Random Access

< groove>

• Chuck Berry – Johnny B. Goode
• Jim Croce – Don’t Mess Around With Jim
• US3 – Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)

< /groove>

Thursday – 30 November 2006
Another Thursday begins.  Hopefully, it will conform to NBN standards.

Yesterday was, on the whole, a good day.  I had a few moments of irritation with a coworker.  He said something that bothered me a bit.  I expressed my concern; I think I got the point across.  It put something of a damper on the latter part of the day, but it wasn’t insurmountable.

The day ended hanging out with and watching last week’s CSI:.  The Who‘s Roger Daltrey was a guest star, as was Barbara Bain, whom I most remember from Space:1999.  Interesting episode and Mr. Daltrey’s performance was quite good.

Stray Toasters

• The Making of a LEGO Brick
• By way of : Video Game Evolution
• *grblesnrkx*
• nofrag.com had a Battlefield 2142 photoshopping contest.  You can see the entries here.  Two words: “Tyrannosaurus Rex.”  That’s all I’m sayin’.
• From Slashdot: History Proves that Videogame Ads Are Awful
• 
• Pillows that look like giant anti-depressant pills
• , you might be interested in this: Open Classical Music Repository
• From the upcoming Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer – First Look: Fantasticar Flows Onto Film
• 

Up out.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 28 November 2006
Last night, I nodded off at my desk.  This morning, I ignored the alarm (okay, I turned it off…) and slept in for an additional hour.

Work wasn’t too bad.  There was only one monkey-related issue… which I dealt with fairly easily.  The signs of a pending issue with the same monkey reared its head, but I managed to deftly sidestep it.  Other than that, the rest of the day was a piece of cake.

Tonight, after a month-long hiatus, saw the return of the Shadowrun game.  The team met their contact and got under way.  They met with an NPC who gave them a potential lead.  Extra kudos to for some rather inspired roleplaying.  Next time, we will see where their newfound information leads them.

Stray Toasters

• I downloaded and installed the new Battlefield 2142 patch.  I can now play the game online and not get summarily rejected when I try to connect to game servers.  Hallelujah.
• Snow.  Whoop-de-fuck.
• Easy Throw-away Email Addresses, by way of slashdot
• From CNet: Why Do All Our Gadgets Break?
• Cranberry-Apple Juice.
• Gallery of Monster Toys
• From the “Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting” file: Bruce Lee theme park coming to China
• , this had your name all over it: Using tape to repair plane wing
• This would be a good place to stop.

Namaste.

Monday – 27 November 2006: (Coda)

Another week begins. This time, with snow! The day didn’t start with snow, but it definitely ended with it. And, you’d think that for a state whose license plates claim that it has “The Greatest Snow on Earth,” its citizens would have some idea of how to drive in inclement weather.

Nope, not so much.

And, the kicker: It wasn’t even snowing on the homebound commute. But, that didn’t stop the masses from driving at roughly 2/3 posted speed. The roads were wet, but it was well above freezing. Yet, we plodded along around 40 MPH. Yay. I’m sure that the Utah Council for Better Driving could provide some pointers.
On the plus side, tonight was D&D night. We didn’t die. And, while trying to get some information, I got to use my new favorite in-game interrogation method. If you have seen the new Casino Royale, you know the one I’m talking about; it was moderately effective, too. Now my character doesn’t have to worry about having a fire pit nearby whenever I’m trying to get an… uncooperative NPC to answer questions.

Stray Toasters

• Snow fell. I called my father. Once again, he told me that I could “keep [it] out here.” Then he told me that Baltimore is supposed to have temps in the 60s for the next few days. *sigh*
• For : Blobsquatches.
• For : Bollywood Star Mud Flaps
• For : Customized portrait of you as a zombie
• 2006 “10 Worst Toys” from W.A.T.C.H.
• Three-screen goodness. *bliss* I am still getting used to looking to the right (rather than left) for my secondary screen.
• Living on a lighted stage
  Approaches the unreal
  For those who think and feel
  In touch with some reality
  Beyond the gilded cage
• Gatorade.
• By way of Nyx…
  
• : Jim Shooter is returning to DC next summer. He will be working on a Legion title.

Namaste.

Monday – 27 November 2006
This has been a good weekend. It was nice to have four days of non-work to do pretty much whatever I wanted. I tried to take full advantage of that. This weekend’s post-Gluttony Day escapades included:

• Avoiding the early-morning shopping monkeys on Black Friday.
• Clitorati.
• Sleeping in… a bit.
• A trip to Mecca… I mean “The Bookshelf.”
• Saturday Night Fever Breakfast.
• Watching most of the Steelers-Ravens game. (Details below.)
• Relaxing.

Football Update

Pittsburgh at Baltimore
0 – 27
Hello, Rivalry Week #2. The Steelers, coming off a big come-from-behind victory against the Browns last week, went to Baltimore to stretch their win streak to two games.That’s a shame. Another team that didn’t know that the boys in purple and black are playing this season with a new fire. Both sides of the game were effective. The offensive moved the ball and put points on the board. The defense held the line… and put points on the board, too. And, they sacked Pitt QB Ben Roethlisburger NINE times. Can you say “Franchise Record,” boys and girls? I knew you could! Can you also say “9-2 season?” Very good! My ONE complaint about this game didn’t come from the players, coaches or even the refs. It came from whomever is the executive producer of CBS Sports’ football coverage. Granted, the game was lopsided, but I want to know what possessed him or her to decide to not air any more of the game… with nearly ten minutes left in the game?! If you were a fan of the Steelers or the Ravens, too bad. You got to watch the end of the Jacksonville-Buffalo game. Yes, it was a closer game, but that wasn’t what you tuned in to watch, was it? No. It wasn’t. And, what would have happened if – and we’re talking a case of the sun shining radiantly on a dog’s ass here – Pittsburgh had staged an amazing come back and threatened to win the game? “Oops. Sorry. You would have loved to have seen that, but you get this game instead! Isn’t that just as good?” *braincramp*
Carolina at Washington
13 – 17
The Panthers dropped this one to the Redskins. The game was close and it looked as though Carolina might pull off a come-from-behind win… until the Panthers’ last drive, when Jake Delhomme threw a pass that was picked off by Sean Taylor.Sorry, .
Arizona at Minnesota
26 – 31
Arizona blew into the Twin Cities looking to improve their 2-9 season. Unfortunately, the Vikings had other ideas. They send the Cards back to Tempe with a loss.Congrats,
Cincinnati at Cleveland
30 – 0
The Battle for Ohio.I was not looking forward to this game, as I like JANIE and ZEEKE. But, as the tagline from Highlander said: “There can be only one.” Congratulations, . Sorry, . (Of course, the fact that the Bengals are coached by former Ravens Defensive Coach Marvin Lewis didn’t hurt, in my book.)
Oakland at San Diego
14 – 21
California Games.This time, the Bolts blitzed the Raiders and put up 14 unanswered points in the 4th Quarter to take away a win. Sorry, .
Philadelphia at Indianapolis
21 – 45
The Donovan McNabb-less Eagles flew into the RCA Dome to take on Peyton Manning and the Colts.Indy dominated this game, from the get-go. Manning went 14/20 with 183 passing yards… more yards than all three Eagles passers combined (161 yards). The Colts’ run game was on, too: 239 yards to Philly’s 149. Sorry, .

Stray Toasters

• I am edging ‘Bolt ever closer to Security Level 47; I need a little under 300,000 XP to get there. Not too bad for a few days’ work, considering that it was a 3+ million point level… and copious amounts of XP debt accrued over the weekend.
• By way of : Sculpted Light Bra and Mixed Messages Bra
• I believe that I shall soon own Superman Returns…
• …as I shall similarly possess the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.
• Inka dinka doo
• I have inherited a/another 17″ LCD monitor. Intrepid is becoming more independent of ‘Nine. They do still share a keyboard and mouse, via KVM, though.
• Dave Cockrum passes away. (Newsarama article)
• Guy Noir, Private Eye
• : You may be interested in this: Glass Handgun Model
• I’ve seen ads for Love for the past few weeks and only knew that it had “something” to do with The Beatles. It turns out that it’s a new Cirque du Soliel show. Now, I’m curious.

And now for my next amazing feat: Off to work.

Namaste.

Friday – 24 November 2006
Welcome to Black Friday.

Kind of like Black Adam, but different.

And definitely not the same as the Black Plague… although I’m sure that a convincing argument could be made about how the swarms of monkeys hunting down “the best deals” is similiar to the packs of rats racing around Europa spreading disease. Or, there’s also Greg Dean’s take on it:

I, wanting no part of this particular disease, stayed in bed. And I was happy to do so. Not quite “…visions of sugar plums,” but warm and comfy beats freezing my ass off and wanting to punch monkeys in the face repeatedly. That’s sho’ nuff right! This isn’t to say that I haven’t been out. So far, I stopped at Dr. Volt’s to get my weekly dose of four-color goodness. And they are having a sale: 50% off on back issues. I loaded up on some old (80s) issues of Firestorm. This made me happy. I also swung into REI. Not so bad… of course, it was nearly 2:00, most of the insanity had faded.

Yesterday was a good day. I spent the early part of it trying to erase 170K of debt that I had accrued Wednesday night. I managed to get rid of some of it. After beating on bad guys for a couple of hours, I figured that it was time to get ready for dinner. Knowing that I am a holiday orphan, and invited me to join them – and ‘s family – for dinner. After observing the necessary hygiene rituals, I was up and out. I had a great time. Football, food and jokes at ‘s expense. How can you beat that combination? Post-dinner, I came back home and finished knocking out the rest of that XP debt.

Stray Toasters

• I like these: Livingstones. I wouldn’t mind having a few dozen.
• Tribbles! Okay, they aren’t really Tribbles, but they look damned close…
• Does this look like a giant, human-sized wok to anyone else besides me?
• Obi-Dave Kenobi and his little sword.
• Top Ten Girl Geeks, by way of CNet.
• < gluttony>
  Mmm. Steak burrito from Barbacoa.
  < /gluttony>
• Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV – Scathing musical look at the phenomenon (do DO do-do-do) of magnetic ribbons that made me laugh loudly. (some NSFW lyrics)
• The Top 10 Movie Spaceships, according to filmcritic.com.
• Do you like taking roadtrips? Do you wonder what it is that you should look for while traveling? Take a look at Roadside America maps.
• I’ve been listening to the soundtrack from Graffiti Bridge. This movie would have to go on the Cool World-Long Kiss Goodnight Scale, but – as is the case with many movies on there – it has a solid soundtrack. Besides, you can’t go wrong with Morris Day and The Time. And Mavis Staples. And Quincy Jones’ young protegè, Tevin Campbell.

And that’s it for now. Tonight: Clitorati.

Namaste.

Thursday – 23 November 2006
So far, I’ve talked with the parents and my uncle. All seems to be well in their respective parts of the country. I don’t know if I’ll catch anyone in the sibko, but I’ve talked with them recently and they were doing well… besides, the ‘rents gave me minor updates and everything sounded kosher.

I hope that you have a happy and safe holiday and that you enjoy the company of family and friends. For those of you on the road, in the air, on rail (and even on the water), may your travels be safe and uneventful.

Be well.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 November 2006
All in all, not a bad day. No big fires. Only one monkey-related issue… and it was minor.

Tomorrow is “Friday.” A few of us are commandeering a conference room – and a projector – at lunch and playing HALO/HALO2 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Because we can.

To those of you traveling to visit family and friends on Wednesday or Thursday: Travel safely, be well and best wishes to you and your families for the holidays.

Stray Toasters

• I received a surprise phone call from one of my cousins this afternoon. Out of the blue. Well, not entirely out of the blue – he was calling to wish me an early “Happy Thanksgiving.” We talked for a few minutes and caught up on a few things. We’ll probably talk again this weekend.
• Question for the cell phone users out there: Who is your cellular provider and what – good and bad- do you think of the service that you receive?
• One of my coworkers forwarded me a link to “How Superman Should Have Ended” this afternoon.  I had heard of this before, but never looked at it until today.  There is also an official How It Should Have Ended website.  I shall have to spend some time on there…
• – Cousins that are siblings, Identical twin sisters and mothers
• What’s the Problem with US High Schools?
  
  
• From woot.com: Winners’ Gallery – The Best of Contest 98
• Purdue Streams a Movie at 7.5 GB/sec
  Two words: “Go Boilers!”
• The Photography of Jim DeLutes
• Did someone order a beatdown? Because, I think these folks are about to bring one.
• Star Trek: The Animated Series is now available on DVD. No, I’m not making this up. It had a 22-episode run from September 1973 to fall of 1974. It continued the adventures of NCC-1701 U.S.S. Enterprise‘s original five-year mission. The ST: TOS cast reprised their roles on the show.

And that’s a wrap.

Namaste.

Tuesday – 21 November 2006
One down, two to go.

Monday was a pretty good day. It moved quickly. I had enough going on to keep me busy without too much downtime. And there was no monkey-riffic-ness to deal with… although I had a couple of near misses.

Post-work: Heroes. I like that show. Quite a bit, in fact, although, I was beginning to grow weary of the “Save the cheerleader, save the world” tagline. Well, they saved the cheerleader (did you somehow not expect this?)… so the world-saving should be along any episode now. Some of the glimpses of upcoming episodes – or maybe just the next one – looked interesting.

Stray Toasters

• I talked with Kris and my uncle last night. Both are well.
• For the football (college and/or pro) fans out there: Who is/are your favorite team(s )?
• I heard about the Michael Richards gaff (1, 2) yesterday. I also caught his apology on The Late Show with David Letterman last night. He seemed to meander a bit in his apology, going from personal statements of remorse to the war in Iraq… with only tenuous threads tying them together. I’m not saying that he isn’t/wasn’t sorry for what he did, but there was something… “off” about it, to me.
• : Can you translate this?
• Every time they stop u
  Change up like a sock
  Every time they try 2 clock u
  Tick more than they tock
• RIAA toilet paper. Nuff said.
• From the “Way Too Much Free Time” file: Knitted wooly cupcakes
• Everybody Wants to Pass as a Naked and Famous Cat and Rule the World
• Many people know who Stan “The Man” Lee is. For those who don’t, he was the driving force behind Marvel Comics in the 60s and 70s; he still holds a “Chairman Emeritus” position there… to some degree. You may have also seen him in various Marvel Comics-based movies in the past few years. If you’ve heard of Jack Chick and “Chick Tracts,” you might find this take on the Fantastic Four amusing.
• :
• Taco Bell Wants Your Playstation 3 Is this really a fair trade?

Duty calls. Up out.

Namaste.

Sunday – 19 November 2006
Back from Moab. It was good to get out of the SLC and Utah Valleys… finally. The change of scenery was nice. I didn’t do much, but that was part of the point. And that was just fine with me. , who had never been to Moab before, asked if she could tag along and did.  And off we went.  The weekend included:

• I drove through one of the sites where I did HVAC work with ‘s dad in 2004. The subdivision hadn’t been completed the last time I was there, so it was nice to see the finished product… even if only from the outside.
• Went to Moab Brewery and partook of wings, dusted fries and Black Raven Oatmeal Stout. Oh, so tasty. The OSU-Michigan game was on Saturday. OSU took it to the house. (Grats, .)
• Watched Comic Relief 2006.
• Fell asleep watching Comic Relief 2006.
• Found a coffeeshop/bookstore.  Acquired a cup of hot mocha goodness.
• Checked out a few of the shops on Main Street.
• Hiked into Moonflower Canyon, where I introduced how to the great American pastime of skipping rocks on water.
• Went back to Moab Brewery for more wings, fries and Black Raven.  This time, the NFL games were on.  I didn’t see the Hawks-Ravens game, but was kind enough to send me an update.
• Headed out of Moab and swung through the tiny… “town” (I guess)… of Thompson Springs.  The Thompson Motel  looked even more run-down than it did a couple of years ago.  There was a (poorly) handwritten sign near one of the rooms that said “Warning.  Hostal area.  Keep Out.”  That was all I needed to see: As far as I was concerned, that place was No Man’s Land.
• Drove in to Thompson Canyon a bit to show some of the petroglyphs.

There’s a Motel 6 on the north end of Moab.  I decided to stay there based on the one in which I stayed in Denver (back in September).  Their motto, “We’ll leave the light on for you” is true.  They did.  Right outside the window.  O.o  It wasn’t too bad – it was akin to having a nightlight.  The best part of the stay was the night manager, Joe – he looked like Christopher Walken… but with white hair and glasses  A sick and twisted part of me wanted to break out my iPod, cue up Weapon of Choice and see if he would dance through the halls.  But I didn’t.  This time.  He was nice enough to point us in the direction of where to get ice cream.  I offered to get him a cone, but he declined (lactose intolerance)… but he came outside as we were getting in the car to thank me for the offer.

Football Update

•   – The boys from Charm City beat the Hawks and move to an 8-2 record.
• – I’m still not sure HOW it happened, but they dropped this one to the Steeles.  Sorry,
•   – The kids crom Cincy made up for last week by beating up on the Saints.  Nice one,
• – Seattle lost to the ‘Niners.  Sorry, .
• – The Vikings were held at bay by the Dolphins.  Maybe next week, …  (Go ‘fins!)
• – The Raiders lost to the Chiefs.  Sorry, … but at least you have the OSU win to be happy about!

Stray Toasters

• I have popcorn and cranberry-apple juice.  This is a good pre-bed snack.
• “Bond.  James Bond.”  I completely neglected to mention that I liked Casino Royale.  It’s a good start/reboot for the franchise and Daniel Craig makes a very good – and as-yet unpolished – James Bond.
• 
• I found copies of Chris Claremont’s First Flight and Grounded in a used bookstore today.
• : Would your family completely wig out if you got this for a niece or nephew for Christmas?
• The art of Ray Caesar
• I have to uninstall and reinstall 2142.  *sigh*
• In a genius stroke of casting for future X-Men films, I present: This.
• : Edginton lifts off with Warhammer 40,000

And now, it’s sleepy-bye time.

Namaste.

Moab.

See you tomorrow.

Friday – 17 November 2006
Yesterday was a decent NBN Thursday, although it started going a little downhill after work.  That put me in a dour mood for the better part of the evening.  However, the weekend is now mere hours away.  This is a good thing.
Later this morning, I have a training session to attend for work.  It’s called Casino Royale.  That, too is a good thing.
Stray Toasters

• I found a link to a video of The Monkey Song from Animaniacs.  Before Code Monkey, this was my favorite monkey-related song.
• Will It Blend?  Want to see a powerful blender in action?  Check this out this little number from BlendTec.  I don’t know of anyone who needs a home blender this powerful, but I guess it’s nice to know that it’s available if you did.
• I discovered last night.   Some of the strips that amused me the most include:
  • http://xkcd.com/c150.html – I think that doing this would be damned cool
  • http://xkcd.com/c16.html  (for
  • http://xkcd.com/c52.html
  • http://xkcd.com/c70.html  (for and )
  • …and http://xkcd.com/c118.html (because will grok)
• I want to take a look at some of the more creative/silly analogy lyrics used in music, probably with a strong emphasis on rap.  I’ve found a few that stand out, but I want more.
• Penny Arcade has kicked off its annual Child’s Play fundraiser.
• Heh.
  
• The Leonid meteor shower puts in an appearance this weekend.

Up out.

Namaste.

After the gym, Wes and I headed to the grocery store to pick up some frozen entrees for lunch – they provide a nice “safety net” on those days when you didn’t cook the night before or when you don’t feel like going out and spending lots o’ money on lunch.

But, I digress…

Venimus. Sumimus. Excedimus.
“We came. We shopped. We left.”

When I got back to the office, I started putting away my things and finally paid attention to the receipt. Along with the receipt, I got a coupon. I looked at the coupon and the first thing that came to mind was:

“I wonder if these stack…?”

Hi, my name is Rob… and I’m a gamer.
“Hi, Rob.”

Thursday – 16 November 2006
Yesterday wasn’t a bad day.  It had a relatively relaxed pace.  No fires.  No monkeys.  Until about 3:00… then, three tasks came up.  All within about fifteen minutes of each other.  Oy.  Nothing Herculean, but enough to keep me busy until the end of the day.

The Adventures of Indigo Bolt
Post-work, I came home and then headed to Paragon City.  I joined a team for an off-world mission.  A mission that I had in my list of “things to do,” in fact… but I didn’t get credit for completing it.  So, I get to run that mission again.  Yay.  But, there was one thing that was good about it…

Can you (FINALLY) say “Security Level 46,” boys and girls?  I knew you could!

Stray Toasters

• I had a very tasty burrito from Barbacoa last night.  That place could be hazardous to my diet… what little “diet” I have, that is.  Did I mention that it was tasty?  It was.
• As would say: “It’s nakie time!”
  
• Welcome back, .   Now, down to brass tacks: How was the Cruise Director?  Do I have competition?  After all, I have a rep to maintain.
• Coworker Eric left this picture for me the other day.  It made me smile.
  
• A remix of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina just played on the iPod.  It made me think of how chameleon-like and mercurial Madonna’s image has been over the years; she has reinvented herself many times since her “Like a Virgin” days.  And, at least in my opinion, she makes some pretty good music, too.
• The same thing could be said about The Artist Formerly – and Once Again – Known as Prince.  And I like his music, too.
• : There’s apparently another Cthulhu figure out there…
• Airlines to get iPod hookups.
• Speaking of iPods, the great “iPod as an alarm clock” experiment was a success.  With one minor hiccup.  I neglected to reset the time on it for the end Daylight Saving Time… so it went off – loudly – an hour before I had planned to get up.
• I’m walking into spiderwebs, leave a message and I’ll call you back…
• Newsarama has an interview with James Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes.

Well, it’s that time.  So, just like Kool Moe Doe: I Go to Work.

Namaste.

< groove>

• M.A.R.R.S. – Pump Up the Volume (extended mix)
• Daft Punk – Around the World
• David Bowie – You’ve Been Around
• Sammy Davis, Jr. & The Count Basie Orchestra – The Girl from Ipanema
• LL Cool J – The Boomin’ System

< /groove>