Random Access

Wednesday
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

After work, it was off to spend a little time with and ‘ place for dinner and hanging out. I even popped in to say “Hi” to (Hope you’re feeling better soon!). I got a call from … and then it was on to Cheers to hang out with her and . Twas fun.

Stray Toasters

• There’s a new Firestorm in town (if your town happens to be Detroit, that is).
• Star Trek parody on Futurama. It even featured the ST: TOS crew and Jonathan Frakes. With a Space: 1999 reference, to boot! *cracks up*
• The art of Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell
• An ex-coworker of mine sent me this. May Heaven have mercy upon us.
• While at Cheers tonight, we heard a Muzak version of Under the Sea (from Disney’s The Little Mermaid). I have nothing against Disney songs; I even own the soundtrack to TLM. Muzak versions of the song, however… *twitch*
• Sorceress Queen, Transmute and Animate Dead. A nice combination.

I seem to be winding down rather quickly. This would be a good stopping point.

Namaste.

Campbell’s Condensed Newspaper has an interview with Eartha Kitt, Lee Meriweather and Julie Newmar, the women who played Catwoman on the 1960s Batman series.

You could call it a once-in-nine-lifetimes gathering. Three Catwomen who purr-fectly embodied Batman’s feline archnemesis Julie Newmar, 68, and Eartha Kitt, 77, in the 1966-68 TV series, and Lee Meriwether, 68, in the 1966 movie — gathered for the first time earlier this month at the TV Land Awards (tonight, 9 ET/PT). The trio talked to USA TODAY’s Bill Keveney about the appeal of a character who returns to the screen in July, when Halle Berry stars in Catwoman:

The questions were fairly run-of-the-mill. It seemed like Ms. Newmar was having a lot of fun with the interview. Especially with her answer to the next-to-last question:

Q: What are you doing now?

Kitt: I finished Nine on Broadway. I’m putting my own show together to tour. It’s called Dare Me.

Meriwether: Nunsense. It’s the 20th anniversary all-star tour.

Newmar: I’m just rich. I own businesses and I love it.

Have a good day, all.

Tuesday
All-in-all, today was a good day.

Lonely things like nights,
I find, end finer with a friend
The fact that I spent the evening in the company of five friends made the night that much better. We had super-secret stealth coffee tonight. Twas good.

Stray Toasters

• “What’s cooler than Sprite when it’s hotter than the Devil’s drawers out?” The new Sprite commercials still make me laugh. As does the 7Up “Slam Dunk” commercial.
• This came to me by way of a friend from IRC. Odd. Madness. But amusing.
• Thanks (I think) to for pointing me in the direction of the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division. Lots of interesting information there.
• From Adult Backwash: Lots Oh Lixxx Launches Erotic Ice Cream Sales at AEE
• and : Click here. Items #2 and 3, respectively.
• The conclusion is inescapable, my friends. We face… Darkseid.
  (Yes, it’s a quote from LSH #294, but it fit well here. Deal with it.)

• From : Man treated after attempting to nail himself to cross
• What’s wrong with this picture?

Quote of the Day
Jess and I were on the way to work this morning (carpooling = good) and stopped at a red light. A car pulled up beside us with three women in it. One woman leaned forward and looked at us. I made a comment to Jess. We bantered about possible reasons “why” she was… less-than-staring-but-more-than-casually-observing… us. Jess finally broke out this little nugget of amusement:

Maybe they want you to help them to realize their inner-penis longing.

After the initial shock of what she said wore off, I did the only thing that came to mind: I laughed. A lot.

Blue skies and gentle landings.
Namaste.

Monday
Another blue sky and white cloud day. And, it wasn’t bad for the start of the week. As an added bonus, talked with my father, a member of the sibko and my uncle today. All seems to be well on the Right Coast.

Stray Toasters

• Tonight we started the new storyline in ‘s game. We spent most of the time figuring out why our group is together and whether or not we get along. And I even managed to refrain from breaking into choruses of Arabian Nights and Prince Ali (from Aladdin)… not to mention Istanbul.
• From Broken Frontier: Comics as a Valid Art Form
• Ooh Ee Ooh Ah-Ah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang
• : 97-162-155-147. *sigh* Congratulations.
• Following a link from here, I wound up at Girlamatic.
  

  Girlamatic.com features webcomics (mostly) by women, (mostly) for women. It’s not about busting anybody’s, um, balls, though. It’s about good webcomics. If you like good webcomics, you’ll like girlamatic.com. And girlamatic.com will like you!

• I was in one of the local Toys ‘R’ Us stores the other day and saw a display for “My Little Pony.” That reminded me of a D&D game from college – I had a Spellsinger who needed a horse and wound up creating one: A 6″ tall unicorn… that shot lightning bolts from its horn. (I had to make a percentage roll; I didn’t do as well as I needed/wanted. And the DM had a warped sense of humor.) It made me laugh.
• I was later reminded of the dragonmouse that another character of mine had. Yes. “Dragonmouse.” As in “mouse that breathes fire.” It made the other party members rather nervous. But, it was handy around the campfire.
• Babysitter Robin: The post-Witch Hunter years.
• From BBC News: Lifting the Lid on Computer Filth
• When she isn’t causing me to awaken in an adrenaline-spiked panic, Sissy can be a rather cute cat.
• Chron X – A friend introduced me to this game when it first came out. I haven’t played it in a few years, but it’s good to see that Sony has kept it up and running. (: This seems like it would be something up your alley.)

I just noticed what time it is. I had planned to be in bed by now. Time to remedy that.

Namaste.

Today was grey with high clouds. There were a few “less-grey” spots in the sky, but nothing that I saw had a blue hue to it. It was still temperate and there was a bit of a breeze. I did not, however, take the kite out.

and I were going to visit the downtown library this morning, but we discovered that it didn’t open until 13:00. BAH! So, I went to Borders, instead. Lisa and Shauna, a couple of ladies I met there last year, were there. We talked for a while. I did some figure drawing and drank mocha. dropped in later. We sat around and talked.

I came home to discover that my email host’s server had gone pretty much belly up. This was not auspicious as I needed to get an email out concerning tonight’s movie. *braincramp* Apparently, the server came back online sometime after 9:00. “Better late than never,” I guess.

Jess and I went to dinner at the new Golden Corral, a couple of blocks from here. It was more crowded than I expected it to be for a Sunday. *shrug* We got in and were seated fairly quickly, so it wasn’t a major concern. After dinner, we were off to meet , and at Larryland South for Secret Window. I liked it. It reminded me of a couple of other movies, but that didn’t detract from its appeal. And it had a “Ted” in the movie; he wasn’t a barista, but Nyx and I still got a good laugh out of him. The five of us hung out and talked for a bit before heading our separate ways. Jess and I headed to the Fort Union Barnes & Noble for a bit: More drawing time! We ran into a friend there (whom I haven’t seen in a long time; Jess still works with her).

And now… home.

Stray Toasters

• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file comes: this.
• In light of the problems that I had with the email server today, I found this funny.
• Do you like Neuromancer?
  Do you like comic books and graphic novels?
  Now you can have the best of both worlds in one package.

• Transparent Aluminum?! I thought that Scotty “created” this when the ST: TOS crew came back to take the whales into the future…
• Have you ever wanted your own secret lair? Win this and your dream could come true.
• Tight pants. Reach-around. *snicker* Almost falling down.
  (not to be confused with: “Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fries, icy Cokes, thick shakes, sundaes and apple pies!”)

Anime (and maybe game-playing) time.

Namaste.

Saturday
Blue skies. Warm(ish) weather. Lots of sun. Warm enough for me to go out in a short-sleeved shirt without a jacket. And, very little – almost no – inversion.

I went to the library for a while this morning and did some drawing. As if I haven’t gone on about it enough, I really like the downtown library. After that, I headed to a meeting… which wound up getting moved to the library. Nothing like driving around in circles!

Now, I’m just killing time until we head to 2-D Physics. And I’m trying to decide what I want to cook for dinner. I’m thinking that it will be something with a very low “need to watch over” factor.

Stray Toasters

• I’m enjoying Last Exile on TechTV’s “Anime Unleashed.”
• I may take my kite out for a fly tomorrow, assuming that the wind is cooperative.
• A friend just emailed me a few things from LDS teachings about race. I haven’t read them all yet, but some of them are rather… fascinating.
• I spoke with my mother and a member of my sibko this afternoon.
• Speaking of which: I got a package from home. In it were some old pics of my parents and a gift from a sib’s trip to the Orient.
• I brush against the freckles that I hate it so
  but life goes on and I heave a little sigh for you
  It’s heavy, the love that I would share with you
  then it dissolves like it was just a sugar cube

• Thanks to for passing this along.
• Heh. Samurai Jack. Beth does a good Aku impression.

That’s it for now.

Namaste.

Friday
It was an all-around great day.
There have been far too few of those, lately. I like the change of pace.

I had a good time with the usual suspects at coffee tonight. I managed to get some decent drawing time in, too. And, at the behest of , I drew a few things that were not human. Okay… okay, one of them was partially “humanoid,” but not “human.” And I like the way that they came out.

Stray Toasters

• : Bowling. Beer.
  You know where.
  You know when.

• This afternoon, I had to pick up some shipping corners for some items that we were sending out. I got to the supplier and placed my order. The telephone rang, someone answered it and told another of the clerks that it was for him. He took the call; when he was done, the lady who had answered the call asked “Was it Baldy?” But she had her back to where I was standing. Ah, blessed opportunity! I waited a few seconds…
  

  Me: Did… you just ask if that was ‘Baldy?’
  Woman: *turns around* *turns red* Well, I don’t know his name. He came in a few days ago and he’s been calling about getting a job ever since.
  Me: So… the next time I come in here are you going to say “Oh, it’s the other bald guy?”
  Woman: *reddened a little more, but laughing*

  I found the whole thing amusing. I should stop in there Monday just to say “The other bald guy is back…”

• Gershwin. Rhapsody in Blue. ‘Nuff said.
• Dragonlance Chronicles. *nod*
• Words. Words. Static. *kzzzzzzktztkztktkzzzz*

Quote of the Day
Gleaned from Slashdot:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if real life supported <Control-Z>?

(For the less technically-inclined: <Control-Z> is the keyboard shortcut for “Undo.”)

Namaste.

Thursday
Bright, blue day… good weather. It was quite nice. I hope that it lasts through the weekend.

The weekend… we are now only a few work-hours away from it. And that is a good thing.

NPR Stories
Morning Edition: A Bubbly Girl Named Diot Coke *boggle*
All Things Considered: Commentary: Spam Poetry
All Things Considered: The Last of the Freelance Embalmers

Stray Toasters

• I just saw the M&M’s “Color My World” commercial. Unusual… but I like it.
• Umm…
• After last night’s 80s quiz, I was amused to find 80s Lyrics Quiz in Campbell’s Condensed Newspaper’s (USAToday) Tech Section. I scored a 123.5; once again, I’m not sure if I should be worried about that.
• From tonight’s Futurama: “A billion Robot lives are about to be extinguished… Oh, the Jedi are going to feel this one.”
• : I can see the ad campaign for the renaming of the series: Bicycle Messenger Robin
• : a la carte, a food-related link (also in USAToday’s Web Guide).
• Comic Book Resources has interviews with Sean McKeever, writer of Marvel Comics’ Mystique and Mark Waid, writer of DC Comics’ Birthright, the new (read: “latest”) ‘official origin’ of Superman.
• , I might need your help to make sure that I have the “connections” between Batman and The Big O correct… or if I missed any characters
  

  Batman	The Big O
  Bruce Wayne/Batman	Roger Smith/The Big O
  Barbara Gordon/Batgirl	R. Dorothy Wayneright
  Alfred Pennyworth	Norman
  Selina Kyle/Catwoman	Angel
  Commissioner Gordon	Col. Dastun
  Ra’s Al Ghul	Alex Rosewater
  The Joker	Alan Gabriel

  Beck reminds me of The Riddler; Shwartzwald makes me think of Two-Face, but I’m not sure if those are completely accurate.

I should get changed and head to the gym; I’m beginning to feel like a complete slacker. And maybe a good workout will help me get a good night’s sleep.

::: Update :::
The gym was good. Now a shower and then off to bed.

Namaste.

Wednesday
Midweek comes. Midweek goes.

Od tir’eh, od tir’eh
Kama tov yihiyeh
Bashana bashana haba’ah…

“Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” Today contained some examples of that saying. I was planning on going to the gym this morning… but not getting tired until 3:30 A.M. put the kibosh on that. I decided that I would go tonight, after Wednesday Night Beer. (And that was a great plan!) But, a matter of giri came up. *sigh*

NPR Stories
Morning Edition: Web Site Helps Drivers Fight Parking Tickets
Talk of the Nation: Addiction in the Workplace

Stray Toasters

• Witch Hunter Robin. I am quite taken with this show. It continues to surprise and impress me.
• “Professor. Lava. Hot!” – from tonight’s Futurama
• By way of : Hey Allah!
• Krispy Kreme doughnuts…
• Also from Nyx: The Ultimate 80’s Quiz I got 87 right; I don’t know whether or not I should be worried. and/or will do well on it, I’m sure.
• By way of an IRC conversation: http://www.mikeshelp.com/cops.jpg
• Thanks to for pointing out: The Exorcist (in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies)
• I received my Spring 2004 Lego catalog in the mail a few days ago. One of the items that they offer is Set #9293 – Community Workers. If you look at the picture (just left of center), you will find… a monkey. A monkey. While I understand that monkeys are funny (except Ella from Monkey Shines), I have never really thought of them as “community workers.” On the other hand, there was Lancelot Link; but those were chimpanzees.
• For those who wish to re-enact the classic Snoopy vs. the Red Baron fights, I suggest this and this. (Doghouse sold separately.)

Namaste.

Tuesday
Bluish skies (the inversion had kicked in again) and warm weather made it very tempting to take a “mental health” day. Very tempting indeed. But I didn’t. The day seemed to drag by. Hours stretched by like… hours. LONG hours.

On the way home, I realized that I was too tired/drain to go to the gym tonight. I can admit that. Tomorning, I shall work out. And all will be well with the world. Selah.

NPR Stories
Morning Edition: Forgetful Firefighters
Talk of the Nation: Same-Sex Marriage
Talk of the Nation: Cult TV

… including Joss Whedon and Bruce Campbell.
Talk of the Nation: Internet Animation Goes Mainstream

Stray Toasters

• Goodbye Paul Winfield, Robert Pastorelli and Spalding Gray.
• In a somewhat related note: They are finally going to release Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series in box sets. Hallelujah! (The “related” note: Paul Winfield also did voices on Batman: TAS and Batman Beyond.)
• Two wolves, a leopard and a white tiger walk into a coffee shop. Soon they are joined by a bunny, a 6-foot tall osprey and a pair of dragons.

  It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but these eight creatures came to Nashville’s Cafe Coco to clear the air of misconceptions we may have about them.

  (Click here to read the rest of the story.)

• Holy femullet, Batman!
• It seems as though Dish Network dropped Viacom stations. I [heart] DirecTV!
• By way of Slashdot: The Command Line – The Best Newbie Interface?
• Oh man… Witch Hunter Robin just went off. *jawdrop* There were plenty of plot twists that I didn’t see coming. I like it when a show catches me off-guard like that.
• Also from Slashdot: Protecting Our Parents’ PCs?
• A year before it’s due out, it seems as though BBC News is proclaiming the PS3 the winner of the “Next Gen Wars.”
• …and speaking of games: X-Arcade.
• Good stuff: The Art of Joe Bergeron
• For reasons that I have yet to determine (but I am perfectly willing to blame on ), I had Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious running through my head yesterday… particularly the Dick Van Dyke verse. I like the song – and Dick Van Dyke – but “hearing” it all day long is a bit much.

Quote of the Day
I’m not a NASCAR fan, but a few things from an interview with Kevin Harvick in the April issue of FHM caught my eye:

It’s obviously fun to drive NASCAR, but where’s the fun in watching cars drive in circles for hours?
Some races are boring as hell, so I’m not promising you excitement every week. But imagine going down the highway at 200 mph with 40 other cars just two inches apart. Plus, they do crash every once in a while.

Does NASCAR fear Kevin Harvick?
I don’t know that they fear me. When they see me coming, they must think, “Here comes another 30 grand – this dumbass is going to do something wrong.”
(Harvick is apparently known for getting fined by NASCAR.)

Are you going for it? You know, getting kicked out?
God, I hope not. I’ve got too much shit to pay for now.

And with that, goodnight.

Namaste.

Monday
Great weather.
Work wasn’t bad.
New game started to night.
…and I chatted with my uncle for a bit.

All-in-all, a good day.

Namaste.

…here in Zion Curtain land
My friends all say just how great coffee is
But their neighbors just don’t understand.

Last night was fun. There were a few surprises at 2-D Physics:

1. Roger, ex-coworker, called me and said that he and a couple of his friends were going to be bowling. They were there when we got there, so we had them move down to our lanes.
2. Mr. and Mrs. joined us. This wasn’t so much of a “surprise” as it was good to see and hang out with them, though.
3. Patty, a friend from way back in the day (at least with respect to me moving here), showed up. Holy surprise guest stars, Batman! And, she brought her kids and a few of their friends. I can’t believe how much they’ve grown (a LOT!!!) in the past year or two since I’ve seen them.

   Breakfast was good, too. Pat showed up for a while. So did Brent, who had been “missing” for a couple of months, as he had broken his leg.

Stray Toasters

• Kids’ WB will air a preview of The Batman (the new animated series) on Saturday.
• : 155-121-139-150-142
• Procul Harum. A Whiter Shade of Pale. ‘Nuff said.
• Rush. Red Barchetta. Ditto.
• Banryu (‘guard dragon’) robots
• Thanks to for pointing me towards The Tao of Geek.
• I really need to do some straightening up around here. But I have next to no motivation to do so.
• An old Honda car commercial featuring the late Miles Davis just popped into my head. I have no idea why.
• If I were to say:
  

  We the people, in order to for a more perfect union
  Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility

  …how many of you would start humming/singing The Preamble from Schoolhouse Rock?

• Campbell’s Condensed Soup Newspaper (more commonly referred to as “USAToday”) has an article about a book by Dan McNichol that examines “the largest single engineering and construction project on this planet:” The U.S. Interstate System.
• Hmm… Red Barchetta, a Honda commercial and an article about highways. All in one post. That has to be a hat trick of some kind or other.

Now, time to enjoy what has to be one of the best-looking weather days that we’ve seen around here in far too long.

Namaste.

Woke up.
Went to work.
Came home.
Visited , and for a bit.
Back home.

…and now, it’s almost time for 2-D Physics.

Namaste.

Friday
Hellooooo, weekend!

The day wasn’t bad. The night, spent in the company of the usual suspects and a couple of friends that we haven’t seen in a while, was even better.

Stray Toasters

• It’s amazing how a shopping basket can become a one-person airplane in the eyes of a child. Or maybe it isn’t so much “amazing” as it is “refreshing.” I spent a part of the evening “flying” Gabe around the bookstore. It got a few amused and curious looks from some of the other patrons.
• Goodbye, Godzilla…
• From Slashdot: “A young Ukrainian woman has posted a photo journal of her motorcycle rides through Chernobyl and the area surrounding it.” You can check it out here.
• Forty acres. A mule. A saddle. And a riding crop.
  makes me laugh. She made herself laugh, too. A lot.

• A few of my friends are heading to Las Vegas this weekend. I’m not sure for whom I should feel afraid: Them or Vegas. My wager: Vegas goes down in the third round.
• Cruise. Alaskan, Pacific or Caribbean?
• Even though it’s been a week since I replaced my Cambridge Soundworks speaker system with my stereo, I still find myself reaching for the old sound controls (formerly on the right side of the desk) rather than the stereo volume (on the left side).

Namaste.

Thursday
Today was a pretty decent day.

Even when you consider the fact that I was awakened by a phone call at 8:37 AM. Let’s say that I was “mildly” irritated by this. I have a standing rule: No calls before 10:00 AM (in MY local time zone), unless you are a family member or it is an emergency. Period. Pretty much everyone that I know is aware of this rule. Apparently, the person who called had forgotten; a reminder is in order…

Other than that, it was blue skies and chocolate cake. I even went to the gym after work. Yes, that’s two trips in just over 18 hours. Different workouts. And tomorrow morning – assuming that I drag myself out of bed in time – will be a different workout, too.

NPR Stories
Morning Edition: Odds-Defying Golf Amateur
Talk of the Nation: The History of Oxymorons

Stray Toasters

• I’m a train and railroad fan. I’ve been one for years. It’s a fascination that I just can’t explain. I probably wouldn’t try to; it would take far too long. I’ve thought about getting back into N-scale or HO-scale railroading (passing thoughts, though). I’ve mentioned my Lego train and Rokenbok monorail in here a few times. The idea of garden railroading is a pretty cool idea, too. Tonight, Mary sent me a link to this. *jawdrop* Ponder, ponder…
• I’m a BattleTech fan. Mech of choice: Phoenix Hawk (Old school Inner Sphere) I even liked the animated BT cartoon from the mid 90s. Like any gaming geek, I’ve thought “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a ‘Mech of my own…” once or twice. Then I saw this. (I first saw it a couple of years ago, but seeing that monorail reminded me of it.) Looking at the steps involved in building it, I can do pretty much everything involved except the welding. And that I can learn. Let the evil machinations begin…
• “The New Justice Team” on Futurama. I laughed.
• Thanks to for passing along this bit of amusement.
• It’s common knowledge that I am not happy with the casting of Keanu Reeves in the title role of the upcoming Constantine movie. “Whoa… I know magic.” Sorry, but it just doesn’t work for me. Alan Moore has said that the character was based on Sting (the musician, not the wrestler)… if he were an occultist. It’s come to light that Moore has divorced himself from the movie project. And rumors have abounded. Neil Gaiman tries to set the record straight in his blog.

That’s all for now.

Namaste.