Wednesday – 13 April 2011
It’s midweek, which means that it’s also new comics and D&D 4.0 night. But, today is also my brother-in-law, John’s, birthday:
Yesterday, I got off work a little early, so I ran a couple of errands before heading home. For dinner, SaraRules! suggested Thai food, so we went to Pawit’s. Por Pia Sod…. Mmmm. After dinner, we headed home and vegged for the rest of the evening, catching up on the previous nights’ episodes of NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Stray Toasters
Today is a suit day. Another one, that is. Today: black suit, white shirt, black/grey/pink tie and pink pocket square.
Thanks to an early day in the office, I was off work at 3:30 yesterday. I popped in to SaraRules!’ office, to say “Hi” for a surprise. From there, it was on to The Train Shoppe; they had completed the coupler repair on my Chessie locomotive. Next, I met , Tina and Casey for a stroll around Liberty Park. We did a couple of laps around the park which, assuming that the info I found is correct, means that we did about three (3) miles. I’m calling that a workout.
I came home, just in time to see SaraRules! off to her Justice League Junior League event. That meant that I was a “bachelor for an evening!” My first conundrum set in fairly quickly: What did I want for dinner? I solved that riddle with a quick trip to the local Five Guys. I came home, plopped down in front of the TV and DVR and watched a pre-Christmas episode of Human Target. I followed that up with a bit of HALO: Reach. Yeah… it was a good way to spend an evening.
It reminds me of the time I wanted to build a Mad Cat in the backyard, like Jim Martin did. I actually emailed him back in… 2003 or 2004; he was a nice enough gent.
Monday – 11 April 2011
I just realized that it’s 11/4/11. Palindromic. Other than that, it’s just the start of another glorious week in Paradise.
The weekend seemed short, but I’m sure that’s because I spent part of Saturday in the office and got a lovely 5AM wake-up call from the office yesterday morning. Aside from that, it was a nice weekend. Yesterday, SaraRules! and I had brunch at Ruth’s Diner. As we were eating, we noticed people staring at the ridge across the road from the diner. Then we noticed them taking pictures. It didn’t make sense until we got ready to leave:
The elk was just standing there, taking in all that surrounded him. He was there for at least a good ten to fifteen minutes.
From Ruth’s, we ran a couple of errands before heading home for a bit. Then, it was over to the in-laws’ for Logan’s birthday dinner. Dinner consisted of barbecued chicken, roasted root vegetables, and salad. For dessert, we had a homemade gingerbread cake – some/most people had homemade applesauce for “frosting,” I opted for ice cream.
Last night, I slept moderately well. I woke up a few times, half-expecting to get another call from work and having to go in at O’dark-thirty. As it was, I roused myself about a half-hour early and just decided to make a day of it. Thanks to a bit of prep work last night, I was in the office about an hour earlier than usual, which means I’ll be leaving early, too.
Sunday – 10 April 2011
Today is my brother-in-law’s birthday, well… one of my brothers-in-law, that is:
…and a classmate’s:
…and my friend, A.J.’s (one of the opera residents):
This morning started early. With a 0450 phone call from corporate… telling me about a continuation of yesterday’s problem. Nothing like the surge of adrenaline one gets from being jarred out of sleep by your phone ringing and then racing into another room to pick it up only to find out that it’s work calling. After answering a few questions and making a couple of command decisions, I put the phone down and got back into bed. It took me a few minutes to wind down enough to fall asleep again.
The sun has been trying to put in an appearance this morning. This song was the first thing that went that went through my head:
This was the second:
I’m not sure which amused me more.
Yesterday, I spent four hours at work, dealing with the aforementioned problem. At first, I was pretty annoyed about the whole deal. After a little while, I gained a different perspective: I was being paid to wait for service technicians to come in and work on the problem… AND… it means that I’m already eight hours into the upcoming week’s schedule. In other words, by the time I leave work tomorrow, I’ll have 17 hours on the clock already. And, this is my “off” Friday, to boot. Coming to those realizations made having to work a little better.
SaraRules! was kind enough to bring me lunch yesterday. The original plan was for me to run to work, assess what was wrong, fix it if possible, run an errand and then meet SaraRules! and her parents for lunch. That whole “four hours” thing blew that to Hell and back. So, the Best Wife Ever brought lunch to me. And she even hung out while we – my coworker, Cade, came in also – sorted out the problem.
After I got back home, I decided to run down to The Train Shoppe. It was a trip with a two-fold purpose: 1) I wanted to see if they’d gotten anything new, and 2) I needed them to take a look at the couplers on one of my locomotives. I managed to walk out empty-handed. Barely. My next stop was Borders. It’s become a scavenger pit. If my math is correct, I believe that they will be closed as of this coming Saturday.
After my excursion, SaraRules! and I took in a movie. We saw Hanna. It was… interesting. We both kind of enjoyed it, but we agreed that it could have used a bit more plot and background development. The story revolved around a girl, her father and the intelligence agency operative who apparently wanted them both dead. Oh, yeah… the girl had been raised to be an assassin. A very effective assassin, at that. It was also something of a coming of age movie, as well: Hanna had been raised alone in the woods by her father, with no contact with the outside world. And her adventure took her across Africa and Europe, where she was introduced to many new things… like electricity, music, and computers. As an action movie, I’d give this pretty high marks, but on the whole, its shortcomings/oversights drag it down a few pegs.
Saturday – 09 April 2011
It’s snowing again this morning. I guess I could have just said “It’s still snowing.” It snowed, intermittently, all day yesterday; although, it tapered off and stopped last night. I guess that Mother Nature hasn’t finished saying all that was on her mind.
Last night, SaraRules! and I met up with , , Angy, and for our usual Friday night gathering. I have to say that the people-watching was pretty prime. (…and so was the running commentary.)
Stray Toasters
I need to hit the local post office sometime this morning. An item that I was selling on eBay sold… to someone out of the country. I have to find out what kind(s) of forms I need to include in the packaging, as well as how much it’s going to cost to ship — I was getting two different prices from the USPS and I’d like to be certain of the price I quote the buyer.
For SaraRules!: Here’s a little Rob Base and D.J. EZ Rock:
Friday – 08 April 2011
It’s another 9/80 “on” Friday… and this one came complete with snow!
Yep, “Welcome to Utah.” I’m still expecting at least one more snowfall this month (and maybe a dusting in May).
Last night was a lazy night around the homestead. SaraRules! had cancelled her evening plans and stayed in, so we spent the evening watching the teevee. We caught up on a NCIS episodes, as well as an episode of CSI: (which we haven’t watched in at least a year). And when did Lady Heather, sorry… Dr. Kessler become “Dr. Kessler” and not “Lady Heather,” anymore?! We also watched Beef on Fuse, about the feuds in rap and hip-hop from the 80s to the early 2000s.
And here’s a little 3T to help your Friday groove along:
Thursday – 07 April 2011
It’s a new “No Bad News” Thursday in the valley. And this one comes to us complete with grey skies and impending storms. S’okay though, we’re still one day closer to the weekend.
Last night, SaraRules! fixed Pad Thai for dinner. To my understanding, it was her first time making it… and it was good. After dinner, I hit Pin-up Girl Espresso for a cup of game night go-juice and then it was off to Hastur Hobbies to meet up with and the gang for our D&D game. It went well, especially when you consider that we ignored the last item from the following “suggestion” from Shadowrun:
“Watch your back, shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never, ever, cut a deal with a dragon.”
Nevertheless, we walked away with our lives and the item we were searching for… without having to (try and) kill the dragon. Which was good for us.
Back at home, SaraRules! and I watched The Thomas Crown Affair. The original. With Steve McQueen. And Faye Dunaway. It was good. I kept juxtaposing it with the 1999 version (Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo), although they were different movies to some degree. Both were heist movies, but the original featured a bank heist, where the more recent one had an art heist. Both SaraRules! and I agreed that both movies were good and were representative of their respective times, but we appreciated some of the nuances and subtleties of the older movie just a bit more. For example:
1968: Faye Dunaway’s Vicki Anderson quietly – and quite effectively – seduces McQueen’s Crown over a game of chess, while investigating him in relation to a recent bank heist
1999: Rene Russo’s Catherine Banning shows up at an event at which Brosnan’s Crown is a patron, wearing a sheer (read: “pretty much totally see-through/non-existent”) dress, and rather overtly flings herself at flirts with him during a spicy tango… while investigating his involvement with a robbery at an art gallery
I first saw the 1999 version of the movie about… eight or so years ago; last night was the first time I’ve seen the original. There were similar elements in both movies, but there were enough differences to keep them distinct and fresh. But, one of my favorite similarities – and best surprises – was that the original movie also featured Windmills of Your Mind, which I count as a favorite song (although, I prefer the version by Sting to the Noel Harrison one).
Wednesday – 06 April 2011
It’s mid-week again, which also means that it’s new comics day and D&D 4.0 night. I’m good with all of those.
Yesterday’s Utah County excursion wasn’t too bad. The monkeys were fairly quiet; I did, however, get a little tired of people asking me when someone else was going to be in that office. After the third time, it got harder and harder to retort with a smart-assed answer. *sigh* On the plus side, I managed to squeeze in a trip to The Hobby Stop during lunch. Hey… it’s train stuff. Go figure. 🙂
I got home a little later than I had planned, had dinner and was back on the road again. Last night was D&D 3.5 night with and company. We accomplished a few things which were good/necessary and have nominal plans for the next part of our adventure.
Chew on This: Food for Thought – Personal Hygiene
When a person is getting ready for work in the morning – or even the night before – isn’t that the “ideal” time for them to take care of things like clipping their nails?
As opposed to, say, waiting until they get into the office…?!
There are a few possible exceptions to this:
Salon workers
Spa workers
Veterinarians
I’m not someone who gets squidgy at the sound of someone clipping their nails, but it just seems that it is something best done at home. With that in mind, there are times when I think a quick trim/cut are acceptable, the prime example being when someone chips, cracks or tears a nail and needs to trim it down. But that’s (usually) just one nail. Not all ten.
I suppose that I should just happy that I have neither seen nor heard (that I know 0f) anyone clipping their toe nails on the clock.
Stray Toasters
I’ve been really enjoying the Tony Toni Tone’ CD that I picked up earlier in the week.
Tuesday – 05 April 2011
Day two of the work week… and I’m in the south office today. Some of us are doing rotations down here once a month. And, today is my day. Well, one of them — I think I’ll be back down at the end of the month, too. Oh, well. It’s a nice change of pace.
Last night, after dinner, SaraRules! and I ran a few errands and then went to Frogurt for dessert. It was good and it wasn’t as tart as the yogurt at Red Mango. (On the other hand, they didn’t have a Green Tea Yogurt, so it’s kind of a draw.) We wrapped up the evening with an episode of Castle and an episode of Top Gear.
I stopped at Pin-up Girl Espresso this morning, to get a caramel mocha for the road. I was pleasantly surprised to see (former) Pin-up Girl Erin in the window. I didn’t get a chance to ask if she was going to be a semi-permanent regular in the store, though.
Monday – 04 April 2011
It’s the beginning of a new work week. (At least it’s sunny)
Today is also my stepfather’s birthday…
…and my friend, Mark’s, birthday…
…and my friend, Spydr’s, birthday.
Yeah. S’a lotta birthdays today.
Yesterday was a very lazy day. I woke up to snow, a continuation of the snowfall that started before I went to bed Saturday night. Throughout the day, it was alternately snowy and sunny. (“Welcome to Utah…”) In the late afternoon, I decided to visit the soon-to-be-closed local Borders. I found a few items that I couldn’t live without. After returning home, I took a trip to Gotham City, via DC Universe Online. I ran a series of missions that featured crimes by Poison Ivy. But, in the end mission, Ivy kicked my trash… using Robin to do so. (Of course, that kind of means that I got beaten up by Wil Wheaton. Or at least a character whose voice actor was Wil Wheaton.)
During and after dinner, we watched a new-to-me show called Bert the Conqueror. Hilarious. SaraRules! had apparently seen it before. It was a ton of fun. The premise of the show has the host, Bert Kreischer, traveling to different parts of the country “…in search of can’t-miss thrill rides and local activities, from the crazy to the insane to the downright dangerous.” The episodes we were: Maine and Virginia. After the Maine episode, I mentioned to SaraRules! that we had four years to prep for the 15th annual North American Wife Carrying Championship. She smiled and stopped short of patting me on the head and saying,”Sure we do, dear.”
We wrapped up the evening watching a movie called Monsters; SaraRules! had heard of it by way of a couple of friends. It was part Cloverfield, part The Mist and part… either Logan’s Run and/or The Road. It was a small studio/lower budget film, but its production quality was still better than 95% of the original movie content that SciFi… sorry, “SyFy”… comes up with. Part of the movie was interesting and engaging and somewhat as I expected, but the ending was a little flat and anticlimactic to me. Still, I’d say it’s worth a viewing.
Steve Rogers Returns as Captain America in July While I realize that this is most likely being done due to the release of Captain America: The First Avenger, I’m a bit sad/disappointed by this, as I’ve enjoyed the “passing of the mantle” from Steve to his former sidekick.
I figured I’d get that one out of the way, right off the bat. It started last night, before I went to bed, so I’m estimating that we have three to six inches of the stuff on the ground. I’ll do a measurement later, when I go out to shovel the driveway.
It’s been a good weekend. Friday, I had brunch with at The Park Cafe. The food and the atmosphere were both good. From there, I stopped at The Train Shoppe for a minute; I needed to inquire about a problem that I am having with the couplers on one of my locomotives. Randy told me that it was a pretty fast and easy fix. Armed with that knowledge, I headed out. I took Defiant back to Expercom. They installed the new PRAM battery and the new top case… and it was less expensive than they’d originally quoted me. So, I once again have a fully-operational Death Star BlacBook. Later in the evening, SaraRules! and I skipped meeting the usual suspects for Clitorati and, instead, went to a Utah Grizzlies hockey game. The game was good, although the Grizzlies lost. (My guess is that since they’d already locked up a playoff berth, they: A) didn’t have anything to prove and B) didn’t want their players to get injured.)
Saturday, I met Chris for breakfast and then we headed up to Dr. Volt’s for this weekend’s HeroClix tournament. There was a decent turn-out — nine players, so I played the bye rounds. Dr. Volt’s also hosted a book signing with Valerie Finnigan, one of the authors of Untold Stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. After our tournament was over, I had the opportunity to speak with Valerie for a bit. She was a charming woman with a few interesting story to tell. (Jeremiah also did an interview with her.) I got back home and tried to figure out what I wanted for dinner. SaraRules! to the rescue! She suggested Famous Dave’s Barbecue. So was it done. And it, too, was good. And very filling. After that, we came home and assembled a LEGO airplane that I got for Christmas. (Hey, some people do puzzles together; we assemble LEGO toys.)
Pictured here, with LEGO Universe Astronaut
Next, we watched (500) Days of Summer. Good movie. Not quite what I expected, but it was rather enjoyable… and a bit quirky.
Stray Toasters
According to Google, today marks the “119th Anniversary of the First Recorded Ice Cream Sundae”
Last night, SaraRules and I decided to enjoy get a bit of exercise, while enjoying the sunny and warm Spring evening. After a bite to eat at Noodles & Company, we went for a leisurely walk through and around Wheeler Historic Farm. It seemed as though many other people had the same idea, as we passed many other walkers during our trek. Back at home, we watched some programs that we’d recorded, along with an encore presentation of a Top Gear show from 2008, in which the hosts traveled the length of Vietnam – over the course of eight days – on motorcycles… which had to be one of the most non-intentionally funny trips ever recorded.
Today, I need to take Defiant back down to Expercom so that it can have its PRAM battery replaced and also be refitted from being a TuxedoBook back to a BlacBook. (Although, it’s gotten some interesting looks and lead to some amusing questions about “why” it has a white keyboard…)
Stray Toasters
The O’s take the field today against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
It seems as though Maddox has given up “The Best Page in the Universe,” in lieu of a new site.
Brad Guigar, who does Evil, Inc., also does a webcomic called Courting Disaster, “the weekly sex comic and sex-advice web site.” Today’s post and poll– and the responses – are pretty good:
