Random Access

Thursday : 09 March 2006
Another No Bad News Thursday is done.

Aside from the snow storm that moved through the area this morning/afternoon, it’s been a rather calm day. Work was good; there were no fires to put out and the monkeys were calm. The lunchtime workout was good, too; we focused on shoulders. I have a suspicion that I’ll feel the effects of the workout tomorrow.

The evening was rather quiet: CSI and Without a Trace with , who is recovering from whatever stomach gamboo seems to be going around of late. Both of the episodes were good.

Stray Toasters

• Guess who’s not only out of experience debt, but less than 15,000 points away from Security Level 30. Mm-hmm, that’s right! Ran a short mission and came out debt-free. Now, about that remaining 15K…
• Flashback: Microsoft’s First Web Page
• 
• I’m craving doughnuts. Dunkin Donuts. Or Munchkins! (Dunkin Donuts’ donut holes)
• “I have finally mastered the ancient Chinese art of Flowing Wind.”
  

I’m tapped.

Namaste.

Wednesday : 08 March 06
Three down, two to go. Not a bad Wednesday. Nothing to complain about from the work day or the post-work day. I consider that to be a “good” thing.

The High-Flying Adventures of Indigo Bolt –
In an effort to get rid of that pesky 37,000 points of experience debt that I had accrued, I went on patrol in Paragon City. I met up with a friend and we beat in the heads of some of Paragon’s less-than-upstanding citizens. After he logged off, I joined another team and fought against the Banished Pantheon. We fought well and took them down without too much ado. When that team broke up, a couple of us decided to take on a few more missions. By the time I left Paragon City, I was down to 1,700 points of experience debt and less than 30,000 points away from my dress uniform… I mean “Security Level 30.”

Stray Toasters

• I haven’t accidentally typed “Stray Taoists” in a while.
• iPodMAME
• Since I’m a Star Trek buff (and since everyone else did it), I took the “Which Star Trek Character Are You?” Quiz.
  
  Your results:
  You are James T. Kirk (Captain)

  James T. Kirk (Captain) 75% Will Riker 65% Deanna Troi 60% Geordi LaForge 60% Uhura 55% Chekov 55% Worf 55% Jean-Luc Picard 50% Mr. Scott 40% Spock 39% Data 36% Mr. Sulu 35% Beverly Crusher 30% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 25% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 10%

  You are often exaggerated and over-the-top in your speech and expressions. You are a romantic at heart and a natural leader.

  
  Click here to take the “Which Star Trek character are you?” quiz…
  

• g0t porn? Thanks to a security leak of over 17 million iBill records, almost anyone else can find out.
• For the WoW kids: World of Warcraft… as a text adventure
• Chips and salsa.
• Hindu Muslim Catholic Creation Evolutionist
• A few of us at work are railroad buffs. We were talking last week about private passenger railcars and how much we thought it would take to buy one. The topic came up again today… so I checked.
  • Rail Merchants
  • Cabooses4Sale
  • Rail Industry
• Ebenezer gives insight into what goes on in the mind of every cat…
  

• Who turned Utah’s thermostat down again?
• Another coworker is a comic book fan, too. We were discussing the Newsarama article about Lex Luthor’s attire (quoted in Sunday’s entry), when he came up with the following:
  

  (4:27:34 PM) Matt: Is Luthor sewing this stuff himself? He can’t be renting it from somewhere, I suppose. Somewhere in that battle armor is a little sewing kit. One of these days Frank Quitely is going to treat us to the sight of Luthor deftfully stitching his costume together, sitting demurely in a rocking chair, and humming ABBA tunes.

  Naturally, that led to other thoughts on the matter…

  [13:46] I was thinking about what you said about Lex sitting around the house, working on his costume and realized that you had the makings for a sitcom: “Life with Luthor” (or “Life with Lex”)
  [13:47] Lex: “MEERRRRCYYYYYY! Have you seen the polish for my battle armor!?!?!”
  [13:47] Mercy Graves: “Oh, Leeeeeeeex. It’s down in the workshop, on the shelf. Right where you left it.”
  [13:47] Lex: What?! *looks* Why… you’re right! Silly me.
  [13:47] *laughter*
  [13:48] Lex: “What would I do without you?”
  [13:48] *fade to black*

  …and…

  (1:45:57 PM) Matt: Sounds like Superman I. Miss Tessmacher!
  (1:46:20 PM) : True. But there would be NO Otis.
  (1:46:34 PM) Matt: Otis could be the neighbor kid who always comes over uninvited.
  (1:46:43 PM) : Oooh…. okay. I could go for that.
  (1:47:03 PM) Matt: Golly jeepers mither Luthor… that’s a nifty death ray you got there.
  (1:47:13 PM) : Don’t touch that!
  (1:47:17 PM) : *ZAP*
  (1:47:21 PM) : Uh-ohhhhhhhhhh.
  (1:47:27 PM) Matt: Lex! My azaleas!
  (1:47:35 PM) : BWAHAHAHAAH
  (1:47:58 PM) Matt: Comedy gold right there. I don’t know why they missed this direction with Smallville.
  (1:48:08 PM) : Mithter Luthor! Mithter Luthor! Wanna see my bran’ new bike?!
  (1:48:14 PM) : Why that’s a fine bike, Otis.
  (1:48:18 PM) : Here, let me see something.
  (1:48:24 PM) : *tinker tinker tinker*
  (1:48:29 PM) : Here, try it now.
  (1:48:38 PM) : *Otis steps on the bike*
  (1:48:57 PM) : *WHOOOOOSH* (as the bike soars hundreds of feet into the air)
  (1:49:04 PM) : *SPLAT*
  (1:49:10 PM) : Pesky neighborhood kids.
  (1:49:30 PM) : *sigh* MERRRRRRCYYYYYYY! Clean up on Aisle 7. Again.
  (1:49:34 PM) Matt: Don’t forget about the episode where that prick Kent and his wife come over for dinner.
  (1:49:44 PM) Matt: Plenty of awkward silences.
  (1:49:50 PM) Matt: The audiences love that kind of thing.
  (1:50:03 PM) : So, Clark… what have you been up to since we left Smallville?
  (1:50:09 PM) : Well, Lex…. I travel.
  (1:50:10 PM) : A lot.
  (1:50:15 PM) : Lois: A whole lot.
  (1:50:19 PM) Matt: Please, have some kryptonite Jell-O.
  (1:50:28 PM) Matt: I see you’ve brought a pie.
  (1:50:51 PM) : Sure did! It’s Ma’s Rhubarb pie recipe! Have some.
  (1:50:57 PM) : I. Hate. Rhubarb.
  (1:51:01 PM) : Oh.
  (1:51:07 PM) : *uncomfortable silence*
  (1:51:11 PM) : Um.
  (1:51:16 PM) : Well…. heh heh….
  (1:51:24 PM) : How about the Metropolis Stars!?
  (1:51:32 PM) : How about them? I’m thinking of selling them.
  (1:51:53 PM) : They’re a bunch of overpaid, underproducing, whiny gits.
  (1:52:08 PM) : Clark and Lois: Um…. heh heh. Right.
  (1:52:24 PM) : Clark: My! Look at the time. We’d love to stay but we…. um….
  (1:52:33 PM) : Lois: Oh! Right! I’d almost forgotten about that!
  (1:52:37 PM) Matt: I wonder which network should pick this up.
  (1:53:34 PM) Matt: With the demise of WB, where did Smallville land?
  (1:53:49 PM) : The CW
  (1:53:57 PM) : The new WB-UPN hybrid.
  (1:54:00 PM) Matt: Riiiiight.
  (1:54:02 PM) Matt: *shudders*
  (1:54:17 PM) Matt: Direct-to-video, then. Best thing for everyone.
  (1:54:38 PM) : Or HBO.
  (1:54:45 PM) : They’re a Time-Warner company.
  (1:55:03 PM) : Like almost everything else that isn’t Disney-owned.
  (1:55:19 PM) Matt: I thought Disney was a Coca-Cola company.
  (1:55:26 PM) : Newp.
  (1:55:26 PM) Matt: Or was that Westinghouse?
  (1:55:31 PM) : Westinghouse, I think.
  (1:56:18 PM) : Disney owns: ABC, ESPN, Tristar (I think), Buena Vista Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, ABC Family….
  (1:56:37 PM) Matt: And Tunisia.
  (1:56:42 PM) Matt: They got Tunisia recently.
  (1:56:57 PM) : And the Empire grows…
  (1:57:12 PM) Matt: Well then, a perfect match for Lex.

  …and…

  (10:09:21 AM) : Lex!? Did you take the garbage out?
  (10:09:52 AM) : No! I’m working on my latest evil scheme! I don’t have time to take out the trash! Get that neighbor kid, Otis, to do it!
  (10:10:14 AM) : Now, Lex… you know that you hamstrung him last week. He can’t do it.
  (10:10:40 AM) : Oh. Right. Hm. *mutter mutter* Fine. I’ll take it out.

  (12:12:27 PM) : I was thinking about this concept and realized that there are some villains with whom a sitcom format wouldn’t work.
  (12:12:32 PM) : The Joker, for example.
  (12:12:43 PM) Matt: How could a sitcom not work with the Joker!
  (12:12:55 PM) : Think about it.
  (12:13:01 PM) Matt: Joker’s In Charge!
  (12:13:08 PM) Matt: Leave It to Joker!
  (12:13:15 PM) : It could too easily turn into a slap-happy slapstick gagfest.
  (12:13:28 PM) : I think that it would be better handled as a melodrama.
  (12:13:37 PM) Matt: Well, you might have to sedate the Joker a little to get him down to sitcom level.
  (12:13:39 PM) : Oh. I got it….. SOAP Opera.
  (12:13:45 PM) : As the Joker Kills
  (12:13:57 PM) : Hope for the Joker
  (12:14:00 PM) : All My Jokers
  (12:14:11 PM) : Days of our Joker
  (12:14:34 PM) : Make him into a Pagliacci-like, maudlin figure
  (12:14:34 PM) Matt: Next week… is Harley seeing someone else?
  (12:14:57 PM) Matt: Hmmm…
  (12:15:13 PM) Matt: I think the Joker is more suited to host a game show.
  (12:15:19 PM) : …
  (12:15:21 PM) : Don’t go there.
  (12:15:24 PM) : Wait.
  (12:15:30 PM) : Maybe it could work…
  (12:15:35 PM) Matt: As long as the premise is to kill the audience every time…
  (12:15:37 PM) : Wheel…. of….. JOKERRRRRRRRR!
  (12:15:53 PM) : Even better: Kill a random member of the audience.
  (12:16:02 PM) : Everyone has to sign a waiver on the way in.
  (12:16:04 PM) Matt: Maybe one of those “Running Man”-style post-apocalyptic game shows where it’s okay to kill the contestants.
  (12:16:18 PM) Matt: Something that wouldn’t be out of place in Max Headroom’s universe.
  (12:16:27 PM) : *nod* Exactly.
  (12:16:36 PM) Matt: This is the Joker from the comic, though, right? Not Jack Nicholson.
  (12:16:42 PM) Matt: This is the *tall* Joker.
  (12:16:44 PM) : Get Max Headroom as the wacky assistant/sideman
  (12:16:46 PM) : Yes.
  (12:16:49 PM) : The classic joker.
  (12:17:01 PM) Matt: I’d pay a dollar to see that.
  (12:17:10 PM) Matt: But not in person.
  (12:17:15 PM) : Of course.
  (12:17:40 PM) : Although, there is the question of: Should the contestant/victim have a chance of getting out alive?
  (12:17:49 PM) : If so, it shouldn’t be easy
  (12:17:53 PM) : But possible.
  (12:17:58 PM) Matt: Only if Two-Face is producer.
  (12:18:06 PM) : Nice touch.
  (12:18:15 PM) : No…
  (12:18:18 PM) : Won’t work.
  (12:18:20 PM) Matt: The Joker might *forget* to kill the contestants now and then. Just because he’s crazy.
  (12:18:24 PM) : Two-face should have his own show.
  (12:18:35 PM) : Kind of like the old Incredible Hulk show.
  (12:18:42 PM) : He wanders from town to town.
  (12:18:53 PM) : You never know if he’s coming to help… or to kill.
  (12:19:02 PM) Matt: I’m still thinking of the game show concept.
  (12:19:08 PM) Matt: Welcome back to the second half of the show, everyone.
  (12:19:21 PM) Matt: The half where the contestants lose all the money they won in the first half.
  (12:19:40 PM) Matt: Wishing you’d saved that 50/50 lifeline now, eh?
  (12:19:44 PM) : HAH
  (2:25:53 PM) : Lex: Mercy…!?! Have you seen my gauntlet!?
  (2:26:00 PM) : Mercy Graves: Did you look behind the curio cabinet?
  (2:26:08 PM) : Lex: WHY would it be THERE?!?
  (2:26:26 PM) : Mercy: Because that’s where you threw it after you used it to blast a hole in the television!

• One of my Darkseid HeroClix has gone AWOL. I am not thrilled about that.

Quote of the Day

(2:08:55 PM) : Power cords/
(2:08:59 PM) : Need.
(2:09:02 PM) : Power.
(2:09:11 PM) : Corrrrrrrrrrrrddddddsssssssssssssss.
(2:09:13 PM) : *ahem*
(2:09:13 PM) : 🙂
(2:09:44 PM) : i’m so taking away your caffeine.
(2:16:04 PM) : NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
(2:24:12 PM) : Corrrrrrrrrrrrddddddsssssssssssssss.
(2:24:31 PM) : POWWWWWEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR Corrrrrrrrrrrrddddddsssssssssssssss.
(2:24:52 PM) : (not to be confused with “power chords” or “power corduroy”)
(3:42:38 PM) : power corn.
(3:42:47 PM) : Hm
(3:42:54 PM) : Interesting concept.
(3:45:38 PM) : expendable power source. the byproduct is popcorn.
(3:45:49 PM) : Genius.
(3:45:51 PM) : Pure.
(3:45:55 PM) : Unadulterated.
(3:45:57 PM) : Genius.
(3:45:59 PM) : … and cyanide.
(3:46:04 PM) : Even better.
(3:46:30 PM) : and butter. mmm. buttery cyanide kettle corn goodness.

Namaste.

I consider it a good omen when:

1. The Spirit of Radio is the first song on the radio during the morning commute.
2. Margaritaville comes on a few minutes later.
3. Jerk Out is the first thing that Winamp serves up when I get to work.

Rush, Jimmy Buffett and The Time. That’s a good way to start the day.

How is your Wednesday morning music sounding?

Tuesday : 07 March 2006
It was a fairly productive day at work. That’s a good thing. It was also a painful day. That’s not such a good thing. I went for a morning walk – in a pair of new shoes – and came back with painful soon-to-be blisters on the backs of my heels. It wasn’t fun. I’d worn the same pair of shoes a couple of days ago without any problem. So, it didn’t make sense for them to hurt as much as they did. Fortunately, today was also a gym day, so I had a pair of tennis shoes to change into. That helped quite a bit.

Tonight was Shadowrun night. I’m switching to the fourth edition rules, so , Chris and came over and converted their characters to the updated rules. (Of course, after we had done all of this, I stumbled across a conversion chart online. *sigh*) They’re all up to speed; is next. The new rules set the game about seven years past the time when my campaign had been set, so I hit the fast forward button. Dangling plot lines? Tied up. Non-player characters who had faded in and out of the group’s lives? For the most part, they’ve been accounted for. Next game: New story. And, we’ll be able to hit the ground… um… running.

I’m tapped, so I’m calling it a night here.

Namaste.

Monday : 06 March 2006
Today was pretty good, even for a Monday. I tackled a couple of problems at work that had been hanging around. That felt good. I also got a favorable response/green light to a project that I want to try. That felt pretty good, too.

Tonight, was D&D night at ‘. No one died. Well, no one in our group… although ‘s character gave it the old college try. Even though we got a late start, it was a fun session.

Stray Toasters

• My mother occasionally sends me “Daily Thought” emails. It’s sweet. I really liked the one that she sent today:
  

  “All grown-ups were once children. (But few of them remember it).”
  –Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• pointed me in the direction of The Juggernaut, Bitch! It was both wrong and funny, on so many levels.
• Survey of telecommuters’ not-so-secret habits
• “Why on Earth do you need to build a space station? Explain this.”
  “Why off Earth, actually. That’s the beauty of this! It’s perfect.”
  

• Top 10 Strangest LEGO Creations
• From the “Horrible Title, but Cool Article” file: Origami artists use a little elbow crease
• Dark Portrait of a ‘Painter of Light’
• Istanbul was Constantinople
  Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
  Been a long time gone
  Old Constantinople’s still has Turkish delight
  On a moonlight night

• – This I Believe: The People Who Love You When No One Else Will
• It looks as if they are still trying to move forward with a fourth Indiana Jones movie. Hrm.

Namaste.

I just rebooted my work computer. I usually start my Eudora and open an instance of Firefox when I restart my system(s), both at home and at work. In that order. Almost every time (99.98% of the time). Even if I’m not actively using them, they are the first two programs opened… unless I’m playing one of the City games, then Eudora and Firefox (and pretty much any/everything else) can go to Hell. From there, I usually open anything else as I need it.

<groove>
     Will Smith – I Wish I Made That / Swagga
</groove>

What’s on your player?

Sunday : 05 Sunday 2006
Today started as a lazy day. Then there came preparations for…

Oscar Party 2006 at Steve and John’s. Once again, I’ll say: “These guys throw the Best Oscar parties.” I think that John said that there were roughly 100 people there. And “there” has changed a lot since the last time that I visited: They have completely redone the walls and ceilings in a couple of the rooms (one room took 14 coats of paint!) and the effect is simply astounding. And the back yard… Wow. Plenty of food and drink. Our table had a fun group of people at it, which made the event fun. As a added bonus, I got to see a few people from the REC with whom I had lost touch; that was cool. And, I even won one of the post-party prize baskets; it wasn’t one for the most number of correct Oscar guesses, it was one of the “raffle” ones. But, I still won one. And that’s pretty cool to me.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with both my dad and my uncle today. Both are doing well.
• The Simpsons come to life – Live-action Simpsons
• While reading Newsarama’s “Crisis Counseling” article for Infinite Crisis #5, I saw this comment that made me laugh. It was about Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who left a Mass-like service of most of DC’s heroes:
  

  Q: Why did Hal Jordan take off before the Amen, though?

  A: Good question. Hals a complex cookie, especially since his return to this world. But lets consider he went mad and killed a lot of his friends (so you could argue that he still has some guilt about it and doesn’t feel like he belongs in a house of God); he served as the host for the Spectre, which gave him a rather intimate look at the workings of Gods mysterious ways as he exacted justice (which is probably akin to liking sausage, but then not liking it after you see how its made); or heck, maybe he had to pee.

  …and then there was this quip about Lex Luthor’ fashion sense:

  Q: Uh, Luthor’s duds?

  A: Yeah apparently, hes only a super genius in certain areas, and fashion is not one of them. Sure, sure, putting Luthor in the purple and green is a nod back to the Silver Age stuff, and Luthor’s original bad guy costume, but jeez. Could we have seen the moment where Luthor was constructing his suit, thinking, Green unitard, purple overshirt, high collar, straps across chest.GENIUS! (that last part is really a lot funnier if you say it out loud, getting more excited as you go, and then kind of sing “GEEEEN-IUS!”. Trust us.)

• Adult Gamers and Their Ulterior Motives for Gaming
• New Avengers: Illuminati Sneak Preview
• 
• No Backdoor to Windows Vista
• Battlestar Galactica set visit with Mary McDonnell
• By way of Wired: The Best: Accidental Discoveries

And with that, the curtain goes down.

Namaste.

Saturday : 04 March 2006
I slept in this morning and when I awakened, Presto was sitting at the side of the bed. Staring at me. I wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed, so I motioned for her to jump onto the bed… which she did. With the quickness. She sat there and kept me company for a few minutes.

After collecting some four-color shwag and getting a bite to eat at Jitterbug, it was off to Ogden with . The first stop was to help her look for a car. Fairly painless task. She found one that spoke to her fairly quickly.

From there, it was on to Union Station to see the HMRRC Train Festival 2006. It was basically the same show as the one at Thanksgiving Point, but a lot more spread out. I picked up a HO-scale state boxcar for North Carolina. got me a couple of N-scale C&O Railroad cars. They had relegated the LEGO train system to an upstairs room. It was laid out a little differently than before, but it was still very cool. I took a few pictures of the set; I’ll post them soon. On the whole, I liked Union Station and want to go back (minus the crowd) and explore its museum and “rail yard” when I am not constrained by time limits.

Next: Mecca. I mean “The Bookshelf.” I found a few pieces of plastic crack to appease me, but not nearly as many as I was expecting to find. Oh, well… not the end of the world. Everything went pretty smoothly until I was ready to check out. The clerk almost double-charged me for a few ‘Clix. Those I caught and she voided and re-entered them. She did wind up double-charging me for a book; that one I didn’t catch until after she had run my card. *braincramp* Rather than have her void and re-ring everything, I just took the difference in a store credit.

Back to SLC to get ready for a couple of get-togethers. We hit the parties and had a good time at both. I saw a couple of people at each party whom I hadn’t seen in a while. (Note: might have a future as a bellydancer. That’s all I’m sayin’ about that…) We noted how different the two were, but that both were fun. Thanks to the hosts of both for their hospitality.

Quote of the Day
While at Jitterbug, we met June and Roger, a couple of regulars there. At one point June started talking about the degree that Roger had and that she had wanted to pursue a certain field, but that the mathematics that were required were a bit over her head:

“They started talking about ‘imaginary numbers.’ I’m a woman; imaginary numbers, to me, are: 36-24-36.”

Namaste.

Friday : 03 March 2006
The end of the week.

I spent part of the work day doing *gasp* manual labor (sort of) and the rest of it troubleshooting. I was productive with both things – in each case I identified problems and went about solving them. I still have a little bit of the troubleshooting to deal with, but I should be able to wrap it up nicely on Monday.

I hung out at Borders for a bit after work, pre-Clitorati. I got in a couple of sketches. I really need to be more consistent in setting aside time to draw… I was happy with one sketch and see where I could stand some improvement with the other. People started showing up around 7:00. We had a good group, although not quite as large as the past couple of weeks. Nevertheless, it was good company. ( and , you need to visit soon and join in the frolicking.) I spent some of my time going over some of the new rules in the Shadowrun sourcebook. Plenty of changes, but I think that they will actually enhance the gaming experience. I also informed , and Chris that I’m taking GM’s license and hitting the fast forward button in the campaign: I’m tying up a couple of old plots, moving them ahead a few years (to the timeframe of the fourth edition) and picking up the current storyline, in progress, in the new timeframe. They didn’t seem to mind.

Tomorrow: Train show and a visit to Mecca. *genuflect*

Stray Toasters

• I own a copy of Dragon Magazine Archives, from the company formerly known as “TSR.” I got it a few years ago from a comic shop that I used to frequent (they have since then gone out of business). I got it for a really good deal. The CDs are no longer in production. Every once in a while, I’ll look around the Interweb to see how much it is selling for. Today, I saw it going for $183.75. Wow.
• 
• almost made me snort garlic mashed potatoes tonight at dinner. That would have been interesting.
• Unintentional Porn Overheard at Work: “I grabbed it and it came out…. and it stopped before I was ready to stop.”
• Things To Shoot

That’s it for now.

Namaste.

Thursday : 02 March 2006
A good Thursday, indeed.

The workday was good and it came without any fires or wanting to banish anyone to the far side of Jupiter. I stopped in the SLC office to pick up a couple of things… and wound up with a lot more than I had intended. It was like Christmas in March. The sad thing is that I wound up requesting even more stuff, later in the day. Oh, well… nature of the beast, I guess. We skipped today’s lunchtime workout, so Tuesday’s workout will be a lot of “Yep, we haven’t been here in a week” fun. Bring on the liniment!

Tonight, I had dinner with . We gabbed for a while and then headed to her place for a bit where we hung out with , and BabyArmadillo42. We started watching River’s Edge. Odd movie. But, it had Crispin Glover, Dennis Hopper and Keanu Reeves in it… so what do you expect? In an amusing turn, I picked up my Schoolhouse Rock! CD set from while I was there. The CD set that I was positive was here at the house. So much so that I had been looking all over for it, because “…it [had] to be in the (fill-in-the-room).” It made me laugh to discover that I had completely forgotten that I had loaned it to him.

Stray Toasters

• I know that it will be a definite “Please disable/turn off/remove brain before entering” affair, but I kind of want to see Ultraviolet.
• Bring on the Bad Guys – “What would comics be without supervillains to make us worry for the hero’s well-being?”
• …and with that in mind: “I tell ya, hombre… it just ain’t easy being a supervillain.” –
• 
• Disney Main Street built from LEGO bricks
• : I still like “Conjunction Junk-Jen” and “Jenetic Defect.”
• – The Diane Rehm Show: Michelle Singletary: Your Money and Your Man
  I listened to this on the way to work. It was a really good segment on financial planning. Michelle Singletary was funny and personable, yet still imparted some rather solid information. I know that Diane Rehm’s voice doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I recommend listening to this segment.

• Steampunk + Transformers = ???
• Do you ride public transportation in Orange County, California? If so, you might want to read about how a young lady was given a citation on a bus… because she was listening to her iPod.
• : Long-lost Penn and Teller videogame available for download
• Marvel Comics has been setting up a storyline – spanning a few titles – in which the Black Panther is looking for a bride. Storm, of the X-Men, has been touted as the odds-on favorite to become the Queen of Wakanda. I’ve known about this for months. However, it took reading this blurb…
  

  “‘Bride of the Panther,’ Part 1 of 5. Every King needs a Queen — and that’s exactly what the Black Panther is searching for! Hop on board here, True Believer, as the King of Wakanda embarks on an epic quest to find a wife — the outcome of which will send reverberations throughout the whole Marvel Universe.”

  …for me to think of it in terms of Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America… and it made me laugh.

• So What Really Happens When You Shoot Yourself With a Stun Gun?
• Used animatronic prop animals for sale
• “Something tells me that I’ll never be ready, but let’s get on with it…”
  

Namaste.

Wednesday : 01 March 2006
Midweek and all’s well.

Work was good today. No monkeys were punched and there were no fires to put out. Those are the definite signs of “a good day” at work.

Tonight brought the Call of Cthulhu game at ‘. We fought. We lived. (We went a little insane… but some of us got nominally better.) All-in-all, it looks as though we’re heading for a pretty big fight next game session. In the words of Quantum Leap‘s Dr. Sam Beckett: “Oh, boy…” I was apparently far more tired than I thought tonight – I found myself drifting off towards the end of the Cthulhu game. More than once.

Stray Toasters
::: closed for remodeling :::
(Check back tomorrow.)

Namaste.

<audio stimulation>
     Bone Thugs & Harmony (ft. Henry Rollins and Flea) – War
     Rush – Crossroads
     Cruxshadows – Binary
</audio stimulation>

Groove. Boogie. Sway.

What does your morning playlist look like?

Tuesday : 28 February 2006
Sleet. There was actual, honest-to-goodness sleet in the air – and on the ground – this afternoon. A lot of it, too. When I saw the sky this morning, I braced for the possibility of either rain or snow. Sleet never even entered the realm of possibility. That’ll teach me.

This morning, I called my… hm… he pretty much falls into the “uncle” category, as far as extended family goes. My “aunt,” his wife, was my (and my sibs and my childhood friends’) babysitter. But, like I said: They’re family. Always have been, always will be. But, enough of the digression… His birthday is on 29 February, but since there won’t be one of those this year, I figured that I’d catch him while it was still “February.” Even better: I completely surprised him. He even said that it made his day… which put a very large smile on my face. The three of us talked for about ten minutes. It was good to connect with them.

The rest of the evening has been pretty quiet and relaxing.

Stray Toasters

• I have a bag chock full o’ LEGO bricks, thanks to my friend, Chris.
  (I just noticed that there are LEGO Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul figures in there, too.)

• Adjective Girl versus the Stupid Ugly Dumbheads
• Smithsonian Preparing for Hip-Hop Exhibit
• This comic made me smile:
• : I liked that song. Thanks!
• Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Directory – You can learn the correct pronunciation and meanings of musical terms here.
• You may remember the Sony Bravia ad where they dropped 250,000 ‘superballs’ down San Francisco streets.
  Apparently, a bunch of Battlefield 2 players remembered it, too. Check it out.

• What are the lessons of MMORPGs today?
• Scrubs. I had forgotten how much I enjoy it.
• Dear Lord… I just saw a Pizza Hut commercial with Jessica Simpson. “Performing” her version of These Boots Were Made for Walking as she serves up a hot and fresh pizza. Fortunately, they saved the commercial at the end with cameos by Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.
• : Click the image for a preview of Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #16
  

• This is the story of two sisters: Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell.
  These are the Tates.
  And these are the Campbells.
  And this is… Soap!

• Do you think that MS Paint is pretty useless? Take a look at this; you might reconsider your opinion.
• “Ethan, your mind has brought professional psychiatrists to tears.”
  

Namaste.