Random Access

Monday : 09 January 06
Today was a Monday. Not manic. Not a “Rainy days and…” Just a Monday.

I set about finishing up something that I had started on Friday. I had figured to have it done around 10 A.M. That may have been the case in a perfect world. Since we aren’t quite there, yet… I was working well past 10 A.M. on it. So far past it, in fact, that I am still not done with it. *sigh* But, I did get it close to the finishing point. I should have about an hour or so left to work on it tomorrow.

Tonight was ‘ D&D game. Yes, we just played last week; but this will be it’s normal schedule, opposite the Cthulhu game. No one in our group died. It was an all-around good session and people seemed to be in good spirits.

Tomorrow night: Shadowrun. Because nothing says love like sending half of Seattle’s Lone Star contingent after your players.

Stray Toasters

• I feel kind of slow on the draw for only recently discovering the links between Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice and Frank L. Herbert’s Dune.
• “The Devil dolphin made me do it.”
• – Disney lets girl into Winnie’s world
• {{{ hug }}} for (Zig-a-zig-AH!)
• SciFi announces Dark Kingdom
• “A rough guide to the state of the Internet, circa 2006” –
• Thanks to those of you who put in your 2¢ for Building a Better Human.
• Books bound in human skin
• – This I Believe: When Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary Things
• “What would it take to get you to date my sister again?”
  

• 10 mph
• I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to stick quarters in the cats at 2 A.M., but I’d like to meet them and give them what-for.
• Just a spoonful of sugar
  Helps the medicine go down…
  In the most delightful way!

• Five-year-old gets drunk at Applebee’s
  This puts an entirely different spin on their “Feeling good in the neighborhood” campaign.

• Underworld #1 sneak preview
• LEGO + Star Wars = This

That’s close enough for jazz.

Namaste.

Just when you thought that the post was over….

I just had a horribly geeky thought.

I have five ‘Mechs from WizKids’ MechWarrior game on my XBox… next to about 30 HeroClix on my satellite receiver.

I looked at the ‘Mechs… then looked at the ‘Clix and wondered how difficult it would be to adapt the game systems for a “Who would win” battle.

*shakes head*

I am pretty sure that means that I’m long overdue for a visit to The Dreaming.

<groove>
      – Yoko Kanno & Seatbelts – Tank!
      – Snoop Dogg – Undercover Funk
      – Black Eyed Peas – Let’s Get It Started
</groove>

How are you setting off your Monday?

(And if you haven’t checked out the Building a Better Human poll, shake a leg.)

Sunday : 08 January 06
I slept in again today. Way in. Noon. And I only woke up then because my phone rang.

After dealing with the necessary hygiene rituals, I helped to lobotomize her PC. It’s amazing how a clean Windows installation can eliminate a multitude of sins. That was followed by driver and program installations. When all was said and done, her iPod decided that it would charge from her system after all.

I headed over to ‘s to hang out and to watch the Steelers and the Bengals square off. I was hoping for a Bengals win – partly because Marvin Lewis was a former defensive coach for the Ravens and partly because I get enough guff from my uncle and Bret about how great the Steelers are. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. The Bengals looked like they were going to do some damage… and then decided to call it a game… at halftime. Ben Roethlisburger and company dominated the second half. Dominated.

The rest of the evening has been quiet and relaxing. And that is not a bad way to wind up a weekend.

Stray Toasters

• My Palm Pilot has returned to the land of the living!!!
• Thank you to Ms. for the Dragonology calendar!
• Batman was on ABC Family tonight. I haven’t seen the opening of the movie since… probably since the movie was in theatrical release. I heard the opening theme and came to a realization: Warner Brothers used the movie theme as the theme (or at least the basis of it) for Batman: The Animated Series. Yep… I’m smart. And observant, too!
• 50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod
• “There is beauty even in the darkest times.” –
• After realizing that I’m only two figures away from completing my Justice League ‘Clix set, I was looking at eBidet and seriously considering picking up the Manhunter and Flash ‘Clix.
• Along these lines, I find that I want to replace my Green Lantern icon. I was surfing for pictures when it finally dawned on me: I have a capture card and various episodes of Justice League/Justice League Unlimited on my hard drive. It’s not like it would be hard to capture a still image and use it. Yep, I’m smart.
• …and then there’s this, to be added to the Covet List.
• I love the members of my sibko. Adam sent me a series of text messages today, culminating with:
  

  “…it’s up to the big bro to look out for the little one, and I take my job very seriously.”

  Since I’m almost fifteen years older than him, I’m taking that to mean in terms of stature – he’s a few inches taller than me. Either way, it put a smile on my face.

• Oprah got snowed. Details here.
• I have a copy of Locomotion on my desk. I looked at it a moment ago and the next thing to pop into my head was the song by Little Eva (or Kylie Minogue, for the Gen Y’ers in the crowd).
• I am amused by the tagline for Marvel’s Nextwave: “Healing America by beating people up.”
• One humanoid escapee
  An android on the run
  Seeking freedom beneath
  A lonely desert sun

• I’ve been giving more thought to compiling my “Building a Better Human” CD. I have a lot of songs in mind to use, but I could use some suggestions on what to use – or even to add to the list.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Saturday : 07 January 06
I slept in this morning. It was sublime. While I recall having a couple of unusual dreams, I don’t remember what they were about. There’s something in the back of my head that’s telling me that it’s better not to remember the exact content.

invited me to a late breakfast with her and her boys. After breakfast and a couple of errands, we headed to Nickelcade. I didn’t play many games, but I did get in a game of air hockey. Selah. We hung out and caught an episode of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. I don’t think that I have been truly shocked by a cartoon in a long time. Until today. The episode was called “Seeing Red.” In it, Terence came up with an imaginary friend of his own, named “Red.” While trying to explain what he meant when he told Red to “smash” something, he defined it as:

“Kill! Destroy! Maim! Rape! Crush!

Waitaminute.

Did I…. actually hear him say… “Rape?!” *boggle* I thought that I might have misheard it until the same line came up again, a few minutes later. I was flabbergasted. Sure, it was said fairly quickly, but this is a kid’s cartoon, after all. Cartoons – from Looney Toons to Tom & Jerry – have long hidden little “Easter eggs” in their stories. But, as I said above: “This is a kid’s cartoon!” Amazing.

Tonight’s breakfast gathering was quiet and small, but good.

Stray Toasters

• I received a call from Adam this evening. Kind of random, but nevertheless good.
• I also got a call from my father – he was just calling to say “Hi.”
• While out today, I picked up one (and only one) piece of plastic crack: Superman (unique). Mine looks just like this, except that the “S” shield on his chest is black and red and the one on his cape is all black. This now means that I have Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman ‘Clix. DC’s Trinity. And, this also means: I have the classic (and animated) Justice League, with the notable exceptions of The Flash and Martian Manhunter.
• 1 – 2 – 3…
  4 – 5 – 6…
  7 – 8 – 9…
  10 – 11 – 12…
  Ladybugs twelve, at the Ladybug Picnic!

• Mushroom.
• The Simpsons: Behind the scenes of an episode
• From Universe Today comes What’s Up 2006 – 365 Days of Skywatching
  

  This is a FREE 407-page downloadable book containing What’s Up material for every day in 2006. You can download the book to your local computer, go to the day you like and print off the page to take outside with you nicely formatted. It’s also got tons of other material including general skywatching advice, equipment selection, and hundreds of beautiful photographs.

• Utah Theater Cancels Brokeback Mountain – I wish that I could say that I was surprised by this.
  (Thanks to for pointing this out.)

Friday : 06 January 06
It’s been a good day followed by a good evening…

…but I’m about to punt a certain iPod nano into next week.

*sigh*

It’s late and I am tired. I’ll deal with this later.

Namaste.

Thursday : 05 January 06
Another “No Bad News Thursday” comes and goes without incident. I wasn’t sure if last week was a fluke, but apparently working a short week doesn’t affect “NBNT” too adversely. I consider this a good thing. The work day was good. I didn’t go to the gym, though; I tweaked my right shoulder somehow on Wednesday and it didn’t quite feel up to the task of weightlifting.

One not-necessarily-amusing (but later thought to be) thing was: I bathed my desk in coffee this morning. I was reaching for something, tipped over my travel mug and two to two-and-a-half cups of liquid caffeination poured out over my desk. It was everywhere. On the “up” side of things, nothing was ruined nor did anything short out. And, my desk is probably the cleanest one in the office.

After work, I had dinner with . We considered catching a movie, but nothing looked overly appealing. So, it was off to the in-the-process-of-closing Nickelcade. *shakes fist* Instead, we opted to see if we could find something entertaining on TV.

Stray Toasters

• For the first time in a long time, I almost typed “Stray Taoists.”
• : I have your labels.
• Handheld Radar Scope detects people through concrete walls
• st00pid, monkey-squeezing Comcast! *shakes fist*
• Dinosaur! RRRRR!
• From Wired: My Bionic Quest for Bolèro
• A couple of weeks ago, PowWeb increased users’ disk space to 12 GB. Without raising their hosting fees.
• “Uh… well, I guess if everyone else has done it….” –
• Vehicle Design and the Physics of Traffic Safety (.pdf file)
• LEGO Group Unveils LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Robotics Toolset
• I need to pick up a catalog/schedule for Sundance. Soon.
• : Death Comes to Dillinger looks like something in which you might be interested.
• Jane, divided
  But I cant decided which side I’m on

• Concept vehicle: Dodge Tomahawk (additional info here)
  Take a Dodge Viper.
  Strip off everything but the wheels.
  Add handlebars.
  Go. Fast!

• Woman marries dolphin (Yes, you read that correctly.)
• After getting my hopes up about the upcoming JLU season, it seems as though the show won’t be back until Spring/Summer ’06. *twitch*

Namaste.

st00pid Comcast servers going down just before I was ready to post! *shakes fist*

Wednesday : 04 January 06
Today’s been a pretty good day.

Work wasn’t bad. The work day moved along at a nice pace. I skipped yesterday’s lunchtime workout; I made up for it today. I’m waiting to see how my shoulders feel tomorrow morning… I’m not anticipating a lot of happiness there. But, it was good to be in the gym after a week-and-a-half hiatus. I’m debating whether or not I’ll go tomorrow. I know that I should, if for no other reason than to get back on-schedule. We shall see.

Post-work was ‘ Call of Cthulhu game. In a surprising twist of fate, my character didn’t do his best impression of a bullet-catcher. Nor was he a chew-toy for a netherworld creature. Nor did he suffer from deceleration trauma. In fact, he suffered no injuries at all. Unless you count the hangover. But, that’s a slightly different story.

Stray Toasters

• I replaced the wired NIC in my laptop. The old one decided, sometime in the past few weeks, that it didn’t want to work anymore. Granted, I don’t need it when I’m at home – I have a wireless card for that – but I do go places where a wireless LAN isn’t available. So… new NIC. I almost had an issue with installing its drivers – it seems as though my laptop’s floppy drive has gone the way of the dodo. Fortunately, I was able to use ‘ system to copy the files to my flash drive. From there, installation was a piece of cake.
• Four things.
• Hey, : Check out the Wizard Exclusive Ultimate Clayface DC HeroClix
• Bunnies + Chess =
• : Meet the next two Legion-related HeroClix: Shadow Lass and Emerald Empress
• How to avoid the exhausting planning and preparation that goes into making a second date.
  

  Dear 37 Year-Old Guy Sitting Next to Me at the Coffee Shop Right Now Who is Clearly on a Blind Date:

  Forgive me for eavesdropping, but this is rather important. I am not the smoothest Steve McQueen on the planet, but my very basic inter-personal skills tell me that you are making a series of extremely obvious first date errors.

• Fork-Art
• By way of : Why Geeks and Nerds Are Worth It…
• M*A*S*H Quotes
• , and : Click here
• Southern Poverty Law Center   

Namaste.

<groove>
     The Ohio Players- Love Rollercoaster
</groove>

The original.
Mm-hmm… that’s right!

Tuesday : 03 January 06
Not much to report today:

• Work.
• Home.
• Nap.
• Law & Order: SVU
• Batman: The Animated Series

Tomorrow night is Cthulhu night. Nothing like battling the minions of Elder Gods to put a happy spin on the night.

Stray Toasters

• I like this whole “four-day work week” thing.
• Manic. And it’s not even Monday. Go figure.
• The twelve miners, who had been trapped following an explosion in a West Virginia mine, were rescued. This is good. I think that I pay attention to “trapped miner” stories because my grandfathers were miners. In West Virginia, no less.
  <edit>
       The above was believed true when I went to bed.
       It turns out that one miner was found alive; the other twelve were dead.
       Their families had been celebrating for three hours before they learned the truth.
  </edit>

• I started watching the Invader Zim ‘toons that Nyx gave me… months ago. Very good way to bring a smile to your face on a grey Monday Tuesday morning.
  

  Dib: This is me without fear… and a 62-pound hall pass.

• sent me a link to this video. It starts off slowly, but it’s rather funny.
• When the outside temperature rises, and the meaning is oh so clear
  One-thousand and one yellow daffodils begin to dance in front of you…. Oh, dear.
  Are they trying to tell you something?
  Are you missing that one final screw?
  You’re simply not in the pink, my dear.
  To be honest, you haven’t got a clue…

• From today’s “Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work” file: “He had big enough stones.”
• I like the Wizard of Oz theme of Blues Traveler’s Run Around video and it’s just a fun to watch.
  By the same token: Blind Melon’s No Rain: I know that the song drives a lot of people insane (especially when it gets stuck in their heads…), but I like it. And the video.

• Jon Favreau Updates on John Carter of Mars
• My Enemy, My Resolution
  

  For the New Year, I want villains.

  Realvillains. Old-school villains. Not anti-heroes, not misunderstoodcrusaders, not unfortunate lunatics. Power-mongers, that’s what I want.Warlords and evil tyrants. The type you could pummel and feel goodabout it.

• Unintentionally Goatse-esque finger ring
• : Storm in Winter
• R & B (as in “Rhythm & Blues”)
• Get set for a new Jackie Chan movie.
• From Real Tech News: Count your, er, Blessings: 5,198 OS Security Flaws You Weren’t Affected by Last Year

Namaste.

Monday : 02 January 2006
I slept in today. Apparently, I needed it. Shortly after I made my way to the HCC, called to extend an invitation to join him at Cafè Med for lunch; and I did.

That was followed with a trip to the local Best Buy – I needed to pick up some thermal compound so that I can put together my new system. I don’t know what made me think that going there today should go under the heading of “Good Idea.” Apparently, have of the residents of the mid-valley area thought that it was a good idea, too, because here were LOTS of people there. I found the thermal compound and nearly doubled over with laughter at how much they wanted for it. Instead, I picked up a pack of DVD-Rs for Perry (I had gotten him +R for Christmas… which his burner doesn’t use) and a copy of What Dreams May Come, one of my favorite movies. Back home, where I a couple of loads of laundry and started cleaning the HCC. It’s amazing how much more clutter one can generate when trying to clean a room. And I generated a lot.

Tonight was the first night of ‘ D&D campaign. I headed over a little early to create my character. The dice hated me. No love at all. I’d get one good roll for my statistics… and then a bunch of crap. *sigh* I finally came up with a set of stats that I could be happy with and moved on. The rest of the group showed up and we got our game on. I have also come to the realization that I no longer need to spend as much time as I do coming up with names for my characters. I can just name them all “Pincushion” and be done with it. It would be both a unique and appropriate name, apparently. While he didn’t die, my brand-spankin’-new character went back home with a few new scars that he will be able to tell his future children and grandchildren about.

Stray Toasters

• I rediscovered a song in my mp3 playlist today. That made me smile because I was Ivory Soap sure that I didn’t have the song.
• Check.
• posted a link to The Ultimate Showdown earlier. I clicked. I laughed.
• : Best Buy has all of the season boxed sets of Gilmore Girls on sale for $24.99 through the end of this week.
• While I enjoyed Rush Hour and The Family Man, I find myself worrying about X-Men 3. What’s the common thread? They were/are all directed by Brett Ratner.
• Having added Sam Cooke and Ray Charles CDs to my collection, I want to add some Luther Vandross to the mix.
• : I can’t attest to all of their pics, but you might want to check out Buzzscope Comics: Best of 2005.
• What is the plural of “cul-de-sac?”
• : Supergirl and more than 20 members of the LSH will be featured in an upcoming episode of Justice League Unlimited.
• Hunter.
• By way of Wired: Best and Worst [Tech] Punditry of 2005
• I have been fairly non-plussed about the upcoming Ultimate Avengers movie. I looked at the website this evening. I might have to check this out. It may be more interesting than I had originally thought.
• I need to replace my copy of TSR’s The G4 File: Guns, Gadgets and Getaway Gear. I haven’t seen my copy in a very long time.
• I also need to recover my copy of Caligula.
• : I don’t know if you have a Batcave of your own, but if so you might want shelves like these…
• One Jump Ahead from Disney’s Aladdin is a fun song.
• I know that Mary Chapin Carpenter is a country artist, but I like Saturday Night at the Twist and Shout, which she did with Beausoliel. I still feel about as guilty for liking it as I do for liking It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere.
• : Biker Scout and Speederbike Statue
• “…how did you manage to get your butt jammed backwards into a flowerpot?”
  

Okay… that’s a wrap. I had planned on being in bed and knocked out about forty minutes ago.

Namaste.

Sunday : 01 January 2006
First: Thanks to for hosting the “Out with the old, in with the new” festivities.

Today started with the Ravens-Browns game. , , Perry and Max came over to watch the game and hang out for a while. punked out on us, but Nox and I did penalty shots despite his absence. (I skipped two shots because I was cooking out and figured that sobriety was a good thing when dealing with fire.) After fighting with the destructions instructions, I got the grill put together last night. It wanted to be a little temperamental when I fired it up this afternoon, but a couple of adjustments and it was working just fine.

I worked on ‘s new computer for a bit. Mmm. Driver installations… After that she, Nox and I went out for a bite to eat. After dinner, we headed off in different directions: She and Nox to his place to hang out; me to ‘s to watch the Rams-Cowboys game.

Ravens Update

Baltimore at Cleveland
16 – 20
The Ravens traveled to Cleveland for another meeting of Browns 1.0 vs. Browns 2.0 The game started off well… and then descended into madness. The Ravens looked uncharacteristically strong in the first half. I have no idea where those guys went in the second half, though. I can’t even blame the referees for making bad calls. It’s like the Ravens just… checked out of the game at halftime. They allowed 14 unanswered points in the third quarter and couldn’t seem to find the end zone to save their lives. The season is now over and Baltimore ends it with a losing season. I still think that this is a good thing – they need some perspective on what it means to play the game as a team and not as a offense and a defense who happen to wear the same uniforms. One “positive” thing to come out of this is: While Baltimore and Cleveland’s records for the season are identical, the Ravens have a nominally better standing due to conference wins. Here’s hoping for a better 2006 season.

Stray Toasters

• My uncle called me this evening. He was rubbing in the fact that his beloved Steelers won… and that the Ravens lost. It made me laugh. What made me laugh even more is that he didn’t even talk directly to me – he passed the messages along through .
• How Different RPGs Define the GM’s Role
• and : Pop Candy – Q&A with Joss Whedon
• “You! You there! You’re a girl, right?”
  

• Part Captain America…
  Part Firestorm…
  Part… Vegas showgirl.
  Maybe it’s just me, but this costume could use a little work.

• Devo records kids’ album for Disney
• : Methinks that you might be interested in this.
• 
• : A Very Minor Moment
• By way of SciFi.com: Studios Unveil 2006 [Movie] Slates
• Futurismic fiction: A transgenic, corporate dystopia
• From PC World: The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years

Namaste.

Saturday : 31 December 2005
New Year’s Eve.
The last day of 2005.

Coda: 2005
May you have a happy, safe and prosperous 2006. All the best to you and yours.

Namaste.