Random Access

Wednesday
The day started at 8:30. With a phone call.

The fact that it was my father on the other end was the only thing that stopped me from unleashing doom upon an unsuspecting populace. He was relaying a call from my brother who needed to be rerouted around an accident on his way home from Oklahoma.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful.

After work, and I had dinner with and . Tonight’s fare: Mexican. And, it was good. I had long known that the restaurant was there, but I had never eaten there. It’s definitely worth going to again.

NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation: Family Secrets: The line between “secrecy” and “privacy.”
Talk of the Nation: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – 10 Years Later
All Things Considered: Rain Dampens First Flight 100th Anniversary
All Things Considered: Christmas with The Blind Boys of Alabama
All Things Considered: Thurmond’s Mixed-Race Daughter ‘Finally at Peace’
Fresh Air: Interview with theologian Bart D. Erhman

Stray Toasters

• The Shocker
• “Hairless gerbil tail-puller”
• I have had I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon stuck in my head for the past few hours.
• It seems as thought the cats have found yet another cabinet that they can open.
• Utah drivers. *shakes head*
• There’s something to be said for the simple pleasure of reading a good book while enjoying a cup of tea.
• H.P. Lovecraft. Cthulhu. Madness. “Indiana is the new Massachusetts.”

Rant of the Day

U.S. Discrict Court Judge Paul L. Friedman granted John Hinckley (the man who shot then-President Ronald Reagan, press secretary James Brady and two others… in the hopes that he could get Jodie Foster to fall in love with him) unsupervised visits with his parents. Stipulations in this decision include:

• Hinckley is not allowed to leave his parents “at any time” while he is away from the hospital
• The first two (2) outings must be in the Washington, D.C. area
• The Secret Service must be notified prior to any unsupervised visit – including a full intinerary.

Hinckley was arrested in March of 1981 and confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in 1982 when he was found “not guilty by reason of insanity.” He has apparently been on supervised trips (bowling alleys, shopping centers, restaurants, etc.) without any incident. His parents are hoping that these initial visits will pave the way for him to be able to take unsupervised overnight visits to their home in Williamsburg, VA; they had originally hoped for a decision before Thanksgiving of this year, so that they could spend the holiday with them.

The optimist in me hopes that Mr. Hinckley’s mental state truly has improved.
The pessimist/realist in me sees far too many opportunities for things to go awry with unsupervised visitation. The most simple of these, and I realize that they may seem hyperbole, include:

• Is the senior Mr. Hinckley expected to go to the bathroom with his son?
• Assuming that overnight visits are approved, what happens when his parents fall asleep? (Will they have to lock him in his room? Will they install an alarm system on the front door?)
• What happens if the Secret Service, who will be able to track Hinckley’s movements, sees him with something that they assume to be a weapon? In fact, let’s take that one step further: What constitutes “a weapon?” Could/would they descend upon him for picking up a stick or a large rock? (Again, I concede that this is a bit of a stretch, but you see what I’m getting at.) I won’t even go into “commonplace items” like silverware/cookware.

I am a bit conflicted on this one, for the reasons stated above. I’m not sure whether I’m happy that there seems to be progress with respect to patients’ rights or stunned/scared/upset/something at the precedent that this could set.

And that’s my 2¢ worth.

Namaste.

Tuesday
The end of the day.
Ahhh.

I am probably one of the last people to do so, but I just started reading Tim Hunter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night. I got 140 pages in. Nowhere close to finishing it in one night like (at least) one person I know, but it was a good start. And, there’s more Mad-Eye Moody.

NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation: “What Makes a Great _____?” This week: “Chef”
All Things Considered: Viewers Tune in for Poker TV
All Things Considered: Dallas Police Still Reeling from Fake Drug Busts
All Things Considered: Panel Urges FDA to Allow Over-Counter ‘Morning After’ Pill
All Things Considered: ALS Ends Running Days
Fresh Air: Interview with the Farrelly Brothers

Stray Toasters

• All I need to do is make it one week… just one week… without having to injure/maim/kill someone. And then I’ll be back home.
• “Cheeky bastard.”
• Salmon cakes.
• Paid to Play Video Games
• U.S. Spam Law to Take Effect January 1, 2004
• Static and Gear vs. Green Lantern?! And teaming up with the Terry McGinnis Batman (Batman Beyond)?! This could be interesting…
• New X3 and possible X-movie spinoff news

Quote of the Day
Today’s bit of goodness came from someone who apparently got… um… “a little too comfortable” in the chair in which they were sitting:

::: standing up :::
My crotch fell asleep.
*puzzled look*
That feels kind of like an orgasm. Ooh, I think I’m going to need a minute.

Namaste.

I am listening to NPR’s Talk of the Nation and they are discussing the capture of Saddam Hussein and the war crime tribunals of other former leaders. The term “truth and reconciliation” has come up fairly often.

Each time they say it, I think of the Truth and Reconciliation ship/level on HALO. And I laugh.

Although… there are certain parallels:

• HALO Marines assault the Truth and Reconciliation to find Captain Keyes.
  U.S. forces assaulted Iraqi strongholds to find Saddam Hussein.

• Covenant forces attack Marines from hidden positions.
  Iraqi insurgents attacked U.S. forces from hidden positions.

• Captain Keyes must be freed from a detention center aboard the Truth.
  Saddam Hussein has been transferred to a detention center.

Life imitating art (or video games)? You make the call.

The Ravens lost.
What does this mean:

• They are tied with the Bengals, as far as overall standings go.
• In the division,Cincinnati has a better record.
• Bottom line: Congratulations .

At least the Panthers won. Hopefully, the Dolphins will have a good showing tomorrow night.

We had a nice time at a belated birthday dinner for this evening. Good food and the company of good friends is always a nice way to spend time.

Mother Nature laughed.
And the snow fell.

Namaste.

Football Match-Ups

Baltimore at Oakland
Current Score: 6 – 17
Baltimore is getting systematically picked apart. By the 3-10 Raiders. Granted, the Ravens have performed poorly on the road, but the first half performance has been sorely lacking. Hopefully, they can pull it together in the second half. If they want to hold on to the division lead, they had damned well better do something.

Carolina at Arizona
Current Score: 7 – 14

Philadelphia at Miami
Monday Night

New NFL Playoff commercial with Don Cheadle. *nod*

Tonight’s Justice League was good. Very good. We even got to see GL & Hawkgirl on a date… of sorts. It included a snowball fight. And a bar fight that Hawkgirl started and blamed on GL. That made me laugh. It was also nice to see Jonathan and Martha Kent, as Clark took J’onn (Martian Manhunter) home with him for the holidays. There was even a great visual in-joke for fans of the Justice League/Justice League International comic book involving J’onn and Oreo (Choco) cookies. That made me laugh, too.

Bowling was good. Our friend, Patryck, came down for the first time in many moons. Nine games (again) this week; high score – 173.

Breakfast had a good crowd; I think that there were eight of us there. And the group grew from that point. We topped off somewhere around 15, I believe. And the conversation ranged from the book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word to bad dates to politics to political correctness. And many points in-between and LOTS of tangents.

The Big News
From Paul Bremer: “Ladies and gentlemen…..we got him.”

Saddam Hussein was captured. And, there is DNA evidence to confirm his identity. Check your local/Internet news services for more information.

[05:19] : ya think someone woke up dubya?
[05:19] : Probably so.
[05:19] : lol he’s probably jumping up and down in his cowboy hat
[05:19] : “we got the motherfucker! daddy is gonna be so happy…”

And that’s all for tonight.

Namaste.

Alexander Siddig, who formerly played Dr. Julian ABshir on DS9, had a guest starring role on the BBC/A&E series MI-5. I almost didn’t recognize him – his hair was a bit longer and more unkempt and he had a beard. I like MI-5. I haven’t seen many episodes, but it is a refreshing change from American law enforcement/spy shows.

In light of Thursday’s Fresh Air, I have to note that Tom Jones does the theme for Duck Dodgers; there is a definite feel of Thunderball to the song. In today’s episode, Dodgers (Daffy Duck) and Cadet (Porky Pig) were under attack by Martians. Making an offensive stand, there was a great jab at Star Wars:

Duck Dodgers: I’m only going to get one shot at this
Cadet: Trust your feelings, Captain
Duck Dodgers: No, I’m pretty sure I’m going to use this fancy targeting computer

In the following episode, Dodgers was responding to a distress call… and there was a Dirty Harry reference:

Duck Dodgers: I know what you’re thinking… ‘Did he fire five shots or six?’ Well, due to a massive head injury, I have to ask you that question.

…or nothing at all.

I spent the early part of the day replacing our proxy server. It should have been a quick exchange of computers. It wasn’t. It was a quick exchange and minor reconfiguration and NIC swapping and… well, you get the idea. *sigh* But, on the “plus” side: We now have a computer that doesn’t decide to randomly lock up and take down the Internet connection.

Friday night coffee was good. Plenty to see and do. I also started on what (so far) looks to be a fun project: Following and ‘s ideas, I am working on a drawing for this year’s Christmas card. So far, it looks pretty good (BIG thanks to for her tutelage); I just have to decide if I’m going to color it on paper or make an attempt to color it digitally. At this point, I am leaning towards colored pencils.

Stray Toasters

• From The Guardian: We Are All Nerds Now
• We were doing “Six Degrees of Separation” match-ups over dinner. Can anyone come up with links between:
  • Marilyn Monroe and Laurence Fishburne
  • Herve Villechaize and Wilt Chamberlain
• Hidey Hidey Hidey Hi…
  &nbsp &nbsp(Hidey Hidey Hidey Hi…)

• Chocolate and peanut butter make for a tasty treat. Millions of Reese’s Cups bear that out. But there are some combinations that just make you wonder what the creator was thinking…
• If you think that people who drive and talk on their phones at the same time are bad, read this. Multitasking is one thing, this was ridiculous… not to mention VERY dangerous.
• Bonsai!

Quote of the Day (and two from a couple of years ago)
While cleaning up earlier this week, I came across a couple of quotes that I had written on the backs of business cards. Their exact origins are lost… but they still amused me:

Even bitches are allowed to wimp out every once in a while.

I’m going to hit you so hard, the lips on your driver’s license will be swollen for a week!

While at Borders, was looking at a magazine and came across an article on former Eight Is Enough and Charles in Charge actor Willie Aames and his series Bibleman. Then, she saw the costume that he wears. That prompted the following:

Jesus didn’t have titanium armor! He looks like a demented Jedi Power Ranger!

There’s probably nothing that I can say at this point to top that, so I’ll just end here.

Namaste.

While scanning Backwash, I came across a link that someone had posted to this page of quotes.

Not all of them are gems, but I did get a couple of good laughs.

Enjoy.

Thursday
Oy. The day started off… slowly. Irritating, but slow.

I woke up and performed the morning rituals without much ado. I decided to upgrade the OS on my Palm Pilot. Seemed simple enough and the instructions said that it would “…take less than ten minutes.” Perfect! I downloaded it and set it in motion. Thirty minutes later, it still wasn’t done. *sigh* So I left.

On the way to work, I got behind three cars at a traffic light – the first two cars were spaced “normally,” the third car was at least a car length behind the second car. No big deal. And, the driver was reading something (newspaper, document). The first two cars turned right on red. The third car pulled forward… but stopped about a half-car length behind the line. As I watched, the driver started reading again. This was “okay,” since the light was red. The light turned green… and she turned right.

::: braincramp :::

The day got better, though. Work wasn’t too bad; we had a meeting (originally slated for “about a half-hour,” it lasted roughly three hours – NOT a bad thing).

NPR and PRI Stories
Talk of the Nation: Kids and Criminal Responsibility
Talk of the Nation: Nostradamus
All Things Considered: FDA Includes Tuna in Draft Advisory on Mercury
All Things Considered: Doll Cultural Study Had Impact on ‘Brown v. Board’
Fresh Air: Interview with Tom Jones

Stray Toasters

• The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan was on Boomerang tonight. I haven’t seen this in ages! *nostalgic*
• Ladies, I have a question: Just how strong is your desire to go the bathroom while standing up? I ask because there was a link to this on Backwash today. I first heard about them a few years ago; I just wasn’t expecting to see it online tonight. *shrug*
• Virginia Arrests Man for Spamming
• The video for Adam Ant’s Goody Two Shoes was just on VH1’s We Are the 80s. And I thought that Billy Squier’s Rock Me Tonight video was bad…
• Early evening conversation with the paternal parental unit. All seems to be quiet on the eastern front.
• Crossword puzzles. *thumbs up*
• anarchist reactionary running-dog revisionist
  hindu muslim catholic creation/evolutionist
  rational romantic mystic cynical idealist
  minimal expressionist post-modern neo-symbolist

  armchair rocket scientist graffiti existentialist
  deconstruction primitive performance photo-realist
  be-bop or a one-drop or a hip-hop lite-pop-metallist
  gold adult contemporary urban country capitalist

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

My friend, Joe, sent me a link to this in an email this morning. His only comment:

As aired on the news in Dallas… See if you can spot the blooper!

(MOSTLY work safe)