Random Access

Thursday
Relatively quiet day at work. I hit a minor wall with my current CF form. Well, not really a wall… more like a speed bump. I’m having a slight problem with a query function. But, I think that I have it almost figured out. And, once this part is done, the rest of the form can be finished by duplicating and modifying this function.

After work, I met Jess, Land and Katherine for dinner; hadn’t seen them in months. After that, we headed to Borders (because it was close) and then on to Land and Katherine’s to continue talking and hanging out.

And now, the three-day weekend begins.

Song of the Day
Since 80’s music was playing at the restaurant, we’ll make that the theme of the night:

• Head Over Heels by The Go-Gos
• Walk Like an Egyptian by The Bangles
• I Drove All Night by Cyndi Lauper

Stray Toasters

• For : Delerium
• I’ve been watching Insomniac Music Theater on VH-1. A Kelly Clarkson (of “American Idol” fame) video just came on. The song was Miss Independent; I’ve heard it a couple of times on the radio. Interesting. Not in a bad way. And, Ms. Clarkson reminds me of someone, but I can’t quite figure out whom.
• While I’m on the music topic, let me say a thing or two about a certain Ms. Jewel Kilcher. I’m not a major Jewel fan. That’s not to say that I wish her ill, but the folk-inspired music of her early CDs didn’t do much for me. I will admit that I was one of the many people who asked “THAT’s Jewel?!?” when her new song Intuition came out. Very un-Jewel sounding. Just as Prince or Madonna have reinvented their image (many times over), she’s just entered her next phase. Some say she’s sold out; I’ll just say that she’s changed. And, I have to say that it was a shrewd business move for her to license use of Intuition as the background music for the new Schick “Intuition” razor.
• Think that you have a cool job? How does it compare to Chuck Cramer’s? Who’s he? A lab technician for Underwriter’s Laboratory. Just how cool is his job? See for yourself.
• I found this in . It made me laugh.
• Frozen mocha + 9:30 PM = Being awake far later into the morning than one would intend.
• Hmm. Sugar Ray’s new song, Mr. Bartender (It’s So Easy), apparently uses the hook from Midnight Star’s No Parking on the Dance Floor. And what’s up with Mark McGrath’s new hairdo? He looks like an over-bleached Rob Thomas.
• And, another one: Jennifer Lopez’ new video for I’m Glad looks like a bad hybrid of Flashdance and the video to Paula Abdul’s Coldhearted Snake.
• UPN will be airing a new series “…which is best described as a sitcom spoofing Tron.” *shiver*
• Ink More Expensive than Champagne
• Gesture Control for Automotive Peripherals

Quote of the Day

• Excerpted from a conversation with :
  

  [00:18] : So says I can’t be black.
  [00:18] : *shrug*
  [00:18] : Who am I to argue with Sistah Girl?

• During tonight’s post-dinner conversation, Jess admitted that she got lost in the southern Utah town of La Verkin. (Yes, that’s the town’s name. *shrug*) For the record: La Verkin is tiny. Dinky. Less than a square mile in area.
  

  Jess: I got lost in La Verkin.
  Land: You are pathetic!

Namaste.

Wednesday
As I’ve been posting throughout the day, I’ll just wrap up by saying that it was a good day. And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

Song of the Day
Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer, from the Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack

Stray Toasters

• “Welcome to the fold…” to
• Actual headline from a Japanese newspaper: Super hero uses perverted powers, then transforms into invisible man
• Does anyone remember – not too long ago – when movies were about the story and the characters and not the merchandising and product placement? Me either.
• S. Epatha Merkerson, from Law & Order, reminds me of a former manager of mine back home.
• A Joy dishwashing detergent commercial featuring a woman talking to an animated drop of Joy came on a little while ago. The ‘drop was talking about it’s long-lasting scent: “I call it ‘Aromatic Release.’” Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!? “Long-lasting scent?” “Aromatic Release?” What were the folks in the marketing department thinking when they came up with this one? If only someone in that meeting had said:“Um… I don’t know about that. No, really… I mean… it sounds like it’s talking about farting,” I’m pretty sure that they would have come up with another phrase for it. *shrug*
• Telemarketers’ Revenge
• After seeing this item (National Geographic is displeased that the upcoming Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ignores its Arabic origins), and I got into a discussion of how companies have adapted/taken liberties with stories when they bring them to the big screen. Politcal correctness, go figure. We seemed to focus on the liberties that Disney has taken in adapting fairy tales and other stories into feature films. (Grimm’s Fairy Tales, for example, were not very pretty or wholesome, overall….) She informed me of an injunction that California PTAs had brought against Disney after Pocahontas was released. It seems that kids were upset that Pocahontas didn’t go to England with John Smith… ostensibly, to live “happily ever after.” The injunction prevents Disney from making any further animated films based on historic event.
• Willam Shatner was on The Late Late Show tonight. Starfleet’s favorite rogue captain himself.
  Hearing him say “Hey, baby…” Hilarious.
  Seeing him try – unsuccessfully – to blow a bubble (gum), as an example of the way that he would try to meet girls when he was in grade school: Priceless.

Quote of the Day
This came from tonight’s episode of The Drew Carey Show. Drew and the gang were competing in a karaoke contest. Oswald (Diedrich Bader) and Lewis (Ryan Stiles) were singing as a duo… but Oswald kept crying every time they would get onstage. This led to a discussion about things that he could do to keep from breaking down the next time that they performed. Which led to Lewis breaking out with this little gem:

I never had a problem with my dad spanking me. I just looked at him and said “Work the other cheek… it’s lonely.”

He never spanked me again. He didn’t talk to me much after that, either…

Namaste.

[13:41] : I have watched many of your movies
[13:41] : I am now Black
[13:41] : You must refer to me as “Sistah Girl”
[13:42] : 😉
[13:43] : ::: FLOOR :::
[13:43] : Okay.
[13:43] : I can handle that.
[13:43] : and you are brothah man
[13:44] : and Brad is the Man
[13:44] : and Pedro’s already a minority, so he doesn’t matter 😉
[13:44] : *cracks up*
[13:45] : how’s work? 🙂
[13:46] : Pretty good, so far.
[13:46] : swank
[13:48] : I mean
[13:48] : Right on

: Yellow jeep!
(An old Jeep Renegade just went past my office window)

I win.

< rant >

The building that our office and warehouse is in has five businesses in it, including ours. We are the first suite in the building. If you pull into the parking lot and enter the first door that you come to, you’re in our storefront. We have a small sign on our door with our name on it. It’s a simple (and fairly common) way to let people know who we are… and more importantly, who we are not.

One of the offices/stores in this building is called “Appliance Parts.” They sell, oddly enough, parts for appliances. Go figure. They are three doors down from us. They have a fairly large sign on the building, over their door. It’s red. It’s glossy. It has their name on it.

The two businesses between us – and the one on the far end of the building – also have signs on and/or above their doors.

You would not believe the number of people that come into our shop and ask if we’re Appliance Parts. Did I mention the red, glossy sign already? In fact, one just came in a couple of minutes ago.

Tuesday
Today was a quiet day. And, it was a semi-productive one, as well.

After work, went for a ride around the valley. It was nice to do something different… and to simply not be in the apartment.

And aside from that… there isn’t much to tell.

NPR Stories

• Talk of the Nation: Identifying MIAs
• Talk of the Nation: Music File Sharing
• Police Officer Fired for Smoking
• All Things Considered: Employment Law
• All Things Considered: Bruce Cockburn – New Music from an Indie Stalwart

Song of the Day

• Underground by Ben Folds Five
• Underground by David Bowie, from the movie Labyrinth

Stray Toasters

• Robert sent me this today. It made me laugh.
• From Slashdot: Dreamworks, Sinbad & Linux
• And, while on the topic of Linux, it seems that one Bill Gates was interviewed by USAToday. He talked about Linux basically being a non-threat… in a David and Goliath kind of way. Where’s that sling…?
• How secure is your privacy if you’re an eBay seller? You might be surprised. Read this for more information.
• Shake, shake, shake, Senora….
• Thanks to an ex-coworker and friends of hers, my corpse was found. Umm.. my EverCrack EverQuest corpse, that is. Not only did they find it, they dragged it from the bottom of the sewers (and away from undead, water-dwelling creatures) to a place where it was safe for me to retrieve my belongings. I am now free to roam the lands of Norrath… and try not to drown/get attacked underwater again.
• I had a nice chat with The LJer Occasionally Known as this afternoon.
• Why did the theme from The A-Team just pop into my head?
• Cats. (the mammals, not the musical)
• Jonny Quest. The original series. On Boomerang. GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::

He pushed his chair back from the table. It scuffed along the floor. He smiled… no. Not quite. He smirked. He looked at the faces around the table, catching the gaze of all who were sitting there. As he stood, the smirk crept across his lips until it was a thin and tight-lipped smile. It was a smile that hid secrets. Something dark. With a nod, to those at the table, he turned and crossed the room. Their eyes followed him; it was almost a compulsion. He reached for the doorknob, but stopped just before touching it. He turned towards the table, but not completely facing it. “Good night… and safe journey to you,” he said. He opened the door and exited quietly.

Namaste.

Monday
Definitely the start of another week. I really can’t complain too much – the day was nowhere near as bad as Friday. I found out that I was still overcomplicating things in my program. Not a problem. I can adjust and rework it.

Gamenight! It was more an abortive attempt at gaming than anything else. But, hanging out with , , and the Lady Spydr was cool. We tried to get into the gaming spirit, but it just wasn’t happening.

NPR Stories

• All Things Considered: Remembering Katherine Hepburn
• All Things Considered: Computer Security Tips
• Talk of the Nation: The Art of Writing a Good Biography
• Talk of the Nation: Katherine Hepburn

Song of the Day
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Henry Mancini

Stray Toasters

• I received a few text messages this evening, but since the LJ servers do not consistently add the sender’s name (even though there’s an entry for it), I have no idea who sent them. But, I did want to acknowledge that I did receive them.
• RealVNC GOOOD!!! ::: gesture :::
• From come the following:
  

  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/freakinbrothers.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/starwarsdirectorscut.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/blakesautobody.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/reptileattack.wmv
  http://www.rock103.com/crew/vids/mastercard-jcdc.wmv

• “You know, the nearer your destination, the more you’re slip sliding away…”
• This afternoon, I chatted with a couple of people whom I haven’t seen in a LONG time. It was good to catch up with what’s been going on with them.
• Pistol… check!
  Whip…. check!
  Fedora…. check!
  ::: cue theme music :::
  According to this, it seems as though the intrepid Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. (better known to audiences as “Indiana” Jones) will return to theatres in 2005.

• “No, this isn’t Appliance Parts.” *twitch*
• There are a few things that make living in Utah amusing, if nothing else. Polygamy Porter is one of them. As the slogan says,”Why have just one.”

Namaste.