Random Access

Monday
It happened.
The real estate company called Jess this afternoon.

We have a closing date: Wednesday, 16 June 04!
As in THIS Wednesday.

The overall process has been incredibly painless. We first looked at this house on 21 May 04 and we’re all set to close. Not bad for a shade over three weeks. Not bad at all. Of course, we made the obligatory call to our ‘rents. They were all very happy for us… not to mention shocked that it happened so quickly.

Now it’s a matter of get packed, get moved and get settled.

NPR and Other News
Public Radio Exchange

Talk of the Nation: Status Anxiety
All Things Considered: High Court Keeps ‘Under God’ in School Pledge
All Things Considered: Alan Cheuse’s 2004 Summer Reading List
All Things Considered: The Youngblood Brass Band, Live at NPR

Stray Toasters

• Did I mention that we have a closing date, yet? I did? Oh. Nevermind then.
• By way of Slashdot: Videogame Auction
  If anyone has a spare $100,000 lying around, my birthday is coming up in a few months…

• Japanese Firm Buys First New-Look Zeppelin
• From snopes.com: Travel – Stranded at the Airport – The story of Merhan Karimi Nasseri, the man whose story is the basis for the upcoming Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks movie Terminal.
• 
  “Good thing Dr. Philby is a heavy drinker during surgery.”

• There’s a brand new groove goin’ round
  In your city, in your town: Housequake
  And the kick drum is the fault

• Let’s see if we can kill multiple birds with one stone…
  : Catwoman Statue
  : Joker Statue
  : Teen Titans/Legion #1

• From Broken Frontier: The Bald Connection?

It’s Game Night… I should get back to the gaming.

Closing date!!!
Wednesday!!!

Namaste.

Sunday
Rest and relaxation.
That’s what today was about.

I talked with Mom for a bit. That’s almost always a good thing. I think that I surprised her – she wasn’t expecting me to call. *shrug* But, she was glad that I did. She’s still trying to come out her sometime next month, but it’s a matter of timing: School reopens 01 August 04, so she has to squeeze a lot of summer into seven weeks. *sigh*

I spent a couple of hours at Borders, drawing and chatting. That was followed up by a trip to Provo (yes, I went to Provo voluntarily) for a barbecue. Allison, one of the Cheers waitstaff is moving out of state and this was her “going away” shindig. Food, playing with the kids, being catty… It was a good time. And we capped that off with a trip to Dairy Queen for tasty iced creams on the way home.

I watched the end of the Lakers-Pistons game. I guess that I’d prefer the Lakers to win the series, but since the Pacers are no longer in contention, I don’t really care who wins. But I like a good game. And tonight’s game was one.

I should do more packing/throwing away.

Stray Toasters

• The Art of Michael Greenholt
• A new Bratstreet!
• Care to try your hand at speed-writing… and art… and editing?
  From Scott McCloud comes: The Dare – Making the 24-Hour Comic

• By way of Backwash: 10 Foods You Should Never Eat!
  Hmm. I haven’t had #10 in a while, but I like #7 and #8.

• g0t henna? does. Quite a bit. If you’re looking for a henna tattoo (and someone to apply said tattoo), get in touch with her.
• Looking for something new to read? Check out shortstories.
• Eric Clapton. ‘Nuff said.
• If you aren’t a cat owner, this explains what we live with:
  

• Given my… affinity… for brewed bean squeezins, I think that it’s funny that it’s taken me this long to learn about the history of coffee.
• I came across a link on Backwash labeled: I better get in shape soon…
  The description text said:

  Nude Recreation Week is July 9-15, and “across North America naturists will mark the occasion by visiting their favorite clothing-optional beach, hot spring, resort or backyard hot tub.”

  I clicked the link and saw the “event” listing. Cat-like curiosity kicked in at that point and I looked at the other links under it. Odd. Curiously fascinating… but odd.

• Yet another from Backwash: Very Candid Stick Figures
• Sour Patch Kids!

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Saturday
I woke up slowly and begrudgingly this morning around 9:00. Going to bed somewhere around 5:00 might have had something to do with it. Just maybe.

After taking Jess to work, I headed over to ‘ place. We chatted, drank espresso (Hoo-AH!) and just killed a few hours.

I came home and helped myself to a serving of Sit-on-My-Ass-and-Do-Nothing. A very large serving. And it was good. Around 4:30, I got the inclination to move, pack or throw out some of the clutter in the HCC… and there’s still a lot left to go through. I’m thinking that a fair amount of it will wind up in File 13.

Bowling was good.
Tonight’s scores: 106 – 136 – 139 – 198 – 147 – 126 (8th)/141(10th-1).

Breakfast was also good and the people watching was interesting – lots of bad hair, bad fashion sense and plenty of intoxicated/inebriated people. Fortunately there was good conversation among friends to compensate for it.

Stray Toasters

• From : Counter Strike Widows
• Is that a bomb in your backyard or are you just happy to see me?
• I choose not to grok this new “sausage” meme in fullness.
• How geeky am I? I know the lyrics to the theme from Star Trek
• It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone…
• Interactive Tangrams
• By way of Backwash: Odd and Funny Banners for Your Website
• Does your weblog own you?

  12.5 %

  
  My weblog owns 12.5 % of me.
  Does your weblog own you?

I’m sure that there’s more that I could say, but I’m tired and nothing’s coming immediately to mind. I think that it’s time to take a shower and to wander the fields of The Dreaming.

Namaste.

Friday
Before I forget (yet again), “Happy Birthday” to:

I think that not going to the gym last night was a mixed bag: While it would have been nice, I was apparently more tired that I had originally thought. I woke up a few times this morning, but I didn’t get out of bed until a little after 10:00.

I watched the last portions of the funeral for Ronald Reagan. It was a nice ceremony. I was also struck by the thought: It’s amazing that you can have all of these world leaders sitting side-by-side and no one is worried about who’s out to get whom. If only they could be so amenable at other times… I wasn’t born when President Kennedy died, and I was too young to remember the last State Funerals held for former Presidents Johnson. When Mrs. Reagan turned to wave to the crowd, before boarding the plane for the trip to California, it again struck me how poised and composed she has remained throughout the past week… but she also looked a little older and a little more “relieved.” I wish her well.

I went to work and wrangled some HTML and a Word document. I fought with some software for a bit, but after taking a few minutes to punch large holes in the wall step back and think about what I was trying to do, I found a viable solution to my “problem.” And life was good again.

Tonight’s coffee was good. We had one of the largest groups – if not the largest – that we’ve had in a long time. Maddox even put in an appearance. I should invite him to 2-D Physics tomorrow… Coles Whalen was performing in the cafe when we got there; her music was pleasant and she did a few decent-sounding covers. Spacing ourselves out wasn’t too bad at first, we only took up three tables; that quickly grew to seven tables. (I wasn’t kidding when I said that we had a lot of people show up.)

Something that I found odd, to say the least: Near the end of her first set, a friend of hers – her boyfriend, perhaps – came to our table and asked us to applaud for her at the end of her set. O_o Umm… okay. He looked as though he was trying to be… I don’t know… “intense.” That was something that I wasn’t really in the mood to deal with, so I just stared at him for a few seconds. *shrug* I had been applauding anyway, but what the Hell if it would make him happy.

Since we had such a large group, there were at least three conversations going on concurrently. But everyone seemed to have a good time. And that’s what it’s all about.

Jess and I headed to Cheers for a bite to eat and to pick up some boxes for the move. Melody, Kate and Allison stopped by our table to chat with us during the lulls in the crowd. Kate has been at V.I. for a couple of years; Allison has been there for about six months. Tonight was the first time that I thought of them as “Kate and Allie,” which immediately made me think of the 80s sitcom.

NPR and Other News Stories
Talk of the Nation – Science Friday: The Sleeping Brain
All Things Considered: ‘The Five Obstructions’: Making Films with Limits
All Things Considered: Web Site Lets Students Rate Their Teachers

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to for this.
• posted a link to “…some fucking awesome flash” done to The Beatles’ Come Together. She was right, it was verra cool. I countered with:
  • Murray the Martial Arts Monkey
  • We Will Rock You and
  • Taiko Drums
• : Hope that you had a good flight and that your vacation is fun. Chicago. *sigh* Did I mention that I’m ever so slightly jealous?
• James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub
• From Slashdot: Downtown Baltimore To Get Massive Surveillance Network
  I find this amusing/interesting since portions of Enemy of the State were filmed in downtown Baltimore. I remember looking at some of the shots and thinking “Hey, I’ve been there! And there! And there!”

• According to weather.com, it’s supposed to get into the mid-70s tomorrow. I hope that they’re right. Even if I do wind up spending most of the day packing.
• The Simpsons….
• I just caught myself looking for a book… that I packed three days ago.
• Maktub (pronounced “mock-tube”) with thanks, again, to
• From Broken Frontier: Coming Out of the Shadows – a look at DC Comics’ Nightwing

Quote of the Day
I sent the URL of the Flash animation to and received this response:

[03:23] : funny, before now I thought this was an aerosmith song… turns out they only covered it
[03:23] : *jawdrop*

That’s almost enough to make a person feel “old.” Almost.

And with that, good night.

Namaste.

Thursday
I don’t know who pissed of Mother Nature, but she decided to take her revenge by subjecting Salt Lake City to a 30° temperature drop. Thirty degrees. There is new snow on the Wasatch Mountains. Did I mention that it’s the middle of June? And there’s new snow? Unglaublich!

Otherwise, today has been a good day. It was Kris’ birthday. I sent her cards (I got an email from her this morning saying that she got them), but I didn’t get an answer when I tried to call her. I caught Mom on chat a little later in the afternoon; she said that Kris had been at home (Mom’s) for most of the day. *sigh* I’ll have to catch her tomorrow.

On the way home, we stopped to visit Jess’ uncle, Scott. We also saw Shannon (his daughter) and Kylie (Shannon’s daughter, the pic is from our 2001 Disneyland trip). It had been a long time since we’ve seen them; one could say “too long,” considering that we live just a few miles from each other. We had only planned on staying a few minutes… I think that we were there for nearly two hours. It was nice to see and spend time with them. And Scott’s thinking of joining Gold’s Gym… which means that I’ll have someone else to torture workout with.

NPR and Other News
Ray Charles died today. (1, 2, 3) He was 73 years old and succumbed to liver disease. Esquire interviewed Ray Charles last July for their August “What I’ve Learned” column; the reprint of his answers is here.

My father was a fan of his. I seem to remember first hearing Ray Charles’ music because of him. Over time, I grew to appreciate his music. Among my favorite songs are his renditions of:

• America the Beautiful
• Georgia on My Mind
• What’d I Say
• I Can’t Stop Loving You
• Hit the Road Jack
• Let the Good Times Roll (from Quincy Jones’ Q’s Jook Joint)
• Shake A Tail Feather (from The Blues Brothers)

Who am I trying to kid? You could put on anything with Ray Charles performing and I would be happy.

Ray Charles Robinson (who changed his name to avoid confusion with boxer “Sugar Ray” Robinson) overcame many challenges in his life and became a beloved figure in the world of music. He also received many awards over the course of his career. He was honored by then-President Ronald Reagan as a recipient of a Kennedy Center Award in 1986; he had also played America at President Reagan’s inauguration ball.

“I ain’t going to live forever,” he said during the recording studio interview. “I got enough sense to know that. I also know it’s not a question of how long I live, but it’s a question of how well I live.”

As he said in the Pepsi ad campaigns: “You got the right one, baby.”

So did you.
And we thank you for sharing it with us.

Talk of the City: Bob Edwards (former host of NPR’s Morning Edition, now a “Senior Correspondent”) was in town to help commemorate the new KCPW studio and to promote his new book, Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism. Part of the interview dealt with questions about his “demotion;” he answered them with a good deal of straight-forward candor and wit. He commented that he was removed from the host position in order to bring a younger voice/feel to the show. (Something in the way that he talked about it seemed to parallel a storyline in the Superman books: Clark Kent has been moved from featured reporter to the police beat to make way for a reporter who has more of a feel for the paper’s younger audience. Life imitates art which imitates life…)

Morning Edition: Peru Negro: African Music of the Andes
Talk of the Nation: Friends with Benefits
All Things Considered: Study: Power Plant Air Controls Could Save Lives
The World: Alfonso Cuaron interview and Peregoyo Y Su Combo Vacana

Stray Toasters

• I visited and at work this afternoon. I finally saw the legendary Skeletor. At one point, Hildo Ramboner came through the office. said that I should check out her FUPA when she came back; agreed. I thought about it and decided not to. Then I reconsidered:
  

  Two women are telling me to check out another woman’s crotch…
  Why am I saying “No?!”

  When I shared this thought with them, we all got a good laugh at it.

• Valve announces Half-Life 2 code theft arrests
• By way of Slashdot: How Liberty was lost on the Internet
• For : So, I bought the new “Sword of Truth” book…
• I just read a five-page preview of X-Men #158 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) by Chuck Austen. I haven’t collected comics in a while; nor have I read much of Austen’s work in some time. But, if the writing in this preview is any indication, it looks like the book is in good hands.
• There’s just something “fun” about the cover of Fantastic Four #514.
• Websites of the alternative newspapers from places I’ve lived:
  

  City	Free News Weekly
  Baltimore	City Paper
  Greensboro	Rhinoceros Times
  Salt Lake City	City Weekly

Quote of the Day
I came home to find the following message from waiting on AIM:

[21:26] : SAM KEITH DOES BATMAN!!!!

I also noted that she had made a post with this as an item.

[21:53] : omigodxboxhueg <<-- "huge" ? [21:53] : deliberately misspelled. 🙂
[21:53] : pretend I’m a really excited 12 year old gamer. 🙂
[21:53] : Oh.
[21:53] : *shrug*
[21:55] : smile and nod. 🙂
[21:55] : It’s not that.
[21:56] : The Maxx…. good.
[21:56] : Batman… good.
[21:56] : *shrug*
[21:56] : <nod, nod>
[21:56] : Not really my big thing.
[21:56] : I like Batman, but this isn’t “HOLY COW” for me.
[21:57] : Well…imagine if you got to see Tyra Banks and Iman making out….
[21:57] : 😀
[21:57] : That wouldn’t do it.
[21:58] : That would just be… wrong.
[21:58] : Really?
[21:58] : No.
[21:58] : two hot chicks?
[21:58] : *shrug*
[21:58] : Depends on the chicks.
[21:58] : Tyra or Iman.
[21:58] : Yes.
[21:59] : Together…. does not compute.
[21:59] : 🙂
[21:59] : Uhm…Okay…Lego and Ikea merge and make the world’s coolest build it yourself furniture. 🙂
[21:59] : Much better example.

And with that, I bid you goodnight.

To bed or to the gym…?
I’m torn.
It’s after 2:30.
Maybe I’m not as torn about this as I had originally thought.

Namaste.

Wednesday
All-in-all, it’s been a good day.
Despite the fact that the weather has gone from clear blue skies to dull grey and rainy.

NPR and Other News
Today was also the beginning of the State Funeral for former President Ronald Reagan.

I’ve been trying to figure out my stand about the man. He came into office when I was 10 years old. As such, my opinions about him have been… jaded… by the influences of my family; they weren’t too thrilled with him, as I recall. That may have been simply because he was a Republican. (Sidenote: I remember learning something in my high school Civil Liberties class that discussed when Black Americans switched party affiliation, more or less en masse, from the Republican to the Democratic party. But, that was many years ago and I can’t recall the specifics.) I don’t think that I ever really formed a “good” or “bad” opinion of him. I remember thinking that he reminded me of a grandfatherly figure. And I remember that he liked Jelly Belly jelly beans.

I watched most of the ceremony this afternoon. I realized that there is something about the pomp and circumstance of an official event that I enjoy. I remember thinking that the pallbearers were a part of something that few other members of the Armed Forces could claim; I’m wonder if they would ever tell their grandkids something like: “I was a pallbearer in a former President’s funeral procession.”

Beyond all of the ceremony, the speeches, the singing… I was impressed by Nancy Reagan. She has been through a lot in the past week. And to have to endure all of this on national television. For a week. I had a great deal of respect for her and what she has been through as she watched President Reagan succumb to Alzheimer’s Disease. Watching her today, as she walked down Constitution Avenue and on the steps of the Capitol and sitting in the rotunda, there were a few times when her age showed… but she never lost her grace or composure. Until the end. When she was saying goodbye. I noted the shutter clicks of the cameras as she approached the casket and smoothed the flag. I also noted a flurry of clicks when it seemed as though emotions had gotten the better of her. While I am pretty sure that may news agencies will use some of these pictures for their headlines and cover stories, I hope that they aren’t used in an exploitive manner. I can’t imagine how trying it must be to have gone through this in California… and here… and again when they inter President Reagan’s body in California.

In the end, a man who had grown to be loved and admired by a nation has ridden into his final sunset. I hope that he has found clarity, peace and rest. And I wish his family well in their time of sorrow.

All Things Considered: History of State Funerals
Talk of the Nation: Debating the Term: ‘Cancer Survivor’
Talk of the Nation: A Look at the ‘Naked Olympics’
All Things Considered: Marking Welch’s Stand Against McCarthy

USA Today: Exit exams cover comparatively easy math, reading, study says
USA Today: Brain aging and genes

Stray Toasters

• I like the smell of rain on a late-Spring afternoon.
• Robovie-M is one for the robo-hobbyists
  It’s not a Battle’Mech… but it’s not a bad start.

• : HBO lightens up ‘Six Feet Under’
• : Click here.
• Gatorade Frost: Glacier Freeze
• Gas prices seem to be… dropping?!
• I may be in the minority here (another minority, that is), but I want to see The Chronicles of Riddick. Sue me.
• Free Comic Book Day 2004

Time to head to the gym.

Namaste.

Tuesday
I’m not sure what dream I had last night/this morning, but it caused me to wake up a little confused somewhere around 5:30 AM. It wasn’t horrible enough to keep me from getting back to sleep, though.

Today was a productive day for work.

I chatted with a friend and ex-coworker from NC for a bit; we haven’t talked in… a few months, at least. It was nice to catch up. I also managed to catch online. *gasp*

sent a confirmed date for the wedding: 28 November 04. I guess we’ll be in Maryland for Thanksgiving this year. Maybe I’ll take a week off so I can spend a couple of days in NC. That would be nice – two birds, one stone. I have to remember to take the camcorder. And find someone to use it, since I’ll be in the wedding party.

NPR and Other News
I generally steer away from discussing politics on here. However, sent me something – yes, we use AIM even though the computers are only six feet (1.82m ) apart – that I think warrants a comment. And, before I go off on my little diatribe, let me say that I’m a Democrat-leaning Independent.

Former President Bill Clinton is upset that he hasn’t been chosen to speak at the funeral for former President Ronald Reagan.

He’s upset. That’s too bad. Just because he was the president at one point in time, he is not automatically “entitled” to speak. Shrub, Sr. was his Vice President… and his successor. Let him have his time at the podium. Shrub, Jr. is the current President. I think that there’s good reason for him to speak.

There is no reason that I can think of for which he should be up there. Yes, he’s a former Commander-in-Chief. So was Jimmy Carter, but I haven’t heard any complaints from his camp that he wasn’t asked not to speak. And Gerald Ford, a Republican, has not (to my knowledge) been asked to speak; neither he nor his representatives have complained.

I think that it’s rather self-serving to make a statement like this. Childish, even. In fact, it sounds a lot like the kid who wasn’t chosen to play baseball… and stomps off pouting about it.

I will be interested to see how this unfolds.

::: gets down from soapbox :::

Stray Toasters

• I’m sure that it’s been slightly obvious from some ‘Toasters that many Utah drivers cause the vein on the side of my head to visibly throb. Today was a pleasant exception: On the way to work, we passed (and were passed by) a young lady who was happily rocking out. I’m not sure what she was listening to, but she was singing along and bopping in her seat at a stop light. It made me smile.
• By way of an ICQ conversation: Hijacking Harry Potter, Quidditch Broom and All
• From Slashdot: Send a Message to an LED Sign
  

  An anonymous reader submits “I just got a Pro Lite LED sign today. After a few minutes splicing and wiring up a DB9 to RJ11 connection, and a little fun with python, I’ve got a script that lets me take input from the web and display it on the sign. Eventually it will have other, more useful, purposes, but I figured I’d let you guys play with it as it is. There’s also a log of past messages.

• Also by way of Slashdot: Gadgeteer Hands On Review: LapLogic LapPads
• : Not that you haven’t seen this (or something like it) already, but take a look at the top story here. And is that a new icon of Murray the Kung-Fu Monkey?
• …and they are seriously going ahead with the Krypto: The Superdog series. *sigh* Are they really that hard up for projects? After all, if WB Animation can go from a seven member Justice League to a 60+ member Justice League Unlimited, why not use some characters that made a lot of fans happy and do a Legion of Super-Heroes series?! It’s not like they don’t have over 30 years of history to work with. And they could go with either the Superboy or Valor/Mon’el team origin. Either would work. And, I’d definitely watch it. And I can think of a lot of others who would, too.
• And speaking of Justice League, anyone who is reading this should feel free to pre-order this for me. It would make a great Un-Birthday gift.
• If you haven’t read my posts from this past weekend, get to it!
  (Saturday, Sunday)

That’s it. Time to find some mischief to get into. A game. Or maybe even the gym. Or, even dinner! Yes, ingesting food would be a “good” thing. Right then, food it is!. And then mischief! Yes!

<edit>
I have had a couple of songs from The Wiz running through my head for the past couple of days. While looking on Usenet, I decided to look through the soundtrack newsgroup.

Guess what I found.

No, not Jimmy Hoffa.

The soundtrack to The Wiz. While I would have preferred the original Broadway cast recording, I am not about to look a proverbial gift horse (or, in this case: flying monkey) in the mouth.

Come on and ease on down, ease on down the road
Come on and ease on down, ease on down the road
Don’t you carry nothing that might be a load
Come on, ease on down, ease on down the road
</edit>

Namaste.

Monday
Today was my mother’s birthday. I sent her cards via USPS and Hallmark.com. She was online when we got up this morning, so Jess and I messaged her. She talked to Jess. A lot. More than me – she didn’t even see my message window. Or she ignored it, which I really don’t think was the case… but I asked Jess to message her and tell her that I was feeling left out. Oddly enough, she found my message window after that. We all had a good laugh out of it. Of course, I called her a few minutes later to properly wish her a “Happy Birthday.” That made for a good start to the day.

The workday was good and fairly productive.

After work, we stopped by to visit with and . We wound up kidnapping them and bringing them here to Boxes ‘R’ Us. We watched the last period of the Stanley Cup Finals; congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning on their first Stanley Cup victory. Nox played a bit of X2: Wolverine’s Revenge, he seemed to enjoy it.

Stray Toasters

• Everything seems to be in order with the house. All that’s left is to find out the closing date.
• Utah drivers…
  (If the line above isn’t red or small, you’re missing out on the fun of CSS. Pity.)

• The New York Times has an interesting article about the preparations for the funeral of former President Ronald Reagan.
• A Modest Destiny: A singing hobo has eaten your yams?
• : I haven’t forgotten about Create Your Own Dialogue; I’m still trying to come up with something for it. Maybe will take a stab at it.
• Does anyone else whose heard or read about the plot from the upcoming Catwoman debacle think that it’s really just major ripoff of The Crow?
• : Teen Titans Episode Reviews
• From BBC News: Satellite Images ‘Show Atlantis’
• According to some stories, Jennifer Lopez married Marc Anthony this weekend.
  Can anyone tell me why I should care about this?

• From the Comics2Film DCG: Wonder Woman, Nagle style
• Budget Living Magazine
• C:\
• The JFX. Lexington Market. Harborplace. Federal Hill. 695. The Power Plant.

Namaste.

Awake.
Asleep.
Awake.
Asleep.
Awake.

That’s how my morning started. Fortunately, the day got much better:

• Got dressed and headed to Borders to do some drawing.
• Received a call from Bret. Apparently, he had forgotten that I had mentioned that we were buying a house. When I told him that we’re moving in the next couple of weeks, he was very shocked. Looks like he might be out for a visit next month.
• Angela, a friend whom I haven’t seen in a couple of months, came to Borders and we chatted for an hour or so. It was nice to see her.
• I stopped at and ‘s house to drop off my copy of Cryptonomicon.
• I talked to Dad on the way home. All is well on the eastern front.

Now, I’m avoiding packing while waiting to head out for an evening of bad horror movies in the company of friends.

Diatribe of the Day
I want to address an issue that has come up recently. I touched on this yesterday, tangentially; today, I want to clarify and finalize my position.

Someone that I know has assumed that our friendship has been jeopardized due to a situation that doesn’t involve me. And, as far as I have been able to determine, someone else has been blamed for causing this happening. Yet, at no time was I asked for my opinion… on any of the situations.

My point: If you have a problem with me – or think that I have one with you – ask me about it. I would like to think that we could behave like rational adults and deal with the matter in an appropriate manner. If it turns out that there has been some manner of misunderstanding, let’s get it resolved. If there’s a difference of opinions, so be it. If it winds up that we have a parting of ways, so be it.

But, don’t make an assumption based on faulty or non-existent information.

And, for the record, I will make this a broad-sweeping statement for anyone who reads this and has a problem with me or thinks that I have one with them.

::: gets down from soapbox :::

Stray Toasters

• I got a response from the guy who built the ‘Mech in his backyard!
  

  Rob,

  Thanks and sorry for the slow reply, I haven’t been checking email much. Good luck with the house/yard hunting… if you are going to make a big (hard to move one) make sure there are no restrictions that will prevent you.

  You have a good idea with the “Yard’Tech” approach. I really don’t have any plans for the one I built, lots of folks have asked but I never sat down and drew up anything remotely official. I sketched and scaled on lots of scrap pieces of paper (which have all been thrown out long ago) and did allot of ad-libbing as I fabricated it. To get started this is what I did and you can go from there…

  He sent a PDF of a write-up that he did and few paper ‘Mechs that he found. I think that I’ll go with the Yard’Tech scale to start. Besides… we’ll actually be able to play with ’em. and , it looks like there are a couple of trips to Home Depot and Lowe’s in our summer plans.

• 
  This has become my new crack.

• : 116 – 138 – 128 – 142 – 150 – 133 – 182 – 136 – 183
• If someone told you that they were starting a personal shopping service, would you use it? If so, what things would you want them to/authorize them to purchase for you.
• sent me a link to a thread on a Deviant Art forum. It began with the question “Are white people the best artists?” I have to admit that my curiosity was piqued. I have been reading the thread. Amazing. It has taken a number of interesting and quite radical turns. Of course, there were a good number of “Have you lost your mind” posts. It’s an interested read.
• We’ve been packing up books, DVDs, videos, CDs. Twenty- two (22) boxes worth of them. And we aren’t done with them.
• By way of Slashdot: 80,012 Text Messages in One Month
• Also from Slashdot: Old Toy Modding
• A Modest Destiny: It’s a code four-eleventy-six.
• From Comics2Film’s C2F Cinema: Freddy vs. Ghostbusters

And that’s the news from Lake Wobegon Saline…. where all the women are in Relief Society, all the men love a cold Cutthroat Pale Ale and all the children are taught to love coffee.

Namaste.

I’m not sure why I’m up so early; I didn’t get to bed until somewhere around 4:00. No cats were involved in the waking-up process. No loud noises. *shrug*

Maybe it was just the internal pressure on my bladder.
Maybe it was the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on the other side of the world.
Maybe it’s Maybelline.

Friday was.
I’ll just leave it there.

I slept in following Thursday night’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban viewing. It took me a while to get up to “feel like showering and becoming socially presentable” mode. But I did. I headed to work and was nominally productive.

After work it was time for Friday Night Coffee®. (Of which I had none, but I did have two Strawberry-Banana Smoothies – fruity, green tea-enhanced frozen goodness.) We picked up (and dropped off a copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for ) on the way there. We ran into and Young Miss Fiona who were heading out to shop. , , and showed up shortly thereafter. Chat quickly turned to (okay, it was more of a sudden lurch to the left) comic book-related topics.

<sarcasm>
Heaven knows how much I abhor talk about comic books.
</sarcasm>

I was quite happy. knows his stuff. And, : He’s a fan of the Jim Lee Batman. showed up later to round out the group. We didn’t go to Cheers: North for post-coffee food.

Stray Toasters

• I should give more than just “serious thought” to doing some packing today.
• Kris still wants to come out and visit this summer.
• We come on the Sloop John B
  My grandfather and me
  Around Nassau town we did roam.

• I have been made aware of eddies of chaos and drama in what I thought was a calm sea.
  I am disappointed and far from pleased about it.

• Mokita
• Yet another Windows virus is out. If you’re using Win2K or Teletubbies Windows WinXP, you are at risk:
  

  “A new virus is on the prowl that can infect your Windows XP/2K system and record every key you hit on your keyboard. The keys are then sent back to the virus creator where he/she can steal your passwords and credit card information. The virus named, Korgo, started showing up in the last week of May but it now has at least six different variants…”
  -from Slashdot

  Click here to find the appropriate Security Update for your system.

• Superman Celebration: 10-13 June 2004 in Metropolis, Illinois
  I actually stopped in Metropolis when I was moving to Utah. The town had quaint two- and three-story buildings, a town square… and a giant statue of Superman. I had a picture of me next to the statue, but it has disappeared. I’ll have to go back and take another some day.

• From Comics2Film’s DCG: X-Men related photomanips: (1, 2)
• It’s a bird…
  It’s a plane…
  It’s… a meteor?

• PlayStation2 Auctioned on eBay as Punishment
• …and on the subject of auctions: Disturbing Auctions

Quote of the Day

[10:34] : ok your sis is a little inebriated
[10:34] : the question is
[10:34] : Is that a good or bad thing?
[10:34] : should i help her purge the toxins
[10:34] : or should i continue to laugh
[10:34] : HAH
[10:34] : lol i’m not sure
[10:35] : Umm… laugh, but offer to hold her hair if it comes down to it. 🙂
[10:35] : b/c i was/am not much better until i realized i had to walk her 1 mile home
[10:35] : eh her hair isn’t long enough to get in the way

[10:40] : i had way too many
[10:41] : she had way too many minus 2
[10:41] : and the whole way home
[10:41] : “i’m drunk”
[10:41] : no you’re not
[10:41] : just hold onto my hand to make sure i make it home
[10:41] : “nooooooooo…you’re fine, you’re lying”

[10:42] : “can we say hi to the prostitutes by your apartment building?” no
[10:42] : “why not? they’re people too…?”
[10:42] : That should be your version of “Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About”
[10:42] : HAHA
[10:42] : true
[10:42] : “A Delicate Flower in the Middle Kingdom”
[10:43] : “are you gonna walk marvin?”
[10:43] : yes dear
[10:43] : “thasssgood because i don’t think i could do it… am i drunk?” of COURSE not dear
[10:43] : *FLOOR*
[10:43] : “are YOU drunk?” comparitively no, dear. “what?” no dear

[10:44] : dammit i wanted to pass out and enjoy my nice multiple captain and coke buzz
[10:45] : but nooooooo
[10:45] : i gots to check on captain lush

[11:03] : did you vomit? “yes” are you ok? “don’t touch me”
[11:03] : lol i’m gonna assume that’s a yes
[11:03] : lol drunks are fun when they’re not me

[11:09] : is it wrong that i’m amused by this?
[11:09] : If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.
[11:09] : 😀
[11:09] : lol WORD!
[11:09] : god bless the easily amused and the shadenfreude

Maybe I should do some packing.
Maybe I should eat something.
Maybe I’ll sit and watch Sissy play with a Q-Tip for a bit.

Namaste.

Last night, we saw

Thursday
Today was a good day.
It was good ‘n’ hot, too: 93° (when I checked).
I acquired a few boxes and some tape from work for the move – there’s a lot of media to be packed. Worked. Didn’t work. Worked some more. Didn’t work. Took a CD and birthday card for Mom to the Post Office…

I have been doing some work on the pictures that I took for Kris’ graduation. Mom wanted a CD of them for her birthday. Simple enough. So, I (lazily) got to work on it. I finished the pictures yesterday morning and was doing some batch operations in Photoshop to prepare to: a) copy them to CD and b) upload them to my site. One of the operations that I had done had resized all of the pictures to 350×263 for a gallery. Definitely something that I didn’t want. So, I decided to overwrite the smaller pictures with the ones of the sized that I wanted.

That’s when the fecal material met the oscillating blades.

The overwrite went…. “ka-ka,” as Al would say on Quantum Leap. All of the pictures that I had worked on were now 350×263. This was very inauspicious. I attempted an Undo operation. It didn’t work. Nothing that I tried worked.

*braincramp*

I was planning on dropping the CD at the Post Office on the way to work. That plan was shot squarely to Hell. I wrote a quick email to Mom and told her what had happened and that I would redo the pictures. Whoop-de-damn-doo. I was up until almost 3:00 this morning, but I got them done. And burned to CD. Without the stupid resizing issue.

Tonight, , , , , , and I (along with a few other friends) are going to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This could be something of a mixed blessing, as I am craving cotton candy again. But, nonetheless, it will be fun.

NPR and Other News
Talk of the Nation: D-Day
All Things Considered: L.A.’s Reserve Officers, on the Front Lines
All Things Considered: Indian-American Stories on Film: ‘Cosmopolitan’
Marketplace: Fifteen Years Later: Tiananmen

Stray Toasters

• I was doing some research earlier and came across this, specifically “Hero” (the second entry down). That’s what it’s all about.
• posted a link to this in his journal.
  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?
  What ever happened to parents actually taking an interest in – no, simply paying attention to – what their kids did, watched or listened to? Nine Hells. I take this as yet another indication that civilization is circling the drain.

  They say there is strangeness too dangerous
  In our theaters and bookstore shelves.
  That those who know what’s best for us
  Must rise and save us from ourselves.

• From Slashdot: The Mathematics of Futurama
• Killer Robot DVD
• Spam… as poetry

And now, off to the Quidditch matches!

Namaste.

Wednesday
I slept in this morning. A little more than I had intended, but I can’t really complain since it was restful.

We met with the home inspector this afternoon. He gave it a pretty good bill-of-health. There are a few minor things that he pointed out, but nothing that made us wince. I was able to get a few measurements that I had been wondering about, too. The new HALO Command Center will be a little smaller than the current one (by maybe five square feet)… but it will be all mine.

I headed to work for a bit after that, but my head wasn’t in “work mode.” And I wasn’t about to try and force it. So…

Jess and I headed to Home Despot(!) to price out some of the things we noted during the inspection review. I think that we hit a new record for “Least Amount of Time Spent in a Home Improvement Store Since Deciding to Buy a House.” We were there for thirty minutes, if that long.

And, tonight is a coffee night. Selah.

Stray Toasters

• By way of : RPG Session…
  (It’s roughly 00:45:00 long… but she said it’s worth it).

• From : Overclocked Remix
• Tony Whitt, a columnist for Cinescape, wrote an editorial last week entitled: Comicscape – Superman: Out of Date or Timeless? In it, he looked at whether Superman is something of an anachronism or if he, without changing the character, is “viable” in terms of America and the world today. Apparently, it sparked a lot of responses – he will be breaking them into two categories:
  • This week: “Superman is Timeless: The Arguments Against Change”
    

    Frank Sinatra (no, not that one) writes, “I have to admit I’m a little torn on this one. I do believe that “Big Blue” should have more character development. As the majority of comic book readers move into their 30s and 40s, there is a growing demand for newer directions in comics; more plot and story substance is clearly what sells today (look at the growing popularity of writers like Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff Johns, and J. Michael Straczynski). However, I do not feel that the ideals he stands for should be wiped away so quickly…I love the fact that Superman has developed into a hero whose motivation for doing good lie in his roots in Kansas; that he is not a strange visitor from another planet, but a citizen of Metropolis and the world. This sense of duty and responsibility – the good that he does – helps to give him substance, not make him obsolete for our times. In comics, he is the ultimate role model, calling us to greater things in our own lives and having us reach beyond our grasp.

    “Regardless of the state of our nation and the world, there still needs to be people willing to aspire to truth, justice and the American way. Superman is the symbol of all those things. While these ideals were developed in our past, they should also be the goals of our future. They are what made our country great and while things change, we cannot truly abandon them, nor should we stop striving for them.”

    On a different note, Britton McDonald writes, “As a bit of a comic historian, I find it interesting that people always comment on what Superman ‘is’ rather than what he became. When Superman was first published, he never fought supervillains; he would use what many would say were questionable tactics (including threats of physical harm) to catch or interrogate criminals, and was more concerned about crime that affected ‘the little people.’ Surely this was a comic book hero leftover from the progressive era. So when people talk about Superman being the symbol of America, they are really talking about what the character became.”

    Mark Onspaugh, who writes, “I’m one of those baby boomers who read DC in the Silver Age (and only DC, mind you – tho’ I’m reading Marvel now). Superman was one of the easier books to read – it offered a lot of fantasy for a kid of eight, and who wouldn’t have wanted that array of powers?”

    “I don’t want Superman in a new costume, or Krypton to be intact, or the fortress designed by someone smarter than Superman – Superman is comfort food – and if you can spice up the mac and cheese once in a while, so much the better…

    I like Superman the way he is – you can redecorate your house, but never to the extent you are uncomfortable. For me, reading Superman’s adventures is like coming home… And I may be 50, but I still wish I could fly.”

    M. Ali Choudhury: “SUPERMAN requires only the sweep and invention and vision that myth demands, and the artistry and directness and clean hands that Romance requires. SUPERMAN is about someone trying their best to save the world, one day at a time; and it’s about that person’s love for that one whose intellect and emotion and sheer bloody humanity completes him. It’s about Superman, and it’s about Lois and Clark. And that’s all there is. That’s the spine. That must be protected to the death, not lost in a cannonade succession of continuing stories. That’s what, in the continuing rush to top the last plotline, I see getting lost. I understand, accept and even to an extent agree with what’s going on; the SUPERMAN creators are trying to keep the books vital, keep them moving, keep those sales spikes coming. But they seem to me to be getting away from the sheer wonder of the Superman myth.”

  • Next week: “Superman Is Behind The Times: The Arguments For Change”
• Extra Ugly: Shirts with Attitude
• I actually updated my Backwash journal.
  For the first time since the beginning of May.
  Who would have thought it possible?!

• Trickle Up
• The Toymaker

And with a tip of his hat and a wave of his cane, he turned and walked away.

Namaste.

Tuesday
Stuff.
More stuff.
Lunch at Hires Big H.
Home.
Visited with and for a bit.
Home again.

Tomorrow, we meet with the home inspector to go through the new house.

NPR and other News
Talk of the Nation: ‘The Empty Cradle’ and Shrinking Birth Rates
Talk of the Nation: Pulitzer Prize Expands Criteria for Music Award
All Things Considered: Ex-Gang Members Look for Fresh Start sans Tattoos
All Things Considered: Reissues of Arthur Russell’s Music Recap His World
All Things Considered: Study: Mental Illness Goes Untreated Worldwide
All Things Considered: Commentary: A Survivor with Alzheimer’s

Stray Toasters

• I came home to a message from telling me that I needed to see this. She was right.
• I forgot to post last weekend’s 2-D Physics scores:
  199 – 133 – 154 – 148 – 172 – 105 – 163 – 146

• By way of Slashdot: Play Donkey Kong, go to jail?
• Make your own biodiesel fuel
• Also by way of Slashdot: Sony Exits U.S. Handheld Market
• A Modest Destiny: …I can explain
• Excerpted from last night’s conversation with :
  

  [00:36] : link <<<--- Guess who's making a new icon when he gets a cleaner picture. 😀 [00:36] : bwahahah, is that still john stewart?
  [00:36] : Yep.
  [00:36] : 😉
  [00:37] : Shaved head and goatee.
  [00:37] : (They just wanted him to look more like me.)
  [00:38] : bwahahaha.
  [00:38] : you know what you need to be for halloween. : “)
  [00:38] : ….
  [00:38] : Yes.
  [00:38] : Yes, indeed.

• Utah drivers. *shakes fist*

Poll of the Day
With a new home comes the need – yes, “need” – for a barbecue grill. That being said, here’s today’s poll:

Namaste.

I woke up around 9:00 for reasons that I have yet to determine. I got up, showered and proceeded to do nothing much for the next couple of hours.

Jess was going to meet a friend for lunch, so I made plans to meet to help her find a couple of books… but she wasn’t feeling well, so I spent the time working on Serra 2.0. I’m happy with the overall progress, but I’m still having… “an issue”… with a hip and leg. I’ll just get the reference material that I need and fix ’em.

On the way home, we got a call from Jon (former Cheers employee) asking if we’d be interested in going to a Stingers game. He didn’t have details about the time, so I asked him to call me back with the info. Shortly after that, I got a call from Justin asking if we’d be interested in seeing Starsky and Hutch. I told him that I’d have to get back to him after I found out whether we were going to the game. A few minutes later, Jon called back with the game details. I called Justin back, thanked him for the invitation and told him that we were going to the game. I asked if she wanted to join us – it would get her out of chores and housework. She agreed.

The four of us and Jon’s friend, Melissa, met at the stadium. The Stingers were hosting the Fresno Grizzlies. It was a good game… even though the Stingers lost 10-9. We had hot dogs and cotton candy. There was lots of cheering (and some booing). We had a great time. And there was a fireworks display, too. It wasn’t bad; there’s something about fireworks that’s always good.

And there’s never anything wrong with spending the day in the company of good friends.

Of course… now I want a cotton candy machine. Go figure.

Namaste.