Random Access

Wednesday – 20 June 2007
This morning has gotten off to a slow start. I apparently didn’t sleep well last night. When I got up this morning to turn off Nomad (I use it as a secondary alarm), I stretched out on the couch… for an hour. I felt a bit better after that, so I figured that it was about time to get the day started. I also have a frozen mocha, so hopefully that will thin out the blood in my caffeinestream.

The work day hasn’t been bad. A little work in the server room. Some research. Rush in Rio. And a nice constitutional… with a discussion about guns.

Stray Toasters

• I was listening to Piccadilly Collection, by Squeeze, last night. One of my particular favorite songs of theirs is Hourglass – a song that makes NO sense (as far as I can tell) and whose video makes even less sense… but is a fun, bounce-around-like-an-idiot tune.
• comes: Endless Zombie Rampage
• …and while we’re on the subject of zombies: Monster by Mail
• From Coworker Dave W. (I swear… I’m going to have to start numbering the Daves at this rate): Overheard in New York
• So you wanted to meet the wizard?
  Let me tell you that you’ve come to the right place!
  Shall I make you a frog or a lizard?
  You should see the strained expression on your face
  If the way I come on is fright’ning
  That’s the way I felt like coming on today
  Have you ever been kissed by lightning?
  Let me tell you, that will make you go away
• Star Wars AT-AT stroller mod
• Titanic lamp (the only thing missing is the guy bouncing off the propeller)
• Computer programs… hidden on your old LPs? Yep.
• 

Namaste.

Damn and a half….
Rhapsody in Blue is a FINE piece of music. Period.

Tuesday – 19 June 2007
Just a couple of quick things:

• I saw something about Bat for Lashes’ What’s a Girl to Do? on boingboing.net last week, but neglected to check it out until this morning. It’s an interesting and quirky song. And, pound for pound, it has at least as many furries as Goldfrapp’s Number One or Strict Machine.
• Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t we seen this… before? And didn’t it wind up leading to something bad? As much as I hate to admit it, maybe Bruce was right. Again.

Namaste.

Monday (coda)
Post-work, I did something that I neglected/avoided doing yesterday: Grocery shopping. I was rather proud of myself for sticking (mostly) to the things on the list.

Came home and cooked – soft tacos for dinner tonight AND pasta for dinner/lunch later this week. came over; we ate and watched Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut – something we’ve been planning on doing for months, but never got around to actually doing. While Donner never finished his version of Superman II – he was fired from the production by the Salkinds and replaced with Richard Lester – this is a closer version to his vision. There were scenes that had been completely changed – and a screen test that was added as footage. I liked the feel of the “new” stuff. I think that it worked well with the story and, to be honest, I couldn’t be happier that they got rid of the “kiss of forgetfulness” scene. On the whole, I think that this version edges out the “classic” version – at least in spots. And it was a fun way to spend the evening.

Four-Color Coverage
First off: The Sinestro Corps.

They are being set up as the anti-Green Lantern Corps. (Duh.) Instead of being able to overcome great fear, their power comes from being able to instill fear in others. Fair enough. In… Green Lantern #9, I think, we see one of the Sinestro Corps rings choosing a new host: This guy. Makes perfect sense, as instilling fear is his M.O.

Tyranist made a good counterpoint though: Of all of the characters in the DCU, why doesn’t Scarecrow get a Sinestro ring?

And now, on to the reviews:

• Action Comics #850 – A look at the Man of Steel… through the eyes of the Girl of Steel (who is still temporally displaced in the 31st Century). An interesting thing here is that we get – through Kara and the Legion’s eyes – a look at Superman through the years, but we also get some insight into Kara’s feelings about her cousin.
• Avengers: The Initiative #2 and #3 – Superhero-in-training boot camp continues. Some of the cadets are hiding secrets from some of the senior Avengers. An ex-New Mutant pays a visit to Camp Hammond. Nanobots? Who are the guys in the familiar-looking red-and-gold outfits?
• Elephantmen #9 – What do you do with a drunken sailor an Elephantman with a broken leg? How does he get his groceries home? Why is that truck barrelling out of control down the road? And… was that a pick-up line?
• Green Lantern #20 – We learn more about the nature of the Star Sapphire and the Zamorans. It also seems that the Zamorans are capable of rubbing a couple of brain cells together and coming up with “a clue.” How will that bear out for the Green Lanterns? Will the Sinestro Corps find a place in the equation? Somebody get me a color wheel!
• Justice #12 – The 12-part maxi-series comes to a close. Wonder Woman is falling apart. Literally. Superman is… uncertain? Aquaman is pissed off. Green Lantern calls some friends for a sleep-over a little assistance. And Batman is, as ever, cool as the other side of the pillow. Speaking of which: Why is Toyman sporting an almost-cyberpunk look? Black Manta without his helmet is just as megalomaniacal… but just not as threatening. Brainiac’s master plan has been thought out to the nth degree, but Lex Luthor is hedging his bets… just in case. All of this AND a two-page spread of my favorite 31st Century team? Yeah, this story closes out with a bang. And a smile.
• Justice Society of America #6 – I covered this one yesterday.
• Liberty Girl #2 and #3 – I’m still trying to get a handle on this title. I like it… but trying to figure out the timeline is a bit like trying to read current issues of The New Avengers. Despite that, it’s still intriguing enough to keep me turning the pages.
• The New Avengers #31 – Wong asks Jessica Jones a breast-feeding question. (How, exactly, does one “delicately” ask a former superhero a question about breast-feeding?) Ninjas. LOTS of ninjas. And [spoiler deleted].
• newuniversal #6 – The Starbrand and Nightmask travel the Superflow. Justice is served. The President calls a meeting. And, the Project: Spitfire HEXsuit comes online. Can World War III be far behind?
• Supergirl #17 and #18 – We learn more about what’s going on inside the Girl of Steel’s head. And it’s not a very happy place. And it may just be that someone else is pushing her buttons and pulling some strings to push her farther and farther out of synch. Who would do something like that? Ask Troia, I’m sure she’d have an idea or two.
• Superman #662 and #663 – Pop Quiz: What do you do when an ancient Atlantean sorceror comes to you and basically tells you “Get off of Earth or everyone and everything dies?” Yeah… aren’t you glad that your biggest decision today is “Should I super-size the fries and drink?” All this and a surprise appearance from the New Gods. Plus, Lana and Clark get some time to talk. Plus, Lois and Clark get some time to talk.
• Superman/Batman #34, #35 and #36 – Dr. Magnus, I presume? And the Metal Men. And Brainiac…? And… wait… the last time we saw [spoiler deleted], didn’t it just about bring the DCU to a flaming, screeching, crashing halt? Right. I thought so. So… why has Batman kept this around?! Warning: Bumpy ride.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four #42 – Reed lets his father get under his skin. Again. Ben Grimm’s mom shows her poker face. Literally. And… a surfboard?!
• Uncanny X-Men #487 – The Morlocks are back. Hepzibah does her best Yoda impression. And Storm pulls rank… not only as an X-Man, not only as a member of the Fantastic Four, but as the Queen of Wakanda. How much do you want to bet that the Office of National Emergency blinks first?

Stray Toasters

• Sissy the Wonder Kitty strikes again!

She was in the master bathroom.
She walked out, next to the cabinet under the sink…
Raises a paw to open the cabinet door…
Looked down the hall to see if I’m watching her…
Saw that I was…
And walked off like she never planned to touch the door in the first place.

• John Williams’ Superman Theme is a great piece of music.
• For :
  
• HOWTO knit a baby Viking helmet
• Instant Karma’s gonna get you
  Gonna knock you off your feet
  Better recognise your brothers
  Everyone you meet

  …which reminds me of…

  Take a walk outside myself
  In some exotic land
  Greet a passing stranger
  Feel the strength in his hand
  Feel the world expand

Namaste.

Monday – 18 June 2007
Another week begins.

So far, the day has been rather quiet and uneventful. This morning’s excursion to Ye Olde Shoppe of Coffee yielded an improper elixir. I didn’t really notice it until after I had gotten into the car and was preparing to leave – apparently, the machine that makes the “frozen” part of the “frozen mocha” was not working properly. It just gave out mocha-colored liquid, far from frozen. You would think that I would have noticed that the triple-shot of espresso just… sank to the bottom of the cup beforehand. Nope. Ok, well. I went back in, asked about it and Niki went about fixing a new – frozen – drink from another dispenser.

Yesterday, post-pilgrimage to the Garden of Sweden, I went home and hung out with the kids for a few hours… after which, I decided that I wanted to get out for a bit. I headed up Fort Union Boulevard and towards Wasatch Drive. Then, I noticed that I was getting hungry. Not ravenously so, but enough to allocate a couple of brain cells to the task of figuring out what I wanted and where to get it. I called Angela, with whom I haven’t spoken since God was a boy, to see what she was up to. Not much, it turned out… and she hadn’t eaten, either. We opted for Redrock Brewing Co. They have a very smooth Oatmeal Stout. And calamari. And “Maryland Crab Cakes.” The calamari was good, as always. The crab cakes were alright… but I’m pretty picky about anything claiming to be “Maryland Crab Cakes” or “Maryland-Style Crab Cakes.” After dinner, we headed over to The Gateway to check out the remnants of the Chalk Art Festival. Most of the drawings along the south end of The Gateway had been removed, but the north end was still cordoned off and the drawings were mostly intact. Mostly. There were footprints in a lot of the drawings and – this was irritating – people were taking the beadwork off of the picture (based on this piece) drawn by Gina Jrel. Some peoples’ children…

The Scales of Justice
After I got back home, I decided to see what was going on in Paragon City. I’d already missed (most of) Double XP Weekend, but I had finally worked up the desire to play. I started the CoH loader and was greeted with a notice about Issue 10: Invasion. Wait… Issue 10?!?! We just barely got Issue 9 and they are already talking about Issue 10!? Sweet! Looks as though the Rikti are back… and they’re not happy about having been repelled.

I was invited to a team shortly after logging in. I played for a couple of hours and managed to get two levels under my belt before logging off. That’s right: Security Level 30. Which also means a new costume slot. Which also means that I have to figure out what I want to do for the new costume.

Stray Toasters

• I finally finished the picture of :
  

  

• CNet Top 5 Worst Things About the iPhone
• Cover to Cover: Deja vu All Over Again – A Crisis of Infinite Homage Covers
• For <lj user=”trellos”> and Carmen: Nepali “Living Goddess” is rather into gadgets
• Starfish and coffee
  Maple syrup and jam
  A butterscotch cloud
  A tangerine
  And a side order of ham
  
• What Steampunk Means
• By way of Wired: Steampunk gallery
• 1408 opens this weekend…
• …as does the Utah Arts Festival

Namaste.

Sunday – 17 June 2007
Again: Happy Father’s Day to the dads out there.

So far this morning I have:

• Fed the kids
• Observed the hygiene rituals
• Worshipped at the Temple of Sweden with and … for three hours!
• Talked with the paternal parental units.

…and it’s just a little after 2:00 PM. Still plenty of time to find some trouble to get into!

Yesterday was good. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was fun. They did a good job of retelling/retooling the origin of the Silver Surfer and making it mesh with the movie version of the FF. The characterizations were good… although, I felt that Julian McMahon’s Doctor Doom was a little “too” over-the-top in a couple of spots. But, he’s a classic character and there have been more than “a few” times when he’s been over-the-top in the comics. So, I can let it slide. While this movie was not on the same level as Gladiator or The Shawshank Redemption, in my opinion it did what it wanted/needed to do: Put a comic book on the screen in as believeable a manner as possible. And, as I said: It was fun. I give the movie a big ol’ thumbs-up with an okay.

I also went to The Gateway to check out…

I missed and the rest of Team Chalk-o-Licious – thanks to dealing with Sprint (more on that later), but I did get a photo of their piece and some of the other works.

I need to finish resizing the rest of the pictures; they should be up in the next few days.

Sprint. *sigh* I have just about had enough of them. Until roughly 10:00 PM last night, I did not have access to the Power Vision service (Sprint/Nextel’s internet). I kept getting an error message whenever I tried to connect. I have probably talked with more people at Sprint/Nextel in the past two days than more people talk with over the course of their entire service contract. For the longest time, no one could figure out what the problem was. Someone was finally able to tell me something late Friday evening: The two companies use different billing systems and they are in the process of merging them – My bill showed up as paid and up-to-date in one system, while it didn’t in the other. That system being the one that the Power Vision service is apparently tied to. Okay, great! Problem identified. Now, to solve it. Right… More time on the phone AND a trip to one of the local Sprint Stores. *grblsnrkx* Sidebar: Jennie, the Sprint rep who helped me in the store, did everything that she could to try and get through to someone to get the problem straightened out. And, I could tell that she wasn’t happy with the answers that she was getting from the people on the other side of the phone. AND, she maintained a pleasant disposition throughout the whole ordeal. I appreciate good customer service and she deserves recognition – I have NO complaints about her customer service skills and will go back to the store this week to make sure that her manager is aware of this. It still took me another… hour-and-a-half to two hours on the phone AGAIN to finally get someone to push whatever button needed to be pushed to get things up and running again.

After that, breakfast was a welcome respite. And, Patryck put in an appearance, too. That was a nice surprise.

Four-Color Coverage
This is just a (fairly) quick hit. I’m still enjoying “The Lightning Saga,” the crossover storyline in JLA and JSA. In Justice Society of America #6, they keep it coming. In this issue they throw in a bit of Legion trivia of which I wasn’t aware:

Timber Wolf: Thom’s still a couple planets short of a system. Is it the safety blocks?
Dream Girl: I’m afraid not, Brin. The medicine of this time period is unbelievably primitive. They still use pills to help schizophrenia.
Starman: I took my pills today.
Timber Wolf: I didn’t know he was schizophrenic.
Wildfire: He told me about it once. He said he spent years in a hospital after his gravity powers popped up.
Dawnstar: Brainiac 5 didn’t give him medical clearance to travel. That’s why Thom tricked Colossal Boy and took his place. Since the time beam wasn’t calibrated for him, something went wrong. I can only belive his unanticipated path to the past worsened his health problems.
Karate Kid: What unanticipated path was that?
Dawnstar: I can see it on him, Val. The mark of the multiverse.
Starman: Hi, Swamp Thing. (to a snake coiled around a tree limb)
Timber Wolf: The multiverse?
Dawnstar: Before he came to this time period, he was accidentally shunted to a parallel Earth.
Starman: Earth-22? Meh.
*cut to scenes from the Kingdom Come miniseries*
Starman: No one liked each other there very much!
Wildfire: Thom always did call himself the “unluckiest” Legionnaire.
Dream Girl: I should have seen this coming.
Karate Kid: You can’t dream up every event that’s going to happen, Nura.
Dream Girl: I’m not talking about my precognitive abilities. I know Thom better than anyone. Health problems or not, he would never hesitate to risk his life to help his friends.
Starman: You’re my dream girl. I did it because I love you.
Dream Girl: I love you, too.

Wait. Star Boy/Starman…? Schizophrenic?! Huh. Who knew? This is followed up with a great scene of the new Liberty Belle (formerly Jesse Quick) trying to play matchmaker for Wonder Woman…

Liberty Belle: You’ve never thought about marriage?
Wonder Woman: Marriage isn’t a concept I grew up around, Jesse.
Liberty Belle: What about Superman? You two were made for each other.
Wonder Woman: He’s unavailable.
Liberty Belle: How about Dr. Mid-Nite?
Wonder Woman: A little too quiet for me.
Liberty Belle: Wait! I got it! We just heard about him the other day. He’s cute, vigilant and your costumes would look so great together. *sly grin* Have you met the new Mr. America yet?

This is good stuff. And we learn the identity of the seventh Legionnaire. The storyline concludes in Justice League of America #10. Can’t wait.

Stray Toasters

• I am getting hungry… but I’m not sure what I want for dinner.
• Ten days to the new Legion ‘Clix set.
• Don, we may need to rename the scale…
• As much as I love playing City – and despite the fact that it’s Double XP Weekend – I am not motivated to play right now.
• I was just looking at JSA #6 again. I have an idea of who’s going to die. I think. I just noticed something about the group of Legionnaires that makes one of them a… “better candidate”… than the others to be sacrificed.
• 9% of cell phone users want the iPhone
  (I just want a cell provider whose system actually works the way it’s supposed to!)

• 

Namaste.

Saturday – 16 June 2007
Holy “What-the-Hell-am-I-doing-up-this-early” o’clock on a Saturday morning!

Wait… Breakfast and movie. Right. Okay, that’s better.

I’d better get a wiggle on.

Peace.

Friday – 15 June 2007
So far, it’s been a pretty good day. Of course, any day that starts “Fri-” us usually pretty good.

Unless it’s 1929.
And October.
And the last Friday of the month.

But, it’s not. So we’re good.

I’m working in the Salt Lake office today and that’s a good thing because a semi driver decided to play chicken with an overpass – the one at the exit I take to get to the A.F. office – and lost. Big time. He was hauling a pre-fab home. I guess that he technically is still hauling it… but it now has one hell of a sunroof:

Picture courtesy of Acolyte Derek

Yeah. Not so good there.

Last night, I went to a taping of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! with KHAYLA. I had a ball! I was expecting it to be fun, but nowhere near as much as it was. The whole taping took about two hours… of which only forty minutes or so will make it on the air. That’s a shame, because I’m willing to bet that some of the really funny stuff is going to be edited out. Your loss. The panel was Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca and Tom Bodett and their celebrity guest for “Not My Job” was Donny Osmond (by phone from L.A.). I have never been the biggest Donny Osmond fan, but I have nothing against him, either… and he was quite funny. DANGERMOUSE_UT: You were right – Peter Sagal is not a very tall man. But, he knows how to work a crowd, has good comedic timing AND he knows when to just let the panel – and Carl Kassel – just go off on their riffs. Last night’s taping will air on Saturday, 16 June 2007, check your local NPR station for the time.

Stray Toasters

• I lost the original version of this post this morning. *sigh*
• I’m getting the urge for prime rib from Outback. Maybe I’ll satiate that desire sometime this weekend.
• Jan, yet another coworker, has introduced me to KLOV – Killer List of Video Games… like I needed another distraction.
• Giant snake terrorizing Pennsylvania – Okay… are we sure that this isn’t just an American chupacabra story? TIPHASAURUS, would you look into this?

• 

• Wooden robot toys!
• Getting an iPhone, but not an iTunes Music Store fan? Better rethink that.

Tonight: Clitorati
Tomorrow: Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Perry and Max and the Chalk Art Festival… and, at some point, a trip to IKEA.

Namaste.

Thursday – 14 June 2007
Today is Flag Day.

Yesterday was Blog Like It’s the End of the World Day.

My last four posts – and ‘s comments and posts – were part of that. Salt Lake City has not succombed to “mass hysteria, dogs and cats living together” …. or even the zombie apocalypse. This time. C’mon, we’re talking about the Land Behind the Zion Curtain, after all. Do you think something like a zombie uprising is going to stop the faithful?

*ponders a missionary vs. zombie cage match*

As a result of yesterday’s little exercise, I recieved:

• Three comments
• Two IMs and
• One phone call

…to make sure that everything here was alright. That made my inner writer feel good. “Better than James Brown” good. And I didn’t want to come right out and say “Hey, look! Zombies!” I thought it better to slowly build up some suspense and tension – I hate it when they give everything away in a story or movie right after it starts. Where’s the reason to keep going, if you already know what’s up from the get-go?!

If you’re interested in seeing what others who participated wrote, click the link at the top of the page. Or click here. Or don’t. It’s your call.

Stray Toasters

• Last night, I went to a test/preview screening of Day Watch with Liz, Tyranist, Rish (the other contributer to the Horror Film Compendium), and . Interesting movie. This morning, Tyranist asked me what I thought, as I have not yet seen Night Watch. I told him that liked it and that it had enough “what came before” flavor to help fill in some of the gaps. One thing that was very cool about it: The subtitles were not just “static.” They did some rather interesting things with them that went along with what was happening on-screen. I would like to see both Night Watch and Day Watch, together, to see how the story flows as a more-or-less complete piece (there’s supposed to be a third movie, at some point).
• Screensaver of Old Comic Book Ads
• From Dwim: FlÅ“jte Hero
• Etched in Time
• 
• Steampunk Computing

Tonight: Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me… the taping!

Namaste.

I wish I could take credit for that title – I like it. It was Tyranist’s little contribution to my Magnetic Poetry in American Fork. Ironic that it looks like I actually found a “good” use for it.

After that last group of people, we finally had to block off the elevator and fire stair doors. I can’t tell you how sick it is to have people beating on the doors and screaming to get in. I’ve had a few really gut-wrenching experiences, but I don’t think that I’ve felt quite like this since I left for college… and Kris was crying in the driveway. Yeah, that bad.

The power has flickered off and on a few times. The last time it flicked off, it was down for about ten minutes. UPSes on the machines here have been whining. That hasn’t done anything to help anyone’s mood. And I don’t see things getting any better.

A couple of the tech writers said that they heard someone talking about watching a man out in the parking lot get beat to shit and just torn apart. I’m glad I didn’t see that.

::: EDIT :::

The power went out. Again. I recovered as much of the above as I could remember.

The screaming stopped. I wish I could say that makes me feel better. It doesn’t. There are still sounds out there, like people beating on the doors.

I wish I could get lines from Ashes to Ashes to stop playing in my head:

I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue, woh-o-oh
Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now

I just want to go home.

The worst part is: I’m actually scared that I’m not going to see it again.

There are so many things I wanted to see and do. Plans I’d made. Dreams. Whatever. I don’t know. I’m… sad…scared… mad… and about nine-hundred other things… that I’m not going to get to do any of them. Dammit.

There are a lot of things I wanted to say to FAR too many people:

• I love you.
• I’m sorry.
• I’m glad I got to know you.
• I would have liked to gotten to know you better.
• I really couldn’t stand you.
• Thanks for being there when the chips were down.

Dammit. Too many. They’re all running together in my head.

Let me just say this, in case the power goes out again or… or… wow, I can’t even type it. In case we don’t wind up getting out of here. You can’t imagine how hard that was to type. My fingers are still shaking. Anyway…

Hi. I tried to be a good person. I tried to be a good son, brother and friend. I like to think that sometimes I actually managed to get it right. I’m sorry that it’s come down to this. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see you all again. Dammit. Fingers shaking again. Be happy. Be well.

This just keeps getting better and better.

Sorry. I’m really on edge now. When I get tense, I have a tendency to get even more sarcastic and snarky than usual. I haven’t heard anything from home… either of them. Or Kris. Or my uncle. I haven’t tried Rana again. I did hear from , which good. He’s in Germany. Sounds like things where he is are fairly normal.

I’d give a LOT for “normal” right now.

In the past couple of hours, we have had people showing up in our office… from other offices in the building. I didn’t think much of it. At first. Then, they didn’t stop coming. They still haven’t stopped. It’s not quite “asses and elbows” in here, but at this rate, it won’t be long.

It doesn’t help that some people seem to be bordering on hysteria. For the most part, things have been okay. There’s a lot of confusion, but I think that the whole “safety in numbers” thing has come into play. Someone mentioned something about seeing someone getting attacked. That didn’t do anything but help fan the fires again.

Speaking of which, the freeway hasn’t gotten any better, either. At least the cars have stopped piling into each other. And people. That fight I mentioned earlier just seemed to be the tip of the iceberg. More of them have broken out. And, it’s really kind of surreal – the people aren’t just throwing punches or kicking. It’s just general mauling, as far as I can tell. And there are just… dogpiles of people down there. It’s a bloody mess. It looks like a couple of people start throwing punches and then this mob just swarms over them. It’s kind of sick.

There’s smoke all around the valley now. I heard sirens a while ago, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a police car or fire truck. I bet the cats are freaking out. In all of the confusion, I completely forgot about them. They’re probably under the bed going nuts.

LifeFlight just flew past. They kind of hovered over the bend in 215, like they were looking for a place to land. They dropped down a bit… and then jetted off. That can’t be a good sign.

I haven’t been able to get anything that looks like reliable news. Tons of reports of similar incidents all over the country: Mobs attacking people. Bloody messes everywhere. Lots of “Stay inside” and “don’t go out” notices. I really hope that everyone back home is okay.

Nine Hells. More people. *sigh* I’d better go.

I tried calling both places again – this time, I got the “All circuits…” message in both locations. That’s really not kosher. Just for the sake of argument, I tried calling Kris’ cell phone. Straight to voicemail. Same thing with Mom and Dad’s phone. I know that there’s about a 12 hour time difference, but I called Rana to see if she’d heard anything. I was able to get through to her; All seems to be going fairly well on the far side of the world. Not wanting to alarm her, I tried to leave out as much of my worry as possible and just chalked it up to something stupid going on back east.

I tried to get my uncle on the horn. No go. And, like I said: The last time I couldn’t get through in the NY and MD areas, there were planes falling out of the sky. It’s REALLY unlikely that something like that is happening again, so I’m going to mentally eliminate that option.

: I couldn’t turn on the TV, I was already at work. When I looked at newsfeeds, all that I could find were items about mobs and rioting. There was something that looked official, from either NIH or the CDC, but I haven’t a chance to follow it up. (That reminds me: Bret works for NIH, I should see if I can get through to him.)

: I didn’t have any problem with traffic this morning, but I was in the office a little before 8 and I had the short commute today. Have you checked Commuterlink? With the cameras and all, it’s usually pretty good for checking traffic. Tell your IT guy, “I’m sorry,” from another IT guy. Too bad it’s not No Bad News Thursday.

*looks out window*

There’s a nice view of the valley from here. And there’s no inversion, so I can see downtown, too. Bonus! And, there’s… smoke…. downtown. Must be a fire. No… there are multiple plumes of smoke. *looks around* There’s smoke in West Valley, too. And… Taylorsville. Okay. This is officially NOT cool.

m3l: I just looked down onto 215 – there are a couple of pile-ups that I can see from here: One over by Old Mill Golf Course and one a little west of 2300 East. And it looks like road rage central at the 2300 one. I can’t make out the details, but it looks like there’s a pretty big fight or something down there. Stupid Commuterlink cam is focused further down the road, so it’s not helping. Have you seen/heard anything?

Wednesday – 13 June 2007
So far the morning has been good: Up, prepped, out the door, picked up some frozen caffeination, and into the office to take on the world… or at least the pile of things on my desk that need some attention.

I tried calling the southern contingent to see how things are going on that side of the country. No answer. Odd, but okay. Left a message that I’d try again later.

I figured that batting .500 was better than a shut-out, I tried the northern homestead. Not only did I get no answer, I got “all circuits are currently busy.” I hung up and tried again. No go, Flight. Same thing the third time, too.

The last time that something like this happened was 2001. September. So, there’s a little twinge of weirdness. But, I’m worried. Yet. If it continues, then I’ll worry.