Random Access

Wednesday
Today was.

That pretty much sums it up. Today at lunch, we spent an hour talking about the various incarnations of Star Trek. It was an hour of science fiction geeky goodness. There was a bit of madness that set in around 2:30 or 3:00, but it was transitory. On the down side, it somewhat soured my mood for the rest of the day. I was still a bit grumpy – and a little tired – when I got home. I didn’t even go to the gym. *shrug* I’m going tomorrow at lunch with one of my coworkers.

I haven’t done much this evening… and that’s suited me just fine. The downtime has been good.

Stray Toasters

• “I am the terror that flaps in the night…”
• One of my coworkers sent me a link to the trailer for Peter Jackson’s King Kong. I was a little… “concerned,” when I saw something about 2/3 of the way through it, but then I read the King Kong (1933) section of this page… and whaddayaknow?!
• : Batman/Scarecrow: Year One #2
• From boingboing.net: Street Fighter II – themed Salsa Contestants in South Korea
• drew this for / on me a couple of years ago.
  I had people coming up to me all day asking “Did… you really get a tattoo?!” It made me chuckle. Still does, when I think about it. These were people who had just seen me the day before… and there was no swelling or bleeding – let alone large bandages – around the work. *sigh* Some peoples’ children…

• The Art of Dan Krall (He’s the Art Director for Samurai Jack.)
• By way of Slashdot: Britain’s First Jedi Member of Parliament
• g0t 70’s-style wallpaper? They do.
• Family Album: A Year in the Life of a Southwest Baltimore Household
• posted a link to Crimson Room earlier. I first tried it a little over a year ago, but I went through it to see if I could remember how to get out of the room. I did. And I even got stuck in the same place that I did last year. That made me laugh.
• I enjoy the Backwash website. I really do. It’s where I find some of the more unusual links that I post here. Including this one for: forget-me-not panties^TM. I really don’t know what to make of this. Panties… with built-in GPS?! Do we really need these? And in the interest of being fair: Where are the forget-me-not tighty-whiteys/boxers/boxer-briefs for the guys?

  Quote of the Day
  GizmoDuck (1, 2), DuckTales and Darkwing Duck came up in a conversation tonight. And, thus, tonight’s quote comes from the “Just Us Justice Ducks” episode of Darkwing Duck:

  Darkwing: This is the second most painful moment of my life.
  Stegmutt: What was the first?
  Darkwing: “Put out the Darkwing! Put out the Darkwing!”

  Namaste.

Tuesday
Someone has been messing with Utah’s climate control. It was clear(ish) this morning… but gave way to a storm that blew through this afternoon… which gave way to clear skies this evening. As Dr. Rosenblatt would say: “It’s so bizarre…”

It was a good day at work. I had an interesting discussion about African-Americans and the LDS Church with a few of the guys on my team at lunch. I think that I made one of them a little uncomfortable, but I’m not sure. It wasn’t my intention. I simply wanted to hear what they understood the doctrine to be. I appreciate the fact that they were comfortable enough to be straight-up and straight-forward with it.

And, as an added bonus: I ran into at lunch, too.

When I got home, I decided to take the K2 out for a spin. Dear Lord, what could I have been thinking? I couldn’t believe how hard I was breathing on one of the uphill sections. (Okay, it was really “two” of them, but that isn’t the point…) It wasn’t a particularly difficult ride, but by the time that I got home, my quads were TIGHT. Walking up or down stairs was not fun. At all.

A quick shower later and I was ready for folks to show up for tonight’s game. And show up they did. I think that it went well… for a first session. We were a little rusty with some of the rules, but that happens when you haven’t run/played a game for over ten years. The group seems to mesh well; there’s a quirky dynamic to the party that will be interesting to watch when the bullets and spells are flying.

Stray Toasters

• I showed the Dresden Dolls’ Coin-Operated Boy video to one of my coworkers. I don’t think that he knew quite what to say about it. I should show him Undercover Funk next.
• The Lawsuit of the Rings or… Sue, Hobbit, Sue!
• Ethan. Take the controller plug out of my belly button.
  

• For : The Zombie Survival Guide
• Sandy Collora’s On the Fly #10: “Did Batman: Dead End inspire Batman Begins?”
• Good, good, good… Good Eleven
  Never gave me any trouble till after nine.
  Good, good, good… Good Eleven
  Eleven will always be a friend of mine!

• Genie

Namaste.

Monday
Something is wrong.
Horribly wrong.
And I don’t know what to do about it.

The problem: Today was a good day.

Everyone knows that Mondays aren’t like that. Everyone. Especially Solomon Grundy.

But today really was good:

• Work went well.
• The weather was great.
• We got a lower rate on the mortgage.
• We went to a Stingers game with , Lisa and the Wilsons. It was a great way to spend the evening… even though the home team lost.

Tomorrow, I start the Shadowrun game. I’m looking forward to making tons of mistakes the game. I think that it will be fun. And, if it isn’t, I’ll simply nuke everyone’s characters. With a dragon. A big dragon. A very big dragon. And I’ll even name it “Lockheed,” just because.

Stray Toasters

• I am eating Jujubes.
• By way of (and Rockapella): It was a zombie jamboree…
• found this. It’s just another reason to love her.
• …she also found: “What makes me swear”
• I’ve been a fan of the X-Men for years, but… um…. hm. Here. You decide.
• For this, I would love to be in Sandy Eggo next month…
• “I knew I should have been the ballerina.”
  

• For :
  • Take one part Batmobile
  • Add one part razor.
  • Shake.
  • Serve warm.
• “What’s a fashmight?”
  

• Communist propaganda posters
• I think that I am in lust. Literally. With this (which is really this). I don’t really need to finish the bathroom down here. And that space would be the perfect spot for a cockpit.

  I wonder what would have to say about that…? Maybe I won’t tell her. Maybe she wouldn’t notice it. And when she asks why I decided not to finish the bathroom, I could just make up something witty and clever. Hm… That sounds good. Yeah.

• Umm… –
• : You might want to check this out.

…and with that, I do believe that I will call it a night.

Namaste.

Sunday

<&lt Rewind <<
I didn’t mention, in my earlier post, that I spent the better part of the post-bike ride day in the very pleasant company of three lovely ladies: , and our friend Lisa, who’s back in the States on a short holiday. I felt just like Bernie Mac’s Bosley in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. Without all of the explosions. We went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. The food was quite good, as always. After dinner, we came back to the house and hung out for a few hours, until breakfast. Breakfast was… not too bad. The people watching was better-than-average. And that was despite the lack of The Singles, too! There was a large group that came in around 12:30. I don’t know really what to say about them other than the fact that I don’t think that I have ever, before last night, seen a group where the men were ALL better-looking than the women. All of them. To a man. *shiver*

> Play >

Last night, I said that I was “beyond tired.” I didn’t realize just how tired that was. I figured it out when I woke up and looked at the clock this morning. It was ten minutes before noon when I finally dragged myself away from The Dreaming and back into The Waking World.

I puttered about the house for a couple of hours before I realized that here isn’t where I wanted to be. A conversation with and a shower later, I was ready to be out in the sun. And to get something to eat.

We stopped at Jitterbug Coffee Hop for lunch. The shop was empty; Bruce said that it had been slow all day. People started showing up after we got there. Go figure. Bruce even cracked a joke about it: “What did I say about it being slow today?” After tasty sandwiches and drinks, we were off to…

The Utah Arts Festival was being held at Library Square this weekend. There were many cool exhibitions. More than once, I wished that I had lots of money to spend on some of the items that I saw. Fortunately, most of the artisans had cards/flyers… with their website addresses on them. I may have to shop at a later date. One of the very cool events was the presentation by Project Bandaloop

Project Bandaloop honors nature, community, and the human spirit through dance. The company, under the artistic direction of Amelia Rudolph, creates a blend of dance, sport, ritual, and environmental awareness. Inspired by the possibilities of climbing and rappelling, the choreography draws on aerial, vertical and horizontal movement to craft dances, many site-specific. The work explores the relationship between movement and gravity and stimulates viewers’ awareness of their natural and built environments. Project Bandaloop hopes to enrich the quality of life with their performances, out-reach and ability to bring dance to new audiences. Since 1996, the company has enjoyed performing for close to half a million people.
      – from the Project Bandaloop website

They did an… aerial ballet (best way to describe it) on the side of the City Library. Literally. On. The. Side. It was quite a sight. I took a few pictures, hopefully, I’ll get them posted in the not-too-distant future. After their performance was over, we watched The Great Basin Street Band play Dixieland Jazz, which is one of my favorite styles of music. We saw ‘s mother and stepfather – for the first time in a long time – while listening to the band. The band played a forty-five minute set; they closed with a rousing version (and let’s face it: Is there any other version) of When the Saints Go Marchin’ In. When their time was done, we left the Festival.

We stopped at and ‘ place, since it was (indirectly) on the way home. Nox was just finishing a game of Twilight Imperium when we got there; Nyx hadn’t come in from work yet, but she got there about ten to fifteen minutes after we arrived. We had a nice visit, as usual.

And now, we’re at home… and I’m contemplating the joys of a late-night bowl of cereal.

Stray Toasters

• I still haven’t come up with a new name for this section.
• Beam me up, Hollywood! – “We count off the greatest beams, lasers, death rays and photon streams in movie history”
• posted a link to this videogame quiz. I got 15 out of 18. Yeah… guess who spent as much time as I could as my mother would allow in an arcade (or playing Intellivision). Mm-hmm, that’s right. Me.
• Nyx sent me a link to this webcomic. It’s fairly work-safe… as long as your boss isn’t reading over your shoulder. (Has to be “reading,” the pictures are work-safe.)
• Power Tool Drag Races – I really don’t know what else to say.
• “God help us.”
  

• founditemclothing.com
• I can’t believe that I completely forgot this car when I wrote Thursday’s Stray Toaster about “Hollywood’s most loved car.”
• Robots Bunnies in disguise! –
• Top 10 Mac Failures
• 
• “SkyNet is now online…”
  Okay… so thisisn’t really SkyNet. Nor will they start mass-producing Cyberdyne CSM-801s that look remarkably like Arnold Schwarzenegger (we hope), but it does involve George Lucas, so it’s anybody’s guess as to where and how it will end up…

• “I’m so glad I’m on LiveJournal.” –

…and that’s all for tonight.

Namaste.

Dateline: Saturday, 25 June 05
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

I took the K2 for a ride up the Jordan River Parkway. I had invited a few people to join me, but no one took me up on the offer. Their loss.

I started at the 6400 South trail head. I set a moderate pace; I had nothing but air, opportunity and time, so I didn’t see a need to rush. I made it to the International Peace Gardens in roughly an hour and fifteen minutes, which I thought was a reasonable time. That also included the time that I took me to get back on the trail after veering about a mile-and-a-half or two off the path. I’ll just say that I took “the scenic route… through a residential area.” “They,” some nameless division of the Salt Lake Parks and Recreation Department, are repairing parts of the trail. One of the places where there is no path – but there is lots of construction equipment – was under the 2100 South overpass. I had to dismount and walk the bike through this area.

When I got to the Gardens, I stopped between the German, Japanese and Lebanese gardens. I called the paternal unit and talked for a while before getting back on the bike and heading a little further north. I made it to 400 South – around the I-80 overpass – when I lost the trail. It just seemed to… stop. I know that it picked up somewhere on the other side of I-80, but I figured that I could discover where on another excursion. I turned around and headed back.

The southbound trip was good… despite the fact that I was riding into a head wind. Even so, I enjoyed the ride. I also discovered where it was that I lost the bike trail on my northbound ride. I believe that my thought when I saw where I’d turned off was “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me…” And I rode on. Around the time that I got near 4800 South, a light sprinkling rain, though not enough to call it a “drizzle,” started to fall. The opening to The Who’s Love Reign O’er Me started playing in my head; it made me laugh. The rain stopped and I pressed on.

I made it back to the car around 1:40 PM. I was hot, tired, and VERY sweaty… but it was worth it. Spending a few hours out in the sun was a good thing. Except for the “biker’s butt.” I have/had always wondered about guys who wore biker shorts. But, now, I’m beginning to see the benefits of ’em… especially the ones with the padded seats. I might have to make some serious inquiries into acquiring a pair or two…

After the ride, I made a few realizations:

1. I like the new bike.
2. Getting out and riding was a fun – and more productive – alternative to being a couch/computer chair potato.
3. There was no one but me to push me to keep going. I think that I did a good job of that – after getting to the Gardens, I planned to ride up to at least North Temple Street. I-80, however, put the kibosh on that. For now.
4. While it would have been nice to have others along for the ride, it was nice to go it alone. I could set my own pace and not have to worry about going too fast or too slow.
5. For the most part, people on the trail practiced common courtesy to others around them. I think that I only noted two or three exceptions to that.

I may have to do this again next weekend. Although, it will probably ride to the southern end of the trail, for variety.

Saturday
I had a great day.
But I am beyond tired.
I’ll put in a few words about the day after I get some sleep.

Namaste.

Friday
I had planned on waking up and taking a brief ride before getting up for work. Instead, I woke up forty-five minutes later than I had planned – which was still fine for regular work-prep. In a very un-me-like manner (at least of late), I was showered, dressed and ready-to-go in short order.

Work was productive, but not busy. I finally got around to doing a couple of things that I have been planning for a couple of weeks. This was good because it will make parts of my job easier. And I’m all for making things easier and a little more streamlined.

After work, it was off to ‘ders for tonight’s Clitorati gathering. I got there early. I sat and read while I waited for everyone to show up. Slowly, the masses gathered; we had a good group – I think that it may have been the largest that we’ve had in a long time. I don’t think that we ran anyone out of the cafe tonight… despite some of the conversations. We headed to Cheers: North a little early. There were so many of us that we sat at the bar. We took up almost all of the seats. Too bad we didn’t have Nerf guns…

Bad news: and Marie are heading back to Michigan tonight. 27 hours. Two dogs. And a lot of road. That’s almost as good as Smokey & the Bandit, although Burt, Jerry and Jackie aren’t involved. Nor is there a truckload of beer.

Good news: will be back in early September.

Tomorrow, I am taking the K2 out for a trail ride. The Jordan River Parkway (1, 2) isn’t too far from the house and it’s a nice trail. I haven’t decided where I’m going to start, though; it’s a toss-up between the 64th South and 70th South trail heads. I do know that I’m planning on being on the trail by 10:00. I’m going to go at least as far as the International Peace Gardens. If I’m up for it, I might even ride to the north end of the trail. We shall see.

Stray Toasters

• This was forwarded to me by a coworker. It amused me because it reminded me of the days of Quantum Computer Service’s “Quantum Link” (1, 2) (or Q-Link) service of the late 80s. Just me, my Commodore 64… and the company that would become AOHell. Those were the days…
• As if I didn’t have enough distractions: BrickJournal.
• The Photographers’ Railroad Page
• For those who have been trained by it
  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.
       “Discipline,” by Bobby McFerrin and Voicestra, featuring Robert McFerrin, Sr.

• The Dying Art of Bullet Making
• Just when you think that you’ve seen everything: Chocolate Sneakers
• First there was Dance Dance Revolution.
  Then, there was Dance Dance Immolation.
  Now… there’s Kick Ass Kung-Fu.

• For : From the cover of Black Panther #8 – Storm.

Namaste.

Thursday
(…and this time, I’m sure that it’s Thursday!)

All-in-all, it was a good day. We didn’t have any grand discussions at work today. *shrug* There’s always tomorrow… The workday was good. I was able to accomplish a few things and put myself in a good place for winding up the week.

The post-workday was cool, too. , Marie, Bruce (whose BW nick I can’t recall) and Larry (not of the bowling crew) came over and watched Game 7 of the NBA Finals. And Men in Black (not to be confused with Men on Bikes) was on HBO, after the game.

AND… I had a nice conversation with , who should make it to Clitorati tomorrow night. And that’s always a good thing.

Stray Toasters

• I’ve used the term “stray toasters” as a synonym for “the random things that just pop up in my head” for a few years now. I have liked the phrase ever since I first saw it – it was the name of a Marvel Comics graphic novel. I am beginning to think that I might want to find a new phrase to use. But, I have no idea of “what.”
• Did… did your butt just say “Ow”? –
• By way of : http://www.esao.net
• For Nyx: I hope that you feel better soon.
• We the people
  In order to form a more perfect union…
  Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility…
  Provide for the common defense…
  Promote the general welfare and…
  Secure the blessings of Liberty,
  For ourselves and our posterity,
  Do ordain and establish this Constitution
  For the United States of America….

  How many of you hummed the Schoolhouse Rock! version of that while you read it?

• “Ooo! Whatcha doin’?”
  “It’s a game called The Sims. Humans amuse themselves by pretending to be in control of their destiny.”
  

• : Have you heard about this? Supreme Court gives companies the right to bulldoze homeowners’ houses for mini-malls and the like. There was something about it earlier on Slashdot, as well:
  

  “CNN is reporting that the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in a case where a local community seized private houses for commercial development (not public works) under the guise of eminent domain. Needless to say, the little guy loses to the commercial developer this case… “

• Apple’s new Intel-based Mac
• : Click here.
• From the Calgary Sun:
  

  Hollywood’s most loved car’s back
  After a long gap, Disney is finally making another Herbie movie with Herbie: Fully Loaded, starring Lindsay Lohan. The successful franchise of a Volkswagen Beetle (numbered the now legendary 53) began in 1968 with The Love Bug.

  The MOST beloved car? What about KITT, from Knight Rider? Or Bandit’s Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit? How about the General Lee (also making an appearance on the silver screen in this summer’s The Dukes of Hazzard)? Or the various incarnations of the Batmobile…?! Hell, I’ll even throw in My Mother, the Car (…and, no, I did not make that up). I know that Herbie is/was a very beloved car, but “the most?” I don’t know about that.

• Kicking ass and taking names… for God.
• A little something for …
  

• Rosey Grier’s Needlepoint for Men
• For Nyx and Nox: Pirates, Pirates and Zombies…

I’m up out.

Namaste.

Wednesday
When you woke up this morning everything was gone.
By half past ten your head was going ding-dong.
Ringing like a bell from your head down to your toes,
Like a voice telling you there was something you should know.

The thing going “ding-dong” in my head was the thought: “It’s Thursday… gotta take out the trash.” A few moments later, my reality filter kicked in and reminded me that it was not Thursday, but was Wednesday. From that point on, things were all right. I took care of the hygiene rituals and got ready to face the day.

Somewhere between home and work, I apparently encountered a temporal anomaly.

I stopped at the neighborhood Beans & Brews to get a cup of frozen mocha wake-your-ass-up goodness. I stood patiently in line. I placed my order. I took out money and my punch card. When I handed it to the cashier, she took the card and punched it. Once. This… was… odd. So, I asked her about the double punch. She said: “Yes, we do double punches… on Thursday.”

I stared at her blankly. A couple of seconds passed before the reality filter, which had apparently slipped out of place, realigned itself and asserted its influence on my cognitive functions.

I finally said, “…which is tomorrow.”

She simply said: “You’re not awake yet. That’s why you’re here,” and smiled patiently at me. Then she handed me the mocha and a bagel. I took them and headed out, chuckling at myself.

On to work…

Following up on yesterday’s conversation about slave reparations, I started the day by introducing a couple of the guys on my team to the concept of 40 acres and a mule. They’d never heard of it. Thus, I fulfilled my role, at least for today, as Minority Cultural Information Liason. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful.

and her friend, Marie, are in town for a few days. They picked me up and we paid a visit to . (On the way there, she brought me a gift: Jujubees! Naturally, I took a picture of the box and sent it to …) We got there as he was going to lunch, so we accompanied him. From there, it was on to dinner with at David’s Kitchen. Good food and one fortune cookie later, I was on my way to and ‘ place to do character gen for the WoD game.

Despite the day’s… “interesting”… start, it ended well.

Stray Toasters

• While at Nyx and Nox’ place, Nyx played some music videos. At one point, she said that she was putting one on just for me. It was the Spice Girls’ Spice Up Your Life. I think that I shocked most everyone in the room when I didn’t moan in mock-pain, but instead started couch-dancing to it. *shrug* I enjoy the song. I’ll be the first to admit that the Spice Girls were cheesy, pre-fab pop… but they made some catchy/bouncy music. I can even admit that there are a few of their songs that I like. (See, Nyx…. told you that I was comfortable enough to admit that freely! 😛 ) On the other hand, the ten minutes of Spice World that I caught a few months ago was not good. I don’t think that I’d watch it again. Unless I was drunk. And was going to MST3K the movie. While drunk. Very drunk.
• For Nyx: Bollywood Album Cover Gallery
• : Can you explain this to me?
• ARRRRRR!
• By way of Slashdot: London Turned into Giant Board Game
• : You may want to mark June 29^th on your calendar.
• What will The Onion be like in the future? Check it out.
• Top Firefox Tips and Tricks
• I’ve been avoiding Mediasharx for the past month or so because it continually gave me an error whenever I tried to open it in Mozilla. I’m not sure what made me decide to try it with Internet Exploder… but, I did. And it opened with no problem. Go figure.
• The Bunny Suicides… not to be confused with .

…and that’s a wrap. I should try to get some sleep… despite the fact that my caffeinestream seems to want me to stay awake.

Namaste.

Tuesday
Welcome to the first day of Summer.

Last week, I loaned my copy of Spike Lee’s Malcolm X to a co-worker. He returned it yesterday. Over the course of the day, we talked about the ways that Malcolm’s philosophies – both secular and religious – changed as he matured as man and as a spiritual leader. Towards the end of the day, we were getting into the topic of slave reparations. I tabled that one until this morning.

We picked up the conversation without missing a beat. We agreed that neither of us saw the point in someone who has never been a slave to demand $XXX from Person X or Company Y because their ancestor was a slave. *shakes head* Other people from our team eventually joined in the discussion. I think that we spent about fifteen or twenty minutes on it, altogether. The rest of the work day went by fairly quickly. And incident-free.

Perry and Kate brought a ladder over so that I could play Spider-Man and walk around on the roof. After what would say was “far too long,” I unwrapped and started the swamp cooler. Maybe by this time next year, we’ll be able to get central air installed. I enjoy getting up on the roof (we have a good view of the Salt Lake Valley from up there), but damn and a half… climbing up and down the ladder eleventy-seven billion times to make sure that everything was open or working or flowing or… or… or… BAH! For the birds. Of which, one sat on the aerial (installed by the previous owners) and watched me for a while.

Shortly after I finished, and Dean showed up. A few minutes later, , Chris and arrived. Tonight was character generation and final prep for the Shadowrun game, which will kick off next week. That should be interesting: I haven’t run a game in over ten years. Hopefully, it won’t suck. I’m looking forward to it, though.

Stray Toasters

I didn’t take the bike out today, but I figure that the trips up and down the ladder – not to mention trying not to fall off of the roof – was a decent workout. I’ll try to squeeze in a ride tomorrow before heading to Nyx and Nox’ for the WoD game.
• Adopt a Chinese Blog
• “I get my thing in action…
  Verb! That’s what’s happening!”

• CheapCooking.com
• “It’s more romantic than Batman and King Kong combined.
  

• If the cloud cover in your area allows for it, check out the Summer Moon Illusion.
• This preview is a prime example of why I’ve added Ultimate Fantastic Four to my reading list.
• g0t Jesus?
  “I sure do! He’s on my feet!”

• What are the Top 50 Most Shoplifted Items? (Requires Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.)
• “Wabbit Season!”
  “Duck Season”
  “Wabbit Season!”
  “Duck Season”
  Tennis season –

• How to Lose Friends and Alienate People with Email (Part 1)
• Not-so-random Wikipedia entry: Yoko Kanno
• Dragonlance Chronicles Get Adapted
  (Now, if they could just develop it into a movie…)

• I saw this piece in Comics2Film’s Digital Concept Gallery. I was impressed by the style and decided to check out the artist’s site, Agent of Rome. I was equally impressed with the work there.
• , and : I think that there’s something here that each of you will like.
• Holographic television. It’s not as far away as you might think…

Namaste.

Monday
Today wasn’t a bad start to the week. I woke up a little later than planned, but not too much later. The day moved along quickly and rather painlessly, which is always good for a Monday.

I mowed the lawn for the first time in far too long. The term “jungle” was apt. I need to get some weed killer for the non-grassy things that are popping up back there. When I finished mowing, I decided to take the K2 out for a quick spin. It turned into a slightly-longer-than-planned spin. It also showed me just how out of shape my legs are. *sigh* But, I had fun. And the bike handles wonderfully. This was a good investment.

Stray Toasters

• I had an interesting conversation about religion with someone online this evening. The young lady had quite a few questions about Protestant denominations.
• Blade Runner was on IFC. I haven’t seen it in a long time. You’d think that – being the movie buff that I am – I would own it. Nope. I don’t. I should correct that in the near future.
• I’m not sure if this is from JLA #118 or #119, but I like this cover.
• HBO has been playing the Hell out of X2: X-Men United. Seriously. You can’t turn to one of the HBOs without seeing the movie.
• I like this cover to Flash #226
• Women of the DC Universe: Wonder Woman Bust
• Independence Day was on AMC earlier this evening. It’s not a great movie, but I like it. It’s good, turned-off-brain fun. Kind of like Starship Troopers (which is too bad, because it was a really good book).
• God bless Cinescape
  

  Monday: AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: A TRIBUTE TO GEORGE LUCAS (8 PM CST, USA) Is it too much to hope for that Harrison Ford might kick George in the nuts for making Han shoot second?

  …which was followed by…

  Tuesday: AFI’S 100 YEARS: 100 MOVIE QUOTES (7 PM CST, CBS) The AFI is busy this week, what with the asskissery of George Lucas and all.

• and : Batman Knightfall Action Figures
• Optware to Release 30 GB Holographic Card for Less than $1 at the End of 2006
• : LSH #10
• “Oh… downtown, eh?”
  “Yeah… Is there something wrong with downtown?”
  

• : You might want to check this out.
• Random Wikipedia Page of the Day: List of video game music: R

Namaste.

Sunday
I hope that the dads out there had a Happy Father’s Day. I made calls to both sides of the family-unit and to friends who are fathers today. All seems to be well with them. I’ve been blessed and fortunate enough to not only have a great father and a good stepfather, but I’ve also had a number of father-figures/role models in my life, as well. As the Indigo Swing song asks: How lucky can one guy be?

I started the day by sleeping in. That was good. Patryck called to tell me that he had another baseball game down here. I started to get ready and he called back – the other team didn’t have enough players, so they forfeited the game. Right. So, he headed back to Ogden…

…and I headed to REI. I was in search of a new bike. Having ridden ‘ bike last year, I wanted something that would be good for road and trail. She has a K2 Zed 2.0 – 2004, I think. I got the 2005 model. Nice bike, hardtail with front suspension. Disc brakes. I’m happy with the purchase. Now, I can get some aerobic conditioning in without having to plop down on the recumbent bikes at the gym.

After I brought the bike home and took it for a test spin around part of the neighborhood, and I dropped in to see and her boys for a while. We had a nice visit. After a quick trip to The Gateway, we came back home to ponder what to have for dinner…

A few messages to and later, we settled on Spaghetti Mama’s at Larryland: Central. Perry and Max met us there. Dinner was good… and there was a lot of it. After that, we went to see Batman Begins. I now understand why was so thrilled. It was a good movie. Very well done. I also enjoyed the easter eggs that they threw in for fans. This is another movie that I’m putting on my “Must be purchased” list.

Stray Toasters

• will be here – VERY briefly – this week!
• Llama…
  Ah, sherpa sherpa…
  You are my mountain guide…
  And you help me climb K2….

• I like Anthony Michael Hall‘s portrayal of Johnny Smith in USA Network’s The Dead Zone. I should watch the original, starring Christopher Walken, again…
• “Choppy says I’m going with Hawk — have you met Choppy?”
  

• An $18,000 bar of soap O.o ?!
• The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The creator of Troops, the Cops-like satire of Star Wars, is back again. This time, its: I.M.P.S. The Relentless, “a documentary style feature following the crew and missions of an Imperial Star Destroyer during the height of the Galactic Empire.”
• How many antennas are hidden in your car?
• One Fish
  Two Fish
  Red Fish
  Blue Fish

• From the “Father, forgive us…” file: Priest crucifies nun

I have an early start to the day tomorning, I should call it a night.
Without further delay.
Right this minute.
Immediately.
Post haste.
Now.

Namaste.

Saturday
It’s been an interesting day.

I started nodding off at my desk last night, so I stretched out on the floor next to my work/play table (where I tinker with my computers and where the LEGO® train is set up). Brilliant move that was. I woke up sometime around 4:00 AM. I regained my bearings and then trudged upstairs to bed.

A couple of hours later, I was up and on the way to take to administer an entrance exam for the REC. I came back home – mostly on autopilot – and konked out in the living room. I didn’t even bother to turn on the TV. I was out for at least a couple of hours. I woke up because Sissy had gotten herself stuck behind the entertainment center. Again. So, I let her bitch, moan and mew… until she managed to extricate herself. I went upstairs and sprawled out on the bed for… I don’t know how long.

I got up and called Perry and set up a time to get together for coffee. I caught online and mentioned coffee; she said that it sounded like a good idea. A short while later, I was on the road and on the way to pick her up. met us at the coffee shop, too. We sat and chatted – and drank our assorted caffeinated beverages – for a while. Twas good.

Then I headed off to Best Buy. *genuflect* I went with the intention of getting one thing. ONE thing. A DVD burner. More specifically: The HP dvd640i with LightScribe. Booyah. I got it and a pack of LightScribe DVDs. Just like I had planned. And the only other thing that I picked up was a Memory Unit for my XBox. This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t tempted by other items. Far from it. I came a lot closer than I care to admit to buying a TV to replace the one in the living room. No, it wasn’t an LCD TV, but it was nice. Really nice. And the price wasn’t bad, either.

Back home for a bit and then I was out and about again. This time, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s. Had to pick up this week’s four-color shwag. Unfortunately, my hold box was empty. Again. I picked up Green Lantern Secret Files 2005, Marvel Knights: 4 #19 and Girls #1 by the Luna Brothers. From there, I headed to Hastur’s and picked up a copy of the Shadowrun Sourcebook (3rd ed.). I figured that since I’m going to be running a game, I should probably have the current version of the rulebook. It just… made sense.

I came back home and watched the first new episode of JLU that I have seen in… a couple of months, at least. I don’t recall the episode title, but it featured Hawkgirl Shayera Hol, Vixen (both of whom are/were romantically attached to one Mr. John Stewart) and Vigilante. It was a good epilogue to last season’s finale, “Starcrossed.”

Breakfast tonight was good. The people watching, however, was only mediocre. Oh, well. Can’t expect to knock one out of the park every week.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to Nox, I am the proud owner of four Shadowrun figures from Shadowrun Duels: Draven von Drekill, Kyushi, Liada and Silver Max.
• The Future of Star Wars
• It seems as though Queen Elizabeth II (the monarch, not the ship) has joined the Borg Collective known as iPod owners. Check it out.
• Sony Online Entertainment and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are teaming up to create a MMORPG based on the DC Universe. This could prove interesting…
• Does anyone else remember the game Populous? What about Clockworks?
• Histeria!, your random Wikipedia word of the day.

Namaste.

Friday
The Doctor is in…

The work day moved along nicely. For a change of pace, instead of going to the mall for Mallday, we went to Olive Garden. Chicken Giardino with Pasta e Fagioli, with frozen raspberry lemonade. Tasty. I don’t think that many/any of us wanted to go back to work after lunch. But, we did. And, a few hours later, my work week was done. I went to Costco with … and I walked out empty-handed.

Tonight’s Clitorati gathering was good. played hooky, sort of, from work and was there. My superpower kicked in and I Charlie hooked me up with a free piece of Totally Turtle Cheesecake. I also picked up copies of the X-Men: Days of Future Past and Superman/Batman: Public Enemies trade paperbacks. Then, it was on to dinner. One of our more interesting dinner conversation threads dealt with song lyrics that we misheard/mis-sang. Some of the “lyrics” were just plain scary. And funny.

Stray Toasters

• I like the “Brushed” theme for Firefox.
• Neal Stephenson talks about the old and the new Star Wars
• , I think that you’ll appreciate this: I received an email from this evening. In it was a link to a Flash animation that someone did to Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire. In it, we are given pictures to go along with the vocal timeline that the song provides. And, as if that wasn’t enough: There are even subliminal messages interspersed throughout the video. It’s pretty neat… and you can even save the file to your hard drive.
• I know that it may be hard to believe, but Apple is the current fastest-growing brand.
• According to a poll, people prefer to see movies at home. I was never asked. *hmph* I might be old-fashioned in my tastes, but some movies just have to be seen on the silver screen.
• : I think that this sounds right up your alley.
• By way of : Walk Smash Walk.
• “Checkmate.”
  

  Quote of the Day
  After and I left the Costco, we saw an older gentleman in a Cadillac Escalade… who looked like he was going to flip a U-turn directly in our path. Without missing a beat, she looked at the driver and said:

  “What’s with all the white people driving Escalades?! And look at this guy! What’s my grandpa doing driving an Escalade?!?

  We both got a good laugh out of it.

  And with that…

  The Doctor is out.

  Namaste.

Thursday
The Doctor is in…

Today wasn’t bad. Work proceeded apace. After a few false starts, I was actually able to get some work done, too. Imagine that. I took Schoolhouse Rock! to keep me company, but neglected to actually listen/watch. But, there’s always tomorrow. Or Monday. I’m thinking “Monday,” at this point. Especially given my plans to turn into a vapor trail shortly after lunch.

Random Access
Press this key to see amazing things…
     – “Virtuality,” by Rush (from the CD “Test for Echo”)

A few days ago, I received the new issue of FHM in the mail. The one with Pam Anderson on the cover. She’s on the inside, too. And, as an added bonus: There was a shiny new AOHell coaster CD in the poly-wrapper, too! I opened Pandora’s box the case to see the wonders within.

According to the insert (seen above), I could get 1175 hours of AOHell usage. FREE! For fifty days. “What a bargain!” And… AND… as if that wasn’t enough, there was an additional registration number and password so that I could condemn a friend to the 9th Circle of Hell along with me! share all of the AOL goodness with a friend! Then I saw all of the added features that I could get, too:

• Surf (up to) 5x FASTER with TopSpeed^TM Technology*
• Block Pop-Ups! Block Spam!
• New Comprehensive McAffe® Virus Protection Included!
• 24/7 FREE Customer Support!

Such wondrous things, indeed! How could I resist calling the number and telling them that I wanted to forego my cable modem and get AOHell dial-up?

Actually, it was pretty easy.

I took a look at some of the “fine print” on the back of the insert, too. It made for an interesting read:

TopSpeed^TM Technology, available only with AOL 9.0, loads certain web page text and graphics faster than with a standard 56.6K dial-up Internet Service. Actual Speeds may vary. Minimum system requirements apply.

“Actual speeds may vary?” Really? You’re kidding?!? And I have yet to see anything that explains exactly “what” makes AOL 9.0 slicker’n greased moose poop. Sure, it’s some sort of download accelerator, but what makes it so much better than… whatever else might be out there? And why do I need AOL 9.0 Security Edition? And does this mean that they have an “Insecurity Edition,” too? Or was someone in the marketing department, let’s call him “Skip,” just feeling his Wheaties and come up with the idea: “If we call it ‘Security Edition,’ people will feel better about their decision to use AOL as their Internet Service Provider! And then, more people will join! And they’ll feel safe, too! And then… and then… and then…” At this point, his brain shuts down, with visions of sugarplums dollar signs dancing in his head. “I have to go tell this to (fill in the name of some middle manager) and see what he thinks!” And off Skip goes. And his manager sucks it up faster than a 13-year-old with a Slurpee®: “Security Edition. I LOVE it! Skip, you’ve got a good head on your shoulders! You’re gonna go places!” And the next thing you know: Here it sits on my desk. Just sitting there. Sitting. The portal to The Abyss (as in “Hell” and not to be confused with the James Cameron movie The Abyss) in a modest (BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I actually typed “modest” with a… *chuckle*… straight… *snicker*… face….) black and gold tin.

McAfee VirusScan Online brought to you by AOL is now available free with AOL membership. Separate activation required. Details available via pop-up after registration.

Why in the Nine Hells does registration have to be a separate process? I mean… by the time you’ve signed your name on the virtual dotted line, AOL pretty much has every bit of data that they, the NSA and the dumpster diver around the corner could possibly need. Why can’t they just add a button or a checkbox saying “Click here if you would like to add McAfee Online to your service?” If you click the box, the applicable information would then be sent to the appointed McAfee agents and then you’d be good to go. Would it really be that much harder to do? (Here’s a hint: “No.”) Sure, it might seem “easier” to let AOL worry about keeping all of the naughty things on the Internet from attacking/infecting my computer… but I’m more concerned with keeping AOHell off my computer. (…says the guy who’s using Gaim to access AOHell Instant Messenger.)

*deep breath*

I’m sure that there are those who find the AOL experience to be “all that they would ever dream of.” I would say that they dream of small things, but my mother happens to be one of the masses…. *sigh* …despite my best efforts to get her off of “the Internet with training wheels” and onto a better ISP. But, as for me, this coaster disc is making its way to File 13. With the quickness.

But, I think I’ll keep the FHM around for a while.

For the articles, of course.

Stray Toasters

• It’s official: I’m craving cotton candy again.
• Broken Frontier interviews The Luna Brothers about Girls
• By way of : The Visionary Art of Gil Bruvel
• Aliens is playing at the Tower next weekend. Is anyone else interested in going?
• The “other” Catwoman movie: Colin Blakeston talks Catwoman: Copycat (Check out the first look trailer, too.)
• From “His Purple Badness” to… whatever people are calling him now, Prince is one bad mother–
     Shut yo’ mouth!
  I’m just talkin’ about Prince!
     We can dig it!

  The man has talent. And a helluva lot of it, too.

• From Baltimore’s City Paper: Oops, We Did It Again
• Can’t decide which of the next-gen gaming consoles you should get? Take a look at them side-by-side and compare for yourself. (Not that this is really going to make it any easier on you, but I had to offer.)
• Bruce Campbell is coming to Salt Lake City. Check out ‘s post in for more, detailed information.
• Random Wikiness: BLU-82

This is a good place to call it a night.

The Doctor is out.

Namaste.