Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future is the third installment of the Professor Layton video game series for the Nintendo DS. The games are storyline based in which puzzles must be solved to advance the story.
It was on my Christmas list but I didn't receive it and I was happy to see it on sale at Best Buy for 17.99, down from 34.99 - pretty much half price. Can't complain with that.

The game itself is less challenging than the second in the series, but has an easier story to follow and as a result I found it more enjoyable. None of the puzzles relied on being solved to advance the game (that couldn't easily be solved with the help of hint coins). That was the most frustrating part of the second game; I'd get stuck on puzzles for hours until I had to go online and *gasp* find the answer. I didn't have to do that with this game, but it was still challenging enough to make me think a bit.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game and will probably play it again a year down the road once I forget all the puzzle solutions. I vote treasure for this game and the entire series. Check it out if you have a DS.

The Real Ghostbusters - Volume 1

The chaos of the holidays has finally settled down, so I'll get back to blogging. I made a couple purchases over the holidays, enough for 4 or 5 blogs anyways, so that should keep me busy for a while. The first item I will talk about is...

The Real Ghostbusters - Volume 1 on DVD

Pretty much everyone I know understands that I love Ghostbusters. It's totally a nostalgic thing, but I still love it. While I was in California for Christmas, I found this set on sale for $19.99. I wasn't sure if that was a deal or not or if the cartoons were even any good. As a matter of fact, the series started before I was even born, so by the time I was 5, it was in its last season and I hadn't seen very many episode.

I went home and found it on Amazon for about $35, so clearly this was a bargain. I read some reviews and everyone had only good things to say about it, so I went back and bought it.

It's a cartoon. It's funny, it's cheezy, but it's also entertaining. For the price of a 3D movie and some Skittles, I got 700 minutes of entertainment. To me, that's value and I'm going to vote Treasure.

If you've never read my blog before, please follow this link for a brief description of what it's all about.

http://tinyurl.com/2wjsdo3 

Thanks for reading another edition of Spending Cash on Treasures and Trash!



Out of Money

So, as I mentioned, I am living on a budget and last month I did go slightly over...Oops. Anyways, this month is Christmas and it's pretty much against the law to buy your self anything in December because someone might have already bought it for you! So, the next few weeks will likely be pretty slow and only contain movie reviews and restaurant reviews, but it should pick up in January again. I will post to Facebook when I start making some purchases. Until then, enjoy the holidays and thanks for reading!

S.C.o.T.T.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 – FREE with Scene Points!

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, I promise to keep spoilers to a minimum and won’t ruin anything – so keep reading!

I read the book over three years ago, when it first came out, so I knew the general direction of the movie, but forgot a lot of the specifics, which I think made the movie interesting. For the record, I didn’t enjoy the book – I felt it moved too slowly and at times the movie did as well. Really though, it’s the only way for the book/movie to go. If all the problems were solved with the flick of a wand, it would be a pretty boring movie.

I laughed more times in this movie than I did in Due Date, which is kind of sad considering Due Date is a comedy. Dobby, the house elf, was hilarious and some inter-character conflict was good for some laughs too.

It’s hard to rate this movie because it’s part one of a two-part finale, so there really wasn’t a clear, satisfying ending. But overall, it had action, laughs, suspense, and some pretty good visual effects. I probably won’t see it in theatres again like some of the diehard fans, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. Treasure this.

Swiss Chalet's Festive Special

The holiday season doesn’t start for me until a) snow falls and b) I have Swiss Chalet’s Festive Special. Both events occurred last night, so, IT’S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Swiss Chalet Festive Special - $10.99

First off, the price for this meal is very reasonable. You get a quarter chicken, fries (or any other side), cranberry sauce, a bun, and my personal favourite, stuffing. Of course, you can’t forget Lindor chocolates after the meal. Yummy yummy deliciousness!

Last night the restaurant was packed, but it was merely due to mass volumes of customers, not poor service. As a matter of fact, the service was the best I’ve ever received at Swiss Chalet. Our server greeted us immediately, brought us refills without asking, and stopped by our table or two separate occasions to make sure everything was fine. Overall, it was a great experience.

Treasure the food, treasure the service, and treasure the experience. Now to start Christmas shopping...

Samsung Galaxy!!

Most of you that know me know that I’m moving to Waterloo in the New Year. For those that really know me, you’d know that my current cell phone plan sucks.

So, this weekend while I was in Waterloo, I decided to get a new cell phone:

The Samsung Galaxy – $79.99 – with Virgin Mobile (P.S. – Virgin Mobile rocks!)

It’s a pretty neat phone at a reasonable price that offers a plan that fits me. So far, I’ve enjoyed playing around with it, despite having some issues with the touch screen at first. Overall, it does what I need it to do, so to me, it’s a treasure.

Now, to figure out all of its capabilities....

McDonald's Coffee

Anyone who is new to reading my blog, please check out my initial post to understand how it works. Follow the link below to get to that post a little quicker.

http://tinyurl.com/2wjsdo3

This week's product was: FREE Coffee from McDonald's

Pretty good deal if you ask me, can't complain when something's free. I think this is a great marketing tactic for McDonald's. The store had a longer line than Tim Horton's this morning and by the time I walked through the parking lot, they'd served 4 customers through drive-thru...that's some pretty quick service.

I can't really trash free coffee, so I'm going with treasure on this one. The only way I'd vote trash is if it tasted bad, but it didn't. I'll go back tomorrow for another.

Vote treasure or trash below. Also, free internet cookies to anyone who posts a link to my blog somewhere on the internet! : )