Random Access

Sunday
The “Weekend of Laziness” continues!

Tomorrow, however, I’m on the road to Moab again. This will be another two-site trip: One sub-grade, one inside. The weather forecast looks promising. That’s a plus.

Today was hang-around-the-house day, with a minor excursion to pick up a few items I’ll need for the Moab trip. And a package of Heroclix. Of course. I was pleased with three of the four figures; the fourth was all right, but not one that I really care about. C’est la vie. and came over to hang out for a while this evening.

I discovered something amazing this afternoon: There is a floor in the HCC. A real, honest-to-goodness floor. I had heard rumors and legends about it being there. But, I had nearly given up hope of ever seeing it. At least in this lifetime. I was so amazed, I took a picture of it with my new phone.

Make that “I discovered TWO amazing things today:” I found out that a very good friend of mine from home has started an LJ. Please drop a welcoming “Hullo” to . We met many rains past, through her husband. And in related “It’s a small world, after all” news: It seems as though and “know” each other, from a Yahoo group. Who knew?!

Since I’m going to be away for the next few days, I’ll go ahead and say “Happy Birthday” to the February-born LJers now:

Stray Toasters

• I sat down to watch Saturday’s episodes of Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited this afternoon. Only to see that I had recorded an hour’s worth of static. And not Static Shock. I remember setting the VCR last night. I even made sure that the DSS receiver was set to Cartoon Network. But still… nothing.

  The problem: After moving the DirecTV receiver last week, I changed the VCR’s signal input from coaxial to composite. I neglected to change the input source in the recording program. Now, I have to wait for the episode to show up on Usenet. *sigh*

• From Electric Ferret Studios: Comic Book Universe Battles
• “Howie,” a member of the Yahoo! Group “lilguyz” created this micro of the animated Teen Titans‘ Cyborg. I like it.
• Why Apple Makes a One-button Mouse
• The latest additions to the fridge’s Magnetic Poetry:
  • The hamster may be stupid, but it has an asshole which will always be smarter than you.
  • When you kiss me, I try to forget that you are nothing but a happy moron with a beautiful body.
  • You taking your clothes off makes me want to throw up.
  • And, from : Kiss my big, beautiful sex organ.
• By way of boingboing.net: Song of the South fansite
• Nox and I were talking about comics this evening and he brought up a very interesting point: Despite the fact that Wolverine is in so many Marvel Comics titles, he’s not written as well as he could be. An almost unlimited healing factor? Unbreakable bones? Dogged determination? And, let’s face it: He’s not exactly “Mr. Sunshine.” Given all that, the powers-that-be could do a lot more with him.

  I countered with the fact that since Marvel has taken the… “initiative” (?) to “clean up” their heroes (no smoking, limited drinking, etc), it isn’t as easy to portray a truly bad-ass Wolverine, although it might be possible in Marvel’s “MAX” (their more mature themes/stories) line.

• The Lurid Fridge
• Military Terms of the Modern Era
• “This first invention is called a ‘rifle’…”
  “A rifle? BRILLIANT!!     What’s it do?”
  

• “Choose wisely.” (featuring Alice, Eve and Hawk)
  

Quote of the day

: How’s your day going?
: sfsg
: ok, I’m a little slow today. all I get out of that is “same ducking shit god”
: “so far so good”
: ahh…yeah. I think I need a nap. =/

Considering what time I have to get up in the morning, I should have been in bed long ago. Time to fix that. See you on the other side of Wednesday.

Namaste.

Saturday
Five years.

As of today, that’s how long and I have been together. We were talking about it this morning: It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. We also get odd looks from people when we tell them that we have never had a fight in all that time. We’ve had disagreements, but they’re usually rather minor. I’ve been blessed to have met someone who’s willing to put up with me. Most of the time. And, to think: I have the U.S. Postal Service to thank for meeting her. I guess that something “good” came out of working for them, after all. Who knew?!

We spent the day being lazy, for the most part. And that worked out well for both of us. Apparently, the fifth anniversary is “the videogame anniversary.” I got a copy of X-Men: Legends, Jess got Sonic 3 for her GBA. We were both happy.

We went out to dinner with Jen, Monica, Brian and Bill. It was nice, as we don’t see Monica and Brian that often. They seemed surprised that we were willing to go out with other people on our anniversary. We reminded them that we had spent the day together and that spending time with friends is always a good thing.

After dinner, we headed up to see and . The four of us went to see White Noise… but could not find parking at the theatre… so we decided to try another cineplex. We wound up at The Ritz/Hollywood Connection. With lots of time on our hands before the next showing. We spent an hour or so playing video games; it was fun. In something reminiscent of the old movies where a couple would go to a carnival, play games and win prizes, won a mini football for me. A mini-Ravens football. I will have to find a place for it next to my signed football. Then, we were off to the movie. It was a decent movie, but the ending was a bit anti-climactic.

Back to Nyx and Nox’ place, to get the car and then we were off to breakfast. Nyx, Nox, and met us there. Alisa, Bill and Brent showed up shortly thereafter. Breakfast, the company and the conversations were good. It was a good way to round out the evening.

All-in-all, this has been a good day.
Five years.
Wow.
No, make that “A wonderful five years.”
Yeah. That’s a much better way of putting it.

And, I’m looking forward to seeing what the next five have in store.

Namaste.

Friday
The sun and a few traces of blue sky made an appearance today. There were a lot of high clouds, but the inversion wasn’t around. You could actually see all the way across the valley. It was a beautiful sight and a much-needed change of pace.

and I headed to Park City to see a screening of
(click the ticket to go to the Mirrormask Official Site)
Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, along with Jim Henson Productions, have created a wonderful family film. During the Q&A session that followed the movie, Neil Gaiman noted (of movies that fall in the “family film” genre): “…if you were to water them down, they would taste like slightly-sweet cardboard. We wanted to make a movie with taste. He also said that ‘family films’ are also assumed “…to have no content. We wanted to make a movie with content.”

They succeeded on both counts.

It was a great mixture of “real life” and fantasy that was reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, Labyrinth, Time Bandits and the like… but with a dark edge. I am not sure if most younger children will be able to appreciate it (dark, scary imagery), but there is, otherwise, something for the whole family. It even included a very interesting rendition of one of my favorite songs, Close to You. I highly recommend seeing it when it opens in wide release.

After the movie, Nox and I met the usual suspects for coffee; and joined us, as well. We sat, chatted, drank our assorted beverages and had an all-around good time.

News
Morning Edition: First Combat Psychologist Recognized
Morning Edition: Your Ad Here: Tattoo as Living Billboard
Day to Day: The Hidden World of Aliens of the Deep
Day to Day: Slate’s Teachings: Musicians Learn to Improvise
All Things Considered: Mixed Results for Cities’ Efforts to Cut Murder Rate
All Things Considered: Nazi Camp Survivors Deliver Their Take on Modern Threats

BBC News: Debut for unknown Beethoven work
BBC News: Actors hail quirky Sundance roles

Stray Toasters

• I had a chat with Rana for a bit tonight. All’s well on that side of the IDL.
• Alex Ross will be doing a new Justice League of America series, called “Justice,” starting this July. And, for the villains, he’s creating a new Legion of Doom. While the group will feature many of the same familiar faces as the Challenge of the Superfriends animated series, these characters will be different. Led by Lex Luthor and Brainiac, they will be villains who will definitely be… um… “a challenge” for the JLA. You can check out some of the character designs here.
• : Click here, then click on the second picture.
• Arthur and Vogons and Ford! Oh, my!
• “Did you just say ‘Ahoy?'” –
• Songs from the 80s That Have Been in Commercials
• “…said the Actress to the Bishop.”
• For : Everything You Need to Know about Cirque du Soleil

Quote of the Day
Newsarama has an interview with DC Comics Vice President Dan Didio. In it, they talk about the recent “Identity Crisis” series and the upcoming “DC Countdown” series and how they will change the DCU (that’s “DC Universe,” :P ) Didio went on to discuss his views of DC’s “trinity:” Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman:

Dan Didio: Absolutely. Honestly, when I looked at that, I felt that was an attitude that we had to bring to our heroes. There should be two reactions when a superhero walks into a room. The first reaction is, “Oh shit, they’re here for something,” and the second reaction is, “Oh shit, I hope they’re not here for me.” No one should be taking a step forward to pat them on the back – they should be taking a step backward, thinking, “Something bad is about to happen here.”

Newsarama: This is kinda of along the lines of what Howard Chaykin said when I spoke with him about Legend he’s doing for WildStorm with Russ Heath – that, as a species, humans don’t normally treat the special or the different as something to be cherished. They’re usually pushed into isolation by society out of fear…

DD: Absolutely. So what happens is that when you look at it that way, from the “outsider” approach, they band together as a group because they share a common goal – to make the world a better place. When you peel that away, though, what’s everybody’s definition of “a better place?” what are they going out and trying to achieve? Now what we’ve done is brought in a level of conflict in how our heroes go out to do their business. That aspect makes up a lot of what we’re going to be exploring over the next year – what might be good for one might not be good for another…or for a third.

We’ve broken up the trinity – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are no longer standing shoulder to shoulder. And now they’re the focal points of everything that’s about to happen, because they should be.

NRAMA: Let’s go into those three, and how the other heroes seem to fall under one of them in terms of their respective approaches. How do you see them as being different?

DD: If you want to break it down into the simplest terms: Batman is the policeman; he goes out on patrol and tries to prevent crime. If a crime happens, he finds the person, apprehends them, and brings them in. Superman is the fireman – he goes out and is waiting for a problem. When something does happen, he’s the first responder. He’s there to help; he’s there to save people. He’s not there to affect change or pass judgment; he’s there to help whoever is in trouble.

NRAMA: And Wonder Woman? Don’t say postman…

DD: [Laughs] No, no – Wonder Woman is the activist of the DC Universe. She has a social purpose, a social cause, a direction, and an opinion. She is going out to affect change to make a better world through her social beliefs.

Each one of these three – if you look at them individually, they’re all working to make the world better, but they’re approaching it in different ways. It’s only natural that those approaches might bring them into conflict in how they help people, and work to make the world better.

That’s it.
I’m tapped.

Namaste.

Thursday
It’s been raining and snowing today. Ordinarily, I’d complain about this. But, if it helps to clear the otherwise smog-laden air, then I’m all for it. Aside from last week when we headed up the canyon, I don’t think that I’ve seen the in about a week-and-a-half. It’s getting old.

The morning started with a visit from Kate, Max and Perry. Kate needed to use our connection for an online course that she needed for work. While she did the coursework, Max watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Perry and I delved into game-related geekiness. Perry also brought me a nifty carrying case for my Heroclix paraphernalia… and it’s also just big enough to store the folder in which I keep my tabletop game supplies.

It looks as though all systems are “Go” for and I to see Mirrormask in Park City on Friday. I’m looking forward to it. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first time that I’ve attended a Sundance function since January 1998.

News
Morning Edition: Paris Combo’s Multicultural Motifs
Morning Edition: Student Takes Homework to Court
Day to Day: David Was: Legal Music Downloads on the Web
All Things Considered: Japanese Panel Weighs Possibility of Female Monarch
All Things Considered: Wiggle While You Work: Fidgeting May Fight Fat
(I’m sorry, But I think that would have to be a LOT of wiggling.)
All Things Considered: Oklahoma Lawmaker Eyes Legal Cockfighting
( made a post about this last night. It didn’t make sense then, either.)

BBC News: US staff sacked over smoking ban

Stray Toasters

• I want a snack… but I’m not sure what I have a taste for.
• Kudos to for the link to Cows With Guns.
• DC on Film – a site about upcoming big and small screen adaptations of DC Comics characters.
• found this on a Bollywood/Hindi music site she frequents. In Nyx’ words: “A few people made a really good point when they said that if anyone had ever made a song in this vein about 9/11, we would have kicked their butts.”

  I’m not advocating The Tsunami Song, which plays in the last couple of minutes of this clip; I find it more than “a tad” offensive. I do, however, support the DJs’ rights to make the song. I also support “Miss Info” ‘s right to opt out of the song. The on-air in-fighting, however, I could have done without.

• I’m not a fan of Avatar Press, but I will admit that the premise of the upcoming Unholy mini-series is interesting:
  

  Set in the crummy under-crust of modern day Detroit, Unholy is the story of Penny, a stoner, rebel, teen who is a non-believer in God. After a fatal accident, she’s drafted by God to be His assassin, a God she doesn’t even believe in. As a fallen angel, she is caught in a shadow war waged on city streets, in plain clothes, between Heaven and Hell. With her new found allies, a dominatrix, an ex-mob hit man and an alcoholic priest, she is dumped into the front lines of the war for salvation. But can she even survive her first twenty fours hours as a newborn fallen?

       

• I am stuck on Band-Aid…
  Cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me!
  Well they hold on tight in the bathtub
  And they cling in soapy suds!
  I am stuck on Band-Aid…
  Cause Band-Aid’s stuck on me!

  I just realized that this jingle could apply to both the adhesive strip and to groupies.

• suggested that I try the following meme:
  1. Comment with any subject about which you would like to see me rant.
  2. Watch my journal for your rant.
  3. Post this in your own journal, so that you may rant for others.
• Seeing this article reminded me of the following:
  

  The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.
  Large Man with Dead Body: Here’s one.
  The Dead Collector: That’ll be ninepence.
  The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not dead.
  The Dead Collector: What?
  Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There’s your ninepence.
  The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not dead.
  The Dead Collector: ‘Ere, he says he’s not dead.
  Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
  The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m not.
  The Dead Collector: He isn’t.
  Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he’s very ill.
  The Dead Body That Claims It Isn’t: I’m getting better.

• Are you trying to find a special Valentine’s Day (also known as “Loneliness Awareness Day”) gift for your significant other? Well, look no further. This is just the thing for that hard-to-shop-for person.
• In a comment to yesterday’s post, mentioned that Dr. Seuss wrote erotica. In response to her comment, I wrote this.
• From howstuffworks.com: Head Trips: How Dreams Work
• For :

Quote of the Day
I watched “Wake the Dead,” the JLU episode that featured the return of Solomon Grundy… and Hawkgirl. It was interesting to see the dynamic between Shayera and her former teammates. And Vixen, Green Lantern’s new girlfriend.

Grundy was “resurrected” as a mindless engine of destruction through the machinations of some college kids casting a summoning spell. Watching him battle the League to a standstill reminded me of Marvel’s Incredible Hulk: There was no malice in his attack, it was an outlet of simple, primal rage.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I think that JLU is one of the best-written shows out there. This episode was no exception. A couple of key motifs in this episode were loyalty and sacrifice; they used Hawkgirl’s loyalty to both Grundy and to the League and the sacrifices that she made to/because of both as the foci. And, they were handled very well.

Green Lantern and Vixen, heading to the disaster area that is downtown:

Green Lantern: Dr. Fate called it: Solomon Grundy’s back.
Vixen: The zombie guy? A heavy-hitter; I read about him in the files.
Green Lantern: Yeah, he’s tough, but we can take him. Funny thing is: He’s supposed to be dead.
Vixen: Aren’t all zombies, by definition, dead?
Green Lantern: Umm….

After Hawkgirl, piledrives Grundy into the sewer system with her mace, the Leaguers gather around the impact crater:

Green Lantern: I don’t see him.
Superman: Neither do I. There must be lead in those old sewer pipes.
Vixen: Guy tends to leave a trail. We’ll find him. And then, Pretty Polly can bash him with her magic mace.
Hawkgirl: Why does it hurt him?
Dr. Fate: It’s made of N^th metal. Your people’s technology was developed specifically to repel magical creatures. It disrupts the magic that animates him. The creature knows only rage and seeks only oblivion. Your mace may be the one object on Earth that can grant him peace.
Green Lantern: What are you saying?
Hawkgirl: Your favorite movie’s Old Yeller, you know exactly what he’s saying. Is this my destiny: To be a destroyer? To betray yet another friend?
Dr. Fate: It’s not that simple. It never was.
Vixen: Hey… how about we discuss this for another couple hours? That way, he’s sure to escape.
Aquaman: *to Hawkgirl* Only you have the power to put that creature out of its misery and to stop it before it hurts anyone else.
Green Lantern: You don’t have to, Shayera. I’ll do it for you. Give me the mace.
Hawkgirl: Forget it, John. He was my friend. It’s my responsibility. I’ll do it myself. *flies into the hole*

Namaste.

Wednesday
Today was pretty lax. Except for the stress. Well, it was not really “stress.” It was more along the lines of “frustration.” I spent a few more hours trying to figure out why ‘Nine wouldn’t accept the printer installation when Defiant would. Even after flashing the BIOS and updating the chipset drivers, it wouldn’t work. So, I started looking for differences in the two systems’ configurations.

And found nothing.

So, I tried the installation.
Again.
It stalled.
Again.

I went to the Task Manager to kill the installation. That’s when I noticed that the “Audio HQ” program for my sound card was running. And it shouldn’t have been. So I killed it first. And that closed the printer installation.

*boggle*

Could it really be that easy?
Yep. It could.

I ran the installer again. Lo and behold, it ran. Without stalling. So, for the past two days, I’ve been fighting a rogue sound card problem. *sigh* But, the printer works. Beautifully.

This makes for a happy Rob.

News
Morning Edition: Heard Any Good Books Lately? An Industry Booms
Morning Edition: StoryCorps: A Father’s Memories of Auschwitz
Morning Edition: Evidence of Sex in Single-Celled Organism
Morning Edition: Razzies Fete Film’s Worst
Talk of the Nation: Spy and Tell: Ex-CIA Agents Write What They Know
Day to Day: Arranged Marriages Vie with Love in Modern India
Day to Day: Slate’s Examiner: ‘Dot Net’ Domain Up For Sale
All Things Considered: Roberto Juan Rodriguez Fuses Jewish, Afro-Cuban Music
Fresh Air: Classical Music: Dueling Handel Arias
Lost and Found Sound: Liberace and the Trinidad Tripoli Steelband

Stray Toasters

• We received a “Thank you” card from Rana and John today. I called home to let the ‘rents know that it arrived. They had apparently spoken with the newlyweds yesterday; all seems to be well with them.
• An asteroid has been named for the late Douglas Adams. Details here.
• I watched Challenge of the Superfriends on Boomerang this afternoon. It was an episode with Solomon Grundy… and he spoke. He sounded like a backwoods hick. Straight out of Deliverance. And not a dead hick, either. Yep. Like he was just sitting on the Barcalounger with his 12-pack of Natty Light, waiting for the next NASCAR race to start. Hell, I half expected to hear the late Jackie Gleason pop in and reprise his role as Sheriff Buford T. Justice. Chalk this up as another reason that I appreciate Justice League Unlimited.
• By way of : Asshats.
• From Comics2Film’s DCG: Wonder Woman. Check out the rest of Albea’s work on his site.
• From ThinkGeek comes… HTTPanties and ThinkGeek Monkey
• Comic book legend Stan Lee did an interview on Fanboy Radio this weekend. If you’re interested in listening to it, just click here
• Slashdot Poll: Video game you had the most dreams about?
• According to National Geographic, scientists have created a chimera: part human, part animal. And, thank Heaven, Rob Schneider was nowhere near the lab.
• High-Tech Spacesuits Eyed for ‘Extreme Exploration’
• I’ve got a pocket full of Kryptonite a bag full of Peanut M&M’s.
  That’s right: “Pure milk chocolate joy in a candy shell.”

• From the “Now, I think I’ve seen everything” file: Cum Kleen Personal Wipes
• Celebriducks
• Do you collect anything? It’s pretty well-know that I collect comic books and LEGO® (and Heroclix and Ravens paraphenalia and…). This lady collects swizzle sticks.
• I didn’t know that Dr. Seuss had a nearly-banned book? It wasn’t actually banned, but this and I Was Kissed by a Seal at the Zoo have been taken out of print.
• Death Jr’s Grim Future
• From boingboing.net: How To: Kick someone’s ass with an umbrella
• Even if you aren’a comics fan, you should take a look at this preview of The New Avengers. The writing on the last two pages – and the art on the last page’s inset – make it all worthwhile.
• “You just need to come to grips with the fact that I’m one smooth operator.”
  

• What’s the problem with laser swords? Ask these folks:

Quote of the Day
I taped last weekend’s episode of Teen Titans and JLU (that’s “Justice League Unlimited”, …), but I hadn’t gotten around to watching them until this evening. I don’t know what the problem was, but the feed to the VCR was horrid. Atrocious. Just plain bad. But, still watchable. I watched ‘Titans. I had noted earlier that someone had posted a copy of “The Once and Future Thing (Part One: Weird Western Tales),” last weekend’s episode, on Usenet. So, I downloaded and watched that.

In it, Wonder Woman, Batman and Green Lantern are swept into the animated DCU’s Wild West. They met up with old DC heroes Bat Lash, El Diablo (not the same gimp as on Superfriends), Ohiyesa “Pow Wow” Smith and Jonah Hex. It was fun. At the end of the episode, they wound up in the Batman Beyond timeline where they met up with members of that time period’s JLU: Batman (Terry McGuiness, from Batman Beyond), and older Static and Warhawk, that time’s “Hawkman.”

After Wonder Woman, GL and Batman arrive in the past, they are held up by three outlaws. After handily taking care of them, they realize that they can’t just walk around in 19th Century Oklahoma in their costumes:

Batman: We can’t go anywhere dressed like this.
Wonder Woman: No, we can’t.
They stare at the unconscious outlaws.
::: cut :::
Wonder Woman: These shoes are killing me.
Batman: You fight crime in high heels.
Wonder Woman: High heels that fit!
Green Lantern walks up, holding the third outlaw’s clothes.
Wonder Woman: Are you going to put those on, John?
Green Lantern: *sniffs at the clothes* Has the shower been invented yet? Somebody should tell this guy. *uses his ring to create suitable clothes*

While riding in search of the man who took over the town, using future technology:

Jonah Hex Fancy gun belt you got there. I’m thinkin’ you folks are time-travellers.
Batman: Where would you get a crazy idea like that?
Jonah Hex: Experience. I’ve had an interesting life.
Ohiyesa Smith: We’re getting close. I want to warn you: There some downright unusual activity going on here’bouts. Don’t let it throw you.
Green Lantern: Don’t worry about it. We’ve got plenty of experience with unusual…
A gunman flies overhead… riding a pteranodon.
Green Lantern: I’m sorry… you were saying?

And, the best quote of the night came just after the trio arrived in the future. They were met by Jokerz, a gang whose members dress up like The Joker… and the new JLU showed up to head off the gang:

Jokerz member: We’ve been expecting you.
Static: But I bet you weren’t expecting us.
Green Lantern: *recognizing the older Static* Static?! What’s going on?!
Warhawk: *looks at GL* Dad…?!
Green Lantern: *shock*
::: fade to black :::
To Be Continued.

Given the fact that Shayera Hol (Hawkgirl) has just come back to the Justice League (and to a good bit of hostility, to boot) and that GL is now dating Vixen, I can’t wait for this weekend’s episode to see how this turns out.

And with that…

Namaste.

Tuesday
This has been a mixed day.
The early part of the day was good.
The later part… not as good.

The day started with meeting Perry for coffee. We went to Bad Ass Coffee Company. I’ve been in SLC for six years, I even lived about four blocks from the place, but this was my first time going there. Not bad. I picked up a business card for the local business webpage that and I are putting together.

As we were finishing up our caffeinated gifts from God, I got a call from Bill. He was in the area and wanted to grab some lunch. So we did. I’ve eaten at Chili’s restaurants for years and this was the first time that I’d actually had a burger there. If you’re in the mood for something different, try their “Build a Burger” option. They even have non-meat options available.

I came home and wrestled with the printer installation. For a device that is supposed to be pretty much a “Plug and Play” device, it seems more like a “Plug and Pray” one. No, that’s not entirely true… For it to be “Plug and Pray,” I would have needed to get to the “plug in the printer” stage. For some reason, the installer keeps stalling before I get anywhere close to that point. So I tried… and I tried… and I tried…. and I tried… But I can’t get no… Satisfaction…. Hey-hey-hey! Hear what I say! So, I tried HP’s “Real-Time Chat.” Twice. And even called their tech support line. (Just once, but a long once.) I am not 100% positive, but I’m at least Ivory Soap sure that the CSRs in the chats, “Laurie” and “Johnny,” were not in the U.S. There were minor things in the ways that they formed their sentences that lead me to believe this. The gentleman on the phone was most definitely not in the U.S.

NOTE: I know that many people have problems with outsourcing. While I understand their issues with it, I also see the cost benefits for companies to do so. Let me go on the record and say that “Laurie” and the gentleman on the phone were both great; no problems whatsoever. “Johnny,” however, left me wanting to “reach out and touch someone.” In a pain-inducing way.

On a lark, I decided to try and install the printer software on Defiant, my laptop. My old, slow, memory-deficient laptop. And, with one exception, it took the software without missing a beat. So, I now get to fiddle around with settings and see if I can deduce the reason that ‘Nine doesn’t like the installer. (Read: “There’s a BIOS upgrade in this little PC’s future.”) Hopefully, that will solve it – as much as I’d love to get a new ‘board and processor, it’s not in the financial cards at this time.

News
Morning Edition: New York Mulls Kendra’s Law Extension
Morning Edition: Yahoo Baby Story Too Good to Be True
Talk of the Nation: NOVA Science Now
Talk of the Nation: Preserving History When Survivors Are No More
All Things Considered: Guarding Parking Spots with Furniture in Boston
All Things Considered: Five Milwaukee Democrats Accused of Slashing Republican Vehicles’ Tires

New York Times: Your Call (and Rants on Hold) Will Be Monitored

MediasharX: Minnie Driver Interview

Stray Toasters

• I am Jack’s raging bile duct.
• Radio Diaries
• Movies and You (pssst! , you’ll want to click this.)
• From Comic Book Resources: Battlefront: Taking a Look at Battle Hymn – “What would the government have done if super-heroes really existed during World War II?”
• Movie buffs might not want to skip the Super Bowl. Why not? Movie trailers will be shown during the commercial breaks. Among the trailers you’ll be able to catch: Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Series, War of the Worlds and The Longest Yard.
• And speaking of “The Bat,” Clayface makes his debut on The Batman this weekend.
• The Age of Apocalypse is back for a one-shot, available this March.
• Many of you will remember Vin Diesel as Xander Cage in xXx. Well, they’re doing a sequel. Of sorts. xXx: State of the Union will be out this year. But, while one Mr. Samuel L. Jackson will be in it, Mr. Diesel will not. This time around, Ice Cube will be taking the lead role.
• Matt Groening Apple Ad
  Yes, that Matt Groening.
  Yes, that Apple.

• “Look who I found wandering in the park. He’s an EA employee, I call him ‘Doormat.’ Can I keep him?”
  

• “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to kill we go…”
  

Namaste.

Monday
It was cold and rather dreary. It was also Errand Day. and I had lunch with at Noodles & Co. On the way out of that complex, we stopped in the Thomasville Furniture store. It was something of a compulsion: I grew up about 25 miles from their headquarters. One of the sales associates approached us and asked if we, and I quote: “…had a project.” I told her that we did, inasmuch as we have a house. Then I informed her that I had lived in NC and she looked at me and said: “You don’t sound like you’re from North Carolina.” That made me happy; not picking up a southern accent was one of the things that I worked hard at when we moved to NC. Nice to know that all the effort paid off.

I made another few changes in the HCC. I moved my DSS receiver to the top of my monitor. I figured that when I watch TV, it’s usually on the PC, so it made sense to move the receiver and not have to do all manner of inhuman contortions when I wanted to change the channel. Logic, who knew!? Thanks to a couple of PS/2 extension cables, I was able to move Enterprise. I think that it was a printer cable constraint that kept me from moving DS9, but now that we have the new printer, it may be relocated as well.

>> fast forward >>

Poker night. There were only five of us: , , Matt, Dave and me. Tonight’s standings:

2. me
3. Dave

To say that she kicked our asses would be a horrible understatement. Even saying that she mopped the floor with us wouldn’t be enough. She was the modern-day Spanish Inquisition (Nooo one expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!) And I do mean “no one.” She just eliminated us one-by-one and her chip stack kept growing.

Venit. Vidit. Vicit.
“She came. She saw. She royally kicked our asses… and laughed.”

News
Morning Edition: Agribuisness Boom Brings Change to the Amazon
Morning Edition: Web Site Publisher Prepares to Defend Against Apple Suit
Morning Edition: San Francisco Fights Paper and Plastic
Day to Day: The ‘Spiral Jetty’ Re-Emerges from Great Salt Lake
All Things Considered: Ohio Universities Continue Domestic Partner Benefits, Despite Referendum
All Things Considered: Supreme Court Declines to Intervene in Schiavo Case

BBC News: World ‘must learn from Holocaust’
BBC News: Why didn’t the Allies bomb Auschwitz?

Stray Toasters

• It turns out that I will not be going to Moab on Wednesday, after all.
• I’m glad to be able to use Semagic again, rather than the web interface. ‘Nine is up and running again. I haven’t installed everything yet, but that will come over the next couple of days. One change that I did make: I switched from the Mozilla suite to just Firefox and I have gone back to using Eudora for my mail client. Now I need to remember how to use Eudora again…
• Just when everything in the world seems topsy-turvy, something comes along that restores my faith that there is a God.
• The next two Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers DVDs will be released in April. *covet*
• By way of comes this: Screen Clean
• For writers: 50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work
• and I often send each other… “odd” links. I sent her this video clip; in return, she sent this one. We probably shouldn’t be allowed to play on the Interweb without supervision.
• “So how does making crop circles help with invading Earth?” –
• Let Them Sing It for You
  Insert the lyrics to your favorite song and enjoy. And laugh. A lot.
• I have a few friends in the food service industry. One of their common complaints is that people often don’t consider how much they leave for a tip… IF they leave one. In light of that, I present: How Tipping Works. When talking with a friend’s father-in-law, I found out that tipping isn’t “expected” in Australia. One major difference is that wait staff is paid a “maximum wage,” I believe he called it. In other words, waiters in Oz are making something on the order of $8.00 (AUS) an hour, instead of the $2.13/hr that their U.S. counterparts make.
• “Bobby, so help me, if you don’t knock this crap off right now, I’m going to string you up the flagpole by your weiner and play pinata!”
  
• Real-snow versions of Calvin and Hobbes’ gory snowmen

Namaste.

Sunday
I slept in today.
It felt great.
After rousting myself from the bed, I made it down to the HCC. I puttered around for a while, making minor inroads to upgrade DS9‘s hard drive.

After a short while, and I headed to the big blue-and-yellow store to pick up a new printer. We went to the one closest to the house because it didn’t seem unreasonable to do so. Unfortunately, they didn’t have our printer of choice in stock. *BAH* I will give an amused nod to Mike, the associate who was helping me: He asked why I was interested in this particular printer. I told him, after listing a few of the other reasons, “…because I’ve had an HP printer since God was a boy.” He looked at me and without missing a step said: “HP hasn’t been around that long. And you don’t look that old.” To which I retorted: “I just hide my age well.” He took a second and then said that he wanted to know what I did or used to stay so young. I just chuckled. He then suggested going to the Sandy location, as they had the printer in stock. And so we did. And picked up the printer… and picked up more than “a few” DVDs.

We headed north again to pick up and for dinner. We went to Outback. Mmm. 12oz Prime Minister’s Prime Rib. Very tasty. And we even had a booth that allowed me to watch the smackdown that the Patriots laid upside the Steelers. Mm-hmm. That’s right. And even on the Steelers’ home turf. In front of all their fans. A good dinner. With good friends. And a good football game. Heaven, itself, couldn’t be much better than that. Following dinner, we headed back to Nyx and Nox’ place and played Scattergories. I’d never played it before, but had a good time with it.

I also took a cue from the old AT&T commercials and took some time to “reach out and touch [a couple of] someone[s].” I talked with my friend David, in Charlotte for a bit; I realized that I hadn’t spoken with him since I was at home this past May.. We used to work together (well… I worked for him – he was the department manager) many rains past. We gave each other the Cliff’s Notes versions of what we’ve been up to for the past few months. I also spoke with my uncle (before and after the Steelers’ game). All’s well there. I tried calling another friend, but he wasn’t in. I’ll catch up with him later this week.

News
All Things Considered: Johnny Carson, 30-Year ‘Tonight’ Host, Dies at 79
All Things Considered: ‘Worlds of Difference’: Latter-day Saints and Indians
Weekend Edition – Sunday: Art Project Decodes Ads in Times Square

Stray Toasters

• God willing and the creek don’t rise, and I will be at the Sundance screening of Mirrormask this coming Friday.
• Cotton candy.
• Issue #2 of The Legion of Super-Heroes hits shelves on Wednesday.
  I will be on my way to Moab Wednesday morning.
  I will have to get my copy of LSH #2 next weekend.

• And, speaking of Moab… On the last trip there, I heard something that made me shiver: A country cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Brilliant Disguise. I didn’t shiver because someone chose to cover a song The Boss. It was the fact that it was a county cover.

  And, while on the subject of “Country Music,” I had a conversation with a friend this week about my dislike for the genre. He made me realize something: I can tolerate – and even like – older country music (i.e.: “Country and Western” as done by Johnny Cash, for example), but it’s the newer “Pop Country” that makes me want to stab at my eardrums. As he put it: “New country music sounds like a cat in a dryer.” (Note for the PETA and ASPCA people out there: We have not introduced cats to the inside of a dryer; but I do still wonder if a Teflon-coated cat, traveling at high speed, can stop a semi.)

• “Except, see, that would require me to actually be patient…” –
• I enjoy IRC, but sometimes… *shakes head*
• Now there’s no more Oak oppression
  For they passed a noble law
  And the trees are all kept equal
  By hatchet,
  Axe,
  And saw…

• I’m a little upset that I can’t pick up copies of The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers DVDs at any of the local Best Buy stores. Apparently, Best Buy only has available online. That’s way too much “delayed gratification” for me. I’m far more inclined to head to Media Play and pick them up.
• It’s amazing how much attention cats want when you’re elbow-up in computer parts.

Namaste.

Saturday
Another grey – and very lazy – day in the grey fishbowl that is the Salt Lake Valley.

To break the monotony of the day, I headed to Borders for a change of scenery and a Caramocha. met me there and we chatted for a bit over warm drinks. I also did a sketch from a photo magazine ad. Must be more regular in my drawing practice…

After collecting from work, I came home and began the hard drive migration. I had a minor issue in dealing with the new 80GB drive, but a quick IM to a friend had me on the right track. Now, all that I need to do is to transfer all of my pertinent files from their old drives/folders to their new homes.

I don’t know what happened, but my bowling was good tonight. I bowled nine games: 156 – 140 – 103 – 144 – 160/193 – 147/153 – 155. I was mildly irritated that I missed a 200 game because of a bad pinfall on the first ball of the ninth frame of my sixth game; but a 193 isn’t anything to be ashamed of. There was a… girl (mentally, if not physically) on the lane next to us who had to be the “life of the party.” Her friends seemed to think that she was the cat’s pajamas, but we just found her to be annoying. VERY annoying. It was almost as if she needed the attention – as if it was some sort of validation through extroversion.

Stray Toasters

• Last night, picked up Magnetic Poetry: Pick-up Lines. Today, I sorted the new tiles into groups with the older ones, from the “Put Downs” set. I came up with a few new quips:
  1. I think your inflatable girlfriend’s initial misconceptions about you were dead on.
  2. I’m sorry, but you remind me of the dumbass fairy.
  3. When I imagine your mind & your body in the gene pool, I just want God or the aliens to please come back with the anal probe for the earth.
• My father called today to offer us some of the snow that was falling in Baltimore today. I told him “Thanks, but no thanks.” Besides, we have this… lovely… smog/fog going on here.
• There’s a real-live, modern-day treasure hunt going on! Right here in the U.S. Details here.
• : From the DGC – Naomi Watts as Saturn Girl
• Think that your local weather forecaster doesn’t know what’s going on? Just be glad that you don’t have this guy.
• Can he swing from a web? Take a look overhead!
• It’s these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
  Nothing remains quite the same.
  With all of our running and all of our cunning
  If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.

• I was showing a friend the captions/manips that I did of Lucasfilm Games from last October. They made him laugh. Hell, they made me laugh again, too. With that in mind, here they are for an “encore presentation.”

I’m tapped. Something about getting three hours of sleep last night this morning and going all day long with the notable exception of the forty-five minute period where I phased in and out of consciousness…

Namaste.

Friday
Our friend, Lisa, got married this afternoon. The wedding was held at Log Haven, in Millcreek Canyon. It was a small affair; I believe that there were thirty guests (if that many). It was a short, but very nice ceremony followed by lunch. We had met Matt, the groom, a few times before. Nice guy. He’s from Australia; they’ll be moving there in a few weeks. (We’re considering a trip there sometime in 2006 or 2007.) We also met members of both their families.

An odd note about Millcreek Canyon: It’s free to go into the canyon, but there’s a fee that must be paid to exit it.

A great benefit of the wedding being held in the canyon: We got above the fog/smog layer that has been blanketing the SLC Valley for the past three days. It was refreshing to see real, honest-to-goodness blue sky and sunlight.

This evening, before Friday Night Coffee, I got a new phone, a Samsung A620. It’s smaller, but a little thicker, than my old phone. And, hopefully, it will not drop as many calls as its predecessor.

There was a really good turnout for coffee tonight: , , and Matt, Dave, Steve and Leah, Dave and Alyce, and Dave were there. At this rate, we are going to have to start numbering the Matts and Daves in our group. We referred to the two Daves, collectively, as “Dave (not Dave).” Apologies to Was (not Was), but it was convenient. The Dave occasionally known as (not Dave) started referring to himself as “!Dave,” which for non-computer geeks is pronounced “Bang Dave.” After leaving the bookstore we headed to Cheers: North for a bite to eat. Apparently, someone decided that it was a good night to play the All-80s channel for the music. (BTW: (not Dave) – you were correct: Top Gun came out in 1986.) I don’t remember how, but our conversation took a dip into the “Who had really good on-screen chemistry in the movies and on TV” realm. g0t random conversation topics? We do. Lots of them. And plenty of non-sequitors, too.

News
Morning Edition: Grocers Look to Provide More Diverse Products
Morning Edition: DJ Looks to Brean On-Air Endurance Record
Morning Edition: ACLU Gets Behind Rush Limbaugh
Day to Day: Promoting the Tougher Vows of ‘Covenant Marriage’
All Things Today: A Twentysomething Takes Umbrage at Media Monikers
All Things Considered: How Cold Is It? Well…
All Things Considered: An American Woman’s View of the Hajj

Random Access
“Those who know what’s best for us must rise and save us from ourselves…”

Let me get this straight: Spongebob Squarepants is promoting a “pro-homosexual agenda?” According to James C. Dobson, he is. Not only that, but he’s apparently enlisted Barney, Big Bird and Clifford the Big Red Dog to help him recruit kids.

What happened to the days when a cartoon was just a cartoon? When did we start turning jaded eyes towards the most innocuous things and seeing them as looming threats to our ways of life? Apparently, it’s okay for Wile E. Coyote to mercilessly persue – with the express intent to kill – the Road Runner, but Heaven forbid that our children be led astray by a sponge. A talking sponge. An asexual, talking sponge.

As my father would say, “That doesn’t even make crazy peoples’ sense.”

Many people would say that America has made great strides forward in the name of social progress and advancement. I’d say that this is true. To a point. There are still glass ceilings that women and some minorites can’t break through. Ethnic Group A still marches down Main Street, USA because they want to public extoll the fact that they hate Groups B and C. And don’t even bring up Groups X, Y and Z… It’s sad to admit, but there are still cases that prove that “…with liberty and justice for all” has not fully lived up to the assertion that “…that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

That’s right. I don’t know what’s going on behind your closed doors, but I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t fit my narrow-minded paradigm. I’d better take steps to see to it that you can’t do those things here. My white-picket fence world can’t have you bring any of your different viewpoints into my neighborhood.

It’s a damned cartoon, you nimrods. Here, let’s look at this from a different angle:

• How many times have you seen a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs, after pulling a fast one on Elmer Fudd, plants a big kiss on the befuddled (no pun intended) hunter? On the lips, at that. Does this mean that Bugs and Elmer are secretly carrying on an affair? Should we not allow our children to watch classic Warner Brothers cartoons because they might see this?
• Popeye the Sailor – paragon of manly, vegetable-eating underdog virtue – walks around with a pipe. Not only that, his young nephews do, too. See, kids? Smoking’s okay for you! And, if I remember correctly, he has bussed Bluto on the lips a couple of times, too. AND, if memory serves correctly, in the classic Popeye cartoons (not the ones of the late 70s and the 80s), he resolved most of his conflicts by fighting. That’s a good one for the kids: Eat your veggies and then go pound the snot out of someone!

But, now we have an animated sponge hanging out with his buddy… and all of a sudden they must be gay. Right. So… were Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (the cartoon, not the recent movie) promoting homosexual orgies? Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think so. Were The Banana Splits pushing the Furry/Plushy agenda? Somehow, I doubt it. And what about The New Zoo Revue? Were Doug and MaryJo secretly telling kids that bestiality was okay? Umm… no.

Nine Hells.

It irritates me that someone has nothing better to do with their time than to invent ways to “prove” that something is evil and wrong. And since I’ve gone off on a “why parents should parent their kids” rant not too long ago, I won’t get back on that tangent. For now.

Spongebob, gay?
Idiotstick. No, make that “Idiotstick with a pulpit.”
</rant>

Stray Toasters

• I finally got around to posting the pictures from the last couple of trips to Moab, including the pics of snow on the redrock that I promised .
• What You’ll Wish You’d Known
• Power Pack is back. This was one of Marvel’s more… “fun” titles of the late 80s/early 90s. Four kids, given powers by a dying alien… and hiding those powers from their parents. I’m not sure if I like the new manga-esque look, but I might have to give the book a once-over.
• 
• Someone’s about to snap of a little somethin’ somethin’…
• : Confucius and I finished this week’s crossword in 15 minutes.
• Try a “Solve-It Mystery” from MysteryNet.com
• A Softer World

Quote of the Day
On the way to Lisa and Matt’s wedding, and I wound up having to take a slight detour, due to an accident on I-215. We hit a particularly dense patch of fog along the way. This sparked two or three different comments from . Unfortunately, they all tried to come out at the same time. What came out was:

“It’s worse foggier up here…”

That’s when she realized what she was saying and stopped talking. And that’s when I started laughing.

Namaste.

Thursday
Today was a good day.

and I had lunch at one of the local V.I.s (not Cheers, though). She said that she saw my idea about painting the HCC in LEGO® colors and thought that “…it sounded so you.” It made me laugh. But, if I paint the walls in those colors – and assuming that I get my projector this Christmas – I’ll have to get a screen for watching TV and playing vidgames. I may, however, paint the tops of the walls in those colors, though…

In another effort to make things look “home-like,” I hung up my IKEA rug on one of the walls in the basement stairwell. Now, I just need to figure out what to do with the rest of my wall-hangable items.

>> fast forward >>

After a tasty dinner from Thai Garden, Chris taught and me how to play Heroclix. (Nox had a bit of a head start on me as he has played the fundamentally similar Mage Knight before.) Nox and I teamed up against Chris. And had our clocks cleaned. Pretty handily. We took a couple of his characters off the board, but he wiped out four of our six-member team and had two of his original four still standing at the end of the game. But it was fun. After all, what kid doesn’t like to play superhero?

News
Morning Edition: Moderate Drinking May Help Prevent Memory Loss
Morning Edition: ‘Angels and Demons’ Draws Tourists to Rome
Day to Day: How Hail to the Chief Became Official
All Things Considered: Tracing Family Roots Through a Name
All Things Considered: New Clues Emerge in Pre-Dinosaur Extinction Event
All Things Considered: Dabbling in Virtual Real Estate

USA Today: Coca-Cola makes it ‘Real’ with new flavors, energy drink, ad campaign
USA Today: Tiny frog a Big Island issue
USA Today: Top actors moonlight at Sundance Film Festival

BBC News: ‘I Don’t Like Monday, 24 January

Stray Toasters

• I remember how I would hear the phrase “guerrilla warfare” as a kid and think that they were talking about gorillas that had been trained to fight. It caused much confusion in my young brain.
• sent me a link to this article. Former President David Palmer (portrayed by Dennis Haysbert) is returning to 24 this season!
• For those of you who haven’t read about it yet: The reason behind the Great LJ Blackout of 2005
• Are Apple’s 4, 20 and 40 GB iPods a little out of your price range? Well, there’s still hope for you to join the legions of iPod users: The Apple iPod Shuffle, starting at $99.00 USD.
• These guys don’t stand a chance. Really. I’d give better odds to a snowball in Hell. Case in point: 1, 2, 3.
• By way of boingboing.net: “Jenna Hearts Satan” T-Shirts
  (And that’s Jenna Bush, not Jenna Jameson, for the record.)

• : A Hush Falls over Gotham: Lieberman Talks Gotham Nights and Hush
• Is it just me or should Boomerang just change their name to “The Scooby-Doo Channel?”
• pointed me in the direction of this piece on deviantART: Vanity.

Quote of the Day
The Guide in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy now has a voice. English Actor Stephen Fry, got the nod.; if you are a fan of books-on-tape, you may recognize him as the narrator of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Here is what he had to say about being selected as the voice of The Guide:

“It’s like having your birthday on Christmas Day, discovering a winning lottery ticket in your stocking and having chocolate poured all over you.”

And, while looking up info on him, I came across this gem, too:

“It only takes a room of Americans for the English and Australians to realise how much we have in common.”

Namaste.

Wednesday
I talked with the ‘rents today. All’s well in their respective parts of the Right Coast. I need to call the sibko tomorrow and make sure that they’re doing well.

Tonight was Game Night. I think that we’re moving the story along, albeit slowly. While there are probably more than “a few” things that our group has overlooked, we picked up on something that will be of relevance down the road. That’s probably a good thing. Tomorrow night, Chris is giving and me a crash-course in Heroclix. That should be fun.

Thursday is “Inauguration Day” for the Shrub. Big whoop. On the other hand, federal employees in Washington are getting a free day off; some are taking Friday off and making it a long weekend.

News
Morning Edition: Study Recommends New Approach to Diagnosing Kids’ Depression
Morning Edition: Senegal Postcard: Celebrating the Feast of the Sheep
Talk of the Nation: Ohio: Sports and Mentality (for )
Day to Day: Firings Raise Questions of Blogger Freedoms
All Things Considered: Beer Ad Battle Spills into Realm of Science
All Things Considered: Report Finds National Zoo Has Made Progress

silicon.com: Spammed Man Sued by Alleged Spammer Wants Cash

Stray Toasters

• I spent about ten minutes this afternoon rearranging the Magnetic Poetry tiles into their respective parts of speech. Ostensibly, this will make it easier to find words/phrases when composing a put-down. But, the truth behind it all is: The insistence of my inner grammar geek was too strong to resist.
• : I’m not sure if you’d be interested in this, but Steve Jackson’s e23 is up.
• New… episodes… of JLU and Teen Titans… starting 05 Feb 05.
• I still haven’t formatted the new drive for DS9, but I came to a decision this afternoon: I’m going to put either a 20 GB and a 40 GB or two 40 GB drives in Enterprise. I like my media and it deserves plenty of elbow room.
• There’s something about Ludacris’ Act a Fool that I like. Quite a bit, in fact.
• David Duchovny, in an interview for The Sun, has said that a sequel to X-Files: Fight the Future is in the works.
• While I usually don’t like to give the cats “people food,” every once in a while, I will cave and share a little something with them. Today I discovered that Presto likes spaghetti noodles.
• “No walls can hold me!”
  “That’s why we brought tasers.”
  

• Utah drivers…
• Sh’mo (…for Nyx)
• It looks as though they are trying to adapt Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress for the big screen. Here are more details from Tim Minear, who is working on the adaptation.
• We’ve started looking at paint samples. I think that I’d like a blue shade in the main bathroom (but I’m not dead set on it, yet). I’m also not sure what color(s) I want to use in the HCC. Given my LEGO® obsession, I’m trying to stay away from primary colors… but I might consider a LEGO-like four-color border. Of course, I could just go with green, at least on one wall. And even though the Master Chief’s armor is green, I’d probably go from referring to it as the “HALO Command Center” and start calling it “New Oa.”
• “If you wake me up coming to bed, I will dismember you.” –

Namaste.

Tuesday
I. Am. Tired.
(Not to be confused with I.M. Weasel or I.R. Baboon)

Today we replaced two furnaces in a house on the East Bench. Two very old, very heavy furnaces. I also picked up a few new skills today, so that was cool. Carrying the furnaces, however, not cool. I was amazingly tired by the time we got done. By the time I got home, it was all that I could do to get into the shower; I knew that if I took a bath, I’d fall asleep in the tub. Instead, I fell asleep after my shower – I sprawled out on the bed… and was gone. Thirty minutes later, I felt nominally human again.

That set up a very relaxing (read: “lazy”) evening. I watched Law and Order: SVU and after that went off, I channel surfed. I wound up watching Underworld. It was… “not completely horrible.” It was a decent diversion/distraction. I’ve played a game in White Wolf’s “World of Darkness” setting and I can see some of the things about which they were crying “foul.” But, it’s nothing too far removed from any vampiric and/or lycanthropic lore. Maybe it’s just me, though. And, it could have been worse. Like Innocent Blood. *shiver* I mean… really… Don Rickles? As a vampiric mobster? Puh-LEEZE.

News
Talk of the Nation: Saving Teens in Trouble
All Things Considered: Public Schools Struggle With Bipolar Students

Stray Toasters

• I found a gap between the window and the sill in the HCC. At least that helps to explain why it’s always colder down here than the rest of the house. (When I checked, it was 8° colder than upstairs.) I caulked the part of the gap that I could reach without completely opening the window. I’ve also put up some plastic sheeting over the window. I can already feel a bit of a difference.
• Hey, …. Cover to Issue #5
• got a Magnetic Poetry: Put-Downs set for Christmas. After poker, we all huddled around the refrigerator and came up with ideas. It was like the Soul Train Scramble Board on crack. One of my favorites: “I see that you set aside special time for the Dumbass Fairy.” I’ll post more quips as we come up with them.
• It looks as though DC is putting a new spin on OMAC. This could prove interesting.
• : Build your own Batphone
• : The Name of the Game
• In case you haven’t heard: The Incredibles will be released on DVD in March and new episodes of Family Guy will air in May.
• Ob La Di, Ob La Da
• Old or Obsolete Names for Diseases and Disorders
• What do you get when you cross Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with Peanuts?
  

• Leave it to G4TechTV to screw up yet another thing. No, that’s not entirely true. I shouldn’t blame them; I should blame their parent company, Comcast. As if firing many members of the TechTV staff wasn’t enough or even the way that they focused more on the “G4” than the “TechTV,” now they’re dropping TechTV altogether and will return to the gamer-oriented programming for which G4 was known before the G4-TechTV merger.
• Hugh Jackman and Clive Owen appear to be the front-runners to be the next James Bond.
• By way of disinformation comes: Modigliani: An Artist Between Worlds
• Marvel Comics has had success with most of their recent cinematic outings. Hopefully, that will continue this summer with Fantastic Four (trailer).
• “That’s the biggest barrel I’ve ever seen, is it pump action?”
  

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Monday
Good Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to all.

Today was a good day. and I ran some errands this morning… including a trip to one of my new favorite toy stores: Lowe’s. *genuflect* There are far too many things there that I wouldn’t mind having. Far too many, indeed. We then headed to the local Best Buy… and we now are the proud owners of two XBoxes. (I have not yet checked what the new Xbox’ name is, though.)

We had lunch with and then came here to hang out for a bit before poker started. This “hanging out” included watching a few minutes of Spice World on Showtime. Yes, that Spice World. It was bad enough that we might just have to get drunk, watch the movie and MST3K it. Tonight’s poker was good; there were seven of us at the table. The final three were:

1. Dave
2. Nyx
3. Me

News
Morning Edition: Unforgivable Blackness: Jack Johnson’s Saga
Morning Edition: Readings from King’s Dream Speech
Talk of the Nation: The Future of Civil Rights Groups
All Things Considered: Scientists Assess Value of Publicizing Their Work
All Things Considered: A Love Affair with Skateboarding

The Progressive: Martin Luther King, Freed from the Straightjacket

Stray Toasters

• As Utah is now observing the holiday as “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day” (and none of my friends stuck their feet in their mouths), I didn’t have to snap my virtual foot off like I did last year. I consider that both a good thing and a step forward.
• From Kodak.com: How wide is America?
• The Mongols in World History
• : Here’s a preview of LSH #2.
• Someone on Yahoo! Groups’ “Lilguyz” community made this. It made me smile.
• Are you tired of having to create a login for news websites just to read one or two articles? If so, you will want to check out bugmenot.com.
• From the C2F DCG: Classic Storm
• Zig-a-zig-ah… (for Nyx)
• Any Highlander fans in the audience? Yes? Okay. You might be interested in this.
• I found this in a copy of Stuff at Nyx and Nox’ place. I’m not sure if I should laugh… but I did.

I should have been in bed an hour ago. I have to get up in the morning and help with a furnace replacement. And so…

Namaste.

Sunday
Today’s been a good day. I spent the early part of it trying to be productive. No, really. I did! Stop laughing. That’s just mean.

*sigh*

Like I said: I tried to be productive. However, the table that now resides along the north wall was begging to be utilized. So, I accommodated it. I put my LEGO® train together. Well, I started putting it together… a little before Kate, Perry and Max came over. (I managed to get the engine and coal car assembled before they arrived.) We hung out. We had dinner. We sat around and talked some more. I even managed to keep Max off the XBox tonight… by showing him the joys of railroading.

After they left, I assembled the passenger car, freight car and caboose while watching the World Poker Tour on The Travel Channel. I finished the cars and added them to the train. Here’s the end result. I watched the train around its oval many times. Sissy and the twins weren’t exactly sure what to make of it, though. Next up: The Rokenbok monorail.

Monday is Martin Luther King Day. If you are fortunate enough to have the day off, please do not simply look at it as “…just another holiday.” If you haven’t done so before, why not take some time to learn about both the holiday and the man that it commemorates?

Stray Toasters

• According to Human for Sale, I’m worth $2,465,492.00.
• Alan Davis is drawing Uncanny X-Men. That’s a good combination.
• So how did you get to be a Nazi? –
• Cotton candy. Two bags. *nod*
• Electronic Arts is thinking about creating a television show… based on… The Sims. Do we really need this?
• I still need to lobotomize DS9 and I believe that Defiant will be put in spacedock for a refit, too – it will become a Linux or FreeBSD laptop. If nothing else, that will force me to wrap my brain around the *nix OS.
• : This week’s high score was 181.
• Saturday, we picked up a dining room set and a futon from ‘s sister. With the addition of the new futon, we actually have a real, honest-to-goodness “guest room.” Of course, it’s currently being used as a transition room, while we find homes for the things that we (still) haven’t unpacked.
• We can walk our road together
  If our goals are all the same
  We can run alone and free
  If we pursue a different aim.

• : Here’s an interview about Hayao Miyazaki

That’s it for tonight this morning.

Namaste.