Random Access

Thursday
I slept poorly last night this morning. Phenomenally so. Thus, I had to resort to a long unused measure to combat the fatigue:A frozen mocha with a double espresso shot from Beans and Brews. (Mmmm. Frozen Mocha Goodness….) That done, I was able to face the world without murderous intent gleaming in my bloodshot, beady little eyes. By the time I got to work, I was very nearly “civil.”

The work day blurred along.

On the way home, I wanted to stop at Dr. Volt’s and pick up this week’s comic shwag. But, they were closed.
Damn the Fates!!!
Mocking me!
Laughing!
BAH!!!

CSI and Without a Trace, dinner and a glass of wine were how the evening ended. Quiet. Relaxing. Good.

News
Talk of the Nation: 50th Anniversary of McDonald’s
Day to Day: Trivial Pursuit: A Dated Amusement?
All Things Considered: Challenges of a Repertory Theater
All Things Considered: The Dark Side of the Airline Lighter Ban
Fresh Air: For Workers, The World Is Flat

Chicago Tribune: How dimes defeated polio

Stray Toasters

• Reason Number Seventy-leven of “Why I Love IKEA”….
  Too bad there isn’t one within 500 miles of here. (And, yes, , you are still a bastard-ass.)

• Because it’s been a while since I’ve mentioned it: Baltimore City Paper
• Nintendo a capella That’s all I’m sayin’.
• “Welcome to Africa. Anything to declare?” –
• Letter-Color Synaesthesia
• Giant steps are what you take
  Walking on the moon…

  I like this icon:

• Scar Tissue (NOT the RHCP song…)
• A very simple – almost understated – song, I like Harry Connick, Jr.’s Trouble (from the CD “She”). Just Harry and his piano, with Michael Ward on Congas and backing vocals. If you get a chance, give it a listen.
• She’s back!
  
  And My Plastic Heart has her.
  (If you have no idea where she comes from, click here. Broadband recommended.)

• Sky Blue opens at the Tower Theatre this weekend. I think I’ll catch the Saturday afternoon showing.
• By way of Real Tech News: Traditional Media on the Decline?
• Seven past 11: A Critic’s Guide
• For : Army of Darkness Plush
• Electric Tiki presents: Zorro

Tomorrow’s Friday. And that means…. Mallday for lunch!

Namaste.

Wednesday
I don’t know what happened but the day seemed to cruise right along. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not complaining about that. I just don’t know where the post-lunch day went.

Tonight was game night. Something that I very nearly forgot. Actually, it was less “very nearly” and more “completely spaced off.” I would have missed it had not asked me if I was going. *blink blink* Yep… genius, I am. But, I went. And we played. Somewhat. About halfway through the game, it fell apart. Half of the group was semi-gaming while the other half wandered into the kitchen and disappeared into a non-game-related conversation of their own. *shrug* Oh, well.

News
Morning Edition: Telecom ‘Blimp’ May Offer Alternative to Satellites
Morning Edition: Secret Service Crashes Art Exhibit
All Things Considered: ‘Rifle’ Sniffs Out Vulnerability in Bluetooth Devices
All Things Considered: Labs Work to Destroy Flu Strain

Stray Toasters

• I have a taste for an Oreo Blizzard® from Dairy Queen.
• ghee happy: little india
• We can’t just lose ourselves in an online world and ignore our real life responsibilities!”
  

• Superheroes, Death & Dying
• For ice cream fans (and particularly Ben & Jerry’s lovers): Ice-cream lovers can enjoy a free cup or cone Tuesday during the 27th annual Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry’s shops. The free offer runs from noon to 8 p.m.
• Paul Muses on Highlander End
• showed me the following a few days ago:
  It amused me. Tonight, she and showed me: Star Wars: Episode III l33t Trailer.

• “We wound up deducting about $6,000 for thong underwear.”
  

Namaste.

Tuesday
The alarm went off when it was supposed to this morning. I didn’t want to get out of bed. But, I did. And, following an excursion to the sanfac (*nod* to Infocom), I got right back into bed. *sigh* I watched the clock count of another twenty minutes before I got serious about pre-work prep.

Work was good. The day passed fairly quickly. A couple of calls from the youngest member of the sibko in the middle of the day helped move things along, as well.

and I stopped at one of the local Best Buy stores on the way home. I’m thinking of picking up a few things and I hadn’t been to Best Buy in a while. I looked at a DVD burner, but I decided against it. I looked at a Vonage adapter, but decided not to get one. Yet. Soon, though. I looked at some games and DVDs, too. Nothing just cried “Take me home.” Wait. That’s not entirely true: I looked longingly at the ATI Radeon 9600 AIW card. And it’s bargain priced at (only) $178.

Home for dinner and Law & Order: SVU. Amanda Plummer was one of the guest stars and she did an amazing job as a schizophrenic and disassociative rape victim. It was a good episode.

News
Morning Edition: Mormons Aim to Stop ‘Baptism’ of Holocaust Victims

The other day, someone on IRC was talking about doing temple work for the late Pope. The Pope. I’m thinking that if ANYONE had a Bat-phone to God, it was him. I don’t think that he really needed an/another intercessor. And, there have also been baptisms for Gandhi, Buddha (although I’m not sure which “Buddha” it was, as there have been many), Vlad Tepes (better known as “Vlad the Impaler” or more commonly referred to as “Dracula,”) and Adolf Hitler… to name just a few.

Just for the record: When I die, I do not want to have a posthumous proxy baptism. I made my decision to be baptised – in the faith of my choosing – over 20 years ago. I was happy with that decision then, I’m happy with it now. I’ll thank whomever it may concern to respect my paradigm as I try to respect yours in return.

Morning Edition: Teach for America Attracts Record Number of Graduates

USA Today: ‘C’ is for cookie – and calorie count, too?

Stray Toasters

• I was looking up Galaxy Rangers wallpapers on Google earlier. And I came across an interview with Robert Mandell, on Mediasharx. It put a smile on my face.
  

• : Click here
• I was listening to Beethoven’s Fur Elise this afternoon. And the first thing that came to mind was the McDonald’s commercial with the little girl at her piano recital. I blame for this.
• The X-Men.
  The Avengers.
  And the fate of Wanda Maximoff.
  Welcome to the House of M.

  The Marvel event of the decade is here! The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff! The Scarlet Witch is out of control and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. Will Magneto help his daughter or use her powers to his own benefit? Starring the Astonishing X-Men and the New Avengers!

• Here is yet another reason I need to by Maddox a cup of coffee. And, there was even a mention of it on the ill-named Attack of the Show, the show that used to be the very cool Screen Savers.
• I’ve been a Justice League fan for years. Superfriends (in its various incarnations), Justice League/Justice League Unlimitedand the different comic versions, too. The JL – JLI – JLE of the early 90s, under Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatties, we fun. (After all, where else could one learn about an ancient Martian meditation technique called “screaming.” Or that Martians had an affinity for Chocos (The DCU, non-copyright infringing version of “Oreos.”) Well, members of that Justice League have a little problem: It seems that Booster (“I’m not Green Lantern!”) Gold has gone to Hell. No handbasket. No gasoline drawers. But, he did take four other members with him. Buzzscope, formerly PopCultureShock, has a five-page preview.
• I don’t recall how I found it, but this icon – – is awesome.
• The Mission NASA Hopes Won’t Happen
• I know people who use Google Ads to make money. I won’t disparage them. In public. This time. Well, I won’t disparage most of them; there’s one who I think goes about it bass-ackwardly. But that’s another story…

  With Google Ads, Google pays whomever puts the ads on their site whenever someone clicks one (or more) of the ads. Googlest.com has made a List of Top Paying Google Adsense Keywords. Click away.

• I know that I should probably have my head examined, but part of me wants to see xXx: State of the Union, with Ice Cube. Yeah, yeah… I know. But, still.
• “It is two in the morning. Things are not supposed to be alive at two in the morning.”
  

• One of the voice actors on R.O.D. the TV is doing a bad Humphrey Bogart impression. It’s very over the top. It’s oddly amusing. Yet, hysterical.
• Today’s random Wiki word is: Funarchy.

Namaste.

Monday
Woke up.
Worked.
Came home.
Ate dinner and watched 24.
Played poker… was the first one out of the game. But had fun.

News
Morning Edition: Caregivers in Maryland Fight for Higher Wages
Morning Edition: The America I Believe In by Colin Powell
Morning Edition: The RZA on Hollywood, The Wu-Tang Manual
All Things Considered: The Fading Giant: Bygone Train Sights and Sounds
All Things Considered: How Papal Names Are Chosen
All Things Considered: Wooden Relics Offer Clues to Mayan Culture
Fresh Air: Miller and Rodriguez: Sin City

Stray Toasters

• I’m craving something with chocolate… and there’s none here.
• The website for Æon Flux is up. No release date yet.
• Xbox2 To Be Unveiled on MTV May 12
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• : Click here.
• Yet another reason to be proud of my school. I think.
  Purdue’s Rube Goldberg three-peat takes national spotlight

• “The world is a cold, cruel place, Benny.”
  

• A little something for : Router Built for Gamers
• She took me to her castle
  I just couldn’t believe my eyes
  She had so many devices
  Everything that money could buy…

• Keyboards are Havens for Super Bugs
• Lucile: “Did you hear what they were talking about? About reverse vampirism? I’m so gonna start biting.”
  Maureen: “But you aren’t a holy man. Women aren’t even allowed to be clerics.”
  Lucile: “I know. I just want to bite stuff. It’s fun.”
  

• The “Have a banana…” line in Copacabana cracks me up.
• Click this link (Wikipedia’s “Random Page”) and post your results here.
  I got: U.S. 42nd Infantry Division

Namaste.

Sunday
…also known as “The Morning after ‘The Party.’ ”

And my head felt fine this morning. I didn’t drink a lot at the party and I drank a good deal of water at Cheers, afterward. That seems to have done the trick.

The day was lazy. And that’s good. I went to Borders this afternoon to do a little drawing. Then it was home and off to meet and for dinner. After that, we stopped by their place for tea and conversation for a while.

Stray Toasters

• I am enjoying the new Kojak. Like I said last week: Ving Rhames is bad ass.
• : From the DCG – Mr. Freeze
• Tiger Woods.
  The Masters Tournament.
  Another win.

• San Francisco May Regulate Blogging Whiskey Tango…?!?
• “The Earth’s a geode?!?!?” (Sorry, … couldn’t resist.)
  Hole Drilled to Bottom of Earth’s Crust, Breakthrough to Mantle Looms

• “Inverted vagina”
• First MicroHeroes, now storTroopers
• Skin Cancer Info
• “Optimus Prime… He’s Jewish?!”
• fishie rhythms –
• New Trend: Google Sightseeing
• I think that I’m most happy about ‘Nine having TV capability again because I can play Xbox on the monitor. Is that such a bad thing?
• and , take a look at these: Zena Holloway and Photo District News’ PDN Contests.
• Sure, the “Xenon” is more-or-less just around the corner – granted, this is in game console terms, so it could be anytime in the next 5 to 30 years – but Microsoft will cease putting out new games for the current Xbox in 2007.
• “Man, I’m tired… Can we take a break?”
  

Namaste.

Saturday
The day started off with coffee with Perry, Christopher, and . We went to Bad Ass Coffee. Christopher and Nox took off in search of Star Wars gaming things; Nyx, Perry and I hung out for a bit.

Nyx and I headed to the nearby Deseret Industries location so that she could find a shirt for ‘s spring party. She found one. And I found something that I wanted, but didn’t get: an organ. For $35 USD. Thirty-five bones. Too bad I didn’t have a truck handy. Or maybe that was a “good” thing. Who knows? From there, it was on to CompUSAirways. I’m looking for some new components… and I have NO idea why I went there other than the fact that it was close to where we were. Even though LS Micro has closed, there are other local stores where I could purchase parts. *shrug* I left there empty-handed, except for a Mac Mini brochure. I took Nyx home and then headed home myself.

After getting from work, we came home and then headed to and ‘s house for the party. The best way to describe it:

• Alcohol.
• Inebriated people.
• A blow-up doll.
• Cameras.

It was, as usual, a fun gathering. And, despite the fact that I have more than “a few” blackmail pictures, I rather doubt that many of them will make it to my site.

, and I left the party around 1:00 AM and headed to Cheers. I knew that I could use some light food – and water – in my system to counter the tasty alcoholic beverages that I had at the party. I didn’t drink a lot, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Things at the restaurant were fairly quiet; even The Singles weren’t too bad. And there were plenty of fashion risks/fashion don’ts to be seen, too.

News
Morning Edition: Comic Book Science in the Classroom
Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!: This Week’s Show
Weekend Edition – Saturday: A Ghostwriter Tells Her Own Tale
All Things Considered: “Late Out” Offer Seeks to Align Arts with Work
All Things Considered: Slide Show: Lighting Up a Lost Era (Baltimore Museum of Art)
All Things Considered: Chinese Protest Japanese Texts on World War II
All Things Considered: Story Behind the Picture: A Chalk Sketch

Santa Cruz Sentinel: Fact or Fallacy: Tree too much for some Westside neighbors

Stray Toasters

• I am tired.
  I am also glad that I started writing this post before we went to the party.

• 
  For more like this, check out Internet Bumper Stickers

• From retroCRUSH: The 100 Greatest TV Themes
• AuthorsDen
• By way of Backwash: How many 5-year-olds could you take on at once?
• While and I were out this afternoon, we heard a story about Improv Everywhere on This American Life. We sat in the parked car for at least five minutes, rapt by the story of a couple of their “missions”: The Moebius and Look Up More.
• The Single Mother’s Guide to Dating Well Without Parenting Poorly
• 

And that’s it.

Namaste.

Friday
It was raining when I woke up this morning.
Then it turned to snow.
Then it rained again.
Then the sky was clear, blue and sunny.
*blink blink*

…and now, it’s raining again.

Just another day behind the Zion Curtain, I guess.

The day was good. The work day went by pretty quickly. Thanks to for the ride home this afternoon. Tonight was another meeting with the Clitorati. Caffeinated beverages and conversation. Then it was off to dinner… where we were joined by .

Stray Toasters

• I had a rant more-or-less worked out in my head for tonight’s “Random Access,” but I want to mull over a couple of things before I post it.
• The O’s beat the Yankees! 12 – 5… In Yankee Stadium.
  

• sent me the link to Ant City
• Congratulations to Maddox for being awarded “Best Web-Rant Pioneer” in City Weekly‘s “Best of Utah 2005” list.
• Magic woogie stick
• By way of :
  

• Do I believe in God? Do I believe in me? Let me tell ya…
  Some people wanna die so they can be free
  (I said) Life is just a game, we’re all just the same…don’t ya wanna play?

• By way of SciFi Wire: Bloom Updates Pirates Sequels
• Lightning is curled up in my lap, purring loudly.
• By way of BoingBoing.net: What’s your personal videogame history?
• ‘Nine has TV input again.
  (Translation: I finally figured out which CD had the correct drivers.)

• Arthur Dent
• I have two Gmail accounts that I never use.
  But, they’re there.
  *shrug*

• Man Arrested for Using $2 Bills at Best Buy

Quote of the Day
Tonight’s gem came from , at dinner. We had been talking about peoples’ allergies and a couple of folks at the table mentioned that they were allergic to cats. That lead to a comment about breeds of cats that don’t typically trigger peoples’ allergic response. Which lead to talking about hairless cats. Which lead to this:

They look majorly depressed because their ass is cold… and there’s nothing they can do about it!

We all got a good laugh out of that.

Namaste.

Thursday
The day went from sunny and clear to grey and dull. told me that a storm is supposed to move through the area tonight and tomorrow, bringing rain to the valley… and snow to the mountains. Up to two (2) feet of snow.

It was a pretty good day at work.

Post-work, I had dinner with at the local Macaroni Grill. There was little question as to whether or not my hunger had been sated when we left. We talked. We ate. We drank. I had cheesecake – it was very rich and topped with a caramel and fudge sauce. Tasty, tasty cheesecake…

Stray Toasters

• LS Micro, one of my favorite computer parts shops has gone out of business. In a matter of days they have gone from having a store full of merchandise to vapor. I drove past it this evening and there was nothing in there. And their website didn’t provide any clues as to their disappearance, either.
• Thanks to for sending me these links:
  • Overclocked Remix
  • LJ Drama
  • A Different Reminder
• “But I have clothes now.”
  

• Thanks to for sending me the following links:
  • The Pimp Party
  • Ghetto Prom 2004
• Having read Jon Ronson’s Them: Adventures with Extremists, I think that I’ll have to find a copy of his new book: The Men Who Stare at Goats
• Gallery of Shaken Faces
• “Kids, kids… what’s with all the screaming?
  “>

• Sesame Street: 25 of My Favorite Memories – Noo-ne-noo-ne-noo…
• I think that this is a well-done picture of Supergirl.
• 
• Adult Nintendo Games: 8-bit Hacking Gone Wild

Namaste.

Wednesday
The day went quickly. Which is not a bad way to spend the day at work. I got to work with a couple of new (to me) things… and didn’t wind up causing anything to break or explode, so I’m chalking that up as a “good” thing.

Tonight was the farewell/good luck get-together for ; he’s leaving Saturday to start working for MicroSquish. We went to The Bayou. There were a lot of people there to see him off. A lot. (And, , you missed Maddox. Again.) There were so many of us that we wound up commandeering tables in three areas. Big tables, too. It was a nice gathering. Best wishes for the future to as he starts on this new chapter in life.

News
Morning Edition: Connecticut Mulls Easing Assisted-Suicide Penalties
Morning Edition: A New Kind of Name Game (…only in Utah. *sigh*)
Talk of the Nation: The Role of the Judiciary
Day to Day: Nurses Protest Schwarzenegger’s Budget Cuts
All Things Considered: White Supremacist Hale Sentenced to 40 Years
Fresh Air: The Man Behind The Incredibles

Stray Toasters

• My copy of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm has returned.
  And Iron Giant.
  And The Way of the Gun.
  All is well with the world again.

• As is moving to Seattle, this is somewhat relevant. Even if he wasn’t moving there, I’d still post this: Joe Chiodo and Michael “Pooch” Pucciarelli art on display at Roq la Rue Gallery.
• April is National Poetry Month.
• This is relevant also because of … and because sent it to me and said that I should look at the movies. She said that they were amusing. She was right.
• In light of ‘s post about (cell) phone usage in the bathroom, I bring you this.
• I don’t have a joke here, but as a cat owner (as much as anyone can “own” a cat), this amused me to no end.
  

• The Art of Shawn Wolfe
• Guinness Stout.
• For : Pinball’s Last Remaining Wizard
• “I am the sore bedlam fury of angelic bastard!”
  

• Star Wars Fans in Line… at the Wrong Theater
• Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Tetris

Namaste.

Tuesday
Despite waking up to the remnants of a light dusting of snow, today was a good day. I was busy, so the day moved quickly. Which is a good thing because I went to sleep far later than I had planned last night. And even a cup of hot, caffeinated goodness wasn’t enough to ward of the tiredness that crept up on me this afternoon. So I decided to combat it with a cup of tea. Earl Grey. Hot. That helped… but it was still something of a struggle.

After work, and I headed to the U of U Hospital to see Allie. When we got there, she wasn’t in her room. I took a guess that she might have been in the library, a couple of floors up. So, we went there and found… that she wasn’t there, either. *boggle* Granted, it’s a good-sized hospital and she could have been anywhere, but those were my best two guesses. We headed back to her room to leave a note. I had barely uncapped the pen when Allie walked in. She had decided to go on walkabout. Hiking, to be specific – the hospital (and the rest of the U of U campus) abuts the Wasatch Mountains. We visited with her for about an hour.

We met and for dinner at Tres Hombres. Dinner was good, as was the company.

News
Morning Edition: Soldiers Return Home
Talk of the Nation: Scotland’s Sword of Wallace
Day to Day: Slate’s Explainer: Why So Few Baseball Cheerleaders?
All Things Considered: Ohio Marriage Law Hampers Efforts Against Domestic Abuse
All Things Considered: A Visit to the ‘Rejection Show’
All Things Considered: Author Saul Bellow Dies at Age 89

RadioWest: Mondo Utah – An interview with Trent Harris

Stray Toasters

• I work with a guy who reminds me of the father from Daria.
• Land Walker (translated by babelfish)
• “The Eggmen had got lost in Glasgow” –
• Utah drivers. *shakes fist*
• From boingboing.net: Student, teacher punished for bypassing school’s ‘net filters
• “Snooch, you know better than that.”
  

Namaste.

Monday
After all of the decent weather that has graced the Salt Lake Valley, I woke up to a chilly 40-something degrees and grey skies. Not auspicious. Nor did it really get better until the evening. Rain in the valley. Snow on the mountains. Clouds that hung low in the sky, like dull whitish-grey blankets. Welcome to Spring in Utah.

Work was. It wasn’t really “bad” nor was it really “good.” It simply… was. But it was a “Monday,” so that was to be somewhat expected.

After work, and I stopped at a nearby Hollywood Video – I needed to feed my cotton candy addiction. The young lady at the counter seemed a bit… shocked, I guess… that I didn’t want to rent a movie. I think it threw her off-guard, in fact. She was polite, but not “customer service friendly.” I would almost say that she bordered on nervousness, but I’m not sure. No matter. I left the establishment with four bags of spun sugar confection.

Then it was home for dinner. And 24. And the NCAA Final. The Carolina Tarheels are the 2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions. Go ‘Heels! Since neither the Terps nor the Boilers made it to the big dance, Carolina’s cool with me.

Dave and Jamie came over for poker tonight. We played while the NCAA tourney was on the TV. The final breakdowns:

1. and me (we called it a tie)
2. Jamie
3. Dave

There was another good thing about the day: Opening Day of the 2005 Major League Baseball season.

The O’s played the Oakland A’s. And blanked them, 0 – 4.
Starting off the season with a win is always nice.
Doing it in front of the hometown crowd is just icing on the cake.

News
Morning Edition: This I Believe Invites Citizens to Share Beliefs
Morning Edition: A Very Hip Julius Caesar
Morning Edition: An Offer You Can’t Refuse – : Check this out.
Talk of the Nation: Baseball’s Opening Day

Stray Toasters

• In talking with a few other people, it seems that many of us had a case of the Mondays.
• We picked up the audiobook version The African-American Audio Experience from the library a couple of weeks ago. I’ll listen to it at work. I’m also going to dust off the Pimsleur’s Italian I, too. After all, if I am going to be at my desk for hours a day, I might as well get some enrichment out of it, too.
• Jeph Loeb & the Girl from Krypton
• Click the bunny.      (You know you want to.)
• I saw Steamboy over the weekend. This is a succinct, yet fairly accurate description of the movie, courtesy of Cinescape.com:
  

  STEAMBOY (Sony)
  Katsuhiro Otomo directs his first full anime feature since Akira, and it’s a corker! Set in 1866, it’s in many ways a prequel to the sci-fi subgenre in which steam technology continued to develop without being replaced by electronics and internal combustion engines. Father and son inventors duel over the use of a new steam power source they’ve invented, with third generation Steam boy Ray caught in the middle. Fantastic artwork and a story that builds into a spectacular finish. A must see.

• And with but a click, the satellite service is paid for another month.
• It looks as though Frank Langella will be Perry White in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns.
• : The covers to Issues: #5, #6 and #7.
  Click the artwork to enlarge the image.

• Giggles: “Hecky!”
  Hector: “Snoogie poops!”
  Hubert: “I’m going to be someplace less creepy.”
  

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
     “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost

Namaste.

Another Salt Lake Valley Sunday

Thanks to the miracle of modern science (SCIENCE!) that is Day Saving Time – and it’s “saving” not “savings” – we lost an hour of sleep last night. Although, the fact that I stayed up until 6:00 playing online poker might have had something to do with it… But, I made up for that hour by sleeping an (at least) an hour longer than I had planned this morning. From there, the rest of the early afternoon was rather lazy.

When I finally managed to get myself into gear, I went to visit my friend, Allie, at U of U Hospital for a couple of hours. We had a pretty good time. I’m going to try and head over there later this week.

After that, I dropped in to say “Hullo” to . I was going to check out the Dawn of War LAN that he was having. Turns out that it never happened. So, we chatted for a bit.

Home. And pizza. And The Shawshank Redemption. And Kojak. Not the 1973 Telly Savalas Kojak; this was the new-for-2005 Ving Rhames Kojak. It wasn’t bad. And, let’s face it: Ving Rhames is a bad ass, no matter what. I may have a new Sunday night show to watch. Followed that up with a couple of episodes of L&O: SVU. The first one episode was a repeat of the episode that aired on NBC this past Tuesday. I wasn’t aware until recently that USA Network was under the NBC umbrella. Even so, I didn’t expect them to encore episodes on USA so quickly.

I made inroads to dual-head ‘Nine tonight. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a rather important factor into account: The card that I had planned on using as the secondary graphics card was an AGP card. Which means that I couldn’t use it – my primary card is an AGP card. *braincramp* I have two other cards that I can use: One is another AGP card, the other is a PCI card (GOOD!), but it doesn’t give me the resolution that I want (BAD!). I’ll have to consider how I want to proceed from this point.

Stray Toasters

• I don’t fill out a lot of online quizzes, but I was curious to see how I’d do on the “American Logic Test” that’s been floating around for the past few weeks.
  

  WooHoo You scored 23 American Logic Points!

  Out of 27. You actually have some American logic, but hopefully you didn’t cheat…

  My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 95% on American Logic

  Link: The American logic Test written by You4got2Evolve on Ok Cupid

  
  I took the test once and didn’t look up any answers.

• Every once in a while, says or does something that makes me chuckle.
• “Attack of the Show” What in the Nine Hells kind of name is that for a tech-related show?!? *sigh* What has G4TV done?
• By way of Slashdot: Games That Shoot Back
• I “found” my copy of Smoke and Mirrors. Last week. In Santa Rosa. I had forgotten that I had loaned it to Sandi when she came out here last year. I still need to track down my copy of Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, however.
• Purple monkey dishwasher!
• A former coworker returned my copy of Sandman: The Dream Country trade paperback. I had forgotten that I even owned a copy of it, let alone the fact that I had loaned it to her.
• He say one and one and one is three
• Side-by-side comparisons of Sin City: the comic vs. the movie

Quote of the Day
While I was at the hospital, I overheard this on the room-to-room intercom:

“Hilda, your man wants to speak to you on the phone… right away.”

After the “Did we just hear what we thought we heard” shock wore off, Allie and I got a good laugh out of it.

Namaste.

Saturday
I didn’t do a lot today.
It’s the weekend and, quite simply, I didn’t want to do much.

I went to see Steamboy this afternoon. I enjoyed it. Some of the scenes in near the end of the movie seemed a little disjointed, especially compared to the rest of the movie, but on the whole, I thought that it was pretty good. After the movie, I went to End Zone and picked up a few more Heroclix. I wound up with a lot of duplicates of ‘clix that I already owned. But, as the song says: “That’s the way that Lady Luck dances…”

, , and I met a few other friends for dinner (at Cafe Med) and a movie (Sin City). I haven’t read the graphic novels – and Frank Miller’s writing can be hit-or-miss with me – but I liked this. Comic book noir. Stylized without being too over the top. There were elements that required suspension of disbelief, but when you’re talking about a movie based on a comic book, you expect that.

We skipped bowling (sorry, … ) but did go to breakfast. It was a small group. There was some interesting people-watching tonight. A couple of the post-bar rush patrons were more than slightly inebriated. Which made them all the more amusing. And, as this is LDS General Conference weekend, the Singles didn’t show up tonight. Oh, well.

Random Access

Peace on Earth, can it be
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see
See the day of glory
See the day, when men of good will
Live in peace, live in peace again
     “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” by David Bowie and Bing Crosby

Pope John Paul II died today.
May he find peaceful rest beyond the Gates of Heaven.

In nomine Patri, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

Stray Toaster
Happy Birthday to the April LJers:

• and
• (Hey…. you just saw Rocky!)

Namaste.

…and that brings us to Friday.

I’m hoping that today’s weather wasn’t just God and Mother Nature playing a cruel April Fool’s Day joke on us. It was a sunny, blue sky day. And it was warm. Warm enough that you wouldn’t know that just days ago it had just snowed. Amazing.

I had a nice end to the work week: As I was leaving the office, one of the gentlemen with whom I work said: “Nice week that you put in.” Wow. I wasn’t expecting that, but it definitely put a smile on my face. And the fact that he said it in front of one of the higher-ups (and the guy who interviewed me) didn’t hurt, either. I think that I’m going to like it here.

After work, I tooled around with for a bit. I even fed comic book and plastic crack addictions. Just a little bit. Among the ‘clix, the stand-outs were: Rocket Red (veteran), Jessie Quick (veteran) and Green Lantern (experienced). Yeah, it’s Hal “I’m-not-as-dead-as-I-used-to-be” Jordan and not John Stewart, but he’s still a GL. That’s fine with me. I found a few issues of The Legion (v4), too. I think that I’m going to try for a full run of that series. But, I digress. During our excursion, we went to one of the local Savers stores. There, I saw what had to be one of the most dichotomous – and amusing – things that I’ve seen in a long time: A Roto-Rooter coffee mug. Yep. It put an entirely new spin on: “This coffee tastes like shit!” It amused me so much that I took a picture of it. (Picture link to be added later… when the %(#*$# thing makes it from my phone to my email account.) We saw a few other odd items, like something that looked a shag carpet rendition of a southwestern desert scene, some horrible furniture… and some old albums. Yeah, those things that people listened to before CDs and cassettes and 8-track tapes.

After that, it was off to meet with the Unholy Order of the Clitorati, which tonight had a small turn-out. But, as usual, it was good to get together with friends and unwind from the week. I read a few comics, glanced over a few magazines and did the City Weekly crossword. (, it took me a little longer than usual to finish because a few of the clues didn’t sink in at first.) From there it was on to dinner at Cheers: North. 80s music, not-quite-but-close-to TMI and Corona. Selah.

Stray Toasters

• Considering what time it is now and what time I got up this morning, it’s little wonder that I’m tired.
• Slot Furniture
• I like David Bowie’s Absolute Beginners.
  Find it.
  Listen to it.
  Judge for yourself.

• Of the April Fool’s Day jokes that I saw today, water found on Mars has to be my favorite.
• Mark Waid.
• Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer came on while we were at dinner. Maybe it’s me, but I can think of about eleventy-billion things that are more romantic than telling someone “I want to be your sledgehammer.” That doesn’t stop the song from being catchy, though. And it had a pretty cool stop-motion video, too.
• “I blame you for being my friend.”
  

• I think that I may spend some time tomorrow setting up ‘Nine as a dual-monitor system.

That’s it. I’m beat.

Namaste.

Thursday
One more till the weekend and I can’t complain. The week is going well. I am a self-professed “not a morning person” kind of guy. But, I’ve been getting up at (or very close to) 7:30 this week. Sure, I’m still a little slower than I should be when it comes to getting out of bed when the alarm goes off, but it’s not a chore.

Random Access

There’s water pouring from my veins
Gone away, all my earthly pains
And now my blood must feed the land and thee
God take my soul, save my family
     “I Will (Requiem for a Farmer)” by emmet swimming

Terry Schiavo died today.
I hope that she has found peace.
my condolences and prayers go out to her family. Both sides of the family.

I think that it’s very sad that her husband would not allow her family to be there to say goodbye to her. Whatever his reasons, it is not my place to judge his actions. I like to believe that if I were in a similar situation, my family would be able to put aside their differences, if any, and see me off as a family and not as two, disparate groups. I hope that the Schiavo and Schindler families are able to reconcile their feelings and honor her life without dragging her memory through the muck.

Stray Toasters

• I don’t care what anyone else says: Sometimes, you just need to bump a little Digital Underground and Tupac in your headphones at work.
• We’ve gone over this before.
  And we’re going over it again.
  Tipping.
  (Thanks to for the link.)

• This made me laugh.
• A hero or a hooligan?
  Well, that part’s never clear
  Pride or shame, it’s all the same
  Who’s innocent or who’s to blame?
  Politics or just a game?
  Well in the end they knew his name…

• Thanks to Comics2Film, I just saw the newest trailer for Fantastic Four. It made my inner comic geek smile. A lot.
• We did a little grocery shopping this evening. We were walking down a snack aisle and I saw a box of “Screaming Yellow Zonkers.” I haven’t had those in YEARs. Many, many years. I didn’t get a box of them, but they did make me smile. It’s funny how some of the most simple things can trigger memories.
• The first article on this page, from Comics Continuum, has info about Sin City… which opens Friday. And which I would like to see this weekend.
• For : Guess who’s back in Gotham? No, not them. No, strike two. Give up? Well, I’m not telling you. But you can read about it here.

Quote of the Day
Denzel Washington was on The Late Show with David Letterman tonight. I have enjoyed his work for many years and he is an interesting – and entertaining – interviewee. After his segment was over, I checked IMDb to see what information the site had on him. I also came upon this quote:

“I’m very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That’s my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it’s not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.”

And with that, good night.

Namaste.