Random Access

Thursday – 20 November 2008
Another NBN Thursday kicks off.

Last night, after work… and dinner… and a trip to Dr. Volt’s and to the fabric shop… I watched WALL•E with SaraRules and her family.  SaraRules watched some of it – she was busy working on a quilt for my soon-to-be-born nephew. It’s cute. I’ll post pictures of it when she’s done with it. After the movie and the first few minutes of The Late Show, I headed home. I half-watched The Late Late Show while reading through yesterday’s four-color haul. Then I crashed.

Four-Color Coverage
I’ve been reading Tiny Titans since the book started.

It’s part of the Johnny DC line, DC Comics’ young kids series of books, but it’s one of the best – and most consistently funny – books that they publish.

It features the Teen Titans, as elementary school-aged kids, in out-of-continuity (and rather non-sequitur) adventures. Most of them revolve around… being kids: Going to school. Hanging out on the playground or in their treehouse. Getting into “fights” with other kids (usually the Tiny Titans versions of Titans East or The Fearsome Five). This month’s issue features Supergirl and Batgirl trying to find a place to have a tea party; the issue also features Streaky the Super-Cat and Ace the Bat-Hound.

If you’re looking for a light, fast and fun read – or if you have a young reader in your household – I highly recommend this title.

Stray Toasters

• I am sick of this head cold.
• The “miniatures killer” is back on tonight’s CSI:.
• The Wonder Woman animated feature has a release date: 03 March 2009
• 
• From NPR Music: Feeling the Vibes: The Short History of a Long Instrument
• J.J. Abrams previews 30 minutes of Star Trek footage at New York event
• By way of :

And that’s it for now.

Namaste.

Wednesday – 19 November 2008
After work – and after taking SaraRules to pick up her car – we headed to Best Buy. I picked up Wall·E, Season 1 of Smallville and The Illusionist. With my goodies in hand, we headed back to my place, where SaraRules made a rather tasty chicken and spinach gumbo.

Later this morning, I get to make the trek over Point of the Mountain and go to Happy Valley for a bit. Yay. Hopefully, I’ll be back in SLC by or shortly after lunch.

Stray Toasters

• I have to thank Sib-3 for pointing me in the direction of Fringe.
• Speaking of Sib-3, he and my sister-in-law are expecting their first little bundle of joy in a few weeks – it’s a boy.
• It’s fairly common knowledge that if I get to choose how God appears to me, I want him to look like Morgan Freeman. However… last night, I was poking around Amazon.com for Christmas presents and stumbled across The King James Bible, read by James Earl Jones and thought: “That’s awesome!” I mean, how cool would it be to have an audio version of The Bible narrated by Darth Vader… Mufasa… King Jaffe Joffer… Admiral Greer… I mean James Earl Jones?!
• These comics, from Invisible Spiders, amused me: One and Two
• And, on the topic of zombies: 4 Things to Keep in Mind While Killing Zombies in Left 4 Dead

I should probably start getting ready to head to the southlands.

Namaste.

I was assigned a task this afternoon that made no sense to me.

I asked DaveW (on another team) about it – the item looked like something that he might have some insight on. He just rolled his eyes and started on an abbreviated tirade about the complete lack of thinking that some people do when they have a problem.  This culminated in him saying that the task should have never crossed my desk and the person who created it should have known better in the first place. He also suggested that I verify the nature of the problem with the originator and, if necessary, suggest that they reassign it to the proper team.

A few minutes later, the task was out of my queue.

Yay for monkeys!

Stray Toasters

• Stan Lee and Olivia de Havilland Among National Medal of Arts Winners
• Rather’s Lawsuit Shows Role of G.O.P. in Inquiry at CBS
• From the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and “Eww…” files: Washington prisons, inmate settle disfigured groin case
• Five Gadgets That Were Killed by the Cellphone
• Seven (More) Gadgets Killed by the Cellphone

Namaste.

Tuesday – 18 November 2008
Today, while relatively uneventful, has been good. Discounting the road monkeys that I had to deal with on the way to work being the main exception.

Marci, Mark, Wes and I hit the gym for a back and triceps workout today:

• Lat Pull-downs: 3 sets/10 reps, 100 lbs
• Reverse Flys: 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Row (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs
• Dips (unassisted): 3 sets/10 reps
• Tricep Press (t-bar): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Tricep Extension (rope): 3 sets/10 reps, 30 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets, 15-15-10

It was a good, focused workout and everyone seemed to like it… despite the pain/tense muscles.

Post-workout weight: 182.4 lbs.

Stray Toasters

• I have a tasty birch beer to go with my lunch!
• The LJ server upgrades must (finally) be complete – I can access WP again. Apparently, the LJ Crossposter plugin has to check in with LJ on every page load.  Fortunately, someone posted an easy workaround for the “transport error” problem that occurs when LJ is unavailable.
• By way of Drew: NASA Dryden Research Aircraft Photo Collection
• I got some ‘Clix auctions posted last night. A couple of them already have watchers.  That’s a good sign.
• Today’s Questionable Content is amusing.
• Will President Clinton provide a major obstacle to Senator Clinton’s becoming “Secretary Clinton?” We shall see.
• Arkham Asylum, by the numbers

Back to lunch and then back to the grind.

Namaste.

After reading the story about the man who tried to pay his bill with a drawing of a spider:

SaraRules: Would you accept a drawing of a spider as proof that I love you?
Me: Of course!
SaraRules: Excellent.

Me: Aww… I love you, too.
SaraRules: Sweet action.
Me: *print*
Me: *stick on cube wall*

Three guesses who my “Human of the Day” is for today.

Monday – 17 November 2008
This past weekend was… something of an adventure.

SaraRules wanted to head to Cedar City for the dual purpose of seeing the SUU production of Facing East and to get a few things from her storage unit down there. I’m almost always up for a road trip… or a play… or seeing the other MFAs, so this sounded like a good idea to me. Saturday morning, we got up and under way. We hit the road around 10:00 AM. We neared Scipio around noon.

And that’s when the fun started: Dropping into the valley that Scipio is in (about 2 hours south of SLC), the engine started revving and the RPMs jumped by roughly 2000.  Oh, and there was no acceleration.

Great.

We pulled over to take a look under the hood.
Nothing leaking.
Nothing spewing.
Nothing smoking.

We got back in and started up again.
First gear… good.
Second gear… good.
Third gear… third gear…? Bueller?  Bueller?

So, we dropped it into second gear and rode the shoulder into Scipio. We stopped and the Eagle Landing gas station. There were a couple of tire guys there – we hoped that they’d be able to offer a little insight. Not really. Their best suggestion was to head over to Richfield (40 miles away) and wait for something to open up on Monday. *blink blink* There were a couple of other gas stations on the other side of the freeway; we decided to go for a second opinion.

As we got to the other side of I-15, we noted that the other stations’ garages were closed. But, there was a sign for the Scipio Garage, which was just down the street. And, away we went. We got there and the garage door was open. This was a good sign! We stopped the car and walked into the mini-store that was connected to it.

*cue the theme from Deliverance*

Once the owner decided that neither SaraRules nor I had two heads on our shoulders – and that we really did intend for him to get out of his chair to take a look at the car – he went outside to see what I could discern about our problem. He looked under the hood and found the transmission fluid dipstick. He pulled it out, looked at it and put it back in.

Then he did it again.
And a third time.
And a fourth time.
And, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus was a fifth time. But this time, he smelled the stick, too.

He said that the transmission fluid didn’t smell burned, but that it was possible that there was air in the pump. His suggestions included getting the car towed or trying to get back to Provo or SLC.

We went with Option #1: Get back to Provo or Salt Lake City.

For those of you who’ve never had to do it, let me just say that driving 30-40 MPH on the shoulder of a nominally busy freeway is not the most fun way to travel. Rumble strips. Road kill. Blow-out debris. But, you do what you have to do. We got to Nephi (formerly home of the Motel 8 “NEHPI” sign) about an hour later. We pulled off the freeway and decided to drive frontage roads/state routes back to the Provo/Orem area.

Scenic, yes.
Slow, yes.
But we made it.
And, we even discovered a Dairy Queen knock-off in Santaquin called… Santa Queen.  (Yes, we had the same images pop into our heads, too.)

We got back to Salt Lake around 4:00 PM. After a quick stop at my apartment for a bite to eat and use of the water closet, we moved the bags into my car and attempted the southern trek once more. We were more successful this time… although we didn’t get to Cedar City until after 8:00, which meant that we missed the play. We did get to go into the theatre for the post-performance talkback, though. We had dinner with the MFAs. And we crashed at Rachel’s.

Yesterday morning, we got up, got ready and headed over to the storage unit. We found the items that SaraRules wanted to bring back, loaded them in the car and got back on the road. We were back in SLC around 2:30 PM. I dropped SaraRules – and her stuff – at her parents’ and headed to go play ‘Clix with Chris and Perry. Chris (of course) schooled us; I came in second and Perry got a nice box of Rice-A-Roni.

This morning, we took SaraRules’ car to the shop. Let the pros figure it out, we figure.

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

Stray Toasters

• Since posted this the other day, I figured I’d try it, too:

  39.5 miles per gallon

  Created by The Car Connection

• ‘s stepfather sent me a link to a neat PowerPoint presentation about the SR-71
• By way of and the “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” file: Man tries to pay bill with spider drawing
• What do you get when you cross the 44th President-Elect with a videogame? Super Obama World
• For those who haven’t seen it yet: The new Star Trek trailer

Back to it.

Namaste.

Friday – 14 November 2008
And the week is nearly at an end.

Last night was date night… and my night to cook. SaraRules had requested spaghetti and homemade sauce; that’s what she got. We watched a couple episodes of The West Wing and the new episode of CSI: before we fell into channel surfing.

Today we are having a team-building exercise; that exercise is known as Quantum of Solace. ‘Nuff said.

Stray Toasters

• LEGO kitchen crafts
• Sib-2 sent me a link to this article: Man Finds Racial Slur Printed on Receipt
• By way of SaraRules: U.S. To Name First Female 4-Star General
• By way of Drew, a couple of fun items:
  • LEGO, a Flickr set
  • Star Wars, a Flickr set (with the 501st Legion)
• Because style never goes out of fashion:
  • The Return of the Interview Suit, thanks to SaraRules for the link
  • How to Choose a Multi-Occasion Suit
  • Wearing a Sport Coat with Jeans
    

And… that’s all for now, because it’s movie… uh… I mean “team-building” time.

Namaste.

In the mid-80s, ABC had a short-lived (one-half season) show called MacGruder and Loud. It was a police drama. More than that, it was a police drama about two officers who were married… in a department that had strict anti-fraternization rules… so they have to keep their secret from their sergeant (and everyone else in the department). I remember watching a few episodes of the show, but damned if I can tell you anything about the episodes.

But, in the way that I recall/retain obscure pop culture trivia, the name of the show has remained in my head.

This afternoon, I decided to look up the Wikipedia entry on the show, to see if it would exorcise that demon. It helped, but there was also a link to the show’s IMDb entry… which I clicked, of course.

The first thing that jumped out was the tagline: “By night lovers, by day cops.”

That made me chuckle.

Then, I decided to scroll over the plot keywords. The first four – the FIRST FOUR – were not “Secret Marriage. Detective Series.” Had they been, I would have been fine. No, instead, they were:

“Secret Door. Secret Love.”

And that made me laugh.

It was a great – and I’m sure unintentional – way to turn an otherwise innocent series into something bawdy and taboo-sounding…

…said the Actress to the Bishop

Wes, Marci and I went to pick up and put down heavy things again today. We ran into Tess (another coworker) there, as well. Wes mentioned that he wanted to do some work that targeted specific groups… and that’s what we did, to some degree:

• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps – 1 set @ 190 lbs; 2 sets @ 200 lbs
• Foward Chest Press (Icarian): 3 sets/10 reps, 80 lbs.
• Decline Barbell Press: 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Flys (dumbbell, flat bench): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
• Curls (dumbell): 3 sets/10 reps, 25 lbs
• Push-ups: 3 sets, 10 reps

Post-workout weight: 182.1 lbs

Both of them said that they liked the workout.
Hopefully, they’ll still feel that way after tomorrow…

Thursday – 13 November 2008
There’s a mix of sun and clouds here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain: To the west, there’s blue sky… to the north, it’s a little cloudy.

Last night was a quiet night. I stopped by to see for a bit. She seems to be doing much better.  Her mother – whom I haven’t seen in three-plus years – is also in town, so I had the opportunity to visit with her, as well. After that, I hung out with SaraRules and her folks for a bit before heading home.

Stray Toasters

• My work desk set-up is: Defiant (my laptop) flanked by two PC monitors; with a few PCs on the floor. The monitor on the left serves as the secondary monitor for the laptop, the one on the right is connected to two of the PCs. I also have powered speakers that I usually connect to Defiant, with the subwoofer resting behind the laptop screen. Standing atop the subwoofer, I have a Captain Sisko Hallmark ornament and a Green Lantern figure.

  A few minutes ago, the Sisko figure fell forward and wound up leaning against Defiant‘s screen. (How apropos is that..?) It looks almost as if he’s trying to peer into the monitor to see what’s going on.

• sent a few interesting items my way:
  • Game show winner gives money to local food bank
  • Russian church missing, presumed stolen
  • Luminescent fiber optic wallpaper
    
• 
• This Sinfest cartoon pretty much says it all…
• …and I’m not really sure what to make of this.
• The Obama Secret Service code names have been revealed… along with past presidents’ handles.
• Legislator in the clear over collection

Namaste.

Drew just sent me a link for making gummy candies… shaped like LEGO bricks. Apparently, the “recipe” calls for using actual LEGO bricks to make silicone molds and using those molds to form the candy.

While I still enjoy LEGO Fruit snacks from time to time, this made my inner five-year-old very happy.

Wednesday – 12 November 2008
It’s a grey, rainy morning in the Salt Lake valley. It’s a little foggy to the north; I can’t even see the north end of the valley. I can barely make out the outline of the Oquirrhs, to the west.

Last night, SaraRules and I watched August Rush. There were a few cheesy moments in the film, but overall, it wasn’t bad. And it had some great music in it, as well. The main… um… I guess “theme” is as good a word as any… of the movie was how music can connect people, no matter what the distance or differences. On the whole, I’d give the movie a thumbs-up. One odd note (sorry… bad pun): The “Deleted Scenes” feature doesn’t allow viewers to choose which of the scenes to watch – you get to watch them all, sequentially. There are only six or seven of them – and most of them are decent – but the last one…? Man. They seriously made the right decision by leaving that on the cutting room floor.

Workout
Wes, Marci and I made it to the gym again yesterday:

• Bench press: 3 sets/10 reps, 185 lbs
• Reverse Fly (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Row (machine): 3 sets/10 reps, 70 lbs
• Lateral Raises (with forward fly): 3 sets/10 reps, 10 lbs
• Side bends: 3 sets/10 reps per side, 25 lbs
• Tricep extensions (rope): 3 sets/10 reps, 45 lbs
• Core (plank): 3 sets, 30 sec

Post-workout weight: 181.4 lbs

Wes mentioned that he wants to start working on specific areas. I asked if he wanted to do more focused/targeted workouts; he said yes. So, tomorrow, we’ll start focusing on chest and upper body, I do believe…

Stray Toasters

• I’m still a bit surprised by the whole Topps/WizKids thing.
• …and now: Richard Garriott quits NCSoft
• sent me a link to a post about a steam-powered car. As with most things that she sends, I clicked the link. Upon looking at it, I quipped back to her:
  

  That’s not quite “steampunk.” It’s more… “steamfunk.”

• What could/would George Clinton do with Steamfunk?
• Or, since he already has a song called Steam, would Peter Gabriel be a better choice?
• How about a collaborative effort?
• The premise of the movie Slumdog Millionaire sounds… interesting:
  

  Directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting), Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is just one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together, and of the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions.

• While looking for a couple other videos, I stumbled across this: Lady Marmalade (from Moulin Rouge)
  Christina Aguilera |MTV Music
• …and I eventually found one of my favorite David Bowie songs, Absolute Beginners:
  David Bowie |MTV Music
• Bush: ‘I regret saying some things I shouldn’t have said’

Namaste.

Tuesday – 11 Nov 2008
Yet another in the work-a-day grind.
But, I hit the ground running and got a couple of items off of my task list, right after I got in.

Last night, I watched the 49ers – Cardinals game with SaraRules and her folks. I wasn’t expecting a lot out of the game, to be honest. I was pleasantly surprised that an actual football game broke out. Kurt Warner still looks fairly impressive – it was almost like he couldn’t throw a bad pass if he tried. The receivers and running backs did good jobs. And on the other side of the ball, Shaun Hill (SF’s 3rd string QB) did a good job of leading the team, including an impressive end-of-game drive that very nearly won the game for SF.

Stray Toasters

• Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know
• And, in a related note, by way of SaraRules: Michelle Obama’s real-world style
• And, since we’re dealing in style/fashion, sent these two “tasty” items:
  • Chocolate Superhero Costumes
  • Chocolate Show
• Comic Book Resources has a couple of new trailers for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• An interesting read: The Comic Book Virgin Reads Watchmen
• If you kids (or are just a big kid), you may be familiar with Marvel’s Super Hero Squad toys. Marvel Comics is now showing the (mis)adventures of the heroes and villains in daily strips (1, 2, 3) on their website:

  

  …and…

  

• Six Real Gadgets Minority Report Predicted Correctly
• Thunder!
  Thunder!
  Thunderpanties HO!
  (Blame/credit to for this link.)
• Djimon Hounsou to voice BET’s Black Panther

And stuff.
And whatnot.

Namaste.

Monday – 10 Nov 2008
It was… an interesting weekend, to say the least.

Saturday was a sleeping-in, lazy day… to a degree. SaraRules, her mother, her brother and I went to the Garden of Sweden to pick up a few things. Okay, okay… I (ostensibly) went as an observer, but wound up finding a few things that I couldn’t live without. Next on the docket was a couples massage at The Spa Club, that SaraRules had signed us up for. It was nice. Very nice, indeed.

The relaxation of the massage, however, was somewhat undone by some extended family drama. *grblsnrkx*

I spent a few pre-breakfast hours Saturday evening trying to be productive: I took pictures of and prepared some auctions for some of my extra HeroClix. I should be posting a few auctions this evening, God willing and the creek don’t rise.

Sunday was good: Another sleep-in morning, followed by football. SaraRules and I watched the Titans-Bears game, while I watched the “coverage” of the Ravens-Texans game on NFL.com. The Ravens wound up with another game in the “W” column, which makes me happy – and it means that they’ve already done better than last season’s record.

I headed over to Far West Comics to play dolls ‘Clix with Chris, Nano and Eric. We went with 800 points per player. We broke up into two-player teams: Eric and Nano vs. Chris and me. The teams broke down like this:

• Chris
  • Batman
  • Doctor Destiny
  • Dr. Strange
  • Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)
  • Superman Prime
• My team (themed: Sinestro Corps)
  • Arkillo
  • Batman (Sinestro Corps)
  • Parallax
  • Sinestro
• Eric
  • Benjamin J. Grimm
  • Gamora
  • Hulk (Zombie, dual Hero-/HorrorClix figure)
  • Rampaging Hulk
  • Superman (Justice Legion A)
• Nano
  • Emperor Joker
  • Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)
  • The Flash (Justice Legion A)
  • Living Lightning
  • Time Trapper
  • Trigon
  • Warskrull

And then, it was “Game on.” Chris came out of the gate like gangbusters. Eric had flown his Superman and Gamora to the mid-map area. Chris took Superman Prime, picked up an object and swatted her for 7 clicks of damage, right off the bat… insta-kill.  I was really looking forward to using Arkillo, after hearing Chris talk up the figure last week. Unfortunately, Eric and Nano had other ideas: They put Rampaging Hulk, Ben Grimm and Trigon in close combat. And then, just for an added measure, had Eric’s Superman ping him from long range. *sigh* Oh, well… I guess I’ll have to use him another time.

Chris had good success in using Doctor Destiny to Mind Control Trigon and use his special power, Doppelganger, against the other team. So, we played a game of attrition: We got rid of Eric’s part of the force and the front half of Nano’s team. The we settled in to take on Green Arrow, Flash and… Trigon. Our team consisted of Batman (Sinestro Corps), Parallax, Doctor Destiny, Prime and Dr. Strange. The problem with Trigon – aside from Psychic Blast and Ranged Combat Expert – is his Mystics team ability:

When this character takes damage from an attack, it deals 1 damage to the attacker. This damage may not be evaded or reduced.

We beat up Green Arrow, Chris used Mind Control and Doppelganger to get rid of the Flash… and then it was just the big guy to deal with. Fortunately, Nano dealt Trigon a few clicks of damage by pushing him and we had a couple of figures who did 3, 4 or 5 clicks of damage when attacking him. So, taking a click here or there was worth it.

In the end, with the remnants of our teams, Chris and I came away with a win.

After the game, I headed over to SaraRules’ parents for dinner and football. Not a bad way to wind up the evening, I must say.

Stray Toasters

• Whoa… I just found this on the WizKids site:
  

  The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines. Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.”Upon notifying our partners, Topps will immediately pursue strategic alternatives so that viable brands and properties, including HeroClix, can continue without noticeable disruption. To that end, WizKids will continue supporting Buy it By the Brick redemptions for Arkham Asylum, and the December Organized Play events for HeroClix.

  For consumer announcements, please refer to www.wizkidsgames.com over the coming days for further information.

• For SaraRules (and any other Tim Burton fans): Tales of the Unexpected
• Thanks to for the following: What if The Matrix ran on Windows?
  See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
• Thanks to SaraRules for pointing out: Before Obama, There Was Bill Cosby and Transgendered Man elected mayor of Silverton
• Circuit City Files for Bankruptcy

And that’s it for now.

Namaste.