Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Dinner with Christopher

Tonight I got to have dinner with my buddy Christopher.. twice in two weeks is crazy for us. He is super busy and travels alot, so when we find time to hang out it's always a good time.

We meet up at islands for dinner and afterwards we went back to his place to hang out. He wanted to show me some new furniture that he had gotten a few months back. I was craving some cake after dinner so we walked to Ralphs and both bought a slice a cake (love that they sell single slices). Back at his place we decided to watch Defiance, episode 3 aired the day before and neither of us had watch it. I enjoyed it, I don't think the series is wowing me yet but it's definably keeping me interested and wanting to come back next week.. so that's good.

It was fun just hanging out with him. We haven't done that in a long time. It's always great spending time with Christopher.

Good Friends vs. Best Friends

I posed this question on Twitter and Facebook and got a fair amount of responses. The Question was, "what makes a good friend a best friend";

 From Facebook

Katie Parker Someone who knows you inside and out and will be there for you no matter the time of day or nite. And you can also count on that best friend to not judge you, and not spread around your business, good bad or ugly.

Nicole Dill I believe a best friend is another form of a soul mate. They accept you for all of you and don't bail when shit hits the fan. They accept your crazy moments and and don't judge you for them. They are there through the good and the bad. When you are with them, you don't have to hold back, you can just be you with no reservations! They are family...

Markus Hunt The willingness to help hide a body.

Nicole Dill hahaha!! that's funny! I heard once that a good friend will post bail, a best friend will be right there with you in jail!

Tabitha Grace Smith The person who knows the worst about you, but loves you anyways.

John Keating Being 7? 

Russell H Clarke You

From Twitter:

elfhybrid responded with @Geekyfanboy Honesty. Loyalty. Time.

TheRobZone responded with @Geekyfanboy You just know?

SierraHouk  responded with @Geekyfanboy time and being able to comfortably share silence.

Jamie1km  responded with @Geekyfanboy There's a terminology question right there. I always had ONE best friend, but my daughter uses it like a category.

Jamie's' response lead to a follow up question "can you have more then one best friend".  

From Facebook:

Nicole Dill Most definitely...

Harry Dauz Yes, certainly can!

Rachelle Smith Trial I have 3. Anne Lamsa, Blake & my English friend Madeleine. All 3 of these relationships are very special to me in different ways.  For me a best friend is someone who has become family. We may fight, disagree or bicker sometimes but I will love them forever. I can tell them anything & vise versa. We will always be there for each other even if we don't speak or see one another everyday.

Simon Meddings Yup I have a good 6 or 7 best friends (different sex as well) 

elfhybrid responded with @Geekyfanboy two at the most I think. 

loopinthe1st responded with @Geekyfanboy Yes.

alexinmadison responded with @Geekyfanboy Heck yeah!

vincecaso  responded with @Geekyfanboy If we use the ordinary definition of "best", then I'd say no, but some people use it as a category, outside of its definition

Jamie1km responded with @vincecaso @Geekyfanboy I always feel the category version has a hidden parenthetical: best (kind of) friend. Because BEST is exclusive.

My response to the questions.. What makes a good friend a best friend, I can't really answer this one as I think there are two kinds of "best friends" there are those that you instantly connect with, a bond that you can't really explain, you just feel it in your gut and your heart. Then there are those friends that you meet, and enjoy their company and over time you form a close bond with and you couldn't imagine your life without them in it.

As for the second question... Can you have more then one best friend, I've always claimed to have more then one best friend. But Jamie brought up a good point. Have I turned the term "best friend" into a category, so people I know fall into one of four categories, acquaintances, friend, good friend and best friend. Or can you truly have more then one "best" friend. I think you can have more then one best friend and not make it a category. In the past I have said to have six best friends, as time goes on I realized I jumped the gun on several of those friendships. I mean they are great friends but best is set aside for the few who go above and beyond in our friendship. 

To me Best friends are those who will be there for you in good times and bad. They don't judge, they make you feel just as important as you make them feel. They are present in your daily life, it's a 50/50 relationship. You can sit in a room with them for an hour and not say a word to each other and be perfectly content..that is what Best Friend is. Thankfully I have a few of those :)

Dallas, Texas - Day 10: Post Office, Malai and Walmart again!

Monday 15th April 

Day 10 was an early start compared to the other days. Yay! We first went to the post office in St Paul (it's just around the corner from St Paul station) as I needed to post a postcard to my friend in Canada who likes receiving these kinds of things from countries her friends go to for holidays... (Not sure if she got it...).

Wow, the post office we went into which I pictured the outside of during the other day (day 3 post) was so eerie inside. It was like going into a building of ancient times of Dallas.
Roof of post office

One of light bulbs

Eerie hallway!

Nice painting

Next it was again another trip to West Village via the M-Line Trolley. We went into GAP, then ate in Malai, a Thai / Vietnamese restaurant. This place was quite reasonably priced and I wanted the Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef and noodle soup).
Outside Malai
So first off, we started off with the mussels which was cooked in a white wine sauce. This was delicious and served with some bread, but the sauce was bit too runny for our liking. We also had a complimentary rice parcel with some curry type of paste.
Bread and mussels

Rice parcel and curry paste
Next was Miss Pinky’s Panang Curry Duck costing US $17 (approx. £11). Pretty expensive dish! But the duck was tender, and the rice portion was small, but the peanuts were a bit too much for her.
Panang Curry Duck
I had of course the Pho Bo - the large bowl (there's the small bowl option too). Hm. The soup was ok, but a bit too sweet for me. It wasn’t like the one I had in London (Café Mama Pho). I expected a beefy stock, less coriander and a very Vietnamese taste. It wasn’t the greatest pho I have had (even the instant pot pho that I buy tasted much better than this to be honest). The noodles weren't consistent enough as I saw some thick and thin noodles. But the beef was great. Nice and tender, and easy to chew on. That was the only bit I had enjoyed.
Pho Bo
It was strange to see a complimentary Chinese fried dough given to us... Chinese people mainly eat this with congee! Not as a side dish!!
Fried dough
We then had a banana pudding which we shared. I liked the glazed banana, chocolate and cream but not the pudding. It was too salty for me... Yeek.
Banana Pot de Creme
Well service was ok, they talk too quick for me to understand, and they go through the specials way too quickly. Miss Pinky had to ask about the fish special again!

Total cost came to US $49.80 (I think... approx £32)... Miss Pinky and I were arguing about the bill because I didn’t listen to her say she was going to pay the majority of it since her dish was expensive.

My geeky rating: 3.5/5. Not the best pho I have had I’m afraid. Meat is all good though...

Address: 3699 McKinney Ave #319 Dallas, TX 75204, United States
Website: http://www.malaikitchen.com/

Next we wanted to go to Walmart to do some final supermarket shopping. It was a long trip, and I think I got sunburn because of it!! But first off we had stopped at Uptown Pub before we took the tram and bus. They have free wifi. Plus they have some nice seating outside... This was when heard about the Boston bombing... how sad it was on that day...
Looking out from Uptown Pub
Next we waited for the free tram for a very long time. Got onto it, then came off it as we saw the bus 39 bus-stop... It was late by a good 10 minutes! But thankfully the bus driver stopped for us as we had stood by the tram stop to go a different route! What a long afternoon... Then it was another bus trip to get to Walmart!!

Walmart really had amazed me. They sell hospital scrubs. They even sell Hello Kitty ones!!!! I wanted one just for fun, but resisted!!! :D No wonder people walk around in scrubs along the streets of Dallas!
Hello Kitty scrubs!!!
Finally we went back, and I took a picture of the sun just starting to set by South Western Medical Center... This medical center is so big. I think you could easily get lost in it!!
Sunset at South Western Medical Center
And I also took a pic of this eerie looking bar with no windows... American bars always look so dark inside! It must really get hot out there!! Miss Pinky said it looked like a hole in the wall kind of place... ¬,¬""
Princes Bar
Then we had dinner at the hotel... It was pizza again :S

Monday, April 29, 2013

Country Music and Being Gay

About 15 or so years ago I fell in love with Country music and that is pretty much the only kind of music I listen to these days. I heard this song on Sirius XM radio the other day and instantly feel in love with it.



Highway Country is the Sirius XM station that played the song and they have a facebook page and asked folks to go there and let them know if they liked the song or not... so I did.  There were about 200 comments and I'd say that every 10th comment or so was negative. Saying that this song does not allign with their values, they prefer more traditional songs, there was even one gentlemen (if you can call him that) was saying that this song is teaching young girls to kiss girls. I don't have a clue where he heard that!!! She does mention kissing boys or kissing girls, if that's what you're into.

These naysayers didn't bother to listen for the true meaning of the song.. to be who you are, to love you want. Like with most religious types they tend to point out one or two lines in the bible and kind to ignore others to prove their point. It's small minded and idiotic.

Things like this reminds me that the majority of country music listeners are very "traditional" and that goes for country music singers as well.. they aren't very open minded. This causes a conflict in me.. as I love their music but they disapprove of who I am at my core. It's hard for me to spend my hard earned money on someone who hates me. I go back and fourth all the time. Not all country music stars are bigoted or closed minded, and I try and not support those who are open about it. But honestly I try not to think about it too often as it make me sick to my stomach.

Dallas, Texas - Day 9 - A trip to Walmart Supercenter

Sunday 14th April

I forgot to mention in the previous post that I was given a fortune cookie, it said
"Tomorrow you will find the item you have been searching for.". 
Wow! So before I went to sleep the night before I quickly looked up where and how we could get to that Walmart that we first went to. I thank Google maps and free wi-fi (plus pictures I took of shops nearby) for finding the bus route!! So I told Miss Pinky. I think we left after 12 or 1 pm or maybe it was around 2 pm to find it...

We took the 526 towards the station and then changed for the bus 529. I put my hand out for the bus to stop and I think I was waving to Miss Pinky who was sitting in the sun to hurry up to get the bus because the station is not its last stop. The bus could drive away without you Miss Pinky and then we would have had to wait again!! :P The bus driver thought I was crazy but she was a lovely person who seemed to have known that we wanted to go to the shopping area!! :D Lovely woman who seemed to know the area better than the other drivers we have met on our journey in Dallas... Fortune cookie was right!

We looked around the area first. So our first main stop was Sam’s Club. This is a supermarket where you bulk shop like in Lidl’s and Aldi. Unfortunately you have to be a member to shop there... :( But that was kind of good for us because that meant more spending in Walmart. :D
Sam's Club - You MUST be a member
Finally we went into Walmart, and we spent some money on clothes and chocolates for people back home! We’ll be back again!!

Bus number to Walmart Supercenter from Inwood / Lovefield Station: 529! 

Stop at: Marsh Lane at Almazan Drive, then crossover at the traffic lights.
Address: 9410 Webb Chapel Rd Dallas, Texas 75220, United States

Didn’t do much in the evening... Sat around and did nothing... I was just blogging, but then suddenly we went out for a walk around the area. Miss Pinky and I saw something typical that you would see in American TV programmes and films... a thief stealing a bag of crisps and the owner of the shop had come out with a stick running towards the thief, but the thief got away... :S I was quite afraid... And then as Miss Pinky and I were walking back, a guy was holding a box of iced beer. Miss Pinky wanted to buy alcohol, and the guy was willing to sell his beer. He offered it for US $7 and she paid US $10 ¬,¬”” … Well... Americans are really nice when it comes to alcohol!! :D
Brookriver Drive...

Andras, Overlord Captain...

Another fig for my sons Reaper Warlord army. This is for his Overlords. I think if I can pull it off I will paint the face armor white on his figs. Green and bronze are his main colors of choice. I gave him a tint of green in his armor just to tie it in. The base is not done on him.

Cheers,
John...



Sunday, April 28, 2013

LOTRO and D&D

Dash
Today was all about gaming... got up around 7am and jumped on Lord of the Rings Online and played with my bud Chris until 2pm. We haven't quested in quite a while so we manage to get quite a bit of it done. I could have played all day but this was our first meet up for a new D&D campaign that my buddy Dallas was starting up.

I haven't played D&D since I was 11 or 12 years old.. that was 30 years ago, so I was super excited to start playing again but I was going to be as new to this as someone who had never played.. thankfully there were plenty of us noob here. We had a group of 12 (and that was with some missing). Normal groups are usual no more then six.. but Dallas had a lot of interest and is gonna take a chance at having a large campaign.

Got to Dallas' just before 3:30. Jes was obviously there (since she lives with him), Josh was also there. But within 10 to 15 minutes more folks showed up. Josh, Jes, Dallas and I were joined by Robert, Aaron, Rupert, Luis, Brett, Jen, Will, Matt (and his wife Melissa, but she didn't play) and Anthony. We had a total of 12 players, 1 Dungeon Master and a spectator... it was a full house.

Kobold
It took a good hour and a half to get everyone settled and their characters ready to go.  We had all met with Dallas previously to roll our numbers but there was still a bit of prep work that Dallas had to do.

I won't give a blow by blow game play.. needless to say it was six hours of awesome fun. My character Dash was the first to be injured but luckily was healed soon after with no scars. Anthony's character actually took the burnt of the hit points and was unconscious for a bit. We were attacked by crocodiles, then Kobolds but finally made it to the town only to enter an abandon Inn and run into some sort of Humanoid Lizard things. But we stopped there.. the perfect cliffhanger. 

Game play took a long time as we had 12 players who had to roll, fight, take damage and so on with each round. Dallas did a great job at keeping things moving along and really got into the story and conveying what we were seeing. We are schedule to play every two weeks.. can't for the next session.

After D&D, Robert and I headed over to Carl's Jr. to get some much needed food. We were suppose to order pizza while playing but everyone was so into it we totally forgot. 

Dallas, Texas - Day 8 - Finding DFW China Town 達拉斯中國城

Saturday 13th April


Saturday started off late (once again). Well both Miss Pinky and I were exhausted (more Miss Pinky than me!) from the night before.

For this day we decided to go to the Richardson area in Dallas, which is up north, and it doesn't take you long to get there. I wanted to find 'a' or 'the' China Town in Dallas, and I had found on the Internet that there was a place in Richardson, but there were no clues on how to get there or where it is! I guess not many tourists like me want to find these places. ¬_¬"" So we took the 526 bus once again (it was so handy having a weekly pass), changed for the train and stopped off at West End to change for the red line. We took this next train up to Arapaho Center Station (can't pronounce the name of this station), and I saw DFW China Town! We tried to get a bus there from the transit centre, but unfortunately there are no buses that go there on the weekend. :( So what do people do in Dallas on the weekend? I don’t understand why bus services are not regular on the weekends... I expect they want people to chill out instead of going out and spending...
Arapaho Center Station
So then we took the train back to Spring Valley Station which is the previous stop to see if we could walk from there... Nope it looked too far from Spring Valley, so we quickly hopped onto the train going back to Arapaho Station and then finally walked there... (I'm sure the passengers thought we were mad!). There’s no actual pathway (pavements) to walk on from the station to China Town, so watch out for the dogs in the houses you pass by. I think this is definitely one thing America needs to improve on. It's one reason why there's so much obesity over there. For a tourist like me who does not drive I would expect there to be pavements!!

It was a mission and half getting there I tell you. It was also hot that day. But it’s about a 15 minute walk from Arapaho Station. So it wasn't too bad.
Finally found DFW China Town

Cool!

DFW China Town 中國城 sign

So many cars! Shops and restaurants are set up in a line

Nice lantern!

Everything's in Chinese!! Signs, posters, menus...
We spent a good hour or two there and found ourselves looking in the supermarket, the bakery and a cute shop! :D Miss Pinky bought a few things from the supermarket (we were arguing about ingredients at this point... I think Miss Pinky was back to her normal moody self due to a lack of sleep) and I had a very good look at the cute shop!! ^_^
Very large prawns!!!!

Black chicken?!

Statue of Confucius - I made my blessings
Didn’t do too much shopping, but we did eat in China Town. I spotted Canton Restaurant. I thought they would speak in Cantonese, but I was wrong.  The restaurant name is misleading. Majority of the people there in China Town spoke in Mandarin rather than Cantonese. I was a little disappointed although I did hear a few shoppers around who spoke my native language in the supermarket. But thankfully I can understand Mandarin - that's if people speak slowly enough (but my speaking still sucks!). :(

Just to point out - majority of restaurants in Dallas don't put their menus outside for you to view. I think that's quite selfish of them and a bad marketing scheme just to get you inside and seat you as soon as you enter... That's what happened to us several times... And in this restaurant too...
Inside Canton Restaurant
Miss Pinky so wanted to eat roast duck and noodle soup, but unfortunately they only had braised duck rather than roast duck... So she ordered a pork dish that had too many vegetables and rice... Oh well, we’ll find a Chinese restaurant that makes roast duck and noodle soup before we go... Maybe...
Pork and Vegetables

Rice ... Miss Pinky already started on her food before I took this pic!! 
I had the combination special which consisted of prawns, squid, pork and loads of vegetables on top of some pan fried noodles. It was good. A very big dish. I think I have been craving for noodles... In this dish the noodles were slightly thicker than the usual ones I have in London and at home. They also gave me a steak knife. Not sure what that was supposed to be there for. ¬,¬" Miss Pinky was laughing at that in a sarcastic way! 
Massive Combination Special ^_^""
In the end it cost me US $19.98 (approx. £13) including Miss Pinky’s dish and the drinks. So cheap. I had paid because Miss Pinky didn't like her food. She wanted noodle soup, but she didn't get it. Oh well!! But at least we sat next to a couple who seemed like they were having an affair... Or maybe not... Gossip to talk about on the way back... By the way, they didn't take my US $1 tip ¬,¬"" Wow. They didn't want it!! 

Happy to go again... But would go to another restaurant to try out...

My geeky rating for Canton Restaurant: 4.5/5 

Address for restaurant: 400 N. Greenville Ave. Suite 25 Richardson TX 75081


***

Address for DFW China Town: 400 N. Greenville Ave., Richardson TX 75081 United States


***

So it was back to the station. By the way, I think there’s some stinging nettles on the ground. So watch out!!
This is the bus number - 360 that takes you to DFW China Town

Arapaho Center Station - Coming back from China Town
It was a good day out...

And look Miss Pinky made dinner... Tom Yum soup with coconut milk... Most of the ingredients were bought in DFW China Town. The mussels were massive too! Wow!!
Ingredients used in the Tom Yum Soup

Very large mussels :D

Yummy Tom Yum soup - well done Miss Pinky!!
It was quite difficult making this as the pots that the Suites provided were too small!!

Does anyone want the recipe for this?

I had told Miss Pinky that we were supposed to go back to the bar that we went to the night before... But we didn’t. Didn’t do anything during the evening... Sad people we are - I know...

But during that evening we were both awakened by the night life of Texans staying below us... They love to party!! But I wanted to sleeeeeep. :P

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Portal, Blogging, Supernatural

Woke up at 5:45am to say goodbye to Chris and Kody. I could have said goodbye last night, but of course I'm me and couldn't do that.. I had to be there to see my best bud one last time as I may not be seeing him until July and comic con. Got to spend 15 minutes with him while he packed up. 6am, I gave him a big hug and said goodbye. I remember the first time I had to say goodbye to him after driving with him up to Montana and helping him get established for several weeks.. I weep and it was very tough. But subsequent visits to Montana and him visiting here in CA there has been no tears. I mean I'm sad that he has to go but I know we have many years of friendship left and that this parting won't be our last. But it's always hard saying goodbye. After they drove away I jumped back into bed for an hour and tried to sleep... with no luck.

Found a very cool "Portal" video that I had not seen before. It was released last year on You Tube and I don't have a clue how I missed it.. but it's pretty EPIC!!!


My internet has been acting up lately but today has been the worse.. it was down for over four hours. Luckily I have my iphone but I'm about to go over my 2g data plan which of course means I'll be paying $10 additional for every 1g used. Luckily it's close to the end of the month so I shouldn't go over to much.

While the net was down I wrote a few blogs offline so I could just copy and paste them when things were back up and running again. I really tried to motivate myself to do some podcasting as I don't need internet for that but atlas no luck. 

I did manage to watch the latest Supernatural episode with Felicia Day. I watched the first two seasons of Supernatural but gave up mid season. I have watched the previous two episodes with Felicia and loved them so I was really looking forward to this one... and I have to say they did not disappoint. This was by far my favorite of the Felicia Day episodes. I was crying by the end. I love Felicia's character Charlie and this episode really fleshed out her character. The hug with Dean was precious.. her saying "I love you" and him saying "I know" ala Star Wars was fantastic.. I love that she ready the Hobbit one last time to her mother before pulling the plug.. so heart wrenching. Felicia gave an amazing performance. I really do hope they make her character a regular or semi-regular next season.. would love to see more Charlie.

Dallas, Texas - Day 7: Uptown/City Place and Charlie's Bar


Friday 12th April

Day 7 started late... What? Again?! Well this time it was me who woke up late not Miss Pinky, so she made breakfast! Heheh.

On this day we were determined to find the big superstore Walmart that we first went to on Day 2. So we took two bus journeys. The 404 which is near our normal 526 bus stop, and this took us all the way to Parkland Station... Then we were advised to take other buses around the area... Basically we got lost. But eventually we took the 527 bus... And we still couldn't find it. The bus took us back to the train station. May I just point out that the bus drivers don’t know the areas very well, so don’t ask them questions. It’s best to ask the locals who the know everything that goes on!! But some of the locals don't even know the area... :P

We gave up. So we went to the one in City Place. We took the train (orange line) and stopped off at Uptown / City Place. We realised we were back in West Village!!!! Hahahahah. 
Uptown / City Place Station
We asked a lady where the Walmart was. And yay!! Someone knew where there was a supermarket!! It looked far and Miss Pinky wanted to take the bus... Seriously it wasn't far! A 10 minute walk. This one is a small grocery one, not the superstore, and isn't what we had wanted. It's opened 24 hours. The lady advised us to go back towards the inside of the station, crossover, then take the bus 36... So we waited...
Walmart looks far...!!
When we got there Miss Pinky wanted to eat before we shopped, so we walked all the way back down to Uptown Station...

...and surprisingly we passed by a memorial for black slavery. Ooooh interesting!! ^_^ This place is called Freedman's Memorial...
Inside Freedman's Memorial



We then ate at a steakhouse. Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse. There were only a few diners at that time. It was around 3 or 4 pm. But it seemed people got takeouts from there rather than eat in. 
Big sign for Texas Land & Cattle

Looking out from where we sat... didn't smell any car fume like you would in London!

The outside

Nice boots!! ^_^

Menu cover
And we had the following food. I swapped my bacon wrapped scallops with her lobster. I like lobster. And I just knew Miss Pinky wanted my scallops. I also got a free soft drink top too!! Great place! Good food! :D
Chips and bread

Butter was nice, bread was warm

Sauteed onions

TXLC Sirloin and BBQ Bacon-wrapped Scallops with potato mash - looks small but filling!!

Signature Smoked Sirloin and Lobster Tail  with rice - yummy lobster, plus nice presentation!!
My geeky rating for Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse: 5/5 - quiet, peaceful, friendly people and good food!!

Address: 3130 Lemmon Ave, Dallas, TX 75204, United States

Both of us didn't want to go all the way back to Walmart, so we shopped in Albertson's. This is an ok grocery store but a little expensive. It was like shopping in Sainsbury's where everything is expensive!

We then took the M-Line back to St Paul, and took the train back...

So food unpacked, we then went out to look for bars and had ended up in an Italian restaurant (where I had a very good gin and tonic) and then into Charlie’s, which is a block down the road. It’s an all time American bar! Finally we went into one. It looked awkward on the outside, but very much like a bar on the inside. I don’t understand why there are no windows. I guess they are built that way so people from the outside can't look at the people drinking their lives away... Just a thought...
Inside Charlie's

Another view of Charlie's
The people in Charlie’s were awesome. Very much a homely sort of bar where the locals drink and where they have a good time. It was karaoke night by the way, and Texans can really sing!! I was amazed at these people’s singing... However, Miss Pinky had trouble with one customer who was already drunk and swore at her whilst I was in the loo... Miss Pinky panicked and wanted to go home. But a couple of the regulars saved the day and convinced Miss Pinky to stay.
Miss Pinky had wanted to try a beer in a jug like this!!
One of the regular customers paid for our drinks and cab!! OMG. She didn’t have to do that, but she is a lovely person who can really sing...!! :D

Here’s a mix video of the people singing that night. I just want to say thank you to the people at the bar who made our trip a memorable one!! Miss Pinky and I had a great time, and it's a shame we didn't go back for shots... Maybe in the future if we return. ^_^

The girl at the end of the video paid for our drinks and cab... Shocking!! :D Happy to return the favour if she comes to London. :D

Address: 1820 W Mockingbird Ln Ste 28, Dallas, TX 75235, United States

The night ended very late for us... 2 am to be exact... Then we went to sleep around 3 am... YAWN!!! 

End of Day 7 (and it was the start of day 8). :D