Random Access

Yesterday was a good day, but I was tapped by the time I got home. Far more so than I had thought, in fact. I stopped by to say “Hullo” to and the boys… and wound up falling asleep. I headed home, fixed something to eat and started cleaning the kitchen and living room. Okay, so I spent more time on the kitchen, but I did make progress on both.

Shortly after I finished eating, I konked out again.
Right.
Been there, done that.
So, I called it an early night. Early, for me, that is.

Friday Morning Music

• Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started
• Geri Halliwell – Look at Me
• Pink vs. Elvis Presley – Real Good Time/Rubberneckin’
• Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen – Theme from Mission: Impossible

What kind of music is getting your Friday going?

Stray Toasters

• I am caffeinated. This is a good way to start off the day.
• Coworker E showed me this. I laughed.
• showed me this, this and this
• The total package.
• – Study – Men enjoy seeing bad people suffer Um… DUH!
• George Takei to play Star Trek‘s Sulu Again
• By way of boingboing.net: Vegan, produce-aisle goatse (work-safe)
• …and Honda commercial with human sound effects chorus
• A little something about the upcoming Kids in the Hall reunion.
• Nothing short of Astonishing – A look at Joss Whedon’s X-Men.
• Infinite Patience: The blog of Alexander Luthor
• 50 State Commemorative Quarters Program

Quote of the Day

(14:57:12) : Houston, we’ve had a problem…
(14:57:46) : eh?
(14:58:57) : Too… much… blood… in my…. caffeinestream.
(14:59:15) : *attaches the electrodes* you’ll be fine. just fine.

And that’s it… for now.

Namaste.

Thursday : 19 January 2006
*Placeholder*

<groove>
     Fiona Apple – Criminal
</groove>

Get your own groove on.

Wednesday : 18 January 2006
Three down and two in the chamber.

Big item of the day: Snow. It started in the early afternoon and caused a lot of issues along the Wasatch Front. called me to let me know that driving conditions along I-15 and I-215 were less-than-ideal. I checked out the CommuterLink site, to get a traffic camera view of things. He wasn’t kidding. Things looked nasty in Salt Lake County. Yay. Fortunately, things calmed down by the time I got ready to head home.

I got into another religion-based discussion this afternoon with a couple of coworkers. Today’s topic: Proxy baptism. They set out their point of view; I told them mine… along with the reasons that I think that others – non-Mormons – might have an issue with the practice. It was an interesting conversation.

Tonight was Call of Cthulhu game night. We gathered, we gamed…. and no one died! Miracle of miracles! Three of our characters wound up getting completely soused – along with the commensurate morning-after hangovers – but that was the extent of the “injuries” to the group.

Stray Toasters

• I finally managed to catch up with my mother this evening. All is well in her neck of the woods, although she’s a little uncertain as to whether she’ll be able to come out here in March: She was planning on coming out for a conference, but the All-County Music Competition, in which she and her chorus are competing, is right around that time, so she may not be able to make the trip. We shall see how things progress.
• : Click here.
• “You’re lookin’ sharp!”
  

• Captain Confederacy moves to the web – I read the issues that were published by Marvel’s Epic line. It was a pretty good read, as I recall.
• From Newsarama: Doing the Justice League: Timm & Tucker Talk About New Season… And Just What’s Up With WB Animation
• This user icon of ‘s amuses me:
• Mythbusters – The Lost Experiments – These are things that didn’t appear on the TV show.

Namaste.

Tuesday : 17 January 2006
The work day wasn’t bad. A coworker loaned me Arlington Road; I watched it over the course of the day. Good movie. I don’t think that I had ever seen Tim Robbins as a sinister character before this; he did a good job. And Joan Cusack…? She was just plain creepy. Eerily so. And damn good at it. I had severely underrated her. I give this movie a definite “thumbs-up with an okay.”

After work, I hung out with the kids; catnip was involved at some point. Even though I put out catnip for each cat, Lightning tried to bogart Presto’s share. It was amusing.

I hung out with for a while. We were going to watch Law & Order: Deep Space Nine SVU, but opted to catch If Only, a movie that reminded me of Groundhog Day… although it wasn’t a comedy nor did it have Bill Murray. It wasn’t bad, just a bit predictable in spots. And, besides, that episode of SVU will be rebroadcast this weekend.

Stray Toasters

• I have bacon & cheese popcorn.
• “I’m Bat Lantern!”
  “I’m the Green Bat!”
  “Oh, Hell… I’m just confused!”
  (DC published an Elseworlds title, called “In Darkest Knight,” that combined Batman and Green Lantern a few years ago.)

• Canstruction – sculptures built entirely out of canned food.
• Ah, the geometry of triangles.
• : This and this are for you.
• By way of boingboing.net: Police fight crime with games
• (Old) Lois and (New) Clark: The Adventures of Superman (Presenting a Golden Globe Award)
• MysteryNet.com
• Zoom! (Although, this is probably more of a “Whoosh!”)
• Captain Kirk sells kidney stone for $25k
• 
• I wonder if the student who came up with this knife-block had issues with his/her teacher…?
• While the concept of mag-lev elevators is appealing, there’s something… “comforting”… about knowing that there’s a steel cable holding the elevator car if the power should go out.
• Will an old-fashioned Superman fly?
• I can appreciate a nice watch, but for $220,000, I expect to be able to tell what time it is.
• David Duchovny… Bruce Banner…
  David Duchovny… Bruce Banner…
  Hulk 2 (if it gets off the ground) will be direct-to-video.

Namaste.

Monday : 16 January 2006
Today was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

I started off the day with a cup of frozen mocha goodness and a trip to the north office. From there, I headed down I-15 and made my way to my office. A short while after being there, I discovered the purchase order receipt for a couple of lead holders (drafting pencils) that I had ordered last week. They had been signed for… but were nowhere in sight. *braincramp* So, I sent a “If you took these, bring them to me” email to everyone in the office. Miraculously, they appeared. On my desk. *sigh* In the words of Dr. Scratchnsniff: “I don’t know what to say, the monkeys won’t do…” But, at least I didn’t have to snap a little somethin’ off on someone. That’s always a plus. The rest of the work day was quiet and relatively uneventful.

The night wasn’t to bad, either. I came home to three attention-seeking cats. I played with them for a bit before…

The High-Flying Adventures of Indigo Bolt –
I took to the streets of Paragon City for a while this evening. I headed to Croatoa to check into some paranormal activity. *nod* That’s right, just like Ray Parker, Jr. and Bill Murray: I ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

I should have been, at least, a little more leery of them though.

I wound up dying twice while trying to solo the mission. But, I took down a handful of members of The Cabal. It seemed as though they were… experimenting… on the spirits. Odd. I picked up another mission that will probably investiate this further.

Stray Toasters

• I just finished watching (what I think was) the two-hour premiere of 24. This makes for a happy Rob.
• For , and :
• *whoulf*
• I think that I am going to challenge for the Dumbass Award. On Friday, I wore my eyeglasses to work and carried my contact lenses in their case. I thought that I had remembered to pack my glasses in my things when I left Friday afternoon. Friday night, I couldn’t find them. No biggie. If nothing else, I could drive down to the office and pick them up.

  I didn’t drive to Utah County this weekend to retrieve my glasses, so I wore my contacts pretty much from when I awoke to just before bed.

  This morning, I got to the office and checked the area around my desk. No glasses. Hrm. Okay, I would have to recheck around the house for my glasses. A little while later, I was looking through my lunch bag for something… and looked in the small pocket on the front… and there were my glasses. Which meant that they were at home all weekend.

• : Guess who showed up in the 31st Century. (Hint)
• I’m craving something dessert-like… but I’m not sure what.
• Some of the favorite pieces of plastic crack that I got on Saturday include:
  • Brood Queen (2, experienced)
  • Brood Warrior (3, rookie, experienced and veteran)
  • LexCorp Battlesuit (2, rookie and experienced)
  • Manhunter (2, rookie and veteran)
  • Nightwing (rookie)
  • Patch (rookie) and…
  • Hand Ninja (3, rookie and experienced)… because who doesn’t like ninja?!
• : I think that you might be interested in this.
• The Ironman himself, Cal Ripken, was in Utah today for a speaking engagement.
• This is a good-looking Power Girl figure.
• When I saw this picture of Killer Frost and Firehawk, the first thing that went through my head was the old McDLT tagline: “The hot stays hot and the cool stays crisp.”
• For , and/or : I found an article that you might want to consider for one of your next sex-kitten.net posts – Sex toys that speak to you in your own voice.
• : You might want to check out Iron Heroes, a variant D&D player’s handbook for the d20 system.

Namaste.

Sunday : 15 January 06
I slept in again today. It was nice… and apparently, I needed the sleep/rest.

came over and we watched the Steelers – Colts game. I got a call from my uncle at halftime. Steelers fan, go figure – his team had a very comfortable lead at halftime. During the second half, however, Peyton Manning and the Colts mounted an impressive comeback. AND… they almost sent the game into overtime. An errant field goal kept that from happening, though. Pittsburgh won. And I got another phone call from my uncle. Imagine that.

After the game, I decided to get a start on cleaning up around the house.

Unfortunately, it never really got past the decision stage. I got distracted by bright, shiny objects known as “anything that doesn’t qualify as ‘work’.” It’s amazing how many “anythings” that you can come up with when you’re trying to avoid something. (“Oh, look… a photo album!” “Look, LEGO!” “Look, SVU is on!” “Look… look… look!” You get the idea.) So, I guess I know what I’ll be doing over the course of the week. Oh, na. We had dinner at Sampan and then came back here to watch Unbreakable. I really like this movie. Couldn’t be because it appeals to my inner – and not-so-secret- comic book geek, could it? And, it has some interesting trivia, too.

Tomorrow (Monday) is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Not “Human Rights Day.”
Not “Civil Rights Day.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Even Google gets this right…

For more information about the day, you can check out http://www.mlkday.org

Here is my soapbox diatribe from a couple of years ago that explains why I think that it is important to know – and to note – the distinction.

Stray Toasters

• I forgot to mention something Friday: continued our friendly crossword competition during the Clitorati gathering. A couple of weeks ago, I tried doing the crossword upside-down to make the “race” a little more challenging – it was a fun way to work the puzzle. This past Friday, Ms. Lightning had bit of a headstart on me, so I got my pen and started in on the puzzle. I started working on it right-side-up. I did alright. About fifteen minutes into it, I flipped the puzzle upside-down to allow a couple of others to help me work on it. And then it clicked. Almost immediately, I started getting answers to clues that had stumped me when the puzzle was “properly” oriented. I finished the puzzle in 37 minutes. And ahead of and .
• VH1 Classic aired Rush: Live from Frankfort tonight. I managed to catch part of it. It made me smile.
• 
• Eight.
• This I Believe: A Duty to Heal
• While going through a couple of my old photo albums this afternoon, I realized something: The 70s really weren’t all that pretty.
• I’m not sure if the following is true, but it looks neat: Carving a giant derelict building into a Star Wars AT-AT
• Snow. *sigh*
• : I love your new Pinky and the Brain icon
• Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye
• I was pleasantly surprised to hear Indigo Girls’ Closer to Fine on the radio this evening.
• From the (and I’m not making this up) Cuss Control Academy: So What’s Wrong with Swearing?
• Gatorade powder. I’m really liking this stuff. One container has enough to make two gallons of the drink… for about the cost of one gallon of the bottled liquid. It’s a keeper.
• Larger iPod Screen Rumored

I should call it a night.
In fact, I think that I shall.
Right now.

Namaste.

Saturday : 14 January 06
I don’t know exactly “why,” but I didn’t sleep well last night. Well, this morning. Whatever. I woke up at 5-something, 6:30 and 7:15. I’m not sure if I was worried about ovesleeping to take to the airport or what. *shrug* But, I got up… took her to SLIA… dropped her off.

I hung out with this morning and then we headed to coffee with Perry. Bad Ass Coffee Company. On to Dr. Volt’s to pick up this week’s four-color shwag. From there, it was on to b’Ogden for a pilgrimage to Mecca The Bookshelf. I left there with far too many pieces of plastic crack (28, to be exact… two of which went to ). I called Patryck to see if he wanted to grab a bite to eat; he did. So, we did. We ate at the Grey Cliff Lodge. If you’re in the Ogden area, check them out – they are five miles up Ogden Canyon (on the way to Pineview Reservoir).

Back to SLC for a while and then it was on to breakfast. Small turn-out, but quite fun.

Stray Toasters

• I considered going to the office to pick up my glasses today. But, I didn’t. *shrug* If worse comes to worse, I’ll just have to make do without them until Monday. *shrug* Oh, well.
• 15 Tech Concepts You’ll Need to Know for 2006
• “Freedom Flowchart” –
• This looks like an interesting sofa. said that it would make a good “movie sofa.”
• Picking Up the Pieces: How James Frey flunked rehab, and why his fakery matters (Frey wrote A Million Little Pieces)

Quotes of the Day
Gleaned from tonight’s breakfast at Cheer’s:

• : “She had Sharpei titties!”
• Chelsey: “How fat was she?”
  Patryck: “Ginormous!”

• : “I don’t have a penis to point me in the direction of ‘cute.'”

And now, it’s snowing.

Namaste.

Friday : 13 January 2006
You know what’s better than knowing that it’s Friday and that your work week is at an end? Knowing that it’s Friday and leaving work a little early to kick off the weekend. And, I did that very thing.

I played a little City of Villains this afternoon. It was the first time in a long while that I took Dhoruba into the streets and buildings of the Rogue Isles. I was invited to join a team shortly after I logged in. I joined the team and we were in the middle of a mission (actually, we were close to the end of the mission…) when my connection to the mapserver died. *pfft* Great. I can’t tell you just how thrilled I was about that.

Clitorati was good tonight. Good turn out. Good mix of people. Tons of randomness. Lots of fun.

Stray Toasters

• Thanks to a reboot – and the fact that I had forgotten that I had started a post earlier in the day – I lost a few ‘Toasters that I was going to use tonight.
• From Buzzscope: Man of the Hour #5: Modern Mythology
• I think that I left my eyeglasses at the office this afternoon. All things considered, this isn’t a horrible thing. But there’s one tiny problem: I just took out my contact lenses. This not-so-loosely translates to: “I can’t see very well.” Fortunately, spellcheck should catch most of the errors that I am bound to make while attempting to type the rest of this entry.
• I’m taking this as proof that someone at IKEA is a gamer.
• For : Hundreds of fan-art versions of Batgirl
• Isaac Hayes will be performing in SLC in a little over a week. That could be fun to see.
• Freedom to Tinker
• What in the Nine Hells were they thinking when they came up with this?

Quotes of the Day
All of the following came from tonight’s Clitorati gathering:

• From two separate but concurrent conversations that Land integrated:
  Conversation 1: “I charge $75.00 an hour… and I’m cheap.”
  Conversation 2: “That’s what porn stars do…”
  Land: *blink blink*

• “Jesus is not laughing.”
• “Stick of Jesus” (misunderstood from the comment “Stick with Jesus).
• “Raisins have ridges!”

Namaste.

<break>

Orgy – Opticon

</break>

Thursday : 12 January 06
“No Bad News Thursday” went of without a hitch.¹ The work day was relaxed, but good. Today’s workout was pretty relaxed, too. And I even remembered why it is that I’m not fond of incline bench presses. And what it all boils down to is: I need to do them more often.

After work, , , , , and I got together for dinner. It was a nice way to pass the evening.

Stray Toasters

• I have bitten my lip – in the same spot – at least three times today.
• “Excellent.”
• This is very interesting: The Prejudice Map
• Because IMDb occasionally includes videogames in their listings, I asked a friend if he would be listed on the site. He didn’t think so. I checked: He’s not. But, I did find him – at least two other of the usual suspects – on this page .
• Campbell’s Condensed Newspaper (more colloquially known as “USA Today”) had an unintentional porn headline: ‘Cosmic booty’ coming to Earth
• Ass Skittles
  Boobie Hat
  Crotch Cooler
  (not necessarily in that order)

• : “Rasputin?” Dare I ask?
• Given yesterday’s conversation, I decided to take the “Are You a Heretic?” quiz.
  

  You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you’re not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Monophysitism 83% Donatism 67% Nestorianism 67% Pelagianism 58% Apollanarian 58% Gnosticism 50% Arianism 50% Socinianism 42% Monarchianism 42% Adoptionist 33% Modalism 33% Albigensianism 0% Docetism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

• SciFi to air new Doctor Who
• “What the Hell does a broom have to do with anything?!”
• I have the theme from Superman: The Animated Series running through my head.
• …that is better than having Can You Read My Mind, from Superman: the Movie, running through it. That’s not to say that Can You Read My Mind is a bad song. Quite the contrary, in fact. I like it. Of course, I like a good deal of John Williams’ work.
• …and now, She Caught the Katy has supplanted them both.

Namaste.

¹ – No monkeys were harmed in the making of this entry.

Wednesday : 11 January 06
Today wasn’t bad. It was grey and overcast, but the precipitation held off until evening.

Work was good. A little more relaxed, emphasis on “lax,” than usual… but still productive. I also got involved in a religious conversation with a couple of the guys on my team. The twist: This time, I did most of the talking. They had some questions about the Baptist church, so I obliged them with what information that I could. I think that it went well.

I came home and made spaghetti sauce. It’s been a long time (been a long time, been a long, lonely,lonely,lonely,lonely,lonely time… yes, it has…) since I made spaghetti sauce. I don’t think that I used as I usually do. But, it still tasted pretty damned good. And now, I have something to take for lunch other than just TV dinners – not that I’m knockin’ the $1-a-day meals. I’m digging the savings: Ten dinners for the cost of a lunch and a half. Yeah, I can live with that.

The High-Flying Adventures of Indigo Bolt
Having been away for too long, I took to the streets – and the skies – of Paragon City tonight. I had a mission in Croatoa: Put to rest the spirits that were haunting an office building. I teamed up with Locutus Silens, an old teammate, and we proceeded to exorcise the building.

By mission’s end: I had hit Security Level 28.

I went in search of War Witch, to train for my level and to gain a new power: Whirlwind. It’s not a damaging power, but it sure serves up a heaping helping of “Get up off me!” And in a hurry, too. I tested it out against a few (unlucky) Fir Bolg who were wandering the streets outside the Croatoa train station. I could get to like this power. Very much.

Stray Toasters

• Saving the world is more important than cleaning one’s room, isn’t it?
• It seems that Mother Nature has blown a cold, silent kiss over the land behind the Zion Curtain.
• Inside Line: 2006 Detroit Auto Show – Chevrolet Camaro (concept car)
• 20 | 20: Twenty People. Twenty Seconds. “Describe something you like.”
• Nikon to Stop Selling Film-Based Cameras This Year
• Nine.
• Dearly beloved
  We are gathered here today
  2 get through this thing called life

  Electric word life
  It means forever and that’s a mighty long time
  But I’m here 2 tell u
  There’s something else
  The afterworld

  A world of never ending happiness
  U can always see the sun, day or night

  So when u call up that shrink in Beverly Hills
  U know the one – Dr Everything’ll Be Alright
  Instead of asking him how much of your time is left
  Ask him how much of your mind, baby

  ‘Cuz in this life
  Things are much harder than in the afterworld
  In this life
  You’re on your own

  And if de-elevator tries 2 bring u down
  Go crazy – punch a higher floor

• Latest iTunes Raises Privacy Concerns
• *braces*
• Idaho ponders having prisoners sleep in shifts
• Snicker-snack.
• 10 worst album covers of all time
• If you haven’t checked out Dude Studios, do so. And watch the intro animation!
• How to Dance Properly
• Zoom!

Namaste.

<groove>

Tupac – Ghetto Gospel
Rush – Summertime Blues
Aladdin Soundtrack – One Jump Ahead
Schoolhouse Rock! – Naughty Number Nine
Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer

</groove>

What’s in your mid-week morning playlist?

Tuesday : 10 January 06
Today was a good day. Work was good. My workout went well… even though I’m still working to get back to the point I was before the holidays. But, as the Jeffrey Ingram song said: “Everything Good Takes Time.”

Tonight was Shadowrun night. Back to the main story arc that I started many moons ago. The ‘runners joined up with the sister of ‘ character for a raid on the company whose presence has been seen or felt in many an odd corner. And did I mention that ‘s character works for this company? (Gotta love the plot twists.) If all goes as planned – as it rarely does with this gaming group – this story arc may wrap up in the next few weeks.

Stray Toasters

• I am craving sweet potato pie. (On the plus side, I have a great recipe for it.)
• Near the end of the day, I was working on a report. In it, I had intended to type “LCD Monitors.”
  Instead, I typed “LDS Monitors.”
  I caught the mistake before sending in the report.

• Sometimes, in my bed at night
  I curse the dark and I pray for the light
  And sometimes, the light’s no consolation.

• Variant Monopoly Rules
• By way of comes The NFL Misery Index
• Spaghetti sauce. I should make some… soon.
• I really like this tagline.
• Aliens Pewter Chess Set

Namaste.

Today must be “Eclectic Playlist Day”

• Drowning Pool- Bodies
• Jackson 5 – A B C
• Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity
• Rush – Time Stand Still
• LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out
• MC Hammer – Addams Groove

What’s your player serving up for you?