Union Pacific's Great Excursion Adventure

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Monday
I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day.

Today has been very lazy. I woke up late… of course, I got to bed very late, so it all balances out. I even wound up taking a nap. Later in the afternoon, we met up with for coffee. We stopped into Best Buy and CompUSAirways for a bit… but left empty-handed. Although I came dangerously close to buying parts for another rig. Dangerously close – I held the motherboard in my grubby little hands. Of course, I need another case, too. But none of the ones that I saw appealed to me. I’m not a fan of the brightly-glowing, Plexiglass-sided cases that have become so popular. I’m a plain beige (sorry… “ecru”) or black case guy. Although, I wouldn’t mind finding a decent ITX case.

Stray Toasters

  • I broke down and took the “Which Superhero Are You” Test. I was a little surprised by the result… especially since I and many of my friends got the same thing.

    Batman
    Congratulations! You scored a super 75%!
    Cool, calm and powerful. Whilst your actual super abilities may not be
    anything too dazzling, you have earnt the respect of both friends and
    enemies in response to your amazing fighting skills, strategic combat
    and experience.
    Luckily you have access to the greens which can fund all your majorly
    cool gadgets, vehicles and weapons! Also, you’re reluctant but still
    accepting to the idea of having a teammate/side-kick, which just makes
    everything a whole lotta fun, doesn’t it now!
    On the down side, you’ve probably suffered some sort of trauma at a
    young age (that’s why we don’t talk to the old man near the swings,
    kids).
    Similar to the Wolverine, your past is a base for your current
    motivation, undertaking some kind of personal vow in search of justice.
    All in all though, you’re one tough nut. There’s not a lot of people
    who have the minerals to go up against you, and you’re experienced
    enough not to get cocky and let the little things like never finding
    happiness get you down!

    My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

    free online dating free online dating
    You scored higher than 91% on Heropoints

    Link: The Which SUPER HERO are you Test written by crayzee69 on Ok Cupid

  • …speaking of which, , I know that it’s still a little over two weeks away, but I think that you can breathe a little easier about Batman Begins. At least, you can if you believe Sandy Collora’s (you know… the guy behind Batman: Dead End) review on Buzzscope.
  • …and, in related news: Why Freeman chose Batman
  • Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories
  • I have heard the word “curacao” pronounced at least three ways in the past few months. I had always taken it to be “kur-uh-sow” with the “ow” pronounced like the “ou” in “ouch.” I decided to look it up. Here is what Merriam-Webster had to say about it.
  • Picturing Women: “An exhibition about how women are figured, fashioned, turned into portraits, and told about in words and pictorial narrative.”
  • A little something for : De-Animator: An H.P. Lovecraft Style Shoot-em-up
  • Cinescape has an interesting feature on its site: TV Wasteland: The Perils of Success, looking at both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises past, present… and future.
  • How complete is your knowledge of various pantheons? Sure, you might be an ace with the gods of the Maya or the Norse. Maybe even the Egyptians. How about the Australian gods? Or their African counterparts? Or the Oceanic pantheon? Not quite so up-to-scratch? Take a look at Godchecker: “Your guide to the Gods.”
  • “…and time! Three insults in nine seconds! A new world elitism record!

  • The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora

It’s back to the grind tomorning. ‘s schedule has changed, so we won’t be carpooling anymore. So I won’t be going to work quite as early. But, I’ll still go in early-ish; I like being done sometime around 4:00 PM. *shrug* We’ll see how it goes.

Namaste.

“All I ever needed was a way to get me through…”

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Sunday
…or “Saturday II”
…or something like that.

<< Rewind <<
Yesterday was a lazy day.

We slept in. That’s a good start to any weekend. After we had all showered and thinned the blood in our caffeinestreams, we met and for lunch at Cafe Med. Afterwards, we – minus Nyx – headed to Fat Cats, where and I finally had our bowling showdown. Neither of us has bowled in about a month, so we were about even there. I won all three games – the second game was in doubt until the tenth frame.

and Cain hadn’t seen Star Wars: Episode III, so the four of us headed to Larryland: South – which will henceforth be known as: “Larryland: Central” – to see Revenge of the Sith. And, once again, I missed seeing the Millennium Falcon. And a Star Destroyer on Kashyyyk. How in the Nine Hells does one miss a ship THAT big?! Twice!? *GRR*

After the movie, we came back to the house for a bit and then it was on to Cheers for breakfast. The majority of The Singles didn’t show up, but the crowd was still good enough for some prime people-watching. The Machete Guy was there, too. Sans machete. I also made a couple of new shakes: French Silk for me and Peanut Butter Cup for Nyx – she and Nox stopped in for breakfast. I liked mine; she said that hers was good. And all was right with the world.

> Play >

Today started off slowly and lazily. I got up around 11:00, everyone else was still sleeping. Being the magnanimous type, I decided not to blast them out of bed with Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyrie. Instead, I opted to come down the HALO Command Center and chill out for a while. I started hearing sounds of life around 11:30 or 11:45. I didn’t make my appearance until noon-ish. After showers and coffee and sitting around for a bit, we went to get lunch. Tres Hombres. Along the way, we met the Scarecrow picked up Nox. After lunch, we put and Cain on the Yellow Brick Road I-80, in the direction of I-15 North and all things Idaho. We had a fun time with them here. We didn’t do any tourist-related things and that seemed to suit all parties just fine.

After lunch, Nox came back to the house with us and I hosted my first HALO LAN. Technically, it was a HALO 2 LAN, but why nitpick? Chris and Christopher came over and we had H2 running on three machines. We shot the scenery and each other for a few hours. Lots of fun. After that, it was just a quiet evening at home.

Stray Toasters

  • I went through some CDs containing some photos that I had forgotten about. It’s good to know where they are.
  • The Art of Amanda Morley, by way of
  • Sweet Mary, mother of Jesus…. Moonlighting is coming out on DVD this week! Unfortunately, my favorite episode, “Atomic Shakespeare,” was a third season episode.
  • Firestorm has been one of my favorite DC Comics characters for… let’s just say “a long time.” I was pretty happy when ABC added him to the Superfriends lineup in 1984 in SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show… which I’m watching right now (well… when I wrote this). In fact, it’s the first episode of that series: “The Bride of Darkseid (Parts I and II),” which also featured the first appearance of Darkseid. Unfortunately, he was portrayed as a intergalactic crime lord rather than one of the New Gods. Nevertheless, it was fun to watch.
  • And now the 1967 Fantastic Four is on. With Galactus and the Silver Surfer.
  • is the new “Mr. Dumbass,” by his own admission. (I [heart] my LJ user-in-law.)
  • I think that this picture, by Alex Ross, is my new favorite picture of The Shrub:
  • Larry Kenney, who provided voices for both Thundercats‘ Lion-O and Silverhawks‘ Bluegrass also provided the commercial voice of General Mills’ Count Chocula.
  • Maybe this will make feel a little better about Batman: He gets even with the members of the JLA who erased his memories in this summer’s “Crisis of Conscience” storyline.
  • I like the way that uses images as bullet points/paragraph markers in her posts.
  • J. Michael Straczynski, best known as the creator of Babylon 5 (and its offspring) and Rising Stars, has been writing Amazing Spider-Man for… at least a year, I think. By all accounts, he has pumped some much-needed life into one of Marvel’s icons. He’ll be turning his hand to the four-color print adventures of the Fantastic Four this summer. But before all of this, he wrote Teen Titans Spotlight #13: Cyborg, featuring the Batman villain Harvey “Two-Face” Dent.
  • : This cover’s for you – LSH #8
  • For
    Late at night, while you’re sleeping
    Poison Ivy will be creeping around…

  • Does the name “Nolan Bushnell” mean anything to you? He’s the guy who brought us Pong and the Atari 2600… and Chuck E. Cheese. Well, he’s at it again. He’s expected to announce his newest venture, uWink this week.
  • George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg are moving forward on a script for Indiana Jones IV.

This post has been brought to you by the letters “Alpha” and “Tau” and by the number “VIII.”

Namaste.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this special message…

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Saturday
It’s been a good day, but an update will have to wait until tomorning, after the sun is up.

We now return you to your regular programming.

“Time keeps on slipping… into the future.”

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Friday
The day started with me sleeping in. No, wait. That should have been “oversleeping.” There, that’s more like it. I overslept by forty-five minutes. Which means that I slept through coming to get me for the carpool. And waiting, when I didn’t come outside. And blowing the horn.

I missed it all.

After I abandoned the idea of taking the car, driving myself to work and then coming back to take to work, I woke her up. She drove me to the office. The workday – all five hours of it – was good. Post-work, Kate, Perry and Max swung by to get me and we headed to Four-Color Heaven, colloquially referred to as “Dr. Volt’s.” I picked up the things (plural, this week!) in my subscription box, along with a few assorted back issues.

I came home, ostensibly to finish cleaning/straightening before and Cain arrived. Instead, I pretty much passed out for two hours. I was apparently far more tired than I had thought. But, I managed to do everything I wanted to do… except cleaning the HCC. Yet again. *sigh* Oh, well, there’s always tomorning for that.

and Cain got here a little after 8:00. After freshening up, we headed to meet the rest of the Clitorati. It was a good turn-out, with the usual off-key conversations. One thing that I need to change: I’ve gotten out of the habit of drawing – or even sketching – while at Borders. I really need to get back into that habit. We headed to Cheers: North and were met with a disappointing revelation: Vivi has been transferred to the Applebee’s at The Gateway. We’ll have to make it a point to visit her there.

And that’s how I spent my summer vacation Friday.

Stray Toasters

  • I’ve discovered a couple of other songs in my mp3 rotation that make me bounce/wiggle: The themes from The Jeffersons and Sanford and Son.
  • By way of : Comic SWAT, from Something Awful
  • “They’re clean animals.”
  • From an old Tonight Show episode: Copper Clapper Caper, featuring Dragnet‘s Jack Webb.
  • By way of : StumbleUpon
  • One of the guys on my team at work is introducing me to the world of StrongBad and Homestar Runner. I have to admit: It’s pretty amusing stuff. He linked me to this today. There’s even a screensaver that you can download, so your computer can look just like StrongBad’s. (Click on the gull to access the wallpaper size.)
  • Here’s a petition to… ban the Internet.
  • “Ecru.”
  • Fuckin’ UDoT. Apparently, when they say “We’re finished” with respect to a road construction project, what that really means is: “We told you that to make you happy. We’ll be back in (fill in the appropriate time) to do MORE work in the same spot(s).”

Have a good – and safe – holiday weekend.

Namaste.

“Time stand still…”

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Thursday
I worked a 12-hour day today. All right… it was technically an 11-hour day, with a one-hour lunch, but you get the gist. The day moved along rather quickly. No, my mental faculties and I haven’t filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.” This was a calculated move: I intend to leave early tomorrow and get an early start on the long weekend. Nevertheless, it was a 12-hour day at work. (Actually, a little more than that, but not worth quibbling over). Crazy. That’s right. Crazy like a fox.

Tomorrow, and Cain are coming down for the weekend. (We’re going to have real, live, honest-to-goodness houseguests, for the first time since stayed over!) I’m not sure what manner of mayhem will ensue, but Clitorati 2.0 is a go and we’re trying to suss out how to squeeze in a bowling challenge. *nod*

After work, we watched a rerun of CSI over dinner and did some straightening up . I have a couple of things to finish up tomorrow, but nothing major. Around 11:15, I decided to go for a late-night drive. I haven’t gone for one in a while. Part of the excursion took me up Capitol Hill and down State Street. It was nice to drive through that part of Salt Lake City and not have to deal with the pimped-out car-driving street rats. However, I could have done without the (re-)construction on Redwood Road in West Jordan.

Stray Toasters

  • I finally got around to reading DC Comics’ The OMAC Project #1 tonight. Wow. At one time, I thought that the “Tower of Babel” storyline in JLA put Batman through the wringer. Then I read Identity Crisis and a few titles after that. Now, I read this… and I’m waiting for the fallout. How do you break The Bat without bringing Bane into the picture? It looks like DC has figured out the secret.
  • Three hits from :
    1. Eleven steps to a better brain
    2. Xeni Tech on NPR: Next-gen consoles from “The Big Three”
    3. Cockroaches kill Macedonian court’s laser printer by eating toner
  • Random Wikipedia page: List of all ships of the United States Navy, O
  • : Ororo: Before the Storm will go on sale this coming Thursday… and this goes on sale in October:
  • You don’t have to be Superman to have X-ray vision; you could just be an airport screener.
  • suzie_lightning: This Bud’s Bunny’s for you! –
  • Juice! Fruit juice!
    Or Kool-Aid, if you choose.
    Juice box, please! Or Capri Suns to squeeze!
    It’s a fact: Welch’s Grape is like crack!
    Juice! Fruit Juice!
    Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
    Everybody drink… Everybody drink…
    Everybody drink… Everybody drink… Everybody!
    Everybody drink fruit juice!

    (I’m not sure if I owe Kenny Loggins an apology for this… or if he owes me one.)

  • Worf’s about to snap a little somethin’ off on someone.
  • To whom it may concern: Trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  • “Do you have to be insane to become Pope, or does becoming Pope cause you to go insane?”

Namaste.

“The ink is black, the page is white… Together we learn to read and write…”

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Wednesday
Today was an all-around good day. It was enhanced by the introduction of frozen iced mocha goodness to my caffeine stream; was kind enough to bring me one on her way to work. The rest of the day fell into place nicely.

After work, I came home… and took a nap. Following that, I had every intention of cleaning the HCC. Well, let’s just say that I have a few more bricks to add to my “Road to Hell” collections.

Then, I headed to and ‘ place for tonight’s game. I think that we had 15% game and 85% “Other.” We got a few things done, but not a lot. Hopefully, our next session will be more productive. Although, the lapses in gameplay allowed me to get a few more things together for the Shadowrun campaign.

Stray Toasters

  • I still have cotton candy left over from last week’s movie. I think that I’ll have it as a snack morrownight.
  • : I don’t know how I managed to forget this, especially after the squirrel and chicken-fish comments, but somehow I did. So, without further delay: Green Lambkin!
  • This was passed along to my by Miss .
  • Applegeeks Wallpapers
  • Time magazine has published its list of 100 All-Time Favorite Movies.
  • Blogebrity… with a *nod* to Maddox for making the B-List. (I think that you should have made the “A,” but you’re on the list.) It seems as though Bruce Sterling is a “B-Lister,” too.
  • “…and you still need to do the dishes.”
  • A “Fastball Special”1 never looked so good.
  • I don’t know what to make of this.
  • Make Bunny Cereal – with a serving soul toast – a part of your balanced breakfast! –
  • Tonight’s random Wikipedia goodness: National Model Railroad Association.

Namaste.

1 – The “Fastball Special” was a signature move of the Uncanny X-Men’s Colossus and Wolverine. It was executed when Colossus would pick up Wolverine and hurl him at a target. Examples:

  • This is from the comics.
  • These (1, 2) are from X-Men Legends.
  • This is from the Marvel VS card game.

“You get all squeezed up inside, like the days were carved in stone…”

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Tuesday
Let’s not have another day like this one, what say?

I’ve been working on something for the past couple of days. Today, I got frustrated with it… to the brink of the “leave now or break things” point. So, I left. There’s a… football field-sized… um… “field”… just south of our building. I took a walk around it and a couple of the neighboring buildings. I also took the opportunity to call my father and chat for a bit. By the time that I returned, I was feeling human again. Although my dour mood continued throughout the day.

I came home and took out my frustrations on “The Branches Formerly Known as Lilac Bush,” which have been sitting on the RV pad for the past six months or so. Branches, meet Wood Chipper. Wood Chipper, Branches. Two-and-a-half hours later, I was done. All but the largest of the branches have been rendered into mulch. We need to get a push broom and a large pan for the remaining sawdust, but we have usable space next to the house once more.

I came in, changed the shower head – which I’ve been meaning to do for two days – and took a warm shower. I knew that the old shower head was a piece of crap, but the new head made it seem positively archaic. We had pizza for dinner and watched L&O: SVU; I treated myself to a glass of chocolate milk to wash the pizza down. When the show was done, asked if I wanted to go with her to the gym. I had already declined a movie invitation from and because I was tired – both from the wood demolition and last night’s lack of sleep. But, the idea of going to the gym intrigued me.

I went to the gym. For the first time in far, FAR too long. I did a back and triceps workout. I’m feeling pretty good, so far. We’ll see how I feel when the alarm goes off.

Stray Toasters

  • Thanks to for pointing me in the direction of this. It made me smile in the middle of an otherwise irritating day.
  • Speaking of “irritating days,” it seems as though I was not alone in feeling “off-center” today. Both and seemed to have less-than-great days, as well.
  • …and it looks like Bunny’s day wasn’t great, either –
  • There’s a… debate, I guess… on the Lilguyz Yahoo! Group about the dangers of wielding a double-bladed lightsaber. A couple of guys trained in the martial arts have made points that it is as dangerous – if not more so – to the wielder as it is to the other duelist. They also noted that an accomplished single-bladed lightsaber duelist could (easily) defeat an opponent who used a dual-bladed one.

    Another voice chimed in with this gem:

    “ahhhhhhhhhhhh but light saber is used by those who let the force flow through them and it makes the fight better…”

    This isn’t entirely true. Non-Force sensitives are also capable of using lightsabers, although not as effectively. And let’s face it, for someone through whom the Force flowed (in their blood!), I seem to recall that two generations of Skywalkers were intimately familiar with the business end of a lightsaber blade. Like father, like son…

    One of the original comment-makers followed the “the Force makes them better” response with the following retort, which made me chuckle:

    “Luke swung a lightsaber with the finesse of a baseball bat. He was never the equal of those like ObiWan or Mace Windu”

  • , I think that you’ll appreciate what’s behind Door #1.
  • , I think that Door #2 will interest you.
  • I don’t understand the appeal of bobbleheads.
  • and : I think that you will appreciate this.
  • What happens when Deaths go on strike? Something like this.
  • Booster Bags Use Foil to Foil Any Store’s Anti-Shoplifting Machines

Namaste.

“There’s more than one answer to these questions, pointing me in a crooked line…”

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Monday
Twas a great day in the valley. Sunny and warm with blue skies. A small contingent of us walked to Subway for lunch. The most direct path is through a couple of subdivisions (…in the high school halls, in the shopping malls…conform or be cast out…). Nice houses and more than a few of them had some very nice antique cars parked in their driveways.

, and I went to Noodles & Co. for dinner. Then Nox and I stopped into Best Buy; I looked at mp3 players while he check out the videogames. I was approached by Randi, the associate working in that area. She asked what brought me into the store and I responded: “My feet!” I don’t think that she quite knew how to respond to that. She blinked a couple of times, while her Customer Response Processing Unit analyzed my answer. She smiled and said that she couldn’t remember anyone giving her that answer before. She then asked if I had any questions or needed any help; I told her that I was considering a new mp3 player and was looking at what they had to offer. She didn’t take that as “I don’t need help, but thank you,” and started talking to me about some of the features of the various players. It wasn’t annoying, as she was nice and trying to be helpful.

We came back to the homestead. Nox and I watched the season finale of 24; he also tried his hand at Ghost Recon. After the show went off, we played a game of NetRunner. I want to find a way to integrate it into my upcoming Shadowrun game, as I have at least one potential player who wants to play a decker… and I don’t want their part of the game to take up too much of our time for gameplay. Nox and I figured out some ways that it could be done. We’ll refine the process over time.

Random Access
H to O
No flow without the other
Oh but how
Do they make contact
With one another?

   “Chemistry” by Rush (from “Signals”)

I don’t know what else to call this, so I’ll simply refer to it as “A simple theory and its non-effective practical application.”

Cameras are point-and-shoot devices.
So are firearms.

Men are equipped with point-and-shoot devices, too. It’s most commonly referred to as a penis. And, even though the plural of the word is either “penes” or “penises,” I’m sorely tempted to refer to it as “penirati,” just to keep it in line with “clitorati.” But, I digress…

Point-and-shoot.

Why is it, then, that there are often not-quite-puddles on the mat in front of the urinal in the men’s restroom at work!? It’s not like one has to exert a lot of effort to use the urinal. Point. Shoot. Flush. Simplicity in and of itself. I would think that one would have to try to miss the damned thing. At first, I thought that maybe it was backsplash or overflow from the urinal. So, I stood there and watched it after flushing it. There were a few drops, but I would hardly call it Mt. Vesuvius.

Here’s an added bit of trivia: Urinals are (usually) made with a “sweet spot.” No, not the most tasty place to lick it. The place that produces the least amount of backsplash. I don’t remember when I learned that, but I remember that it was on a late night talk show. It amused me – to no end – to hear how designers and engineers have created the modern urinal to be usable with minimal “return on investment.” (And for those of you who were wondering: It’s in the back of the bowl, where – in most units – there’s a little v-shaped indentation.

I’ve heard the argument that some women have made about men splashing the toilet seat – usually because the man in question was too lazy to lift the lid and/or… to AIM for the bottom of the bowl. I understand their irritation: I wouldn’t want to sit – or almost sit – on a wet seat, either.

If I didn’t think that the concept was so absurd, I would be tempted to buy a small box of Cheerios. What do Cheerios have to do with going to the bathroom? Lots, actually. It’s how some people train their young male offspring to use the potty: Turn “Learning to use the Potty” into a game of “Sink the Cheerios!” I know it sounds funny… but it works. For years, young boys have deep-sixed some of General Mills’ finest cereal products. (I’m sure that someone, somewhere, has substituted Froot Loops or Apple Jacks or something similar for Cheerios.) I’m not sure why, but the “Listen to the sound of a whole ‘nother O…” jingle (from Apple-Cinnamon Cheerios) just went through my head. Somehow, I don’t think that “Splaaaaaaash” was the sound that the guys in marketing had in mind.

But, again, I digress…

It’s not like there’s a tidal wave or flood plain in front of the urinal, but there’s definitely enough to make you wonder how it wound up there. And given the fact that the drain has a… “grate” over it, using Cheerios isn’t as viable an option as my inner anarchist might like. Maybe painting a bullseye in the back of the bowl would help…

Stray Toasters

  • I was pleased – though shocked – with the way that 24 ended.
  • I’ve had more soda (in my rum and cokes) over the past few weeks than I’ve had in the past three years. But, the Captain makes them sooooo tasty. I didn’t have one tonight, though.
  • is coming back to SLC this weekend. We might actually get to have our bowl-off!
  • Cat farts and chameleons.
  • I have A LOT of cards from the Sim City CCG.
  • Does anyone remember the New Zoo Revue?
  • Thurl Ravenscroft, R.I.P. (by way of boingboing.net)

    Thurl Ravenscroft has died at 91. Ravenscroft sang lead on the “Grim Grinning Ghosts” theme for the Haunted Mansion, as well as “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch.” He was also known as the voice of Frosted Flakes’s Tony the Tiger. Ravenscroft died from causes related to colon cancer.

  • It looks like the X-babies are back. Where’s Longshot when you need him!?
  • , this one’s for you: Outback Maxx

There were a lot of other things that I would add, but I’m tired and it’s past my bedtime.

Namaste.

“Very superstitious, writing’s on the wall…”

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Sunday
I did my damnedest to sleep in this morning. That loosely translates into: “I didn’t go to bed until 5:30.” I slept until a little after 11:00 this morning. That’s when my cell phone rang; it was Bret. We caught up on what we’d been up to for the past couple of weeks, then we talked about Revenge of the Sith and segued into comic book movies. Go figure. It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve done for years. And will probably do for many rains to come.

I got into “get out of the house” mode and showered. It was time for a trip to Lowe’s. We have needed a weed trimmer since we moved in. And that’s been almost a year.

<tangent>
One year in the house and we still haven’t had a “housewarming” party. We had a Super Bowl party, but no housewarming. Granted, I am all about football, so that was a good thing. But, coming up on the one-year anniversary of being in the house, it might just be time for a shindig. I shall have to ponder this in more detail…
</tangent>

I got to Lowe’s and after five minutes, I had an apostrophe epiphany: I probably shouldn’t go into that store unsupervised. It was not quite as bad as me in an IKEA, but it was close enough. I went in for two things: An electric weed trimmer and an extension cord. I had faintly considered getting a replacement shower head for my bathroom, but it wasn’t a priority item. I walked into the store and my “planning” went straight to Hell. Handbasket, gasoline drawers and all. Almost an hour later, I left the store with:

  • Weed trimmer
  • Extension cord
  • Shower head (massager and it can be hand held)
  • 1 pair of Mechanix gloves1
  • 1 pair of safety goggles
  • Velcro cable ties.

I checked out and headed to the parking lot, post haste. Fortunately, I was able to get out of the store without purchasing any of the Dremels that I picked up. I had planned on stopping at Old Navy to get a couple of pairs of slacks, but stopped at Kohl’s instead. I haven’t shopped at Kohl’s since I left the east coast. I had forgotten that they really are decent stores with good prices. I found two pairs of khakis for a very reasonable price – better than I would have done at Old Navy and a better fabric content. I’ll have to remember to shop there more often in the future.

Came home for a bit and then , her brother and her father came over to use the wood chipper that I borrowed from Land last week. They got a few things done, but needed a larger unit for some of the branches. They were also kind enough to take some of the larger branches that we had lying around, as well.

Patryck came by to hang out and (finally) see the house. We sat around for a while and talked about his latest tour of duty. Then we decided to get a bite to eat. We were walking out the door when Land showed up to see how I was progressing with my wood chipping. I invited him and Catherine to join us at the restaurant; they did.

After dinner, I was preparing for the season finale of Kojak when asked if I would be interested in seeing Unleashed, the new Jet Li movie. I thought about it – for all of 0.005 seconds and agreed to go. I liked the movie. The way that Danny, Li’s character, had been trained reminded me of the origins of Cassandra Cain, the current Batgirl in the DCU.

Stray Toasters

  • just made an awesome comment. It’s QotD-worthy, even. But, in order to protect the st00pid (not referring to Nyx), I can’t use it here. I made me laugh, though. Quite a bit.
  • If you didn’t catch my Saturday night post, I did the book meme… and tagged five people to follow-up. , one of the five, had already completed the meme, but there are still four (well… technically, still “five”) of you who need to respond.
  • New episodes of Futurama may go directly to DVD.
  • The girl works at the store
    Sweet Jane Sinclair…

  • The new phones seem to be working well with the Vonage system.
  • Is it possible to NOT want to dance/move/bop around when you hear Stevie Wonder’s Superstition? I don’t think so.
  • The Absolute Bottom 50… Stereotypes
  • , there’s a Red Backwash column in this somewhere: 31 Really Bad Masturbation Techniques

Namaste.

1 – I got hooked on Mechanix gloves when helping ‘s father with HVAC in Moab with this past winter.

“Test for echo…”

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Saturday
I met Perry for coffee this morning and then hung out with and this afternoon. Nox and I went to check out a computer store that another friend had mentioned to me. Not a bad place, overall, but their prices were a little high. We then stopped at Dr. Volt’s and partook of their back issue sale. We met up with Nyx and her parents for lunch.

and I made a trip to Best Buy. *genuflect* I looked at – but did not purchase – a few items for my computer. I did pick up Chris Sawyer’s Locomotion, because I really enjoyed its predecessor, Transport Tycoon. And, it was cheap. And, it’s something that and I can play together. I also picked up an expandable phone system – to be used with the Vonage adapter; it came with two phones and two base units. Now, I can have a phone in the HCC and she can have one upstairs. And, if we need to add up to two more remote phones, we can.

We then went to ‘ place and cooked out. Bratwurst. Beer. Good company. And Sigfried and Roy. (You had to be there.) We ate and chatted away a few hours before heading south to Cheers.

Random Access
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous
In our theatres and bookstore shelves

I was tagged by , so here’s the book meme

  1. Total number of books owned?
    A lot. I stopped counting when I hit “100;” but I have many more than that. (And, if comic books are to be included, waaaay more than that.)

  2. The last book I bought?
    PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide

  3. The last book I read?
    Actually, I’m still reading Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, given to me by

    3a) What do you want to read next?
    That’s a good question… and one for which I don’t have an equally good answer.

  4. Five books that mean a lot to me?
    1. The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
    2. Life 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned About Life in School–But Didn’t, by Peter McWilliams
    3. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman
    4. A Stranger in a Strange Land
    5. Any of the books in the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker
  5. Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their lj’s:

    • (and as a pinch-hitter, in case isn’t available: )

Stray Toasters

That’s it. My eyes are starting to cross and my eyelids are very heavy.

Namaste.

“Me and Neil hanging out with the Dream King…”

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Friday
It’s been a long – but good – day.

I’m tired.
Very tired.
Going to bed now would definitely be a good thing.

To be continued…

Namaste.

“Respond. Vibrate. Feedback. Resonate.”

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Thursday
I went to work late today. Sleeping in was my gift to myself after seeing Episode III last night. It was a good day at work; I’m having a few duties added to my job, which I think is cool.

I watched the CSI season finale; it was directed by Quentin Tarantino. It wasn’t what I expected. When I hear his name attached to a project, I expect too-cool for real life characters and copious amounts of hip (or trying-to-be-hip) language and/or blood, not necessarily in that order. This episode kept in line with the series… with a couple of Tarantino flairs. There were a few scenes that had me sitting there, staring in the slack-jawed wonder of “Did I really just see that?!”

I also got a couple of phone calls from home: Dad and my (maternal) uncle. They were just calling to check up on us and make sure that we’re doing all right. Nothing wrong with that. Things are well on that side of the country, as well.

News
Morning Edition: Study: Post-Foster Care, Teens Unprepared for Adult Life
Morning Edition: I Blog, I Said: Writing Amid the Rabble
Morning Edition: Pregnant Teen Takes Graduation by Storm
Talk of the Nation: Women in Combat: Rules and Reality
All Things Considered: Carefree Dancing for Kids
Fresh Air: Rare Billie Holiday Music and Footage

Stray Toasters

  • I like paying bills online. This is not to say that I derive great amounts of pleasure from paying bills (I don’t… especially because that means less “play money” for me). I enjoy the convenience of point-click-type-click-print…. and the bill is paid.
  • : Here’s more information about Ororo: Before the Storm
  • Activision has announced X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, to be released this fall. I caught glimpses of Archangel and Bishop in the preview and pictures. It’s going to be a long summer. Let the coveting begin.
  • I neglected to mention the passing of Frank Gorshin
  • “You’re not going to let me be your friend anymore, are you?”

  • He does not look happy.
    Someone must have tugged on his cape.

    (Click the pic for a larger version.)

  • Why do most zippers say ‘YKK’ on the pull-tab?
  • Coors Light is using The O’Jays’ Love Train in a new commercial. I’m not sure what I think of that.
  • Lights, Camera, Armageddon
  • I don’t know why I’m surprised that Wikipedia has an article about the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

Eight work-hours until the weekend. I’m good with that.

Namaste.

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

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Wednesday
The short version:

  • Came home and napped after work.
  • Watched the season finale of Smallville… including the 10 minute sneak preview for Batman Begins. Both of them were good. Very good. I’m looking forward to the new Batman film.
  • and I met and for dinner.
  • …then the four of us – along with , and his wife – went to see:

    (Yes the subtitle’s wrong on the ticket – I think that it was the original working title – but that’s not the point…)

    The pre-movie trailers included: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Fantastic Four and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

    Thanks, once again, to for making the arrangements to get us tickets! I wasn’t disappointed with the movie. Far from it, in fact. It felt like a Star Wars movie should feel; that’s a vast improvement over the last two outings. (Although, there is a part of me that wants to watch Episodes I and II again, to make sure that I remember parts of the story that are fuzzy in my memory…) Revenge of the Sith wrapped up the “first” trilogy and dovetails into the “original” trilogy well. It also shows that George Lucas is still capable of making a good movie. Too bad that he doesn’t do it more often.

And that’s it.

Namaste.

“Mystic rhythms capture my heart, carry it away… “

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Tuesday
Today was a good – if colder than I would have liked – day.

This evening I stopped by ‘s and picked up a monitor. (Have I mentioned that I love my superpower?) And then, it was off to drop in on ‘ Necromunda game. Interesting concept, but I’m not sure that it’s my bag. came home early, so we watched a Bollywood movie called Naag Lok. Words cannot express how bad this movie was. If I had a “Cool WorldLong Kiss Goodnight Scale” for Bollywood movies, this would be somewhere around the Batman & Robin equivalent of that scale. Yeah, it was that bad. And the subtitles weren’t working… so we had to make our own dialogue. And even that only barely enhanced the experience.

Stray Toasters

Quote of the Day

(08:10:15) : …
(08:10:32) : I’m listening to Morning Edition
(08:11:12) : They had an interview w/ someone from the Army about the flushing of the Koran in Iraq
(08:11:31) : He said that there was “…no way that we could have anticipated [their] reaction to [this].”
(08:11:33) : >.<
(08:11:41) : “No way…?”
(08:11:45) : …
(08:13:03) : My ass.
(08:13:09) : </soapbox>
(08:14:51) : hmm
(08:14:56) : “military intelligence”

Namaste.

“Open up your mind and let me step inside…”

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Monday
And so, another week begins.

The work day was good.
The post-work day was better.
Mainly because it was the post-work day.

I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to pick up last week’s shwag.
One book. Uno. Eins. One lonely, little book: Astonishing X-Men #10.
It looked so pitiful, that I bought it some friends:

  • Action Comics #827
  • Outsiders #23 and
  • Green Lantern: Rebirth #6

As if it wasn’t bad enough that he caught a beatdown from Wonder Woman or finding out that his colleagues erased some of his memories, now Batman’s meeting the business end of a dead guy’s fist. (Granted, he isn’t dead anymore, but still…) And I’m sure that this afternote1 didn’t help matters any. Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed the Batcave.

Dr. Volt’s was also having a 25¢ back issue sale. So, I helped myself to a handful of Legion (v1 and v2) comics, two issues of The Griffin limited series, two issues of Superman, and a copy of Gotham by Gaslight. This made me happy. Lots of comics. Teeny-tiny price. It really is all about the simple pleasures. Go figure.

It was a quiet night at home. Even the cats were in “low key” mode. Dinner, accompanied by a glass of Gewurztraminer, followed by 24 and Law & Order: SVU.

Stray Toasters

  • I want a snack. But, I don’t know what I want.
  • …and, while on the topic of snacking: The Worst Foods to Eat over a Keyboard
  • The Sunday Herald, a Scottish newspaper, is creating a online library of ebooks.
  • :
    1. Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley
    2. __________ – __________
    3. Shadow on the Sun – Audioslave
    4. Watermelon Man – ___________ (Don’t know who did this cover, but I like it)
    5. Drinking for 11 – The Mad Caddies
    6. Death Valley Queen – Flogging Molly
    7. Touch You Touch You – Hot Hot Heat
    8. __________ – __________
    9. Someone Keeps Moving My Chair – They Might Be Giants
    10. So Much to Say – Dave Matthews Band
    11. __________ – __________
    12. Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie
    13. Berzerk – Apoptygma
    14. I Hardly Ever Sing Beer Drinking Songs – Johnny Cash
    15. Logic – Bella Morte
    16. __________ – __________
    17. Nemo – Nightwish
    18. __________ – __________
    19. __________ – __________

  • Lady Iranian racecar driver kicks ass
  • : This and this are for you.
  • : A reminder why you don’t piss off the kid with the magnetic powers – Legion #9.
  • There’s a joke in here about some kid’s bondage fantasty…
  • Presto is curled up in my lap and purring. And cleaning herself. But, at least she’s not “playing the cello,” so I should be thankful for that.
  • : The Maxx: Book Five

    THE MAXX BOOK FIVE TP
    Written by Sam Kieth
    Art and cover by Kieth

    The long-awaited fifth volume completing the story of the Maxx, Julie, Mr. Gone and Sarah! Julie and li’l Sarah encounter a slew of new characters, but can both of them survive the experience? Glory’s story is finally revealed, Megan shares a special moment in her life, and much more in issues #28-36 of THE MAXX!

    On sale August 17 * 192 pg, FC, $19.99 US * MATURE READERS

  • Turn your hamster into a fighting machine!
  • I’m sure that the Utah legislative body is having a cow over this: Supreme Court Allows Direct Shipment of Wine
  • Are you one of those people who thinks “It’s cute” to dress up your pet?
    Are you a Star Wars fan?
    I can’t say that this is necessarily “a good thing,” but: Princess Lei Slave Girl Dog Costume

  • 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover   50 Fun Things to Do with Your iPod
  • How VoIP Works
    HowStuffWorks has “How Shotguns Work” as an upcoming topic. EVERYONE knows how they work: Load. Point. Shot. Then wipe up the mess. (Bring extra-absorbant paper towels. And Windex. Or Comet. Or Pine-Sol.)

  • By way of : Mittens

Time get ready to hit the rack.

Namaste.

1 – In the early 90s, Guy Gardner and Batman tussled for leadership of the Justice League. Batman K.O.’ed Guy… with one punch.