Random Access

Wednesday
Today was a run-of-the-mill day. Nothing major happened.

News
Talk of the Nation: A Zeppelin for the Holidays
All Things Considered: Queen Latifah: From Hip-Hop to Big Band

USA Today: Some of the best books in life are… banned?
USA Today: The art & soul of Jamie Foxx

Stray Toasters

• One of my favorite sections of Harper’s Magazine is “The Harper’s Index.” It is described as:
  

  Each month, the Harper’s Index provides a statistical snapshot of the world’s economic, political, and cultural climate. The Harper’s Index is published to Harpers.org one month after print publication.

  I found an old issue of the magazine and decided, on a whim, to look up the magazine’s website… and The Harper’s Index section, as well.

• Monkey Shines (directed by George Romero, no less) was on SciFi earlier. I remember seeing this in the theatre. I enjoyed it then; I only got to see a few minutes of it today. And, I had forgotten that Janine Turner (pre-Northern Exposure) was in it.
• Umm… a Star Wars TV show? It looks that way.
• And… Mel Brooks is working on a sequel to Spaceballs.
• I need to draw more. I haven’t forgotten everything, but I need to get back into a more regular habit of taking the time to practice.
• Ghirardelli Chocolate. If I have to say more, you just don’t understand.
• Toblerone White Chocolate. Ditto.
• For : “Aaah! A Mac!!” –
• She blocked her eyes and drew the curtains
  with knots I’ve got yet to untie…

• The twins are on the futon. Presto is bathing Lightning, who is sprawled out and seems to be enjoying it. They usually make a bit of a ruckus when they come down here… this time, if I hadn’t happened to look over my shoulder, I would have never known that they were down here.
• ::: working on Moab and Thompson pictures :::

Good night and good morrow.

Namaste.

Tuesday
Today was a good day. I started working on a follow-up letter for a possible interview… only to realize that a one-sentence letter isn’t much of a letter. So, I looked on a few sites for some viable templates. I only met with nominal success. So, I opted to head to the bookstore and see what was available there. I met with a bit more success and came away with a slightly different idea of how to proceed with said letter.

joined me on the bookstore excursion. Before the store, we stopped to drop off the Camelbak that loaned me for the Moab trip and then had lunch at Noodles & Co. We hung out for a while at the bookstore, picked up and headed to get some dinner. After dinner, it was back to Nyx’ place for some downtime chat.

Stray Toasters

• nerd*o*rama (It reminds me of ThinkGeek.)
• and : Click here.
  (Here‘s an early review…)

• Does anyone else remember how cool it was to get lollipops from the drive-up teller at the bank as a kid? I remember hoping to get a red/cherry one. The yellow ones were okay, too.
• Ten Classic Resume Bloopers
• – “Buckaroo! Buckaroo!” *ducks*

Quote of the Day
From a conversation with :

She should be a gay man.

Hm. I just “lost” an hour-and-a-half; falling asleep at the keyboard is not a good thing. No keyboard impressions in my forehead – that’s good. But that’s a definite sign that it’s time for my daily visit to The Dreaming.

And with that… goodnight.

Namaste.

Monday
Where did the weekend go?
Oh yeah: Moab and Thompson.

Today was errand-running day. Of course, that didn’t start until after sleeping in. Until 10:30. In a bed, not a sleeping bag (although it was fun). Selah.

Then, the fun began: When shaving, I tried to carve my initials into my head. Well, not really. But, I did manage to cut myself on the back of my head. I did a good enough job to warrant sporting a bandage. A couple of people have suggested that I forego my Green Lantern costume this Hallowe’en and go as Marcellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction instead. I found this amusing. Promising, but amusing. I’m still planning on wearing the black and green, however.

Tonight, there was poker. It was a small group, but it was fun. When and The LJer Formerly Known as “xstillbornx” arrived, I asked them to help me move the entertainment center that we got from Kate and Perry. It looks nice in its new location. Now we just have to figure out what we are going to do with the old one. , do you remember that crate of A/V cables that you gave me before you moved? The one that I said that I would never need? Well, some of them got used tonight. Go figure.

Stray Toasters

• We let Sissy and the twins play in the back yard for a while this evening. Sissy has a… habit (?)… of rolling around on the concrete for a few minutes when she first gets out. The twins stalk bugs flying over the grass – and each other – before bounding all over the yard.
• : A couple of Legion-related things for you: 1, 2
• : A little bit of Harley Quinn for you.
• “Maybe like this…?”
  

• Frog. Smile. Pleasure robot.
  Disjointed? Just a bit. But still pretty damned amusing.

• Allosaurus for President
• Once in a Lifetime came on the radio today. Whenever I hear it, I still picture Kermit the Frog performing it on Muppets Tonight. And I laugh.
• Wombats!
• Suddenly, ahead of me, across the mountainside…
• After I set up the entertainment center, I turned on the A/V equipment to make sure that I hadn’t miswired things and inadvertantly created an evil artificial lifeform. (The jury’s still out on the sentience, but the equipment did work as expected.) I flipped channels on the satellite dish and wound up on SciFi. “The Day of the Dove,” an episode of Star Trek: TOS was on. It featured Kang, a Klingon captain with a mad-on the size of a small planet for Kirk. I couldn’t recall the details, but I was sure that he had either appeared on another episode of TOS. So, I looked it up. He didn’t. BUT… he was on an episode of Voyager and DS9. And, he was played by the same actor, Micheal Ansara, on all three shows; I thought that was pretty cool.

Quote of the Day
I was perusing random sites of Dragon*Con 2004 pictures when I came across the following on The Wing Commander CIC site:

Hades: Porn stars are there too. They don’t whip out their breasts at the con though.
Blonde: At least not that we know of.
ace: They probably have too much self-respect.
LOAF: Porn stars have self respect in much the same way as a caterpiller may someday become a bulldozer.

Namaste.

Sunday
Wow.
I am sore and tired and… I had a GREAT TIME. Camping with and her family in Moab was a blast.

We left Saturday morning about 7:30. I fell asleep (the first time) somewhere around Thanksgiving Point. The rest of the ride to Moab was sprinkled with bouts of consciousness – I remember glimpses of scenery between my inner eyelid studies.

We got to Moab around noon. We unloaded, had a bite to eat and then it was off to the slickrock. The bike ride to the rock wasn’t far. Then I saw where we were going to ride. The first thought in my head was: You want me to ride…WHERE?! On WHAT!? The words “up there” and “this bike” did not seem to fit those questions. I didn’t see any way to get the It looked like utter madness. Up the rock face is where we had to go. So I went.

There were two ways to get to the part of the slickrock that we wanted: The “low road” and, appropriately enough, the “high road.” The low road was the more difficult of the two. , , Cam and Rich took the low road; Diane and I took the high one. (No one got to Scotland a’fore anyone else, though.) We rode around on the rock. I never thought that I’d go biking in Moab – let alone on the edges of cliffs – but there I was. I didn’t try the “Toilet Bowl,” as m3l called it, but Cam did. Twice. The first run wasn’t so successful, but the second one was a beauty. Quite the biker, he is.

Everyone else went down a run of rocks that I probably could have done… but after seeing Diane take a nasty fall (on her first try), I opted out of making a go of it. Maybe I’ll try next year. Maybe. If I’m feeling really adventurous. Back to camp for a while and then back up on the rock for an hour or so.

Back to camp for dinner and dessert. For dessert: S’mores. I have now made s’mores. While camping. Who would have thought it possible?! Me… making s’mores. Wait. Let’s go back: I was camping! Who would have thought THAT possible?!? I slept outside. Well… in a tent, but this is my story, so I’ll tell it the way I want. Outside! I made s’mores. I biked on slickrock and near cliff edges?!

This morning, we got back up on the rock for a little ride and then loaded up the camper and headed to Thompson ( mentioned it back in April). We rode into a little… town… that looks to be on its last legs. If it has that much life left in it. There was a ramshackle motel whose glory days have long since gone by. Then we checked out the old cafe and railroad station. We headed further in and saw ancient Native American pictographs. A little further in: The ghost town. We saw the hulk of a car from the 40s that had been run off the road and whose driver’s door was full of bullet holes. We saw the remains of a cemetary, general store and boarding house and a couple of homes, as well.

We ate lunch and headed out of the canyon. Cameron, Diane, , and I rode our bikes – Rich figured that it would be best for us to ride them past the washes – so as not to damage them. We were going to just ride past the washes, but Cam and m3l took the lead… and kept riding. and I were about a half-mile behind them, while Diane stayed back with Rich. We wound up riding roughly four miles back into Thompson. It was a good ride.

We reloaded the bikes – and ourselves – in the camper and hit the road for Salt Lake. We stopped in Green River for gas – and picked up some melons at a vendor stand; I got an Israel Melon (also known as an Ogen Melon). And then… back in the camper and back home.

I’m tired and achy – I have a horrible case of “bike butt,” as calls it. But, I had a wonderful time. The city kid in me was awed at the sheer silence. I’ve been in places that were quiet – it’s pretty noiseless near my mother’s house – but this beat them all. Quiet and serene. As an added bonus, Rich and Diane told me that I handled my first camping trip and first slickrock biking experience pretty well. That made me feel pretty good about the experience. I hope to go back down there with them again.

I would also like to offer a hearty “Thank you,” to for the use of her bike with front suspension; I would have rattled my shoulders loose, if I had taken my bike. Her bike handled the rocks and the dirt roads wonderfully.

I took over 130 pictures. I’ll try to get them posted in the next couple of days. But, for now, I believe that I’m going to sit here relax and try to keep my stair-climbing to a minimum.

Namaste.

Friday
I should have been in bed an hour ago. But, since I’m not, I’ll make a quick post.

The day was good. I had lunch – and shot pool – with Pat. It was a nice change pace. We picked up an entertainment center from Kate and Perry. It’s a corner unit and it’s pretty big. I was originally going to put it in my office, but the thought of trying to get it down the stairs was not a pleasant one, so it will reside in the living room.

Jess and I went to Borders for coffee… but no one else showed. *shrug* I did some drawing and realized that I need to practice more often. After that, we went to Cheers, to say “Hi” to Kate. There was an interesting assortment o’ customers there this evening.

Stray Toasters

• posted an Animaniacs quiz in her journal. I had to take it. It’s Animaniacs, after all!
  
  Which Animaniacs Character are You?
  

  Talkative, huh? Perhaps sing-ative would be more appropriate, actually. When people don’t understand something, it usually drives you to cutting, sarcastic remarks. Your other extreme is bursting into song with almost no prompting, often to explain complex ideas. No one knows quite what you are, exactly. You have made many “special” friends, and there’s baloney in your slacks.
  
  Click here to see my Livejournal.

• I heard Styx’ Come Sail Away on the radio the other day. I started singing along. I sing in the car; a lot of people do. The funny/odd/scary thing was that I started singing like Eric Cartman. There’s just something about hearing that song that compels me to sing it that way. And then laugh maniacally afterwards.
• By way of : Fourteen Characteristics of a Serial Killer
  I have two, possibly three of the traits.

• : Another Legionnaire – Andromeda
• By way of : Cat with Hands
  “Curiouser and curiouser,” said little Alice…

Tomorning brings the camping excursion. I really should get some sleep. I’ll be back Sunday with details of the experience.

Namaste.

Thursday
Words. Words. More words.
Random thought.
A few more words.
*song in my head*
Fleeting distraction.
Words.

Today was a return to the not-quite-so-cold temperatures that I usually associate with a September in Utah. And it was relatively clear, too. These things add up to a definite “good thing.”

Having Chinese food for dinner is also good.

And gummy worms for dessert. Well, not really dessert. They have been more of “a snack” than “dessert.” *shrug* That reminds me of something that I’ve wondered for a while: What’s the appeal of putting gummy bears/worms on ice cream? If I remember correctly, the candy gets tougher when it gets cold/colder. To me, it seems like it would be an effort (granted, it’s a really minor effort…) to eat ice cream with tough, tacky bits in it. If you are a person who enjoys a good gummy confection in your ice cream, please let me know what I’m missing out on.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition: The Commercial Possibilities of Sleeping Less
• Morning Edition: Instant Messaging the Beer Man
• Day to Day: Nanotechnology for Real-World Applications
• Day to Day: Kaiju Big Battel: Wrestling Meets Godzilla
• Fresh Air: David Simon and George Pelecanos (The Wire) and Poker Expert Phil Gordon

Stray Toasters

• Ray Charles would have been 74 years old today.
• pointed out this lamp to me. Interesting concept. Odd, but interesting.
• By way of Slashdot: USB Thumb Drives as… Fashion Statement?
• An astronaut wants no-frills space program. To me, that kind of sounds like putting Southwest or Ted (United Airline’s no-frills subdivision) in space. On the other hand, he is advocating a greater push towards exploration.
• This made me laugh.
• posted this in his journal earlier. It made me laugh, too.
• Marvel is introducing a “2099” group to its “Marvel Knights” line. Some of the premesises sound interesting… but it also seems like a bit of rehash. Except, possibly, for the Mutant title. It looks like they might have a different spin there. *shrug*
• It was only a matter of time. A company called “Forplay” (how punny) has put out a Hallowe’en costume inspired by the abortive Catwoman movie. If you have your air sickness bags handy, you can see what it looks like (i.e.: “just how bad it is”) here

  On a related note: The latest issue of Computer Gaming World has a review (one star out of five) of the Catwoman game. Some of my favorite comments from the review are:

  • There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and they’re all more fun than this.
  • DC [Comics], as many of you know, is the comic book division of Warner Bros. Studios. One day, [a] writer was introducing himself to one of the suits from the studio’s film division; upon being asked what he did at Warner Bros., replied that he wrote for DC Comics. The suit came back at him with a puzzled “Oh, we still publish comics?” This, sadly, is the type of person who makes the movie decisions at WB. The studio’s films, naturally, lead to tie-in games, and that’s how we get crap like Catwoman, an epic disaster of a game derived from a movie that simply shouldn’t exist in the first place.
  • Catwoman is one of the worst games you are ever likely to play.
  • Verdict: One Star. It gets a star only because it actually runs when you install it.
• From Comic Book Resources: A few thoughts on character logic in comics

And that’s my 2¢ for today.

Namaste.

Wednesday
Three down, two to go.

And then: Camping. Which will be something of an experience. Especially since I’ve never been camping before. Never. *shrug* Yeah, yeah… pick your chins up from the floor. Yes, I went to camp as a kid, but the camps that I went to were geek camps. And I wasn’t one who was going to give up the not-as-good-as-at-home-but-better-than-nothing amenities that the cabins offered. But, this weekend, , her family and I are heading down to Moab for biking and camping (and cooking out and beering and what have you). It should be fun.

Almost as much fun as drilling holes in the walls. Especially when they are holes in your home and not in an apartment which have to be sealed (or concealed) before you move. There was a method to my hole-making madness: We picked up a TV tuner card for Jess’ computer (Thanks, Mary!) and I need to run cable from the living room into her office.

And, speaking of offices, mine is a mess. I still haven’t quite gotten around to cleaning up the debris from putting the bookcases in here. Two weeks ago. Thus, there are papers, books and other sundry items strewn about the place. As the merchant in Aladdin sang: “It’s barbaric, but hey it’s home!” Maybe I’ll clean it tomorrow. No way it’s happening tonight.

Because it’s Wednesday. Three down, two to go.

NPR and Other News

• Talk of the Nation – Domestic Surveillance Technology
• All Things Considered – ‘B’ Movie Director Russ Meyer Dies
• All Things Considered – Apple Computer Sued by Beatle Company
• All Things Considered – Really Can’t Drive 55: 140 MPH Over the Limit (…on a motorcycle!)
• USA Today – Man gets extra time for mooning judge

Stray Toasters

• Talked with both of the ‘rents today. All’s well in their respective parts of the eastern seaboard.
• Thanks to and for commenting on winter swamp cooler procedures. : I’m aware of what to do with the cooler and we have a cooler cover. I was being more than “a little” facetious. Unfortunately, the subtle inflections of sarcasm do not always translate well on-screen.

  ‘ idea is closer to my own. The difference: Instead of replacing the louver after inserting the padding/pillows, I intend to replace it with a piece of plywood or plexiglass that is cut to fit the opening and the screws that hold the louver in place. It will also be lined with insulation or fabric or something… depending on how industrious I get. Thus, I’ll have a solid barrier that seals the opening until it’s time to “unpack” the cooler in the spring.

• Lightning has decided that his perfect sleeping place is on the bed, just under the covers. For the past three nights, I think, I’ve gotten up in the morning to find him there.
• The Last Starfighter – The Musical.
  Excuse me as I step over to the corner and wait for my head to explode.

• By way of : Faith, the Wonder Dog
• Chocolate bees, Cadbury Creme Eggs, jellybeans and Good & Plenty. These, and other confections, were the subject of one of the world’s most bizarre conversations (between , and me) equating candy with racial slurs. We have an interesting family dynamic, to say the least.
• Everybody drink, everybody drink….
  Everybody drink, everybody drink….
  Everybody drink, everybody drink….
  Everybody… Everybody drink fruit juice!
  (nominal apologies to Kenny Loggins)

• Over the past few days, I’ve craved… something.. for a snack. I can’t quite place what it is that I’m after. It’s not so overwhelming that it’s driving me slowly mad, but it’s just far enough out of reach that it’s annoying when I go to the kitchen, look at all the snack stuff and go: “Hmm… nope…. nope…. no, not that either.” I’ll figure it out. Hopefully, it will be soon. And when I do, there will hopefully be a store close by that has whatever it is.

Namaste.

Tuesday
As mentioned in last night’s post, today was ‘s birthday.

To celebrate, she took the day off and slept in. I, on the other hand, went to an interview. It went well and I should hear back this week… but I’m still keeping my options open. If nothing else, this would be a good part-time gig.

We went out to lunch and ran into one of the technicians from the REC. He took the day off because he has many, MANY hours of leave to use before he retires. 1400, to be exact. Use ’em or lose ’em. So, he’s using them like He told us a little about some of the growth that they are expecting.

We came home for a bit and then went back out to see Collateral. A good movie, it was a definite departure for both Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. I may have to look for this on DVD, when it’s released. (Speaking of releases: Aladdin comes out on 05 Oct 04. Hoo-AH!) We dropped in on for an impromptu post-movie visit.

Stray Toasters

• Today marks the first “road test” of “The Actress and the Bishop” icon.
• For : News of the new Hitchhiker’s radio program on BBC Radio.
• : Click here
• : Continuing the Legion manips – Laura Prepon as Saturn Girl
• R2EB and wombats. Or brickbats. Hell, even an aluminum one would do.
• “SWEET MERCIFUL MONKEYS!”
  

• I don’t care how effective they are in arid climates: Swamp coolers of of the devil. Especially when the weather turns cool/cold. Why? Because they basically leave a giant, gaping hole in your roof through which the cold air can invade your home.

  Unless you stuff padding and pillows in the vent.

  Whose brainskid was this idea?! “We’ll keep the cold out with… pads! Yes! Pads! And pillows! Too right!” *boggle* That’s… great. But air can still get around those, through the louvers and… once again… INTO THE HOUSE!!!

  *sigh*

  I have an idea to effectively seal the Ark of the Covenant in an underground temple seal the vent. Solidly. And in a manner that’s easily removable, when necessary. All I need to do is to visit the local Home Depot or Lowes…

Before my brain completely wraps its way around the thoughts of a trip to the local home improvement store, I should call it a night.

Namaste.

Monday
Great Caesar’s snowboarding Jesus!
Hell has frozen over.
Sort of.

There’s snow on the mountains.

I don’t know whom to blame for this temperature shift. I woke up very cold this morning. The temp was somewhere in the 40s. The kittens – as warm as they are AND sleeping on the bed – are not very big… and thus, did not do much to help keep me warm. I had to grab a blanket and throw it on the bed. *sigh* I was not bred for cold climates.

Poker night didn’t happen, as such. came over; he, and I watched World Series of Poker on ESPN. That was close enough. We then watched a little of Timecop on SciFi. (I still find it amusing to shout “Texas Ranger!” whenever someone calls Jean-Claude VanDammit’s character by name his last name: Walker.) After that, we watched Sen. John Kerry on The Late Show with David Letterman.

invited me to go with him and to one of the local Media Play stores when they went to get their copies of the new Dark Tower novel. The bonus was the potential of seeing FAR too many Star Wars geeks – awaiting the release of the original trilogy DVDs – in costume. I went. It was something of a letdown: Two Jedi (one male, one female) and one Han Solo. *shrug* Oh well.

Stray Toasters

• To say that some of my conversations with are “random” is being kind and far too mild. We were talking about a running joke concerning Cheerwine (if you have to ask… *shrug*) and from there got onto “The Actress and The Bishop” and that led us on a downward spiral (not to be confused with Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral) into starting a religion. All the way down to choosing saints and prophets, deciding what to use for communion rites (gingerbread men and milk) and even recasting the Nativity with the cast of Three’s Company. Yep… Hell. Handbasket. Gasoline drawers.

  One good thing has come out of it:
  

  I have a new icon – “The Actress and The Bishop.”
  

• Tomorrow (Tuesday) is ‘s birthday. Drop her a birthday greeting or two, if you don’t mind.
• Saturday’s JLU episode, “The Return,” was very good. A reformed Lex Luthor… The Atom… The Green Lantern Corps, including GL-in-training Kyle Rayner (in a modified version of his DCU costume)… and a special surprise guest star. Very cool.
• sent me the URL to animalmasks.net. Clay masks finished with acrylics and mixed media. Very cool.
• I Found Some of Your Life
• To. Your. DOOR!!!
• Wow. I just finished watching More, by Mark Osborne. It is a Quicktime movie (16MB) and has a six (6) minute run time. This was an Oscar nominated short film. I can see why. Don’t neglect to check out the “Learn MORE” link when the movie is over.
• forwarded this to me a little while ago. NOT work safe… but amusing.
• emmet swimming. Clean Water
• TV Guide Takes A Look At The Many Faces Of Lois Lane
• It seems as though The Shawshank Redemption is being re-released this weekend. In honor of that, here are quotes from the movie. If, for some reason, you haven’t seen this move before, do so now.
• : Live Wire

And that’s it for tonight.

Namaste.

Sunday
I got a call from this morning, but I couldn’t get a clear signal. *GRRR* He did leave a voicemail, though. The amusing thing: The number that showed up was from North Carolina. I looked at it and didn’t recognize it and as such, didn’t Nox’ voice with a number from back home. Go figure.

Football Update
and are here watching the Seahawks/Bucs game, but the real story is…

Pittsburgh at Baltimore
13 – 30
Now THIS is more like it. Like the saying goes: “This is big time football!” The team came in and played. Well. Lots of good plays. The offense was effective. The defense looked and played like they have in seasons past. There were few injuries, too: Todd Heap (ankle) and Deion Sanders (hamstring). Pitt QB Tommy Maddox took a nasty hit to his throwing arm and was later seen on the sidelines with his arm in a sling. Backup QB Ben Rothlisberger, in his regular season debut, played very well. But the bottom line: The Steel Curtain was rusty and the boys from the Chesapeake Bay lay some hurt on the Steeltown kids.

Carolina at Kansas City
28 – 17
I was too busy watching the Ravens game… but the Cats went into Arrowhead Stadium and came away with a win.

Miami at Cincinnati
Tonight at 8:30 PM (ET)
, I know that I wished you “good luck” on this game, but that was before I realized who you were playing. So… let me amend my well-wishes to say: “Good luck, but I really hope that you lose.” Nothing personal, but I don’t want my boys to lose. I’m sure that you understand.

Seattle at Tampa Bay
10 – 0
Early in the 2nd Quarter. Good luck, .

Cleveland at Dallas
0 – 7
Also just getting off the ground. Good luck, . I hope that Browns 2.0 are able to prove that last week’s game wasn’t just a fluke.

Stray Toaster
Last night’s bowling was fun, but my game was very inconsistent. Scores: 160 – 136 – 142 – 155 – 113/153 – 123 – 126 – 124. I would like to attribute yesterday’s yard work to the lack of performance… but that’s no excuse. And I don’t think that I’ll be bowling next weekend as I intend to be camping with and her family.

Back to game watching.

Namaste.

On this morning’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me During a musical challenge section, they played three songs to represent three of this week’s news items:

1. Louis Armstrong’s Do You Know What it Means for a reference to Hurricane Ivan.
2. The Eurythmics’ Would I Lie to You for Dan Rather and CBS’ memo gaff (about the Shrub’s service record)
3. The Pretenders’ Back on the Chain Gang for Martha Stewart’s request to start her jail time immediately.

After the third song ended – and halfway through the question – the audience was howling with laughter.

Fait accompli.
It is ended.
Thanks to the assistance of , a chainsaw and two pairs of pruning shears, the lilac bush is no more. Neither are three of the four shrubs below the living room window. There are a few stumps marking their former places, but the foliage and branches are no more. Selah. I didn’t get around to trimming the blue spruces, but they aren’t too problematic. Now, there is a large pile of treeless branches and remnants on the RV pad. Soon, they too shall be gone.

Light… glorious, natural, bright light… is streaming through the window of the HCC. This is a very good thing.

Stray Toasters

• The twins met for the first time today; he hasn’t been able to visit since helping us move in June. They seemed to fall in love with him. After sniffing him and getting the “he’s okay” vibe, they pretty much hung around him whenever we were inside. It was cute. And funny.
• A friend from back home pointed me (indirectly) to this. After watching it, I shared it with and with the comment: “See if you can figure out why I’m amused by this…”
• : I was going to try and collect these in an email, but someone else put them on a page…. which makes it that much easier on me.
• By way of Slashdot: George Lucas Speaks on Trilogy Changes

I’d better get a wiggle on. I have a few things to do before heading to bowling. And I don’t know what scored this week, either. *shrug* I’ll just have to do what I can.

Namaste.

Friday
I watched The Way of the Gun last night. It’s a good movie, but definitely not a “feel good” movie. It was similar in style to a Tarantino film. And it had some good quotes, too:

“Money is what you take to the grocery store. It’s what you get out of the ATM. Fifteen million dollars is not money. It’s a motive with a universal adaptor on it.”– Joe Sarno

Today was a good day… although ending it with two Caramocha drinks might not have been the most conducive-to-sleep thing that I could have done. Oh, well. They were both free – one due to my frequent patronage of Borders, the other due to my superpower. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth (unless it’s made of wood and is two or three stories tall), but most definitely put free coffee in the mouth.

Tomorrow, and I will remove the lilac bush that’s just outside the kitchen and HCC windows.

Stray Toasters

• I saw Teen Titans “Car Trouble” for the first time today. It was fun. Parts of it had the feel of “race you for pink slips” or “race you around Dead Man’s Curve” hot rod movies of the 50s/60s.
• For :
• Maybe it’s the Etiquette Nazi in me, but I think that (most) conversations should begin with some form of greeting. Even IMs. To wit: With the exception of a handful of people (most of whom are family), if I receive a message that starts “in the middle” of the conversation, I usually respond with “Hello” (or something along those lines) and wait until the other party returns the greeting. Then, I continue the conversation. *shrug* It’s the way I’m wired.
• , , and : Lots of comic art pictures here.
• Barry Bonds has become the third person in MLB history to get 700 homers.
• From Backwash (and the World of the Bizarre): World’s Youngest Mother
• : I found this a bit amusing and thought of you.
• : Here’s a little something to add to your pin-up collection.
• : There was even something for you, as well.
• Hmm. Another take on Johnny Depp as Dream of The Endless.
• “Sweet Holy Hell!” (another for )
  

• Digital multimeter.
• There’s parts that you don’t know down on Bull Street…

Quote of the Day
I love my brother; he makes me laugh… even when he’s not talking with me:

[00:49] Adam: You just lost some major cool points with me.
[00:49] : lol
[00:50] : Yeah, but I was in the military… that counts extra, right?
[00:51] Adam: You get 20 points for that but lose 15 for it being the Army, but you gain another 30 for putting up with that wannabe green lantern you live with.

Mr. “Not Knowing Where My Pants Are” strikes again. If nothing else, the members of my sibko are amusing.

Namaste.

Thursday
I had a nominally profound item that I wanted to post here… but have completely forgotten what it was. I would have written it down, but that would not have been very conducive to driving. Double-plus ungood. Something about going 45 MPH downhill in traffic and writing just seemed like a bad idea at the time. And it still does.

That aside, it was a good day. I took a nap earlier… Sissy and the twins joined me: Sissy, sprawled across my chest, Lightning stretched out on my left, Presto curled up on my right. I’m sure that there was a Kodak moment in there somewhere.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition – Many Americans Would Likely Ignore Terror Plan
• Morning Edition – Predicting Terror Response
• Morning Edition – Santa ‘Clause’ Challenged Good old SLC nuttiness…
• Morning Edition – Paying for Music in the Internet Age
• Morning Edition – Jurors Free to Cut Loose Uh-huh… right….
• Talk of the Nation – The First Crusade
• Day to Day – Trucker Travels with Bush Not what you might think…
• All Things Considered – Deaf Students Form New Language
• Fresh Air – Art Spiegelman (Maus, The Shadow of No Towers)

Stray Toasters

• While at Borders this afternoon, I saw:Add this to the Covet List, too. *sigh*
• Um, , I just watched tonight’s CSI. I know that Grissom and Sarah were dodging the relationship issue last season. Did I miss something? Did they actually cross that line?
• Thanks to for tracking me down and dragging me over to ‘s Heroes and Villains Battle Royale (with cheese). It’s kind of like the “Last Man Standing” column in Wizard Magazine… but on a bigger scale. Subsequent posts include others’ take on who would win which fight and why.
• Nine Hells. I just saw a new “This is _____ good” commercial from Yoplait. Pardon me while I retch.
• I know that I’ve posted a link to this picture before, but I like it. So here it is again.
• From Slashdot: FTC Recommends Bounty on Spammers
• Jumpin’ monkey-squeezin’ Jehosephat! I’m watching the Texas Hold ‘Em World Series of Poker on ESPN2. The blinds for this round are $30,000 and $60,000.
• Is the mouse on the way out… to be replaced by the “nouse?”
• I just saw a commercial from Porsche.
  (Repeat after me: The correct pronunciation is “POR-sha” not “porsh.”)
  It was an ad for the new 911. A kid on a bicycle rides up to the dealership and asks to see the car. He gets in, sits in the driver’s seat and after a few “minutes,” he gets out… and asks the salesman if he has a business card. The salesman says, “Sure” and hands a card to the kid. The kid looks at it and says, “Thanks. I’ll see you in about 20 years,” gets back on his bike and rides off. I liked it. Simple. Direct. Fun. And, it spoke to young boys’ (and I’m sure some girls, too) dreams of driving/owning a Porsche.

• “Space Monkeys. Don’t ask.”
  

• T-Shirt of the Day: Insane at Play
• Sigourney Weaver. That’s who the powers-that-were wanted to get to play Emma Frost in X3. I think that she would have been much better than Finola Hughes was in the made-for-TV Generation X movie.
• Two new additions to the webcomics fold:
  
  

• There was a trailer for Constantine, the (loose) adaptation of DC’s Vertigo Hellblazer, before RE: Apocalypse. I’ve been… leery… of this movie since I heard that Keanu “Whoa… I know kung fu magic” Reaves was starring as the Americanized version of Hellblazer‘s very British John Constantine. But, so far, the press that I’ve seen for it has been favorable. I may have to give it a go.
• Marvel’s original Black Widow is back.

And that’s a wrap.
Or a warp.
I get them confused occasionally.

Namaste.

Wednesday
Another decent day. I don’t know who decided that mid-September was the perfect time to turn down Utah’s thermostat, but I wish they’d given me a little more notice.

I finally saw last season’s Law & Order finale. Very nice. I also saw, for the first time, the episode of The Simpsons where Maude Flanders dies. Funny. In an animated death kind of way. And it even had Shawn Colvin. Double Bonus! And, I even saw one of the many episodes of Smallville that I missed last season.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition: D.C.’s Barry, Back Again (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot…?!?)
• Morning Edition: Marketing Streetball
• Talk of the Nation: Personality Tests
• Day to Day: Archiving Classic Animated Films and Cartoons

Stray Toasters

• Talked with Mom, briefly, this morning. All’s well with the southern contingent of the family-unit.
• Common Errors in English Usage (, help spread this one around…)
• In the “Best Near-Blasphemous Game-Related T-Shirt” Category: This
• “I’m expecting you to drop dead any second…”
  

• By way of Backwash: Pimp Watch
• R2EB. *braincramp*
• Someone in Yahoo! Groups’ Lilguyz Group made a duck template and now people are making MicroHeroes out of ducks. There are a few Justice League ducks waddling around… and it reminded me of the Justice Ducks from Darkwing Duck. And that made me laugh.
• “AAAH! Work?! Where? Don’t let it get me!!!” –
• Also from Backwash: Big Brother Writes Down Stats
• Those “Thank You” commercials from Citi Financial…? Stoo. Pid.
• This is worthwhile, if only for the caption.
• I knew that The Dukes of Hazzard movie was in the works. What I didn’t know was that Jessica Simpson will be Daisy Duke. Given the way that many TV-to-cinema translations have gone of late, I didn’t even need this news to decide not to see this.
• : Click here. (Thanks, .)

Quote of the Day
Like I said earlier: The duck-templated Micros made me think of Darkwing Duck…

Steelbeak: If dere’s one t’ing I ‘ate, it’s excuses!… Make dat two t’ings I ‘ate. Excuses, an’ a seven-ten split!

Other Darkwing Duck quotes here.

Namaste.

Tuesday
All-in-all, not a bad day.

The day ended with dinner (peet-zah!), X2 and Reno 911! at Kate and Perry’s. I came home and watched “The Greatest Story Never Told,” this past weekend’s episode of JLU that I found on Usenet. God bless Usenet! (I also managed to find a couple of elusive X-Men Evolution episodes for Perry.) “The Greatest Story” was a spotlight for Booster Gold, one of my favorites from the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League International and his own short-lived title in the 80s. The episode was fun… and funny…. and had a good ending. And, : It featured Mordru. Yes, that Mordru. It will reair this weekend on Cartoon Network, if you have the opportunity to see it.

NPR and Other News

• Morning Edition: Polygamy Polka (Yeah, like I was gonna pass this up!)
• Day to Day: Xeni Tech: Zero Gravity Preview
• All Things Considered: Groups Seek to Save First Black Schools in U.S.
• All Things Considered: Young Writers in Queens: ‘I Am a Pencil’

Stray Toasters

• I have bears of gummy candy goodness!
• “He ATE a man! He doesn’t even have TEETH!!!”
  

• SEVEN!
• I’ve seen ads for Raven’s X-Men Legends game for the past months. It looked like something that I might want. I was creeping around Gamespot today and saw the screenshots and reviews. Blessed Madonna and all the Saints, preserve us… The game is now firmly on the Covet List.
• “What’s up? Computer trouble?” –
• By way of Slashdot: Replace Your Windows with LCD Panels
• From Backwash comes another from the “Fact, Stranger than Fiction” file: This.
• From my friend, Julia: More gaffs from the Shrub: Here.
• And, I completely neglected to post the URL to the Shrub’s version of Sunday Bloody Sunday in an earlier post. Here it is.
• From Comics2Film: The Joker Strikes: An interview with Kevin Michael Richardson
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• : Guess who’s back…
• They say that Elric of Melnibonè is one bad mutha….
  SHUT YO’ MOUTH!
  I’m just talkin’ about Elric…
  We can dig it!

Quote of the Day
I love my brother.

I have a habit of waking up places and not knowing where my pants are.

And with that…

Namaste.