cloister (or them one of yours). The Siege expansion is a way of sabotaging an opponent’s cities (or unclaimed cities) so that they count for fewer points. The Creativity Expansion consists of two blank pieces that can be modified however the owners see fit (we did not play with these two tiles). Though not particularly creative, I can see that these two tiles would be useful as replacements for lost tiles. Two other mini-expansions for Carcassonne were also received: King and Scout and The Count of Carcassonne, though neither of these were played before I left.

Interestingly, in spite of all of these new games and game expansions, we still ended up playing quite a number of games of Settlers of Catan (several of which were non-standard variants). I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually played more games of Settlers than games of the others combined (if we included Alhambra in the total it is possible that this would no longer be the case, and even as it stands our Fluxx games may have pushed us past Settlers).

A Few Quick Notes 381

-The relatively sub-par weather seems to keep on going. We have now had temperatures around zero and a few flurries most days since I have been home. Fortunately, the rainy spells have been relatively brief, or at least periods of time when I have not had to leave the house.

-We are presently still in the midst of our Christmas celebrations. On Christmas morning we examined the contents of our stockings, had breakfast, and, eventually, had dinner. While we opened a few gifts after dinner, we left quite a few under the tree. Both yesterday and today we have also opened a few gifts. I imagine that maybe by the 29th or 30th we might have finished the gift opening process.

It should be noted that as Kirsten's birthday falls in the midst of this date range things will likely slow down a little (though as far as Kirsten is concerned they will pick up).

-So far I have opened quite a number of matching shirts, maybe more than I have ever received before. My father, brother, and I all received Newfoundland beer shirts; I got a Dominion Ale shirt, Neil got an India Beer shirt, and my father got a Jockey Club shirt. All of us received matching bowling shirts from my uncle. And then Neil, my uncle, and I received matching flannel shirts. I imagine that this will be it for the matching shirts, though I could be mistaken.

-My understanding is that the aforementioned Jockey Club will soon be, or has been, discontinued.

-I have even managed to do some socializing.

A Few Quick Notes 380

-The most noticeable change in the weather between yesterday and today is that it is now a few degrees colder and we have had a few periods of flurries. The forecast is suggesting that we might have a little more of the same, though I am glad to see that they are predicting flurries both tonight and tomorrow.

-Earlier this evening we conducted our annual Christmas Eve gift exchange (each of us opens one gift). Kirsten gave me a pair of pajama pants that she made a few days ago. They are really quite impressive (and even include drawstring and elastic). Kirsten opened the Monty Python Fluxx game that I gave her, allowing us to have something to do for a portion of the evening.

-My Uncle and I made a brief trip to the airport this evening to see if we could track down his missing suitcase. Much to our surprise there was almost no one at the airport, and certainly not anyone who was in a position to help us with our problem.

-For dinner tonight we had a very tasty leg of lamb, along with a few other side dishes. One of my favourite of the other dishes was one of the loaves of bread that we baked yesterday.

-It seems that I will have to get up a little on the early side tomorrow morning to participate in the various Christmas festivities that have been planned. Hopefully things will slow down enough in the afternoon that I will be able to take a nap for at least an hour or two.

-A few days ago I started reading a book called Freakonomics. While I have found several sections of the book to be rather thought-provoking and informative, I feel that a few other sections are a little thin (though they are always entertaining). If I get a chance I may try to provide a more in-depth critique of the work once I finish reading it (which shouldn't take me too much longer).

-The party I attended last night was really great. Not only did I get a chance to see a few people I hadn't seen in over a year, I was also able to meet a few new people. Apparently Neil liked the party so much that he fell asleep there (only to wake up to take a cab home at 5:00 AM).

-Merry Christmas.

A Few Quick Notes 304

-The weather today was quite variable in terms of quality. At times this afternoon we had precipitation approaching hale, while later in the afternoon things cleared up and the sun came out. One of the few consistent elements of the day was the temperature, which was continually within a few degrees of zero.

-I have my only exam on Tuesday. I spent a number of hours studying today, and plan on doing more of the same tomrrow.

-Yesterday, as predicted, we ended up having a visit from the Easter bunny. I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that the Easter bunny brought me, among other things, a ticket for a Halifax Comedy Festival show. Somehow the Easter bunny knew that this was the very show that I wanted to attend, as it will be featuring Stop Podcasting Yourself's Dave Shumka (as well as John Wing and Reggie Watts, to name just a few of the comedians scheduled to appear). It seems that Neil also received a ticket for the same show.



Before we could get on to the candy component of our respective hauls, all three of us took a crack at our scratch'n'sniff tickets. Not surprisingly, only Neil managed to get a winner. I am still baffled that people would be inclined to play these on more than an annual basis. Once or twice a year more than satisfies any gambling or lottery urges I might have.



I also scored a bottle of multivitamins and a toothbrush. I guess there was a little bit of candy too.



For breakfast we decorated a few of the bunnies (and also had bacon and eggs).



-Later in the day we had a few friends over for turkey and a few associated dishes. For no particularly good reason I decided to add some bacon to the stuffing. While the resulting stuffing was definitely edible, and not in anyway ruined by the bacon, I am not sure if it really was worth the extra calories.



I didn't time things particularly well, so the turkey was done a little while before the rest of the food. Though in many ways I think this actually worked out better than trying to have it come out at exactly the same time as the potatoes, as this second option is a little harder to time and may lead to significantly over-cooked or cold vegetables.



-Some how I managed to go for three days without taking a nap. These mistakes really caught up with me today, and resulted in today being a two-nap day.

-As usual, the plants keep on growing. Unfortunately, it seems that the seeds I planted most recently still haven't shown any signs of germination. As it has only been a few days so far this isn't particularly surprising, I will only begin to worry if in a few more days I still haven't seen anything.

Xmas Check 5

At 8:04 my sister woke me up to see if Santa had arrived. After a few
minutes of waiting for final approval we made our way to the living
room.

At the moment we are in the midst of assessing and checking out
stocking contents of our stockings. At the moment I am wearing the
neon orange full-head hat that came with my stocking.

Xmas Check 1

So it seems that the live blogging of this Christmas has started a
little earlier than I originally expected due requests by Neil and
Rebecca.

We started the festivities with a leg of lamb and mashed potatoes.
Afterwards we cleaned up and waited for the preliminary gift opening
festivities. Though a number if gifts were exchanged two were
particularly important. My uncle gave my mother a new toaster oven
while I gave my sister a game called Fluxx.

Soon after the game was opened we began to play. Though my previous
experience with the game was not of particular advantage I did manage
to win.

Eventually my parents and sister made there way to a party and Neil,
Rebecca and I continued to play the game, which is where things stand
now.

Presumably as the night progresses I will keep you updated on any
Santa sightings or seasonal happenings that are of consequence.

Until later.

A Few Quick Notes 145

-Today, like the past few days, is a pretty beautiful Newfoundland winter day. Snow, with the assistance of wind, seems to be falling horizontally in multiple directions. According the Environment Canada this mess will become even messier in the afternoon as the freezing rain replaces the snow. I guess there is nothing quite like a good blackout to help a family bond.

-A few weeks ago, for some reason still unknown to me, I decided to read a few Douglas Coupland books. As I had never read anything by him or even really knew what to expect I decided that the best route to take would be to borrow books from the library. As I was using an academic library only hours before my flight home for the holidays I didn't have time to be picky or research my choices. In the end I decided to borrow "The Gum Thief" and "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture."

After quickly reading "The Gum Thief" I started "Generation X," and then largely ignored during the Christmas onslaught. Though in my continued reading today I have noticed that his description/content seems not all that different than what might be written about the same age group today.

-For no particular reason I decided to bake a few loaves of bread on New Year's eve. I eventually ended up with nine regular sized loaves and three mini-loaves. Within about an hour of the commencement of the baking process the three mini-loaves had been devoured and a fair-sized dent made in one of the full sized loaves. Shortly there after one of the loaves was given to a neighbour who came to borrow a Foosball ball (and eventually ended up borrowing a book also).

Later that night I brought two loaves as a belated Christmas gift to a friend hosting a New Year's eve party (one of which was eaten as three of us spent the first hours of the new year talking). Last night a fourth loaf was given to a family by my sister. Between these giftings of loaves my family continued to chow down on the available loaves.

I guess all of this is to say that though it is less than 48 hours after I baked over eight loaves of bread we now only have one full loaf left. Maybe I will have to make another batch before I depart.

A Few Quick Notes 143

-Today has been a pretty traditional St. John's Christmas eve, cool, but not cold, and wet. As of late, the rain has been on the heavy side, something that doesn't mix particularly well with 18 inches of snow. If the rain keeps up there won't be enough snow for Santa to land on every one's roofs.

-Due to an unforeseen medical emergency the Christmas cooking and baking schedule has been a little modified for this year. Most notably, my cooking related duties have risen dramatically.

I rose to the occasion and prepared our traditional Christmas bread, with only a few minor hitches. Fortunately, in the end, everything seemed to work out in the end, and the nine loaves should be largely edible.

Tonight, I lead the way on the preparation of our Christmas Eve fondue meal. As this meal is cooked at the table the prep time wasn't too bad. The only hitch with this meal was that we forgot to buy bread yesterday meaning that I had to make a quick batch before dinner.

Tomorrow night, instead of the more traditional turkey, it seems that we will be having roast beef. Hopefully this won't be too complicated. I also presume that it will be a team effort.

On the 28th we will finally have our more traditional Christmas dinner with turkey and the rest of associated dishes. This is likely to also be the day on which we conduct our gift exchange, a slight detour from our typical practice.

-Neil and I attended a Christmas party last night. Not only was it great to see a few people that I haven't seen in years, there was some pretty awesome dancing. In particular, the break dancing (including the freezer door move) was pretty good.

-Though we are not doing our gift exchange until the 28th my father, uncle, and I did manage to head out this afternoon to hit the end of the Christmas rush. In all we must have visited about four or five stores between about 3:30 and 5:00. Surprisingly, the trip wasn't all that bad as it seems that most people had already finished their shopping or accepted defeat.

-Somehow I will have to managed to acquire a gift for my father between now and the 28th, though what I had hoped to purchase for him should have been ordered days ago. I am sure that things will work out in the end.

Back in Halifax

As Cameron has informed you I arrived safely back in Halifax yesterday. The city appears to be fine and also happens to be totally snow-free. Both Rebecca's and my apartments are still here and in good shape. The maintenance guys came in and left one of Rebecca's lights on costing her what I estimate to be $2. I have a new roommate whose name I believe to be Mark. He's a fourth year mechanical engineering student from Cape Breton. He seems like he'll be a fine roommate. Our apartment now has a TV and George Foreman grill. The downside of this is that Rebecca can't borrow one of the two couches from my room.

I don't really have any new year's resolutions, but I am going to try to blog more. To paraphrase my Uncle, "my blogger was busted" in December (and maybe longer).

My school schedule is pretty open as of yet. I am taking one class, Functional Analysis, from 8:35 - 9:55 TR. I am again working in the Learning Centre for seven hours. Those hours will be set tomorrow. After that I'll do up a nice .pdf schedule and post it for all to see. This semester I'm really supposed to be going hard at research. I'm looking forward to it, but I'll really need to buckle down because I want to have lots done by the end of the semester.

My most prized Christmas gift is the Canon PowerShot A630 (digital camera) I got from my parents (I mention the model mostly for Graham's sake). For the average Montifax blog reader, this just means you are likely to see an increase in pics from me.

We all know the bread and butter is this blog is mundane details and stories of thriftiness, so I feel I should let you know I'm planning a trip to the mall (Halifax Shopping Centre) here very shortly, so that I can hit up the calendar store for discounted games (especially a Go board). I've been planning this since early December. I'm mostly sure that if Go is there it will be cheap because the store is probably packing up after this weekend.

Now I'm off to clean up and head to school. My first DAGS meeting of the semester is today. Yay free pizza!

P.S. After finishing the previous line I spellchecked to see if I had typed roomate instead of roommate (as I tend to do). I had done so once, but more importantly Google flagged the word blog and the word blogger. I can't believe they haven't added those yet. I don't think I'll send them an email about it because I know they are reading what I've typed anyway.