Random Access

Monday
What. A. Day.

I was originally intending to go to work today, but then I changed my mind last night and decided to add today to the rest of the days that I am taking off this week. Why am I taking an end-of-October vacation? Jess’ parents are moving tomorrow (they finally sold their house) and we are going with them to help them move/unpack.

So… I called in last night and took the day off. This made me available to help get the trucks loaded and what have you. Not only did I take the day off from work, I took it (and the rest of the week) off from the gym, as well. It would be a little difficult to commute from Oregon to SLC and back everyday just to go to the gym. I still got a workout. Quite a workout, indeed! And, I get to have another one just like it (in reverse) when we get to Oregon. Yay me.

While I am not looking forward to twelve hours of driving/riding, I’ve never been to Oregon, so I am looking forward to going somewhere new. I might not get to do a lot of sightseeing, but it’s still “something different.” I’m not sure if I will post over the next few days or not, but I’ll err on the side of caution and say “no.” But, don’t be surprised if you see something from me before we get back.

Song of the Day: Carve Away the Stone, by Rush, from the “Test for Echo” CD. Something about the overall theme of this song lends itself to the whole day of moving.

Idiotstick of the Day
I am inaugurating a new “…of the Day” item. This is reserved for those who engage in public activity before they make sure that all synapses are firing.

Today’s IotD candidate: Someone that Jess and I were behind on 126th South turned on her right blinker just past an intersection. Okay. No problem. We both thought that she was turning into the Tesoro station for gasoline or snacks. Nope! She drove past the station’s driveways…. and then got into the left turn lane and turned…. left! The last time that I checked, turning signals were able to function for both directions. I think (mind you, this is only my opinion) that they were intended to be used for the same direction/side that the signal indicates!!! BAH!

Stray Toasters

• It has already snowed on the mountains. Actually, it snowed for the first time about a week ago.
• Apparently, 4 – 6″ of snow have fallen in/around Logan (about an hour north/northeast of here).
• The Walt Disney Anaheim Angels are the 2002 MLB World Series Champs. What’s next? The Ducks taking the Stanley Cup?
• Beer and Monday Night Football GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::
• Halloween Oreos® (Hell…. ANY Oreos) are good.
• I am craving tasty popped corns. I think that I shall have some. I shall even eat them from my handy, dandy Spider-Man movie popcorn tub. And it will be good.

I should probably get a few things packed for this excursion. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. I don’t think that it would do to wear the same thing for five consecutive days. Especially when we’ll be moving things on one or two of those days…

Be good. (Or try. Or just make people think that you are.) Stay safe. And remember:

• It’s only illegal if you get caught.
• If you did it and lived… then you probably did it right.

Namaste.

Sunday
Wow.
That’s about all that I can really say about yesterday. After yesterday’s post, we went out and about for a bit. We made stops at the comic book shop, Graywhale CD Exchange, and the only Best Buy in Salt Lake that I hadn’t been to. Then, on to dinner.

I had told Jess that I wanted to go to The Outback. So, she made reservations. And, I’m not sure if it was in response (or retaliation) to me setting up a surprise dinner with friends for her birthday, but she invited people to join us. I think that fifteen showed up; I think that it was fifteen. ::: counts :::

• Mary
• Steve and John
• Julie (Jess’ sister)
• Julia
• Larry
• Adrian
• Heather and her friends Kat and Elia
• Jerry
• Land and Catherine
• Michelle and her daughter Cailyn
• Angie.

Nope, that’s sixteen. Anyway, it was a very cool dinner. We were there for… almost four hours, if I am not mistaken. It was also very cool because everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the company/conversations.

“One” of the coolest gifts came from Adrian and Michelle:

• A reprint of Action Comics #1,
• a signed copy of The Superman Gallery (1, 2), and
• a signed copy of The Legacy of Superman (1, 2).

Verra cool, indeed.

Bowling. Teresa (co-worker), Shane (her husband), Dave () and his gf Jen came to join us. Dave owned the lanes last night. OWNED. But, we had a good time. And, joy of joys, a lot of people came to the bowling alley in their costumes. Some were good. Some were bad. And some were just…. “Oh, my.” But, not in a necessarily good way. I’ll just leave it at that. We went for the traditional post-bowling eats at Village Inn. More costumes. Again, there were some… interesting… ones.

All-in-all, it was a very cool day.

::: Football Update :::
The Ravens are getting their collective asses handed to them by the Steelers. At Ravens’ Stadium. This is not a good thing. It’s 28 – 3… at halftime. Definitely not good.
::: End Update :::

And, before I forget: “Thank you” to everyone who sent birthday wishes yesterday (and today).

Time to watch the rest of this very ugly football onslaught game.

Namaste.

Saturday
It’s official. I’m older. Not “old.” “Older.” There’s a difference.

I turned 32 today. But, as I told my stepmother this morning, I’m still a Toys ‘R’ Us kid. (And in IKEA kid and a Best Buy kid…. Go figure.) Anyway, I don’t mind getting older as long as I don’t have to grow up. Too much. I have friends who have had… um… issues with getting older. I don’t. Getting older is definitely a good thing in my book. Besides, it’s better than not getting older. And, I don’t mean that in the Peter Pan or Dracula senses – those are completely different circumstances.

Jess got me this card¹ (outside, inside)… and an X-Box and the Spider-Man: the Movie game. I don’t think that I’ve mentioned this recently, so allow me to rectify it now: Coolest gf ever. Now all that I have to do is find a place to plug it in. There’s a lot of tech stuff in here that is taking up most of the easily accessible outlets. This just means that I may have to get… wait for it….. wa-a-a-a-ait……. creative.

Well, off to face the world.

Namaste.
¹ – She said that she saw the “no hair” line and couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I don’t think that I would have been able to do so, either, had the situation been reversed.

Friday
Only a few more hours until the weekend begins. Yesterday, I was having a HUGE case of the “My-birthday-is-in-two-days-I-don’t-give-a-damns.” It was lovely. It was something of an effort to stay at work all day. I’m sure that today will not be any easier. *sigh* No rest for the wicked…

NPR/PRI Stories
Lots of stuff about the captured sniper suspects and the Chechnyan rebels in Moscow.

Stray Toasters

• Rana called this morning to wish me an “Early Happy Birthday.” International calls are usually good, but the connection today wasn’t the greatest. Still, it was good to talk with her.
• Talk of the Nation had a story a few weeks ago about Neenah Ellis, an author (and former NPR producer) who did a book about centenarians (people over the age of 100). She found that the book became less about “interviewing” the people with whom she spoke and more “listening to their stories.” She said that she learned far more about them than she had expected. I liked this idea. I started thinking of ways to adapt it to something that I could use. This is what I came up with:
  

  I have a fair-sized family (both sides) and a fair number of friends. I know a lot of things about a few people and a few things about a lot of people… but that doesn’t always tell very much about “them.”

  I would like to get people to send me stories from their lives – funny things that they have done (or had done to them); accomplishments; aspirations; inspirations; whatever. I’d like to compile them into a “book” called something like People I Know. I would like to extend this “invitation” to people on LiveJournal, too. The stories/poems/whatever do not have to be long and in-depth or elaborate. I would just like something that says “Hey, this is (or was) me…”

  If anyone would be interested in starting a similar “book,” and would want a story or something from me, let me know.

• Cats are still funny.
• Monkeys are funny, too.
• I get the feeling that there was another ‘toaster that I wanted to put here, but I can’t remember what it is/was, so I guess that I’ll just skip it. For now.

Song of the Day: My Prerogative, by Bobby Brown. This was playing at the gym this morning. It makes me laugh almost every time that I hear it because this was sort of my “theme song” when I was a freshman at Purdue (16/17-years old. Far from home. No restraints or supervision). Oh yeah… it was scarily fitting.

Namaste.

Thursday
I’m noticing something of a trend. Most of this week, it has been dreary and mostly overcast around the time that I wake up. I realize, in the words of the emmet swimming song South Bristol, ME: “It takes rain to make the tulips grow;” however, it does not make it entirely conducive to getting out of bed to go to the gym. But, I have done it. I think that tomorrow will be six (6) full weeks… possibly seven… that I have been back at it. But, I tell you… these cloudy days haven’t made it easy to not just roll over, pull up the covers and want to return to The Dreaming.

NPR/PRI Stories

• Charles Barkley was interviewed on Fresh Air. I enjoyed watching him play basketball, but I was never really sure about “who” the man was behind all of the hype and hoopla (no pun intended). He may not be the most articulate speaker, but he does express his points well. I was rather impressed with the interview. He even made a very good closing point: “I enjoyed the interview. I enjoy speaking for myself; I am intelligent enough to speak for myself. I get tired of doing interviews where a guy will talk to me for five minutes and put three seconds on television. You can make anyone sound like an idiot in that scenario.”
• Fresh Air also replayed an interview with the late Raymond McNally, an expert on vampire folklore.
• Talk of the Nation discussed “How Police and Scientists Solve Crimes” and “Immigration and Small Towns”.
  All Things Considered had stories about:
  • Chechnyan rebels who were holding (and continue to hold) over 500 people hostage in a Moscow theatre;
  • The denial of service attacks that… um…. attacked…. nine Internet servers at ICANN on Monday; and
  • A recycling scam that netted the perpetrators over $3 million (yes, million) before they were caught.

Song of the Day: Since South Bristol, ME, by emmet swimming, has already been mentioned, we’ll make that the first of today’s Thursday morning Three-peat. The other songs for the day: Hey Jesse, a song that takes a critical look at North Carolina’s own Senator Jesse Helms, and Judas. All songs are from the CD “Dark When the Snow Falls.”

Quote of the Day: From yesterday’s Charles Barkley interview on Fresh Air: Terry and Charles were discussing his weight, how it affected his gameplaying ability and what he has done to try and deal with it. His response: “I look at my weight problems like the Taliban: You just can’t kill it.” Then, he went into what he does to stay in shape.

Namaste.

Wednesday
Yesterday was a fairly typical workday. Nothing fun or exciting or even interesting to report. Yay.

NPR/PRI Stories
Terry Gross had an interview with author Pat Conroy on Fresh Air.
Talk of the Nation continued their “Men’s Health” series; the subject – Depression.

Stray Toasters

• In mentioning some of the people at the gym, I left out a couple of people: The man who looks like Mitch Pileggi (Asst. Director Skinner on The X-Files) and a guy who looks like…. someone… whom I can’t place, but am trying to get a handle on.
• I got a chance to talk with my friend Joe from Tampa. He tried his best to talk me into buying a new Sprint PCS Vision-enabled Handspring Treo. I was only able to resist thanks to the training that I received from Section 31 Security Chief . Instead, I was able to turn the tables and get him hooked on the game that has been taking up a portion of my free time: Bookworm, a game on http://www.popcap.com . In fact, the indoctrination went so well, that he was compelled to find a version for the Palm/Treo; he was successful in that hunt.

Song of the Day: Leave It by Yes.

Namaste.

Tuesday
“Jack Bristow” and “Scotty” both spoke to me at the gym this morning. Out of the blue. Just “Good morning” and “How’s it going,” but it was (nominal) conversation. And another thing: Why is it that people feel the need to primp and preen before going to the gym. It’s not like you are going to a social club, my opening statement notwithstanding. You are going to work out. That means, in some cases, you are going to get sweaty and stinky. What’s the point in applying “perfect makeup” or getting every hair into place if you are going to “workout?!” That’s just something that I have never understood. And, I probably never will. And I am fine with that.

Song of the Day: Today’s “Tuesday Two-Fer” comes from the band formerly known as Indigo Swing (currently known as “Indigo,” and with a different lead singer). The songs: Blue Suit Boogie and Reet, Petite & Gone

NPR/PRI
Again, check out the individual links (see yesterday’s post) to the shows for more information. However, let me note that there was an especially good interview with Branford Marsalis on Fresh Air. Today on Talk of the Nation, they are continuing their “Mens’ Health” series. Today’s topic: Depression.

Off to save the world!

Namaste.

Monday
…and so, it goes. A weekend ends and a new work week begins. Not surprisingly, the weekend went quickly; they seem to do that. But there wasn’t work involved… other than the WinXP fiasco on Saturday… so it was a good weekend.

The Park City excursion was good. To paraphrase a friend of mine, it may have been the “best Park City trip ever.” ::: gesture ::: We were up there for about 6½ hours. (I’ll post pics of the day tonight or tomorrow.) We walked into some shops and galleries. We ran into Ryan again. We met Frank and Tony. We had $1 drafts and $2 cocktails. And there was football on TV. It was a good trip.

Stray Toasters

• Aside from Avery Brooks, and possibly Eric Braeden, is there anyone cooler than Ian McKellen? They did an on-the-spot Q-and-A with him at the GQ Man of the Year Awards and I was struck by his very nonchalant he was and how he even seemed to enjoy answering questions. And, how can the man who plays both Gandalf and Magneto not be cool?
• I completely spaced off mentioning this over the weekend: On the way… somewhere, we passed the Hershey’s Kissmobile. I’ve seen a number of… interesting… vehicles, including the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, but to see giant Hershey Kisses driving around first thing in the morning was a little… odd. Not in a bad way, but still odd. And funny.
• There is a man at the gym who looks like Victor Garber, who plays Jack Bristow, from ABC’s Alias.
• I got a birthday card from my sister in the Ukraine last week. It’s in Russian. I neither speak nor read Russian, so she had to translate it on the inside of the card. It’s a kid’s card, but she said “I know that you’re not 5-yrs-old or anything, but believe me, this was the only card for ‘brother’ that I could find in my village (that I liked). I thought this one was better than the one with tigers and butterflies. There’s not exactly a Hallmark around the corner.“

Song of the Day: Cult of Personality, by Living Colour, from the CD “Vivid.”

Namaste.

Sunday
Okay, it’s a fairly-well known concept that I like football. In fact, just saying that “I like football” might even be something of an understatement. Add to that the new programming package that we got includes NFL Sunday Ticket, and you have a fan on the verge of a virtual football-gasm.

::: boi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oi-oing :::
Stray Toasters

• Yesterday, I gained hands-on experience in dealing with Windows XP. I now have a reason to dislike the OS. A friend contacted me to ask for help in getting her CD-R/W installed and operational. No problem. I went over, looked at it, and got to work. After installing and plugging in the new drive, I hit the power button and was greeted with a “DISK ERROR. INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.” What in the Nine Hells?! All I did was insert the drive. No changes were made to the BIOS setup. The hard drive was still the primary device on the IDE channel. But, it wasn’t working. After a number of abortive attempts, I reconnected her old CD-ROM. *poof* No problems. Worked like nothing had ever happened.
  ::: boggle :::
  Yeah, XP is supposed to be superior to 98 (and ANYTHING is an improvement over the never-should-have-been-released WinMe), but you cannot convince me of this. XP is also supposed to be built on the old WinNT/Win2000 kernel. Okay, this I can see… somewhat. But NT/2000 at least make sense and don’t seem to hamstring the user/administrator.

• Bowling was good last night…. but the people-watching at the V.I. was FAR superior to anything that we have ever experienced. There is a group known as “The Singles,” because… well… that’s what they are. They attend a weekly singles’ dance at Thanksgiving Point. (Did I mention “weekly?” And, it’s always the same people? After a few months, shouldn’t at least a few of them have graduated into the ‘non-singles’ category? And, it’s not that they are the proverbial ‘spring chickens;’ they look more like ‘seasoned pros.’ Hmm… maybe that’s the problem.) Anyway… last night we saw a guy whose smile looked exactly like Jack Nicholson as The Joker from Batman; a man who looked like the love child of Terry Bradshaw and Dungeon Master (from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon), Charo… but a little cracked-out; a bad Michael Palin wannabe; a poor man’s Moby, and a few others. They were damned amusing (to us) and irritating (to the staff/management of the V.I.). And, apparently, they’re poor tippers, too.

And now… off to Park City. Why? Just because. And because we’re on another Ryan hunt. Be vewwy vewwy qwiet. Hehehehehe!

Namaste.

Saturday
I think that I figured out why I’ve been so tapped the past few nights: I was sick; it came to a head yesterday afternoon. Fortunately, I don’t get sick very often and I tend to get over being sick fairly quickly. So, today, I’m back on at least 5½ cylinders.

NPR/PRI Stories
There were actually a few good stories on the various NPR and PRI programs yesterday.
Fresh Air
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered
Of note from Friday’s grab bag of radio goodness:

• Scientific Fraud on TotN-Science Friday
• Interview with Garrison Keillor (host of A Prairie Home Companion) on Fresh Air.
• Ad Campaigns on All Things Considered

Stray Toasters
I’ve noticed a couple of things at the gym about which I have neglected to comment. Now that they are (for whatever reason) in the forefront of my cognitive processes, I’ll throw them into the ring:

1. There is an older gentleman there who works out around the same time that I do. I pointed him out to Jess the other day; she looked around and said “Who? That Scotty-looking dude over there?” That exactly echoed my thoughts about the man. He looks like James Doohan from Star Trek – The Original Series. Of course, my thoughts also typically include a line from Animaniacs: “Hey, look!!! It’s big, fat Scotty from Star Trek!” Which is a bit unfair to the man at the gym – he’s not fat.
2. The recumbent exercise bikes have a feature that allow you to monitor your heart rate: Hold the handles near the seat, wait a couple of seconds, and voila, your heart rate appears on the screen. The stoopid thing about it is that after you have grabbed said handles, the following message appears on the screen: “Hold handles for heart rate.”
   ::: boggle :::
   And after all this time I thought that they were just there for aesthetic value. You mean that they are actually functional!?!? Well, shit fire!

And an unrelated ‘toaster: As I mentioned on Wednesday and Thursday, we got a new satellite system. Now, we have 2 receivers… which means that Jess can watch The Anna Nicole Smith Show to her heart’s content in the living room and I don’t have to fight the overwhelming compulsion to slit my wrists. One of the programming packages that we got was ::: deep breath ::: NFL Sunday Ticket. This means that I get up to twelve (that’s right, boys and girls: twelve) games of gridiron goodness per Sunday! I will be able to watch all of the Ravens games this season!

::: genuflect :::
Yesterday, however, I realized something. In the middle of my dreams of all-day football for Sunday (tomorrow), I remembered that we are going to Park City early tomorrow afternoon. What does that mean in layman’s terms? I’m going to miss most of my football-induced bliss tomorrow. BAH!!! Of course, since the VCR and my computer are hooked up to the system, I can record the game of my choice in the format of my choice. Technically, I guess that I could record 2 games… if I leave the VCR on antenna feed and run the satellite feed to the computer. Decisions, decisions….

Okay, enough of that. Time to get the day started… and see what kind of trouble that I can get into.

Namaste.

…and sometimes, the surface tension snaps back. Case in point:

Friday
I was unbelievably tired last night. So tired that I was in bed before midnight. For me, that’s almost unheard of. And I slept straight through until the alarm went off. And, even then, I still nodded off for another :20. Then, it was off to the gym.

NPR/PRI
It’s “Fall Membership Drive” time for the NPR stations… and one of them airs about :20 – :30 of a given program and then goes on about membership and donations and their sponsors and what have you. So, unless there is something big, I’ll leave this at the main links.
Fresh Air
The World
Talk of the Nation
All Things Considered

Song of the Day: Brimful of Asha by Cornershop from the CD “When I Was Born for the 7th Time.”

Namaste.

Thursday

New dish GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::
…even though I had to go to the gym last night since the installer never showed before I went to work.

NPR/PRI Stories
Lots of good stories over the past couple of days. Go to the respective shows’ sites for more info.

Song of the Day: Today’s three-fer is from The Who: Behind Blue Eyes, You Better, You Bet and Baba O’Reilly.

Quote of the Day: I was sitting in the break room eating Craisins® when James came over and sat down.

James: Trying to get a little more regular?
Me: Nope. If I was any more regular, I’d have an octane rating.

Namaste.

Wednesday
I have been up since 7:30.

…waiting for the satellite installer…
…who STILL hasn’t shown up.

BAH!

Update: He just called (11:30), he will be here between 11:30 and 11:45. He was supposed to be here between 08:00 and 12:00.

But, at least I now have frozen mocha goodness.

Song of the Day: Hard to Handle by the Black Crowes, from the CD “Shake your Money Maker.”

And now, off to save the world off to work.

Namaste.

Tuesday
The party’s over. Time to get back to the grind. Gym wasn’t bad today. Now to make it through (up to) 8 hours of work.

Song of the Day: All Fired Up by Pat Benatar, from the CD “Wide Awake in Dreamland.” Yes, that Pat Benatar. Opera-singer-turned-rock-star Pat Benatar. And for Tuesday song #2, we’ll go with… Shadows of the Night, which had a rather cool World War II-themed video.

Stray Toasters

• This morning, I saw, for the first time, the K-Mart/Joe Boxer commercial. I was looking for a place on a tape on which I could record tonight’s ep of Smallville… and there it was. I almost died laughing. I remember when it came out, people had asked me had I seen it. I hadn’t. Jess’ nephews (8, 6, and 4) even asked if I was the guy in the commercials. *cracks up* I had to tell them that it wasn’t me. But the commercial is damned funny. I had to download it. Had to. There was no resisting that impulse.
• I wound up watching most of the football game last night. Not that was the way that a game should be: A good struggle between two teams. (Note: That’s the way that it should be between two teams that I don’t typically follow. If it’s one of my favorite teams, then they should trounce the competition soundly. And mercilessly.) Watching the game had a little something added to the coolness factor because I got to “watch” it with my father. He called during the 4th quarter and when I mentioned that I was watching it, he turned to it. It was cool… in a surreal sort of way.

Site of the Day: “The 213 Things Skippy Is No Longer Allowed to Do in the US Army” (“creatively acquired” from ‘s post)

Quote of the day:

[09:53] * gold_ walks behind CC and gasps for fresh air.
[09:54] -sweetass- bwahaah, cologne?
[09:54] -sweetass- er, i guess that’d be perfume.
[10:00] -gold_- Yeah, it was her chemical warfare perfume.
[10:00] -sweetass- bwahahhahaha!

And with that, I’m off to get ready to face the day.

Namaste.

Monday
Good Columbus Day and Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

I can tell that I was complete tapped last night: I fell asleep at 22:30. At the computer. So, I did what seemed semi-logical to my sleep-addled mind: I went into the bedroom and stretched out on the bed.

• Theory: I planned to lie there for a few minutes.
• Practice: I was out for nearly four (4) hours. FOUR HOURS!

And then I got up, got changed for bed, observed the necessary hygiene rituals…. and went back to bed. And fell asleep fairly quickly. And slept until 08:00.

Yeah, I think that I was a little tired.

::: Football Update :::
Miami gave Denver a little somethin’-somethin’ last night and pulled off a 24-22 win. So I’m 1-2 for the day. One win is better than none.

Tonight, the Niners face the Seahawks. It’s not a “must see” game, for me, but I’m pretty sure that I will watch it. It’s Monday Night Football and I’m off work today.
::: End Update :::

Song of the Day: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me by U2, from the Batman Forever Soundtrack (movie link).

And now, off to get the rest of the day started. I feel the need to hit one of the local bookstores and do some drawing. I believe that I shall follow-up on that impulse.

Namaste.